Chris Johnson is the co-founder of Energy Revolution, a charity that compensates for carbon emissions incurred through festival travel. He is also a Director of Kambe Events, as well as the co-founder and chair of Powerful Thinking, the UK festival industry forum on sustainable energy.
We have learned that travel typically accounts for 80% of an average UK festival’s emissions. How people and equipment get on and off site is therefore a key area to address if, as event organisers, we are serious about tackling environmental impacts.
In 2015, the Show Must Go On report – published by festival industry think-tank Powerful Thinking – comprehensively set out the environmental impacts of the festival industry. The report revealed that the vast majority – as much as 80% – of the festival industry’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) come from travel and transportation. Festival organisers also identified the reduction of travel emissions as a priority for the industry in tackling the overall carbon footprints of events in the 2017 Industry Green Survey.
So what can be done to educate our festival-goers on the impacts of their travel choices and to persuade them to consider more sustainable forms of transport? Understanding audience behaviour and preferences is a vital step in making sustainable travel accessible, and many organisations are working together to gather this data. In 2009, Festival Republic chaired a cross-industry research group that worked with Julie’s Bicycle to better understand audience travel behaviours across different festivals, evaluate incentives for reducing travel impacts, and shape recommendations going forward – resulting in the Jam Packed report. A Greener Festival conducted an audience survey in 2012 showing that 70% of festival-goers see traffic congestion as having a negative impact on the festival environment and that 65% agree that they would travel to festivals by public transport if it was provided as part of the ticket price.
More recently I co-founded Energy Revolution, a UK charity set up in 2015 by a group of leading festival organisers and cultural leaders including Ben Robinson, founder of Kendal Calling; Chris Rutherford, founder of Boomtown; Alison Tickell, Julie’s Bicycle CEO; and Ed Gillespie, global sustainable brand pioneer and founder of Futerra. Energy Revolution’s mission is simply to help events organisers, companies and artists to better understand and tackle travel impacts. Energy Revolution has released a Guide to Sustainable Travel for Festivals and Events (2017) which brings together and adds to previous research on the subject, giving festival organisers clear information on the way audiences currently travel, the impacts of their choices by transport type and examples of initiatives that can lead to reduced emissions.
In a nutshell, reducing travel impacts means fewer private cars, higher vehicle occupancy, and more festival-goers using shared forms of transport or using sustainable fuels. Many events have successfully trialled initiatives to reduce travel impacts in these ways. In 2011, Glastonbury’s Green traveller initiative set aside a percentage of tickets for combined coach and entry packages, providing incentives such as food vouchers and discounted merchandise. Boomtown literally doubled their coach numbers in one year between 2016 and 2017 using ‘entry + travel’ packages, reducing the car parking space required and CO2 emissions produced. Many events – including Latitude, Boomtown, Bestival and Shambala – have offered guided cycle rides with partners. Festivals such as Kendal Calling are working with train service providers to offer discounted deals, and city events such as Redfest in Bristol have provided serviced cycle parks and mechanic services for festival-goers arriving by bike. The number of coach providers dedicated to the festival sector is expanding, and this year we will see electric car charging emerge as a service at many festivals.
But why make such an effort to focus on this issue? Aside from the obvious direct benefits of reduced vehicle numbers leading to easier traffic management and less land required for car parking, we are at a pivotal moment in the human impact on climate change. The Paris Agreement brought together almost 200 governments around a commitment to keeping global warming well below 2.0C (3.6F) above pre-industrial times. Current trajectories put us on a path exceeding that, and it’s thought that to have a chance of meeting this target, so critical to human society, we need to peak our global emissions by 2020 and then rapidly reduce them. Travel and transport is responsible for a huge proportion of our collective impacts. For example, in the UK, transport is now the highest emitting sector of the economy, responsible for around 26% of greenhouse gases.
Festivals can and are playing a vital and significant role in adopting and inspiring the changes we need to see in society to meet the challenge of climate change. A sea change is taking place before our eyes with regard to environmental awareness and commitment, with more than 70 festivals engaged with the Vision:2025 initiative to reduce emissions by 50% by 2025, and a huge array of commitments to plastic reduction announced this year, including the AIF’s Drastic on Plastic initiative that included a pledge to completely phase out single-use plastic within three years.
So what solutions are out there for festivals to collectively work towards tackling travel emissions? What is carbon balancing and where does come in for the live events sector? Carbon balancing is the act of investing in future carbon avoidance or mitigation, commonly through renewable energy; replacing fossil fuel emissions with clean energy, thus reducing emissions; or planting trees that absorb carbon over their lifetime. Carbon balancing should be seen as a last resort, not a solution. Any emissions that are released into the environment are there to stay, and will have an impact on global warming. But there is a compelling case for carbon balancing in addition to taking action to directly reduce emissions. Through the act of measuring travel and calculating associated emissions, people and organisations become more aware and engaged with their impacts, and typically begin to see opportunities to reduce them. Around 700 Arts Council England funded organisations are using the Julie’s Bicycle Creative IG Tools online to measure their impacts. Julie’s Bicycle report that a 21% reduction in energy related emissions has been achieved since 2012/13 as a result of the project, along with an estimated £11m of savings on energy costs in the arts sector. On an individual level, giving festival-goers the option to balance their journey when buying a festival ticket helps maintain awareness that travel has an environmental impact, and that they can take action if they choose.
Energy Revolution works with event promoters, audiences, venues, artists and their agencies, ticket platforms and the industry supply chain to measure and balance the emissions from festival and tour travel miles. To date we have balanced over 5 million travel miles, with 100% of all donations going directly to projects that generate clean renewable energy, including wind turbines in India and the UK, and community solar projects in the UK. These projects directly prevent fossil fuel based energy being produced, reducing emissions, and creating an energy infrastructure fit for the future.
Many organisations see carbon balancing as positive action and are working with Energy Revolution to build an industry-wide movement towards a low carbon infrastructure for the future, from Rock City Stage Crew balancing their staff travel miles to The Ticket Sellers integrating a travel carbon calculator for events using their ticketing platform, and Tuned In Travel offering travel balancing to thousands of passengers. Grammy-winning artist Joss Stone balanced the first half of her Total World Tour, in which she aimed to play in every country of the world in 2017, and her agency Diplomats of Sound will be the first management agency to work with their roster to balance their tours.
Energy Revolution is founded on the principle of Creative Commons copyright, the idea that information should be shared for the benefit of everyone, and we are on a mission to better understand the current landscape and inspire change. We are working with CGA to survey 10,000 festival-goers’ perspectives on adopting sustainable travel and will publish recommendations based on the results this autumn. But more data and analysis is still needed on travel by crew, artists and suppliers to help the industry understand the wider impacts of event travel and develop smart solutions. Shambala and Cambridge Folk Festival are currently working closely together to collect and compare comprehensive data on travel, and we will work with other member events and suppliers to gather detailed data to help shape advice over the coming year.
I think we will see radical changes in the coming years, driven by legislation, economics, personal choice and organisational leadership. Electric car sales are exponentially increasing due to advances in battery technology, reducing costs and legislative expectations, and we will see charging become a norm at events. We expect to see coaches beginning to use batteries, charged by solar and wind or grid connections at depots. Local shuttle services will begin this trend due to the shorter journeys required. As private car travel becomes more expensive due to fuel taxes, we will see shared travel options take a larger share of travel to and from events. Ultimately the fossil-free future of travel is efficient grid-connected public transport systems, and local transport links using battery or sustainable fuels. The exact nature of this will depend on whether batteries or alternative fuels such ethanol derived from algae establish themselves as viable cost-effective solutions first, and whether the UK government pursues legislation to shape transport and emissions, something that it has been taken to court repeatedly for ignoring.
50 organisations are already involved with Energy Revolution, including 37 festivals, and suppliers and artists. If you would like to get involved to help them reach the target of 10 million travel miles by 2020 get in touch or visit the official website.


1. You don't have to put cream in your coffee to make it taste good.
2. Coffee doesn't complain when you put whipped cream in it.
3. A cup of coffee looks good in the morning.
4. You won't fall asleep after a cup of coffee.
8. You won't get arrested for ordering coffee at 3 AM.
11. You can make coffee as sweet as you want.
12. You can smoke while drinking coffee.
13. You can put out a cigarette in a cup of coffee.
14. Coffee smells and tastes good.
15. You don't have to put vinegar in your coffee.
16. If your coffee pot leaks, you can use a regular paper towel.
17. You can always get fresh coffee.
19. They sell coffee at police stations.
20. You can always ditch a bad cup of coffee.
21. Coffee goes down easier.
22. If you put chocolate in your coffee, it doesn't put on weight.
23. No matter how ugly you are, you can always get a cup of coffee.
24. A big cup or small cup? It doesn't matter.
25. Your coffee doesn't talk to you.
26. Coffee smells good in the morning.
27. Coffee is good when it's cold too.
28. Coffee stains are easier to remove.
29. Coffee doesn't care when you dunk things in it.
30. Coffee doesn't care what kind of mood you're in.
32. Coffee is ready in 15 minutes or less.
33. You can't get a cup of coffee pregnant by putting cream in it.
34. Coffee doesn't mind being ground.
35. No matter how bad coffee is, you can always make it better.
36. Coffee doesn't have a time of the month... it's good all the time.
37. When coffee gets old, you can throw it away.
39. Coffee doesn't take up half your bed.
42. You can have an intelligent conversation with coffee.
43. It can take up to 2 weeks for coffee to grow mold.
44. Your coffee won't be jealous of a larger cup.


Dominant Social Theme: What will happen next? Will Scotland be free?
Free-Market Analysis: The greatness of a great land is long gone. Scotland is the home of dreary socialist cities glowering under a gray sky.
And Scotland's fate will not really change whether it stays with Britain or goes with the EU and the euro.
The choice is to be Europe or Britain. Some choice! Britain is an increasingly authoritarian, corporate state run by banking powers in the City of London. "Europe" is actually run by the same power nexus and eventually – if it doesn't collapse – will have even more rules, regulations, taxes and inflation than Britain. And that's saying a lot.
The upcoming vote on independence may be more important to the City than to Scotland itself.
Support for a Yes vote has surged by 10 per cent since the start of the year, according to a poll of polls by the Financial Times. It dipped briefly when Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party, bizarrely chose to praise Vladimir Putin. But the overall rise is alarming many who assumed that there was no chance Scotland would ever vote to go it alone.
The Yes Scotland office is bright and modern, all stripped pine and optimistic colours, with free iPads to use in the lobby. The chief strategist, Stephen Noon, a youthful-looking 43-year-old, dismisses "old media and politics" – as well he might, since the Yes campaign is not doing so well in those traditional arenas.
"We are ahead on social media and ahead by a length on face-to-face conversations," he insists, describing his tactics in language that suddenly sounds eerily familiar. "It is about conversion through conversation."
Yes people – as he calls them – are trained to orchestrate friendly chats aimed at nudging their mates a few points up a 10-point scale of commitment, with 10 being the mark of a true believer: "Somebody who is three becomes five, becomes seven, becomes 10."
… In the East End of Glasgow, some people feel they have nothing to lose. Craig, a job-seeking former delivery man in his forties whom we meet on the empty evening streets, says: "They tell us, 'You'll not keep the pound, you'll not get into Europe, you can't have this and you can't have that if you go.' It's rubbish, man. Scare tactics, plain and simple. You'll not scare us!"
Craig is from a Labour family, but does not feel Ed Miliband is doing much for him. Disenchanted Labour supporters are a second good reason why Yes Scotland has picked up steam.
Craig's point is well taken: "You'll not keep the pound, you'll not get into Europe …" He's expressed the dialectic as it has been orchestrated.
The man behind the vote, Alex Salmond, is Scotland's most formidable politician. But he also has close ties to London's City, and the vote has thus been carefully positioned far in advance.
If the Scots wanted REAL independence, they could vote to create a currency backed by gold and the nation's prosperity would soar. Yes, there are plenty of alternatives. But that is not how the election is being positioned. Either Scotland stays in Britain or it seeks safe harbor by joining the euro and moving closer to Europe.
Is a "yes" vote actually being orchestrated out of London?
Is it possible that the City itself – fearful of a referendum that removes Britain from the EU – has decided to make a proactive strike by orchestrating a Scottish secession that will drive the country closer to the EU and potentially toward adoption of the euro?
Our logic revolves around our often-stated belief that the City itself is behind the European Union and the euro. The international banking crowd never saw a union that it didn't want to retain and eventually enlarge.
In the context of this scenario, Britain might vote to leave the EU, but one of its member states would provide a countervailing influence.
If this is the case, the vote may be more important to the City than to Scotland itself. Irony, eh?


This article is about the UK PPV system. For the New Zealand PPV system, see Sky Box Office (New Zealand).
Sky Box Office is the name of Sky plc's pay-per-view (PPV) system. There are three branded divisions of Sky Box Office – Sky Cinema Box Office, Sky Sports Box Office and Sky 3D Box Office. Until 1 February 2011, the system ran under unified Sky Box Office branding.
Sky Box Office launched on 16 March 1996 on Sky Analogue. At the time it carried mainly sporting events, such as major boxing fights. The first of these was Frank Bruno's WBC World Heavyweight Championship defence against Mike Tyson. Initially events were ordered by telephone, either on the day of broadcast for £14.95 or in advance at a reduced price of £9.99. Ordering an event charged the viewer and then the subscriber's VideoCrypt viewing card would be activated over the air, enabling the viewing of the broadcast. The charge would be levied unless the viewer cancelled prior to broadcast, or returned the viewing card as proof that the event hadn't been watched.
Four dedicated Sky Box Office channels were launched on 1 December 1997 on Sky Analogue. At this time multiple showings of selected movies, shown in advance of their broadcast on Sky's existing subscription movie channels, were added. Initial movies included The Long Kiss Goodnight and Courage Under Fire. However, at least one hour pre-ordering was required, and for most movies one purchase at £2.99 only bought one viewing.
With the move to Sky Digital in 1998, where the Sky Digibox provided a data return path, events and movies – the latter now copy protected – could be bought minutes before or even during the event either by telephone or through an on-screen menu and PIN system.
A range of pay-per-view 3-D films were also screened on Sky 3D.
Logo of Sky Movies Box Office.
On 1 February 2011, Sky Box Office was rebranded as Sky Movies Box Office for Movies. Later in the year, Sky Sports Box Office branding was added for sports and Sky 3D Box Office for 3D.
Although at launch it showed mainly sporting events, since the launch of Sky Digital, movies along with concerts have become the predominant content. However, Sky Cinema Box Office's limited movie choices and relatively high prices have increasingly left it suffering in comparison to online DVD rental systems. Films are currently first shown on Sky Box Office on the same day as DVD release as of 2011, prior to that there was a 2 to 3 month window between DVD release and Sky Box Office release. Some films still retain the 2 to 3 month window between DVD and Sky Box Office releases.
It can be purchased directly through a Sky remote control. This can be accomplished by pressing "Box Office", purchase an event, confirm the order and enter the PIN if prompted.
Since 1997, WWE have had some of their pay-per-view events available through Box Office. From 1997 to 2003, the UK based pay-per-views, No Mercy, Rebellion and Insurrextion were shown on Box Office. In 2002, Sky gained the sole rights to the whole WWE pay-per-view calendar, after Channel 4's deal ended with WWE. These events were placed on Box Office. In 2004, more of WWE's premier events were moved to Box Office, including WWE's biggest event of the year, WrestleMania.
As of 2012, seven WWE events are shown on Box Office for a one time fee of £14.95/€21.95 for each event, with WrestleMania being charged at £17.95/€24.95, in both Standard and High Definition, with additional repeats (Standard Definition only) available at no additional charge. The remaining five events are shown on Sky Sports.
↑ "Sky Movies Box Office". British Sky Broadcasting. Retrieved 1 February 2011.


Provided are a cyclic peptide compound, which can inhibit parakeratosis of the skin, or a pharmacologically acceptable salt thereof and a method for producing the same.
The epidermis of a human, in order from the bottom, the base layer and the stratum corneum and stratum spinosum layer made of the granule layer. In human normal skin, the stratum corneum layer, barrier development of the function, or physical stimulus and protecting the skin from chemical stimulation.
Normal skin is, usually, in the period between 28 to turnover. In the turn over of normal skin, the keratinocytes are pushed up from the stratum corneum to the granular layer. At this time, the de-nucleated occurs by keratinocyte differentiation is lost and the nucleated cells, mature stratum corneum is formed. However, too fast turnover or the like, in the keratinocytes of the final stage of differentiation, de-nucleated does not occur, and generate the stratum corneum is not full, the barrier function is significantly reduced. Such non-full-width same way as in the state, applied on the skin of oleic acid (non-patent document 1) also be caused by.
On the other hand, is , involved in the regulation of morphogenesis of epithelial tissue of one of the factors that are thought to be 1 (non-patent document 2-5). In addition, by knocking out of the , results in a decrease in the crystallization-inducing cancer in mice have been reported (for example, see non-patent document 6).
Wherein in order to control the morphogenesis of epithelial tissue, epithelial tissue in that the function of promoting the formation inhibits the action of the oligopeptide is proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1 and 2).
However, epithelial tissue morphogenesis promoting action with respect to the inhibitory action of oligopeptide, to control the morphogenesis of epithelial tissue will be insufficient, caused by skin epithelial cells such as embodiment, occurrence of abnormality of the differentiation and the like can be suppressed with high efficiency has been desired in the further useful compounds.


E-commerce can be broadly classified into three categories: business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C) and consumer to consumer (C2C). The Internet also encompasses a wider spectrum of potential commercial activities and information exchanges. For instance, it offers firms, individuals and governments an electronic infrastructure, which enables the creation of virtual auction markets for goods and services.
E-Commerce is a massive growth area, were colossal sums of money are being made and spent every day. This is largely to do with the hype of the Internet and on-line shopping. The Internet is growing exponentially, and will continue to grow for some time to come. This, coupled with good advertising, can provide a solid foundation from which to launch a stake in the Internet and e-commerce boom.
E-commerce is big business. The fact that people want it is probably the biggest lure for companies to jump onto the bandwagon, but there are other factors, making e-commerce a good sense solution.
Products and structures of E-commerce cover its three categories: Consumer-oriented commerce, business-to-business commerce, and intra-organizational business. All three are experiencing vigorous developments, albeit with differing economic outcomes at this time.
Lower transaction costs. If the site is implemented well, the web can significantly lower order taking costs and customer service costs after the sale by automated processes.
E-commerce can reduce the delivery time – by using efficient integrated computer systems.
E-commerce allows trade across vast geographical areas – reaching markets that were previously unavailable.
E-commerce can eliminate processing errors, as well as being faster and more convenient for the visitor.
E-commerce is ideal for niche products.
Adding multiple items to the cart.
Display Products in Row or Columns.
Estimated Shipping Costs Displayed on the Cart Page.
Cross-selling on the Product Page.
Text File Imports and Exports.


Can we talk spring outfits? I'm sharing 10 pieces that are must owns for anyone with a pear shaped body!
Is anyone else a little overly excited to start thinking about spring outfits? As much as I love sweaters and cozy jackets……I'm ready for sunshine, dresses, and sandals. When fall started, I share my Ultimate Guide to Fall Outfits for a Pear Shape Body……..I detailed ten staple pieces that I loved for the season and I wanted to do the same for Spring Outfits now. These ten pieces are all items I own, and highly recommend for Spring and summer wear. They're flattering, and fit a pear shaped body like a dream (always important, right?).
I'm including the sizes I wear in each for easy reference………..
Overalls (size medium): Overalls are one of the hardest things to find for a pear shape or anyone over a size 4. Trust, I tried on 17 pairs before I wrote my post about the Best Overalls for Women with Curves. The ones I found? I LOVE. These light denim ones from Madewell fit like a total dream….and I even found a STEAL version from Old Navy (they keep selling out, but if you can snag a pair they're a similar fit and under $50)!
Flat Sandals: These Birkenstock sandals will get an embarassingly large amount of use this summer. I've owned my black patent leather pair for 3 years and wear them ALL spring and summer long. They're comfortable and never go out of style.
Floral Dress (size 10): A floral dress is a spring MUST own. From Easter brunch to bridal and baby showers, you'll get a ton of use out of a great fitting floral dress. I shared this blue and white version in my guide to The Best Floral Dress Options for a Pear Shaped Body, and I also own it in a deeper blue color ( I wore it on my trip to New York last summer). It fits like a dream, and is worth owning in at least one color (or maybe both)!
The BEST T Shirt Dress (size medium): Ok, I know. I included this in my fall outfits staples too. I'm not even ashamed to admit I own it in FOUR colors. It comes in a lovely faded grey, blue and olive and I bought all three for spring outfits. It fits a pear shaped body like a dream and is under $60.
Simple V Neck Tee (size medium): A great basic v neck is a staple for any spring outfits or spring vacations. And this one? Is my favorite (I own it in no less than 6 colors and patterns) and it's $25. Worth every penny.
Wit & Wisdom Ab-solution Jeans (size 10): I know, I know. I've talked about these jeans a LOT. But, they're amazing and they're NOT too pricey. They stretch well, and are great with sneakers and tees as the weather warms up.
Light Cardigan (size medium): I love a great cardigan for layering in Spring……and this red cardigan from Cabi Clothing? Fits like a dream and goes with EVERYTHING (plus who can resist that bell sleeve)!
Great Fitting Shorts (size 12): Great fitting shorts are practically impossible to find for a pear shaped body, but these? FIT LIKE A DREAM. In fact, I wrote about them a ton in my ultimate guide to shorts for a pear shaped body last summer……and I'm just as obsessed with them now as I was then (and bonus, they come in a ton of cute new prints).
High Top Sneakers: Every single time I share pictures that include these high top sneakers, you guys ask about them. I own them in both grey and navy, and wear them ALL the time (they're great for spring with simple tee shirt dresses or short)!
Leggings: Remember when I wrote the Ultimate Guide to Black Leggings for a Pear Shaped Body? If you didn't snag a great fitting pair of black leggings then, do it now. They're perfect for layering under tunics and dresses as the weather warms up but isn't QUITE hot enough for bare legs.
What are your favorite spring outfits pieces?
Shop Black Sneakers, Grey Leggings, Black Swimsuit, Blue Blouses and more. Get this widget.


"A feast for the eyes" nghĩa là gì?
'A feast for the eyes' có từ feast là bữa tiệc/yến tiệc -> cụm từ này nghĩa là cảnh đẹp đặc biệt/nổi bật hay trải nghiệm thị giác (xem phim, lễ hội ánh sáng v.v...) rất hấp dẫn, vui thích, dễ chịu.
From casual to elegant, Thanksgiving table settings can be a feast for the eyes when entertaining guests this holiday with a few easy ideas.
Every frame is a feast for the eyes, with almost otherworldly versions of London, New York and Paris. These are dreamlike even when shrouded (bao phủ, che khuất) in dark grey mists (sương mù, màn che), including the majestic buildings that house the respective Ministries of Magic and the exquisite costume design.
Bài trước: "Give him the stink eye" nghĩa là gì?
A flight attendant (nữ tiếp viên) went the extra mile for a mother who had run out of formula to feed her baby on a domestic flight in the Philippines.
...Organo said she knew the flight was going to be significant. Not only was she qualified on that flight for the role of cabin crew evaluator but she also "got to help."
Breastfeeding has numerous health benefits for babies. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it lowers the risks of some infections, Type 2 diabetes and asthma (bệnh hen, suyễn) -- to name but a few.
Feeding a baby milk from a woman who is not the mother risks exposing the child to infectious (hay lây, lây nhiễm; nhanh chóng ảnh hưởng đến người khác, có thể lan truyền sang người khác) diseases (bệnh), "to chemical contaminants (chất gây ô nhiễm), such as some illegal drugs, and to a limited number of prescription drugs that might be in the human milk," according to the FDA's website.
...The women are both variety entertainers and say fire-eating and fire-breathing are among their talents so they were prepared and took safety precautions.
"You may now light the brides,” the officiant said just before the big moment.
Choi and Byrnes planned the day in reverse starting with the reception so they could end it with a bang.
They wore different dresses to exchange their vows.
"Seeing the other person lit on fire is definitely a little more nerve-wracking, because you can’t see yourself get lit,” Byrnes said.


Read some user reviews on this litter.
Arm and Hammer cat litter is a product of the Church & Dwight Co. Inc. The Arm and Hammer products are well known for their solid brand name for more than 150 years.
You may know Arm and Hammer for their hard working odor eliminating baking soda products.
Knowing this, it doesn't really surprise me much to know that they have a cat litter that touts odor destruction.
Some of the kitty litters offered by Arm and Hammer are High Performance clumping litter (Natural/biodegradable alternative), Super Scoop and Odor Alert.
They also have a great cat litter box deodorizer which I've tested as well (more on that later).
Since Arm and Hammer baking soda is used to combat stinky odors in the fridge, I decided to give the litter (Multi-Cat Extra Strength Litter) a shot, since I need so much help in that department!
Does Arm and Hammer control odors?
One of the things people seem to really like about this litter is the "fresh scent," and as a user I really do agree that it makes my home smell much cleaner and fresher.
Arm and Hammer cat litter contains small baking soda crystals that work to eliminate odors on contact. Of course.. the whole purpose of the fresh scent is to control odor and I must say that it really does!
In fact, my sister came over recently and I asked her to give me her honest opinion.. and she said that my house "smelled much better!" And I don't think she was just being nice either. ; - ) A big problem that many cat owners have is the horrible urine smell from the litter box. Thankfully, there is none of that with Arm and Hammer cat litter.
This product also clumps fluids remarkably well and makes litter changing easy. I didn't seem to find any broken clumps anywhere. So, if you're looking for a product that forms tight clumps with excellent odor control..you might want to give this one a shot.
Does your cat drink enough water? Help promote a healthy urinary tract and keep uti's away by buying a Cat Water Fountain for your kitty!
There is usually always something I don't care for and with Arm and Hammer everything was great...except for the dust. It seems to really produce a lot of it, especially when you're pouring it out of the box.
While this product is a bit dustier than other.. I think it's redeeming qualities are the clumping action and the odor control. I'll take the dust any day over a smelly home.
If they could work on the dust issue I would be a converted user forever!
Arm and Hammer Cat Litter- Review submitted by Sara and what she likes about this litter.
What's YOUR Opinion on Arm and Hammer Litter?
Which type of litter did you buy?... Remember to name the type as there are many... such as Crystals... Scoopable... etc.
I like to use Irfanview AND it's free!
Mad about my cat litter.


After London, a question returns: At what point does terrorist coverage just encourage more attacks?
I listen to National Public Radio when I'm in my car and either of the network's two signature news programs -- "Morning Edition" or "All Things Considered" -- happen to be airing. That was the case one day last week when I heard a guest on ATC being interviewed about the London terrorist attack and the radicalization of homegrown Islamic terrorists.
One factor contributing to this radicalization, he said, is the saturation coverage the attacks tend to receive.
In essence, the question he posed was: Do news media inadvertently advance the terrorists' game plan by inappropriately publicizing their attacks, leading to heightened fears in the general public -- one of terrorism's clearest objectives.
It's a knotty and important question that seems to surface after every successful attack in a Western city.
Most often, the question is raised by someone put forth as an expert on terrorism attached to some think tank or university. By now, I'd wager there isn't a Western news room or journalism school that hasn't wrestled with the question.
I'd also bet that few if any of these discussions ended in general agreement on some practical way forward that's applicable to all attacks under all circumstances.
I know I lack a one-size-fits-all standard -- which doesn't mean that someone else has not come up with some broadly general standard for coverage. If any reader happens to be that person, please say so in the comment section below.
Here's the relevant part of the ATC interview I heard last week. The interviewer is NPR's Kelly McEvers and the interviewee is Rajan Basra, a research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at London's King's College.
BASRA: ... But aside from trying to prevent people from becoming terrorists in the first place, we also have to accept that terrorism is just a fact of life in the West these days. And so perhaps it's better to make society more resilient to the effects of terrorism.
BASRA: In the sense that terrorism aims to terrorize people. So if these attacks just don't gather that much attention or don't cause so much panic as they would otherwise do, this kind of defeats the whole purpose of this attacker engaging in that act.
MCEVERS: So don't cover them in the news.
BASRA: It's not necessarily about not covering them in the news, but I think much of the coverage is alarmist, and I think these attacks should actually reinforce the identities and values that we hold so that we can not only just survive these attacks, but after the fact, we can rediscover what it is that this society stands for.
I wish Basra had been asked to further clarify his thinking. Or maybe he was and his response was cut from the interview as it was broadcast or posted on the NPR website.
Either way, the section of the interview quoted above is all we have, so let's take a closer look at Basra's brief comment about how alarming much of the coverage can be. I think he's undoubtedly correct that much of the coverage is alarmist, and that it can add to the process of radicalization.
Watch how cable news, whether it's Fox or CNN, the two leaders in the field, breathlessly cover an attack and it soon becomes obvious.
For news media, An individual outlet's leanings tend not to matter as much as grabbing and holding on to as many eyeballs as possible. Of course the web -- with its ever-growing number of news and quasi-news sites blasting out instantaneous headlines that often prove misleading -- further complicates the situation.
In short, the ultra-competitive 24/7 media climate makes it virtually impossible to heed warnings about alarmist reporting, no matter how accurate they may be.
At the same time, however, it's also important to public safety that news about an ongoing attack -- no matter how sketchy the information may be -- is disseminated quickly about areas to be avoided, and such. Suppressing negative news just does not fly in democracies.
In short, it's ridiculous to even contemplate withholding news of an attack against the public, when at least some members of the public have already been impacted and are sure to spread the word, at a minimum, on social media. Nor can we count on politicians -- whose self-interested reactions to attacks as often as not tend to further alarm the public -- to help the situation.
Basra's NPR interview was hardly alone in bringing up the coverage debate.
A quick Google search found the issue also being discussed in this piece posted by NBC, and this one from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, among others. Even the less than authoritative but popular (in the United Kingdom, at least) UNILAD news web site is taking this on.
Perhaps the true value of the UNILAD post is to remind us that it's even possible to exploit a terrorist attack by writing critically about how the media tends to exploit terrorist attacks.
I've spoken here about attacks by Islamists. However, to be sure, the same issues arise no matter what cultural, religious or political faction a perpetrator claims to represent. For better or worse, it's simply how journalism functions.
GetReligion readers: Again, if any of you have thought this situation through to a different conclusion than I have, please say your piece in the comments section below. Because this is not an issue that will soon fade and it deserves continued consideration.


ASK THE COMMISSION: What's the deal with illegal events?
What is considered an 'illegal' event and what happens if I participate in one?
This is an issue that I have been dealing with since I started in 2008. I am essentially an office of one, so it can be extremely difficult trying to educate the entire state of Minnesota on the rules and regulations that pertain to combative sports.
Because of this, I sometimes come across venues that hold events without a regulatory body, even though the law requires that one be present. In some cases, it's because the venue, or promoter, is unaware of the statutes pertaining to combative sports. Other times, it's a venue or promoter that knows the regulations, but thinks they can sneak in under the radar and then later claim they were unaware of the statutes.
Unfortunately, ignorance does not exclude you from the law. State statute says that the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) regulates all professional boxing, amateur and professional mixed martial arts (MMA), and amateur and professional toughperson contests in Minnesota.
I'm going to assume that everyone reading this knows the definition of boxing and MMA, but what about toughperson? State statute defines a toughperson contest as "contests marketed as tough man or tough woman contests, means a contest of two-minute rounds consisting of not more than four rounds between two or more individuals who use their hands, or their feet, or both in any manner. Tough person contest does not include kickboxing or any recognized martial arts contest."
So you're probably saying, "But Matt, I'm not competing in toughperson contests, they are 'amateur boxing' contests and that's not something DLI regulates."
for an "amateur boxing" event, I will contact USA Boxing and ask them if they are regulating the event. USA Boxing has very strict requirements for holding and competing in their events. If they tell me they aren't regulating it then I will do some more research on the event to determine if it would fall under the definition of a toughperson contest or an amateur boxing contest.
If it falls under the definition of a toughperson contest then I notify the venue and local PD that they are promoting an illegal event. If it falls under the definition of an amateur boxing event then I notify USA Boxing of the event and they take over.
So what are the repercussions should you choose to participate in an illegal event? According to Minnesota Statute 341.32 Unlicensed Events; Misdemeanor: "Any person or persons who send or cause to be sent, published, or otherwise made known, any challenge to fight what is commonly known as a prize fight, or engage in any public combative sport match or contest, with or without gloves, for any prize, reward, or compensation, or for which any admission fee is charged directly or indirectly, or go into training preparatory for the fight, exhibition, or contest, or act as a trainer, aider, abettor, backer, umpire, referee, second, surgeon, assistant, or attendant at the fight, exhibition, or contest, or in any preparation for same, and any owner or lessee of any ground, building, or structure of any kind permitting the same to be used for any fight, exhibition, or contest, is guilty of a misdemeanor unless the licenses required for the holding of the fight, exhibition, or contest have been issued by the commissioner in compliance with the rules adopted by it."
In addition, Minnesota Statute 341.355 Civil Penalties states, "When the commissioner finds that a person has violated one or more provisions of any statute, rule, or order that the commissioner is empowered to regulate, enforce, or issue, the commissioner may impose, for each violation, a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation, or a civil penalty that deprives the person of any economic advantage gained by the violation, or both."
What this basically says is that the venue, promoter, fighters, corners, officials, etc., are subject to a misdemeanor charge and up to $10,000 fine for each violation. If you are licensed by DLI, you are also subject to a suspension, revocation of license, or denial of license. Because all of the regulatory bodies work as one under the ABC banner, this could also affect your ability to fight in sanctioned events within other states and tribal jurisdictions.
"There is just too much risk involved in those types of events. If you're untrained and possibly facing someone that is trained, you could end up seriously injured. In most cases, you can't just walk off the streets and safely defend yourself against a trained athlete. Even if you're facing another guy that isn't trained or is at the same level, these kinds of events are put together to make a few bucks and the promoter couldn't care less about your safety. I personally think these events give the sanctioned events a bad name. A lot of people can't tell the difference and if you just throw in a bunch of guys off the street inside a ring or cage, chances are it's going to be very sloppy with guys gassing out and therefor make people think all events are like that. It's just overall bad for the sport. I think licensed fighters should stay away from these events. A licensed fighter competing against some guy out of the crowd is just too dangerous. Not to mention the fact that these guys could have dirty or infected blood and could potentially give you something like hepititis and then you wouldn't be able to compete legitimately anymore."
"I used to think that being involved in unsanctioned or illegal events wasn't a big issue until I started attending more and more events, both sanctioned and unsanctioned. After a while, I started to notice the real differences between sanctioned fights and these so called tough man competitions. Differences like guys having to fight multiple fights in a night with no experience doing so, no doctors on site to check on the safety of competitors, etc. I think that overall, these events may not be the worst thing in this sport, but how safe do you really feel knowing that there is NO ONE to oversee the safety and well being of each fighter? I have been to more then one show where the guy reffing the fights was so drunk by the end of the night, that his words were starting to slur together. Just all around, a bad idea for the fighter. A quick buck is not worth the potential risk of losing a fight license or possibly getting seriously injured due to lack of proper supervision. It would make me very upset if I discovered one of my fighters went behind my back and participated in an illegal event. I take pride in the advancements and strides that have been made throughout the state of Minnesota in MMA and combative sports in general. I'd hate to see these guys throw everything away and potentially get suspended from an upcoming (sanctioned) event because they got caught doing an unsanctioned event prior to it. Even worse would be to get hurt in the unsanctioned event and then be forced to pull out of a sanctioned fight they had already agreed to."
Everyone has to make their own decision on how they want to pursue their fight career, but you should also be informed as to what the consequences are for participating in events that are unsanctioned or illegal. The best decision you can make is to do your research. Don't just assume that because someone is advertising an event it means that it's legit. If you aren't sure then ask around the gym or give our office a call.
I'm always willing to answer any questions you may have.


Goal 2.1: Cleveland County Schools will build leadership capacity at all levels that supports the vision/mission of the district, guides innovation, fosters collaboration & engagement and promotes continuous improvement.
Goal 2.2: Cleveland County Schools will create a culture that guides innovation, fosters collaboration & engagement, and promotes continuous improvement.
Goal 2.3: Cleveland County Schools will implement a multi-platform communication system that guides innovation, fosters collaboration & engagement and promotes continuous improvement.
Goal 2.4: Cleveland County Schools will create a culture to promote and develop globally competitive students.


Internal NASA documents obtained by a newspaper suggest that the agency is playing down the dangers posed by shuttle debris so it can continue to send astronauts into space.
The New York Times reported Friday that the documents by engineers and managers for the space agency show at least three changes in the statistical methods used in assessing the risks of debris like ice and insulating foam striking a shuttle during launching.
One presentation said lesser standards must be used to support accepting the risks of flight "because we cannot meet" the traditional standards, according to the newspaper.
The Times said there is debate within the agency about whether the changes are a reasonable reassessment of the hazards of flight or whether they jettison long-established rules to justify getting back to space quickly.
Debris was blamed for the disintegration of the shuttle Columbia as it was returning from space in February 2003.
Experts who have seen the documents told the Times that they do not suggest that the shuttle Discovery - scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on May 22 - is unsafe.
Shuttle systems engineering manager John Muratore, the author of one of the documents along with a colleague, told the Times he's "never jiggled a number" in his 25-year career and that the engineering challenge is enormously complex.
Earlier this month, Muratore openly acknowledged that even marshmallow-size pieces of insulating foam from the fuel tank could doom the space shuttle under the worst circumstances. He told reporters it is a risk NASA and the nation must accept for flights to resume anytime soon, and that it would take a total redesign of the tank to completely eliminate foam loss.
Paul A. Czysz, emeritus professor of aerospace engineering at St. Louis University, who read the documents at the Times' request, said they did not demonstrate that the shuttle is too dangerous to return to space or that NASA is stinting on efforts to make it safer.
To achieve a profound safety improvement, he said, NASA would need to replace the shuttle fleet, which was designed in the 1970s, with an entirely new vehicle.
But Czysz, who spent some 30 years with NASA contractor McDonnell Douglas, likened the statistical shifts to moving the goal posts at a football game. "I was amazed at how they were adjusting every test to make it come out right," he said.
Muratore told the Times the statistical process was not meant to move any goal posts.
A call by The Associated Press to Johnson Space Center, where Muratore works, was not immediately returned Friday.
NASA officials maintain that the shuttle is safer than it has ever been because of changes made after the Columbia disaster, and they have long acknowledged that not all debris risk can be eliminated.


The objective of this lesson is to discuss the quote "Anthropology begins at home." The Introduction covers this subject and lists anthropological studies made by people about their own cultures.
1) Class Discussion: Hold a class discussion about the quote: "Anthropology begins at home". What reasons does the book give to support this view?
2) In-class Quiz: List at least three anthropological studies made by people about their own cultures.
3) In-class Essay: Write an essay describing Kenyatta's credentials for writing this anthropological study and ethnography of the Gikuyu tribe.
4) Homework: Write a short anthropological study about the community in which you live....or a general anthropological study about the country where you live. Looking up the definition of anthropology will be helpful.


Black and minority ethnic groups (BMEGs) comprise 4.6 million (7.9%) of the UK population, the majority residing in deprived large metropolitan areas, as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007 (IMD 2007) with greater Birmingham having the largest proportion of BMEGs outside London [1, 2]. Birmingham has a population of nearly a million, 30% of whom are from the BMEGs. South Asians (i.e. Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi) and the Black African-Caribbean groups (i.e. from the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa), as self defined using the 2001 Census Ethnic classifications, represent the largest minority ethnic groups in Birmingham and the UK [2, 3].
In a clinical setting, multi-attribute health utility measures may be used to evaluate health status . Such measures usefully allow the generation of a utility score (where 0 is a health state defined as equivalent to the state of death and 1 is full health, with negative scores indicating a health state worse than death). These scores can be used in combination with the time spent in a health state to generate Quality Adjusted Life Years and used as a measure of effectiveness in economic evaluation. Utility measures such as the EQ-5D, SF-6D, Health Utilities Index and Quality of Well-Being Scale may be used to evaluate health status in both the general population and in clinical trials to evaluate the effect of disease and response to treatment [5–8].
The health status of the UK population has been evaluated based on a stratified random sample (n = 3395) of the UK general population aged 18 or over using the EuroQoL EQ-5D questionnaire in 1993 [9, 10]. The 'descriptive population norms' produced in this study have been used extensively to 'provide baseline values for monitoring variations in health' and to inform economic evaluation. The ethnicity of participants included in the UK population study was not described but given the 1991 census results minority ethnic groups are likely to comprise a small proportion of the sample (< 6%). In the 1991 census over 3 million people (5.5% of the population) identified themselves as belonging to one of the non-white ethnic groups. South Asians (Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi) together formed 2.7% of the British population. The Black ethnic groups accounted for 1.6% of the population .
The aim of this study was to evaluate the HRQL of South Asian and African-Caribbean subjects who were enrolled in the Ethnic-Echocardiographic Heart of England Study (E-ECHOES) study .
The design and protocol of the E-ECHOES study including details of the sample size and analysis plan have been published . The Walsall Local Research Ethics Committee reviewed and approved the protocol (05/Q2708/45). In brief, this was a cross-sectional population survey of a sample of South Asian (SA) South Asians (i.e. Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi) and the Black African-Caribbean groups (AC) (i.e. from the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa), as self defined using the 2001 Census Ethnic classifications, male and female residents of Birmingham aged 45 years and over . All SA and AC residents, including those born in the UK or immigrants, identified from 20 health centres, in inner city Birmingham, UK, were invited to participate. Multiple methods were used to identify subjects as ethnicity data is not routinely collected in primary care. Potential SA participants were identified using the Nam Pechan software based upon subject name and visual inspection by PSG ; and for AC subjects practice staff were consulted. Lists were reviewed by the general practitioner to ensure that only SA and AC subjects were included. Residents with dementia or terminal illness were excluded; however, no further selection criteria were applied in relation to medical history. Potential subjects were mailed an invitation letter and/or telephoned up to 3 times inviting them to participate in the study. The majority of the SA and AC groups in the UK reside in inner cities such as Birmingham and thus we anticipate the population to be representative of these ethnic groups. We aimed to recruit 3000 SA and 2000 AC patients. The sample size was determined based on the number of participants required to determine the prevalence of heart failure with reasonable precision (the principal aim of the E-ECHOES study). Verbal and written consent was obtained from all participants. Health-related quality of life (HRQL) was assessed using the EuroQoL EQ-5D questionnaire .
The EQ-5D is a validated, generic preference-based measure of health status that comprises a 5-question multi-attribute questionnaire . Respondents were asked by a trained multi-lingual interviewer to rate severity of their current problems (level 1 = no problems, level 2 = some/moderate problems, level 3 = severe/extreme problems) for five dimensions of health: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. EQ-5D health states were converted into an EQ-5D score ranging from -0.594 to 1.0 (where 1 is full health and 0 is dead) using a set of weighted preferences produced from the UK population .
Analyses were performed using SAS V9.2 (SAS Institute, Cary NC). A limited number of candidate explanatory variables were pre-specified: age, gender, ethnicity, smoking status (ever smoked versus non-smoker), alcohol consumption (occasional/regular consumption compared to non-drinker), exercise status (how often the participant engaged in any regular activity long enough to work up a sweat, defined as often, sometimes, rarely/never), body mass index (BMI), Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007; and history of: hypertension, arrhythmia, angina, myocardial ischemia, heart failure, diabetes, peripheral artery disease, stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, cancer, arthritis, depression, number of comorbidities, marital status, religion and place of birth .
The relationship between EQ-5D score (response variable) and the candidate explanatory variables was assessed using a backward stepwise selection process with α = 0.05 as criteria for model inclusion in SAS statistical software (proc glmselect). Non-linear functional forms were considered for continuous candidate variables (log transformation, and, if that demonstrated a significantly better fit, a restricted cubic spline). The number of comorbidities was included as Loge (value + 1) term. More complex functional forms were included in the final model only when they provided a statistically significantly improved model fit assessed using Akaike's Information Criterion . The final model included the selected variables in a mixed linear model (using proc mixed) with identity link, normal error and with general practice surgery as random effects . A random effects approach was pre-specified for the final analysis to account for any practice related clustering of patient characteristics not otherwise captured by the model development process . The mixed model approach extends the conventional analysis by enabling the effects of practice membership to be accounted for. The proportion of residual variance explained by the model was assessed.
The health status of SA and AC participants was compared with age-matched data from the UK population [9, 10].
The baseline characteristics of patients enrolled in the E-ECHOES study are shown in Table 1. 13,097 subjects were screened, 10,902 were eligible and invited to participate and 420 (3.2%) did not meet the study inclusion criteria. 6,506 booked an appointment of which 5,408 (49.6%) completed the screening process and 5,354 (49.1%) had complete health status data (3442 South Asian and 1912 African-Caribbean participants). The mean age of participants was 60.8 years (SD 11.1 years), 2544 (47.5%) were male, 2676 (50.0%) had hypertension, 2158 (40.3%) had arthritis, 1563(29.2%) had diabetes, 415 (7.8%) had angina and 307 (5.7%) had a history of myocardial infarction.
The EQ-5D descriptive system was complete for all study participants. The mean EQ-5D score in South Asian participants was 0.91 (SD 0.18), median score 1 (IQR 0.848 to 1) and in African-Caribbean participants the mean score was 0.92 (SD 0.18), median 1 (IQR 1 to 1). Of the 5354 patients that participated in the E-ECHOES study 3849 (71.89%) reported no problems in any dimension. The characteristics of patients reporting full health status are shown in Table 1. The number of participants reporting problems in each dimension is shown in Table 2.
Compared with normative data from the UK general population substantially fewer African-Caribbean and South Asian participants reported problems with mobility, usual activities, pain and anxiety when stratified by age resulting in higher average health status estimates than those from the UK population (Figure 1) . Those aged 60 and over did however report increased problems in self-care when compared with age matched UK population data .
Mean EQ-5D scores from a sample of the UK general population, assessed in 1993, by age, compared to mean scores from South Asian and African-Caribbean participants in the E-ECHOES study (95% CI are indicated).
The results of multivariable analysis are shown in Table 3. The final model accounts for 19% of the residual variance. On average HRQL decreased with age, was lower in female participants and was reduced with increasing body mass index.
A medical history for a range of conditions was also associated with significantly reduced HRQL, most notably depression, stroke/TIA, heart failure, peripheral artery disease and arthritis. Participants who reported participating in regular exercise had improved HRQL. Place of birth was also associated with HRQL in the final model (Table 3).
This is the first large, community based study assessing the HRQL of South Asian and African-Caribbean subjects in the UK. Compared with normative data from the UK general population collected in 1993, substantially fewer African-Caribbean and South Asian participants reported problems with mobility, usual activities, pain and anxiety when stratified by age resulting in higher average health status estimates than those from the UK population (Figure 1). Our results suggest that the existing UK population 'norms' may be potentially outdated, and unrepresentative of current population health status, or inappropriate for use in these groups.
The observed differences may reflect changes in health status over time; however a contemporary sample of UK health status population data was unavailable. The results may also reflect difference in study design and implementation (Table 4), although comparisons between the E-ECHOES and UK population data were age-matched. On average participants in the E-ECHOES study have increased deprivation compared to the UK general population. We had anticipated that deprivation would be significantly associated with HRQL; however this was not observed based on these data. This may reflect homogeneity in deprivation scores observed within inner city Birmingham. One could argue that our findings reflect selection bias of healthy individuals however, all patients meeting the inclusion criteria were approached for the study and we achieved a relatively high response rate, with the sample being representative of that residing within the health authority area . Analyses of those with health status data compared to those invited to participate did show that non-responders were likely to be younger males . Since HRQL is reduced in females compared to males and deteriorates with age this seems an unlikely source of bias since it should have led to worse, not improved, estimates of population HRQL.
Addresses in the UK to provide a sample representative of the general population with respect to age, gender and social class.
SA or AC aged > 45 years.
The results are also surprising given the increased risk of cardiovascular disease in these populations . The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes appears to be higher in this cohort compared to an earlier study in the Midlands with a predominantly White British population, however the proportion of patients prescribed medications such as ACE-inhibitors and beta-blockers has also increased [20, 21]. The management of chronic disease has improved in the UK during the time since the normative EQ-5D data was collected thus we may anticipate improvements in HRQL as a result [22, 23].
One may question if our findings are a true reflection of health status in these communities. The HRQL in ethnic minority groups may be shaped by migration experiences, expectations, achievements and coping mechanisms, such as faith, prayer, and social support [24, 25].
A challenge to our findings is that EQ-5D is self-completed in many settings in a paper format, including the collection of UK normative data [9, 10, 26]. In this study participants were asked by the researcher to respond to each question, as part of the study interview, which was recorded directly onto the study database. This allowed interpretation if necessary and enabled us to obtain a 100% response rate for the questionnaire. However, evidence suggests that participants are more likely to yield higher HRQL scores in an interview situation compared to paper based self administration .
Our model demonstrates that HRQL is significantly reduced with ageing, in females, in those with increased BMI and is reduced in the presence of a range of medical conditions. Compared with normative data from the UK general population African-Caribbean's and South Asian's reported fewer problems in each of the dimensions of the EQ-5D, except self-care where more problems were reported in the elderly [9, 10]. Our model results demonstrate that depression leads to significant reductions in HRQL (16%), however the number of participants reporting a prior medical history of depression was lower than anticipated (8.1% SA; 4.7% AC) and may reflect the stigma of mental illness. Arthritis is associated with significant reduction in HRQL. This condition was highly prevalent in both populations and should be considered as a target for improved management strategies.
A limitation of the model is that 'main language spoken' was not pre-specified as a variable in our analysis plan, since we did not anticipate that this would have a significant relationship with health status. However, the questions, particularly those relating to self-care, usual activities and depression may not have common cultural or linguistic interpretation, thus the underlying constructs may not be equivalent [28, 29]. The consistency of delivery, in particular wording of questions and item presentation, may be questioned due to the range of researchers being involved and the number of languages necessitated in the study. We cannot rule out that respondents misunderstood or chose not to disclose their true health status due to social desirability bias [30, 31]. However, the 'best' health status scores were observed in the African-Caribbean group, where the interview took place in English for 1904 (99.58%) of participants.
A further limitation is that we used UK general population weights to generate the EQ-5D scores . There is evidence to suggest that different populations' value health states differently but, currently no valuation has been undertaken in these minority groups in the UK .
Despite these potential limitations this is the first study to report the health status of these minority ethnic groups based on a large community sample in the UK. Our findings bring into question the appropriateness of the widely used UK population based health status survey results from 1993 in these populations and more generally the use of these potentially outdated data to inform health policy in the UK [9, 10]. There is limited evidence on the validity and reliability of the EQ-5D in these populations . Further research is necessary to assess this and to explore the effect of mode of administration on response in these groups, and to assess the potential impact on results of economic evaluation .
The reported HRQL of these minority ethnic groups was substantially higher than anticipated compared to UK normative data. Participants with chronic disease, notably those with arthritis, depression, heart failure or stroke, experienced significant reductions in HRQL and should be a target for health intervention.
This study was funded by the British Heart Foundation (PG/05/036), Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust, and through the National Health Service R&D support funding (Primary Care Research Network-Central England). MC was funded by the MRC Midland Hub for Trials Methodology Research (Medical Research Council Grant ID G0800808). The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funding bodies.


First Sentence: On a hill by the Mississippi where Chippewas camped two generations ago, a girl stood in relief against the cornflower blue of Northern sky.
It’s almost as if I’m not learning my lesson. I keep on putting off reading List books and then being thoroughly blown away by them. A few bad apples have spoiled the whole bunch.
Still, like Angle of Repose, I actually happened to pick up Main Street right when I needed to, when it had eerie resonance in my own situation. I think the main reason that I avoided the book for so long was that it has an uninspiring title almost on par with Loving.
Anyway, the book isn't about any of the things I expected it to be. It's instead about a young woman named Carol who marries Dr Will Kennicott and moves from the Twin Cities out to Gopher Prairie, MN, the town of pop. 3000 where his practice is located. In the Cities, Carol was a librarian, and she is a highly-relatable-to-yours-truly lover of books and ideas. In Gopher Prairie, she finds herself mired among stodgy people and unable to effect any of the "reforms" she wants to see, although in that particular pursuit, she's less mired than simply ineffectual.
Since November, I've been living in a town half the size of Gopher Prairie, although the temporary nature of my residence means that I haven't really been absorbed by or wrung through small town life in the same way that Carol is in this book. Still, I feel like I can aver to the truth of her feelings, being at once more and less isolated than she is, with my solitary evenings and my trips back to the my own city every weekend.
This book is great but a bit repetitive and difficult to process. It took me a lot longer to read than I expected it to. There's a lot that happens—Will and Carol get married, they have a housewarming party, she develops a crush on a young lawyer in town, she comes up with various plans and schemes, stages a play, etc etc. So maybe it's trying to echo the drudgery of her life. The novel's best secondary characters, an atheist odd-job man and Carol's maid Bea, sadly disappear too soon.
Will Kennicott ends up being the real heart of the novel. He isn't particularly special, but he's a good doctor (there's a particularly effective chapter in which Carol accompanies him on a house call to amputate a man's arm, something your average small town GP would not be doing these days) and he cares about Carol. Carol, meanwhile, is relatable and also a tool, in a way that's made me reflect a little on my own views. She's also vain, which, let's be honest, is another thing that I can relate to.
Without giving too much away, there's some late parallels between the novel and the play A Doll's House, in terms of women finding themselves and defining who they are, and stuff like that.
I usually also comment on the writing so I'll do the same for this book of course. It's good but unremarkable. I sense that that was intentional, though, meant to illustrate, as I wrote above, that nothing interesting happens in a small town. Though Sinclair Lewis was apparently satirizing the idyllic small town found in so much American fiction, nothing here is terribly funny (a statement, not a complaint). His portrayal of the young proto-metrosexual, nicknamed "Elizabeth" and widely ridiculed, is fascinating, as is the rare instance of perspective on the First World War from a time prior to the Second (thus far only glimpsed in one other book on The List, A Farewell to Arms).
This isn't one of the strongest of the 3/3s, but it's definitely worth a read, especially if you've ever been ineffectual in a small town.
"W-why——" she observed, as she reflected that in Gopher Prairie it is not decent to call on a man; as she decided that no, really, she wouldn't go in; and as she went in.
"I love her for being so happy," Carol brooded. "I ought to be that way. I worship the baby, but the housework—Oh, I suppose I'm fortunate; so much better off than farmwomen on a new clearing, or people in a slum."


02032084214 seconds correspond to 64 years, 159 days, 11 hours, 50 minutes and 14seconds.
Take the first three digits: 320.
Someone born on 8/4/21 would be probably 98 years old.


Is Retirement 'Out Of Reach For Working Americans'?
Retirement I write about retirement policy from an actuary's perspective.
That's the claim of a new report by the National Institute for Retirement Security (NIRS), titled, appropriately enough, "Retirement in America: Out of Reach for Working Americans?" It contains a number of dire statistics. But how bad are things, really?
The report starts with historical context. Over the 34 year period from 1980, prevalence rates for access of private sector workers to retirement plans bounced around a bit, from 55.4% in 1980, dropping down to 51.4% in 1988, growing to 60.4% in 1999, then dropping steadily since then to 50.9% in 2014 (the end point of the data). Actual workers' participation in plans followed the same pattern, but with lower rates since some workers choose not to participate; in 2014, only 40.1% of private sector workers participated in a workplace retirement plan. Why did rates drop? The authors say this is due to the aftermath of the 2001 and 2008 recessions, but more likely it's a matter of increasing percentages of Americans working for the sort of contingent, contract, or small employers who have never had a practice of offering retirement benefits.
And, again looking at retirement accounts among working-age individuals, only 18.6% of Americans have greater than one times pay in retirement savings, and only 31.7% of Americans near retirement age (55 - 64) have more than one times pay, with an even smaller percentage of this age group exceeding 4 times pay (13.3%). Separately, the report measures the net worth of working adults; only 46.3% of these near-retirees have net worth (including not just retirement accounts but home equity, college funds, etc.) of greater than 4 times pay. Considering that Fidelity Investments recommends that one have saved ten times one's income by the time one reaches a retirement age of 67 (with lesser targets for earlier ages), this suggests that that the vast majority of Americans are or will be unprepared for retirement: 78.2% of 35 - 44 year-olds, 79.8% of 45 - 54 year-olds, and 75.3% of 55 - 64 year-olds will not reach this target.
That sounds pretty dire. And NIRS has policy prescriptions to remedy the problem, from increasing Social Security benefits, to mandatory auto-enroll IRAs either state-sponsored or with employer mandates, the expansion of tax credits for low-income savers, and even changes in defined benefit funding rules and the creation of hybrid risk-sharing plan types to try to encourage employers to return to DB plan sponsorship.
But there are reasons to think the situation, while concerning, is not quite as bad as all that.
In the first place, the Fidelity targets are based on typical earners, who can expect a Social Security pay replacement of 40%, and they target an 83% of pay replacement level from age 67 to age 93. But lower-income earners receive relatively greater benefits from Social Security. In the second place, all of these statistics ignore Defined Benefit plans which do still exist for public sector workforce, and some of the NIRS analysis ignores other sorts of savings as well. These statistics are also based on individual income, and it's not clear how a married couple in which one spouse had a retirement plan that provides for both would be treated in their data. As I discussed in a prior article, in the 2017 Federal Reserve survey, 75% of non-retiree adults (rather than only 40% in the NIRS report) reported having at least some form of retirement savings, including 55% with DC plans, 26% with DB pensions, 32% with IRAs, and 43% with other savings that they considered as retirement savings even though not in a retirement account.
Here's another data source: the Center for Retirement Research calculates their own measure of retirement readiness, the National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI). This is based on survey data that's conducted triennially, so the most recent figures are based on 2016 data. The figure represents the percent of households which are projected to fall more than 10% short of the CRR's calculation of income needed in retirement, taking into account specific impacts of Social Security and other factors for different income levels, and assuming that individuals purchase annuities with their retirement account balances.
So, on the one hand, the NRRI reports a less dire situation than the NIRS calculations -- only 50%, rather than three-quarters, of Americans are at risk of declining living standards in retirement.
But, in line with the NIRS data, the NRRI shows a generally worsening situation: the figure was about 30% in the 1980s (that is, 70% of Americans were deemed to be prepared for retirement), grew to the upper 30s and lower 40s in the 1990s and 2000s, and peaked at 53% in 2010, before dropping slightly in 2013 and 2016 to 50% at the time of the last calculation.
estimates that the median retiree in 2015 had income sources and assets sufficient to support a total annual income of $37,887. By 2025 real median incomes are projected to rise to $40,880, and to $42,165 by 2035. The Urban Institute model also projects that poverty rates in old age will fall, a reflection of high real incomes among the poor.
And yes, the media has no trouble finding retirees in financial straits, and you and I likely know people who, though middle-class, are not saving for retirement.
Ultimately it's a glass-half-empty/glass-half-full situation.
Do we need to take drastic and urgent action to ensure that the next generation of retirees won't have to all be eating dog food, per the stories one reads periodically? No, we don't. But while there's time to make a difference, we can still calmly and deliberately think about the best ways to ensure that Americans don't fall through the cracks.
As usual, share your opinions at JaneTheActuary.com!


Surya Siddhanta is a Hindu text on astronomy from late 4th-century or early 5th-century CE Above is verse 1.1, which pays homage to Brahma.
The Surya Siddhanta is the name of a Sanskrit treatise in Indian astronomy from the late 4th-century or early 5th-century CE. The text survives in several versions, was cited and extensively quoted in a 6th-century CE text by Varahamihira, was likely revised for several centuries under the same title. It has fourteen chapters. A 12th-century manuscript of the text was translated into English by Burgess in 1860.
The Surya Siddhanta describes rules to calculate the motions of various planets and the moon relative to various constellations, diameters of various planets, and calculates the orbits of various astronomical bodies. The text asserts, according to Markanday and Srivatsava, that the earth is of a spherical shape. It treats earth as stationary globe around which sun orbits, and makes no mention of Uranus, Neptune or Pluto. It calculates the earth's diameter to be 8,000 miles (modern: 7,928 miles), diameter of moon as 2,400 miles (actual ~2,160) and the distance between moon and earth to be 258,000 miles (actual ~238,000). The text is known for some of earliest known discussion of sexagesimal fractions and trigonometric functions.
The Surya Siddhanta is one of the several astronomy-related Hindu texts that likely was influenced by ancient pre-Ptolemy Greek ideas. It represents a functional system that made reasonably accurate predictions. The text was influential on the solar year computations of the luni-solar Hindu calendar.
In a work called the Pañca-siddhāntikā composed in the sixth century by Varāhamihira, five astronomical treatises are named and summarised: Paulīśa-siddhānta, Romaka-siddhānta, Vasiṣṭha-siddhānta, Sūrya-siddhānta, and Paitāmaha-siddhānta.:50 The surviving version of the text is dated to about the 6th-century BC by Markandaya and Srivastava. Most scholars, however, place the text variously from the 4th-century to 5th-century CE.
According to John Bowman, the earliest version of the text existed between 350-400 CE wherein it referenced sexagesimal fractions and trigonometric functions, but the text was a living document and revised through about the 10th-century. One of the evidence for the Surya Siddhanta being a living text is the work of medieval Indian scholar Utpala, who cites and then quotes ten verses from a version of Surya Siddhanta, but these ten verses are not found in any surviving manuscripts of the text. According to Kim Plofker, large portions of the more ancient Sūrya-siddhānta was incorporated into the Panca siddhantika text, and a new version of the Surya Siddhanta was likely revised and composed around 800 CE. Some scholars refer to Panca siddhantika as the old Surya Siddhanta and date it to 505 CE.
The Surya Siddhanta is a text on astronomy and time keeping, an idea that appears much earlier as the field of Jyotisha (Vedanga) of the Vedic period. The field of Jyotisha deals with ascertaining time, particularly forecasting auspicious day and time for Vedic rituals. Max Muller, quoting passages by Garga and others for Vedic sacrifices, states that the ancient Vedic texts describe four measures of time – savana, solar, lunar and sidereal, as well as twenty seven constellations using Taras (stars). The idea of twenty eight constellations and movement of astronomical bodies already appears, states David Pingree – a professor of History of Mathematics and Classics, in the Hindu text Atharvaveda (~1000 BCE). Scholars have speculated that this may have entered India from Mesopotamia. However, states Pingree, this hypothesis has not been proven because no cuneiform tablet or evidence from Mesopotamian antiquity has yet been deciphered that even presents this theory or calculations.
According to Pingree, the influence may have flowed the other way initially, then flowed into India after the arrival of Darius in Indus Valley about 500 BCE. The mathematics and devices for time keeping mentioned in these ancient Sanskrit texts, proposes Pingree, such as the water clock may also have thereafter arrived in India from Mesopotamia. However, Yukio Ohashi considers this proposal as incorrect, suggesting instead that the Vedic timekeeping efforts, for forecasting appropriate time for rituals, must have begun much earlier and the influence may have flowed from India to Mesopotamia. Ohashi states that it is incorrect to assume that the number of civil days in a year equal 365 in both Hindu and Egyptian–Persian year. Further, adds Ohashi, the Mesopotamian formula is different than Indian formula for calculating time, each can only work for their respective latitude, and either would make major errors in predicting time and calendar in the other region.
Kim Plofker states that while a flow of timekeeping ideas from either side is plausible, each may have instead developed independently, because the loan-words typically seen when ideas migrate are missing on both sides as far as words for various time intervals and techniques.
It is hypothesized that there were cultural contacts between the Indian and Greek astronomers via cultural contact with Hellenistic Greece, specifically the work of Hipparchus (2nd-century BCE). There were some similarities between Suryasiddhanta and Greek astronomy in Hellenistic period. For example, Suryasiddhanta provides table of sines function which parallel the Hipparchus table of chords, though the Indian calculations are more accurate and detailed. According to Alan Cromer, the Greek influence probably arrived in India by about 100 BCE. The Indians adopted the Hipparchus system, according to Cromer, and it remained that simpler system rather than those made by Ptolemy in the 2nd century.
The influence of Greek ideas on early medieval era Indian astronomical theories, particularly zodiac symbols (astrology), is broadly accepted by scholars. According to Jayant Narlikar, the Vedic literature lacks astrology, the idea of nine planets and any theory that stars or constellation may affect an individual's destiny. One of the manuscripts of the Surya Siddhanta mentions deva Surya telling asura Maya to go to Rome with this knowledge I give you in the form of Yavana (Greek), states Narlikar. The astrology field likely developed in the centuries after the arrival of Greek astrology with Alexander the Great, their zodiac signs being nearly identical.
According to Pingree, the 2nd-century CE cave inscriptions of Nasik mention sun, moon and five planets in the same order as found in Babylon, but "there is no hint, however, that the Indian had learned a method of computing planetary positions in this period". In the 2nd-century CE, a scholar named Yavanesvara translated a Greek astrological text, and another unknown individual translated a second Greek text into Sanskrit. Thereafter started the diffusion of Greek and Babylonian ideas on astronomy and astrology into India, states Pingree. The other evidence of European influential on the Indian thought is Romaka Siddhanta, a title of one of the Siddhanta texts contemporary to Surya Siddhanta, a name that betrays its origin and probably was derived from a translation of a European text by Indian scholars in Ujjain, then the capital of an influential central Indian large kingdom.
According to John Roche – a professor of Mathematics with publications on the history of measurement, the astronomical and mathematical methods developed by Greeks related arcs to chords of spherical trigonometry. The Indian mathematical astronomers, in their texts such as Surya Siddhanta developed other linear measures of angles, made their calculations differently, "introduced the versine, which is the difference between the radius and cosine, and discovered various trigonometrical identities". For instance, states Roche, "where the Greeks had adopted 60 relative units for the radius, and 360 for circumference", the Indians chose 3,438 units and 60x360 for the circumference thereby calculating the "ratio of circumference to diameter [pi, π] of about 3.1414".
The tradition of Hellenistic astronomy ended in the West after Late Antiquity. According to Cromer, the Surya Siddhanta and other Indian texts reflect the primitive state of Greek science, nevertheless played an important part in the history of science, through its translation in Arabic and stimulating the Arabic sciences. According to a study by Dennis Duke that compares Greek models with Indian models based on the oldest Indian manuscripts such as the Surya Siddhanta with fully described models, the Greek influence on Indian astronomy is strongly likely to be pre-Ptolemaic.
The Surya Siddhanta was one of the two books in Sanskrit translated into Arabic in the later half of the eighth century during the reign of Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur. According to Muzaffar Iqbal, this translation and that of Aryabhatta was of considerable influence on geographic, astronomy and related Islamic scholarship.
The mean (circular) motion of planets according to the Surya Siddhantha.
The variation of the true position of Mercury around its mean position according to the Surya Siddhantha.
The contents of the Surya Siddhanta is written in classical Indian poetry tradition, where complex ideas are expressed lyrically with a rhyming meter in the form of a terse shloka. This method of expressing and sharing knowledge made it easier to remember, recall, transmit and preserve knowledge. However, this method also meant secondary rules of interpretation, because numbers don’t have rhyming synonyms. The creative approach adopted in the Surya Siddhanta was to use symbolic language with double meanings. For example, instead of one, the text uses a word that means moon because there is one moon. To the skilled reader, the word moon means the number one. The entire table of trigonometric functions, sine tables, steps to calculate complex orbits, predict eclipses and keep time are thus provided by the text in a poetic form. This cryptic approach offers greater flexibility for poetic construction.
The Surya Siddhanta thus consists of cryptic rules in Sanskrit verse. It is a compendium of astronomy that is easier to remember, transmit and use as reference or aid for the experienced, but does not aim to offer commentary, explanation or proof. The text has 14 chapters and 500 shlokas. It is one of the eighteen astronomical siddhanta (treatises), but thirteen of the eighteen are believed to be lost to history. The Surya Siddhanta text has survived since the ancient times, has been the best known and the most referred astronomical text in the Indian tradition.
The methods for computing time using the shadow cast by a gnomon are discussed in both Chapters 3 and 13.
The text treats earth as a stationary globe around which sun, moon and five planets orbit. It makes no mention of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. It presents mathematical formulae to calculate the orbits, diameters, predict their future locations and cautions that the minor corrections are necessary over time to the formulae for the various astronomical bodies. However, unlike modern heliocentric model for the solar system, the Surya Siddhanta relies on a geocentric point of view.
The text describes some of its formulae with the use of very large numbers for divya yuga, stating that at the end of this yuga earth and all astronomical bodies return to the same starting point and the cycle of existence repeats again. These very large numbers based on divya-yuga, when divided and converted into decimal numbers for each planet give reasonably accurate sidereal periods when compared to modern era western calculations. For example, the Surya Siddhanta states that the sidereal period of moon is 27.322 which compares to 27.32166 in modern calculations. For Mercury it states the period to be 87.97 (modern W: 87.969), Venus 224.7 (W: 224.701), Mars as 687 (W: 686.98), Jupiter as 4,332.3 (W: 4,332.587) and Saturn to be 10,765.77 days (W: 10,759.202).
The solar part of the luni-solar Hindu calendar is based on the Surya Siddhanta. The various old and new versions of Surya Siddhanta manuscripts yield the same solar calendar. According to J. Gordon Melton, both the Hindu and Buddhist calendars in use in South and Southeast Asia are rooted in this text, but the regional calendars adapted and modified them over time.
The Surya Siddhanta calculates the solar year to be 365 days 6 hours 12 minutes and 36.56 seconds. On average, according to the text, the lunar month equals 27 days 7 hours 39 minutes 12.63 seconds. It states that the lunar month varies over time, and this needs to be factored in for accurate time keeping.
According to Whitney, the Surya Siddhanta calculations were tolerably accurate and achieved predictive usefulness. In Chapter 1 of Surya Siddhanta, states Whitney, "the Hindu year is too long by nearly three minutes and a half; but the moon's revolution is right within a second; those of Mercury, Venus and Mars within a few minutes; that of Jupiter within six or seven hours; that of Saturn within six days and a half".
Translation of the Surya Siddhanta by Bapu Deva Sastri (1861) ISBN 3-7648-1334-2, ISBN 978-3-7648-1334-5. Only a few notes. Translation of Surya Siddhanta occupies first 100 pages; rest is a translation of the Siddhanta Siromani by Lancelot Wilkinson.
^ a b c Menso Folkerts, Craig G. Fraser, Jeremy John Gray, John L. Berggren, Wilbur R. Knorr (2017), Mathematics, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Quote: "(...) its Hindu inventors as discoverers of things more ingenious than those of the Greeks. Earlier, in the late 4th or early 5th century, the anonymous Hindu author of an astronomical handbook, the Surya Siddhanta, had tabulated the sine function (...)"
^ a b c d e John Bowman (2005). Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. Columbia University Press. p. 596. ISBN 978-0-231-50004-3. , Quote: "c. 350-400: The Surya Siddhanta, an Indian work on astronomy, now uses sexagesimal fractions. It includes references to trigonometric functions. The work is revised during succeeding centuries, taking its final form in the tenth century."
^ a b Kim Plofker (2009). Mathematics in India. Princeton University Press. pp. 71–72 with footnotes. ISBN 0-691-12067-6.
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^ Richard L. Thompson (2004). Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 10. ISBN 978-81-208-1954-2.
^ Brian Evans (2014). The Development of Mathematics Throughout the Centuries: A Brief History in a Cultural Context. Wiley. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-118-85397-9.
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^ Pingree, David (1971). "On the Greek Origin of the Indian Planetary Model Employing a Double Epicycle". Journal for the History of Astronomy. SAGE Publications. 2 (2): 80–85. Bibcode:1971JHA.....2...80P. doi:10.1177/002182867100200202.
^ Roshen Dalal (2010). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide. Penguin Books. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6. , Quote: "The solar calendar is based on the Surya Siddhanta, a text of around 400 CE."
^ Kim Plofker (2009). Mathematics In India. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12067-6.
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^ Yukio Ohashi 1999, pp. 719–720.
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^ Sarma, Nataraja (2000). "Diffusion of astronomy in the ancient world". Endeavour. Elsevier. 24 (4): 157–164. doi:10.1016/s0160-9327(00)01327-2.
^ a b "There are many evident indications of a direct contact of Hindu astronomy with Hellenistic tradition, e.g. the use of epicycles or the use of tables of chords which were transformed by the Hindus into tables of sines. The same mixture of elliptic arcs and declination circles is found with Hipparchus and in the early Siddhantas (note: [...] In the Surya Siddhanta, the zodiacal signs are used in similar fashion to denote arcs on any great circle." Otto Neugebauer, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, vol. 9 of Acta historica scientiarum naturalium et medicinalium, Courier Dover Publications, 1969, p. 186.
^ "The table must be of Greek origin, though written in the Indian number system and in Indian units. It was probably calculated around 100 B.C. by an Indian mathematicisn familiar with the work of Hipparchus." Alan Cromer, Uncommon Sense : The Heretical Nature of Science, Oxford University Press, 1993, p. 111.
^ "The epicyclic model in the Siddnahta Surya is much simpler than Ptolemy's and supports the hypothesis that the Indians learned the original system of Hipparchus when they had contact with the West." Alan Cromer, Uncommon Sense : The Heretical Nature of Science, Oxford University Press, 1993, p. 111.
^ Ebenezer Burgess (1989). P Ganguly, P Sengupta (ed.). Sûrya-Siddhânta: A Text-book of Hindu Astronomy. Motilal Banarsidass (Reprint), Original: Yale University Press, American Oriental Society. pp. 26–27. ISBN 978-81-208-0612-2.
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^ Alan Cromer (1993), Uncommon Sense : The Heretical Nature of Science, Oxford University Press, pp. 111-112.
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^ a b Richard L. Thompson (2004). Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-81-208-1954-2.
^ a b c Richard L. Thompson (2004). Vedic Cosmography and Astronomy. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 12-14 with Table 3. ISBN 978-81-208-1954-2.
^ Roshen Dalal (2010). The Religions of India: A Concise Guide to Nine Major Faiths. Penguin Books. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-14-341517-6.
^ Robert Sewell; Śaṅkara Bālakr̥shṇa Dīkshita. The Indian Calendar. S. Sonnenschein & Company. pp. 53–54.
^ J. Gordon Melton (2011). Religious Celebrations: An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances, and Spiritual Commemorations. ABC-CLIO. pp. 161–162. ISBN 978-1-59884-205-0.
^ Yukio Ohashi (2008). Helaine Selin (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer Science. pp. 354–356. ISBN 978-1-4020-4559-2.
^ Lionel D. Barnett (1999). Antiquities of India. Atlantic. p. 193. ISBN 978-81-7156-442-2.
^ V. Lakshmikantham; S. Leela; J. Vasundhara Devi (2005). The Origin and History of Mathematics. Cambridge Scientific Publishers. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-1-904868-47-7.
^ Robert Sewell; Śaṅkara Bālakr̥shṇa Dīkshita (1995). The Indian Calendar. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 21 with footnote, cxii–cxv.
^ William Dwight Whitney (1874). Oriental and Linguistic Studies. Scribner, Armstrong. p. 368.
Yukio Ôhashi (1999). "The Legends of Vasiṣṭha – A Note on the Vedāṅga Astronomy". In Johannes Andersen (ed.). Highlights of Astronomy, Volume 11B. Springer Science. ISBN 978-0-7923-5556-4.
Yukio Ôhashi (1993). "Development of Astronomical Observations in Vedic and post-Vedic India". Indian Journal of History of Science. 28 (3).