Plot is the series of events in a story; it’s the action, the stuff that happens. A good plot is logical, believable, and compelling enough to keep the reader reading.
Two Sentence Test
In order to create a strong structure, identify the main plot. If you can’t tell someone what your story, novel, or screenplay is about in two sentences, you probably aren’t ready to build the structure and should spend more time developing your ideas. Your two sentences should identify the main character, the main character’s goal, and the conflict.
Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files, offers this structure: “WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENS, YOUR PROTAGONIST pursues a GOAL. But will he succeed when the ANTAGONIST PROVIDES OPPOSITION?”
Ex. from the film Finding Nemo: When his wife and all but one of his children are eaten, Marlin tries to keep Nemo, his remaining child, safe. But will he succeed when Nemo is caught by a fisherman and an entire dangerous ocean stretches between Marlin and his son?
Point of View
Point of view (POV) is the perspective from which your story is told. Ask yourself, “Who has the most to lose?” or “Who will be hurt by this?” Those questions lead you to characters and often to your POV.
There are two primary points of view used in writing fiction:
- First person narration is written from the character’s perspective. It uses “I.” First person automatically heightens your story’s emotion because the reader is in the character’s head, hearing his or her thoughts. Its drawback is that the reader only gets that one perspective. Since the character doesn’t always witness all of the action taking place, it can make including necessary plot elements a challenge.
- Third person narration is written as though the writer is in the room with the characters and is recording what happens. With third person, more than one character can be followed and we can read the minds of more than one character, which gives the writer more freedom. The downside is that following too many characters can become confusing for readers.
This is what the character aims for at from the beginning—the Immediate Goal should:
- Be active and specific. It’s not enough for your protagonist to want to be rich and famous. It’s far better to be specific: she wants to study music, become a great singer/songwriter, and sell millions of records.
- Be attainable. Don’t set the goal too high. First, it’s unrealistic and readers generally prefer realism even in the most absurd stories. Second, there will be a bigger goal later. The main goal will change when the antagonist comes along, so leave room for the story to become something more.
- Be important. Make sure the goal is important enough that it will drive the character and, therefore, your reader. It doesn’t have to be big, just important to the character. In The Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry wants to escape the oppression of his uncle’s house, learn magic, and make friends. None of those are splashy goals, but they’re important to Harry, who’s been mistreated and never had a friend.
- Force a course of action. This goal determines your character’s actions for the first part of your story, screenplay, or novel. Make sure the goal requires movement or action; otherwise, there’s no story. In the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Tula, the daughter of a controlling family, decides to change her life. She goes back to school, studies computers, alters her appearance, and gets a new job.
Conflict occurs when someone or something decides that the character should not reach the goal. The opponent does not necessarily have to be a Darth Vadar-type embodiment of evil; a well-meaning but misguided relative, for instance, can be just as effective at stopping action as an evil mastermind. Conflict can also be a result of circumstance. In The Outsiders, we learn that the protagonist’s brother, Darry, had received a scholarship to play football; that was his goal. But when his parents died, he had to abandon his dream in order to raise his younger brothers. That’s conflict. Good conflict should:
- Be equal. The antagonist’s will/power should be equal to or even outweigh the protagonist’s will/power. Both sides have to be equally weighted; if one is obviously stronger than the other, the conflict’s conclusion is obvious and that’s boring.
- Be opposite. The antagonist’s goals should be the opposite of the protagonist’s goals so that they cancel each other out. BOTH cannot happen. Problems that can be easily resolved won’t keep readers interested; in the end, one side must prevail. In a good story, the reader isn’t sure which side will win.
The New Goal is established when the character realizes that attaining his Immediate Goal will not be as simple as anticipated. A barrier has been established by the conflict and the character must overcome that barrier to achieve the goal. The New Goal should:
- Be bigger than the Immediate Goal. The New Goal raises the story’s stakes. It makes the story and the character more important and makes the story’s conclusion more urgent.
- Be connected to the Immediate Goal. The two are not separate. Usually, the New Goal is the result of the Immediate Goal and the conflict. For example, in the Harry Potter novels, Harry, the young wizard, wants to live, but the evil wizard Voldemort is trying to kill him. Therefore, destroying Voldemort becomes his New Goal.
- Accompany character growth. The New Goal usually requires a change in the mind, heart, or soul of your protagonist. The protagonist must develop in order to make and fulfill this New Goal.
Sequence of Events
Most stories follow a similar sequence of events. As the main character moves through the sequence, he/she grows or changes. Make sure the beginning of the story leads believably into the middle and the end. Readers like the ending to be a surprise but appreciate it when there have been clues to that surprise all along.
The typical sequence includes:
- Exposition: The opening introduces the characters and setting and establishes the central conflict.
- Rising Action: Everything that leads up to the climax.
- Climax/Turning Point: The point at which the protagonist decides how to resolve a conflict or faces those conflicts. At this point the story moves from building conflict to resolving conflict. It is NOT necessarily the most exciting part of the story, although it often is.
- Falling Action: Everything that happens as a result of the climax.
- Resolution/ Denouement: The part of the story that sums up or brings the conflicts to a conclusion. It should be believable, and not a huge surprise, because the plot should have been building to it.
In the opening of the story, readers meet the main characters and begin to understand the central conflict. Readers also learn important background information. Some stories begin at the beginning (“Once upon a time, there was a frog … “) but often the story begins in media res—a Latin expression meaning “in the middle of things.” For example, E.B. White opens Charlotte’s Web with the line, “’Where's Papa going with that axe?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.” Instantly, readers are, like Fern, wondering where Papa is headed with that axe, but they’re also wondering who Papa is and who Fern is and why she cares about Papa and the axe. Having gotten your attention, White then quickly begins to provide answers to those questions.
In Rising Action, tension is mounting. Your character is moving steadily towards the New Goal and the final showdown. This could be a preparation for battle or a confrontation with a lesser foe. Rising Action should:
- Rise from the New Goal. It’s the action now being taken to fulfill that ultimate goal. The tone should be charged and full of expectation.
- Lead directly to the climax. The Rising Action should cover the actions and emotions leading up to the ultimate clash. Even if your climax is a kid confronting his mom about wanting to go to college in New Zealand, he’s going to be nervous about that and he’s going to be making plans. That’s rising action.
The climax is the “beatdown.” where the opposing sides square off and fight it out—not necessarily literally. It is, as writer Jim Butcher puts it, where the story’s question is answered. A good climax should:
- Be cathartic. You’ve spent your entire story getting your readers invested. They want to KNOW what happens. They’re on the edge of their seats and reading instead of going to class or making dinner because they HAVE to see how it ends. A catharsis is the release of all that tension and emotion.
- Be a surprise. Readers mostly know how a story ends—in many genres, good is expected to win over evil, love triumphs, etc. As a writer, though, you want readers to doubt that. A climax should include a moment where all seems lost and then--despite insurmountable odds--the protagonist triumphs.
- Result from character growth. The climax often makes readers love the main character even more--whether a character triumphs due to learning a lesson, making a sacrifice, or simply refusing to give up.
Everything that happens as a result of the climax is the falling action. The falling action should:
- Feel inevitable. Everything that led to the climax has set up the story’s arc.
- Be logical. Anything that results from the decisions or actions of the main character should seem like a logical outcome.
Resolution (or Denouement)
This is where the loose ends get tied up. The lovers finally kiss, there’s a wedding/funeral, someone receives a medal, or the old cowhand gives a speech to the young upstart who just saved the town. It’s the beginning of a new (and hopefully improved) reality. A good resolution should:
- Be logical. Don’t have something or someone no one ever heard of come in and save the day and make everyone’s lives perfect. Don’t pull out those rabbits just to make things fit.
- Leave the reader satisfied. The reader should feel they can go on with their lives because their questions have been answered. They should feel that justice has been dealt and peace has been restored, looking forward to a brighter tomorrow.
- Match the book. Many writers—even very talented ones—run into the problem of a happy ending or epilogue that feels out of place. It’s almost too light and too perfect for the heavy events of the story. It’s often enough to end on a hopeful note, rather than resolving every issue.
Buckham, Mary and Dianna Love. Break into Fiction. Holbrook: Adams Media, 2009.
Butcher, Jim. Jim’s LiveJournal. Fundamentals--Story Skeletons. Web. Sept 29 2004. June 17 2010.
Knight, Damon. Creating Short Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1997.
Schaefer, Candace and Rick Diamond. The Creative Writer. Addison-Wesley, 1998.


People who feel sleepy after a few drinks might be less likely to develop an alcohol problem. A gene called ADH1B*3 is associated with a lower risk of alcoholism and is found almost exclusively in people with African ancestry. Researchers from the University of Missouri studied 91 African Americans between 21 and 26. Some of them had the ADH1B*3 gene while others didn't. The participants were given a moderate amount of alcohol and those with the ADH1B*3 gene were more likely to have higher levels of sedation and a raised pulse rate. The researchers though that people with the gene might be less likely to drink if it made them feel sleepy rather than stimulated or disinhibited, or, if they are like me they might just fall asleep before they drink too much!
You can find out more about this research at


What could possibly define success more than having a phrase in the English language defined by one’s name? ‘The Real McCoy’, a term used to indicate ‘the real thing’, underlines Elijah McCoy’s lifetime and legacy as an inventor. With close to 60 patents issued for his inventions during his lifetime, he remains amongst the most prominent of mechanical engineers the world has known.
Born in Ontario, Canada on 2nd May 1844 to George and Emilia McCoy, who fled slavery in the US, Elijah’s childhood was rather challenging as his parents looked to meet ends taking care of him along with 11 of his siblings. The family moved back to the US, settling down in Michigan which became Elijah’s home for the rest of his life. While his first wife Elizabeth passed away just four years post marriage in 1868, Elijah married Mary Eleanor Delaney in 1873.
Elijah McCoy’s displayed a keen interest in mechanics since young age. Taking note of the same, his parents arranged for him to travel to Scotland at the age of 15 to pursue an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering. Equipped with this qualification, Elijah returned to Michigan at a time when racism and slavery was at its peak in the US. Resultantly, the he managed to get hired as a blue collared job as a locomotive fireman and oiler for the Michigan Central Railroad. As goes the saying, ‘The darkest hour is just before Dawn’, it was here that Elijah set on the path as an Inventor with the development of the ‘lubricating cup’, offering a solution to the inherent problem of the existing oiling axles. This development ushered in a new phase for locomotives aiding shorter travel times and more profitable operations. He received a patent for the same in 1872, a first of many. While other company’s attempted to sell their own versions of the device, but user companies which had extended to not just railroad but also naval vessels, oil-drilling rigs, mining and construction wanted the ‘the Real McCoy’.
The subsequent decades saw Elijah continue on his path to not just improve his invented design but extend his expertise across industries. He developed solutions in a variety of machines including the ironing board, lawn sprinkler amongst others, which ultimately led him to incorporate his company Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Company in 1920.
Elijah McCoy died on 10th October, 1929 after suffering for the few years before this death, from injuries which he suffered following a car accident. His life continues to remain an inspiration for many across the world – born into abject poverty in an era where slavery persisted, here was an individual who overcame all obstacles to pursue his love of the field of Engineering, in effect getting recognised amongst the greatest of inventors. The impact he left on his hometown echoes till now - the first satellite office of the US Patent & Trademark Office, set up in Michigan, was named as the "Elijah J. McCoy United States Patent and Trademark Office".


The Land of Israel
The birthplace of the Jewish people is (Eretz Yisrael). There, a significant part of the nation's long history was enacted, of which the first thousand years are recorded in the Bible; there, its cultural, religious, and national identity was formed; and there, its physical presence has been maintained through the centuries, even after the majority was forced into exile. During the many years of dispersion, the Jewish people never severed nor forgot its bond with the Land. With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Jewish independence, lost 2,000 years earlier, was renewed.
Archeology in Israel involves the systematic investigation of all the remains of the country's past - from prehistory to the end of Ottoman rule. The profusion of material remains is evidence of the many cultures that have left their imprint on the Land. Above all archeological research clearly reveals the historical link between the Jewish people, the Bible and the Land of Israel, uncovering the remains of the cultural heritage of the Jewish people in its homeland. These visible remains, buried in the soil, constitute the physical link between the past, the present and the future of the Jewish people in its country. This unbroken chain of history can be observed at sites all over the country. Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, has been the focus of extensive archeological activity and remains of 5,000 years of history have been revealed.
Jewish history began about 4,000 years ago (c. 17th century BCE) with the patriarchs - Abraham, his son Isaac, and grandson Jacob. Documents unearthed in Mesopotamia, dating back to 2000-1500 BCE, corroborate aspects of their nomadic way of life as described in the Bible. The Book of Genesis relates how Abraham was summoned from Ur of the Chaldeans to Canaan to bring about the formation of a people with belief in the One God. When a famine spread through Canaan, Jacob (Israel), his 12 sons, and their families settled in Egypt, where their descendants were reduced to slavery and pressed into forced labor.
After 400 years of bondage, the Israelites were led to freedom by Moses who, according to the biblical narrative, was chosen by God to take his people out of Egypt and back to the Land of Israel promised to their forefathers (c.13th-12th centuries BCE). They wandered for 40 years in the Sinai desert, where they were forged into a nation and received the Torah (Pentateuch), which included the Ten Commandments, and gave form and content to their monotheistic faith.
The exodus from Egypt (c.1300 BCE) left an indelible imprint on the national memory of the Jewish people and became a universal symbol of liberty and freedom. Every year Jews celebrate Pesach (Passover), Shavuot (Pentecost) and Succot (Feast of Tabernacles), commemorating events of that time. During the next two centuries, the Israelites conquered most of the Land of Israel and became farmers and craftsmen; a degree of economic and social consolidation followed. Periods of relative peace alternated with times of war, during which the people rallied behind leaders known as judges, chosen for their political and military skills as well as for their leadership qualities.
The weakness inherent in this tribal organization in face of a threat posed by the Philistines (sea-going people from Asia Minor who settled on the Mediterranean coast) generated the need for a ruler who would unite the tribes and make the position permanent, with succession carried on by inheritance. The first king, Saul (c.1020 BCE), bridged the period between loose tribal organization and the setting up of a full monarchy under his successor, David.
King David (c.1004-965 BCE) established his kingdom as a major power in the region by successful military expeditions, including the final defeat of the Philistines, as well as through a network of friendly alliances with nearby kingdoms. Consequently, his authority was recognized from the borders of Egypt and the Red Sea to the banks of the Euphrates. At home, he united the 12 Israelite tribes into one kingdom and placed his capital, Jerusalem, and the monarchy at the center of the country's national life. Biblical tradition depicts David as a poet and musician, with verses ascribed to him appearing in the Book of Psalms.
David was succeeded by his son Solomon (c.965-930 BCE) who further strengthened the kingdom. Through treaties with neighboring kings, reinforced by politically motivated marriages, Solomon ensured peace for his kingdom and made it equal among the great powers of the age. He expanded foreign trade and promoted domestic prosperity by developing major enterprises, such as copper mining and metal smelting, while building new towns and fortifying old ones of strategic and economic importance. Crowning his achievements was the building of the Temple in Jerusalem, which became the center of the Jewish people's national and religious life. The Bible attributes to Solomon the Book of Proverbs and the Song of Songs.
Religious sages and charismatic figures, who were perceived as being endowed with a divine gift of revelation, preached during the period of the monarchy until a century after the destruction of Jerusalem (586 BCE). Whether as advisers to kings on matters of religion, ethics and politics, or as their critics under the primacy of the relationship between the individual and God, the prophets were guided by the need for justice and issued powerful commentaries on the morality of Jewish national life. Their revelatory experiences were recorded in books of inspired prose and poetry, many of which were incorporated into the Bible. The enduring, universal appeal of the prophets derives from their call for a fundamental consideration of human values. Words such as those of Isaiah (1:17), "Learn to do good, devote yourselves to justice; aid the wronged, uphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the widow continue to nourish humanity's pursuit of social justice."
The end of Solomon's rule was marred by discontent on the part of the populace, which had to pay heavily for his ambitious schemes. At the same time, preferential treatment of his own tribe embittered the others, which resulted in growing antagonism between the monarchy and the tribal separatists. After Solomon's death (930 BCE), open insurrection led to the breaking away of the 10 northern tribes and division of the country into a northern kingdom, Israel, and a southern kingdom, Judah, the latter on the territory of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
The Kingdom of Israel, with its capital Samaria, lasted more than 200 years under 19 kings, while the Kingdom of Judah was ruled from Jerusalem for 400 years by an equal number of kings of the lineage of David. The expansion of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires brought first Israel and later Judah under foreign control. The Kingdom of Israel was crushed by the Assyrians (722 BCE) and its people carried off into exile and oblivion. Over a hundred years later, Babylonia conquered the Kingdom of Judah, exiling most of its inhabitants as well as destroying Jerusalem and the Temple (586 BCE).
The Babylonian conquest brought an end to the First Temple period, but did not sever the Jewish people's connection to the Land of Israel. Sitting by the rivers of Babylon, the Jews pledged to remember their homeland. The exile to Babylonia, which followed the destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE), marked the beginning of the Jewish Diaspora. There, Judaism began to develop a religious framework and way of life outside the Land, ultimately ensuring the people's national survival and spiritual identity and imbuing it with sufficient vitality to safeguard its future as a nation.
Following a decree by the Persian King Cyrus, conqueror of the Babylonian empire (538 BCE), some 50,000 Jews set out on the first return to the Land of Israel, led by Zerubbabel, a descendant of the House of David. Less than a century later, the second return was led by Ezra the Scribe. Over the next four centuries, the Jews knew varying degrees of self-rule under Persian (538-333 BCE) and later Hellenistic (Ptolemaic and Seleucid) overlordship (332-142 BCE).
The repatriation of the Jews under Ezra's inspired leadership, construction of the Second Temple on the site of the First Temple, refortification of the walls of Jerusalem, and establishment of the Knesset Hagedolah (Great Assembly) as the supreme religious and judicial body of the Jewish people marked the beginning of the Second Temple period. Within the confines of the Persian Empire, Judah was a nation whose leadership was entrusted to the high priest and council of elders in Jerusalem.
As part of the ancient world conquered by Alexander the Great of Greece (332 BCE), the Land remained a Jewish theocracy under Syrian-based Seleucid rulers. When the Jews were prohibited to practice Judaism and their Temple was desecrated as part of an effort to impose Greek-oriented culture and customs on the entire population, the Jews rose in revolt (166 BCE). First led by Mattathias of the priestly Hasmonean family and then by his son Judah the Maccabee, the Jews subsequently entered Jerusalem and purified the Temple (164 BCE), events commemorated each year by the festival of Hannuka.
Following further Hasmonean victories (147 BCE), the Seleucids restored autonomy to Judea, as the Land of Israel was now called, and, with the collapse of the Seleucid kingdom (129 BCE), Jewish independence was achieved. Under the Hasmonean dynasty, which lasted about 80 years, the kingdom regained boundaries not far short of Solomon's realm, political consolidation under Jewish rule was attained and Jewish life flourished.
When the Romans replaced the Seleucids as the great power in the region, they granted the Hasmonean king, Hyrcanus II, had limited authority under the Roman governor of Damascus. The Jews were hostile to the new regime, and the following years witnessed frequent insurrections. A last attempt to restore the former glory of the Hasmonean dynasty was made by Mattathias Antigonus, whose defeat and death brought Hasmonean rule to an end (40 BCE), and the Land became a province of the Roman Empire.
In 37 BCE Herod, a son-in-law of Hyrcanus II, was appointed King of Judea by the Romans. Granted almost unlimited autonomy in the country's internal affairs, he became one of the most powerful monarchs in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. A great admirer of Greco-Roman culture, Herod launched a massive construction program, which included the cities of Caesarea and Sebaste and the fortresses at Herodium and Masada. He also remodeled the Temple into one of the most magnificent buildings of its time. But despite his many achievements, Herod failed to win the trust and support of his Jewish subjects.
Ten years after Herod's death (4 BCE), Judea came under direct Roman administration. Growing anger against increased Roman suppression of Jewish life resulted in sporadic violence which escalated into a full-scale revolt in 66 CE. Superior Roman forces led by Titus were finally victorious, razing Jerusalem to the ground (70 CE) and defeating the last Jewish outpost at Masada (73 CE). The total destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple was catastrophic for the Jewish people. According to the contemporary historian Josephus Flavius, hundreds of thousands of Jews perished in the siege of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country, and many thousands more were sold into slavery.
A last brief period of Jewish sovereignty followed the revolt of Shimon Bar Kochba (132 CE), during which Jerusalem and Judea were regained. However, given the overwhelming power of the Romans, the outcome was inevitable. Three years later, in conformity with Roman custom, Jerusalem was "plowed up with a yoke of oxen," Judea was renamed Palaestina and Jerusalem, Aelia Capitolina.
Although the Temple had been destroyed and Jerusalem burned to the ground, the Jews and Judaism survived the encounter with Rome. The supreme legislative and judicial body, the Sanhedrin (successor of the Knesset Hagedolah) was reconvened in Yavneh (70 CE), and later in Tiberias. Without the unifying framework of a state and the Temple, the small remaining Jewish community gradually recovered, reinforced from time to time by returning exiles. Institutional and communal life was renewed, priests were replaced by rabbis and the synagogue became the focus of the Jewish communities, as evidenced by remnants of synagogues found at Capernaum, Korazin, Bar'am, Gamla, and elsewhere. Halakhah (Jewish religious law) served as the common bond among the Jews and was passed on from generation to generation.
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Don't Flush Other stuff!
What you put down your drain or flush down your toilet can negatively impact the environment and it can also create sewer blockages and back-ups.
Items to NOT Flush Down the Toilet or Pour Down the Drain
Below is a list of just some of the items that should not be flushed down the drain:
- Paper products - facial tissue, paper towel, cardboard, etc. The only paper product that should be flushed down the drain is toilet paper.
- Food Waste
- Paper towels
- Feminine Hygiene Products
- Face Wipes, Baby Wipes, Sanitary Towelettes (manufacturers often say these products are "flushable"; however the reality is they cause blockages in our waste water system)
- Cotton Wool / Cotton Buds
- Household Hazardous Waste
- Kitty Litter
- Dental Floss
For more information on how to dispose of the items listed above, visit Wellington County Solid Waste Services.
- Never pour grease down the sink drain or toilet. Grease cannot be broken down effectively during the wastewater treatment process. Grease that is flushed down the pipes can block sewer pipes.
- Grease clings to pipes and builds up over time.
- Cold weather solidifies grease.
- Blocked sewage (sewer backup) can surge up through sinks, floor drains and toilets and make for a very, very messy cleanup.
How to Dispose of Grease Properly
- Allow grease to solidify, scrape or use a paper towel to dispose into the GREEN bin. Household hint: store edible food oils in a plastic container until it solidifies, then cut plastic away from grease and throw in GREEN bin. Plastic goes into the BLUE recycle bin.
- For oils that do not seem to solidify, store edible food oils in a recycle plastic container, FREEZE, cut plastic away from grease, dispose into the GREEN bin.
- Before washing dishes, scrape hardened grease into the GREEN bin.
And remember: All storm sewers lead to your water.
- The storm sewer system drains into rivers, streams and lakes, and can seep into the ground.
- What goes in the storm sewer can contaminate the sources of our drinking water
Signs of a sewer blockage include:
- Toilets, basins, baths or tubs are slow to empty;
- Toilets overflow or fill higher than usual;
- Gully-traps or Overflow Relief Gully in the yard overflow when the toilet is flushed, when basins or baths are released;
- Overflowing sewer access chambers (manholes);
- Gurgling noises in the sanitary drains.
Causes of a sewer blockage include:
- The illegal connection of storm water sumps or downpipes to the sewer causing them to overflow when it rains.
- Wastes that are not intended for the sewer, choking the system and leading to backflows of sewage within the property;
- Tree roots entering through drainage pipes, faulty joints or loose inspection openings; cracked sewer pipes that have been damaged by movement of the sub-soil, penetration of rocks, increases the risk of bad and leaking pipes or connections; and
- Changes to the property by overloading the ground with retaining walls, building structures and vehicular traffic also can cause crush or flatten sewer pipes.
Sewer pipes can block:
- In any part of the sanitary drain within the property;
- In the point of connection (POC) where the sanitary drains connect to the Municipal line;
- In the Municipal line (between the main and the POC); and
- In the Municipal sewer main and access chamber (manhole).
What to do if the sewer blocks:
The Guelph/Eramosa Township does not provide services for clearing blockages on private property. However, you may contact the Township Office to determine whether the blockage is on public or private property.
- If the blockage is found to be on private property, outside of regular working hours of 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., relevant costs in providing this service will apply.
- If the blockage was caused by tree roots in the Township’s point of connection (POC), sewer main or outside property boundary the fee will be absorbed by the Township.
- Private plumbers are not permitted to clear blockages that are located within the Municipal sewer main, this service may be procured by wastewater staff only.
Here is a list of items to consider if you suspect your sanitary sewer from your house to the main is plugged.
- Call a reputable plumber that is licensed.
- Ask if the plumber has video inspection equipment available to examine your pipes before and after the cleaning process is completed. This will help in determining the location of the blockage and to ensure the blockage is cleared.
- Ensure this plumber is able to make a copy of this video inspection which will identify any deficiencies within the pipe, from your home to the sewer mains. This is an important step, for if the video reveals the pipe is damaged on the Town’s property, the costs related to the pipe cleaning and video recording may be the responsibility of the Township.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE IN MAINTAINING MY SEWER LINES?
The maintenance of private sanitary drainage lines is the sole responsibility of the property owner.
If you have any queries about the information presented, please contact the Public Works Department (Water/Wastewater) at 519-856-9596 ext. 122.


The most common problem in this work is the problem of language. People come to the table from many different disciplines and many different walks of life. And the way in which we talk about programs, services and populations varies, literally, all over the map. This means that the usual state of affairs in planning for children, families, adults, elders and communities is a Tower of Babel, where no one really knows what the other person is saying, but everyone politely pretends that they do. As a consequence, the work is slow, frustrating and often ineffective.
It is possible to exercise language discipline in this work. And the way to do this is to agree on a set of definitions that start with ideas and not words.
Words are just labels for ideas. And the same idea can have many different labels. The following four ideas are the basis for definitions used at the beginning of this work. Alternative labels are offered:
Results (or outcomes or goals) are conditions of well-being for children, adults, families or communities, stated in plain English (or plain Spanish, or plain Korean…). They are things that voters and taxpayers can understand. They are not about programs or agencies or government jargon. Results include: “healthy children, children ready for school, children succeeding in school, children staying out of trouble, strong families, elders living with dignity in setting they prefer, safe communities, a healthy clean environment, a prosperous economy.” (An interesting alternative definition of a result is provided by Con Hogan: “A condition of well-being for people in a place – stated as a complete sentence.” This suggests a type of construction for a result statement as “All ______ in ______ are _____.” e.g. All babies in Vermont are born healthy.”)
Indicators (or benchmarks) are measures which help quantify the achievement of a result. They answer the question “How would we recognize these results in measurable terms if we fell over them?” So, for example, the rate of low-birthweight babies helps quantify whether we’re getting healthy births or not. Third grade reading scores help quantify whether children are succeeding in school today, and whether they were ready for school three years ago. The crime rate helps quantify whether we are living in safe communities, etc.
Strategies are coherent collections of actions which have a reasoned chance of improving results. Strategies are made up of our best thinking about what works, and include the contributions of many partners. No single action by any one agency can create the improved results we want and need.
Performance Measures are measures of how well public and private programs and agencies are working. The most important performance measures tell us whether the clients or customers of the service are better off. We sometimes refer to these measures as client or customer results (to distinguish them from cross-community population results for all children, adults or families)
The principal distinction here is between ends and means. Results and indicators are about the ends we want for children and families. And strategies and performance measures are about the means to get there. Processes that fail to make these crucial distinctions often mix up ends and means. And such processes tend to get mired in the all-talk-no-action circles that have disillusioned countless participants in past efforts. You actually have choices about which labels to use in your work. And clarity about language at the start will help you take your work from talk to action.
What Mission and Vision, Values, Goals, Objectives, Problems, Issues, Inputs and Outputs?
Many of us have grown up with these traditional words in strategic planning and budgeting. Where do they fit?
First, remember that words are just labels for ideas. These seven words have no natural standard definition that bridges across all the different ways they are used. They are terms of art which can and are used to label many different ideas. This is why we pay so much attention to getting language discipline straight at the very beginning. It’s the ideas that are important not the words. So you can choose to label the ideas in this guide with any words you like, provided you are consistent.
The word “mission” is usually used in relation to an organization, agency, program, initiative or effort. It is therefore mostly used in connection with agency or program performance accountability. Mission statements are usually concise statements of the purpose of an organization, sometimes also telling why and how the organization does what it does. Mission statements can be useful tools in communicating with internal and external stakeholders. It is possible to construct a mission statement from the performance measurement ideas in the upper right (“How well did we deliver service?”) and lower right (“Is anyone better off?”) quadrants of the performance measurement framework: For example: “Our mission is to help our clients become self sufficient (“Is anyone better off?” lower right) by providing timely, family friendly, culturally competent job training services (“How well did we deliver service?” upper right).” One mistake that is often made is that organizations spend months and sometimes years trying to craft the perfect mission statement before any other work can proceed. In the FPSI framework, mission statements are set aside, allowing the work of identifying and using performance measures to proceed quickly. Then, on a parallel track a small group can, if it is useful, use the work of the performance measurement groups to craft a workable mission statement.
The word “vision” is often used to convey a picture of a desired future, often one that is hard but possible to attain. This is a powerful idea. And in fact one can think of the set of desired results for children and families as one way of articulating such a vision. “We want our community to be one which is safe and supportive, where all children are healthy and ready for school, where all children succeed in school, and grow up to be productive and contributing adults.” This is an example of a vision statement made up of desired results or ends. It is possible to craft such a statement before or after the development of results.
The word “values” in some ways defies definition. It is about what we hold most dear, how we view right and wrong, how we believe we should act, and how those beliefs are, in fact, reflected in our actions. Our values underlie all of the work we do. And that is nowhere more true than in the work on the well-being of children, families and communities. Our values will guide our choice of results for children and families and the decisions we make about how we and our partners take action to improve those results.
The word “goal” is often used interchangeably with “result and outcome” to label the idea of a condition of well-being for children, adults, families or communities (as in the case of Georgia, Missouri and Oregon for example). The word goal has many other common usages as well. It often serves as an all-purpose term to describe a desired accomplishment. “My goal for this month is to fix the roof.” “Our goal is to increase citizen participation in the planning process.” ” The primary goal of the child welfare system is to keep children safe.” and so forth. The word goal (or target) is sometimes used to describe the desired future level of achievement for an indicator or performance measure. “Our goal is 95% high school graduation in 5 years.” “Our goal is to improve police response time to under 3 minutes.” These are widely different usages. Still another use of the word “goal” is in relation to an implementation plan. Given a strategy and action plan to improve a particular result (children ready for school for example), it is possible to structure the action plan as a series of planned accomplishments (goals) with timetables and assigned implementation responsibility. For example, a goal in a “children ready for school plan” might be to “increase funding for child care by 25% this year and 50% next year.” This is a specific action which will contribute to achieving the result. There is nothing wrong with any of these usages, provided they are clearly distinguished, used consistently and do not confuse the underlying concepts labeled results, indicators, strategies and performance measures discussed above.
The word “objective” is often paired with the word goal to specify what amount to a series of “subgoals” required to achieve the “higher” goal. The set of terms “mission, goal and objective” have a long history in the military to describe the strategic and tactical components of a large or small action or engagement. And some of their usage in the business sector and the public and private service sector derives from this history. In this framework, the terms goal and objective are most often used to structure the action plan and specify who will do what, how, and by when.
The words “problem” and “issue” are used in more ways that just about any planning term. They can be used to describe almost anything. “The problem with this computer is that the keyboard is too small.” “The problem with our community is that there is not a safe place for children to play.” “We must solve the issue of affordability if we are to provide child care for all who need it.” These are three different uses of the words and there are countless others. Again, there is nothing wrong with any of these usages, provided that they do not interfere with the language discipline discussed above about ends and means.
The words “input” and “output” are commonly used categories for performance measures. There is no standard usage. The word “input” is most often used to describe the staff and financial resources which serve to generate “outputs.” “Outputs” are most often units of service.
Change Agent vs. Industrial Models: Much of the tradition of performance measurement comes from the private sector and in particular the industrial part of the private sector. Work measurement – dating back to the time and motion studies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries – looked at how to improve production. Industrial processes turn raw materials into finished products. The raw materials are the inputs; the finished products are the outputs.
This model does not translate very well to public or private sector enterprises which provide services. It does not make much sense to think of clients, workers and office equipment as inputs to the service sausage machine, churning out satisfied, cured or fixed clients. Instead we need to begin thinking about services in terms of the change agent model. In this model, the agency or program provides services which act upon the environment to produce demonstrable changes in the well-being of clients, families, or communities. If the input/output language is maintained, then providing service is the input, change in customers’ lives is the output.
One common situation illustrates the problems which arise when industrial model thinking is applied to services. It is the belief that the number of clients served is an output. (“We have assembled all these workers in all this office space; and we are in the business of processing unserved clients into served clients.”) This misapplication of industrial performance concepts to services captures much of what is wrong with the way we measure human service performance today. “Number of clients served” is not an output. It is an input, an action which should lead to a change in client or social conditions – the real output we’re looking for. (“We served 100 clients – input – and 50 of them got jobs – output – and 40 of them still had jobs a year later – even more important output.”) This is a whole different frame of mind and a whole different approach to performance measurement.
A closely related industrial model problem involves treating dollars spent as inputs, and clients served as outputs. In this distorted view, dollars are raw materials, and whatever the program happens to do with those dollars are outputs. It’s easy to see why this over-simplification fails to meet the public’s need for accountability. In this construct, the mere fact that the government spent all the money it received is a type of performance measurement. This is surely a form of intellectual, and perhaps literal, bankruptcy. In this perverse scheme, almost all the agency’s data is purportedly about outputs. This gives the agency the appearance of being output-oriented and very progressive. It just doesn’t happen to mean anything.
Much of the confusion about performance measurement derives from the attempt to impose industrial model concepts on change agent services. The best model would be one which could span industrial and change agent applications. Some government services still involve industrial-type production (although these are often the best candidates for privatization and a diminishing breed.) In other cases, discussed below, the service itself, or components of the service, have product-like characteristics and industrial model concepts apply well. But most government and private sector human services fall into the change agent category. The approach to performance measurement described in this website can be used for either industrial or change agent applications. (Excerpt from “A Guide to Developing and Using Performance Measures, Finance Project, 1997)


The damage the sun can do to our health - including skin cancer - is well-known.
And while there's a lot more awareness of the damage the sun can do - and the ways to prevent it - people still get sunburnt.
The most obvious way is cover up with clothing and hats and to apply sun cream to exposed skin. And when choosing suncream, many people will look simply for the SPF factor. The higher the SPF factor the greater the protection.
But a high SPF (sun protection factor) will only protect against certain types of UV raditation. And there is another rating on the bottle you might never have noticed, which applies to a different kind. Both harm the skin.
What types of UV radiation are there?
UV radiation is transmitted in three wavelengths: UVA, UVB and UVC.
UVC is not able to get through the earth's atmosphere so you only need to worry about A and B.
“People think that SPF equals everything,” said Dr Roopal Kundu, a dermatologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in the USA and one of the authors of a report in journal JAMA Dermatology.
And SPF is very important, Dr Kundu says. The sun protection factor measures a sunscreen’s ability to filter UVB rays, which are related to sunburn and skin cancer. But SPF only measures UVB rays. It doesn’t tell you anything about protection from UVA rays.
What is the difference between UVA and UVB?
Both UVB and UVA rays from the sun can cause skin cancer. UVB rays are more intense and cause sunburn but UVA rays penetrate the skin more deeply. UVA is around every day and can penetrate through window glass. Like UVB, it is related to an increased risk of skin cancer but, unlike UVB, it’s not filtered by the ozone. So UVA doesn’t cause sunburn, but, says Dr Kundu, “it really leads to darkening and aging, because it penetrates deeper into the skin and has more influence in the collagen”.
What does SPF stop?
SPF stands for sun protection factor and shows the level of protection against UVB which causes sun burn. It does not show how good the cream is at protecting against the ageing effects of UVA.
What is the UVA star system?
You may have noticed a star rating on your bottle of suncream, though this is often less visible than the more well-known SPF.
The stars range from 0-5 and indicate the percentage of UVA radiation absorbed by the sunscreen in comparison to UVB. The higher the better. UVA protection is key to keeping out harmful rays.
It is important to remember that if you choose a low SPF that has five stars it can may still be offering low levels of UVA protection as it is based on a ratio.
Dr Anjali Mahto, consultant dermatologist and British Skin Foundation spokesperson, said UVA and UVB affect the skin in different ways.
She said: "The sun consists of multiple wavelengths of light, including ultraviolet radiation. UVA (long-wave) and UVB (short-wave) can penetrate the upper (epidermis) and lower (dermis) layers of the skin causing changes to normal metabolic processes within skin cells.
"UVA rays are less intense than UVB but more UVA rays reach the earth from the sun and they are able to penetrate the skin more deeply than UVB and play a significant part in ageing the skin.
"UVB is the main cause of sunburn, damaging the skin’s outer layers."
What levels should you be aiming for?
Dr Anjali Mahto says you should beaiming for the high stars
. She said: "When choosing a sunscreen look for a high protection SPF (SPF 30 or more) to protect against UVB, and the UVA circle logo and/or 4 or 5 UVA stars to protect against UVA."
So, the British Association of Dermatologists says: "That's why it's important to choose a high SPF as well as a high UVA protection (a high number of stars). Sun screens that offer both UVA and UVB protection are sometimes called 'broad spectrum'. A sunscreen with an SPF of 30 and a UVA rating of 4 or 5 stars is generally considered as a good standard."
Is the system clear enough?
Many people do not know about the differences in UV protection offered by sun cream.
However according to Dr Mahto, the issue is not with the system.
"The sunscreen labelling system itself is easy to understand," said Dr Mahto. "There just needs to be more education and awareness of what to look for."
What are the risks if people do not understand the labeling?
"Ultimately if the public are unable to understand sunscreen labelling then they are at risk of sunburn and skin damage," said Dr Mahto.
"An estimated 86% of melanoma cases occur as a result of exposure to UV radiation, tanning and sunburn puts people at risk of developing this potentially fatal condition.
"It’s worth remembering that five or more sunburns will double your average lifetime risk of developing melanoma so it’s really important for young people to look after their skin now or they could face serious consequences further down the line."


BAD, a.[Heb. to perish or destroy]1. Ill; evil; opposed to good; a word of general use, denoting physical defects and moral faults, in men and things; as a bad man, a bad heart, a bad design, bad air, bad water, bad books.2. Vicious; corrupt; depraved, in a moral sense; as a bad life; a bad action.3. Unwholesome; as bad provisions.4. Unfortunate; unprosperous; as a bad state of affairs.5. Unskillful; as a bad player.6. Small; poor; as a bad crop.7. Infirm; as a bad state of health.8. Feeble, corrupt, or oppressive; as a bad government.9. Hurtful; pernicious; as, fine print is bad for the eyes.
10. Unfavorable; as a bad season.
11. Poor; sterile; as a bad soil.
12. Rough or muddy; as a bad road. In short, bad expresses whatever is injurious, hurtful, inconvenient, unlawful or immoral; whatever is offensive, painful or unfavorable; or what is defective.


Piedmont Fayette Hospital launches new lung cancer screening program
Lung cancer causes more deaths than colon, breast and prostate cancer combined, according to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). That’s why Piedmont Fayette Hospital has launched a new lung cancer screening program to improve early detection of the disease, which is the second leading cause of death behind heart disease.
“The high number of lung cancer deaths is due in part to the disease being found after it has spread,” said Trevor Feinstein, M.D., medical oncologist at Piedmont Fayette Hospital. “Generally, most lung cancer diagnoses aren’t found until the late stages and by then, it may be too late for effective treatment.”
Patients who meet a certain criteria and are deemed “high risk” for lung cancer will be able to participate in the new program which uses a low-dose CT (computed tomography) screening to detect the disease. Those who are at high risk include people older than 55 years of age who have smoked approximately one pack of cigarettes a day for more than 30 years; those who have smoked two packs a day for 15 years; and those who have smoked three packs a day for 10 years or more.
Also at risk are current or former smokers over 50 years of age with at least a 20-pack year history and at least one additional risk factor (radon exposure, lung disease history, family history of lung cancer, or occupational exposure to known cancer-causing chemicals). Pack years are defined by the number of packs per day multiplied by the number of years a person has smoked.
“Smoking is the biggest risk factor for lung cancer, which is why it is so important older patients who have smoked for so long get screened,” said Dr. Feinstein. “The test only takes 30 minutes to complete and the new low-dose CT uses far less radiation. This new program will help us catch lung cancer at an earlier stage so we have better chances of curing our patients and giving them a fighting chance at life.”
A national lung screening trial found that screening with the use of low-dose CT, which is used to find nodules in the lungs, reduces mortality from lung cancer by 20 percent. Since insurance does not typically cover these screenings, Piedmont Fayette Hospital will offer the tests at a discounted rate of $99.
As with many diseases, early detection of lung cancer is key to successful treatment. Screenings such as the new low-dose CT can detect cancer before signs appear. Common symptoms of lung cancer include coughing that lasts, blood in lungs, excessive mucus, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest area pain, tiredness, pneumonia, hoarse voice, pain when swallowing, and high-pitched sound when breathing.
Known risk factors for lung cancer are tobacco smoking, contact with radon, contact with asbestos or other cancer-causing agents, family history of lung cancer, diagnoses of certain other cancers and/or lung disease and contact with second-hand smoke. To learn more about the new program at Piedmont Fayette Hospital, call 770-719-6098 or visit piedmontcancer.org/lung.


University of Southern Mississippi student Christopher Brady Davis of Nashville, Tenn., has been awarded $250 and a selection of books by the Paleopathology Association for his research of the first documented incident of tuberculosis (TB) in Mississippi and one of the oldest in North America.
Davis won for best student poster at the annual international meetings of the Paleopathology Association held in Minneapolis April 12-13. His research titled, “A Reassessment of a Proposed Possible Case of Congenital Syphilis from the Mississippi Delta,” argued that the juvenile he analyzed actually exhibited skeletal evidence of tuberculosis.
“Brady’s work is significant since it helps us understand the relationship between sociopolitical complexity and the rise of TB in the New World,” notes Dr. Marie Danforth, professor of Anthropology at Southern Miss. “A number of cases of the disease have been found to date after 1000 AD when chiefdoms began to emerge. This case is only one of about a half-dozen that has been identified as older than that, and therefore each one is critical to helping us piece together the puzzle.”
Statistics provided by the World Health Organization indicate that one-third of the world’s population is currently infected with the TB bacillus. An estimated 1.7 million people died from TB in 2009 with the highest number of deaths reported in the Africa Region.
Davis’ research was judged in competition with submissions from a number of major doctoral programs, including Emory University, Arizona State University and Indiana University.
“I chose to take on this project because I am very intrigued with how disease affects our body especially the skeletal system and this specific case presented a unique challenge considering the distribution of lesions and the little bioarchaeological data that has been generated from the Mississippi Delta,” said Davis.
The Paleopathology Association is an organization composed of researchers, scientists and students from many fields including physical anthropology, medicine, archaeology and Egyptology from around the world. The association was formed in 1973 by U.S. and Canadian scientists who believed that human skeletal and mummified remains can yield tremendous information about the past. Currently, it has members from more than 35 nations.


Sniffer (network sniffer) is a tool that can intercept, log and sometimes parse traffic passing over a network or part of a network.
- Analyze network problems;
- Detect intrusion attempts;
- Monitor network usage;
- Spy on other users and collect sensitive information such as passwords.
Detection of network sniffers
Generally, it is impossible to detect passive sniffing programs.
- Detecting promiscuous mode
It is possible to detect network interfaces in promiscuous mode by sending requests (ICMP, ARP, etc) with destination IP address of a suspect machine and wrong destination MAC address. Network interfaces in promiscuous mode will pass this request and a suspect machine will reply (network interfaces in non-promiscuous mode will drop this packet).
- Detecting reverse DNS lookup requests
Some sniffing programs do automatic reverse DNS lookups on the IP addresses they see. It is possible to detect such programs by correlating network traffic and reverse DNS lookup requests.
- Detecting network sniffers using a honeypot (monitoring connections to fake accounts)
Many sniffing programs provide special techniques to intercept traffic on a switched network:
- ARP spoofing;
- Fake DHCP server;
- ICMP redirection.
As well as the ability to sniff encrypted data:
- Man-in-the-middle attacks.
These active sniffing techniques can be detected in various ways.
Cheating network sniffers
- IP fragmentation
Some sniffing programs cannot handle IP fragmentation correctly.
- Shortcomings in TCP reassemblers
It is possible to cheat some TCP reassemblers by sending TCP packets with low IP TTL values (this TCP packet may not reach the destination host, but will be analysed by a network sniffer). This will break the resulting TCP stream.


Re-posted from http://www.demandenergyequality.org/
The Energy Tree in Bristol’s central Millennium Square combines community collaboration, artistic excellence, science and grass-roots energy activism in a unique project.
There were many aims of the project: build something functional and beautiful that engages the public in energy in an extremely uncertain time; work with people combating drug & alcohol use and demonstrate the power of building collectively; celebrate the community energy movement; present a positive vision of possible energy futures – and of course reach people with our message of the need to reduce our energy demand as a society.
What’s more, it provides free public phone charging and WIFI (though you’ll have to tackle our Energy Quiz to access the latter!).
The 20ft metal sculpture uses bio-mimicry to imitate a natural tree form, with 36 ‘leaves’ composed of solar photo-voltaic (‘solar PV’) panels, fabricated by participants from the Bristol Drugs Project during practical energy workshops delivered by Demand Energy Equality. The electrical power produced is stored in batteries at its base and fed through the Tree’s ‘roots’ out of the soil through publicly accessible charging cables. A live data stream, visualised below, allows us to measure the Tree’s power output on a minute-by-minute basis.
– Bristol Drugs Project volunteer
The back story
In September 2012 we invited community groups to help us build our Solar Tree, on the Edible Futures growing project, Brislington, south east Bristol. One of the organisations that joined us was the Bristol Drugs Project, a charity working with people across Bristol recovering from alcohol and drugs use. You can find out more about the project and BDP’s involvement in this short film.
Fast forward 9 months to Spring 2013, and we received a call from BDP inviting us to collaborate with them on an extended programme of work with their service users, with a second ‘Energy Tree’ as a public focal point for the achievements of all those involved.
As well as demonstrating the positive experiences previous participants had gained from being involved in the original Solar Tree project, this was a fantastic opportunity to expand the reach of our educational workshops and contribute to the brilliant work BDP and its service users do.
The only problem we had left was where to put our 20ft steel sculpture: designed as a public engagement tool it seemed like something the good people at At-Bristol would be interested in. So we got in touch. They were. And it turned out they owned Millennium Square.
Fast forward another 9 months and with the support of a Lush Charity Pot award and a strategic grant from Bristol 2015 European Green Capital we were able to assemble the Energy Tree in Millennium Square in time for its public launch on 21st April 2015.


HSC 101 INTRODUCTION TO NUTRITION
HSC 101 – Introduction to Nutrition
Course Number & Name: HSC 101 Introduction to Nutrition
Credit Hours: 3.0 Contact Hours: 3.0 Lecture: 3.0 Lab: N/A Other: N/A
Prerequisites: Grade of “C” or better in BIO 100 or higher or in CHM 100 or higher
Co-requisites: N/A Concurrent Courses: N/A
Course Description: This is a basic course of nutrition, intended to provide each student the foundation for understanding the science of nutrition, and the application of nutrition principles in daily dietary practice. An investigation of the relationship between diet and nutrition to the pathological and physiologic process of the body, as well as the benefit of food to emotional health, are the center of focus. The concepts of digestion, absorption, transport, and elimination are reviewed. Energy obtained from food, which supports ongoing activities of body tissue, and the mechanisms used to maintain energy, water and electrolyte balance are studied.
Course Goals: Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to do the following:
- identify and discuss the sources of nutrients in foods, the functions of essential and nonessential nutrients and the impact of excess and/or deficiency of these nutrients on health;
- explain the role of carbohydrates, fat, and protein in relation to human metabolism; and
- explain the structural components of the body, the pathways for distribution of nutrients to body cells and tissues, and the processes the body uses to obtain energy from food.


For years, researchers have wondered about the elongated, oddly shaped skulls of women that were found in early medieval burial sites around southern Germany.
First found in Bavaria, a region in southern Germany, around the late 1960s, these elongated skulls date back to about 500 A.D. Binding the womens' heads when they were infants—when skulls are more pliable—likely created the odd shape, reports Erin Blakemore for National Geographic. This left them with distinct, elongated skulls. It’s unclear if the practice here was for beauty or health reasons, but skull modification was a common practice around the world for centuries to show social status, reported Atlas Obscura in 2015, and may even have been practiced as late as 1900s France.
Still, very little else was known about the skulls found in Bavaria or how the practice of skull modification arrived to this part of Europe.
One theory was that it might have arrived by way of the Huns, a nomadic 4th to 6th century culture that lived in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, or another similar group.
Now, a new study is challenging that theory, suggesting that the pointy skulls actually belonged to Bulgarian and Romanian brides who were married off for political alliances, reports Michael Price for Science. The findings were published in the journal PNAS.
For the study, a team including anthropologist and population geneticist Joachim Burger from Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany analyzed DNA from 36 sets of bones found in six cemeteries in southern Germany during the 5th and 6th centuries. Of the 26 female skulls, 14 showed signs of artificial cranial deformation (ACD), or skull modification.
They also looked at five additional samples, including two other women from Crimea and Serbia, also with ACD.
While the men, believed to be farmers, looked very similar, the women didn’t resemble the men at all. Besides the shape of their heads, their DNA revealed that they probably had brown eyes and brown hair, while the men likely had blond hair and blue eyes.
And when the team compared these ancient genes to modern peoples’, they found that the men and the women whose skulls were not modified closely matched northern and central European populations. However, the female skulls with ACD belonged to southeastern European ancestors like Romanians and Bulgarians. (Second-century Romania is considered to be the earliest location in Europe where the practice was common, but there, it was as common for men as for women, Price writes.) One of the women even showed East Asian ancestry.
“Archaeologically, they are not that different from the rest of the population,” Burger tells Blakemore. “Genetically, they are totally different.”
Burger also concluded something fascinating about the women: The skulls might have belonged to high-status or noble southeastern European women who traveled to Bavaria to marry for political alliances. ACD is believed to have been practiced only amongst the wealthy, Price reports.
Not every expert is convinced, though. Israel Hershkovitz, an anthropologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel who specializes in ancient human anatomy, tells Price: “This is one of the strangest things I’ve ever read… I don’t buy it.”
He says skulls might have become deformed accidentally — after all, babies’ skulls can deform by being placed on hard surfaces. He also argues that it’s unlikely that a dozen women from a single generation would have be married for political reasons at the same time.
As Price reports, Burger’s study does not include more than a few women with ACD from the same village, so each town could have had a distinct political alliance that would call for a marriage.
The "political marriages" part of Burger’s theory can be debated, but the research debunks the theory about the Huns bringing skull modification to Western Europe.


This section provides an overview of the history of the Manhattan Project, the key organizations involved, the science behind the bomb, and more.
Before the Trinity test, Manhattan Project officials realized that a calibration explosion using ordinary high-explosives would be useful.
The 216th AAF served a crucial role in the Manhattan Project by helping to design and drop test bombs at Wendover Airfield, Utah.
The 509th Composite Group was organized as the weapon delivery arm of the Manhattan Project.
African Americans played an important, though often overlooked, role on the Manhattan Project.
The Alsos Mission's goal was to learn how close Germany was to developing its own atomic weapon.
Although the Manhattan Project was overall a surprisingly safe project, there were a few tragic accidents.
Since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, people in the United States and around the world have developed cultural expressions of the atomic bomb.
The Atomic Energy Commission succeeded the Manhattan Engineer District in January 1947, when the Atomic Energy Act went into effect.
Some of the terms encountered when perusing the website can be confusing or obscure. This glossary is provided to assist readers and learners of Manhattan Project history.


Image Source: Courtesy www.upliftconnect.com
Whether we like it or not, most our decisions and behavior are driven mostly by emotions and very little by logic. Let us examine the brain infrastructure to understand how emotions override rational thinking.
Whenever we have been flooded with anger or anxiety, overwhelmed by sadness, or torn by hurt, that emotion leaves an imprint in the Amygdala, the emotional part of our brain. Along with each emotional imprint, Amygdala dutifully stores whatever reaction we learned at those moments, whether it was freezing in fear, lashing out in rage or tuning out and going numb. In short, the Amygdala acts as a schema warehouse, the repository for our repertoire of negative emotional habits.
Amygdala is strategically positioned to intercept sensory information streaming in from our eyes, ears, and noses. If that information contains a potential threat, then Amygdala immediately fires off volleys of impulses that can change our behavior even before the signals have been fully processed and interpreted by our neocortex, the thinking part of the brain. That is the reason why your heart starts pounding immediately after noticing the vague shape of two men approaching you on a dark sidewalk. The men may or may not be a threat to you at all, but your Amygdala does not care and is preparing you for the worst.
Image Source: Courtesy (L) www.johnhaime.com (R) www.thebrain.mcgill.ca
That’s where the problem begins. The Amygdala bases its reactions on a fuzzier picture much before the thinking brain gets the more complete input, and it also acts with lightning speed. This must have worked wonderfully well during most of evolution, when there were so many real, physical threats which demanded lightning responses. But in modern life we still respond to symbolic threats with the same intensity and speed as though they were actual physical dangers.
Brain studies show that a highly activated Amygdala, unfortunately, impairs our ability to turn off our negative thoughts and emotions. So, if we have already been upset by something, and then a bit later another emotional trigger gets launched, we find it even more difficult to control Amygdala from going out of control.
Tellingly, a hot Amygdala floods the body with high levels of cortisol, the hormone released by the brain to marshal the body’s emergency responses. Cortisol again makes the whole situation worse. The Orbital Medial Prefrontal Cortex (OMPFC), the thinking part of the brain, becomes inhibited thus making it difficult to be rational, logical and in control of our thoughts.
Image Source: Courtesy www.realclear.com
When Amygdala gets triggered, it floods the body with the stress hormones that prepare it for emergency. These hormones are of two kinds: one variety provides the body with a quick, intense shot of energy – enough, say, for one vigorous round of fighting or running, the ancient survival responses that, in evolution, paid off. Another kind is secreted more gradually into the body, heightening its overall sensitivity to events, making us hyper alert to any coming danger.
Understanding this emotion-triggering process can help you adopt some damage control initiatives. The moment you realize that you are angry or upset, try to calm down and try to avoid confrontations of any type. Remember that your thinking part of the brain is inhibited. Similarly, when you realize that the other person with whom you are having an argument is emotionally upset, try to avoid any contentious issues. It does not make sense to bring some logical reasoning into the discussions as the other person’s thinking part of the brain is not in control. The best approach is to postpone further interactions till tempers cool down.
This is important, as not following this approach can escalate the bad situation into a worse situation which can damage relationships. This is simply because the anger keeps building up and up as you or the other person thinks more and more about the upsetting cause. What may start as a small emotive issue can build up to an explosive situation where potentially damaging statements may be made.
WE NEED, HOWEVER, TO RECOGNIZE THAT EMOTIONS ARE INTEGRAL TO THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE.
Feelings like happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust don’t just help us survive in the world, they also help us thrive, providing key information that motivates us to take important actions and decisions, and to connect with other people.
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Let me illustrate with some examples how emotional attachments make you highly biased and compels you to override other rational arguments.
You are driving on a mountain road and some of your family members are in different car. Suddenly you witness an accident involving the car carrying your family members and a large bus. You quickly realize that while the occupants of the car are your close family members the occupants of the bus are people whom you may have never met. A quick assessment of the situation shows that both the car and the bus are precariously hanging on the edge of the mountain. You have time to save only one of the vehicles by quickly pulling it with the crane of your car. Which one would you save?
According to traditional economics thinking, you should maximize the utility of your actions, so you should save as many people as possible. Your rational choice should thus be to save the large bus. However, according to the behavioral research, your decision will be biased by emotions and you will certainly save the member of your family. It would appear very natural for most if not all of us to try our best to save someone we love and the psychological consequences of not doing so would be devastating for us. Thus emotions play an essential role in our decision making. However, according to the common interpretation of rational thinking and decision making, your decision has been biased.
Let’s look at a less tragic example. Imagine that tomorrow is your wife’s birthday. You are aware that things have not been working well lately. Long hours of working by both of you has not helped and you have had a couple of arguments. You know that she would love to have this ring you saw together a month ago in a jewelry shop and you decide to buy the ring. However, when you arrive at the jewelry shop you realize that the price tag is more than you expected and you had already planned for a couple of items of expenditure. In addition, you are told by the sale person that the item will be sold at 50 % discount next week. Would you buy the ring today or wait until next week?
Once again, according to traditional economics you should maximize your utility and wait until next week. But taking into consideration the general situation and according to behavioral research predictions, you will probably buy the item today and surprise your wife. After all, making the people you love happy and get on well with them is more satisfying than saving some money. We face once again the same questions: has your decision been emotionally biased and are you acting irrationally?


The British Interplanetary Society (BIS) is Britain’s leading think tank on space development. Founded in 1933, it is the world’s longest established organization devoted solely to supporting and promoting the exploration of space and astronautics. The BIS is financially independent, has charitable status, and obtains its main income from a worldwide membership.
The British Interplanetary Society is devoted to initiating, promoting and disseminating new concepts and technical information about space flight and astronautics through meetings, symposia, publications, visits and exhibitions.
The British Interplanetary Society’s headquarters are located in Central London, within 5 minutes walk from local Underground, Rail and Bus Stations – enabling easy access for visitors to the Society.
Membership (non-corporate) of the British Interplanetary Society is open to all and intended for those with a general interest in astronautics.
Fellowship (the corporate grade) of the British Interplanetary Society is restricted to those with professional interests and qualifications.
The British Interplanetary Society was founded in 1933 by a group of space flight enthusiasts who dreamed of using rocket propulsion to fly to the Moon and the planets. The word “Interplanetary” in the British Interplanetary Society’s title was not intended to limit attention only to those nearby worlds that circle our Sun, but to cover space exploration activities in general – even in the most distant visions to conceive of travel across interstellar space.
In the years before World War II a technical core of BIS members made first plans for a rocket capable of landing three men on the Moon and returning them to Earth. After World War II members of the Society developed ideas for the exploration of outer space including developing liquid rockets for launch into space, the construction of Space Stations, the human exploration of the Moon, the development of probes to investigate other planets in our Solar System and the use of space telescopes to observe distant stars and galaxies. Arthur C. Clarke first suggested the concept of communications satellites in a private memorandum to Fellows of the Society prior to first publication in 1945.
In 1951 the BIS organized the world’s first International Congress on “The Artificial Satellite”, and became one of the founder members of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF).
Earth Remote Sensing was initially advocated and studied at an international level at its NATO Conference in the 1950s, with space biology following soon afterwards. Currently it has been concerned with how to preserve life on Earth in the face of various potential calamities.
The British Interplanetary Society also provided certain of its members a route for publication of information and analysis on the Soviet (and more recently the Chinese) Space Programmes at a time when detailed information on these programmes was difficult to come by at first hand.
Planetary studies began with papers examining the propulsion requirements to reach Mars and Venus, as well as projected instruments for scientific probes. Advocacy of studies on comets and meteors helped further the Giotto mission to Halley’s Comet and later the ESA Rosetta mission. A number of papers during the 1990s also looked at the problems of making other planets (principally Mars) more hospitable to human habitation through “terraforming.”
Studies and long term thinking on human spaceflight and launch vehicle development have always been a core area of activity amongst Society members, with the visionary early work on the BIS Lunar Lander, the Orbital Launcher and various other space launchers and space stations. More recently, it is from the minds of BIS Members and Fellows that have sprung concepts such as HOTOL, Interim HOTOL, SKYLON, HEM and ANZOU – leading in some cases to hardware development.
With the demise of the Apollo Program in 1972, the British Interplanetary Society continued to encourage exploration of ideas on the possibilities of a return to the Moon and its eventual colonization.
The Society’s first definitive paper on the requirements for Interstellar Travel appeared in JBIS as long ago as 1952. In the late 1970s a group of members worked together on the design of a possible interstellar vehicle that was published in 1981 as the Daedalus Study. From this followed many papers concerned with communications with extraterrestrial intelligences (SETI) and associated studies.
More recently a group within the Society has initiated a series of studies on the scientific and technical objectives of conducting a human exploration of the Martian North Polar Cap (Project Boreas), and another group within the Society has initiated a follow on study to the Daedalus Interstellar Starprobe, called Project Icarus.
- Visionary Thinking
- Honours and Awards
- Council Details
- Action Groups
- The BIS Coat of Arms
- About the BIS website


Albania is liberated by the Partisans during World War 2.
After Italy was defeated by the Allies, Germany occupied Albania in September 1943, dropping paratroopers into Tirana before the Albanian guerrillas could take the capital, and the German army soon drove the guerrillas into the hills and to the south. Berlin subsequently announced it would recognize the independence of a neutral Albania and organized an Albanian government, police, and military. Many Balli Kombëtar units collaborated with the Germans against the communists, and several Balli Kombëtar leaders held positions in the German-sponsored regime.
The partisans entirely liberated Albania from German occupation on November 29, 1944. The National Liberation Army, which in October 1944 consisted of 70,000 regulars, also took part in the war alongside the antifascist coalition. The Albanian partisans also liberated Kosovo, and assisted Tito’s communist forces in liberating part of Montenegro and southern Bosnia and Herzegovina. By that time, the Soviet Army was also entering neighboring Yugoslavia, and the German Army was evacuating from Greece into Yugoslavia.


Nearly 60% of the total cultivated land has been occupied by the traditional rain-fed (Omer, 5). This sector is however characterized by low productivity. This is attributed to the poor farming techniques practiced. Cotton has been the main agricultural export commodity, although its production has generally reduced. Other major cash crops include peanuts`, sugarcane, dates, mangoes, coffee, tobacco and citrus fruits. Animal rearing is another important aspect of agriculture in Sudan. Better veterinary services and higher prices for animal products have contributed to its growth. Fish production is also an important sector in the country, with an annual production of about 33000 tons (Omer, 18). In addition, the forestry subsector has been a major part of the agricultural sector in the country. This sector has been the major producer of timber and helped grow the sawmilling industry. Nearly one third of land in Sudan is suitable for agriculture, and this is boosted by the presence of river Nile and other rivers which allow for irrigation. in 2001, the agricultural sector contributed close to 19% of the total exports. In order to address the agricultural deficiencies, the government has come up with a number of projects to boost the sector. For example, the Gezira Scheme, which is located between White and Blue Niles, is a major irrigation project that covers more than two million acres. Other projects include the Rahad, New Halfa and Souki (Omer, 11). Most of the agriculatra funding has been from major international bodies such as the World Bank and African Development Bank. However, most of these projects have not been completed in good time due to debt repayment problems. Furthermore, famine conditions, poor infrastructure and civil war have significantly hampered the growth of agriculture in Sudan.This country, which is the second largest on the located, is located in Central Africa with a population of more than 68 million (Smoes, 67). The country has a huge agricultural potential with close to 75 million hectares of land suitable for agriculture. Out of this, only 10 million hectares are used for agriculture. The agricultural sector employs nearly 60% of the workforce. The sector contributes less than 50% of the GDP; with most of the production stagnating and exports in decline (Smoes, 75). Cassava, rice and maize are the main crops produced in DRC. The country also engages in the production of cash
Blein, Roger et al. African Agriculture, Transformation and Outlook. New Partnership for African Development,. Johannesburg: NEPAD, 2013. Print.
Dercon, Stefan & Hill, Ruth. “Growth from Agriculture in Ethiopia: Identifying Key Constraints.” Agriculture and Growth in Ethiopia, 2009.
Omer, Abdeen. Agriculture Policy In Sudan. Agricultural Science Research Journal 1.1 (2011): 1-29
Smoes, Tanguy. “Agricultural Development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).” In Kyd-rebenburg, Diana, and Jakob Prammer (EDs.). Global Growing Casebook: Insights Into African Agriculture. 1st ed. 2012. Pp. 66-85
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Remote Method Invocation (RMI) tutorials and examples.
Distributed applications are madeup of classes and interfaces, just the way all other Java applications are made. Methods are declared by the interfaces. Methods which have been declared are implemented by the classes. Perhaps, an additional method would also be declared. In distributed applications certain implementations are present in Java virtual machines, however others are not. Objects along with method which could possibly be invoked are known to be the remote objects.
When a remote


A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremonial leaders in their particular cultures.
In the ceremonial context of Indigenous North American communities, "medicine" usually refers to spiritual healing. Medicine men/women should not be confused with those who employ Native American ethnobotany, a practice that is very common in a large number of Native American and First Nations households.
The terms medicine people or ceremonial people are sometimes used in Native American and First Nations communities, for example, when Arwen Nuttall (Cherokee) of the National Museum of the American Indian writes, "The knowledge possessed by medicine people is privileged, and it often remains in particular families."
Native Americans tend to be quite reluctant to discuss issues about medicine or medicine people with non-Indians. In some cultures, the people will not even discuss these matters with American Indians from other tribes. In most tribes, medicine elders are prohibited from advertising or introducing themselves as such. As Nuttall writes, "An inquiry to a Native person about religious beliefs or ceremonies is often viewed with suspicion." One example of this is the Apache medicine cord or Izze-kloth whose purpose and use by Apache medicine elders was a mystery to nineteenth century ethnologists because "the Apache look upon these cords as so sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle them or talk about them."
The 1954 version of Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language reflects the poorly-grounded perceptions of the people whose use of the term effectively defined it for the people of that time: "a man supposed to have supernatural powers of curing disease and controlling spirits." In effect, such definitions were not explanations of what these "medicine people" are to their own communities but instead reported on the consensus of socially and psychologically remote observers when they tried to categorize the individuals. The term medicine man/woman, like the term shaman, has been criticized by Native Americans, as well as other specialists in the fields of religion and anthropology.
While non-Native anthropologists often use the term shaman for indigenous healers worldwide, including the Americas, shaman is the specific name for a spiritual mediator from the Tungusic peoples of Siberia and is not used in Native American or First Nations communities.
There are many fraudulent healers and scam artists who pose as Cherokee "shamans", and the Cherokee Nation has had to speak out against these people, even forming a task force to handle the issue. In order to seek help from a Cherokee medicine person, a person needs to know someone in the community who can vouch for them and provide a referral. Usually one makes contact through a relative who knows the healer.
There is probably no more mysterious or interesting portion of the religious or 'medicinal' equipment of the Apache Indian, whether he be medicine-man or simply a member of the laity, than the 'izze-kloth' or medicine cord... the Apache look upon these cords as so sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle them or talk about them....


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In this unit the students will investigate the substrand, multiplication and division. They will complete a worksheet of problems involving 3 digit by 2 digit multiplication. They will use the extended form of multiplication (i.e. long multiplication) to solve these problems. The students will then complete a multiplication grid and identify and describe patterns that they can find.


Melt off from small mountain glaciers and ice caps will contribute about 12 centimetres to world sea-level increases by 2100, according to UBC research published this week in Nature Geoscience.
The largest contributors to projected global sea-level increases are glaciers in Arctic Canada, Alaska and landmass bound glaciers in the Antarctic. Glaciers in the European Alps, New Zealand, the Caucasus, Western Canada and the Western United Sates--though small absolute contributors to global sea-level increases--are projected to lose more than 50 per cent of their current ice volume.
The study modelled volume loss and melt off from 120,000 mountain glaciers and ice caps, and is one of the first to provide detailed projections by region. Currently, melt from smaller mountain glaciers and ice caps is responsible for a disproportionally large portion of sea level increases, even though they contain less than one per cent of all water on Earth bound in glacier ice.
"There is a lot of focus on the large ice sheets but very few global scale studies quantifying how much melt to expect from these smaller glaciers that make up about 40 percent of the entire sea-level rise that we observe right now," says Valentina Radic, a postdoctoral researcher with the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences and lead author of the study.
Increases in sea levels caused by the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, and the thermal expansion of water, are excluded from the results.
Radic and colleague Regine Hock at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, modelled future glacier melt based on temperature and precipitation projections from 10 global climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
"While the overall sea level increase projections in our study are on par with IPCC studies, our results are more detailed and regionally resolved," says Radic. "This allows us to get a better picture of projected regional ice volume change and potential impacts on local water supplies, and changes in glacier size distribution."
Global projections of sea level rises from mountain glacier and ice cap melt from the IPCC range between seven and 17 centimetres by the end of 2100. Radic's projections are only slightly higher, in the range of seven to 18 centimetres.
Radic's projections don't include glacier calving--the production of icebergs. Calving of tide-water glaciers may account for 30 per cent to 40 per cent of their total mass loss.
"Incorporating calving into the models of glacier mass changes on regional and global scale is still a challenge and a major task for future work," says Radic.
However, the new projections include detailed projection of melt off from small glaciers surrounding the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, which have so far been excluded from, or only estimated in, global assessments.
Nature Geoscience www.nature.com/ngeo/
Valentina Radic www.eos.ubc.ca/about/researcher/V.Radic.html


You've done your homework by assessing your yard and using appropriate information to choose just the right trees for your landscape. You've had Watters Garden Center plant them in the proper way, and have worked hard to water, prune, and fertilize each one. However, just like the gardeners who care for them, trees can become sick. Here are some things to look for when assessing whether or not a tree is healthy:
Only One Central Leader (For Most Trees) - Most landscape trees should be pruned to have only one central leader. This adds strength and stability to the tree's structure, and creates a straight appearance. If there is more than one leader, it may eventually cause the tree to split in two.
*Fruit trees: peach, nectarine, cherry, plum, and others.
*Trees that naturally grow with several trunks, each branch coming from the base, yet having only one central leader. Some examples are Desert Willow, Flame Maple, and Chase trees.
*Topiary and bonsai shaped forms, including espaliered trees.
Evidence of Yearly Growth - Trees produce new growth yearly on their trunks and branches. To see how much growth has occurred in the past year, check the distance between this year's buds and last year's. The average annual increases vary by tree species, so learn what increases you should expect. A tree with no signs of yearly growth may be in trouble.
Trunks with Peeling Bark - Except for certain trees like birch, eucalyptus, maple, and paperbark maples, a tree's bark should not be loose or peeling away from the wood underneath.
NO fungi should be growing on the trunk. Be careful when using garden equipment around trees, as damage to the bark can leave an open wound where insects and diseases can attack. There should be no large cracks or holes in the bark. Observe pinholes in the bark of pine trees, the sure tale sign of bark beetle attacks.
Bare Patches and Dead branches are BAD - If you have an evergreen tree, watch for sections without leaves year-round. Deciduous trees should have their leaves by this time of year. If not, some common causes of bare patches include:
*Nutrients and water not reaching those branches, or that section of the tree.
*Animals, like deer and porcupines, eating the leaves.
*Improper pruning practices.
*Pesticide or weed killer damage.
*Insects and diseases.
Suitable Leaf Color, Shape, and Size – Leaves are useful indicators of poor tree health. Make sure leaves are the right color for the season. Unless the tree naturally has yellow or variegated leaves, be especially wary if they turn yellow. They should not be stunted or irregularly-shaped. These are signs of nutrient deficiencies, insect damage, watering problems, pesticide damage, and/or diseases.
Bad Insects or Diseases - Other causes of poor tree health include insects and diseases. Some warning signs to look for are:
*Insects visible on the tree.
*Lack of fruit or flowers.
*Distortions in leaf size, color, or shape.
*Holes in bark, branches, or leaves.
*Growths or nodules on the limbs.
*Oozing sap - especially on elms and cottonwoods.
*Decreasing growth rate
If unsure how to treat a diseased tree please visit Watters Garden Center right away for potential cures. Don't wait. Summer is when tree diseases and insect populations grow rapidly, and more readily kill trees.
All trees benefit from feeding with Watters 7-4-4 All Purpose Plant Food in July, but if you suspect you have a sick tree it is essential to also spread Natural Guards' 'HuMic' under the dripline.
All Purpose Plant Food will increase your trees' green color, branch sturdiness, and leaf thickness. This summer feeding also sets the stage for better color when Autumn comes around.
HuMic is a granular product to spread at the base of trees. It acts much like an antibiotic for plants. It stimulates deeper root growth and plant hardiness as trees interact with this nutritious additive.
Make sure to apply both these treatments before the Monsoon rains arrive.
If you can’t attend these classes, watch the Livestream on Facebook each Saturday morning. Like our Page to be notified when we go Live.
June – July Summer Garden Classes
June 28 @ 3:30 pm – Animal Resistant Plants - What's Eatin' Your Garden?
Yes, there are plants that actually taste bad to the critters, but still, look gorgeous in the garden! This class is crucial for gardeners trying to enjoy our beautiful outdoor environment and abundant wildlife, but not have their landscape become lunch. Learn which plants deer, javelina, and rabbits usually shy away from, and where they will best grow in your garden.
July 6 @ 9:30 am - Containers that Bloom like Crazy! The right container with the right plants can bring a space in the landscape from so-so to stunning. Watters Garden Center has been creating container designs for decades. Our 3-step program puts the floral style back into your garden. The class is free to onlookers, but the first 12 students to sign up can create their own design with professional guidance for a $35 fee (pots provided).
July 12 @ 3:30 pm - Juicier Fruits, Grapes & Berries. Central Yavapai county is famous for our wine grapes but you can grow so much more. We will have experts on hand that can share the best-producing raspberries, a blackberry bush that produces HUGE berries, more table grapes, gooseberries, currants, elderberries and more. Join in the garden harvest for big, juicy fruiting plants.
July 20 @ 9:30 am - Easy Grow Roses – There are so many different roses to choose from--more than your grandmother ever knew about! Learn the difference between hybrid tea, floribunda, shrub, carpet and so much more. Talking points include the best rose varieties, care, and placement for non-stop blooms. Free to local gardeners that want more fragrance & color in the yard.
July 27 @ 9:30 am - Perennial Flowers with Impressive Blooms July rains make this the ideal month to plant perennials in the garden. Students learn how to design for a continual four-season bloom. Notable mentions will be our local native bloomers.


The theoretical generalization that the price level is determined by the quantity of money is commonly employed as a teaching device, in abstract modeling, and as a guide to policy. It represents a profound misunderstanding of inflation. In specific, the famous parable, more money then more inflation, is logically wrong. Far from the strength of neoclassical economics, its theory of inflation encapsulates and epitomizes its most fatal analytical errors and contradictions. Prominent among these errors and contradictions are the failure to provide a convincing explanation for the existence of money, and the closely related inability to provide a definition of money that makes its supply analytically determinate. These basic problems require the creation of an imaginary economy, the analysis of which results in arbitrary conclusions that cannot be generalized beyond neoclassical Cloud-Cuckoo Land.
- Written by John Weeks