From the biblical era until today, civil law has functioned largely to regulate individual and collective behavior, punish those who commit crimes, and protect its most vulnerable citizens most of the time.
The ancient Israelites – like the lawmakers of the Jewish and democratic State of Israel today – also knew that even the best attempts at lawmaking have to allow for legislative change over time. But what grounds our legal system both then and now? What is its core? Ethics. Echoing throughout the Bible like an unforgettable chorus is the insistence on ethics: “You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me” (Exodus 22:20ff).
The verses in Exodus 21:1-24:18 deal with everything from the “just” treatment of slaves, to the punishment of intentional and unintentional manslaughter, to rebellious children.
At the core of Jewish law is ethics. Many thinkers – both Orthodox and liberal – argue that there is a meta-ethical thrust to Jewish law allowing for and demanding self-correction. Reverberating in the midst of grand legal codes are two core principles of the whole of Jewish tradition: 1) God demands ethics; 2) if the system in place doesn’t lead to ethics, fix it.
When it comes to the development of Halacha, Jewish religious law, it, too, has certainly evolved and changed like civil law, for it, too, has to respond to new contexts.
The lived reality of a society tests the premises and legislation of a system. Only when law is enacted in the world can it be exposed to a full test, to a complete critique, which will expose its flaws and the points where it needs to be corrected.
This possibility of self-correction was precisely what David Hartman (1931-2013) thought was so religiously exciting about Israel. For Hartman (whose first yahrzeit occurs in the coming weeks), the establishment of the modern State of Israel was of religious and ethical significance because it would fully test the premises of Jewish law. In Hartman’s thought, this lived reality would not only enable the correction of Jewish law’s imperfections, but also allow for a more expansive application and development of that law.
Like the iconoclast Israeli thinker Yeshayahu Leibowitz (1903-1994), Hartman believed that Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel must create new patterns of thought for developing Halacha.
In 1982, within the context of the Sabra and Shatila massacres in Lebanon and before the IDF was officially ascribed with negligence, Hartman had the courage to understand and speak publicly about the moral and religious importance of being totally exposed, being criticized, and being able to correct the course of a country.
In his seminal 1982 essay “Auschwitz or Sinai?” (later published in A Heart of Many Rooms), he writes: “The establishment of the modern State of Israel has removed us from the insulated world of the ghetto and has exposed Judaism and the Jewish people to the judgment of the world…. We live in total exposure.
“We must therefore define who we are by what we do and not by any obsession with the long and noble history of Jewish suffering. In coming back to our land and rebuilding our nation, we have chosen to give greater moral weight to our actions in the present than to noble dreams of the future or to the memories of our heroic past.”
The present challenges are what continue to test the capacity of our civil and religious legal system to remain true to its core values and strive even more toward the vision of a perfect society.
The civil and religious law and our ethics in the land of Israel are indeed totally and necessarily exposed. As a sovereign nation, who we are and what we do should be understood in context and critiqued when necessary. It is not a threat, it is our greatest strength. Our acts and our laws should stand naked in the eyes of the world.
If we truly believe in and are willing to insist on our moral core, this should not trouble us too much. In fact, it is because of critique, both internal and external, that we can repent when necessary and self-correct when necessary so that our future society will be closer to an ideal society. As a Jewish-democratic state, Israel allows for, needs and demands its own covenantal growth. This is the goal of Judaism, and this is the promise of Israel. The writer, a rabbi and PhD, is the president’s scholar and national director of recruitment and admissions at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and teaches for the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America.


Caprifoliaceae Sambucus racemosa L.
Thompson - Food, Spice
Use documented by:
Turner, Nancy J., Laurence C. Thompson and M. Terry Thompson et al., 1990, Thompson Ethnobotany: Knowledge and Usage of Plants by the Thompson Indians of British Columbia, Victoria. Royal British Columbia Museum, page 199
View all documented uses for Sambucus racemosa L.
Scientific name: Sambucus racemosa L.
USDA symbol: SARAR3 (View details
at USDA PLANTS site)
Common names: Scarlet Elderberry
Family (APG): Caprifoliaceae
Native American Tribe: Thompson
Use category: Food
Use sub-category: Spice
Notes: Berry juice used to marinate salmon. The berries were mashed in birch bark baskets, and when the fish had been split open along the backbone in preparation for barbecuing, it was soaked for a while in elderberry juice to flavor it. Then, the fish was taken out, the berry seeds scraped off and the fish barbecued and eaten.
RECRD: 32661 id: 36841


July 30, 2013
Five Surprising Public Health Facts About Fukushima
Journalist Will Boisvert Investigates and Finds Fewer-than-Average Thyroid Cancers and Seafood Safe to Eat
Four years after the Fukushima nuclear accident, which catalyzed fears around cancer epidemics and large radioactive exclusion zones, it’s time to take stock of the scientific consensus on the health effects of the reactor meltdown. Increased scanning for thyroid cancer found that cancer rates were in fact lower for children in Fukushima than in other parts of Japan. Only a clearer perspective of such public health findings will allow us to understand future risks.
Four years ago a large earthquake and tsunami devastated northeast Japan. More than 15,000 people were killed. A subsequent nuclear meltdown added fear to grief.
As terrible as the meltdown was, the radiation did not have significant public health consequences, much less the catastrophic ones that many feared and some continue to claim.
On the fourth anniversary of the tsunami, earthquake, and meltdown, journalist Will Boisvert investigates and unearths five public health findings from Fukushima that you've probably never heard.
Thyroid Cancer Rates Lower in Fukushima Children Than Other Regions
Radioactive iodine from a nuclear accident can pose a serious risk of thyroid cancer in kids; thousands of cases emerged after the Chernobyl disaster. Thanks to bans on contaminated milk and other foods after the Fukushima accident, Japan expected to avoid a similar epidemic. Unfortunately, a new monitoring system for thyroid cancer seemed to reveal an immediate and drastic effect. Hundreds of thousands of children in Fukushima prefecture underwent sensitive ultrasound scans after the accident. The results showed that 44 percent of them had thyroid cysts or nodules, which are possible warning signs of cancer.13 So far more than a hundred confirmed and suspected thyroid malignancies have been diagnosed,14 a rate many times higher than normal for children. Critics of nuclear power took these findings as a portent of “The Nuclear Sacrifice of Our Children,” in the words of über-activist Helen Caldicott.15
Fortunately, the thyroid holocaust Caldicott foresees is just a mirage — a product of increased monitoring rather than any underlying spike in thyroid cancer incidence. It turns out that a 44 percent rate of thyroid “abnormalities” is actually quite normal. The Japanese government gave thyroid scans to 4,365 kids living in distant areas of Japan that received no fallout, using the same ultrasound equipment, protocols, and diagnostic criteria used in Fukushima. That baseline study found that the frequency of thyroid nodules and cysts in that uncontaminated population was about 57 percent — somewhat higher than among Fukushima kids.16 The spike in Fukushima thyroid anomalies isn’t caused by fallout — because there is no spike.
The apparent rise in diagnoses of thyroid cancer proper is also an artifact of the mass scannings, which are discovering small, non-aggressive, asymptomatic tumors that would normally not be found until adulthood, if ever. (Most thyroid tumors — more than 90 percent — are curable because thyroid cancer tends to be slow growing.) Indeed, the advent of super-sensitive ultrasound scanning has caused a surge in thyroid cancer diagnoses all over the world in recent decades, reports Gina Kolata in The New York Times. Thyroid cancer fatality rates have stayed the same, which means the new technology is unearthing innocuous tumors that would not have caused illness.17 The same dynamic is likely at work in Fukushima.
There may be a slight increase in thyroid cancers from radioactive iodine exposure in coming years, on the usual too-small-to-measure scale predicted by the linear no-threshold model. But the apparent surge in thyroid cancer will be huge given the zealousness of the monitoring program, which will scan the cohort of Fukushima kids every few years for the rest of their lives.19 Autopsy studies suggest that as many as 27 percent of us normally develop asymptomatic thyroid tumors that we never know about.18 So Fukushima is in for a tsunami of over-diagnosis and over-treatment of mainly harmless tumors, with serious side effects: another instance of alarmism that causes more harm than the risk it’s trying to avert.
Fukushima Seafood Safe to Eat
Stories about California tuna contaminated with radioactive cesium from the Fukushima spew are a staple of antinuclear websites. Most press accounts dismiss the contamination as harmless. But in Japan radioactive fish are a major issue. Fishermen near the plant are barred from harvesting many species that are prone to concentrating radio-cesium, and South Korea has banned seafood imports from the region.20 Concerns about the fishing industry are the primary obstacle to dumping the accumulating tons of decontaminated water stored at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The crippled coastal fishery has become a symbol of nuclear energy’s power to poison the environment on a grand scale.
But as so often in the Fukushima saga, claims of inordinate danger turn out to be exaggerated. The Japanese government’s safety limit for radioactive cesium in fish is 100 becquerels per kilogram (Bq/kg), an amount that’s roughly equal to the natural radioactivity of potassium and carbon isotopes present in all food. The Fukushima fishery easily meets that standard. Out of 95 fish caught within 20 km of the plant in a census conducted in January, a grand total of one specimen came in above the cesium limit at 113 Bq/kg. Most fish were far below the limit, with 43 showing no detectable contamination at all.21
And that 100 Bq/kg standard is extraordinarily strict. The US EPA estimates that eating a becquerel of radioactive cesium gives you a one-in-a-billion chance of contracting cancer.22 If you were to eat a kilogram of fish contaminated with 100 becquerels of radio-cesium every day, for eighty years, your odds of getting cancer from the cesium would be about 0.3 percent, compared to the typical American’s 40 percent chance of getting cancer. (That’s not counting any anti-cancer benefits from eating fish instead of cheeseburgers.)
There’s little question that the Fukushima fishery is safe enough to reopen. On the other hand, its ongoing closure is a boon to hard-pressed fish stocks — which may make the nuclear accident a net win for marine life in the area.
Fukushima Evacuation Zone Is Mostly Habitable
The chaotic evacuations from the area around the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and the resulting scenes of terrified refugees, abandoned towns, and ruined houses, figure prominently in the apocalyptic aura surrounding the accident. Nightmarish evacuation scenarios were floated during the crisis: NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko advised Americans to withdraw from a 50-mile zone around the stricken plant,3 while Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan contemplated evacuating Tokyo itself.4 Cooler heads — and computer models5 — prevailed. But the perception remains that evacuations from the 20-kilometer zone around the plant (with a further bulge to the northwest) prevented massive loss of life in a region of lethal radiation that will remain uninhabitable for decades to come. Yet data buried in UNSCEAR’s Fukushima report, and little noticed by the media, show that the evacuation zone is not — and never was — the unsurvivable wasteland it’s made out to be.
Let’s crunch the numbers. UNSCEAR estimated the average radiation doses that would have been incurred inside the 20-kilometer evacuation zone in the first year after the accident, had there been no evacuation: the highest was Tomioka township’s 51 millisieverts.8 The Committee also reckoned that 80-year lifetime doses in contaminated areas will be two to three times the first-year dose. (Radiation levels drop quickly because of radioactive decay and weathering.)9From there we can reckon the dose people would have received from fallout had they lived their whole lives in the evacuation zone: about 100-150 mSv in the most contaminated townships, substantially less elsewhere in the zone. Natural background radiation in the United States averages about 2.4 mSv per year, so 150 mSv is about equal to the lifetime background dose of a typical American.
So how unhealthy is that extra radiation? Not very. Again, radiation is a weak carcinogen: applying the LNT theory and standard risk factors from the National Academy of Sciences,10 a lifetime dose of 150 mSv confers a fatal cancer risk of about 0.9 percent — the same odds an American runs of dying in a car crash.11 Those are average risks; there are hotspots with higher radiation levels, and children would have faced somewhat higher risks, especially from thyroid doses in the first three months after the spew. Still, these numbers give a good ballpark sense of the health risks from fallout in the Fukushima evacuation zone: about the same as the risk of having a driver’s license.
The mandatory relocations from the Fukushima evacuation zone, which are responsible for much of the accident’s cost and all of its cataclysm, owe more to apocalyptic expectations built into regulatory standards than to objective health hazards from fallout. Those hazards are well within the range of risks we negotiate in ordinary life. It might be time to reconsider policies that require precipitate or long-term relocations, which carry their own risks. Hundreds of people died from the stress of the Fukushima evacuation, and thousands more were uprooted from their homes over radiation doses that would almost certainly never affect their health. Instead of requiring people to leave, it could make more sense to give them the information they need on radiation exposures and likely health risks, and let them make their own decisions.
Cancer Rates in USS Reagan Crewmembers Lower Than Control Group
It sounds almost like a Hollywood thriller. On March 12, 2011, dispatched on a humanitarian mission to help victims of the Tohoku tsunami, the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan cruised straight into the fallout plume from the Fukushima Daiichi reactors. Sinister portents were noticed during the weeks the vessel stayed off the Japanese coast: jumpy radiation meters; a strange metallic taste to the air; cryptic warnings from commanders about drinking water; a massive decontamination scrubdown. In the years after the mission ended, a plague of cancers and other mysterious diseases erupted among the ship’s mainly young and formerly healthy crew.23 The result is a lawsuit in the US District Court in San Diego, seeking $1 billion for medical bills along with other damages from the plant’s owner, TEPCO, on behalf of some 239 (and counting) stricken plaintiffs.24
The case so far has turned on tort law, jurisdiction, and lawyerly histrionics. (TEPCO lawyers argue the case belongs in a Japanese court; plaintiffs’ attorneys told the judge that sending their clients to Tokyo to testify would be a “death sentence” because of the lingering radiation there.)25 But there’s an underlying scientific issue here that’s crucial to our understanding of the Fukushima accident. Does the Reagan’s experience reflect the underestimated peril of nuclear radiation — or the human penchant for finding meaningful patterns in random misfortune?
Since cancer is the main long-term illness that has been linked to low-level radiation, press accounts of the lawsuit emphasize the anomalous number of cancers among Reagan sailors. But there may be less anomaly than meets the eye. For one thing, many Reagan plaintiffs don’t have cancer. Among 22 plaintiff statements excerpted on the lawsuit’s website, half say nothing about cancer. Their complaints run the gamut: ulcers; “migraines and sinus problems”; irregular menstrual cycles; “declining sex drive;” anxiety; “my back, neck, and entire right side of my body were cramping up and hurting from sitting in a chair too long.” None of these ailments are recognized chronic effects of radiation.26
Paul Garner, an attorney for the Reagan plaintiffs, told me that about three quarters of his clients do have cancer, a claim I did not try to independently verify.27 That works out to about 180 cancers, which might well be an anomalously high number for the Reagan’s crew of 4,843. But there’s another problem: not all the Reagan plaintiffs served on the Reagan. The lawsuit includes sailors from at least six other warships, including the aircraft carrier USS George Washington with its crew of 5,000. It also includes people who served at naval shore installations and two children of about 9 and 12 years old.28 The right baseline for the Reagan cancers may not be the number normally expected among the ship’s crew, but the number expected among tens of thousands of US service members and their dependents who were at sea and on shore during the accident. Assessing a possible Fukushima link to illnesses in that large, disparate population requires sophisticated epidemiology that isn’t captured in the lawsuit’s heartbreaking testimonies.
The Pentagon undertook just such a study. It compared illness rates among the Reagan crewmembers who were on board for Operation Tomodachi, the two-month humanitarian mission during the Fukushima release, with those in a control group of 65,000 other sailors. Its 2014 report to Congress found mildly elevated levels of digestive, respiratory, genitourinary, obstetric, and male infertility disorders among Reagan crewmembers, along with heightened rates of vague “symptoms, signs, and ill-defined conditions.” The report also found normal or decreased rates of 24 other disease categories. In particular, rates of cancer, the one disease category plausibly linked to low-level radiation, were 45 percent lower among Reagan crewmembers than among controls. That haphazard mix of higher and lower disease rates likely had nothing to do with Fukushima radiation, the report concluded, because cumulative radiation doses on the ship during Tomodachi averaged just 0.08 millisieverts, far too small to produce any noticeable illness.29 Indeed, the Reagan was one of the less irradiated berths in Operation Tomodachi. The George Washington got a dose four times higher just sitting in a Japanese port.30
Reagan attorney Paul Garner thinks the military’s estimate of Reagan doses is too low, but declined to offer his own. (The Reagan is a nuclear carrier with expertise in radiation measurement.) He also told me that none of his clients’ ailments appeared in the Pentagon’s registry of illnesses of Tomodachi sailors. When I asked how that was possible, since the Pentagon did an exhaustive electronic search of medical records, he suggested that Veterans Administration doctors had “covered up” his clients’ illnesses, and further suggested that I was in the pay of the Defense Department myself.31 (The US military cannot be sued by the Reagan plaintiffs and has no obvious stake in their suit against TEPCO.)
There’s no clear evidence of a surge of illness among Reagan sailors, let alone one caused by the Fukushima accident. Maybe that’s because of a conspiracy to hide the evidence. But, perhaps, it’s due to the gap between scientific epidemiology and folk epidemiology. We’re mentally primed to search for causes for the ills that befall us, and to locate them in the scariest things we can think of — like a nuclear accident. Factor in the way a dense social network, like the one among a ship’s company, can amplify rumors and theories, and a set of coincidental ailments can suddenly take on an ominous patterning. That dynamic explains much of the alarm surrounding the Fukushima spew.
Fukushima Death Toll Is Too Small to Measure
Reports warned of vast casualties stemming from the Fukushima accident. (Activist Arnie Gundersen predicted up to 1 million cancers in the next 30 years.)1 But radiation scientists looking at the data on radioactive contamination saw a different picture. For them, the question is whether anyone at all will die from the Fukushima fallout.
No one in Fukushima, neither plant workers nor civilians, suffered immediate harm from the radiation; long-term effects, mainly cancer, are the chief concern. But radiation is such a weak carcinogen that it’s often hard to tell how much risk it poses. That problem has led to bitter disputes over the “linear no-threshold” (LNT) theory of radiation and cancer — the “no safe dose” model that predicts that any exposure to radiation, no matter how small, will causes a proportionate increase in cancer risk. Mainstream radiology largely accepts LNT, but some scientists contend that radiation doses below about 100 millisieverts (mSv) pose no cancer risk.
The debate grinds on because it’s almost impossible to settle with empirical data. The doses Japanese civilians will receive from Fukushima fallout are very low — 18 mSv over a lifetime on average for the most exposed kids and less for others, according to the authoritative report on the accident by the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR).6 At those doses the additional cancers predicted by LNT will be too few to cause any discernible uptick in cancer rates. So forecasts of Fukushima casualties hinge on the epistemological conundrum of whether effects that are too small to observe really exist.
Because of that uncertainty, few epidemiologists have bothered to quantify the prospective death toll. Still, LNT can give us a rough upper bound. Using it, a few researchers — most of them critics of nuclear power — have predicted from 1,0002 to 3,00012 eventual cancer fatalities from the fallout, spread over many decades in which millions of Japanese will die from other cancers. To put that number in perspective, air pollution from coal-fired power plants kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. Fukushima doesn’t even rate on the scale of common radiation hazards. The EPA estimates that the natural radiation from household radon gas causes 21,000 yearly cancer fatalities in the United States — the equivalent of seven Fukushima spews each year.7
So even if you feel that risks that are too small to measure are still worth worrying about, one important conclusion we can draw from the Fukushima accident is that nuclear disasters are not all that disastrous.
So what are the real “lessons of Fukushima?” The Fukushima accident did spotlight safety issues, including the need to pay more attention to tsunami records, stash backup generators beyond floodwaters, and install better vents. But its modest consequences should reassure us that the apocalyptic anxieties surrounding nuclear energy are fundamentally off base. The second lesson is that the first lesson isn’t getting through to people. Visceral fears stoked by the release continue to cloud perceptions and shape politics.
What people need, but rarely get, is information that lets them understand the continuum of risk posed by different radiation levels and assess for themselves how acceptable the risks are. Once we do that we can situate nuclear accidents on a familiar spectrum of risk. Radioactive contamination works like other mild toxins — alcohol, car exhaust, trans fat — that we live with every day: a huge dose can kill us; a modest dose poses modest risks; a tiny dose is innocuous.
Note: Footnotes are not in chronological order within the text.
6. http://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/2013/13-85418_Report_2013_Annex_A.pdf, Table 7, p. 59.
8. http://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/2013/13-85418_Report_2013_Annex_A.pdf, Table C-11, column 7, “Projected”, p. 190.
9. Ibid., p. 209 paragraph C 154.
25. Official transcript of Court hearing emailed to me by Paul Garner.
27. Telephone interview.
31. Statements by Paul Garner in telephone interview and personal emails sent to me.
32. Japan’s resettlement standard is 20 mSv, http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Safety-and-Security/Safety-of-Plants/Appendices/Fukushima--Radiation-Exposure/
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Will Boisvert writes on energy, environmental, and urban policy for The New York Observer, Dissent Magazine, and other publications. He lives in New York.


The Nuu-Chah-Nulth live primarily on the western coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, A closely related group, the Makah, live in the Cape Flattery area of northwestern Washington State, The Nuu-Chah-Nulth and the related Makah speak languages in the Southern Wakashan language family. Traditionally, subsistence was based on the hunting of both land and sea animals (seals, whales) as well as fishing (primarily salmon), supplemented by the gathering of wild plants and roots. The basic political unit was the local group. Several local groups together constituted a tribe governed by a chief. In Nuu-Chah-Nulth society each person had an inherited social rank, and all Nuu-Chah-Nulth were rank-ordered in relation to each other. Class structure was apparent by the division of communities into nobles, commoners, and slaves.
Select the Culture Summary link above for a longer description of the culture.
North America --Northwest Coast and California
Note: Select the Collection Documents tab above to browse documents.
Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF World Cultures collection and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.
The Nuu-Chah-Nulth (NE11) collection covers a period from about 1780 to 1990. The various works making up this collection are roughly divided between the northern, central, and southern Nuu-Chah-Nulth tribes of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, and the Makah, a subgroup living on the Olympic Peninsula at Neah Bay, Washington State in the United States. Major studies in this collection are: Drucker (1951, no. 1), Colson (1953, no. 2), Swan (1870, no. 3), Koppert (1930, no. 11), Sapir and Swadesh (1955, no. 12), Arima and Dewhirst (1990, no. 20), and Reniker and Gunther (1990, no. 21). Other ethnographic topics discussed in this collection are: the girl's puberty ceremony and potlatch in Sapir (1913, no. 9); Makah games in Dorsey (1901, no. 6); an analysis of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth wolf ritual in Ernst (1952, no 18); changing marriage patterns over a one hundred year period (1860-1960), in Gunther (1962, no. 19), and an account of a modern (ca.1970s)) Nuku-Chah-Nulth community (Vancouver Island) in historical perspective in Kenyon (1980, no. 22).
For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in this collection see the abstracts in the citation preceding each document.
Local groups – Use COMMUNITY STRUCTURE ( 621)
Ōtōpalinik –age-grade clubs– Use AGE STRATIFICATION ( 561)
Tribal council – Use PARLIAMENT ( 646)
Túpat –ceremonial privileges (personal names, dances, costumes, games, songs and specific roles in the secret societies)– Use INCORPOREAL PROPERTY ( 424)


|Generalleutnant Otto Elfeldt|
The Falaise Gap
When all German battle-worthy units were ordered to break out of the Falaise Pocket on the night of 19 – 20 August 1944, Generalleutnant Otto Elfeldt (delegated with the leadership of LXXXIV Armeekorps) and his corps served as a rearguard to cover the withdrawal of several individual battle groups. In the early morning hours of August 20 1944, Elfeldt led a small group of stragglers in an attempt to bypass the enemy-held town of Saint Lambert. However, Generalleutnant Elfeldt and his group were captured and he was transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 Camp 1. By the evening of August 21 1944, the pocket was closed for the last time, with around 50,000 Germans trapped inside. Although it is estimated that significant numbers managed to escape, German losses in both men and material were huge. Image: Generalleutnant Otto Elfeldt being questioned by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Credit: Islandfarm. Public domain.
Labels: C:V Normandy Invasion 1944


Respiratory diseases in kittens can quickly result in life-threatening emergencies if not identified and managed early. Viral respiratory infections in cats are most commonly caused by feline herpesvirus type 1 and feline calicivirus. The Bordetella bronchiseptica infection may cause severe respiratory signs in young kittens. Young kittens (less than 8 weeks of age) are at most risk in which bronchiseptica pneumonia is usually a primary or significant cause of death. The younger the age at infection, the more severe the disease. Mortality is nearly 100% in young (under 6 week old) kittens. According to the Humane Society of the United States, routine vaccination against this respiratory infection is not recommended, but in shelters and boarding facilities, where it is commonly present, it should be considered.
Signs of the infection may include rhinitis, eye and nasal discharge, high fever, sneezing and coughing. The cough can be dry, "hairballlike," which may or may not be preceded by vomiting. In the more severely affected kittens, the cough can become progressively more "wet" sounding, exhibiting a "barking" or "whooping" type cough, with the cat struggling to catch it's breath.
Studies show that the infection is commonly found in cats from premises with large numbers of animals, such as rescue catteries, breeding catteries, but is almost never found in household cats. There is also a high risk of contracting the bacteria via contact with a dog with recent respiratory tract disease. Some cats may become long-term carriers. Recovered cats have been reported to shed the bacteria for at least 19 weeks after initial exposure. If one cat in the household has been diagnosed, all cats have been exposed and must be treated. Even after a full scale treatment, breeders have reported recurrent outbreaks that required isolation and additional treatment. If you consider placing you cat or kitten at a boarding facility, it is recommended that cats be vaccinated to protect against Bordetella bronchisepticaprior to entering the facility.


Digital: multimedia (video, animation, presentation, etc) often widely available (online, cds/dvds).
Storytelling: narration of an event, person, place that might be real or fictional for a number of possible reasons (educational, remembrance, entertainment, etc) that usually follows conventional guidelines (characters, plot, climax).
Digital storytelling: a uniquely creative form of sharing that tends to be available online for both a specific and general (since anyone might stumble upon the website) audience made by amateurs and professionals of all ages/gender/race/groups. This creative form might be entirely user generated, copied bits and pieces put together (like fan videos), recorded from a live event (presented in a constructed manner), etc.
Challenges of digital storytelling: includes accessibility, temporality vs. permanence (especially in an online environment), copyright.
Ultimately, defining digital storytelling becomes difficult because either the author or the potential viewer might label a work as a digital story while others might adhere to more rigid definitions. A digital story is a digital story depending on the eye of the beholder.


Colour printable 'electricity' cards - with words and symbols - cut and make into matching game. Can be used as memory game - face down and find symbol to match the word or as snap (paired etc.) Have also used to build imaginary circuits.
This is a resource that can be used for all years, particularly Year 7 lab safety induction into secondary science, but also for Applications of Science BTEC course to help ensure students know their hazard symbols.
The first page has the names of the hazard symbols, the second page has the pictures of the hazard symbols.
This resource can be used in a number of different ways, depending what you want to do and what your students are familiar with:
-A starter or plenary activity
-Group work: they're given the cards, separated, and they need to sort and pair as a group.
-Pair work: Use the keywords as a question for an opponent to locate the answer.
-Give each student a card sort (separated already) as a homework/classwork activity.
-Give each student the two pages of cards to stick the words and the symbol back to back to make key idea revision cards to learn for revision.
-Choose a few as a starter activity, jumble them up, and pop onto a slide for the beginning of a lesson
-Any other use you can think of!
If you use as a class set for starters or plenaries: laminate them, they will last longer and be reusable.


In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered a mold that had contaminated his bacteria’s cultures and where the mold grew the bacteria was destroyed. This serendipitous event lead to the discovery of penicillin, the first antibiotic discovered. Since then, several new compounds have been discovered with antibiotic activity. Unfortunately, the discovery of new antibiotic compounds in nature hasn’t led to new significant discoveries in the last years. This could be due to the fact that we have discovered all the compounds nature had available or that we are not looking for them in the right place.
This is a big problem because some bacteria are becoming drug-resistant. This means that the antibiotics known up-to-date are not effective against them. This problem is a consequence of the nature of the problem itself. The incorrect use of antibiotics, like stopping the treatment with antibiotics before the infection is destroyed or using them as a preventive method against infection in situations where it is not strictly needed, allowed the bacteria to evolve and develop their immunity to drugs. This led to Center for Disease Control and Prevention (the American CDC) to publish a report in 2013 where it sounded the alarm considering this issue “one of the biggest public health challenges of our time”.
Therefore, a new approach is needed to tackle this problem. A possible solution is the use of peptides. Peptides are chains of amino acids, they are the base of proteins and enzymes, and they are synthesized by all living beings. It was discovered that some of these peptides present antibiotic activity, so what if instead of trying to search for more active peptides in nature, we force them or direct them to evolve? And what if instead of doing it in vitro we do it in silico?
What this means is that some scientists are focused on digitalizing peptides existing in nature to accelerate the discovery process. The natural occurring peptides are processed in a logic mathematical way to transform all their chemical information into what is called descriptors. Then the search is directed towards a peptide with an optimal set of descriptors for an efficient activity against bacteria. Furthermore, we use the powers of computers to create derivate peptides of which the antibacterial activity is predicted by the computer too.
One of the algorithms used by the researchers are genetic algorithms. These algorithms use an initial population of peptides and make them follow Darwin’s evolutionary principles. They are mutated and then the “fittest” ones are selected to be recombined and generate a new population of peptides that contain random mutations and traits inherited from the peptides in the previous generation.
These algorithms are combined with machine and deep learning ones, a new area of research in computer science that has applications in many fields including this one. They are used for the design of the peptides and also for predicting their properties. This has led to the discovery of peptides that were 160 times more active than the natural peptide.
On top of helping in the search for a medicine to fight drug-resistant bacteria, the new peptides can be used to target different kinds of bacteria in the gut microbiota. The gut microbiota is the group of different microorganisms that live in our digestive system. For a long time, there has been discussion about the implications that our gut’s health has on our mood. But, during the last years, several studies have focused on studying the bi-directional communication between our gut and our brain, in what is called the gut-brain axis. These studies have related the gut microbiota with behaviors and symptoms typical of disorders in the autism spectrum and others linked it to diseases such as Parkinson and Alzheimer.
The newly peptides can target specific bacterias to destroy them
In conclusion, there is no doubt that this is an interesting topic for research. It involves several disciplines like biology, computational science, chemistry, and neurosciences. The rapid progress of new artificial intelligence technologies and cheaper computational resources will accelerate the rate at which discoveries are found. Hopefully these discoveries will lead to solutions to fight against drug-resistant infections and perhaps generate new therapies for neurological disorders.
Check the short explainer video about this article
Last year the Material Research Society organized again their SciVid competition for their fall meeting in Boston. The conditions where similar to the ones they had the previous year. The objective was to create a narrated video of 2 minutes explaining a scientific concept or research related to materials science and 3 prizes would be awarded by a panel of experts in science outreach videos from the pool of the finalists, along with an additional prize given to the video with the most likes on YouTube and votes casted during the conference as a people’s choice award.
This year I decided to present a video in which I talked about the kind of systems we worked on during my PhD. The topic is self-assembled monolayers and I could explain to you what they are right here right now, or you could easily watch the short 2-minutes video I made for it.
The video was done in quite a rush, since I was in the final stages before submitting my thesis but, I used some animations I already had used in my presentations at conferences. Furthermore, I followed the advice of the jury panel last year of including less CG and more people in the video. This made it faster to create, but it was all new to me, so we had to wing it at times to get there in time for the deadline. Despite this, WE WON THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD! (https://www.mrs.org/fall-2018-science-in-video) With almost 900 likes in YouTube by the time the voting was closed (10 days), almost doubling the likes of the next contestant.
The video format is more a talking head video, with me explaining the topic while some graphics and tittles help support the explanation mainly, and of course some science CG scenes made with Blender. In fact, the whole video was created in Blender, including the editing the creation of the tittles and motion graphics, if you wish to call them that.
Well I hope you enjoyed the video and that you learnt something new, this time related to my own work as a PhD. I would also like to thank Tade, who was the cameraman, Toni, who went and pick up the prize in Boston for me, and of course all the people that supported me by giving the video a like in YouTube, specially Finofilipino, who shared it in his blog full of trolls XD.
PS: sorry for the late positng
In the beginning of October, the first video of Summa Scientia was published. It talked about how the gas diffusion layer in hydrogen fuel cells can be improved. The friend who I made the video for really liked it and, just a couple weeks after it was published, he found out that the Material Research Society had arranged Scientific Video competition that would be held during the fall meeting in Boston.
The competition focused on creating a narrated video of 2 minutes explaining a scientific concept or research related to materials science. And so, with a bit of video editing and the narration from my friend and research author, Toni Forner, we managed to create a new, updated version of the video.
We submitted the video by the end of October. The results of the competition would be announced at the end of November and several prizes were to be given out. The jury members, who were people with experience in scientific outreach videos, were assigned to select the 3 best videos from the pool of the finalists, along with an additional prize given to the video with the most likes on YouTube and votes casted during the conference as a people’s choice award.
By mid-November they let us know that we had been selected as one of the finalist and therefore we started our own “promotion campaign” to get every like we could get. From friends, family, colleagues,… We started the race ahead, but we quickly noticed how a couple of videos were getting votes much faster than any of the others. In an attempt to boost our chances, I contacted the local newspaper in Alicante and even though their reply to help us with the people’s choice award came a bit late, they were very interested in knowing how this collaboration came to happen and see how the research made by one of their neighbors was being supported abroad.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to gather enough votes for the people’s choice by the day the ceremony took place, on the 29th of November in Boston. BUT WE WON THE THIRD PRIZE!! Toni had a chance to attend the conference and receive the award in person. Although I was on the opposite side of the Atlantic, I followed the ceremony online and also celebrated. One month later we received an email from Alicante’s newspapers saying that the article about us and the competition would be published. And although we were not in Alicante that day, we managed to get copies of the paper.
To sum up, the first video of Summa Scientia evolved into a successful collaboration, was presented in a competition for scientific videos and won a prize.To top it all, our pictures appeared in an article about the work in the newspaper. I’d call that a success!
The need for an alternative to combustion engine cars is a growing concern in many countries. Hybrid cars and more recently electric cars rose as an obvious solution to this problem. But a third option has been overlooked and dismissed since 2015 when Hyundai and Honda presented their firsts commercially available hydrogen fuel cell cars.
While electric cars may seem a perfect solution for the problem, the capacity of the batteries and the long recharging time can be a detriment for the total replacement of the combustion engine cars. The higher energy density of hydrogen allows these cars to have a driving range comparable to traditional cars. The refuelling is as simple and fast as with a combustion car. The existence of an infrastructure to distribute and provide petroleum based fuel could be converted to the hydrogen technology.
The hydrogen fuel cell car works by combining the hydrogen with oxygen from the air in the fuel cell. The cell works as a catalyst of this reaction and allows to harvest the energy produced in the form of electricity, a more efficient way compared to combustion. Also, any excess of energy produced can be easily stored in a battery. The hydrogen fuel cell must still improve to be competitive compared to electric cars.
One of the areas in which it has been tried to improve is in the removal of the water produced while bringing air inside the cell to use the oxygen in the reaction. This problem is known as water management, and it is a hard problem to solve. On one hand, the cell must be sufficiently wet so that protons can travel from the anode to the cathode. But on the other hand, too much water could suffocate the cell by not allowing oxygen to get to the cathode.
The way where this exchange of water and air is made is in the gas diffusion layer. This gas diffusion layer is usually made of carbon fibres. Capillary pressure is the driving force for this exchange and for this reason the fibres are usually coated with hydrophobic polymers. Hydrophobic polymers are made of molecules whose interaction are very unfavourable with water. They are the base of the always-clean fabric technology, by avoiding the absorbance of water and water based liquids in the fabric.
The coating of the membrane with these polymers improves its performance but it still has the problem that the water tries to take the least resistance path in the membrane, which means that those paths are usually tortuous or sometimes lead to a dead end.
Another attempt tried to stack hydrophobic membranes with hydrophilic ones. Hydrophilic polymers are those whose interaction is favourable with water, and therefore water prefers to be in contact with them rather than with the hydrophobic polymers. This also provided an improvement, but this approach had a limited design flexibility. This drawback made it rather limited in its scale-up potential.
A new method was presented a couple years back. It allowed to create specific pathways for the air and water inside the same membrane. The research explains the preparation method of this new kind of gas diffusion layers and their capabilities. In this case the design is very flexible and can be easily adapted to new condition and configurations. Furthermore, it is ready to be scaled up to a production level.
The research also shows X-ray images that allow to see the distribution of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic areas and neutron spectroscopy, which allows to study the water distribution inside the layer and its behaviour in different conditions.
If you want to know more about this research don’t miss our video making a short sum up. But if you are still intrigued as to how this works and how the research was made you can check it yourself. The papers are open-access and therefore downloadable for free.
Also you can read this article from nature, the scientific journal, about hydrogen on the rise.


Water makes up to 60% of the human body. Both the brain and heart are composed of 73% water, and our lungs are 83% water, while the muscles and kidneys are 79% water. Water is, no doubt, an essential liquid on the planet. It is no wonder why you should be concerned about the type of water you feed your body. Alkaline water has received a lot of publicity in recent years, and water ionizers are more popular than ever.
You may have heard health claims about alkaline water and how this type of water has many benefits. In this article, we will first debunk some myths and truths about water ionizers. Then, we’ll talk about some benefits of having a water ionizer in your home.
What is a Water Ionizer?
In simple terms, a water ionizer is a piece of equipment that changes the pH level in the water to create ionized alkaline water. The method used to accomplish this is called electrolysis, which separates the oxygen and hydrogen in water to produce electron-rich, alkaline water.
The interest in ionized water begun when scientists discovered natives in a secured part of the world had good health due to the glacier water that they drunk. Then, scientists discovered that electricity could reorganize the structure of water.
The idea of the water ionizer started in 1931 in Japan, where it became popular in the 1950s. The water created by the ionizer was said to have ‘healing effects.’ In 1962, water ionizer companies applied for approval for the equipment as a medical device.
Modern water ionizers work by electrically splitting tap water into acid and alkaline water. The water ionizer unit is usually the size of a toaster and has a filter connected to your water supply. This electronic water filter controls low voltage electrolysis.
How Does A Water Ionizer Work?
The process of how water ionizer works is straightforward.
First, water passes through an internal water filter. This tap water flows into the tube at the back of the water ionizer. The water then makes its way to the water filter, where contaminants are removed. The internal filters of a water ionizer usually last up to a year and can be replaced for $50. Although the water that passes through the ionizer is purified, this is not the purpose of the ionizer. The filters don’t remove all impurities, as these may help in the ionizing process.
Second, electrolysis begins. Electrolysis is a process that breaks down water into hydrogen and oxygen using electric current. The water ionizer has “plates” where electrical current passes through. As water enters this section, soluble minerals and other impurities are attracted to either a positive or negative pole depending on their energy signature. This separation causes water to divide into alkaline or acid streams.
Once the process is complete, you can use the more acidic water for cleaning and bathing. In contrast, alkaline water is best for drinking. The separation of ions into negative or positive is what creates the separation in water acidity. The acid water is H+, while alkaline water is OH-. This alkaline water has a higher pH compared to tap or bottled water.
What Is pH, and Why Is it Important?
Acid and basic are two of the different properties of different substances. When acids and bases mix, they turn into an inert material. The pH scale is used to measure the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a substance and ranges from 0 to 14. Any element that measures seven is defined as a neutral substance, while anything lower is acidic and greater is basic.
The way the pH scale measures, the degree of acidity is using logarithmic, which means pH 3 is ten times more acidic than pH five, and so on. The same goes for the level of alkalinity. Pure water is considered neutral, but adding any chemicals can turn water either basic or acidic.
pH levels may sound like scientific jargon, but they play an essential role in biological functions. They can influence the behavior of certain chemicals. For this reason, the pH levels in food and beverages are necessary to consider.
pH In Drinking Water
When it comes to drinking water, pH is critical. Ideally, drinking water should have a pH between 6.5 and 8.5, which is either neutral or basic. Acidic water can harm pipelines causing toxic metals like copper to make their way into the water supply. On the other hand, water that is too alkaline has an unpleasant taste and is not ideal for cleaning.
pH In Swimming Pool Water
Swimming pools also require water with specific pH values that range from 7.2 to 7.8 to ensure the efficacy of the chlorine disinfectant. A pH that is too high or alkaline is not suitable for your pool and can make it more prone to fungi growth and bacteria.
pH In Food
The pH levels in food are also closely monitored to ensure microbial control and prolong shelf life. For example, the pH in milk is tested continuously to ensure infections or impurities are not present. In the cheese-making process, the pH can determine the texture of cheese. The pH of cream can also determine the end taste, whether it will be sour or sweet. For yogurt production, a low pH is ideal for promoting microbial activity.
Many foods require that a specific pH is maintained. For instance, a high pH level in meats can be an indication of rot. In baking bread, the batter is acidified to extend shelf life, and the same is valid with canned goods.
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What Are The Dangers of Acidic Water?
Now that we understand why pH levels matter, especially in drinking water, let’s take a look at the dangers of acidic water or water with a low pH level. Acidic water has pH levels below 7. Many natural causes can turn water acidic. For example, rain is milky acid, and trees and roots release carbon dioxide, which produces acids.
Another reason is sedimenting in the soil or rocks that have minerals that encourage acidity. When water flows through chemical dumps such as acid mine drainage or spills, the water pH level can further decline. Another cause for acidity in water is shallow groundwater that is often acidic. So what are the dangers of drinking acidic water or of acidic water in general?
1. Acidic Water Can Cause Damage To Your Teeth
Adding acidic water to an already acidic mouth is not the best idea if you want to have healthy teeth. The acids in your mouth are useful for breaking down bacteria and food, so using acidic water to clean your mouth is counterproductive. Rinsing your mouth with acidic water can double the effect of the acidity causing tooth corrosion or gum damage.
2. Acidic Water Reduces Calcium Retention
A high amount of acidity in your body can jeopardize its ability to absorb calcium, which may lead to bone loss over long periods. This is one of the reasons why older adults often prefer alkaline water, which does not have the same negative effect.
3. Acidic Water Can Contribute To Gastrointestinal Problems
As water passes through the pipes and makes it way to your tap, it can collect zinc residue, which causes a host of health problems. Issues like diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea are all related to overexposure to zinc or copper.
4. Acidic Water Increases Exposure To Contaminants
The dangerous effect of acidic water can be seen in fish. When water pH levels reach 4.5, massive fish deaths occur. This is because pollutants like parasites and bacteria thrive in such water levels. Also, since a considerable percentage of public water comes from shallow sources, which, as we have mentioned, is more acidic, the danger increases. If you continue to ingest tap water, you are increasing your risk of exposure to contaminants.
5. Acidic Water Can Be Dangerous For Young Children
Young children especially are at risk when it comes to acidic water consumption. During their rapid growth, their bodies tend to absorb more nutrients and contaminants at a faster rate compared to adults. The complications that arise from acidic water can even prove fatal for small children. These conditions range from liver disease, stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea.
Does Acidic Water Have Some benefits?
All the adverse effects of acidic water are related to consumption. However, using acidic water on your skin may have some benefits. For example, acidic water is an ideal astringent because of its cleansing properties. It can also help relieve dryness and itchiness and help relieve symptoms of acne, eczema, and athletes’ foot.
Acidic water also has benefits for the hair and can reduce the appearance of dandruff. Also, because of the antibacterial properties of acidic water, it is an ideal antiseptic, cleanser, and sanitizer. Using acidic water for washing and cleaning fruits, meat, and vegetables also have benefits. Water with a pH level of 3 can kill pathogens and even remove traces of pesticides.
Aside from its benefits in terms of cleaning, acidic water is also ideal for plant growth. Using low pH water on your plants may repel pests and bugs and even lengthen the life of flowers in vases.
5 Benefits of Having A Water Ionizer
Now that we have discussed all the harmful effects of drinking acidic water, you should be interested in investing in a water ionizer. Here are five of the benefits:
1. Better Hydration
If you are on a weight loss journey or lead an active life, hydration is one of your top priorities. The problem is your body quickly gets dehydrated through sweating. This dehydration can cause a decline in physiological performance, which reduces your aerobic function. Long term effects of dehydrated include reduced neurological and metabolic function.
So, where does a water ionizer come in? A water ionizer ensures that you have access to alkaline water at all times. But how does this help with hydration? Well, there is evidence that alkaline water is one of the best drinks for hydration. One of the top studies that prove this is a 2016 study involving 100 participants. During the study, the participants performed a moderate exercise routine that caused a 2% in body mass through sweating—half of the participants hydrated with alkaline water while the other half drunk regular water.
Researchers then examined the blood viscosity of both groups. They discovered that the alkaline group had a lower blood thickness than the other group. The group that regularly consumed water had a 3.36% decline in blood viscosity. In comparison, those who had alkaline water saw a decrease of 6.3%.
What does this have to do with hydration? Well, scientists use blood viscosity to measure hydration. When you are hydrated, you should have a lower blood thickness. In short, the group that drunk alkaline water was more hydrated because their blood viscosity was lower.
But the effects of alkaline water on hydration doesn’t end there. Additional research shows that alkaline water promotes water movement between cells. Cells have proteins called aquaporins that control the amount of water absorbed by the cells. Alkaline water has excess electrons, which the aquaporins allow to flow freely.
2. Better Bowel Health
If you suffer from irregular bowel movement or constipation, alkaline water may be the answer to your problems. Although alkaline water in itself cannot treat constipation, adding it to your routine can make a difference. However, there are other factors to consider that can contribute to constipation, such as:
- overeating red meat or processed food
- irritable bowel syndrome
- not eating enough fiber
- changes in routine
- drinking too much soda or alcohol
You may have heard of natural remedies for constipation, including eating more fiber and exercising more. However, a simple life change like getting a water ionizer and drinking alkaline water is very beneficial. When you lack water or are dehydrated, the large intestine soaks the water from your waste, which causes hard stools. Ionized water creates smaller water molecules that are easier for your body to absorb. Since alkaline water is more hydrating than tap water as we have discussed, it can help get rid of constipation faster.
The water molecules in alkaline water become smaller when they go through the ionizing process. Smaller cells can easily pass through cells and hydrate your body faster. Another reason why alkaline water is superior to tap water is that it promotes balanced bacteria in your stomach. The low oxygen levels in alkaline water allow good bacteria to thrive. With a healthy gut, you are less likely to suffer from constipation and other stomach-related illnesses.
3. Better Pregnancy
When a woman gets pregnant, most of her alkaline materials go to the fetus, which may contribute to a host of discomforts. If you are pregnant, you can easily keep your body’s pH levels balanced by getting yourself a water ionizer. With your blood getting more and more acidic, drinking alkaline water is an easy way to reverse the adverse effects. An acidic body is more prone to disease, and drinking alkaline water is one way to boost your immune system in this critical nine months. Here are just a few symptoms of pregnancy that alkaline water can help soothe.
- Heartburn and indigestion. Many women experience severe heartburn because of changing hormone levels or because the uterus is pushing on the stomach. Drinking alkaline water can help neutralize some of the stomach acids.
- Constipation. As we have already discussed, constipation is often caused by dehydration, which can be remedied by buying a water ionizer. Among pregnant women, there is another possible cause of constipation, namely, pressure on your rectum. The small molecules in high pH water can speed up hydration and alleviate constipation.
- Fatigue and low energy levels. Staying hydrated is one of the natural solutions to increase your energy levels. The structure of the molecules in alkaline water promotes easy absorption, which may help raise energy levels.
- Morning sickness. Although hormones may be to blame for this pregnancy symptom, drinking the right amount of basic water can provide a pregnant woman with enough alkaline minerals. These alkaline minerals can help the placenta neutralize the acids discharged by the fetus.
Although alkaline water won’t remove all of the symptoms of pregnancy, many women agree that it can reduce the intensity and frequency of these symptoms. So, if you are expecting, invest in a water ionizer as soon as possible and enjoy a stress-free nine months.
4. Better Skin Health
We know we said that acidic water is an excellent cleaning agent for the face. Still, tap water sadly doesn’t provide the right level of acidity. Those who have skin conditions like eczema or acne need something gentle to clean their skin, and a water ionizer can produce just that.
With more than 60 million Americans with acne and 32 million with eczema, the need for an affordable, long-term solution is critical. Although it is always best to follow the advice of your health care provider, you can do your part in alleviating the symptoms by changing the water you use to wash your skin.
Your skin is the largest organ in your body and needs a pH level of 4-6. Ideally, a pH of 5.5 is what your skin needs. When you sweat, your skin develops a layer that is slightly more acidic than the skin itself to protect you from microorganisms. One of the secrets to healthy skin is caring for your skin pH levels. Removing the acidic mantel may leave you prone to infection and more skin issues.
When you purchase a water ionizer, you can get just the right pH level for your skin. Usually, Acidic Level 1 produced by water ionizers is 5.5, which is perfect for your skin. You can use this acidic water in a spray bottle to help you cool down during those hot summer days. Acidic water can also help soothe irritations from bug bites and other irritants.
5. Better Aging
Aging is caused by several factors combined, including hormonal aging, cellular aging, and metabolic aging. Also, inflammation, stress, and free radicals are some of the factors that increase the aging process. This may sound too good to be true, but investing in a water ionizer can help slow down the aging process and keep you looking and feeling younger for longer. So, how does it work?
The anti-aging properties of alkaline water have everything to do with free radicals. Free radicals are everywhere, from exhaust fumes to UV rays and pollution. Antioxidants are vital to fighting these free radicals, and that’s where alkaline water comes in.
Hydrogen water has antioxidant properties that can combat free radicals and slow down the aging process. Clinical studies have identified some specific ways hydrogen water can aid or alleviate symptoms related to aging, which includes the following:
- Heart disease
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Abdominal issues
Investing in your water ionizer ensures a fresh supply of hydrogen water may be a small step towards a younger, healthier you. Hydrogen water has extra hydrogen molecules that act as antioxidants and prevent oxidative stress. With reduced levels of free radicals, you will experience higher energy levels, better skin, better concentration, and overall better health.
Do I Need Water Ionizer?
Despite the many benefits that come with a water ionizer, many are hesitant to invest in one. Perhaps they feel that it is an additional and unnecessary cost they can’t afford, or maybe they think they don’t need it. Whatever the case, there are five ways your body is telling you it needs alkaline water.
You Are Always Thirsty
Are you the type of person that has a constant thirst, but no drink seems to quench? You tried to drink tap water, but it never seems to cure your dehydration? Here’s a little tip: Tap water is one of the worst kind of water you can consume. It is filled with dangerous chemicals that can cause more harm than good. According to Scientific American, there are 18 unregulated chemicals found in sink water for more than 1/3rd of water departments nationwide. So think twice before filling a glass of tap water.
Alkaline water is superior to tap water; the small hydrogen molecules found in Alkaline hydrate your cells more quickly than other types of water. Therefore, all you’ll need is a few sips at regular intervals, and you’ll never feel thirsty. This is an efficient solution to those who are not fond of drinking glasses of water throughout the day. With a water ionizer, you’ll drink less water to keep hydrated.
You Have Low Energy Levels
There are many causes of low energy levels, including poor sleep or lack of exercise and poor nutrition. However, many need energy because they lack hydration. The hydrogen infused alkaline water can give you an almost instant boost in energy.
This instant boost is possible because the small molecules can easily pass through the mitochondria of all your cells and deliver needed water. Instead of reaching for an unhealthy energy drink, invest in a water ionizer, and have a healthy energy drink available at all times.
You Have Skin Issues
If you look in the mirror and find that your skin isn’t as radiant, it may be because of high acidity in water. Drinking from a water ionizer can have incredible benefits on your skin. The hydrogen water produced by these ionizers can help flush out harmful toxins, which reduce your risk of developing acne.
Dehydrated skin has several symptoms that include itchy skin, increased sensitivity, fine lines and wrinkles, and dull-looking skin. Since dehydration affects the skins’ ability to perform functions like cell turnover, your skin doesn’t shed its outer layer enough, which causes the accumulation of dead cells. Dead cells, in turn, cause clogged pores, congestion, and uneven complexion. Lack of moisture also makes your skin more susceptible to external factors such as pollution.
Alkaline water also helps maintain the optimal pH levels in your skin, which is 5.5. Lastly, hydrogen water can give you radiant skin by keeping it hydrated. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on many skin products that may do more harm than good, invest in a water ionizer and watch your skin glow.
You Can’t Concentrate
If you find yourself having difficulty concentrating at work, you may be mildly dehydrated. One study published in the Journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise discovered that even mild dehydration could affect cognitive performance. Tasks that involve motor coordination and attention become challenging when you are dehydrated.
Mild dehydration is defined as being 2% dehydrated or sweating out 33 ounces of water. This low level of dehydration is not enough to cause thirst, so you likely won’t know you need water. Additional symptoms include lightheadedness, dizziness, and dry mouth.
The lesson is clear- if you want to get that raise and be a model employee, you need to stay hydrated. Alkaline water can more efficiently make its way to your cells and provide needed hydration. Purchasing your water ionizer may be all you need to boost your performance at work.
You Are Always Tired
There are many hidden causes of tiredness, including sleep and sun deprivation. Still, one of the most common is mild dehydration. When you are dehydrated even mild, your body’s energy levels drop, and you feel lethargic. Also, your blood volume lowers, which means your brain isn’t getting as much blood as it should, and your heart starts to pump faster.
Also, mild dehydration can affect your sleep, which creates a domino effect leaving you tired the next morning. When you are dehydrated, your nasal and mouth passages are dryer, and such irritation can increase the chances of snoring.
On top of this, dehydrated can affect melatonin, the sleep hormone reducing the levels of amino acids used to produce this essential hormone. With unbalanced levels of melatonin, your circadian rhythm can be off, making sleep difficult. With a water ionizer providing alkaline water, you are more likely to get the hydration you need and prevent chronic fatigue.
How do I choose the best water ionizer?
Our Top Picked Water Ionizers:
All-Around Best Water Ionizer
Aqua Ionizer Deluxe
Best Water System with Easy User Interface
Bawell Platinum Ionizer
Best Product with Lifetime Warranty
With all the water ionizers out there, making the right choice may be challenging. Here are some tips to help you decide:
- Get a machine with two filters that have longer cartridges. Also, make sure that the filters are ceramic, which increases their ability to filter bacteria and other microbes.
- Be careful with the ‘enhancers’ used, which can contain poisonous chemicals like sodium chloride and sodium hypochlorite. These chemicals can produce dangerous toxic gases.
- Find the right plate. You can find plates that are solid, mesh, or a hybrid in a material that comes in different sizes. Make sure you read the manual carefully to decide the right one.
- Take note of the warranty. Always read the fine print to see how the company stands behind their product.
- Notice the country of origin. Water ionizers made in Korea or Japan are known to be high quality and abide by all the safety laws.
Not many of us pay attention to the type of water we drink, but it is about time we did. Considering the critical role that water plays in body function, it makes sense to feed our bodies with the best water available. Although tap water is the cheapest solution, it is often acidic. It can cause a host of health issues from teeth damage and increased exposure to contaminants.
Alkaline water, on the other hand, has numerous health benefits, including better bowel health, increased hydration, reduced pregnancy symptoms, and anti-aging properties. The easiest way to enjoy these health benefits is to invest in a water ionizer. If you notice any of the five warning signs, such as dry skin, fatigue, or lack of concentration, your body is warning you to get a water ionizer and switch to alkaline water.
Since not all water ionizers are created equal, you ought to do your homework to find the best water ionizers in the market. Once you do, you and your family can start enjoying better health immediately.


60 Jarring Nature Photos
King cobra bites python. Python constricts cobra. Cobra dies of constriction. Python dies from venom.
What we see in this photograph is a great example of the two killing methods of snakes…venom and constricting. Some snakes, like the King cobra, the rattlesnake, the coral snake, black mamba, and the saw-scaled viper are venomous serpents. They kill their prey by injecting them with venom via their fangs and rely on their speed to suddenly strike their victims. Other snakes, like the Python and boa constrictor wrap their strong bodies around their prey and squeeze until the blood flow to vital organs is stopped. So which killing method is most effective? Both the King cobra in this photo and the Python succumb to their injuries so I say it is a draw.
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Last Known Good Configuration
(n.) In versions NT and later of the Windows operating system (OS), a copy of a system's hardware configuration and driver settings taken from the system's registry when the OS successfully boots. This copy is stored in case a subsequent boot process fails, and the OS can use the record of the Last Known Good configuration to perform a successful boot. If Windows detects a problem in the boot process, it will add the Last Known Good configuration option to the start up menu.
This configuration record often comes in handy after the installation of new drivers or devices, which may cause system errors. Each time the OS successfully boots, it replaces the previous Last Known Good configuration record with the new one from the most recent successful boot.
See The History of Microsoft Operating Systems in Webopedia's "Did You Know...? section.
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I can choose how I want to BE.
I can choose what I want to DO.
Do, Be, Do, Be, Do, Do, Do, Do, Do, Be (sung like Sinatra)
Our brain responds to three types of motivation, according to psychologists Martin Seligman and Chris Peterson. We are mobilized and energized by:
- Desire for The Pleasant Life
- Involvement in The Engaged Life
- Inspiration from The Meaningful Life
There is nothing wrong with wanting to live a Pleasant Life, one in which the good times (Activities We Truly Enjoy) outnumber the bad (Activities We Don’t Enjoy That Are Necessary).Â It’s just that making The Pleasant Life happen is out of our control… in contrast to what is in our control: our capacity to increase our engagement and find meaning in whatever we do.
Fortunately, our brain responds toÂ neural nudges from curiosity interventions like Acting As If… when we reperceive or reframe a “don’t enjoy” activity and turn it into one that is meaningful and valuable.
- Bring up an activity that you consider one that you “Don’t enjoy, but is necessary” in your life, whether big or small.Â This is one that does not feel pleasant AND you have no control over the fact that it has to be done and you are the only person who can do it (as opposed to the “Don’t enjoy and not necessary” set of activities that could be done by somebody else or are not necessary).
- Notice your body sensations as you ponder the “Don’t enjoy” activity.
- Reperceive this situation by looking for an element or aspect that is pleasant OR valuable within it, no matter how small.
- BE with that element.
- What would you DO if that were your primary motivation?
- Notice your body sensations as you ponder the element or aspect.
- Notice your body sensations as you act as if this were your primary motivation.
See Lynn’s Dad and the Doctor Visits story if you would like an example of how one person changed her approach to a challenging activity.
Â© Copyright 2013 Maria Hunt


Spanish Speed Dating for the Imperfect, Present Perfect and Tú, Usted, Ustedes Questions
by Angie Torre
There are three speaking activities in this product that can be used for Spanish One, Two and Three. While trying to find the pretend perfect candidate with whom to go out on a date, students practice the imperfect tense, the present perfect tense and “Tú, Usted, Ustedes” questions. Students speak the target language the entire time as they ask questions and record their answers. This activity practices speaking, writing, reading, and listening. It takes about 20 - 30 minutes.
Spanish Speed Dating includes the following:
~Instructions for the teacher
~Power Point instructions for the students
~17 questions in the imperfect tense. (Students choose 10 or 9 and one they create.)
~17 questions in the present perfect tense. (Students choose 10)
~8 questions that use “Tú, Usted, Ustedes” questions.
You may also be interested in: Spanish Vocabulary Board Game
For the Preterite Eight-Stations Activity, click here: Preterite - Eight Stations Activity in Spanish
For the Subjunctive Eight-Stations Activity, click here: Subjunctive Eight Stations
For the Spanish Present Perfect Game, click here: Spanish Present Perfect Activity
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I am one of five and two of them have three of their own. My choice to have one child often sparks interesting conversations, sometimes even heated debates. Is there a right or wrong when it comes to the number of children you choose to have, more specifically does it negatively impact on the child?
Not surprising then that researchers in China recently conducted a study to explore this question, with their one-child policy which lasted as long as 36 years!
We have all heard the common stereotypical ideas about being an only child, and I do pay attention to how it could influence Mishka’s childhood and her future behaviour. Does she demonstrate these only-child traits such as selfishness and a problem to share with her peers?
Honestly, in some ways she does, but it does not take away the benefits of being an only child. But first, the results of the Chinese study: only-children scored higher on flexibility and lower on agreeableness.
What does this mean for Mishka? Simply put, flexibility may contribute to her creativity and ability to think out of the box probably because we have more time to devote to her as an individual at the same time it could be linked to the possibility that we have quite high expectations of her and that she is in a way forced to find answers quicker.
Low agreeableness could mean that Mishka is less likely to take no for an answer and emphasise the issue of not being able to share her toys or sweets with her friends or even adults.
However, the study did not show any difference in terms of intelligence between the only-children and children with siblings.
Other studies demonstrated that only-children scored higher in terms of self-confidence and academic achievement, they may also have better relationships with their parents, and fewer behavioral problems in school.
On the downside however, it may impact negatively on Mishka as it is probable that she could receive too much attention and excessive praise from us and this may cause undesirable personality traits such as dependency, selfishness and social ineptitude.
Additionally, due to the absence of siblings, only-children usually miss out on important opportunities to rehearse some of the more complicated aspects of relationships within a safe environment.”
Noting that, I also firmly believe in the benefits of her solo upbringing: she receives our undivided attention which builds confidence, it is less stressful for us as parents to raise one child and this makes her environment less stressful, no sibling rivalry, quality time with us and of course less financial pressure on us and thus more to invest in her education and well-being.
I don’t think there is a magic number, personally I know my limitations and I can honestly say as an older parent (I had Mish when I was 40) I do not see myself raising more than one child, simply because I am not built that way. As a couple, we have decided that it is the best decision for us. We do pay extra attention to the little things that may cause Mishka to lack in certain areas.
We make sure we have plenty of social events with our friends and their kids, we are tuned into the “sharing is caring” issues and make sure we explain the importance of respect and boundaries to her. We can only hope that what we do as parents will be enough to guide her into a fulfilling future.


For decades now, I have believed that polyunsaturated fat from sources such as corn oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, and canola oil is a very bad idea. They are highly prone to oxidation and associated with all kinds of diseases. But the more I researched, I was coming to the inevitable conclusion that monounsaturated fat could also contribute to obesity. That was the beginning of the croissant diet.
Monounsaturated fat has always been a kind of happy middle ground for traditional nutritionists who have moved away from promoting soybean oil and Weston A. Price people who promote butter. No one ever really has anything bad to say about olive oil. But everything I learned suggested that olive oil could cause weight gain.
How the Diet Works
Here is my nutshell version of how this works (once again, a shout out to Hyperlipid for figuring this out, I didn’t): The primary mechanism by which the body stops the flow of energy into fat cells is the production of free radicals, aka Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), at the conserved molecular bottleneck in the electron transport chain of the mitochondrial inner membrane. The ROS block the activity of several proteins involved in insulin signaling, leading the fat cells to become physiologically and reversibly insulin resistant. The job of Insulin is to send a signal to tell fat cells to store energy. If the fat cells are (temporarily) insulin resistant, they won’t take in any more energy. Fat loss will occur. Long-chain saturated fats create lots of ROS. Unsaturated fats don’t.


About the River Basin
The Mackenzie River Basin has cultural, political, geographic and environmental characteristics, which are unique and significant by world standards. The Basin is huge, covering a staggering 1.8 million square kilometers, or nearly one-fifth of the area in Canada, but has a small population of less than half a million people. Yet everyone in some way depends on the rivers, lakes, deltas and waterways for their livelihood and way of life. The population is very diverse in lifestyle and heritage. Indigenous people living in the Basin speak 11 different languages.
Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement Backgrounder
Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Yukon (the governments with jurisdiction to manage water and the environment in the Mackenzie River Basin) have signed the Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement. It came into effect in July 1997.
The Mackenzie River Basin Board was established to implement the agreement.
- The board has 13 members.
- 3 representing the Federal Government & 10 representing the provinces & territories.
- 1 member from each of the provinces & territories represents Indigenous organizations.
The Board is not a regulatory or licensing board, and has no legal or policy basis to regulate resource use in any of the jurisdictions. However, the Board may influence regulatory decisions made in the various jurisdictions in a number of ways:
By providing factual material, such as the State of the Aquatic Ecosystem Reports, to inform development decision makers.
- By participating in and influencing pre or post regulatory processes, such as planning, regional or cumulative environmental impact assessment processes, or ministerial reviews of sensitive decisions.
- By appearing as a "friend of the tribunal" in federal, provincial and territorial public hearings to advocate for the principles endorsed in the Master Agreement. The Agreement commits the parties to the following principles in carrying out their responsibilities in the Basin:
- Managing the water resources in a manner consistent with the maintenance of the ecological integrity of the aquatic ecosystem.
- Managing the use of the water resources in a sustainable manner for present and future generations.
- Allowing each Party to the Agreement to use or manage the use of water resources within its jurisdiction provided such does no unreasonable harm to the ecological integrity for the aquatic ecosystem in another jurisdiction.
- Providing for early and effective consultation, notification and sharing of information on developments and activities that might affect the ecological integrity of the aquatic ecosystem in another jurisdiction.
The agreement commits all six governments to work together more closely to manage the water resources of the whole Mackenzie River Basin
The agreement is founded on four guiding principles for cooperative management:
According to the Agreement the Board's key responsibilities are to:
- Provide a forum for communication, coordination, information exchange, notification and consultation among all six jurisdictions and the public.
- Consider the needs and concerns of Indigenous people through the provision of culturally appropriate communication, and incorporation of their traditional knowledge and values.
- Recommend uniform objectives or guidelines for the quality and quantity of the water resources.
- Encourage consistent monitoring programs.
- Monitor the progress of implementing the bilateral water management agreements between neighbouring jurisdictions.
- Reviewing the Master Agreement at least once every three years and proposing amendments to the Parties.
- Submit a report on the state of the aquatic ecosystem every five years to the federal, provincial and territorial Ministers.
- Carry out studies and investigations, as required.
The agreement makes provision for neighbouring jurisdictions to negotiate bilateral water management agreements to address water issues at jurisdictional boundaries on transboundary streams and to provide parameters on the quality, quantity and flow of water.
The six governments fund the Board's annual operational budget.


June 18th, 2004
Space dot com calls it the Cosmic Woodstock: on Monday, June 21, in the Mojave Desert, USA, Scaled Composites will try and fly a plane called SpaceShipOne into space horizontally for the first time. What is twice as exciting about this, is that Scaled Composites is not government funded: this is a privately owned company participating in the space launch ‘race’.
Horizontal take-off and re-usable space craft promise to bring down the cost of space faring drastically (as long as the American defense ministry does not dictate the other features of the space craft, as with the US Shuttle).
Currently, the Russian space agency charges a tourist approximately 20 million US$ for a nine-day trip. It is estimated that the actual launch of a Soyuz space craft costs 60 million US$, and the craft has three seats. Launch and flight costs of a craft like SpaceShipOne are likely to be in the area of hundreds of thousands of dollars, not dozens of millions. For comparisson, the launch of a Space Shuttle is said to cost around half a milliard dollars.
The launch is scheduled to take place at 6.30 Mojave time, which should be 15.30 Amsterdam time. CNN is said to provide live coverage, although I don’t know if the US state propaganda broadcaster will do that for the entire planet.
May 26th, 2004
Earlier, I wrote: “[…] the European Space Shuttle. […] equally important, this is today’s technology, not yesterday’s.”
Well, that is true, but it is today’s technology that is going to be used in 20 years. Still better than NASA and Energia, who want to use yesterday’s technology in 20 years, but not a scratch on American civilians, who are using today’s technology today!
Competing in the X-Prize competition, Scaled Composite’s (pity about the website) Spaceship One reached a height this month of 60 kilometers. That’s just 40 kilometers shy of real space. The system they use is similar as that planned for the European space shuttle, except that they are flying now, not twenty years from now.
Exciting times are ahead!
May 18th, 2004
Geek news site Slashdot linked to a site from a Norwegian newspaper, where they let you upload a portrait and they will tell you which (Nordic) celebrity you most look like.
Apparently, my portrait at the Abeleto website makes me the spitting image of Roxette’s Per Gessle. Me, I disagree. He looks much more like my brother.
You agree not to upload obscene stuff, and apparently the newspaper reserves the right to use your picture for promotional purposes.
Something to do with eigenfaces.
Update (7-1-2006): since I will be changing the photo at Abeleto.nl soonish, I put a picture of me in this entry, to the right. (Now who is who?)
May 7th, 2004
There are many books that I started reading but never finished, because I got bored. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was among them. (Borrowed from the local book mobile when I was 8 or 9 years old. The librarian had been unwilling to lend me large books before, convinced that I would not finish them. Boy, how I would have liked to have proved him wrong on this one too.)
The book that sported the protagonist I was named after: De Bruiloft der Zeven Zigeuners (The Wedding of the Seven Gypsies) by Aad den Doolaard. Super sugar sweetness; I could not bear more than two pages, even though my father had kept the book for 18 years to give to me on my birthday.
However, recently I stopped reading a book because it was too good, too exciting. Wuthering Heights by Emily BrontÃ« is a thorougly convincing story about a disfunctional family, about how we cannot get away from those who torture us, about how meanness can be dispensed in tiny portions, not to be protested against, yet have far-reaching effects. About the holes we dig for ourselves.
I would like to get back to this book, because it seems one of the greatest works written in the English language. Yet for now, I want to keep the thorougly convincing account of pettiness at bay, and the feelings it evokes in me.


I’m trying something different with this blog post. It would seem that my original idea to write a snappy bite sized slice of history seems to have grown to be more of a rather bloated stodgy cake of history! I’m going to attempt a short Q & A of interesting facts about the Plantagenet’s. This is inspired by Derek Wilson’s brilliant A to Z of The Plantagenets in the November 2011 issue of BBC History Magazine.
Who were the Plantagenets?
The Plantagenet dynasty ruled England longer than any other royal family. Geoffrey of Anjou claimed the crowns of England and Normandy in right of his wife Matilda when Henry I died in 1135. Their son Henry was recognised as hair-apparent in 1154. The Plantagenets ruled until 1485 when Richard III, the last Plantagenet was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field by Henry Tudor who became Henry VII; the first Tudor Monarch.
What’s a Plantagenet?
In the twelfth century Geoffrey of Anjou wore a sprig of the common broom, known in Latin as the Planta genista in his hat. Plantagenet is a corruption of Geoffrey’s nickname Plantegenest or Plante Genest. Interestingly there is hardly any evidence of the name being used before the mid fifteenth century but has been applied retrospectively as a surname for all descendants of Geoffrey of Anjou. It’s suspected that the name was popularised by Shakespeare.
Who was Edward Longshanks?
Edward I of England
Edward longshanks was the nickname of Edward I who reigned from 1272 to 1307. Longshanks is a reference to Edwards tall stature and literally means “long legs” or “long shins”. On 2 May 1774, the Society of Antiquaries opened Edward’s tomb in Westminster Abbey. They reported that his body had been well preserved over the preceding 467 years, and measured the king’s body to be 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm). At this length, he would tower over most of his common contemporaries who would average around 5 feet 5 inches (170cm) in height.
I was unsure where to start with my first slice of history. This is not only my first blog post on MySliceOfHistory.com but my first ever blog post! After much cogitation I decided to take inspiration from Welsh poet Dylan Thomas; “To begin at the beginning”, and where better to start ‘my slice of history’ than the start of history itself.
You might be thinking that pinpointing the creation of Heaven and Earth would be difficult but in 1658 James Ussher, Bishop of Armagh in Ireland did just that. Ussher estimated that “the beginning” occurred at nightfall on Saturday, October 22 4,004 years before the Nativity of Jesus. Of course current theory suggests the Earth is 4.54 billion years old and the Universe 13.75 billion years old, but before the 18th century when geological research began to suggest otherwise, the best information the majority of the Christian and Jewish world had was the Bible. The Hebrew Bible (or Christian Old Testament) measures the passage of time through biblical history from the Creation until the kingdoms of Israel and Judah through various “begats”, reign-periods, and other means. Continue reading →


|No such thing as a small change|
"...how long does it take?"
One day ;-) Joking aside, when i started to learn it, it was a bit like this. I had to maintain a large CGI website. It was written in perl by someone with a C++/Java background who learned perl on the fly. He made everything "by hand". No modules a.s.o.
I made a local copy of the site, took my list of todo's, started reading the manuals and applied the changes to the local copy. When they worked, i put them online.
Don't ask about the code, but day by day it got a little bit better.
Let's say you want to learn french: in one hour or so you know how to say hello, to order a cup of coffee or how to buy a bread. Having some little conversation with the barmaid will take a little longer and reading and understanding a newspaper takes long. How long it takes depends on you. And you can't learn it only by books. You need to talk it.
Another example to illustrate this: You want to learn a musical instrument, let's say trumpet. Often asked question then: "How long does it take until i'm a musician?"
In my opinion this is a wrong approch and a wrong question. Doing any kind of things should been taken serious at any level of skills. In the moment you take your horn you are a musician.
The question better should have been: "When can i play in a band?"
And that just depends on you. Some reach this goal within some month, some need years and some give it up.
I hope that helps. Best regards, Karl
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