Uses of the Past.
We tend to conceptualize the past in extreme terms of an either positive or negative character. Traditionally, the prevailing tendency was towards the positive – and the myth of the Golden Age and its correlates all emphasised the idealization of the past, and the denigration of the present. Why there has always been such a pervasive tendency to idealize the past is a mysterious subject in itself. It may be that things are always getting progressively shittier, and every past really is a Golden Age, comparatively speaking. Or it may be that all times are equally shitty, and hence all past times equally beatified by the imagination. For whatever reason, the principle of entropy had its pre-scientific equivalent in the ubiquitous notion of history as a perpetual falling away from better, nobler times. The idealized past was frequently used as a means of critiquing the inequities and imperfections of the present. In a similar manner, when the past was viewed in a negative light, it was largely as a means of glorifying the present, and such people (ourselves) as are in it. This is the contrary view of the past – that it was essentially stupider than us.
This negative view of the past didn’t really come to predominate until the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, and an era where the arrow of time began to be conceived as synonymous with the upward arc of progress. Suddenly, the Golden Age looped across time’s horizon into the future, the present became its noble incubator, and the past was downgraded to the status of a skid-row slum. The more we glorified the present, and the notion of progress, the more the past began to acquire a creeping, palpable sense of horror. In perfect antithesis to the idea of the Golden Age, the past became a place we desperately didn’t want to revisit. The Victorian period in particular was characterised by a widespread anxiety regarding the stability and permanence of civilisation and the hard-won fruits of progress – a fear of the “resurgent atavism” in cultural terms. In biology, an atavism is a throwback, an ancestral trait or characteristic that returns after several generations of absence. In the Victorian era, a confluence of racist and colonialist ideologies, combined with an incomplete understanding of evolution, made the idea of the atavism a cultural icon, and extended the concept into the realm of culture and society. Max Nordau’s influential 1892 work Degeneration articulated an increasingly pervasive anxiety – the idea that Western culture was entering a degenerate phase, returning slowly to its savage, uncivilised roots.
The 1800s also witnessed the development of genre that seemed tailor-made to express the terror of the past. The works of Edgar Alan Poe, combined with the urban gothic tales of Richard Marsh, RL Stevenson, and others, formed the basis of what we now call horror. The past is weirdly intrinsic to the horror genre; it is as essential to horror as outer space is to science fiction. In so far as we can generalize, there can be no underlying motif more intrinsic to horror than that of something from the recent or distant past that refuses to stay buried; no idea more common than that of a metaphysical force which has been prematurely consigned to the past, yet refuses to stay there. An ancient evil is always on the brink of being resurrected; the monster invariably refuses to stay dead.
The affinity of horror with the past, and the idea of atavistic resurgence, is complex and multifaceted. On one level, horror necessitates a regression into our own personal history. The world of the horror genre is not that of rational adulthood, where the greatest fears are either of a practical nature, or those imposed by the neurotically brittle edifice of our ego-based self-image. The horror genre instead is infused with the child’s irrational terror of the dark, and the adolescent’s perpetual sense of unease and discomfort in the world, in their own skin. In this sense, horror presents a sensory experience whereby these aspects of our personal development refuse to remain buried in the past. On a more fundamental level, however, taken in the context of rational, scientific modernity, horror is itself very much a cultural atavism. Virtually everything horror thrives on is a brazen anathema to the values of the Enlightenment and the scientific era: ghosts, the supernatural, demonic possession, and so on. The logic of horror is far closer to animism than linear causality; its environment is always defined more in terms of heightened, subjective atmosphere than objectified physical geography. The most quintessential assertion horror can make is: all the rational assumptions that give you a sense of security in this world are actually apt to crumble in the blinking of an eyelid; every iota of confidence and conviction you have acquired as an adult is null and void in the face of the unknown. Horror, then, reactivates instincts, beliefs, and ways of viewing the world that our mainstream societal norms have consigned into the past.
Golden Age of the Fantastic.
Folk horror is a relatively recent coinage, and yet another instance of our seemingly incorrigible tendency to invent new generic categories for old cultural artefacts. The term is sometimes taken simply to encompass a short-lived sub-genre of British horror cinema which drew on the British Isles’ rich legacy of folk and pagan tradition: essentially, the loosely grouped trilogy of Witchfinder General (1968), The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), and The Wicker Man (1973). Others trace the literary pedigree of the folk horror sensibility back through a variety of supernatural authors including M.R. James, Algernon Blackwell, and the occult pot-boilers of Dennis Wheatley. Fascinating though this may be, it is probably best to envision folk horror as a phenomenon that flourished in British cinema and television in the sixties and seventies. Folk horror typically is concerned with the uncanny and often unsettling vitality of folk/pagan traditions and beliefs – with witchcraft, black magic, fertility rites and festivals; in essence, with the idea that the Old Ways, the Old Religions, and the Old Gods never really die out. They remain hidden under the surface of the modern world, preserved in secluded rural enclaves, or waiting to be rediscovered in ancient manuscripts, artefacts, and monuments. The greatest iconic signifier of folk horror is the endlessly mysterious and suggestive form of the Neolithic stone circle – with their eerie mixture of nature and artifice, primitivism and a sense of elusive technology, these Neolithic monuments are the emblem par excellence of the uncanny return of the antiquated.
The 60s and the 70s were a Golden Age of the fantastic in British popular culture. Like ghosts or UFOs, strikingly surreal and numinous images and concepts appeared in the most incongruous of contexts – folk horror, for example, really flourished in children’s television. Britain excelled at a certain type of surreal fantasy in this period – the type exemplified by The Wicker Man in the movies, and The Prisoner, Children of the Stones, Sapphire and Steel, and many others, on television. What factors produced this Renaissance of British weirdness in precisely that period? Arguably, it was a fortuitous mixture of technological and social factors. We are looking, first and foremost, at a time when popular culture wasn’t so intensely interconnected, and so intimately aware of every other node in the cultural spectrum, as it is today. Culture could thus still feel parochial and hidden, not unlike the archetypal folk horror setting. The global village had villages, enclaves, nooks and crannies, places where surprizing things could emerge while nobody seemed to be watching. (To some degree, I think the current vogue for second-hand stores and flea-markets reflects a certain nostalgia for a less networked, less self-conscious culture.) There was something in the prevailing aesthetics and technological constraints of film and television in the 60s and 70s that was particularly conducive to the production of uncanny, dreamlike escapism; something in the types of film stock, in the soundtracks, and in the often cheap and crudely effective special effects, that produced a particular ambience, a particular tonal quality. And, of course, there was the culture of the period itself: the Old Gods and folk traditions were themselves re-emerging from the mists of time, through the bustling energy of the youth culture, and the aptly new/ancient prism of psychedelic drugs.


As far as I was concerned this week’s news of the week (in a less than good way) was the restating of the risk of an Alpine Fault earthquake event. From talking with other people, it seems this news flew under the radar for many. This is probably a good thing, because there isn’t anything we can do to prevent an earthquake, however probable or improbable it may be. Moreover, any advice on managing stress will likely tell you to focus on the things that you have power over, and earthquakes are well outside that category.
As background, the Alpine Fault runs up the spine of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the boundary between the Pacific and Australian plates – plate boundary faults are a big deal in the world of faults; they move the most. Another notable plate boundary is the San Andreas fault in California. As New Zealanders, and particularly South Islanders, we grow up knowing that we live in a place prone to earthquakes and experience small ones moderately regularly. We also have long known that a very big earthquake on the Alpine Fault, releasing stress as the two plates try to move relative to one another, is due or overdue. However, it is not until relatively recently that the risk of such an earthquake has been quantified. Further, the quantifications become ever more accurate as new information on frequency of past Alpine Fault events is gathered and a grouping of research organisations recently completed studies on a number of new sites, where previous estimates were based on reconstructing earthquakes that occurred at a single site in South Westland.
I found it really interesting how my brain responded to the revised risk, which has shifted from a 30% chance of an Alpine Fault earthquake in the next 50 years, to a 75% chance (I carried out my brain separation exercise in which one bit of me reacts while the other bit watches). How real did this news make an earthquake feel to me? What my reacting brain said about these numbers was the following. A 30% chance means it is quite likely that I will be dead before there is another major Alpine Fault earthquake. In contrast, a 75% chance means it is reasonably likely I will be alive during the next major Alpine Fault earthquake, although I could be quite old (my reacting brain seems to assume I will live until I am quite old). So the numbers made the possibility of a large earthquake feel quite real.
What also makes earthquakes feel real to me is having lived through the Canterbury Earthquakes; I can confidently say that I didn’t really know about what the experience of earthquakes is like until I lived through that period in Christchurch. As a result of the experience, I said that I really didn’t want to live through another major civil emergency. That wish was blown apart by having to live through the COVID emergency, together with everyone else. I scaled back to not wanting to live through another set of major earthquakes. I said this to a friend recently (who doesn’t live in Canterbury) and she said, ‘I’ve felt lots of earthquakes in Chile and New Zealand’, like it wasn’t such a big deal. However, what I don’t think she realised is that, it isn’t so much the earthquakes themselves that I don’t want to experience again (although I wouldn’t claim them to be fun in any way). There is a huge difference between experiencing an earthquake, and experiencing an earthquake disaster in my community. An earthquake can be scary and disorienting, however it is going to be over in maximum a few minutes (that would be a very bad one), and more likely seconds. An earthquake disaster in your community continues on for years, maybe for life.
What I particularly would rather not live through again includes:
- Negotiating with an insurance company over what payments will be made to fix your house, while being told at every visit that your house is less damaged than the time before. We had an amazing, self-repairing house (which, sadly, was more damaged at every stage through the recurring 15,000 aftershocks).
- Starting awake multiple every night, for a month or more after every major earthquake (of which there were four), as aftershocks hit your house like a sledgehammer against your bed.
- Seeing the city you grew up in with gaping holes that used to be places people lived, worked and played, and seeing those holes remain for many years.
- Seeing people you know ground down by the various stressors involved in broken houses, repairs or lack of them, insurance debates, lost jobs and damaged communities.
- Living in a community where everyone is exhausted and where few are unscathed as a result of the event.
I tested whether my brain felt better about the fact that there is only an 82% chance that the earthquake will be over magnitude 8 (an ‘AF8’) on the Richter Scale. This means there is only a 62% chance of an earthquake over 8 in the next 50 years.
Earthquakes are quantified on the Richter Scale (geologists like Chris and me learn the Richter Scale in order to pass exams). Each step on the Richter Scale releases about 33x more energy than the step before. The Canterbury Earthquakes maxed out at 7.1 on the Richter Scale (and the Kaikoura event at 7.4), so were substantially smaller than many of the past earthquakes that have occurred on the Alpine Fault, estimated to be around 8 on the Richter Scale. An 8 is “likely to cause major damage to buildings, with structures likely to be destroyed, moderate to heavy damage to sturdy or earthquake-resistant buildings, damage in large areas and be felt in extremely large regions”.
One thing we did learn in the Canterbury Earthquakes, however, is that the Richter Scale is not nearly as important to the people feeling the earthquakes as the Modified Mercalli Scale (MM). The MM is very much about how real an earthquake feels, because this scale measures the felt intensity at a location, while the Richter is merely a measure of the energy released. What you feel at any location depends in a large part on how far you are from the epicentre of an earthquake, both horizontally and in terms of how deep the earthquake is. In Canterbury and Kaikoura the earthquakes were reasonably close to built-up areas and were very shallow – Canterbury earthquakes were around 5km deep and Kaikoura 15km (shallow earthquakes are 0 – 70 km deep, intermediate earthquakes are 70 – 300 km deep, deep earthquakes are at 300 – 700 km). These earthquakes were felt at maximum MMVIII, the description of which includes “general alarm, which may approach panic, people have difficulty standing, few buildings are damaged and some weak buildings are destroyed”.
There are so many different projections as to how an Alpine Fault Richter 8 earthquake might play out across the South Island, that it is difficult to find any conclusive information on what intensity one might experience at any particular place. The picture above has one interpretation but there are many more. One thing that is certain is that the West Coast will be particularly badly off. If you want information on what might happen, one of the best sources of information is the AF8 website.
In conclusion…given that the possibility of an earthquake now feels so much more real to me, I had better work on our emergency kit in Christchurch. In Gibbston we are well set up to manage for a month or more in terms of water, food and a generator (and we will need to do so given that the valley will likely be isolated by bridges at each end collapsing). In Christchurch our food supplies and water supplies could well be improved. I can’t do anything about an earthquake, but I should do something about the things over which I do have control. And then I should put earthquake realities back into the hibernating component of my brain, just leaving a reminder in my calendar to freshen up the water supplies!
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The Advanced Materials + BioEngineering Research (AMBER) center, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is undertaking a project to develop 3D bioprinted implants for people suffering from osteoarthritis.
Made to regenerate rather than replace diseased joints, these implants could be an innovative solution for medical problems that affect over 900,000 people in the Republic of Ireland, and around 28.9% of the UK population alone.
Regenerate rather than replace
This project is the latest news from AMBER’s 3D bioprinting lab. With plans announced in 2018, the $4.9 million (€4.3 million) facility is the product of a collaboration between AMBER and multinational medical device and pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson.
In the project, the AMBER team plans to create a hybrid implant containing a titanium core. To promote regeneration, the implant will be seeded with patient tissue – presumable 3D bioprintied in the lab.
In an article in Irish Times Professor Danny Kelly, lead principal investigator on the project at AMBER, explains, “Theoretically at least we can begin to print new tissues or organs to potentially treat diseases like arthritis,”
“So instead of replacing the joint with a piece of metal we could replace it with a piece of lab-grown bone or cartilage that could regenerate that joint.”
Image Credit: Beau Jackson / 3D Printing Industry


War on Women
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War on Women is an expression in United States politics used to describe certain Republican Party policies as a wide-scale effort to restrict women's rights, especially reproductive rights. Prominent Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer, as well as feminists, have used the phrase to criticize proponents of the laws as trying to force their social views on women through legislation. The expression is used to describe Republican policies in areas such as access to reproductive health services, particularly birth control and abortion services; the prosecution of criminal violence against women; the definition of rape for the purpose of the public funding of abortion; and workplace discrimination against women.
While used in other contexts, and prior to 2010, it became a common message in American political discourse after the 2010 congressional elections. The term is often used to describe policies that reduce or eliminate taxpayer funding for women's health organizations such as Planned Parenthood, in attempts to restrict abortion subsidies. Other areas in dispute include public funding and/or mandatory employer insurance coverage of such matters as contraception and sterilization.
The phrase and the concept have been criticized by Republicans and some pro-life Democrats. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus described it as an over-simplified fiction advanced by Democrats and the media while other Republicans contended that such rhetoric was used as a distraction from President Barack Obama and the Democrats' handling of the economy. In August 2012, Todd Akin's controversial comments regarding pregnancy and rape sparked renewed media focus on the concept. Republicans have tried to turn the phrase against Democrats by using it to argue hypocrisy for not critiquing sex scandals of members within their Party, who have cheated, sexted, and harassed women; and for not supporting bills to combat sex-selective abortion.
- 1 Development of the term
- 1.1 Reproductive rights
- 1.1.1 Abortion restrictions
- 1.1.2 Birth control
- 1.1.3 Defunding Planned Parenthood
- 1.1.4 Defunding international family planning
- 1.2 Violence against women
- 1.3 Financial assistance
- 1.4 Workplace and pay discrimination
- 1.1 Reproductive rights
- 2 Public opinion
- 3 Reaction
- 4 See also
- 5 References
- 6 Further reading
Development of the term
In 1989, radical feminist Andrea Dworkin wrote in a book introduction about "war on women" and, in 1997, she collected that and other writings in Life and Death, for which the subtitle was Unapologetic Writings on the Continuing War Against Women. Feminist Susan Faludi's 1991 book Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, argued that throughout the 1980s the media created a "backlash" against the feminist advances of the 1970s. Former Republican political consultant Tanya Melich's 1996 memoir, The Republican War Against Women: An Insider's Report from Behind the Lines, describes the incorporation of the pro-life movement and opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment by Republicans as a divergence from feminist causes.
George W. Bush's administration met with resistance from feminists and women's rights activists throughout his Presidency. In 2004 The Feminist Press published Laura Flanders' collection of essays The W Effect: Bush's War On Women. In 2006 economist Barbara Finlay's critique of the Bush administration's treatment of women was published by Zed Books under the title George W. Bush and the War on Women: Turning Back the Clock on Progress.
In the 2010 midterm elections, the Republican Party won the majority in the House of Representatives. On January 4, 2011, the day after Congress convened, Kaili Joy Gray of the liberal Daily Kos wrote an opinion piece titled "The Coming War on Women". In the article, she outlined many of the measures that Republicans intended to push through the House of Representatives, including personhood laws, fetal pain laws, and the effort to defund Planned Parenthood. In February 2011, an AlterNet article by Sarah Seltzer and Lauren Kelley entitled "9 New laws in the GOP's War on Women"  began to document state-level legislation restricting abortion access and rights. That same month, New York Representative Jerrold Nadler referred to the proposed No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, one of the Congress's first actions and one that would have changed policy to allow only victims of "forcible rape" or child sex abuse to qualify for Medicaid funding for abortion, as "an entirely new front in the war on women and their families". Florida Representative and Chair of the Democratic National Committee Debbie Wasserman Schultz began using the term "War on Women" in March 2011.
The "War on Women" expression was used often when describing the unprecedented rise in the passage of provisions related to women's health and reproductive rights in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, state legislatures across the United States introduced over 1100 provisions related to women's health and reproductive rights, and in the first quarter of 2012 an additional 944 provisions were introduced in state legislatures, half of which would restrict access to abortion. Legislation has focused on mandatory ultrasounds, narrowing the time when abortions may be performed and limiting insurance coverage of abortion.
Democratic strategist Zerlina Maxwell wrote an editorial for U.S. News & World Report in which she cited a Guttmacher Institute analysis showing state legislatures enacted 135 pieces of legislation affecting women's reproductive rights as evidence that the "Republican 'War on Women' is no fiction." The analysis found that between 2000 and 2011, the number of states hostile to abortion rights have increased markedly, and that in 2011 there was an unprecedented rise in the number of provisions passed by state legislatures restricting abortion.
Many states have adopted model legislation written by Americans United for Life, a pro-life advocacy group. In June 2011, Charmaine Yoest and Denise M. Burke of Americans United, acknowledged the expression in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, writing that "Indiana is being threatened with the loss of federal funding for health care and being held up to scorn as having 'declared war on women.'"
In 2011 and 2012, "War on Women" was used to describe the legislation passed by many states requiring that women seeking abortions first undergo government-mandated ultrasounds. Some states require that women view the image of the fetus and others require that women be offered the opportunity to listen to the fetal heartbeat. Since many women's pregnancies are not far enough along to get an image via a traditional ultrasound, transvaginal ultrasounds, which involve the physician inserting a probe into the woman's vagina, may be required, but these requirements vary state to state. Critics have questioned the value of having a medically unnecessary procedure, and characterized it as similar to some states' legal definition of rape. Writer Megan Carpentier underwent the procedure and indicated that although it was not comparable to being raped, the process was "uncomfortable to the point of being painful, emotionally triggering... and something that no government should force its citizens to undergo to make a political point." However, in an article critical of the assumptions of those on both sides of the issue, sociologist Tracy Weitz, who opposes mandatory ultrasound, notes that "the use of trans-vaginal ultrasounds is routine among abortion providers."
Virginia State legislators passed a bill in 2012 requiring women to have an ultrasound before having an abortion. The legislation, signed by Governor Bob McDonnell, would require that the provider of an abortion make a copy of the fetal image and include it in the file of the patient. In Louisiana, where pregnant women are already required to view ultrasounds of their fetuses before receiving an abortion, lawmakers proposed a bill that would require them to listen to the embryonic/fetal heartbeat as well. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett drew criticism when he said of his state's new mandatory transvaginal ultrasound law that "You can't make anybody watch, okay? Because you just have to close your eyes. As long as it's on the exterior and not the interior."
Gestational limits on abortion
In June 2013, Representative Trent Franks of Arizona, passed a national bill in the House Judiciary Committee that would ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. The bill did not include exceptions for rape, incest or health of the mother. In responding to the bill's lack of exception for rape victims, Franks stated that "the incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low," which was compared to the controversial statements made by Todd Akin; studies show that the incidence of pregnancy from rape is approximately equal to or higher than the rate from consensual sex. Afterwards, the House Rules Committee added exceptions for rape and incest. Georgia legislators passed HB 954, a "fetal pain bill" criminalizing abortions performed after the 20th week of pregnancy. The bill, which does not contain exemptions for rape or incest, has been referred to as the "women as livestock bill" by opponents after Representative Terry England made a comparison between women seeking abortions for stillborn fetuses to delivering calves and pigs on a farm.
In April 2012, Arizona passed legislation banning abortions occurring 20 weeks after a woman's last menstrual period. A judge from the District Court initially upheld this ban, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August 2012 that the ban could not be enforced until an appeal on the law had been decided. The Ninth Circuit then struck down the law as unconstitutional in May 2013. Eight other states, including Nebraska, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho and Oklahoma, have passed such bills; unlike Arizona, the gestational age in these states is calculated from fertilization (20 weeks post-fertilization-which means 22 weeks LMP). In 2013, Idaho's ban was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal judge. States such as Ohio have proposed so-called "heartbeat bills" that would prohibit abortions when the heartbeat of the fetus can be detected. Fetal heartbeats can be detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
Defining the beginning of human personhood
In 2011, voters in Mississippi rejected Initiative 26, a measure that would have declared that human life begins at fertilization, which had drawn support from conservative Republicans and Democrats. Critics of the initiative indicated that the law would have made abortion illegal even in cases where the mother's life is in danger.
Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers
In February 2011, South Dakota state legislators considered a bill that would expand that state's definition of justifiable homicide to include killings committed by a party other than a pregnant woman for the purpose of preventing harm to a fetus, a measure interpreted by critics as allowing the killing of abortion providers. Similar legislation was considered in Iowa.
Several state legislatures have passed or are considering legislation to prevent parents from suing doctors who fail to warn them of fetal problems, which are sometimes known as wrongful birth lawsuits. Some of the laws, such as one proposed in Arizona, make exceptions for "intentional or grossly negligent acts", while others do not.
In April 2012, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed into law a bill requiring doctors who prescribe the medical abortion pill to have three meetings with patients or be subject to felony charges. Planned Parenthood suspended non-surgical abortions in the state.
On January 20, 2012, Health and Human Services' Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a mandate requiring that all health plans provide coverage for all contraceptives approved by the FDA as part of preventive health services for women. Following complaints from Catholic bishops, an exception was created for religious institutions whereby an employee of a religious institution that does not wish to provide reproductive health care can seek it directly from the insurance company at no additional cost. Missouri Senator Roy Blunt proposed an amendment (the Blunt Amendment) that would have "allowed employers to refuse to include contraception in health care coverage if it violated their religious or moral beliefs", but it was voted down 51-48 by the U.S. Senate on March 1, 2012. A bill passed by the Arizona House would allow employers to exclude medication used for contraceptive purposes from their health insurance plans.
In February 2012, Republican Congressman Darrell Issa convened an all-male panel addressing contraceptive mandates for health insurers. He did not allow Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University Law Center student, to participate in the hearing. Democratic Representatives then staged a separate panel where Fluke was allowed to speak. Later that month, American conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh controversially called Sandra Fluke a "slut" and "prostitute" and continued in similar fashion for the next two days. Foster Friess, the billionaire supporting the candidacy of Rick Santorum, suggested in February 2012 that women put aspirin between their knees as a form of contraception. Limbaugh echoed the sentiment, saying he would "buy all of the women at Georgetown University as much aspirin to put between their knees as they want." Nancy Pelosi circulated a petition and asked that Republicans in the House of Representatives disavow the comments by Friess and Limbaugh, which she called "vicious and inappropriate".
Defunding Planned Parenthood
Several Democrats used the phrase War on Women to criticize the Republican Party after House Republicans passed legislation to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood in February 2011. Texas, Indiana and Kansas have passed legislation in an effort to defund the organization. Arizona, Ohio and New Hampshire are considering similar legislation. In Texas, lawmakers reduced funds for family planning from $111M to $37M. The future of the Women's Health Program in Texas, which receives 90% of its funding from the federal government, is unclear. The Indiana legislature passed a bill restricting Medicaid funds for Planned Parenthood. Indiana Representative Bob Morris later referred to the Girl Scouts of the USA as a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood. A 2011 Kansas statute cut funding to Planned Parenthood.
On January 31, 2012, breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure stopped funding Planned Parenthood, citing a congressional investigation by Rep. Cliff Stearns and a newly created internal rule about not funding organizations under any federal, state or local investigation. Four days later, Komen's Board of Directors reversed the decision and announced that it would amend the policy to "make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political". Several top-level staff members resigned from Komen during the controversy.
Defunding international family planning
The National Organization for Women (NOW), in the U.S., in 2011, stated its opinion that "the 'war on women' isn't restricted to U.S. women", saying that the House of Representatives planned to "cut ... international family planning assistance.... [to] include the elimination of all U.S. funds designated for UNFPA" (now known as the United Nations Population Fund).
Violence against women
In January 2011, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act moved to change how rape is treated when used to determine whether abortions qualify for Medicaid funding. Under the language of the bill, only cases of "forcible rape" or child sexual abuse would have qualified. Political activist groups Moveon.org and Emily's List charged that this constituted a Republican attempt to "redefine rape".
In 2014, Michigan law prohibited all public and most private insurers from covering abortions including in cases of rape and incest. It requires women to buy separate insurance and has been called "rape insurance" by opponents because of the possibility that a women will need to have separate insurance for an abortion resulting from rape.
Unsuccessful Missouri Republican candidate to the U.S. Senate Todd Akin made controversial comments in August 2012 asserting (falsely) that women who are victims of "legitimate rape" rarely experience pregnancy from rape. While he issued an apology for his comments, they were widely criticized, and they sparked a renewed focus on Republican attitudes towards women and "shift[ed] the national discussion to divisive social issues that could repel swing voters rather than economic issues that could attract them".
There were multiple calls from Republicans for Akin to step down as nominee. The Washington Post reported a "stampede" of Republicans dissociating from Akin. NRSC chairman John Cornyn said the GOP would no longer provide him Senate election funding. A campaign spokesman for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan said both disagreed with Akin's position and would not oppose abortion in instances of rape. Ryan reportedly called Akin to advise him to step aside. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus warned Akin not to attend the upcoming 2012 Republican convention and said he should resign the nomination. He described Akin's comments as "biologically stupid" and "bizarre" and said that "This is not mainstream talk that he's referring to and his descriptions of whatever an illegitimate rape is."
Other Republican candidates in the 2012 election also created controversy with their comments on rape. Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, when discussing his opposition to exceptions on abortion bans in cases of rape, said, "I think even if life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." Tom Smith, the Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, compared pregnancy from rape to pregnancy out of wedlock. Akin, Mourdock, and Smith all lost their races due to backlash from women voters.
Military sexual assault
Columnist Margery Eagan has said that opposition to reforming the military in order to better prosecute sexual assaults constitutes a war on women. Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia was criticized for saying that part of the cause of the sexual assault was young officers' "hormone level created by nature".
The renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, which provides for community violence prevention programs and battered women's shelters, was fiercely opposed by conservative Republicans in 2012. The Act was originally passed in 1994 and has been reauthorized by Congress twice. Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, who has previously voted against renewal of the Act, said the bill was a distraction from a small business bill. However, in 2013 a strengthened version of the act was passed by Congress with bipartisan support.
In February 2011, Ms. magazine charged House Republicans with launching a new "War on Women" for their proposal to cut the WIC budget by 10%. The WIC program, which President Barack Obama has called a spending priority, is a federal assistance program for low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and infants and children under the age of five. The program had been running a surplus, primarily due to decreases in the cost of milk, which make up 20% of WIC expenditures, and lower participation than expected. WIC's budget was later cut by 5.2% as part of the bipartisan budget sequestration in 2013.
Workplace and pay discrimination
In April 2012, Governor Scott Walker's repeal of Wisconsin's Equal Pay Enforcement Act was described by opponents as furthering the "War on Women", which became a big issue in his recall election. The Equal Pay Enforcement Act was passed in 2009 in response to the large gap between the wages of men and women in Wisconsin. Among other provisions, it allowed workplace discrimination victims redress in the less costly and more accessible state court system, rather than in federal court. Defending the repeal, Walker stated that the Act had essentially been nothing but a boon for trial lawyers, incentivizing them to sue job creators, including female business owners, and that the law was being used to clog up the legal system in his state. While it is still illegal in Wisconsin to pay women less on the basis of their sex, the repeal was criticized for reinforcing the gender pay gap, a recurrent theme in the struggle for women's rights. Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman said of the repeal, "You could argue that money is more important for men. I think a guy in their first job, maybe because they expect to be a breadwinner someday, may be a little more money-conscious."[dead link] Law student Sandra Fluke, criticized Grothman's comment, highlighting legislation that supports equal pay for equal work, such as the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.
A May 2012 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 31 percent of women and 28 percent of men believed there was an ongoing and wide-scale effort to "limit women's reproductive health choices and services". 45 percent of women and 44 percent of men responded that some groups would like to limit these choices and services, but it's not wide‐scale. Democrats were more likely than Republicans to say there is a movement, but the largest gap was between liberal and conservative ideologies. Among those women believing these efforts to be wide-scale, 75 percent saw this as "a bad thing" against 16 percent who saw this as "a good thing". In the same poll, 42 percent of women and men have said they have taken some action in response to what they heard regarding reproductive health issues.
Response from Republicans
Critics of the term have said that the War on Women does not exist and some have suggested that it is a ploy to influence women voters. Reince Priebus, the Chairman of the RNC, referred to the War as a "fiction", saying "If the Democrats said we had a war on caterpillars and every mainstream media outlet talked about the fact that Republicans have a war on caterpillars, then we'd have problems with caterpillars." Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers called the war a myth, saying "It's an effort to drive a political wedge in an election year." Referring to the 2010 elections and Nancy Pelosi, she said that "It could be argued that the women actually unelected the first woman Speaker of the House." Republican Representative Paul Ryan mocked the idea of a Republican War on Women, saying "Now it's a war on women; tomorrow it's going to be a war on left-handed Irishmen or something like that."
Senator John McCain, when asked by journalist David Gregory if there was a Republican War on Women, said "I think that there is a perception out there because of how this whole contraception issue played out — ah, we need to get off of that issue, in my view."
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski countered the criticism from her fellow party members, challenging them to "go home and talk to your wife and your daughters" if they did not think there was a war on women, saying "It makes no sense to make this attack on women."
Texas Senate Bill Five filibuster
Reacting to abortion restrictions in Texas Senate Bill Five, Democratic State Senator Wendy Davis created a 13 hour filibuster to successfully block its passage before a legislative deadline in June 2013. It was estimated that up to 5,000 people came to the Texas capitol in order to stop the bill. Texas Governor Rick Perry called another session of the state senate in July and the bill passed by a vote of 19 to 11 and was signed into law by Perry.
Democratic sexual harassment scandals
Members of the Democratic Party, both prominent and local, have been accused of participating in the war on women. In a column for USA Today, Glenn Reynolds wrote in July 2013 that "most of the action in the war on women seems to be coming from the Democratic front," referring to the allegations of sexual harassment against San Diego mayor Bob Filner, the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, and the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal. The Republican National Senatorial Committee has also used these scandals in press releases, tying Democratic Senators in Iowa and New Hampshire to the allegations.
The messaging from Republicans was described as unlikely to be effective by Garance Franke-Ruta in The Atlantic because "[the War on Women] was an argument about Republican policies on women ... rather than about reprehensible individual behavior." Noting that many of the targets are not on upcoming ballots, Franke-Ruta continued by saying the Republican Party "is going to need its own pro-active framework for thinking about what is happening in America and why women have been drawn to Democrats in numbers that matter in key elections."
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Factors smaller than a cell and as large as the planet are at play when a virus leaps from an animal to a human.
The question of how that happened with SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease COVID-19, is crucial for several reasons, said best-selling author and science journalist David Quammen. The answer could help scientists find a vaccine to end this pandemic. It could uncover ways to prevent the next.
And prevention, he and other experts say, will involve making people everywhere understand their own role, even if they live far from the places where the viruses emerge. As Quammen put it: "All the eating and buying and consuming and reproducing that we're doing are pulling dangerous viruses closer to us." Which means everyone has a chance to be part of the solution.
You could write a book about the myriad ways animals, humans and viruses interact. Quammen did. "Spillover," released in 2012, warned about a pandemic unfolding almost exactly as COVID-19 has.
Not all human viruses come from animals. But several of the most infamous, including West Nile and HIV, did. Even so, it takes a lot for a virus to make such a leap, said Raina Plowright, an associate professor of epidemiology at Montana State University in Bozeman.
Viruses are everywhere, she said. Take a walk, and you might inhale them from plants, soil, birds, even pets. Most do no harm. They're killed by the mucus in our respiratory tract, or the acid in our stomach, or they can't bind to our cells to reproduce.
Plowright describes these many barriers as a series of walls stacked like Swiss cheese: All the holes have to line up precisely for something to get through.
Animals that harbor a virus are called reservoir hosts. They serve as a kind of viral warehouse. Sometimes, a virus might hitch a ride on what's known as a vector, often an insect, to get from host to human. Mosquitos that spread West Nile virus from birds to people are an example.
Often, a spillover, or zoonotic, virus gets help from a middleman species, called an amplifier.
New influenzas, for example, often start in wild waterfowl. They might first spill into domestic birds – poultry, chickens and ducks, which might share a farm with pigs. Pigs can harbor human influenza and serve, as Quammen put it, as a place for viral genes to "mix and match."
If that mixing causes a mutation that gives a virus an easy way to be transmitted from animal to human and to leap between people, that virus suddenly has billions of potential hosts around the world, he said. "That's a virus that's won the evolutionary sweepstakes."
SARS-CoV-2 is thought to have originated in bats. Its genetic fingerprint suggests it evolved similarly to a virus that Chinese researchers warned about in 2017.
Bats, which have been reservoir hosts for several lethal viruses in recent decades, are an area of expertise for Plowright. She makes an appearance in Quammen's book for her work on the Hendra virus, which has killed horses and humans in Australia.
Bats have some amazing adaptations that let them host viruses without harm, she said. But those viruses often need an amplifier to get into humans. That connection might happen when a bat harboring a communicable virus is kept near other animals at a crowded wildlife market. It's not clear if that's what happened with SARS-CoV-2, she said.
But such interactions don't need to be exotic. With the Hendra virus, for instance, horses picked it up from grass beneath trees where bats fed, then spread it to human caretakers.
Closeness is crucial. "If you have a bat shedding a pathogen in the middle of a forest with no humans, then it's of no risk," Plowright said. But if that bat sheds the virus in a town or market, it is.
And here's how humans help with that: "We're rapidly changing our environments and rapidly changing our contacts with bats," she said.
Development brings humans closer to bats and robs them of food. A stressed, hungry bat is more susceptible to viruses, she said. It's also likely to go searching near people for something to eat.
Modern travel is another way humans make life easier on viruses, said Quammen, who's working on a book about COVID-19. A bat-filled cave in rural China is only a plane ride away from Los Angeles or London. As one expert told him, "A disease anywhere is a disease everywhere."
You also can find risk factors in your own pocket, he said. Your cellphone needs a mineral called coltan that's mined mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The miners who work there need to eat, but their only protein might come from hunting bushmeat – such as monkeys, rodents and bats. "Bingo," said Quammen. "You've got contact between humans and wild animals."
Plowright agrees people need to think about such connections if they want to be a part of stopping the next pandemic.
Each human encounter with a wild animal, and each time we plunge into their space, is a roll of the dice on whether we might stir up a dangerous virus.
"We're rolling the dice thousands of times every second now," Plowright said.
Editor's note: Because of the rapidly evolving events surrounding the coronavirus, the facts and advice presented in this story may have changed since publication. Visit Heart.org for the latest coverage, and check with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials for the most recent guidance.
If you have questions or comments about this story, please email [email protected].


Graphene to Pick Up Brain Signals
Many people, from science fiction writers and readers, to actual scientists and medical doctors, are interested in seeing electronics that are compatible with living organisms. One reason for the interest is to integrate prosthetics into a person’s nervous system, to enhance control. Researchers at Technische Universitaet Muenchen have recently published the results of an experiment with graphene.
Graphene is effectively a two-dimensional piece of carbon with extraordinary properties. Using vapor deposition and standard etching processes, the researchers were able to make 16 graphene solution-gate field-effect transistors on copper foil. The current through these transistors is affected by their environment, so signals between brain cells can be detected.
The experiment was only a proof of concept, so we cannot expect cyborgs on the street yet, but there is great promise in this technology. Already its performance is comparable to that of ultra-low noise silicon devices, which have the benefit of decades of development. The next steps will be to improve the noise performance further and to get this technology working on other substrates, such as those already used in implants.


"Smart city" is a new model of modern urban development. The construction of smart city is becoming one of the key elements of global urban competition and the "business card" of a modern city. Its construction is a complex system engineering, covering government affairs, community, communication , public services, resources, energy utilization, etc. However, the construction of smart cities is not an overnight thing, nor is it a business that can be achieved overnight, the prerequisite for its formation is full digitization. With the development of Internet of Things technology, we can already perceive some indicators of the city, or to collect data in some aspects such as government affairs and public services. Next, we need to further integrate the data. Although the digitalization has not reached 100%, it is enough to carry out the "city brain". construction.
1. The information island is serious, and the digitization of various functions of the city cannot play a collaborative effect; 2. There is a lack of standard data specifications, and there is a problem of "different texts for books and different tracks for vehicles" in data interconnection; 3. The output of data capabilities is not smooth, The technical threshold for data access is high.
Core advantages description
DataFocus is deployed on the application side of smart cities as a platform for rapid data visualization development, the creation of urban data middle-end platforms and intelligent applications. By integrating existing urban information resources and data, it creates a convenient public data service pipeline
DataFocus builds an urban data lake by extracting the standard databases of various business systems. And standardize the data, create data specifications, and lay the foundation for subsequent data applications.
Integrating standardized data greatly improves usability. Relying on the innovative database search engine technology of DataFocus, the availability of city data as a public resource is greatly improved. Users can request data from the system through a natural language-like search-and-answer method, and can instantly complete ad-hoc analysis on the platform, generate data analysis reports, and make real-time large-screen visualizations.
Cities will ultimately benefit from standardized data public services. DataFocus can provide a standard data interface, relying on the accumulation of urban big data, users can obtain high-precision analysis and prediction models by training algorithms for specific business scenarios, and easily deploy them into applications through DataFocus, gradually Build the digital brain of the city.
The construction of a smart city requires the integration of various business systems and the unification of various data; the construction of a smart city also has phases and a long-term nature. Therefore, there does not exist a one-click deployment solution. The priority of the whole solution is scalability.
DataFocus starts with the data integration part, which can be deployed independently or in conjunction with other systems. Its own data warehouse module can be used to integrate databases scattered in various business systems, and can also obtain data from other data warehouses.
Data analysis and visualization are applications that can quickly display urban big data results. The BI Server module of DataFocus will allow users to easily use this function to create various data visualization results. Further, with the help of the algorithm automation module included with DataFocus, algorithm models can be quickly built and deployed for specific scenarios. From data visualization to building a digital brain, the whole process is seamless.
DataFocus' unique patented technology based on natural language parsing will make data acquisition extremely simple for users, and ordinary citizens can use it without any technical barriers (no need to write code), thus greatly reducing the cost of use and vigorously promoting public data service capabilities.
Make data analysis easier！
It has developed rapidly in recent years. After years of informatization construction, its agencies have either gradually started or completed informatization construction to a certain extent, accumulating massive amounts of data, of which nearly a hundred gigabytes of data are of high value.
On this basis, on the one hand, the rapid visualization technology of the BI Server module is applied to create a number of large visualization screens such as digital urban management, smart medical care, and smart education, and its easy-to-use search-based analysis capabilities are opened to multiple departments, effectively improving the data utilization rate, and gradually making urban management decisions based on reliable data; on this basis, individual departments began to try to train algorithm models in specific scenarios to improve the efficiency of the medical system and urban management. Accuracy and other aspects are gradually empowered by data.


Classification / Names
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa
Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays) > Squaliformes
(Bramble, sleeper and dogfish sharks) > Etmopteridae
Etymology: Etmopterus: Greek, ethmos, -ou = sieve or ethmoides bone + Greek, pteron = wing, fin (Ref. 45335); viator: The species is named after the Latin word viator (the traveler), since the species is confirmed for geographically distant locations in the Southern Hemisphere (Ref. 87779).
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Marine; bathydemersal; depth range 830 - 1400 m (Ref. 87779). Deep-water
Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri
Southern Ocean: Northern part of the Kerguelen Plateau, off New Zealand and South Africa. Further confirmed for the Macquarie Ridge (P. Last, pers. comm.). It hypothetically occurs in the whole Southern Hemisphere (Ref. 87779).
Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?, range 46 - 50 cm
Max length : 39.1 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 87779); 57.7 cm TL (female)
Morphology | Morphometrics
Vertebrae: 75 - 84. A medium-sized Etmopterus species with the following combination of characters: body fusiform, caudal peduncle short 0.1 (0.09-0.1) % of total length (TL). Moderately long interdorsal distance 0.19 (0.17-0.24) % TL, very long distance from first dorsal fin spine insertion to snout tip 0.36 (0.36-0.43)% TL. Head long 0.21 (0.21-0.26) % TL and broad 0.1 (0.1-0.15) % TL long, as long as caudal peduncle. Snout short 0.41 (0.40-0.46) % head length (HL) and broad 0.37 (0.34-0.38) % HL. Interorbital distance narrow 0.28 (0.26-0.36) % HL, shorter than snout width. Large oval eyes, eye length 0.26 (0.19-0.26) % HL. Eyes reflect greenish in fresh specimens. Large tear-drop shaped spiracles 0.05 (0.03-0.08) % HL. Mouth strongly arched and broad 0.4 (0.11-0.43) % HL with dignathic homodont dentition . Nostrils large and oblique 0.11 (0.11-0.15) % HL. Gill openings with distinct white margins. Pectoral fins rounded and white-edged with fringed ceratotrichia, moderate in size. Inner margin 0.04 (0.04-0.06) % TL, fin base short 0.05 (0.03-0.06) % TL. Dorsal fins densely covered with dermal denticles, 2nd dorsal fin significantly larger than 1st dorsal fin, height 0.09 (0.10-0.15) % TL compared to 0.03 (0.03-0.05) % TL in 1st dorsal fin. 2nd dorsal fin deeply concave with drawn-out lower lobe. Both dorsal fins fringed, with strong fin spines. The 2nd dorsal fin spine is larger than 1st (broken in the holotype) pointing posteriorly. First dorsal fin originate distinctively behind the pectoral fin insertions, whereas origin of 2nd dorsal fin only sligthly behind pelvic fin insertions. Large heterocercal caudal fin 0.2 (0.19-0.21) % TL with strong upper and weaker lower edged lobes, widely covered with dermal denticles (Ref. 87779).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
E. viator is ovoviviparous and gives birth to 2-10 pups per litter. Maturity is reached at approximately 50 cm TL in females and 46 cm TL in males (Duhamel et al., 2005). Males are on average smaller than females, adult females reach at least 58 cm TL, adult males approximately 50 cm TL (Ref. 87779).
Straube, N., G. Duhamel, N. Gasco, J. Kriwet and U.K. Schliewen, 2011. Description of a new deep-sea Lantern Shark Etmopterus viator sp. nov. (Squaliformes: Etmopteridae) from the Southern Hemisphere. The Kerguelen Plateau: marine ecosystem and fisheries. Société Française d'Ichtyologie, Paris, France. Guy Duhamel and Dirk Welsford, Eds. (Ref. 87779)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 119314)
CITES (Ref. 115941)
Threat to humans
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion
Estimates of some properties based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969
): 2.1 - 2.2, mean 2.1 (based on 6 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805
= 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00407 (0.00192 - 0.00866), b=3.07 (2.89 - 3.25), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278
): 4.2 ±0.5 se; Based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 69278
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153
): Moderate vulnerability (39 of 100) .


Luxor Travel Guide
At the height of the Ancient Egyptian New Kingdom (1549—1069 BC) its capital, Thebes, was a city of over a million people. The pharaohs that ruled over this kingdom were made wealthy by military successes that expanded their influence south into Nubia, west along the Mediterranean, and east into modern day Syria. This wealth and the huge workforce at their disposal made it possible for the New Kingdom pharaohs to commission great building projects, attempting to immortalize their influence through the buildings they left behind.
Today in Luxor we still admire the efforts of these pharaohs to preserve their legacies in the great temple and funerary complexes that still stand on either side of the Nile at the site of ancient Thebes.
The most famous monuments in Egypt are undoubtedly in Giza on the outskirts of Cairo. The Giza Pyramids, with their unparalleled size and massive height, have captured people’s imaginations for millennia. These huge structures and the other pyramids scattered in the desert south of Cairo stand as incredible testament to the unprecedented development of civilization in the Nile Valley during the 3rd millennia BC; however, the pyramids represent only the beginning of the legacy of Ancient Egypt.
The civilization endured long after the decline of power around ancient Memphis and continued to develop. At Thebes, Ancient Egypt reached an even greater peak, memorialized with a very different style of monument.
Luxor is often referred to today as the ‘world’s largest open-air museum’. This name comes from the fact that the modern city is located at the same site as ancient Thebes. It has literally been built upon and around the treasures of the Old Kingdom, which are still being unearthed to this day. Surrounded by modern construction, Luxor Temple and the massive Karnak Temple Complex are two of Egypt’s most impressive sites. Their impact is only enhanced by the contrast of their ancient stone architecture with the modern construction that surrounds them.
Additionally, the area around Luxor and the opposite bank of the river are dotted with a wealth of other temples and tombs. It can take several days to explore all of the significant archeological sites within only an hours drive of Luxor with each one displaying something unique that will add to your understanding of this ancient civilization that flowered here.
It is easiest to divide the sites around Luxor into two categories—those on the East Bank of the Nile and those on the West Bank. This division would have suited the ancient Egyptians as well since to them the East Bank was the land of the living, where the sun rose and people thrived, and the West Bank was the land of the dead, where the sunset and people journeyed into the afterlife. Luxor and the remains of ancient Thebes are located on the East Bank along with the temple complexes that were used to observe the ancient religion in life.
The sites on the West Bank are tombs and funerary temples, where Ancient Egyptians and their rulers were laid to rest begin their journey into the afterlife.
You will float over all of the sites on the East and West Banks of the Nile and viewing them from above you can truly appreciate their size and plans. The dawn light only adds to this stunning experience, turning the temples beautiful colors as the light rises and intensifies in the east.
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This is the most simple FM transmitter circuit diagram you can ever find. This circuit is really cool and cheap to build.
This FM transmitter circuit runs at low voltage, on a CR2025 3V Lithium battery, current consumption is also low.
And the total size of this F.M transmitter(including battery, excluding antenna) is less than that of a matchbox.
Simple FM transmitter circuit diagram
The circuit has a central RF oscillator NPN transistor BF494 (substitute: BF194). A coil takes care of the output frequency. The coil has to made by yourself. 36 SWG wire 2.5turns only in 5mm diameter ferrite rod.
Keep the circuit as small as possible. Try to use no wire in the main functional area(transistor and coil).
The input from the audio output of computer/PMP/mobile is given to the biased base of the transistor. The transistor gives a RF humming accordingly to the audio input, and the FM wave is spread by the external antenna(Ariel).
By using a standard T.V antenna, the range of this transmitter can go upto 1KM radius, using small(15-20cm) Ariel, it can work upto around 50M range. For even more low cost, use a new bicycle spoke for ariel, get it from cycle store at Rs 2/- .
This circuit is most suitable for miniature FM transmitter for use in computer, mobile etc to send music to home theater system without wires, and in homemade wireless walky-talkies.
For input from low power output devices, such as mobile, computer’s sound card, the value of the unlabeled capacitor is 0.1 or 104. For higher wattage outputs, the value is 0.01 or 103. You can add a microphone pre-amplifier in this circuit to transmit voice directly.
Keep in mind that this type of simple FM transmitter circuit are allowed for personal use. Commercial use of Radio frequencies (including FM) without permission is illegal in almost everywhere of the world.
- Transistor BF494 x1 3/-
- Resistor of various value(all 1/4 watt) x4 1/-
- Capacitor of various value(all 10V, small, ceramic) x3 2/-
- 36 SWG copper wire for coil 1 inch 1/-
- input audio jack x1 3/-
- Ariel(stick antenna) x1 15/-
- Battery CR2025 x1 7/-
Cost in USD is, 0.2$


- Aged cheese and those cheeses containing tyramine, a natural substance that builds up as food ages. Tyramine in high levels has been shown to cause hypertension, which is a particular concern for people who take MAO inhibitor medication to treat migraines. Blue cheese, brie, cheddar, Stilton, feta, gorgonzola, mozzarella, muenster, Parmesan, Swiss, and processed cheeses often contain high levels of tyramine.
- Other salted, cured, processed, and canned foods that are high in tyramine. Take note of how your body reacts when you eat pickles, olives, and canned soups. Beans can also contain headache-triggering tyramine, especially fava, pinto, garbanzo, and lima beans.
- Alcohol, which could prompt headaches as it is metabolized in the body. Pay particular attention when you drink red wine, beer, whiskey, and champagne, which have been identified as triggers.
There is a long list of foods that headache and migraine sufferers say cause their pain. Some of them might surprise you, including:
- Peanuts and peanut butter
- Potato chips
- Fresh fruits like kiwi, plums, and raspberries
- Bread and crackers