October Teacher Talk
Kelly Harmon & Associates Educational Consulting
Dear Educator Friends,
Happy October! How are you doing? While hybrid, virtual, and in-person learning has presented many challenges, every teacher I work with is focused on student learning and collaborating with their colleagues to make it work for our students. In case no one has told you today, YOU ARE DOING MORE THAN ENOUGH! Thank you on behalf of all the children you teach!
This month I've asked our bloggers to share practical ideas to help you keep the momentum during pandemic instruction. We don't want to sacrifice best practices for learning, but we need to figure out how to keep students cognitively engaged. You will find some tips for achieving teacher clarity, authentic writing experiences, using Cuisenaire Rods for subtraction and division, and handling students who are challenging.
There are many upcoming professional development sessions, both free and paid. You will find links to these sessions at the end of the newsletter.
Be sure and take some time to take care of yourself! You matter and make a difference that will last well beyond this pandemic.
Stay well friends and happy teaching!
Focus on Impact
Know thy impact! This is the charge given us by Dr. John Hattie whose research has shown that it's how teachers think, not what they do, has the most impact on student learning. This thinking is student-centered and ensures that everything we ask students to learn or do is intentional and designed to move students forward.
Last month I shared some ways to focus our thinking about our impact on learning. Starting with building strong relationships and focusing on students strengths, rather than deficits establishes a community of growth-minded learners.
Yesterday, I was listening to Dr. Jo Boaler provide recommendations about math instruction during this pandemic year. Everything she said applied to all instruction. She talked about the importance of thinking about what students have learned over the past 7 months, rather than what they have missed. For example, students have possibly engaged in more cooking, building, and gaming. Many students have seen a lot of graphs and charts about flattening the curve and coronavirus case data. How can we use what they've learned to engage them in grade level standards-based thinking?
We have to move forward and help students achieve grade level standards, even though they might have gaps from last year(s). So how can we bridge the gap and not waste precious time trying to find and fill gaps?
Focus on Less Curriculum & Intentional Daily Learning Targets
What can you guarantee your students will learn this year? State and national standards are over-packed. There's no way to teach it all during a normal school year, so this year, it's even more important to identify the most critical standards. Start by making a list of the most important standards that you can guarantee students will learn. Ask "What happens in the future if students don't learn this standard to mastery this year?" I call this list "The Focus List." We can't focus on everything, so we have to focus on the right things.
Once we have the list of critical learning standards, we will find other standards that are integral to mastery of these standards.
Next, break down the critical standards into digestible learning chunks. For each lesson, provide students with clear, daily learning intentions and success criteria. Make sure students know what they are learning and what success looks like. It's important to differentiate "learning" from "doing." We do something to show what we have learned. Learning intentions clearly tell students what is "new" learning today. Activities and assignments tell students how they will use and show what they have learned.
Don't forget the success criteria. Good success criteria bridges the learning target and the work students will do. It tells students what to think about as they do the work. The success criteria will likely include some of the missing learning from last year. By including the missing pieces in the success criteria, we are bridging the gaps so learning can move forward.
When students know the daily learning intentions, they can set daily goals and take ownership of their learning. They are offered a partnership with you so that they can let you know what they have learned and what is tripping them up.
During the first week of school, I helped my granddaughter, Reese, with virtual kindergarten. On the third day, she asked why she needed to do a particular math activity. I could tell that she thought is was below her skill level. I explained that she knew she could count to 10, but the teacher didn't know she could. The activity is designed for her to show what she has learned so the teacher can plan what she needs to learn next. This seemed to satisfy her and she even suggested some other things she could do to let her teacher know that she knows. And this was day 3 of kindergarten! We can't make our students learn. They need to partner with us to learn really important concepts and skills.
Finally, make sure that everything you ask students to do (activities and assignments) clearly align with the daily learning intentions. So many times, students think that they do assignments just get grades or stay busy during class. It's important for them to know how the work they do makes learning visible, both to the teacher and themselves. End each class by asking these two questions:
1. What have you learned today?
2. How has your thinking changed?
Learning is a result of making sense of new information. If we have too much information, it's hard to make sense of it. So slow down, teach less, and your students will learn more.
By Ashley Taplin
According to Professor John Hattie’s Visible Learning research, Teacher Clarity is one of the top influences that can greatly impact student achievement (Visible Learning, John Hattie). Teacher clarity focuses on intentional learning targets and success criteria. Through writing learning targets and success criteria, a teacher can gain greater understanding of what they want students to know and be able to do (DuFour’s 1st PLC question), and additionally, help students develop essential SEL skills such as self-regulation and metacognition.
Success Criteria Is Essential for Clarity
- links to the learning intention
- is specific to a learning experience or task
- is discussed, co-constructed and agreed with learners prior to undertaking the learning experience
- uses child-friendly language
- is visible and referred to during the learning experience
- provides a clear scaffold and focus for learners while engaging with the learning
- is used as the basis for feedback between learner and teacher and during peer and self -assessment
- is tangible and measurable
Below are a few ideas to help make teacher clarity effective and engaging in virtual instruction.
Numbering Success Criteria: By numbering the success criteria and asking students what success criteria they’d like to focus on, teachers can then use Zoom breakout rooms to divide students by heterogenous or homogenous groupings. The breakout room can provide a space for students to ask questions or give support on specific success criteria.
Ashley Taplin is a secondary math specialist for a large public Texas school district. She works with schools to implement PLCs, incorporate strategies in the classroom, and write curriculum for our district. She taught high school math and was a department dean before her current role as a district math specialist. In the summer of 2013, she traveled on a Fulbright scholarship to Germany and gained new knowledge and perspective in curriculum, diversity, and differentiation.
This year she will present the online seminar Increase Student Perseverance to Improve MATH Learning for the Bureau of Education and Research.
Visit Ashley’s blog at https://taplinsteaching.wordpress.com/
Contact her at 713.824.2939
Panther Talks: Starting the Year with Authentic Writing
By Randi Anderson
For the first major writing project of the year, students are creating an argumentative essay inspired by Ted Talks. At the end of the projects, students will present their talks to a live audience. We've decided to call our argumentative talks “Panther Talk Days” (similar to a Ted Talk).
We started the unit by watching two powerful TedTalks, given by kids. The first one was given by an 8 year old, on why kids need more recess. The second one was on the power of reading. My students used both as a mentor text and broke apart the speaker’s claim and evidence to support. They then imitated this in their prewriting for their argumentative project.
The kids are feeling pretty PASSIONATE about their claims and supporting evidence. I model wrote for them to show how good writers use their pre-write to guide their draft.
After drafting, we focused on revising and giving/getting feedback from our audience using the “Writing with the Stars” game. We learned to self-assess our own writing using a rubric and then get feedback from potential audience members. Students are learning to use the success criteria on the rubric to guide and evaluate their writing. They are also learning how to function as a community of learners who give descriptive helpful feedback to their peers.
As an 11 year veteran teacher, Randi Anderson is teaching 4th grade ELAR in Van Alstyne ISD this year. She has spent the last 6 years working as an instructional coach with schools across the U.S. Prior to this she taught third and fourth grade in the Fort Worth, Texas area. Be sure to follow her on Twitter @randinanderson or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Anderson-Adventures-in-4th-Grade-110838290747036
Using Cuisenaire Rods To Move Students Forward in Conceptual Understanding
By Ann Elise Record
Whenever we explore math concepts with students, having students see representations concretely, pictorially, and abstractly is so important for their brains. I have many math manipulatives that I love, but I think one in particular has the power to move our students forward on their math journeys from counting reasoning into additive reasoning and then, in grades 3-5, into multiplicative reasoning: CuisenaireⓇ Rods (The name Cuisenaire Rods and the color sequence of the rods are registered trademarks of hand2mind).
When I first saw them, I didn’t like them because the colors weren’t in rainbow order. It turns out, though, that there is a color coding system that will allow our brains to learn the colors and the corresponding number of units they are. In this post, I’d like to share with you how Cuisenaire rods can help us solve a common problem: fluency with subtraction math facts. Since the quantities exist as a group, we can help students focus on the number relationships and move beyond counting with addition and subtraction (and beyond skip counting with multiplication and division, but that’s a post for another day).
Don't Let Subtraction Take Students Down!
Over the past 20 years of working with many students in many different schools, one thing I see all the time is that subtraction takes the students out! For the younger students, I witness them counting back on their fingers to determine a fact like 15 - 8 (it’s hard not to when you are counting back a large amount like an 8). For the upper elementary students, I witness them doing the exact same thing except the subtraction facts are embedded within the subtraction in a division problem. There are two keys for developing fluency with subtraction:
Understanding of decomposing numbers; and
Knowing that subtraction has two meanings-removing objects and the distance between two numbers.
Cuisenaire rods can play a powerful role in developing their flexibility with subtraction while also developing their number sense.
Subtraction Fluency within 10
The first context we use when we explore subtraction with our youngest students involves the action of removing items so objects get eaten, broken, or given away. Because this action is in the story problem, it becomes natural that students act out the problem and count the objects as they remove them and then count the ones that are left.
As our students are introduced to working with larger numbers in grades 1 and 2, we want to help them move past the counting phase of reasoning and into additive thinking. The first step on this journey is to explore the second meaning of subtraction: finding the distance between the two numbers. A context such as Kylynn has 8 cookies and Delia has 6. How many more cookies does Delia need to have the same as Kylynn? This story situation encourages using addition to solve subtraction. So, rather than counting back 6, we can start at the 6 and count up to the 8. This is a tell-tale expression I use when I interview students on their basic facts using Dr. Nicki Newton’s Math Running Records (www.mathrunningrecords.com). At the same time, we can be exploring the decomposition pairs of all the numbers up to 10 so that if I ask a student 8 - 6, they will know it is 2 because 6 + 2 = 8.
Here is a Cuisenaire rod wall of all the pairs of addends that compose a 5. We can build these for all the numbers up to 10 and have students notice and wonder about all the number relationships.
Subtraction Fluency within 20
As we move into subtraction facts within 20, we want students to use strategies that make sense for their brains. Some prefer the removal thought process, while others prefer to think addition. We never want to dictate which strategies students use, but we can show that some strategies are more efficient with certain numbers than others. This is particularly true with subtraction.
Rather than counting back or counting up, students can think in chunks using 10 as a bridge. Here are two examples using Cuisenaire rods and notice the difference in the thinking to arrive at the same difference of 7.
If you are interested in learning more about how you can use Cuisenaire rods to explore fluency, word problem types, and the content standards for K-5, check out my on-demand workshops on the Power and Versatility of Cuisenaire rods. I have a class for K-2 content and another class for grades 3-5 accessible from my website: https://www.anneliserecord.com/courses-new.
Ann Elise Record has been an educator for twenty years in the roles of classroom teacher, K-5 Math Coach, adjunct faculty member for Plymouth State University, and currently Bureau of Education and Research presenter, contributing author of Fluency Doesn't Just Happen, and independent elementary math consultant. Her passion is working with educators to help them implement best practices within the three basic pillars of classroom math instruction that encourage growth mindset messages: math fact fluency, word problem structures, and understanding progressions of the content standards.
Using Teflon Responses in Challenging Situations
By Cindy Jones
Some students enjoy “pushing our buttons”. It is very entertaining for them when we lose our cool and get frustrated. So, when you are verbally intervening with a student, do not get into a power struggle. Power struggles tend to damage relationships and escalate the situation. Instead, keep a neutral face and use Teflon Responses to respond to students’ inappropriate comments.
Teflon Responses are neutral statements that help us to stay in control and to keep our power. When you emotionally negatively engage with a student that is being rude or baiting you, you are handing him your power.
Teflon Responses should never be said in a sarcastic manner. Instead, they should be delivered in with a neutral face and a neutral voice.
A neutral face has no expression. And, a neutral voice is flat with no emotion.
Also, after you deliver the Teflon Response, walk away or change the subject. If you continue to stand there, the student will probably continue to be rude.
An example of changing the subject might be, “Hey, John, what should you be working on right now?”.
When we are treated rudely, we sometimes respond in a rude manner. So, pick the Teflon Responses that work best for you and practice with a colleague to make sure that you are able to deliver them with a neutral voice and facial expression.
These are some examples of Teflon Responses:
The ones in bold are my favorites.
- I see.
- Hmm (nod head)
- Thanks for noticing.
- Thanks for sharing that. Perhaps you are right.
- That’s an interesting point.
- I’ll have to think about that.
- I hear what you are saying.
- You may be right.
- You got me! Can we move on now?
- That’s possible. Let’s talk about it later.
- That stinks.
- Oh no. That’s never good.
- I bet it feels that way.
- I respect you too much to argue. I like you too much to argue.
- If you want to fight, fight with someone else. I want to teach.
- I argue at 3:30. Come back then.
- You must be really angry to say that. We’ll talk about it in a minute.
- It is okay to be mad. It is not okay to say that. We will talk about other ways to let me know you are mad without using those words.
Closed ended question:
Is that what you are supposed to be doing? Yes or No?
Calling a bluff
Did I hear you right? You said you’ll get your lawyer? That’s an interesting choice and now please get started on your ________.
You said your mom told you that you don’t have to do any school work? That’s very interesting. Thanks for letting me know. Please get started on your work.
Staying objective is critical when students want to get you into a power struggle. With teflon responses, they quickly learn that you will always stay in control of yourself and guide them to make better choices about how to stay focused on the task at hand.
Cindy Jones is a 50 year veteran teacher. She has co-authored 4 books and written many teacher handbooks for the Bureau of Education and Research. Currently, Cindy provides staff development to schools and districts across the country and in Canada. She presents numerous brain and behavior seminars for the Bureau of Education and Research. Be sure to look for her all new seminar Practical Strategies for Improving the Behavior of Attention-Seeking, Manipulative and Challenging Students
Contact Cindy Jones at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Upcoming Seminars and Recorded Sessions
Distance Learning: Strengthening Your Online Instruction With 2nd grade Students
Oct. 21 Pacific Time
Oct. 22 Central Time
Oct. 23 Eastern Time
In this NEW strategy-packed seminar by Kelly Harmon, an international educational consultant with 30 years of experience working with primary students, you will discover how to empower learning for your Second Graders using the most effective, cutting-edge, distance learning instructional strategies. You will learn dozens of ideas for working with all Second Graders, from struggling to high performing, along with ways to continually monitor and adjust instruction based on student results. You will leave this outstanding seminar with renewed enthusiasm for teaching and learning as well as a wealth of ideas for innovating the learning opportunities for your Second Grade students and ideas for partnering with parents.
For more information:
Practical Strategies for Improving the Behavior of Attention-Seeking, Manipulative and Challenging Students
Students with attention-seeking and manipulative behaviors are becoming more and more prevalent in our schools. These students are very difficult to reach and even more difficult to teach. They often exhibit severe and disruptive behavior patterns, infringe on others’ rights, disrupt the classroom or online learning environment, and stop their own learning as well as that of others. This outstanding seminar is designed to offer grades 1-12 educators powerful tools and techniques for changing students’ negative behaviors into positive, productive learning behaviors.
Increase Student Perseverance to Improve MATH Learning
Perseverance and engagement, especially in math, does not come automatically to all students. It is, however, something all math students can develop. Join outstanding secondary math teacher, Ashley Taplin, in this NEW seminar that will bridge research and practicality. Learn ways to boost your students' mathematical reasoning, help them purposefully talk, and deepen their understanding of content while strengthening their perseverance and increasing their engagement. Ashley will show you how to make math come alive in your classroom or in a virtual setting with instructional strategies that improve student achievement, develop a growth mindset, and allow your students to take greater ownership of their learning. Teachers will leave not only understanding educational research, but also how to apply it – through dozens of classroom proven, practical strategies – to increase student math success.


UNH Receives $4.6 million for Climate, Space Research
Three University of New Hampshire professors have won funding worth $4.6 million in separate grants to study climate change, snow depth and space.
Alexandra Contosta, research assistant professor in UNH’s Earth Systems Research Center, received a $2 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to study the effects of season freeze-thaw cycles. Specifically, the grant will study the effects of these cycles on nutrient and carbon cycles for soils within forests, farms and urban areas.
Technology will assist the effort. According to a UNH news release, the team will “develop, test and deploy new state-of-the-art wireless sensing technology to help bridge the gap in assessing the timing and extent of frozen soil and its effect on ecosystems.”
Drones equipped with ground-penetrating radar will be used to read data from wireless frost sensors to better understand how rapidly warming winters punctuated by extreme cold snaps might impact soil’s freeze and thaw. The effort also will involve students from local schools, UNH said.
Jennifer Jacobs, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, received $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to study how drones can be used to monitor snowpack depths. The project will yield insights into tactical military applications and humanitarian efforts such as water resource management in cold climates.
“The team will develop new ground and airborne technologies to characterize cold-region effects that will help guide military operations and develop novel applications for lightweight, low-cost drone sensors that provide real-time updates of snow and ice depths in cold weather environments,” UNH said.
Chris Mouikis, a research associate professor in UNH’s Space Science Center, received $1.15 million from NASA to build and test a hardware system that will allow for better measurement of plasma ions in the heliosphere. The heliosphere is a bubble surrounding and protecting the solar system, which can be utilized in the design of future missions, UNH said in the release.
The research is cosmically complex. According to UNH, the sun sends out a constant flow of ions and electrons, called the Solar Wind, that travels past all the planets before it is slowed down by the matter and radiation from the rest of the galaxy. This forms a giant “bubble” around the Sun and its planets, called the heliosphere, that limits the amount of harmful cosmic radiation reaching Earth.
In addition, Earth has its own magnetic shield, the magnetosphere, that limits the radiation exposure during solar storms. Radiation exposure can pose risk for humans in space, damage space instruments, adversely affect satellites and even influence the Earth’s atmosphere.
LOOK: Famous Historic Homes in Every State


Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors Tuesday after an explosion and a fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned by a deadly tsunami.
In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation had spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan's northeastern coast. The region was shattered by Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, plunged millions into misery and pummeled the world's third-largest economy.
Japanese officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency that the reactor fire was in a fuel storage pond - an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool - and that "radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere." Long after the fire was extinguished, a Japanese official said the pool might still be boiling, though the reported levels of radiation had dropped dramatically by the end of the day.
Late Tuesday, officials at the plant said they were considering asking for help from the U.S. and Japanese militaries to spray water from helicopters into the pool.
That reactor, Unit 4, had been shut down before the quake for maintenance.
If the water boils, it could evaporate, exposing the rods. The fuel rods are encased in safety containers meant to prevent them from resuming nuclear reactions, nuclear officials said. But they acknowledged that there could have been damage to the containers. They also confirmed that the walls of the storage pool building were damaged.
Experts noted that much of the leaking radiation was apparently in steam from boiling water. It had not been emitted directly by fuel rods, which would be far more virulent, they said.
"It's not good, but I don't think it's a disaster," said Steve Crossley, an Australia-based radiation physicist.
Even the highest detected rates were not automatically harmful for brief periods, he said. "If you were to spend a significant amount of time - in the order of hours - that could be significant," Crossley said.
Less clear were the results of the blast in Unit 2, near a suppression pool, which removes heat under a reactor vessel, said plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. The nuclear core was not damaged but the bottom of the surrounding container may have been, said Shigekazu Omukai, a spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety agency.
Though Kan and other officials urged calm, Tuesday's developments fueled a growing panic in Japan and around the world amid widespread uncertainty over what would happen next.
In the worst case scenario, one or more of the reactor cores would completely melt down, a disaster that could spew large amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere.
"I worry a lot about fallout," said Yuta Tadano, a 20-year-old pump technician at the Fukushima plant, who said he was in the complex when the quake hit.
"If we could see it, we could escape, but we can't," he said, cradling his 4-month-old baby, Shoma, at an evacuation center.
The radiation fears added to the catastrophe that has been unfolding in Japan, where at least 10,000 people are believed to have been killed and millions of people were facing a fifth night with little food, water or heating in near-freezing temperatures and snow as they dealt with the loss of homes and loved ones. Up to 450,000 people are in temporary shelters.
Hundreds of aftershocks have shaken Japan's northeast and Tokyo since the original offshore quake, including one Tuesday night whose epicenter was hundreds of miles (kilometers) southwest and inland.
Officials have only been able to confirm a far lower toll - about 3,300 killed - but those who were involved in the 2004 Asian tsunami said there was no question more people died and warned that, like the earlier disaster, many thousands may never be found.
Asia's richest country hasn't seen such hardship since World War II. The stock market plunged for a second day and a spate of panic buying saw stores running out of necessities, raising government fears that hoarding may hurt the delivery of emergency food aid to those who really need it.
In a rare bit of good news, rescuers found two survivors Tuesday in the rubble left by the tsunami that hit the northeast, including a 70-year-old woman whose house was tossed off its foundation.
The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, along that battered coastline, has been the focus of the worries. Workers there have been desperately trying to use seawater to cool the fuel rods in the complex's three reactors, all of which lost their cooling ability after Friday's quake and tsunami.
On Tuesday, the complex was hit by its third explosion since Friday, and then a fire in a separate reactor.
Afterward, officials in Ibaraki, a neighboring prefecture just south of the area, said up to 100 times the normal levels of radiation were detected Tuesday. While those figures are worrying if there is prolonged exposure, they are far from fatal.
Tokyo reported slightly elevated radiation levels, but officials said the increase was too small to threaten the 39 million people in and around the capital, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) away.
Further south of the capital, air monitoring equipment on the aircraft carrier USS George Washington detected low levels of radioactivity as it sat pier-side at Yokosuka, a U.S. 7th Fleet spokesman said.
Cmdr. Jeff Davis said there was no danger to the public. But military personnel at Yokosuka and Naval Air Facility Atsugi were advised to limit their time outside and seal ventilation systems at their homes.
Amid concerns about radiation, Austria moved its embassy from Tokyo to Osaka.
Meanwhile, Air China and China Eastern Airlines canceled flights to Tokyo and two cities in the disaster area. Germany's Lufthansa airlines is also diverting its two daily flights to Tokyo to other Japanese cities. None mentioned radiation concerns, instead giving no explanation or citing the airports' limited capacities.
Closer to the stricken nuclear complex, the streets in the coastal city of Soma were empty as the few residents who remained there heeded the government's warning to stay indoors.
Kan and other officials warned there is a danger of more leaks and told people living within 20 miles (30 kilometers) of the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex to stay indoors to avoid exposure that could make people sick.
The government also imposed a no-fly zone over that area for commercial traffic.
Some 70,000 people had already been evacuated from a 12-mile (20-kilometer) radius from the Dai-ichi complex. About 140,000 remain in the larger danger zone.
"Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told residents in the danger zone.
"These are figures that potentially affect health. There is no mistake about that," he said.
Weather forecasts for Fukushima were for snow and wind Tuesday evening, blowing southwest toward Tokyo, then shifting and blowing east out to sea. That's important because it shows which direction a possible nuclear cloud might blow.
The U.S. Navy said several helicopter crews involved in relief efforts were exposed to low levels of radiation Tuesday. Like 17 crew members exposed the previous day, the personnel had to go through a decontamination process, which can involve a simple scrubdown with soap and water.
The Navy also said it was sending some of its ships to operate off the country's west coast instead of the east to avoid hazards from debris dragged into the sea by the tsunami and to be farther away from any radiation.
Officials said 70 workers were at the nuclear complex, struggling with its myriad problems. The workers, all of them wearing protective gear, are being rotated in and out of the danger zone quickly to reduce their radiation exposure.
Another 800 staff were evacuated. The fires and explosions at the reactors have injured 15 workers and military personnel and exposed up to 190 people to elevated radiation.
Temperatures in at least two of the complex's reactors, units 5 and 6, were also slightly elevated, Edano said.
"The power for cooling is not working well and the temperature is gradually rising, so it is necessary to control it," he said.
Fourteen pumps have been brought in to get seawater into the other reactors. They are not yet pumping water into Unit 4 but are trying to figure out how to do that.
In Tokyo, slightly higher-than-normal radiation levels were detected Tuesday but officials insisted there are no health dangers.
"The amount is extremely small, and it does not raise health concerns. It will not affect us," Takayuki Fujiki, a Tokyo government official said.
Edano said the radiation readings had fallen significantly by the evening.
Japanese government officials are being rightly cautious, said Donald Olander, professor emeritus of nuclear engineering at University of California at Berkeley. He believed even the heavily elevated levels of radiation around Dai-ichi are "not a health hazard." But without knowing specific dose levels, he said it was hard to make judgments.
"Right now it's worse than Three Mile Island," Olander said. But it's nowhere near the levels released during Chernobyl.
On Three Mile Island, the radiation leak was held inside the containment shell - thick concrete armor around the reactor. The Chernobyl reactor had no shell and was also operational when the disaster struck. The Japanese reactors automatically shut down when the quake hit and are encased in containment shells.
The impact of the earthquake and tsunami dragged down stock markets. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average plunged for a second day Tuesday, nose-diving more than 10 percent to close at 8,605.15 while the broader Topix lost more than 8 percent.
To lessen the damage, Japan's central bank made two cash injections totaling 8 trillion yen ($98 billion) Tuesday into the money markets after pumping in $184 billion on Monday.
Initial estimates put repair costs in the tens of billions of dollars, costs that would likely add to a massive public debt that, at 200 percent of gross domestic product, is the biggest among industrialized nations.
The Dai-ichi plant is the most severely affected of three nuclear complexes that were declared emergencies after suffering damage in Friday's quake and tsunami, raising questions about the safety of such plants in coastal areas near fault lines and adding to global jitters over the industry.
Yuasa reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.
© 2011 The Associated Press.


Ahhh, this time of year the zinnia’s love the warm Melbourne weather. If its cold and wet, they very quickly succumb to some bacterial spots on the leaves. Warm days and enough water however and zinnias thrive.
But now, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly has tweeted images of the first flower to be grown in space – and its an orange zinnia !
However, growing the plants were not without their problems. On December 28, Mr Kelly tweeted a picture of the flowers in distress.
NASA said the zinnia flower was chosen because it can help scientists understand how plants flower and grow in microgravity, not for its beauty.
The space agency said growing flowering crop is more challenging than vegetative crop, and the issues faced by Mr Kelly presented a good learning opportunity for scientists.


In the first problem you are given and are asked to find it flux out of the ball . (you have but that is corrected in the integral so I assume that was a typo).
You do the integral by writing it as and then try to calculate , , and . You realize, do you not that those are just the coordinates of the center of the figure? Here that figure is a sphere with center at (2, 0, 3) so you should be able to write down, with no calculation at all, that , , and .
I have no idea at all how you got " "! You understand, don't you, that the x coordinate of the centroid of a figure is a number not a function of x? And it certainly is NOT the case that !
I give sincere thanks to HallsofIvy who has generously presented me with the most promising answer imaginable. I address you directly, HallsofIvy:
I do have received teaching in pre-calculus math: I was just insecure about the term "centroid".
Student, Chemistry (Bachelor) at University of Southern Denmark (SDU).
So the flux out of the ball is the following:


The color gray is often associated with neutrality, boredom, and old age. Being a "boring" color may be why only a few people have gray as their favorite color.
As an artist, it's important to understand this neutral color, how it's used in the past until today, what it means and the different emotions it evokes, as well as its different shades, and how to produce them.
This article aims to help you do just that.
A Brief History of the Color Gray
Unlike black and white, gray saw its earliest use in fashion and art during Medieval times. During this period, gray was the color of undyed wool and was thus the color worn by peasants and poor folk. Gray robes were also worn by Cistercian monks and friars of the Franciscan and Capuchin orders as a symbol of their vows of humility and poverty.
Gray began to play an important part during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. During this time, black became the most favored color among European nobles while grey and white harmonized with it.
It was also during the Renaissance and Baroque periods that gray was frequently used for drawings in oil paintings through a technique called grisaille. The painting would first be composed in gray and white to act as shading underneath the transparent color glazes that were added on top.
The painters Rembrandt and El Greco also favored gray as a background color for its ability to complement gold and skin tones.
Gray continued to be a fashionable color in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly for women's dresses and men's waistcoats. Soldiers' uniforms were usually gray during this time as the color made the soldiers less conspicuous targets.
Also around the 18th and 19th centuries, painters like Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot used tones of gray to create memorable paintings. James McNeill Whistler even created a special type of gray for the background of his famous painting of his mother.
In the 1930s, gray became the color of war and industrialization. Pablo Picasso used the color profusely in his painting depicting the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, Guernica.
After the war, the gray business suit became a metaphor for uniformity of thought as popularized by the book and film The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.
Gray Colors: Psychology and Meaning
Gray is a relatively newer color, at least when compared to its parent colors. That said, it has nonetheless gained various associations and symbolic meanings through the centuries.
Earlier associations for this color link it to old age, dullness, depression, and loss.
If gray could be described in one word, it would be "neutral". This color is neither hot nor cold, neither material nor spiritual.
Because of its neutral color, gray is considered too weak to be considered masculine but also too menacing to be considered feminine. It's this characteristic that's made gray one of the least favored colors in Europe and the USA.
It's the color gray's neutral tone that also lets us associate it with balance, compromise, and intellect.
Shades of Gray
The color gray has not only gained popularity, purpose, and meaning through the centuries but also variations.
When it comes to the number of gray shades, we may have to leave that one up for debate.
While there are actually 101 shades according to X Window System's definition of grey, the human eye can usually differentiate just 30 shades.
Here are just a few of them:
Gainsboro is a pale tone greenish gray.
It was included as one of the X11 color names, before its standardization as a web color.
2. Spanish Gray
Spanish gray is a medium gray color. This color was gris (gray) in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a popular Hispanophone color dictionary published in 2005.
3. Davy's Gray
Davy's gray is characterized by its dark gray color.
This pigment was made from powdered slate, iron oxide, and carbon black named after Henry Davy.
Xanadu is a moderate green gray color. This color's name is derived from the Philodendron, a large genus of flowering plants in the family Aracea.
5. Stone Gray
Stone gray is characterized by its light grayish-olive color.
This color is part of the list of RAL Classic colors from the RAL color standard. Stone gray is the main color on the Indian 500-rupee note.
Marengo can be a shade of gray (black with a tinge of gray) as well as a shade of blue. It's often the color to describe wet asphalt.
Taupe is a dark grayish-yellowish brown.
This color was referenced in the 1930 book A Dictionary of Color, the world standard for color terms before the invention of computers.
Modifying Gray Acrylic Paints
Now that you have a deeper understanding of the color gray and some of its shades, it's time to learn how to make some of your own. As artists, we usually look for the right shade of color to really make our painting pop.
If you don't happen to have the exact shade you need, here's how you can modify your gray acrylic paint to achieve your desired shade. Being the most neutral color, gray is one of the easiest to modify.
How to Create Warmer Shades of Gray
To create a warmer shade of gray, you can either mix a warmer black and warmer white or mix gray with some brown.
How to Create Cooler Gray Shades
Conversely, you can create a cooler shade of gray by mixing a cooler black and cooler white or mix gray with some blue.
Use Gray to Mute Other Colors
Being the most neutral color, you can mix gray with other colors to make a more muted shade without necessarily altering its brightness.


Dangerous animals: Everyone knows Australia not only as a green continent and the birthplace of kangaroos. It is also a well-known fact that Australia is home to a huge number of all sorts of abominations in the form of spiders, snakes, jellyfish, and crocodiles.
Not only do all these animals of the fauna do not look the best, but they are also very dangerous for humans, most of these animals are poisonous. Have you prepared your eyes and nerves?
Here’s a top ten list of Australia’s most dangerous animals.
1. Triple Crest Crocodile
Well, for dessert, your attention is drawn to a real monster, a Triple Crest Crocodile. Although who else will be dessert, just look at the numbers. Triple Crest Crocodile reaches 7 meters in length and 2 tons in weight, deservedly claiming the laurels of the largest predator located in the coastal zone of Australia.
These monsters are not afraid of humans at all. Moreover, crocodiles are not averse to consider a tourist as a real dinner, and, unfortunately, sometimes realize their plan. The best way to avoid being trapped in a Triple Crest Crocodile mouth is to avoid its habitat. That is, if you see a sign prohibiting swimming because there are toothy predators here, believe me – you should definitely not take any risks.
2. Southern blue-ringed octopus
Unlike most of our current heroes, blue-ringed octopuses look attractive. Their yellow skin is decorated with bright rings of black and blue colors. In addition, the small size of the marine inhabitant (about 20-25 cm) also has an advantage. However, the blue-ringed octopus is not in our rating to be touched by it. “Onboard” this beautiful animal has a supply of a nerve agent that can kill a couple of dozen people in terms of toxicity.
The poison contains a bunch of elements, the most active of which is tetrodotoxin. The most surprising thing is that the antidote does not exist to this day, so medical assistance to the bitten person must be provided as quickly as possible.
3. Dubois’ sea snake
Well, let’s say that you have saved yourself from warts and decided to go on an underwater trip with scuba gear. You will be surprised, but again you will have to be on your guard. There are sea snakes off the coast of Australia. What the hell kind of place is this? However, the fact remains that the Dubois’ sea snake does not just exist underwater, it is also a carrier of highly toxic venom. However, you should not panic too much either.
Even though Dubois is recognized as the most dangerous sea snake, it does not attack humans. On its own initiative, the snake may approach the diver out of curiosity (at this point, you just need to stay calm), but not for the sake of a purposeful bite. Dubois only uses its striking stingers as a defense.
Another animal of the green continent, which does not want the appearance of a person in its life. We are talking about cassowary’s huge flightless birds. For clarity, just indicate the size and weight of the average cassowary: about 160 cm in height and about 60 kg (the parameters are very similar to humans). This, perhaps, is where the paths of large birds and people diverge. Cassowaries lead a very secretive lifestyle, they live in the depths of forests and feel the approach of humans for a long time.
As a rule, the bird prefers to hide and does not show aggression to people. However, if you provoke a cassowary, you can grab it well, the animal hits from both legs at once. It’s not just the force of the blow, but also the huge claws that pierce the skin with amazing ease. A cassowary attack can be fatal to humans.
5. Reef Stonefish
So, everything is clear with the Australian land, but what about the coastal waters? Alas, here you also need to be extremely careful, because very close to the ground lives a Reef Stonefish. The toxic substance is stored in the dorsal spines, which the fish fluffs up at the slightest discomfort. A thorn wound that is not treated in the right time frame can cause death (the poison is so toxic that it only takes a couple of hours to kill a person).
Reef Stonefish masterfully disguise themselves by burrowing into the sand or hiding between rocks, it is almost impossible to notice the fish in advance. In addition, these creatures can also be on land, and in good health (the Reef Stonefish can live out of water for up to 20 hours).
6. Eastern brown snake
The stronger the weapon, the less often the owner wants to use it. The venom of the eastern brown snake is not too toxic to the poison of Taipan McCoy, but the creature is quite “generous” with it. First, this type of snake does not tend to attack (the bite is applied only when threatened).
Secondly, the eastern brown snake does not want to kill the opponent at any cost, on the contrary, striking bites are very rare. However, snakes still have to defend themselves. Since they live near farms or other places where domestic animals congregate, contact with humans is inevitable.
7. Inland taipan
This snake is rightfully recognized as the most venomous of those that live on land. Each snake of the Inland taipan contains about 40 mg of the deadly liquid enough to poison hundreds of people! The uniqueness of these snakes is also that they change color depending on the time of year. That is, the lower the air temperature becomes, the darker the skin tone of the creature.
The inland taipan is quite difficult to detect: snakes not only merge with the environment but also hide in all sorts of crevices. Despite the formidable weapons of the Inland taipan, there is no documented case of a snake-initiated attack on a person only with careless handling.
8. Australian black widow
Some more abominations from the green continent. Do you know where the name “widow” came from when applied to spiders? It turns out that during sexual intercourse, the female simply eats her fertilizer. Beeeee, what a nightmare… Well, that’s it. The Australian black widow spider is considered the most dangerous spider in its homeland.
Despite their extremely small size (the length of females is 10 mm, males-4 mm), these creatures are literally stuffed with neurotoxic poison. Again, due to its size, it is difficult for a person to notice a spider, which makes it easy to be bitten. The toxic substance instantly causes severe pain. There is an antidote for the Australian black widow, but the pain takes a very long time.
9. Irukandji jellyfish
Another creature that I don’t think any of you would want to deal with. Irukandji jellyfish are distinguished not only by the presence of the strongest poison “on board”, but also by their cunning when using it. The fact is that when a jellyfish comes into contact with a person, it throws out a poisonous substance only with the tip of its tentacles, such a bite may seem insignificant to a bather.
In fact, the injected toxic liquid is quite enough for numbness of body parts, pulmonary edema, muscle pain, and tachycardia. The list of consequences of contact with Irukandji jellyfish can go on for a long time – death, by the way, is also included in it. These jellyfish are really very dangerous, so in Australian waters, you should be as vigilant as possible.
10. Sydney funnel-web spider
Few people get aesthetic pleasure from the sight of spiders. Moreover, there is a whole phobia dedicated to the human fear of these creatures. And if small spiders, which we can occasionally observe in our homes, in fact, do not pose any danger, then the Sydney funnel-web spider should be seriously feared.
In addition to the frankly disgusting appearance, this insect has a supply of poison hidden in special stings. A Sydney spider bite can lead to numbness of the limb, shortness of breath and if you do not seek help in time, even it can cause your death. The problem is that spiders easily enter homes and hide in clothes or things lying on the floor.


Equipment Name:Developmental Pull-Up Bar
Materials Needed:2 Inch PVC pipe, PVC elbows, PVC t's, 1/4 sheet of 3/4 inch plywood, 8 feet of 1/2 inch x 1 inch wood fern strips, 12-15 1 inch screws, PVC glue (optional), 1 scooter.
Rationale:Most young children are unable to do a single traditional pull-up. That should not mean that we give up developing upper body strength. This pull-up bar takes gravity out of the equation by allowing the student to practice the same motion using a scooter and choices for difficulty. The child or teacher can select which height is best for the attempt. Children grab on to the bar while placing their bodies on the scooter (long scooters are easier than short scooters) and they pull up and release back down.
Directions For Making:
See Pictures for design of three level PVC bar. If enough storage is available, glue all pieces together with PVC glue. If space is not available, the joints are able to be disconnected to fit in a smaller area. The plywood ramp is about 40 inches long and 24 inches wide. Putting a strip of wood on each side prohibits the scooter from falling off of the side. Attaching two small strips of wood to the bottom of the ramp will prohibit the ramp from slipping off of the pipe. Local High Schools or Vo-Tech Schools are usually eager to help build this project.
Submitted by Darren Robert at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willamantic, CT. Thanks for contributing to PE Central! Posted on PEC: 3/22/03.


OVERZEALOUS hackers have tinkered with the software volunteers use to help
search for extraterrestrial intelligence to make it run faster. But the
scientists who run the project say the altered program could be more of a
hindrance than a help.
“I don’t think people intend to maliciously hurt the SETI programme, but
we’re recommending that people do not use these programs,” says Dan Werthimer of
the University of California at Berkeley, chief scientist on the project.
SETI@home is an ambitious attempt to harness the spare power of thousands of
computers to search for signals from intelligent life (New Scientist,
25 July 1998, p 46). Scientists break down observations from the Arecibo radio
telescope in Puerto Rico into 12-second chunks and send them over the Internet
to volunteers. Whenever a volunteer’s computer is idle, the SETI@home program
sifts the data for any signals that might have come from an alien
In October, someone going by the name of Olli released a “patch” to the
program—an additional section of code that makes the calculations run much
faster. At least two other patches have followed.
Only a few hundred of the 450 000 active volunteers are using the patches.
But Eric Korpella, an astronomer with the project, says they’re still a problem.
“We really want a consistent set of science code,” he says.
Critics reply that the SETI managers are turning away much needed help. “I’m
not encouraging people to sabotage the project,” says Bradley Kuhn, a programmer
in Cincinatti, Ohio. But since programs can never be perfectly secure, he
argues, the project managers should let users examine the code and suggest ways
to make it as secure as possible.
But Korpella says the project will not release its source code, and the
program is being rewritten to make it harder to alter. However, he hopes it will
also run faster in future—the time saved may be devoted to more detailed


A new saliva test to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been developed by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Results from the COVID-19 diagnostic test are available in a few hours and, ideally, able to be communicated to people tested within a day. Highly sensitive to detecting even tiny levels of the virus in a saliva sample, the test does not require special swabs and reagents that have been in short supply.
Developed in collaboration with the biotechnology company Fluidigm, the test could help simplify and expand the availability of COVID-19 diagnostic testing across broad populations. Such testing does not rely on the extraction of viral RNA to detect the virus – a time-consuming and expensive process – and could be scaled up easily, in part because people can collect their own saliva samples, relieving health-care workers of the need to conduct sample collection as they do for nasal and throat swab tests.
On Aug. 25, Fluidigm received emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration as the manufacturer of the test. This authorization allows the university to perform the test. Washington University filed a separate EUA application with the FDA that is still pending.
The saliva test was developed by a large, highly skilled team from the Department of Genetics and the McDonnell Genome Institute, both at Washington University School of Medicine.
“This is a significant advance in COVID-19 testing that is a simpler, faster and more economical test that can greatly expand our ability to detect the level of COVID-19 infection within the community via large-scale population screening for the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” said Jeffrey Milbrandt, MD, PhD, the James S. McDonnell Professor and head of the Department of Genetics and the McDonnell Genome Institute.
According to the researchers, the test will allow for rapid testing of large numbers of people, which is essential for a safe return to work or school as economies strive to open up. Supporting its mission of education and research, Washington University’s faculty, staff and students could return to campus and potentially be screened to monitor levels of the virus in the community and stop it from spreading. The ability to scale up the number of tests that can be conducted also has the potential to help St. Louis city and county as well as the state of Missouri and regional businesses reopen safely. The saliva tests also could be given periodically to residents of nursing home and retirement communities, who are more vulnerable to infection because of age. Those who test positive could be quickly identified and quarantined.
“People can collect the sample themselves, and it doesn’t require an uncomfortable nasal swab,” Milbrandt said. “Another problem with current testing is the shortage of certain lab supplies that are required to process viral samples. We have developed a method to process the saliva samples that doesn’t require these specialized supplies.”


Digital Photo Noise - Photo Noise Reduction
Many people have unreasonable expectations of digital photography. They may feel that digital photos should be
perfect in terms of colour and detail. In fact, numerous problems can crop up - some of them are an inherent part
of the digital domain, while others can be caused by improper settings of the digital camera.
Noise on a digital photo is determined to be any part of a digital image that was not existing in the original
scene. It is likely to show as specks in the photograph, pale areas of white, or blotchy patches where there should
be an uniform gradation of shade.
Conventional photographs also possess imperfections but these have become an acceptable part of that medium. For
instance, grain on the actual film emulsion is a pattern of noise which is often used for artistic effect. However,
when it comes to digital photography, peoples expectations are much higher in respect of noise. Although it is true
that digital camera images should be much cleaner than film, other factors such as electronic noise come into
Electronic noise in digital photography comes about during the process of converting light into digital numbers.
The individual photo-sites that make up an image sensor function by converting photons into electrons and this
conversion can produce unwanted artifacts due to the haphazard way that photons arrive at the photo-sites.
Amplification of the electrical signal from each photo-site can also generate it's own form of noise. Because
the electrical charge is so tiny it must be amplified to a usable level. The noise produced during amplification
can be regarded of as static and is comparable to that found on radio broadcasts, although in this instance the
static produces visual artifacts instead of audible noise.
Photo Noise Reduction
Noise becomes most evident when photographs are taken using extended exposure times or high ISO settings.
However, there are a number of things that you can do to reduce this noise to a minimum. In conventional
photography, ISO settings are a function of film speed. Using a high speed film, it is possible to capture images
at very short exposure times which is ideal for photographs taken where there is fast movement such as an athletics
event. However, high ISO settings in digital cameras produce more noise than low ISO settings.
Another source of noise can be long exposure times which are most often used to take pictures in low light
conditions such as low light interiors. As a rule of thumb, try keeping ISO settings low and exposure times short
which in turn should minimise noise as you take photographs.
Removing Photographic Noise
There are a number of software packages which have been specifically designed to remove noise from digital
photographs. The software works by applying camera profiles to reduce noise on photographs taken by specific
digital camera models. However, because of the seemingly random nature of noise artifacts, these profiles will
never exactly match the noise produced by your specific camera.
One technique that you can carry out yourself is to produce your own noise profile for your camera. To do this,
take your first photograph as normal and then take another photo immediately after the first and with the same
camera settings. This second picture must be completely black so the camera shutter should be closed, the
viewfinder covered and ideally, the camera placed in a bag, so that no light enters the camera body.
As this second photograph will almost exactly match the noise of the first photograph, you can then use it as a
noise profile in photo editing software such as Photoshop to remove the noise from the first photograph. For best
results, this technique should be used on uncompressed files such as RAW or TiFF . However, it will also work with
JPEG files if that is the format the image has been saved in.


This post is probably quite unnecessary, since most everyone these days takes it for granted that of course democracy is better than hereditary monarchy, but I nevertheless want to balance my earlier post on this subject with one looking at the relative advantages of democracy over monarchy — again focusing on the mechanism of succession and its consequences.
As before, I will be using king in a generic sense which includes queens, presidents, etc.
The king’s blood relatives are his natural allies. Those who stand a chance of becoming king themselves should anything happen to the reigning king are his natural enemies. The system of hereditary monarchy so arranges things that these two groups of people are identical; it intentionally pits family loyalty against ambition.
In my previous post, I emphasized the positive side of this — how family loyalty can put a check on the ambitions of potential heirs, thereby strengthening the polity by reducing the number of people who actively seek the king’s downfall.
The other side of this coin is that sometimes ambition wins the struggle against family loyalty, turning potential heirs against their own flesh and blood — and then these unnatural monsters come to power, a distinctly unlikely development in a democracy. Democracy produces Nixons and Hitlers aplenty, but only hereditary monarchy can father forth a Nero.
Another point in favor of democracy is that mass elections do tend to ensure that kings meet certain very basic standards of competence and normality. Of course many democratically elected leaders are scoundrels, and some of them are relatively incompetent — but I feel pretty safe in saying that the U.S. has never elected a president with a two-digit IQ and never will. Nor do 12-year-olds win elections, or people with serious mental illnesses. Under the hereditary system, though, all of these things are possible — and, given enough time, inevitable.
Is there anything in politics more tragic than Marcus Aurelius — who, reign he never so brilliantly, was helpless to escape his fate of being succeeded by Commodus? It wouldn’t have happened in a democracy.
In the end, hereditary monarchy makes the same mistake as democracy: it tries to eliminate the need for human choice and human responsibility by having the king chosen automatically by an algorithm. A fundamental rule of politics ought to be no important decisions made by algorithms, all important decisions made by individuals. It can be helpful to take into account such things as family relationships, the voice of the populace, etc. — but no such consideration ought to be allowed to become “automatic,” to make the decision by itself without the mediation of an actual human being.


Sexual assault on school campuses has received a lot of attention in the press lately. That doesn’t mean that the number of rapes is increasing, it means that awareness is increasing. While this may be disturbing to some, it’s a good thing for the victims of assault who I refer to as survivors because that’s what they did – SURVIVE.
Statistics on Rape in America:
- 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men are survivors of sexual assault
- 83% are under the age of 25
- 68% of sexual assaults are never reported to police
- 98% of of reported rapists will never spend a night in jail
- 80% of survivors knew their attacker
Statistics come from the following studies:
- Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice, 1998
- Rape in America: A Report to the Nation, National Victim Center, 1992
In 2015 new laws were passed in several states that changes the legal standard of rape for campus assaults from the survivor proving that they said they didn’t want the sexual advances (“no means no”), to proving that the accused obtained affirmative consent (“yes means yes”). These laws say that it’s not enough that the survivor didn’t say no or fight back, but rather they have to explicitly say yes. As one advocate puts it, “You wouldn’t mow your neighbor’s law without permission”. The previous “no means no” policy states that the survivor must actively say no to unwanted activity in order to prove rape or assault. The problem with the “no means no” standard is that sometimes survivors are drugged or drunk and can’t object to sexual activity. In addition and possibly more problematic is the fact survivors sometimes go into a “freeze” response to threat. That means that the nervous system becomes so activated by a threat to safety that it shuts down. This is sort of like being a deer in the headlights; it’s an instinctive protective response that we inherited from our ancestors.
Previous trauma survivors often go into this “freeze response” when confronted with rape. That means that they are physically unable to respond, even to say “no”. There are no statistics available about how many people that have been raped had been previously assaulted or traumatized in some way, but I can say from my therapy practice (I specialize in working with trauma survivors) that this is the case with the vast majority of survivors. People with a history of child abuse are often raped or assaulted later in life. This relates directly to the freeze response, as well as other factors I won’t go into here (see blog on sexual abuse).
Last month Fox News reported that the Yes Means Yes policy is coming under fire as unconstitutional. I believe that “yes means yes” is an advance in understanding sexual assault and in protecting victims and even preventing assault. I believe that we need to educate our young people (especially in college) about this policy and that if we do we will see a decrease in the frequency of assault. I think it’s more than unfortunate that there’s push back on this progressive policy.
Effects of rape:
Victims of sexual assault are:
- 3 times more likely to suffer from depression.
- 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
- 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol.
- 26 times more likely to abuse drugs.
- 4 times more likely to contemplate suicide.
Having been raped can actually prevent people from being able to protect themselves from being raped again in the future. Can we really afford to be casual in our handling of rape cases? Can we afford to ignore it’s effects? I think my opinion is clear on this. What do you think? I will respond to any and all comments made in the box below.
Yes means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape by J Friedman and J Valenti
Transforming a Rape Culture by E Buchwald and P Fletcher


Purpose and Scope of Investigation
A program of investigation of the ground-water resources of Kansas was begun in 1937 by the United States Geological Survey and the State Geological Survey of Kansas with the cooperation of the Division of Sanitation of the State Board of Health and the Division of Water Resources of the State Board of Agriculture. The investigation of that part of Clay County that lies within the Republican Valley was integrated with the program of the Interior Department for development of the Missouri River basin. The investigation upon which this report is based was begun in the fall of 1953 and field work was completed in the fall of 1955. It is similar to other investigations that have been completed or are being made in other counties in Kansas. The present status of investigations resulting from this program is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1--Index map of Kansas showing area described in this report and areas covered by other online geologic reports, as of April 2009. For additional information, please visit the KGS Geologic Maps of Kansas Page.
Ground water is one of the principal natural resources of Clay County. Nearly all public, domestic, and industrial water supplies and many stock supplies are obtained from wells. Ground water is being used to some extent for irrigation, and recent interest in irrigation indicates that the use of ground water for this purpose probably will increase greatly in the future. Withdrawal at the present rate has not seriously depleted the ground-water supply or resulted in impairment of the quality of the water by encroachment of water of poor quality, but there is need for an adequate understanding of the quality and quantity of ground water available.
Location and Extent of Area
Clay County is in north-central Kansas, in the second tier of counties south of the Nebraska line and about 50 miles east of the center of the state. The county is bounded on the west by Ottawa and Cloud counties, on the north by Washington County, on the east by Riley and Geary counties, and on the south by Dickinson County; it has an area of 660 square miles.
The principal studies of the geology and ground-water resources of north-central Kansas that have a direct bearing on Clay County are cited below. Specific references are cited by author and date at appropriate places in the text; all are listed in the references at the end of the report.
The geology of the Upper Cretaceous rocks in Kansas was described by Logan (1897). Darton (1905) made reference to wells in north-central Kansas in a preliminary report on the geology and ground-water resources of the central Great Plains. Haworth (1913) prepared a report on well waters in Kansas in which he discussed the availability of ground water in the Republican River valley. Jewett (1941) prepared a report on the geology of Riley and Geary counties; in the western part of these counties the geology is very similar to that in eastern Clay County. Plummer and Romary (1947) prepared a report on clay in Kansas in which they described the ceramic characteristics of the clays of the Dakota Formation in the area. Schoewe (1952) in a report on the coal resources of the Dakota Formation described coal reserves in the county. Frye and Leonard (1952) in a report on the Pleistocene geology of Kansas described unconsolidated deposits in the Republican River valley in Clay County.
Methods of Investigation
One month in the fall of 1953, four months in the summer of 1954, and one month in the fall of 1955 were spent in the field collecting the data upon which this report is based. The geology was mapped on aerial photographs from field observations and from stereoscopic study of the photographs. This information was transferred from the photographs to a base map modified from a map prepared by the Soil Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture.
Data on the character of the water-bearing material, and on the depth, depth to water, and yield of 143 wells were collected (Table 10). Holes were augered with a power auger at 110 locations in order to gather both geologic and hydrologic information. Additional information on the material below the land surface was obtained by drilling 28 test holes with a hydraulic rotary drilling machine owned by the State Geological Survey of Kansas and operated by E. L. Reavis and William Gellinger. Logs of the test holes were prepared in the field, and the drill cuttings were studied microscopically in the laboratory. Altitudes at the surface of the wells and test holes were determined by a level party headed by Mr. Reavis using an alidade and plane table.
Several pumping (aquifer) tests were made to determine the hydraulic characteristics of the water-bearing deposits.
Thirty-three samples (two composite) of water from 35 wells and test holes were collected, and chemical analyses of the samples were made by Howard Stoltenberg, chemist in the Water and Sewage Laboratory of the Kansas State Board of Health (Table 3).
In this report the wells, auger holes, and test holes are numbered according to their location as given by the General Land Office system of land classification. The component parts of a well number are the township number, range number, section number, and two or three lowercase letters that indicate respectively the quarter section, quarter-quarter section, and, if there are three, the quarter-quarter-quarter section in which the well is located. The lowercase letters are assigned to the quarter divisions in a counterclockwise direction, beginning in the northeast quarter of each section or subdivision. For example, well 6-1-2baa (Fig. 2) is in the NE NE NW sec. 2, T. 6 S., R. 1 E. If there are two or more wells in the same quarter-quarter-quarter section they are numbered serially according to the order in which they were inventoried.
Figure 2--Map of Clay County illustrating well-numbering system used in this report.
Appreciation is expressed to the many residents of Clay County who supplied information and aided in the collection of field data. Special acknowledgment is due the officials of the cities and industries who provided information about their water supplies. Acknowledgment is made also of information supplied by George Cox, driller, and E. H. Erickerman, irrigation-equipment supplier. F. Turner and H. Rhodes were very cooperative in permitting aquifer tests using their wells. judge Walter O. Curtis of Clay Center was helpful in supplying information about some of the older wells in the area.
The manuscript of this report has been reviewed by several members of the U. S. Geological Survey and the State Geological Survey of Kansas; Robert Smrha, Chief Engineer, and George S. Knapp, Engineer, Division of Water Resources, Kansas State Board of Agriculture; and Dwight Metzler, Chief Engineer, and Willard Hilton, Geologist, Division of Sanitation, Kansas State Board of Health.
Kansas Geological Survey, Geology
Placed on web April 7, 2009; originally published June 1959.
Comments to firstname.lastname@example.org
The URL for this page is http://www.kgs.ku.edu/General/Geology/Clay/02_intro.html


On May 25 2011, a Canary Islands palm suspected of being infested with red palm weevil in a private residence in Laguna beach was inspected for this pest and later treated with insecticides.
The process for selecting and treating palms at Laguna Beach has followed a strict process: (1) Palms with suspected red palm weevil damage (figure “7” notches and straight edges on the tips of fronds, or the presence of pupal cocoons lying on the ground underneath palms) were identified from visual surveys conducted on the ground. These palms were recommended for secondary inspection. (2) Detailed secondary visual inspection of suspect palms required the cutting of an observation window to access the central growing area of the palm to look for red palm weevil feeding damage. This is a highly favored feeding and breeding site. During frond removal to create the observation window, cut palm fronds were examimed for weevil feeding damage, the presence of pupation chambers and cocoons, and live and dead life stages, especially pupae and adults. (3) Confirmation of red palm weevil infestation (e.g., the presence of pupal cocoons in the tree, feeding tunnels made by larvae, or body parts of dead adults) based on the detailed secondary inspection triggered pesticide applications to control the pest population in the palm. This three step evaluation process culminating with the ultimate decision to treat with insecticides involved representatives from the Orange County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, CDFA, USDA and local (UC Riverside), national (University of Florida), and international University (Spain and Israel) experts.
Dr. John Kabashima (University of California Cooperative Extension) organized this project and participants included Dr. Mark Hoddle (University of California, Riverside) Gilbert Vargas (Vargas Tree Services and Landscaping, Anaheim [palm climbing and inspection personnel]), Kevin Holman (RPW Pest Control Services [pesticide applications]), Nick Nisson (Orange County Entomologist), Laura Petro (CDFA), palm specialist Dr. Henry Donselman, and representatives from the date palm industry (Albert Keck [Hadley Dates] and Duane Young [Cocopah Nurseries]).
The tree selected for inspection and treatment had obvious feeding damage to palm fronds consistent with red palm weevil. This damage included fronds with straight ends instead of pointed ends, figure “7” notches, and oval windows in leaflets.
Secondary inspection of the tree required an experienced arborist to climb into the crown of the tree using ropes and a harness.
Once at the crown, an observation window was cut. This involved the removal of approximately two outer layers of mature palm fronds in a 6-7 foot lateral span to allow visual and physical access to the apical growing region in the center of the crown. This region of the palm tree is most sensitive to red palm weevil feeding damage and it is a highly preferred feeding site.
As fronds were cut for the observation window, they were dropped to the ground and these fronds were inspected for live red palm weevils and damage. Several (around 5-6 of about 10-12 cut fronds) showed feeding damage by red palm weevil and empty pupal cocoons were also found in pupation chambers at the base of some fronds. The ages of these cut palm fronds were estimated at 3-4 years by Dr. Donselman. Younger fronds showed no evidence of damage by red palm weevil. Two dead adult red palm weevil adults were found. Both adults were black with the red stripe. This is the same color morph found previously in Laguna Beach.
NO LIVE RED PALM WEEVIL ADULTS, PUPAE, OR LARVAE WERE FOUND DURING INSPECTIONS.
After inspection, cut palm fronds were destroyed by chipping before being transported to a local landfill to be buried.
The inspected palm tree was subjected to three different insecticide treatments:
(1) the inspection window, crown and trunk were sprayed with bifenthrin, a synthetic pyrethroid that acts as a direct contact and residual insecticide. This means any red palm weevil either sprayed directly or that would later come into contact with dried residues on the exterior surfaces of the palm could be killed.
(2) The soil was pressure injected with imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid insecticide. This compound is systemic and will move slowly from the soil in water that is drawn up by the palm tree. Adult or larval red palm weevil feeding inside palm protected from exterior sprays may killed by imidacloprid moving internally up the palm tree to the crown, the area where red palm weevils are suspected to be feeding.
(3) The final insecticide application was dinotefuran, another neonicotinoid insecticide that has rapid systemic activity. This product was applied to the trunk of the palm tree from soil level to a height of approximately two meters above the ground. This insecticide moves inside the palm tree after it passes from the exterior of the trunk into nutrient conducting tissues where it will be translocated to the crown of the palm. Valent (dinotefuran) and Bayer (imidacloprid) donated the systemic insecticides used in these treatments against red palm weevil, and Target Specialty Product donated the bifenthrin.
The CDFA took samples from cut palm fronds to test for insecticide residues that may have been present in the palm prior to treatments. The CDFA will monitor insecticide uptake by the palm by periodically taking leaf samples and checking for the presence of imidacloprid and dinotefuran. These analyses will provide information on how quickly the systemic insecticides move to the crown of the palm tree and whether concentrations reaching the crown are high enough to kill red palm weevil larvae and adults.
Organized by John Kabashima (UCCE)
Palm Tree trimming services provided by Vargas Tree Services and Landscaping
Pesticide application provided by RPW Pest Control Services
Pesticides donated by Bayer, Valent, and Target Specialty Products
Want more? Go to the CISR website for more on Red Palm Weevil


Preparatory Conference in Europe in Budapest
Adult Learning for Equity and Inclusion in the Context of Mobility and Competition
- The 48th UNESCO International Conference on Education (ICE), November 2008, recalled Article 26 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights which states that everyone has a right to education. We concur with ICE’s affirmation that inclusive education is fundamental to achieving human, social and economic development.
- There is need too for the Pan-European region to recognise its responsibility to act as a partner for the development of ALE in the rest of the world. The significance of North-South partnerships is stressed, since they enable mutual
learning and aid to be directed to fulfil the EFA goals and ensure that the importance of ALE in pursuing the Millennium Development Goals is recognised.
10. It is recommended that policy frameworks:
- cover the formal, non-formal and the informal forms of ALE
- take into account the personal, social, health, economic, cultural and inter-generational benefits of adult learning
- encompass programmes that are based on the needs of learners and made more accessible through appropriate content and support
- strengthen the links and co-ordination with early childhood care and education (ECCE) in lifelong learning frameworks and strategies
- are developed and implemented through a horizontal, coordinated, and inclusive approach
- Governance issues should be addressed with a view to creating the local, regional and national frameworks, structures and partnerships – including public authorities, social partners and civil society – essential for the development, co-ordination, funding, provision, quality management and monitoring of ALE. The involvement of civil society in policy development, policy imple mentation and governance should be particularly promoted and supported. Learners’ organisations, learning communities and learning regions have a positive role to play in establishing, planning, delivering and supporting ALE initiatives in this regard.
- Robust public investment is key to the development of ALE, which is vital to the public and private interest. In many countries the financing of vocational and, in particular, non-vocational adult education is not sufficient.
- Funding should include public sources with support from national, regional, and local level, as well as multi-stakeholder contributions from the private sector and the individual. Under-represented groups need particular financial support. Timely and effective investments in ALE could prevent the higher social costs of unemployment or marginalisation.
- New financing mechanisms should be put in place to stimulate individual and collective participation and investment by enterprises.
- Countries should promote access to ALE. Low participation in ALE, particularly among socio-economic groups that could benefit most from further learning, is a concern. We recommend that more equitable access to, and participation in, ALE are promoted and supported through concrete measures, such as Adult Learners’ Weeks and learning festivals, targeted especially at those adults who are otherwise least likely to participate. As a result the overall volume of participation will increase. This will involve strengthening the full range and quality of ALE provision, the development of lifelong guidance systems and the promotion of key competences needed to address individual, social and economic change as well as gender and social inequalities and to contribute to social justice and a dynamic civil society. In addition, higher education institutions should become more responsive to the increasing demand for higher-level qualifications.
16. Recognising the critical importance of literacy, language, numeracy, social, ICT and VET competences as part of lifelong learning strategies in the pan-European region and in the other regions of the world, and in view of new and evolving demands in these competences, we recommend that special attention be given to:
- supporting people who need to maintain and improve literacy, language, numeracy and ICT competences as a key tool for individual empowerment, inclusion and economic well-being
- the continuum from the acquisition of literacy competences, and their maintenance and application in health, work, social and personal contexts
- the inter-generational impact and benefits of family literacy
- ensuring that adult learning and education programmes reflect the EFA goals and the objectives of the UN Literacy Decade as an international platform for strengthening action in literacy
17. Given the diversity of the structure and capacity of ALE in the development of the region we recommend that UNESCO develops a template of indicators of participation and progression on a web portal that countries may use to measure changes, to evaluate change over time and to share good practices with other countries. These could usefully include:
- participation rates in ALE, and targeted increases among under-represented groups
- appropriate measures in place for adults needing improved literacy, language, numeracy and ICT skills and competences; and
- appropriate measures in place to meet the aspiration for every adult to improve their skills, competences and/or qualifications for work
18. Learning outcomes wherever, whenever and however achieved should be recognised and validated. This should take place within the context of coher ent sub-national and/or national systems. We call upon UNESCO to support initiatives in this field.
19. Policies, structures and measures to assure the quality of learning should be developed.Competence profiles for ALE practitioners and a systematic ap proach to their initial and continuing professional development should also be developed as far as is practicable. Higher education, along with other providers, has a key role to play in this regard.
20. ALE is a legitimate and essential research area. We recommend more invest ment in research, evaluation and documentation of ALE in order to promote better informed policy decisions and to improve quality. To demonstrate the wider benefits of participation in ALE and substantially increase the overall comparability and visibility of ALE for a wide range of stakeholders, com prehensive data collection systems should be developed. To promote ALE research production, dissemination and application there is a clear need for the development of a research infrastructure, for robust mechanisms for the production and dissemination of research and, critically, for a research interface to promote the use of research results in policy development and implementation.
21. We recommend that UNESCO encourage Member States to include representa tives of NGOs, CSOs, employers, unions, private providers and adult learners in their delegations to CONFINTEA VI.
22. The development and implementation of regular tracking mechanisms is necessary in order to achieve the recommendations resulting from this Conference. To that end, we strongly urge that:
- Member States establish a regular monitoring mechanism for implementing the present recommendations at country level
- Member States commit themselves to monitoring progress and to a substantial CONFINTEA VI Mid-Term Review which will coincide with the EFA and MDGs timeline of 2015
- Templates are developed for sharing good practice in a framework of inter national co-operation through ALE advisory committees, including NGOs and CSOs, networks and collaborative programmes
- Member States commit themselves to encourage and support co-operation and dialogue among different interest groups and stakeholders in adult education
- UNESCO, through the UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning, coordi nates a monitoring process at global level to periodically take stock of the progress and performance in ALE


This fun activity is a great way to teach kids that foods come in a variety of colours and that a healthy diet involves choosing lots of different coloured fruits and veggies.
Draw a rainbow on the whiteboard/blackboard with your kids/classroom.
Ask the kids to draw or write as many foods they can think of for each colour, e.g. strawberry (red), apple (red or green), banana (yellow).
Explain that different fruits and vegetables have different vitamins and minerals in them, so it is good to try and eat as many different colours as possible.
Examples of coloured Fruits and Vegetables:
Red - apple, watermelon, strawberry, tomato, raspberry
Orange - orange, apricot, carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato
Yellow - banana, lemon, corn, squash
Green - lime, pear, celery, cucumber, lettuce, green capsicum, broccoli, beans
Blue - blueberry (not many foods are blue)
Purple - grapes, plum, eggplant
Thank you to Living Fundraisers for sharing this activity.


Vicars’ Close was built over 650 years ago to house the Vicars Choral and it has since been continuously inhabited by their successors. Vicars’ Close is unique; physically connected to Wells Cathedral and the most complete example of a medieval Close in the UK. It embodies an internationally renowned musical heritage.
Over the centuries, Vicars’ Close has played a vibrant part in the architectural, historical and musical landscapes of the UK. The history of Vicars’ Close can be described through three fascinating and interconnected themes:
Vicars’ Close was built by Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury, who founded a college for the Vicars Choral in1348. They deputised for the Canons of the Cathedral in singing daily worship. Bishop Ralph wanted to house the vicars to protect the young clerks, keep them away from women and provide them with communal facilities including a dining hall (Vicars’ Hall). Today, the Close remains a living community and occupants still include all men of the Vicars Choral (now 12 members), plus the Organists and Virgers who are part of the lifeblood of the Cathedral.
Vicars’ Close comprises two rows of lodgings, punctuated at the north end by the Close Chapel and at the south by Vicars’ Hall (which is joined to the main Cathedral by the Chain Gate Bridge). The houses are an early example of collegiate architecture, albeit for singers rather than scholars and originally looked similar to a quadrangle more commonly seen today in places such as Oxford.


She was being treated for pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, her son, James Manning, said.
Mildred Dalton Manning, then known as Millie Dalton, joined the Army Nurse Corps in 1939 in her native Georgia. She asked for a transfer to the Philippines because she wanted to see more of the world.
She arrived in Manila late in October 1941. About six weeks later, Japanese forces attacked U.S. installations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and also bombed a U.S. air base near Manila.
The Battle of the Philippines raged on for months, particularly on the Philippine peninsula of Bataan and the island of Corregidor. Manning was one of about 100 military nurses who cared for wounded soldiers around the clock.
She worked for two months at a makeshift outdoor clinic on Bataan and at an underground hospital set up in a tunnel on Corregidor. She and the other nurses became collectively known as the Angels of Bataan and Corregidor.
When U.S. forces were overrun in May 1942, Manning was one of 77 military nurses — 66 from the Army, 11 from the Navy — taken prisoner. (There were several other civilian nurses and medical workers held captive, as well.)
Manning and her Army nurse colleagues were among almost 4,000 people detained at a prison camp built on the grounds of Manila's Santo Tomas University and run by Japanese civilians.
In 1943, two Hollywood movies were made about the heroic nurses of the Philippines, "Cry 'Havoc' " and "So Proudly We Hail," but the real-life Angels of Bataan and Corregidor were almost forgotten after they were interned.
The letters they wrote to their families in America never arrived and were found after the war in a Manila warehouse.
Manning later said that the prison camp had no showers, beds or kitchens. A single toilet was used by hundreds of people. Yet somehow she and the nurses persevered. They maintained strict military order among themselves, always wearing their uniforms and caring for the sick.
Early in 1944, the Japanese military took control of the camp, and conditions began to deteriorate. Dozens of detainees died of starvation. Some were hauled away by guards and never seen again.
The nurses suffered many of the same ills that afflicted the other prisoners of war. Manning said their daily allotment of food consisted of two watery bowls of rice. She endured beriberi, dengue fever and malnutrition and, in the years after her imprisonment, would lose all her teeth.
Though ailing and undernourished, the nurses continued to care for the sick and dying in the prison camp.
"We were scared and tired, but we kept working," Manning told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2001. "We were under terrific strain, but we just did our job even when we were weak from not eating."
Finally, on Feb. 3, 1945, a U.S. tank battalion broke through the gates of Santo Tomas, ending the captivity of Manning and so many others. The prisoners spontaneously began singing "God Bless America."
All 77 of the nurses from Santo Tomas survived their ordeal.
Mildred Jeannette Dalton was born July 11, 1914, on a farm in Barrow County, Ga. She graduated from nursing school in 1937 at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital, where she worked before joining the Army.When she returned from the Philippines, Manning and the other nurses were awarded the Bronze Star Medal and a Presidential Unit Citation.
While speaking at an armaments plant in Georgia, she met a journalist, Arthur Brewster "Bruce" Manning. They were married in 1945 and later lived for almost 40 years in Jacksonville, Fla.
Her husband, who was managing editor of The Florida Times-Union newspaper, died in 1994. A son, William Manning, died in 2006.
Survivors include two children, James Manning of Trenton, N.J., and March Price of Atlanta; five grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
Manning briefly worked at a nursing school in Jacksonville in the 1960s, but she seldom discussed her wartime experiences.
"It was clearly very painful," her son said.
She disliked dark, confined spaces and often cooked food in large quantities. She believed the arthritis in her hands came from using scissors to cut off the bloody uniforms of hundreds of wounded soldiers.
In a 2004 interview with The Trenton Times, Manning reflected on her sense of duty while living under horrific conditions.
"I had a job to do," she said. "I was a nurse."