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A pension is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years, and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments. A pension may be a "defined benefit plan" where a fixed sum is paid regularly to a person, or a "defined contribution plan" under which a fixed sum is invested and then becomes available at retirement age. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is usually paid in regular installments for life after retirement, while the latter is typically paid as a fixed amount after involuntary termination of employment prior to retirement.
The terms "retirement plan" and "superannuation" tend to refer to a pension granted upon retirement of the individual. Retirement plans may be set up by employers, insurance companies, the government or other institutions such as employer associations or trade unions. Called retirement plans in the United States, they are commonly known as pension schemes in the United Kingdom and Ireland and superannuation plans (or super) in Australia and New Zealand. Retirement pensions are typically in the form of a guaranteed life annuity, thus insuring against the risk of longevity.
A pension created by an employer for the benefit of an employee is commonly referred to as an occupational or employer pension. Labor unions, the government, or other organizations may also fund pensions. Occupational pensions are a form of deferred compensation, usually advantageous to employee and employer for tax reasons. Many pensions also contain an additional insurance aspect, since they often will pay benefits to survivors or disabled beneficiaries. Other vehicles (certain lottery payouts, for example, or an annuity) may provide a similar stream of payments.
The common use of the term pension is to describe the payments a person receives upon retirement, usually under pre-determined legal or contractual terms. A recipient of a retirement pension is known as a pensioner or retiree.
A retirement plan is an arrangement to provide people with an income during retirement when they are no longer earning a steady income from employment. Often retirement plans require both the employer and employee to contribute money to a fund during their employment in order to receive defined benefits upon retirement. It is a tax deferred savings vehicle that allows for the tax-free accumulation of a fund for later use as a retirement income. Funding can be provided in other ways, such as from labor unions, government agencies, or self-funded schemes. Pension plans are therefore a form of "deferred compensation". A SSAS is a type of employment-based Pension in the UK.
Some countries also grant pensions to military veterans. Military pensions are overseen by the government; an example of a standing agency is the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Ad hoc committees may also be formed to investigate specific tasks, such as the U.S. Commission on Veterans' Pensions (commonly known as the "Bradley Commission") in 1955–56. Pensions may extend past the death of the veteran himself, continuing to be paid to the widow; see, for example, the case of Esther Sumner Damon, who was the last surviving American Revolutionary War widow at her death in 1906.
In early 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported the percentage of American private-sector workers who have a traditional pension is 13%, down from 38% in 1979.
Many countries have created funds for their citizens and residents to provide income when they retire (or in some cases become disabled). Typically this requires payments throughout the citizen's working life in order to qualify for benefits later on. A basic state pension is a "contribution based" benefit, and depends on an individual's contribution history. For examples, see National Insurance in the UK, or Social Security in the United States of America.
Many countries have also put in place a "social pension". These are regular, tax-funded non-contributory cash transfers paid to older people. Over 80 countries have social pensions. Some are universal benefits, given to all older people regardless of income, assets or employment record. Examples of universal pensions include New Zealand Superannuation and the Basic Retirement Pension of Mauritius. Most social pensions, though, are means-tested, such as Supplemental Security Income in the United States of America or the "older person's grant" in South Africa.
Some pension plans will provide for members in the event they suffer a disability. This may take the form of early entry into a retirement plan for a disabled member below the normal retirement age.
Retirement plans may be classified as defined benefit or defined contribution according to how the benefits are determined. A defined benefit plan guarantees a certain payout at retirement, according to a fixed formula which usually depends on the member's salary and the number of years' membership in the plan. A defined contribution plan will provide a payout at retirement that is dependent upon the amount of money contributed and the performance of the investment vehicles utilized. Hence, with a defined contribution plan the risk and responsibility lies with the employee that the funding will be sufficient through retirement, whereas with the defined benefit plan the risk and responsibility lies with the employer or plan managers.
Some types of retirement plans, such as cash balance plans, combine features of both defined benefit and defined contribution plans. They are often referred to as hybrid plans. Such plan designs have become increasingly popular in the US since the 1990s. Examples include Cash Balance and Pension Equity plans.
A traditional defined benefit (DB) plan is a plan in which the benefit on retirement is determined by a set formula, rather than depending on investment returns. Government pensions such as Social Security in the United States are a type of defined benefit pension plan. Traditionally, defined benefit plans for employers have been administered by institutions which exist specifically for that purpose, by large businesses, or, for government workers, by the government itself. A traditional form of defined benefit plan is the final salary plan, under which the pension paid is equal to the number of years worked, multiplied by the member's salary at retirement, multiplied by a factor known as the accrual rate. The final accrued amount is available as a monthly pension or a lump sum, but usually monthly.
The benefit in a defined benefit pension plan is determined by a formula that can incorporate the employee's pay, years of employment, age at retirement, and other factors. A simple example is a Dollars Times Service plan design that provides a certain amount per month based on the time an employee works for a company. For example, a plan offering $100 a month per year of service would provide $3,000 per month to a retiree with 30 years of service. While this type of plan is popular among unionized workers, Final Average Pay (FAP) remains the most common type of defined benefit plan offered in the United States. In FAP plans, the average salary over the final years of an employee's career determines the benefit amount.
Averaging salary over a number of years means that the calculation is averaging different dollars. For example, if salary is averaged over five years, and retirement is in 2009, then salary in 2004 dollars is averaged with salary in 2005 dollars, etc., with 2004 dollars being worth more than the dollars of succeeding years. The pension is then paid in first year of retirement dollars, in this example 2009 dollars, with the lowest value of any dollars in the calculation. Thus inflation in the salary averaging years has a considerable impact on purchasing power and cost, both being reduced equally by inflation
This effect of inflation can be eliminated by converting salaries in the averaging years to first year of retirement dollars, and then averaging.
In the US, specifies a defined benefit plan to be any pension plan that is not a defined contribution plan (see below) where a defined contribution plan is any plan with individual accounts. A traditional pension plan that defines a benefit for an employee upon that employee's retirement is a defined benefit plan. In the U.S., corporate defined benefit plans, along with many other types of defined benefit plans, are governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
In the United Kingdom, benefits are typically indexed for inflation (known as Retail Prices Index (RPI)) as required by law for registered pension plans. Inflation during an employee's retirement affects the purchasing power of the pension; the higher the inflation rate, the lower the purchasing power of a fixed annual pension. This effect can be mitigated by providing annual increases to the pension at the rate of inflation (usually capped, for instance at 5% in any given year). This method is advantageous for the employee since it stabilizes the purchasing power of pensions to some extent.
If the pension plan allows for early retirement, payments are often reduced to recognize that the retirees will receive the payouts for longer periods of time. In the United States, under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, any reduction factor less than or equal to the actuarial early retirement reduction factor is acceptable.
Many DB plans include early retirement provisions to encourage employees to retire early, before the attainment of normal retirement age (usually age 65). Companies would rather hire younger employees at lower wages. Some of those provisions come in the form of additional temporary or supplemental benefits, which are payable to a certain age, usually before attaining normal retirement age.
Defined benefit plans may be either funded or unfunded.
In an unfunded defined benefit pension, no assets are set aside and the benefits are paid for by the employer or other pension sponsor as and when they are paid. Pension arrangements provided by the state in most countries in the world are unfunded, with benefits paid directly from current workers' contributions and taxes. This method of financing is known as pay-as-you-go. The social security systems of many European countries are unfunded, having benefits paid directly out of current taxes and social security contributions, although several countries have hybrid systems which are partially funded. Spain set up the Social Security Reserve Fund and France set up the Pensions Reserve Fund; in Canada the wage-based retirement plan (CPP) is partially funded, with assets managed by the CPP Investment Board while the U.S. Social Security system is partially funded by investment in special U.S. Treasury Bonds.
In a funded plan, contributions from the employer, and sometimes also from plan members, are invested in a fund towards meeting the benefits. All plans must be funded in some way, even if they are pay-as-you-go, so this type of plan is more accurately known as pre-funded. The future returns on the investments, and the future benefits to be paid, are not known in advance, so there is no guarantee that a given level of contributions will be enough to meet the benefits. Typically, the contributions to be paid are regularly reviewed in a valuation of the plan's assets and liabilities, carried out by an actuary to ensure that the pension fund will meet future payment obligations. This means that in a defined benefit pension, investment risk and investment rewards are typically assumed by the sponsor/employer and not by the individual. If a plan is not well-funded, the plan sponsor may not have the financial resources to continue funding the plan.
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Traditional defined benefit plan designs (because of their typically flat accrual rate and the decreasing time for interest discounting as people get closer to retirement age) tend to exhibit a J-shaped accrual pattern of benefits, where the present value of benefits grows quite slowly early in an employee's career and accelerates significantly in mid-career: in other words it costs more to fund the pension for older employees than for younger ones (an "age bias"). Defined benefit pensions tend to be less portable than defined contribution plans, even if the plan allows a lump sum cash benefit at termination. Most plans, however, pay their benefits as an annuity, so retirees do not bear the risk of low investment returns on contributions or of outliving their retirement income. The open-ended nature of these risks to the employer is the reason given by many employers for switching from defined benefit to defined contribution plans over recent years. The risks to the employer can sometimes be mitigated by discretionary elements in the benefit structure, for instance in the rate of increase granted on accrued pensions, both before and after retirement.
The age bias, reduced portability and open ended risk make defined benefit plans better suited to large employers with less mobile workforces, such as the public sector (which has open-ended support from taxpayers). This coupled with a lack of foresight on the employers part means a large proportion of the workforce are kept in the dark over future investment schemes.
Defined benefit plans are sometimes criticized as being paternalistic as they enable employers or plan trustees to make decisions about the type of benefits and family structures and lifestyles of their employees. However they are typically more valuable than defined contribution plans in most circumstances and for most employees (mainly because the employer tends to pay higher contributions than under defined contribution plans), so such criticism is rarely harsh.
The "cost" of a defined benefit plan is not easily calculated, and requires an actuary or actuarial software. However, even with the best of tools, the cost of a defined benefit plan will always be an estimate based on economic and financial assumptions. These assumptions include the average retirement age and lifespan of the employees, the returns to be earned by the pension plan's investments and any additional taxes or levies, such as those required by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation in the U.S. So, for this arrangement, the benefit is relatively secure but the contribution is uncertain even when estimated by a professional. This has serious cost considerations and risks for the employer offering a pension plan.
One of the growing concerns with defined benefit plans is that the level of future obligations will outpace the value of assets held by the plan. This "underfunding" dilemma can be faced by any type of defined benefit plan, private or public, but it is most acute in governmental and other public plans where political pressures and less rigorous accounting standards can result in excessive commitments to employees and retirees, but inadequate contributions. Many states and municipalities across the United States of America and Canada now face chronic pension crises.
Many countries offer state-sponsored retirement benefits, beyond those provided by employers, which are funded by payroll or other taxes. In the United States, the Social Security system is similar in function to a defined benefit pension arrangement, albeit one that is constructed differently from a pension offered by a private employer; however, Social Security is distinct in that there is no legally guaranteed level of benefits derived from the amount paid into the program.
Individuals that have worked in the UK and have paid certain levels of national insurance deductions can expect an income from the state pension scheme after their normal retirement. The state pension is currently divided into two parts: the basic state pension, State Second [tier] Pension scheme called S2P. Individuals will qualify for the basic state pension if they have completed sufficient years contribution to their national insurance record. The S2P pension scheme is earnings related and depends on earnings in each year as to how much an individual can expect to receive. It is possible for an individual to forgo the S2P payment from the state, in lieu of a payment made to an appropriate pension scheme of their choice, during their working life. For more details see UK pension provision.
In a defined contribution plan, contributions are paid into an individual account for each member. The contributions are invested, for example in the stock market, and the returns on the investment (which may be positive or negative) are credited to the individual's account. On retirement, the member's account is used to provide retirement benefits, sometimes through the purchase of an annuity which then provides a regular income. Defined contribution plans have become widespread all over the world in recent years, and are now the dominant form of plan in the private sector in many countries. For example, the number of defined benefit plans in the US has been steadily declining, as more and more employers see pension contributions as a large expense avoidable by disbanding the defined benefit plan and instead offering a defined contribution plan.
Money contributed can either be from employee salary deferral or from employer contributions. The portability of defined contribution pensions is legally no different from the portability of defined benefit plans. However, because of the cost of administration and ease of determining the plan sponsor's liability for defined contribution plans (you do not need to pay an actuary to calculate the lump sum equivalent that you do for defined benefit plans) in practice, defined contribution plans have become generally portable.
In a defined contribution plan, investment risk and investment rewards are assumed by each individual/employee/retiree and not by the sponsor/employer, and these risks may be substantial. In addition, participants do not necessarily purchase annuities with their savings upon retirement, and bear the risk of outliving their assets. (In the United Kingdom, for instance, it is a legal requirement to use the bulk of the fund to purchase an annuity.)
The "cost" of a defined contribution plan is readily calculated, but the benefit from a defined contribution plan depends upon the account balance at the time an employee is looking to use the assets. So, for this arrangement, the contribution is known but the benefit is unknown (until calculated).
Despite the fact that the participant in a defined contribution plan typically has control over investment decisions, the plan sponsor retains a significant degree of fiduciary responsibility over investment of plan assets, including the selection of investment options and administrative providers.
A defined contribution plan typically involves a number of service providers, including in many cases:
In the United States, the legal definition of a defined contribution plan is a plan providing for an individual account for each participant, and for benefits based solely on the amount contributed to the account, plus or minus income, gains, expenses and losses allocated to the account (see individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) plans. In such plans, the employee is responsible, to one degree or another, for selecting the types of investments toward which the funds in the retirement plan are allocated. This may range from choosing one of a small number of pre-determined mutual funds to selecting individual stocks or other securities. Most self-directed retirement plans are characterized by certain tax advantages, and some provide for a portion of the employee's contributions to be matched by the employer. In exchange, the funds in such plans may not be withdrawn by the investor prior to reaching a certain age—typically the year the employee reaches 59.5 years old-- (with a small number of exceptions) without incurring a substantial penalty.). Examples of defined contribution plans in the United States include
In the US, defined contribution plans are subject to IRS limits on how much can be contributed, known as the section 415 limit. In 2009, the total deferral amount, including employee contribution plus employer contribution, was limited to $49,000 or 100% of compensation, whichever is less. The employee-only limit in 2009 was $16,500 with a $5,500 catch-up. These numbers usually increase each year and are indexed to compensate for the effects of inflation. For 2015, the limits were raised to $53,000 and $18,000, respectively.
Examples of defined contribution pension schemes in other countries are, the UK's personal pensions and proposed National Employment Savings Trust (NEST), Germany's Riester plans, Australia's Superannuation system and New Zealand's KiwiSaver scheme. Individual pension savings plans also exist in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain
Hybrid plan designs combine the features of defined benefit and defined contribution plan designs.
A cash balance plan is a defined benefit plan made to appear as if it were a defined contribution plan. They have notional balances in hypothetical accounts where, typically, each year the plan administrator will contribute an amount equal to a certain percentage of each participant's salary; a second contribution, called interest credit, is made as well. These are not actual contributions and further discussion is beyond the scope of this entry suffice it to say that there is currently much controversy. In general, they are usually treated as defined benefit plans for tax, accounting and regulatory purposes. As with defined benefit plans, investment risk in hybrid designs is largely borne by the plan sponsor. As with defined contribution designs, plan benefits are expressed in the terms of a notional account balance, and are usually paid as cash balances upon termination of employment. These features make them more portable than traditional defined benefit plans and perhaps more attractive to a more highly mobile workforce.
Target benefit plans are defined contribution plans made to match (or resemble) defined benefit plans.
Advocates of defined contribution plans point out that each employee has the ability to tailor the investment portfolio to his or her individual needs and financial situation, including the choice of how much to contribute, if anything at all. However, others state that these apparent advantages could also hinder some workers who might not possess the financial savvy to choose the correct investment vehicles or have the discipline to voluntarily contribute money to retirement accounts. This debate parallels the discussion currently going on in the U.S., where many Republican leaders favor transforming the Social Security system, at least in part, to a self-directed investment plan.
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Defined contribution pensions, by definition, are funded, as the "guarantee" made to employees is that specified (defined) contributions will be made during an individual's working life.
There are many ways to finance a pension and save for retirement. Pension plans can be set up by an employer, matching a monetary contribution each month, by the state or personally through a pension scheme with a financial institution, such as a bank or brokerage firm. Pension plans often come with a tax break depending on the country and plan type.
For example, Canadians have the option to open a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), as well as a range of employee and state pension programs. This plan allows contributions to this account to be marked as un-taxable income and remain un-taxed until withdrawal. Most countries' governments will provide advice on pension schemes.
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Widows' funds were among the first pension type arrangement to appear, for example Duke Ernest the Pious of Gotha in Germany, founded a widows' fund for clergy in 1645 and another for teachers in 1662. 'Various schemes of provision for ministers' widows were then established throughout Europe at about the start of the eighteenth century, some based on a single premium others based on yearly premiums to be distributed as benefits in the same year.'
As part of archduke Otto von Bismarck's social legislation, the Old Age and Disability Insurance Bill in 1889. The Old Age Pension program, financed by a tax on workers, was originally designed to provide a pension annuity for workers who reached the age of 70 years, though this was lowered to 65 years in 1916. It is sometimes claimed that at the time life expectancy for the average Prussian was 45 years; in fact this figure ignores the very high infant mortality and high maternal death rate from childbirth of this era. In fact, an adult entering into insurance under the scheme would on average live to 70 years of age, a figure used in the actuarial assumptions included in the legislation.
There is a history of pensions in Ireland that can be traced back to Brehon Law imposing a legal responsibility on the kin group to take care of its members who were aged, blind, deaf, sick or insane. For a discussion on pension funds and early Irish law, see F Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law (Dublin, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1988). In 2010, there were over 76,291 pension schemes operating in Ireland.
Today the Republic of Ireland has a two-tiered approach to the provision of pensions or retirement benefits. First, there is a state social welfare retirement pension, which promises a basic level of pension. This is a flat rate pension, funded by the national social insurance system and is termed Pay Related Social Insurance or PRSI. Secondly, there are the occupational pension schemes and self-employed arrangements, which supplement the state pension.
Until the 20th century, poverty was seen as a quasi-criminal state, and this was reflected in the Vagabonds and Beggars Act 1495 that imprisoned beggars. During Elizabethan and Victorian times, English poor laws represented a shift whereby the poor were seen merely as morally degenerate, and were expected to perform forced labour in workhouses.
The beginning of the modern state pension was the Old Age Pensions Act 1908, that provided 5 shillings (£0.25) a week for those over 70 whose annual means do not exceed £31.50. It coincided with the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress 1905-09 and was the first step in the Liberal welfare reforms to the completion of a system of social security, with unemployment and health insurance through the National Insurance Act 1911.
After the Second World War, the National Insurance Act 1946 completed universal coverage of social security. The National Assistance Act 1948 formally abolished the poor law, and gave a minimum income to those not paying national insurance.
The early 1990s established the existing framework for state pensions in the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 and Superannuation and other Funds (Validation) Act 1992. Following the highly respected Goode Report, occupational pensions were covered by comprehensive statutes in the Pension Schemes Act 1993 and the Pensions Act 1995.
In 2002 the Pensions Commission was established as a cross party body to review pensions in the United Kingdom. The first Act to follow was the Pensions Act 2004 that updated regulation by replacing OPRA with the Pensions Regulator and relaxing the stringency of minimum funding requirements for pensions, while ensuring protection for insolvent businesses. In a major update of the state pension, the Pensions Act 2007, which aligned and raised retirement ages. Following that, the Pensions Act 2008 has set up automatic enrolment for occupational pensions, and a public competitor designed to be a low-cost and efficient fund manager, called the National Employment Savings Trust (or "Nest").
Public pensions got their start with various 'promises', informal and legislated, made to veterans of the Revolutionary War and, more extensively, the Civil War. They were expanded greatly, and began to be offered by a number of state and local governments during the early Progressive Era in the late nineteenth century.
Federal civilian pensions were offered under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), formed in 1920. CSRS provided retirement, disability and survivor benefits for most civilian employees in the US Federal government, until the creation of a new Federal agency, the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), in 1987.
Pension plans became popular in the United States during World War II, when wage freezes prohibited outright increases in workers' pay. The defined benefit plan had been the most popular and common type of retirement plan in the United States through the 1980s; since that time, defined contribution plans have become the more common type of retirement plan in the United States and many other western countries.
In April 2012, the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The retirement fund is a defined benefit type pension plan and was only partially funded by the government, with only $268.4 million in assets and $911 million in liabilities. The plan experienced low investment returns and a benefit structure that had been increased without raises in funding. According to Pensions and Investments, this is "apparently the first" US public pension plan to declare bankruptcy.
A growing challenge for many nations is population ageing. As birth rates drop and life expectancy increases an ever-larger portion of the population is elderly. This leaves fewer workers for each retired person. In many developed countries this means that government and public sector pensions could potentially be a drag on their economies unless pension systems are reformed or taxes are increased. One method of reforming the pension system is to increase the retirement age. Two exceptions are Australia and Canada, where the pension system is forecast to be solvent for the foreseeable future. In Canada, for instance, the annual payments were increased by some 70% in 1998 to achieve this. These two nations also have an advantage from their relative openness to immigration: immigrants tend to be of working age. However, their populations are not growing as fast as the U.S., which supplements a high immigration rate with one of the highest birthrates among Western countries. Thus, the population in the U.S. is not ageing to the extent as those in Europe, Australia, or Canada.
Another growing challenge is the recent trend of states and businesses in the United States purposely under-funding their pension schemes in order to push the costs onto the federal government. For example, in 2009, the majority of states have unfunded pension liabilities exceeding all reported state debt. Bradley Belt, former executive director of the PBGC (the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the federal agency that insures private-sector defined-benefit pension plans in the event of bankruptcy), testified before a Congressional hearing in October 2004, "I am particularly concerned with the temptation, and indeed, growing tendency, to use the pension insurance fund as a means to obtain an interest-free and risk-free loan to enable companies to restructure. Unfortunately, the current calculation appears to be that shifting pension liabilities onto other premium payers or potentially taxpayers is the path of least resistance rather than a last resort."
Challenges have further been increased by the post-2007 credit crunch. Total funding of the nation's 100 largest corporate pension plans fell by $303bn in 2008, going from a $86bn surplus at the end of 2007 to a $217bn deficit at the end of 2008.
Some of the listed systems might also be considered social insurance.
Oregon — like many other states and cities, including New Jersey, Kentucky and Connecticut — is caught in a fiscal squeeze of its own making. Its economy is growing, but the cost of its state-run pension system is growing faster.
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COMING LATE 2017 THE HAPPINESS IS A SKILL HANDBOOK
Positive words create the foundation for Happiness Skills.
Each thought you have creates an emotional response. Your thoughts are made up of words, which means the words you choose to think directly affect how you feel. This includes the words you hear from people around you, in movies, tv shows, the news, even music you listen to. The words you read are also a source for what you are thinking. What you say comes right back inside of you too! So choose to say, hear, read and think positive words. Which person do you want to be and to be around? The positive uplifting one or the negative downer. Make that choice and support yourself by choosing the words in your life carefully.
Living according you your Values guides and supports your happiness.
Take time with this list below to reflect on what is important to you. What values fuel your sense of purpose, of well being and fulfillment? Who do you want to be in the world as you consider your life and your legacy? Highlight the words on this list that speak to you, and then choose 10-15 to be your guiding values. Keep this list in a folder or journal that is for your Happiness Skills Building!
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Nebuchadnezzar Against Arphaxad.* 1It was the twelfth year* of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh. At that time Arphaxad was ruling over the Medes in Ecbatana.a 2* Around Ecbatana he built a wall of hewn stones, three cubits thick and six cubits long. He made the walls seventy cubits high and fifty cubits wide. 3At its gates he raised towers one hundred cubits high with foundations sixty cubits wide. 4He made its gates seventy cubits high and forty cubits wide to allow passage of his mighty forces, with his infantry in formation. 5At that time King Nebuchadnezzar waged war against King Arphaxad in the vast plain that borders Ragau.* 6Rallying to him were all who lived in the hill country, all who lived along the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Hydaspes, as well as Arioch, king of the Elamites, in the plains. Thus many nations joined the ranks of the Chelodites.* b
7Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, contacted all the inhabitants of Persia* and all who lived in the west, the inhabitants of Cilicia and Damascus, Lebanon and Antilebanon, and all who lived along the seacoast, 8the peoples of Carmel, Gilead, Upper Galilee, and the vast plain of Esdraelon, 9and all in Samaria and its cities, and west of the Jordan as far as Jerusalem, Bethany, Chelous, Kadesh,c and the river of Egypt; Tahpanhes,d Raamses, all the land of Goshen, 10Tanis, Memphise and beyond, and all the inhabitants of Egypt as far as the borders of Ethiopia.
11But all the inhabitants of the whole land* made light of the summons of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, and would not join him in the war. They were not afraid of him, since he was only a single opponent. So they sent back his envoys empty-handed and disgraced.f 12Then Nebuchadnezzar fell into a violent rage against all the land, and swore by his throne and his kingdom that he would take revenge on all the territories of Cilicia, Damascus, and Syria, and would destroy with his sword all the inhabitants of Moab, Ammon, the whole of Judea, and all those living in Egypt as far as the coasts of the two seas.*
Defeat of Arphaxad. 13In the seventeenth year* he mustered his forces against King Arphaxad and was victorious in his campaign. He routed the whole force of Arphaxad, his entire cavalry, and all his chariots, 14and took possession of his cities. He pressed on to Ecbatana, took its towers, sacked its marketplaces, and turned its glory into shame. 15He captured Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragau, ran him through with spears, and utterly destroyed him once and for all. 16Then he returned to Nineveh with all his consolidated forces, a very great multitude of warriors; and there he and his forces relaxed and feasted for one hundred and twenty days.g
* [1:1–3:10] This section consists of an introduction to Nebuchadnezzar (1:1–16), his commissioning of Holofernes (2:1–13), and a description of the campaigns Holofernes leads against the disobedient vassal nations of the west (2:14–3:10).
* [1:1–16] Introduction to Nebuchadnezzar and his campaign against Arphaxad. Nebuchadnezzar (605/4–562 B.C.), the most famous Neo-Babylonian king, destroyed Jerusalem in 587 B.C., the eighteenth year of his reign (see Jer 32:1). His depiction here as an Assyrian is an invention of the author, as is the description of Arphaxad, an otherwise unknown king of the Medes, in Ecbatana.
* [1:1] Twelfth year: in the twelfth year of Nebuchadnezzar (593 B.C.) Zedekiah, king of Judah, refused to join a revolt against him (see Jer 27:3; 28:1). Nineveh: capital of Assyria, destroyed in 612 B.C.
* [1:2–4] Since a cubit was the distance from the elbow to the fingertip (approximately eighteen inches), these dimensions are prodigious. The massive wall around Ecbatana is described as 105 feet high and 75 feet thick, with each stone measuring four and a half feet thick and nine feet long. The tower gates are 150 feet high and 60 feet wide. Such unlikely massive structures have never been found at Ecbatana, which lies beneath the modern city of Hamadan, located in the Zagros mountains of northwest Iran. Ecbatana is mentioned in vv. 1, 2, 14 as Arphaxad’s headquarters. Tradition claims Esther and Mordecai are buried there.
* [1:5] Ragau, the place where Arphaxad is slain (v. 15), one of the oldest settlements in Iran, is located on a plain one hundred miles northeast of Ecbatana. In the Book of Tobit it is the home of Gabael (Tb 1:14; 4:1, 20; 5:6; 6:13; 9:2, 5).
* [1:6] Chelodites: Greek Cheleoud, probably a corruption of “Chaldeans,” i.e., the Neo-Babylonians.
* [1:7] Mention of Persia suggests a postexilic setting for the book, since this area would have been designated Media before the middle of the fifth century B.C.
* [1:11] References to “the whole land,” “all the land” are used ten times in the first two chapters (vv. 11, 12; 2:1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 19). This signifies all the nations west of Persia as far as Egypt that were subject to Nebuchadnezzar, i.e., the whole earth or world (esp. 2:9). These and similar formulations throughout the book build the case that the “God of heaven” (5:8; 6:19; 11:17) is the true “Master of heaven and earth” (9:12).
* [1:12] The two seas: probably the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, though possibly the Red Sea and Mediterranean.
* [1:13] Seventeenth year: 588 B.C. Without help from the vassal nations, Nebuchadnezzar defeats Arphaxad.
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Cellular senescence is the state of permanent proliferation cessation. There are two types of cell senescence. One is replicative senescence, which relies on telomere length-dependent limit of cell divisions. The second is stress-induced premature senescence (SIPS) which is telomere- independent. Cell senescence is a barrier to cancer. Paradoxically senescent cells, which are metabolically active secrete factors which can be procancerogenic. The main culprit of cell senescence is DNA damage and DNA damage response. Although cancer cells frequently possess mutations in two main signalling pathways involved in cell senescence, namely p53/p21 and p16/Rb, they still preserve the ability to undergo DNA damage-induced senescence. Cancer cell senescence is a new promising target for anticancer therapy. It was shown that many types of cancer cells can undergo SIPS. Senescent cancer cells have generally the same features as normal cells, such as enlarged size, accumulation of DNA damage foci and increased activity of Senescence-Associated β- galactosidase. Moreover senescent cancer cells are frequently polyploid and it was shown that polyploidy might be connected with abnormal cell division, which leads to the appearance of small descendants. In this review we will focus on morphological hallmarks of senescent cancer cells as well as their functional capabilities, such as secretion, polyploidization, and stemness. We will also discuss links with autophagy, mitotic catastrophe and the propensity of senescent cells to regain proliferative activities. We would like to show the complexity of cancer cell phenotype arising after anticancer treatment and difficulties in interpretation of the experimental data.


Do you have a huge hankering for growing a lovely garden, but don’t have a lot of space? This can be helped a great deal by the use of your vertical spaces, rather than just the surface square footage. Consider your roof area, balcony, and other areas such as a deck or patio. Most gardens, even traditional gardens, use vertical space for preventing overcrowding, preventing disease, the ability to reach more easily to harvest, and even for simple beauty. People who have hydroponic gardens, aeroponic gardens, and traditional gardens all use vertical gardening as another growing method.
When a plant frows vertically, it keeps a large portion of itself up off the ground and away from bugs and diseases that generally are closer to the ground. It will be spread out more, get more airflow, which will help to keep away molds and fungus type diseases that you don’t want on your plants. The airflow keeps the plant foliage from getting too moist.
Also, this vertical growth potential will allow room for birds to come and lend a hand. As birds come around your vertical garden, they will eat any cutworms, aphids, whiteflies, grubs and other larvae that would prey upon your plants and inhibit your produce. Also, another by-product of birds visiting your plants is that they will help to pollinate your plants as well.
You can easily find gardening towers as the popularity of vertical gardening has grown. Take a look at this to get some ideas of what is out there.
Garden Towers Project
These are made by Garden Tower Project and are a unique design to blend composting and vertical gardening. This system will set you up with a vermicomposting system at the bottom, which will fertilize the plants that grow on the tower. So, you won’t need chemicals for fertilizing, just add worms when the season starts and you will have a wonderful cycle.
There is a column in the center where you can add the items ready for composting, then the worms can go to work and process it into wonderful compost for the plant growing on the tower. You will have wonderfully fertilized plants, all by your own kitchen scraps!
This tower will fit into small areas, as it takes up only about 2 feet by 2 feet 2 inches for the space for the planter, but the vertical height is 44 inches high. So, it will fit into a small area wherever you choose to place it – balcony, patio or even indoors. Because of its limited size, it can be easily turned so you can make sure all parts of the plants get good sun exposre and you can easily harvest produce! Imagine that – a composter that will also grow a lovely vertical garden. Organic and self sufficient. Check on Amazon.com
This tower is designed so it is completely self supporting from the base. Simple to put together, at a complete height of 34 inches, and thirty holes for the plants you want to have growing. It gives you an internal watering system, is low maintenance, and requires no pumps or electricity. It is wonderfully efficient at using water, so takes little watering time. There are tubes that come out from the top, so you can pour water in and effectively water the entire structure and all plants. This way you can also add fertilizer to this structure as well. You will find that this tower, placed in the spot you prefer, will let you have a very healthy and lush column of growth, be it flowers or vegetables. Check on Amazon.com
Juice Plus has designed this unique aero ponics system. An aeroponics system is a sytem that does not require soil or another growing medium, just water and liquid nutrients This is made to be used in the home and even commercially if desired. You will need to be sure to invest in a plant food that is particularly made for this kind of system, as aeroponic systems require specific nutrients that the plants would otherwise get in soil. Reportedly, you can expect 30% more productivity with this system. The vertical system provides you with at least 28 pots for plants. With a small square footage, six square feet, you have a lot of room to grow a great dea as the plants’ roots are given a continuous flow of water and the liquid nutrients throughout the growing season.
Mr. Stacky: A unique planter
This is a different take on a vertical planter, with five tiered levels, only using one square foot of ground space. It is made so you water from the top, and it then cascades down the planter, watering all the plants you have. With this system, you are less likely to get your roots sitting in water and rotting. You can grow about twenty plants in the tiers, and can vary the varieties on the tiers. If you need to adjust your plantings or want a different arrangement, you can take it apart into separate pieces and use each independently. Check on Amazon.com


The School Readiness Project began operating in 2006 and benefits ALL children and families living in Chemung County. It is a ground-breaking new early childhood system designed to help more of Chemung County’s children start Kindergarten with a solid foundation for learning.
SRP unifies our community's rich offering of early childhood services into one cohesive system. The system works in harmony to help and encourange all adults to give young children (age 0-5) the kinds of experiences that lay the groundwork for learning. The SRP offers resources, ideas and activities to make it easy for people to foster the early learning of the young children in their care.
With consistent nurturing from all of the adults in their lives, more children will be primed to be successful learners throughout their school years and will become valuable citizens of our county as adults.
The goal of the initiative is to cut in half the percentage of Chemung County's children who are unprepared to begin kindergarten.
All of the activities associated with the Chemung County School Readiness Project fall into four categories: nurse home visits, excellent early care and education, parent learning, and healthcare. These programs provide the framework for a community that fully supports the healthy development of its youngest citizens.


Using donor milk in the NICU
Immunologically, nutritionally, and biologically, species-specific breast milk has been proven to be optimal for all babies, and especially necessary for the preterm or ill infant. Passive immunity through secretory IgA and other immune products naturally found in the milk protects against infectious bacteria and viruses, while epidermal growth factor and oligosaccharides may help mature the intestinal tract. Composition of human milk changes over time to help meet the needs of even the preterm infant. The combination of these factors has shown to protect against problems such as NEC, URI, sepsis, obesity, diabetes, and food allergies. A mother’s own milk is optimal for her baby under most circumstances. But when unavailable or undesirable, donor human milk is a suitable alternative.
- A healthcare provider must order donor human milk.
- The family of the neonate should be made aware that human donor milk is being used. MMBA recommends that informed consent be obtained, with individual hospital policy determining content.
- A log of the distribution of donor human milk will be maintained by the NICU staff and shared with the Mothers’ Milk Bank at Austin.
- Problem sheets will be created, as necessary, and transmitted to MMBA for follow-up.
Guidelines for NICU distribution
- Preterm birth or small for gestational age
- Feeding intolerance
- Post-surgical nutrition (e.g., PDA ligation, bowel surgery, NEC)
- Malabsorption syndromes
- Short-gut syndrome
- Fetal distress/hypoxia as evidenced by low apgars
- Renal failure
- Cardiac problems
- Bronchopulmonary dysplasia
- Inborn errors of metabolism
- Immune disorders
Procedure for obtaining milk
- The physician will discuss the risks and benefits of the use of donor human milk with the family or guardian, and obtain a signature of consent if required by the hospital.
- The physician will write an order for 20Kcal/oz donor human milk, or for 22 or 24 Kcal/oz. donor human milk as appropriate for the infant. Once a healthcare provider has requested DHM for a patient, the steps detailed in our “Ordering Donor Milk” page should be followed. If possible, orders should be placed at least 24 hours in advance. Orders requiring shipping are ideally placed by Tuesday for Wednesday shipping and Thursday arrival.


Depending on where you live and other variables, children with special needs make up a significant percentage of your neighborhood, as anywhere from 10 – 20% of the population of children in the US are classified as special needs of one kind or another.
If your child needs:
- Help keeping up with his/her school work
- Help making up work due to absenteeism
- Time to rest during the day because of medical reasons
- To have a modified (shortened) school day
- To take medication during school hours
- To see the nurse during the day for any reason
- Special accommodations such as: using graphic organizers, extended time taking all tests, a special location to take a test, enlarged print, a second set of books to keep at home
- Large print text books
- An assistive technology assessment to determine what he/she needs to learn to his/her fullest potential
- A scribe, note taker, outlines handed out of lesson prior to class, a calculator etc.
- Special transportation (a lift bus, a matron on the bus, air-conditioning)
- A barrier-free school
- A special class
- Related services such as: physical therapy, occupational therapy, language/speech therapy, counseling, assistive technology, social work services, *special education services such as resource room services, a consultant teacher or special education teacher support services
- A Behavioral Assessment Evaluation to determine if behavioral interventions are needed
- A hearing device
- A paraprofessional 1:1 during the day – also called an aide
- Any other special request such as adaptive physical education, snacks during the day etc. because of his/her health impairment
Your child may need Special Education through the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) or special accommodations in school through Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (504 plan).
There are LAWS to protect children who are have learning disabilities, health or physical impairments that prevent them from being involved in regular education programs. The federal laws require all public schools provide a ‘Free, appropriate, public education’ (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE) to every student with special needs. The three main laws that you should know about are:
Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) (passed in 1975 and re-authorized every several years – the most recent reauthorization in 2004), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504), and the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) passed in 1990.
Special Education is a five-step process:
Referral – You, the parent, can refer your child for an evaluation up until the age of 21 or a professional that has concerns about your child can also make a referral for an evaluation. You must make sure to send a letter requesting a Committee on Special Education meeting (CSE) by certified mail with a return receipt requested. Save the proof of receipt with a copy of the letter. This is very important.
(Making a referral for an evaluation does NOT mean you have to agree to an evaluation.) Begin a notebook for your child and attach all important documents starting with the receipt for the request of a CSE meeting.
The school needs to obtain a parent’s informed consent before starting any evaluations for a new referral.
Your Child’s Evaluation- A child must be avaluated in all areas of suspected disability. You should as for as comprehensive an evaluation as possible. If you go through the Department of Education, evaluations are free of charge to you. You can also provide the committee with independent evaluations that you have had done on your child. When the evaluations are completed, request to see all evaluation reports prior to these CSE meetings. You have every legal right to see any paper reporting information about your child.
Eligibility – To receive special education, your child must be classified into one of thirteen different classifications listed in the federal law. Most children with a chronic illness are classified ‘Other Health Impaired’ others are classified ‘Traumatic Brain Injury’.
Sometimes a child is given two or more classifications – This is not common. Your child’s services are driven by your child’s needs, not by the classification. This is why the document is called an Individual Education Plan (IEP) – This plan must meet the needs of your child.
IEP Development – Your child’s IEP is a legal working document and is very important. You should be an important member of the Committee and be present at the meeting.
An IEP can be difficult and you should be prepared for it.
Ways to be prepared:
- Have copies of all the evaluations, observations and reports.
- Highlight important points to discuss. If there is something that is unclear to you, try to find a professional to explain the reports to you prior to the meeting.
- Try to learn and become familiar with the language.
- Bring a teacher, an advocate or someone who knows about your child to the meeting.
- Listen to their recommendation. You can always tell the committee you want to think about what they have said and review it with another person who knows your child.
Placement/Sites – The federal law states that where a child is placed is decided by what his/her IEP states. Placements must be as close to home as possible. You must be given some choices. Parents can request a class profile (which describes the academic, management, behavioral, and social needs of the children in a class that is recommended). Parents should (and are allowed) to visit the class before agreeing to placement. The Department of Education offers a school and/or class where the student can attend (Placement). Parents should visit the placement before accepting or signing anything. Sometimes children are deferred to ‘non-public approved’ private special education schools because public schools found they couldn’t meet all the needs of the child.
Quick-Jump Links http://nichy.org/disabilities/categories
• Developmental delay
• Emotional disturbance
• Hearing impairment
• Intellectual disability
• Multiple disabilities
• Orthopedic impairment
• Other health impairment
• Specific learning disability
• Speech or language impairment
• Traumatic brain injury
• Visual impairment, including blindness
Tips for Parents:
- Know your rights.
- Become informed about how your child’s condition impacts his/her education.
- Your child’s education consists of academic, physical, psycho-social (socialization) and behavioral development.
- Socialization is part of a child’s education.
- Be an active participant in your child’s educational planning.
- If you are not sure about the services that are offered the CSE meeting OR a 504 meeting, tell them you are not in agreement and want to try to resolve your differences in opinion.
- Call one of the resources listed in this guide and ask to speak to someone on their staff that can help you.
• A Parent’s Guide to Section 504 http://schwablearning.org
• Individual Education Plan (IEP) http://schwablearning.org
• National Center for Learning Disabilities www.LD.org
• Resources for Children with Special Needs http://resourcesnyc.org
• New Alternatives for Children http://www.nac-inc.org
• Wright’s Law http://www.wrights.law
• Council for Exceptional Children www.cec.sped.org
• National Dissementation for Children with Disabilities www.nichcy.org
• Advocates for Children www.advocatesforchilden.org
• New York State Education Department www.nysed.gov
• The Council for Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc. www.copaa.org
• The Making Headway Foundation www.makingheadway.org
Good luck and ask lots of questions!
Patricia Weiner, MS is presently an educational consultant and advocate for Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) and academic challenges. She works for The Making Headway Foundation, is a private consultant and faculty mentor for graduate students at Bank Street College of Education in New York. Over the past 35 years, she has worked as a special educator, child life specialist, health-education specialist and has been the administrator of several programs. She has presented nationally on education and child life, published articles and chapters in child life text books, and has received several awards for child advocacy for this population of children.
The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog contributor’s. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Writers may have conflicts of interest, and their opinions are their own.


This week our focus story has been 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. The children are learning all of the words, creating their own actions and using props to retell the story.
We have been writing about our visit to Lorton Meadows and remembering the lovely day that we had and the exciting activities that we took part in to learn more about minibeasts.
In maths we have been using ten frames to help us calculate our addition and subtraction number sentences up to 10 and then up to 20.
During our outdoor leaning session we practised our retelling of 'The Hungry Caterpillar' to the preschool children, went on a plant hunt and made lots of lovely minibeasts using clay and natural materials.


Monday, 27 September 2021
Sh'mini Atzeret or "Eighth [day of] Assembly" (in the seven-day festival of Sukkot) begins on Sunday evening. It is the final, great celebration day of the feast and it is a Shabbat and we have a commanded Eighth day of Assembly.
For seven days you are to bring an offering by fire to ADONAI. The eighth day will be a holy convocation to you, and you are to bring an offering by fire to ADONAI. It is a solemn assembly - you should do no laborious work. Lev 23.36, TLV
Now it's a bit strange to have an eighth day in a seven day festival and Sh'mini Atzeret is in many ways considered a separate feast than Sukkot. But it is not unique! Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread together make an eight-day festival. And did you know that the eight days of Chanukah arise from it being a belated celebration of Sukkot that first year? The Maccabees reclaimed Jerusalem and the Temple too late to celebrate Sukkot that year, but they desired to celebrate before HaShem.
In the Land of Israel, Sh'mini Atzeret also coincides with a second important day - Simchat Torah. However, in the diaspora, Simchat Torah in most Jewish communities is celebrated the day following Sh'mini Atzeret. On Simchat Torah, we celebrate the end of the annual Torah reading cycle and the beginning of the next. Simchat Torah translates as "Rejoicing with/of the Torah" and many consider this to be one of the most fun services in the yearly cycle. All of the Torah scrolls owned by a synagogue - we presently only have the one - are taken out of the Ark and are carried around the synagogue for a total of seven circuits (hakafot), accompanied by much singing and dancing and rejoicing.
In most synagogues, Simchat Torah will continue with services the following morning. Remember the Hebrew day begins in the evening and then continues into what is the next 'day' in Western thought. At B'rit Hadasha, at least for this year, the rest of the Simchat Torah celebrations will continue immediately following the hakafot.
As is traditional, we open the scroll and read a portion of the final parashah in the Torah reading cycle, V'zot HaB'rachah. Then we will watch and celebrate as the Torah scroll is rolled back to the beginning and a portion of B'reisheet is read. This is in keeping with the Jewish tradition of never finishing something without also having a new beginning. It also reminds us that we have never 'finished' reading HaShem's word. We continue to seek the L-rd and read His word every day of our lives. It is an ongoing activity for all of us!! So we say "Let Us Rejoice in the Torah!"


By Chris Roberts
By Joe Eskenazi
By Albert Samaha
By Mike Billings
By Rachel Swan
By Erin Sherbert
By Joe Eskenazi
By Albert Samaha
Within seconds, a powerful odor like burnt cauliflower envelops the air and lingers above the water for minutes. Researchers say the smell is related to the whale's feeding off the bottom of the sea floor 20 meters below.
Slowly, the whale's head surfaces for a brief moment to take in air through its two blowholes before it disappears beneath the murky water. As the whale's head descends, its black back arches above the surface like a cat's. The ridges on the dorsal spine drift past and, occasionally, the whale will flip its fluke as it dives for the sea floor.
Gray whales feed primarily on crustaceans and marine worms on the ocean floor, referred to by scientists as benthic prey. During the six-month feeding season, the whales eat 2,400 pounds a day, gaining up to 30 percent of their body weight. This must sustain them though their migration to breeding grounds during the winter, and the return trip to the feeding grounds.
Grays are believed to live 50 to 60 years, but that is considered a rough estimate. Females are slightly larger than males, averaging 46 feet and weighing about 70,000 pounds.
Photographing the whales is relatively straightforward. Getting a biopsy sample is another story. Researchers are trying to get blubber samples from every whale to build a genetic database so they can determine, among other things, which whales are related to each other.
About midafternoon, a whale known only as No. 69 is spotted, and the team mobilizes for a biopsy. Weller trades his Nikon for a crossbow and a hollow-tipped arrow with a rubber float.
Burdin begins to close in on 69, but the whale is not going to cooperate. It dives and stays down for a couple of minutes, surfacing 30 meters off to the port. Burdin moves the Zodiac toward the whale as it submerges and pursues a course in the same direction. The whale, however, veers course underwater and pops up 20 meters behind the boat.
The dart-and-whale game goes on for 30 minutes.
Finally, Burdin maneuvers the Zodiac within three meters of the surfacing whale, and Weller fires off an arrow into its side. The whale reacts immediately with a powerful flip of its fluke, leaving a large splash in its wake.
Weller retrieves the arrow from the water. A piece of skin and blubber, about three inches long, hangs from the dart.
"Oh, my gosh," says Bradford, reacting to the unusually large sample.
"I think it is the yellow float," Weller says, indicating the float needs to be modified so the arrow doesn't take so much skin. In any case, the wound is harmless to the whale, he says. Weller puts the sample into a salt-saturated solution and stores it in an ice chest.
"We will use this tissue to look at population distinction between Eastern and Western gray whales," he says. "We will also use it for ... DNA fingerprinting, which will allow us to identify relatedness between individuals and gives us a fingerprint essentially of who they are."
Before the day's end, the researchers travel 41 kilometers north from the lighthouse and encounter 27 whales. On the trip back to Pil'tun, a light rain begins to fall, and the sea gets choppy. Three brightly colored tufted puffins accompany the crew for a distance. Harbor porpoises swim nearby. The blow from whales dots the horizon.
The crew hunkers down on the inflatable's sides, holding on to ropes as Burdin guns the engine to 40 kilometers per hour. Nine hours on the sea is exhausting, and everyone is looking forward to dinner.
Without warning, Burdin loses control of the motor, sending the boat into a sharp right turn. Perched on the left side of the boat, I am thrown into the air as centrifugal force proves impossible to overcome.
A split second later, I splash into the Sea of Okhotsk. The Sea of Death. The Mustang survival suit does what it is supposed to do: keep me afloat. The scientists struggle to pull me from the icy water back into the boat. Once I'm on board, someone pulls the suit's hood tight over my head. I am stunned. But the survival gear works like a wet suit, and within minutes my body temperature stabilizes.
It's still another 30 minutes to the lighthouse.
A couple rounds of vodka after a dinner of pasta and sturgeon trigger a raucous chorus of laughter, and the adventures of the day are commemorated with a hearty toast.
Mishaps come with the territory.
One year, a Texas A&M researcher spent a few days in the Okha hospital at death's door after accidentally eating a poisonous mushroom. Last year, one of the research team's Zodiacs was stolen off the beach, only to be found months later in an Okha warehouse. On another occasion, several team members were robbed while walking through the streets of Okha.
Despite the inherent hazards of living in one of the remotest areas of Russia, the working conditions have been the least of the scientists' multitude of challenges.
Getting the oil companies to accept their data and provide the necessary resources to properly conduct the studies has proven far more difficult.
During a series of interviews in Pil'tun and later from San Diego, Weller says he's slowly become convinced that the oil companies are "cleverly" working to sabotage the research project by censoring preliminary reports, cutting funding, and severing crucial noise research from whale-behavior research.
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Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter. The date of Easter is different every year because it was originally based on the Jewish holiday of Passover, which falls on different days every year. Now, Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the Vernal Equinox.
Finding the First Full Moon After the Equinox
March 21 is the official date of the Vernal Equinox, when the day and night are the same length, though the actual equinox may be a day or two off from that. So, the first step is to determine the first full moon on or after March 21. Since Easter is the first Sunday after that full moon, the earliest it could possibly be is March 22. That would only occur if there were a full moon on March 21 and it was a Saturday.
Calculating the First Sunday After the Full Moon
In 2008, Easter was on March 23 because the first full moon was on Equinox, or Friday, March 21. In 2018, the first full moon will be on March 31. Since that is a Saturday, Easter Sunday will be the following day, or April 1. Mathematically and astronomically, the latest Easter can be is April 25.
- pjsells/iStock/Getty Images


Imagine two strangers walking down the street. At first glance, can you tell if one of them is more honest than the other? Of course not. But now, thanks to Covid-19, maybe you can. Just take a look at how they wear their masks in places where masks are mandatory.
Suppose one person is wearing her mask properly, covering her mouth and nose. Suppose the other person only has his mask on his chin, or maybe down around his neck. From this difference alone, it could be that the second person is more likely to be dishonest in other situations as well.
That, at least, is what the economist Yossef Tobol at the Jerusalem College of Technology and his colleagues found in a recent study published in the journal Economic Letters. Their study was conducted in June of 2020 in Israel, at a time when masks had to be worn outside and violators were given a hefty fine by the police. The experimenters recruited 100 people on the street to be in the study who were wearing their mask properly, along with 100 people only wearing their mask on their chin or neck.
As part of the experiment, everyone was given the die-under-the-cup task, a widely used behavioral measure of dishonest behavior. The way the task goes is that you are told to roll a die in private where no one else can observe you, with the understanding that there will be a greater financial reward the higher the roll you report. In Tobol’s study, a reported roll of 1 earned 1.2 euros, 2 earned 2.4 euros, and so on. At the time one euro was the equivalent of a bit more than one US dollar.
For the die-under-the-cup task, the question is whether participants will on average report a roll that is higher than chance would predict (chance = 3.5). This is indeed what Tobol found. For the group wearing their masks properly, the average score reported was 4.05.
This result is in line with many studies of honest behavior using a variety of different measures. These studies tend to find that people are willing to cheat to some extent if they think they can get away with it and get rewarded in the process. At the same time, participants tend to not cheat as much as they could. Why not just report a ‘6,’ for example, no matter what the roll is? Current research on honesty often attributes this restrained cheating behavior to a desire to preserve our ability to think of ourselves as honest people.
What about the group of people who were wearing their mask improperly? What did they report they got in the die rolling task? There, the average reported roll was 4.91, which is a significant difference from the 4.05 of the first group. This second group as a whole was willing to break the rules when it came to Covid-19 safety, and it was also willing to break the rules in another situation as well.
This fits with the explanation that Tobol provides for why these people would have their mask on their chin or neck in the first place. Tobol speculates that they could quickly pull their mask up correctly in the presence of the police to avoid a fine, but otherwise did not care about complying with the requirement. Outward appearance of compliance, together with hidden deception. Just like in the die rolling task.
At this point, it is natural to wonder about a third group, namely those who weren’t wearing a mask at all. Fortunately Tobol studied them too. For 100 people on the street who were not wearing a mask, their reported die roll was 4.21. Slightly higher than the 4.05 for the mask wearing group, but not a statistically significant difference. At the same time it is much lower than the 4.91 for the improper mask wearing group.
We might have initially expected the no mask group to cheat the most of the three on the die task, since they were simply breaking the rules outright. But upon reflection the data makes sense. These are people who are not making any attempt to deceive anyone. They are blatantly violating the public requirement.
So how people wear their mask, when doing so is mandatory, could be a highly visible clue to their degree of honesty. At the same time, we shouldn’t read too much into these results. They need to be replicated in different countries, and with larger sample sizes. Other measures of honest behavior need to be used as well, besides the die rolling task. After all, cheating at that task does not necessarily mean that someone is dishonest in general. So clearly many more studies have to be done.
Someday, though, we might be able to predict people’s dishonesty by simply reading it right off of their face.


On Thursday, Willow Class joined Mr and Mrs Rowberry for a number of wildlife activities. We had so much fun learning about how to conserve our local habitats.
The children helped Mr and Mrs Rowberry re-build their bug hotels. We created new homes for the bugs using bamboo, twigs, tiles, cans and leaves. We hope that the bugs enjoy their stay!
Mr Rowberry took us around the woods, pointing out fascinating invertebrates and explained the local food chain to us.
We found many different species in the pond, from newts to water boatman. The children learnt the importance of preserving all species, right down to the water fleas.
Pooh Bridge Walk
We couldn’t visit Pooh Bridge without a brilliant game of ‘Pooh Sticks’.
Thank you so much to the parent volunteers, who helped make this such a fantastic morning.


In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw a Kinkajou in 7 easy steps - great for kids and novice artists.
The images above represents how your finished drawing is going to look and the steps involved.
Below are the individual steps - you can click on each one for a High Resolution printable PDF version.
At the bottom you can read some interesting facts about the Kinkajou.
Make sure you also check out any of the hundreds of drawing tutorials grouped by category.
How to Draw a Kinkajou - Step-by-Step Tutorial
Step 1: First, draw the head as shown above. It might be helpful to think of a heart shape when doing so. Make sure to have the ears come out from the head.
Step 2: Draw two circles with circles inside of them for the eyes, two ovals for the ears, and a curved line with a semi-circle below it for the mouth. Add two line coming up from the mouth and two tiny circles between them for the nose.
Step 3: Draw the body by making two lines that come off of both the top and bottom of the head, both with curves. The top half should be that it looks like the Kinkajow has a hump on its back.
Step 4: Draw the front leg with two vertical lines that curve right at the foot. Be sure to add some lines for the toes.
Step 5: Draw the other front leg kind of like the first one, except have it a little raised off the ground and at a different angle like shown above.
Step 6: Draw the hind leg coming off of the leftmost part of the body, adding a line coming from the left front arm to define the body. Add some lines for toes.
Step 7: Draw the tail with a single line between the front legs and two lines that meet at a curve on the right side of the drawing. Your Kinkajou is now done!
Interesting Facts about Kinkajous
Kinkajous are mammals that are native to the tropical rainforests of southern Mexico and Brazil. The word “kinkajou” translates to “honey bear.” Their scientific name, Potos flavos, means “golden drinker.” Kinkajous are known to go from flower to flower to drink the nectar. They also eat the honey from beehives.
Did you know?
- Although kinkajous look more like primates, they are actually related to red pandas and raccoons.
- Kinkajous are about 10 inches tall and weigh between 3 and 7 pounds.
- Kinkajous have long tongues, which helps them reach the honey in a hive. Their tongs can be up to 5 inches long.
- Kinkajous are arboreal, which means that they spend most of their lives in trees.
- Kinkajous can turn their feet backwards so that they can climb down trees headfirst.
- Kinkajous are nocturnal. They sleep during the day and look for food at night.
- Kinkajous are omnivores, and their favorite food is fruit. They also eat eggs, insects, and small invertebrates.
Kinkajous have a prehensile tail. A prehensile tail is one that is used like a hand. Kinkajous use their tails to hang from branches, and it also helps them maintain their balance. The tail is almost as long as their body.


A mere recital of the economic policies of governments all over the world is calculated to cause any serious student of economics to throw up his hands in despair. What possible point can there be, he is likely to ask, in discussing refinements and advances in economic theory, when popular thought and the actual policies of governments, certainly in everything connected with international relations, have not yet caught up with Adam Smith? For present-day tariff and trade policies are not only as bad as those in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but incomparably worse. The real reasons for those tariffs and other trade barriers are the same, and the pretended reasons are also the same.
Hazlitt cites Adam Smith’s observation that the best interests of society are advanced by people being able to buy what they want from whoever sells it cheapest. International free trade is just one more example of the benefits of the specialisation of labour: we cannot prudently make for ourselves what it would cost us less to buy than to produce.
Removing tariffs may reveal the uneconomic nature of protected enterprises and drive them out of business. However, the consumer will be able to by the particular product which is no longer subject to tariffs for less, increasing their disposable income. Foreign currency held in the exporting country will be used sooner or later to buy goods from the country it is exporting to, supporting productive businesses there. Consumers win and labour is more gainfully employed in both countries.
Imposing tariffs on foreign goods in order to stimulate creation of a domestic market also creates problems. The domestic consumer will be forced to spend more of their income on subsidising the domestic industry, thus diverting their income away from other, more productive, industries. Jobs are destroyed in one place in order to subsidise them in another place. Because the loss of these jobs elsewhere is dispersed, it is easy to fall under the illusion that the industry is being supported at no cost.
Tariffs harm wages and unprotected industries. They divert labour into areas of the economy which are less efficient, lowering productivity. Real wages in unprotected industries are reduced relative to what they would be without tariffs. Those businesses with a large potential export market suffer a reduction in the amount of domestic currency in the hands of foreign customers which would otherwise be used to buy their goods.
Tariffs protect special interests at the expense of the general interest. They should never be introduced.


National Human Rights Day was Dec. 10, but the fight to combat human trafficking is far from over. In 2004, Mary Burke saw a documentary in which an undercover reporter was propositioned by children for sex. Outraged, Burke, director of the doctoral program in counseling psychology at Carlow University, began working with graduate students and learned there was much work to do to end modern-day slavery. They formed the Project to End Human Trafficking to conduct outreach and provide resources to victims. For more information, visit www.endhumantrafficking.org.
Talking about slavery conjures up images of the old South, of people buying and selling slaves. What does human trafficking look like today?
You're typically looking at [victims] coming from a country that's characterized as having very few resources and characterized as having a lot of poverty among the citizens. ... People who are looking for work usually are away from their home. ... These folks are not looking to get rich. Mostly [they want] to keep a roof over their head. We're talking about people [who are] able to work and make money as long as they are physically fit, so anyone from young kids, 4 and 5 years old, up to 50 years old are targeted.
How are victims drawn into this situation?
The most common way is usually [the victims] find something they think is legit employment, and then they get there and figure out, ‘Oh wow, it's not.' ... Their [identification] is taken, they have no resources, their movement is restricted and there's a threat of violence.
Cases like those covered in the media seem centered in places like Bangladesh, Cambodia or other far-away countries. What's the trafficking situation like domestically?
We're what's called a destination country -- any country that's more advanced. People are trafficked to our country and estimates range from [conservatively] 16,000 a year [up to] 50,000 to 100,000. People are trying to keep this under cover. It's underreported, and people's understanding of what human trafficking is clouds the issue. Police are arresting women for prostitution who don't speak English and don't have [legal documentation] and who are involved in trafficking.
Is this something that's happening in Pittsburgh?
In the past probably 3½ to 4 years, we've had close to 40 victims of human trafficking in Pittsburgh. Those are people who have come to our [attention] because they hear of what we're doing and we get contacted to support victims. I believe there are quite a few more.
What type of work are these victims typically forced into?
A lot of victims here have been in agriculture; about 20 were working on a mushroom farm in Armstrong County. They came into the country legally, then when they arrived had their identification documents taken, their movement restricted and put to work. ... Two young women were prostituted out of a home in Squirrel Hill for several months. [They] came [here] from Russia on a student visa secured for what they thought was legitimate employment on Craigslist, but it wasn't.
Prostitution is sometimes referred to as a victimless crime. What's your response to that?
As long as women are socialized in an environment where we are still discriminated against, our bodies are objectified and commoditized, and we internalize it in ways that can make prostitution seem palatable for some, I don't actually think it's ever a free choice.


Sunscald and Tree Health - January 6, 2021
Jeff Schalau, Agent, Agriculture & Natural Resources
University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Yavapai County
Have you ever seen dead or damaged areas on the trunk of a thin-barked tree? I often in see this in orchards and landscapes that I visit. Sometimes trunk damage is caused by weed eaters, lawn mowers, or wildlife. However, it can also be caused by sunscald. Sunscald (also called “southwest injury”) usually occurs on the south or west side of the tree trunk. Recognizing the causes, symptoms, and taking early corrective actions can help prevent and/or reverse the damage from sunscald.
Sunscald is most common on hardwood tree species having thin bark. The damage is caused by large temperature fluctuations during the early spring months. Sunscald can occur when the bark is exposed to warm daytime temperatures followed by freezing temperatures at night. Here, the sensitive cambial cells are killed because they cannot adjust to freezing temperatures that quickly. Sunscald can also result in vertical frost cracks. Frost cracks also provide an entry point for decay and canker pathogens which further damage and weaken the tree.
Mild symptoms of sunscald may appear as discolored reddish or brownish bark. More advanced symptoms are sunken and/or split bark which peels back exposing the wood in the trunk. Depending on the extent of the damage and time elapsed since the injury occurred, wood boring beetle larvae may cause additional damage. Reflective surfaces such as light-colored buildings, fences, and block walls can also contribute to sunscald by reflecting additional light and transferring heat during winter days. Over time, sunscald damage can lead to chronic disease and tree death.
Young trees are often more susceptible than mature ones due to their thinner bark. It becomes even more of an issue when a young tree is moved from the protected environment of a nursery to the planting site without some gradual hardening-off. Sunscald may also be mistaken for other plant problems or diseases.
To properly diagnose sunscald, you should consider contributing factors: recent weather, irrigation method and effectiveness, pruning, planting dates, and potential for root injury. Some trees have naturally exfoliating bark. In our area, these trees include sycamore, Arizona cypress, birch, and some species of pines. To test if damage has occurred, make a small cut into the suspected area with a sharp, clean knife. If the inner bark is soft and green, then it is still alive. If it is brittle and falls off to expose that wood, then damage has occurred.
If you still suspect damage but are unsure, evaluate the location of the plant and the potential for direct exposure of the bark to the sun. You can also look for other individuals of the same species in the area to see if they are also affected. The following trees are most susceptible: ash, maple, mimosa, walnut, pecan, and deciduous fruit trees.
You may wonder why sunscald is less common in natural areas. Here, trees develop as small shrubs that maintain foliage and branches that shade the trunk. Otherwise, they are shaded by adjacent trees and are not damaged. A major factor causing sunscald of recently planted trees is our tendency to purchase trees that have no lower branches - the lower branches are pruned up to give the tree a more “tree-like” appearance. Where possible, try to purchase young landscape trees that still have a few lower branches.
At the very minimum, sunscald reduces growth and slows tree establishment. Once injury occurs, the tree responds by forming callous tissue which slowly grows back over the affected area. This may heal a tree having slight damage, but often, sunscald damage leads to overall decline of the tree.
Here are some additional recommendations to minimize sunscald damage. Plant healthy trees which are adapted to your local climate. Avoid excessive pruning of lower branches for a few years after planting. Keep trees adequately irrigated. Paint exposed trunk and limbs with white paint sold for this purpose. Light colored tree wraps can also be used, but can also be hiding places for plant pests. Apply 4-6 inches of coarse organic mulch on the soil surface to retain irrigation water and minimize reflected light and heat. Do not place mulch against the stem. I’ve included additional information below.
You can follow the Backyard Gardener on Twitter – use the link on the BYG website. If you have other gardening questions, email the Master Gardener Help Desk in Prescott (firstname.lastname@example.org) or Camp Verde (email@example.com) and be sure to include your name, location, and phone number. Find past Backyard Gardener columns or provide feedback at the Backyard Gardener web site: https://cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/.
Sunscald on a middle-aged Arizona ash (Fraxinus velutina) tree. This is a common stress injury on Arizona landscape and fruit trees (Gerald Holmes, Strawberry Center, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Bugwood.org).
Painted tree trunk - use white wash or white tree trunk paint (photo from: Utah State University).
Paper wrapped tree trunk (photo from: Utah State University).
Sunscald Injury or Southwest Winter Injury on Deciduous Trees, Utah State University
Sunscald of Trees, Colorado State University Extension
Environmental Injury: Sunscald and Sunburn on Trees, Washington State University Extension
| Arizona Cooperative Extension
840 Rodeo Dr. #C
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Last Updated: December 28, 2020
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- What is time travel1? Intuitively, the idea is simple enough to have dominated science fiction books, movies and TV throughout the twentieth century. But defining time travel2 is not simple. According to Paul Davies time travel3 is travel to other times, just as we travel spatially to other places4. No doubt this is right, but spelling out the analogy is not as straightforward as it may at first seem (try defining space travel, then exchanging 'time' for 'place' in the definition.)
- However, one way to define time travel5 is via the notion of a causal process. The simplest case of a causal process is the trajectory of a particle through time, where we think of the earlier stages of the particle as the cause of later stages. The same can be said for the history of a person – one's earlier stages are (partly) responsible for one's later stages. A full stomach causes nourishment, earlier perceptions are the cause of later memories, and so on. Time travel6 is where a causal process connects two times in a special way. Dr Who's body is a causal process, and when the Tardis takes him from 1976 to 1876 that causal process connects two times in a special way. I say 'special way' to distinguish time travel7 from the normal causal process, such as John's life, a causal process, connecting 1965 and 2005, the dates of his birth and death.
- Following David Lewis, we can say that a causal process connects two times in a special way when the 'personal' time defined by the causal process is at odds with 'external' time8. As measured by his watch, or digestive processes, Dr Who's trip takes 2 hours, let's say, which is at odds with the external time of minus 100 years. In the case of normal causal processes such as John's life, the personal time and external time coincide, so that is not time travel9. So we can say that time travel10 is where a causal process connects two times in a way that involves a temporal discrepancy11.
- This idea of time travel12 has long given philosophers difficulties. Most recently, in his paper 'Troubles with Time Travel13' William Grey presents a number of objections to time travel14, some well-known in the philosophical literature, others quite novel15. In particular Grey's 'no destinations' and 'double occupation' objections I take to be original, while what I will call the 'times paradox' and the 'possibility restriction argument' are versions of well-known objections. I show how each of these can be answered, thereby defending the plausibility of time travel16.
Footnote 4: See "Davies (Paul C.W.) - About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution", p. 234.
Footnote 8: See pp. "Lewis (David) - The Paradoxes of Time Travel", pp. 67-68 (of "Lewis (David) - Philosophical Papers Volume II").
Footnote 15: See "Grey (William) - Troubles with Time Travel".
- Lewis' notion of a temporal discrepancy, by itself, without the notion a causal process, will not suffice as a definition of time travel because it will count cases of closed timelike curves, discussed below, as time travel even if nothing travels.
Text Colour Conventions (see disclaimer)
- Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2019
- Mauve: Text by correspondent(s) or other author(s); © the author(s)


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Telomeres, located at the ends of chromosomes and composed of a protein complex and tandem repeats of TTAGGG nucleotides, function to protect chromosomes from end-to-end fusions, breakage and degradation in dividing cells. Due to the inherent nature of DNA replication (‘the end replication problem’) and oxidative stress—telomeres gradually shorten with age. This has been demonstrated cross-sectionally in most tissues examined including the pancreas, and especially in cells with extensive proliferation (eg, leucocytes).1 ,2 Cells with critically short telomeres enter growth arrest, or senescence, and may remain viable for extended periods. Premalignant cells can avoid senescence and continue to proliferate by upregulating telomerase or elongating telomeres by alternative mechanisms.1
Shortened telomeres are thought to contribute to chromosomal instability and age-related diseases in humans, including cancer. Up to 90% of human tumours reactivate telomerase, which is epigenetically silenced in most adult somatic cells.1 Somatic promoter mutations and germ-line sequence variants at TERT (the gene that encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase reverse transcriptase on chr 5p15.33) have been observed in various human cancers, indicating extensive pleiotropy at this locus.3 Although somatic mutations in TERT are uncommon in pancreatic cancer (PC), several independent PC risk loci marked by common (and less common) susceptibility alleles have been (and likely will continue to be) identified at the …
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Thanks to the 335 volunteers who came out on a beautiful December day, 30,000 American beachgrass (Ammophila breviligulata) plants were installed at Island Beach State Park last Saturday.
Beachgrass is being planted at the park to help build and stabilize dunes. The blades of this plant trap wind-blown sand, and its vigorous growth enables the plant to withstand heavy deposits of sand and grow up through it. Strong underground stems (rhizomes) spread beneath the sand and give rise to many new plants.
Sand dunes provide protection against damaging coastal storms by absorbing wave energy, and they act as major sand storage areas which replenish sand to eroded beaches during storm events.
The Friends of Island Beach State Park sponsored and coordinated the planting, with the assistance of AmeriCorps NJ Watershed Ambassador Justin Linton. The Barnegat Bay Partnership will be providing funding assistance for another planting planned for the spring of 2019.