Definition - What does Eavesdropping mean?
The term eavesdropping refers to observing or listening to a private conversation illegally or listening to a conversation that they are not included in. It may also be defined as to intercept and listen stealthily.
Justipedia explains Eavesdropping
Eavesdropping is a common law offense which includes listening to the conversation of others while keeping yourself hidden (from places like eaves or windows of a house). The term eavesdropping is only used when the act is not accompanied by a special court order or a warrant.


Creating Healthier Communities
By Turning Inward
By: Britt Brown LMT
In this article we’ll be expanding on what we discussed about mindfulness in the Body Care Breakdown Podcast, and dive deeper into how simple mindfulness habits can have a massive impact on our personal health, and help us improve the health of our communities as a whole. So, just what is mindfulness anyway, and why do we practice it? Well, Oxford Languages (one of the world’s leading dictionary publishers) defines mindfulness as; “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.” As for why we practice it, well, that reason is personal to each individual, but ultimately we’re practicing it to better care for ourselves, and the world around us.
One way we can understand why we might want to practice mindfulness, is to understand why practicing mindfulness is recommended in the first place. Why should we practice self-awareness, setting intentions, and being in the present moment? Is it all just woo-woo misinformation being used to market self-help products that don’t actually help, or is there scientific evidence to back up claims that mindfulness has a measurable impact on our health and well-being? As it turns out, there is in fact, a LOT of scientific evidence that supports the claims that mindfulness practices have a measurable and positive effect on our overall health. So let’s talk about what those practices are, how we can incorporate those practices into our everyday lives, and the science behind why we should.
“We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable.–Maya Angelou
It would be wise to spend that time adoring our
families, cherishing our friends and living our lives.”
When researching recommended mindfulness habits, the practice of “being present” was brought up over and over again. It was the most recommended mindfulness habit, followed closely by self-awareness and meditation practices. Although many of us might be thinking “being present, being in the moment, that’s a life changing habit?” And the answer is yes, yes it will absolutely change your life, and probably for the better.
One of the most profound impacts of practicing “being present” on a regular basis is that it really can help with emotional regulation, and our ability to think rationally during times of chaos. Regularly pausing to ask ourselves “how am I feeling right now,” and “how do I feel when I am around this person” or ”how does my body feel when I eat this food item” gives those parts of ourselves a voice. When we listen to that voice we can sometimes find that the things we thought we knew about ourselves, or the reasons we have for responding to certain situations the way we do, are no longer valid or maybe even inaccurate. We can start to realize that maybe we don’t know ourselves as well as we thought we did, and we can move forward in our self-care and community interactions with our new information.
As a silly and simple example – let’s say you’re like me and you REALLY love your morning coffee, like it’s darn near the reason you crawl out of bed and greet the day, right? Let’s say you’re also like me and upon self-reflection you realize that caffeine winds your anxiety up something fierce, and drinking a hot cup of it first thing in the morning isn’t a great way to start the day, no matter how delicious it tastes. You (and I) have a few choices at this point – we can ignore our body and keep up with the coffee – piling on more anxiety coping mechanisms to keep the balance, or we nix the coffee altogether and say goodbye to the happy morning brew, or we split the difference and go decaf. For those wondering – I chose to split the difference and go with decaf coffee.
That practice of “being present” with oneself and asking our bodies, minds and spirits what they’re really needing is often the first step to making life-long changes in our self-care routines. For me, the simple act of listening to my body and switching to decaf coffee has made a huge impact in how I move through my day. I find it’s easier for me to focus, that I’m less irritated by small inconveniences, and communication feels more enjoyable and less like a chore. I feel healthier, and I know that’s reflecting back into my community, because I know I’m responding more to the situation in front of me rather than just reacting to it.
As you might have already noticed, the practicing of one mindfulness habit often leads to the practicing of another, and I often find that being present with oneself in the moment often leads to a practice of self-awareness. When we pause to reflect on how our actions, emotions and energy are affecting our lives and the world around us, we start to draw awareness to our power to affect change. There are many ways we can go about practicing self-awareness, but probably the easiest and most effective way to practice self-awareness is through journaling.
If you’re not already familiar with the practice of journaling and coming up with your own prompts for self-reflection, feel free to take a moment and write down your answers to the self-reflection questions I’ve listed below:
- What is the story I’m telling myself, about myself, right now?
- What is one action I can take today, that my future self will thank me for later?
- Three activities that bring me joy are…
- What would my [insert body part here] say right now, if it could talk?
- How might I rephrase some of my negative self-talk, what are some positive things I can say about myself right now?
Asking yourself introspective questions like those you see above, and answering them with honesty, can help you make healthier life choices and take actions to achieve the goals you set for yourself. Practicing self-awareness can also help you realize where your personal limitations are, where you might be “burning the candle at both ends”, and help you recognize when you should reach out to your support network for help. Self-awareness helps us to appreciate the unique things we offer our community, and appreciate where our community shows up to support us.
Meditation is a wonderful tool for processing through tough emotions, centering into oneself. For drawing our attention inward to our physical, emotional and spiritual bodies. It can help us regulate our emotions, reduce our perceived stress and anxiety, and deepen our understanding of ourselves and how we wish to relate to the world around us.
Meditation is also a practice that seems simple, and yet feels simultaneously overwhelming. Many people report having difficulty quieting their minds, or that they have trouble being still, or they may find it difficult to stay present and that their minds tend to wander. As a result, many people give up on meditating after their first few attempts, and may never try it again. As someone who used to subscribe to the idea that “my mind doesn’t shut off, so I can’t meditate” I can confirm that busy minds can meditate, but how we approach meditation really does matter.
If you’re like me, you might choose to start with a guided meditation you’ve found on Insight Timer or YouTube. You might choose to set an intention for your meditation, giving your wandering mind something tangible to focus on. Or maybe you’ll choose something that involves more movement, like yoga or tai-chi. Laying still, and being present with your thoughts is a great form of meditation, it’s true, but it’s certainly not the only form of meditation out there, and all forms of meditation offer health benefits. Check out the body scan meditation video in the link below to get a better idea of what a guided meditation can look like:
If you’re wanting to learn more about the health benefits of meditation, its effects on the body, and all about the many ways in which you can meditate – I highly recommend the “Headspace: Guide To Meditation” series on Netflix.
Practice Routine Self-care…
Practicing routine self-care; being mindful of what you’re eating, of your quality of sleep, of your daily personal hygiene, of your mental and spiritual well-being… All of that is essential for maintaining your overall health. So when your diet is all out of whack, and you’re staying up until 1:00AM playing video games and eating sugary snacks, and you know you’ve got to wake up at 6:00AM so you can get to your classes by 7:30AM… you probably shouldn’t be surprised if you feel like you have to drag yourself through your day.
When we aren’t giving our body the tools that it needs to care for itself on a regular basis – healthy (for you) foods, healthy (for you) sleep patterns, and healthy (for you) levels of activity – our body ends up running off of whatever we give it, and puts out whatever it can, which isn’t going to be its top performance. Furthermore, if we’re feeling down and out of it, if we aren’t bringing our “A-Game” to our personal lives, we certainly aren’t bringing our “A-Game” to class, to work, to our partnerships, or wherever else we might need it. If we sell ourselves short in our self-care routines, we end up selling ourselves short everywhere else, and that never feels good.
If you’re struggling to know where to start on building a self-care routine, talk to your primary care provider, and schedule a physical check-up. Get a basic idea of where your body is at, let your primary care provider know about anything you think feels a little “weird” or “off” in your body, and ask them for recommendations and referrals. If you have specific areas of self-care you know you need to work on, but maybe you’re having a hard time committing to making new habits, try reaching out and asking a friend or two to be your accountabili-buddy. Getting into a self-care routine, especially if you’re not used to caring for yourself, can feel intimidating but it doesn’t need to. We all have a community of people we can turn to when we need support, and we can all find a self-care routine that fits with our lives and our everyday needs!
Practice Gratitude and Lovingkindness…
It is so easy to let ourselves become bitter from pickling in the hateful brines of today’s society, it really is. As a person who identifies as non-binary, and as a part of the LGBTQIA+ community, practicing gratitude and lovingkindness in the face of all of the hate I see being hurled at my community has been a real struggle. I have definitely been lapsing on my gratitude journaling, and spending more time on the pity-pot than I traditionally do, and when things get really bad I have a hard time wanting to even participate in society.
In the times when I have been able to really pause, and hone in on the simple and beautiful things I am grateful for – making it through my bout of COVID, having a really good D&D campaign going, and being in a really healthy ENM relationship – I find my day gets a little easier. I remember that the world isn’t just a jar filled with angry people pickling to death in hate and suffering, and I feel motivated to keep doing my best to make the world a lighter and happier place.
Practicing gratitude and lovingkindness may not always be easy – but my favorite ways to practice them are probably the easiest. I like to journal lists of what I am grateful for. I deliberately reach out to the people I know and love, and make time to tell them directly how much I love, and appreciate and value their presence in my life. I send random handmade cards and letters filled with art and stickers to my friends and loved ones when it strikes my fancy. I go out and I volunteer for non-profit organizations and community projects I really love to support. I donate my time and my skills to charity events that I support. In essence – I say thank-you, and I do my best to give back.
Mindfulness habits matter. They are often the starting points from which we reach a deeper understanding of ourselves, our needs and those of the world around us. They are habits that cost nothing but our time and commitment to being our best selves. Mindfulness is a self-care habit that has countless benefits, and no known side effects. So regardless of what reason you might be considering adding mindfulness habits to your daily life, it’s a good one.


Lingala is a Bantu language spoken throughout the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a large part of the Republic of the Congo, as well as to some degree in Angola and the Central African Republic. It has over 10 million speakers. Standard Lingala (called lingala littéraire or lingala classique in French) is mostly used in educational and news broadcastings on radio or television, in religious services in the Roman Catholic Church and is the language taught as a subject at all educational levels. Standard Lingala is historically associated with the work of the Catholic Church and missionaries. It has a seven-vowel system /a/ /e/ /ɛ/ /i/ /o/ /ɔ/ /u/ with an obligatory tense-lax vowel harmony. It also has a full range of morphological noun prefixes with mandatory grammatical agreement system with subject–verb, or noun–modifier for each of class. Standard Lingala is largely used in formal functions.
- From Wikipedia


Thursday, March 06, 2008
News of Yore: Manning Creates Cartoon Mural
Cartoonists Came First— So Manning's Mural Says
The first newspapermen were cartoonists, period.
Some members of the craft might be inclined to argue the truth of that flat statement by Reg Manning, McNaught Syndicate editorial cartoonist whose work is distributed to more than 125 newspapers, but he's willing to take on all comers to convince the doubting Thomases.
In a monumental mural now adorning the walls of the Phoenix Press Club, the Pulitzer prize winner for cartooning in 1951 has documented his pet theory that prehistoric man carved news pictures on rocks long before he learned to write squibs for the Paleolithic Pioneer Press.
Therefore, reasons Mr. Manning, the first newspaperman was not a writer but a cartoonist.
To date only club members and a few visiting firemen, such as the aviation and travel writers who flocked to Phoenix early this year for "quickie vacations" as guests of the local chamber of commerce, have seen Mr. Manning's masterpiece of newspaper humor depicting the first news stories of mankind tapped out on stone.
All visitors to the press club in the Hotel Westward Ho have been wowed by the mural. Because it has a potentially wide appeal to all newspapermen who might be curious to know how their profession started thousands of years ago, Editor & Publisher has obtained permission to reproduce one section of the mural and the key to the primitive petroglyphs portraying the first news stories of the stone age - and how they were covered by the first cartoonists.
All told, 81 news stories and newspaper situations are depicted. Four months were required to complete the mural at Mr. Manning's home, in between his weekly stint of six cartoons for the McNaught list and a local one for the Arizona Republic. Reg dreamed up all the situations and gags in the mural and its key.
Originally nine feet long, as executed in tempera, the mural was enlarged and reproduced in exact color and detail on three walls of the club dining room by Art McFair, a Phoenix artist. It was completed a year ago.
Mr. Manning, whose cartoons have appeared in the Republic for a quarter of a century, evolved his theory about the origin of the newspaper business while roaming about Arizona's canyons, studying cavemen's pictures he found carved on the walls. He sums up his theory this way: Arizona's first news reporters were cartoonists, whose first editions, tapped out on stone, may be seen in the files of a thousand canyon walls. Depicted at the left of the mural (see cut) is one of the first newsmen.
"Arizona's original broadcaster who came ages before the microphone is portrayed at the right extremity of the mural (not reproduced here). He is the Town Crier of the Pueblos. In the Hopi villages of northern Arizona, town criers still announce news daily, as they have for centuries past.
"The primitive petroglyphs shown present paleolithic picturization of peoples and plights, philosophy and phrases, peculiar to press and radio, as our prehistoric predecessor might have pictured them."
Thus does Mr. Manning, with a thousand canyons to back up his theory, stand pat on his statement that the first newspapermen were cartoonists, as shown in his mural. Other sections not reproduced here depict the original comic strip, the first "love nest" story, members of the world's first press club gathered around the bar and "the first political column (grapevine and a little bull)." His favorite of favorites among the cave characters he created is "proofreader catching arrers." It shows the first proofreader on earth catching arrows flying in his direction.
If any newsmen are unconvinced about Reg's theory, let them come to Phoenix to see his pictorial evidence of the world's first scoops achieved by the primitive cartoonists. If they're still unconvinced, then Reg's ready to eat the biggest cactus Arizona can produce.
Symbolism in one section of Phoenix Press Club mural:
1. Man bites dog.
2. The only two kinds of birds you meet in this business: (A) The bird who wants to get his name in the paper; (B) The bird who wants to keep it out.
3. Which came first, (A) the thunderchicken, or (B) the egg?
4. The very first news story-Weather; (a) lightning, (b) clouds, (c) rain.
5. A usually reliable source-the horse's mouth.
6. The stone axe-a weapon so horrible it was going to end war.
7. The Original Big Story.
8. A reporter and his by-line.
9. Cut line.
10. Off the record.
12. "Don't quote me, but..."
13. X marks the spot.
14. Eternal triangle story.
15. Headline, with three sub-heads.
16. Increase in circulation.
19. The M.E., who else?
20. Newshawk. This symbolism is really deep stuff . . . note the nose for news, looking at both sides of the question . . . note the target he frequently is ... note equipment for leg work . . . note also he hasn't sprouted wings.
21. The spear-a weapon so horrible it was going to end war.
22. "Here I am on my first real assignment. Imagine ME, a rough, tough, glamorous reporter." 23. "Why wasn't my story in the paper?"
24. Evolution of punctuation: The Question Mark, (A) Woman has always been a puzzle to man, so she was first depicted in the center of a maze, with man, below, amazed. (B) Later and lazier artisans simplified the picture. (C) In this form the mark is used today.
25. Evolution of punctuation: The Exclamation Point.
26. Follow up.
28. The bow 'n' arrow - a weapon so horrible it was going to end war.
29. Dotted line indicates where the body fell. or was pushed.
[Anyone know if this mural still adorns the Phoenix Press Club? - Allan]
Labels: News of Yore
and lots of a similar magazine here:
Issues of True Comics are relatively cheap on eBay too.


Babies and Children's Problems
Virus, infection or other cause?
Guidance for a Healthy Baby
Is your baby suffering with colic, blocked nose, chesty cough, sickness, restless or poor sleep, milk rash, eczema? As we want to ensure that this little person enjoys the best possible health, it is worth giving consideration to some possible causes.
Breastfeeding is Nature’s way. Medical authorities agree that breast milk is best because it provides all of the ingredients your baby needs for optimum health, growth and development. Studies published in the medical journals conclude that breastfeeding helps prevent atopic disease, including atopic eczema, food allergy and respiratory allergy, throughout childhood and adolescence.
So if this is the best diet for your baby, why do some babies still suffer with sickness, colic, eczema, poor sleep or various other symptoms?
The explanation is quite simple. The chemistry of breast milk is affected by the diet of the mother. Although the mother may not experience any symptoms of food intolerance herself, the ultra-sensitive immune system of the baby can be affected by food substances that it cannot handle and it causes reactions. This is particularly likely to be the case if there is a history of allergies in the family, such as asthma, eczema and so on.
You may have chosen not to breast feed, been unable to breastfeed or you may be supplementing your baby's diet with formula milk. Are you aware that most formula milks are made with cow’s milk?
The immature immune system of a newborn baby often reacts to cow's milk proteins. These milk proteins are responsible for milk allergy, which can easily be confirmed with painless skin tests or blood tests. However, less than 2% of babies have milk “allergy”, but milk “intolerance” is far more common and affects up to 40% of bottle fed babies.
So whether your baby is breast fed or bottle fed the possible cause of his/her problems could be intolerance to cow’s milk in the formula, dairy products mum is ingesting or other food items.
Another reason can be, some airborne allergens such as dust mites, are often behind some types of severe atopic eczema, rhinitis or asthma, in other words, totally unrelated to breast milk.
Treatment for Babies Problems
- Confirm with skin tests or blood tests that the problem is not caused by an allergy, i.e. egg white or milk protein or inhalants such as dust mites
- Through a carefully designed process, identify which foods are unsafe for the baby, if consumed by the mother
- A form of Immunoglobulin G (microarray ELISA) test has been rated 80% satisfaction amongst parents and physicians in the US (2015)
- Once identified, advice on how to adopt a healthy, balanced diet
- In some cases, treat to improve the baby's immunity
Some babies do well with a modified diet when they are weaned, but others react to many common foods, making it very difficult to define a healthy, balanced and sustainable diet. If this is the case, we recommend a safe method of desensitisation.
Guidance for Healthy Toddlers
Is your toddler suffering with recurrent “viruses”, ear, throat and/or chest infections? Do you feel you are forever at the doctor’s surgery? Are you concerned about using repeated courses of antibiotics?
Many parents and health professionals spend much of their time dealing with children’s health problems convinced they are caused by a virus, other infectious agents or changes in a child's chemistry well beyond their control.
Most of these health issues have two main causes
- An immune system struggling to cope with common foods or food additivies
- Deficiencies of some essential nutrients
Although several studies in the last four decades have concluded that breastfed babies have less colic or recurrent infections, pneumonia and eczema, few have ventured to point out that a significant number of children have been fed with formula milk or cow’s milk products.
In our experience, we have found that dairy products are often the culprits of many upper respiratory infections and if avoided an improvement or clearance of the symptoms can be seen.However, other foods can also be involved and it is important to identify these and also to understand which appropriate alternatives to use to maintain a balanced, healthy diet but without the reactions.
If one or both parents have some kind of allergy such as hay fever, asthma, eczema, simply due to the DNA, their children have an increased risk to develop allergies or intolerances sometime in their lives.
Treatment for Children's Problems
- Deal with any immune problems which may be affecting the toddler’s health
- Nutritional advice to improve immunity
- Long term advice on ensuring a balanced, healthy and varied diet
Contact us if you have further questions or to make an appointment for a consultation.


Tuesday is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven—a Holy Day of Obligation for all Catholics.
This solemnity is significant for a variety of reasons. For example, it is one of only two instances of the use of papal infallibility in the history of the Church. This belief in papal infallibility, though present throughout the history of the Church, was only formally defined in the First Vatican Council (1869-1870). It was exercised once prior to this definition–for the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854. It was nearly one hundred years later when Pius XII exercised this special charism for the second time in the proclamation of Our Lady’s Assumption in 1950. When the pope exercises this charism, he is said to speak “ex cathedra,” i.e. “from the chair.” The chair is an image of authority—the authority received from Christ by St. Peter and exercised by all of his subsequent successors in the papal office.
It is important to note that this belief in Our Lady’s Assumption into heaven did not begin with Pope Pius XII in 1950. Though written evidence of this Christian belief only dates back to the 4th century, the belief in this truth began with the apostles, especially St. John, to whom Our Lady was entrusted by Christ immediately before his death on the cross. He and any other apostles present were witnesses to the events surrounding her Assumption and passed their experience down to the Christians in their community. Though not part of the canon of scripture, some of these accounts are recorded in early Christian writings and in the accounts of mystics to whom God made this event known. Though the accounts differ in various ways, one thing is consistent—the union of our Lady’s body and soul in heaven as singular grace. As the years went on, the Church reflected upon, prayed over, and entered into this sacred mystery. Gradually, Christ’s faithful began to understand more fully the meaning of Our Lady’s Assumption. They began to see its connection to their lives, their relationship to Christ, and their hope for heaven. This growth in faith finally found its culmination in the ex cathedra declaration of Pius XII:
“After we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.“
Lest anyone mistakenly think that this is a mere theological opinion of the pope, he adds the following: “Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.”
These words come only at the end of Pope Pius’ exposition on the topic. If you have not yet had the opportunity, I warmly encourage you to read his reflections in Munificentissimus Deus. It is relatively short and available online.


Geographical Information Systems: Explained
In a complex and chaotic humanitarian crisis, our teams need to reach communities with the exact medical aid they need.
But, working in remote locations, against instability or evolving epidemics, there’s often one essential tool that’s surprisingly difficult to find: a map.
What is GIS?
Geographical Information Systems, also known as GIS, is a scientific field that uses data to represent and understand the world in terms of space and location.
GIS analyses spatial information to generate specialised maps and insights that help our teams respond to an emergency, no matter where it occurs.
How does MSF use GIS?
It may sound surprising, but Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) works in many places where maps or data covering the area either don’t exist, are long out of date or are perhaps only partially complete.
But our medical teams need highly detailed maps and hyper-local data to reach people in need. This missing information can ultimately be the difference between life and death in a healthcare crisis.
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We have small teams of GIS experts who work to solve this problem and help us understand fundamental information such as:
- Access to healthcare: Where people live in relation to healthcare facilities
- Environmental threats: Up-to-date maps of communities vulnerable to natural disasters
- Logistics: The set-up and efficiency of our supply chains
- Epidemiology: How epidemics may spread through communities, as well as mortality and morbidity surveys (how often deaths and illnesses occur)
- Security: Vital overviews of security threats in unstable regions
GIS and epidemics
When cases of a disease begin to spike, GIS can be extremely helpful to understand where patients are becoming infected, how medical teams can reach them and the scale of supplies needed.
This crucial information can help track the progress of the disease and ultimately beat it.
When a mass vaccination campaign is called for to help stop an epidemic, our teams need to coordinate with other organisations to protect a significant proportion of the community and halt the spread.
In the case of a highly-infectious disease such as measles, a minimum of 90 percent of all children in any given population need to be vaccinated for the campaign to be effective.
However, census data may be at least 10 years out of date, or violence and instability may mean that entire villages have moved.
In these cases, GIS teams will map an area to help vaccination teams accurately understand the scale of the challenge and reach as many people as possible.
Vector-borne diseases are infections caused by parasites, viruses or bacteria that are transmitted to humans by animals.
The most well-known of these is malaria, carried by infected mosquitos.
GIS plays a vital role in helping teams understand the environmental factors that could impact species and drive spikes in infections rates, so they can better plan preventative measures.
In Maniema, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a community was suffering from a prolonged outbreak of sleeping sickness – a deadly disease that is spread by one species of fly called the tsetse.
GIS specialists joined medical teams going from village to village to treat patients, collecting data on the number of cases and the surrounding forest habitat. This was used to generate an accurate disease map based on the known distances being travelled by the flies.
MSF teams were then able to understand the risks faced by different communities, as well as use the data to coordinate more focused screening and treatment in high-risk villages.
Join us: Help MSF map new areas
Join the thousands of volunteers already mapping the most vulnerable parts of the world by getting involved with the Missing Maps project.
The GIS project is powered by volunteers tracing areas of concern to us across the world. Using aerial photographs as a backdrop, road networks, buildings and landmarks are traced to build a line drawing of the area, which is then confirmed locally.
The first stage of this process can be done by anyone, from anywhere with some dedication and training. You just need to sign up to OpenStreetMap and spend some time learning how to use the software.
Or, you can download MapSwipe, an open-source mobile app that contributes to the Missing Maps project by verifying satellite imagery on which to base maps.


After completing this tutorial, you will be able to:
Rwith Landsat data.
What You Need
You will need a computer with internet access to complete this lesson and the data for week 7 - 9 of the course.
As discussed in the previous lesson, you can use dNBR to map the extent and severity of a fire. In this lesson, you learn how to create NBR using Landsat data.
You calculate dNBR using the following steps:
- Open up pre-fire data and calculate NBR
- Open up the post-fire data and calculate NBR
- Calculate dNBR (difference NBR) by subtracting post-fire NBR from pre-fire NBR (NBR pre - NBR post fire).
- Classify the dNBR raster using the classification table provided below and isn the previous lesson.
Note the code to do this is hidden. You will need to figure out what bands are required to calculate NBR using Landsat.
Calculate dNBR Using Landsat Data
First, let’s setup your spatial packages.
# load spatial packages library(raster) library(rgdal) library(rgeos) library(RColorBrewer) library(dplyr) # turn off factors options(stringsAsFactors = FALSE) # source the normalized diff function that you write for week_7 source("ea-course-functions.R")
Next, open up the pre- Cold Springs fire Landsat data. Create a rasterbrick from the bands. Then calculate NBR. A plot of NBR is below.
all_landsat_bands_post <- list.files("data/week-07/Landsat/LC80340322016205-SC20170127160728/crop", pattern = glob2rx("*band*.tif$"), full.names = TRUE) # use the dollar sign at the end to get all files that END WITH all_landsat_bands_post ##  "data/week-07/Landsat/LC80340322016205-SC20170127160728/crop/LC80340322016205LGN00_sr_band1_crop.tif" ##  "data/week-07/Landsat/LC80340322016205-SC20170127160728/crop/LC80340322016205LGN00_sr_band2_crop.tif" ##  "data/week-07/Landsat/LC80340322016205-SC20170127160728/crop/LC80340322016205LGN00_sr_band3_crop.tif" ##  "data/week-07/Landsat/LC80340322016205-SC20170127160728/crop/LC80340322016205LGN00_sr_band4_crop.tif" ##  "data/week-07/Landsat/LC80340322016205-SC20170127160728/crop/LC80340322016205LGN00_sr_band5_crop.tif" ##  "data/week-07/Landsat/LC80340322016205-SC20170127160728/crop/LC80340322016205LGN00_sr_band6_crop.tif" ##  "data/week-07/Landsat/LC80340322016205-SC20170127160728/crop/LC80340322016205LGN00_sr_band7_crop.tif" # stack the data landsat_post_st <- stack(all_landsat_bands_post) landsat_post_br <- brick(landsat_post_st)
# this code shows you how to create a normalized Z value for your raster plots! # it also uses color brewer to color the output raster # display.brewer.all() nbr_colors <- colorRampPalette(brewer.pal(11, "PiYG"))(100) plot(landsat_nbr_prefire, main = "Landsat derived NBR\n Pre-Fire \n with fire boundary overlay", axes = FALSE, box = FALSE, col = nbr_colors, zlim = c(-1, 1)) plot(fire_boundary_utm, add = TRUE)
You can export the NBR raster if you want using
check_create_dir("data/week-07/outputs/landsat_nbr") writeRaster(x = landsat_nbr_prefire, filename="data/week-07/outputs/landsat_nbr", format = "GTiff", # save as a tif datatype='INT2S', # save as a INTEGER rather than a float overwrite = TRUE)
Next, open the post-fire landsat data to calculate post-fire NBR. If you want to use the post-fire data to CROP the pre fire data you may do this in a different order.
Then you calculate NBR on the post data - note the code here is purposefully hidden. You need to figure out what bands to use to perform the math!
# notice that the data are plotting using the same z limits to fix the color ramp plot(landsat_nbr_postfire, main = "Landsat derived Normalized Burn Index (NBR)\n Post Fire", axes = FALSE, box = FALSE, col = nbr_colors, zlim = c(-1, 1)) plot(fire_boundary_utm, add = TRUE)
Finally, calculate the DIFFERENCE between the pre and post NBR.
# calculate difference landsat_nbr_diff <- landsat_nbr_prefire - landsat_nbr_postfire plot(landsat_nbr_diff, main = "Difference NBR map \n Pre minus post Cold Springs fire", axes = FALSE, box = FALSE)
When you have calculated dNBR or the difference in NBR pre minus post fire, classify the output raster using the
classify() function and the classes below. You learned how to classify rasters in the Earth Analytics lidar lessons
|SEVERITY LEVEL||dNBR RANGE|
|Enhanced Regrowth||> -.1|
|Unburned||-.1 to +.1|
|Low Severity||+.1 to +.27|
|Moderate Severity||+.27 to +.66|
|High Severity||> +1.3|
NOTE: your min an max values for NBR may be slightly different from the table shown above! If you have a smaller min value (< -700) then adjust your first class to that smallest number. If you have a largest max value (>1300) then adjust your last class to that largest value in your data.
Alternatively, you can use the
Inf to specify the smallest
-Inf and largest
You classified map should look something like:
Compare to Fire Boundary
As an example to see how your fire boundary relates to the boundary that you’ve identified using MODIS data, you can create a map with both layers. I’m using the shapefile in the folder:
Add fire boundary to map. Note the “Spectral” colorbrewer ramp is used in the map below.
Make it look a bit nicer using a colorbrewer palette. I used the
Note that you will have to figure out what date these data are for! I purposefully didn’t include it in the title of this map.
Add labels to your barplot!
barplot(nbr_classified, main = "Distribution of Classified NBR Values", col = the_colors, names.arg = c("Enhanced \nRegrowth", "Unburned", "Low \n Severity", "Moderate \n Severity", "High \nSeverity"))
Calculate Total Area of Burned Area
Once you have classified your data, you can calculate the total burn area.
To calculate this you could either
- use the
extract()function to extract pixels within the burn area boundary
crop()the data to the burn area boundary extent. This is an ok option however you have pixels represented that are outside of the burn boundary.
landsat_pixels_in_fire_boundary <- raster::extract(nbr_classified, fire_boundary_utm, df = TRUE) landsat_pixels_in_fire_boundary %>% group_by(layer) %>% summarize(count = n(), area_meters = n() * (30 * 30))


Learn About Catnip
How to Sow
Catnip may be grown from seed sown early indoors and transplanted outside after frost, or directly sown into the garden.
Sowing Seed Indoors:
- Sow catnip seeds indoors 4-8 weeks before the last frost in spring
- Sow seeds ¼ inches deep in seed-starting formula
- Keep the soil moist at 70 degrees F
- Seedlings emerge in 14-21 days
- As soon as seedlings emerge, provide plenty of light on a sunny windowsill or grow seedlings 3-4 inches beneath fluorescent plant lights turned on 16 hours per day, off for 8 hours at night. Raise the lights as the plants grow taller. Incandescent bulbs will not work for this process because they will get too hot. Most plants require a dark period to grow, do not leave lights on for 24 hours.
- Seedlings do not need much fertilizer, feed when they are 3-4 weeks old using a starter solution (half strength of a complete indoor houseplant food) according to manufacturer’s directions.
- If you are growing in small cells, you may need to transplant the seedlings to 3 or 4 inch pots when seedlings have at least 3 pairs of leaves before transplanting to the garden so they have enough room to develop strong roots.
- Before planting in the garden, seedling plants need to be “hardened off”. Accustom young plants to outdoor conditions by moving them to a sheltered place outside for a week. Be sure to protect them from wind and hot sun at first. If frost threatens at night, cover or bring containers indoors, then take them out again in the morning. This hardening off process toughens the plant’s cell structure and reduces transplant shock and scalding.
Sowing Directly in the Garden:
- Direct sow in average soil in full sun or light shade after danger of frost. In frost-free areas, sow from fall to early spring. Choose a location where vigorous plants can be easily controlled, such as in containers or a raised bed.
- Remove weeds and work organic matter into the top 6-8 inches of soil; then level and smooth.
- Sow seeds evenly and cover with ¼ inches of fine soil.
- Firm the soil lightly and keep evenly moist.
- Seedlings will emerge in 14-21 days.
- Thin to stand about 18 inches apart.
How to Grow
- Keep weeds under control during the growing season. Weeds compete with plants for water, space and nutrients, so control them by either cultivating often or use a mulch to prevent their seeds from germinating.
- Mulches also help retain soil moisture and maintain even soil temperatures. For herbs, an organic mulch of aged bark or shredded leaves lends a natural look to the bed and will improve the soil as it breaks down in time. Always keep mulches off a plant’s stems to prevent possible rot.
- Keep plants well-watered during the growing season, especially during dry spells. Plants need about 1 inch of rain per week during the growing season. Use a rain gauge to check to see if you need to add water. It’s best to water with a drip or trickle system that delivers water at low pressure at the soil level. If you water with overhead sprinklers, water early in the day so the foliage has time to dry off before evening, to minimize disease problems. Keep the soil moist but not saturated.
- Pinch the tops off young plants to encourage bushy growth. To encourage a flush of new growth, cut plants back by about one half after the first flush of bloom.
- Divide plants every 2 to 3 years to keep them vigorous and prevent them from spreading too much.
- Monitor for pests and diseases. Check with your local Cooperative Extension Service for pest controls recommended for your area.
Harvest and Preserving Tips
- Grow catnip for you feline friends, or use it yourself for a soothing tea. Leaves may be added to salads or to flavor foods.
- Catmints are marvelous as edgings for perennial beds and borders, as groundcovers under roses, or cascading over the edge of containers. They also attract numerous pollinators, and are great alongside the vegetable garden.
- Harvest leaves or whole stems as needed as soon as the plant is mature but before the leaves start turning yellow. Harvest in the morning before the heat of the day but after the dew had dried. Cut entire stems at the base of the plant. Strip leaves from stems.
- Store fresh catnip in the refrigerator for a few days.
- To dry, cut a bunch of stems on a sunny morning, tie them loosely and hang them in a dry, airy location out of the sun. Or, dry herbs in the oven for 2-3 hours on a cookie sheet at the lowest heat, leaving the over door open. Or, use a dehydrator following the manufacturer’s instructions. When plants are dry enough to store, a leaf will easily crumble between your fingers.
- When thoroughly dry, store herbs in a tightly sealed glass jar in a dry, dark location, such as a cupboard. Dried catnip can last for several months.
Common Pests and Problems
Bacterial Leaf Spot: First signs are small translucent spots with a broad yellowish edge that slowly enlarge and become angular or irregularly circular with a reddish center. It thrives in cooler temperatures. The disease may also affect and disfigure flower heads.Burpee Recommends: Remove infected plants. Rotate crops with plants in a different family. Avoid overhead watering. Do not work around plants when they are wet.
Cercospora Leaf Blight: Small flecks which develop a yellowish halo appear on the leaves and turn brown and coalesce. They cause the leaves to wither and die. Burpee Recommends: Remove infected plants and destroy all plant debris. Rotate crops.
Root Rots: A number of pathogens cause root rots of seedlings as well as mature roots. Burpee Recommends: Pull up and discard infected plants. Make sure your soil has excellent drainage. Contact your Cooperative Extension Service for recommendations.
Septoria Leaf Spot: This diseaseis most severe during rainy seasons in closely planted gardens. Circular spots with gray centers and dark margins appear on the lower older leaves. Fungi spores are produced and darken the center of the spots. There is a progressive loss of foliage and fruits suffer from sunscald. Burpee Recommends: Remove and destroy infected plant debris. Don't handle or brush against plants when they are wet. Remove weeds growing nearby.
Virus (Various causes): The most characteristic sign of virus is tight and dark green mottling of the leaves. Young leaves may be bunched. Young plants may have a yellowish tone and become stunted. Burpee Recommends: Plant resistant varieties. This disease is readily spread by handling. Destroy diseased plants and the plants on either side. Never smoke in the garden as Tobacco Mosaic Virus can be transmitted from a smoker's unwashed hands while handling plants.
Common Pest and Cultural Problems
Aphids: Greenish, red, black or peach colored sucking insects can spread disease as they feed on the undersides of leaves. They leave a sticky residue on foliage that attracts ants. Burpee Recommends: Introduce or attract natural predators into your garden such as lady beetles and wasps who feed on aphids. You can also wash them off with a strong spray, or use an insecticidal soap.
Flea Beetles: These small hopping beetles feed on plant foliage and spread diseases. Burpee Recommends: Use floating row covers to prevent damage to young foliage.
Spider Mites: These tiny spider-like pests are about the size of a grain of pepper. They may be red, black, brown or yellow. They suck on the plant juices removing chlorophyll and injecting toxins which cause white dots on the foliage. There is often webbing visible on the plant. They cause the foliage to turn yellow and become dry and stippled. They multiply quickly and thrive in dry conditions. Burpee Recommends: Spider mites may be controlled with a forceful spray every other day. Try hot pepper wax or insecticidal soap. Check with your Cooperative Extension Service for miticide recommendations.
Thrips: Thrips are tiny needle-thin insects that are black or straw colored. They suck the juices of plants and attack flower petals, leaves and stems. The plant will have a stippling, discolored flecking or silvering of the leaf surface. Thrips can spread many diseases from plant to plant. Burpee Recommends: Many thrips may be repelled by sheets of aluminum foil spread between rows of plants. Remove weeds from the bed and remove debris from the bed after frost. Check with your Cooperative Extension Service for pest controls.
Whitefly: These are small white flying insects that often rise up in a cloud when plants are disturbed or brushed against. Burpee Recommends: They are difficult to control without chemicals. Try hot pepper wax or insecticidal soap. Check with your Cooperative Extension Service for pesticide recommendations.
Is catnip a perennial or annual? Catnip is a perennial plant that grows in zones 3-9. It is a member of the mint family.
How can I use catnip as a companion plant? Catnip can deter insects from members of the cabbage family.
Can I grow catnip in a container? Yes, in fact we recommend growing catnip in containers so it will not spread through the garden.
Are the flowers edible? Yes, the flowers may be used fresh or dried in herbal teas.
Why do cats like catnip? The leaves and stems of catnip contain an essential oil called nepetalactone, which is thought to emulate a cat pheromone. Catnip is often used in cat toys and causes behavioral changes when cats sniff the nepatalactone.


A new book out is helping young people see that growing their own food is a cool thing to do.
Arizona-based natural and functional nutritionist Patti Milligan has created a character named Shirley in her book “Why is Shirley Unusual?”
It’s a story showing young people through the eyes of someone their own age that eating fruits and vegetables and gardening is not only good for them, but it’s also a way to connect families again.
Milligan’s goal is to share her story with everyone, including schools with gardens tied into their curriculums.
One school is the Scottsdale Child Care and Learning Center at Raintree. She is reading “Why is Shirley Unusual?” to a group of pre-kindergartners.
Shirley not only likes fruits and vegetables, she grows the food in her own family’s garden.
Milligan created the story for her now 20-year-old son Riley’s fourth-grade class. She gave us a preview of the story.
“You start to see the colorations of [Shirley’s] lunches as colors of the rainbow and then Charles is the new student and when they first sit down to lunch, he has probably a typical child’s lunch and it’s white or tan foods,” Milligan said. “Shirley then befriends Charles and they eat lunch together and he starts tasting [her] food.
“When they go home after school together, she brings him out to the garden and they learn about the aspects of growing plants and then we bring in composting,” Milligan continued.
Shirley is teaching other children near her own age about the importance of eating colorful foods, composting and planting their own fruits and vegetables.
This can all be done with fun assignments in the book.
“Shirley becomes their educator,” Milligan said. “So they want to do things Shirley did throughout the book and then bring it home to the families.
“My vision is if we can really tie this generation of children back to sustainability by not only eating the foods that they grow, but understanding the relationship of how good it feels to be in a garden is great,” she continued.
The kids’ teacher, Britta Brelo, really liked how they were all willing to try new foods.
“I like the aspect of the rainbow foods [and] trying new foods that the children have not tried before,” Brelo said. “I think that also showed them they could get sweet things from jicama, strawberries, blueberries as well as vegetables.”
The children even got excited to grow their own food in the learning center’s garden.
“With children all over the world not getting enough food, they can grow their own food and perhaps teach others that it’s possible to do that,” Brelo said.
This is exactly one of the things Milligan had in mind when she brought Shirley to life.
“I would hope that Shirley and her story would be a vehicle to introducing nutrition in a very refreshing way,” Milligan said.
Milligan plans to use the proceeds from the book to sponsor school gardens. “Why is Shirley Unusual?” can be found on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Why-Shirley-Unusual-Story-Nutritionist/dp/1533554714/.


Some participants in the pioneering gene therapy trial for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) were found to have immune reactivity to the dystrophin protein -- in two cases, even before they received the first dose, researchers said.
Dystrophin-specific T cells were found in four of the six boys who received viral vectors carrying synthetic genes encoding a miniature form of the normal dystrophin protein, possibly explaining why long-term transgene expression generally failed in the trial, according to Christopher Walker, PhD, of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and colleagues.
Even more unexpectedly, some of the reactive T cells appeared to target normal dystrophin epitopes not included in the "mini-dystrophin" protein expressed by the transgenes, the researchers reported in the Oct. 7 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Moreover, blood samples drawn from two participants before starting the trial were found to contain anti-dystrophin T cells, indicating that their immune systems were already primed against the protein.
"Monitoring of cellular immune responses should be a priority for any experimental therapy designed to increase the number of dystrophin-positive myofibers in patients with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy," Walker and colleagues concluded.
In an accompanying editorial, two gene therapy researchers not involved with the trial suggested the finding could actually be serendipitous, insofar as it might explain a previously mysterious feature of DMD.
"Most patients with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy have inflammatory infiltrates in their muscle, and many respond to systemic anti-inflammatory glucocorticoids. It is possible that autoreactive T cells are driving that response to some extent in certain patients," wrote Melissa J. Moore, PhD, and Terence Flotte, MD, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.
Study co-author R. Jude Samulski, PhD, of the University of North Carolina, also put a positive spin on the findings in a phone interview with MedPage Today.
"The Duchenne community is always looking for, what does this mean for my kid? That take-home message should be very loud and clear: we have a better understanding of the disease," he said.
"That understanding will allow us to approach the disorder in a more defined way so that we can address it with a better chance of succeeding."
He added that the sort of immunoreactivity seen in these DMD patients could well exist in other genetic disorders involving loss-of-function mutations to single genes, such as cystic fibrosis or hemophilia.
DMD results from any of a large number of mutations in the dystrophin gene. In most cases, the gene is not entirely missing but instead expresses a deformed protein sequence.
Many DMD patients have what are called revertant muscle fibers, which express abnormal dystrophin missing sequences encoded by genomic regions next to, but separate from, the DMD mutations.
As a result, Moore and Flotte suggested, children with DMD mutations may express enough abnormal dystrophin to provoke immune recognition, but not enough to induce self-tolerance.
Walker and colleagues decided to test the mini-dystrophin transgene because the gene for full-length, normal dystrophin is too large to be carried in the recombinant adeno-associated virus vector they wanted to use.
The smaller protein was shown to be partly functional in mouse models of DMD, increasing muscle contractility in the animals though not to fully normal levels.
The NEJM report is the first to be published from the phase I human trial. In it, the researchers focused on the immunologic findings, providing few details on clinical outcomes.
Other than the immune response, the therapy appeared safe, Walker and colleagues indicated.
Five of the six boys experienced at least one adverse event, which included stomach upset, macular or fungal rash, and sore throat, but all were mild.
Vector DNA was found in all patients after injection into the bicep of one arm. Muscle biopsies were taken in four patients 42 days after injection and after 90 days in two patients.
Muscle fibers containing mini-dystrophin were found in two of the four 42-day specimens but were lacking in both 90-day samples.
It was these findings that prompted the researchers to look for immune reactions that might have defeated the gene therapy.
Some of the reactive T cells they isolated were directed at nonself epitopes on the mini-dystrophin protein, but in other cases they appeared specific for dystrophin sequences that could not have been expressed from the transgene.
In the two patients with preexisting anti-dystrophin T cells, Walker and colleagues speculated that introduction of the transgene prompted a "recall response."
The researchers added that it was unclear why the other four patients apparently lacked the dystrophin-specific T cells before receiving the gene therapy. Walker and colleagues also indicated that they couldn't tell whether such T cells, irrespective of when they were generated, penetrated the muscle tissue in the study participants.
Samulski told MedPage Today that the way forward for DMD gene therapies may be to screen out patients showing preexisting dystrophin-specific T cells, or to cotreat them with immunomodulators to suppress them so that a transgene can be expressed.
He added that the same considerations would apply to other approaches that attempt to normalize dystrophin expression by, for example, causing the gene-transcription machinery to skip over the mutations.
The bottom line, he said, is that for at least some DMD patients, "that immune system is there waiting, and will respond regardless."
Primary source: New England Journal of Medicine
Source reference: Mendell J, et al "Dystrophin immunity in Duchenne's muscular dystrophy" N Engl J Med 2010; 363: 1429-1437.
Additional source: New England Journal of Medicine
Source reference: Moore M, et al "Autoimmunity in a genetic disease -- a cautionary tale" N Engl J Med 2010; 363: 1473-1475.


1. Box turtles are wild animals that live outside. Do not keep yours in a tank. It is a sad existence for an animal that is used to living in a quiet, wild habitat where he can hide among the leaves and bury himself in the dirt. Make sure that your box turtle has a safe place to live in your yard. It should have a high fence to make it predator proof, plenty of places to hide, no pesticides or Snarol and shallow pot saucers of water to soak in.
2. Box turtles should feel heavy when you pick them up. They are carnivores. They eat worms, snails, slugs and other small insects as well as some green vegetation. So if your garden does not have enough for your box turtle to eat, buy some super worms at the local pet store and let him eat as many as he wants every day.
3. Box turtles hibernate. They will stop eating about early September or later if you live in a warm climate. If they are indigenous to your area, or you live in a temperate climate, or if they have lived outside all along, they can hibernate in the leaves and dirt. They need moisture so do not hibernate them in a box in your house. If you must hibernate them in the house, put them in a Rubbermaid box in fertilizer free potting soil in a cool area with a small container of water for moisture. Check them once a month.
4. Box turtles should have bright clear eyes and no runny noses. They normally close up their hinge when disturbed. If you can pull open the bottom shell easily with your finger, and the turtle is acting sluggish, has nasal or eye discharge, has swollen eyes or has stopped eating, you need to see a vet. This is not normal. Make sure that you see a reptile "exotic" vet who knows all about turtles.
5. If your turtle is planning to lay eggs, it will often stop eating. This is normal. It might start and stop digging for several days before it finds the spot it likes. Normally this happens at dusk. They will become mesmerized and dig with their back feet until the eggs are ready to be laid. If you want to hatch them yourself, carefully dig them up, keeping them in the direction that they were laid. Put them in vermiculite with a baby food size jar of water buried next to them. Cover with plastic, put on top of the frig or other warm place and wait three months. If you leave them in the ground (my preference), they usually take longer to hatch. It's possible ants or groundhogs will eat them, however.
For more information, follow us on Facebook at American Tortoise Rescue.
Below is the house we built for our sulcata, as well as many other houses for the sanctuary years ago. We used plywood for the roof with fireproof James Hardie 4 x 8 foot cement siding on top, which provides rain and sun protection. We built cinder block and rebar houses with the removable roof for cleaning and a removable door for closing as well as a wind barrier. The roof has a radiant heat panel screwed into the underside for heat from above and the floor is made up of pig blankets (made for pigs so they can take the weight) called Kane heat pads – both are available from www.beanfarm.com. Never use any lights – they cause fires. Never cover the pig blankets with any substrate or hay.
American Tortoise Rescue , the international nonprofit for turtle and tortoise protection, is asking consumers to not buy live animals, especially turtles and tortoises. Adopt please! Here’s a list of rescues in the U.S and elsewhere http://www.tortoise.com/need-a-rescue.html.
According to Susan Tellem, co-founder of the sanctuary, while these wonderful reptiles have outlived the dinosaurs, wide spread illegal smuggling and the commercial pet trade in turtles and tortoises has devastated wild populations worldwide. Many once thriving species are now threatened or endangered. Worse, some are now extinct.
"The pet industry thrives on small, adorable exotic animals with a big price tag," Tellem says. "What we are recommending is to avoid impulse buys. We understand the appeal of an adorable two inch baby turtle!” Tellem adds, “But most animal rescues have many turtles and tortoises ready for adoption to good homes.”
Tellem gives five reasons why people shouldn’t buy a turtle or tortoise.
She adds that a domesticated pet cannot be put back into the wild. It will die or introduce disease into an already precarious wild ecosystem. In many states, it is also illegal.
Tellem says that the option of placing the animal with a rescue is not always the answer, as her rescue is full as are most others. The best solution is to find a compassionate adopter who is willing to give a proper “forever home” to the pet. There are many national rescue organizations listed on www.tortoise.com which can facilitate adoptions if people are interested in getting an animal.
One way to enjoy a turtle or tortoise without harming them is to make a donation to a nonprofit like American Tortoise Rescue. “This allows us to educate people and care for the ones that are ill in our sanctuary. If a donor makes a $100 donation or more, we send them an adoption certificate featuring one of our permanent residents, and it’s good for one year. People enjoy that because they can care for the animal vicariously,” Tellem says.
American Tortoise Rescue, Malibu, Calif., is a nonprofit founded in 1990 to provide for the protection of all species of tortoise and turtle. For more information, contact: American Tortoise Rescue at www.tortoise.com ; or email firstname.lastname@example.org . Follow on Twitter @tortoiserescue and on Facebook. Tellem started World Turtle Day® 17 years ago which is now celebrated globally (and is trademarked). Find out more at www.wroldturtleday.org and on Facebook and twitter.
© 2016 American Tortoise Rescue


Seeing the bottom of the Potomac River through a facemask is a little like looking through a microscope. It’s a new world down there, and you never know what you might find.
I was looking sponges. The previous year they were right here, at the head of Watkins Island, near Pennyfield Lock. It was apparently the first sighting of sponges in the river’s main stem. What happened to them? Would they come back?
I examined the bottom minutely, admiring the shimmering pebbles and the green patina on the mussel shells. I poked at anything that looked even the slightest bit spongy.
Then I saw something that made me come to a full stop. Wedged among the pebbles was a pair of tiny white tubes, then another, and another. Hundreds of them. I had found a colony of freshwater clams.
This was interesting, but not because clams are unusual in the Potomac. Far from it. The shells of this little bivalves literally pave parts of the river in Montgomery County. Along some stretches of shoreline, their shells crunch under every footstep.
But I had never seen these little creatures actually at work. And here they were, drawing water through one tentacle-lined tube, retaining nutrients other matter, and then expelling the same water through the other tube.
It struck me that they might be a little like the Higgs boson of the Potomac. Even though most people don’t know anything about them, their vast numbers could give them a decisive role in the river’s ecology. Are they another of Charles Darwin’s humble creatures that rule the earth, such as the barnacles that were the subject of his first book and earthworms which he lovingly saved for his last?
Oysters of the Upper Potomac. It seems so, at least according to biologist Harriette Phelps, a professor emeritus at the University of the District of Colombia. Phelps is widely known for her work with this clam species in the tidal Potomac.
She told me the clam’s scientific name is Cobicula fluminea. Its common name will have to wait, so as not to give away the second part of the story.
“Hard working Corbicula,” she calls them. Put a layer of them on the bottom of a pail of murky water, and an hour and a half later the water will be clear. Multiply this effect by the countless millions of clams in the river, and you have what Phelps calls a “key species.”
Forget the feisty bass, the graceful heron, the majestic eagle. One of the real drivers of life in the river is this humble mollusk, most of them no bigger than a quarter. Darwin would have understood.
Corbicula almost seems designed with the express purpose of purifying water. The particles it extracts from the river are not simply cast back again. Instead, they are combined with mucus to build up the sediment in which they live.
Does this sound familiar? Elsewhere on this site I wrote how oysters were the cheapest and most efficient water purifier system in the Chesapeake Bay, until they were nearly wiped out.
Clearing up the water kicks off a chain of happy events. More sunlight penetrating the water fuels the growth of aquatic plants. With oxygen-producing plants come fish and birds, and pretty soon, the river environment becomes whole again.
Phelps saw this happen in the tidal Potomac. There’s “absolutely every reason” to assume that Corbicula is providing the same service in our upstream portion as well, she says.
Certainly something good is going on out there. In some places in the river, plants are so thick that you can barely plow your kayak through them. In the channels through the vegetation you see darting shoals of minnows and bass slipping back into the cover. Big catfish chug along the bottom like monster tadpoles.
A dark secret. But these sunlit waters contain a dark secret. Corbicula is not a native of the Potomac region or anywhere else in North America. It originally came from eastern Asia, and is know by the popular name Asian clam. It arrived first on the West Coast around 1930, then showed up in the Potomac in 1977.
Once in the Potomac the clams rapidly increased their numbers, carpeting many parts of the river bottom. This would seem to qualify Corbicula for membership in that increasingly familiar “genus” of the world of advocacy ecology called “invasive.” Here we have another foreign creature that has invaded our own natural communities, like a shiploads of Vikings burning monasteries, slaughtering townspeople, and carrying off treasure.
But not according to Phelps. “Corbicula were not invaders,” she said emphatically. “They occupied areas that were previously unoccupied.” And like many immigrants, they got their start by doing jobs that natives wouldn’t or couldn’t do themselves.
In the tidal Potomac, Corbicula inhabits the upper layer of the river bottom, she explained. The estuary’s native clam lives deeper down. “Even with Corbicula, the native clams are all over,” said Phelps.
Paradoxically, Phelps worries that this “invasive” species might disappear. It already has in her former study areas in the tidal Potomac. The same could happen in the upper river as well.
If Corbicula disappears, the river’s ecological clock could start to go in reverse. With no more clams filtering out so much stuff that gets washed into the river, the water could again lose its clarity, and with it, many of its plants, fish, birds, and other life forms.
The clams’ disappearance would also be felt by one group of local people whose ties to Corbicula extend to long ago and far away. You can sometimes see them, the men bent over the water, raking out clams with fan covers, the women sitting in the river, plastic baskets resting on their outstretched legs, picking the clams out from the stones and empty shells.
These people are also immigrants, harvesting the same clams in the same way they they and their families have done for many generations in their southeast Asian homelands. Following age-old traditions they will cook the clams in a wok with ginger, chile peppers, basil, and soy sauce.
Evidently it’s an acquired taste. “They’re good,” says Phelps, “but not really clam-like to me. I like clams that are saltier.”


Kabina’s unique method for sustainable development in flood meadows enables great new homes to be built adjacent to existing infrastructure, in places where people want and need to live.
Types of flooding
We are all aware of global warming, climate change and increases in rainfall and flooding.
Winter precipitation trends across the UK for the 2080s. The increase ranges from +14% in the northeast to +23% in the southwest. The Thames Valley increase is within this range.
A report by IPCC in 2013 indicated that mean sea level would rise between 0.52m and 0.98m by 2100 due to melting ice sheets.
Sources of flooding:
- Rivers – when water overtops the riverbank
- Coastal (and tidal) – when seawater is driven on to land by storms and high tides
- Surface water – when excessive rain cannot be absorbed into the ground and runs off hard surfaces too quickly to be discharged
- Sewers – when too much rainwater enters sewers
- Groundwater – when below-ground water rises above ground level
- Artificial structures – failures such as burst water main or collapsed embankment
Terrain can be divided into upper, middle and lower catchment areas.
River basins, such as the Thames Valley, are in middle catchment areas.
The rainwater catchment area is larger than in the upper catchment, rainwater takes longer to reach the river and so large areas of rainwater can remain on the land for several days following a flood event.
Defra recommends that in such an area the rivers and floodwater should be allowed to flow.
Other recommendations are that roads are elevated above flood level and that planted open channels are created to provide drainage routes.
Flood types in a middle catchment such as the Thames Valley: mainly river flooding but also surface water, sewers and groundwater flooding.
Upper areas are in higher altitude locations such as the Peak District and Snowdonia; lower areas are typically coastal locations.
There are two ways to cater to flood events: raised foundations or a can-float system.
The default historically in the UK, US and elsewhere has been to raise the home so that the ground floor level is hopefully going to be higher than the level of flooding, often leaving a sacrificial lower level (void, basement or garage) which can take flooding at a cost that is deemed to be acceptable.
In the UK, where flood heights are generally less than the southern states of the USA the default is for ramps and raised homes. The homes have some flood mitigation measures such as ramps, washboards, raised electric points and perhaps sacrificial basements. They suffer from waste ingress in a serious flood but the damage is limited or mitigated by such measures.
The government refers to this as ‘flood resilience’, ie the homes are resilient and might suffer damage at an acceptable level.
Building on stilts or piers is commonplace across the USA. In low density coastal regions stilt foundations are almost transparent to tidal flows. However, when used as a defence against storm flooding this method can be vulnerable to heavy items of debris borne along on fast moving floodwaters. Furthermore houses that are permanently raised off the ground are not particularly convivial, nor is there any guarantee that a severe flood will not reach them. The recent flooding in Texas has proved the point. Public and governmental resistance to development in flood zones is most prevalent in high density housing environments, where councils naturally seek to prevent to new building schemes that may exacerbate or increase the existing threat of flooding to their homes.
This is relatively new to the UK and is more established in Holland. Flooding in the UK has not been on such a scale historically to justify the investment and rollout of can-float systems. However, with the impact of climate change and the increasing need for new homes, particularly given the desire to avoid greenbelts, the idea of can-float homes in flood zones is gaining acceptance as it is recognised as a means of providing full ‘flood resistance’ as opposed to mere ‘flood resilience’.
The Kabina Home responds to extreme flood conditions by adapting to varying water levels and flow rates. The Kabina house foundation system and landscaping give homeowners a great lifestyle, promote flora and fauna and can take surrounding neighbourhoods out of flood risk by providing effective flood management. The house design celebrates the deck which runs around the whole house and extends 3m at the back of the house to create outdoor recreational and dining space. The design is inspired by Japanese architecture, notably the flat-angled pitch roof and overhanging eaves and the adoption throughout of the 2:1 proportion. Kabina has sought to create harmony, balance and proportion, to eschew pastiche and to arrive at a semblance of both tradition and innovation. The Kabina home sits on a buoyant concrete box foundation and has robust guiding piles to ensure that it rises and falls safely and securely if there is an extreme flood event.


Professor Lips’ research (see previous post) has included charting the rapid creep of chytrid fungus (AKA Bd) across Central America. Click on image to left for full frame view of the path and how fast it spread. Map courtesy of Professor Lips. I added the little text box and small arrows, just to help quickly grasp the map.
November 18, 2007
Chart of chytrid’s path in Central AmericaPosted by pleasecroak under Amphibian, Amphibian Ark, amphibian research, biodiversity, Chytrid fungus, climate change, Conservation, Environment, food web, Frog, global warming | Tags: Amphibian, Amphibian Ark, Bd, biodiversity, chytrid, Conservation, extinct species, karen lips, map, siu-carbondale |
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Florence, in Vespucci's day, was the home of genius, of culture, and of art. Amerigo, doubtless, was acquainted with some of her sons whose fame, like his own, has endured to the present day, and will last for all time. The great Michael Angelo, who was born at or near Florence in 1475, and whose patron was Lorenzo the Magnificent, was his contemporary, although the artist and sculptor survived the discoverer more than fifty years. Savonarola, who came to Florence in 1482, was just a year the junior of Amerigo, and is said to have been an intimate friend of his uncle, who, like himself, belonged to the Dominican order. The young man may not have been touched by Buonarroti's art, nor have been moved by Savonarola's preaching, but, like the former, he possessed an artistic temperament, and, like the latter, he was an enthusiast.
The man, however, who, next to his uncle, shaped Amerigo's career and turned him from trade to exploration, was a learned Florentine named Toscanelli. If you have followed the fortunes of Christopher Columbus, reader, you have seen this name before, for it was Toscanelli who, in the year 1474, sent a letter and a chart to the so-called discoverer of America, which confirmed him in the impression that a route to India lay westward from Europe across the "Sea of Darkness."
It is not known just when Amerigo first met "Paul the Physicist," as Toscanelli was called in Florence; but it may have been in youth or early manhood, for aside from the fact that "all the world" knew and reverenced the famous savant, there was the inclination arising from a mutual interest in cosmography and astronomy. Toscanelli was the foremost scientist of his age, and as he was born in 1397, at the time Amerigo met him he must have been a venerable man. He lived, however, until the year 1482, and as the younger man was in Florence during the first forty years of his life, and the last thirty of Toscanelli's, it is more than probable that their intercourse was long and friendly.
It is known, at least, that they were acquainted at the time the learned doctor wrote Columbus, in 1474, and it does not require a stretch of the imagination to fancy them together, and wondering what effect that letter would have upon a man who entertained views similar to their own. Columbus, it is thought, had then been pondering several years over the possible discovery of land, presumably the eastern coast of India, by sailing westward. "It was in the year 1474," writes a modern historian, "that he had some correspondence with the Italian savant, Toscanelli, regarding this discovery of land. A belief in such a discovery was a natural corollary to the object which Prince Henry of Portugal had in view by circumnavigating Africa, in order to find a way to the countries of which Marco Polo had given golden accounts. It was, in brief, to substitute for the tedious indirection of the African route a direct western passage—a belief in the practicability of which was drawn from a confidence in the sphericity of the earth."
Later in life Columbus seems to have forgotten his indebtedness to Toscanelli, and "grew to imagine that he had been independent of the influences of his time," ascribing his great discovery to the inspiration of one chosen to accomplish the prophecy of Isaiah. But the venerable Florentine had pondered the problem many years before Columbus thought of it. "Some Italian writers even go to the extent of asserting that the idea of a western passage to India originated with Toscanelli, before it entered the mind of Columbus; and it is highly probable that this was the case."
There is this in favor of Toscanelli: He was a learned man, while Columbus was comparatively ignorant. He was then advanced in years, and had given the greater portion of his life to the consideration of just such questions, having had his attention called to them by reading the travels of Marco Polo and comparing the information therein contained with that derived from Eastern merchants who had traded for many years in the Orient. He was not a sailor, nor a corsair—though Columbus had been both, and had followed the sea for years—but he was an astronomer, and he knew more of the starry heavens, as well as of the earth beneath them, than any other scientist alive. "It was Toscanelli who erected the famous solstitial gnomon at the cathedral of Florence." For his learning he was honored, when but thirty years of age, with the curatorship of the great Florentine library, and for nearly sixty years thereafter he passed his days amid books, charts, maps, and globes.
As a speculative philosopher, he had arrived at a correct conclusion respecting the sphericity of the earth, and, with all the generosity of a humanitarian, he freely communicated his ideas to others. Columbus would have excluded every other human being from participating in his thoughts, and arrogated to himself alone the right to navigate westerly. This was the difference between the broad-minded philosopher and the narrow-minded sailor who by accident had stumbled upon a theory. The philosopher said, "It belongs to the world!" The ignorant sailor cried, "It is mine!"
Toscanelli advanced the theory, but it was Columbus who put it to the test, and reaped all the rewards, as well as suffered for the mistakes. For mistakes there were, and the chief error lay in supposing the country "discovered" by Columbus pertained to the Indies. He died in that belief, and also Toscanelli, who passed away ten years before the first voyage made to that land, subsequently known as America. In one sense, perhaps, the Florentine doctor was the means of that first voyage of Columbus having been accomplished, for the chart he sent him made the distance between Europe and the western country seem so short that it was undertaken with less reluctance, and persisted in more stubbornly, than it might otherwise have been. But this was a mistake in detail only, and not in theory. A line was projected from about the latitude of Lisbon, on the western coast of Europe, to the "great city of Quinsai," as described by Marco Polo, on the opposite shores of Asia. This line was divided into twenty-six spaces, of two hundred and fifty miles each, making the total distance between the two points sixty-five hundred miles, which Toscanelli supposed to be one-third of the earth's circumference.
A conjectural restoration of Toscanelli's Map.
In short, Toscanelli calculated the distance, made a conjectural chart embodying the results of his readings of Aristotle, Strabo, and Ptolemy, of his conversations during many years with Oriental travellers, and his own observations. He sent this chart to Columbus; the latter adopted it as his guide, and by means of it, faulty as it was, achieved his great "discovery." Whose, then, is the merit of this achievement? Does it not belong as much to Toscanelli as to Columbus?
To whomsoever the credit may be given—whether to the man who conceived the idea, or to him who developed it, and whether or not Columbus intentionally appropriated the honor and glory exclusively—by the irony of fate, there stood a man at Toscanelli's elbow, as it were, when he wrote to the Genoese, who was destined to rob him of his great discovery's richest reward. This man was Amerigo Vespucci, after whom—though unsuggested by him and unknown to him—the continents of America were named, by strangers, before Christopher Columbus had lain a year in his grave!
It is not at all improbable that Vespucci was aware of the correspondence between Toscanelli and Columbus, as he was then acquainted with the former, and at the age of twenty-three was intensely interested in the pursuits of the learned physician. Next to Toscanelli, in fact, he was probably the best-informed man then living in Florence as to the studies to which his friend had devoted the better part of his life, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that he saw the letters before they were sent to Columbus.
But this is a trivial matter compared with the importance of these letters, in a consideration of the effect they produced upon the mind of Columbus, for, if they did not suggest to him the idea of voyaging westerly to discover the Indies, they certainly confirmed him in the opinion that such a voyage could be successfully made. By a strange freak of fate these letters were preserved in the Life of Columbus, written by his son Fernando, and there can be no question of their authenticity. They breathe the spirit of benevolence for which Toscanelli was noted, and indicate the greatness of the man—a greatness decidedly in contrast to the mean and petty nature of his correspondent, who would have perished sooner than allow information so precious to escape from him to the world.
Toscanelli's first letter was written in Florence, June 25, 1474, and is as follows:
"To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Physicist wishes health.
"I perceive your noble and earnest desire to sail to those parts where the spice is produced, and therefore, in answer to a letter of yours, I send you another letter which, some days since, I wrote to a friend of mine, a servant of the King of Portugal before the wars of Castile, in answer to another that he wrote me by his highness's order, upon this same account. And I also send you another sea-chart, like the one I sent to him, which will satisfy your demands. This is a copy of the letter:
"'To Ferdinand Martinez, Canon of Lisbon, Paul the Physicist wishes health.
"'I am very glad to hear of the familiarity you enjoy with your most serene and magnificent king, and though I have very often discoursed concerning the short way there is from hence to the Indies, where the spice is produced, by sea (which I look upon to be shorter than that you take by the coast of Guinea), yet you now tell me that his highness would have me make out and demonstrate it, so that it may be understood and put in practice.
"'Therefore, though I could better show it to him with a globe in my hand, and make him sensible of the figure of the world, yet I have resolved, to make it more easy and intelligible, to show the way on a chart, such as is used in navigation, and therefore I send one to his majesty, made and drawn with my own hand, wherein is set down the utmost bounds of the earth, from Ireland in the west to the farthest parts of Guinea, with all the islands that lie in the way; opposite to which western coast is described the beginning of the Indies, with the islands and places whither you may go, and how far you may bend from the North Pole towards the Equinoctial, and for how long a time—that is, how many leagues you may sail before you come to those places most fruitful in spices, jewels, and precious stones.
"'Do not wonder if I term that country where the spice grows, West, that product being generally ascribed to the East, because those who sail westward will always find those countries in the west, and those who travel by land eastward will always find those countries in the east! The straight lines that lie lengthways in the chart show the distance there is from west to east; the others, which cross them, show the distance from north to south. I have also marked down in the chart several places in India where ships might put in, upon any storms or contrary winds, or other unforeseen accident.
"'Moreover, to give you full information of all those places which you are very desirous to know about, you must understand that none but traders live and reside in all those islands, and that there is as great a number of ships and seafaring people, with merchandise, as in any other part of the world, particularly in a most noble port called Zaitun, where there are every year a hundred large ships of pepper loaded and unloaded, besides many other ships that take in other spices. This country is mighty populous, and there are many provinces and kingdoms, and innumerable cities, under the dominion of a prince called the Grand Khan, which name signifies king of kings, who for the most part resides in the province of Cathay. His predecessors were very desirous to have commerce and be in amity with Christians, and two hundred years since sent ambassadors to the Pope, desiring him to send them many learned men and doctors, to teach them our faith; but by reason of some obstacles the ambassadors met with they returned back, without coming to Rome. Besides, there came an ambassador to Pope Eugenius IV., who told him of the great friendship there was between those princes and their people, and the Christians. I discoursed with him a long while upon the several matters of the grandeur of their royal structures, and of the greatness, length, and breadth of their rivers, and he told me many wonderful things of the multitude of towns and cities along the banks of the rivers, upon a single one of which there were two hundred cities, with marble bridges of great length and breadth, adorned with numerous pillars.
"'This country deserves as well as any other to be discovered; and there may not only be great profit made there, and many things of value found, but also gold, silver, many sorts of precious stones, and spices in abundance, which are not brought into our ports. And it is certain that many wise men, philosophers, astrologers, and other persons skilled in all arts and very ingenious, govern that mighty province and command their armies. From Lisbon directly westward there are in the chart twenty-six spaces, each of which contains two hundred and fifty miles, to the most noble and vast city of Quinsai, which is one hundred miles in compass—that is, thirty-five leagues. In it there are ten marble bridges. The name signifies a heavenly city, of which wonderful things are reported, as to the ingenuity of the people, the buildings, and the revenues.
"'This space above mentioned is almost the third part of the globe. The city is in the province of Mangi, bordering on that of Cathay, where the king for the most part resides. From the island of Antilla, which you call the Island of the Seven Cities, and whereof you have some knowledge, to the most noble island of Cipango are ten spaces, which make two thousand five hundred miles. This island abounds in gold, pearls, and precious stones; and, you must understand, they cover their temples and palaces with plates of pure gold; so that, for want of knowing the way, all these things are concealed and hidden—and yet may be gone to with safety.
"'Much more might be said; but having told you what is most material, and you being wise and judicious, I am satisfied there is nothing of it but what you understand, and therefore will not be more prolix. Thus much may serve to satisfy your curiosity, it being as much as the shortness of time and my business would permit me to say. So, I remain most ready to satisfy and serve his Highness to the utmost, in all the commands he shall lay upon me.'"
A second communication followed the reply of Columbus, in which Toscanelli wrote:
"I received your letters with the things you sent me, which I take as a great favor, and commend your noble and ardent desire of sailing from east to west, as it is marked out in the chart I sent you, which would demonstrate itself better in the form of a globe. I am glad it is well understood, and that the voyage laid down is not only possible, but certain, honorable, very advantageous, and most glorious among all Christians. You cannot be perfect in the knowledge of it but by experience and practice, as I have had in great measure, and by the solid and true information of worthy and wise men, who are come from those parts to this court of Rome, and from merchants who have traded long in those parts and who are persons of good reputation. So that, when the said voyage is performed, it will be to powerful kingdoms, and to most noble cities and provinces, rich, and abounding in all things we stand in need of, particularly all sorts of spice in great quantities, and stores of jewels. This will, moreover, be grateful to those kings and princes who are very desirous to converse and trade with Christians, or else have communication with the wise and ingenious men in these parts, as well in point of religion as in all sciences, because of the extraordinary account they have of the kingdoms and government of these parts. For which reasons, and many more that might be alleged, I do not at all wonder that you, who have a great heart, and all the Portuguese nation, which has ever had notable men in all undertakings, be eagerly bent upon performing this voyage."
In these letters we have outlined by Toscanelli the very voyage that Columbus took in 1492, eighteen years after he had received this precious information. In his journal of that voyage he makes mention of "the islands marked on the chart"; he was constantly seeking the island of Atlantis, and hoped eventually to arrive at the great and noble city of Quinsai, as well as at Cipango and Cathay. As for the "Grand Khan"—of whom he had been informed by Toscanelli, who obtained his information from Marco Polo's works—he not only sent an embassy in search of him, when in Cuba, but was looking for him throughout all his voyages.
It is well known that Columbus was not aware that he had really discovered a new world, but to the end of his days believed he had merely arrived at the eastern coast of India. So persistent was he in this belief that he falsified documents, and forced his crew to swear to what they did not know—namely, that Cuba was a continent, and not an island! He believed he had arrived at Cipango, when he heard the Indian word, cibao, on the coast of Hispaniola; and he says, in a letter written to Luis Santangel in 1493, "In Espanola there are gold-mines, and thence to terra firma, as well as thence to the Grand Khan, everything is on a splendid scale." Also, "When I arrived at Juana [Cuba], I followed the coast to the westward, and found it so extensive that I considered it must be a continent and a province of Cathay!"
Columbus, it has been said by some investigators, was a man of one idea—and that idea not his own! "It is impossible," says Washington Irving, in his Life of Columbus—which is, throughout, an elegant but labored apology for its hero—"to determine the precise time when Columbus first conceived the design of seeking a western route to India. It is certain, however, that he meditated it as early as the year 1474, though as yet it lay crude and unmatured in his mind."
The year 1474, as we know, was that in which Toscanelli sent him the letter and the chart. In that letter the route to India was laid down, and on that chart it was made clear to any seafaring man how Cathay might be reached, by merely sailing westward! By setting his helm, and persisting in a westerly course, any one might reach the coast that was supposed to lie opposite to Europe and Africa. Columbus did that, according to directions received from Toscanelli eighteen years before. He did nothing more, and he reached, not the coast of India, but the outlying islands of a new world since called America.
The idea, then, which Columbus claimed as exclusively his own was conveyed to him by Toscanelli—or, at least, it so appears—and Toscanelli obtained it from the ancients. For, says one having authority, "Eratosthenes, accepting the spherical theory, had advanced the identical notion which nearly seventeen hundred years later impelled Columbus to his voyage. He held the known world to span one-third of the circuit of the globe, as Strabo did at a later day, leaving an unknown two-thirds of sea; and if it were not that the vast extent of the Atlantic Sea rendered it impossible, one might even sail from the coast of Spain to that of India, along the same parallel."
And again: "An important element in the problem was the statement of Marco Polo regarding a large island, which he called Cipango, and which he represented as lying in the ocean off the eastern coast of Asia. This carried the eastern verge of the Asiatic world farther than the ancients had known, and, on the spherical theory, brought land nearer westward from Europe than could earlier have been supposed. . . . Humboldt has pointed out that neither Christopher Columbus nor his son Ferdinand mentions Marco Polo; still, we know that the former had read his book."


Red River Carts
One of the earliest settlements by Europeans in the Red River Valley was at the north end of the river at Selkirk, north of Winnipeg (then Fort Garry). The nearest large city to the settlers was St. Paul, Minnesota.
According to the journal of North West Company fur-trader Alexander Henry (the younger), the carts made their first appearance in 1801 at Fort Pembina, just south of what is now the United States border. Originally the carts were small horse-drawn affairs, with three-foot solid wheels cut from large trees, carrying up to 450 pounds. Later, larger wheels with four spokes were used and gradually the red river carts with their huge, many-spoked wheels evolved, carrying nearly twice as much. Some had "tires" made of shaganappi (green rawhide).
In 1878 Harper's Magazine carried a description of the red river cart, written by reporters who visited the territory:
It is simply a light box with a pair of shafts, mounted on an axle connecting two enormous wheels. Ther is no concession made to the aversion of the human frame to sudden violent changes of level; there is no weakness of luxury about this vehicle. The wheels are broad in the felloes (rims), so as not to cut through the prairie sod. They are long in the spokes, so as to pass safely through fords and mudholes. They are very much dished so that they can be strapped together and rawhide stretched over them to make a boat. The whole cart is made of wood; there is not a bit of metal about it, so that, if anything breaks, the material to repair
it is easily found. The axles are never greased and they furnish an incessant answer to the old conundrum: "What makes more noise than a pig in a poke?"
Each wheel was said to have its own peculiar shriek, announcing the coming of a cart train from a great distance. (Grease or oil would have only mixed with the dust, wearing down the axles.) As it was, a cart often used four or five axles on the trip to St. Paul from the Red River settlement. Harness was made from a buffalo hide, often in one piece. Carts moved single file, except when in danger from Indians, when they traveled several abreast. Each driver controlled five or six carts strung out behind him, each ox tied to the cart ahead.
The carts were used to transport goods to as far away as St. Paul from Selkirk.


The word 'Theory' refers to the study of the workings of music, although there's nothing theoretical about it. The mechanics of music is factual and that's what we'll touch on in this next section.
Since music is something we hear, it's not always easy to describe it in words. Notation has long been the accepted way of translating music into a visual format and I highly recommend that you learn how to notate and 'sight read' music. The guitar, however, often attracts players who are not interested in the finer points of notation and 'just want to play'. Some of the most famous guitarists can't read or write notation, but they certainly know how music works. There is a very definite structure to music and over the years I have formed an image in my mind of that structure. That is what I will try to impart to you in these next pages .
Before I go into the answer to that rather large question, I would like to say that my teaching method is somewhat unorthodox, and has been frowned upon by some teachers. Their main complaint is that I don't emphasize enough the importance of reading and writing notation. My answer to that is that if I don't know how myself, how on earth could I teach it? What I can do is play the guitar. I learned by ear starting at a very young age and I have my own way of 'seeing music'. Standard notation is another way of seeing music, a way I never learned properly. I wish that I had, of course, and I've certainly given learning it a good try over the years, but I think perhaps I'm a little dyslexic in that regard. I just can't seem to make those little symbols stay still on the page. There is a structure to music, though, and that structure can be described in plain old English and depicted using graphs and the guitar fretboard itself as notation or graph paper. One more time for any frowners: I wish I could read music and teach notation, but I don't. I agree that it would be better to be able to read than not, but I also believe that it's the making of music rather than the notating of it that's important, and that implying to beginners that you MUST read music is plain wrong. I'm living proof. It's lucky for all of us that the Internet is jam packed with sites that do teach standard notation, in fact one of our contributing members right here at Guitar for Beginners and Beyond has posted some very comprehensive lessons on the subject of reading standard notation.
Music is a system with rules and regulations
Its raw ingredients are sound and time
The basic units of sound are notes, or pitches
The basic units of time are beats