Book 3 of the Dutch in WartimeBUY ON DUTCHREADZ
In Book 3: Witnessing the Holocaust, sixteen writers tell us how Dutch Jews were dragged from their homes to be murdered in Nazi death camps. We read first-hand accounts of friends disappearing, of betrayal and its dreadful consequences and of the torment of life in Nazi concentration camps.
Edited by Tom Bijvoet.
Historical background, 2 maps and 16 wartime memories.
On the cover: ‘102,000 Bricks’, monument by J.A. Gilbert and P.A. Ritmeijer remembering the 102,000 people incarcerated in Westerbork concentration camp who perished during the war. (Photo: Bert Kaufmann)
READ AN EXCERPT
The war will never be over
Like all Jewish children I was excluded from regular school. I had to go to a Jewish school which was not a day school or religious school as we now know it, but a school where only Jewish children went and only Jewish teachers taught. We were taught the usual things, of course, but also a few very important things which are not normally taught. First, when we came into class in the morning, the teacher would check that we all had a yellow star. If a child did not have one, they had to borrow a sweater or some other garment from another child. That was illegal, but at least everybody wore a star. The next lesson was: “What would you say if a soldier came into the class and asked you at what time your parents came home last night?” The answer had to be ‘before 8.00 p.m.’ (curfew hour) of course, but not too close to it. Something like 7.30 p.m. or 6.15 p.m., so that it would sound like the truth.
As Jews, we were not allowed to go to the movies or the public swimming pool, sit on park benches, play in the park, own radios, shop at any time except between three and five o’clock in the afternoon, go to plays, concerts or even the circus. We were not allowed to use public transit. Jewish men lost their jobs; they were not allowed to be journalists, symphony conductors, doctors, lawyers and many other professions. And of course we also had the curfew, as mentioned. We were not allowed to be out on the street between eight o’clock at night and six o’clock in the morning.
On June 20, 1943, when I had just turned ten years old, there was a big round-up in all of Amsterdam. The Germans came at about nine o’clock in the morning and chased us out of our apartment and down to the street. Many people were standing in the street and hanging out of windows, watching what was going on. Not everybody was hostile though. I remember clearly how Mrs. Gijtenbeek, the lady who owned the corner grocery store came to me with a small bag in her hand. In the bag were sweets that she wanted to give me. She had always been very nice to the neighborhood children and after the invasion she was even nicer to me than before.
We were taken to one of the big squares in Amsterdam and there we were made to wait. For what? We didn’t know. We waited all morning. Finally, at about noon, we were taken to Central Station in Amsterdam. There, we were shoved into the cattle cars, packed in so tight that there was hardly room to breathe. We arrived in Westerbork, a concentration camp in the northeast of Holland, at about eleven o’clock at night and were sent through the wooden gates to one of the barracks where we had to register and undergo a medical examination. Then we were assigned to a barracks.
Six months after our arrival in Westerbork, in January of 1944, we were deported to a concentration camp in what was then Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). It was called Theresienstadt, the Czech name is Terezin. That trip took us two days in cattle cars. Again, we were housed in barracks, this time built out of stone. Theresienstadt was an old garrison town, built in 1780, for about 7000 soldiers and their families. The barracks were square, with a sort of small outside yard in the middle of the square. In the center of that yard stood a hand pump where we got our water. There were washrooms, but the water there was turned off for several hours every day. The water was rusty and smelled bad. Theresienstadt sits on marshy ground and the water came from the marsh.
Beginning in October of 1944, all children aged ten years and over, also had to work. My first job was as a message carrier for the Siechenhaus, the house for the old and sick. That was my ‘regular’ job. I was also assigned to a number of other jobs, one of which was passing cardboard boxes from one child to another, to a third, and so on, in a line. Only children were assigned to this particular work. Our line led from the crematorium to a waiting truck – though I didn’t know that then. The boxes contained the ashes of the dead. The dead could not be buried, because as a result of the marshy ground, water would seep into the graves. So they were cremated. We children knew that full well, because we knew pretty much everything that went on and also because the boxes were ill-made and their covers did not quite fit. Ashes and bits of bone would seep out. The boxes had names on them as well, though I did not and do not know why. The waiting truck eventually went to the river Eger which flows past Theresienstadt and there the ashes were dumped into the river. I did not find this out, however, until many decades later.
Hunger, fear, illness and death ruled Theresienstadt at all times. In the autumn of 1944, two huge transports left Theresienstadt for the East. As I now know, but did not know then, they went to Auschwitz. The people in those transports were never heard from again.
On May 8, 1945, Theresienstadt was ‘liberated’ by the Russians who were on their way to somewhere else and happened upon Theresienstadt. This was the way in which most concentration camps were ‘liberated’.
But what liberty? Who knew what we would find when we returned home or searched for relatives and friends? Who knew whether we would find any of our possessions? Mostly we found nobody and nothing; all family and friends had been murdered in the death camps.
Eventually, on June 25, 1945, we were taken, by truck, back to Amsterdam, back to Central Station. There we learned that our pre-war upstairs neighbors, the Van den Berg family (mother Trien, father Wim, and their two daughters, the elder daughter Willy, and the younger one, my best friend Carla), had left word that, should we come back, they would take us in. So that’s where we went. We stayed with them for about a year. After that year, we were able to rent the same apartment that we had had before the war. I had just turned twelve after liberation and I had to go back to elementary school where I was put in fifth grade. My father went back to work and life became ‘normal’ again. Only, of course, life was never normal again!
I could never talk to my parents about the war and the years in the camps. I could never ask questions about the people who had disappeared. Many of us, children and adults alike, could never talk about what had happened to us. We could not ask questions. We could not discuss it. People did not want to hear about it. Nobody wanted to listen. It was, and often still is, the ‘great silence’.
We all had and have too many scars, both psychologically and physically. Most of us survivors have them. For us the war will never be over.
Ruth Gabriele Sarah Silten


Ants build rafts
Ants form themselves into rafts to protect the workers and queens during a flood. (D. Galvez/PLOS ONE)
Ants can be found in nearly every corner of the world — meaning they’re one of the few species that has to deal with nearly every kind of weather. For ants that live on flood plains, rising, rushing waters are a real threat, and it turns out they’ve developed a pretty ingenious way to deal with them.
When researchers at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, led by Jessica Purcell, flooded ants in their lab, the insects built a highly structured raft out of, well, themselves. The ants banded together, keeping their queen well protected in the middle of the raft, with the larvae and pupae — collectively known as the “brood” — at the bottom. Using this strategy, about 80 percent of the brood survived, and more than 95 percent of the worker ants survived, Purcell said, though in nature, the ants would also have to deal with other sources of danger including fish, birds and cold water.
The rafting strategy, which utilizes the fact that the brood are the most buoyant members of the ant colony, shows “how these ants take advantage of the properties of all members of the society when responding to an emergency situation,” Purcell told weather.com.
Rafting is not the only surprisingly complex behavior ants exhibit. Click through to learn more about what we know about the ants’ world.
NEXT: These ants are crazy


By Mahatma Gandhi
The Bhagavad Gita, also known as The music of the Lord, is a 700-line component of a miles longer Sanskrit warfare epic, the Mahabharata, about the mythical clash among branches of an Indian ruling relatives. Framed as a talk among Krishna, an incarnation of the god Vishnu, and a common of 1 of the armies, the Gita is written in robust poetic language intended to be chanted. both valuable as a advisor to motion, a devotional scripture, a philosophical textual content, and inspirational analyzing, it continues to be one of many world’s so much influential, broadly learn religious books.
The Bhagavad Gita in keeping with Gandhi is in keeping with talks given via Gandhi among February and November 1926 on the Satyagraha Ashram in Ahmedabad, India. in this time—a interval while Gandhi had withdrawn from mass political activity—he committed a lot of his time and effort to translating the Gita from Sanskrit into his local Gujarati. accordingly, he met along with his fans nearly day-by-day, after morning prayer classes, to debate the Gita’s contents and which means because it spread out sooner than him. This publication is the transcription of these day-by-day classes.
Read or Download The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi PDF
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The normal realizing of Shiva advised via tales and teachings from the Shiva Mahapurana
• Explains Shiva’s contradictory varieties, equivalent to destroyer or benefactor, and the way his shape is determined by the desires of the devotee
• unearths how Shiva’s teachings let one to work out during the illusions on the root of all grief and alienation in human existence
• Explores Shiva’s relationships with Durga, Shakti, Sati, and Parvati and along with his sons Ganesha and Kartikeya
Shiva, the main historical and complicated deity of the Hindu pantheon, has been portrayed in lots of contrasting lighting: destroyer and benefactor, ascetic and householder, wild demon slayer and calm yogi atop Mount Kailash. Drawing from the Hindu sacred textual content the Shiva Mahapurana--said to be written via Shiva himself--Vanamali selects the fundamental tales of Shiva, either these from his darkish wild aspect and people from his benevolent peaceable aspect.
Vanamali discusses Shiva’s many avatars akin to Shambunatha and Bhola, in addition to Dakshinamurti who taught the shastras and tantras to the rishis. She explores Shiva’s relationships with Durga, Shakti, Sati, and Parvati and along with his sons Ganesha and Kartikeya. studying Shiva’s reputation of outsiders, Vanamali explains why ghosts and ghouls are his attendants and why his maximum devotees are demon kings, like Ravana. She contains well-known Shiva tales resembling the Descent of the River Ganga and Churning the Milky Ocean in addition to those who demonstrate the foundation of the competition of lighting fixtures, Diwali; his production of the cosmic couple, or hierogamos; and the way Shiva and Parvati taught the realm the secrets and techniques of Kundalini Shakti. the writer additionally attracts upon Shaivite teachings to demonstrate the variations among Western technological know-how and Vedic technology and their reasons for the origins of cognizance.
Integrating Shiva’s facets, the fierce and the peaceable, Vanamali unearths that Shiva’s shape will depend on the desires of the devotee. figuring out his teachings permits one to determine during the illusions on the root of all grief and alienation in human existence, for Shiva is the wielder of maya who doesn't fall lower than its spell. whereas Ganesha is named the remover of hindrances, Shiva is the remover of tears.
Bankruptcy I. THE ALPHABET. § I. SANSKRIT is correctly written with the Devanragari alphabet; however the Bengali, Grantha, Telugu, and different sleek Indian alphabets are regularly hired for writing Sanskrit of their respective provinces. Note-Devanagar( capability the Nagar( of the gods, or, very likely, of the Br~hmBJl9.
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Sicily, King of Jerusalem, has, on account that his demise in 1250, loved a name as essentially the most striking monarchs within the historical past of Europe. His broad cultural tastes, his obvious tolerance of Jews and Muslims, his defiance of the papacy, and his intended objective of constructing a brand new, secular global order make him a determine in particular beautiful to modern historians.
Considers the questions of unfastened will within the nice India epic, the Mahabharata.
Additional resources for The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi
Probably at the moment she was born, no one else was born in the whole world, for she is so wondrous. Nal sits calmly, his feet touching the ground as beﬁts one born a warrior. The two turbans rest on the throne: Indra’s glimmers with the entire milky way sewn into it, whereas Nal’s is old, threadbare, stained with turmeric. Initially Dumenti is distracted by the glowing jewels of Indra’s turban, but then she realizes it is the illusion of wealth. She picks up the turmeric-stained turban and holds it to her breast, leaving the star-studded one on the throne.
So Dumenti chooses her husband again. This time Indra turns himself and all the 330 million gods into ﬁgures identical to Nal. Dumenti gazes with wonder at the multitudes of Nals. But with the help of the goddess, she is able to identity the one Nal who is human, whose feet touch the earth, whose garland is wilted, whose eyes blink. Recognizing Raja Nal, she garlands him. Again Indra is furious. Taking his followers with him, he leaves immediately for heaven, committed to seeking revenge against Raja Nal, that mere human who was chosen over himself, king of the gods, by the lovely Dumenti (WA 94:17–19, 22–27; 02:6–14; Shankar Lal 1987).
Pratham wants him to move immediately into the palace, but Raja Nal declines, saying, “I’ll come only if you dig a pit, and in it lay the hundred queens and sprinkle them with curds and then loose hunting dogs on them. And you kill the Pandit who lied to you. ” Manjha also refuses to reside in Narvar, saying that she had been living in a Merchant’s house and must ﬁrst bathe in the Ganges7 (WA 89:20–23). The Battle of Kampilagarh (Kampila¯gar˚ h Kı¯ Lar˚ a¯¯ı) New Characters Phul Singh Panjabi Sarvati, the daughter of Phul Singh Panjabi Manjha is reunited with her husband, Raja Pratham, but insists on bathing in the Ganges to remove the sin of living with the merchants for twelve years.


Sunday, September 22, 2013
"Trickle-Down" Is An Unfair Economic Policy
Mother Jones magazine, and they illustrate clearly the economic unfairness that the Republican "trickle-down" policies have caused for most Americans.
The top chart shows the amount of income the richest 10% of Americans have gotten historically in relation to the other 90% of all Americans. Note that from around the end of World War II to about 1980, the percentage of the nation's income received by the top 10% was between 30%-35%. And the other 90% received between 65%-70% of the national income. It was not an even split in income (and never could be in a capitalist system), but it was acceptable because all Americans were getting at least some share of rising productivity.
But Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, and with the help of his Republican cohorts (and some blue dog Democrats), he instituted an economic policy dubbed "trickle-down" (because it was based on the theory that if the rich were given more, some of that economic wealth would trickle down and everyone would benefit). But no money trickled down, and the policies just made the rich even richer while everyone else suffered.
Note that the share of national income for the bottom 90% of Americans began to decline after 1980, and now rests at about 49.6% of the nation's total income ( a drop of around 20% in their share of national income). The opposite was true for the richest 10% of Americans. Their share of the nation's total income grew by about 20% (rising from between 30%-35% to a current share of 50.4%). That's right -- 10% of Americans are gobbling up more than half of the nation's total income, while 90% of Americans get to divide less than half among them.
And it's not getting any better. Another report has shown that in the "recovery" from the Bush recession (in the years between 2009 and 2012), the top 1% has received 95% of the increase in income, while the bottom 99% got only 5% of the increase in income (and you can bet that 5% was not shared with anyone in the bottom four quintiles (bottom 80%). Note that in the bottom chart above, the income for the bottom 80% of Americans has dropped since the "trickle-down" policies were instituted. The only quintile with an increase in income was the top quintile (top 20%) -- and most of that was received by the top 5%.
This is why we now have the biggest gap in wealth and income between the rich and the rest of America since before the Great Depression. And since the congressional Republicans have blocked all attempts to return the country to a sane and fair economic policy, that gap continues to grow even larger with each passing day. This cannot continue indefinitely without completely wrecking our economy. But the corporation and the rich (and their congressional lackeys, the GOP) don't seem to care about the future. They are only interested in squeezing every dollar possible out of today.


In this blog post, our Abbotsford electricians at Premium Electric take a look at a circuit breaker vs fuse box. What makes them different and which one is better?
It’s important to keep in mind that depending on the power application, in most cases a fuse and a circuit breaker are not interchangeable. As an example, fuses should never be used on any circuit that requires a GFCI outlet.
What is a Fuse?
Designed as an over-current safety device, a fuse has a thin piece of metal that will melt and break the circuit if it becomes overheated. A fuse can only be used once so if it blows, the fuse will need to be replaced with a new one of the correct amperage. See our FAQ post on Types of Fuses & How They Work.
Most homes that were built prior to 1960 will have a fuse box that houses all the fuses required to control the flow of electricity in the home. Fuse boxes should only be installed by a qualified electrician.
If your home has a fuse box, you should test the main switch annually to make sure it is working properly. You also need to know where your fuse box is located and what size/type of fuses are needed to protect your home. If you blow a fuse, you will need to unplug all electrical devices that are connected to that circuit.
A disadvantage of fuses is that you need to turn off the main power supply before you replace the fuse, which can be challenging in the dark. You must also replace a fuse with the correct amperage. The one advantage that fuses have over a circuit breaker, however, is that fuses are relatively inexpensive.
When it comes to circuit breaker vs fuse box, be sure to hire an electrician that will replace the fuse box with more a modern circuit breaker.
If you have any questions, please call us at 604-308-6195.
What is a Circuit Breaker?
By contrast, if there is a surge of electricity, the internal automatic switch mechanism of a circuit breaker will trip and shut of the power. Nothing gets burnt out so there’s nothing to replace. Instead, to restore power you can just reset the circuit breaker by flipping the switch back on.
In terms of circuit breaker vs fuse box, a circuit breaker is more advanced and can be used over and over again. While they don’t respond as quickly as fuses, circuit breakers do not have to be replaced. The exception, of course, is replacing older or outdated circuit breakers.
Your main circuit breaker panel will have numerous switches. Some switches are dedicated circuit breakers for specific appliances like your HVAC system or refrigerator. Others, however, will have all the outlets in one part of your house (like the living room or garage) on one circuit.
Because we rely on a host of electrical devices for our day-to-day living, circuit breakers are essential for home safety. We recommend installing Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI outlets) as well since they react quicker and are designed to prevent electrical shocks at the outlet.
GFCI outlets are commonly found in bathrooms, kitchens, and garages and can be reset with the push of a button.
About Premium Electric
Premium Electric is available for 24-hour emergency services and electrical safety inspections. We specialize in both residential and commercial electrical services and help clients throughout the Fraser Valley including Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, Langley, and Surrey. All our electrical work is warrantied and guaranteed.
You might also like our information on Electrical Panel Upgrades.


Grammar lesson 2
To introduce/review and give the Ss practice in Past simple,continuous and perfect .
To enable students to speak fluently in the context of telling a story or anectode in the past .
Procedure (34-45 minutes)
-Teacher gives students the following questions to open a discussion around the topic of sports and to elicit sports where cheating is most common. Questions: In your country, is cheating considered a serious problem in sport? In 'what sports do you think cheating is most common? \Vhat kind of things do people do when they cheat? -Students will discuss the questions in pairs, then a whole class feedback.
-Students will scan through the text " taking a short cut " and will answer individually a question about how the girl cheated in the race. - They will check their answers in pairs. -The teacher will give the right answer.
-Ss will answer three question,6-c, about the kind of function of the highlighted verbs in the text which indicate respectively the past simple, perfect and continuous. -Ss will check their answers in pairs. -Ss will go around the class to see the answer key on the wall.
-The T Elicits the tenses of the highlighted verbs from the students. -The T clarifies the meaning and form through a timeline to clarify the use of the three tenses. CCQs: When do we use Past simple? ( we use it for finished actions in the past or when we say, ask, or know when they happened). When do we use Past perfect? before or after the past simple ? (Before) Does an action in the present continuous take time to happen? (It takes time because it's in progress in the past ) -Ss drills the modal sentences to focus on the rhythm (If time: listening to the audio,10-13, and drilling)
- Ss will do a controlled practice where they will fill in the blanks with the right tense of the given verbs, exercise 6-e, Page 47. ICQ: What are you going to do? - The teacher will monitor and go around to support the students who need help. -Ss will check their answers in pairs. -Then they will find the answer key under their chairs. In the second part of the practice stage students will do a freer oral practice: -The teacher will give different topics and questions for the student to talk about in groups of three and tell anecdotes in relation to the topics using the three aspects of the simple past ICQs: Are you going to talk about all the topics? (No, just one topic) Which tenses do we use when we tell a story? (Past simple, continuous and perfect) topics: 1-A time you cheated (in a sport I game or in an exam) 2-A really exciting sports event you saw 3-A time you had an accident or got a sports injury 4-A time you got lost


Questions to arouse interest. Where are these dogs? Which one seems at home? In what is he lying? What makes you think the sun is shining brightly? Which dog looks the best cared for? How does he seem to feel toward the first dog? To which class do the other dogs in the picture belong? What seems to be their attitude toward the two principal dogs? Which dog looks the proudest? the most content? the vainest? What different kinds of dogs are represented in this picture? How many know the story about Alexander and Diogenes? Why was this picture so named?
Original Picture : National Gallery, London, England.
Artist: Sir Edwin Landseer (lând’ser).
Birthplace : London, England.
Dates: Born, 1802; died, 1873.
The story of the picture. Into the streets of Athens, bright with the life and brilliant colors of its gayly dressed people, came the uncouth figure of the philosopher Diogenes, ridiculing all that the Athenian held most dear. On his head he carried the tub in which he ate and slept. At first he also carried a cup, but after seeing a boy drink from the hollow of his hand, he broke his cup on the pavement, preferring the ” simpler way.” His ugly, cynical face, awkward figure, bare feet, and ragged clothing made him an object of astonishment and ridicule. Independent, surly, and ill-natured, he continued to be an outcast throughout his long life. He taught in the streets as did many of the philosophers in those days, and spoke so plainly and so contemptuously of the life of the people that but for his ready wit he must have been driven out of the city. He himself cared nothing for abuse and insult, and went so far in showing his contempt for pride in others that he acquired the same fault himself, and grew proud of his contempt for pride. He loved to show the contempt he felt for all the little courtesies of polite society.
The story is told that Diogenes came, uninvited and unannounced, to a dinner which Plato, a great philosopher, was giving to a select number of his friends, and, rubbing his dirty feet on the rich carpets, called out, “Thus I trample on the pride of Plato.” To which that philosopher quickly retorted, “But with greater pride, O Diogenes.”
One day he went about the streets carrying a lantern, though the sun was shining brightly. He seemed to be looking earnestly for something, and when asked what he was searching for he replied, “I am searching for an honest man.”
Plato gave lectures to his pupils in the Academic Gardens, and one day Diogenes was present. Plato defined man as “a two-legged animal without feathers.” Diogenes immediately seized a chicken and, having plucked its feathers, he threw it among Plato’s pupils, declaring it to be “one of Plato’s men.”
Once he was captured by pirates and sold as a slave, but even this did not subdue him, for on being asked what he could do he declared he could “govern men,” and urged the crier to ask, “Who wants to buy a master?” The man who bought him set him free, and afterwards employed him to teach his children. That is how Diogenes happened to be in Corinth when Alexander the Great was passing that way. To that great Macedonian king, who considered himself the “son of a god” and to whom all had knelt in homage almost worship, the visit to Diogenes was something of a shock. He found him in one of the poorer streets, seated in his tub, enjoying the sun and utterly indifferent as to who his visitor might be. Astonished, the king said, “I am Alexander.”
The answer came as proudly, “And I am Diogenes.”
Alexander then said, “Have you no favor to ask of me?”
“Yes,” Diogenes replied, “to get out of my sunlight.”
Far from being angry with him, Alexander seemed to respect and admire a man strong enough to be indifferent to his presence, and said, “Were I not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.”
It happened one day that the artist, Sir Edwin Landseer, passing along one of the narrower streets of London, caught a glimpse of a dirty tramp dog resting comfortably in an empty barrel and looking up with an impish gaze at a well-cared-for dog. The well-kept dog was surveying the tramp with looks of mingled haughtiness and annoyance because of his lack of respect. Immediately the thought came to the artist that here were another Alexander and Diogenes.
The well-fed and carefully cared-for pet, with his fine collar and snow-white coat, sniffs with disgust at the dirt and poverty of the tramp dog, yet is held in spite of himself by the look of indifference and disrespect on the other’s face. He, the envied dog of the neighborhood, upon whom all honors have been showered, has found here for the first time a dog who dares to disregard him. And what a dog! He is amazed, yet held, waiting to see what the tramp dog will do.
Those smaller dogs do not share the indifference of Diogenes at the presence of this great personage. They seem ready to run at the first sign of danger, yet they remain near enough to see and hear all that might happen.
The two hounds in the background, waiting so solemnly for the master, hold their heads high in the air as if the neighborhood were not good enough for them, and they of course could have no interest in what is going on.
Probably Sir Edwin Landseer meant this picture to call attention to the vanities of human nature, and to make us smile at them. The expressions on the faces of these dogs are almost human, so well do they tell their story.
The hammer and nails lying on the rough pavement near the barrel would indicate that this is not a permanent home for the tramp dog, but rather a temporary place of shelter into which he has strayed.
Notice how Landseer has centered our attention on the more important dog, by color, size, and position in the picture. The other spots of light, even that on the edge of the barrel, draw our eyes back to the proud Alexander. We might not discover Diogenes so soon if we did not follow the gaze of Alexander.
Landseer delighted in telling stories in his pictures of animals. Rosa Bonheur and other animal painters aimed to make the animals appear natural and lifelike, but Landseer wished most of all to show their relation to human beings.
This picture hangs in the National Gallery, London, England.
Questions to help the pupil understand the picture. Who was Alexander the Great? Who was Diogenes? Tell about the life and philosophy of Diogenes. Describe his personal appearance; Plato’s dinner and his reply to Diogenes. Why did Diogenes carry a lantern in the daytime? What happened after he was captured by the pirates? How did he happen to be in Corinth when Alexander the Great was there? What opinion did Alexander have of himself? Where did he find Diogenes? What conversation did they have? Why was this picture called “Alexander and Diogenes”? Why is the name appropriate? To which class do the other dogs in the picture belong? What are they doing? Where is the scene of this picture laid? Why is this appropriate? What is there unusual about this picture? What impression do you think the artist wished to leave with us? What devices has he used to center our attention upon the more important dog? upon Diogenes? Where is the original painting?
The story of the artist. Sir Edwin Landseer’s grandfather was a jeweler, and his father also learned the jeweler’s trade. The jewelers of that day were often asked to engrave the copper plates that were used in printing pictures. Sir Edwin’s father soon decided he would rather engrave pictures than sell jewels, and he became a very skillful engraver.
At that time few people realized what an art it was to be able to cut a picture in copper so that a great many copies of it could be made from one plate. They did not even consider it an art as we do, and so engravers were not allowed to exhibit at the Royal Academy and were given no honors at all. Edwin’s father thought this was not right, and gave several lectures in defense of the art. Engraving, he said, was a kind of “sculpture performed by incision.” His talks seemed to be of no avail at the time, but in the year following his death, engravers at last received the recognition due them.
His eldest son, Thomas, also became famous as an engraver, and it is to him we are indebted for so many good prints of Sir Edwin Landseer’s paintings. This son is the one who made the engraving of the “Horse Fair” for Rosa Bonheur. Few people can afford to own great paintings, but the prints come within the means of almost all of us.
Edwin’s father taught him to draw, and he learned so quickly that even when he was only five years old he could draw remarkably well. Edwin had three sisters and two brothers. The family lived in the country, and often the father went with his boys for a walk through the fields. There were two very large fields separated from each other by a fence with an old-fashioned stile. This stile had about four steps and was built high, so that the sheep and cows pastured in the fields could not jump over. One day Edwin stopped here to admire these animals and asked his father to show him how to draw them. His father took a piece of paper and a pencil from his pocket, and showed Edwin how to draw a cow. This was the boy’s first drawing lesson. After this Edwin came here nearly every day, and his father called these two fields “Edwin’s studio.”
When he was only thirteen years old two of his pictures were exhibited at the Royal Academy. One was a painting of a mule, the other of a dog and puppy. Edwin painted from real life always, not caring to make copies from the work of others. All the sketches he made when he was a little boy were carefully kept by his father, and now, if you go to England, you may see them in the South Kensington Museum, in London.
Landseer was only sixteen years old when he exhibited his wonderful picture called “Fighting Dogs Getting Wind.” A very rich man, whose praise meant a great deal at that time, bought the picture, and Edwin’s success was assured. So many people brought their pets for him to paint that he had to keep a list and each was obliged to wait his turn.
It was about this time, too, that he painted an old white horse in the stable of another wealthy man. After the picture was finished and ready to deliver, it suddenly disappeared. It was sought everywhere, but it was not found until twenty-four years afterwards. A servant had stolen it and hidden it away in a hayloft. He was afraid to sell it, or even to keep it in his home, for every one would recognize the great artist’s work.
For a number of years Landseer lived and painted in his father’s house in a poor little room without even a carpet. All the furniture, we are told, consisted of three cheap chairs and an easel. Later he had a fine “studio not far from Regent’s Park. There were a small house and garden, and the barn was made over into a studio.
Sir Edwin was not a very good business man, so he left all his financial affairs to his father, who sold his pictures for him and kept his accounts.
At twenty-four Landseer became a member of the Royal Academy, which was an unusual honor for so young a man.
This story is told of him. At a social ,gathering in the home of a well-known leader of society in London, where Landseer was present, the company had been talking about skill with the hands, when some one remarked that no one had ever been found who could draw two things at once. Landseer replied ” Oh, I can do that; lend me two pencils and I will show you.” Then with one hand he quickly drew the head of a horse, at the same time drawing with the other hand a deer’s head and antlers. Both sketches were so good that they might well have been drawn with the same hand and with much more care.
Landseer made a special study of lions, too. A lion died at the park menagerie, and Landseer dissected its body and studied and drew every part. He painted many pictures of lions. He modeled the lions at the base of the Nelson Monument in Trafalgar Square, London, unveiled in 1867.
When Sir Edwin Landseer went to visit Scot-land one of his fellow travelers was Sir Walter Scott, the great novelist. The two became warm friends. Sir Walter Scott tells us : ” Landseer’s dogs were the most magnificent things I ever saw, leaping and bounding and grinning all over the canvas.” Landseer painted Sir Walter Scott’s handsome dog, ” Maida Vale,” many times, and named his studio for the dog.
Although Landseer painted so many wild animals, birds, and hunting scenes, he did not care to shoot animals or to hunt. His sketch-book was his only weapon. Sometimes he would hire guides to take him into the wildest parts of the country in search of game. But they felt quite disgusted with him when, a great deer bounding toward them, he would merely make a sketch of it in his book. He knew how to use a gun, though, and sometimes did so with great success.
But it was the study of live animals that interested him most. Sir Edwin Landseer felt that animals understand, feel, and reason just like people, so he painted them as happy, sad, gay, dignified, frivolous, rich, poor, and in all ways, just like human beings.
Landseer did and said all he could against the custom of cutting, or “cropping,” the ears of dogs. He held that nature intended to protect the ears of dogs that “dig in the dirt,” and man should not interfere. People paid attention to what he said, and the custom lost favor.
In 185o the honor of knighthood was conferred upon the artist.
Landseer was popular alike with lovers of art and simple lovers of nature who had no knowledge of painting. No English painter has ever been more appreciated in his own country.
He died in London in 1873, at the age of seventy-one.
Other noted pictures by Landseer are : “The Highland Shepherd’s Chief Mourner,” “Suspense,” “The Connoisseurs,” “A Distinguished Member of the Royal Humane Society,” “Saved,” “My Dog,” “Dignity and Impudence,” “Sleeping Bloodhound,” “Shoeing the Bay Mare,” “Monarch of the Glen,” and “A Deer Family.”
Questions about the artist. What did Sir Edwin Landseer’s father do for a living? Tell about Edwin’s boyhood and first “studio.” For what did he name the studio “Maida Vale”? With whom did he travel through Scotland? What was Sir Edwin Landseer’s idea of hunting, and why? How did he feel about animals? What skill did he have with his left hand? Name some of his paintings.


Continuing where I left off, this next segment moves from Communications to a more abstract concept: Imagination. Imagination sounds like something that would be hard to make a ride about, but in the 1980s, “Journey into Imagination” was one of the best Epcot rides. It was a kiddie ride at heart, but the way in which it broke down the creative process was simple enough for kids to understand and inspiring enough in its scope to really get your engines going, and it had great, marketable characters. Why would Disney ever throw something like that away? Regardless of why, they did. Enter the creatively titled “Journey into YOUR Imagination” in 1999. Completely throwing away any sense of organization, flow, and emotion, this bizarre replacement tried to take a more scientific approach to imagination. That alone was the ride’s fatal flaw, but a host of others made everyone shake their heads at Disney and Kodak. It closed in 2001, and its replacement brought back the beloved Figment character, but the magic never fully recovered.
Featured image taken from here, available under the Creative Commons license. Originally taken and uploaded to Flickr by Theme Park Tourist.


Class Participation and effort 10%
Does that look like a typical weighted grading system for a class?
But, what does the grade we give at the end of the class mean?Is it supposed to reflect the learning that has occurred? If so, then maybe we should only count the last test. Is it supposed to reflect the improvement? If so, then a student who does really poorly on tests and quizzes for the first half of class, but that figures it out by the end should get an A (but will not). Is it supposed to be a reflection of the day to day work and effort that they do all year? Then our daily participation and effort percentage should change to 75%. Should we even grade homework? Is it important that they do it? If so, shouldn’t it be more of a part of the grade? Is that homework graded based on attempt or only correct answers? Is the grade supposed to be a reflection of the regurgitation of content? If so, give a huge multiple choice test with no discussion. Is it supposed to be an analysis of content? Then let our exams be all essay and short answer instead of multiple choice, matching, fill in the blank. Is it supposed to be an application of understanding? Then an in-depth project that incorporates and requires application of a variety of cumulative skills should be a majority of the grade. Students say a teacher gives a grade, but teachers say students earn it. Which is it? Is there any truth to what the students say? Teachers, have you ever given a pop quiz because you know most kids did not read? Teachers, have you ever made a test harder than usual, or worse…..easier than usual? Why? If a student bombs one major test, but gets A+ on everything else, what grades does he earn? If a student is apathetic every day in class but gets A+ on all tests and quizzes demonstrating unquestionably that she ”gets “ the material, what grade does she get? If a student works hard all semester, participates in class, tries hard on all homework and assignments, but in the end just not quite “get it” so does poorly on tests, what grade does he get? Teachers, have you ever curved a test? Why? How does that sync up with you grading system? Teachers, if test grades do not follow a standard Bell curve, is that OK? If all students have mastered the material and demonstrate that effectively on an a solid evaluation, is it ok if all students get “A”s? So, you see, a grade is actually very complex, yet there is no standard at any school, in any district, or college. Schools even use different number systems to define letter grades. Some school use + and -, some don’t . Some use larger bands for B and C. Some allow D as passing, some do not. Some high schools “weight” Honors and AP class grades, some do not. Teachers even within the same department have very different scales and weight percentages. Teachers sometimes even have completely different categories. I am not suggesting that this is necessarily bad, just something to consider. And maybe something that may push us into considering that we move away from looking at(and using) grades like we do. Teachers hate when students only seem to care about the grade, yet don’t we dangle it in front of them all semester long? So how can we possibly compare a grade from one school to another, even for the same class? When we know the classes are probably far from similar in the first place and most likely the grading as well. And if the answer to that question is that we really do not have to compare them, then I’ll re-ask my original question, what does the grade a student gets in a class mean?
So in conclusion, I’ll ask the same question yet again in the biggest sense: what does the grade a student gets in a class really mean?


Taking Flight: The Nadine Ramsey Story; by Raquel Ramsey and Tricia Aurand; University Press of Kansas, 2020; 312 pp., $29.95
Taking Flight tells the remarkable tale of a courageous woman, Nadine Ramsey, who survived a difficult childhood to become Kansas’ first female commercial pilot, a World War II WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilot), an instructor of male fighter pilots, and a crusader for WASP veteran status. Her story should serve as an inspiration to all, especially to those who come from less-than-ideal circumstances and face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Ramsey’s story demonstrates what pluck, perseverance, and an indomitable spirit can do.
Nadine was born to Claude and Nelle Ramsey in Illinois in 1911. A second daughter was born two years later, but as a toddler the younger girl pulled a pot of boiling water onto herself and died of the burns. The family was devastated. A boy, Ed, arrived in 1917, and Nadine immediately attached herself to her little brother. They would remain close for the rest of their lives.
Claude was from a farming family, but he left the farm to work in oil fields, first in Carlyle, Illinois, where the Ramsey children were born, and then in El Dorado, Kansas. When the oil boom began to decline in El Dorado, Claude was off to new strikes in Oklahoma and Texas, leaving the family behind in a wood and tar paper house. He returned home every few months, growing ever more convinced that Nelle was unfaithful to him, though he found nothing to justify his suspicions. Moody and angry, he drank heavily.
One night, with a verbal battle raging in their parents’ bedroom, Nadine and Ed heard the word “gun.” They raced into the bedroom in time to see their father pulling his shotgun from behind a headboard. Nadine, 16, and Ed, 10, threw themselves onto Claude and held on with all their might. Suddenly sober and ashamed, Claude dropped the shotgun and walked out of the house. Nadine called the police and described what happened. When officers arrived, they found Claude standing in front of the house. Later that night, alone in a jail cell, Claude hanged himself.
The family was now economically dependent on Nelle, who owned a cosmetology business, though Nadine and Ed also got part-time jobs. Nadine graduated from high school and spent a year at El Dorado Junior College before the crash in 1929 forced her to drop out and go to work full-time.
Nelle moved the family to Wichita, Kansas, in 1930, which was home to several aircraft manufacturers. The town had held its first air show in 1911. Living in Wichita were aviation pioneers Lloyd Stearman, Walter Beech, and Clyde Cessna. By the 1930s, Wichita, which had been one of the Kansas cattle towns at the end of the Long Drive from Texas, had become an aircraft town. Bold and adventurous, Nadine became obsessed with aviation.
Working hard as a secretary and saving her earnings, Nadine had enough money to begin flying in 1936. After fewer than seven hours of instruction, she soloed. A photographer from The Wichita Beacon snapped a shot of her standing next to the plane, and that photograph appeared in the newspaper. Women pilots were still a novelty. Some 40 hours of flight time later she had her private pilot’s license. A year later she became the first woman in Kansas to earn a commercial pilot’s license.
In May 1938 during National Air Mail Week, J. B. Riddle, the postmaster of Wichita, swore in Nadine as an air mail pilot. The Wichita Eagle, the Beacon’s rival, headlined, “Wichita Aviatrix May Become First Woman to Fly U.S. Mail.” The newspaper had it wrong, but Nadine was among the first of several women pilots nationally to become mail pilots. When she flew the mail from Wichita to Wellington (another Kansas town), she was greeted by a large crowd of cheering citizens.
Nadine had higher aspirations than mail runs in Kansas. In 1939 she moved to Manhattan Beach in Southern California. Nearby were aircraft manufacturers Douglas, North American, Northrop, and Lockheed. She bought a plane, and the auburn-haired aviatrix became her own one-woman flight school, training young pilots and attracting the attention of Hollywood celebrities. This fame earned her a dealership from Taylorcraft, which produced a two-seat, high-wing, single-engine airplane that was relatively inexpensive and highly popular.
Nadine was now living the life of her dreams. But that life came to an abrupt halt when a powerful downdraft caused her to clip the top of a tree and crash to the ground while flying in the mountains of San Diego’s backcountry. She survived but suffered severe injuries, including a broken back and a leg damaged so badly that surgeons considered amputation. It was thought she might not walk again, let alone fly.
Her brother, Ed, dropped out of law school and rushed out to care for her. Ed told her he’d get her back into a plane even if he had to drag her by the hair. Both were high spirited, stubborn, and independent, and day by day Nadine improved. By Christmas 1940 Nadine was taking her first steps. In February 1941 she was back in the cockpit.
Within weeks she was as sharp as ever, and her rapid return to proficiency would soon come in handy, because the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor came in December. Nadine desperately wanted to contribute to the war effort, not only because she felt it was her patriotic duty, but also because her brother Ed was now Lieutenant Ramsey and fighting in the Philippines. When Bataan fell, he refused to surrender, instead fleeing into the bush to conduct a death-defying three-year guerrilla campaign against the Japanese.
In 1942 Nadine became an instructor for the Civil Air Patrol and in 1943 was accepted into the training program that would soon be known as WASP. The training was rigorous and differed little from that of Army Air Forces pilots. Nadine graduated in September—though two of her closest friends died in crashes before graduation—and soon began ferrying a variety of planes, including all of the single-engine fighters and, eventually, the twin-engine, twin-fuselage P-38 Lightning that leading aces Dick Bong and Tommy McGuire made famous. The Kelly Johnson-designed fighter required a highly skilled pilot to fly it, especially when an engine failed. Nadine became one of only 26 WASPs to pilot the Lightning.
Just before Christmas 1944, WASP was disbanded. The women pilots had ferried thousands of planes and flown thousands of hours. Thirty-eight of them had died doing their duty. Despite the inherent dangers in flying, most of the WASPs were not ready to quit, but the military pipeline was now churning out more than enough pilots. After two years of adventure, many of the WASPs had trouble readjusting to a conventional life. Nadine was one of the lucky ones. She was hired as an instructor for military pilots transitioning from transport planes or bombers to fighters. This might not have been as exciting as ferrying a P-51 or P-38, but she was still in aviation.
The next year she bought her own Lightning at a military surplus sale for $1,250. Newspapers ran stories about it. The Los Angeles Times titled its story, “Woman goes shopping; flies home with P-38.” The rest of Nadine’s life would be full of adventure and take twists and turns that could be the stuff of a novel.
Taking Flight is not a novel, though, but an exceptionally well-written biography that is painstakingly researched and fully documented. Moreover, authors Raquel Ramsey and Tricia Aurand go well beyond Nadine’s personal story, putting everything she did in the larger context of aviation during the 1930s and ’40s and of the nation’s history in that same period. Taking Flight also provides a history of WASP and the long campaign to achieve military veteran status for those pioneering women.
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Posted by the Animal of the Year Team 20.08.2018 in Estonian
The most magnificent buck was brought down in 2016 by Mati Koger – its antlers were rated at 196,58 points. In the photo this pair is the first from left in the fourth row. It is the new roe deer tip trophy in Estonia.
Photo: Tarmo Mikussaar
We ask Peeter Hussar, senior expert of the international game and conservation association CIC, what the hunting trophies tell us about the well-being of Estonian game animals. Peter has set up the 12th hunting trophy exposition that will be open until September15th in the Sagadi Manor forest museum
Peeter, from the trophies, what can be said about the state of the roe deer?
From an overview of the trophy display it is certainly possible to draw some conclusions about the status of some game species. If the number is large enough there will be strong specimens among the trophies. Some years ago the winters were severe, trophy level animals were few then. Now roe deer have recovered nicely from the low level that lasted years. There are powerful antlers, the genetic reserve is strong. Since the roe deer here in practice live at the northern limit of their range, in my opinion sometimes natural conditions affect their number and welfare more than human activities.
If the tradition of trophies were 100 years old it would be possible to make more serious deductions about the welfare of some species.
How are trophies evaluated?
The basis of trophy evaluation is not the same as in a sport event where the first, second, third place are determined; it is a comparison. The levels for gold, silver, bronze have been set. For roe deer 130 points yield gold, that is, all whose antlers are rated at more than 130 points get gold. For roe buck antlers the volume is determined. Weighing is done with an accuracy of grams, measuring with millimetres, calculation at the one- hundredth level. Draws as a rule do not occur..
The calculation of point levels is done separately for each species. The highest score for roe deer this year was awarded to an animal brought down by Mati Koger in 2016 - 196,58 points. It is now the new Estonian tip trophy in a 40-year period
Boar tusks are many on the walls
Apparently for the last time a rich choice of boar tusks is among the trophies. The effects of the ASF are not yet visible in the display, so the collection of tusks is unique. In the hunting season 2015-16 32 000 wild boar were shot in
*This spring altogether 1571 hunting trophies were evaluated in


The study of motion presents problems to students of beginning physics at all levels. Part of this problem arises because of students' "common sense" ideas of motion. Six questions on trajectory motion, based on Galileo's "thought experiments" in his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, were given to students in several different introductory physics classes. These responses are analyzed and discussed.
%0 Journal Article %A Whitaker, Robert %D April 1, 1983 %T Aristotle is not dead: Student understanding of trajectory motion %J Am. J. Phys. %V 51 %N 4 %P 352-357 %8 April 1, 1983 %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.13247
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Around 30 percent of people experience vertigo, a form of severe dizziness that can result in a loss of balance, a feeling of falling, trouble walking or standing, or nausea. It is a common reason for visits to the GP or Emergency, particularly in older people, but is treatable in most cases.
A new study, published in Neurology, for the first time documents patients using miniature video goggles to capture episodes of vertigo in their home. Researchers were then able to use the videos to identify eye-movements associated with different conditions.
Senior author on the study Associate Professor Miriam Welgampola said vertigo can be a symptom of a number of different conditions, including stroke in rare instances, so it is important that the cause is identified as soon as possible.
“Vertigo can be a disabling condition, so an accurate diagnosis is important to effectively treat the underlying disorder,” said Associate Professor Welgampola of the University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health and the Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. “Observing a person’s eye movements during an episode can help make the diagnosis, but people don’t always have an episode when they are at the doctor’s office.”
About the study
In this proof of concept study, researchers taught patients who were already diagnosed with three common causes of vertigo to video record their own episode of vertigo.
Of the group, 43 people had Meniere’s disease, an inner ear disorder that can affect hearing and balance, 67 had vestibular migraine that can cause vertigo but may not cause a headache, and seven had benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, one of the most common causes of vertigo, where a person’s head movements trigger the episodes.
The diagnostic yield of the googles was slightly different for each condition, however for Meniere’s disease the googles were able to provide very high accuracy of diagnosis similar to in-clinic hearing tests which can generally only be completed when a patient’s condition is more progressed.
“These results indicate that it is possible for patients to record their own episodes of vertigo and for health professionals to apply these principals when viewing the video footage to rapidly and accurately diagnose the cause of the vertigo,” said lead author Allison Young, PhD Scholar in the University’s Vestibular Research Laboratory and the Institute of Clinical Neurosciences, RPA.
“While further studies are needed in larger groups, providing people with a pair of goggles that they can easily use at home to record eye movement has the potential to help with vertigo diagnosis not only by a neurologist in a clinic, but also by physicians in an emergency room and physicians diagnosing patients remotely as well,” said Welgampola.
The study records some limitations including that four participants did not feel well enough to wear the goggles when experiencing vertigo. Additionally, others did not wear them when they thought their vertigo was too mild. Clinicians making the final diagnosis were not blinded to the video recordings. Also, some medications taken for vertigo may have influenced eye movement.
The research team are currently conducting larger scale studies examining the effectiveness of using the goggles for diagnosis in the RPA Emergency Department.
Disclosures: The study was funded by the Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. Two authors on the study are unpaid consultants for Otometrics.


Source: Ocean News and Technology
The International Seabed Authority (ISA) concluded its two week annual meeting yesterday following a round of speeches to mark the 25th Anniversary of the organization. The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) called on the member countries of the ISA to shift priorities to properly protect the deep ocean, which makes up 90% of the marine environment.
The ISA has served a critical role since its inception, under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to ensure that unregulated mining in the international areas of world’s ocean does not occur. Currently only regulations that allow for exploration for minerals are in force.
During discussions over the past two weeks, ISA members continued debating draft mining regulations to enable commercial seabed mining to take place. Countries had previously set 2020 as the target for adopting the commercial regulations. However, many countries this week voiced concern over rushing the negotiations to meet that deadline. While the regulations may not be adopted next year, many countries expressed support for making the transition from ‘exploration’ to ‘exploitation’ of the deep sea within the next few years.
Continue reading here.


There are many good reasons to use fall rye as your cover crop. Fall rye is affordable, easy to kill and helps improve soil structure. This winter-hardy crop also reduces water and wind erosion. But the value of using rye as a cover crop doesn’t stop there.
Let’s dig into the impact and benefits of planting soybeans into a rye cover crop.
When should you terminate the rye crop?
A study was conducted to determine whether there is an ideal time to terminate the fall rye that is used as a cover crop for soybean planting.
Two tests were carried out at several trial sites:
- Terminating rye 2 weeks before soybean planting
- Terminating rye the day of planting
These tests showed that when rye was terminated the day of planting, rye biomass increased 3-fold, on average, from 500 lbs/acre to 1500 lbs/acre. At one site in particular, the biomass actually increased 10-fold (view source here).
How does rye affect soybean development?
The extra biomass from the rye builds organic matter, improves soil structure and provides a longer-lasting mulch. However, soybean stands may be reduced when planted into a moderate to thick rye cover. In these cases, a minimum seeding rate of 160,000 soybean seeds/acre is recommended.
How does rye affect weed growth?
The study also looked at the impact of fall rye cover on the weed population.
There was lower weed abundance at the beginning of the critical V1 growth stage. Weed levels were even lower in the later treatments, which is to be expected, given that a glyphosate treatment was initially applied to kill the rye.
Fall rye is not a substitute for other weed control measures. That said, it can be a good tool for improving or complementing existing weed control methods.
How does rye affect soybean yield?
There was no significant impact on soybean yield for crops planted in a fall rye cover, regardless of when the rye was terminated.
However, you should pay close attention to soybean seeding depth because rye can create drier, cooler conditions on the soil surface. Late-terminated rye may also compete with soybeans for soil water reserves.
Benefits of planting soybeans into a fall rye cover: summary
So what makes rye a good choice of cover crop? It adds biomass to the soil, improves soil structure and provides a lasting mulch. Rye also reduces weed abundance when used with other weed control methods.
Are you tempted to give it a t-rye?


* Saint Finian is also known as 'The Master of the Saints of Ireland'.
* Saint Finian was born late in the fifth century at Myshal in County Carlow.
* He first went to St. Marting's famous monastery at Tours, where his
experience there shaped his idea of religious life.
* Tours is noted for its austerity and sacrifice of physical comfort for spiritual gain.
* Saint Finian travels to the County of Kildare to study & teach at St. Brigid's monastery.
* Finian is led by an angel to Cluain Eraird (Clonard), where he is told
this will be the place of your resurrection.
* Saint Finian was chosen and consecrated the Bishop of Clonard
* He built a little cell and a church of clay and wattle whilst
continuing his life of study, mortification and prayer.
* His gift for teaching, ability to impress the great and good
and his absolute dedication to the ascetic ideal inspired
a whole generation.
* Students of Finian took seeds of knowledge from Finian's
monastery at Clonard, and planted them abroad with great
* Saint Finian's death is uncertain but approximately in 552
his burial place is within the Church of Clonard, where for
centuries after his death continued to be renowned as a
seat of scriptual learning.
* The colours associated with Saint Finian are white and blue. Motto: Strive For The Highest.


What are some ways to measure sky brightness?
- Night Sky Brightness in Japan
- Measurements of Light Pollution in the Netherlands
Wim Schmidt is a member of the well-known dark skies awareness group in the Netherlands called Platform Lichthinder. Over four years he has made measurements of the night sky brightness using a digital camera and 2 Sky Quality Meters (SQM) made by Unihedron. The measurements were made for a few of the local Dutch governments. He has collected SQM measurements at 850 locations in the Netherlands and digital camera images at 1500 locations. All measurements were taken in the zenith with a clear sky and when there were no lights in the first 100 meters. A map of the SQM measurements is shown. Note that the higher the number, the darker the sky (less light pollution).
- Using a Digital SLR camera to monitor light pollution
- Sky Quality Meter monitoring of the night sky at the Zselic Landscape Protection Area
- Sky Brightness Nomogram
- Light Pollution in Hong Kong


Chaurasi Vaishnavon ki varta is a medieval text associated with the Pushti Sect, dedicated to the devotion of Krishna. It contains the biographical details of eighty four saints, poets and devotees of Pushti sect of Mahaprabhu Vallabacharya.
The text is in prose and is in Braja language. The text was composed by a disciple of Vithalanatha, son of Vallabacharya.
This is a valuable text as it contains information about the social situations and the attacks on Hindu culture, temples and sacred places by invaders. It also glorifies the great saints of Pushti sect.
It narrates the efforts undertaken by saints, poets and devotees to preserve their tradition from invaders.


The key components of Office 2000 are Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access. We will focus on these four applications throughout the Office 2000 skill sets.
It may seem as though it is impossible to learn all of the different applications in Microsoft Office.
Don't worry, Microsoft designed Office 2000 applications to be user friendly. Once you learn how to use one Office 2000 application, you should have little trouble learning the basics in other applications.
In our Windows lessons, you learned about many of the elements in Office 2000 application windows. In this lesson, you will learn about menus in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access 2000.
Menu bars display commands. Some commands are the same in all Office 2000 applications, while others are different. Don't fret; you'll get the hang of it.
If there is a small black triangle next to a command, a cascading menu with additional options is available. Hover the mouse pointer over the command with the triangle, and the cascading menu will appear.
Unlike Microsoft Office 97, Office 2000 provides three ways to display menu commands:
1. Display all commands (this is the way Office 97 works).
2. Hide advanced commands from view (this simplifies things a bit; however, you can still display the advanced commands. Click the double downward-pointing arrows at the bottom of the menu).
3. Hide the advanced commands from view, but automatically display them after a few seconds.
Displaying menu commands is a matter of preference. To change the way menus work in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access:
Office 2000 applications have similar menus. Remember, the menus and menu commands differ slightly because each application performs a different function.


There is no label that strikes more fear into the hearts of political figures, journalists and the general public than “Anti-Semitism.” To be labeled an “anti-Semite” can mean the end of a career, the failure of a business or being shunned by friends and colleagues.
“Anti-Semitism” is a term that was coined in Europe during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Prominent Jewish scholars used it to characterize the emerging theories that “Semitic” races were inferior to “Aryan” races. Despite the fact that Arabs are Semitic, the term is now exclusively understood to mean “prejudiced against or hostile toward Jews,” according to all major dictionaries.
A similar phenomenon occurred with the word “holocaust,” referring to the period of Nazi rule in Germany from 1933 to 1945 during which Russians, gypsies, Jews, homosexuals, political opponents of the regime and prisoners of war were systematically executed. Today, visitors to Auschwitz, one of the many concentration camps built throughout Nazi-occupied Europe, find little tribute to any group other than Jews; Israeli flags litter the grounds and signs are written in Hebrew. “Holocaust” is now exclusively understood as Jewish suffering.
The prolific Jewish writer and convert to Christianity Israel Shamir, explains the use of the Holocaust and the Anti-Semitic label in his 2001 essay “The Third Dove:”
“The Holocaust Industry is but a branch of the Anti-Semitism Manufacture, a two-pronged weapon: it pumps money from Gentiles and forces Jews into obedience to the leaders of the community.”
Shamir describes how Jewish organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) not only profit monetarily from incidents of “anti-Semitism,” but how these establishments use it to bully the rest of America into silence regarding Israeli war crimes. The anti-Semitic misnomer is used to label anyone critical of the Israeli government or expressing the least bit of sympathy for the Palestinian people.
Shamir concludes his essay, “…scoundrels still use anti-Semitism as a weapon, but now most of these scoundrels are Jewish.”
So where does anti-Semitism in America occur at present?
Certainly not in our government. While Jews comprise roughly two percent of the American population, 14 Senators and 31 House members are Jewish; almost 8 ½% of Congress. Jews have served in prominent cabinet-level and advisory positions under both Republican and Democratic presidents, often with disastrous foreign policy consequences.
Bush’s influential advisers Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith and Richard Perle, strong supporters of Israel, long argued that removing Saddam Hussein from power was a critical prerequisite for Middle East peace. President Obama’s chief-of-staff, Rahm Emanuel, helped maintenance Israeli Army jeeps during the 1991 Gulf War. Before him, Emanuel’s father smuggled weapons to the Irgun militia, the same group responsible for the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel as well as numerous attacks on Palestinian civilians.
“Anti-Semitism” is non-existent in churches where an estimated 15-18 million Evangelicals espouse the doctrine of Christian Zionism, the guiding principal of which states all Jews must migrate to Palestine in order for Jesus Christ to return to earth. John Hagee, the founder and pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas boasts more than 19,000 active members and he is broadcast in over 200 countries. Hagee established Christians United for Israel (CUFI) which currently has 146,000 members and holds an annual “Night to Honor Israel,” coinciding with the Jewish feast of Sukkot, celebrated by his church.
It certainly doesn’t exist in our schools where material pertaining to the Holocaust is introduced to children as young as 7 and students learn Hannukah songs while traditional Christmas carols such as Silent Night are shunned as a violation of separation between church and state.
“Anti-Semitism” cannot be found at political demonstrations where police from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles allow pro-Israeli demonstrators free reign to heckle pro-Palestinian activists. Yet let a Palestinian protester confront the Israeli camp and law enforcement officials will shove, use nightsticks and threaten arrest. At a recent fundraiser for Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, an Israeli and his three year-old son approached pro-Palestinian activists; the child shouted “I hate you.” Ironically, it is the Palestinians who are maligned by Western media as teaching their children to hate.
The Jewish Internet Defense Force (JIDF) is in the process of ensuring “Anti-Semitism” doesn’t exist on the Internet. Or any material critical of Israel, for that matter. The JIDF is attempting to shut down Palestinian advocacy groups on social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. They are also flagging individual Youtube accounts for various offenses such as “uploading hateful videos” or targeting users who have “hateful videos” listed as their favorites. “Hateful videos” are those which depict last year’s assault on Gaza. The JIDF inundates the administrators of these websites with abuse reports and terms of service violations so that the accounts are shut down and videos removed. However, little to nothing is done when people post such incendiary comments such as “Nuke Mecca with pork grease” on popular message boards.
Another Internet tactic is the manipulation of search engines which list the ten most popular searches of the day. On December 11, 2009 Yahoo listed “Hannukah” as number one while “Adolph Hitler” came in at number seven. Oh my! There is so much anti-Semitism that Hitler is still the seventh most popular keyword search in Yahoo. Or so they want us to think.
Finally, anti-Semitism doesn’t exist in Bahrain, despite the fact that the nation does not recognize Israel. The Bahraini Ambassador to the United States, Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo, is a Jewish woman. Since her family emigrated from Iraq more than a century ago, several members of her family have had successful political careers in Bahrain, including a cousin who was appointed to parliament.
Refusal to recognize or support Israel has nothing to do with being “prejudiced against or hostile toward Jews” and everything to do with rejecting occupation, oppression and the myriad war crimes carried out by the Zionist state.
"The Third Dove" by Israel Shamir can be read in its entirety at: http://www.israelshamir.net/English/Third_Dove.htm


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Heat naturally moves from warmer places to cooler places. Heat pumps use electricity to move heat in the opposite direction, from cooler places to warmer places, making the cool space cooler and the warm space warmer. Your refrigerator is a heat pump, moving heat from inside the refrigerated cabinet (cooler place) into your kitchen (warmer place). An air conditioner is a heat pump, moving heat from inside your home (cooler place) to the outside summer air (warmer place).
Air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) are also used to heat homes, taking advantage of the fact that in the spring, fall - and yes, even in the winter - there is some heat in the outdoor air. Using a refrigerant, an ASHP absorbs heat from the outdoor air, concentrates it via an outdoor compressor, and distributes it inside through an indoor room unit or a home’s ductwork. During the summer, a heat pump can operate in reverse, as an air conditioner, by moving heat from indoors to the outside air.
Heat pumps require electricity to run, but can deliver more energy in the form of heat moved into a home than they use in electricity for operation. It takes far less energy to move heat than it does to create heat, as electric resistance or fossil fuel heating systems do. As a result, ASHPs are one of the most efficient home heating systems available.
Check out this video from Mass Save, the state's investor-owned utility energy efficiency program, for a visual explanation of how ductless mini-split heat pumps work (and read on to learn more about the types of heat pumps available!).
There are two primary types of ASHPs:
Ductless air-source heat pumps are exactly as they sound: heat pumps that don't require that you have ductwork in your home. Each ductless system includes one outdoor unit connected to one (single-zone) or more (multi-zone) indoor wall, floor or ceiling air distribution units. Ductless ASHPs are often referred to as ductless mini-splits (if one indoor unit is connected to each outdoor unit), or ductless multi-splits (if two or more indoor units are connected to each outdoor unit).
Ductless air-source heat pumps can be installed as a primary source of heating and cooling or installed to heat and cool specific rooms. This could include, for example, installing ductless units in the most frequently used rooms like family rooms or master bedrooms to displace heating or cooling from your existing system, or placing ductless units in rooms or new additions that never seem to be warm or cool enough.
These systems can be used for heating, cooling, dehumidification or as a fan. Because each indoor unit can be controlled individually, you can reduce your energy use even more by lowering the temperature in rooms that are not being used.
Ducted (also known as central or unitary) air-source heat pumps have an outdoor unit that is connected via refrigerant lines to an indoor air handler that uses a building's ductwork to distribute heating or air conditioning throughout the home. Note that not all ductwork is sized adequately for heat pumps, especially in older homes. Heat pump installers can tell you if your ductwork is sized adequately and what modifications may be necessary.
Regardless of whether a system is ductless or ducted, all ASHPs will have an outdoor unit (pictured below), which will be mounted on a ground platform or on the side of your home.
Above: A ductless ASHP outdoor unit; Below: A ducted ASHP outdoor unit.If you’re installing a ducted ASHP, the outdoor unit will be connected to a central air handler similar to one used by a furnace or central AC system. If you’re installing a ductless ASHP, the outdoor unit will typically be connected to one or more wall-mounted units (pictured below).
For homeowners that might not have suitable wall space or don’t like the aesthetic look of the wall-mounted indoor unit, floor-mounted (below) and ceiling-recessed units are also available, though these units cost more to install.
Photo courtesy of E. Armstrong
There are many reasons why an air-source heat pump could be a good fit for your home:
Improved home comfort. Advanced air-source heat pumps are "variable capacity," which means they can provide just the right amount of heating or cooling without temperature swings and constantly turning on and off. Also, they are quieter than most air conditioners and furnaces.
Energy savings. If you heat with oil, propane, or electric resistance (such as electric baseboards), you could save hundreds of dollars a year on your heating bill by installing an air-source heat pump. No need to pay thousands of dollars to get a natural gas connection to your home: a cleaner alternative is already available.
High-efficiency cooling, no ductwork required. Air-source heat pumps also provide air conditioning and dehumidification, and are more efficient than window air-conditioning units and most central air conditioning systems. Ductless ASHPs can allow you to reclaim your windows and avoid having to install ductwork to stay comfortable in the summer.
Improved health and air quality. In addition to providing cooling, heat pumps filter and dehumidify air, which can improve the air quality and comfort of your home. In particular, the filtration provided by advanced ASHP systems can significantly reduce allergens in your home for sensitive individuals.
Flexible options. Heat pumps are a flexible technology that can be installed in homes of all shapes and sizes with different needs - whether you need a whole-home system replacement, have (or don’t have) ductwork, want to add zoning to your home, want to increase the efficiency of heating part of your home, or want to add extra heating/cooling to that part of your home that’s never as comfortable as it should be.
Lower your carbon footprint. As a clean heating and cooling technology, converting from burning fossil fuels to using an air-source heat pump will reduce your carbon footprint and dependence on imported fossil fuels. Using solar PV or other renewable electricity sources can further offset emissions from the electricity powering your heat pump.
Traditional ASHPs are known for their poor cold-climate performance: these systems have been primarily used in the South for decades and are optimized for a warmer climate where air conditioning needs are higher.
There are now cutting-edge cold-climate models that are optimized for New England weather. These cold climate ASHPs are certified based on their performance at 5°F and many models can continue providing heat even when winter air is well below zero, down to -10°F or more.
Concerned about heat pump performance in January? Don't be. Mainers and Vermonters have installed more cold-climate heat pumps than any other New England state in the past few years—over 30,000 since 2013, and both states are significantly colder than Massachusetts in the winter!
While ASHPs are a great fit for many New England homes and businesses, they, like other heating and cooling systems, have potential drawbacks:
Performance in extreme cold. Because ASHPs rely on extracting heat from the outdoor air, the heating output and efficiency of ASHPs declines as outdoor air temperature declines. While cold climate ASHPs are rated based on their performance at 5°F, for many homes your installer will recommend keeping a backup system (your existing system or added electric resistance) for the coldest days of the year. In addition, if you’ve chosen to install ductless ASHPs to heat only specific rooms, another heating system will be required to heat the rest of the house.
Aesthetic considerations. ASHP outdoor unit and piping and ductless ASHP indoor equipment (e.g. wall-mounted units) may be aesthetically displeasing to some homeowners. That said, surveys suggest that most homeowners quickly become accustomed to the presence of indoor units. Your installer can discuss a variety of options available to you to minimize aesthetic impacts from an ASHP installation.
Manual coordination of thermostats. Thermostats for ductless ASHPs typically operate independently of your existing thermostat. This means that you will need to set your existing thermostat lower than your ASHP thermostat to ensure that your ASHP does the bulk of the heating. Some models can allow your heat pump system to control your backup system.
Higher installed costs. ASHPs generally cost more upfront than fossil fuel or central AC systems. However, their higher efficiency can pay back the difference over the course of several years.
Lower efficiency than ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs). Since the outdoor air is more variable in temperature than the ground, ASHPs are typically less efficient than GSHPs (aka, geothermal heat pumps). However, ASHPs are usually cheaper and quicker to install.
ASHPs can be installed in most homes. However, if you answer “Yes” to any of the questions below, a ductless or ducted ASHP could be a great fit for you:
• Do you heat with oil, propane or electric resistance (such as baseboard electric)?
• Do you want greater home comfort (more uniform air temperature and less noise)?
• Is your existing heating or air conditioning system 15+ years old?
• Do you want central air conditioning but don’t have/don’t want to install ductwork?
• Do you have persistent hot or cold spots in your home?
• Do you want more control over the temperature in individual rooms in your home?
• Are you sensitive to air pollutants and allergens?
• Do you want to reduce your carbon footprint?
Air-source heat pumps are considered to be clean heating and cooling systems because they do not create heat, but rather they move existing heat in the outdoor air into your home. Further, this process is powered by electricity, which one can purchase or generate from carbon-free sources like solar, wind, or hydro. Electricity supplied by the Concord Municipal Light Plant was 54% carbon-free in 2018. That percentage will be even higher in 2019!
ASHPs are typically rated for heating efficiency based on their Heating Seasonal Performance Factor (HSPF) which describes the system’s efficiency over the course of the heating season. The seasonal efficiency of ASHPs can range from 220% to 300%+ depending on the system type, application, and seasonal weather patterns. That means that for every one unit of electricity used, 2.2 to 3 units of heat are transferred into the home. By comparison, electric resistance heating has an efficiency of 100%, and fossil fuel boilers and furnaces are typically 75- 82% efficient, with some models up to 95% efficient.
ASHPs also provide high-efficiency cooling—better than window AC units and comparable to the highest-efficiency central air conditioners.
Annual system maintenance, which consists of cleaning air filters and an annual maintenance checkup for the outside unit, costs about the same as annual servicing charges for a boiler or furnace. You can also clean the filters yourself, which can help to keep your system running well for many years (ask your installer for tips on how best to do this!).
Otherwise, the only other maintenance requirement would be to keep your outdoor unit clear of snow during the winter. (Installers often mount outdoor units on pedestals to reduce or eliminate this requirement.)
Heat pumps have an expected lifetime of about 15 years—similar to the average furnace or central AC system.
A ductless ASHP indoor unit is quieter than a refrigerator and much quieter than a typical window AC unit. A ducted ASHP is quieter than a typical furnace or central air conditioner.
Most don't. There are water heaters that use heat pump technology, called heat pump water heaters (HPWHs). Ask your ASHP installer if they install HPWHs. HPWHs can also be installed by almost any plumber who installs water heaters.
Most installations are straightforward, with minimal disruption to your home. A simple, single-zone ductless ASHP system can be completed in less than a day and only requires a single 2-3 inch hole to be cut (and later, sealed) in your wall.
If you are installing a “multi-zone” ductless system or a ducted system that requires modifications to your ductwork, your installation may take a few days or more to complete.
“Set it and forget it.” While many of us are used to turning off the lights and turning down the heat when you leave the home or go to sleep, heat pumps are most efficient when running continuously at partial output without sudden increases in heating demand from cranking up the thermostat. Think about how your car’s mileage improves when you drive at a constant speed instead of constantly stopping and starting. Consider only setting back your heat pump system thermostat when you’re gone for several days.
Know when to use your backup system. Depending on the weather and the cost of your backup heating fuel, it may be best to use your backup system during the coldest parts of the year when heat pumps are at their least efficient. Learn more here about how to get the most out of your heat pump when used in conjunction with a back up system.
Keep your system well-maintained. A well-maintained system will keep performing at high efficiency. Remember to clean your indoor dust filters; keep the outdoor unit free of snow, ice, and other obstructions; and get an annual service check.
Weatherize your home. A heat pump in a well-insulated and well-sealed home will perform better than a poorly-weatherized home. Get a home energy assessment through Mass Save (natural gas heating households) or the Concord Municipal Light Plant (oil and electric heating households), and consider implementing the Energy Advisor’s insulation and air sealing recommendations prior to soliciting proposals for an ASHP installation. Not only will your home be even more comfortable and your system perform better, but it may allow you to install a smaller (and cheaper) ASHP to meet your home’s needs.
A properly-functioning heat pump may occasionally blow air that feels cooler than expected, particularly relative to a furnace. There are two reasons this may occur:
If your heat pump is providing inadequate heat, you may consider using your backup system during temperature extremes. If your heat pump continues to blow cold air, you may have a maintenance issue with your system and should contact an installer.
According to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s (MassCEC’s) ASHP Costs Comparison Tool, the median cost in Middlesex County is $3,700 per ton of heating capacity at 5°F for a single-head (i.e. single-zone) unit and $4,600 per ton for a multi-head unit. Note that as of early 2019, the cost data does not include over 150 ASHPs that had been installed in Concord and had received rebates from the Concord Municipal Light Plant rather than from MassCEC. That number continues to grow. In 2018, residential ASHP installations in Concord averaged 3 tons of heating capacity at 5°F.
At 2018 heating oil, propane and electricity prices, the cost savings from using heat pumps pay for the additional upfront cost more quickly in some circumstances than in others. The payback period depends on whether a home currently has central AC, and if so, whether a home’s heating system and/or central AC are at end of life and need to be replaced. See the summary table below for ranges of typical payback periods.
At 2018 prices, natural gas-heating households won’t cut costs by using air-source heat pumps. Therefore, there are no cost savings to offset the additional upfront cost of replacing natural gas-fired heating equipment with heat pumps rather than with conventional equipment.
*The estimated payback periods assume 2018 fuel and electricity prices.
The economics of investing in heat pumps will vary based on your specific circumstances, and payback periods may or may not fall within the estimated ranges listed above. Many people invest in heat pumps for quality of life benefits as well as cost savings. These may include adding AC to your home, replacing inconvenient window AC units, or having more control over temperature in individual rooms. Others also invest in heat pumps to reduce their carbon footprint.
Many HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) contractors install ASHPs. If you have a good HVAC contractor who has installed heating or air-conditioning equipment for you in the past, ask them if they have experience installing ASHPs.
We suggest soliciting proposals from at least three heat pump installers. Seek proposals from HVAC contractors who can provide a letter or certificate from the manufacturer verifying that their installation technicians have successfully completed at least 4 hours of manufacturer training within the last 5 years for the type of products (i.e. ductless or ducted) that they install. The manufacturer training need not have been provided by the manufacturer of the same equipment brand that is being installed in your home, but it should be provided by a manufacturer of the same equipment type (i.e. ductless training if ductless equipment is installed; ducted training if ducted equipment is installed.)
We recommend that you request the installer submit this documentation to you with their proposal. The documentation will be required if you wish to apply for a rebate from the Concord Municipal Light Plant for your heat pump.
The following HVAC contractors have installed heat pump systems for Concord residents who have received air-source heat pump rebates from the Concord Municipal Light Plant. CMLP does not endorse, nor have we pre-qualified these companies in any way. CMLP accepts no liability for work conducted by any contractor. You do not need to use an installer on this list to receive a rebate from CMLP.
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center also maintains a list of air-source heat pump installers that participate in their air-source heat pump rebate program, which is available to electricity customers in communities served by Eversource and National Grid.
Keep in mind that for any type of home heating or cooling system to work well, it must be selected, sized, and installed properly. The low-cost installer may not be your best option. Further, if your installer is not already aware of it, refer them to the best practice guidance related to sizing, selecting and installing ASHPs in cold climates, as described in the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership’s (NEEP’s) installer guides.
Consider asking installers the following questions:
Experience and Training
The Concord Municipal Light Plant offers rebates to its residential customers in Concord when they install ASHPs that meet the program criteria. Learn more here.
If your ASHP is your only heating source, you are eligible to receive and sell Alternative Energy Certificates (AECs), which are awarded to owners of clean heating & cooling technologies through the Commonwealth's Alternative Portfolio Standard. The number of certificates you receive will be based on a variety of criteria, including the size and efficiency of your home (e.g. if your home has a HERS rating of <50 or is a "Zero Energy" Home or Passive House).
Depending on these factors—and the value of the AECs at quarterly auctions, you could receive $1,200-$4,500 for a whole-home ASHP system.
An Excel calculator developed by the Dept. of Energy Resources is available here. Please note that a default AEC value of $20/MWh is assumed in this calculator. We would recommend using a more conservative estimate of $15/MWh or lower to represent a lower auction value of these AECs and an aggregator fee of ~7% or more.
Speak with your installer to learn more about the APS and the incentive you could receive for your system.
Contact Pamela Cady, the Concord Municipal Light Plant’s Energy Specialist at firstname.lastname@example.org or 978-318-3149.


Sequester 101: What happens if cuts kick in March 1 and four other questions
Come March 1, the government cuts that nobody in Washington thinks are sensible are set to take hold.
Welcome to the “sequester,” $85 billion in spending cuts poised to hit nearly every function of government and affect virtually all Americans.
The sequester is a complex concept with a tortuous history. Here are the basics on the automatic spending reductions set to come.
1. Where did the sequester come from?
This particular Washington doozy came out of another conflagration – the debt-ceiling fight of 2011. Republicans, fresh off their electoral landslide in the 2010 midterms, demanded $1 in spending reductions for every $1 increase in the federal debt ceiling.
The messy negotiations that ensued buried the stock market and undermined consumer confidence, but policymakers did, in the end, hatch a plan to raise the US borrowing limit.
More specifically, Congress and President Obama agreed to the Budget Control Act (BCA), which matched some $2.4 trillion in debt-ceiling hikes with a similar amount of deficit reduction over the next decade.
Of the total deficit reduction, $900 billion was to be achieved through spending caps affecting all government functions outside of entitlement programs. For the rest, Congress was to explicitly decide on how to make the reductions through a bipartisan commission of lawmakers known colloquially as the “supercommittee.” That group was supposed to cut $1.2 trillion but also had a goal of $1.5 trillion, with the possibility of going even higher.
Vested with immense power and special rules for moving its recommendations through Congress, the committee did what Congress does frequently of late: stalemated and failed.
That triggered the BCA’s backup plan: the sequester. This is $1.2 trillion in automatic, across-the-board reductions in nearly all government operations over the next decade.
These cuts were supposed to be so painful and so stupid that they would act as an incentive for the supercommittee to come to a deal. Apparently, lawmakers overestimated the painfulness of the reductions or underestimated their own fecklessness.
The sequester was set to go into place on Jan. 1 of this year, but lawmakers found some $24 billion in reductions (a 50-50 mix of specific cuts and new tax revenue) to delay it until March.
And thus, here we are.
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Last Wednesday, after almost a year of procedural hold-ups, Spain’s government began to exhume six mass graves near the Andalusian town of Alfacar. The graves hold the bodies of Spaniards killed by the dictator Gen. Francisco Franco between 1936 and 1939, during the Spanish Civil War. Two years after Franco’s death in 1977, the Spanish parliament passed an amnesty law that became known as the pacto de olvido, or pact of forgetting: a potent sign of the country’s unwillingness to confront the atrocities in its past. This official silence and failure to condemn Franco continued until late 2008, when Baltasar Garzón, a Spanish judge, ordered that nineteen mass graves be exhumed. (Historians estimate that about 125 graves exist in total, containing some 12,000 victims.)
Garzón’s ruling sparked massive public debate about Spain’s ability to reconcile its modern, democratic state with the Franco years; Conservatives oppose the opening of the graves, arguing that dredging up the past will only serve to divide Spain further. From the start, though, the issue has been complicated by the identity of one of the graves’ bodies: Federico García Lorca, the most important Spanish poet and dramatist of the 20th century.
At the age of 38, Lorca was shot outside of Alfacar, having been targeted for his open homosexuality and Republican, anti-fascist sympathies. His body was quickly and secretly buried with three other men; the location of his remains was not determined until 1966, 30 years after the fact. His family members have opposed the exhumations, fearing that it will become a “media spectacle,” prompting criticism at their willingness to leave such a significant body buried.
Garzón, in specifically naming Lorca’s grave to be excavated, capitalized on the writer’s popularity and iconic nature, spurring support for the opening of his grave. Still, it seems that this effort to turn Lorca into a symbol counteracts the larger goals of the exhumations: the focus of public discourse has shifted from whether and how Spain should confront its history to whether or not a single man should be dug up. While Lorca’s literary influence and significance are unquestionable, he cannot possibly serve as a representation for the 114,000 Spaniards killed or disappeared during the Civil War. Though his remains will soon be recovered, Lorca’s bones alone will not reconcile Spain with its past.