The portion of Matos begins with the laws governing commitments and pledges. In Torah law, words are not taken lightly and when one makes an oath, the implications are exacting. The portion begins, “Moshe spoke to the Roshei HaMatos, the heads of the tribes, saying: This is the thing that Hashem commanded. If a man takes a vow to Hashem or swears to enact a prohibition upon himself, he shall not desecrate his word; whatever he said he shall do” (Numbers 30:2-3). The portion continues to discuss vows that one places upon himself, as well as vows that are between husbands and wives and fathers and daughters. The Torah continues to detail the complex laws of both the obligation and revocation of vows.
What is strikingly different in this portion is the way it was transmitted. Normally the Torah does not talk about the teaching of the law to the heads of the tribes. Back in Parshas Ki Sisa, the Torah tells us that Moshe would first teach Ahron, then Ahron’s children, then the elders, and only then all of Israel (Exodus 34:31-32).
But the Torah hardly ever reiterates that point. Here, in Matos, Moshe emphasizes his directive to the heads of the tribes. Why? Wasn’t the whole Torah given to them first? Why repeat that fact here? Rashi explains that Moshe meted honor to the elders and leaders because they play a vital role in the laws of vows. Unlike other judicial actions, the power of annulment of vows is done by individuals who are experts.
An expert can rule on vows and has the ability to decide which ones are valid, and which ones are senseless and inconsequential. He can evaluate vows that were made under duress and those invoked out of fear. He has the power to render them void. Therefore, unlike other commandments, Moshe specified the role of the leaders in reference to vows.
But perhaps there is another important significance to specifying the role of elders when talking about vows.
Rabbi Akiva Eiger was a world renowned Talmudic sage who wrote on almost every aspect of the Torah. However as the Rabbi of Pozen, which was part of the Austrio-Hungarian empire, his custom was to defer responding to questions that were sent from outside his country. After all, he felt that the stature of other rabbis would be diminished had all their congregants sent their questions to an out-of-town rabbi.
However, he once received a letter from Bialostock, Poland to which he did respond.
He began his response: “Although I am unworthy of answering questions from distant lands that are filled with great rabbis and Halachic scholars, and surely Poland is not lacking in either, his time I will answer.” Then Rabbi Akiva Eiger added his reason.
“A few months back I was at a simcha (joyous occasion) at which someone from your town said that he would write me concerning a difficult matter. Though I did not encourage him to do so, I also did not discourage him. In fact, I may have even nodded my head slightly. That may have been taken as a commitment to answer the question. And If I even appeared to have consented, I surely do not want to appear as if I have reneged on a commitment.”
The Torah transmits the laws of oaths through the heads of each tribe because it wants to reiterate to them the importance of a leader’s adherence to commitment. The eyes of a nation are focused on their words, their promises, and their commitments. It is only fitting that those who bear the tremendous responsibility of assuring their tribes of their needs and requests, should be the very ones that transmit those laws.
Unfortunately, the words of contemporary leaders and elected officials don’t mean much. Abba Eban once said, “It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.”
The Torah hands the responsibility of the burden of words upon those who are faced with the greatest challenge to meet their commitments. Torah leaders shall personify the commitment to, “all that will come out of his mouth he shall keep.” It is no wonder that the Torah specifies the role of the tribal leaders when discussing the importance of commitment. For when the leaders keep their word, the nation follows in step.
Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky
Copyright © 1998 by Rabbi M. Kamenetzky and Project Genesis, Inc.
The author is the Dean of the Yeshiva of South Shore.
Drasha is the e-mail edition of FaxHomily, a weekly torah facsimile on the weekly portion
which is sponsored by The Henry and Myrtle Hirsch Foundation
Books by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky:


Brussels, 18 July 2007
Across the EU economy, women continue to earn an average of 15% less than men, according to the European Commission. A new report released today sets out ways the EU can bridge the gap – which has barely changed over the past decade. The gender pay gap represents the difference between average hourly pay for women and men before tax across the economy as a whole. It reflects ongoing discrimination and inequality in the labour market which, in practice, mainly affects women.
"Girls out-perform boys at school and more women enter the labour market with a university degree than men, but a pay gap of 15% persists. This is an absurd situation and needs to change," said Vladimír Špidla, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. "The pay gap is a complex issue with multiple causes. Sometimes we see pure discrimination. But often reasons are hidden: women do more unpaid work, like taking care of the household and dependants; more women work part time and often the women-dominated sectors are on a lower pay scale. We must shift up a gear now. The only way to succeed is by getting men and women, NGOs, social partners and governments on board to tackle the problem at all levels".
The gender pay gap extends well beyond the question of equal pay for equal work. One of the main causes is the way women's competences are valued compared to men's. Jobs requiring similar qualifications or experience tend to be paid less when they are dominated by women than by men. For example, in some countries nannies earn less than car mechanics, supermarket cashiers less than warehouse workers, nurses less than the police.
The pay gap also reflects inequalities on the labour market mainly affecting women - in particular the difficulties in reconciling work with private life. Women have greater recourse to part-time work and more frequent career breaks, which negatively impact on their professional development. They still lag behind when it comes to holding managerial positions and they encounter more obstacles and resistance as they proceed along their career paths. As a consequence, women's career paths are more often interrupted, slower and shorter, and hence less well paid than men's. Statistics show that the pay gap grows with age, education and years of service – differences in pay are over 30% in the 50-59 age group and 7% for the under-30s; it is over 30% for those with third-level education and 13% among those with lower level secondary education and for workers with over 30 years of service in a company it is as high as 32%, while it is 10% lower (22%) for those who have worked in a company for one to five years.
To tackle the issue, today's Communication identifies four fields of action:
Closing the gender gap is one of the key concerns highlighted in the 'Roadmap for equality between women and men 2006-2010'. In addition, a Eurobarometer survey from January 2007 showed that a large majority of Europeans believe that more women are needed in management positions (77%) and as Members of Parliament (72%). 68% of Europeans believe family responsibilities act as an obstacle for women in accessing management positions and 47% consider women are less likely to be promoted than men with the same qualifications. Today's Communication aims to analyse the causes of the pay gap and identify courses of action at EU level. It highlights that the pay gap can only be tackled by acting at all levels, involving all stakeholders and focusing on all the factors that cause it.
For more information:
Gender equality policy


We have a new curriculum bundle for people who might be removed from day-to-day land management but who still want a better understanding of what holistic management is and how it can affect key environmental issues. These 3 courses focus on concepts such as how to read the land and how it's been managed previously, how the type of environment influences the efficacy of various management tools, and understanding the ecosystem processes so we can utilize the resources we have at our disposal to enhance overall ecological health. If you’re ready to be a more active participant in your success, to choose to access the tools that address root causes rather than to continually chase symptoms, consider buying all 3 courses now at this special bundle discount (for a limited time only) to kickstart your learning and success!
These are also ideal courses for individuals working at conservation organizations.
Here are the three courses that come in the bundle:
- Course #1: The Roadmap to Managing Holistically: The Foundation of Holistic Management
- Course #2: Nurturing Our Planet: The Ecosystem Processes that Sustain Us
- Course #3: Nurturing Our Planet: Tools to Manage the Ecosystem Processes
The textbook, Holistic Management: A Commonsense Revolution to Restore Our Environment, is used in conjunction with the online courses. Order your copy HERE.


Chinese Medicine, both acupuncture and herbal medicine, is well established for the treatment of depression and other psychiatric conditions. But as every day goes by we are learning more and more in both western and eastern terms about how depression comes to be, i.e. the underlying causes. One aspect that is being explored more heavily in recent years is the role of inflammation on the development of depression.
The cleveland clinic wrote a general article discussing current understandings of the inflammation and depression link. As an aside, the cleveland clinic is one of the first medical centers in the west to open a complete Chinese herbal medicine facility for use with their hospital patients. While this article is about acupuncture and depression, another I wrote right before this one explores the biochemical effects of chai hu shu gan wan herbal formula on depression. The move by the cleveland clinic speaks volumes as to the clinical effectiveness and ongoing promise of the art of Chinese Medicine.
Publishing in the medical journal “neuroscience letters” researchers from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine recently conducted a study looking at the effect of acupuncture on inflammation and depression symptoms. Knowing that acupuncture has positive clinical effects on issues such as pain, internal inflammation such as cardiovascular disease as well as autoimmune conditions, the leap is not far to look at the reduction of inflammation with regards to depressive symptoms.
Acupuncture is generally well established for the treatment of depression, but all the mechanisms are not understood deeply from a western/bio-chemical perspective. Particularly this study explores whether the positive effects on depression seen with acupuncture are related to anti-inflammatory effects.
Using a rat model of depression researchers performed biochemical analysis post treatment to better understand the internal changes brought on from acupuncture. Researchers also used a control group treated with fluoxetine (Prozac) to help compare effects.
They found that both the acupuncture and the fluoxetine treatment group reversed depression symptoms. While there many positive biochemical changes in the acupuncture treatment group (IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α levels increased in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex), they also found that acupuncture significantly decreased proinflammatory cytokines in the areas involved with depression. They concluded that “acupuncture has antidepressant-like effects, and its mechanism of action appears to involve the inhibition of proinflammatory cytokines”.
This relationship is one more avenue to better understand the positive clinical effects of acupuncture on depression. Another study I wrote about recently found acupuncture offered a faster effect than prozac in depressive patients who recently had a stroke. When you consider cost, safety and very limited side effects when properly used, acupuncture is more and more a very viable treatment option for patients with depression.


MSNBC, under Science and Technology, and the Huffington Post, under Religion, carried a syndicated story from Discovery News: Quake Reveals Day of Jesus’ Crucifixion by Jennifer Viegas. Most news outlets, including Religious News Service (NIH?) simply ignored it. Many blogs repeated it, however, and Rational Skepticism mocked it and wondered if the MSNBC’s rewritten title should have been “Quake reveals day of Jesus’ crucifixion, believers research” rather than “Quake reveals day of Jesus’ crucifixion, researchers believe.” Some blogs commented on how likely it was that they got the day right. Others commented on how the earthquake, mentioned in Matthew, might have been merely allegorical.
Geologists say Jesus, as described in the New Testament, was most likely crucified on Friday, April 3, in the year 33.
The latest investigation, reported in International Geology Review, focused on earthquake activity at the Dead Sea, located 13 miles from Jerusalem. The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 27, mentions that an earthquake coincided with the crucifixion:
“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open.”


Prepared by W. Bryan Smith, Area Extension Agent, Agricultural Engineer, Clemson University. (New 5/08.)
Many in the Southeast view irrigation as a “quick fix” for problems encountered during a hot, dry summer. It is a simple way to get some water to plants that are wilting and keep them alive until rainfall returns. Others see irrigation as a method to provide all of the water a plant may need on a daily basis. Neither of these views will provide a good habitat for our landscape plants.
Irrigation is quite simply a balancing act. We are attempting to maintain a given soil moisture content for optimum plant growth.
When too much water is applied to the landscape, the excess water saturates the root zone and replaces oxygen in the rooting area. Plant roots require oxygen to grow properly, so the anaerobic (without oxygen) conditions in a saturated or flooded landscape do not provide the ideal growing medium for a plant. Plants that are found in a flooded or saturated area are often referred to as “drowned,” which is an apt expression.
When too little water is applied to the landscape, plants begin to dry and wither. Every plant transpires (or emits) an amount of water through the stomata (small openings that vary in size with the climate conditions) in the leaves as a part of the plant’s water use and transport / production processes. When a plant finds itself in a drought condition, it usually begins to hoard its water supply by partially closing the stomata. This restricts water flow through the plant and results in slower transport processes as well as wilting. If we allow the plant to be “drought-stressed” in this manner for too long, the plant will be weakened and may even die.
Irrigation is one method to replace water in the soil used by the plants. As previously mentioned, this is a balancing act. We must apply enough water to maintain a plant’s growth, but not so much that we saturate the soil and drown the plant. We must also consider other water additions to and subtractions from the landscape.
Figure 1. The irrigation balancing act.
Rainfall: Rainfall is an obvious contributor of water to the landscape. Nice, gentle showers provide a great deal of water over a period of time, most of which may stay in the landscape. Intense thunderstorms, however, often provide water more quickly than the soil can absorb it. In this case, excess water will actually “run off ” (explained later in the text) and leave the landscape, so we may not receive the full benefit of all the water that fell in our rain gauge.
Snow, Sleet & Hail: Each of these forms of precipitation also contributes water to the landscape, albeit during times of the year when our plants may not require very much. “Wet” snow that falls when the temperature is near freezing may contribute up to 1 inch of water for every 6 inches of snowfall, while “dry ” snow that falls during much colder weather may contribute up to 1 inch of water for every 12 inches of snowfall. Sleet and hail will also contribute water (although hail will hopefully not fall in a large enough quantity to provide an appreciable amount of water).
Irrigation: This is the man-made method of applying water to the landscape. Some concerns that apply to rainfall also apply to irrigation – if water is applied too quickly, some of it may “run off” and provide no benefit to the landscape.
“Run-On”: Assume that your neighbor’s yard is a few feet higher in elevation than your yard. If a hard rainfall event occurs, some of the water may “run off” from that yard and subsequently “run on” to your yard. If the water stays in your yard it will contribute to the soil moisture in your landscape. This “run-on” may be beneficial in a dry year, but it may also be a continual problem in a wet year if it saturates your landscape soil regularly or creates a wet spot. If this is the case some form of drainage (drain tile, etc.) or runoff water diversion (terrace, etc.) may be necessary.
Evaporation: Everyone is familiar with the evaporation of water from puddles, water glasses, ponds and swimming pools. Soil moisture may also be lost from a bare soil surface due to evaporation. Only the top inch or so of soil may be subject to this evaporation, but in a drought situation, every drop counts. Mulches help reduce this soil evaporation loss.
Transpiration: This is a large word for “plant water use.” The water taken up by a plant is largely “transpired” as water vapor through the stomata in the leaves, then “ evaporated” into the atmosphere. (The term “evapotranspiration,” also called “ET” in irrigation publications, refers to plant transpiration plus soil evaporation.)
Runoff: Soil can accept water at a certain speed or rate, called the infiltration rate. This rate of water movement into the soil varies with soil type (and other factors). When water is applied to the landscape faster than the soil can accept it, the excess water “runs off” across the landscape, giving us the term “runoff. ”
Water that “runs off” has quite obviously left your landscape and will not be there when plants need it. If runoff occurs during a thunderstorm, we assume some portion of the rainfall received will benefit our landscape but not the full amount found in our rain gauge. Quickly-moving runoff water can also cause soil erosion, creating rills (small eroded channels) and small gullies in the landscape.
The same principle applies to irrigation – any water that runs off is leaving your landscape and not providing moisture for plants. If you see water running off during irrigation, stop the irrigation system, allow the water to soak in for an hour or so, and then resume irrigating. If the runoff is due to a steep slope or heavy soils (clays, etc.) you may need to change your irrigation schedule to water for a shorter amount of time twice that day rather than a single long irrigation set. This will help conserve water and make sure your landscape will receive all of the water purchased or pumped.
Driveways and sidewalks can also contribute to runoff losses if sprinklers are not adjusted correctly. Any water applied to a concrete or asphalt surface will immediately run off to the nearest ditch or culvert. Water applied to these areas can also create liability problems for the homeowner, especially if an irrigation system turns on unexpectedly while pedestrians are using the sidewalk. Make sure all sprinklers and spray heads are adjusted correctly so that the water is applied to the landscape, not the pavement.
Leaching: Assume that your yard is completely level, the soil is somewhat coarse or sandy, and no runoff occurs during irrigation. If you apply more water than the soil can hold see HGIC 1805, Landscape Irrigation Management Part 6: Soil Type & Irrigation Frequency, the extra water has to go somewhere. In this case it moves downward through the soil profile. When the extra water moves past the root zone of the landscape plants, it has in effect “leached” out of the root zone. The water is still in the soil, but it is too deep for the plants to retrieve it. This water has left your landscape just as effectively as if it had run off over the top of the ground.
Excess water leaching past the root zone has another detrimental aspect. The leaching water may move water-soluble compounds in the soil (such as fertilizers and pesticides) down with it. This removes these compounds from the root zone area where they are needed and may eventually transport them to the groundwater. A homeowner will lose fertilizer, pesticide or herbicide, and water if leaching occurs and may also impact the groundwater in that area.
In order to provide the best growing environment for our landscape plants, we need to first understand where the water comes from - and how the water may leave our landscape. This simple knowledge provides a basis to help us understand the reasons for various irrigation practices used today.
Adapted from the 2007 South Carolina Master Gardener Training Manual.
Page maintained by: Home & Garden Information Center
This information is supplied with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement of brand names or registered trademarks by the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service is implied, nor is any discrimination intended by the exclusion of products or manufacturers not named. All recommendations are for South Carolina conditions and may not apply to other areas. Use pesticides only according to the directions on the label. All recommendations for pesticide use are for South Carolina only and were legal at the time of publication, but the status of registration and use patterns are subject to change by action of state and federal regulatory agencies. Follow all directions, precautions and restrictions that are listed.


History of Palmer Park
From Family Farm to
Excerpted from the tour guide script, from the First Annual Palmer Park and Palmer Park Historic Apartment District Architectural Tour, written by Gregory Piazza, with updating by Jim Meyers and PFPP
Our story begins in 1832 when Judge James Witherell (1759-1838) purchased 80 acres of land between what are now Hamilton Avenue, Fairway Drive, Six Mile and Seven Mile. Judge Witherell built a small log cabin on the north side of what is now Six Mile and Log Cabin Street. This area had been historically used as an Native American camping site. Log Cabin Street is so named because it was the trail from downtown that ended at Witherell’s log cabin. Witherell was a judge of the Third Michigan Territorial Court and contemporary of Judge Augustus Woodward. In 1838 with Witherell’s death, the acreage was left to his daughter Mary Palmer. It passed to Mary’s son, Thomas (1830-1913) in 1874.
Thomas expanded the family’s holdings, eventually owning some 640 acres. This is roughly the area from Woodward and Six Mile to Woodward and Eight Mile, Six Mile to Fairway, up to Eight Mile and to Woodward. Palmer developed a farm where he raised prize Percheron horses. In 1855 Palmer married Elizabeth (Lizzie) Pitts Merrill (1837-1916), daughter of Charles Merrill a noted businessman with large holdings in lumber. The Palmers would adopt four children: Harold (aka Higinio, Hidalgo), Betita, Lizzie and Gail. Read more about the Palmers.
THE LOG CABIN
The park’s most identifiable feature is the Log Cabin which sits on a small knoll steps from Woodward Avenue and overlooking Lake Frances. There is a story that the Palmers often came out to the farm to picnic. After a Fourth of July party at the farm, Mrs. Palmer is reputed to have said: “I’ve lived in a brick house, a stone house and a wooden house. But never in a log cabin.”
In 1885 Senator Palmer contracted with architects George Mason and Zachariah Rice to build a log cabin. The cabin was built from trees harvested in the area and furnished with Palmer antiques including a large canoe suspended from the sitting room ceiling. At its feet was spring-fed Lake Frances named for Mrs. Palmer’s mother. There was a rustic bridge on the north side of this Lake and a lighthouse (which still stands) on one of the islands.
George Mason was a prominent architect who partnered with Zachariah Rice in 1878. Together they designed the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, the Ponchartrain Hotel (1907) and the Detroit Yacht Club (1923) and many other notable structures. Mason’s crowning achievement was the immense Masonic Temple (1926) at Temple and Cass. It is the largest Masonic temple in the world with nearly 1,000 rooms. Rice would later marry Gail Palmer. From 1884 to 1896, Albert Kahn worked for the firm which closed in 1898. Kahn worked on several projects with Mason before Mason’s death in 1948. Read more about the Log Cabin at HistoricDetroit.org and at nighttraintodetroit.com.
According to Crocket McElroy in Souvenir History of Palmer Park: “About 110 acres of this this land was laid out into a park by Olmstead & Elliot, celebrated landscape gardeners of Boston, Mass., under the general directions of Mrs. Palmer. The plan includes two lakes, several islands, pathways and between five and six miles of roads. Mrs. Palmer designed the Log Cabin and caused it to be built. She then furnished it with ‘olden time’ furniture.” (The City of Detroit has stored furniture from the cabin at Fort Wayne. In the future, we hope to return some of it to the cabin.)
In 1894 the Senator donated the first 120 acres that would become Palmer Park. The Palmers wanted it named Log Cabin Park but the City called it Palmer Park. By 1897 Palmer had donated the majority of the land we know as the Park. A portion of the Log Cabin farm was sold and became the Detroit Golf Club at the end of the 19th century.
“In 1895 Mr. Palmer presented the city with one hundred and forty acres of his beloved farm to be used as a pleasure park for the people of the City of Detroit, with only one stipulation, that none of the virgin forest should be wantonly destroyed.”
— Thomas W. Palmer, by M. Agnes Burton,
Michigan Historical Commission, A State Department of History and Archives
Other lakes and features at Palmer Park: In addition to Lake Francis, another lake was dug behind what is now the swimming pool and used as a fish breeding pond. Beyond it to the west, was Lake Harold with an island called Inselruh and a waterfall called Pontiac Cascade. Some believe that the great Chief Pontiac was buried roughly where the cascade waterfall once stood. The lake was filled in with earth excavated from the construction of the Lodge freeway during the mid-20th century, which suppressed this beautiful flow of water to the burial grounds area. There was also a large white wooden casino (Rodgers & MacFarlane), which burned down in May of 1945.
Other attractions in the park included extensive gardens filled with plants grown in the park’s greenhouses; a huge spruce log hollowed out at one end, forming furniture in a little room. The opposite end was hollowed out and had bars to contain the lions and tigers that once inhabited it. It was originally at the 1904 World’s Fair and was given to the Senator. There were also walking and riding trails and a wooden wishing well.
The Forest: “The trees are in great variety, there being more than seventy kinds. There are seven kinds of oak, eleven kinds of willow, five kinds of thorn and the trees common to this section of the country, such as elm, maple, beech, hickory, ash, basswood, tamarack and birch. Among the rarer trees are sassafras, walnut, butternut,balm of gilead. Slippery-elm, plum and cherry. There is claimed to be a greater variety of Trees in Palmer Park indigenous to the soil than there is in the whole of Europe with its millions of acre of forests. At a convention of park Comissioners held at the park a few years ago, it was agreed that there was no other such a primeval park, as Palmer Park, within thirty miles of anv city in the United States.” — “Souvenir History of Palmer Park and Sketch of Hon. Thomas W. Palmer, Sage of Log Cabin Farm” by Crocket McElroy, 1908
THE SPANISH BELL
Near the western entrance to the Log Cabin is a large bell hanging — originally in a rustic wooden frame. This bell was designed and cast by Paula Gomez in Spain in 1793 (an inscription is engrave in the bell to this effect). It was taken to Mexico more than 200 years ago. The late William A. Moore, and the late Senator McMillan and a few other friends raised a fund, bought the bell, and presented it to Senator Palmer, who gave it to the City of Detroit. The weight of this bell is 1015 pounds.
THE MERRILL PALMER FOUNTAIN
In 1904, Mrs. Palmer donated this marble masterpiece to the City in memory of her father Charles Merrill. Designed by the New York firm of Carrere and Hastings, the fountain was placed in front of the Detroit Opera House on the exact center of Campus Martius. It was built in the classical style and cost $1 million. The photo at below is the one of the few photos of the fountain in its original location and of it functioning. In 1923 the fountain was moved to the Park to prevent it from being damaged by increased traffic downtown. The fountain functioned for one season in the Park and then pipes broke. It has not functioned since then. PFPP hopes to be able to fix the fountain in the future. Read more about the fountain.


Morris Rumpel and the Wings of Icarus Grades 4-6
Morris visits his Grandparents, rides on an airplane and a horse for the first time, saves a family of peregrine falcons and becomes a hero. By Betty Waterton.
Each Novel Study contains an average of 65 pages and includes:
Suggestions for teaching the unit.
A vocabulary list.
Activity cards for grammar.
Research and integrated activities.
Tracking and record sheets.


- BINGHAM: AN OVERVIEW
- HISTORY OF BINGHAM
- STUDY OF OLD MAPS
- BUILT HERITAGE
- CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- FARMING IN BINGHAM
- BINGHAM AT WAR
- BINGHAM'S RAILWAYS
- ORAL HISTORY
- NATURAL HISTORY
ARCHAEOLOGICAL TEST PITS IN BINGHAM
List of Test Pits
2, EAST STREET
- The house here is the closest building to the church on the south. There has been a cottage on the site of the present house since at least 1586, but it was on a different land holding from the site where the pit is located until after the date of the tithe map of 1841. The early history of the site therefore does not relate to the house, now No 2 East Street.
- The sequence in the pit has topsoil on subsoil, which overlies a deposit thought to be a flood deposit.
- Flooding in this area has been recorded in the 19th and 20th C and is likely to have been a feature of this ground before that. A sherd of Roman Grey Ware found in the top of the deposit in the field was subsequently lost, but the presence of Late Saxon Torksey Ware immediately above the flood deposit suggests that the best date for it is after 410 and before 1050 when Torksey Ware ceased being made.
- The top 30 cm in the pit are likely to have been re-deposited as a result of landscaping in the 20th C.
- Between 30cm and the top of the flood deposit, which is at 68cm depth there is a natural sequence of subsoil overlain by topsoil, but the age distribution of the finds in this sequence suggests that it has been dug and turned during agriculture of horticulture.
- The date range of the pottery found above the flood deposit is near complete from Late Saxon to Modern and there is continuity through the period of the Black Death.
- Pottery that would have been in use at the time the church was being built is present, but is insufficient to suggest that there was a habitation near here at that time.
- Post-medieval pottery, which ranges in date from mid 15th to mid 18th C is the most abundant in the pit. Taking this in addition to the 18th C stoneware and Modern pottery and early clay pipes suggests that there was a habitation nearby from the mid 15th C. The conjectural map for 1586 and the 1776 map show that the pit was sited at the foot of a plot of land belonging to a cottage on Long Acre. This site would be the preferred location for dumping domestic rubbish generated in this house.
Click here for a detailed account of the pit.


The Longshan temple was built in 1738 by Han settlers from Fujian (China). It served as place of worship and gathering for the Chinese settlers and went through numerous destructions by earthquakes and fires, but was always rebuilt. Today it belongs to the core architectural heritage of Taiwan. The Temple worships a mixture of Buddhist, Taoist, and local deities such as the Matsu.
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©Copyright Alfred Molon


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Battle of Baghdad
Battle of Baghdad, (1534). The Ottoman capture of Baghdad occurred during the first campaign of a twenty-year war between the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire and the Persian (Iranian) Safavid Empire of Shah Ṭahmāsp I. The famous city was to remain in Ottoman hands almost continuously until it was captured by the British in 1917.
War between the Ottoman and Safavid empires was brought about chiefly by territorial disputes along their Asian frontier, but also by Persian efforts to forge an alliance with the Hapsburg-controlled states, at the head of which sat the powerful Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V of Spain. Such an alliance would open up a double front against the powerful Ottoman Empire.
These tensions ignited into war when Ṭahmāsp had the governor of Baghdad—a supporter of the Ottoman cause—killed. The murder caused Suleiman to turn his attention away from his campaigns in central Europe to focus on the Safavid threat. The Ottomans invaded Safavid territory in 1531 and captured the Kurdish town of Bitlis in 1532 after a three-month siege. The force then advanced on the Safavid capital of Tabriz in eastern Persia, which was taken with ease. Ṭahmāsp continued to fall back, evading capture and avoiding engaging the Ottomans in battle. Baghdad fell in 1534, and Ṭahmāsp again withdrew.
From this point onward, he began harrying the Ottomans, launching guerrilla attacks and adopting a scorched-earth campaign that hampered Suleiman’s ability to supply his army. Frustrated by Ṭahmāsp’s tactics, Suleiman garrisoned his gains and withdrew in 1534, ending the first phase of the war with no decisive conclusion. After a further phase of fighting in 1548 to 1549, the war finally ended in 1555, leaving the Ottomans with key gains in Mesopotamia, including Baghdad.
Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
Ottoman Empire, empire created by Turkish tribes in Anatolia (Asia Minor) that grew to be one of the most powerful states in the world during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Ottoman period spanned more than 600 years and came to an end only in 1922, when it was replaced…
Baghdad, city, capital of Iraq and capital of Baghdad governorate, central Iraq. Its location, on the Tigris River about 330 miles (530 km) from the headwaters of the Persian Gulf, is in the heart of ancient Mesopotamia. Baghdad…
Ṣafavid dynasty, (1501–1736), ruling dynasty of Iran whose establishment of Shīʿite Islam as the state religion of Iran was a major factor in the emergence of a unified national consciousness among the various ethnic and linguistic elements of the country. The Ṣafavids were descended from Sheykh Ṣafī al-Dīn (1253–1334) of…


Water Quality Restoration in Laguna Niguel Lake
Location: Orange County, California
Lake: 31 surface acres, 12 feet average depth
Management Objective: Address eutrophication and restore water quality by reducing in-lake phosphorus pollution.
Solution: Application of Phoslock® phosphorus locking technology
Results: Significant and sustained reduction in phosphorus concentrations, shift of mobile to stable phosphorus fractions in the bottom sediments and improved water quality.
Laguna Niguel Lake (Sulfur Creek Reservoir) is a focal point and recreational resource for the park patrons and surrounding community. Since 2009, Orange County Parks (OC Parks) and their lake management consultant, Aquatechnex LLC, have reported an alarming decline in overall water quality of the lake. The installation of aeration in 2010 and routine algae maintenance was not resulting in the desired improvement for OC Parks and the public. The primary concern here is the hyper-eutrophic status (excessive phosphorus) of the lake and resultant toxic algae blooms. These blooms could pose negative impacts to human health and aquatic life.
Although nurtient inputs from the inlet creek and surface runoff contribute to the annual load of phosphorus into the lake, monitoring of the water and lake sediments in recent years suggested internal phosphorus loading as a significant contributor to the water quality issues experienced in this lake. In 2013, Auatechnex LLC and OC Parks implemented a phosphorus mitigation strategy to inactivate available forms of phosphorus in the water column and break the internal phosphorus loading cycle of the sediments. Phoslock phosphorus locking technology was applied to the lake over a three day period (April 29 to May 2, 2013) to strip available forms of phosphorus (i.e. free reactive or othrophosphate) from the water and inactivate the potentially mobile or bioavailable forms from in lake sediments. Global Positioning System (GPS) technology was used on the applications boats to assure targeted application of necessary Phoslock amounts throughout four treatment zones encompassing the entire water body (Figures 2 & 3). Phoslock dosing in each zone was based on surface area, water depth, sediment characteristics and phosphorus concentrations.
Periodic water quality analyses were conducted from three water column lake samples in 2012 and 2013. Samples were taken before Phoslock application and post-treatment through September 2013.
Benthic macroinvertebrate sampling and assessment were conducted both upstream and downstream of the lake immediately before treatment (4/29/13) and 4 days after Phoslock application completion (5/6/13).
In addition, lake sediment samples were collected from 3 sites in the lake using a threaded stainless steel coring apparatus. Sediment samples were taken prior to the Phoslock application (4/29/13); and 3 and 6 months post treatment (8/7/13; 12/4/13)(Figure 4). The top 5 cm layer of sediments (2 samples homogenized composite) from each sample location were sent to the laboratory for analysis. Sequential extraction was used to determine relevant phosphorus fractions and compare concentrations of bioavailable and stable phosphorus forms prior to and following the treatment.
No significant changes were measured in pH, turbidity, conductivity and alkalinity during and after the application. However, phosphorus rapidly (< 2 weeks) and significantly (p < 0.0005) decreased the total (> 80%) and free reactive phosphorus (> 95%) in the water column (Figure 5). Both total and free phosphorus concentrations remained low (< 54 ug/L and < 7ug/L, respectively) for the 5 months of monitoring post application. Sediment sampling from three in-lake locations documented the inactivation of potentially releasable sediment phosphorus fractions, thus significantly increasing (23.9% to 52.5%) the mass of more stable phosphorus fractions (apatite and residual) in 6 months post-treatment (Figure 6).
Secchi depth greatly increased post Phoslock application with an average of 122 cm from April – September 2013, where the corresponding timeframes measured 62 and 101 cm in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Prior to the Phoslock application, the algal assemblage was dominated by cyanobacteria which historically persisted from March to October. Sampling conducted one month prior to the Phoslock application documented the algae assemblage to again be dominated by cyanobacteria (primarily Aphanizomenon flos-aquae) with an average density of 33,300 cells/mL. Following the Phoslock application and subsequent reduction of available phosphorus, the main species of algae shifted to green algae and diatoms (average 6,000 cells/mL; Figure 7). Cyanobacteria concentraions fell significantly to an average of 1,200 cells/mL. Cyanobacteria levels remained below or near detection limits throughout this study.
In previous years, reactive algaecide applications were required on a routine basis to maintain the desired aesthetic quality of the lake. Since May 2013, no noticeable cyanobacteria scum formations were observed and for the first time in years, no reactive algaecide applications targeting cyanbacteria were required to sustain desired algae and water quality conditions. The monitoring also documented no significant composition or diversity alteration to the adjoining stream benthic macroinvertebrate community after the Phoslock application.
Periodic water quality monitoring is scheduled for 2014 by OC Parks and Auatechnex LLC and updates on this project will be provided in the future.
Phoslock significantly decreased and sustained lower concentrations of phosphorus in the water column. The application also shifted sediment phosphorus fractions from potentially bioavailable to highly stable forms compared to pre-treatment concentrations. Consequently the algal assemblage shifted from historic cyanobacteria dominated blooms, to low levels of non-problematic green algae/diatoms. The resulting water quality and clarity improvements also allowed submersed macrophyte growth (widgeon grass) for the first time in nearly 10 years.
Phoslock provided the water resource managers and public who enjoy Laguna Niguel Lake an ecologically sound in situ solution to address phosphorus pollution and restore water quality.


Concrete has been one of mankind’s great inventions, used throughout much of history and around the world. The use of concrete as a building material goes back to roughly 6500 BC. Many of mankind’s greatest architectural and engineering accomplishments could not have been done, without the use of concrete.
Modern concrete consists of aggregate (rock, gravel and sand) bound together by a fluid cement that hardens by chemical reaction with water. Mixed into a slurry, concrete can be molded into a nearly infinite variety of forms, limited by the imagination of the user in creating a form or mold.
For some structures, concrete is reinforced with steel bars, called “rebar” which is short for reinforcing bar. This is necessary because concrete, like most stone, is strong under compression, but not under tension. In other words, it is much weaker when you are trying to stretch it, than when you are trying to compress it. This is essentially what you are doing, when you use a hammer and chisel to break concrete or stone.
Planning Your Concrete Steps
Stair dimensions are labeled with two terms; rise and run. The rise is how high each step is and should generally be six to eight inches for comfort. You can go outside those dimensions, like a 5” rise, but if you go too high, the steps become hard to navigate, especially for small children and the elderly.
The run of the step is the distance from the step’s edge to the back of the step. This should be at least 11 to 12 inches, so as to ensure that it is enough for people to get their whole foot onto.
You want to make sure that you keep both the rise and run of your steps consistent. Uneven steps cause people to stumble. So to determine your rise, divide the total height of the stairs by 8, and then round up. Now divide the total height of the stairs by the answer you got when dividing by 8. This will give you the rise for your steps.
Typically, you can make the total run of your steps as long as you need to. So, start by figuring a porch or landing, if you need one. If these steps are going directly to a door, you’ll need at least a 36” deep porch or stoop. Add the total number of steps you need to that, in order to find your total run.
The final dimension you need is the width of the steps. If this is leading to a door, you will want six inches of space on either side of the door. So a typical 36” exterior door should have a 48” wide staircase leading up to it. Of course, if your steps are leading up to a porch or other structure, you can make them as wide as you want. Just be sure to make them wide enough to be easily navigable.
Preparing the Site
Concrete is heavy, about 4050 pounds per cubic yard or 150 pounds per cubic foot or 2400 kilograms per cubic meter, so your steps will be heavy. Therefore, they will need to sit on solid ground. You never want to pour concrete on top of soft ground or existing grass, as that doesn’t provide a firm foundation. Rather, you want to remove the grass and the softer earth under it, so as to get to the harder ground underneath. Compact this harder ground with a hand tamper to give you a solid base to work with.
It is a good idea to dig deep enough so as to allow you 4 to 8 inches of depth that you can fill with large gravel or crushed rock. This will help protect your concrete steps from shift in the ground, caused by moisture changes and freezing. Compact the gravel once again. In cold climates, it’s a good idea to put down a 2 inch layer of closed cell Styrofoam, beneath the gravel. This provides a water barrier between the steps and the ground, preventing freezing water from damaging them.
Cutting Plywood and Making the Form
With your site prepared, you are now ready to make the form for your concrete steps. Start by laying out the profile of the steps on a piece of ¾” construction grade plywood. Slope everything slightly (about 2 degrees) away from the door to help drainage. Double check your dimensions and then cut it out.
You will need two identical pieces like this. Be sure to cut exactly on the outside of our lines. If your cuts are not straight and clean, sand them to clean them up. Irregularities in the profile you are cutting out of the plywood will end up as irregularities in the top of your steps.
You will also need to cut as many strips of ¾” plywood as you have steps; as long as your steps need to be wide, plus double the thickness of the plywood. So a 48” wide step with 7” rise will need a piece of plywood 7” x 49 ½”. These are to be screwed to the front of each step on the plywood profiles, leaving the top of the step open. Be sure to screw the form together with long screws, as it must hold the weight of the concrete, while it is setting.
The form must be placed where you want the steps to be and anchored in place. Use 2”x 4”s, pointed at the bottom end, to hold the form in place, with additional pieces of 2”x 4”s as angled braces, to keep the sides from spreading at the top. If anything, you want to overdo it on the bracing, as fixing any mistakes with concrete is extremely difficult.
Pouring the Concrete
Before pouring the concrete, coat the form with oil to help prevent the concrete from sticking to it. Some people leave this step out, but in doing so, they often end up with splinters from the wood stuck to their steps.
You may want to add some filler inside the area, to help take up space and reduce the amount of concrete you need. If you have rocks sitting around your property, they make excellent filler. You can also fill it with dirt, creating a well packed down pile in the middle, but leaving at least four inches of space all around.
It is a good idea to add some metal reinforcement inside your step, before pouring the concrete. This can be done with rebar or remesh. Remesh is a stiff, welded wire grid, which is often used in pouring concrete patios, sidewalks and other light-duty structures. It will work ideally for steps as well. The rebar or remesh needs to be suspended in the form, so that it will sit below the surface level of the steps, but not sit on the ground. Ideally, you want it 2 to 4 inches below the surface.
Now that everything is ready, you can mix your concrete and pour it into your form or call for a truck to deliver ready-mix concrete to your home. As a general rule of thumb, if you need more than 20 bags of concrete, you’re better off getting ready-mix, than trying to mix it yourself.
Fill the form all the way, flush with the top, starting with the bottom step and working your way up. You want to get rid of any air pockets, by a combination of spading the concrete, inside the form (to break open air bubbles) and tapping the outside of the form with a hammer, to vibrate it and get the concrete to settle.
The concrete may settle, leaving low spots, as you pour it and tap the form. That’s okay, continue filling the form, then go back and top off any low spots with more concrete. By this time, the concrete will have started to stiffen up and should not sag again.
Finishing & Curing the Concrete
With your form fully filed, use a hand float to smooth out and level the surface of the concrete. You want to float it enough that the “cream” (excess water) rises to the top. Allow the bleed water to dissipate, then texture the top of the concrete by brushing over it with a stiff broom. This will help keep the surface of the concrete from becoming slippery when wet.
If you are planning on edging your concrete, to give it a radiused edge, it is done at this time, using a steel hand edger. This is not a requirement, but provide a more professional finish to your concrete step.
Once the concrete has set to the point where it will no longer gun, disassemble the form and remove it, starting by removing the riser boards. You should be able to do this about one hour after finishing your pour. Wait until the next morning to remove the side boards. If there are any air pockets or voids in your concrete, fill them with concrete patch material.
Concrete does not dry, but rather cures. It hardens by a chemical reaction between the minerals in the cement and water. So you need to keep the concrete wet, while it is setting. It is best to keep it constantly wet for two to five days after pouring. By then, it should be fully cured.


CONE (2) Pyrometric.
Pyrometric cones measure and control the heat in the kiln while firing and cut off the electricity when it reaches the correct temperature. There are two methods; the American Orton and English Harrison. They work in the same way but have two basic differences; one is their numbering in relation to heat and the other is their shape. Ortons are a slanted pyramid and Harrisons are straight and square.
There are two sizes, cones and mini-bars. Cones are larger and measure 63mm in length and mini-bars measure 25mm. They are delicate, can break easily are colored and numbered differently in relation to heat and are made up of minerals that reach a specified temperature.
They are placed in a kiln sitter between the sensing rod and the cone supports. When the kiln reaches the correct heat, which is a collapsing point, the cone bends and this automatically cut off the electricity, which turns off the kiln and finishes the firing.
In the following section there are three charts showing the different types of cones with their coding, make and temperatures in Centigrade and Fahrenheit.
KILN SITTER: a) Sensing tube, b) Sensing rod, c) Cone, d) Cone supports.


Updated: Aug 3, 2020
Kawasaki disease, also known as lymph node syndrome, mucocutaneous node disease, infantile polyarteritis and Kawasaki syndrome, is a poorly understood self-limited vasculitis that affects many organs, including the skin and mucous membranes, lymph nodes, blood vessel walls, and the heart. It does not seem to be contagious. It was first described in 1967 by Dr. Tomisaku Kawasaki in Japan.
Kawasaki is an inflammatory condition that can be fatal to children, usually under five.
It is also known as mucocutaneous lymph Syndrome, it is rare, but not connected to Covid 19, as far as we know of, at this time.
The exact cause of Kawasaki disease is still unknown.
That a mixture of genetics and environmental factors can cause Kawasaki syndrome
Kawasaki disease often begins with a high and persistent fever that is not very responsive to normal doses of acetaminophen or ibuprofen. The fever may persist steadily for up to two weeks and is normally accompanied by irritability. Affected children develop red eyes, red mucous membranes in the mouth, red cracked lips, a "strawberry tongue", iritis, keratic precipitates (detectable by an ophthalmologist but usually too small to be seen by the unaided eye), and swollen lymph nodes. Skin rashes occur early in the disease, and peeling of the skin in the genital area, hands, and feet (especially around the nails and on the palms and soles) may occur in later phases. Some of these symptoms may come and go during the course of the illness. If left untreated, the symptoms will eventually relent, but coronary artery aneurysms will not improve, resulting in a significant risk of death or disability due to myocardial infarction (heart attack). If treated in a timely fashion, this risk can be mostly avoided and the course of illness cut short.
High-grade fever (greater than 39 °C or 102 °F; often as high as 40 °C or 104 °F) that normally lasts for more than a week if left untreated.
Red eyes (conjunctivitis) without pus or drainage, also known as "conjunctival injection"
Bright red, chapped, or cracked lips
Red mucous membranes in the mouth
Strawberry tongue, white coating on the tongue or prominent red bumps (papillae) on the back of the tongue
Red palms of the hands and the soles of the feet
Swollen hands and feet
Rash which may take many forms, but not vesicular (blister-like), on the trunk
Swollen lymph nodes (frequently only one lymph node is swollen), particularly in the neck area
Joint pain (arthralgia) and swelling, frequently symmetrical
Tachycardia (rapid heartbeat)
Peeling (desquamation) palms and soles (later in the illness); peeling may begin around the nails
The sooner noticed and taken to hospital the better chance of survival, as it affects the arteries, veins and can lead to inflammation of the heart - Children diagnosed with KD should begin treatment immediately to prevent heart damage.
Timing is critical for preventing serious heart problems. Studies also r
Some children may require longer treatment time to prevent a blocked artery or a heart attack. In these cases, treatment involves daily antiplatelet aspirin doses until they have a normal echocardiograph. It may take six to eight weeks for coronary artery abnormalities to reverse.
parents need to watch
What are the possible complications of Kawasaki disease?
Kawasaki syndrome leads to serious heart problems in about 25 percent
of the children who have the disease. Untreated KD can lead increase your risk for a heart attack and cause:
myocarditis or inflammation of the heart muscle
dysrhythmia or an abnormal heart rhythm
aneurysm, or weakening and bulging of the artery wall
factors include being obese or over weight, having high cholesterol, and smoking.
What’s the long-term outlook for Kawasaki disease?
There are four possible outcomes for someone with Kawasaki syndrome:
· You make a full recovery without heart problems, which requires early diagnosis and treatment.
· You develop coronary artery problems. In 60 percent of these cases, patients are able to reduce these concerns within a year.
· You experience long-term heart problems, which requires long-term treatment.
· You have a reoccurrence of Kawasaki syndrome, which happens in only 3 percent of cases.
Kawasaki syndrome has a positive outcome when diagnosed and treated early. With treatment, only 3 to 5 percent of Kawasaki syndrome cases develop with coronary artery problems. Aneurysms develop in 1 percent.
Children who have had Kawasaki disease should receive an echocardiogram every one or two years to screen for heart problems.
It is as fatal, it needs immediate action. Even if parents are not sure, better to let a physician or pediatrician look at them to see if it is or not.


Geographic Information Systems
Geographic information systems (GIS) is a set of tools for capturing, displaying, and analyzing spatially-located data. GIS tools can be used to construct enriched datasets that relate spatial data, such as inventories of roadways, into a crash file to provide new perspectives on old questions and to allow new questions to be asked. Identification of high-risk locations can allow motor carriers to improve route selection and avoid roadways with specific risks. Relating certain crash types to specific roadway features can shed light on the effect of roadway design. Relating crashes to specific intersections can be used to reduce hazards. Experience with GIS crash location can be applied to other studies related to identification of trafficways with a high number of crashes.
Recent PublicationsSEE MORE
Xiaoguang Wang, Joe Grengs, Lidia Kostyniuk
journal article IN: The Journal of urban technology. Vol. 20, no. 3 (2013), p. 105-125.
This paper examines the spatial patterns of non-work activities for 34 drivers in the Southeast Michigan region. Capitalizing upon a...
Joe Grengs, Xiaoguang Wang, Lidia Kostyniuk.
journal article IN: The Journal of Urban Technology. Vol. 15, issue 2 (Aug. 2008), p. 33-53.
This paper investigates driving behavior based on GPS data collected by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (...


Reading the DHT11 with raspberry pi and python
Folgende Teile braucht ihr für die Anleitung
DHT11 - Measuring humidity and temperature
Let us get started.
The first step is to upgrade your Raspberry Pi and install a library for the sensor. Because not everyone uses the Raspberry Pi to measure temperature, the library we need to measure data with the DHT11 does not come preinstalled. You will need to download the library from internet. For the purposes of this kit, we will assume that your Pi is already connected to the internet. If this is not the case, you can either connect your pi via an ethernet connection or via wifi.
You can find out more here: cw42.co/wifi
Once you are connected, open up a terminal window and type the following command to upgrade your Raspberry Pi:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y
The apt-get commands are used to manage the programs on the Raspberry Pi. With the command above you are updating the program packages on your Raspberry Pi and making sure that you are using the latest version of every single program.
In order to install the necessary program and libraries for Python3, type the following command into a terminal window. We will discuss its purpose and functionality later in this text.
sudo apt-get install build-essential python3-dev
Next enter the following command to download the python library needed to read the temperature and humidity sensor data.
git clone https://github.com/coding-world/Python_DHT.git
Currently, the library is located in the Python_DHT folder. Your Raspberry Pi and Python environment don’t know that this library exists yet. To create this connection we must install it with the following commands:
First, change into the Python_DHT directory.
Next you will enter the following command to install the library to the Python3 environment.
sudo python3 setup.py install
Once the installation is complete, we can use the Python_DHT Library with the
import command in python.
Next we will discuss how to connect the DHT11 sensor to the GPIO Pins on the Raspberry Pi. You can recognise the front side of the DHT11 sensor by the grid.
|Connections Pi||Connections DHT11|
|3.3V||1. Pin DHT11/VCC|
|GPIO4||2. Pin DHT11/Data|
|Resistor 4.7KOhm||Connect 1. Pin and 2. Pin|
|GND (Ground)||4. Pin DHT11 GND|
- You need to connect a resistor between the first (VCC) and second Pin (Data). This is necessary for the energy supply and accurate measurements. The best resistor for this is the 4.7Kohm resistor. You can distinguish the resistance values by the colored code on the resistor. The 4.7KOhm Resistor has the following color code: yellow, purple, black, brown and gold. Find out more: cw42.co/resistors *
Please pay close attention to the connections as you could accidentally short circuit and damage the Raspberry Pi and sensors. Bad connections may also cause the sensor to run really hot!
Once everything is connected properly and all libraries are installed, we can get started with measuring the temperature and humidity.
To do this we will create our first program. From a terminal window, we can create a new file with the following command:
sudo nano dht11_simple.py
Fill the new text file with the following code:
import Python_DHT sensor = Python_DHT.DHT11 pin = 4 humidity, temperature = Python_DHT .read_retry(sensor, pin) print("Temperature = "+str(temperature)+ "C Humidity = "+str( humidity)+"%")
In the first line we are importing the Python_DHT library that we installed earlier. In the third line we create a variable called sensor and make it equal to the type of sensor we want to read the data from. In our case it is the
In line four we are creating the variable pin and setting it to the pin number we will be utilizing.
In line 5 we utilize an alternate method for creating and assigning variables. You can create multiple variables by separating them by commas
, and they can be assigned values at the same time. In this case we are using the
.read_retry() function. This functions takes the sensor type and the pin as a parameter.
In line 6 we are printing all the information obtained by the sensor.
Please note the line break in line 6 and 8, we need them for the book.
Now it is your turn: Can you change the code for the temperature sensor so it’s printing a special statement if the temperature is higher than 25°c?
Hint: You can use your breath for the temperature and logical operators.


NEO's Transportation Future
At the beginning of this year Akron, Cleveland, and Canton joined 75 other cities around the country in a contest to win $ 40 million dollars from the U-S Department of Transportation.
The Smart Cities Challenge wanted the best vision of 21st century transportation using technology. Ideastream’s Mark Urycki explored some of the ideas being kicked around and filed this report . ..
We all know that transportation in the 21st century is supposed to include flying cars.
But really, one fairly common idea among the Smart Cities proposals: self-driving cars. The Executive Director of The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, Grace Gallucci, thinks autonomous cars may reduce congestion better than the addition of more lanes.
“Self-driving automobiles which would have capacity to have better reaction time, they’ll be able to drive themselves more efficiently. That will help congestion much more than capacity [larger roads] ever could.”
And we know computers never crash, right?
“Trucks driving in tandem will be probably one of the first things to be evident in self-driving vehicles. And one of the ways that has been discussed to make that really work is a dedicated lane on the interstate. So that is a possibility and something that we’ll look at. “
Dedicated lanes are a common thread in the transportation world and not just in the future.
25 years ago the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act became law. Known as Ice Tea – it dedicated money for bike trails and pedestrian walkways.
More and more agencies are designing streets with lanes dedicated to bikes and pedestrians, as seen on large European boulevards.
Akron Planning Director Jason Segedy calls them “protected bike lanes.”
“So if someone is riding they’ve got a line of parked car between them and the through-traffic. And it almost serves as a kind of wall protecting them.”
The lanes are available because Akron and Cleveland roads were built for more people than they now have.
“Right now” says Segedy, “given that we’ve lost a third of our population in the last 50 years, our streets, if anything, err on the side of being overbuilt which in a way is good problem to have. We don’t have to pay catch up and widen a bunch of roads.“
Cleveland’s Euclid Avenue is an example of car lanes that have been turned into bus-only lanes. That creates Bus Rapid Transit.
Gallucci says more of those may be in the offing with the use of smart traffic signals which have allowed buses or emergency vehicles the right of way.
“Now it’s going to be where you have a commonality of the normal vehicle being able to communicate with the traffic signals as well as perhaps other vehicles. And so they’ll be better able to move through “
Canton’s Smart Cities proposal includes driverless shuttles that would connect the airport to the new NFL Hall of Fame Village.
Sensors are now available for trucks or buses that will alert the drivers whenever a pedestrian is nearby.
Other technology is helping public transit officials plan.
Metro RTA in Summit County has used GPS software to measure every stop and passenger boarding its buses and is now restructuring its system to add more buses where they’re needed and cutting routes where they are not.
Spokesman Jessica Dreschel says they also offer online apps to let passengers know exactly where their bus is.
“You can track your bus in real time on a map; you can look up your stops and see when buses are departing from particular stops; and you can also set up alerts so you can get messages sent your phone when a bus is departing from a particular bus stop that you use frequently.”
Of the 78 cities who entered the Smart Cities Challenge, the winner was Columbus. It proposed many of the technical gadgetry mentioned earlier but it also included a focus on serving the poor, who rely on public transportation to get to jobs, shopping, and medical care.
Land use is an issue for transportation.
The Greater Cleveland RTA is now cutting service due to a budget shortfall. Its Director of Service Management Joel Freilich says RTA has tries to keep up with businesses and organizations that have sprawled out to the suburbs but it is a strain on resources
“If someone says ‘oh we’re going far far away over here will you give us a bus route?’ If we have the resources and we do provide the bus route that only solves the problem on that spoke. Everyone else is wishing like crazy that that service had been provided downtown. That job or that educational service or that justice service or any other service.”
At the same time young people and empty nesters are slowly moving back into downtowns– trying to land near transit stops.
These transportation officials do consider environmental impacts in their planning.
Metro RTA just opened both electric car charging stations and a compressed natural gas pump in Akron. But one thing that bothers them? Parking.
Kris Liljeblad, the just-retired Director Planning and Development of Metro RTA says all that concrete surface area causes problems.
“Parking creates an incredible urban impact – undesirable environmental impact- heat island effects and storm drainage problems, all kinds of things. "
Akron Planning Director Jason Segedy agrees, saying his city has far more parking spaces than demand. He says that land could be better used.
“You know every square foot of we have devoted to a parking space that might be empty 20 hours a day is a place someone can’t live or work."
Officials have seen the increase of young people and empty nesters back into downtowns. They note the new residents want to be located near transit stops.
Tuesday evening at the Ideacenter, The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency holds a public meeting about its transportation plans for the year 2040. It begins at 6pm.


Map of the Month: GfK Inhabitants by Age Group (0-4 years) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland 2021
GfK’s Map of the Month for May shows the regional distribution of babies and toddlers younger than five years in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2021.
In Germany, the highest percentage of babies and toddlers can be found in the district of Offenbach am Main: 5.83 percent of all inhabitants there are under five years of age. Bringing up the rear among German districts is the district of Suhl, where the share of babies and children is 3.43 percent. Among Austrians, Vienna’s eleventh district (Simmering) is in first place. 6.05 percent of all people there are younger than five years. By contrast, the fewest babies and toddlers are to be found in the district of Jennersdorf, where they account for 3.45 percent. In Switzerland, the highest proportion of inhabitants aged up to four years is found in the district of Broye-Vully, with a share of 6.11 percent. The last place is occupied by the Valais district of Goms, where only 3.18 percent of all inhabitants are under the age of five.
The map may be freely distributed and reproduced if the following attribution is included: "Illustration: GfK".
Further insights into GfK's market data offering can be found here.


- Given similar increase of 1.36 percent in food availability per capita, 4.65 percent in food CPI, 1.54 percent in ratio of agricultural employment to total, and 25.73 percent in proportion of budget for poverty programs, the food utilization index will increase by 0.94 percent in 2016. It will be 32.57 percentage points higher than the 1990 level.
- Assuming food availability per capita / domestic production increased to 6.56 percent in 2014 (all other things constant) because of favourable weather condition and all government interventions are implemented on time , the Food Utilization Index will increase by 6.25 percent from 2013 level. It is expected to be 36.80 percentage points higher than the 1990 record.
- Assuming that the country will experience similar dry spell as in the 1998 El Nino, food availability per capita / domestic production will decrease by 23.89 percent in 2014 (all other things constant). The Food Utilization Index will also decrease by 22.75 percent from 2013 level. However, it will still be 0.86 percentage points higher than the 1990 record. Read more...
Below is a dynamic motion chart which explores food security index and its dimensions over time:


Q: I was at a local window tint shop and was told that I could have glazing material placed on my vehicle’s front windows but I could not have window tint on the front windows. What is glazing material and how is it different from window tint?
A: Glazing material is a compound that is usually affixed to window glass to improve the efficiency of the window. These types of windows are commonly found in homes and businesses that strive to be more energy efficient. The windows may be labeled as “Low-e” which is short for low-emittance of energy transfer and solar control. The glazing material blocks the transfer of energy or heat from a dwelling and allows places to stay cooler when it’s warm outside and warmer when it’s cool outside without the additional use of appliances such as heaters and air conditioners. Glazing materials in windows help reduce your energy usage.
Window tint is a thin film applied to windows to block sunlight and ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun. It should be noted that the windows already installed on your vehicle are made with glazing materials that block UV rays. The California Vehicle Code allows provisions for additional glazing material to be used on vehicle windows, but there are restrictions and requirements that need to be adhered to in order for it to be lawful. The provisions for glazing material can be found in section 26708(d) of the California Vehicle Code. You can visit the California Department of Motor Vehicle’s web site at www.dmv.ca.gov for more information regarding glazing material.
Glazing material should not be confused with window tinting film. Tinting any window that is forward or aside the driver (in other words the front windshield and front driver or passenger windows) is against the law. The regulation for tinted windows can be found in section 26708(a) of the California Vehicle Code. This section states in part that no person shall drive a motor vehicle with any object or material placed, installed, or applied upon the windshield or side windows. Any window located behind the driver may be tinted but only if the vehicle has rearview mirrors installed on the right and left side.
If your front windows are tinted and you are stopped by the police, you could receive a citation for being in violation of the law. Usually for first time offenders, the citation issued would be a notice to correct, commonly known as a “fix it” ticket. These types of violations are not considered “moving” violations and may not affect your driving record if handled properly. If you receive a notice to correct, you must first fix the violation (i.e. have the window tint removed) and have an authorized person sign the “Certificate of Correction” part of your ticket. A police officer, sheriff deputy, or CHP officer are all examples of authorized persons. Take the proof of correction to the court and pay the dismissal fee before the deadline. You can check your ticket or contact the court to see if the court accepts proof of correction by mail. The court will then dismiss your case and it won’t go on your record.
If you fail to fix the problem or violation, you could receive additional penalties and increased fines.
Q: I was on 14th Street and San Vicente in Santa Monica and was stopped by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) for a traffic violation. Does the CHP have the authority to stop me when I’m not on a freeway?
A: Yes. California is one of many states that allow police officers, sheriff deputies, and highway patrol officers to maintain their peace officer powers throughout the entire state. In essence there are generally no jurisdiction boundaries for all peace officers in California. That being said, a CHP officer has the same authority to initiate traffic stops on streets as they do on freeways. The same rule applies to police officers and sheriff deputies. Let’s take a look at another scenario. If you were in Santa Monica and a Culver City police officer observed you fail to stop for a red light, the Culver City police officer has the authority to stop you even though you’re in Santa Monica. It should be noted that it is very common to see officers from the Culver City Police Department in Santa Monica at traffic court.
With that said, it is best to always drive safely, lawfully and courteously no matter where you are. Peace officers have a responsibility to protect the safety of all citizens, and are granted the authority to carry out their duties anywhere in California in order to do so.
This column was prepared by NRO Mike Boyd, Beat 8 (Pico Neighborhood). He can be reached by phone at (424) 200-0688 or by e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org.


By David Fogarty and Alister Doyle
(Reuters) - As the nations of the world struggle in Doha to agree even modest targets to tackle global warming, the cuts needed in rising greenhouse gas emissions grow ever deeper, more costly and less likely to be achieved.
U.N. talks have delivered only small emissions curbs in 20 years, even as power stations, cars and factories pump out more and more heat-trapping gases.
An overriding long-term goal set by all nations two years ago to keep temperature rises to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above levels prior to the Industrial Revolution is fast slipping away.
"The possibility of keeping warming to below 2 degrees has almost vanished," Pep Canadell, head of the Global Carbon Project at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organization, told Reuters.
Disagreements mean the U.N. climate talks in Doha, Qatar, that run until December 7 have scant chance of making meaningful progress. The talks are aimed at reaching a new deal to start by 2020 to slow climate change in the form of more floods, droughts, rising sea levels and severe storms like Hurricane Sandy that lashed the U.S. Northeast last month.
Global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, have risen 50 percent since 1990 and the pace of growth has picked up since 2000, Canadell said. In the past decade, emissions have grown about 3 percent a year despite an economic slowdown, up from 1 percent during the 1990s.
Based on current emissions growth and rapid industrial expansion in developing nations, emissions are expected to keep growing by about 3 percent a year over the next decade.
For the talks to have any chance of success in the long run, emissions must quickly stop rising and then begin to fall. Temperatures have already risen by 0.8 C (1.4 F) since pre-industrial times.
"The alarm bells are going off all over the place. There's a disconnect between the outside world and the lack of urgency in these halls," Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists said at the Doha talks.
Nearly 1,200 coal-fired power plants, among the biggest emitters, are proposed around the globe, with three-quarters of them planned for China and India, a study by the Washington-based World Resources Institute think-tank said last week.
Emissions from China, the world's top carbon polluter, are growing 8 to 9 percent a year and are now about 50 percent higher than those of the United States. And China's carbon emissions are not expected to peak until 2030.
In some projections, global emissions will need to go into reverse by mid-century, with the world sucking more carbon out of the air than it puts in, if warming is to be kept to below 2 C.
And air pollution, mostly particles from fossil fuel use, may be masking the warming by dimming sunshine.
"Those aerosols today hide about one-third of the effect of greenhouse gases," Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice-chairman of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told Reuters.
Without that pollution, a breach of the 2 degree threshold might already be inevitable, he said.
The latest IPCC report, in 2007, said keeping greenhouse gas concentrations low would cost less than 3 percent of world gross domestic product by 2030. So far, the panel has not assessed the costs of delays, said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the panel.
The report also said that world emissions of greenhouse gases would need to peak by 2015 to give a good chance of keeping the average temperature rise to below 2 C.
But deep disagreement on future emissions cuts between rich and poor nations has delayed the start of a new global pact until 2020, undermining the chances of a robust extension in Doha of the existing plan, the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges almost 40 rich nations to cut emissions until the end of 2012.
The deadline for a deal on new cuts due to start in 2020 has been put back to 2015, giving breathing space for the troubled talks as ever more carbon enters the air.
Yet current emissions cut pledges are putting the planet on course for a warming of 3 to 5 C, a U.N. report said last week, adding that 2 C was still possible with tough action.
"The later we go in getting complete action and the higher emissions are in 2020, the greater is the risk that these targets are not possible or are extremely expensive," said Bill Hare, head of the non-profit advisory organization Climate Analytics.
Key will be a switch to nuclear or biomass power and carbon capture and storage. If these don't step up, there will be no financially feasible solutions to meet the target, he said.
In Doha, both the United States and the European Union - the main emitters among developed nations - say they will not deepen their pledges for cuts by 2020. "It's a desperate situation," said Martin Kaiser of Greenpeace.
To be effective, the next climate pact from 2020 would need global agreement for rapid and deep cuts. Under a scenario drawn up by the IPCC, rich nations needed to achieve cuts of 25 to 40 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.
But existing pledges are for less than 20 percent.
Canadell, citing work by the Global Carbon Project and other researchers, said that to have a reasonable chance of keeping warming to 2 C, global emissions would have to drop about 3 percent a year from 2020.
Since developed nations are meant to take the lead, that would mean the rich would have to cut by between 4 and 5 percent a year, he said. That could cripple economies by prematurely shutting down coal-fired power plants and polluting factories.
Global accountancy firm PwC estimated that the improvement in global carbon intensity - the amount of carbon emitted per unit of economic output - needed to meet a 2 C target had risen to 5.1 percent a year, from now to 2050.
"We have passed a critical threshold - not once since World War Two has the world achieved that rate of decarbonisation, but the task now confronting us is to achieve it for 39 consecutive years," PwC said.
(Reporting by David Fogarty in Singapore and Alister Doyle in Doha; Editing by Hugh Lawson)


Digitalization has changed the very way we live, work and think. It is not just about something we do strategically or specifically, but the way we perceive ourselves and connect to the world around us. Even our language is structured by digital technologies. Ubiquitous like air, it is invisible. It has not only invaded economic politics but also political markets. Today we live in a world where the ‘virtual’ has drastically and rapidly overtaken the ‘real’ and governmental controls.
No wonder, under these circumstances, we find the focus of policymakers, educators and employers shifting from content-based knowledge to lifelong learning based upon creativity, innovation, entrepreneurial and problem-solving soft skills. Earlier, our schools and colleges provided their students hard skills along with diplomas/degrees in hand and prepared them for work. Now these institutions are required to prepare their students/learners for not yet discovered careers and technologies not yet invented.
Need of the hour
Therefore, it has become urgent to prepare the students for creative, problem-solving, innovative and entrepreneurial skills now to be able to deal with uncertainties and vulnerabilities at the workplaces in future. It means abandoning traditional classroom teaching based upon textbooks, information and rote learning. There has to be more focus on peer learning to inspire learners to get sparking new ideas just in time. It would require learning and preparedness for adapting to the latest technologies on lifelong basis.
Creative, problem-solving, innovative and entrepreneurial skills can help the students and professionals in learning from their successes and failures, take subjective decisions which require immediate attention, work with teams comprising of people from diverse socio-cultural and regional backgrounds, prepare them to take calculated risks and accept challenges, show consistent persistence, grit and confidence despite adverse and un-anticipated circumstances. This applies to the recent scenario in the case of start-ups all over the world in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the CEOs of these start-ups simply cannot give up and would have to find out creative and innovative solutions by being more entrepreneurial.
There is no other way to deal with the likely problems arising in the era of digitalisation, platform or gig economies in future except building the base of the students now by garnishing the creative, nurturing and innovative skills. No amount of content and knowledge we give them today can suffice for their needs as working adults in future. They have to act not as consumers by receiving information from their teachers but they have to participate in creating new knowledge as equal partners. They have to become not only problem-solvers but also the finders of problems at the first hand and be able to provide appropriate solutions on subjective basis by distinguishing the false from true information. It requires critical skills and lifelong learning.
The job of educational institutions, schools as well as colleges should be to provide befitting environment to their students and learners. They must get not only the quality infrastructure and labs but also adequate opportunities to experiment with new ideas without any fear of their failure or success. They should not only be ready to learn from their peers but beyond their immediate educational institutions or universities. The future of work cannot be predicted as it is constantly fluctuating. Hence, the students as future workers should be ready to enhance their skills constantly throughout their lives. No wonder, creativity, innovation and problem-solving skills have become the buzz words not only in India, including the New Education Policy, but also the world around.


One of the largest cities in South Carolina, Charleston was home to nearly 50,000 people in 1890. This database is a transcription of three city directories originally published between 1888 and 1890. In addition to providing the resident's name, it provides information regarding their address and occupation. This collection includes the names of over 115,800 people, mostly heads of households. For those seeking ancestors from South Carolina, this can be an informative database.
This database is also included in the 1890 Census Reconstruction Project and
can be searched through its main page at: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/census/1890sub/main.htm


If you are a lover of red gemstones, then Rubies and Garnets are the ones for you. They look similar and are sometimes confused as each other. You can distinguish them apart by knowing their differences. They are both precious, but it is important to know which is which to prevent you from paying for a Ruby and walking around with a Garnet.
Garnets are a range of gemstones all linked together with chemical as well as physical properties. It was used in the Bronze Age as an abrasive, as well as a gemstone. The Bronze Age spanned from 3300-1200 BC. There are various types of Garnets. They are Uvarovite, Pyrope, Grossular, Spessartine, Andradite and Almandine. Some Garnets are known to change their colour when they are viewed in incandescent light. A lot of people think that Garnet comes solely in a dark red colour and nothing else. But it actually comes in different hues of pink, green, brown, black, yellow, pink, as well as colourless.
For this comparison we will be comparing the very vibrant Red garnets from Africa. The example shown below is 3.89cts and has such a strong and vibrant red color.
Garnets are usually mined in countries like South Africa, Australia, Switzerland, China and Scotland.
The word ‘Ruby’ comes from ruber, a Latin word for red. It has a fiery red hue and is noted for that color. Its hue comes from the abundance of the element chromium in it. Ruby is a variation of the corundum and is one of the precious stone along with Diamond, Emerald and Sapphire.
The color of the Ruby determines its value. The Rubies that are deemed very valuable are those with the pigeon blood or the blood-red color, as it leads to the brightness of a premium Ruby. The value of a Ruby is determined by other factors like its clarity. The cleaner a Ruby gemstone is, the more valuable it becomes. The Ruby’s value is also determined by its carat weight and cut. Ruby is greatly valued by many people and considered very precious because of its beauty, hardness, rarity, durability and luster.
Very few will know this, but Rubies that are transparent and are of greater sizes are known to be far rarer than another precious gemstones, like Diamonds.
The hue of Ruby vary from a dark reddish-brown to a bright red. Rubies are usually mined for in Burma, Mozambique, Greenland, Brazil, Thailand and the Republic of Macedonia. Its toughness is measured via the Mohs scale and it is ranked at 9.0, making it a very tough and hard mineral.
Garnet VS Ruby
They may look alike in their appearance though there are a number of characteristics that make them very different.
On the Mohs scale which is used to measure the toughness, Garnet is 6.5 to 7.5
On the other hand Rubies have a toughness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale. This shows that the Ruby is tougher and a lot more durable than its counterpart Garnet.
When comparing their colours, Garnet is known to come in various colours like red, brown, orange and green. Ruby has a reddish hue in different shades of the red. When comparing both reddish shades, Ruby has a lighter red and tends to be a lot pinker than its counterpart the Garnet.
If you are looking at a gemstone and it has an earthy tone or a bit of an orange shade, you are most likely looking at a Garnet. Though Rubies are mostly red, some may tend to have a bluish or purplish secondary hue.
A Garnet value ranges from $5 to $5,000 per carat. however the intensity of Red you can get from a Garnet for a fraction of the price of a Ruby is something to consider.
Ruby can range from $100 to $15,000 a carat making one of the most valubale gemstones on the market
Garnets are generally not treated and there are no common treatments for Garnet on the market.
Rubies on the other hand are known to undergo various kinds of treatments like glass filling to improve the transparency of the Ruby and heat treatments to enhance its color.
It is hard to find untreated Rubies and these stones will command a premium price
As you can see there is no simple answer for the battle of Garnet VS Ruby. At the end of the day it comes down to personal preference and budget. If having an untreated gemstone is important to you but you don’t have a huge budget, then Garnet is the stone for you. If prestige and history is important to you then consider a Ruby.


Separation of Powers - Student Blog
Updated: Jul 21, 2021
The doctrine of separation of powers is ineffective if it is unable to hold other institutes accountable. In Britain, to perform this function concerning the Executive branch of Government, constitutional conventions on ministerial responsibility are in place. The convention sets a standard of behaviour for all the Ministers to follow during their term in office and Ministers are expected either to conform to those behavioural practices or resign. In fact, the convention on ministerial responsibility is the basic code of conduct for a Minister to follow during their term in office. Although highly persuasive and politically binding, ministerial conventions are not legally binding, but their breach has severe repercussions for the political career of a Minister. Constitutional convention plays the role of scrutinising the working of the executive branch of government. Its non-legal nature ensures the smooth working of the institutions, whilst its persuasiveness ensures accountability, a twofold process: (1) Institutional (collective ministerial responsibility) and (2) at an individual level.
Constitutional conventions are not only part of the British system, but also the American, Canadian, and Australian one. However, the conventions within the British system differ from the others as in Britain there is no codified constitution that can enforce effective accountability and maintain a strict separation of powers. Everything in the UK is reliant upon the will of parliament and, unlike the US the Executive is also utilised within the legislature, thus further enhancing the scope for scrutiny. In this scenario, the role of constitutional convention in the UK is miraculous- it morally and politically binds the Ministers to resign in a particular situation (for example, the resignation of David Cameroon, former Prime Minister of the UK, in the wake of the Brexit referendum).
However, it is argued that actual resignation varies on the political strength of the Minister and his relationship with the cabinet and position in parliament (Rodney Brazier). It is also believed that the convention on ministerial responsibility is the kind of device which Ministers with greater political strength can escape, whilst their weaker counterparts get caught out. So, it is now believed that ministerial responsibility means ministerial obedience to the Prime Minister. To truly arrive at a conclusion on the operation, effect and role of both conventions in the British legal system, one needs to examine different aspects of constitutional convention on ministerial responsibility.
This process works both collectively and individually. Collective responsibility is extended to all the Ministers present in the cabinet, each of whom is expected to maintain both a collective front in public and the secrecy of official information. This convention is based on public policy and plays a vital role in maintaining the stability and the exchange market of the country. Political disagreement brings instability and lack of confidence, which in turn weakens the government. Hence, The Cabinet Office’s Ministerial Code (2015) outlines how collective responsibility should work in practice "Ministers should be able to express their views frankly in the expectation that they can argue freely in private while united when decisions have been reached. The privacy of opinions expressed in Cabinet and Ministerial Committees, including in correspondence, should be maintained, too".
The two facets of collective ministerial responsibility refer to the unanimity of the cabinet. If any Minister is unable to obey the basic code of conduct, then they are considered incapable of holding the public seat of Minister, therefore they must resign, as set by previous examples of the resignation of Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in 2003, as a protest against the government on its policy towards Iraq. A more recent example is the resignation of Baroness Warsi, a Minister in the Foreign Office in August 2014, because she could not agree with the Government’s policy on the Israel-Gaza conflict. She wrote to the Prime Minister, stating that the "Government’s approach in Britain's national interest". Hence, after resignation one is free to express their opinion and to agree or disagree with government policies.
However, the second aspect of this convention is that of maintaining the secrecy of ministerial meetings to ensure important secrets remain under wraps, even after the resignation of a Minister. In the case of AG v Jonathan Cape, it was held that a Minister cannot release any confidential information learned during their tenure, even after 10 years- however, Ministers who resign are free to make a public statement in Parliament, publish a resignation letter, or hold a press conference explaining the reason for the action, which would not be considered a breach of this convention.
The exception to the operation of this convention is the temporary suspension of this convention by the Prime Minister, on the doctrine of free vote or an agreement to differ. Free vote refers to any situation in which the Government has no stated policy on the matter and the question of dissent by some Ministers does not arise. Agreement to differ simply means that the Government has adopted a policy, but Ministers are given the right to dissent from that policy in public. Examples of this occurred in 1932, 1975 and 2016 as a result of tariff policies of the government, accession of ECA and the EU Referendum, respectively. However, aside from these exceptions, this rule governing conduct must be obeyed in all circumstances. The significance and strength of this convention are evidenced by the fact that in Northern Ireland, to abide by the content of this collective convention is enforceable by law.
The second convention on ministerial responsibility governs the individual aspects of the Minister and their conduct in relation to their department. According to Rodney Brazier, each Minister is responsible for:
(1) their private conduct,
(2) the general conduct of their department, and
(3) acts done (or left undone) by officials in their department.
So, if there is any breach relating to these three areas, the political pressure on the Minister demands their immediate resignation. But the simple resignation is not enough. Accountability involves accounting in detail for one’s actions as Minister, according to the Defence Select Committee with regards to the Westland affairs.
There are four steps which are to be followed by the Minister, should they breach this convention, in order to make the accountability process effective. This includes the duty to:
(1) inform and explain,
(3) take action, and
As far as responsibility for private conduct is concerned, followed by the precedent set in 2012 by Chris Huhne, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the expectation is that Ministers are to immediately tender their resignation to the Prime Minister. However, the situation of ministerial responsibility for the whole department is contentious, as previously the onus of complete responsibility in the event of defection within their department lies with the Minister, regardless of who is at fault, as can be seen by the resignation of Sir Thomas Dugdale, Minister of Agriculture during the Crichel Down affairs.
However, with the introduction of next-step agencies (semi-private bodies performing public functions) and the large size of departments, the new trend would appear to be that the Minister should not be regarded as responsible for looking after, or be held liable for, every petty matter in his department.
This argument would dictate that the convention on individual ministerial responsibility is now appropriately modified to deal with this situation.
So now, where departmental responsibility is involved, the fault is said to arise from two situations: (1) faulty policies allegedly made by the Minister and (2) incorrect implementation of the said policy by the officials of the department. Now, the Minister is only responsible for wrong policies changes.
So, if they can provide adequate justification to Parliament regarding the policymaking of their department, they can escape resignation. As far as implementation of said policy by officials is concerned, the Minister bears no responsibility. This distinction has weakened the accountability of the executive branch of government, as can be seen by many instances of non-resignation by Ministers in case of departmental failure. In 1982, Home Secretary Mr. William Whitelaw did not resign over a breach of security at Buckingham Palace, nor did Mr. James Prior, the Northern Ireland Minister, resign in 1984, following the escape of terrorists from the Maze Prison.
The reality of uncodified and unenforceable constitutional convention proves that conventions don't need to be strictly codified in order to have its true impact. The political pressure and moral obligation to follow it creates enough of a safeguard and deterrent, and the constitutional convention is an important doctrine of the unwritten British constitution. The origin of the convention is traced back to the times of King George but academically, the term was first referred to by A.V. Dicey in the following words:
"Understandings, habits, or practices though they may regulate conduct of the several members of the sovereign power, are not really laws, since they are not enforced by the courts." - AV Dicey