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0.999435 | Put your grill to work in the summer. Choose vegetables that are firm enough to stay on a skewer and keep the pieces large enough so they will not fall apart once skewered.
I recommend mushrooms, onions, red and green peppers, zucchini and yellow squash a combination of any three of these works well.
1. Marinate the prepared vegetables with the marinade in a glass bowl for at least one hour up to three.
2. Divide the vegetables into four equal portions and carefully thread a skewer through each vegetable until are used. I like to start and finish with onion.
3. Preheat the grill or charcoal fire to medium- hot. Grill until edges crisp, about 2 minutes each side. |
0.973201 | A copywriter is a commercial writer who writes textual material primarily for marketing and advertising purposes. Copywriting can often make (or break!) an organization's sales. So this can be a lucrative specialty for talented writers with a track record of success.
Copywriters may work on a freelance basis or may be on staff for advertising agencies, public relations firms or other marketing companies.
Essentially, copywriters help clients tell their story in a way that persuades people to take action. Logical or emotional persuasion tactics can be employed depending on the market and message.
While text alone can often be enough, usually copywriting must be married with the medium to be successful. For example, a brilliantly written magazine ad with blah graphics or layout can fail to trigger action. Therefore, copywriters usually work closely with graphic designers and art directors to create a coherent message. As well, copywriters must be completely familiar with the requirements and limitations of each medium.
One of the most famous pieces of advertising copywriting was from the mind of ad pioneer, John Caples (New York Times).
In a 1926 ad for the U.S. School of Music home study course, the headline read: ''They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano But When I Started to Play!'' The ad spoke to people's emotional need to be popular by telling the story, in the first person, of how someone used the product to gain confidence in playing the piano for friends. It launched a new school of first-person-story copywriting technique which is still used today.
Caples' genius was the inspiration for the Caples Awards which launched in 1978 to honor excellence in copywriting for a variety of offline and online marketing efforts.
Is breaking into copywriting easy? Typically no. Because of its pivotal role in advertising, sales and marketing, clients usually want to hire those that are experienced in the field.
Experience can be gained by working as an entry level copywriter for an agency or marketing department, working up into larger projects with greater responsibility for the firm or its clients. Freelancers may be able to secure assignments and build a portfolio by offering their skills in the open market.
Copywriters need to have an excellent—native usually preferred—command of the language used for business in their markets. Broken or awkward language use can be quickly identified by the local population and possibly brand the marketer as an outsider. This is why job or opportunity postings for copywriters often request native speakers/writers to write for the country in which the marketing materials will be distributed.
Many years ago, I was helping with a copywriting project that was going to be distributed in both English and Chinese. No one on the project team here in the States spoke Chinese. So a Chinese translator was hired. First question: What dialect should it be in? Mandarin? Cantonese? If I remember right, Mandarin was chosen. But was that the right one?
Years later when I got involved in the promotional industry, I started receiving tons of email solicitations from foreign suppliers. Some of them have been almost laughable in their command of basic English word use and syntax. What a pity.
These incidents demonstrate the challenges that the field of copywriting is facing as we move into an ever expanding global and multicultural economy. It also highlights growing needs for experienced native speaking, culturally aware and genuinely fluent multilingual copywriters around the world.
Hello Alun/Greensleeves! Copywriting can be lucrative if you can connect with the right markets. Certainly worth investigating. Let us know what you discover. Good luck with that adventure and have a delightful week!
Hi Mick! Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a great day!
Hi Dolores! Indeed, it is another way to put those English and writing skills to work. And to your point, I spent years writing about and working in a contracting-related field without ever turning a wrench. :) Sometimes those just outside the field have a fresh and different perspective than those buried in it. Thanks so much for reading and sharing! Happy Valentine's Day Weekend!
Hi The BizWhiz! It is an interesting subject and field. Glad you enjoyed. Thanks and have a great Valentine's Weekend!
Peachpurple, that's probably the best description of a copywriter I've seen. :) Thanks for adding that to the conversation. Happy Valentine's Day Weekend!
Hi RTalloni! Yep, language skills are so critical to success and can open up so many career doors. Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful Valentine's Weekend!
Thanks for an interesting and informative read. You've given another reason for children to begin learning languages at an early age!
Hi kalinin1158! Yep, the ad biz can be quite exciting and fun. But it can be a tough one to break into. If you do venture in this direction, keep us posted on your adventures. Have a great week ahead!
I've never tried copywriting but I do love "Mad Men"... There is something exciting about it. Thanks for sharing, voted Interesting!
Hi Chitrangada Sharan! Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Hope your New Year is off to a great start!
Great hub which makes us understand, who exactly is a copywriter. It involves experience and expertise and an in depth knowledge.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful and informative hub. Voted up!
Thanks, manatita44! Glad you found it helpful. Happy and Peaceful New Year to you, too!
Hi FlourishAnyway! So, so true! Cultural lingo is almost impossible to teach. Really requires immersion in the culture for an extended period of time, especially for adults who have been raised in other cultures. Hope you're have a delightful Christmas. Enjoy!
Hi Iris! Yes, many writers do some bit of copywriting. But it does take some real talent and time to become a true ad copywriter whose work can mean success or failure for a campaign. BTW, it was AWESOME chatting with you yesterday! Merry Christmas!
This is informative. I guess I always just assumed that most writers did some copywriting early in their freelance careers. I guess not based on the fact that many aren't sure what it is. Interesting.
Well, alancaster149, at least I now know it will take an Oxbridge diploma to get a copywriting gig across the pond. :) Not too sure if it's the Ivy Leaguers or the Silicon Valley-ers that are truly running the ad show. Hope you're having a lovely holiday season so far. Merry Christmas!
Well, billybuc, I figured you might have a chunk of your resume dedicated to the copywriting craft. Merry Christmas Tuesday to you, too!
Thanks for the giggles, Gawth! Let us know how that letter writing career goes. :) Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Happy Holidays!
Hi misterhollywood! Lots of writers surprisingly don't know what a copywriter is. Thanks for your vote and comments. Merry Christmas!
Hello Heidi, the market over here goes for Oxbridge graduates to do this kind of thing (everything to do with advertising here calls for Oxbridge graduates, even the tea lady has to be a Bart.Hons). Once upon a time all you had to be was good with words. Now it's good with words, with knobs on.
I suppose the Ivy-Leaguers have cornered Madison Ave now?
Well, as a matter of fact, I am a copywriter. Question answered!
Merry Tuesday to you, Heidi!
Really interesting. I honestly never knew any of this! I'm voting up. |
0.991682 | WebKit2 GTK+ API is currently missing most of the sections documentation.
Nice! I have a few small suggestions.
> + * history is used for coloring the links of visited sites.
Does WebKit2 have the concept of the global history as well?
> + * and do it itself.
maybe "handle the download process itself" ? "it itself" is a bit hard to read.
What do you mean by "final user" ? It seems that this section could probably just be omitted. The name WebKitError is fairly self-explanatory.
You probably want to change link to be <link> for the sake of clarity.
Nit: missing a comma after TRUE.
instead of "various usual directories" maybe you should say "various platform plugin directcories".
> + * the URI and the #WebKitURIResponse.
The use of the word "download" here might be misleading. WebKitWebResource don't just describe downloads, but they describe a particular resource at the end of a particular URL. Loading a page will trigger the creation one one resource for every separate image and stylesheet on the page.
You can probably omit the discussion about GtkScrolledWindow.
> + * Base class for #WebKitWebView.
Maybe this should be omitted from the documentation entirely?
I agree with most of your comments, and already commented in those I had doubts. Thanks for reviewing!
>> + * history is used for coloring the links of visited sites.
> Does WebKit2 have the concept of the global history as well?
Hmmm. When I adapted this from the WK1 documentation, I thought that I had grepped the code for recent mentions of that global history. However, I can't find any reference to it now, so it seems that WK2 doesn't have it.
> What do you mean by "final user" ? It seems that this section could probably just be omitted. The name WebKitError is fairly self-explanatory.
I basically meant that you could even show some kind of "Network Error" (let's say) to someone using a browser using webkit. But yes, it sounds a bit weird. I would still leave the section, even repeating the short description in the long one, since it gives an idea of the errors at a glance.
>> + * the URI and the #WebKitURIResponse.
> The use of the word "download" here might be misleading. WebKitWebResource don't just describe downloads, but they describe a particular resource at the end of a particular URL. Loading a page will trigger the creation one one resource for every separate image and stylesheet on the page.
I will try to figure out a better description for this, based on your comment.
> You can probably omit the discussion about GtkScrolledWindow.
This is one of the key differences between WK1 and WK2, and I already saw some questions about it in the mailing lists. However, it's true that in the future, people using the WK2 API without former WK1 experience won't need this information at all. Maybe I can remove it from the top, and leave it as an additional comment at the end of the description.
>> You can probably omit the discussion about GtkScrolledWindow.
> This is one of the key differences between WK1 and WK2, and I already saw some questions about it in the mailing lists. However, it's true that in the future, people using the WK2 API without former WK1 experience won't need this information at all. Maybe I can remove it from the top, and leave it as an additional comment at the end of the description. |
0.999355 | The winter of 1946–1947 was a harsh and bitterly cold winter in the United Kingdom. The UK experienced several cold spells, beginning on 21st January 1947, bringing large drifts of snow to the country, which caused roads and railways to be blocked. Coal supplies, already low following the Second World War, struggled to get through to power stations and many were forced to shut down for lack of fuel. The government introduced several measures to cut power consumption, including restricting domestic electricity to 19 hours per day and cutting industrial supplies completely. In addition, radio broadcasts were limited, television services were suspended, some magazines were ordered to stop being published and newspapers were cut in size. Towards the end of February there were also fears of a food shortage as supplies were cut off and vegetables frozen into the ground. March brought milder weather to the country, and with it the inevitable thaw. What follwed was terrible flooding for parts of the UK.
The winter began with two periods of cold weather in December 1946 and January 1947, but the coldest period did not begin until 21st January 1947. The main cause of the cold weather was an anti-cyclone which sat over Scandinavia from 20th January. This high pressure area blocked the progression of low pressure depressions across the Atlantic Ocean and forced them to the south of the United Kingdom resulting in strong easterly winds, which brought snow to Eastern England and South East England before progressing across the entire country. This cold spell continued and by 30th January the Isles of Scilly were under 7 inches (18 cm) of snow and the overnight temperature at Writtle, Essex was −20°C. Over January the highest recorded temperature in England and Wales was 14°C and the minimum was −21°C.
The easterly winds continued into February, which developed into one of the coldest months on record. At Kew Observatory there was no recorded temperature above 5°C for the month and only twice was the overnight temperature above 0°C. Nationally, levels of sun recorded were less than half the average and no sun at all was recorded at Kew for twenty days from 2nd February. On 20th February the ferry service across the English Channel between Dover and Ostend was suspended due to pack ice off the Belgian coast. In some places snow fell on 26 days out of 28 in the month and a temperature of −21°C was recorded at Woburn, Bedfordshire on 25th February. As a result, railways were badly affected by drifts of light powdery snow and 300 main roads were made unusable. Several hundred villages were cut off. Ice floes were also seen off the coast of East Anglia, causing a hazard to shipping.
This cold weather exacerbated the fuel problem. Stockpiles of coal at the pits and depots froze solid and could not be moved. The stockpiled coal was often unavailable with roads out of use and 750,000 railway waggons of coal trapped by the snow. Desperate attempts were made to get fuel to power stations by coal-carrying ships which risked storms, fog and ice to reach their destination. A force of 100,000 British and Polish troops and German PoWs were put to work clearing snow from the railways by hand. Despite this, lack of fuel forced many power stations to shut down or reduce their output. The Royal Navy launched Operation Blackcurrant, which used diesel generators onboard submarines to provide supplementary power to coastal towns and dockyards.
Shinwell acted to reduce consumption of coal by cutting the electricity supply to industry completely and reducing the domestic supply to 19 hours per day across the country. In consequence factories across the country were forced to shut and up to four million people claimed unemployment benefits. Although so many people were made redundant there was little unrest and no major public disorders. Television services were suspended completely, radio broadcasts were reduced, some magazines were ordered to stop being published, and newspapers were cut in size to four pages. Food rations, still in use from the Second World War, were cut to levels lower than in the war years. These measures made little difference to the rate of coal consumption but served to reduce public morale.
Despite Shinwell's actions the fuel supply remained insufficient and blackouts occurred across large swathes of the country with even the staff at Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and London's Central Electricity Board reduced to working by candlelight. A trade meeting with representatives from Russia and Iceland was also forced to meet without light or heat, ironically one of the items discussed was the purchase of coal from Britain. The public was reduced to queueing at gasworks to collect coke for use as fuel. Supplies of aspirin also ran low as it was then a product of coal-tar, thousands of chickens in poultry farms died of the cold, and public transport services were cut to save fuel. Shinwell became increasingly unpopular with the general public and received a bomb threat which meant that he had to be guarded at his house in Tooting by four policemen. Despite this, he remained very popular with the miners, which made the government wary of firing him in case it caused industrial action. By 27th February sea conditions had improved and more than 100 coal ships had managed to unload their cargoes at the power stations, easing the fuel crisis.
During this period there was a fear that, despite the rationing, food supplies could run out, and several measures were taken to prevent this. This due to the effects of the cold on vegetables, livestock and delivery vehicles. The government started a campaign to popularise Snoek, an inexpensive South African variety of fish. This campaign was largely unsuccessful as the public found the fish unpalatable and the stocks of it were eventually used as cat food. Many winter root vegetables could not be harvested as they were frozen into the ground, and in some areas pneumatic drills were used to excavate them. Frost destroyed 70,000 tons of potatoes and, as a result, they were rationed for the first time.
On 4th and 5th March came heavy snow which left drifts across much of the country with some lying 7 metres (23 ft) deep in the Scottish Highlands. On 5th March one of the worst British blizzards of the 20th century occurred. Food supplies were again affected by the snow-bound roads and in some places the police requested permission to break into delivery lorries stranded by the snow.
On 10th March milder air began to move north across the country from the south west, rapidly thawing the snow lying on low ground. After such a long frost the ground stayed frozen, causing much surface run off which resulted in widespread flooding. Further heavy snowfalls occurred as the milder air pushed northwards. On 14th March the deepest ever recorded depth of snow lying in an inhabited location was measured at Forest in Teesdale in County Durham at 83" or 211cm. On 15th March a deepening depression moved in from the Atlantic, bringing heavy rain and gales. It was the start of the wettest March for 300 years. By 16th March winds reached 57mph, gusting to 103mph, causing breaches in dykes in East Anglia resulting in the flooding of 100 square miles of land, and blowing many trees down. The River Thames and the River Lea flooded in London causing the Windsor borough engineer Geoffrey Baker to remark "We could only cope if we had a spare Thames, or two".
On 18th March the River Trent, swollen with the extra water which was prevented from emptying into the sea by a spring tide, burst its banks at Nottingham, reaching first floor height. The flooding subsided in the west of the country by 20th March but rivers in the east were still rising and the Wharfe, Derwent, Aire and Ouse all burst their banks in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Selby was also badly affected with 70% of houses being flooded. More than 100,000 properties were affected by the flooding and the Army worked to prevent the spread of the floodwater, particularly at pumping plants and power stations. Royal Engineers on national service handed out milk to families with babies and the Australian Red Cross assisted in Gloucester. The people of Canada sent food parcels to villages in Suffolk and the Premier of Ontario, George A. Drew, offered to help to distribute them personally. The flooding lasted for about a week, with some waters taking an additional ten days to subside. |
0.999623 | You are currently searching within the Hatch: Details on Puerto Rico’s Financial Health Needed Before Congress Can Act section.
WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor today, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) outlined concerns regarding several proposals aimed at addressing the growing debt crisis in Puerto Rico and said Congress must first have access to clear and thorough information regarding the territory’s financial health before charting a course forward.
Mr. President, I rise today to speak on Puerto Rico’s financial and economic challenges.
The government of Puerto Rico tells us that the territory has more than $73 billion in debt that is, to use their words, “not payable.” On top of that, Puerto Rico has tens of billions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities and very few real assets to back its pension promises.
The economy in Puerto Rico has persistently registered double-digit unemployment rates, staggeringly low labor force participation rates, and a bloated public sector. And there are growing strains on Puerto Rico’s health care system, some of which reflect the way the so-called Affordable Care Act was written to treat Puerto Rico and other territories. And some of which reflects differing treatment between Puerto Rico, where residents do not pay federal personal income taxes, and states, where residents are included in the federal personal income tax system.
In short, Mr. President, there is very little good economic news coming from Puerto Rico these days.
As a result, we’re seeing an ongoing debate about what the federal government can or should do in order to help the American citizens residing in Puerto Rico. And, to me, this debate boils down to four relatively simple questions.
Question Number One: Should the federal government allow Puerto Rico access to Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code or to even broader debt-resolution tools?
Question Number Two: Will providing fresh tax incentives to Puerto Rico help boost the island’s economy by creating jobs and stimulating growth?
Question Number Three: Should Congress increase federal resources to help ease Puerto Rico’s strained healthcare system?
And, Question Number Four: Should we take steps to exempt Puerto Rico from burdensome federal regulations – including labor, transportation, and energy regulations – that may be contributing to the territory’s ongoing economic struggles?
To date, we’ve seen a number of proposals that attempt to address these and other questions, though, in my opinion, many of them do so in some pretty awkward ways. I want to take time today to address each of these four major questions in turn, and, hopefully, shed some light on what we have to consider as we try to address the growing crisis in Puerto Rico.
So far, the majority of the discussion among policymakers with regard to Puerto Rico has focused on Question Number One, allowing access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy relief. As we all know, Chapter 9 applies specifically to financially distressed municipalities who are seeking protection from creditors as they develop and negotiate plans to adjust their debts. Puerto Rico is NOT currently eligible for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, meaning that granting them access to this type of relief will require a legislative change to the Bankruptcy Code, which may come with its own set problems.
Some proponents of a bankruptcy solution for Puerto Rico have argued that the clear language preventing the island from accessing Chapter 9 reflects some sort of drafting error. They argue further that, once Puerto Rico is eligible for Chapter 9 protections, it should apply to debts already incurred.
Now, whether or not the exclusion for Puerto Rico from Chapter 9 was intentional or not, we should keep in mind that there are potential rule-of-law issues at stake when we talk about legislative action to retroactively alter the terms of debt contracts.
Puerto Rico’s creditors entered into their contracts with the various existing risks priced into the agreements in the form of interest rates and other terms. If the island been eligible for Chapter 9 bankruptcy prior to entering into those agreements, creditors would have formed different expectations, likely leading to different terms, including differing interest rates that could have reshaped the demand for Puerto Rican bonds.
This isn’t rocket science, Mr. President, this is Finance 101.
We should be cautious about any legislative action that would alter the terms of existing contracts. At the very least, we should consider what impact extending Chapter 9 to existing Puerto Rico obligations could have on credit transactions moving forward, given that parties set credit agreements based on the laws they expect to apply.
If parties believe there’s a real possibility that Congress might retroactively change those laws in the future, they’re likely to seek different terms or to reevaluate a contract’s potential worth.
Even so, it’s not at all clear that amending Chapter 9 to allow access for Puerto Rico will solve Puerto Rico’s debt problems. Officials from the Obama Administration have argued that Chapter 9 would only cover around 30 percent of Puerto Rico’s outstanding obligations and, as a result, even broader debt-restructuring authority is necessary. Therefore, those in Congress with proposed solutions that center only on Chapter 9 bankruptcy are apparently not aware of the administration’s position.
However, the other non-bankruptcy proposals we’ve seen, which would allow Puerto Rico to handle its debt on its own, are also lacking.
For example, we have seen proposals to allow the Federal Reserve to purchase debt issued by Puerto Rico, and to authorize the Treasury to guarantee bonds issued by the government of Puerto Rico or any of its instrumentalities. Of course, this approach would run the risk of setting very bad precedents for future insolvent entities and is fraught with moral hazard.
Ultimately, those pushing to restructure Puerto Rico’s debt as the sole solution tend to want to simply blame the problems on the creditors, using loose terms like “hedge funds” or “vulture funds.” For these people, punishing the creditors is their desired focus, not because it is a viable solution, but because, at the end of the day, an opportunity for populist rhetoric is itself a valuable commodity heading into a contentious election cycle.
While that approach may help some around here appeal to their political base, it does precious little to help the people of Puerto Rico and ignores the fact that a number of the creditors are middle-class investors and retirees from virtually every U.S. state and territory from Utah to New York to Puerto Rico itself.
Ultimately, whatever case can be made for restructuring authority for Puerto Rico’s debt, there may not be an urgent need for that authority to be granted right away. This is evidenced by the fact that, despite several months of debate surrounding these issues, Puerto Rico has only recently begun negotiating with some of its creditors.
I would hope that, if the need for relief is in fact dire, the government of Puerto Rico will waste no time negotiating and working toward private solutions. If there is no urgency on that front, it will be hard to argue that there is urgent need in Congress to consider proposals relating to Chapter 9 bankruptcy or broader restructuring authority.
So, that’s Question Number One, Mr. President. Let’s talk about Question Number Two, which deals with tax incentives to boost Puerto Rico’s economy.
On the tax front, we’ve seen proposals in Congress to allow residents of Puerto Rico to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit and the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit on the same basis as other U.S. taxpayers. Likewise, the Obama Administration has indicated support for a similar approach, though they have not provided any real details as to what their proposal would look like.
Proposals like these are problematic for a number of reasons.
As I mentioned, the residents of Puerto Rico are exempt from the federal personal income tax system, meaning they do not pay any personal federal income tax. Therefore, offering these refundable tax credits wouldn’t reduce their tax burden because you can’t reduce a tax burden that is already zero. In other words, these tax credits would ultimately be cash payments offered directly to lower-income residents of Puerto Rico.
On top of that, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit are already rife with fraud and overpayments when they are offered to taxpayers who are required to file a return and can, at least theoretically, incur a tax burden at some future date if their income goes up. Extending these same credits to Puerto Rico could very well introduce a number of threats to the integrity and administration of our tax system.
Those who issue these types of proposals rarely have a solution to these inherent concerns. Moreover, we haven’t seen any public information from congressional scorekeepers as to how much these proposals would cost. I also haven’t heard any proponents of this approach offer so much as a hint about how they would plan to offset the costs, or if they intend to offer any offset at all.
Long story short, Mr. President, most of the tax-related proposals to the Puerto Rico situation leave much to be desired. That’s not to say we shouldn’t do anything in this area. There are, quite likely, tax incentives we could offer to better incentivize growth and labor force participation, and perhaps investment, in the Puerto Rican economy. I think it would be safe to say that Republicans would be open to such a discussion. But, to date, I haven’t seen anything that resembles a serious solution that focuses on the tax code.
This brings us to Question Number Three, dealing with healthcare policy, which has been the primary focus of a number of our colleagues when it comes to these issues.
Here in Congress, we have seen some poorly constructed proposals that, when boiled down to their essence, would allocate more than $30 billion from the general fund directly to Puerto Rico. Of course, that’s not how the proponents describe their ideas. Typically, these proposals are couched as changes to the way Puerto Rico’s share of federal health dollars is determined under existing programs. However, while the issues are admittedly complex, the result is fairly simple: fiscal irresponsibility would be rewarded to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.
Don’t get me wrong. We will very likely have to consider ideas to alter the means by which we allocate federal health funds to Puerto Rico. However, if we decide to go that route, it is essential that we move forward in a fiscally responsible manner. To date, I have yet to hear any concrete thoughts from proponents in Congress or from our federal health agencies about how this can be done.
I have heard, however, that the so-called Affordable Care Act is the source of some of the healthcare-related problems faced by Puerto Rico. I’ll leave it those who wrote that law and forced it through Congress on a partisan basis to explain why that is the case.
We now come to Question Number Four, the possibility of providing Puerto Rico with relief from various federal regulations.
We’ve heard a number of ideas in this area, including reforms or exemptions from regulations governing labor markets, shipping, energy costs, and others. While I am inherently sympathetic to proposals to scale back federal regulations, the issues here are very complex, and would become very political in a hurry.
For example, while I haven’t taken any straw polls, I think it is safe to assume that many of my friends on the other side of the aisle would reflexively oppose any attempt to mitigate the application of federal minimum wage regulations to Puerto Rico. This would be puzzling, given that Congress has offered similar relief to other ailing U.S. territories in the relatively recent past. On top of that, the Krueger Report, which was commissioned by the government of Puerto Rico, along with a host of economic analysts across the political spectrum have argued that allowing Puerto Rico the flexibility to set minimum wages that differ from the federal levels would have a positive economic impact and that the current minimum wage levels do not fit productivity conditions on the island.
Still, even in the face of all this evidence and precedent, my guess is that many of my colleagues would take issue with this idea. I’d expect that they’d similarly reject out of hand to any proposals to scale back environmental regulations or rules governing transportation, even if it could be shown that their regulations were having a negative impact and contributing directly to Puerto Rico’s fiscal and economic predicament.
Unfortunately, Mr. President, for a number of our colleagues here in Congress, commitment to ideology too often does not allow room to admit when your policies aren’t working. And, while the situation in Puerto Rico isn’t the first time we’ve seen that come up, I expect we’ll see that happening a lot if we get a chance to consider regulatory relief as a potential solution.
Those are the four main questions we face with regard to Puerto Rico, Mr./Mme. President. While they each come with their own sets of difficulties, those are the basic categories of solutions we’ve seen come to light so far.
Of those four categories, two of them – the tax and the healthcare categories – are interrelated insomuch as members of Congress and administration officials have made them the focus of various ideas to help Puerto Rico improve its fiscal situation and perhaps its economy. While those putting the tax and health proposals forward have largely been silent about what our official scorekeepers – the CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation – will say about the costs of their ideas, I have done some of my colleagues’ homework for them.
Adding up the refundable tax credits – including the EITC and the CTC – and health-related resource flows – including changes to Medicaid allocations -- the overall cost looks to be well north of $30 billion, and likely around $40 billion over the next 10 years.
Those are hardly insignificant figures, Mr. President. Questions of funding and resource allocation are always difficult, and they implicate a number of issues. It isn’t as simple as just deciding to give more health funds to Puerto Rico or access to refundable tax credits, because doing so would necessarily mean reduced funding for other federal priorities or increased taxes or yet more federal debt.
True enough, Puerto Rico’s problems are multi-dimensional and complex. And, I don’t know anyone in Congress who is indifferent to the plight of these American citizens. Sadly, those facts don’t make our unpleasant budget arithmetic any easier. If anything, they make it all the more complicated.
That said, regardless of how we move forward, we need to have a clearer picture of what’s going on in Puerto Rico. We need to have the fiscal facts regarding the island’s indebtedness, funding levels, and needs.
Yet, to date, we have not seen any recent audited financial statements from Puerto Rico. Instead, we are being asked to rely on statements and cash-flow analysis commissioned by the government of Puerto Rico. As of right now, finances in Puerto Rico remain extremely opaque and difficult to monitor. Congress should demand independent verification of the territory’s finances before moving forward on any kind of relief package.
Moreover, while we’re hearing horror stories of inadequate cash flow and a liquidity squeeze in Puerto Rico, it’s difficult to ascribe much urgency to the situation when we are still seeing and reading about relatively large outlays for questionable expenses. Indeed, it is hard to believe an entity is in danger of running out of cash when it is paying for a broad public relations and lobbying campaign and when officials are talking about protecting hundreds of millions of dollars in year-end bonuses for government employees.
This brings us to yet another difficult question. I suppose you could call this Question Number Five: What can we do to ensure that Puerto Rico changes its clearly unsustainable fiscal course?
No matter what we do with regard to debt restructuring, tax policy, healthcare policy, or regulatory relief, the solution will ultimately be meaningless if we don’t take steps to ensure that Puerto Rico doesn’t simply continue on the fiscally irresponsible path that brought them here in the first place. Even if every creditor gets a massive haircut and all the requested resources are channeled directly to the island, steps need to be taken to avoid getting into this situation in the future.
Puerto Rico, for some time, has spent more than it takes in from revenues and receipts, and has covered the difference with debt. The debt that has been issued has tapped out virtually every possible expected future receipt of the government, and basic budget arithmetic has caught up with this unsustainable fiscal recipe, and has effectively shut Puerto Rico out of funding markets. In short, Puerto Rico must move to policies that are fiscally sustainable.
Mr. President, that is not me trying to impose on Puerto Rico’s sovereignty.
That is not an agenda of “austerity” at work.
It is just the simple budget arithmetic of the situation. And, before we undertake any effort to provide relief or assistance to Puerto Rico, we need to give this simple math its proper consideration and demand a workable plan for the future.
For its part, the Obama Administration has chosen to remain relatively vague on this issue.
In October, we a saw a joint statement from Treasury, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the National Economic Council outlining a general plan, which they called a “Roadmap for Congressional Action.” This roadmap contained many of the same general proposals I’ve discussed today with regard to bankruptcy relief, tax credits, and health spending. Conspicuously absent were any proposals for regulatory relief for Puerto Rico. Also absent were any real cost estimates or proposed offsets, just some lip service to the need to undertake these changes in a “fiscally responsible” way.
I’ve made inquiries to various agencies, including Treasury and HHS, with little in the way of detailed response to many of the issues at stake here. It remains puzzling to me that, in the midst of what some in the administration are calling a “humanitarian crisis,” we’re seeing very little engagement from the our health agencies, particularly when so many have been arguing that the crisis stems, in large part, from a lack of healthcare funding in Puerto Rico.
It also seems that provisions of taxpayer-funded technical assistance, which I would think would be considered in any package aimed at Puerto Rico, may be rendered moot given that, as I understand it, Treasury officials are working to wedge such assistance on the sidelines into appropriations vehicles.
Needless to say, before Congress can even begin to consider a significant legislative package to address the situation in Puerto Rico, we need more information from the administration about what it is now doing and what it plans to do in the near future. Put simply, it would not be productive for Congress to move forward on a legislative vehicle costing billions – if not tens of billions – of dollars without knowing beforehand if that legislation contradicts or conforms to the plans of federal agencies.
Long story short, Mr. President, this will likely be a significant undertaking. There are a lot of ideas floating around. Some may work, others clearly won’t.
As the Chairman of the Senate committee with jurisdiction over our tax code and most of the relevant health programs, I am more than willing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find a bipartisan path forward.
To accomplish that goal, we need everyone involved to be upfront and willing to work together. That goes for members of Congress, the administration, and the government of Puerto Rico.
Everyone needs to come clean about the current state of affairs, the specific needs and amounts requested, and the actual costs of any legislative or administrative proposal, and whether they want to offset costs or simply incur more federal debt.
Right now, too many people are willing to throw out demands and vague proposals – with a price tag as high as thirty to forty billion dollars – accompanied by a lot of political rhetoric.
That’s precisely what we do not need.
It will be very easy to play politics with this issue, Mr. President. My hope is that enough of us will be willing to set that aside to allow Congress to do right by our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico. |
0.948853 | The Schutzstaffel (German for "Protective Squadron"), abbreviated SS, which is written using runes as ϟϟ, was a large organization of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP).
The SS was established in 1925, originally as a personal guard unit for party leader Adolf Hitler.
Under the leadership of the Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler between 1929 and 1945, the SS grew from a small paramilitary formation to become one of the largest and most powerful organizations in Germany.
The SS was distinguished from the German military, NSDAP party, and German state officials by its own SS rank structure, SS unit insignia, and SS uniforms.
As the NSDAP grew in political power, some government functions, such as law enforcement, were absorbed into the SS, while some SS organizations became in practice government agencies.
The subordinate organizations of the SS passed through many name and organizational changes.
The military part, the Waffen-SS (often contrasted with the Allgemeine-SS), evolved into a second German army within the armed forces, operating in tandem with the regular army, the Heer. The Waffen-SS gained a reputation as outstanding soldiers of skills and bravery. During the war, many foreign volunteers fought for the Waffen-SS. See Foreign military volunteers and National Socialist Germany.
The SS Main Office (German: SS-Hauptamt) was the central command office of the SS until around 1940.
The Reich Main Security Office (German: Reichssicherheitshauptamt, RSHA), was a subordinate organization of the SS. The RSHA was created by Heinrich Himmler in 1939 through the merger of the NSDAP's Sicherheitsdienst (SD; SS intelligence service) with the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; "Security Police"), which was nominally under the Interior Ministry. The SiPo was composed of the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo; "Secret State Police") and the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo; "Criminal Police"). The first director of the RSHA was SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, who led the organization until his assassination in 1942. SS-Obergruppenführer Ernst Kaltenbrunner replaced him for the remainder of World War II.
The SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (German: Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt, WVHA) was another subordinate organization of the SS. It was responsible for managing the finances, supply systems and business projects for the Allgemeine-SS. It was headed by Oswald Pohl.
The SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV) run the concentration camps, including the Holocaust camps. After 1940, it became a subordinate organization of the WVHA. Certain military units initially formed by the SS-TV later became part of the Waffen-SS.
The SS was considered an elite organization and was often used in propaganda by the NSDAP. Consequently, it was also a major target for anti-NSDAP propaganda, such as in Allied psychological warfare. This may make various claims regarding the SS to be problematic.
The SS, or more narrowly some part(s) of the SS, was allegedly involved in various crimes committed by National Socialist Germany. See National Socialist Germany revisionism and the articles linked there regarding revisionist criticisms.
This page was last edited on 20 March 2019, at 17:37. |
0.97488 | where is a Jacobi polynomial.
The left graphic shows plots of the radial function for selected values of , , and . The right graphic shows the corresponding hydrogenic functions in Euclidean space, which represent the limit as the curvature approaches 0, or .
E. Schrödinger, "A Method of Determining Quantum-Mechanical Eigenvalues and Eigenfunctions," Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section A: Mathematical and Physicial Sciences, 46, 1940 pp. 9–16. www.jstor.org/stable/20490744.
N. Bessis and G. Bessis, "Electronic Wavefunctions in a Space of Constant Curvature," Journal of Physics A: Mathematical General, 12(11), 1979 pp. 1991–1997.
S. M. Blinder, "Canonical Partition Function for the Hydrogen Atom in Curved Space," Journal of Mathematical Chemistry, 19(1), 1996 pp. 43–46. doi:10.1007/BF01165129.
S. M. Blinder "Hydrogen Atom in Curved Space"
Michael Trott with permission of Springer. |
0.991719 | What are the Dark Powers?
The dark powers emanate from the dark aspects of the Goddess and the God. This is the power of the Crone and the Lord of the Shadows; the Hag and the Hunter. The dark powers are more than just a personification of the negative influences in life, however, and the energy raised through the dark imagery of the Divine is very potent. As such, be careful what you do.
The Dark Goddess is manifested in mythology as various kinds of death crones, wise hags, devastation, war, disease and barrenness of the land. She is the Bone Mother who collects the skulls of the dead for the ossuary. In Irish mythology, Morrigan and Nemain would be considered Dark Goddesses in that they are associated with War and Death.
The Dark God is seen in mythology as the silent host to the dead in his underground realm of gray shadows and deep sleep, knowing of secrets and wise of the universe, death, war, destruction, gatherer of souls and harbinger of chaos. He is the Hunter, whose wild hunt, or raid, ingathers the energies of the soul.
There is sense to this ancient cosmology. Cults of ancient times focused on the dark aspects of the Divine so that their followers would move past their fear of mortality to seize upon the recognition of their eternal immortality.
In Irish mythology, Crom Cruach, and Donn would be considered “Dark Gods” or “Dark Powers” because Donn was the god of the dead Milsians. At death, Mannannan Mac Lyr carried the soul to Tech Dunn or the House of Donn. In texts like the Dinsenchus there is references to Crom being considered to be a dark god, contrasting a light god, in a way that is very similar to the Slavic god Czernobog.
As a power, the Dark Lord is the Chaos from which Order must evolve. Yet there is no ending to this cycle, Order resolves again as Chaos to be reborn as New Order. The Lord of Shadows as Death becomes the process of new life by gathering the energy of dying life, and the Passage into a new material form is through the Crone.
In the aspect of light, the god dies willingly by entering the ground to bring his vitality to crops that will be harvested to feed humanity. Through this selfless act, he revitalises the earth. He does this through the Crone. The marriage of Lugh in August, celebrated as Lughnasadh, is the start of the descent into Mother Earth. Once there, he is transformed into the son within the goddess. Hence, the pagan god is both Father and Son, which is yet another concept that Christianity absorbed from the pagans. The harvest comes, the seasons change, and the Mother becomes the Crone of Autumn and Winter, only to be transformed into Mother again at Winter Solstice with the rebirth of the Sun (her son, the god). See Also: Cernunnos, Green Man and Herne.
The womb-tomb is the domain of the Crone and is a place of great power. This is where the transformation takes place, with energies of death given repose and returned to form as the energies of life. When this power is confronted and recognised, there comes a freedom from fear, a new sense of independence and a recognition of personal responsibility. We are not judged in Death by the Lady and the Lord, but we are Self-judged. From the quietude of the realm, we move through her into new life. That is the balanced, pagan theme of the cauldron, the god of self-sacrifice and the resurrecting goddess. It is this power of the goddess that significantly differentiates the old and new religions.
Thus, in an historical sense, while the Dark Lord guides the chaos of social and cultural changes through the Crone into a new life, the Crone becomes not the terror of death, but the joyful passage to new vibrant societies through the death of the outmoded and stagnant ones. She is Fata Morgana, the Huntress Diana, Minerva, Cerridwen, Sati and Kali. He is Pluto, Hades, Cerunnos, Herne the Hunter, Set and Shiva. But the names may not convey the image needed by the practitioner unless you are able to move beyond the modern association of darkness as evil.
By accepting that the dark powers are in balance with the light powers, you are able to utilise the wholeness of the Power. The dichotomy of good and evil do not apply to what simply is. Energy can be drawn to the light or to the dark; thus death provides the soul’s passage to whichever realm the soul-energy has been drawn. Energy is always in motion, and flows back and forth between light and dark. What at one time is light energy turns and becomes dark energy. Through the practice of the Craft, the witch directs this energy for beneficial purpose. To do otherwise, is to inflict Self-harm.
To face the Underworld and the power of the dark aspect of the Divine is to understand that dark is part of the necessary blend of light and not something to fear. The unifying of the dark and the light within the individual offers wholeness and peace, which may then be transferred to external contacts.
In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is a supernatural being (or one of a trio of sisters of the same name) who appears as a deformed and/or ferocious-looking woman. Baba Yaga flies around in a mortar, wields a pestle, and dwells deep in the forest in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs (or sometimes a single chicken leg).
Baba Yaga may help or hinder those that encounter or seek her out. She offers comprehension, not comfort. She sometimes plays a maternal role, and also has associations with forest wildlife. She is a many-faceted figure, capable of inspiring those who seek to see her as a Cloud, Moon, Death, Winter, Snake, Bird, Pelican or Earth Goddess.
Baba Yaga is an enigmatic spirit who rules the conjunction of magic and harsh reality, of limits and possibilities. This Death Spirit provides fertility when she chooses, but she also consumes those who disappoint her. She is iron-toothed, boney-legged, and wears a necklace of human skulls. Her home is surrounded by a fence crafted from human bones and, when inside of her dwelling, she may be found stretched out over the stove, reaching from one corner of the hut to another.
Like her compatriot spirits, Kali and La Santisima Muerte, Baba Yaga encompasses all the mysteries of life and death; contemplate her in order to begin to comprehend these mysteries. I don’t suggest contacting her (the Baba has little patience; don’t waste her time without good reason), a kind of magical contemplation is recommended instead.
The Baba Yaga’s Feast Day is usually celebrated on the first full moon in November, but a connection can be made at any time during the year.
Build an altar featuring birch wood and leaves, animal imagery, a mortar, pestle and broom, and especially, food and drink.
Baba Yaga is always voraciously hungry. Offer her real food or cut out photo images for the altar. She is especially fond of Russian extravagances like coulibiac.
Offer her a samovar with blocks of fine Russian caravan tea and perhaps a water pipe.
Sit with the altar, gaze at it from different angles, play with the objects and see what comes to mind.
Be patient, and expect that it will take time to achieve a connection and a response.
The ‘old woman’ of autumn was called Baba by the Slavic inhabitants of eastern Europe, Boba by the Lithuanians. This seasonal divinity lived in the last sheaf of grain harvested in a year, and the woman who bound it would bear a child that year. Baba passed into Russian folk legend as the awesome Baba Yaga, a witchlike woman who rowed through the air in a mortar, using a pestle for Her oar, sweeping the traces of Her flight from the air with a broom.
A prototype of the fairytale witch, Baba Yaga lived deep in the forest and scared passersby to death just by appearing to them. She then devoured Her victims, which is why Her picket fence was topped with skulls. Behind this fierce legend looms the figure of the ancient birth-and-death Goddess, one whose autumn death in the cornfield led to a new birth in spring.
Baba Yaga is a Slavic version of Kali, the Hindu Goddess of Death, the Dancer on Gravestones. Although, more often than not, we consider Baba Yaga as a symbol of death, She is a representation of the Crone in the Triple Goddess symbolism. She is the Death that leads to Rebirth. It is curious that some Slavic fairy tales show Baba Yaga living in Her hut with Her two other sisters, also Baba Yagas. In this sense, Baba Yaga becomes full Triple Goddess, representing Virgin, Mother, and the Crone.
Baba Yaga is also sometimes described as a guardian of the Water of Life and Death. When one is killed by sword or by fire, when sprinkled with the Water of Death, all wounds heal, and after that, when the corpse is sprinkled with the Water of Life, it is reborn. The symbolism of oven in the Baba Yaga fairy tales is very powerful since from primordial times the oven has been a representation of womb and of baked bread. The womb, of course, is a symbol of life and birth, and the baked bread is a very powerful the image of earth, a place where one’s body is buried to be reborn again.
Baba Yaga lives in the middle of a very deep forest, in a place which is often difficult to find unless a magic clue (a ball of yarn or thread) or a magic feather shows the way. The old hag lives in a wooden hut on two chicken legs (sometimes three or four legs are described).
Usually the hut is turned with its back towards a traveler, and only magical words can make it turn around on its chicken legs to face the newcomer. Very often, the hut revolves with loud noises and painful screams that make a visitor cringe. This serves to frighten the reader, showing the hut’s old age, and to show that Baba Yaga does not care about her hut’s well being.
Baba Yaga fairy tales can be found at Widdershins.
It is also fascinating that some fairy tales describe the hut as being a unique evil entity: firstly, it has the ability to move on its chicken legs. Secondly, it understands human language and is able to decide whether and when to let a visitor enter its premises. Finally, the hut is often depicted as being able ‘to see’ with its eyes (its windows) and ‘to speak’ with its mouth (its doorway). I also cannot help feeling that the hut is able ‘to think’, and one can observe these thoughts as wild powerful clouds of steam emerging from the hut’s chimney. What powerful imagery!
Baba Yaga’s hut is often surrounded by fence made of human bones and topped with human skulls with eyes. Instead of wooden poles onto which the gates are hung, human legs are used; instead of bolts, human hands are put in; instead of the keyhole, a mouth with sharp teeth is mounted. Very often Baba Yaga has her hut is protected by hungry dogs or is being watched over by evil geese-swans or is being guarded by a black cat. The gates of Baba Yaga’s villa are also often found to be guardians of Yaga’s hut as they either lock out or lock in the Witch’s prey.
For those of you who enjoy a more scholarly approach to the goddess, here is an essay by an anonymous author about Baba Yaga, the Black Goddess, and what her mythology represents.
I have been thinking and thinking about the image and story of Baba Yaga now for months and wondering how girls and women can resolve the seemingly paradoxical story of a bony heartless witch with the image of innocence of a rejected and abandoned girl. The following essay outlines how we use myth and story to perpetuate unconscious mindsets and it also unveils the gifts that these stories unfold in our inner psyche.
The story of Baba Yaga is prime among many images of the Black Goddess. The Black Goddess is at the heart of all creative processes and cannot be so easily viewed. Men and women rarely approach her, except in fear. Women are learning of her through the strength and boldness of elder women who are not afraid to unveil her many faces.
Sofia as wisdom lies waiting to be discovered within the Black Goddess who is her mirror image. Knowing that, until we make that important recognition, we are going to have to face the hidden and rejected images of ourselves again and again.
As women, we are confronted throughout our lives with unavoidable body messages regarding the uniqueness of our form and the inevitable changes that characterize aging and the passage of time. Although aging presents difficult challenges for both men and women, women confront some specific difficulties because of their gender. In traditional narratives, the end of biological fertility has relegated women to the status of “old women” who are stereotypically viewed as poor, powerless, and pitiful in our sexist and youth oriented culture. Baba Yaga, often referred to as the Black Goddess, and Vasalisa, often representing Sophia, are intrinsic to the psyche of girls and women because they shows us that the illusion of form can hide wonderful qualities within.
One of the cruelest of stereotypes that older women face is the “menopausal woman.” These are accentuated by the very fact that younger women are often rejecting or distancing to older women in society, unwilling to identify with women older than themselves. These experiences are painful confirmations that the aging woman no longer meets the social criteria of a physically and securely attractive woman. The common result for most women is the activation of shame — as if becoming/looking older means that something is deeply and truly wrong with oneself.
Conscious femininity is a cyclic process and involves an awakened awareness of the triple form of the Goddess – Mother, Virgin and Crone – and how she exists simultaneously and continuously in all of our psyches, each taking center stage in awareness at different moments. These archetypal patterns are considered intrapsychic modes of consciousness in the individual, and the primordial image of a powerful and integrated woman, crowned with wisdom gleaned through real experience, is again reemerging through both the individual and collective psyches of humanity.
First, however, women must learn to embrace, respect and honor their changing bodies, abilities, capacities and WISDOM. We can learn a lot from Baba Yaga!
An archetype is a universal symbol, an inherited mental image to which humankind responds, and which is often acted upon as an unconscious reaction to human experience. These stories are no different and the story of Baba Yaga exemplify this phenomena.
The female experience is symbolized by and archetypally corresponds with the ancient Triple Goddess as the creator and destroyer of all life — “the ancient and venerable female divinity embodying the whole of female experience as Virgin, Mother, Crone.” The archetypal figure representing the end of a woman’s childbearing years, or the “third age” for women, is the third aspect of the Triple Goddess, the Crone.
At the climacteric or menopause, women are often forced to stand precipitously between the culmination of past experiences, to realize that youth is left behind, and prepare a new space within whereby a fresh image will coalesce as she envisions her future. This is real labor. The traditional constructs that are available to women are largely influenced by patriarchal standards of youth and beauty and we need fresh constructs that honor the diversity of life in all of its forms.
When a culture’s language has no word to connote “wise elder woman,” what happens to the women who carry the “Grandmother” consciousness for the collective? Prejudicial (prejudged) attacks throughout history against older women symbolized patriarchy’s feminization of fear: the ultimate fear of annihilation, to be nonexistent (no existence). Centuries-long indoctrination limits our imagination so that we see this ancient aspect of the feminine only in her negative forms. We see her as the one who brings death to our old way of being, to our lives as we have known them, and to our embodied selves.
Our fear of the unconscious makes the Crone or Baba into an image of evil. The prevalence of paranoid masochism finds its expression through feminine perversion. Kristeva writes from “Stabat Matar” that: “Feminine perversion is coiled up in the desire for law as desire for reproduction and continuity, it promotes feminine masochism to the rank of structure stabilizer.” Structure stabilizer! Natural death is to be feared, hidden away, certainly not recognized as part of the natural rhythm of cycles of birth, death and rebirth?
Only when death becomes projected does it become a monster to be feared. There is an unconscious belief that a woman who has outlived her husband has somehow used up his life force. Walker claims that the secret hidden in the depths of men’s minds is that images of women are often identified with death. Women have also bought into this mindset largely because of lost connection with their own spirituality and the natural cycles of nature!
To be sent to Baba Yaga was tantamount to being sent to one’s death, but Vasalisa was actually helped by Baba Yaga. By facing her own worst fear — death itself, Vasalisa became liberated from her previous situation and immaturity.
The symbol of the Crone is unique to a feminine worldview where the face of the Virgin and the fecund Mother, the Virgin Mother Mary, was absorbed in Western tradition into Judeo-Christian imagery. Likewise, we see the image of Vasalisa embodied as this innocence. The Crone has retained much of her pre-patriarchial character where she has haunted the fringes of Western culture, largely ignored, unacknowledged and rejected; one that often strikes fear into the hearts of men and some women because she has tremendous power and cannot be confined.
bringing birth — and death — daily.
Over time, and in recent history the Crone became associated with the dark side of the feminine; the withered old hag, the witch. Ironically, the word “Hag” used to mean “holy one” from the Greek hadia, as in hagiolatry, “worship of saints.” And during the middle ages hag was said to mean the same as fairy.
In deconstructing these familiar images of the older aging woman, we must first identify their symbolic roots and challenge them in order to allow for potent, vital images that energize women’s potential creative spiritual evolution. In this quest it is crucial to find valued female images that present creative and spiritual power, that offer a paradigm of ongoing formation and integration. If we do not do so, we risk encountering images of women that reinforce stereotypical models and moreover, can only alienate us from our own truest selves.
The Crone is a figure who incorporates both dark and light, life and death, creation and destruction, form and dissolution. The doll [Vasalisa’s doll, given to her by her dying mother] becomes the symbol of the Sibyl, a figure of inspiration and intuition. She acts as a guide through the great passages of life, leading a woman into her own inner knowing.
We see this in the story of Vasalisa and Baba Yaga, the innocence of the maiden coming of age through a series of tasks. Baba Yaga forces Vasalisa to look within through intuition (the doll) and she awakens to the illuminating light that is carried in her heart. Within the simple limits of a folk story, the interactions of Sophia (Vasalisa) and the Black Goddess (Baba Yaga) are demonstrated. Baba Yaga or the Crone also embodies the inner archetype of Sophia, feminine wisdom.
Sophia plays, hides, adepts, disguises, and brings justice. Interestingly, we see these very same qualities attributed to the wise woman as being Vasalisa’s, only not fully formed. Thus affirming the feminist perspective of the Goddess in all of her aspects and that all ways to wisdom are valid paths. Girls and women are encouraged to rely on their own subjective experience or on the communal experience of other women This is a very important point!
From a feminist perspective, the entry into the third phase of women’s life is seen as a time of spiritual questing, renewal and self-development. It is a time where women are encouraged to explore themselves through interaction with other females who are providers of friendship, support, love, even sexual satisfaction, rather than a woman’s family.
Likewise, the young girl growing into maidenhood needs the guidance and wisdom that elder women can provide. She must receive the gifts that the wise ones can give her. Baba Yaga may appear as a witch, yet she is instrumental in folk traditions. She aids heroes to find weapons, simplifying tasks and quests when she is treated with courtesy. Her transposed reflection is none other than Vasilisa the fair – the young righteous maiden who defeats her opposite aspect by truth and integrity.
The older woman is the keeper of the wisdom and tradition in her family, clan, tribe, and community. She is the keeper of relations, whether they be interpersonal or with all of nature. Every issue is an issue of relationship. It is assumed that she has a deep understanding of the two great mysteries, birth and death.
Another quality is the ability to be mediator between the world of spirit and earth. She is emancipated from traditional female roles of mothering and is free to make a commitment to the greater community. As a result of this freedom, there is an abundance of creativity unleashed in this phase of life; often expressed through art, poetry, song, dance, and crafts, and through her sexuality as she celebrates her joy (Joussance).
This elder time must again become a stage of life revered and honored by others and used powerfully in service by women themselves. The elder “Wise-woman” can represent precisely the kind of power women so desperately need today, and do not have: the power to force the hand of the ruling elite to do what is right, for the benefit of future generations and of the earth itself.
protecting her forests, and banishing all obstacles with her pestle and broom.
Like Baba Yaga, the Crone must help us by her example and “admonish us to revere all peoples and all circles of life upon this earth . . . not only important for the dignity and self-esteem of each woman, but vital for the countenance of life on our sweet Mother Earth.” Since men define power as the capacity to destroy, the Destroying Mother Crone must be the most powerful female image for them, therefore, the only one likely to force them (us) in any new direction.
A woman who denies her life process at any time in her development, clinging desperately to outmoded images, myths and rituals of her past, obscures her connection with Self, the Divine, and therefore, with her spiritual heritage, the natural universe. The same holds true for our daughters, maidens who are coming of age. There is a kind of internal balance and sense of holiness available to us when we accept ourselves as part of a world that honors cycles, changes, decay and rebirth. It is time for women to reflect and give form to the authentic self in its evolving, formative process.
The woman who is willing to make that change must become pregnant with herself, at last. She must bear herself, her third self, her old age with labor. There are not many who will help her with that birth. To Crone is to birth oneself as “Wise-woman,” and see the world through new eyes.
We have not had the safety valve of feminine metaphor in our spiritual understanding; consequently, the Feminine, both Divine and human, have appeared monstrously contorted, threatening and uncontrollable.
The Black Goddess lies at the basis of Spiritual knowing, which is why her image continuously appears within many traditions as the Veiled Goddess, the Black Virgin, the Outcast Daughter, the Wailing Widow, the Dark Woman of Knowledge.
The way of Sophia is the way of personal experience. It takes us into the realm of “magical reality,” those areas of our lives where extraordinary vocational and creative skills are called upon to manifest. Those treasures of Baba Yaga and Vasalisa lie deep within each of us, waiting to be discovered. |
0.999408 | I can see Open Source being bad because I don't want to see a bunch of programmers working for free. I mean, unless you're a monk or something, you're just not making a living through charity!
Please expound on how Open Source is equivalent to programmers working for free, or that open source software is equivalent to charity.
It sounds like you may need to learn a little more about Open Source, Free Software, the differences between them, and the different ways in which both of them interface with a capitalist economy. |
0.999872 | Carnival in Brazil? Get to your favorite destination by hitchhiking!
Carnaval no Brasil? Chegue ao seu destino preferido pedindo de carona!
Carnaval Internacional de Raul Soares - tive que ilustrar pra mostrar que é logo ali!!
Vamos começar em 2010, então. Sem escrever historinhas demais, fica o vídeo desse ano.
Em 2011 a gente foi mais doido, saímos de carona de dentro da PUC lá no São Gabriel (do outro lado da cidade) de carona com um amigo da Letícia que resolveu do nada que queria ser nossa primeira carona na nossa aventura pedindo carona a noite rumo a Raul Soares.
Já eram umas 11 horas da noite e a gente ainda desceu do ônibus em outra saída da cidade, indo pra sentido errado. Ficamos lá pedindo carona até um cara que parou pra fazer xixi vir dizer pra gente que não tinha sentido algum a gente estar ali se íamos pra outro lado. Ok, nos viramos e chegamos na saída certa.
No meio do nosso trajeto, chegamos em Ouro Preto durante a madrugada e - porquê não? - resolvemos curtir o resto da madrugada curtindo carnaval lá mesmo! Aí quando amanheceu, pegamos estrada rumo a Raul Soares.
Eu ainda nem conhecia a Day até esse dia que a gente resolveu se encontrar pelas 18h em um ponto de BH e pegar ônibus pra saída da cidade, pra de lá pedir carona rumo a Raul Soares. Ela que é linda e inteligente, nos trouxe vodka e energético que a gente foi tomando dentro do ônibus mesmo, durante umas meia hora que ficamos agarrados no bendito trânsito de toda sexta-feira de carnaval. Chegamos lá onde fomos pedir carona já meio lezados já. E eu fui fazer o vídeo em ingrêis, né? Com um ingrêis belezura, mas que ainda serve de ajuda pros gringo que não entende meu português da roça.
Seguindo a linha do carnaval internaixxxonal, porquê não um videozim em espanhol pros nossos amigos hermanos da América do Sul aprenderem a chegar em Raul também? Se bem que o espanhol baleado não durou muito e acabei trocando de novo pra portuguêix quando vi que minha situação não era das melhores. hahaha Eu tava na Argentina uma ou duas semanas atrás, tava voltando só por causa do carnaval de Raul e já tava super ansioso e com pressa nesse dia porque já era dia do carnaval começar, quinta!
Se tiver ficado curioso pra saber mais detalhes dessa história, aproveita que cheguei a escrever um post contando com mais detalhes aqui.
Quem quiser ver a prova que o carnaval de Raul Soares é mesmo internacional, clique aqui pra ver o vídeo do Fabián, meu amigo argentino que foi de Buenos Aires num vôo direto pra BH e de BH um ônibus direto pra Raul Soares nesse ano.
Aprende a ir, mas não desespera porque tem como voltar também!
Na verdade esses são só alguns dos vídeos que peço carona nesses trajetos, se quiserem mesmo dicas de onde pedir carona nesses trechos tente buscar algo assim ou entre em contato que tento ajudar como der.
Indo curtir uma tarde na represa do Emboque, onde vc tem que ir!
Brazilian carnival is knocking the door.. It begins in 2 weeks. Because this year I won't be there, what I can do is sit down in front a computer and write this post with a retrospective of the past 4 years when I got the road in the last days before the carnival heading to my home town in the country!
Let's start with 2010. Instead of writing too much, I'll just leave this video.
In 2011 we made it in a little more "crazy" way. A friend of my friend decided that he would give us our first ride in that night, departuring from inside the campus of PUC São Gabriel university (which is in the other side of the city).
It was already around 11 pm when we finally got in the right exit of the city where we supposed to be 2 hours ago but we couldn't because we got a little lost on the way when a bus driver indicated us a wrong direction where we've tried to hitchhike about 20 minutes until someone tell us we were on the wrong way.
Already on our way there was Ouro Preto, which is a historical city and famous for it's carnival. So - why not? - we just decided to spend the rest of the night enjoying the carnival in the city as we got dropped off just in the middle of it during the dawn. When the sun raised again, we got back to the road heading again to Raul Soares, arriving there in the afternoon.
I didn't even know Day in person until this day when we decided to meet up around 6pm somewhere in Belo Horizonte to take a bus to the border of the city and hitchhike from there to Raul Soares. As she is a smart girl, she brought us vodka and Red Bull which we ended up drinking them all just during the half hour that we had to spend inside the bus stuck on the regular city's traffic of a Friday of carnival. So I made the video in drunk-english-half-drunk-portuguese, but I still believe that it might end up been useful to any unknown foreigner one day.
Following the idea of internationalization of the Raul Soares caaarnival, why not a video now in spanish for our southamerican siblings to learn how to get to the country haciendo dedo (hitchhiking)? Even though it hasn't lasted too much until I give up on speaking spanish and switched back to portuguese because I got pissed off with my situation on a hard and rainy day to get a ride on the road. hahah I was actually coming back from Argentina, where I was two weeks ago, and I was back just for this carnival! I was extremely anxious and in a hurry to finally arrived in the for the first carnival day, and it was already thursday!
If you're curious to know more about this trip, I've wrote a post about it with more details here (only in portuguese and spanish unfortunately, but you may try Google translation).
If you wanna see how Raul Soares carnival is international, check out this video to see my guest Fabián, a friend from Argentina who came all the way from Buenos Aires taking a flight to Belo Horizonte and a bus straight to Raul Soares for the carnival in that year.
I taught you how to go, but don't panic! I teach you how to go back too!
These are actually just a few of the videos that I've made hitchhiking in those routes, if you really want some extra tips/advices/etc just try Googling something like this or get in touch and I'll try to help you as much as I can.
On the way to the dam Emboque, where you should visit! |
0.998938 | It was the cocktail hour and several of us congregated in the hotel bar.
while for us to calm down.
**************Can love help you live longer? Find out now.
Rolande mentioned the anecdote regarding a puppeteer on a submarine. That reminded me of a funny story that took many years ago at a puppet festival in Oakland.
It was the cocktail hour and several of us congregated in the hotel bar. Mike Oznowics started a conversation regarding the most unusual place any one had performed a puppet show. Jim Gamble jumped right in with how he performed on a jumbo jet twenty thousand feet in the air. Frank Paris, not to be outdone stated he performed twenty leagues under the ocean in an atomic submarine. Ron Martin then said he performed Lamb Chops between Sheri Lewis=E2=80=99 legs. It was such a funny image we all broke up laughing. It took quite a while for us to calm down.
Can love help you live longer? Find out now. |
0.97906 | Needed for dough: 1 l of milk 16 teaspoons of sugar 8 tablespoons of bite 7 tablespoons instant mashed potatoes 70 g butter 1 egg For fil: 1 kg of plum 3 teaspoons of sugar 1 pack of vanilla sugar 5 g of ground beef gelatin (ie about 1/2 bag) For spreading: 200 g sucked 30 grams of butter 1 pack of vanilla sugar First prepare the fillet: plums to remove the stem and put it to boil with the addition of sugar, in a quiet fire for 15-20 minutes, almost turn into a jam. Make sure the fil does not light up. At the end of the cooking, add vanilla and 1/2 gelatin bags and mix well on the fire to dissolve gelatin. To me, this amount of gelatin is enough to fix a little bit of the fil, so that it does not scrub, yet it does not make the filthy and impeccable. The gelatin I use is usually dissolved in 4 dl of water (1 whole bag) and cooked until fermentation, and the water in this case has replaced plum fillets. Let go of the prepared flour to cool down a little, how much to prepare dough and chew. In a large frying pan on a gentle fire, heat the pieces of butter and add the noodles. Ask them to get a pretty yellow color, but make sure they do not blaze. Get off the fire and mix the vanilla sugar. Milk pour into the deeper sherry, say the 3 l, add sugar and put it to be cooked. When it starts to lower the temperature, it is easy to mix the bite and instant mashed potatoes. Cook a few minutes as long as the bite is cooked and then removed from the fire. Stir another wick to combine, add butter, and finally mildly stir the egg into the dough quickly. A 25x35 cm patch sprinkled with half-prepared overhangs (I always leave the baking sheet first with the baking paper, but it really is not necessary). Put the dough into two parts and place one part, a little by a small spoon, over the overhang. I forgot to mention that for this cake, it takes a little more sterility to make the layers agree, then everything slowly and without annoyance. Through the test, transfer the file over it again and slowly distribute the rest of the test. All align well and sprinkle the rest of the ovum. Put a finished cake to cool well before you start to cut it.
First prepare the fillet: plums to remove the stem and put it to boil with the addition of sugar, in a quiet fire for 15-20 minutes, almost turn into a jam. Make sure the fil does not light up. At the end of the cooking, add vanilla and 1/2 gelatin bags and mix well on the fire to dissolve gelatin. To me, this amount of gelatin is enough to fix a little bit of the fil, so that it does not scrub, yet it does not make the filthy and impeccable. The gelatin I use is usually dissolved in 4 dl of water (1 whole bag) and cooked until fermentation, and the water in this case has replaced plum fillets. Let go of the prepared flour to cool down a little, how much to prepare dough and chew.
In a large frying pan on a gentle fire, heat the pieces of butter and add the noodles. Ask them to get a pretty yellow color, but make sure they do not blaze. Get off the fire and mix the vanilla sugar.
Milk pour into the deeper sherry, say the 3 l, add sugar and put it to be cooked. When it starts to lower the temperature, it is easy to mix the bite and instant mashed potatoes. Cook a few minutes as long as the bite is cooked and then removed from the fire. Stir another wick to combine, add butter, and finally mildly stir the egg into the dough quickly.
A 25x35 cm patch sprinkled with half-prepared overhangs (I always leave the baking sheet first with the baking paper, but it really is not necessary). Put the dough into two parts and place one part, a little by a small spoon, over the overhang. I forgot to mention that for this cake, it takes a little more sterility to make the layers agree, then everything slowly and without annoyance. Through the test, transfer the file over it again and slowly distribute the rest of the test. All align well and sprinkle the rest of the ovum.
Put a finished cake to cool well before you start to cut it.
Nevena83 › @Mirjana23 🤣🤣🤣i ti volis rum?
@Mirjana23 🤣🤣🤣i ti volis rum?
Ce este lectura: „act de ghicire”, „descifrare”, confruntare, dublă spovedanie ?
TransformationTuesday by Bluetechno. Being average is not for Tuetegos! |
0.969256 | Should you buy a firm's assets or its earnings?
He has never possessed a computer and gets all his prices from the morning newspaper. Further, most of the financial data he wants is delivered to him by mail. Well, this statement does look straight from the 60s and 70s, isn't it? However, this is exactly how a gentleman named Walter Schloss used to invest till over a year back until he passed away. And how did he do with his investing? Well, he knocked the daylights out of market indices over a career spanning nearly 50 years. Little wonder, Warren Buffett used to refer to him as the super investor.
These were not his only quirks though. In fact, we believe that his biggest quirk had to do with the way he used to pick his stocks. As per him, one of the most important factors to make money in the stock market is buying assets at a discount rather than earnings!
Well, in a world loaded with PE investors and sophisticated DCF calculations, here is a super successful investor who is actually recommending valuing companies based on assets rather than earnings. Thus, it's important that some light be shed on this anomaly. As per Schloss, earnings can change dramatically in a short time but assets change slowly. Also, one has to know much more about a company if one buys earnings, he further added.
What this tells us is that Schloss had an absolutely first rate understanding about his circle of competence. And although its size would have been small, he knew exactly where its boundaries lay. You see, Schloss never tried to understand a company's operations intimately. Infact, he stayed totally away from managements too. Consequently, he did not invest in stocks under the assumptions that its earnings would rise.
Buying assets however does not require one to know which way earnings would go. The idea here is to buy at a significant discount to market value of assets and then to hope that over time, the gap between price and value is filled up. Earnings just don't come into the picture here. If they go up, well and good, but the entry price is not based on the same.
What investors can learn from people like Schloss and for that matter even Buffett is the art of knowing one's circle of competence extremely well. There are companies out there that lend themselves to both kinds of valuation i.e. asset based and earnings based. However what matters is how well do we know them so that we can arrive at a proper intrinsic value calculation of the stock. Understanding this one crucial factor can make a world of difference to one's investing track record we believe.
Not just that... you can also see, for instance, how the valuations of Infosys compare with TCS over the last 3 years!
Can you take India's GDP up a few notches without making any investment or without any spending? Although it sounds improbable, it definitely can be done. And the answer to this is what today's chart of the day is all about. As highlighted, privatisation of public sector enterprises could well make this possible. The labor productivity in few of the sectors is appallingly low for public sector enterprises as compared to their private counterparts. In fact, in few of the sectors, even private sector labor productivity is a fraction of that existing in the US. While the data is few years old, it does a good job of showing how by simply improving the labor productivity of our public sector enterprises, we can raise the GDP per capita a significant deal. And the best way to achieve this would be by encouraging both privatisation as well as competition we believe.
Politics and economics are very intricately connected. No debate on either topic can be complete without the other. Economic ideologies have a significant influence on policy making. Even within our country, different states have taken to different development models. Which models have worked? Which ones have failed? Should government focus on economic growth? Or will building human capabilities lead to development? What are the ideological leanings of some leading economists? We came across an interesting article in the Economic Times that discusses some of these questions.
There are two main opposing economic camps. On the one end of the spectrum are Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya. Both are professors of economics at Columbia University. The duo is fully in favour of the development model adopted by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Growth and private entrepreneurship have been the primary development tools in the state. As per the two professors, growth is the single most important instrument of poverty alleviation.
On the other end of the ideology spectrum is well-known Nobel prize-winning economist Dr Amartya Sen. His leanings are more towards a state-driven development model with a focus on developing human capabilities. He has been a strong advocate of the Food Security Bill. In fact, he even suggested the government to take the ordinance route to pass the bill. But we do have some reservations about the merit of this bill. For one, it will put a huge burden on government finances. Secondly, the distribution system is very miserable and prone to extreme corruption.
Bond markets were the first to feel the tremor of RBI's U-turn in policy stance. But bonds are unlikely to be the only asset class feeling the near term pinch. The recent spurt in short term lending rates were essentially meant to make exchange rate speculations tougher. Moreover, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also wants to attract foreign funds to bridge the current account deficit (CAD). But what it also did was spook bond investors with the dramatic change in yield curve. For investors speculating on rate cut to invest in stock markets, there is no good news either. For the probability of RBI opting for a rate hike rather than a cut is even higher now.
This will not only impact corporate earnings in the near term, but also impact credit growth and asset quality. The good news is that all the measures bode well for India's long term economic outlook. And long term investors in equities have every reason to take cues from the RBI's track record of conservativeness and anti-inflation approach.
One of the prime drivers of India's GDP growth, the steel sector appears to be in a sorry state. Never mind the fact that a panel led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intends to take steel production to 300 m tonnes. For now, this looks like just a number when the reality is quite different. Indeed, as per an article in Business Standard, the government had set a target of 200 m tonnes by 2020. And this seems like quite a tall order now. There are several reasons for this. One is more medium term in nature. That is the slowdown in GDP growth and thereby steel consumption. But the critical problems are more of a structural nature. There is considerable uncertainty with respect to securing mining licenses and no clarity on how to take this forward. Disputes over land acquisition continue. Then there are environmental clearances to be obtained which take too much time.
As a result, from 60 m tonnes in FY08, steel production capacity in India increased to just 91 m tonnes in FY13. This is the slowest pace in five years. Foreign players who saw considerably opportunity in the Indian steel sector are struggling to make any impact as they have been unable to deal with this crippling bureaucracy. Indeed, players such as Posco and ArcelorMittal have pulled out of projects in India. It is a wonder that such apathy from the government is allowed to continue for so long. None of the targets that it sets have any meaning unless there is that commitment to meet them. The sooner it realises this, the better off the economy will be.
Indians typically have a savings mentality. They prefer to save for a rainy day. Ultimately these savings find their way into various asset classes. However, considering the recent slowdown concerns, paper assets are being shunned by many investors. In fact, as per Central Statistical Organization (CSO) nearly half of the country's savings are in physical assets. Physical assets comprise of realty, precious metals and the like. During the economic boom, investments in physical assets stood at 29.3%. However, due to recent slowdown worries, individuals have increasingly shifted their savings to physical assets. The share of household savings in physical assets is even higher. It may be noted that nearly 2/3rd of personal savings are in physical assets!
Higher share of investments in physical assets creates a capital scarcity for other sectors. This impacts the capex cycle as funding via debt and equity dries out since there are no takers for it. This in turn has impacted growth since capital flow in productive sectors has dried up.
Also, increasing share of investment in physical assets like real estate has created a bubble in the sector. Further, we know precious metals are non-productive with no yields. Yet people are flocking to park their money here for the safety of their capital. Why? Well, high inflation and slowing growth is keeping the investments in paper assets at bay. So, unless growth improves investment in physical assets will continue to rise.
Meanwhile, indices in the Indian stock market traded strong today with the Sensex higher by around 90 points at the time of writing. Stocks from realty and consumer durables sector were seen enjoying the maximum gains. Asian stock markets closed mixed today with Europe too trading in the same pattern.
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5 Responses to "Should you buy a firm's assets or its earnings?"
Food Security Bill will not solve the real problem being faced by the poor of India. If Legislation alone could solve the problems, India would have been the best place on the planet Earth as India is, perhaps, the most legislated country. Alas! the truth is that we are a very poorly administered country and therein lies the rub.
Principles of Value Investing are quite acceptable. Days are gone where strategies of asset based or earning based were once the basics of investing. Business, National and International economic dynamics are fast changing. Derivatives based on underlying securities offer plenty of specualtive opportunities equal to opportunities offered by wagers/ gambling. Share prices, among other things, move up and down depending on company-specific information or industry-based news or macro=economic parameters or global trends. If one watches a few scrips over a period of six months, one will fairly get an idea of market movements, how indiviudual scrips react, how one group of companies in the few industries move up while another is going down without any rationale though attempts are always made by experts to find out justifiable reasons attributable for rising and falling prices. Day trading has been very popular these days and it lures even small and medium size traders than investors.
Developing patience to reap benefits in the long-term looks out-of-place in the current context. As long as one gets to know the nuances of market movements along with movements of certain industries and company specific scrips, one has the chance to make money in the market.The intention is not to sound cynical about principles of investing.
In the highly developed countries like USA, the cost of labor is High; hence, they resort to Automation of Labor, which initially increases cost of Goods & services.
We also need another Chart-of-the-day showing cost of providing Services in $ terms, for another angle to the one-sided Story!
the stocks of companies such as essar steel, sail, jindal vijay nagar steel, essar oil and a large number of stocks for that matter were quoting below Rs 10. and look where they reached after 2003-04. I later realised that a company with a large assest base and large facility will never disappear and will definitely turn around sooner or later. many investors dump a stock with one or two quarters of poor performance. look at ashok leyland for example. in my opinion, asset base is more important than earnings if the company is in the right sector and management is good.
Its a good idea to be look into, but in India i believe it wont work. For e.g look at MTNL or infact all PSU, the humongous amount of land and bldg in their balance sheet in prime areas and the value of their stock. Its been year we have been waiting when RCF will sell its Chembur property or MTNL will sell of its buildings. I fail to wonder why people are not buying such stocks at even 13-14 Rs. |
0.95127 | The Rebel Network, also known as the Early Rebellion or simply called the Rebellion, was a resistance movement that was formed during the Imperial Era. It was a network of rebel cells that operated across the galaxy to stand against the Galactic Empire. These cells, which were scattered and had limited communication with one another, were led in secret by Senator Bail Prestor Organa of Alderaan and Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano. Tano gave missions to the cells under the codename "Fulcrum" to hide her identity. The cells of the Rebel Network began to merge together to help rescue Kanan Jarrus, one of the leaders of a cell that operated on the planet Lothal. The network would later become a precursor to the Rebel Alliance.
The network of rebel cells operated across the galaxy, with various cells working in opposition to the Galactic Empire. The network was led by Senator Bail Prestor Organa of Alderaan and former Padawan Ahsoka Tano. In many cases, members of these cells were not aware of a larger rebel movement, nor did they know there were other cells. The network was designed to operate in this fashion in the interest of self-preservation; if any rebels were caught by the Empire, they would not have any information about the network to give to the Empire. The network did, however, maintain communication with each cell, with Tano feeding missions to the cells under the codename "Fulcrum." These cells included the crew of the Ghost, which operated on and around the Outer Rim planet Lothal; and the Phoenix rebel cell, led by Commander Jun Sato, which included a group of RZ-1 A-wing Interceptors collectively known as Phoenix Squadron, five CR90 corvette and a Pelta-class frigate named Phoenix Home, which was used as a command ship.
The Rebel Network was founded some time after the Old Galactic Republic was reformed into the Galactic Empire by Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, who was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious and declared himself Emperor. Ahsoka Tano, a former Jedi Knight who left the Old Jedi Order before the war ended, survived Order 66 and joined Senator Bail Prestor Organa in leading the Rebel Network. While many Jedi were been hunted down by the Empire, Tano and Organa were in charge in gathering many rebel cells throughout the galaxy and secretly worked to feed them missions to undertake against the Empire.
In 5 BBY, the Lothal Rebels came to Organa's attention after they successfully stopped an arms deal involving illegal T-7 ion disruptors. Organa had sent his two droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, to handle the weapons, and the droids encountered the crew of the Ghost. R2-D2 recorded much of his time with the crew and, once they were returned to Organa, presented the senator with his recordings. After the encounter, the crew received missions from Tano, operating as Fulcrum, though only the owner of the Ghost, Hera Syndulla, knew Fulcrum's identity or any information about the network.
A year later, Kanan Jarrus, the leader of the Ghost crew, was captured by the Empire. His capture came about after the crew infiltrated the main communications tower on Lothal in order to send out a message of hope to the planet's citizens. The attempt was successful and the message was broadcast to Lothal and to many other planets, drawing the attention of both Tano and the Imperial government. Knowing that the cell could be endangered, Tano urged Syndulla to take her crew into hiding. Tano believed that it was the best way to keep Ezra Bridger, Jarrus' Padawan, safe, as he was a source of hope. Jarrus, meanwhile, was taken aboard the Sovereign, the personal Star Destroyer of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin. The Empire had learned about the Rebel Network and hoped to extract information about it from Jarrus, but Jarrus had no information to give them.
Despite Tano's warnings, the crew of the Ghost set out to rescue Jarrus. They infiltrated the Sovereign when it was in orbit of Mustafar, and the crew's droid, C1-10P, contacted "Fulcrum" for assistance. Knowing the importance that the Ghost crew had because of their Jedi crew members, Tano organized a fleet of CR90 corvettes, made up of members of other cells, and brought them to Mustafar, where they helped the Lothal crew escape—with Jarrus in tow. Once the crew was reunited aboard the Ghost, Tano revealed herself as Fulcrum and told the rest of the crew that they were part of a larger rebel movement.
Following Kanan's rescue, the Rebel Network suffered a setback when the Phoenix Rebel Cell was attacked by Imperial forces led by Darth Vader. The crew of the Ghost, who had recently joined the network, had embarked on a mission to rescue a defecting Imperial Minister named Maketh Tua. That mission failed and the rebels barely escaped with their lives the Siege of Lothal in a stolen Imperial shuttle. However, Vader had installed a tracking device on the shuttle which he used to locate the Phoenix fleet. Vader's TIE Advanced Starfighter destroyed the Phoenix flagship Phoenix Home and several A-wing starfighters. The remaining rebel ships including the Ghost narrowly escaped Vader's Star Destroyers.
In the wake of the near-destruction of the Phoenix Cell, the Rebel Network faced a difficult shortage of bases for their forces. Ahsoka Tano sent the crew of the Ghost to make contact with her old friend, the former Clone Captain Rex. The Ghost rebels traveled to the desert planet of Seelos where they succeeded in making contact with Rex and two other Clone Commanders. In exchange for participating in a hunt for joopas, Rex supplied Kanan with a list of abandoned bases that the rebels could use. After fighting off an Imperial attack led by Agent Kallus, the three clones agreed to join the Rebellion. |
0.965663 | Australians took up ice-hockey at an early date, they built a rink in Melbourne around 1905, a country match against a US navy team was played in 1907 and regular club and state championships have been arranged since 1909. Most Australian speedskaters were reared in such hockey rinks. The Australian skating federation was formed in 1931 and joined the ISU in 1932. Their first international participant was George Kennedy, who entered the olympic games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 with a 29th place in the 500 m as his best result.
The next Australian to take on the world was Colin Hickey. He went to the OG at Bislett, Oslo 1952 without impressing more than Kennedy had, but from 1955, he travelled regularly to Europe for winter training and improved his results dramatically. Hickey was Australia's first great skater. He qualified for the 10000 m in world championships twice, 1956 and 1959, both in Oslo, both times his result was 11th place overall. In the OG, he has two 7th places from Misurina 1956, and at the world championship 1960, he became the first and as yet only medallist of his country with his 3rd place in the 500 m.
From 1957, speedskating in Australia was organized by the Australian Ice Racing Council, and since then, Australian skaters trying various more or less desperate means to stay alive were regular winter guests at European skating venues. Colin Coates of Melbourne, Victoria, probably is the greatest Australian talent ever. He made his debut at the OG in Grenoble 1968 at about the same competitive level as Kennedy and Hickey at their debuts. He returned 1972 and made his breakthrough the year after with a 13th place in the world championship. He reached the final cut in 7 world championships in a row with a 11th place in 1974 as his best. Twice, he was 4th in the 10000 m, and he scored an olympic point with his 6th place in the same distance at the Innsbruck OG 1976. He made history with his olympic career, which spanned 6 consecutive games, an unique winter-olympic record. In his time, Australia and New Zealand arranged memorable country-matches at Lake Ida in New Zealand, starting in 1973 and going on biannually until 1979, Australia won all 4 matches.
Towards the end of his career, Coates took up coaching and produced a team of talented skaters. The best were Michael Richmond of Adelaide, South Australia, who reached 15th place twice in the sprint world championships with a 5th place in the 1000 m 1986 as his best single achievement and 5 times qualified his country for a two man quota in the sprint championship, and Danny Kah, also of Adelaide, who became Australia's third great skater, possibly the greatest. He made his mark with a 7th place in the 1500m at the 1985 junior world championship, entered his first senior world championship 1986 and made his breakthrough 1988 with a 9th place overall and a 4th place in the 5000m as his best single achievement. He was #9 again in 1990 and topped his career in Heerenveen 1991 with a 7th place overall and some memorable races against home favourites Thomas Bos and Leo Visser, beating Bos by only 1/100 of a second in the 1500 m.
In 1978, ISU arranged their first short-track championships, with an Australian winner at that, but it signalled the demise of Australian long track speedskating. No longer was it necessary to spend months and fortunes at the other side of the globe to be able to fight for medals, and since 1994, no Australian has appeared in the championships. The only "long track" in existence in Australia was a highland lake near Mt. Buffalo in Victoria state. The lake was used by skaters for training since the 1940s when the ice-conditions permitted, and sometimes when they didn't permit as well. But when the international skater Eddie Spicer (participant in the world championship 1957 and 1958) drowned there in 1997, skating was prohibited. Things will have to materialize in the facilities sector before the two Colins, the Mike and the Danny will get any successors.
In 1952, the first Australians came to Europe for training for the OWG. Except for wellknown Hickey, also a certain mr. C. Ashworth was present. At least he participated in a Trondheim pre-ECh. competition. The National Ice Skating Association of Australia was founded in 1931 and joined the ISU in 1932. The speed-skating-dedicated Australian Amateur Ice Racing Council joined the ISU in 1957 and has represented Australian speed-skaters ever since.
In 1973 Australia beated New Zealand in the first long-track speed-skating country-match ('test-match'), ever held at the southern hemiphere, at the famous Lake Ida. The Australian team, consisting of Victor Bagdon, Eddie Spicer, John Stockdale and Colin Coates, scored 874.578 against New Zealand (Tony Tinga, Stuart Baird, Jan Havenaar and Robert Montgomery) 901.549. This countrymatch was repeated outdoors in the years 1975, 1977 and 1979, all years Australia beating New Zealand. In 1979 the Australian team consisted of: Senior: Rodney Bates, Shane Warren, Michael Richmond (!), Ken Stewart; Intermediate: Paul Williams, Phil Wilton; ladies: V. Doratis, J. Baber. Very unfortunate, this countrymatch (now for the Tasman-trophy) nowadays is only skated indoors. For the future maybe Carla Zijlstra will have the Australian long-track-skating revive?
And don't forget the fastest man ever in the 10 meters dash: It's very unfortunate that it's never been recorded officially, but I don't think any skater has been faster on the first 10 meter than Lynch! |
0.947063 | Who will win this battle of strength and wits? Goliath (highest) cards are stronger and can capture more cards, but by cleverly playing the David (lowest) card, it allows you to take the highest card in that trick. Capture cards and increase your score, but more is not always merrier!
The twist in David & Goliath is that each card is worth its face value, up to two cards per color. If you have more than two per color, each is now worth only one point! It's the Large vs. the Small in this fun family game, where a clever balance of the two will help you win the battle!
I was really intrigued with the idea of this game, David & Goliath. I like the theme and I like the idea behind the game and the reviews that I read were very positive. I am a huge game fan and it is unusual for me to not like a game that is generally well- liked by other boardgamers.
When I played David & Goliath, it just didn't work. I think it's a neat idea to have the high card of the hand win something and the low card in the hand win something. And, the scoring is clever in that the best way to score big points is to get just two high-valued cards in a few colors. More than two cards in a color and the value of those cards drops significantly. My experience is that games with clever scoring methods like this are much better for it (eg. Medici, Ra).
But, when I played the game, everyone was confused by the high-low card mechanic. And, I felt like I didn't really have control over the game as much as I expected. In most trick-taking games, having the lead is a good thing because you can have some control over the hand. In this game, having the lead is really a bad thing because anyone who ties your card number (using the same number in a different color), will beat you as ties go to the last player to play a card on both high and low.
Overall, I was disappointed with David & Goliath.
One of my favorite stories to tell in Children's Church is the story of David and the giant Goliath. The story appeals to every small child who faces big challenges in their life and always keeps them fascinated. When I heard that there was a card game version of David and Goliath (Playroom Entertainment, 2004 - Reinhard Staupe), I was initially wary, since I've found that most games with Biblical themes are usually garbage or worse. Still, I saw a couple of good reviews on the internet, so gladly participated in a demo of the game when at Origins one summer.
And I was amazed at just how much fun the game really was. The idea was simple, really - have the small card take the largest card, and the largest card take the rest - but it just worked well. I immediately enjoyed playing the game, and it has remained, since then, one of my favorite trick-taking games. It's enjoyable because I can get many people to play the game - some who normally don't play games at all, and I've seen many "non-gamers" fall in love with the game, requesting it time after time. It's destined to be a classic card game, one on the top tier.
There are five suits of cards in the game, denoted by color (red, yellow, blue, green, and purple). Values of each suit (depending on the number of players) are added to the deck, from 1 to 18. The deck is shuffled, and fifteen cards are dealt to each player. On a round, the starting player chooses any card and plays it on the table. Each other player must "follow suit" (play the same color), placing it in front of them. If a player doesn't have a card of the played color, they can play any card from their hand. The player who played the card with the lowest number (regardless of color) receives the highest card for their score pile. The player who played the card with the highest number (regardless of color) receives all the rest of the cards. All won cards are placed face up in front of each player, sorted by color. The player who played the highest card starts the next round.
This continues for fifteen rounds, until all cards have been played and won. Players then total their points. For each color, if a player has only one or two cards of that color, they receive points equal to the numbers on the card. If they have three or more cards of a color, they receive one point per card. Each player adds their sum to the final total, and another round begins. After one round for each player has occurred, the game is over, and the player with the highest total wins!
1.) Components: The cards have some neat artwork on them by Alexander Bradley. If you put the cards in order, from "1" to "18", and flip through them, you can see wee David growing up to be fearsome Goliath. This is nice and gives a certain visual appearance that the bigger numbers are "giants". The only problem with the card designs are that the colors are pretty much indistinguishable from each other outside of color, making them difficult for color blind folk. The cards are of good quality and fit snugly inside a plastic card insert in a small, sturdy box.
2.) Rules: The rules take only four pages of a multilingual rulebook and wouldn't even need to be that long except that there are full-color illustrations, making it so that absolutely anybody can understand the game. And there's just something that's naturally intuitive about the theme. The big number gets all the small numbers, but the smallest number pegs the biggest number in the forehead, winning it. Even teenagers and children can pick up the game (perhaps not the subtle strategies), and it's easily one of the most successful card games I've ever introduced.
3.) Scoring: The scoring system is simply ingenious. Players strive to get a couple high numbers in each color, and then not take any more cards. But it's a real struggle to keep from taking that third card in each color. If I have two yellow cards, "14" and "9", that's worth twenty-three points to me. Taking a third yellow card will make them worth a whopping total of three points, which is a twenty point loss. Therefore, players are often attempting to play middle cards - cards that are neither high nor low, for much of a round, trying to take only a few cards at most. Once a player goes over their three cards in a color, though, they might as well go "whole hog" and attempt to take every color card that they can. There are other games that have a similar concept, Relationship Tightrope and Turn the Tide. While both of those games are excellent games, David and Goliath beats them for sheer simplicity and fun.
4.) Fun Factor: When writing this review, I realize that there's really not a whole lot more I can say about it. I'm sure that many paragraphs could be written about the nuances of strategy, but I simply enjoy the game because I have fun doing so. David & Goliath is quick and easy, but more importantly, it's fun to everybody who plays the game.
When I finally got around to playing the wonderful game Basari, I instantly found a hit game that yielded tons of replay to me and my group. When I heard that the designer of Basari, Reinhard Staupe, had a fun card game out published by a tiny German publisher, I was very excited to try it out but never got the chance because it was too hard to find. Now that Playroom Entertainment has picked it up, it is now widely available to the North American audience.
Have you ever played a "trick-taking" game like Spades, or Bridge? D&G is a little like that but with some subtle twists of its own. In a trick-taking game, the designated starting player lays down a card in the suit/color of her choice (D&G has five colored suits). Then, one at a time from the starting player, each player must play a card that matches that color. If you have no more cards of that color, then you may play any card in your hand. Players are trying to win (or avoid winning) the entire set of cards played -- this is called "taking a trick".
When all the cards have been played, players then tally up their scores. Each card they won gives them one point. BUT IF the player has a color in which they hold only ONE or TWO cards, then they score the FACE VALUE of those cards. Do you see the importance of the David card now? See if a Red 12 is going to win the trick, and you play the David, you get to take the Red 12 card. If, at the end of the hand, you have only one or two Red cards, then that card is now worth 12 points instead of 1!
The rules are simple enough, but it is the scoring that really makes the game tick. Ideally you will end up with exactly 10 cards, 2 in each color, with high values on each card. But it is very difficult to do that. If you have a lot of high cards, you are going to win a lot of tricks and end up with a lot of single points, so you need to pick up tons of points and make sure not to let too many Davids slay your Goliaths for mega bonus points. And if other players see you with a lot of potential bonus points, they are going to try and make you take a trick or two in order to "overload" your colors and make sure you don't score too many bonus points. And that is what makes this game unique. Not only are you trying to score well for yourself, but you are also trying to, as a group, make sure everyone else doesn't score many bonus points.
D&G is a very tricky game (no pun intended) that will most likely be well received by trick-taking fans, but actually stands up on its own and makes for good card game overall. Nothing terribly exciting about this game, but it is clever. The most noticable flaw is that the graphics and the cardstock are very mediocre. I don't know who drew the cards, but the colors used are sickly looking, and the artwork itself (pictures of David and Goliath with every stage in between the two) is very bland and I am certain they could have done a lot better by going with a more cheerful pallette and cartoonish graphics. After a few plays, it also became obvious to me that despite it's claim to play 3-6 players, with 5 or 6 players, it becomes very difficult to play strategically because there is too much chaos, and bonus points get too high, allowing for swingy scoring. For the price though, the game is definitely worth checking out. Get past the graphics, and stick with the 3 or 4 player game, and enjoy.
The small card-size box contains simply a pack of 90 cards numbered from 1 to 18 in each of 5 colours. However many players there, you use only enough cards to deal 15 to each of you. So, with six players you use all the cards, with five you use those numbered 1 to 15, with four those numbered 1 to 12 and with three those numbered 1 to 9. The game is basically yet another trick taking game, but it has one or two delightful twists.
As in Whist, one player leads a card and the others must follow suit if they can. If they can't, they may play any card. There are no trumps. When more than one card of the same number is played in a trick, the latest one has precedence. The highest and the lowest cards played in each trick will capture cards and because it is important to be able to see who has played what, we've found it better if instead of playing cards to the centre of the table, you lay your card in front of you.
Right, fairly basic so far; but now comes the first twist, and this will (or should!) seriously affect your decision on which card to play. The person who played the lowest card, irrespective of colour, wins the highest of the cards played to the trick; the person who played the highest wins all the rest. In each case, duplicated numbers are treated as mentioned above. Cards won are placed face-up in front of each player for all to see. Play continues like this until all cards have been played.
Okay, you say, so what? Well, the scoring at the end of each round is the other twist in the tail. If you have won just one or two cards of a colour, they each score their face value; if you have won more than two cards of a colour, they each score only one point. After several rounds, the player with the most points wins.
If you give this a little thought, I'm sure you will appreciate the problems and opportunities that arise when it's your turn to play a card. Everybody can always see who is in the lead and can try to turn the leader's singles and pairs into multiples. On the other hand, you are naturally trying your damnedest to increase and defend your own score. Moreover, even though you can see what cards have been played and can deduce what remain, you cannot be sure if and when a duplicate number might be played. Really great stuff from a small and fairly simple game -- the same old question, why didn't I think of it?
Although I've now played this little gem for getting on for 20 times, I still cannot really give you a length of time for it. It depends an awful lot on whom you are playing with and how seriously you want to play. For this reason, therefore, it is an excellent game for really concentrated play, but equally good for families and older children. For me, it is right up there with Sticheln and Hat-Trick, which is high praise indeed! If this masterpiece and Basari are examples of Herr Staupe's future offerings, we are certainly in for a treat from this up and coming master craftsman. Highly recommended. 9 out of 10 in my book -- and that's only because 10's don't seem to be acceptable in the hobby.
This is one of my favorite trick-taking games. The cards are in five color suits, but never mind that now. The highest card of any color wins the trick and its owner collects all but the highest card played; this "Goliath" card goes to the player of the lowest card ("David"), to be scored later. After 15 rounds the scoring starts, and this is when colors do matter. One or two cards of a color earn their face value, but more than two score only a point each. Toward the end, things can get as tense as a drawn slingshot. |
0.995533 | The mammalian esophageal musculature is unique in that it makes a transition from smooth to skeletal muscle, with most of this process occurring after birth. In order to better understand the mechanisms that control esophageal musculature development, we investigated the roles in this process of the paired box transcription factor, PAX7, a principal regulator of skeletal myogenic progenitor cells. Previous studies showed that Pax7 is important for determining the esophageal muscle composition.
We characterized the postnatal development of the esophageal musculature in Pax7 −/− mice by analyzing morphology, muscle composition, and the expression of markers of myogenesis, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. Pax7 −/− mice displayed megaesophagus with a severe defect in the postnatal developmental process whereby esophageal smooth muscle is replaced by skeletal muscle. Pax7 −/− esophagi have substantially reduced skeletal muscle, most likely due to diminished proliferation and premature differentiation of skeletal muscle precursor cells. This impaired the proximal-to-distal progression of skeletal myogenesis and indirectly affected the patterning of the smooth muscle-containing portion of the esophageal musculature.
Postnatal patterning of the esophageal musculature appears to require robust, PAX7-dependent cell proliferation to drive the proximal-to-distal progression of skeletal myogenesis. This process in turn influences distal smooth muscle morphogenesis and development of the mature pattern of the esophageal musculature.
The musculature of the esophagus controls passage of food into the stomach by waves of peristaltic contractions. The lower esophageal sphincter (LES) is a bundle of smooth muscles at the distal end of the esophagus, where it meets the stomach. During swallowing, tonic smooth muscles of the LES relax briefly in order to allow passage of food into the stomach . Esophageal muscles are adversely affected in a number of human disorders, including myotonic dystrophy, oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy, and the inflammatory myopathies; this may lead to dysphagia, regurgitation, choking while eating, and other symptoms. Disorders of LES function include gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and achalasia, the latter characterized by impaired relaxation of the LES and perturbed peristalsis, often resulting in megaesophagus. The primary cause of achalasia is defective signaling between the NO-producing inhibitory myenteric neurons and neighboring smooth muscle cells (SMCs) of the LES [2, 3]. Although studies have identified several mutant mouse lines that display these esophageal defects, their etiologies are poorly understood.
The mammalian esophageal musculature is unique in that it makes a transition from smooth to skeletal muscle, with most of this process occurring after birth. The esophagus is ensheathed by the muscularis externa (ME) [1, 4, 5]. Skeletal muscle comprises the proximal portion of the ME and is critical for swallowing and proximal waves of peristalsis. Smooth muscle surrounds the distal portion, including the esophagogastric junction, which harbors the LES. During mammalian development, the ME initially comprises only smooth muscle. In the mouse, skeletal muscle precursors are first detected in the proximal ME at embryonic day (E) 13 . Over the next 3 weeks of life, smooth muscle is replaced by skeletal muscle in a proximal-to-distal manner, and the adult ME pattern is nearly completed by postnatal day (P) 14 [7–9]. Human esophageal myogenesis is similar, although smooth muscle is maintained in a more proximal position than in the mouse, but is still restricted to the distal one-third of the esophagus . Interestingly, the amount and distribution of skeletal muscle varies among individuals [11, 12]. The developmental and cell biological mechanisms that underlie the smooth to skeletal muscle replacement process have been controversial, with multiple mechanisms proposed [7–9, 13–15] (reviewed in ref. ). Rishniw et al. were the first to suggest that some sort of distal compaction of smooth muscle cells was important in the replacement of smooth muscle with skeletal muscle. However, the mechanisms for this process remained unclear.
Our previous study provided insight into mechanisms that control morphogenesis of the esophageal ME . We showed that mice lacking the multifunctional cell surface receptor Cdo (also called Cdon) have a defect in the postnatal developmental process whereby esophageal smooth muscle is replaced by skeletal muscle. Analyses of various skeletal myogenic markers revealed that proliferative skeletal muscle progenitor cells migrated in a transition zone (TZ) along the length of the esophagus in a proximal-to-distal manner, leaving differentiated myofibers in its wake. Distal to the TZ, smooth muscle fascicles underwent a morphogenetic process whereby they changed their orientation relative to each other and to the lumen. In a distal-to-proximal manner, smooth muscle fascicles altered their orientation from parallel to the lumen to nearly perpendicular to the lumen. Upon completion of the process, smooth muscle occupied only the most distal part of the esophagus and the LES. Cdo −/− mice had no defect in skeletal myogenesis or in the numbers of various skeletal muscle progenitor cell types in the TZ. Rather, they were specifically defective in SMC fascicular reorientation, leading to ectopic, proximal fascicles displaying an inappropriate orientation and an aberrantly proximal skeletal-smooth muscle boundary . Importantly, Cdo −/− mice also displayed megaesophagus and achalasia, with a smooth muscle cell-intrinsic defect in NO-mediated LES relaxation. Taken together, our previous findings identified a mechanism of ME maturation and provided a link between esophageal morphogenesis and motility disorders. Although the ME maturation defect in Cdo −/− mice is almost certainly smooth muscle cell-autonomous, a role for TZ-based skeletal myogenesis in promoting the fascicular reorientation process seems likely.
Multiple mechanisms have also been proposed for the developmental origin of esophageal skeletal muscles (ESMs). Minchin et al. reported that, similar to trunk and limb muscles, ESMs arise from Pax3/Pax7-expressing cells that originate in somites . However, Gopalakrishnan et al. have recently demonstrated that ESMs are derived from the cardiopharyngeal mesoderm, and their development is dependent on expression of Tbx1 and Isl1, genes important for specific muscles of the head but not the trunk . These factors lie upstream of the myogenic bHLH factors, MyoD and myogenin, which promote commitment and differentiation of cells in the skeletal muscle lineage . Consistent with a cranial mesoderm origin for ESMs, Pax3 was not expressed during development of these muscles and was dispensable for their development in mice .
In contrast to Pax3, Pax7 is expressed in skeletal muscle precursors of the esophageal TZ [13, 19–22]. Importantly, however, Pax7 is never expressed in the SMC lineage as shown by lineage tracing studies, immunochemistry, and in situ hybridization [13, 19–22]. Worl et al. used electron microscopy to show that Pax7 −/− mice had a reduced number of skeletal muscle precursor cells in the esophageal ME, defective esophageal skeletal myogenesis, and an aberrantly proximal skeletal-smooth muscle boundary . As Pax7 is not expressed in the smooth muscle lineage, such mice offer an opportunity to ask whether TZ-based skeletal myogenesis might affect smooth muscle patterning in the esophagus. We report here that Pax7 −/− mice have a severe defect in the postnatal developmental process whereby esophageal smooth muscle is replaced by skeletal muscle. Our results suggest that this defect is due to reduced cell proliferation in the TZ, probably due to precocious differentiation of skeletal muscle precursor cells, leading to a deficit in skeletal muscle. This defect in Pax7 −/− mice is associated with both megaesophagus and defective maturation of esophageal smooth muscle patterning. Our findings add to the previous model for esophageal musculature development. PAX7-dependent cell proliferation in the TZ is important for the proximal-to-distal progression of esophageal skeletal myogenesis. Furthermore, loss of PAX7 leads to a non-autonomous defect that influences smooth muscle fascicle reorientation and development of a mature ME.
Pax7 +/− mice were originally obtained from Peter Gruss and are from the colony maintained by the Rudnicki laboratory. These mice are on a 129Sv background. It has previously been reported that on a C57BL/6J background, Pax7 +/− esophagi have a mild defect in development of the esophageal musculature . On the 129Sv background, we have not observed differences in esophageal development between Pax7 +/+ and Pax7 +/− mice, and at P21 they were indistinguishable in esophageal length, location of the skeletal-smooth muscle boundary, and luminal diameter (Additional file 1: Figure S1). Therefore, we used both Pax7 +/+ and Pax7 +/− animals as controls. All animal procedures were conducted in accordance with institutional guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals as approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and according to the Canadian Council on Animal Care guidelines and the University of Ottawa Animal Care Committee protocols.
Dissected esophagi were prepared for histology by directly freezing in OCT. For longitudinal sections, incisions were made along the entire esophagus in order to clear out the ingesta, and the sheet of dissected esophagus was laid flat prior to freezing. Frozen tissue blocks were sectioned at 10 μm and placed on Superfrost Plus slides (Thermo Fisher Scientific).
Frozen sections (10 μm) were immunostained as previously described . Slides were fixed in 4 % PFA, washed in PBS, permeabilized in 0.3 % Triton/PBS, washed in PBS, blocked in 10 % goat serum, and incubated overnight at 4 °C with primary antibodies in blocking buffer. Additional M.O.M. blocking (Vector Laboratories) steps were performed according to the manufacturer’s instructions when mouse primary antibodies were used. Antibodies used included mouse anti-sarcomeric actin (5C5; 1:1000; Sigma-Aldrich), rabbit anti–α-smooth muscle actin (1:200; Abcam), rabbit anti-MyoD (1:500; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc.), mouse anti-myogenin (F5D; 1:50; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc.), mouse anti-M-cadherin (1:75; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc.), rabbit anti-nNOS (C12H1; 1:500; Cell Signaling Technology), rabbit anti-Ki67 (1:1000; Leica), mouse anti-Ki67 (1:100; BD Pharmingen), and rabbit anti-phospho-Histone H3 (ser10) (1:1000; Millipore). After permeabilization, the following antibodies required an antigen retrieval step of boiling the sections in 10 mM sodium citrate: mouse anti-Pax7 (1:100; Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank, Iowa City, IA), and rabbit cleaved caspase-3 (Asp175; 1:1000; Cell Signaling Technology). Fluorescent secondary antibodies were from Invitrogen and used at 1:1000: goat anti-rabbit Alexa Fluor 488, anti-rabbit Alexa Fluor 568, goat anti-mouse Alexa Fluor 488, and goat anti-mouse IgG1 Alexa Fluor 647. Nuclei were fluorescently labeled with DAPI and mounted with Fluoromount-G anti-fade medium (SouthernBiotech). TUNEL assay was performed using the In Situ Cell Death Detection kit from Roche. For Figs. 4 and 5 and Additional file 2: S2, the transition zone was identified by adjacent longitudinal sections stained with antibodies to 〈-smooth muscle actin and sarcomeric actin.
Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was performed as described . Sections were dehydrated through graded ethanol and xylene and mounted with Permount (Fisher Scientific).
Microscopy was performed at the Mount Sinai Microscopy Shared Resource Facility using Axioplan2 and Axioplan2 IE microscopes (Carl Zeiss) equipped with ×10, ×20, ×40, and ×100 objective lenses that had numerical apertures of 0.5, 0.8, 0.75, and 1.4, respectively. Images were acquired at room temperature with a camera (Axio Cam MRm; Carl Zeiss). Mosaic images were compiled using the stitching feature in the AxioVision software. The maximum luminal diameter and length of esophageal skeletal/smooth muscle were measured by using ImageJ software (National Institutes of Health).
Data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Differences were tested by two-tailed t test. Values with P < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Most Pax7 −/− mice die within 3 weeks of birth . Surviving P21 Pax7 −/− mice displayed megaesophagus with 100 % penetrance. P21 Pax7 −/− esophagi had an enlarged diameter relative to Pax7 +/+ and Pax7 +/− esophagi, and a dilated lumen filled with partially digested food (Fig. 1a–d). No other gross abnormalities were observed in the GI tracts of Pax7 −/− mice. P21 Pax7 +/− esophagi resembled the wild type in esophageal length, location of the skeletal-smooth muscle boundary, and luminal diameter (Additional file 1: Figure S1); therefore, Pax7 +/+ and Pax7 +/− esophagi were used interchangeably as controls. Immunofluorescence analysis (IFA) of longitudinal sections of P21 esophagi with markers of smooth muscle (α-smooth muscle actin (αSMA)) and skeletal muscle (sarcomeric actin (SA)) revealed that Pax7 −/− mice have a mispatterned ME, with the skeletal-smooth muscle boundary occurring at an abnormally proximal position (Fig. 1c, d). Most smooth muscle in the esophagi of Pax7 +/− mice was found in a short, broad segment at the esophagogastric junction, where SMCs were bundled into fascicles that were stacked side by side with an orientation perpendicular to the lumen (Fig. 1i). In contrast, distal to the aberrantly proximal boundary in Pax7 −/− esophagi, there was a long, thin, ectopic extension of smooth muscle that connected to the LES (Fig. 1d, j). The fascicles in this ectopic region of smooth muscle in Pax7 −/− esophagi were parallel to the lumen, indicating they had failed to undergo the normal reorientation process. A few SMCs were dispersed within the skeletal muscle at the skeletal-smooth muscle boundary in both Pax7 +/− and Pax7 −/− esophagi (Fig. 1g, h). Despite the mispatterned and thinner ME distal to the aberrantly proximal boundary in Pax7 −/− esophagi, the morphology of the smooth muscle fascicles appeared normal in the Pax7 −/− LES (Fig. 1k, l). The Pax7 −/− LES was somewhat thinner than that of the control mice (control = 135.8 ± 9.6 mm (n = 5); mutant = 92.0 ± 12.9 mm (n = 6); p < 0.01). This may be due to a combination of defective development of the ME and the overall growth retardation displayed by these mice . The ME of the proximal portion of Pax7 −/− esophagi was similar to that of Pax7 +/− esophagi, although the skeletal myofibers in mutants appeared to have a greater amount of between-fiber space than in controls (Fig. 1f).
Megaesophagus is sometimes associated with loss of nitrergic neurons in the myenteric plexus of the LES . We therefore quantified the number of neurons in the LES from P21 Pax7 +/+ and Pax7 −/− mice. IFA of LES sections with an antibody to nNOS revealed that the number and pattern of nitrergic neurons were similar between control and mutant mice (Fig. 1k–m). Taken together, P21 Pax7 −/− mice showed megaesophagus with an aberrantly proximal skeletal-smooth muscle boundary. The morphological defects of the P21 Pax7 −/− ME were most apparent in the region between the skeletal-smooth muscle boundary and LES, but were not as severe in the proximal region and in the LES itself.
To determine when these defects in Pax7 −/− mice arose, cross sections were taken from P0-P21 at proximal, mid-level, and distal regions. Expression of αSMA and SA was assessed. The proximal and distal ME were composed of skeletal and smooth muscles, respectively, and the cross sections of proximal and distal Pax7 −/− esophagi showed no obvious defects at P0, P7, and P21 (Fig. 2a–f, m–r, s, u). Mid-level cross sections revealed that esophageal dilation became recognizable in Pax7 −/− esophagi at P7 (Fig. 2g–j, t), and this distention was more severe at P21 (Fig. 2k, l, t). H&E-stained cross sections revealed that the P21 Pax7−/− ME was thinner than that of controls in the mid-level region (Fig. 2v–x). In contrast to the control mid-level ME, which was composed of skeletal muscle at P7 and P21, the Pax7 −/− mid-level ME displayed only smooth muscle at these time points (Fig. 2i–l).
These findings are consistent with the aberrant skeletal-smooth muscle boundary seen in P21 Pax7 −/− esophagi (Fig. 1d), and they suggested a defect in the process whereby smooth muscle is replaced by skeletal muscle in these animals. We therefore analyzed the proximal-to-distal progression of skeletal myogenesis during ME development. Expression of αSMA and SA was assessed in longitudinal sections taken at P0, P7, and P21 (Figs. 1c, d and 3a–d). The distal-most skeletal muscle cells in these sections were embedded in smooth muscle. Progression of ME development was monitored by measuring the distance from the distal-most SA+ cell to the LES. At P0, this distance was about half of the length in Pax7 +/− esophagi, whereas it constituted nearly 80 % of the total length in Pax7 −/− esophagi (Fig. 3a, b, e). The distance from the distal-most SA+ cell to the LES diminished in Pax7 +/− esophagi from P0 to P21, and the distal-most SA+ cell was found just proximal to the LES at P21 (Figs. 1c and 3a, c, e). In contrast, the distal-most SA+ cell in Pax7 −/− animals was at a significantly more proximal location than in Pax7 +/− animals as early as P0 and maintained through P21 (Figs. 1d and 3b, d, e). The distance from the distal-most SA+ cell to the LES slightly decreased in Pax7 −/− esophagi by P21; however, the distance still constituted ~65 % of the total length (Fig. 3e). The total length of Pax7 −/− esophagi is ~20 % shorter than that of control animals by P21 (Fig. 3e) . This is likely due to overall growth retardation in these mice , but cannot alone account for the ME patterning defects.
To analyze the Pax7 expression pattern in developing esophageal ME, longitudinal sections of Pax7 +/− esophagi were taken at P7 and P21 and stained with an antibody for Pax7. At P7, most Pax7+ cells were found in the TZ, and their number decreased at more proximal locations (Fig. 4a, c, e, g). Pax7+ cells diminished from the entire esophagi at P21, when proximal-to-distal progression of skeletal muscle was complete (Fig. 4b, d, f, g). At this stage, relatively few Pax7+ cells were present, as these probably mainly represent the population of satellite cells seen in the adult esophagus [13, 24].
We hypothesized that impaired proximal-to-distal progression of skeletal myogenesis in Pax7 −/− esophagi resulted from a decrease in the number of cells undergoing myogenic differentiation. We therefore assessed the expression of MyoD (a marker of determined myoblasts) and myogenin (a marker of differentiating myoblasts) during ME development. Longitudinal sections of P7 Pax7 +/− and Pax7 −/− esophagi were stained with antibodies for MyoD and myogenin. Consistent with our previous study , most MyoD+ and myogenin+ cells were found in the TZ and their numbers diminished at more proximal locations in control animals. Pax7 −/− mice had ~30 % the number of MyoD+ cells and ~50 % the number of myogenin+ cells as control mice (Fig. 5a–f).
Reduction of the number of cells expressing these markers of myogenesis may result from a decrease in the muscle progenitor cell population, either by alteration in cell proliferation or cell survival. To investigate cell proliferation in the developing ME, longitudinal sections were taken from P7 Pax7 +/− and Pax7 −/− esophagi and stained with antibodies for Ki67 and phospho-histone H3. Most Ki67+ and phospho-histone H3+ cells were found in the TZ in Pax7 +/− esophagi (Fig. 5g, k, l, p). Much lower numbers of Ki67+ and phospho-histone H3+ cells were found in the Pax7 −/− TZ (Fig. 5h, k, m, p). Consistent with the largely postmitotic nature of ME smooth muscle cells , fewer Ki67+ and phospho-histone H3+ cells were present in the distal ME below the TZ in both Pax7 +/− and Pax7 −/− esophagi (Fig. 5i, j, k, n, o, p). Therefore, cell proliferation in the TZ is substantially reduced in Pax7 −/− mice.
To confirm that cell proliferation was reduced in skeletal muscle precursor cells per se, we stained longitudinal P7 sections with antibodies for MyoD or another lineage marker, M-cadherin, plus Ki67. Pax7 −/− mice had ~20 % the number of MyoD+/Ki67+ cells in the TZ as control mice (Fig. 5q–w). Pax7 −/− mice had only ~13 % the number of M-cadherin+ cells as controls (Fig. 5x–dd). Furthermore, ~45 % of control M-cadherin+ cells were also positive for Ki67, whereas none of the small number of M-cadherin+ cells in the Pax7 −/− TZ were also positive for Ki67. These results indicate that cell proliferation of skeletal muscle precursors is strongly diminished in the Pax7 −/− esophagus.
We next analyzed longitudinal sections of P7 Pax7 +/− and Pax7 −/− esophagi by TUNEL assay and by IFA with an antibody to cleaved caspase-3, with thymuses as positive controls. TUNEL+ and cleaved caspase-3+ cells were easily detected in control thymuses (Additional file 2: Figure S2E, J). Consistent with previous studies [7–9, 13], no apoptotic cells were observed in Pax7 +/− esophagi (Additional file 2: Figure S2A, C, F, H). Furthermore, no TUNEL+ or cleaved caspase-3+ cells were observed in the esophagi of Pax7 −/− mice (Additional file 2: Figure S2B, D, G, I), indicating that the diminished skeletal myogenesis seen in these mice is not a consequence of cell death.
In this study, we investigated the role of Pax7 in esophageal musculature development. Pax7 −/− mice displayed megaesophagus with a severe defect in the postnatal developmental processes whereby esophageal smooth muscle is replaced by skeletal muscle and the ME acquires a mature pattern. The proximal-to-distal progression of skeletal myogenesis was impaired in Pax7 −/− esophagi, associated with a significant reduction in cell proliferation of skeletal muscle precursors in the TZ. Additionally, our findings revealed that Pax7 is important for proper postnatal patterning of the entire ME, including the distal smooth muscle layers.
We previously proposed a model for postnatal development of the esophageal ME . During esophageal ME maturation, skeletal muscle progenitors commit to the myogenic lineage and differentiate within a TZ that migrates along the length of the esophagus in a proximal-to-distal manner. Distal to the TZ, SMCs are largely non-proliferative and bundled into long, thin fascicles. SMC fascicles are initially arranged end-to-end and parallel to the lumen. During ME maturation, SMC fascicles rearrange their orientation such that they are ultimately arranged side by side and nearly perpendicular to the lumen; as a consequence, at the end of ME maturation, the fascicles occupy only the distal portion of the ME. Fascicular reorientation occurs in a distal-to-proximal manner. We suggested that this process “clears a path” for the TZ, which migrates distally and produces the skeletal myofibers that constitute the majority of the length of the mature ME of the adult mouse .
Mice lacking the multifunctional cell surface receptor, Cdo, have a mispatterned ME, including an aberrantly proximal skeletal-smooth muscle boundary, and they develop megaesophagus. These mice are specifically defective in SMC fascicular reorientation, without obvious alterations in TZ-based skeletal myogenesis . Cdo −/− mice had an ectopic, proximal region of smooth muscle in which the fascicles remained in the end-to-end, parallel-to-the-lumen orientation that normally characterizes an earlier developmental stage. This phenotype is very likely to be SMC-autonomous . In contrast, the esophageal defects in Pax7 −/− mice are almost certainly autonomous to the skeletal muscle lineage. Pax7 is expressed in skeletal muscle precursor cells throughout the body, including the esophageal TZ, but it is never expressed in the SMC lineage [13, 19–22]. Examination of esophageal ME patterning in Pax7 −/− esophagi revealed that their musculature consisted mainly of smooth muscle, having skeletal muscle only at the very proximal end. This phenotype was more severe in Pax7 −/− esophagi than Cdo −/− esophagi. Smooth muscle occupied the distal ~20 % of P14 Cdo −/− esophagi, whereas it occupied the distal ~65 % of P21 Pax7 −/− esophagi. There was no difference in the position of the skeletal-smooth muscle boundary between control and Cdo −/− mice at P0, but Pax7 −/− esophagi already had an aberrantly proximal skeletal-smooth muscle boundary at P0. Moreover, in contrast to Cdo −/− mice, the numbers of MyoD+ and myogenin+ cells were reduced, as was cell proliferation, in the Pax7 −/− TZ. Therefore, the aberrantly proximal skeletal-smooth muscle boundary in Pax7 −/− esophagi resulted from reduced production of ESM.
Distal to the aberrantly proximal skeletal-smooth muscle boundary, the Pax7 −/− smooth muscle layer was very thin, with the fascicles parallel to the lumen for nearly the entire length of the ME. The LES was normally patterned, consistent with it being in the region in which fascicles reorient earliest . As Pax7 is never expressed in the SMC lineage, the mispatterning of ESM in Pax7 −/− esophagi is presumably a non-cell-autonomous effect. It seems likely that smooth muscle mispatterning occurs as a consequence of impaired proximal-to-distal progression of the Pax7 −/− TZ, but further work will be required to prove this. One physiological consequence of this combination of deficient skeletal myogenesis and SMC fascicle mispatterning is that Pax7 −/− mice have an enlarged luminal diameter specifically in the mid region of the esophagus (i.e., megaesophagus). We speculate that smooth muscles, in this abnormal location and fascicular arrangement, are not successful in maintaining the full integrity and function of the ME. This may occur for a variety of non-mutually exclusive reasons, including defective peristalsis, causing the slow passage of food and physical distension; suboptimal innervation; or some combination of these and additional processes.
Our findings support and add to the previous model for esophageal musculature development. Based on the fact that Pax7 −/− mice display a presumably non-SMC-autonomous defect in fascicular reorientation, we propose the following hypothesis. Smooth muscle fascicular reorientation may be facilitated by forces exerted via the proximal-to-distal progression of the TZ. This progression may “push” the SMCs to a more distal region, where they are eventually exposed to the signals that trigger the rearrangement of SMCs relative to one another, resulting in reorientation of fascicles. Proliferation of skeletal muscle precursor cells was significantly reduced in the Pax7 −/− TZ during esophageal muscular development. This suggests that robust cell proliferation, which presumably participates in driving the proximal-to-distal progression of the TZ, depends on PAX7. This is consistent with the known roles of PAX7 in maintaining proliferation and preventing precocious differentiation [24, 25]. Therefore, it is most likely that skeletal muscle precursor cells differentiate prematurely during esophageal myogenesis in the Pax7−/− TZ, resulting in reduced production of ESM.
That robust cell proliferation in the TZ may be critical for the proximal-to-distal progression of skeletal myogenesis is supported by a mathematical model of cell migration . This model predicts that proliferation at the invading front is the key mechanism driving directed migration. These predictions were experimentally validated with the directional migration and colonization of the gut by vagal neural crest cells that establish the enteric nervous system . This “frontal expansion” model, which emphasizes the importance of proliferation to a carrying capacity, is potentially relevant to a wider range of invasion systems such as angiogenesis, epidermal wound healing, and malignant invasion . Therefore, this model may also apply to the proximal-to-distal progression of esophageal skeletal myogenesis.
Megaesophagus is observed as a feature of several animal models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, including some strains of mdx mice, and some dystrophic dog and cat models [27–30]. It was proposed that megaesophagus in some of these animal models was caused by a hypertrophic diaphragm and ensuing esophageal constriction, a very different scenario than that seen in Pax7 −/− mice. There is, however, little in the literature to suggest that megaesophagus is common in patients with muscular dystrophy or other myopathies. Megaesophagus occurs more frequently in severe cases of achalasia, as a consequence of inability to fully relax the LES [2, 3]. It will be of interest for future studies to use electrophysiology and manometry to test if Pax7 −/− mice have a non-autonomous defect in LES function.
Our analyses on Pax7 −/− esophageal musculature development suggest that ME patterning requires robust, PAX7-dependent cell proliferation in the TZ, which helps drive the proximal-to-distal progression of skeletal myogenesis. This process may in turn be necessary for distal smooth muscle fascicle reorientation and development of a mature ME.
This work was supported by a grant from the NIH (AR46207) to RSK; grants from the NIH (R01AR044031) and Canadian Institutes for Health Research (MOP-12080 and MOP-81288) to MAR. DC was an American Association of Anatomists Scholar, and this research was funded in part by the American Association of Anatomists. CFB was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Additional file 1: Figure S1. Pax7 +/+ and Pax7 +/− esophagi have similar luminal diameter, esophageal length, and location of the skeletal-smooth muscle boundary. (A) Cross-sections of mid-region (Mid) esophagi from P21 mice of the indicated genotype were used to quantify luminal diameters. Values are means ± SD, n = 3. (B) Longitudinal sections of P21 Pax7 +/+ and Pax7 +/− esophagi were stained with antibodies to αSMA and SA and with DAPI. The length of the entire esophagus was measured, as was the location of the skeletal-smooth muscle boundary. Values are means ± SD, n = 3. Pax7 +/+ and Pax7 +/− esophagi were not different in these parameters.
Additional file 2: Figure S2. Lack of apoptosis in control or Pax7 −/− esophageal musculature at P7. (A-D and F-I) Longitudinal sections of P7 Pax7 +/− and Pax7 −/− esophagi were stained with antibodies to cleaved caspase 3 (C-caspase 3) (A-D) and DAPI, or for TUNEL+ cells (F-I) and DAPI. The TZ and distal region were analyzed. Apoptotic cells were not observed in the esophageal ME. (E and J) Pax7 +/− thymuses were used as a positive control and displayed easily detectable apoptotic cells by both IFA for cleaved caspase 3 (E) and TUNEL (J). Bars: 0.2 mm.
DC, AR, and RSK designed the experiments and analyzed the data. DC, AR, and CFB carried out the experiments. CFB and MAR generated and provided critical reagents. DC, AR, CFB, MAR, and RSK were involved in drafting the manuscript and/or revising it critically for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. |
0.999996 | What Are the Elements of a Total Rewards System?
A total rewards system comprises all the efforts that an employer can use in recruiting, motivating and keeping employees. According to the Grameen Foundation, a total rewards system includes five elements: compensation, benefits, professional development, recognition and work-life balance.
Compensation refers to the various ways an employee earns money from the company. It typically consists of a base salary or hourly wage but can also include profit sharing and bonuses. Benefits refer to both mandatory programs and employer options. Mandatory programs include worker’s compensation and Social Security, while employer options include paid vacation time and pension programs.
Professional development encompasses a broad spectrum of learning and advancement opportunities, such as tuition reimbursement, mentoring and defined advancement tracks. For example, a business might cover the costs for everyone in a department to receive access to a relevant online course. Recognition ranges from an individual acknowledgement of work well done to a formal recognition program, such as an employee of the month or year program. Formal programs often include incentives, such as a plaque or prize.
Work-life balance refers to providing employees a chance to meet their personal obligations or goals. For example, some employers allow employees to come in early or leave late, so they can get their kids on the bus or attend their child’s events. Employers might also establish volunteer programs, offer a childcare subsidy or provide stress-management resources. |
0.956513 | Can you spread fire pit ashes on your garden? Is it good for the soil?
It depends on your soil. I feel the benefits of using wood ash do not outweigh the disadvantages for most garden situations. Wood ash contains potassium, phosphate, boron and other elements and raises the pH of the soil. Do not add wood ash if your soil is alkaline (high pH) or contains adequate to excessive amounts of any of these nutrients. Many urban and highly cultivated soils are high to excessive in phosphorous and potassium. Take a soil test before incorporating wood ash into the garden. If you decide to use ash as a soil amendment, keep it away from seedlings and plant roots. Contact with wood ash can burn the roots. Never use coal ash or large amounts of wood ash. Both can be toxic to your plants. The University of Iowa recommends applying no more than 20 pounds (about a five gallon bucket) of wood ash to 1000 square feet of lawn and gardens in late winter or early spring where the pH is below 7.0. |
0.948308 | Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1871, Orville Wright and his elder brother, Wilbur Wright, were the inventors of the world's first successful airplane. The brothers successfully conducted the first free, controlled flight of a power-driven airplane on December 17, 1903. They subsequently became successful businessmen, filling contracts for airplanes in both Europe and the United States. Today, the Wright brothers are considered the "fathers of modern aviation." Orville is also known for developing technology for the U.S. Army. He died in Dayton on January 30, 1948.
Orville Wright was born on August 19, 1871, in Dayton, Ohio, one of five children of Susan Catherine Koerner, and Milton Wright, a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.
As a child, Orville Wright was a mischievous and curious boy, and his family encouraged his intellectual development. "We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity," Orville later wrote in his memoir.
Milton Wright traveled often for his church work, and in 1878, he brought home a toy helicopter for his boys. Based on an invention by French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse Pénaud, it was made of cork, bamboo and paper, and used a rubber band to twirl its twin blades. Orville and his brother were fascinated by the toy, and a lifelong passion for aeronautics was born.
The Wright family moved to Richmond, Indiana, in 1881. In Richmond, Orville developed a love of kites, and soon began making his own at home. By 1884, the family was back in Ohio, where Orville enrolled at Dayton Central High School. Never especially studious, Orville was more interested in hobbies outside the classroom than school, and, thusly, dropped out of high school during his senior year and opened a print shop. Having worked in a print shop over the summer, he quickly went to work designing his own printing press for the shop. In 1889, Orville began publishing the West Side News, a weekly West Dayton newspaper. Wilbur served as the paper's editor.
That same year, tragedy struck the Wright family. Orville's mother, Susan Catherine Koerner Wright, died after suffering a long bout of tuberculosis. With her mother gone, Orville's sister Katharine took on the responsibilities of maintaining the household. The bond between Orville, Katharine and Wilbur was a strong one, and the siblings would remain a close trio throughout the rest of their lives.
After their mother's death, Orville and his brother dedicated themselves to another shared interest: bicycles. A new, safer design had set off a bicycle craze across the country. The brothers opened a bicycle shop in 1892, selling and fixing bikes, and began manufacturing their own design in 1896. Orville invented a self-oiling wheel hub for their popular bikes.
Always curious about aeronautics, Orville and Wilbur followed the latest flying news. When famous German aviator Otto Lilienthal, whose research they had studied, died in a glider crash, the Wright brothers became convinced that, with better designs, human flight was possible. The brothers took their work to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where heavy winds were more conducive to flying.
Orville and Wilbur began experimenting with wings. They observed that birds angled their wings to balance and control their bodies during flight. Utilizing their concept of "wing warping" and the movable rudder, the brothers developed a design that had eluded all who came before them. On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers succeeded in making the first free, controlled flight of a power-driven airplane. Of four flights they made that day, the longest was 59 seconds, over a distance of of 852 feet. Today, the Wright brothers are considered the "fathers of modern aviation."
News of the Wrights' feat was met with early skepticism. After funding a number of failed flying experiments, the United States government was reluctant to back their work. When Wilbur set sail for Europe, Orville headed to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate their flying machine in hopes of winning government and army contracts. In July 1909, Orville completed the demonstration flights for the U.S. Army, which had demanded that a passenger seat be built in the plane. The Wright brothers sold the plane for $30,000.
The Wright brothers' extraordinary success led to contracts in both Europe and the United States, and they soon became wealthy business owners. They began building a grand family home in Dayton, where they had spent much of their childhood.
On May 25, 1910, Orville flew for six minutes with Wilbur as his passenger—marking the first and only flight the brothers would make together. That same day, Orville took his 82-year-old father out for the first and only flight of his life.
In 1912, Wilbur died of typhoid fever. Without his brother and business partner, Orville was forced to take on the presidency of the Wright company. Unlike his brother, though, he cared little for the business side of their work, and, thusly, sold the company in 1915.
Orville Wright spent the last three decades of his life serving on boards and committees related to aeronautics, including the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, predecessor to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He cut off communication with his sister, Katharine, when she married in 1926. Neither Orville nor Wilbur ever married, and he was greatly upset by his sister's choice. In 1929, he had to be persuaded to visit Katharine at her deathbed.
On January 30, 1948, Orville died after suffering a second heart attack. He is buried at the Wright family plot in Dayton, Ohio. |
0.945131 | Should I Borrow with a Poor credit Record?
If you have a poor credit record, then you may be aware that there are loans available to you. Emu.co.uk is the perfect example. These tend to be short term loans and you may have seen them advertised on the television. You may wonder whether it is a good idea for you to take out one of these loans. It is well worth thinking through the decision before you make it.
The first thing to think about is whether it is possible to repay the loan once you take it out. There are different types of poor credit borrowing, but the main ones tend to be pay-day loans. These often have to be repaid in a lump sum, but some may have the option to repay in instalments. Although the amounts you borrow tend to be fairly small; perhaps a few hundred pounds or up to a thousand, they still need to be repaid and this can still be difficult for some borrowers.
It is good to think about how you might manage this sort of loan repayment. Consider what might happen if you borrowed a lump sum of money and then had to repay it within a few weeks. How you would you find the money to pay it back, remembering that you have to repay fees as well as the amount of money that you borrowed. Think about how you normally manage between each time that you get paid. Do you normally have money left over that you could use to repay a loan? It is unlikely or else you would not be considering borrowing money in the first place. If you did need to make a repayment, you need to think about what you would do in order to manage it. Think about whether it would be possible for you to earn some extra money to cover the cost, but if you could do that whether it would be better to do that instead of getting a loan, rather than to pay it off. You might be able to reduce how much you are spending too, perhaps by cutting out luxury items. Again this might be an alternative option to borrowing.
It is good to think about the alternatives available to you. There may be different types of borrowing that you might be able to choose from. You might be able to try different sorts of loans, it is worth finding out about the different types to see which might suit you the best. There will be options out there and you need to think about them. You may be able to take out different types of loans, for example or you could see whether there are different ways to get money apart from borrowing. As mentioned above, it might be possible to earn more or spend less and that will allow you get more money without borrowing. You may be able to sell things that you own too, in order to get some extra money as well. Things that you no longer need, might be useful for other people and you might be able to sell quite a few things such as books, CDs, DVDs, clothing and accessories which could raise some much needed cash.
It is worth also asking yourself whether you really need the money. Loans like this are designed for using in an emergency, so you need to consider whether you will be using the money in an emergency. Think about what the money is for and whether it is really necessary. For example, if you need the money to pay a bill, then start by calling the person billing you and asking whether you can defy paying until you next get paid or spread the payments a bit more to make it more manageable. If you need to replace a broken item, consider whether it might be cheaper to get it repaired or whether you can wait to replace it until you have saved up the money. You may not manage for long without a fridge, but if your problem is with a washing machine, you could go to a laundrette instead or borrow a friends or family members. If you need to buy food, pay a tax bill or are at risk of being cut off if you do not pay up quickly, then you may have no other choice to get the loan.
If you do decide to get a loan then it is wise to not only search around for the right type of loan to suit you but also for the one that will cost you the least amount of money. You will be able to compare costs of the loans online, but it is wise to also be aware of their repayment terms as discussed earlier. You should also be aware that they will differ in the late repayment fees that they charge as well. The late fees can be very significant and so it is worth being aware of what they are even if you think that you will not miss a repayment. You might decide to go for a specific loan over another because they have lower late fees, but their main fees are very close. |
0.999981 | When using the New Relic Infrastructure Integrations SDK to build a custom integration, an integration will consist of at least three files: an executable file, a definition file, and a config file. The executable file generates JSON data that is consumed by the New Relic Infrastructure agent and sent to New Relic.
This document explains the JSON specifications that must be generated by the executable file.
It exports JSON data, in a single line format, that meets the specifications in this document.
New Relic recommends using Go to create integrations; it is the language New Relic uses to create Infrastructure integrations and the integration building tools. However, you can create an integration in any language.
Here is an example JSON output (formatted with line breaks for readability). Definitions and specifications are below this example.
"summary": "gear has been changed"
Data is emitted to stdout (standard output) in JSON format. The agent will treat stdout and stderr file descriptors as line-wise buffers.
Use standard JSON, not "pretty printed" JSON, for the output. Recommendation: Include an optional command line switch (for example, --pretty) to make JSON "pretty printed" for debugging purposes.
Error and debug information must be emitted to stderr (standard error). Follow New Relic's recommendations and best practices for integration logging.
If the executable exits with a non-zero status, the agent will discard any data from stdout and write a message to its log file with the name of the integration, the exit code, and any diagnostic information it can gather.
A minimal payload would be a JSON object with only the header fields. Recommendation: If there is no data to collect, use the program return code and log messages written to stderr.
Required. Must be identical to the name field in the configuration file.
Recommendation: Use reverse domain names to generate unique integration names.
Required. The version number of the exchange protocol between the integration and the agent that the integration executable is using.
The current version is 3. This protocol requires Infrastructure agent 1.2.25 or higher. Protocol 2 requires Infrastructure agent 1.0.859 or higher. Protocol 1 is compatible with all agents. For more on this, see SDK changes.
Optional. The integration version. Used to track the integration version running on each host.
An integration can have more than one executable. Therefore this is not simply the executable's version.
Required for reporting data. A list containing the data reported from one or more entities.
Required. Entity data or properties. Detailed in the next section entity data.
Optional. Entity related metric list. Explained below.
inventory Optional. Entity related inventory items. Explained below.
events Optional. Entity related event list. Explained below.
add_hostname Optional. Boolean. If true entity metrics will be decorated with the hostname.
Required. The identifier/name of the entity.
Required. The kind of entity. It will be used by the Infrastructure agent as a namespace to compose a unique identifier, in conjunction with the name.
Optional. A list of key-value attributes that provide uniqueness to an entity. They are attached to the name in the form of key=value to ease readability, provide extra information and improve entity name uniqueness.
Identifier attributes are most useful in cases where the entity name is not enough to work as a unique identifier, or it doesn't provide enough meaningful information.
From agent version 1.2.25 or higher, protocol v3 improves remote entities uniqueness by adding local address replacement on entity names at agent level.
This localhost value does not provide valuable info without more context.
Name could collide with other service being named with a local address.
Endpoints names are like localhost:port.
Ports tend to be the same for a given service. Ie: 3306 for Mysql.
Cloud provider instance ID, retrieved by the agent if applicable.
Display name, set via the display_name agent config option.
Hostname, as retrieved by the agent.
The infrastructure Agent enables loopback address replacement automatically for v3 integration protocol. It's possible to enable this for v2 via the agent configuration flag replace_v2_loopback_entity_names. In this case all the integrations being run by the agent using v2 will have their names replaced whenever they carry a local address.
From the perspective of New Relic Insights, the Infrastructure metrics and events are both classified as event data types. To find both Infrastructure metrics and Infrastructure events, use the Insights Event data explorer, not the Metric data explorer.
Besides associated metadata, a metric is essentially just a metric name and a numeric value. To view this data, use the New Relic Insights Event data explorer.
Required. event_type defines where the metrics will be stored. Each set of metrics is stored as a sample inside the specified event type. Each integration must store its data in its own event type. If you are generating multiple types of samples from the same integration, use different event types for each.
Recommendation: To ensure the event types used by your integration are unique, prefix the event type with your company name or acronym. For example, if your custom integration captures Cassandra node metrics and Cassandra column family metrics as different samples, store them in different event types, such as MyOrgCassandraSample and MyOrgCassandraColumnFamilySample.
If the event type does not exist, it will be created automatically when New Relic receives data from your integration and make it available in Insights.
Required (at least one). A metric measurement containing a name (key) and its value. Make sure these generally conform to the entity type's specification for maximum compatibility with Infrastructure features.
net: Number of connections, web server requests, bytes transmitted over the network, etc.; for example, net.connectionsActive.
query: Metrics directly related to database queries; for example, query.comInsertPerSecond.
db: Internal database metrics; for example, db.openTables.
Use the innerCamelCase naming format; for example: net.requestsPerSecond.
Percentages: Use Percent; for example: cpuUtilPercent.
Rates: Use a format such as PerSecond. Seconds is the standard rate measurement, but you can also use other units, such as PerMinute or PerDay.
Byte measurements: Use Bytes. Recommendation: If a metric is captured in a different unit, such as Megabytes, convert it to Bytes. For example: db.allMemtablesOffHeapSizeBytes.
Value: Use a string or a number (integer or float). Strings can be used as associated metadata, allowing data to be filtered in the New Relic UI. A boolean would need to be expressed as either a string ("true", "false") or an integer (1, 0). Do not use complex types of values, such as arrays or hashes.
You can view this data in the Infrastructure Events page and Infrastructure events heatmap. You can also query the InfrastructureEvent event type in Insights.
Here's an example of an integration's event data JSON payload, which follows the header JSON, and field definitions.
summary Required. The message to be sent. Use a simple string.
You can view this data in the Infrastructure Inventory page and Infrastructure events heatmap. You can also query data related to inventory changes in Insights.
A unique inventory id key (required): The inventory item's identifier. This is used in combination with the integration's prefix to create a path to the inventory item's data. Like paths combine across entities and show possible variance. This ID points to a hash.
A hash of key/value pairs, one per inventory attribute. At least one is required.
Values may either be a scalar type (string or number) or another hash object of key/values. New Relic supports hierarchy, but the final value nodes must be a scalar.
Follow New Relic's procedures to place the integration files and activate the integration. |
0.998816 | Social democracy is generally defined as a system of political thought which seeks to have the government involved in many spheres of activity in society so as to bring about good social outcomes. It differs from socialism in that there is no necessity felt in social democracy for the government to control every aspect of the economy, only those that are felt to have to be controlled in order to bring about those said outcomes.
There is a commitment in social democracy to social equality, otherwise you might as well leave society to own devices (as does (neo)-liberalism). (Conservatism often intervenes to push society towards inequity).
The other thing to mention about social democracy, however, is that it is almost nowhere practised currently. It was the programme of the British Labour Party from the 1940s to the 70s, the Australian Labor Party in the same period, and other similar parties in the English-speaking world in that period. However, as the 1980s approached neo-liberalism in its unholy alliance with conservatism began to take over the political spectrum; the corporate masters spoke, the tolerance they had extended to social democracy between the Second World War and the 1970s was withdrawn. Why this is is an interesting question, the assumption has been that the corporate world saw greater social equality produced by social democracy as tending to increase the market for its products, but by the 1970s had grown impatient with this model and returned to a more traditional, pre WW2, model of building a less equal society where a smaller circle of privileged people participated in greater advantage and boosted consumption that way.
My own view is that the corporate world of that time was, unconsciously or not, recognising the limits to growth and realising that the general prosperity desired by social democracy was just not possible, especially when all the people of the world, including the ‘3rd World’, and not just the poorer people of the first world, were considered. They were preparing for a future in which prosperity was shared by a much smaller circle of people, and because the compliances necessary for these social arrangements were going to be ugly, and increasingly ugly as time went on, so the material rewards had to be significant.
the ecological limits of human economic activity have been exceeded from the 1980s onwards.
So even where social democracy does still exist, as in the Scandinavian countries, other European countries, and few places elsewhere in the world such as Kerala state in India, or Costa Rica, it is not immune from the dramas and contradictions of later modernity.
However, the worst thing about social democracy, despite, as I have described, its almost complete abeyance in English-speaking countries, is that where green movements have emerged, they have, as it were, usurped the space of social democratic movements. For example, recently, an Australian political commentator stated that the Australian Greens were similar to ‘an ordinary European social democratic party’. This was meant as a compliment, but apart from the commitment to the decencies of social living such as equality, justice and ‘a fair-go’, which other parties seem to have lost sight of, or never entertained in the first place, the entanglement of the Greens with Social Democracy is not a positive thing.
The problem is that the Australian Greens don’t seem to the have grasped the problem of economic growth and are still sharing in the delusion that if we can carry out a few cosmetic changes all will be well. Symptomatic of this is what I call aesthetic green politics. The Australian green movement first rose to prominence in the 1980s with a series of campaigns over ‘wilderness’ areas, such as opposing the raising of the water level in Tasmania’s Lake Pedder for a hydro-electric scheme. Don’t get me wrong, there was no reason then or now for this, and it was a piece of stupid environmental vandalism, as with old-growth forest logging &c &c.
The problem was that the green argument seemed to be, ‘here is a piece of wilderness that we should preserve (using the economic surplus from our other activities)’, instead of ‘let’s run society sustainably so that no-one would ever contemplate such ridiculous hydro schemes, and so that every part of the environment, not such the pretty bits, is respected’.
Specifically this type of green social democracy has not made the important realisation that, arguably, business already has, and which has been the constant theme of these posts: widespread growth as usual (material growth coupled with population growth) cannot continue. A good example of this is George Monbiot, a UK green writer, who has grasped the ecocidal trajectory of global society, but because he cannot recognise population as a problem, and a lower population as a solution, is forced into all sorts of strange cohabitations, such as recommending nuclear power.
Business wants to continue both of these types of growth for a smaller number of people, but what it will do with the superfluous bodies is difficult to tell, other than it won’t have regard for niceties such as human rights. I am convinced that the way forward is for a slower economic growth or a steady state economy, with a declining population (declining by consent rather than coercion). The legacy of social democracy can show us how to create a society where the difficulty of transition to sustainability is shared equally, and where it is managed rationally by democratic institutions. However, social democracy as such, including green social social democracy, is a historical relic. |
0.945987 | Customer objections, sales strategies, the valence factors and the role of the salesperson.
Editor's note: In the April/May issue of FURNITURE WORLD (part 1), Peter Marino presented eight ways that home furnishings retailers routinely lose bedding sales. In this issue he looks at handling customer objections, selling with a strategy, the Valence Factors, the foundation for qualifying customers and the roles of the salesperson. This 2 part series is based on the new FURNITURE WORLD video and workbook "Stop Losing Those Bedding Sales." For more information on these important sales tools contact [email protected].
Never "overcome" a customer's objection. The word overcome indicates an adversarial relationship between two sides. Our customers are not our enemies. They are our friends.
Instead of "overcoming" a customer's objections, look upon every one of them as an implied need. The salesperson's job is to "infer" the need that the customer has implied in the objection. Let's look at the following objections to see how to infer the implied need in them. Another term for this is "reframing."
Customer's Objection: "That's too expensive."
Salesperson: "Help me out. Are you saying that this is more than you intended to spend or that this isn't worth the price?"
Customer: "It's not worth the price."
Salesperson: "So your concern is that you won't get your money's worth."
Customer: "Right. There's no hood like the one on my car to open up to look at what's inside this mattress."
Salesperson: " What I hear you saying is that you need more information before you make a decision. Is that it?"
Customer: "Sure. A guy doesn't buy one of these things every day."
The inferred need implied by this exchange is that the customer needs more information.
Customer's Objection: "Let me think about it."
Salesperson: "I certainly agree that this decision deserves some serious thinking, so tell me, is it a matter of needing more information about what I've shown you, or are you looking for something different from what I've shown you?"
Customer: "What else do you have?"
The inferred need implied by this exchange is that the customer needs to see something else.
As the two examples illustrate, the important thing is to handle the customer's statement as a need rather than as an objection. That way the salesperson seeks to "come over" the objection rather than to "overcome" it. No objection can be supported as such; only a need can be supported.
There are several reasons why retail bedding salespeople need a selling strategy.
To help customers feel that they have found the "best" sleep set in your store.
To keep the customer from wandering aimlessly on the sales floor and ending up confused.
To help keep the salesperson in a leader's role instead of a follower's role.
A selling strategy helps the bedding salesperson to complete the sale successfully in the least amount of time without customers feeling pressured or rushed.
The rule of three is an excellent strategy for retail bedding salespeople.
The reason for this effectiveness is that the concept of "best' is a superlative that is always based on the number three.
In order for customers to arrive at what they consider to be the best sleep set on a given sales floor, the customer needs to find one sleep set that stands apart from the rest. Though the possibilities are many, only one sleep set will stand out as best. Here are a few of the possibilities.
The sleep set on one sales floor will be perceived as better than that seen by the customer on another sales floor. Both will be better than the one the person has been sleeping on at home. Of the three sleep sets, one of the three is seen by the customer as best. He buys the one that is best in his eyes.
The customer has not shopped elsewhere. In the first store he finds three sets he likes, but he likes one of them best and therefore buys it.
The customer has seen one sleep set in one store he likes a lot, but decides to keep on shopping in two more stores. He then returns to buy the one he liked best in the first store.
The customer has seen one sleep set in one store he really likes, but decides to keep on shopping. In another store he finds one he likes best of all and decides to buy it.
The idea of "best" is always arrived at by comparison and contrast and not by comparison alone. That is to say, a customer cannot generally arrive at the best sleep set as long as all those he has tested compare favorably to one another. Only when one of those tested stands out in contrast to the others as best, will the customer firmly commit to buying it.
The rule of three advises the salesperson to start out by finding one sleep set the customer likes. At that point the salesperson should show a second set that is slightly lower in price and comparably comfortable and supportive. Whichever of the two the customer likes better, the salesperson should then proceed to show the customer a third set that is still lower in price and proceed to ask the customer which of the two the customer likes better. In that way the salesperson finds out which of the three mattresses the customer likes best. At this point the salesperson asks the customer if he or she feels comfortable going with the set he or she likes best. Should the customer indicate that he or she would like to think about it, the salesperson should trial close to find out what is keeping the customer from committing. If the salesperson determines that the customer is stalling because of price, the customer should be shown another mattress somewhat lower in price. If the customer gives a strong buying signal for that fourth mattress, the salesperson should again ask for the sale. If instead the customer still prefers the former more expensive mattress, the salesperson should ask the customer to explain what he or she likes more about that mattress. In that way, the customer is giving his or her own reasons for that preference. Note that the rule of three does not mean that a customer is not shown a fourth or even a fifth mattress. It merely means that the first three mattresses lay down the strategy for proceeding with the sale.
In chemistry, the term valence is a measure of the combining power of an element such as hydrogen, chlorine or sodium. I coined the term "valence" for use in bedding sales to describe the variable preferences each customer has for support, conformabilility, durability and price. The salesperson can use these preferences to create an individual model of what a customer is really looking for.
A mattress that does not sag.
Proper reaction to the customer's pressure points (hips, shoulders, arms, and neck).
Note: People are said to sleep more restfully on a today's thicker more luxurious mattresses because of their ability to conform better. Significantly fewer people seem to prefer what they refer to as a firm mattress. By firm they mean one that gives them the feeling of being supported but at the same time has a harder surface because it lacks the softer conforming layers. To that majority of sleepers who like the more luxurious mattresses the word "firm" is negative. To the fewer who find the luxurious mattresses "too soft," the word "firm" is positive. The task salespeople face is to determine through their qualifying whether the latter are finding the less luxurious mattresses less supportive because of a groundless mindset. This can be a very tough challenge for bedding salespeople. The best way for salespeople to meet this challenge is to teach customers the proper way to test a mattress.
Durability is the ability of a sleep set to provide customers the kind of comfortable and restful sleep that lasts.
Regarding the matter of price and how much weight (valence) customers give to it... that depends more often on the salesperson's professional ability to sell, than on the customer's initial feelings about price. Customers go from store to store until they find a salesperson.
The role of the salesperson is to qualify how much weight or valence each customer gives to support, conformability, durability, and price. It is important for salespeople to keep in mind that most adult customers shopping for a sleep set for themselves have not experienced the industry's more thicker luxurious mattresses before, because these mattresses are relatively new on the market. Nor do motels and hotels tend to provide their rooms with these thicker luxurious mattresses. Therefore, motels and hotels do not tend to provide customers with an opportunity of experiencing today's more luxurious mattresses.
Also, for many years mattress stores, by emphasizing the words firm and extra firm in their ads, convinced many customers that "hard" stood for quality. For that reason many customers have a bias about the current more luxuriously soft mattresses. In addition, for many years chiropractors and orthopedic surgeons erroneously advised their patients who suffered from backaches to bolster their mattresses by putting boards under them, thus adding to the further bias about hard mattresses being of superior quality.
Both the objective and the subjective elements will always enter into what defines a quality sleep set. Strictly speaking there is no such thing as a comfortable sleep set. No sleep set is comfortable until someone gets on it and finds it comfortable. That's the subjective element. However, every sleep set manufactured has a degree of quality built in before the name goes on. That's the objective quality. Salespeople should be careful not to say to customers who ask how to judge the quality of a mattress that they'll know that once they get on it. Two mattresses can feel quite similar to the customer who tries them for a short time in a sleep shop. Yet, if one of them has been manufactured to keep that comfort longer because of superior specifications, it will keep its comfort longer than a mattress with inferior specifications.
The salesperson must get the customer to learn how test a mattress properly very early in the sale, certainly before beginning any kind of comfort testing.
First, the customer must try the mattress on his or her back for proper support for a minimum of 30 seconds.
Next, the customer must try the mattress on his or her side to test for reaction to pressure points about the neck, shoulders, arms, and hips.
While being tested, the customer should be told to shop for a mattress the way he or she shops for new glasses. The optometrist has the client view different lens through a phoroptor. The optometrist does not stop that test as soon as the client finds a better lens than the one he or she currently has. Instead, the optometrist keeps moving the phoroptor back and forth until the client finds the "best" lens.
Having learned how to test a mattress properly, the customer should be told to do the same with the rest of the mattresses he or she tests.
The first role of the salesperson is to act as a partner, because the customer must look upon the salesperson as one who can be trusted to do nothing dishonest or self-centered. Only with that mindset can the two work together to help the customer make the best buying decision.
The salesperson must also be a consultant, because the customer must be able to rely upon the salesperson's product knowledge.
The sole reason why salespeople need specialized product knowledge is so that they can win the customer's trust. Every buying customer trusts first in the salesperson, second in the salesperson's store, and third in the salesperson's product.
The third essential role of the salesperson is long-term relator, because today's cost of doing business dictates that the salesperson make repeat sales and get referrals.
The last role of the salesperson is differentiator, because more than anyone or anything else in the organization, it is the salesperson who causes the store to stand out as one that is different from the others, that is, to stand out as best. The reason for this lies, in two different kinds of quality.
I'd like to conclude this article with the strong recommendation that every retail furniture store and sleep shop have a properly trained sales coach skilled in helping salespeople make the necessary changes in their selling behavior. Seminars alone won't bring about those changes in behavior. Sales coaching is a skill, which like every other skill calls for practice as well as learning. As our own great American educator John Dewey was fond of saying, "We learn by doing." Without a proper sales coach very little doing will go on. |
0.941372 | To me, zoos sound a lot like your human resorts: top quality food, cushy digs, lots of entertainment (or, “enrichment” as they call it), singles-mixers, hospitality staff (aka zookeepers), even in-house health care. They’re like resorts that never, ever close. Not even during a blizzard!
What do we really know about animal behavior?
Many informal learning institutions, such as zoos, aquariums, national parks, and museums, are embracing climate change public education. |
0.998584 | How can I get through the airport security lines faster?
First of all check that your carry-on baggage meets your airlines specifications and that it is not over-packed and that it does not contain any prohibited items.
Limit the amount of metal on your person e.g. no big jewellery, belt buckles, watches, hidden body piercings. All of these items will sound the metal detector and slow you down.
Put any liquids, aerosols and gels into a resealable transparent plastic bag and place this bag in the tray provided at the scanner.
Do not carry any drinks through to the departure lounge.
Ensure that any electrical items like laptops and cell phones are places in the trays provided and passed through the scanner.
Have the items at hand before you reach the scanner. Remove your coat or jacket and belt before reaching the front of the scanner line.
Have your boarding pass ready to hand to the officer. Never joke about bombs or weapons whilst going through security. All statements are taken seriously and could result in a conviction. |
0.928894 | William Rosecrans was born in Delaware County, Ohio, on September 6, 1819. At the age of 18 he was appointed to West Point through direct application to the secretary of war, and graduated fifth in the class of 1842, which also included many of the Confederacy's future generals such as Rains, Hill, Anderson and James Longstreet, as well as the Union Army's Pope. Rosecrans was nicknamed "Old Rosey" at West Point, a nickname which followed him throughout his life.
Married in 1843 to a native New Yorker, he was assigned to be assistant professor of engineering and natural philosophy at West Point, where he served for four years. He was then sent to oversee engineering works at various places along the east coast. He resigned his commission in 1853 and became a civil engineer and architect in Ohio.
When the war broke out Rosecrans joined McClellan's staff as the chief engineer and aide-de-camp. On June 21, 1861 he was commissioned colonel of the 23rd Ohio, receiving his commission of brigadier-general for days later. He then commanded a brigade in McClellan's western Virginia campaign, where his name attracted public notice.
Rosecrans had a way of winning the trust of the common soldier. A soldier in the 9th Ohio recalled that when Rosecrans assumed command of his brigade he visited each company, "addressing to each a kind word and a quip, sometimes clever, sometimes not, but always apposite to the unit at hand.... General Rosecrans soon enjoyed increased trust with every last man of the corps."
General Rosecrans was given command of the left wing of the Army of the Mississippi in the campaign that took Corinth after Shiloh. When Pope went East, Rosecrans took over his command, being named a major-general of volunteers from March 21, 1862. He did not distinguish himself in the battles of Iuka and Corinth where his laxity frustrated Grant's plans for a double envelopment of Van Dorn's forces. He was sent to relieve Don Carlos Buell in Kentucky, this command now being called the Army of the Cumberland.
After fighting off Braxton Bragg at Murfreesboro (Stones River), he fell back to aline along the Duck River. In June 1863, Rosecrans began a campaign of maneuver that ended up with his troops taking Chattanooga bloodlessly. The Confederates struck back at Chickamauga battering the Union Army: James Longstreet exploited a gap which Rosecrans' deployments had created in the Union center, and the day was saved largely by George Thomas' hard-fought defense. Nevertheless Rosecrans ended up besieged by Bragg in Chatanooga, with only a rugged mountain trail for resupply. Grant was sent to relieve him in October 1863.
After the war in 1868 Rosecrans became Minister to Mexico, but he was removed from that office by President Grant a year later. He then retired to a ranch near Redondo Beach, California. He was elected to Congress from there, becoming chairman on military affairs and serving until 1885. From then until 1893 he was registrar of the Treasury. He died at his California ranch in 1898. Originally buried in Rosedale Cemetry, Los Angeles, his body was re-interred in Arlington National Cemetary in 1902. |
0.999998 | How to build employer-employee relationship?
Generally, employer and employee relationships should be mutually respectful. The degree of closeness in these relationships will depend on both the employer and the employee. Some employers opt to keep their employees at a distance and, in doing so, ensure that there is no confusion as to the hierarchy that exists between them. Others elect to become friendlier with their employees, seeing this as a way to amp up employee happiness. While neither option is entirely right or wrong, it is wise to avoid getting too close to employees, as doing so can cause the line between employer and employee to become blurred.
Though the type of employee and employer relationship that is considered appropriate varies from company to company, boundaries exist at almost all companies. Generally, it is unwise for employers to develop romantic relationships with their employees. Similarly, employers should exercise care to ensure that the relationship they develop with one employee isn't notably closer than the relationships they develop with others, as this can lead to concerns regarding favoritism or similar issues of unfairness within the workplace.
အလုပ္ရွင္ႏွင္႔ ၀န္ထမ္း ၾကား ဆက္ဆံေရး ဘယ္လိုတည္ေဆာက္ မလဲ ? |
0.999993 | To summarise in just a few words: The GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT is a compact lift to transport a wide range of different materials.
Nothing unusual in that, but the real highlight is that thanks to state-of-the-art battery technology the device operates totally wirelessly. With just one touch of a button a manual winch transports a wide range of materials via a ladder system to heights up to 10 m. The remote radio control sets the compact device in motion then the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT easily sweeps 120 kg into the air. All that exhausting dragging up to those top floors is now consigned to the past!
Of course there are still many other unique features which make the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT an absolute highlight.
Whether for tilers, decorators, window producers, joiners, removal companies, DIY enthusiasts and and and… the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT is the ideal transportation tool for all those materials that have to be transported upwards quickly and safely.
Why GEDA? / Why the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT?
With just one touch of a button all kinds of materials are easily transported along the façade, without that tiresome cable spaghetti, leading to faster, smoother construction. Too good to be true? Not at all!
The GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT is THE new kid on the block in compact material hoists. Assembled in a flash by only one person in less than five minutes, the new lift from GEDA uses its powerful 24 V/10 Ah li-ion-battery drive to transport all kinds of materials up to 120 kg. So with just one touch of a button the practical remote radio control sets the compact device in motion from 0 to 15 m/min. Whether the project is a restoration or a new build site, it can be used in virtually every situation.
And last but not least the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT scores due to the experience of its inventor since GEDA products have been setting new standards in height access technology on construction sites for nearly nine decades. Not without reason are GEDA construction and industrial hoists found on construction sites in over 80 different countries. The GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT is the perfect complement to the small units range and with the battery technology is introducing a new generation of height-access technology.
That´s what makes GEDA unique. Visit our Website.
Always the right combination – by cleverly combining the support and/or the lean-to ladder using the convenient ladder connection kit, progressively adjustable heights from 2.2 m up to 10 m can be achieved.
Even when the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT is not needed, the versatile robust ladder can be used as a traditional construction site ladder. All ladders in the GEDA LIFTLadder system stand out due to their unique “Made in Germany” quality.
How many people are required to assemble the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT?
For common assembly heights it can be assembled by one person.
How much time is required to assemble the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT?
With a ladder length of 4.50 m (corresponds to the GEDA LIFTLeiter 4500/stepladder) the assembly time for one person is about 5 minutes.
What energy source is required for the radio control?
The radio control requires three standard AAA batteries.
Where is the identification plate located?
The identification plate is installed in the battery compartment. When the batteries are removed the identification plate becomes visible.
Is there a replacement battery?
Batteries are in principle available as accessories.
What is the operating life of the battery?
Can the ladder only be used as a GEDA LIFTLadder?
The GEDA LIFTLadder scores highly with its 3in1-Function: The ladder can be used as a stepladder, lean-to ladder and LIFTLadder in combination with the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT.
How must the GEDALIFTLadder be secured?
The GEDA LIFTLadder must be duly secured for safety reasons.
Are any special tools required to assemble it?
No tools at all are required to assemble it.
How many parts does the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT consist of?
For an installation height of 4.50 m the following components are required: Ladder, winch, platform, head section and radio control.
How is the weight of the components?
Are there any tests neccessary?
The GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT winch must be subjected to an annual "country specific accident prevention regulations" test. The GEDA LIFTLadder has to be tested as a conventional ladder.
How is the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT to handle in cold?
In order to get the full capacity of the battery, the device has to be driven upwards and downwards for one to two times. Thereby the full load carrying capacity of 120 kg can be ensured.
I have a device with wireless control. Where can I get the app?
The app for controlling the GEDA BatteryLadderLIFT via WiFi is available on Google Play and Apple App Store for download. |
0.990688 | If the professor tells you you are wrong and you disagree with him, should you correct him or let it slide?
Correct him = you get an F.
Let it slide = you get an A.
Life is so much easier when you don't give a f*ck and that's the sole lesson I learned in college.
After class, make an appointment, to speak with the Professor in his office and discuss this like an adult.
Bring some sort of proof and wait until after class to confront the teacher. DON'T do it in class and DON'T do it without holding supporting evidence like a book or magazine to prove your point.
Personally, I would make the decision based on how important the error was. If it relates to the course material, then it seems important to correct it, since it could affect the other students.
In that case, I would email the professor after class or speak with him privately. Correcting someone publicly while they are lecturing can be seen as rude and can make his life more difficult. Make sure you are polite and provide evidence to support your point.
You should write a paper on it with documented facts to prove your point.
Don't consume the class time arguing with the professor. You hsve to be able to demonstrate with FACTS that the professor is wrong. That is best done during open office hours. If this is a adjunct or visiting professor, they may not HAVE an office.
We have NO IDEA what kind of class this is. If you disagree with the professor on opinion or weather something is ethical or moral or professional, you are on shaky ground. The professor probably has more life experience than you have. If the professor is approximately the sane age as you are, that can be disconcerting for both of you. I had a professor more than 10 years younger than I am insult me during a live chat session. I did not say anything during the live chat session, but I gave him a piece of my mind in an email and called by student adviser and complained. I suspect the dean gave him a lecture about how unprofessional to that was to insult a mature student with a chronic medical condition that way.
That depends. Never take up class time by arguing in a lecture class. However, if the subject is open for class discussion, go right ahead. I have played it both ways. Once, an argument I raised in a genetics class filled the rest of the hour and carried over into the genetics seminar that week. Another time, my major professor disagreed with me about classification. I just said something innocuous, like that I would like to see his data, and let it pass. When he got around to publishing, reviewers shot him down for me.
I guess the deciding factor is whether you are adding light or heat to the discussion.
If it’s a class where debate is encouraged, by all means, respectfully state your case. Most professors encourage this type of spirited class.
If it’s just you yelling about abortion being murder or about the 9/11 conspiracy, keep quiet. It’s not the time or place for rhetoric.
If you can calmly state your opinion and back it up with facts, no matter the subject, I would hope the professor would hear you out.
Get proof that he is wrong and then approach him when nobody else is around. |
0.982401 | What type of boat is this? Shrimp Boat?? |
0.948933 | This article is about waves, sometimes called "seismic sea waves," that travel through the ocean. For waves that travel through the Earth itself, see Seismic wave.
A tsunami (plural: tsunamis or tsunami; from Japanese: 津波, lit. "harbour wave"; English pronunciation: /tsuːˈnɑːmi/) , also known as a seismic sea wave, is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions (including detonations of underwater nuclear devices), landslides, glacier calvings, meteorite impacts and other disturbances above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami. Unlike normal ocean waves which are generated by wind, or tides which are generated by the gravitational pull of the Moon and Sun, a tsunami is generated by the displacement of water.
Tsunami waves do not resemble normal undersea currents or sea waves, because their wavelength is far longer. Rather than appearing as a breaking wave, a tsunami may instead initially resemble a rapidly rising tide, and for this reason they are often referred to as tidal waves, although this usage is not favoured by the scientific community because tsunamis are not tidal in nature. Tsunamis generally consist of a series of waves with periods ranging from minutes to hours, arriving in a so-called "internal wave train". Wave heights of tens of metres can be generated by large events. Although the impact of tsunamis is limited to coastal areas, their destructive power can be enormous and they can affect entire ocean basins; the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was among the deadliest natural disasters in human history with at least 230,000 people killed or missing in 14 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.
Greek historian Thucydides suggested in his late-5th century BC History of the Peloponnesian War, that tsunamis were related to submarine earthquakes, but the understanding of a tsunami's nature remained slim until the 20th century and much remains unknown. Major areas of current research include trying to determine why some large earthquakes do not generate tsunamis while other smaller ones do; trying to accurately forecast the passage of tsunamis across the oceans; and also to forecast how tsunami waves interact with specific shorelines.
Numerous terms are used in the English language to describe waves created in a body of water by the displacement of water; however, none of the terms in frequent use are entirely accurate.
The term tsunami, meaning "harbour wave" in literal translation, comes from the Japanese 津波, composed of the two kanji 津 (tsu) meaning "harbour" and 波 (nami), meaning "wave". (For the plural, one can either follow ordinary English practice and add an s, or use an invariable plural as in the Japanese.) While not entirely accurate, as tsunami are not restricted to harbours, tsunami is currently the term most widely accepted by geologists and oceanographers.
Tsunami are sometimes referred to as tidal waves. This once-popular term derives from the most common appearance of tsunami, which is that of an extraordinarily high tidal bore. Tsunami and tides both produce waves of water that move inland, but in the case of tsunami the inland movement of water may be much greater, giving the impression of an incredibly high and forceful tide. In recent years, the term "tidal wave" has fallen out of favour, especially in the scientific community, because tsunami actually have nothing to do with tides, which are produced by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun rather than the displacement of water. Although the meanings of "tidal" include "resembling" or "having the form or character of" the tides, use of the term tidal wave is discouraged by geologists and oceanographers.
The term seismic sea wave also is used to refer to the phenomenon, because the waves most often are generated by seismic activity such as earthquakes. Prior to the rise of the use of the term tsunami in English-speaking countries, scientists generally encouraged the use of the term seismic sea wave rather than the inaccurate term tidal wave. However, like tsunami, seismic sea wave is not a completely accurate term, as forces other than earthquakes – including underwater landslides, volcanic eruptions, underwater explosions, land or ice slumping into the ocean, meteorite impacts, and the weather when the atmospheric pressure changes very rapidly – can generate such waves by displacing water.
While Japan may have the longest recorded history of tsunamis, the sheer destruction caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami event mark it as the most devastating of its kind in modern times, killing around 230,000 people. The Sumatran region is not unused to tsunamis either, with earthquakes of varying magnitudes regularly occurring off the coast of the island.
"The cause, in my opinion, of this phenomenon must be sought in the earthquake. At the point where its shock has been the most violent the sea is driven back, and suddenly recoiling with redoubled force, causes the inundation. Without an earthquake I do not see how such an accident could happen."
The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus (Res Gestae 26.10.15-19) described the typical sequence of a tsunami, including an incipient earthquake, the sudden retreat of the sea and a following gigantic wave, after the 365 AD tsunami devastated Alexandria.
The principal generation mechanism (or cause) of a tsunami is the displacement of a substantial volume of water or perturbation of the sea. This displacement of water is usually attributed to either earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, glacier calvings or more rarely by meteorites and nuclear tests. The waves formed in this way are then sustained by gravity. Tides do not play any part in the generation of tsunamis.
On April 1, 1946, a magnitude-7.8 (Richter Scale) earthquake occurred near the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. It generated a tsunami which inundated Hilo on the island of Hawai'i with a 14-metre high (46 ft) surge. The area where the earthquake occurred is where the Pacific Ocean floor is subducting (or being pushed downwards) under Alaska.
The 1960 Valdivia earthquake (Mw 9.5), 1964 Alaska earthquake (Mw 9.2), 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (Mw 9.2), and 2011 Tōhoku earthquake (Mw9.0) are recent examples of powerful megathrust earthquakes that generated tsunamis (known as teletsunamis) that can cross entire oceans. Smaller (Mw 4.2) earthquakes in Japan can trigger tsunamis (called local and regional tsunamis) that can only devastate nearby coasts, but can do so in only a few minutes.
In general, landslides generate displacements mainly in the shallower parts of the coastline, and there is conjecture about the nature of large landslides that enter water. This has been shown to lead to effect water in enclosed bays and lakes, but a landslide large enough to cause a transoceanic tsunami has not occurred within recorded history. Susceptible locations are believed to be the Big Island of Hawaii, Fogo in the Cape Verde Islands, La Reunion in the Indian Ocean, and Cumbre Vieja on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands; along with other volcanic ocean islands. This is because large masses of relatively unconsolidated volcanic material occurs on the flanks and in some cases detachment planes are believed to be developing. However, there is growing controversy about how dangerous these slopes actually are.
Some meteorological conditions, especially rapid changes in barometric pressure, as seen with the passing of a front, can displace bodies of water enough to cause trains of waves with wavelengths comparable to seismic tsunami, but usually with lower energies. These are essentially dynamically equivalent to seismic tsunami, the only differences being that meteotsunami lack the transoceanic reach of significant seismic tsunami, and that the force that displaces the water is sustained over some length of time such that meteotsunami can't be modelled as having been caused instantaneously. In spite of their lower energies, on shorelines where they can be amplified by resonance they are sometimes powerful enough to cause localised damage and potential for loss of life. They have been documented in many places, including the Great Lakes, the Aegean Sea, the English Channel, and the Balearic Islands, where they are common enough to have a local name, rissaga. In Sicily they are called marubbio and in Nagasaki Bay they are called abiki. Some examples of destructive meteotsunami include 31 March 1979 at Nagasaki and 15 June 2006 at Menorca, the latter causing damage in the tens of millions of euros.
Meteotsunami should not be confused with storm surges, which are local increases in sea level associated with the low barometric pressure of passing tropical cyclones, nor should they be confused with setup, the temporary local raising of sea level caused by strong on-shore winds. Storm surges and setup are also dangerous causes of coastal flooding in severe weather but their dynamics are completely unrelated to tsunami waves. They are unable to propagate beyond their sources, as waves do.
There have been studies of the potential of induction of and at least one actual attempt to create tsunami waves as a tectonic weapon.
There has been considerable speculation on the possibility of using nuclear weapons to cause tsunamis near to an enemy coastline. Even during World War II consideration of the idea using conventional explosives was explored. Nuclear testing in the Pacific Proving Ground by the United States seemed to generate poor results. Operation Crossroads fired two 20 kilotonnes of TNT (84 TJ) bombs, one in the air and one underwater, above and below the shallow (50 m (160 ft)) waters of the Bikini Atoll lagoon. Fired about 6 km (3.7 mi) from the nearest island, the waves there were no higher than 3–4 m (9.8–13.1 ft) upon reaching the shoreline. Other underwater tests, mainly Hardtack I/Wahoo (deep water) and Hardtack I/Umbrella (shallow water) confirmed the results. Analysis of the effects of shallow and deep underwater explosions indicate that the energy of the explosions doesn't easily generate the kind of deep, all-ocean waveforms which are tsunamis; most of the energy creates steam, causes vertical fountains above the water, and creates compressional waveforms. Tsunamis are hallmarked by permanent large vertical displacements of very large volumes of water which don't occur in explosions.
The velocity of a tsunami can be calculated by obtaining the square root of the depth of the water in metres multiplied by the acceleration due to gravity (approximated to 10 m sec2). For example, if the Pacific Ocean is considered to have a depth of 5000 metres, the velocity of a tsunami would be the square root of √5000 x 10 = √50000 = ~224 metres per second (735 feet per second), which equates to a speed of ~806 kilometres per hour or about 500 miles per hour. This formula is the same as used for calculating the velocity of shallow waves, because a tsunami behaves like a shallow wave as it peak to peak value reaches from the floor of the ocean to the surface.
When the tsunami's wave peak reaches the shore, the resulting temporary rise in sea level is termed run up. Run up is measured in metres above a reference sea level. A large tsunami may feature multiple waves arriving over a period of hours, with significant time between the wave crests. The first wave to reach the shore may not have the highest run up.
All waves have a positive and negative peak, i.e. a ridge and a trough. In the case of a propagating wave like a tsunami, either may be the first to arrive. If the first part to arrive at shore is the ridge, a massive breaking wave or sudden flooding will be the first effect noticed on land. However, if the first part to arrive is a trough, a drawback will occur as the shoreline recedes dramatically, exposing normally submerged areas. Drawback can exceed hundreds of metres, and people unaware of the danger sometimes remain near the shore to satisfy their curiosity or to collect fish from the exposed seabed.
A typical wave period for a damaging tsunami is about 12 minutes. This means that if the drawback phase is the first part of the wave to arrive, the sea will recede, with areas well below sea level exposed after 3 minutes. During the next 6 minutes the tsunami wave trough builds into a ridge, and during this time the sea is filled in and destruction occurs on land. During the next 6 minutes, the tsunami wave changes from a ridge to a trough, causing flood waters to drain and drawback to occur again. This may sweep victims and debris some distance from land. The process repeats as the next wave arrives.
where is the average wave height along the nearest coast. This scale, known as the Soloviev-Imamura tsunami intensity scale, is used in the global tsunami catalogues compiled by the NGDC/NOAA and the Novosibirsk Tsunami Laboratory as the main parameter for the size of the tsunami.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning System is based in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. It monitors Pacific Ocean seismic activity. A sufficiently large earthquake magnitude and other information triggers a tsunami warning. While the subduction zones around the Pacific are seismically active, not all earthquakes generate tsunami. Computers assist in analysing the tsunami risk of every earthquake that occurs in the Pacific Ocean and the adjoining land masses.
Kunihiko Shimazaki (University of Tokyo), a member of Earthquake Research committee of The Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion of Japanese government, mentioned the plan for public announcement of tsunami attack probability forecast at Japan National Press Club on 12 May 2011. The forecast includes tsunami height, attack area and occurrence probability within 100 years ahead. The forecast would integrate the scientific knowledge of recent interdisciplinarity and aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. As the plan, announcement will be available from 2014.
Japan, where tsunami science and response measures first began following a disaster in 1896, has produced ever-more elaborate countermeasures and response plans. The country has built many tsunami walls of up to 12 metres (39 ft) high to protect populated coastal areas. Other localities have built floodgates of up to 15.5 metres (51 ft) high and channels to redirect the water from incoming tsunami. However, their effectiveness has been questioned, as tsunami often overtop the barriers.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was directly triggered by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, when waves exceeded the height of the plant's sea wall. Iwate Prefecture, which is an area at high risk from tsunami, had tsunami barriers walls totalling 25 kilometres (16 mi) long at coastal towns. The 2011 tsunami toppled more than 50% of the walls and caused catastrophic damage.
The Okushiri, Hokkaidō tsunami which struck Okushiri Island of Hokkaidō within two to five minutes of the earthquake on July 12, 1993, created waves as much as 30 metres (100 ft) tall—as high as a 10-story building. The port town of Aonae was completely surrounded by a tsunami wall, but the waves washed right over the wall and destroyed all the wood-framed structures in the area. The wall may have succeeded in slowing down and moderating the height of the tsunami, but it did not prevent major destruction and loss of life.
↑ "Tsunami Terminology". NOAA. Retrieved 2010-07-15.
↑ Wells, John C. (1990). Longman pronunciation dictionary. Harlow, England: Longman. p. 736. ISBN 0-582-05383-8. Entry: "tsunami"
↑ "Deep Ocean Tsunami Waves off the Sri Lankan Coast". Retrieved 3 November 2016.
↑ Barbara Ferreira (April 17, 2011). "When icebergs capsize, tsunamis may ensue". Nature. Retrieved 2011-04-27.
↑ "NASA Finds Japan Tsunami Waves Merged, Doubling Power". Retrieved 3 November 2016.
↑ Fradin, Judith Bloom and Dennis Brindell (2008). Witness to Disaster: Tsunamis. Witness to Disaster. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. pp. 42, 43.
1 2 Smid, T. C. (April 1970). 'Tsunamis' in Greek Literature. Greece & Rome. 17 (2nd ed.). pp. 100–104.
↑ "Definition of TIDAL WAVE". Retrieved 3 November 2016.
↑ "Seismic Sea Wave - Tsunami Glossary". Retrieved 3 November 2016.
↑ "tsunamis". Retrieved 3 November 2016.
↑ postcode=3001, corporateName=Bureau of Meteorology; address=GPO Box 1289, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia;. "Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre". Retrieved 3 November 2016.
↑ The 10 most destructive tsunamis in history, Australian Geographic, March 16, 2011.
↑ Kelly, Gavin (2004). "Ammianus and the Great Tsunami". The Journal of Roman Studies. 94 (141): 141–167. doi:10.2307/4135013. JSTOR 4135013.
↑ Stanley, Jean-Daniel & Jorstad, Thomas F. (2005), "The 365 A.D. Tsunami Destruction of Alexandria, Egypt: Erosion, Deformation of Strata and Introduction of Allochthonous Material"
↑ Haugen, K; Lovholt, F; Harbitz, C (2005). "Fundamental mechanisms for tsunami generation by submarine mass flows in idealised geometries". Marine and Petroleum Geology. 22 (1–2): 209–217. doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2004.10.016.
↑ Margaritondo, G (2005). "Explaining the physics of tsunamis to undergraduate and non-physics students". European Journal of Physics. 26 (3): 401. Bibcode:2005EJPh...26..401M. doi:10.1088/0143-0807/26/3/007.
↑ Voit, S.S (1987). "Tsunamis". Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics. 19 (1): 217–236. Bibcode:1987AnRFM..19..217V. doi:10.1146/annurev.fl.19.010187.001245.
↑ "How do earthquakes generate tsunamis?". University of Washington.
↑ Kanamori H. (1971). "Seismological evidence for a lithospheric normal faulting — the Sanriku earthquake of 1933". Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors. 4 (4): 298–300. Bibcode:1971PEPI....4..289K. doi:10.1016/0031-9201(71)90013-6.
↑ Facts and figures: how tsunamis form, Australian Geographic, March 18, 2011.
↑ George Pararas-Carayannis (1999). "The Mega-Tsunami of July 9, 1958 in Lituya Bay, Alaska". Retrieved 2014-02-27.
↑ Petley, Dave (Professor) (2008-12-11). "The Vaiont (Vajont) landslide of 1963". The Landslide Blog. Retrieved 2014-02-26.
↑ Duff, Mark (2013-10-10). "Italy Vajont anniversary: Night of the 'tsunami'". BBC News. Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-27.
↑ Pararas-Carayannis, George (2002). "Evaluation of the threat of mega tsunami generation from postulated massive slope failures of the island volcanoes on La Palma, Canary Islands, and on the island of Hawaii". Science of Tsunami Hazards. 20 (5): 251–277. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
1 2 Monserrat, S.; Vilibíc, I.; Rabinovich, A. B. (2006). "Meteotsunamis: atmospherically induced destructive ocean waves in the tsunami frequency band" (PDF). Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. 6 (6): 1035–1051. doi:10.5194/nhess-6-1035-2006. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
↑ "The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park, Part 2". Inset to The New Zealand Herald. 3 March 2010. p. 9.
↑ Glasstone, Samuel; Dolan, Philip (1977). Shock effects of surface and subsurface bursts - The effects of nuclear weapons (third ed.). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Defense; Energy Research and Development Administration.
1 2 "Life of a Tsunami". Western Coastal & Marine Geology. United States Geographical Survey. 22 October 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
↑ Prof. Stephen A. Nelson (28 January 2009). "Tsunami". Tulane University. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
1 2 Gusiakov V. "Tsunami Quantification: how we measure the overall size of tsunami (Review of tsunami intensity and magnitude scales)" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-10-18.
↑ Center, National Geophysical Data. "NGDC/WDS Global Historical Tsunami Database - NCEI". Retrieved 3 November 2016.
↑ Lekkas E.; Andreadakis E.; Kostaki I. & Kapourani E. (2013). "A Proposal for a New Integrated Tsunami Intensity Scale (ITIS‐2012)". Bulletin Seismological Society of America. 103 (2B). Bibcode:2013BuSSA.103.1493L. doi:10.1785/0120120099.
↑ Katsetsiadou, K.N., Andreadakis, E. and Lekkas, E., 2016. Tsunami intensity mapping: applying the integrated Tsunami Intensity Scale (ITIS2012) on Ishinomaki Bay Coast after the mega-tsunami of Tohoku, March 11, 2011. Research in Geophysics, 5(1).
↑ Abe K. (1995). Estimate of Tsunami Run-up Heights from Earthquake Magnitudes. Tsunami: progress in prediction, disaster prevention, and warning. ISBN 978-0-7923-3483-5. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
↑ Chanson, H. (2010). Tsunami Warning Signs on the Enshu Coast of Japan. 78. Shore & Beach. pp. 52–54. ISSN 0037-4237.
↑ Lambourne, Helen (2005-03-27). "Tsunami: Anatomy of a disaster". BBC.
↑ Kenneally, Christine (2004-12-30). "Surviving the Tsunami: What Sri Lanka's animals knew that humans didn't". Slate Magazine.
↑ Forecast of earthquake probability is within 30 years ahead, however Tsunami attack probability is much lower than earthquake so that the plan is set to be within 100 years ahead. Yomiuri Shimbun 2011-05-13 ver.13S page 2, 津波の襲来確率、初の公表へ…地震調査委員会 [Newly public announce of Tsunami attack probability...Earthquake Research committee of Japan]. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). 2011-05-12. Retrieved 2011-05-13.
↑ Margie Mason (2011-05-12). "Experts: Early warnings mitigated Japan disaster". Associated Press.
↑ "Journalist's Resource: Research for Reporting, from Harvard Shorenstein Center". Content.hks.harvard.edu. 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
↑ Phillip Lipscy, Kenji Kushida, and Trevor Incerti. 2013. "The Fukushima Disaster and Japan’s Nuclear Plant Vulnerability in Comparative Perspective". Environmental Science and Technology 47 (May), 6082-6088.
↑ Fukada, Takahiro (21 September 2011). "Iwate fisheries continue struggle to recover". The Japan Times. p. 3. Retrieved 2016-09-18.
↑ George Pararas-Carayannis. "The Earthquake and Tsunami of July 12, 1993 in the Sea of Japan/East Sea". www.drgeorgepc.com. Retrieved 2016-09-18.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tsunami. |
0.961432 | How does “the power of vulnerability” sit within a context that eschews victim-blaming? While I have no issue with accepting that we each have weaknesses and limitations, it seems like turning vulnerability into a “power” is delegating responsibility to others rather than trying to build strengths within ourselves. My grandmother taught me that with power comes responsibility, so there are responsibilities we need to take on if we try to turn vulnerability into a power.
… we all have them (i.e., weaknesses and limitations); and although it might seem counterintuitive, embracing our “faults” and owning our vulnerability can actually make us stronger! The power of vulnerability is one of the least used, but potentially one of the most important concepts we can apply in our lives. |
0.928957 | Tax Detail Report shows Order wise tax details, Report can be filtered by Date.
Tax detail report summary by City, State, Country, Tax, Zipcode. Detail report of Orders along with various filters like Date Range, Product, Category, Country, State, Coupon wise, List of Recent Orders, All the data can be exported to Excel, CSV.
Install the plugin from the ‘Plugins’ section in your dashboard (Go to Plugins > Add New > Search and search for ‘WooCommerce Tax Report’).
Access the settings page from WordPress backend under Woo Tax Report.
Can you customize plug-in for any custom requirements?
I needed this plugin for some reports and it did provide me with enough extras so I didn't have to buy one of the other plugins for sale (because if you use WooCommerce you'll be sick of all the extras you have to buy within a day). It also worked well with a site that has way too many plugins already. I shouldn't have put this large store on WooCommerce, but it is what it is.
This plugin gives the information of taxes but it is a pretty basic plugin, even the pro version does not give the tax information by taxes. I want to pull the GST paid for filing by 2 tax slabs, this plugin does not give that information and it shows only 10 rows per page with no export to Excel option. Unless it is enhanced, it is of no use.
“Tax Report for WooCommerce” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Translate “Tax Report for WooCommerce” into your language.
Tested: Compatible with latest WooCommerce 3.5.6 and WordPress 5.1.1 versions.
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Tested: Compatible with latest WooCommerce 3.3.5 and WordPress 4.9.5 versions.
Tested: Compatible with latest WooCommerce 3.3.3 and WordPress 4.9.4 versions. |
0.971965 | A company trying to use popular music or lyrics, either for commercial advertising or for an in-house corporate video, will have to get permission to do so.
Obtaining music permissions can be done effectively by purchasing music that comes with an automatic license for use, but the choice of music available will be significantly limited. On the other hand, obtaining permission to use protected music, which includes just about any song currently available in local music stores, can be costly and lead to extensive litigation since the copyright law protecting the use of current, popular music is very strict.
When choosing protected music, it is best to get a lawyer or an expert to help determine the appropriate legal procedures, and to keep the following information in mind.
To use music that is protected by copyright in any way, it is necessary to obtain permission from the copyright owners in writing. These include the music publisher who represents the composer and the lyricist, and the record company that owns the recording and represents the performer who made the recording.
A fee is generally charged by the copyright owners for permission, and the amount varies depending upon how it is used. Using a piece of protected music for a television or radio commercial is the most expensive. For a commercial in one state or city, the fees may be in the low thousands. For a national television commercial fees for one year can range from $40,000 to $200,000 each to the music publisher and the record company.
Once a piece of music has been chosen, a company may either use an already recorded piece of music by a known artist or obtain the rights to use the music and re-record it with other artists.
In the case of a performance by a known artist, for example, it may be necessary to pay various fees such as union new-use fees, which can increase costs. On the other hand, hiring unknowns to perform a hit song will still require obtaining permission from the music publisher, who then pays the original talent. Union fees may be incurred, depending upon the arrangements made with the talent.
If using protected music seems too expensive or too complicated, the alternative may be to use a stock music library or similar music service. These services provide hundreds of CDs containing appropriate background music recorded by professional musicians.
The cost of purchasing these CDs averages around $20 per CD. Additional licensing fees are also nominal, depending upon use. A company may pay a blanket fee of several hundred dollars to cover the music used throughout a video, or what's called a "needle drop" fee for each use of a piece of music within a video. These fees generally range from $15 to $75 per needle drop.
The following is a listing of music permissions and stock music libraries. |
0.943592 | The large-size Federal Reserve Bank Notes (FRBNs) , also known as National Currency, was issued in two series and in denominations of $1 to $50. They are often confused with National Bank notes because they have the inscription "National Currency" across the top. They feature blue seals and blue serial numbers.
The first issue, Series issue 1915 was authorized by Federal Reserve Act of December 23rd, 1913 and consisted of only of $5, $10 and $20 notes. They were issued by the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Dallas and San Francisco. They are titled as National Currency and are similar to National Bank Notes. The obligation to pay the bearer falls to the specific Federal Reserve Bank, not the United States Treasury Department. The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank issued only $5 notes. The obligation to pay the bearer is similar to that on the first charter national bank notes, differing only slightly in wording but not in meaning.
The second issue, Series 1918, consisted of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20 and $50 notes issued to all 12 Federal Reserve Banks (though all banks did not necessarily issue all denominations). St Louis was the only district that issued the $50 denomination and is considered a rarity in high grade. The $20 denomination was issued by Atlanta and St Louis only and is also considered a rarity. Although Federal Reserve Bank notes are a rather recent issue, all are quite scarce in high grade.
Treasury Department records show that only slightly more than $2 million is outstanding from a total issue of nearly $762 million.
How cool is a 3-digit 1918 $1 FRBN star note from the Windy City of Chicago? This is a bright example of the Chicago district $1 FRBN Star.
This is a very nice and clean 1918 $1 FRBN from Chicago. It is commonly referred to as the Flying Eagle Note because of the back design. |
0.943665 | What music is right for your wedding ceremony? Will it be traditional ceremony music, a dramatic classical overture or rather a cool pop tune? One thing is for sure, you will need a prelude (music before the ceremony), processional (music to walk down the aisle) and recessional (music to leave the ceremony). So whether classical, traditional or just plain fun music, you can select a string ensemble, Jazz group, duo or soloist to play the music you select. |
0.996414 | The passage below is part of a sworn statement made by a Block Guard assigned to the cell block holding the first three detainees to die in custody. It states that nothing was found that the detainees could have hanged themselves with in any of the cells of the entire block hours before their death. Consequently, this testimony casts doubt on the official version of the events surrounding said deaths.
This testimony was made to the NCIS investigators and was included in the public version of their report.
The shift I worked Block Guards conducted cell sertches of all the cells on Alpha Block. We did not discover anything that a detainee could hang himself with. We did not find anyweapons either. I heard rumors that the detainees bound their hands and feet and then hung themselves with altered sheets. I searched cell 5 but I did not find anything that would allow the detainee in cell 5 to hang himself in the manner of the rumors. I did not see any hanging blankets in cell 5. My recollection is that they were folded on the bunk. I took them and shook them loose refolded them and put them back on the bunk. I may have searched dells 8 and 12 but I do not remember. These cell searches were done between 1400 and 1700. |
0.949738 | Painting the interior your home is an inevitable task, as your home's interior painted walls get scratched and damaged, needing regular maintenance. You can paint the interior of your home by using the right tools and techniques. Here are some tips to help you through this process. Prepare Before you begin to apply a new coat of paint onto your home's interior walls, you need to clean the surface area of dirt, debris, and oils.
Whether you are putting together a nursery or looking to make improvements to your toddler's room, you have to decide what things to add or change to create an attractive and functional room. If you are interested in painting the walls, you should color them in chalkboard. As soon as your child nears two years old, they should be working on their fine motor skills, and drawing with chalk could be good practice.
Wallpaper is not a lifetime commitment. It can be removed and replaced with a paint job any time you grow tired of it. With a little preparation, the right tools, and some instructions, you can remove wallpaper and opt for paint any time you want. Start by Preparing the Room First, you will need to remove any decorations from the wall. Then, you will need to remove as much as you can from the room. |
0.999553 | 5: Italy: Visitors walk inside the ruin of the Colosseum in Rome, Italy.
(CNN) - Pull out your passport and pack your bags for the sunny Mediterranean. But hurry.
You've got a lot of traveling to do if you're going to see some of the historical wonders of the world before climate change further damages them, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.
Across the Mediterranean region, flood risk may increase by 50 percent and erosion risk by 13 percent by the year 2100, the study found, with considerably higher increases at specific World Heritage sites, areas chosen to be preserved due to their importance in human history.
The impact on those historical icons would be significant, the study warned, unless actions are taken quickly.
"Adaptation planning is urgently needed," said lead author Lena Reimann, a doctoral researcher for the Coastal Risks and Sea-Level Rise Research Group in Germany. "If our common heritage is destroyed or lost, it is not possible to replace or rebuild it."
There are 1,092 cultural historical sites on the 2018 World Heritage List, which, according to the authors, have "high intangible value as they represent icons of human civilization."
Because our ancestors often settled near water for both food and commerce, a good many are in coastal areas, especially in the historically rich Mediterranean region. Due to the steep topography of many of the sites clustered along the Mediterranean Sea, most cities, then and now, were built at the water's edge.
Many of those World Heritage sites are already at risk from rising sea levels. Venice, for example, has been thought to be sinking for years. In reality, Venice floods regularly, and has done so for centuries. In 1996, a combination of rain, high tides and high wind caused the canals to rise a devastating six feet above normal levels.
That's today. But little is known about the potential future effects of the flooding and erosion climate change may bring, and that was what this study was designed to address.
The researchers ranked and compared 49 locations facing the highest risk from a total of 159 World Heritage sites lining the Mediterranean Sea. Due to the sheer numbers of historical sites along their coasts, a third of those endangered sites were located in just four countries: Italy (15), Croatia (7), Greece (4) and Tunisia (4).
The study's design explored the risk of flooding and erosion under four different sea-level rise scenarios until 2100, ranging from no risk to highest risk.
Flooding risk was highest for cities along the northern Adriatic Sea. Some are in severe danger now. Besides Venice and its lagoon, the Italian city of Ferrara and its wetlands of Po Delta and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia at the northern coast of Italy are currently at high risk due to rising sea levels.
To determine future flood risk, the researchers combined flood area and flood depth; they found the flood risk index under the worst-case scenario to increase by up to 50 percent until 2100 across the region. The maximum flood depth, they found, may rise by 290 percent across the region. In Venice, maximum flood depth may be as high as 2.5 meters or 8 feet above normal levels.
The study also looked at the cost of erosion by flood waters and found 42 of the 49 sites were suffering coastal erosion today. Italy contains the most number of sites endangered by erosion, followed by Croatia and Greece.
By 2100, under the highest risk scenario, the Lebanese city of Tyre topped the list of cities endangered by erosion. Tyre is home to one of the largest, well-preserved Roman hippodromes, racecourses used mostly for Roman chariot races.
Tyre was followed by Ephesus, Greece, known for the nearby Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In equal danger are Heraion, a large temple dedicated to Hera in Samos, Greece, and the Archaeological Ensemble of Tárraco in Spain, said to be the first and oldest Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula.
Only two of the 49 sites, the Medina of Tunis and Xanthos-Letoon, appear to be safe from climate change-related flooding and erosion by the end of the century, the study found.
Grim findings, perhaps, but Reimann and her colleagues hope the information in their report can help galvanize action to protect these unique historical sites from further damage.
"If rigorous climate change mitigation is pursued as planned under the Paris Agreement," said Reimann, "future increases in flood risk and erosion risk could be kept to a minimum."
While the World Heritage Coalition monitors each historical site, it's up to each country to maintain their sites, which includes adaptation to climate change.
"However," said Reimann, "adaptation will be especially challenging in countries with a large number of World Heritage Sites at risk" such as Italy, Croatia and Greece.
Some of those countries also face other concerns, Reimann said, "such as the economic crisis, refugees issues and social conflict" which might interfere with the country's ability to address the challenges climate change may bring.
In these instances, hopefully the UNESCO World Heritage Convention might be able to support the affected countries, Reimann said. |
0.99997 | Q: I want to make a aeroplane cake for my son's birthday. I am planning to bake a square cake and then cut it up to shape. However, planes have some tricky rounded edges which I am not sure how best to tackle. Please could you give me some tips?
A: Plane cakes are always popular with children, I have made at least two for my own son. The easiest way to carve cake is to cut out the outline shape first and then freeze the cake. This allows you not only to bake the cake in advance but also to carve more intricate shapes, such as a curved planes wing, without the cake crumbling and falling apart. Another tip is to use a nice dense cake such as a madeira or rich chocolate, rather than a fluffy sponge. As regards covering, it is a lot easier to do this in sections and hide the joins rather than try to cover your carved cake with one sheet of sugarpaste. Another option for your son's cake would be to create a sugar model of a plane and then pop it onto some cloud shaped cakes. I have an example in my newly re-published book 'Quick & Clever Party cakes'.
Visit my website to see what I mean. |
0.791757 | John Bessarion had a remarkable ecclesiastical career. Born in Trebizond in 1403, he was educated at Constantinople and Mistra in the circle of Gemistos Plethon. His firm commitment to defending Platonism, a doctrine reconciling the heritage of Antiquity with Christian thought, showed the influence of the great Byzantine philosopher. Bessarion, a brilliant preacher, became metropolitan of Nicea in 1437. One of the firmest partisans of the unification of the churches, he accompanied the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaeologus and the Patriarch Joseph II to the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1437–1439. He wrote numerous theological treatises on the Fililoque, a controversial issue at the Council, and led the discussions on behalf of the Greek delegation. In his opinion, uniting divided Christianity was the condition requisite to lead a crusade to free Byzantine from the threat of the Ottoman Turks. He used all the confidence he enjoyed at the Council in favour of the union, thus becoming a hero of the unity between the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Because of his intercession, Pope Eugene IV raised his rank to that of cardinal of the Latin Church. In Constantinople and Mistra, this appointment was viewed as apostasy in relation to Orthodoxy. With the exception of a visit to Greece in 1443, Cardinal Bessarion spent the remainder of his life in Italy, and died in Florence in 1472.
Bessarion embodied, in a quite unique fashion, the ambition of uniting Christianity. His authority as cardinal spread over all the southern monasteries of Italy, while in Basilicata and Sicily the Greek monasteries ceased to follow Orthodox rule and turned to the rule of Rome, even though they remained Greek. Bessarion postulated twice for the pontificate, and narrowly missed election because of his prestige (AMBIGUOUS). In 1463, he was named Latin Patriarch of Constantinople. In parallel to his career as an ecclesiast and theologian, he was also one of the masters of Hellenist humanism, as well a philosopher. This learned man headed an academy in Rome, where the works of many ancient Greek authors were translated. A patron of the arts who also collected manuscripts, Bessarion assembled a sizeable collection of humanist documents. In 1468, he bequeathed to the city of Venice 482 Greek manuscripts and 264 Latin manuscripts, thus laying the foundation for the famous Biblioteca Marciana, the Library of Saint Mark's, where his collection comprises the most precious part of the institution's Greek works.
The Cardinal's emblem is found in several manuscripts. In the 1767 manuscript of the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice (Bib. Marc. 110. D 30), this emblem shows a medallion bearing a cardinal's cross and hat. Within the medallion is a diagram of heaven, from which rays radiate, and a cross held by two arms. One of these arms represents the Latin Church, while the other represents the Greek Church, and together with the cross make up the sign of union. Bessarion's emblem translates the symbolism of unionism and the convictions of this erudite Byzantine, a patriarch and a cardinal, who embodied the humanist ideal of the Italian Renaissance.
They had been separated since the schism of 1054.
Bessarion, J. Orazione dogmatica sull’unione dei Greci e dei Latini. G. Luisini, trans, Naples, 2001, Vivarium.
Bianca, C. “Da Bisanzio a Roma” in Da Bisanzio a Roma. Studi sul Cardinale Bessarione, Rome, 1999, Roma nel Rinascimento.
Fiaccadori, G., Bessarione e l’Umanesimo, Exh. cat., Milan, 1994, Vivarium.
Talbot, A.-M. “Bessarion” in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Vol. 1., New York, 1991, Oxford University Press.
Chastel, A. L’Italie et Byzance, Paris, Éditions de Fallois, n.d.
Evans, H. C., Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557), Exh. cat., New York, New Haven, London, 2004, Yale University Press. |
0.941236 | The Anaktuvuk River flows North toward the Arctic Ocean. Much of the North Slope Borough is characterized by vast, uninhabited gently rolling tundra.
The borough was established in 1972 by an election of the majority indigenous people in the region following Congressional passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The Borough had first-class status and exercised the powers of planning, zoning, taxation and schools. In 1974 it adopted a Home Rule Charter, enabling it to exercise any legitimate governmental power.
It has a seven-member assembly body, elected to staggered three-year terms. The Borough's executive and administrative powers are vested in a Mayor, who is limited to two consecutive three-year terms.
The current mayor, Harry K. Brower Jr, was first elected in July 2016 in a run-off election to serve the rest of former mayor Charlotte Brower's second term. She was recalled in April 2016, after it was reported the year before that her office had made numerous donations to individuals (including family members), sports clubs and other groups that amounted to more than $800,000 since 2011. Former mayor, Eugene Brower, Charlotte's husband, was convicted of tax evasion involving contractor kickbacks three decades earlier.
Harry Brower is Charlotte's brother-in-law. Her predecessor, Edward Itta, had succeeded George Ahmaogak and served two terms, 2005-2011. in 2011 Charlotte Brower defeated former mayor, George Ahmaogak, in a runoff after it was revealed that he had billed the Borough for a family vacation in Hawaii. Ahmaogak's wife Maggie, had been convicted of embezzlement from the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission in 2015. Harry Brower ran for a full term as mayor in October 2017, but was forced into a November runoff against his nephew, Frederick Brower, where he easily won a full 3-year term .
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 94,796 square miles (245,520 km2), of which 88,695 square miles (229,720 km2) is land and 6,101 square miles (15,800 km2) (6.4%) is water. The borough is larger than 39 states.
Its western coastline is along the Chukchi Sea, while its eastern shores (beyond Point Barrow) are on the Beaufort Sea.
The North Slope Borough is the largest county-level political subdivision in the United States by area, with a larger land area than that of the state of Utah (UT is the 13th-largest state in the nation). Although the adjacent Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area is larger in area, it has no borough-level government. The borough is the fourth-least densely populated county-level entity in the United States. The Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area is the least densely populated county-level entity).
It shares its eastern border with Yukon, Canada, which has no subdivisions.
Map of northern Alaska showing location of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, (ANWR), and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA).
As of the census of 2010, there were 7,385 people, 2,109 households, and 1,524 families residing in the borough. The population density was 12.03 square miles (31.2 km2) per person. There were 2,538 housing units at an average density of 35 square miles (91 km2) per unit. The racial makeup of the borough was 17.09% White, 0.72% Black or African American, 68.38% Native American, mostly Inuit, 5.92% Asian, 0.84% Pacific Islander, 0.50% from other races, and 6.55% from two or more races. 2.37% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. 42.84% reported speaking Iñupiaq or "Eskimo" at home, while 4.21% reported speaking Tagalog.
There were 2,109 households out of which 48.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.3% were married couples living together, 18.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.70% were non-families. 21.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 1.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.45 and the average family size was 4.05.
In the borough the population was spread out with 38.2% under the age of 18, 9.50% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 18.10% from 45 to 64, and 4.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females, there were 112.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 113.90 males.
^ "North Slope Borough Local Emergency Planning District (LEPD)". Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. 2007-12-31. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
^ 1996 Alaska Municipal Officials Directory. Juneau: Alaska Municipal League/Alaska Department of Community and Regional Affairs. January 1996. p. 13.
^ a b "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
^ a b Mayor Brower investigated for ethics violation, Arctic Sounder, Carey Restino, July 18, 2015. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
^ DeMarban, Alex (2016-11-06). "Edward Itta dies: Inupiaq whaling captain and former North Slope mayor". Alaska Dispatch News. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
^ Whaling panel's former director gets prison time, Alaska Journal of Commerce, November 30, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
^ Harry Brower retains mayoral seat in North Slope Borough runoff election, Alaska Dispatch News, Lisa Demer, November 8, 2017. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
^ "MLA Language Map Data for North Slope County, Alaska". Retrieved 2011-10-14.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to North Slope Borough, Alaska.
This page was last edited on 25 March 2019, at 01:40 (UTC). |
0.999933 | Pokemon Go Beta Tests Come to the U.S.
Pokemon Go has been in the works for a while now, and after quite some time of development, a stable beta has come out to several different places. In early March, the beta was released to Japan, and about a month later it was released to all parts of Australia. Recently, developer Niantic expanded the beta to the United States under a selective registration system. After these beta testing phases, the full game is set to release at some point this summer.
For those that don't know, Pokemon Go is an augmented reality game developed for mobile platforms. The idea is to expand the Pokemon universe to the real world, where players will be able to find Pokemon by wandering around certain areas and having the game notify them if one is near. It will also come with a wearable device, called the Pokemon Go Plus, which is planned to notify users when a Pokemon is near with whatever notification system their device has enabled. The player uses a sequence to attempt to catch the Pokemon, and the game tells them if the creature was successfully captured.
If you live in the United States and this sounds appealing to you, then you might want to go check out Niantic's website, because registration for the U.S. beta went live very recently. Registration for the beta requires that you have a Google account with a corresponding Gmail address. An email account for any other website will not be valid for registration. In addition, you must have either an Apple or Android mobile device if you live in the United States. If you have an Android device, you must have version 4.3 or higher for the game to run properly. If you have an Apple device, it must be an iPhone 5 or above that runs iOS 8 or higher. Ability to play is not guaranteed on all devices.
In addition to these restrictions, acceptance into the field test upon registration is not an assurance. Niantic has complete license to reject registration if they are given proper reason to do so. Niantic also requests that Pokemon Go's field testers not share any information, as they want to keep the experience of the game under wraps, as it is something truly unique. Since it involves communication with the real world and is ever-expansive, there are a lot of bugs within the beta and Niantic needs a lot of secrecy and a lot of testers. As a result, there is no monetary reward for participating in the beta, as the concept of helping improve the game should be rewarding enough in itself.
Niantic is working hard to create a truly unique and profound Pokemon experience by merging the worlds into one reality. Extending the Pokemon universe into the real one is a brilliant idea, and hopefully all of this effort and creativity will converge to create a truly terrific and outstanding experience. Implementing augmented reality to a Pokemon game is a splendid employment of a new technology, and it will bring endless amounts of joy to the infinite and expanding imaginations of nostalgic players and new ones alike.
Once again, you can find the beta registration here.
Blithe, Adam88 2nd, Deadpool and 2 others like this. |
0.999893 | Last week, NASA reported that its Voyager 1 spacecraft, the farthest spacecraft (operational or non-operational) from Earth, is getting very near to interstellar space.
In December 2004, Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to pass the "termination shock" (the edge of the dark blue circle in the image at the link above). This is where the Sun's solar wind starts to dramatically slow down (to sub-sonic speeds), indicating a lessening of the Sun's influence. The termination shock is still well within the heliosphere, where the Sun's magnetic forces and solar wind outweigh the magnetic forces of the galaxy and the force of the galactic (i.e., interstellar) wind.
Ever since that time, Voyager 1 has been traveling through the the "heliosheath"--the part of the heliosphere between the termination shock and the "heliopause," which is the edge of the solar system. In recent months, Voyager researchers have noticed that the number of charged particles detected from outside the solar system is increasing dramatically and much more rapidly than before. In the most recent week of recorded data, these particles have increased 5%. In the most recent month, they have increased 9% total. In the 3 years before that, these interstellar particles have increase only a total of 25%. Something is changing now--and the change is getting faster and faster.
Researchers are estimating that Voyager 1 might be only weeks or months away from crossing the heliopause, where it will become the first human-made object to reach interstellar space. This should allow Voyager 1 to transmit back to us the first in situ measurements from there.
The timing of this passage could not be better. In 2015, the data recorder on board the spacecraft will stop being used because of power limitations. The nuclear fuel on board Voyager 1 will seriously taper off in 2020, severely limiting the power for the scientific instruments themselves. Around 2025, Voyager 1 should use up its nuclear fuel completely, and will lose contact with the Earth.
Voyager 1 has taken 34 years to go from the Earth to this point, traveling at approximately 38,000 miles per hour (61,155 kilometers per hour) after its encounter with Saturn in late 1980. It was going a bit slower than that before, but gravity assists from Jupiter and Saturn propelled it to that speed. The spacecraft is now 3.75 times the distance from the Sun that Pluto is.
The solar system might seem huge, taking 34 years or so to get to the edge of it--but that's just peanuts compared to the size of interstellar space. If Voyager 1 was pointed towards the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, (it's not, but for example's sake) it would take it approximately 76,443 additional years to reach it from its current position (assuming constant speed and assuming the stars stayed still). To get a sense of how long that is, modern humans were living alongside Neanderthals that long ago!
At any rate, probably at some point in the coming months we can claim to be a species with interstellar capabilities (super, super tenuous as it is). Still, it's pretty cool! Hopefully we'll learn some good stuff!
Tribus: Now with more Moral Reprehensiveness!
Is there any idea of what it may eventually hit? Like, what star?
In about 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will drift within 1.6 light years (9.3 trillion miles) of AC+79 3888, a star in the constellation of Camelopardalis. In some 296,000 years, Voyager 2 will pass 4.3 light years (25 trillion miles) from Sirius, the brightest star in the sky . The Voyagers are destined—perhaps eternally—to wander the Milky Way.
Isn't it about time for Voyager 3?
How hard would it be to build a probe that did nothing for 50 years, and then went full ears-on at that point, and transmitted to ground for the next decade?
My understanding is RTGs are not like batteries but more like candles that get lit when they get built, so there's no way to delay their startup and you're going to get the same amount of light regardless of if you have a use for it or not. But this is completely not my field.
Yeah. According to wikipedia, that star (AC+79 3888) is Gliese 445, a red dwarf that is currently 17.6 light years away, but is one of the fastest stars approaching the Sun. In 40,000 years, Gliese 445 will only be 3.45 light years away from the Sun (closer than the Alpha Centauri system, which is about 4.36 light years away currently). Even then, Voyager 1 will be 1.6 light years away from the star, which is like, a huge amount.
Oversizing the RTGs is about the only thing to do, and even that only gets you so far (plus all the other associated drawbacks...).
Well, Voyager survived the radiation from our sun during its life. I have to imagine it can handle the interstellar medium. Although, Voyager would be more prone to getting hit with things such as gamma rays outside the heliosphere, correct?
If I had to bet money I would say it's going to be nothing but a slow cold death for voyager but that's boring and it's more fun to imagine since we really don't know.
What if once Voyager is truly out in the ISM its velocity begins to climb and climb giving us new insight into why the expansion of the universe is accelerating? Granted it doesn't have the same origin but this will be the first time we've had anything man made interact with space outside the solar system.
What happens when voyager hits the bow wave? Possible trajectory change?
Too bad the power wont last for a few hundred years, voyager could prove or disprove the Oort clouds existence.
Like I said... fun to imagine.
Of course, the other thing to do would be to travel faster. That would get you farther while keeping the ~50 year limit on RTG power.
For example, back in the early 2000s, NASA had a proposed "Interstellar Probe" mission that would use a 300 meter (diameter? radius?) solar sail to accelerate to about 14 astronomical units (AU) per year. (An astronomical unit is the distance between the Earth and Sun, about 93 million miles/150 million kilometers.) It would reach 200 AU from the Sun in about 10 years, and continue functioning past 400 AU before the RTG that they were proposing for the craft stopped working. For comparison, Voyager 1 is currently at 120 AU (after 35 years), and is traveling at about 3.6 AU per year.
They also had a next-generation Interstellar Probe proposed that would be similar to the first, but would use a 1 km solar sail, and keep functioning out past 1,000 AU going about 20 AU per year.
The distance to the Alpha Centauri system is approximately 272,000 AU. This next-generation type of craft could reach the nearest star system in a brief 13,600 years or so.
If you could reach 10%+ the speed of light, you could potentially start to travel to external star systems and still have power using RTGs alone within a 50 year limit.
I always thought the concept of these was great, because within a 20-50 year timeframe we would gain a huge amount of detail about the interstellar space that surrounds our solar system, and further the technologies that might eventually lead to interstellar travel (like light sails and nuclear drives). From a scientific standpoint, you could justify the expenditures by evaluating the "galactic weather/environment" that our solar system is currently passing through, or will pass through over the next 50 to 100 years, and seeing how the changes in that environment affect the heliosphere, the Sun itself, and therefore, the Earth. Clever technologists would get us to go farther in less time, and we'd learn a ton about how the space surrounding our solar system alters our solar system.
Or you could "bet on tech". Put out a probe with those concentrated PV cells pulled by a solar sail. No other power source.
The probe should take 20-30 years to get to interstellar space. At that point, hope that we have built a laser that can target it from a distance and power the CPV on board. Then collect the data and send it back to Earth. In this case, the laser could be based on an orbiting platform -- perhaps around Jupiter, where it uses the huge magnetic field to supply power as it orbits.
In 1987 NASA/JPL had proposed the TAU, fission/ion. Main mission would be to measure stellar parallaxes, after all with a baseline of 1000AU instead of 2AU you get Hipparcos on steroids and if you send it in the direction of galactic north or south you could then directly find the distance to any (sufficiently bright) star in the Galaxy to within 2% or better.
M31's about 800,000 parsecs away, so a 1000AU chord would subtend 1.25mas. Hipparcos managed about 0.6mas accuracy, so if you don't mind big error bars and can put a large enough scope on the TAU to cope with the low apparent magnitudes you could think about a direct measurement of the distance to M31 that would be distinguishable from infinity.
Just to add a bit to my post earlier.
You have to imagine that within the Local Interstellar Cloud there are probably some pretty wide variations in density, energy, and activity, and sending out craft like Voyager 1 could give us some insights into what we are traveling through or will travel through in the near future. Well worth the investigation, I think.
Or use a fission reactor. Those have the advantage of only being depleted (over relevant timescales) according to the power that's actually used, rather than depleting at a constant rate regardless of power used. They also have a much better energy density at higher power levels, which will be needed for stuff like high-powered radio transmitters that will be needed at extra-solar distances.
Heavier than RTGs, yes, but not ridiculously so. They're easily within the limits of any current launch platform, not to say anything about proposed launchers like SLS or Falcon Heavy. Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter was intended to carry one.
What about Stirling radioisotope generators? As far as I can tell they produce 4x the power for the same weight, and will last just as long if not longer because there aren't thermocouples that will decay. They are still undergoing testing.
/Don't know anything just parroting what I'm reading.
For a truly long-endurance interstellar mission, you'll still be limited by the half-life of your fuel, but in this case a stirling radioisotope generator using Americum-241 (half-life = 432 years) would probably work very well. That said, if you want to talk to your probe at that range, you'll probably still need a power source with a lot more output. I would guess that if we ever do launch a serious extra-solar probe, it will probably have both a fission reactor for high power operations and a radioisotope generator for idle cruise periods.
Apparently americium-241 is an option being looked at for RTG's on account of plutonium-238 shortages. Has a quarter of the power density and needs thicker shielding (due to the decay of the decay products), but on the plus side has a 432 year half-life.
If you want to get really speculative then there's the possibility of using such metastable isomers as 166m1Ho (half-life 1200 years) which might perhaps be provoked into decay by lower-energy photons like 180m1Ta can be. Might have trouble getting a net energy output, but there is at least a bit of potential there for on-demand solid-state nuclear energy for a decades-long mission.
I remember that.. crap... can't remember enough details about it tho.
The density is almost unfathomably low. It's measurable with sufficiently sensitive instruments.
Again, there might be a lot of bodies but they're spread out over about 3 cubic light years. You're not going to stumble onto one of them just because you're out there.
New Horizons hopes to study more KBOs after Pluto, but to prepare for that they have to find them first with telescopes on Earth.
I would guess that if we ever do launch a serious extra-solar probe, it will probably have both a fission reactor for high power operations and a radioisotope generator for idle cruise periods.
For a reactor that needs to last that long you probably don't want to be turning it on and off all the time.
That's true. I didn't even think of that. Kind of like how asteroid belts are portrayed in movies as all jammed together. In the real world the asteroids are like a million(s) miles apart?
Not that I imagined the solar system encased in a rocky shell..I was thinking more of a thin gas/dust bubble.
They would probably include something like a nickel-hydrogen battery that could be recharged from the RTG to cover transients for the occasional telemetry dump, but I would imagine intense surveying/downlinking would either happen only under command or at predetermined intervals to manage the lifetime of the reactor. That said, both the Brayton cycle turbine and the Stirling linear alternator are supposed to be very robust.
In the real world the asteroids are like a million(s) miles apart?
It's estimated that there's a few trillion objects greater than 1 km in size.
So the density would be like one object in a sphere with a radius the size of Jupiter's orbit.
Right, exactly. Or tune the reactor to be able to support continuous transmission and dump the excess as heat when not in use. It's a telescope though, they're always in use.
In the near term, I'm not sure what a telescope would be continuously surveying through the entire mission. I'd seriously doubt it would be something Hubble-class, because any telescope of that capability would be more cost efficient to keep in-system. If it's something to try and get a longer baseline for estimating distances to individual stars and local galaxies, then you don't need a very big scope for that, and you wouldn't actually want to use it until it's a good ways out, and that's when you'd want your reactor running.
While such observations have been made, those were of bodies that had already been discovered optically and were using ground-based (read: huge) radar.
Let's see... a 500m radius disk @2AU would subtend 7e-19 steradians and a 1m radius disk (for receiving) @2AU would subtend 2.8e-24 steradians. So you'd only get about 2e-42 of an omnidirectional signal back. So you'd get back 1 out of every 5e41 photons. With a wavelength of (say) 1cm, that's about 2e-23J per photon so you'd need about 1e19J of them to get one photon back. If your platform is floating out at 20AU/yr then you'd have (about) 2 months to generate that much energy in order to scan the 2AU radius bubble before you're in the next one, so you'd need a continuous power output of the order of a terawatt. I'm ignoring here that the reflected signal won't be omnidirectional and I'm also ignoring transmission/absorption losses and noise, but it just seems like too big a hill to realistically climb.
Let's see... a 500m radius disk @2AU would subtend 7e-19 steradians and a 1m radius disk (for receiving) @2AU would subtend 2.8e-24 steradians. So you'd only get about 2e-42 of an omnidirectional signal back. So you'd get back 1 out of every 5e41 photons. With a wavelength of (say) 1cm, that's about 2e-23J per photon so you'd need about 1e19J of them to get one photon back. If your platform is floating out at 20AU/yr then you'd have (about) 2 months to generate that much energy in order to scan the 2AU radius bubble before you're in the next one, so you'd need a continuous power output of the order of a terawatt.
That's an ouch. Though I did consider that such a probe would probably be assembled on orbit and could afford a quite large antenna array (if it's doubling as the high-gain antenna, it will likely need to be fairly large anyways, no?). Also, I don't think you need to take a continuous survey, rather, you'd be turning running the radar maybe 2 or 3 times a year until out past the Kuiper Belt, and then at a much lower rate past that.
It seems to me like it makes a lot of sense to assemble deep space vehicles in space out of multiple components so that you aren't limited by what you can fit into a single payload. That could get you like a 10m receiving dish for that radar.
That could get you like a 10m receiving dish for that radar.
If it's something to try and get a longer baseline for estimating distances to individual stars and local galaxies, then you don't need a very big scope for that, and you wouldn't actually want to use it until it's a good ways out, and that's when you'd want your reactor running.
You might need a decent telescope to pick out individual stars in neighboring galaxies. How big is over my head.
Telescopes tend to be booked solid. Any decent telescope will find something to do to pass the time.
I'm sure there's also plenty of stuff that will become meaningfully paralaxable at different distances as the thing goes to increasing distances.
The key is that if you want to use the radar for discovery rather than inspecting something you've already found, you have no idea which direction to point it in. You can beam your photons to reduce the power requirements, but only at the cost of restricting the volume you can search before your probe has left the vicinity. You can make the dish bigger to reduce the power requirements but even if it's as large as Arecibo you're still looking at several kilowatts to get just a handful of photons back.
Actually looking back at it I think I missed a factor of 4π there: the solid angle of the 1km target at 2AU is actually π*(500m)²/(2x1.49598e11m)² = 8.8e-18 steradians (and likewise for the return), but then the fraction of an omidirectional signal that is intercepted gets the 4π factor back so the 2e-42 part remains the right order of magnitude (with the caveats that the reflected signal won't be omnidirectional and ignoring transmission/absorption losses and noise).
As an alternative, consider Neptune, which has a diameter of about 50,000km and an apparent magnitude of about 8 where it is, about 30AU from the Sun. Scale that down to 1km (brightness factor 4e-10) and a up to 1000AU from the Sun (brightness factor 9e-4) and down to 2AU from the observer (brightness factor 2.25e2) so a 1km body with the same albedo as Neptune (and also face-on) 1000AU from the Sun would have an apparent magnitude at a distance of 2AU of about 8 + 2.5xlog10(4e-10 x 9e-4 x 2.25e2) ~ 33.2. The HST gives out at about 30, so that class of instrument could passively detect in visible light such a 1km object about 1AU away (make a little leap for the higher albedo you might expect of an Oort cloud object vs Neptune), waaaay out there. Of course you'd need to point it around sufficiently as well, but at least you wouldn't need to take implausible amounts of power with you.
That would however be complicated by the appreciable relative motion of the spacecraft (a need to track in order to integrate photons received over enough time to make a detection).
Actually that's for the radius of the target body; I took 1m as the radius of the receiver.
Apparently individual stars in M31 can be readily discerned, at least with 20"-ers. Hipparcos' instrument was just 12". Wouldn't seem to be a problem.
Tribus: ...is so far past wrong, he flew past right to end up at a second, more heinous type of wrong.
I though the pioneer spacecraft were further away, but since they have been out of communication for at least a couple of decades now, they go in the non-operational category.
There is also this apocryphal story about a basketball that was launched up in an early rocket explosion. Supposedly the back of the napkin math said that it had enough velocity from the explosion that it could have escaped earth and was supposedly further out then the pioneer craft, not that anybody believes it actually made it through the atmosphere.
While the Pioneers have been traveling for longer, the orbital mechanics of its interaction at Saturn left Voyager 1 with the highest specific energy and so it overtook Pioneer 10 in 1998.
I hadn't heard about that one, just the "manhole cover".
Yeah. Both Voyagers passed the Pioneers long ago. The Voyagers are just traveling a lot faster.
yeah conspiracy theories make me sad as well.
Two of three key signs of changes expected to occur at the boundary of interstellar space have changed faster than at any other time in the last seven years, according to new data from NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft.
For the last seven years, Voyager 1 has been exploring the outer layer of the bubble of charged particles the sun blows around itself. In one day, on July 28, data from Voyager 1's cosmic ray instrument showed the level of high-energy cosmic rays originating from outside our solar system jumped by five percent. During the last half of that same day, the level of lower-energy particles originating from inside our solar system dropped by half. However, in three days, the levels had recovered to near their previous levels.
A third key sign is the direction of the magnetic field, and scientists are eagerly analyzing the data to see whether that has, indeed, changed direction. Scientists expect that all three of these signs will have changed when Voyager 1 has crossed into interstellar space. A preliminary analysis of the latest magnetic field data is expected to be available in the next month.
I feel Voyager 1 is almost there . . . |
0.956561 | An update on the space probes that are exploring our solar system.
The Messenger mission to Mercury has been in orbit around it since 2011. It completed its primary mission of mapping the entire surface of the planet and is on an extended mission continue imaging, probably for another year.
The Magellan spacecraft to Venus was launched in 1989. It was primarily used to map the surface of Venus using radar to penetrate through the dense clouds. Magellan was intentionally sent in to burn up in Venus' atmosphere in 1994.
Venus Express, launched by the European Space Agency, has been in orbit around the planet since 2006, studying the dynamics of its atmosphere and climate, providing data that will help us understand climate change on Earth.
Earth is surrounded by numerous artificial satellites used for communications, and studies of its surface and atmosphere. There is a good website on Wikipedia with links to pages about them. The weather satellites are operated by many different countries and institutions, and the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin has a website that gives you immediate access to many of them.
You can see the International Space Station when it passes overhead. It is our only manned outpost in space, and is used for low gravity research and for manned observations of Earth. The ISS is funded by the US and other governments for operation until 2024. Crews are taken to it by the Russian Soyuz spacecraft for 6-month stays. Private cargo spacecraft have recently been allowed to dock with ISS, and may eventually also provide transportation for humans.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is currently orbiting the Moon from pole to pole, mapping from a very low orbit only 50 km off the surface. It went into lunar orbit in 2009 and its mission should continue at least until 2015.
NASA also recently operated "LADEE", the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer mission to the Moon. It was planned as a short duration (100 days for science) mission designed to find out about the dust that is near the Moon's surface. When that phase was over in April 2014, the mission controllers sent the spacecraft to impact on the Moon on or around April 21, 2014.
China landed the Jade Rabbit rover on the Moon's surface in December 2013. It briefly explored the area around its landing site, but it did not survive the cold lunar night that followed.
Mars has been extensively explored with spacecraft, although many others did not survive the journey. A complete list of missions to Mars is available on Wikipedia.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity were launched in 2003 and landed in 2004. Spirit got stuck in the Martian soil in 2009 and it operated as a stationary lab until communication with it was lost in 2010. Opportunity continues to search for evidence of life.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter went into orbit around Mars in 2006 and continues to return images as it looks evidence of water and studies the history of Mars surface. It uses cameras and radar to study the landforms, polar caps, and atmosphere of the planet.
Mars Science Laboratory made an accurate landing on Mars in August 2012, and its Curiosity rover has been exploring Gale crater since then.
The European Space Agency operates Mars Express also in orbit around Mars since 2003, mapping its surface and studying its atmosphere. Mars Express made a flyby of Phobos in December 2013.
NASA's MAVEN mission intended to study the planet's atmosphere is currently en route to arrive at Mars in September 2014.
There are currently no spacecraft at Jupiter. The last one was NASA's Galileo which was launched in 1989 and operated until 2003 when it was intentionally sent into Jupiter's atmosphere. Cassini also took data and images on Jupiter when it was on its way to Saturn.
NASA's Juno is en route. It was launched in 2011 and will arrive in 2016 after a 5-year cruise. It will be in a polar orbit, giving a unique view of Jupiter's atmosphere, and providing data on its magnetic field and the radiation environment.
ESA and NASA jointly operate the Cassini mission to Saturn which included the Huygens probe that landed on its satellite Titan. The Cassini spacecraft, which left for Saturn in 1997 and went into orbit in 2004, is expected to continue to operate until 2017.
There are no spacecraft at Pluto now and none have visited it yet. However the NASA New Horizons spacecraft is en route and projected to arrive in 2015.
NASA's Dawn Mission is on a journey to look at the origin of the solar system by exploring its minor bodies. Dawn visited Vesta in 2011 and is now on a path to arrive at Ceres, the closest dwarf planet and the largest asteroid, in March 2015.
ESA has Rosetta, a spacecraft launched in 2004 that has made flybys of asteroids and is on its way to look at a comet. When it reaches Churyumov–Gerasimenko in August 2014 it will slow down and enter an orbit around the comet. In November a lander will be fired to attach onto the comet, and for the first time we will have instruments that can drill and sample cometary material while a nearby spacecraft monitors the cometary gases and dust. The most recent discovery is that the comet has a twin nucleus, which complicates plans on how to place the lander on its surface.
This page was last modified on 24 July 2014, at 03:03. |
0.988296 | A pancake batter recipe without butter?
can someone give me a pancake batter recipe that can use olive oil instead of butter. just a simple pancake recipe. nothing special. thank you!
Best Answer: I'm sure the "oil" in this recipe is meant to be vegetable oil such as corn oil or canola oil, but I imagine olive oil might work. However, if you do have canola oil, corn oil, etc., I would use that instead of olive oil to be on the safe side.
Mix all together. Pour 3 tablespoons batter in skillet. When bubbles start to form, turn the pancakes and cook until browned.
Ingredients: 100 g/4 oz/1 cup plain (all-purpose) flour A pinch of salt 1 egg 300 ml milk (or milk and water mixed) 15 oz/1 tbsp butter, melted (optional) Oil, for shallow frying Method: Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the egg and half the milk. Beat well until thick and smooth. Stir in the remaining milk and melted butter, if using. Leave to stand, if possible for 30 minutes, before use. Heat a little oil in a frying pan (skillet) and pour off the excess into a small bowl to use for the next pancake. When very hot, pour in just enough batter to coat the base of the pan when it is tipped and swirled gently. Cook until set and the base of the pancake is golden brown. Toss or flip over with a palette knife. Cook the other side. Slide out and keep warm on a plate over a pan of hot water while cooking the remainder. Use as required.
I've never used a pancake recipe that calls for butter, so they are out there. Just take your usual recipe and leave it out. A little oil could be substituted but I never use oil in the batter either.
any pancake recipe needs a 'fat' whether its vegetable oil, olive oil or butter. Just subsitute the butter in your recipe for olive oil.
Inside, you'll not only get 125 delicious mouthwatering recipes, they've also included some great bonuses as well to help you get started as fast as possible.
Is there any pancake recipe without baking power?
Can you make pancakes without butter/oil?
A simple pancake recipe without eggs?
Pancake recipe without baking powder?
Can you prepare store-bought pancake mix without mixing oil or butter? |
0.923802 | A question that comes up after you record a video or screencast is how can you edit that video in the cloud or on a Chromebook. While there are some Chrome Apps and Extension that offer video editing, many limit actions such as sharing and downloading.
YouTube Video Editor offers a full set of features that are useful for editing videos. You can trim videos, add photos and music, insert transitions, and add text to videos. |
0.998462 | How you show your PPT online with showing 2 slides at one time?
What is the best software helping to show your PPT online with showing 2 slides at one time?
Output: Click "Convert to flash" button to enter into output option interface to choose a proper way (HTML, EXE, ZIP or Burn to CD ) for publishing your presentations.
If you want to publish online, just choose HTML output format, and then upload all output files (including HTML, SWF and "files" folder) to your website together. |
0.997083 | What is the Tallest Mountain in South Carolina?
SASSAFRAS MOUNTAIN WITH AN ELEVATION OF 1,083 M (3,554 FT) IS THE TALLEST MOUNTAIN IN THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, USA. IT IS LOCATED IN THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS, PART OF THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS, AT THE BORDER BETWEEN TWO STATES: SOUTH CAROLINA AND NORTH CAROLINA.
The summit is a relatively easy hike starting right away from the parking lot all the year round, and is, additionally, handicap accessible, even though the path may be rather steep at times. As for the climbing routes, the variety is almost endless.
The Pisgah Quadrangle topographical map, dating back to 1904-1905, depicts the long abandoned Sassafras Gap Road that served as the main route until the end of the 19th Century. This old road is a short distance from the peak and is crossed by the hiking trails. Most people crossing this abandoned path don't recognize it used to be ab actual road. A hike southward down the old Sassafras Gap Road leads to Hickory Head Spring, the source of the South Saluda River.
Sassafras Mountain - 1,083 m (3,554 ft), at the border between South Carolina and North Carolina, in Pickens County, South Carolina, United States.
Pinnacle Mountain - 1,041 m (3,415 ft), in Pickens County, South Carolina, United States.
Coldbranch Mountain - 1,016 m (3,333 ft), in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States.
Fork Mountain - 1,004 m (3,294 ft), in Oconee County, South Carolina, United States.
Hogback Mountain - 972 m (3,189 ft), in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. |
0.961421 | Cistercian archbishop. Peter was born near Vienne, in Dauphine, France, and joined the Cistercian Order at Bonneveaux at the age of twenty with his two brothers and father. Known for his piety, at age thirty he was sent to serve as the first abbot of Tamie, in the Tarantaise Mountains, between Geneva and Savoy. There he built a hospice for travelers. In 1142, he was named the archbishop of Tarantaise against his wishes, and he devoted much energy to reforming the diocese, purging the clergy of corrupt and immoral members, aiding the poor, and promoting education. He is also credited with starting the custom of distributing bread and soup the so called May Bread just before the harvest, a custom which endured throughout France until the French Revolution. After thirteen years as bishop, Peter suddenly disappeared. Eventually he was discovered serving as a lay brother in a Cistercian abbey in Switzerland and was convinced to return to Tarantaise and resume his episcopal duties. Trusted as an advisor by popes and kings, he defended papal rights in France and was called upon to assist in bringing about a reconciliation between King Louis VII of France and then Prince Henry II of England. Peter was canonized in 1191. He should not be confused with Peter of Tarantaise, who became Pope Innocent V. |
0.911961 | what are the chemicals used in fart bags?
i have been looking on the net for what ingredients go into fart bags, which are these fart bombs with powder in them and a liquid inside a small packet, which you squish , then they react to produce hydrogen sulfide and then the bag pops and a rotton egg smell fills the area.
i realy want to know what it is that goes into those because i want to make a 10xbigger fart bage, but i dont want to have to use the powder and liquid from real ones because the only ones i can get cost $15 for a packet of 10 which i feel is too expensive when i know there may be an alternative method.
Lemonie's right about the hazrds of mishandling the chemicals. Inhale too much and you die. Don't mess around wth these chemicals unless you are fully qualified to handle them safely.
That said, it's ammonium sulfide and water.
+1 I love a straight answer.
BTW, Jpoopdog: You might also succeed in killing yourself, and/or others, using various metal sulfides, plus water and/or strong acid.
Remember to read the MSDSes too!
. Please keep in mind that H2S has two properties that are particularly nasty in combination: kills your sense of smell and it's very poisonous (comparable to hydrogen cyanide). After a short period of exposure, you can't smell it well enough to tell you are getting too much. It is also flammable and heavier than air.
just to make this perfectly clear, i am not going to use this in an amount any larger than 10x the size of a standard sized stink bomb bag, aka a 10X18 ziplock bag.
the amounts of hcl and CaS(x) i am using will not exxeed a safe amount.
i have this program called crocodile chemistry now , and it lets me do chemical reactions safely on my pc, not to mention measure gas released and alter purities of reactents, what i am doing is perfectly safe,and it will be done in small amounts, nothing deadly.
you seem to forget that ammonium sulfide is hydrogen sulfide just being released in a state that is lighter than air for a few seconds and then heavier than air, allowing it to disperse in a large area very quickly in small consentration. the quatity of reactent is slightly larger than the liquid amonium sulfide i used to use.
while researching safe stinkbomb-friendly amounts i found out someone in japan did what i want to do, only with a small 650ml coke bottle and fillig it 1/3 of the way with hcl and CaS, which killed a bunch of people at the school.
tell me though, exactly what amount of h2s is deadly, e.g howmany ballons of it would make it dangerous in a corridoor with mild ventilation?
ok, i understand that it is dangerous, but then why arent stink vials dangerous? they release liquid amminium sulfide which precipitates into hydrogen sulfide.
if any of you have an idea on how to make a safe hydrogen sulfide stink bomb , or level of reatents, please tell me.
. Over-the-counter products do not release an appreciable amount of H2S - it doesn't take much to make a lot of stink.
. Just don't get carried away. Keep quantities small and don't release in enclosed spaces.
im gonna write an instructable on this if i can get it to work.
The stink bomb chemical is generally a product called butyl mercaptan it isn't available or manufacturable at home.
Hydrogen sulphide is a nasty poisonous gas. You risk harm to health with higher concentrations.
I was going to say that but I've been told I'm a kill joy. Better that then killing your friends.
Listen to Lemonie the chemist. |
0.929331 | The Battle of Ostrach, also called the Battle by Ostrach, occurred on 20–21 March 1799. It was the first non-Italy-based battle of the War of the Second Coalition. The battle resulted in the victory of the Austrian forces, under the command of Archduke Charles, over the French forces, commanded by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan.
The battle occurred during Holy Week, 1799, amid rain and dense fog. Initially, the French were able to take, and hold, Ostrach and the nearby hamlet of Hoßkirch plus several strategic points on the Ostrach marsh. As the engagement began, Habsburg numerical superiority overwhelmed French defenses. By evening, the French left wing was flanked and Jourdan's men retreated from Ostrach to the Pfullendorf heights. On the next morning, as Jourdan considered a counter-attack, the weather broke, and he could look down on the Austrian battle array. The numbers and dispositions of the Austrians convinced him that any attack would be useless, and that he could not hope to maintain his position in the heights. As he withdrew, a portion of his right flank was cut off from the main force.
Although casualties appeared even on both sides, the Austrians had a significantly larger fighting force, both on the field at Ostrach, and stretched along a line between Lake Constance and Ulm. French casualties amounted to eight percent of the force and Austrian, approximately four percent. The French withdrew to Engen and Stockach, where a few days later the armies engaged again, this time with greater losses on both sides, and an Austrian victory.
Initially, the rulers of Europe, such as Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, viewed the revolution in France as an event between the French king and his subjects, and not something in which they should interfere. As the rhetoric grew more strident, however, the other monarchies started to view events with alarm. In 1790, Leopold succeeded his brother Joseph as emperor and by 1791, he considered the situation surrounding his sister, Marie Antoinette, and her children, with greater and greater alarm. In August 1791, in consultation with French émigré nobles and Frederick William II of Prussia, he issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, in which they declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe as one with the interests of Louis and his family. They threatened ambiguous, but quite serious, consequences if anything should happen to the royal family.
The French Republican position became increasingly difficult. Compounding problems in international relations, French émigrés continued to agitate for support of a counter-revolution abroad. Chief among them were the Prince Condé, his son, the Duke de Bourbon, and his grandson, the Duke d'Enghien. From their base in Koblenz, immediately over the French border, they sought direct support for military intervention from the royal houses of Europe, and raised an army.
On 20 April 1792, the French National Convention declared war on Austria. In this War of the First Coalition (1792–1798), France ranged itself against most of the European states sharing land or water borders with her, plus Portugal and the Ottoman Empire. Although the Coalition forces achieved several victories at Verdun, Kaiserslautern, Neerwinden, Mainz, Amberg and Würzburg, the efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte in northern Italy pushed Austrian forces back and resulted in the negotiation of the Peace of Leoben (17 April 1797) and the subsequent Treaty of Campo Formio (October 1797).
The treaty called for meetings between the involved parties to work out the exact territorial and remunerative details, to be convened at Rastatt. The French demand for more territory than originally agreed upon stalled negotiations. Despite their agreement at Campo Formio and the ongoing meetings at Rastatt, the two primary combatants of the First Coalition, France and Austria, were highly suspicious of the other's motives. Several diplomatic incidents undermined the agreement. The Austrians were reluctant to cede the designated territories and the Rastatt delegates could not, or would not, orchestrate the transfer of agreed upon territories to compensate the German princes for their losses. Ferdinand of Naples refused to pay tribute to France, followed by the Neapolitan rebellion, invasion by France, and the subsequent establishment of the Parthenopean Republic. Republican uprising in the Swiss cantons, encouraged by the French Republic with military support, led to the establishment of the Helvetic Republic.
Other factors contributed to the rising tensions as well. On his way to Egypt in 1798, Napoleon had stopped on the Island of Malta and forcibly removed the Hospitallers from their possessions. This angered Paul, Tsar of Russia, who was the honorary head of the Order. The French Directory, furthermore, was convinced that the Austrians were conniving to start another war. Indeed, the weaker the French Republic seemed, the more seriously the Austrians, the Neapolitans, the Russians and the English actually discussed this possibility.
Archduke Charles of Austria had taken command of the army in late January. Although he was unhappy with the strategy set forward by his brother, the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, he had acquiesced to the less ambitious plan to which Francis and the Aulic Council had agreed: Austria would fight a defensive war and would maintain a continuous defensive line from the Danube to northern Italy. The archduke had stationed himself at Friedberg for the winter, 4.7 miles (8 km) east-south-east of Augsburg. The army was already settled into cantonments in the environs of Augsburg, extending south along the Lech river.
As winter broke in 1799, on 1 March, General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan and his army of 25,000, the so-called Army of the Danube, crossed the Rhine at Kehl. Instructed to block the Austrians from access to the Swiss alpine passes, the Army of the Danube would ostensibly isolate the armies of the Coalition in Germany from allies in northern Italy, and prevent them from assisting one another; furthermore, if the French held the interior passes in Switzerland, they could use the routes to move their own forces between the two theaters. The Army of the Danube, meeting little resistance, advanced through the Black Forest in three columns, through the Höllental (Hölle valley), via Oberkirch, and Freudenstadt, and a fourth column advanced along the north shore of the Rhine. Although Jourdan might have been better advised to establish a position on the eastern slope of the mountains, he did not. Instead, he pushed across the Danube plain and took up position between Rottweil and Tuttlingen, and eventually pushing toward the imperial city of Pfullendorf in Upper Swabia.
French troops wintered in France and crossed the Rhine, moving toward Ostrach in March 1799; Austrian troops wintered in Bavaria, crossed the Lech, and approached Ostrach from the east.
News of the French advance across the Rhine took three days to reach Charles at Augsburg. The Austrian Vorhut (advance guard), 17,000 men under the command of Field marshal Friedrich Joseph, Count of Nauendorf, crossed the Lech in three columns, the first at Babenhausen, marching in the direction of Biberach, the second, and strongest, at Memmingen, marching in the direction of Waldsee, and the third at Leutkirch, heading in the direction of Ravensburg. The main force of 53,000 men, under the command of the Archduke, crossed the Lech by Augsburg, Landsberg and Schongau, and six battalions of 6,600 men crossed the Danube at Ulm. An additional force of 13,000 troops under the command of Lieutenant Field Marshal Anton Sztáray marched toward Neumarkt in the direction of Rednitz. Eventually, 10,000 men under the command of General Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze marched north from Feldkirch in Switzerland, but they did not arrive in time to participate at either the battle at Ostrach, or for the subsequent battle at Stockach.
Ostrach was a small village, with a population of 300. The village belonged to the Cistercian Imperial Abbey of Salem, an influential and wealthy ecclesiastical territory on Lake Constance. The village was largely dedicated to farming, although a stretch of the imperial post road connected it and Pfullendorf. A wide, flat plain, marshy in places, stretched between the base of the Pfullendorf heights and the village; low lying hills ringed the valley, which was creased by a small stream from which the village takes its name. Ostrach itself lies almost at the northern end of this plain, but slightly south of the Danube itself. The two armies faced each other across this small and, at that time of that year, very soggy valley.
By 7 March, the first Austrian soldiers arrived in Ostrach. The French advance guard arrived by the 9th, under command of General François Joseph Lefebvre; in the forward line, the 25th Demi-brigade and Light Infantry positioned themselves between Ostrach and Hoßkirch; Lefebvre also had three battalions each of the 53rd and 67th Demi-Brigades of light infantry, twenty squadrons of hussars, chasseurs, and dragoons, and field artillery pieces. By 12 March, the village and the surrounding farms were filled with Lancers (Ulanen) and Hussars (Hussaren) and by the 17th, the Austrian advance guard had established forward posts at Buchau, Altshausen and Waldsee. The remainder of Charles' army, at this point nearly 110,000 strong, had established itself along a line from Ulm to Lake Constance.
By 18 March, Jourdan had formed his headquarters at Pfullendorf, on the heights above Ostrach. In front of him stood the largest part of his cavalry and half of his infantry. The center, including the 4th Regiment of Hussars, the 1st of Chasseurs à Cheval, and two squadrons of the 17th Dragoons, lay behind Ostrach, under command of General Klein. Jourdan distributed them in three columns, the strongest on the post road by Saulgau, another on the road in the direction of Altshausen, and a third at the hamlet of Friedberg.
The flank of Lefebvre's division, with 7,000 men, commanded by Laurent Saint-Cyr extended to the Danube; by the time skirmishing began, Vandamme, was still in the environs of Stuttgart, with 3,000 men, looking in vain for Austrian forces that might be stationed there, and he played no part in the battle. The far right, under command of Ferino, angled south from Pfullendorf to Lake Constance, or the Bodensee. The cavalry reserve of 3,000 under General Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul included a battalion of the 53rd Demi-Brigade, and waited in close column in the environs of Pfullendorf.
Jourdan considered his position superior to the Austrian's, protected as he was by the marshy plain between his positions and the Austrian front, and he thought he had another three days to consolidate his positions. His forces occupied Hoßkirch, and a couple of other points he considered strategic: the causeway (post road) that passed Saulgau (today Bad Saulgau), the village of Altshausen 11 kilometers (7 mi) east, and the hamlet of Friedberg, 5 kilometers (3 mi) to the north-north-east of Ostrach. These positions created a perimeter around Ostrach. He was unaware that the Archduke had arrived by forced marches from Augsburg to the vicinity of Ostrach; Jourdan thought the main force of Charles' army was still at least three days' march away. By the middle of Holy Week in 1799, more than a third of Charles' army, 48,000 mixed troops, was positioned in a formation parallel to Jourdan's, and his 72,000 remaining troops were arrayed with the left wing at Kempten, the center near Memmingen, and the right flank extended to Ulm.
As the armies assembled in their positions, the flanks and forward outposts encountered one another in several skirmishes; indeed, they had been skirmishing for seven days, until 19 March, when the outposts of both armies nearly overlapped. On the right wing, General Ferino's men encountered an Austrian column of volunteer infantry and some light cavalry from one of the border Hussar regiments, and took 70 and 80 prisoners, respectively, including several officers. All of this happened without the Austrians knowing that there was an official declaration of war. On the 20 March, a French emissary arrived at camp of Prince Schwarzenberg, a major general commanding a brigade of the advanced guard. The emissary asked if he possessed a declaration of war from Vienna, and upon being informed that Schwarzenberg had received no such declaration, informed him that the armistice established at Campo Formio was ended, and there existed between France and Austria a state of war. General Jourdan reportedly began a general attack when the emissary left, although other sources do not bear out the scale of the attack.
Ostrach and the nearby villages.
Initially, the strength of the French advance guard pushed the most forward of the Austrian right to Saulgau and Ratzenreute, 6.2 kilometers (4 mi) east of Ostrach, backing the Austrian main army against the Schussen river. Jean Victor Tharreau's mixed brigade of infantry, light infantry and cavalry encountered the Austrians at Barendorf, and forced them to give up the ground; immediately, Charles sent reinforcements, and the Austrians regained what they had lost.
At the center of the French line, at Hoßkirch, 3 kilometers (2 mi) east-south-east of Ostrach, General Lefebvre's column attacked the Austrians in an action that lasted most of the day. The Austrian line included several seasoned Grenzer (border) regiments, the Vecsy Hussars, and some lancers; although Lefebvre's initial assault caused confusion in the Austrian ranks, the Lancers counter-attacked with ferocity and, joined by the Grenzers and the Hussars, pursued the French along the Ostrach river valley, and cut up four squadrons of the 8th Regiment of Chasseurs à Cheval. Lefebvre's column was forced out of the hamlet by the Austrians, who had four battalions, 1200 horse, and six cannons. After bringing up additional reinforcements—several light artillery, Chasseurs à Cheval, Hussars, and the 17th Regiment of Dragoons, Lefebvre was able to take the village again. By 0500 of 21 March, however, he sent word to Jourdan that he was being attacked on all posts by the Austrians, and they must soon expect a general engagement.
Charles had divided his force into columns, and at close to 1000, the Austrians attacked in force, with simultaneous assaults upon multiple positions. With Nauendorf's advance force moved with 11 battalions and 20 squadrons on Saint Cyr's position . Following behind with the main force of the right column, Fürstenberg had little difficulty pushing the French out of Davidsweiler and advanced on Ruppersweiler an Einhard 5 kilometers (3 mi) to the northwest. His force pressured elements of Saint Cyr's thinly manned line, and the entire line fell back slowly, to maintain contact with its flanks. Maximilian, Count of Merveldt's force, attacking on Saint Cyr's far left flank, continued to pressure the line, which started to crumble. Further south, Olivier, Count of Wallis took a column of 18 battalions and 42 squadrons and attacked the Adjutant General François-Xavier Octavie Fontaine's French line at Riedhausen, between Ostrach and Ferino's column at Salem. In the maneuvering, the cross-fire trapped French forces; at Riedhausen, unable to take cover, they were cut down from both sides.
Charles himself took a main column along the high road, a causeway that passed by Saulgau, to attack Lefebvre on points between Hoßkirch and Ostrach. In this deployment of his force, Charles sought to dislodge the center of the French line from its position in Ostrach, separating the wings from the main body of force and overcoming both separately.
The convergence of the two columns on the French at Ostrach demonstrated the advantage of the superiority of Austrian numbers. From every angle, the Austrians threatened to overwhelm the French. Jourdan wrote that his men disappeared under a cloud of red coats. Battalion after battalion of Austrians threw themselves against the French defenses. By late morning, Charles' troops pushed the French out of Hoßkirch, and into Ostrach, which the French nearly lost until Jourdan sent reinforcements. The fighting remained fierce until about 1600, when the French pulled back toward Pfullendorf, encouraged by Austrian cavalry. Once out of Ostrach, and established on the road at and around Pfullendorf, the French formed a new perimeter, reinforced by reserves of Soulham, and enjoyed the benefit of altitude from which they could fire down upon the attacking Austrians. Despite the punishing musket fire, Charles' strategy worked. The far right wing (Ferino's force), which had not been attacked yet, fell back to Salem Abbey, to maintain communication with the French center.
At the Pfullendorf heights, the fight began anew. Charles sent two strong columns of eight battalions each across the Ostrach stream. The French poured fire on the Austrians, who took heavy losses, but did not give up the ground. In the night, Fürstenberg broke through the French line to Einhard, flanking Jourdan's main force and cutting off Saint Cyr. Further south, Wallis threatened to do the same to Fontaine and Ferino. As darkness fell, so ended the first day of fighting.
"... [W]e discovered an immense line of cavalry and infantry. It may be said, without exaggeration, that the troops which engaged our advanced guard amounted to twenty-five thousand men. I now perceived the absolute impossibility of making any further resistance against such a superior force, as well as the danger that threatened the division, from the advantage which the enemy had gained on the left. I therefore ordered General Soult to fall back with the division to the post before Pfulendorf [sic]."
He was wrong; the Austrians engaged with the French advance guard numbered closer to 50,000, and constituted the main body of Charles' army, not its advance guard. In the night, Charles also had moved additional troops to renew the attack on the Pfullendorf heights at daybreak.
On 21 March, at 2200, Jourdan ordered the wounded to be transported to Schaffhausen in Switzerland, via Stockach. The main army then began its own retreat in the early morning of 22 March. The reserve division of d'Hautpoul left first, and pulled back via Stockach to Emmingen ob Egg. According to Jourdan, the retreat occurred in perfect order, and was supported in particular by a company of sappers, who blew up the bridges in the face of enemy fire, and then fought like grenadiers. The Austrians outflanked Saint Cyr's forces on the right flank and General Ferino, at the southern-most point, retreated to Salem, to maintain the line with the remainder of the French force. When the first division pulled back to Bodman, on the northern tip of the Überlingen-finger of Lake Constance, a portion of the force was encircled and cut off by the 2nd Lancers of Karl Philipp, Prince Schwarzenberg's brigade, and more than 500 were taken prisoner.
Other sources are less sanguine in their assessment of Jourdan's retreat. Jourdan's forces, especially his left flank, were severely pressed; the French line collapsed upon itself at both ends as the soldiers fell back. A dispatch to Paris, later reported in the Times, claimed that the French intent had been betrayed to the Austrians by a deserter, but there is some evidence that this was Jourdan's mendacious attempt to explain the apparent surprise with which the Austrians attacked. A British report claimed that the French commander had two horses shot from under him, but Jourdan himself reported that only one horse was shot, and he was thrown, stunned, to the ground. Lefebvre received a musket ball in the wrist and had to be carried from the field; command of his division was given to the rising star Jean-de-Dieu Soult. Furthermore, a sizable portion—sources are not clear on how many—of the French right wing (Ferino's force) had been cut off from its main force, and made prisoner. Finally, General Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze was quickly making his way north with 10,000 men from Feldkirch and prepared to attack Jourdan's army from the south.
Eventually, Jourdan withdrew first to Messkirch (sometimes spelled Mößkirch or Meßkirch), and when that city was no longer defensible, fell back to Stockach, and then again Engen, but he wrote that the armies had been well-matched; French valor, he wrote, overcame servitude. His men had taken many Austrian prisoners, and he knew also that many Austrians lay dead or wounded on the field of battle. His army itself had losses, but their valor in death matched the ambitious tyranny of the Austrians: Charles had driven his army hard, he wrote, and the Austrians would not pursue the gallant, liberty-loving French; Charles' failure to pursue the French affirmed Jourdan's perception that his had not been a defeat followed by retreat, but rather a strategic withdrawal. Jourdan probably did not know that Charles had been ordered to maintain a continuous and orderly defensive line with troops to the south.
Jourdan's own assessment did not match that of his superiors in Paris, who recognized that the loss of twelve percent of the fighting force, versus less than four percent for the adversary, did not amount to a draw. Furthermore, this first attempt to cut the Austrians off from access to the upper Rhine and Lake Constance had not succeeded. There were other considerations, primarily that Jourdan simply did not have enough men to fight not only this battle but the subsequent ones as well.
Located at 47°57′19.9″N 9°23′18″E / 47.955528°N 9.38833°E / 47.955528; 9.38833 The architect of the monument was the Hohenzollern state conservator, Wilhelm Friedrich Laur.
For his own part, the Archduke did not push his troops to pursue and capture the enemy, or even harass their retreat. Charles' slow pursuit might have been due to his own disgruntlement with Vienna's overarching defensive strategy and the undoubted difficulty of the battle itself, conducted with troops wearied by a forced march of 30 miles (48 km), fighting in rain, fog, and on normally boggy terrain made more soggy by the heavy spring rains and snow melt. Regardless, he more than made up for these shortcomings within the week. Five days after Jourdan's departure from Ostrach and Pfullendorf, the French and Austrian armies continued the fight at Stockach. This time, the decision could not be argued: The Army of the Danube could not hold the territory and withdrew into the Black Forest.
The battle at Ostrach had been difficult, as Jourdan pointed out, due largely to the dense fog and terrible weather that hampered his observation of his enemy's movements, yet the same fog that blinded him to the Austrian movements did not seem to hamper Charles. The fog and rainy weather did play a role, however. On a local level, in the damp night of the 20th, which was Gründonnerstag, (German: Green Thursday, or Maundy Thursday), the Danube overflowed, backing up into the Ostrach, and causing it to burst its own banks. The flood trapped 300 civilians between the two armies intent on destruction; suspecting what was to come, Ostrachers huddled in their cellars, and hoped for the best and gasping for breath as the battle thundered overhead. Amazingly, none were killed, although they spent Easter Sunday caring for the wounded, and helping to bury the 4,000 or so soldiers who died in the battle.
Prior to 1903, a simple wooden cross commemorated the battle site, located on the so-called Buchbuhl, a hill overlooking the village, and the plains to the southeast, where much of the fighting occurred. In 1903, a monument was erected to honor the battle. In 1945, when French troops arrived in the region, they closed the monument; the local pastor encouraged them to reopen it, calling it a chapel.
^ Blanning, p. 232; Gunther E. Rothenberg. Napoleon’s great adversaries: Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army 1792–1914. Stroud, (Gloucester): Spellmount, 2007, p. 74; Ramsey Weston Phipps. The Armies of the First French Republic, volume 5: The armies of the Rhine in Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Egypt and the coup d'etat of Brumaire, 1797–1799, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1939, pp. 49–50.
^ a b c Blanning, p. 232.
^ David Hollins, Austrian Commanders of the Napoleonic Wars, 1792–1815. London, Osprey, 2004, pp. 18–19.
^ Jean-Baptiste Jourdan. A Memoir of the operations of the army of the Danube under the command of General Jourdan, taken from the manuscripts of that officer, London: Debrett, 1799, p. 164.
^ Smith, p. 147; Jourdan, pp. 140–144; Broda, Südkurier.
^ Phipps, pp. 49–50; Young, p. 227.
^ Phipps, pp. 49–50; Young, p. 227–228.
^ John Gallagher. Napoleon's enfant terrible: General Dominique Vandamme. Tulsa: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-8061-3875-6, p. 76-77.
^ Phipps, pp. 49–50; Young, p. 227-228.
^ a b Jourdan, p. 178.
^ a b Phipps, pp. 49–50; Young, pp. 220–228.
^ a b c d e Edward Cust (Sir). Annals of the wars of the eighteenth century, compiled from the most authentic histories of the period. London: Mitchell's military library, 1857–1860, p. 166.
^ From the Hamburgh Mail. "Private Correspondence", Hamburgh, 2 March 1799, reported in The Times, 8 April 1799, pg. 3; col A.
^ "Private Correspondence", The Times, 8 April 1799.
^ Phipps, pp. 49–50; Jourdan, pp. 145–149.
^ a b Jourdan, p. 160.
^ Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch. The History of the campaign of 1796 in Germany and Italy. London, 1797. p. 70.
^ Although the Habsburg Infantry wore white coats, some grenadier and hussar units wore red. Jourdan himself says that the coats were red, and an English source confirms this. Jourdan, p. 145. Times, 5 April 1799.
^ Cust, p. 166; Sir Archibald Alison. A History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789 to the Restoration of the Bourbons. New York: A.S. Barnes, 1850, p. 115; Phipps, pp. 49–50.
^ a b Graham, p. 68.
^ Phipps, pp. 78–79; Young, pp. 229–231.
^ Phipps, pp. 49–50; Jourdan, p. 178.
^ (in German) Roland Kessinger, '"Die Schlacht von Stockach am 25. März 1799". Zeitschrift für Militärgeschichte. Salzburg: Öst. Milizverlag, 1997–. , p. 3.
^ "Engagements Between The Grand Armies Of The Archduke and General Jourdan." The Times, Friday, 5 April 1799; pg. 2; col A.
^ Times, 5 April 1799.
^ Jourdan, p. 161; Cust, p. 166.
^ The Times 5 April 1799. Other sources report he lost his arm: See "Private Correspondence", The Times, 8 April 1799, pg. 3; col A.
^ Phipps, pp. 49–50 Young, p. 228; Jourdan, p. 178.
^ Phipps, pp. 49–50 Young, p. 230.
^ Phipps, pp. 49–50; Young, p. 231.
^ Adolphe Thiers. The history of the French revolution. New York: Appleton, 1854, v. 4, p. 370.
^ Blanning, pp. 232, 264; Phipps, pp. 49–50.
^ Phipps, pp. 49–50; Young, pp. 228–230.
^ (in German) Broda, Südkurier.
^ (in German) Edwin Ernst Weber. Ostrach 1799 – die Schlacht, der Ort, das Gedenken Archived 22 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Gemeinde Ostrach, BW, DE website Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 24 October 2009.
Alison, Sir Archibald. A History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789 to the Restoration of the Bourbons. New York: A.S. Barnes, 1850.
Blanning, Timothy. The French Revolutionary Wars. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-340-56911-5.
Graham, Thomas, Baron Lynedoch.(?) The History of the campaign of 1796 in Germany and Italy. London, 1797.
Hollins, David. Austrian Commanders of the Napoleonic Wars, 1792–1815. London: Osprey, 2004.
Jourdan, Jean-Baptiste, A Memoir of the operations of the army of the Danube under the command of General Jourdan, taken from the manuscripts of that officer, London: Debrett, 1799.
(in German) Kessinger, Roland. '"Die Schlacht von Stockach am 25. März 1799". Zeitschrift für Militärgeschichte. Salzburg: Öst. Milizverlag, 1997–. .
Phipps, Ramsey Weston. The Armies of the First French Republic, volume 5: The armies of the Rhine in Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Egypt and the coup d'etat of Brumaire, 1797–1799, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1939.
Smith, Digby (1998). The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book: Actions and Losses in Personnel, Colours, Standards and Artillery, 1792–1815. Greenhill, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. ISBN 1-85367-276-9. * Thiers, Adolphe. The history of the French revolution, New York, Appleton, 1854, v. 4.
(in German) Weber, Edwin Ernst. Ostrach 1799 – die Schlacht, der Ort, das Gedenken, Gemeinde Ostrach website. Accessed 24 October 2009.
Young, John, D.D., A History of the Commencement, Progress, and Termination of the Late War between Great Britain and France which continued from the first day of February 1793 to the first of October 1801. Volume 2. Edinburg: Turnbull, 1802.
"Engagements Between The Grand Armies Of The Archduke and General Jourdan." The Times, Friday, 5 April 1799; pg. 2; col A.
Excerpted from the Hamburgh Mail. "Private Correspondence", Hamburgh, 2 March 1799, reported in The Times, 8 April 1799, pg. 3; col A.
(in German) Broda, Ruth. "Schlacht von Ostrach:“ jährt sich zum 210. Mal – Feier am Wochenende. Wie ein Dorf zum Kriegsschauplatz wurde. In: Südkurier vom 13. Mai 2009.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Battle of Ostrach.
This page was last edited on 26 November 2018, at 21:04 (UTC). |
0.999908 | Belt and Road is an Important Emerging Issue for Global Conservation.
In an article in the Journal "Trends in Ecology & Evolution" twenty-four experts in conservation research and practice, ecology, economics, policy, and science communication reviewed 117 potential issues and identified 15 priority topics following a wide consultation. They followed a Delphi like process to score and identify the most important.
This is the ninth such annual "horizon scan" to identify emerging issues. Themes among selected topics include new mechanisms driving the emergence and geographic expansion of diseases, innovative biotechnologies, reassessments of global change, and one of them highlights the development of strategic infrastructure to facilitate global economic priorities. Guess what it is?
In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled a strategic infrastructure programme that would support development of six major land transport corridors across central Asia. The corridors would link China to Europe (the belt) and link Chinese ports to Indonesia, ports around the Indian Ocean, and, through the Red Sea, Southern Europe (the road). The cost of completing the corridors, estimated to be $1.25 trillion by 2025, will deliver economic development, supported by considerable scientific and technological development, across Eurasia to Africa.
Nearly 70 countries have agreed to cooperate in the plan. Given the growth of ecologically informed policies in China, it may be possible to develop the corridors in an environmentally sustainable manner. President Xi stated his ambition to create a big-data service platform for environmental protection, and to support climate change adaptation projects internationally.
However, official documents currently do not appear to emphasise environmental assessment, and there are concerns that the investors may push such big infrastructure projects through quickly at the expense of safeguards, with a cascade of negative environmental impacts. For example, the proposed routes overlap protected areas supporting snow leopards (Panthera unica), Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica), and Far Eastern leopards (Panthera pardus orientalis). The anticipated and extensive industrial and infrastructure development across central Asia, exacerbated by resulting human immigration to the region, would compound the undesirable ecological changes that are anticipated as climate changes. Furthermore, any growth in trade throughout the region is likely to increase the risk of trade in endangered species and transport of non-native invasive species.
The horizon scanning process is not intended to draw attention to phenomena that are widely understood to affect societal needs or values, including those related to all aspects of biological diversity. Instead, it is intended as an early awareness and alert system drawing attention to novel issues that, if realised, may create pivotal opportunities or threats and thus warrant further analysis in the near future. It supports the capabilities of organizations to deal better with an uncertain and complex future.
For example, the authors also discussed as major issue the impending global hydropower boom, but later decided it was no longer an emerging issue.
We know, that in 2017 at least 54% of hydropower capacity added in the word in was build with participation of Chinese firms and approximately 80% of world-wide investment in new hydropower came from China. Therefore “global hydropower doom” may be viewed not as a stand-alone issue, but as an intrinsic part of the Belt and Road Initiative. |
0.99107 | How would you quickly prototype/test a service that usually takes place over several months?
I'm looking to test new and different ideas in an existing mediation service that often takes several months of back and forth between two parties, usually over the phone and/or via mail. I want to solicit feedback from both sides quickly, while still keeping a realistic enough representation of the service. Any ideas? Thanks!
Mock role-play with both parties at the same time (remote or in the same building). Schedule an hour session, pay for their time. This is the fastest method.
In your question, you mention "often takes several months". I would assume there is a scenario that doesn't take several months. I would focus on testing only those shorter scenarios if possible to reduce the timeframe from other types of lengthy encounters with your service.
It sounds like you already have a good idea of how your users will interact with the service. The best idea is to figure out (1) what tasks you want to test; (2) create realistic scenarios that you can have users "imagine" they are in the middle of and (3) design the prototype to fit those tasks and scenarios. If you try and prototype the whole thing (or most digital services) you'll no longer be doing it rapidly! |
0.893168 | Can mathematical models predict cancer progression?
Mathematicians from Duke University are looking for ways to aid doctors in predicting the way different types of cancers complicate even if the measurements of tumor growth are very difficult to acquire.
In the United States, around one in three people will be diagnosed with cancer at some point. In order to properly treat these patients, accurate predictions of tumor growth are needed in order to assess the type of treatment needed, treatment frequency and dose, and whether a treatment is effective.
According to Duke University Mathematics professor Richard Durrett, who is the lead author of the study, Mathematical models can help inform a whole host of cancer treatment decisions, but you need an accurate model.
There have already been multiple mathematical models that were proposed for tumor growth. However, which model is appropriate for which type of cancer is the main concern at present.
Co-author Anne Talkington says that there are some tumors that start to slow down their growth or even stop growing when they reach a certain size, but there are others that still continue to increase in size.
One of the issues of most of these tumor prediction models is that the majority of them are calibrated from tumors growing in mice or in the lab, where conditions such as oxygen supply and nutrients are not the same as compared to that in the human body. Unfortunately, most cancer patients have to undergo treatment or surgery soon after diagnosis, and similar data from humans are hard to acquire.
In Durrett and Talkington's paper published in Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, they discussed on how you can compare common mathematical models of tumor growth with the use of only two time-point measurements of tumor size, which is just usually the data that can be acquired from patients before they begin their treatment.
Because of the fact that they had to work with data from actual patients, they had no choice but to work on the two data points. Although the usual impression is that just two points are not enough, examining trends in growth rates in when the models are fit to tumors of differing sizes allows successful supposition of the best model.
In order to confirm if their method was indeed correct, they searched previous literature for data from cancer patients whose tumors sizes were measured at two points before the start of their treatment, and the measurements came either from mammograms, MRIs or CT scans.
According to their results, breast and liver tumors grow at a very fast rate while the tumors are still small in size. Durrett compares this to money in a savings account that earns a fixed interest rate.
In contrast, two types of brain tumors were found to grow the two-thirds power law. This was consistent with the fact that actually only cells on the surface of the tumor are able to proliferate.
To know more about ways on how to predict cancer progression, feel free to browse more articles on this site. |
0.999288 | Are you feeling overwhelmed, overworked, and struggling to keep up with the demands of your life?
Stress is a natural way that our bodies respond to the demands of our lives. Too much stress can cause us to suffer physically, emotionally, and sometimes develop unwanted and unhealthy behaviors. Left unmanaged, chronic stress can seriously affect your physical health, leading to conditions such as migraines, hypertension, or irritable bowel, as well as compromising your emotional and mental health, resulting in anxiety and depression.
Do you experience any of the following? If so, stress coaching and counseling may be right for you.
Stress coaching and counseling can provide you with support and tools to better manage the demands of your life.
In as little as 2-4 session, you can learn proven and effective ways to permanently manage your stress. Give me a call today to get started. |
0.999915 | Humans (Homo sapiens) are primates of the family Hominidae, and the only extant species of the genus Homo. They originated in Africa, where they reached anatomical modernity about 200,000 years ago and began to exhibit full behavioral modernity around 50,000 years ago.
The human lineage diverged from the last common ancestor with its closest living relative, the chimpanzee, some five million years ago, evolving into the Australopithecines and eventually the genus Homo. The first Homo species to move out of Africa was Homo erectus, the African variety of which, together with Homo heidelbergensis, is considered to be the immediate ancestor of modern humans. Homo sapiens proceeded to colonize the continents, arriving in Eurasia 125,000-60,000 years ago, Australia around 40,000 years ago, the Americas around 15,000 years ago, and remote islands such as Hawaii, Easter Island, Madagascar, and New Zealand between the years AD 300 and 1280.
As early as 12,000 years ago, humans began to practice sedentary agriculture, domesticating plants and animals which allowed for the growth of civilization. Humans subsequently established various forms of government, religion, and culture around the world, unifying people within a region and leading to the development of states and empires. The rapid advancement of scientific and medical understanding in the 19th and 20th centuries led to the development of fuel-driven technologies and improved health, causing the human population to rise exponentially. With individuals widespread in every continent except Antarctica, humans are a cosmopolitan species, and by 2012, their population was estimated to be around 7 billion.
Humans are characterized by having a large brain relative to body size, with a particularly well developed neocortex, prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes, making them capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, problem solving and culture through social learning. This mental capability, combined with an adaptation to bipedal locomotion that frees the hands for manipulating objects, has allowed humans to make far greater use of tools than any other living species on Earth. Humans are the only extant species known to build fires and cook their food, as well as the only known species to clothe themselves and create and use numerous other technologies and arts. The study of humans is the scientific discipline of anthropology.
Humans are uniquely adept at utilizing systems of symbolic communication such as language for self-expression, the exchange of ideas, and organization. Humans create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks to states. Social interactions between humans have established an extremely wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals, which together form the basis of human society. Humans are noted for their desire to understand and influence their environment, seeking to explain and manipulate phenomena through science, philosophy, mythology, and religion. |
0.923724 | What are the dining and food arrangements for the duration of my Discovery Visit?
The host YMCA will cater for food during your visit, this will vary depending on which visit you choose. Some visits will incorporate catering that gives you an opportunity to try local traditional foods. Some visits include meals at YMCA social enterprise business projects (such as YMCA run hotels and cafés), and a community meal with representatives from the local area. Each local YMCA will confirm any dietary requirements closer to the time of your visit (which you can submit during booking of a visit). |
0.957795 | In assembly mode (or part) is there a way to make Solidworks apply force in a specified direction until the selected component in the assembly (or the part itself) reaches its yield limit?
Yield stress is typically in the linear portion of a stress-strain curve (by definition). You should be able to find yield in two iterations.
My first simulation had a force of 700 lbs generating 55374.3 psi of stress for a material (T6-6061) with yield strength of 39885.4 psi.
Doing simple math I calculated that the force to generate the yield stress of the material is about 504.201 lbs.
I reran the simulation with 500lbs of force and still ended up slightly above my yield value, which should not have been the case following a linear stress-strain curve.
I still believe that this is either a wild shortcoming of Solidworks or a wild lack of knowledge on my part.
If you have large deflection turned off, then I would expect to get an answer that scales perfectly. If you have large deflection turned on, then it gets trickier and I would not expect to be able to scale exactly. As the part deflects, things are no longer perfectly linear.
One other possible source of error is meshing. I might try running 5 iterations of h-adaptive and see if it converges on the sy if it is just a single body/part. You can check the option to coarsen the mesh in low stress volumes to speed up the solver.
Sooooo important to get convergence on refined mesh. Coarse mesh will give results that are too low.
You appear to be doing the calculation correctly. It could be the significant digits after three, are numerical round-off in the solver (certainly if a different solver), or the maximum stress value position has moved such as when contact is involved, or the mesh is slightly different (it should be an exact copy you could generate by "duplicating" the study).
Generally speaking, I tend to stick with no more than three significant figures. During my days as a lab test engineer, I typically observed repeatability within about 5 to 10% - depending on the humidity, temperature, test specimen, geometry variations, material lot, strain gage batch number, load cell used, time of day, even the day of the week, etc. As a result of that experience, for the FEA I would report 39,885.4 psi yield strength as 39.9 ksi, and any FEA stress values within about 10% of that is a match. I have noticed rather extensive "precision" in some of the material property values in the database. However, I find it extremely difficult to believe measurements to six significant figures are realistic.
Hi Bulent: Roland is correct. Assuming linearity to the yield strength. Usually, I apply 1 (one) pound (or some other multiple of 10) and look for highest stress, then just scale the force required to get to the yield stress. Example: Published material yield strength is 50 ksi. Apply 1000 lbs and observe max stress is 20 ksi. So the load to cause yield, scales as (50/20)*1000 = 2,500 lbs. Just for kicks, apply that load to the study and you should see 50 ksi in the model. That's two iterations, as Roland indicated.
I suspect also that you could use the built-in "event-based" simulation functionality, by applying a sensor at the point of interest, and parameterizing the load to have the software iterate and "stop" at yield. I have not tried that, however, but it appears useful for nonlinear material behavior.
I'd like to learn how to do this as I believe it is the correct way to set yield limits in simulations. Do you happen to know a good tutorial or guide for sensors used for purposes like mine? |
0.999982 | Rate this project Eric Turgeon has announced the availability of the initial alpha build of GhostBSD 11.1, an upcoming new release of the project's desktop-oriented operating system based on FreeBSD 11.1 and featuring MATE and Xfce environments: "This first alpha development release of GhostBSD 11.1 is ready for testing. All MATE and Xfce images are available for the i386 and amd64 architectures. We hope to see a lot of people helping to test this release. New features: our own software repository; all software updated; Whisker menu as default application menu in Xfce. Issues fixed: Xfce and MATE live session shutdown, suspend and hibernate; xf86-video-intel; MATE desktop fails on initial boot for install; clicking 'GhostBSD Bugs' item in the Main menu in 'System Tools' brings up 'Server not found' page; Xfce installation - incorrect keyboard layout; ZFS setup appears to be incomplete." Read the rest of the release announcement for more information. Download (pkglist): GhostBSD11.1-ALPHA1-mate-amd64.iso (2,396MB, SHA256), GhostBSD11.1-ALPHA1-xfce-amd64.iso (2,267MB, SHA256). |
0.913521 | If you are a parent who wants to teach his child kayaking, than first and foremost, you should show it how to ensure its safety. Whether this means using additional safety equipment, knowing how to act in certain situations and how to recognize the safest inflatable kayaks out there. Kayaking is an extremely fun activity but it is not a game, and if you don’t prepare your child, it could be even dangerous. However, at the end of the day, if you teach your child what to do and not to, you can ensure that nothing can go wrong, and no matter what the situation might be, it will be safe.
Before all else, tell your child to first check the buoyancy of the kayak in a shallow and calm water. That way, it will be able to determine whether the boat is overloaded or not, whether the weight is distributed. Buoyancy is essential for any type of boat or watercraft so you absolutely must explain your child that overloading its boat can really dangerous. It should only put the most important equipment and items in the kayak. In addition, even the safest inflatable kayaks require proper weight distribution, which means a fairly evenly distributed weight, with a bit more at the back. Tell your child to always take a repair kit and a foot pump when kayaking. The safest inflatable kayaks have independent chambers that provide buoyancy even when another chamber deflates, but being prepared for everything is always the best way to go. Another thing you should teach your children is to always scout the body of water before start kayaking. That way, your child will not run into unexpected objects and obstacles and will be prepared for everything in the water.
Explain to your child that dragging its boat over the ground, going over rocks and gravel, is really bad for the vessel. And although the safest inflatable kayaks can handle this, scratching the kayak’s bottom is unnecessary and can only damage the boat. There might even be a small piece of glass that can damage the structural integrity of the bottom. If you child will be accompanied by another kid in the kayak, make them understand that standing up to swap places is really dangerous, especially if you are no experienced. Even the most stable and safest inflatable kayaks can overturn, and they could both end up in the water. Also, teach your child to avoid hitting sticks and debris while in the water. Kayaks are sturdy, but steering around sharp objects is extremely important. |
0.999996 | A spoonie is someone living with a chronic illness.
I have 4 chronic illnesses. All have taken their toll on me mentally, physically and emotionally. It can be frustrating when you have plans that you hate to break because of your debilitating health, but it’s important to learn your daily limitations.
The Spoon Theory originates from Christine Miserandino, in which she explains what it’s like to live with a chronic illness to a friend, and uses a handful of spoons to demonstrate.
For example, daily activities that healthy people tend to not think about take tolls on people with chronic illness. You start the day with a certain number of spoons, and play your day around not running out.
Running errands might cost spoons, showering might cost spoons, cooking might cost you spoons, etc. |
0.999988 | Synopsis : Ghotit releases innovative context-based spell checker enabling people with poor spelling to write correctly.
According to the National Institutes of Health, approximately 5-15 percent of the population suffers from severe reading and writing difficulties associated with dyslexia.
Dyslexia is the most prevalent of all known learning disabilities. Dyslexics spend significant time, effort and money to improve their written communication skills.
Ofer Chermesh is a life long dyslexic and one of Ghotit's founders. The struggle of producing readable text is well known to him. "I have no doubt that the people who designed regular spell checkers did not have in mind people with dyslexia. Regular spell checkers are targeting people with good spelling that occasionally make spelling mistakes, not dyslexics like myself" says Ofer Chermesh.
Regular spell checkers are designed to correct spelling mistakes that are relatively close to the correct spelling.
In order to identify the correct spelling of a poorly spelled word, the context of the sentence needs to be analyzed. Ghotit offers novel patent-pending context spell checking technology tuned for people with dyslexia and bad spelling. Using these algorithms Ghotit can pick up and correct not only really bad spelled words but also misused words, words that are spelled correctly, but are written out of context.
Ghotit launched its online free service on February 2008 and spent the past year optimizing Ghotit context-sensitive algorithms.
It has a demonstrated around 95% successful correction of poorly spelled text. In February, 2009 Ghotit released its Microsoft Plug-in for Microsoft Word for Windows. Once the Ghotit Plug-in is downloaded, it is installed as an extension to Microsoft Word, providing an integrated user writing experience.
"Ghotit spell-checker was designed for people like me, people who have completely lost their confidence to write. With Ghotit, I now write confidently, continuing to misspell as I always have, but with the confidence that Ghotit is there with me to review my writing and offer the right corrections" says Ofer Chermesh. |
0.999572 | That's a really interesting point, AI.
I know a lot of skiing injuries are wear and tear injuries from improper form. Pointing your toes inwards when skiing downhill definitely leads to an injury and strain, as the knees aren't designed to be strong when pointed in that direction.
Snowboarding could be considered safer, though I have heard tell that skiing is easier to master than snowboarding. Remember that most of the injuries sustained in snow sports is from falling, so the sport that is easier to learn means fewer falls in the long run.
When it come to snowboarding and knee injuries, the most frequent, I would say, are impact injuries. Because both legs are attached to one deck in such a way, this makes turning a knee much harder to do, than in skiing for instance. Much more common for snowboarders is an impact injury to the knee. For instance, casing or clearing the landing to a table, drops without nice transitions, rails, boxes, etc. are all things that would cause knee pain/injury because you would either be landing too hard and your knees/ankles would be taking the brunt of the impact, or the knee itself would be hitting directly a rail/box if you slide off and hit it or land on the ground. If you have weak knees and are looking to get into a winter sport, you are much less likely to turn a knee snowboarding as opposed to skiing, simply because of the nature of the sport. |
0.966233 | 4 Moons Pizzeria pizzeria franchise business plan executive summary. 4 Moons Pizzeria is a start-up, franchise, family dining pizza restaurant, offering dine-in, take-out, and home delivery of pizza, pasta dishes, calzone, stromboli, and salads.
The objective is to lease a site at 555 West Blue Plum Lane. We will need to remodel the interior according to the Franchisor's design. We plan to duplicate and massage the successful formula used by Franchisor. We will use our own personal strategies and skills to create our own success in our 4 Moons Pizzeria. We plan to train our crew to ensure outstanding results in quality food and customer service. Our objectives are as follows.
We will consistently follow the franchisor's proven methods. |
0.944479 | Good news. There's another chance to become America's newest billionaire.
(CNN)- Good news. There's another chance to become America's newest billionaire. |
0.999812 | Bought the Surface Pro 3 to replace a Dell laptop. I am a road warrior and weight, functionality and ease of use are paramount. Did a fair amount of research before pulling the trigger and there was a lot of mixed reviews as to whether it would accomplish that purpose. For me (I am not a power user) it HAS replaced my laptop. I use the system mainly for Word, Power Point, Excel, Surfing, and E-mail and this unit does those functions quite well. Things I like: One Note and Stylus - better than my Ipad stylus. I have a similar app on my Ipad, but One Note seems to have a little more functionality. Screen - Very Nice Touch Screen - I like the ability to use touch or keyboard depending on what I am doing. Build Quality - unit seems well built and sturdy (not heavy). Nice change from the laptop Charger - I like the compact nature of the charger - the two prong plug for international travel is also nice. Fast Boot - no comparison to my older laptop. Still don't know that it is as fast as my Ipad, but it is close. Desktop function - I like being able to go to a UI that is familiar Docking station - Nice - good design Speakers - Solid. Much better than my old laptop Things I think are marginal: Battery life - Solid, but not great. Temperature - Unit also seems to run hot Fan - When it kicks in, is pretty loud. Windows 8.1 - Not as intuitive as IOS and not as stable as NT. Some functions don't seem to work like they did in NT and it just so happens those are some of my favorite functions. Keyboard - Jury is still out on the keyboard. It does some funny/annoying things sometimes and the feel is not as nice as my laptop keys, but that is to be expected at some level. USB ports - I carry a small multiport USB hub with me for hooking in multiple devices. WiFi - The WiFi on this device seems to be a little marginal, but I am pretty sure that is a Win 8.1 issue, not a device issue (although obviously separating the two is not really feasible) I have officially retired the laptop and now the Surface Pro 3 travels with me exclusively. My biggest complaint revolves around 8.1, not the device itself, but then I think issues with 8.1 are well documented and you know what you are getting when you buy the device. Would I recommend it - Yes. I am not sure at what "level" of user it wouldn't serve its function. I would say for the vast majority of people who use a computer like I do, it is a good choice and will replace your laptop.
I have read a lot of reviews before I bought my docking station from Best Buy. Most of them are excellent, only find out when I got it, the mini display port didn't work. I had called Best Buy.com explain the problem and was told to exchange the docking station. No problem, I went to the store the next day and exchanged it, hoping just that one I received was a defective product. That night, put the whole thing together, same problem, the mini display port didn't work and it didn't charge my device when docking. So frustrated, called Best Buy store this time, told me to go in and exchange another one, 2 in a row didn't work, doesn't make sense. Ask about anything they know about the product, no they don't. Finally, gave up on Best Buy and check Microsoft.com support. Only found out, this is very common issue on the docking station, all I need to do is to update the firmware on the system, but the device needed to be placed on the docking station when updating. After couple hours on the system update, everything works perfectly now. One more tips, the device has to be more than 50% charged battery, otherwise, the update won't start, I suggest to charge up the device 100% before starting the process. Hope this review can help someone else to set up the station easier. If I had know what to do at the beginning to set it up, it will get 5 stairs.
My first Dock I returned because the mini Display Port in the Dock was loose and only made intermittent connection. The replacement has worked very, very well. I'm running two large external monitors through that one port (with a "splitter" device I bought separately), and a host of other USB peripherals. I also use a BT keyboard and wireless mouse when using the Dock. It all works very well. I just drop my SP3 in the slot, slide the side-holders inward and boot it up. Reverse that to take my SP3 with me when I leave. One thing to keep in mind with the Dock is that it is different from a USB hub. With a USB hub the signal from the SP3 goes through your USB 3 port and as such is subject in performance to the demand on the SP3's CPU. The Dock sends its signals through the SP3's charging port and thus uses mostly the GPU thus not being dependent on the varying load on the CPU as with USB hubs. Using the dock allows you a more even performance experience while providing a number of USB 3 and USB 2 ports in addition to the mini Display Port mentioned above. It also charges your SP3 while it's docked...a very NICE piece of equipment!
We use two surface pro's to run a startup medical practice. After using them to set up the business and now to run it for a week, I'm very pleased with our choice. The docking station works great, we initially bought just one but added another when we saw how much we used it and how well it works. Not five stars for a couple of reasons: It has a magnetic holder for your Bluetooth pen which is handy except it is on the left side of the dock. One of us is left handed and loves it, but for me it gets old having to reach across to grab the pen every time. Second is that the tablet can easily rest in the dock and click into place without being all the way in the dock. This just takes some getting used to but it should be a lot smoother and intuitive. I have left my surface docked and "clicked in" thinking it was recharging when I did not have it all the way in the dock. There is an indicator LED on the dock that let's you know when you are all the way in so just use that to make sure each time till you get a feel for it. In spite of this I would not want to give up my dock. Perhaps I will purchase another to keep at home.If you will use your Surface at a desk you definitely want to get one.
I have always been very critical of the claims that a tablet can replace a laptop as in most cases this required to use a remote server/PC and the tablet was more like a remote terminal than the laptop it pretended to be. I have tested a number of those wannabees and even the original surface was in that category. But the Surface 3 is a different animal and Microsoft finally got it right with this unit. We tested the i5 and i7 version and both are very capable of replacing the laptop. Make sure you do purchase the type cover keyboard however if you do replace a laptop. In the corporate environment having a hardwired connection and the same necessities as a laptop still apply and this docking station does fill that need very efficiently. It works better than the older USB connected docking stations and it charges your Surface at the same time and for those crunching days being able to use a full keyboard and a mouse help a lot.
The docking station is very well made, sturdy, and follows the design and characteristics of the Surface itself. First, the design. The angles compliment the Surface Pro 3. Everything about the docking station gives it a professional look and feel. It looks great sitting on the desk (and by the way, is one of the few docking stations I have actually put on my desk). I tend to put docking stations and laptops out of the way and out of sight. But being able to use the Surface Pro 3's touchscreen and writing capabilities made me want to keep it in sight. The only part you want to hide are the cables, but some straps or other methods can easily take care of that for you. The "catch and release" of the docking station is great. Slide the Surface Pro 3 down on the dock. There is a lip on the bottom of the dock that catches the device. Then slide the sides of the dock in and you are set. No need to plug in additional cables. With the dock closed against the Surface Pro 3, it is firmly in place. The type cover can then be lowered and used.
1. Be sure that you download all Microsoft Windows 8.0 and 8.1 updates before you try using the docking station. Otherwise, the Surface Pro 3 will not turn on when you press the power button while it's in the docking station. 2. The Mini DisplayPort video output connector is built on a strange angle, which means that you will have to either buy Microsoft's adapter or take a knife to trim off part of the edge of the plastic from another adapter manufacturer. Note that the same situation holds true for the video output port on the Surface 3 itself. I bought a Belkin Mini Display Port to HDMI Adapter, trimmed the edge of the rubber housing so that it set at the correct angle, and it worked fine. I just don't want to have to buy into a system where I have to buy all accessories from a single manufacturer.
I bought my i5 Surface Pro 3 for a couple of reasons: Primarily, I needed a new computer for school. Secondly, I wanted a computer strong enough for some low-key games like League of Legends. The Surface Pro 3 does great for both of these purposes! It also works well with the docking station and my TV to stream my shows/sports. I only knocked off a star from my review because it has had a worryingly high frequency of issue that I have had to trouble shoot. I have to tweak with my device settings to adjust the frequency for my WiFi settings every time I go somewhere new. I have also had the issue of crucial apps, like OneNote, crash temporarily, and without warning. Finally (and this isn't my whole list, just the highlights), I have recently had to troubleshoot an issue where my battery drained in less than 2 hours. Overall, it has been a good purchase, but I wish I felt more assured of the hardware holding up.
Vastly better than individual attachments!
The Surface Pro 3 docking station really allows you to take the tablet pro. With only the addition of the monitor attachment, you can convert the fantastic tablet to a desktop unit. It contains extra ports for multiple 2.0 and 3.0 USB drives, charges your Surface Pro 3, and eliminates the need for multiple attachments. When I shopped for this docking station, I considered the multiple attachments and wires that I would need if I ever intended to use the Surface Pro 3 as my main computer, eliminating my desktop and laptop. The docking station makes that decision easy, and with the extra ports, even allows for the use of an expanded keyboard for the serious Office user. Its price was easily justified, as it replaced the many attachments and cables which would be necessary in its place.
First of all, the instructions (or lack thereof) were not intuitive enough to show that the sides pull out in order to dock the SP3. I personally like more than a picture with arrows so one more sentence like "Pull sides outward, insert SP3 and push sides back inward to engage." The number of ports and their placement is good and it sits at a good angle. One BIG complaint is the keyboard will not slide under the dock to engage without lifting the dock. It's about 1 mm too close. If you dock with the keyboard attached it works great, but attaching it after the fact is less well designed. It still allows for both flat and angled positions of the keyboard which is good. Mostly I like that it is such a small footprint on the desk yet very stable and all the connections are in the back.
First, if you're thinking desktop replacement, you'll need the docking station. It allows you to connect 2 additional external monitors and still use the SP3 screen. It small, well designed, and solid. However, here's my wish-list: 1. Make it so the SP3 screen can still tilt even when in the docking station. 2. Provide a switch to turn of f power/charging to the SP3 even when docked. It's important to let laptop batteries run down and NOT have the plugged in all the time (reduces battery life). Can't simply unplug the docking station because then the devices connected to the docking station no longer work. 3. Would love to have a cable that allows the keyboard to be semi-detached from the SP3 itself. All that said, it's worth the price.
I have used PCs throughout my entire career and what I liked about business class laptops, especially over Macs, was that native docking stations were available. This dock is easy to setup, takes hardly any space, and keeps your devices at the ready because they are always connected, With my setup, I have a 24" Dell Monitor, a illuminated wired Logitech keyboard, and a rechargeable Logitech mouse. I am hard wired to the ethernet and have a mDP and USB running to the monitor. Every time I dock my Surface, everything just connects and I am ready to go. My friend with her MacBook Pro just looks on with envy as she tells me how she has to manually connect all her cables. Ahhh... the elegance of a PC. Besides that, this is a quality build. Microsoft is truly putting out some high end hardware these days.
This docking station is a GREAT part of my overall MSSP3 "system." To be able to have all my peripheral devices waiting for this portable PC to instantly transform itself into an acceptably powerful desktop replacement whenever I am at home is convenience and functionality personified. I think MS should offer ALL of the various accessories in heavily discounted "bundles" that traditionally full-featured laptop or desktop systems (as we have come to know them over the last 8-10 years) possess right from the get-go, so besides the pen & keyboard/cover this should be bundled as well. I can't give it 5 stars when it is so expensive, but the convenience of such a convertible system is the attraction for me as an average everyday PC user who wants a single do-all machine.
I have purchased 2 of these docks, 1 for home and 1 for business. The dock works as advertised and display port and USB 3.0 connections work great as advertised. The left side is magnetic to hold the pen. The dock also comes with it's own ac adaptor so now you a have adaptor to travel with. I find the screen of Surface Pro 3 to be at the optimum viewing angle while in the dock. The only slight gripe, sliding Surface Pro 3 into the dock is a little fussy. Make sure the blue led comes on because while it seems the computer is docked, it actually is not so your are using your battery. This is the only dock made for the Surface Pro 3 and hope that it may still work with the pending release of the Surface Pro 4. But we can leave that for a future review.
I bought the surface pro 3 dock to finally get down to ONE computer - no more workstation at home and a laptop for the road. Combining the surface pro dock with the Targus USB 3 dock, I can easily have my home setup with multiple big screens, local storage (for local backups) and wired LAN (for greater than WIFI speeds) in one simple package. When it's time to go on the road, I only need to "pop out" the surface pro and my data is with me in a tablet/laptop. Upon my return, I just drop it into the surface pro dock again and avoid dealing with any cables, dongles or power adapters. Works great, I love it. With this setup I get three monitors working when I'm home which is great for multi-tasking!
If you have a Surface 3, you'll want one of these!
I got one of these for my Surface Pro and it worked great and made desktop use and charging easily manageable. Then I got my Surface 3 and I had to order the new dock that works with the Surface Pro 3. The difference is that it has more USB 3.0 ports, and it is a bit larger to hold the Surface Pro 3. Too bad that the Surface Pro 2 dock was not compatible with the Pro 3, but still, for productivity sake, you'll want the docking station. The best part is that you can keep the Surface charge without having to worry about the magnetic charge from accidentally falling off - not a problem with the dock. It's easy to dock and easy to undock and go. It's worth the cost in the long run. Enjoy.
Not too much thrilling about the dock, but it functions as described. It has 2x USB 2.0, 3x USB 3.0, mini DisplayPort, Gigabit, a single 3.5mm audio port for a headset (with mic) or speaker. It also has a magnet on the left to hold the stylus. The things I do wish it had were: - adjustable angle - additional video port (HDMI or another DisplayPort) - smaller profile (which would be possible if the dock could adjust angles to fully flat (to make it more portable) - same power connector as the Surface one -- it uses a different connector, so they are not interchangeable. Other than that, it's a very capable dock.
The docking station improves the surface pro 3 experience. There are many devices on my wireless network that can consume a lot of bandwidth. The docking station allows me to utilize the same networked devices via a wired connection which provides a faster connection without slowing any already connected wireless devices. Users should be patient with using the docking station as it may take a few attempts for inexperienced tech users to get the docking station to work fully with the surface pro 3. I recommend seeking assistance if you can't get the docking station to work. Up to date drivers and Microsoft updates are key. |
0.999977 | A video report on UK School surveillance: The debate centers around internal school surveillance - viewing and recording inside of classrooms (audio and video). There is a policy in place that video cannot be reviewed for behavior, incidents or quality of classroom training. Additionally, the system automatically deletes video after 2 days. They cite benefits that cameras protect teachers from false accusations and can help prove to parents that children had an accident rather than were abused by other children. Finally, a survey indicates that 1 in 4 parents wanted access to the surveillance video during the day. |
0.99987 | Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to meet with President Bush on Tuesday to take a hard look at the "roadmap" to Middle East peace, to decide if it's really possible to get there from here. But after another attack over the weekend - a Hamas terrorist wearing a yarmulke and a prayer shawl blew up a bus - Sharon postponed the trip.
The roadmap is based on President Bush's June 24th 2002 speech on the Middle East - in the same sense that The Great Gatsby starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow was based on the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The president's speech was a landmark - the first real change in US Middle East policy in decades. In essence, it said to the Palestinians: "You can have terrorism or you can have a state. But you can't have both."
Mr. Bush's speech also was an attempt to integrate American peace efforts with the post-9/11 Bush Doctrine. That doctrine extends a welcoming hand to moderate Muslims who choose to join the Free world; it offers a mailed fist to extremists who choose to wage a terrorist war against America and its allies.
The speech's transformation into the roadmap fell short partly because it was prepared by the "Quartet," which brings in as America's partners the United Nations, the European Union and Russia. The problem is that the U.N., the EU, and Russia do not share the president's vision or subscribe to the Bush Doctrine - as we learned, painfully, in the days leading up to the liberation of Iraq.
In addition, the U.S. contribution to the roadmap was led by the same long-serving State Department officials who constructed the Oslo Accords and who still appear to believe that the Oslo approach (essentially, the belief that the promise of a Palestinian state will be sufficient incentive to end Palestinian terrorism ) is superior to anything President Bush could possibly imagine. Deeply ingrained within the culture of the State Department is the conviction that it would be wasteful to discard a policy just because it has failed (17,000 terrorist attacks including 251 suicide bombings since Oslo) or just because it does not happen to represent the views of the temporary occupant of the Oval Office.
As now drawn, the roadmap contains two major flaws, one in the text, one a matter of interpretation.
Start with the second: The roadmap's first requirement is that the Palestinians "immediately undertake an unconditional cessation of violence." That obviously hasn't happened - this week's bombing being just the latest examples. Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestinian Authority prime minister, has so far made no effort to challenge such terrorist groups as Hamas or even to rein in such terrorist groups as the al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah, and Tanzim - groups that, theoretically, report to him.
You might expect Abbas's refusal even to try to stop terrorism to be cited as the reason the roadmap has hit a road block. But the sophisticated diplomats and the sophisticated reporters who cover them instead blame Mr. Sharon. That's because they think everyone should be sophisticated enough to recognize that demands for "an unconditional cessation of violence" on the Palestinian side are unrealistic, especially while Yasser Arafat remains in command, which he does, especially while Arafat is still encouraging terrorism, which he is.
So, they figure, the sophisticated solution is to ignore that and instead pressure the Israelis to make concessions in the hope that will somehow jump-start the "peace process." In their view, Mr. Sharon's reluctance to go along with this approach proves once again that he's a "hard-liner."
The second flaw in the roadmap is that it leaves the question of "refugees" to the third phase of the process. That may sound like small potatoes but what it really means is that Palestinians can say publicly that they recognize Israel's right to exist - but with a wink and a nudge. As Abbas made clear in his inaugural speech, he intends to demand that Palestinians who left Israel in 1948 - when Israel was invaded by five Arab neighbors - should have the right to return to Israel (not just to the West Bank and Gaza), along with their children and grandchildren. Were that to happen, it would mean the destruction of Israel by demographic means. Israelis would become a minority in their own country; in other words Israel would cease to be Israel.
All this does not necessarily imply that the roadmap has become road kill. It does imply that everyone - the U.N., the EU, Russia, the State Department, even the Palestinians - needs to finally accept that post-9/11 a new Palestinian state can not be born as a terrorist state. It does imply that the Palestinians need to accept the fact that Arafat's dream of fatah, the conquest of Israel, has failed, and that the best deal the Palestinians can now get will be something like the deal Arafat turned down in 2000.
And it implies one more thing that should have been obvious all along: A roadmap is of little value until and unless the travelers agree on the destination. |
0.999999 | Justin Raimondo escribe un artículo bastante laudatorio en Antiwar sobre las posiciones de Nick Clegg en política exterior.
Raimondo valora su recelo hacia la intervención en Afganistán e Irak, el escudo Trident propio de la Guerra Fría, el apoyo incondicional a Israel y el atlantismo asimétrico.
Obama ran as a committed interventionist, refusing to take an attack on Iran off the table, and emphasizing that he wanted to implement a "smarter" and stylistically more palatable — albeit no less energetic — brand of interventionism. Clegg, on the other hand, is explicitly offering British voters a real alternative to the "Atlanticist" policies loyally upheld by "New" Labor and the Conservatives, and that is a foreign policy that puts Britain, and British interests, first. He mocks the "lopsided asymmetrical" nature of the "special relationship," and descries "subservience" to Washington. His enemies characterize this as "anti-Americanism," as Gordon Brown did repeatedly during Thursday’s foreign policy debate, but as usual he misses the point: Clegg’s not "anti-" anything, he’s pro-British. That is, he intends to implement a policy whereby the "default Atlanticism" that has dominated British foreign policy since the end of World War II — in which "every time a decision is made we have no choice but to follow the decisions made in the White House," as he put it in his speech to Chatham House – is abandoned, and a new paradigm, Britain’s national self-interest, is put in its place. What this means, concretely, is that, under a Clegg government, Britain will cease to be a military appendage of the US.
Raimondo admite que sus políticas económicas son anti-liberales, pero opina que no son peores que las de sus rivales. Yo discrepo. Sí estoy de acuerdo en que la política exterior de los Lib Dems es más sensata (sobre el papel) que la de los otros dos partidos, excepto en un asunto clave para el Reino Unido que Raimondo no menciona: la Unión Europea. |
0.997053 | The tables below provide an overview of Zenit stats and form this season in Russia Premier League.
Zenit have scored an average of 1.80 goals per game since the beginning of the season. The team's average number of goals scored per game in the last 8 matches is 2.25, which is 25% higher than their current season's average.
Zenit 5 - 3 Lokomotiv M.
2-1 V. Kulik (84) pen.
1-2 L. Paredes (59) pen.
Of the above 5 remaining matches in Russia - Premier League, Zenit St. Petersburg will be playing more matches at home (3) than away (2).
Considering the opponents' Points Per Game (PPG) values above, Zenit's remaining away matches feature a higher combined opposition PPG average than their remaining home matches.
Zenit's opponents to be played in home games currently have a combined average of 1.03 Points Per Game in their away matches played so far this season in the league.
As for the hosts that Zenit will be visiting, so far this season they have a combined average of 1.40 Points Per Game at home in the league.
Matches played at home have accounted for 57% of Zenit's total points and 62% of the goals they have scored so far this season in Russia - Premier League.
Zenit St. Petersburg have scored an average of 1.80 goals per match so far this season, which is higher than the average number of 1.09 goals scored by each team per match this season in the league, all teams combined in Russia - Premier League.
A majority of Zenit's wins have been obtained with a 1-goal margin (9 wins), while 8 of their wins had a margin of 2 goals or more.
A majority of Zenit's defeats had a 1-goal margin (3 defeats), while 2 of their defeats had a margin of 2 goals or more.
Avg. min. level 44.8 min.
In this example, Zenit St. Petersburg have been in the lead for an average duration of 34.6 minutes per match (based on a 90-minute match duration), which is longer than the average duration of 10.6 minutes per match during which their opponents were in the lead in those matches.
Zenit St. Petersburg have taken the lead 22 times and have conceded an equalizer on 5 occasions, corresponding to a lead-defending rate of 77% (for an opponents' equalizing rate of 23%).
Of the 11 times that Zenit's opponents have taken the lead, Zenit have managed to score an equalizer on 6 occasions, corresponding to an equalizing rate of 55%.
Avg. min. leading 42.1 min.
Avg. min. level 38.9 min.
In this example, Zenit have been in the lead for an average duration of 42.1 minutes per match played at home (based on a 90-minute match duration), which is longer than the average duration of 9.0 minutes per match during which their opponents were in the lead in those matches.
In home matches, Zenit have taken the lead 11 times and have conceded an equalizer on 1 occasion, corresponding to a home lead-defending rate of 91% (for an opponents' equalizing rate of 9%).
Of the 4 times that Zenit's opponents have taken the lead when Zenit were playing at home, Zenit have managed to score an equalizer on 3 occasions, corresponding to a home equalizing rate of 75%.
Avg. min. leading 27.6 min.
Avg. min. trailing 12.2 min.
In this example, Zenit have been in the lead for an average duration of 27.6 minutes per match played away (based on a 90-minute match duration), which is longer than the average duration of 12.2 minutes per match during which their opponents were in the lead in those matches.
In away matches, Zenit have taken the lead 11 times and have conceded an equalizer on 4 occasions, corresponding to an away lead-defending rate of 64% (for an opponents' equalizing rate of 36%).
Of the 7 times that Zenit's opponents have taken the lead when Zenit were playing away, Zenit have managed to score an equalizer on 3 occasions, corresponding to an away equalizing rate of 43%.
Zenit have been undefeated in their last 8 matches. Zenit have scored in each of their last 11 matches. Zenit have scored in 92% of their home matches. Zenit have scored in 85% of their away matches. Zenit have won their last 4 home matches. Zenit have been undefeated in their last 4 away matches. Zenit have scored in each of their last 5 away matches. Zenit have scored 2 goals or more in each of their last 3 matches. Zenit have scored 2 goals or more in each of their last 4 home matches.
After 197 matches played in Russia - Premier League, a total of 431 goals have been scored (2.19 goals per match on average). The menus above provide access to league-level statistics and results analysis in the league, including Russia - Premier League results and scoring stats such as clean sheets, average goals scored and goals conceded. |
0.992012 | Who's Blowing It In Your Direction?
I'm old enough to remember when I'd walk into a restaurant and be asked "Smoking, or non-smoking?" I've never been a smoker, but my answer to the question seldom seemed to matter. There was nearly as much smoke in the non-smoking section as there was in the smoking section. Smoke drifted everywhere, and unless one wore a respirator, it generally couldn't be avoided. The question more aptly should have been, "Would you like some smoke or a lot of smoke with your meal?" Ah, the good old days!
As a society, we got smarter. It took decades though. The "smoking does not cause cancer" lie was finally exposed, and the horrible health effects of second-hand smoke became public knowledge. It's easy and tempting to look back on the smoking generation and say "They should have known better." Unfortunately, society doesn't seem to work that way. People get infected with information that harms them. In this case, the idea that smoking was cool, or fun, or not harmful ultimately destroyed millions of lives before it was extinguished by a gang bigger than the public relations industry that started and promoted it.
No, the modern problem isn't the second-hand smoke from cigarettes. Thankfully, smokers have been exiled to areas safely out of reach of the lungs of others. The problem today is a different kind of second-hand smoke. This smoke is from those who are addicted (in the truest sense of the word) to the information cigarettes that come in the form of newspapers (be they paper or electronic), TV news (be it on a television or on a web site), and social media gossip. The addicted are spreading their information smoke to those of us who have decided not to ingest the toxic information from these sources. And yes, it's all toxic.
Let me give you an example. I work and write from coffee shops. As a person who's out in these spaces a lot, it's not uncommon for other coffee shop patrons to notice my (normally) friendly face and try to strike up a conversation with me. Usually they initiate conversations in a manner like this, "How about that <random event> in <faraway place>. Isn't that amazing?" I try to be polite in my response. I say things like "No, I haven't heard of that" and then change the subject to something more meaningful and relevant to the neighbourhood we're in. This cue is sometimes enough to get a real conversation going. But more often than not, it's met with another random piece of information harvested from whatever source these things come from. (See above).
On several occasions, I've even cut the conversation off by saying, "Hey, I don't read or follow news so could we talk about something else?" This was met with incredulity. How could someone not read news? The scandal! And in the most extreme and persistent cases, I've even said "What you just shared with me is second-hand smoke, and I'd prefer if you didn't." Not the most endearing response, I admit. But the effect was as intended. No more useless information to wade through and debunk.
The people who ingest "news" are addicted. If they've been addicted long enough, their thinking is likely impaired. I am sympathetic, and on a good day, I might be willing to coach. But I am never willing to breathe their second-hand smoke. I don't smoke. I never have.
We live in an era where nearly everyone is smoking information cigarettes. If you are not one of them, congratulations! I want to talk to you. I would love to hear your perspective.
One day, hopefully in my lifetime, the ingestion of information cigarettes will be widely known as dangerous and harmful. Until then, if you are one of the addicted, all I ask is that you blow your smoke in another direction, far away from me. |
0.999996 | Is Keynesian economics, which was used by John M. Keynes to explain why the Great Depression occurred, still as relevant as it was back then?
Keynesian economics is basically a macroeconomic theory based on the ideas of John Maynard Keynes, a British economist of the 20th century. Considered one of the most important schools of thought in economics, it is also referred to as the Keynesian theory or Keynesianism. The Keynesian theory played a pivotal role during the resurrection of economy after the Great Depression, World War II, and the period between 1945 and 1973, which is referred to as the post-war Golden Age of Capitalism.
The great mind behind the theory of Keynesian economics was that of John Maynard Keynes, an eminent economist from England. The ideas put forth by Keynes back in the 20th century have a great influence on the macroeconomics we practice today. Owing to his contribution to the world of economics, Keynes is widely considered the father of modern macroeconomics and also, the most influential economist of the 20th century. Additionally, Keynes also worked as a civil servant, writer, director of the Bank of England, and private investor. His claim to fame though, was based on his ideas which provided a platform for the Keynesian school of thought and other related branches.
What is Keynesian Economics All About?
Keynesian economics is purely based on the ideas mentioned by John Maynard Keynes in his book 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money', which was published in 1936. Private sector and public sector are the two components of an economy. Keynesianism stresses on the fact that in several cases, the decisions taken by the private sector result in poor macroeconomic outcomes in the economy. In order to resolve this problem, it suggests that the public sector should step in and respond through active policies, so as to stabilize the output in the business cycle. A move which is totally against Laissez-fair capitalism, which believes in exclusion of public sector from the market.
According to the Keynesian theory, the spending of one individual results in earning of another. Simply put, when an individual is spending his earnings, he is actually supporting the earnings of another individual. This continuous process forms the base of a normally functioning economy. Through this, Keynes gave the most appropriate explanation for the cause of the Great Depression. When the Great Depression occurred, the first thing that came to people's mind was to save money, which led to hoarding of money. According to Keynes, this mindset of the people stopped the flow of money, which forms the base of normal functioning economy, and brought the economy to a standstill.
The solution for a poor economy, according to the Keynesian theory of economics, is 'pump priming', wherein the government would step in to increase the spending, either by increasing the money supply or buying things from the market. Keynesian economics believes that the government's intervention is necessary for ensuring proper growth and stability. This is against the basics of classical economics, wherein it is believed that any irregularities in the market are corrected automatically.
More importantly, this school of thought warns that the practices such as too much saving or too much spending are not good for the economy, but it does support the redistribution of the wealth, if required. Keynes believed that if the poor people were given money, they would spend it rather than save it and thus, would contribute to the well-being of the economy as a whole. This theory also stresses on the fact that the trends at the macroeconomic level influence consumer behavior at the microeconomic level in a disproportionate manner.
The policies based on Keynesian economics were widely criticized and held responsible for the inflation in 1970s. Owing to this, the policies were gradually replaced by monetarism and microeconomic policies, which are largely influenced by neo-classical economics. More recently, a new school of economic thought―the post-Keynesian economics, which is greatly influenced by Keynes ideas, has emerged. |
0.999794 | Respondents were asked, " Thinking about the condition of the national economy, do you think the worst is over or is the worst yet to come?"
Respondents were asked, " Thinking about the condition of the national economy, do you think the worst is over or is the worst yet to come?" Measurement of Party ID for this figure is based on two questions. First, respondents were asked whether they consider themselves to be a Democrats, Republicans, independents, other, or not sure. Those who responded that they are independents or "other" were then asked if they lean toward either the Democrats or Republicans. If they indicated that they lean toward one party or the other, they are considered Democrats or Republicans for the purposes of this figure. Only "pure" independents or members of a third party who indicate that they have no preference for Democrats vis-a-vis Republicans are considered independents . Respondents who answered that they are "not sure" for either of the two aforementioned questions are not incorporated into this figure.
Respondents were asked, " Thinking about the condition of the national economy, do you think the worst is over or is the worst yet to come?" Party identification is calculated according to the PID7 variable, a seven point scale of party identification.
Respondents were asked, " Thinking about the condition of the national economy, do you think the worst is over or is the worst yet to come?" Ideology is measured on a scale of 1-7, with 1 corresponding to "extremely liberal", 7 corresponding to "extremely conservative, and 4 corresponding to "in the middle." For the purposes of this table, respondents who placed themselves at or between points 1 and 3 on the scale are considered "liberal," respondents who placed themselves at point 4 on the scale are considered "moderate," and respondents who placed themselves at or between points 5 and 7 on the scale are considered conservative.
Respondents were asked, " Thinking about the condition of the national economy, do you think the worst is over or is the worst yet to come?" The ideology measure is based on respondent self-placement in response to the following question: "On a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 is extremely liberal, 7 is extremely conservative, and 4 is exactly in the middle, where would you place yourself?" The placements are further classified such that 1 is extremely liberal, 2 is very liberal, 3 is somewhat liberal, 4 is moderate, 5 is somewhat conservative, 6 is very conservative, and 7 is extremely conservative.
Respondents were asked, " Thinking about the condition of the national economy, do you think the worst is over or is the worst yet to come?" Tea Party identification is based on the following question, also asked in the survey: "Suppose the Tea Party movement organized itself as a political party. When thinking about the next election for Congress, would you vote for the Republican candidate from your district, the Democratic candidate from your district, or the Tea Party candidate from your district?" Those who responded "Republican candidate" are considered Republicans (non-Tea Party movement) and those who responded "Tea Party candidate" are considered Tea Party Republicans.
Respondents were asked, " Thinking about the condition of the national economy, do you think the worst is over or is the worst yet to come?" Race is calculated according to the RACE1 variable.
Respondents were asked, " Thinking about the condition of the national economy, do you think the worst is over or is the worst yet to come?" Gender is calculated according to the GENDER variable.
Respondents were asked, " Thinking about the condition of the national economy, do you think the worst is over or is the worst yet to come?" Location is based on the following question, " Would you say that you live in an urban, suburban, or rural community?"
Respondents were asked, " Thinking about the condition of the national economy, do you think the worst is over or is the worst yet to come?" Education is calculated according to the EDUC variable.
Respondents were asked, "Looking ahead to the future, do you think your children will be better off than you are, worse off, or about the same economically?"
Respondents were asked, "Looking ahead to the future, do you think your children will be better off than you are, worse off, or about the same economically?" Measurement of Party ID for this figure is based on two questions. First, respondents were asked whether they consider themselves to be a Democrats, Republicans, independents, other, or not sure. Those who responded that they are independents or "other" were then asked if they lean toward either the Democrats or Republicans. If they indicated that they lean toward one party or the other, they are considered Democrats or Republicans for the purposes of this figure. Only "pure" independents or members of a third party who indicate that they have no preference for Democrats vis-a-vis Republicans are considered independents . Respondents who answered that they are "not sure" for either of the two aforementioned questions are not incorporated into this figure.
Respondents were asked, "Looking ahead to the future, do you think your children will be better off than you are, worse off, or about the same economically?" Party identification is calculated according to the PID7 variable, a seven point scale of party identification.
Respondents were asked, "Looking ahead to the future, do you think your children will be better off than you are, worse off, or about the same economically?" Ideology is measured on a scale of 1-7, with 1 corresponding to "extremely liberal", 7 corresponding to "extremely conservative, and 4 corresponding to "in the middle." For the purposes of this table, respondents who placed themselves at or between points 1 and 3 on the scale are considered "liberal," respondents who placed themselves at point 4 on the scale are considered "moderate," and respondents who placed themselves at or between points 5 and 7 on the scale are considered conservative.
Respondents were asked, "Looking ahead to the future, do you think your children will be better off than you are, worse off, or about the same economically?" The ideology measure is based on respondent self-placement in response to the following question: "On a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 is extremely liberal, 7 is extremely conservative, and 4 is exactly in the middle, where would you place yourself?" The placements are further classified such that 1 is extremely liberal, 2 is very liberal, 3 is somewhat liberal, 4 is moderate, 5 is somewhat conservative, 6 is very conservative, and 7 is extremely conservative.
Respondents were asked, "Looking ahead to the future, do you think your children will be better off than you are, worse off, or about the same economically?" Tea Party identification is based on the following question, also asked in the survey: "Suppose the Tea Party movement organized itself as a political party. When thinking about the next election for Congress, would you vote for the Republican candidate from your district, the Democratic candidate from your district, or the Tea Party candidate from your district?" Those who responded "Republican candidate" are considered Republicans (non-Tea Party movement) and those who responded "Tea Party candidate" are considered Tea Party Republicans.
Respondents were asked, "Looking ahead to the future, do you think your children will be better off than you are, worse off, or about the same economically?" Race is calculated according to the RACE1 variable.
Respondents were asked, "Looking ahead to the future, do you think your children will be better off than you are, worse off, or about the same economically?" Gender is calculated according to the GENDER variable.
Respondents were asked, "Looking ahead to the future, do you think your children will be better off than you are, worse off, or about the same economically?" Location is based on the following question, " Would you say that you live in an urban, suburban, or rural community?"
Respondents were asked, "Looking ahead to the future, do you think your children will be better off than you are, worse off, or about the same economically?" Education is calculated according to the EDUC variable.
Respondents were asked, "Compared to a year ago, would you say that the Texas economy is a a lot better off, somewhat better off, about the same, somewhat worse off, or a lot worse off?"
Respondents were asked, "Compared to a year ago, would you say that the Texas economy is a a lot better off, somewhat better off, about the same, somewhat worse off, or a lot worse off?" Measurement of Party ID for this figure is based on two questions. First, respondents were asked whether they consider themselves to be a Democrats, Republicans, independents, other, or not sure. Those who responded that they are independents or "other" were then asked if they lean toward either the Democrats or Republicans. If they indicated that they lean toward one party or the other, they are considered Democrats or Republicans for the purposes of this figure. Only "pure" independents or members of a third party who indicate that they have no preference for Democrats vis-a-vis Republicans are considered independents . Respondents who answered that they are "not sure" for either of the two aforementioned questions are not incorporated into this figure.
Respondents were asked, "Compared to a year ago, would you say that the Texas economy is a a lot better off, somewhat better off, about the same, somewhat worse off, or a lot worse off?" Party identification is calculated according to the PID7 variable, a seven point scale of party identification.
Respondents were asked, "Compared to a year ago, would you say that the Texas economy is a a lot better off, somewhat better off, about the same, somewhat worse off, or a lot worse off?" Ideology is measured on a scale of 1-7, with 1 corresponding to "extremely liberal", 7 corresponding to "extremely conservative, and 4 corresponding to "in the middle." For the purposes of this table, respondents who placed themselves at or between points 1 and 3 on the scale are considered "liberal," respondents who placed themselves at point 4 on the scale are considered "moderate," and respondents who placed themselves at or between points 5 and 7 on the scale are considered conservative.
Respondents were asked, "Compared to a year ago, would you say that the Texas economy is a a lot better off, somewhat better off, about the same, somewhat worse off, or a lot worse off?" The ideology measure is based on respondent self-placement in response to the following question: "On a scale from 1 to 7, where 1 is extremely liberal, 7 is extremely conservative, and 4 is exactly in the middle, where would you place yourself?" The placements are further classified such that 1 is extremely liberal, 2 is very liberal, 3 is somewhat liberal, 4 is moderate, 5 is somewhat conservative, 6 is very conservative, and 7 is extremely conservative.
Respondents were asked, "Compared to a year ago, would you say that the Texas economy is a a lot better off, somewhat better off, about the same, somewhat worse off, or a lot worse off?" Tea Party identification is based on the following question, also asked in the survey: "Suppose the Tea Party movement organized itself as a political party. When thinking about the next election for Congress, would you vote for the Republican candidate from your district, the Democratic candidate from your district, or the Tea Party candidate from your district?" Those who responded "Republican candidate" are considered Republicans (non-Tea Party movement) and those who responded "Tea Party candidate" are considered Tea Party Republicans.
Respondents were asked, "Compared to a year ago, would you say that the Texas economy is a a lot better off, somewhat better off, about the same, somewhat worse off, or a lot worse off?" Race is calculated according to the RACE1 variable.
Respondents were asked, "Compared to a year ago, would you say that the Texas economy is a a lot better off, somewhat better off, about the same, somewhat worse off, or a lot worse off?" Gender is calculated according to the GENDER variable.
Respondents were asked, "Compared to a year ago, would you say that the Texas economy is a a lot better off, somewhat better off, about the same, somewhat worse off, or a lot worse off?" Location is based on the following question, " Would you say that you live in an urban, suburban, or rural community?"
Respondents were asked, "Compared to a year ago, would you say that the Texas economy is a a lot better off, somewhat better off, about the same, somewhat worse off, or a lot worse off?" Education is calculated according to the EDUC variable.
Respondents were asked, "Compared to a year ago, would you say that you and your family are economically a lot better off, somewhat better off, about the same, somewhat worse off, or a lot worse off?" Location is based on the following question, " Would you say that you live in an urban, suburban, or rural community?" |
0.955414 | Jenson Button, right, and Lewis Hamilton finished first and second for McLaren at the Chinese Grand Prix in April.
(CNN) -- Jenson Button's McLaren team hope that improvements to his car can help the world champion repeat his 2009 Spanish Grand Prix success as the Formula One circuit returns to Europe this weekend.
The British driver triumphed last year while with the former Brawn team at a Barcelona circuit where McLaren, currently top in the constructors' table, have won only once in the past nine years.
Button leads the drivers' standings by 10 points from Nico Rosberg of Mercedes after two wins from the opening four races, including victory in China three weeks ago.
While the volcanic ash cloud affecting European airspace delayed the teams' return from Shanghai -- causing problems for the likes of Virgin, who have been able to build new fuel tanks for only one of their two cars -- McLaren have had time to make upgrades that should boost the hopes of Button and cohort Lewis Hamilton.
"In recent years, we've produced successful cars with inherent performance characteristics that enable them to perform better in slower corners," team principal Martin Whitmarsh told reporters.
"While we haven't overlooked high-speed performance, it's not typically been our strongest area -- and that might explain our recent loss of form around Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.
"For 2010, however, we feel we have a car that generally excels in high-speed corners, and while that in itself, isn't enough to suggest a complete reversal of our recent fortunes in Spain, we feel that the useful upgrades we're bringing to this race, which include new front and rear wings, will help us consolidate our position among the leaders and, hopefully, enable us to close the gap to the cars at the front."
Button won from pole position last year, and is looking forward to the European leg of the calendar.
"It's a relatively high-speed circuit, and one that's quite enjoyable to drive -- provided your car is working properly," the Englishman said. "There are some fast corners, but the majority of the track is made up of pretty long corners where you really need the car to do all the work. It's a circuit that really rewards precision, and punishes aggression.
"Fortunately, our car does seem to have a very good neutral balance in the high-speed corners -- it's probably the most impressive aspect of the car -- and we went well during pre-season testing, so I think we go into this weekend feeling pretty well prepared.
"Finally, I'm looking forward to returning to Europe. It's been an incredibly exciting series of flyaway races, but I think everybody in Formula One looks forward to racing closer to home, back in the sport's heartland."
Hamilton, who was second in Shanghai, qualified 14th for last year's Spanish race but still managed to finish ninth.
"We've got a couple of fairly significant upgrades coming for this race. And while it would be naive to think that these will move us up the pecking order -- because almost all the teams produce a major bodywork update for Barcelona -- we're optimistic that they'll once again help us to bridge the gap to the leading cars," the 2008 world champion said.
"If it's a dry race, then, realistically, I think it's going to be harder for us to be up at the front. As we did in China, we'll be putting additional emphasis on qualifying -- it will be more important than ever in Barcelona as, traditionally, it's always been a track where overtaking is very difficult.
"Given that most cars will only be stopping once, we have less scope for passing, so a good grid position will be vital here." |
0.999609 | In the following tutorial, you will learn how to create a wire pattern brush and how to use it to create a nice USB vector text effect in Adobe Illustrator. For starters, you will learn how to set up a simple grid and how to create a bunch of pixel perfect shapes using basic tools and effects. Using basic blending and vector shape building techniques along with some simple Transform effects, you will learn how to create the usb connector. Finally, you will learn how to turn all these shapes into a simple pattern brush and how to create the text.
Hit CTRL + N to create a new document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu, enter 600 in the width box and 480 in the height box, then click on the Advanced button. Select RGB, Screen (72ppi) and make sure that the Align New Objects to Pixel Grid box is unchecked before you click OK. Enable the Grid (View > Show Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). You will need a grid every 1px, so simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid, enter 1 in the Gridline every box and 1 in the Subdivisions box. You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes. Do not forget to set the unit of measurement to pixels from Edit > Preferences > Units > General. All these options will significantly increase your work speed.
Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and focus on your Toolbar. Remove the color from the stroke, then select the fill and set its color at R=55 G=55 B=55. Move to your artboard and simply create a 1px square.
Make sure that the Rectangle Tool (M) is still active, create three additional 1px squares, and place them as shown in the following image, using the fill colors shown below. Select all four shapes created so far, and simply hit CTRL + G to Group them.
Make sure that your group of squares is still selected, and make a copy in front (CTRL + C > CTRL + F). Select this group copy, and move it 9px to the right.
Reselect the group copy made in the previous step, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter 5 in the Copies box and drag the Move-Horizontal slider at –1px; then click OK. In the end, things should look like in the following image.
Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create eight, 1px squares. Place these new shapes as shown in the following image, and use the fill colors shown below.
Reselect the eight squares made in the previous step and duplicate them (CTRL + C > CTRL + F). Drag these copies 1px to the right, then simply replace the existing fill colors with the ones shown in the following image.
Reselect the two columns of squares made in the last two steps and Group them (CTRL + G). Make sure that this new group stays selected, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter 2 in the Copies box and drag the Move-Horizontal slider to 3px, then click OK. In the end, things should look like in the following image.
Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create six, 1px squares. Place these new shapes as shown in the following image, and use the fill colors shown below. Make sure that all the shapes made in this step are selected, and Group them (CTRL + G). Duplicate this new group (CTRL + C > CTRL + F). Select the copy and simply drag it 3px to the right as shown in the second image.
Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 34 x 16px shape, set the fill color at R=55 G=55 B=55, and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this new shape stays selected, and go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the middle, top anchor point, and drag it 3px down and 9px to the left. Move to the middle, bottom anchor point and drag it 3px up and 9px to the left. Move to the left side, select the top anchor point and drag it 3px down, then select the bottom anchor point and drag it 3px up. In the end, things should look like in the third image. Move to the Layers panel (Window > Layers), simply double click on the shape made in this step and name it “main“.
Reselect your “main” shape and go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the two anchor points highlighted in the first image and drag them as shown in the second image. Switch to the Delete Anchor Point Tool (-), and simply click on the eight anchor point highlighted by the yellow circles to remove them. In the end, your “main” shape should look like in the third image.
Next, we’ll round the corners of our USB. Keep focusing on your “main” shape and make sure that the Direct Selection Tool (A) is still active. Select the four anchor points highlighted by the yellow circles in the following image, move to the top bar and simply enter 2 in the Corners box. Select the two anchor points highlighted by the green circles in the following image, move to the top bar and simply enter 5 in the Corners box. Select the two anchor points highlighted by the blue circles in the following image, move to the top bar and enter 0.65 in the Corners box. In the end, your “main” shape should look like in the second image.
Disable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid), then go to Edit > Preferences > General and make sure that the Keyboard Increment is set at 1px. Reselect your “main” shape and make two copies in front (CTRL + C > CTRL + F > CTRL + F). Select the top copy and move it 1px to the left using the left arrow button from your keyboard. Reselect both copies made in this step, open the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder) and click the Minus Front button. Fill the resulting shape with black (R=0 G=0 B=0), then open the Transparency panel (Window > Transparency), lower the Opacity to 15% and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light.
Reselect your “main” shape and make two copies in front (CTRL + C > CTRL + F > CTRL + F). Select the top copy and move it 1px down using the down arrow button from your keyboard. Reselect both copies made in this step, and click the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Make sure that the resulting shape is selected, and set the fill color at R=45 G=45 B=45.
Reselect your “main” shape and make two copies in front (CTRL + C > CTRL + F > CTRL + F). Select the top copy and move it 2px down using the down arrow button from your keyboard. Reselect both copies made in this step and click the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel.
Reselect your “main” shape and make two copies in front (CTRL + C > CTRL + F > CTRL + F). Select the top copy and move it 3px down using the down arrow button from your keyboard. Reselect both copies made in this step, and click the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Make sure that the resulting shape is selected, and set the fill color at R=65 G=65 B=65.
Reselect your “main” shape, and make two copies in front (CTRL + C > CTRL + F > CTRL + F). Select the top copy, and move it 1px up using the up arrow button from your keyboard. Reselect both copies made in this step, and click the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Make sure that the resulting shape is selected, and set the fill color at R=30 G=30 B=30.
Reselect your “main” shape and make two copies in front (CTRL + C > CTRL + F > CTRL + F). Select the top copy, and move it 2px up using the up arrow button from your keyboard. Reselect both copies made in this step, and click the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Make sure that the resulting shape is selected, and set the fill color at R=40 G=40 B=40.
Reselect your “main” shape, and make two copies in front (CTRL + C > CTRL + F > CTRL + F). Select the top copy, and move it 3px up using the up arrow button from your keyboard. Reselect both copies made in this step, and click the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel.
Reselect your “main” shape, and make two copies in front (CTRL + C > CTRL + F > CTRL + F). Select the top copy, and move it 4px up using the up arrow button from your keyboard. Reselect both copies made in this step, and click the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Make sure that the resulting shape is selected, and set the fill color at R=65 G=65 B=65.
Enable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 34 x 3px shape, set the fill color at R=80 G=80 B=80 and place it as shown in the first image. Focus on your Toolbar, and double click on the Blend Tool. Select Specified Steps from the Spacing drop-down menu, simply enter 25 in the white box, then click OK. Reselect the rectangle made in this step along with your “main” shape and simply hit Alt + CTRL + B to create a simple blend. Make sure that your blend is selected, and send it to back (Shift + CTRL + [ ).
Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 14 x 7px shape, set the fill color at R=70 G=70 B=70, and place it as shown in the first image. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the four anchor points that make up this new rectangle, move to the top bar, and simply enter 2 in the Corners box. In the end, your rounded rectangle should look like in the second image.
Disable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid), then go to Edit > Preferences > General and set the Keyboard Increment at 0.5px. Reselect the rounded rectangle made in the previous step, and make two copies in front (CTRL + C > CTRL + F > CTRL + F). Select the top copy, and move it 0.5px down and 0.5px to the right using the arrow buttons from your keyboard. Reselect both copies made in this step, and click the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with R=45 G=45 B=45.
Reselect your 14 x 7px rounded rectangle, and go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow. Enter the properties shown in the following image, and click OK. Make sure that your rounded rectangle stays selected, and open the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance). Add a 0.5pt stroke, set the color at black, lower its Opacity to 10%, and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light. Make sure that the stroke stays selected, open the Stroke panel (Window > Stroke), and simply check the Align Stroke to Inside button.
Enable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Using the Ellipse Tool (L), create two, 1px circles, set their fill color at R=55 G=55 B=55, and place them as shown in the first image. Make sure that both shapes remain selected, focus on the Appearance panel, and add a second fill using the Add New Fill button (pointed by the little, blue arrow in the following image). Keep focusing on the Appearance panel, select the bottom fill, set the color at white, lower its Opacity to 40%, and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light. Then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Enter the properties shown in the following image, make sure that you check the top, left reference point, and then click OK.
Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create an 11 x 12px shape, set the fill color at R=240 G=241 B=246, and place it as shown in the first image. Switch to the Pen Tool (P) and create an 11px, horizontal path. Place it as shown in the second image, and add a 1px stroke with the color set at R=150 G=151 B=156.
Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create an 11 x 1px shape, set the fill color at white (R=255 G=255 B=255) and place it as shown in the first image. Using the same tool, create a second 11 x 1px shape, set the fill color at R=230 G=231 B=236, and place it as shown in the second image. Create a third 11 x 1px shape, set the fill color at R=250 G=251 B=255 and place it as shown in the third image. Create a 1 x 11px shape, set the fill color at R=200 G=201 B=206, and place it as shown in the fourth image. Finally, create a new 11 x 1px shape, set the fill color at R=170 G=171 B=176, and place it as shown in the fifth image.
Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 2 x 12px shape and a 1 x 11px rectangle, and place them as shown in the following images. Fill both shapes with black, lower the Opacity to 50%, and change the Blending Mode to Soft Light.
Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 2px square, set the fill color at R=130 G=130 B=130, and place it as shown in the first image. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the four anchor points that make up this tiny shape, move to the top bar, and simply enter 0.55 in the Corners box. In the end, your rounded rectangle should look like in the second image. Reselect it, make two copies in front (CTRL + C > CTRL + F > CTRL + F) and disable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Select the top copy, and move it 0.5px dow and 0.5px to the right. Reselect both copies, and click the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with R=60 G=60 B=60.
Enable the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Reselect the two shapes made in the previous step and duplicate them (CTRL + C > CTRL + F). Select those copies, and simply drag them several pixels down as shown in the following image.
Select all the shapes highlighted in the first image and go to Object > Expand Apperance. Then hit CTRL + G to Group them. Make sure that this new group is selected, and go to Object > Transform > Reflect. Check the Vertical box, and click the Copy button. Select the newly created group, and simply drag it to the left as shown in the fourth image.
Select your right group of shapes and simply drag it inside the Swatches panel (Window > Swatches) to save it as a pattern. Once you can see it in the Swatches panel, you can remove that group of shapes from your artboard. Return to the Swatches panel, double click on your pattern and name it “endTile“. Select the left group of shapes, and turn it your second pattern. Name it “startTile“, then simply remove the group of shapes that you used to create this second pattern.
Focus on your artboard, select the remaining group of shapes, open the Brushes panel (Window > Brushes), and click the New Brush button (pointed by the little, blue arrow in the following image). Check the Pattern Brush box, then click OK to open the Pattern Brush Options window. Enter “wire” in the Name box, then move down to the Tile boxes. Open the Start Tile drop down window, and add the “startTile” pattern from the list. Then open the End Tile drop down window, and add the “endTile” pattern. Finally, click OK and you should find your new pattern brush inside the Brushes panel. Once you can see it, simply remove the group of shapes that you used to create it.
Disable the Grid (View > Hide Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Pick the Rectangle Tool (M), and simply click on your artboard to open the Rectangle window. Enter 610 in the Width box and 490 in the Height box; then click OK. Fill this new shape with R=139 8 G=189 B=38. Next, you need to center this rectangle, so open the Align panel (Window > Align). Set the aligning to Artboard (open the fly out menu and go to Show Options if you can’t see the Align To section as shown in the following image). Then simply click the Horizontal Align Center and Vertical Align Center buttons. In the end, your rectangle should cover the entire artboard.
Make sure that your green rectangle is still selected, focus on the Appearance panel, and add a second fill using that same Add New Fill button. Select this new fill, open the Gradient panel (Window > Gradient), and simply click on the gradient thumbnail to add the default black to white linear gradient. Keep focusing on your Gradient panel, select Radial from the Type drop-down menu, then move to the gradient colors. Select the right slider and set the color at black; then select the left slider, set the color at R=139 G=189 B=38 and lower its Opacity to 0%. Make sure that the second fill stays selected, grab the Gradient Tool (G), focus on your artboard and stretch that gradient as shown in the following image. Return to the Appearance panel, reselect the fill added in this step, and change its Blending Mode to Soft Light. Move to the Layers panel, double click on your green rectangle, name it “bg“, then simply lock it.
Pick the Type Tool (T), click on your artboard and add your white piece of text. Make sure that it stays selected, and open the Character panel (Window > Type > Character). Select the Edwardian Script ITC font, then set the size at 275pt. Lower the Opacity of your text to 30%, then move to the Layers panel and simply lock it to make sure that you won’t accidentally select/move it.
Now the more challenging path. Using the Pen Tool (P) or the Brush Tool (B) (or if you happen to own a tablet), draw a smooth path along your text as shown in the following image. Try to use the text in the back as a rough reference. For starters, use a simple, black stroke for your path. Once you feel that it looks good enough, replace the black stroke with your “wire” pattern brush. Move to the Layers panel, double click on the path made in this step, and simply name it “WIRE“.
Get grid of that locked piece of text. Reselect your “WIRE” path and simply add the five Drop Shadow effects (Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow) shown in the following image.
How to make step 12 in CS6?
Hi there guys, love your tips, but I need some help. I’m stuck at step 12. I’m having the same problem as Naithan. My guess is that i’m using Illustrator CS6 not CC version. Where can I find a corners box? Stylize/Round corners won’t work with elected anchor points, it rounds every corner of an object.
Im having troubles with step 12… there is no corner box for me?
We’re sorry you’re having trouble with the images loading on our site. Are you still having these issues now?
i’m stuck in step 5. I enter the exact details you gave and it moves just a little bit.
We double checked the instructions and the end result was as the tutorial suggests. Try repeating the steps, paying special attention to the increments suggested in the tutorial–create 1px squares and be sure to group them. Let me know if this works for you this time.
awesome! i like the idea of drawing over the typed word. usually I start from scratch. thanks for the inspiration! |
0.999997 | I have hypoglycemia and am unable to find anything on the web or in stores that directly talk about it. I need to find out what types of food I can eat, what to stay away from, and recipes if possible. Any ideas on where to look?
The best thing I can recommend is for you to meet with a Registered Dietitian who specializes in diabetes and/or hypoglycemia. There are generally two forms of hypoglycemia, reactive and fasting. A dietitian can individualize a meal plan that fits your schedule and eating preferences. Ask your physician for a referral to an RD who can assist with portions and timing of meals.
A preview of things to come: Expect to eat smaller, more frequent meals and to reduce the foods that contain excessive amounts of carbohydrates and/or sugar (sodas, syrups, jellies, etc.). Also, mixing a good source of protein with carbs at all meals and snacks will be emphasized. |
0.998988 | California scrub jay in Seattle, Washington.
The California scrub jay (Aphelocoma californica), is a species of scrub jay native to western North America. It ranges from southern British Columbia throughout California and western Nevada near Reno to west of the Sierra Nevada. The California scrub jay was once lumped with the island scrub jay, and Woodhouse's scrub jay, collectively called the western scrub jay. The group was also lumped with the Florida scrub jay; the taxon was then called, simply, the scrub jay. The California scrub jay is nonmigratory and can be found in urban areas, where it can become tame and will come to bird feeders. While many refer to scrub jays as "blue jays", the blue jay is a different species of bird entirely. In recent years, the California scrub jay has expanded its range north into the Tsawwassen region of British Columbia.
The generic name Aphelocoma derives from Latinized Ancient Greek apheles- (from ἀφελής-) "simple" + Latin coma (from Greek kome κόμη) "hair", in reference to the lack of striped or banded feathers in this genus, compared to other jays. californica, Latin: "from California".
The California scrub jay is a medium-sized bird, approximately 27–31 cm (11–12 in) in length (including its tail), with a 39 cm (15 in) wingspan, and about 80 g (2.8 oz) in weight. In general, this species has a blue head, wings, and tail, a gray-brown back, grayish underparts, and white eyebrows. The throat is whitish with a blue necklace. The call or "screech" is described as "harsh and scratchy".
True to its name, the California scrub jay inhabits areas of low scrub, preferring pinon-juniper forests, oak woods, and edges of mixed evergreen forests. It also inhabits suburban gardens.
California scrub jays, like many other corvids, exploit ephemeral surpluses by storing food in scattered caches within their territories. They rely on highly accurate and complex memories to recover the hidden caches, often after long periods of time. In the process of collecting and storing this food, they have shown an ability to plan ahead in choosing cache sites to provide adequate food volume and variety for the future. Western scrub jays are also able to rely on their accurate observational spatial memories to steal food from caches made by conspecifics. To protect their caches from potential 'pilferers', food storing birds implement a number of strategies to reduce this risk of theft. Western scrub jays are also known for hoarding and burying brightly colored objects. Western scrub jays have a mischievous streak, and they are not above outright theft. They have been caught stealing acorns from acorn woodpecker caches. Some scrub jays steal acorns they have watched other jays hide. When these birds go to hide their own acorns, they check first that no other jays are watching.
Recent research has suggested that western scrub jays, along with several other corvids, are among the most intelligent of animals. The brain-to-body mass ratio of adult scrub jays rivals that of chimpanzees and cetaceans, and is dwarfed only by that of humans. Scrub jays are also the only non-primate or non-dolphin shown to plan ahead for the future (known as metacognition), which was previously thought of as a uniquely human trait. Other studies have shown that they can remember locations of over 200 food caches, as well as the food item in each cache and its rate of decay. To protect their caches from pilfering conspecifics, scrub-jays will choose locations out-of-sight of their competitors, or re-cache caches once they are alone, suggesting that they can take into account the perspective of others. California scrub jays also summon others to screech over the body of a dead jay, according to new research from the University of California, Davis. The birds' cacophonous "funerals" can last for up to half an hour.
The chicks start off fully gray. The older they get, the more they turn blue. On their heads, chicks tend to have a red crest that resembles a comb. The chick will lose its crest at day seven, just like the way the baby chickens lose their egg tooth at 5–7 days. Nests are built low in trees or bushes, 1–10 m (3.3–32.8 ft) above the ground, primarily by the female, while the male guards her efforts. The nests are sturdy, with an outside diameter of 33–58 cm (13–23 in), constructed on a platform of twigs with moss and dry grasses lined with fine roots and hair. Four to six eggs are laid from March through July, with some regional variations. There are two common shell color variations: pale green with irregular, olive-colored spots or markings; and pale grayish-white to green with reddish-brown spots. The female incubates the eggs for about 16 days. The young leave the nest about 18 days after hatching.
The life span of wild California scrub jays is approximately 9 years. The oldest known western scrub jay was found in Castaic, CA, in 1991 and raised in captivity. "Aaron" lived to be 19 years, and 8 months old.
Populations are being adversely affected by the West Nile virus, particularly in California's Central Valley.
"California" scrub jay (Aphelocoma californica immanis), showing the well-marked breast band of the coastal races. Acorns are a typical food.
Another "California" scrub jay. Note bright white plume breaking the breast band. Prominent markings in eye region are typical of male birds.
"California" scrub jay fledgling being fed by a relative.
Woodhouse's, California, Island, and Florida scrub jay were once considered subspecies of a single "scrub jay" species. They are now believed to be distinct. Beyond the close relationship of the "California" and island scrub jays, resolution of their evolutionary history has proven very difficult.
Woodhouse's scrub jay differ in plumage (paler blue above, with an indistinct and usually incomplete breast band) from California scrub jay which are darker blue above with a strongly defined – but not necessarily complete – blue breast band.
A large subspecies. Somewhat duller and lighter in color than californica due to gene flow from inland populations. Blue of head and neck less purplish than in woodhouseii group. Back usually quite brownish, underside and especially breast quite whitish, undertail coverts usually tinged pale blue or gray in males. Bill strong, wings and tail fairly short.
Coastal SW Oregon from Rogue River valley south to Napa and Sonoma Counties; eastern limit the inner California Coast Ranges.
Similar to californica, but head and back more intensely colored, with bright purplish tinge to blue of head. Color similar to nominate, thus darker than immanis and most oocleptica. Relative to nominate californica, blue areas more purplish and brighter, breast darker than rest of underside.
From Jackson, Klamath, and Lake Counties, Oregon, through Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys and surrounding mountains to Kern County, San Francisco Bay area, and Alpine County. Eastwards to Inyo County and Virginia Mountains (Washoe County, Nevada), where it intergrades with nevadae of the woodhouseii group.
Quite variable according to the extent of gene flow between this taxon and nevadae. Generally similar to californica but larger; color of head and neck varies in lightness and amount of purplish hue. Back grayish; undertail coverts usually white. Bill usually heavy but variable according to habitat type (less heavy in birds of pinyon woodland).
California Coast Ranges from San Mateo County and SE Alameda County to SW Ventura County.
Blue of head usually strongly tinged purple. Back bluish-brownish gray, bluer towards the rump. Incomplete bluish-violet breast band. Underside greyish white, darker on the breast. Undertail coverts white tinged with blue. Thighs gray. Rectrices and remiges dark blue, the larger feathers duller. Bill heavy, tip strongly hooked.
Smaller and darker than californica, with more intense purplish and brown coloration on head and back, respectively; prominent gray streaking on throat and distinct breast collar. Belly with smoky gray wash, lighter in the middle. Generally more intense coloration overall. Bill heavy.
Only occurs in single-leaf pinyon woods on Eagle Mountain, Joshua Tree National Park.
Smaller, lighter and grayer than californica. Bill not as heavy. Apparently an isolate of hybrid origin between A. c. obscura and nevadae of the woodhouseii group.
^ BirdLife International (2012). "Aphelocoma californica". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature.
^ Clayton, N. S.; Bussey, T. J. & Dickinson, A. (2003). "Can animals recall the past and plan for the future?" (PDF). Nature Reviews. Neuroscience. 4 (8): 685–91. doi:10.1038/nrn1180. PMID 12894243.
^ Raby, C. R.; D. M. Alexis; A. Dickinson; N. S. Clayton (22 February 2007). "Planning for the future by western scrub-jays". Nature. 445 (7130): 919–921. doi:10.1038/nature05575. PMID 17314979.
^ Clayton, N. S.; Dally, J. M. & Emery, N. J. (2007). "Social cognition by food-caching corvids. The western scrub-jay as a natural psychologist". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences. 362 (1480): 507–22. doi:10.1098/rstb.2006.1992. PMC 2346514. PMID 17309867.
^ Dally, J. M.; Emery, N. J. & Clayton, N. S. (2006). "Food-caching western scrub-jays keep track of who was watching when". Science. 312 (5780): 1662–5. doi:10.1126/science.1126539. PMID 16709747.
^ Correia, SP; Dickinson, A; Clayton, NS (2007). "Western scrub-jays anticipate future needs independently of their current motivational state" (PDF). Current Biology. 17 (10): 856–61. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2007.03.063. PMID 17462894.
^ Clayton, Nicola; Emery, Nathan & Dickinson, Anthony (2006). "The rationality of animal memory: Complex caching strategies of western scrub jays". In Hurley, Susan & Nudds, Matthew (eds.). Rational Animals? (PDF). Oxford University Press. pp. 197–216. ISBN 0198528264.
^ Scrub jays react to their dead, bird study shows: 'Funerals' can last for up to half an hour. Sciencedaily.com (2012-09-11). Retrieved on 2013-03-22.
^ Emslie, Steven D. (1996). "A fossil scrub-jay supports a recent systematic decision" (PDF). Condor. 98 (4): 675–680. doi:10.2307/1369850.
^ Rice, Nathan H.; Martínez-Meyer, Enrique & Peterson, A. Townsend (2003). "Ecological niche differentiation in the Aphelocoma jays: a phylogenetic perspective" (PDF). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 80 (3): 369–383. doi:10.1046/j.1095-8312.2003.00242.x.
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This page was last edited on 11 March 2019, at 19:21 (UTC). |
0.951083 | Enter the last 7 digits to find that number in El Dorado, Arkansas.
Where is Area Code 870?
Area code (870) is in the state of Arkansas, and there are 6 cities in this area code. |
0.999939 | Say you are writing a short story and you want to do a really good job. You might write the story on one sheet of paper, and then get another sheet of paper and write another version, and then keep writing more versions on more sheets of paper. After a while, you'd end up with lots of sheets of paper that weren't the version you were currently writing. You might put those sheets in a folder so that you can go back and see old drafts of your story.
You give that folder to your mom to keep track of, because you know that you can always ask mom for one of the versions of your story if you need it. Plus, mom keeps photocopies so she can give versions of your story to your siblings. Mom also keeps similar folders for the stories that your siblings write.
Git is the folder, and your pieces of paper are code. Your mom is GitHub.
But I think it's still useful to have another discussion, possibly more geared towards complete out-of-the-loopers. |
0.986223 | As in real-estate the key to a growing international business is Location, location, location. Starbucks must work with their successful international partners to expand to new key countries, identify growing economical regions and new profitable store locations with in a city. Starbucks needs to identify local cuisine and music that they can market in their stores in order to bring in the local customer. This ensures that the "Starbucks experience" is unique to that community for that customer. Another recommendation would be Starbucks setup internet access at its international stores. This could require Starbucks to have computers at their locations for the customers to use. By doing this Starbucks will get the customers to stay in the stores longer and spend more money. This also helps to enhance that local community feel and insure that the Starbucks store becomes a gathering place for the local consumers. |
0.999979 | Dream up a situation that you have a parrot in your house. A hunter took away the parrot and kept inside a cage in his house. As a player, you need to find the find the parrot and release it from the cage befor the hunter arrives. As you are a person of good decision maker, it is sure that you will succeed by finding the necessary objects and solving the puzzles. |
0.999938 | Annabelle Fritton: Treasure Hunter, Come for naught, It seems your dreams have fallen short.
Chelsea: For pirate though I may have been, I ventured for a change of scene.
Chelsea: Resolving to change my ways, From sailing seas to mounting plays.
Lucy: Writing many in this room, With Shakespeare as my on-De-ploom.
Lucy: In you of gold I humbly pray, You'll kindly take my final play.
Annabelle Fritton: Anound did you find it hard, to credit that I was the bard.
Annabelle Fritton: The timely truth may now unfold, That all the while I was... a girl.
It's really hard to rate St Trinian's 2. On the one hand, it is lively, sharp, and amusing, but on the other hand, the plot is a little disappointing. The film itself borders on the 'absolutely surreal' (mind you, it's a bit ironic to claim this against St Trinian's school, eh??), which somehow, I thought, made it a bit awkward to watch.
As ever, the stereotypes of teenage schoolgirls is strong, which adds to the overall enjoyment of the film, and as you can expect with your typical British comedy film, there are the odd pieces of play-on-words humour which you have to be quick to catch up on. Also watch out for references to famous films or other popular-culture references (you'll understand what I mean when you watch it).
Thus, I give this a rating of 6/10, mainly because of its overall cleverness and entertainment value. Would I recommend it? Yes I would; it's about time a comedy film had real humour in it, even if it is masked in a very bizarre plot. |
0.986554 | Hello. Welcome to my new post!
This is my new post. |
0.998876 | Fine tuning refers to the process of making small modifications to improve or optimize an outcome. Generally, fine tuning seeks to increase the effectiveness or efficiency of a process or function. Fine tuning can be accomplished through a variety of ways, the methodology of which depends on the process being optimized.
Fine tuning is used in investing plans and research studies across a variety industries. Researchers may fine tune studies and theories for years before publishing or receiving credit for their work. Generally fine tuning is a result of new developments, new insights or new technologies that help to improve effectiveness and efficiency. Developments around the use of fine tuning in fuzzy logic-based algorithms provide one example of how fine tuning can be used in technical programming. In the investment industry investors can fine tune their investing plans in many ways in order to optimize their returns.
Fuzzy logic is built around the concept of fine tuning programmed algorithms to achieve the most optimal results. Fuzzy logic algorithms are used in artificial intelligence programming. They offer a decision tree like analysis with various sets of variables and parameters used in their calculation process. While fuzzy logic programming is known for the capability to develop an infinite number of solutions, the programming is also constantly fine tuned to manage fuzzy data set parameters for optimized outcomes.
The investment industry offers a vast universe of investing options, theories, products and trading strategies that can be used to optimize results. Professional investment managers are constantly fine tuning their economic, quantitative and fundamental models for optimal results.
Long term individual investors will typically seek the services of professional investment managers to help them in fine tuning their investment portfolios. These services may include consultation from a financial advisor or investing through managed accounts and managed funds. Generally, working with a financial advisor can be one of the best ways to make sure that an investment portfolio is actively fine-tuned through all types of market environments.
Active trading and technical analysis also provide a great deal of opportunity for fine tuning. Active traders can fine tune their investing strategies by broadening the types of orders they use. Technical analysts using a variety of trading strategies can also fine tune their trading plans by identifying and using new technical analysis patterns or more comprehensively combining technical analysis patterns systematically to create stronger conviction around trading signals.
While a number of fine tuning opportunities exist in the investment market, several theories also support the benefits of maintaining conservative investment positions. Diversification and the efficient market theory suggest that investors should be acutely aware of their risk tolerances for optimal investing across a range of assets. The 2% Rule also exists as a rule of thumb for managing trading bets, suggesting that investors wage only up to 2% when making a new investment.
Fuzzy logic is a mathematical logic that attempts to solve problems with an open, imprecise spectrum of data that makes it possible to obtain an array of accurate conclusions.
Analysis paralysis occurs when an individual becomes so lost in the process of examining and evaluating various points of data or factors for a problem that they are unable to make a decision with it.
Optimization, in the context of technical analysis, is the process of adjusting one's trading system in an attempt to make it more effective. |
0.97749 | Why does the fire service use a bugle as rank?
In the early days, of North American fire departments, orders were given to the troops, by officers, through the use of a large brass device that resembles a megaphone. These were very ornate brass horns. They were commonly called “bugles."
The person with the bugle hanging from his neck or shoulder was easily identified as the person in charge. Officers became identified with these objects so a small pin in the shape of a bugle became a type of rank insignia for officers. The more bugles on his collar, the higher the rank. An expression still used today. |
0.999996 | Can you help me? Vous pouvez m'aider?
Allons à la plage = "Let's go to the beach"
Le train arrive à midi = "The train arrives at noon"
Tu veux venir avec nous? = "Do you want to come with us?"
Il faut partir tôt = "We need to leave early".
To indicate future actions, you can use a form of aller ("to go"), followed by another verb, e.g.: Je vais faire mes devoir ("I'm going to do my homework"). A second possibility would be to use the future ending, e.g:. Je ferai ("I will do"), fera ("He/She will do"). You can learn more about future verb forms here and here. |
0.999398 | Depth perception is one of the important elements in virtual reality (VR). The perceived depth is influenced by the head mounted displays that inevitability decreases the virtual content's depth perception. While several questions within this area are still under research; the main objective of this study is to survey the recently conducted studies on depth perception in VR, augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). First, depth perception in the human visual system is discussed including the different visual cues involved in depth perception. Second, research performed to understand and confirm depth perception issue is examined. The contributions made to improve depth perception and specifically distance perception will be discussed with their main proposed design key, advantages, and limitations. Most of the contributions were based on using one or two depth cues to improve depth perception in VR, AR, and MR.
Emerging display technologies are proposing monitors for medical imaging with an extended dynamic range of luminance. Those devices offer the opportunity to extend the range of visual information displayed, but the limits of the human visual system (HVS) in perceiving such information can cancel the advantages. To investigate this problem, we present a set of experiments, to assess the visual response of the HVS to controlled high dynamic range (HDR) content. They analyse the effects of glare. Using a typical HDR display, tailored for medical imaging applications, they first study the dependence of the visible dynamic range from the inter-ocular glare, induced by different backgrounds, then the effect of glare on the detection of test elements on medical radiographic images. Finally, they assess the influence of luminance-equivalent backgrounds with different structure in the detection of test patches. The results of the experiments confirm the glare as a major player in influencing visual information detection. Glare has a significant impact in limiting the amount of visual information actually perceived, consequently limiting analysis capabilities of such images. This confirms the importance of investigating and considering the characteristics of human vision in the design and test of HDR imaging systems.
2D-to-3D conversion has been studied over past decades and integrated to commercial 3D displays and 3DTVs. Generally, depth cues extracted from a static image are used for generating a depth map followed by depth image-based rendering for producing a stereoscopic image. Further, the motion has been considered as an important cue for motion depth estimation. In most works, motion estimation has relied on block-based motion estimation, optical flows, and their variants even though they provide inaccurate data and high computation time, posing performance bottleneck. These problems by proposing Motion History Image-based motion depth estimation method are addressed. Experimental results show that the proposed method is not only faster than the conventional methods but also outperforms them in terms of motion depth estimation.
Considering that the text information might be leaked through electromagnetic radiation from a computer display, a novel algorithm has been developed to detect the text information leakage. Motivated by the observation that the ‘text - space – text’ characteristic for electromagnetic radiation signal contains the text information, the authors proposed a method to describe this characteristic. In this method, sparse decomposition in wavelet was used and sub-band sparsity was defined. Variance mean ratio and correlation coefficients of sub-band sparsity were combined as the features of electromagnetic radiation signals. By using this method, the authors can accurately and efficiently detect the text information leakage in electromagnetic radiation from a computer display without reconstructing the displayed image.
New VR (Virtual Reality) HMDs (Head Mounted Displays) being introduced in 2016 are creating increased demand for VR video content. A growing amount of content - including documentaries, movies and live events - have already been covered in VR video. For the market to truly take off, some standardization is required with regards to the rules of content writing, the content acquisition and stitching methods, and the approach for mapping content for encoding and delivery. In addition, the industry needs to define a unified mechanism to address all of the different ecosystems, ranging from the various VR devices to mobile devices, STBs and connected TVs, to avoid the fragmentation that resulted with 3D and over-the-top (OTT) video delivery. This paper will present reference architectures that can be deployed with existing technology to pave the way for future evolutions of VR.
Source: International Conference on Renewable Power Generation (RPG 2015), 2015, p. 5 . - 5 .
Substation inspection is not only one of the most important means of ensuring safe and stable operation of equipment, but also a significant way of timely detecting the dominant and recessive defect of the equipment, and preventing the accidents. This paper presents the virtual video and real-time data demonstration used for smart substation inspection based on the latest wearable services technology (such as Google glass). Google Glass is hands-free and uses augmented reality and voice activation to project useful data into our field of vision. A key use-case of google glass could be to allow a field crew out in the substation to be able to identify all relevant data for the network at the crew's current location. From this interface, they could navigate through all the data for a transformer, such as voltage, current, temperature etc. and identify its location in the GIS and view a single-line diagram, query into its asset history, maintenance history, manufacturer information and catalogue etc.
The main objective of this paper is to verify test methodologies for assessment high dynamic range (HDR) video. To achieve this, a next generation HDR monitor by Dolby Laboratories was used to display professionally produced HDR content, including some scenes from recently released movies. Two complementary approaches for subjective assessment of HDR video were then designed and carried out at the EBU and EPFL premises. Results obtained from both evaluations were highly correlated which show they offer a good degree of reliability and reproducibility in different situations. Analysis of the scores in both cases also show good confidence intervals for each point under test. Finally, they could demonstrate that an increase in terms of quality of experience can be expected from the conventional level of 100 nits to HDR/high brightness at 4'000 nits, with intermediate improvements at 400 and 1'000 nits.
Commercialization of emerging technologies, especially those that facilitate new ways of learning, working and playing, is exponential in contemporary societies. Despite the advances made from graphic user interfaces (GUIs) to tangible user interfaces (TUIs), which seek to enable humans to communicate in unique ways, the fundamental conception for their use and our understanding of them are often contradictory. This paper discusses the challenges of designing evolving systems of interaction. Drawing on the findings of usability testing results it explores how an understanding of Lakoff and Johnson's (19) image schemas and their metaphorical extensions may enhance the design of interactive services for use on smart devices that better align with the human experience.
This paper presents Nintendo 3DS game console. SINCE ITS UK launch in spring 2011, the Nintendo3DS has been snapped up by consumers. In its first two days on sale this March, some 113,000 units were sold. The console's defining feature is an auto stereoscopic display that allows for 3D display without the need for glasses. The glasses free display, supplied by Sharp, uses a special parallax barrier LCD sandwiched to the rear of the primary display. Nintendo has further licenced the PICA200 embedded 3D graphics core developed by Japanese firm DMP (Digital Media Professional).
It's not just a pretty face. Digital signage (DS) has been at the forefront of a major overhaul in the way IT is used to convey information to the world and has also spurred technological innovation and market-fed investment. DS provides new ways for public-facing organisations to communicate and interface with a variety of target audiences, and has some similarities with the way the e-commerce started to usurp 'bricks-and mortar' retailing methods in the early 2000s. Although mostly based on standard computing and display devices, the requirements of DS are causing some innovative R&D in both information and communications that could, in turn, influence developments in mainstream technology. This is shown by the fact that some of the biggest IT and communications providers have been scrambling to secure a position in a market that is now worth $455m annually. Projections by analyst Frost & Sullivan show it is set to grow to $560m by 2014 yet major industry players like Intel, for instance, only started establishing a DS division as recently as 2009.
Occlusion is a measurement technique for assessing the visual demand and interruptability of in-vehicle information system (IVIS) tasks using a means for intermittent viewing of the IVIS displays/controls. Testing the visual demand of IVIS tasks using occlusion is gaining international support, largely due to it being a relatively simple method to use. Although an ISO occlusion standard has been published, some important issues remain; these include developing a robust and fully detailed measurement protocol. The age of participants is an important individual difference potentially affecting the validity and reliability of results from occlusion. To develop an effective protocol, the age ranges of participants need to be specified; otherwise experimenters undertaking measurements with varying age samples for the same systems/tasks may come to different conclusions. To assess the impact of age on occlusion task performance, 60 participants in various age ranges were tested on four different IVIS tasks. The results showed age-related differences; in particular, the older participants showed a greater spread of measurements. Excluding the issues of representative samples, the results imply that purely to obtain minimal inter-subject variability an occlusion measurement should use younger/middle-aged participants only.
The author gives an overview of the 3D imaging technology. This article also assesses the advancements in this technology and its readiness for consumer market.
Pre-screening involving a number of candidate human–machine interaction solutions in three different modes (visual, auditory and haptic) for the concept of ‘safe speed and safe distance’ (SASPENCE) in an advanced driver assistance system is described. This was performed simultaneously in two European countries, Sweden and Spain, in 2004. Two groups of about 30 drivers each participated in the two-phase procedure in each country. Eleven visual display alternatives for speed information, ten alternatives for distance warning and 12 auditory warning signals were screened by standard procedure. In addition, two alternatives of haptic feedback via the accelerator pedal were tested in a mock-up driving seat. The overall results provide recommendations for visual, auditory and haptic feedback alternatives to build a driver support system for safe speed and safe distance.
This paper presents a multi-touch system using vision-based algorithms that takes advantage of specular surfaces to detect and track finger locations with multiple cameras. The key innovation of the MirrorTrack approach is that by mounting cameras at a low azimuth to the horizontal display surface, the screen approaches a perfect mirror. Hence, we are able to track the user's fingers together with its mirror reflection in the screen. The advantages of our system are that: 1. It works with any glossy flat panel display; 2. It avoids clumsy setups that require suspension of down-looking cameras with the concomitant screen glare problems; 3. It supports both touch and hover operations; 4. It can be extended to track objects other than fingers; and, 5. It can work with large vertical displays without the usual occlusion problems. We describe our algorithm and implementation in details and present a set of finger gestures interactions.
The need for a new 25-knot lifeboat offered the RNLI the opportunity to capitalise on engineering advancements. The author assesses the institution's use of Systems and Integrated Management System (SIMS) to advance information, control and safety. SIMS is a distributed network-based arrangement of computers and data input/output devices designed to assist in the management, operation, control and data recording (mission logging) of this highly advanced rescue vessel. The SIMS system has been designed to make the lifeboat crew's job easier. It allows the removal of non-essential functions from the respective systems and displays on screen the information that the crew need most for both training and operations. Each screen allows the user to view information from all the integrated systems such as navigation and radar. This means that the crew can now stay safely in their seats, removing the possibility of injury that could result from moving about the cabin in heavy seas. It also has five potential power sources, a solid state computer memory which replaces hard drives, a shock mounted rack, waterproof computer boxes, screens and trackballs. The SIMS rack consists of six computers (each capable of running the system by itself) as well as all the other processors required to monitor and run the boat's systems. |
0.99227 | Is there a quick/easy way to do this (for at least a rough estimate) ?
I'm benchmarking algorithms and I thought it would be cool to know the absolute speed at which my computer is executing instructions and compare that with my asymptotic analysis.
If you want to know what your CPU can do, then look at the documentation. Your CPU vendor specifies the latency and throughput of all instructions, as well as a variety of other information (how many instructions can be issued or retired per cycle, cache latencies and much more). Based on this, you can compute the theoretical peak throughput.
If you want to do what your CPU is actually doing then run your own code and measure its performance.
This is a typical case of "In theory, theory and practice is the same, in practice they are not".
Modern CPU's have very sophisticated logic in them, which means that the ACTUAL number of operations performed is different from what you'd think from just looking at code or thinking about the problem [unless you have a brain the size of a small planet and know how that particular CPU works]. For example, a processor may speculatively execute instructions on one or another side of a branch, even if it hasn't quite got to the branch - if that's the "wrong" side, then it will discard the results of those instructions - but of course it took time to execute them.
Instructions are also executed out of order, which means that it's hard to predict exactly which instruction will execute when. There are some exceptions.
You will only get (anywhere near) the theoretical throughput if you are pushing data and instructions through all the available execution units at once - this means having the right mix of instructions, and of course ALL of the code and data in caches.
So, in theory we could stuff the processor full of instructions that maxes it out, by writing very clever code. In practice, that turns very very very quickly into a hard task.
However, the question is about measuring the throughput of instructions, and on modern CPU's, this is very much possible with the right extra software. On linux perftool or oprofile, for windows there is Intel's VTune and AMD's Code Analyst. These will allow you (subject to sufficient privileges) to fetch the "performance counters" in the processor, which has counters for "number of instructions", "number of float operatons", "number of cache misses", "branch mispredicted" and many, many other measurements of processor performance. So given a sufficient length of runtime (at least a few seconds, preferrably more), you can measure the actual count or clock cycles that a processor performs.
In practice these days, the effective number of instructions depends primarily on memory latency, which is the main bottleneck on performance. Waiting for data is bad. Processors can alleviate this problem somewhat with techniques such as caching, pipelining and concurrency, but the issue remains and will only get worse over time.
Proper implementation can make a huge difference. You may want to check out this question about cache-friendly code.
Modern CPUs are pipelining instruction processing, so there is no constant as such.
You could however, read out number of CPU ticks at start of your algo and at the end. I think this is as low level as you can get with such measuring.
You can use Perf tool in Linux. It is easy to use.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged c++ c algorithm sorting benchmarking or ask your own question. |
0.977272 | Those who oppose legislation that would protect the wolf include actors from separate but similar social realms. For various reasons, ranchers, farmers, hunters, nonprofit organizations like the National Rifle Association, local citizen activist groups and state government bureaucracies such as the Idaho Department of Fish and Game support management of grey wolf populations. Also included is the former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin, who is infamous for her endorsement of aerial wolf hunting in her state. All of these actors want the wolf to be removed from the endangered species list in all parts of the country and for hunting to be allowed as a population management strategy.
These actors rally against policies that protect the wolf, and fight for delisting and legalization of wolf hunting. It is because of the strength of these groups and their reasons for allowing wolf hunting that the wolf's protection has been and continues to be challenged.
One of the fiercest groups that oppose wolf protection include ranchers and farmers who live and make a living in areas within or near wolf territory. These people suffer most directly from the presence of wolves in the area, because of the damage that wolves cause to crops and, more often, to livestock. They are strong proponents of wolf hunting or other methods of population control and can be hostile toward wolves because of the economic hardship that they can cause.
Ranchers try to protect their livestock by installing fladry, low-hanging flags that deter wolves from entering the livestock's area, but still suffer losses.
Hunters are also in favor of delisting the wolf and legalizing wolf hunts for the obvious reason that they want to hunt wolves, as they are particularly difficult to hunt and pose a challenge and a conquest to hunters who are searching for a greater thrill. However, hunters also promote hunting as a method of population control because wolf population dynamics impact the populations of other big game species that are also important to hunters. Elk, moose, caribou and deer are a few of the large mammals that wolves prey upon and that hunters utilize as sport. When wolves become too numerous, they deplete the populations of big game animals, which are less abundant for hunters to pursue. For these reasons, hunters in areas near wolf populations are strong proponents of delisting and the legalization of hunting.
Hunters set out to track down wolves in Idaho.
There are several national nonprofit organizations that oppose wolf protection, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife. All of these organizations support the delisting of the wolf and legalization of wolf hunting, mostly because they support the right to hunt and would like to expand opportunities for Americans to do so.
At first glance, the organization Idaho for Wildlife would seem to oppose hunting, as the banner on its website proclaims that it is "dedicated to the preservation of Idaho's wildlife." However, the group is actually in favor of legalizing wolf hunting in order to allow for more abundant populations of elk, which would mean that it is actually a hunting organization. Its nature as such an organization is not immediately obvious, but upon closer inspection of its website, one can find news and research that demonizes the wolf and emphasizes the damage it does to elk populations, as well as knives and other hunting supplies for sale. This organization reveals that affiliation should not be assumed based on a group's name, and that a closer look at an organization can show its true inclinations.
Although state agencies are typically meant to be unbiased when dealing with a controversy such as this one, a few of the bureaucracies involved in the issue of wolf protection are less than impartial. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has not acted completely in favor of allowing wolf hunting, but ruled in favor of allowing hunting when the opportunity arose. It may not be that the department itself is biased, but that it simply reflects the feelings and preferences of the citizens in the state of Idaho. In any case, once the Fish and Wildlife Service approved delisting of the wolf in Idaho, species management was handed over to the state bureaucracy and the department instituted provisions to legalize wolf hunting.
The former Governor of Alaska is well known in the debate over wolf protection for her approval of aerial wolf hunting in Alaska. Not only did Palin endorse aerial wolf hunting, she also planned to institute a program through which the state government would offer a bounty of $150 per wolf, provided that the hunter show the wolf's severed foreleg as proof of the kill. Palin is an outspoken defender of the American right to hunt and an important figure in the controversy over wolf protection.
One group with fierce opposition to protecting the wolf under the Endangered Species Act includes residents of areas that are near wolf territories. Some residents feel that their safety and the safety of their children and pets is at risk while wolf populations in the area continue to grow. These people advocate wolf hunts as a method to manage the species and reduce the threat that the wolf poses.
Click here to see a video of protestors in Montana demonstrate outside a courthouse where a judge would determine whether or not to keep the wolf listed as protected under the Endangered Species Act. |
0.999999 | What are some common responsibilities for nannies in Alaska?
To start, it’s important you set expectations and are aligned on compensation from day one. This includes outlining vacation days, a protocol for sick days, and everything else you would want your own employer to cover. From here, spend time getting to know them. Take your nanny out one of Alaska’s great restaurants, learn about their childhood, and discuss your parenting philosophy. Finally, be sure to resolve conflicts as they arise. Open communication is crucial to ensuring a healthy long-term relationship.
Do you own a car? Do you have work experience in Alaska? |
0.99946 | The 8 rays sun with two moons one new and one old.
It symbolizes the creative passage of time. The sun as preserver of the life, and of light, the moons declare the beginning and the end of the circle of 29 days of the moon, give the significance of continuity of time.
The left moon is the old moon, which means the end, the completion, the time, the past. The sun in the middle is the source of light of the moon and he maintains the life on Earth. It symbolizes the circle of life, the diachronic, the eternity. |
0.945521 | Odysseus Laërtiades (Greek: Οδυσσεύς Λαερτιάδης}', 'son of Laertes'), or simply Odysseus (meaning "man of wrath" according to Homer, or more likely, from Greek οδηγός: odēgós, "a guide; the one showing the way"), is a character in Greek mythology, known as Ulysses or Ulixes in Roman mythology. Known for his guile and resourcefulness, he is the hero of Homer's Odyssey, and a major character in the Iliad. Odysseus was the son of Laertes and Anticlea, although some sources, prominent among them Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides, state that Sisyphus was his father.
As a child, Odysseus was wet-nursed by Euryclea. Odysseus was the king of Ithaca, husband of Penelope and father of Telemachus, favorite of Athena, and wiliest of the Greeks involved in the Trojan War. Odysseus earns this title by, among other things, masterminding the Trojan Horse. He is most famous for the ten years it took him to return home from the war, which is described in the Odyssey.
The city of Lisbon, Portugal was believed by Greek settlers to be named after Odysseus.
Odysseus was one of the original suitors of Helen. He agreed to help Tyndareus, her father, settle the dispute for her hand in marriage, in return for which Tyndareus supported Odysseus in his quest to marry Penelope. Odysseus and all the other suitors pledged to defend Helen's marriage to the winning suitor, Menelaus.
Odysseus did not want to make good on his pledge to defend Menelaus' marriage. He pretended to be insane, ploughing his fields and sowing salt instead of seeds. Agamemnon (Menelaus' brother), however, sent Palamedes to retrieve Odysseus. Palamedes was very intelligent and placed Telemachus, Odysseus' infant son, in front of the plough. Odysseus could not kill his son and revealed his sanity, then left for the Trojan War.
Odysseus discovered Achilles on the isle of Skyros, disguised as a girl by his mother, the goddess Thetis, and convinced him to come out of hiding and fight. According to legend, Odysseus had two carts set up in the city plaza. One was filled with expensive clothing and perfumes, and the other was stocked with weapons of war. Most women rushed to the first cart. However, Achilles, being a man of the sword, went directly to the second, and was thus found by Odysseus.
On the way to Troy, Philoctetes was bitten by a snake on Chryse. Odysseus advised that he be left behind because the wound was festering and smelled bad. Ten years later, Helenus, under torture, revealed that Philoctetes' arrows (which he received from Heracles) would be necessary to win the war. Odysseus and Neoptolemus went to Lemnos to retrieve Philoctetes.
After Odysseus and his men depart from Troy, they are greeted by friendly and calm waters. The ships near land and Eurylochus, convincing Odysseus that the gods were on their side, told him to go ashore and loot the nearby city. The crew had landed in Ciconia. The city was not at all protected and all of the inhabitants fled without a fight into the nearby mountains. Odysseus and his men looted the city and robbed it of all its goods. Odysseus wisely told the men to board the ships quickly but they refused and fell asleep on the beach. The next morning, the Ciconians returned with their fierce kinsmen from the mountains. Odysseus and his men fled to the ships as fast as they could but they lost many men still.
When Odysseus and his men landed on the island of the Lotus-Eaters, Odysseus sent out a scouting party who ate the lotus with the natives. This caused them to fall sleep and stop caring about ever going home. Odysseus went after the scouting party and dragged them back against their will to the ship and set sail.
A scouting party led by Odysseus (and his friend, Misenus), lands in the territory of the Cyclopes and ventures upon a large cave. They enter the cave and proceed to feast on some food they find there. Unknown to them, this cave is the home of Polyphemus who soon comes upon the trespassers and traps them in the cave. He proceeds to eat several crew members, but Odysseus devised a cunning plan for escape.
To make Polyphemus unwary, Odysseus gave him a barrel of very strong, unwatered wine. When Polyphemus asked for Odysseus' name, he told him that it was "Nobody" (Outis). Once the giant fell asleep, Odysseus and his men took a hardened spear and destroyed Polyphemus' only eye. In the morning, Odysseus tied his men and himself to the undersides of Polyphemus' sheep. When the Cyclops let the sheep out to graze, the men were carried out. Since Polyphemus was blind, he did not see the men, but felt the tops of his sheep to make sure the men were not riding them.
Once the sheep (and men) were safely out, Polyphemus realized the men were no longer in his cave. He yelled out to his fellow Cyclopes that "Nobody" hurt him, so they ignored him. As Odysseus and his men were sailing away, he told Polyphemus that "Nobody didn't hurt you, Odysseus did!" Odysseus did not realize that Polyphemus was the son of Poseidon, and that telling him his name would have severe repercussions.
In another interpretation, Odysseus knew that revealing his name would harm him; however his honor, or hubris compelled him to do so.
According to Virgil's Aeneid, Achaemenides was one of Odysseus' crew who stayed on Sicily with Polyphemus until Aeneas arrived and took him with him.
Odysseus stopped at Aiolia, home of Aeolus, the god of the winds. He gave them hospitality for a month and provided for a west wind to carry them home. Unfortunately he also provided a gift of a bag containing each of the four winds, which Odysseus' crew members, suspecting that treasure was in the bag, opened just before their home was reached. They were blown back to Aiolia, where Aeolus refused to provide any further help.
They came to Telepylos, the stronghold of Lamos, king of the Laestrygonians. These people attacked the fleet with boulders, sinking all but one of the ships and killing hundreds of Odysseus' men.
The next stop was the island of Circe (Aeaea), where Odysseus sent a scouting party ahead of the rest of the group. She invited the scouting party to a feast, the food laced with one of her magical potions, and she then changed all the men into pigs with a wand after they gorged themselves on it. Only Eurylochus, suspecting treachery from the outset, escaped to warn Odysseus and the others who had stayed behind at the ships. Odysseus set out to rescue his men, but was intercepted and told by Hermes to procure some of the herb moly to protect him from the same fate. When her magic failed he was able to force her to return his men to human form. She later fell in love with Odysseus and assisted him in his quest to reach his home after he and his crew spent a year with her on her island. According to some sources, Circe and Odysseus had three children: Telegonus, Argius, and Latinus.
On Circe's island, one member of Odysseus' crew, his good friend Elpenor, got drunk and fell off Circe's roof. The fall killed him.
Finally, Odysseus and his surviving crew landed on an island, Thrinacia, sacred to Helios, where he kept sacred cattle. Though Odysseus warned his men not to (as Tiresias had told him), they killed and ate some of the cattle. The guardians of the island, Helios' daughters, Lampetia and Phaethusa, told their father. Helios destroyed the ship and all the men save Odysseus. Sometimes, Apollo is cited in place of Helios in this part of the legend.
Odysseus was washed ashore on Ogygia, where the nymph Kalypso (Calypso) lived. She made him her lover for seven years and would not let him leave, promising him immortality if he stayed. On behalf of Athena, Zeus intervened and sent Hermes to tell Kalypso to let Odysseus go. Odysseus left on a small raft furnished with provisions of water, wine and food by Kalypso, only to be hit by a storm and washed up on the island of Scheria and found by Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians, who entertained him well and escorted him to Ithaca. On the twentieth day of sailing he arrived at his home in Ithaca.
In Ithaca, Penelope was fending off countless suitors while Odysseus' mother, Anticlea, had died of grief. Odysseus, upon landing, disguised himself as an old man or a beggar and took the name Eperitus. Odysseus' faithful dog Argos was the first to recognize him in his rags. He had waited twenty years to see his master. Aged and decrepit, he did his best to wag his tail, and then happily lay down to die. Odysseus was then welcomed by his old swineherd, Eumaeus, who did not recognize him in disguise, but still treated him well. The first person to recognize him was his old wet nurse, Euryclea.
Odysseus learned that Penelope was faithful to him, pretending to knit or weave a burial shroud (for they claimed he must be dead) and claiming she would choose one suitor when she finished. Every night she undid part of the shroud, until one day, a maid of hers betrayed this secret to the suitors, and they demanded that she finally choose one of them to be her new husband. Luckily for Odysseus, this occurred just before he returned. Odysseus watched the suitors drink and take advantage of his family's hospitality. Still in his disguise, Odysseus went to Penelope and told her that he had met Odysseus, and he said that whomever could string Odysseus' bow and shoot the most arrows through a certain axe-handle would be able to marry Penelope. This was to Odysseus' advantage, as only he could string his own bow (it is believed that Odysseus' bow was a composite bow, requiring great skill and leverage to string, rather than brute strength). Penelope then announced what Odysseus had said. The suitors each tried to string the bow, but in vain. Odysseus then took the bow, strung it, took off his disguise and, with the help of his son Telemachus, Athena, and Eumaeus, the swineherd, killed all of them save Medon, who had been polite to Penelope, and Phemius, a local singer who had only been forced to help the suitors against Penelope. Penelope, still not quite sure that the stranger was indeed her husband, tested him. She ordered her maid to make up Odysseus' bed, and move it from their bedchamber. Odysseus was astonished because the bed was built into the trunk of an olive tree and thus cannot be moved; he tells her this, and since only Odysseus and Penelope knew this, Penelope accepted that he was her husband.
One of the suitors' (Antinous) fathers, Eupeithes, tried to overthrow Odysseus after the death of his son.Laertes killed him, and Athena thereafter required the suitors' families and Odysseus to make peace; this ends the story of the Odyssey.
Odysseus had been told (by the shade of Tiresias) that he had one more voyage to make after he had re-established his rule in Ithaca, and also that his death would come from the sea and would be peaceful and pleasant. The time frame of these events is left vague, however, perhaps because Homer intended to compose the continuation of the story and wanted room for improvisation.
According to a rarely heard (or derivative) version of this story, Odysseus was sent into exile by Neoptolemus for killing the suitors.
Odysseus is one of the most recurrent characters in Western literature. He has been used by innumerable writers, who often interpret his character and actions in very different ways.
He figures in the end of the story of King Telephus of Mysia. There may have been a sequel to the Odyssey, named Telegonia, after Telegonus, his son with Circe.
In fifth-century BC Athens, tales of the Trojan War were popular subjects for tragedies, and Odysseus figures centrally or indirectly in a number of the extant plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, (Ajax, Philoctetes) and Euripides, and figured in still more that have not survived.
As Ulysses, he is mentioned regularly in Virgil's Aeneid, and the poem's hero, Aeneas, rescues one of Ulysses' crew members who was left behind on the island of the Cyclops. He in turn offers a first-person account of some of the same events Homer relates, in which Ulysses appears directly. Virgil's Ulysses typifies his view of the Greeks: he is cunning but impious, and ultimately malicious and hedonistic.
Ovid retells parts of Ulysses' journeys, focusing on his romantic involvements with Circe and Calypso, and recasts him as, in Harold Bloom's phrase, "one of the great wandering womanizers."
Dante, in Canto Twenty-Six of the Inferno of his Divine Comedy, encounters Odysseus near the very bottom of Hell: with Diomedes, he walks wrapped in flame in the eighth ring (Counselors of Fraud) of the Eighth circle (Sins of Malice), as punishment for his schemes and conspiracies that won the Trojan War. In a famous passage, Dante has Odysseus relate a different version of his final voyage and death from the one foreshadowed by Homer. He tells how he set out with his men for one final journey of exploration to sail beyond the Pillars of Hercules and into the western sea to find what adventures awaited them. After travelling east and south for five months, they saw in the distance a great mountain rising from the sea (this is Purgatory, in Dante's cosmology), before a storm sank them.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Ulysses presents an aging king who has seen too much of the world to be happy sitting on a throne idling his days away. Leaving the task of civilizing his people to his son, he gathers together a band of old comrades "to sail beyond the sunset".
James Joyce's novel Ulysses uses modern literary devices to narrate a single day in the life of a Dublin businessman named Leopold Bloom; which turns out to bear many elaborate parallels to Odysseus' twenty years of wandering.
Nikos Kazantzakis' The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, a 33,333 line epic poem, begins with Odysseus cleansing his body of the blood of Penelope's suitors. Odysseus soon leaves Ithaca in search of new adventures. Before his death he abducts Helen, incites revolutions in Crete and Egypt, communes with God, and meets representatives of various historical and literary figures such as Vladimir Lenin, Jesus and Don Quixote.
This page was last edited on February 24, 2009, at 11:29. |
0.989105 | When I was a young I used to play pool a lot, from about age 7 up until I graduated college. I have been wanting to buy a pool table for years, but living in an apartment didn't have the room. Well now I am looking to buy a house and am specifically searching homes with enough space for a pool table.
The one house I am seriously considering has an area that is about 19'4 x 14'4 1/2", which I believe would fit a 9' table, but will probably get an 8' table, since if I ever have to move an 8' table would be easier to find a room to fit.
I would also prefer solid wood and not manufactured wood, and wood veneer. I have had enough problems with other furniture where the veneer peeled or the edges got damaged easily. My budget is $4000, which includes the pool table, overhead light, cues, rack, chalk, etc.
What are some good brands to look at, and which brands to avoid?
There are only a few places that sell pool tables in Columbus Ohio, and the salesman at the one place I visited so far, Billiards Plus, recommended Olhausen and Brunswick. The tables look great and from a bit of research seem to be the top line, but I don't want to limit my self to just those companies. So any other recommendations would be appreciated.
The price of the Olhausen is 2999.95, it's solid wood, and not manufactured board, and includes balls, 4 cue sticks, rack, and pool cue stand, either floor or wall mounted, as well as upgraded felt.
The Brunswick is about the same, but $3595. Brunswick uses bolts instead of screws, and even though I don't plan on moving the table for years, you never know. Is that much of an issue I need to worry about. The Olhausen is about $600 cheaper, and manufactured in the US, and because of that would like to support them more, but if having bolts is better, I would rather spend the $600 more.
Another place I am planning on visiting tomorrow is Boston Tables, a manufacturer located in Columbus, Ohio.
I haven't been able to find any reviews of this company, if anyone has one or worked on one know, especially if you have had to repair one. The prices is about half the price of the Brunswick , but not sure about the quality. I would rather spend $3600 on a table and not have to spend anything else 5 years from now, than spend $1800 now and have a lot of repair work to do 5 years from now.
Here are the tables I am considering from Brunswick and Boston.
I can't find the exact match to the store room on Olhausen's site but it looks like it was either the Montrachet or Eclipse.
I forgot to add. How heavy would I expect such a table to weigh? I would guess well over 500 lbs because of the slate. The reason I ask, is because one house I looked at has a large enough dining room to fit a 7' pool table, but I think the weight would be too much.
I went back to the store again to get some more models, and here are the ones I am considering.
Olhausen Augusta or Santa Ana from the Signature Series. I kind of like a bit of the look of both, so the dealer mentioned I can change the feet and color on either one to get what I like.
There is also Legacy Kacy. which isn't shown on their web site, or the Winston. I haven't seen much information on the Legacy, and the prices are about the same as the Olhausen and Brunswick so wonder if there is any reason to get one.
Also I have an option if I get the Olhausen to use the Brunswick felt for the same price. The dealer said the Brunswick wears better and is teflon coated, but what would others suggest. |
0.999999 | Prepare both a one-paragraph summary and a comprehensive description of the resource and its various elements as it exists today.
The Gardiner House is a two-and-a-half-story, five-bay structure designed in the Colonial Revival style in the early 1920s. The house, located at 9408 Juliette Drive, is sited on an expansive wooded lot in Clinton, Maryland, containing more than one acre. The lot is surrounded by dense residential development. The house is set back from Juliette Drive, which curves slightly around the property. A gravel driveway with a circular turnaround fronts the house and is accessed from Juliette Drive. The house is fronted with mature shrubs and trees. A shed is located to the rear of the house in the south corner of the lot.
The Gardiner House was constructed c. 1922 in the Colonial Revival style, which was the dominant style throughout the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. Set on a concrete foundation, the large two-and-a-half-story house is wood-frame construction. The five-bay wide structure is clad in weatherboard siding with corner boards, all of which is original to the house. A hipped roof with overhanging eaves caps the structure. Covered with asphalt shingles, the roof is pierced by an interior-side corbelled brick chimney. Front-gabled dormers with raked cornices are located on the façade and south rear elevation. Both dormers have paired 6-light casement windows flanked with louvered wood shutters.
The façade (north elevation) of the main block exhibits symmetrical fenestration. The central bay on the first story of the façade houses the main entrance. The single-leaf wood door has a square-edged surround and is bordered by 1-light sidelights. A one-story front-gabled portico, with a curved underside, frames the entrance. Tuscan columns support the portico. The entrance is flanked by two 6/1 windows. The second story of the façade features paired 4/4 windows in the central bay, which are flanked by two 6/1 windows. All windows on the façade have operable louvered wood shutters and ogee-molded lintels. The west (side) elevation has a set of four 6-light casement windows and two 6/1 windows on the first story. The second story of the west side elevation has three 6/1 windows. The south (rear) elevation, like the west (side) elevation, features a combination of window openings. The central bays of both the first and second stories have two 6-light casement windows. The first story has two 6/1 windows located to the east of the casement windows, while the second story has two 6/1 windows located on both sides of the casement windows. A one-story addition obscures the original windows on the western portion of the south elevation’s first story. Windows on the east (side) elevation are obscured by a two-story addition.
The materials used to construct the one-story porch addition indicate it was constructed c. 1940. The porch is located on the south (rear) elevation of the main block. Covered by a shed roof, the wood-frame porch is clad in weatherboard siding. The porch has screen panels on both the west side and south rear elevations. A single-leaf screened door on the south (rear) elevation of the porch provides access to the dwelling.
There is a two-story addition located on the east side elevation of the main block. Constructed c. 1950, as evidenced by its materials and form, the addition has a flat roof pierced by a chimney of brick construction. The structure is clad in vinyl siding, contrasting with the original materials on the main block. The façade has paired 1/1 vinyl windows on the first and second stories. The south rear elevation also has paired 1/1 vinyl windows on both the first and second stories. The west side elevation of the addition has double-leaf multi-light doors flanked by tripled 1/1 vinyl windows. The second story has eight 1/1 vinyl windows. The west side elevation also features pilasters running from the first-story windows to the roofline. The interior of the house was not accessible at the time of the on-site survey.
Located to the rear of the house is a one-story shed. The materials suggest a construction date of c. 1950. The wood-frame shed is one story high and one bay wide. The structure is clad with asbestos shingles and capped by a front gable roof. The roof, covered in asphalt shingles, has a raked cornice and overhanging eaves that display the shed’s exposed rafters. A single-leaf door on the north elevation provides access to the shed. The interior of the shed was not accessible at the time of the on-site survey.
The Gardiner House, which predates the residential subdivision that surrounds it, is an established and familiar visual feature of the neighborhood. Although the house is no longer associated with a farm, which compromises its integrity of association, its large, wooded lot visually and physically separates the property from the surrounding development, helping to maintain its integrity of location, feeling, and setting. The dwelling retains its original design, materials, and workmanship. An addition on the east (side) elevation of the house unmistakably reads as a modern addition and does not detract from the design or workmanship of the main block. Thus, the Gardiner House maintains sufficient integrity to convey the qualities for which it is significant.
The shed, associated with the Gardiner House, retains its integrity of materials, workmanship, design, setting, location, feeling, and association.
The Gardiner House and property retains a high level of integrity.
The Gardiner House, located at 9408 Juliette Drive, was constructed c. 1922 on an established, working farm. At the time the primary dwelling was built, the farm consisted of 209-¾ acres and illustrated the agricultural shift from large plantations to small farms that occurred in Prince George’s County during the last decades of the nineteenth century. The Colonial Revival-style Gardiner House stands out as a more high-style example of a farmhouse in Prince George’s County than the more commonly found vernacular I-house form. The Gardiner House maintains a high level of integrity, which helps the building convey its significance.
The Gardiner House is located in Clinton, Maryland, a community in the southern portion of Prince George’s County. Changes to the county’s economy that occurred from the end of the Civil War (1861-1865) to the turn of the twentieth century are still visible in the landscape of southern Prince George’s County. During this period, agriculture, while remaining the dominant form of livelihood, changed from large plantations to small farms. Freed blacks operated a large number of these small farms, but during the Reconstruction period, both white and black newcomers to the county purchased the majority of small farms.1 The Gardiner House was constructed on what was considered a small farm, which consisted of just 209-¾ acres. S.H. Evans of Pennsylvania had bought the farm in 1892.2 Evan’s purchase of the farm illustrates the trend of new residents to the county acquiring small farms.
The Evans family owned the property for more than twenty years before Evaline and Charles S. Evans, heirs of S.H. Evans, sold the farm to Rebecca Berger in 1915.3 Miss Berger, a Pennsylvania native, was 55 years old when she purchased the farm. In 1920, she was noted in the Federal Census as the head of her household, with no occupation.4 The farm changed hands again in 1922 when James St. Clair Gardiner of Iowa bought the property.5 Gardiner, a farmer by trade as indicated in the 1920 Federal Census, was a bachelor when he purchased the farm. Around 1922, James Gardiner had the Colonial Revival-style house that now stands at 9408 Juliette Drive constructed. By the time of the 1930 census, he was married to Johanna Gardiner, also a native of Iowa.6 In 1930, the couple had two children named Irene and James S. that were 3 and 2 years old, respectively. The census also stated James Gardiner’s occupation as a clerk for the Department of Justice.7 After purchasing the farm and constructing a house, James St. Clair Gardiner became an active member of the Clinton community. Gardiner served on the Board of Directors of the Clinton Bank.8 Gardiner’s occupational shift from farmer to clerk illustrates the growth occurring in the Washington, D.C. area at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the number of farms reduced and employment by the federal government increasing.
In 1935, Gardiner sold the farm. The subsequent four owners – Frederick and Loretta Bickford, Mark and Jean Massel, Chen and Helen Shang, and Elizabeth Pryde – owned the property for six years or less.9 Presumably, the property continued to operate as a working farm. The farm remained intact until 1956 when Elizabeth and John M. Pryde sold a 40-acre portion of the farm that included the house to the Clinton Realty Company, Inc.10 Under the ownership of the Clinton Realty Company and Pullander Construction Corporation, the subsequent owner, the farm was subdivided and developed as the Surratt’s Garden subdivision. The Gardiner House sits on a lot containing slightly more than one acre and is legally defined as “Lot 12 in Block D, Plat #1” of Surratt’s Garden. Although the house is currently surrounded by dense residential development comprised of one-story, brick-faced ranch houses, it continues to stand out as a significant feature of the Clinton community.
1920 and 1930 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Online: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007. Subscription database. Digital scan of original records in the National Archives, Washington, DC. http://www.ancestry.com.
King, Marina. “Gardiner House” (PG:81A-8) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form, 1985.
Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and Prince George’s County Planning Department, Historic Sites and Districts Plan, 1992.
Prince George’s County Land Records.
The Gardiner House is sited on a 1.18 acre lot, which was originally part of a 209-¾-acre farm. The farm was first subdivided in the 1950s and the size of the lot was reduced. The lot is bounded to the north by Juliette Drive, which curves to form a portion of the western boundary. The eastern boundary is a row of residential lots that face Small Drive. The southern boundary, again, is a row of residential lots that face Gwynndale Drive. One residential lot abuts the property, forming the western boundary. The Gardiner House has been associated with the lot now designated as Lot 12 in Block D, Plat #1 of Surratt’s Garden since its construction c. 1922.
and do not constitute any infringement of individual property rights.
Deed 1968:266 John M. and Elizabeth Ann Pryde to the Clinton Realty Company, Inc.
Photo: Gardiner House, view of the northwest corner, looking east.
Photo: Gardiner House, view of the façade (north elevation), looking south.
Photo: Shed, view of the northwest elevation, looking southeast.
1 Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and Prince George’s County Planning Department, Historic Sites and Districts Plan (1992), B-4.
2 S.H. Evans, Prince George’s County Land Records, Deed JWB 23:185. S.H. Evans could not be located in the 1890, 1900, or 1910 U.S. Federal Census.
3 Charles S. and Evaline Evans to Rebecca Berger, Prince George’s County Land Records, Deed 108: 231.
4 1920 U.S. Federal Census, Surratts, Prince Georges, Maryland, Series T625, Roll 674, Page 4B, Enumeration District 80, Rebecca Berger.
5 Rebecca Berger to James St. Clair Gardiner, Prince George’s County Land Records, Deed 191:409.
6 When James Gardiner sold the farm in 1935, the deed indicates his wife’s name was Catherine. However, the 1930 census lists his wife as Johanna. It is possible Gardiner was remarried by 1935.
7 1930 U.S. Federal Census, Surratts, Prince George's, Maryland, Roll 878, Page 15A, Enumeration District 20, James Gardiner.
8 Marina King, “Gardiner House,” (PG: 81A-8) Maryland Historical Trust State Historic Sites Inventory Form (1985), 8:1.
9 Prince George’s County Land Records, Deeds 421:91, 774:71, 538:393, and 1262:174.
10 John M. and Elizabeth Pryde to Clinton Realty Company, Prince George’s County Land Records, Deed 1968:266. |
0.992733 | The weather has not been pleasant for agriculture this year. High winds, high temperatures and a lack of water have made things difficult. Finally, we are getting a reprieve from the heat.
Recently I was discussing with a friend how excited I was that the temperature was in the 80s. Then I realized it is September! Temperatures aren't at record highs, but they are still well above average. And studies have shown that this means hard times to come. Warm summers lead to increased plant growth during the fall and winter. This increase in growth puts a strain on the soil the plants depend upon. Soils are delicate and complex and too much growth at the wrong time depletes the soils of the things plants need for the next growing season.
Agriculture is a complicated business and the science behind it is linked directly with ecology and biology. Like all living things on the planet, crops are interlinked with natural ecosystems. Crops are affected by the weather patterns, by the local animals that assist with pollination and by the very soil itself. Whenever any part of this system is altered, there are potential effects to our agriculture. One of the most important components of an ecosystem that determines if crops will be fruitful is the soil the crops grow in, and the nitrogen cycle that plants depend upon.
Soil is not simply dirt and gravel; it is a complex system of organic and inorganic substances, fungi, bacteria and other animals. This system allows for plants to grow and thrive and is far from simple. There are varying viewpoints as to whether or not soil is a renewable resource. It does not take as long as oil to be created, but it can take more than 1,000 years to create just one inch of soil.
When we look around, we can see that we are surrounded by crops. If there are crops, then how could the soil become depleted? Science has made it possible to successfully grow crops where before they could not with a process called nitrogen fixation. A key part of soil is the nitrogen cycle: animals eat and defecate, bacteria and fungi decompose the waste into ammonium, and other bacteria convert the ammonium into nitrate, plants take up the nitrate and grow, then animals eat the plants and on goes the cycle. When lots of plants grow in one area and then are taken away to cities and other locations for food, the cycle is broken as nitrogen is removed from the soil.
In the past, this would deplete the soil and make the land barren. However, in the early 1900s Fritz Haber and Carl Bosch figured out a process called nitrogen fixation. Simply put, they figured out how to make ammonium in a lab. This caused the Green Revolution and gave us our fertilizers that we use on our lawns and crops. This was a boon for the world's food production, but like all things in a system it had some other effects.
Nitrogen does not simply stay where it is placed on the ground. When too much nitrogen is in the soil it will be leached into the ground and nearby water supplies by rain. This leads to an increase in algae in bodies of water. Also high levels of nitrates can be toxic to young animals and people. The world is a complex place and everything we do can lead to repercussions in other (sometimes unforeseen) areas. This is why both agricultural and ecological scientists try to improve our knowledge of our world so that we can implement sustainable practices. To help prevent nitrogen run off and leaching, simply avoid putting too much fertilizer on your lawn and use natural compost instead of fertilizer when you can. Composting reuses organic materials, thereby avoiding adding to landfills, and helps perpetuate a natural nitrogen cycle. Very often, a natural solution is a simpler and more effective solution.
Lee Richardson Zoo is happy to assist with sustainable practices for your lawn and garden. Here at Lee Richardson Zoo we have a lot of herbivores and herbivore excrement makes some of the very best compost. We lovingly refer to this product as Zoo Doo. Zoo Doo is rich in organic material to add micronutrients, increase aeration, reduce compaction and bring new life to your tired soil.
You can purchase some Zoo Doo by calling 276-1250 or emailing [email protected]. The cost is $5 for a large bag, $25 for a bobcat bucket load if you have a truck, or fill your own bucket for a buck. Zoo Doo is available year-round and helps the earth and your local zoo.
Keep up with what is happening at Lee Richardson Zoo at www.leerichardsonzoo.org. |
0.999729 | A particle moves in the X-Y plane under the influence of a force such that its linear momentum p(t)=A[icos(kt)-jsin(kt)] where A and k are constants. Find the angle between the force and the momentum.
Since, the dot product is zero, we can conclude that $$cos\theta=0.$$ where θ is the angle between the force and momentum.
Thus, the angle between the force and momentum will be ninety degrees. |
0.904681 | Overall, I did enjoy working at sunset. I loved all the people I worked with as for as severs and cooks. Unfortunately, the owners were incredibly rude and sneaky, did not really care whether we walked out with a decent amount of money and treated us with little respect. The tip out really sucked (5%), and during the week we had no support staff had to host, buss and do expo - yet still had to tip all of that out so we are unaware where are money is going.
I was told that within a year of being hired I would be bumped up to a serving position. Instead I worked there for two years, and by the end was receiving 2 shifts a month, with no signs of being promoted, and even though my availability was completely open and I had seniority on most other bussers that worked there. Job wasn't very enjoyable and rather than being helpers, essentially the bussers were told to do whatever the servers just didn't feel like doing.
It's a good starting job to get your feet wet when dealing with costumers, everyone is friendly. It can be boring sometimes but when it gets busy, everyone works fast.
It is my personal opinion that the Sunset Grill is a very heavy restaurant operation for what it produces and it also produces far too much waste for the amount of work that people have to do. There are more efficient breakfast restaurants that could easily push this one off the planet only because of the girth of it.
The owners of the location I worked at was probably the worst I have ever experienced. They micromanage and tell you the same things over and over again. If they like you, you get free food and praise, but if they don't, you get terrible sections and are even more scrutinized by the owners. Turnover is constant because no one can handle how they are being treated.
Also, the tip out is 5% and since there are only two bussers, a dishwasher and two cooks, there is on average $800 dollars in tips for the weekend and throughout the week. However, the 5-6 people who get tipped out totals to under $200. so nobody knows where the rest of that money goes; probably right into the owner's pockets.
most enjoyable part of the job is working with an amazing staff whom have become family.
This job taught me a great deal about customer service. Working only morning shifts is a bonus, never having to worry about late night shifts. Great place to work at, with even greater people to work with.
I have worked at Sunset Grill Restaurant for the last 8 years. The company is awesome to work for and allows me to juggle my family life and my hours.
Considering Sunset Grill are smaller franchises operating; the management style is yet questionable in a negative concern. I had worked at 2 locations; both experiencing a dreadful work life - yet sticking through for 3 years of service.
Food was good but there was some miscommunication between coworkers, me and owners. Not enough hours offered once I was back in school. A very small restaurant.
It was the first job I had. It was good, I enjoyed my time working there and management was very nice and flexible. I didn't have any issues with my positions at the company. I enjoyed talking to customers and seeing their excitement when their food arrived at the table. I was 15 when I first started working so I was still inexperienced but for a first job I think it helped me step out of my shell and learn to talk with customers and improve my people skills.
I was happy to be hired at Sunset Grill because it's a well known franchise and you can't beat the hours (7am-3pm). Unfortunately the owners/managers don't believe in giving their staff any breathing room and that's the main reason why the turnover is SO high. I tried to stick it out but it's impossible. It's hard to be micromanaged when the owners have no real clue as to what they're doing. Even worse, they're terrified of head office so if a customer takes back food, they have to pay for it and you have to deal with it. No voids. The ipads used to input the orders freeze constantly (especially when busy) and you're tipping out 4% but constantly running your food/everyone else's food and cleaning your own tables because the only busser they can keep is incompetent (and smells, AND hovers over customers. Real treat.) Also - nepotism! Coupled with the owners inability to keep calm when it's busy and the cramped layout of the place, any experienced server will usually peace out of there either immediately or within the first month or so. The pictures they post on social media never have the same staff, see for yourself! Overall a very frustrating 2 months of my life that I am relieved are over.
Work was very fast paced with a great supporting team I learned alot about cooking fast but still making the finished product look great. The best part about the job was the team I worked with and the hardest part was not getting the hours I needed.
Working at Sunset Grill was a great experience, the customers were very nice and understanding, and the staff is very helpful and polite. It taught me communication, and elevated my team working skills.
Business typically ranged from extremely busy on weekends to having flows of customers trickeling in during the week. I personally loved the fast paced weekends because there was always something to do.
The place was always full so was funny to be occupy all the day. I used to attend the clients in the door and give them a table, if it was full i put them on a queue until a table is free.
Horrible Family Run Business - Good Workers Stay Away!!!
Cooks are hardworking guys that dish out good food, service is generally quick due to their great tech system, not very personable place at all though. In and out is their main goal. Management is a major issue - verbally aggressive with employees other than their own daughter. Could be an amazing place - but the level of professionalism is painfully embarrassing.
Tried to get paid for my hours that I worked, after 4 emails and 3 phonecalls, I went in person, they yelled at me in front of other guests dining in, refused to pay me until I returned an apron they accused me of stealing. Felt like they cared more about an apron than what the real issue was, their poor communication and management. You are given positions here based on familiar relation, no competence.
I wouldn't work for Sunset Grill. Simply because everyone is out for themselves. Customer complaints are an everyday thing. You can never please everyone.
Fast pace environment. The kitchen does not CATER to everyone's needs. They cater to their own menu only so the kitchen can dish out plates faster, and substitutions are not always accommodated.
They will not make home fries with onions due to no room on the grill, or will not make well done home fries on the grill on the weekends due to high volumes of customers. Which made many customers complain and upset.
Ask a question about working or interviewing at Sunset Grill. Our community is ready to answer.
What was the most challenging part of your role at Sunset Grill?
What would you suggest Sunset Grill management do to prevent others from leaving?
How is feedback from management delivered at Sunset Grill?
How often do raises occur at Sunset Grill? |
0.998691 | To get the exact difference between DUI and DWI, it makes sense first for a DUI lawyer define them before proceeding.
DUI is an acronym standing for the term, Driving Under the Influence. A DUI is more of a broad term that ideally encompasses people who operate vehicles under the influence of illegal drugs or even certain prescription drugs.
Obviously, illicit drugs can have serious effects that make it hard for an individual to operate a vehicle safely. Many prescription medications have certain side effects: extreme drowsiness being one of them, particularly drugs that are used to treat insomnia and depression. An individual who knows the dangers of his or her prescription and drives under their influence anyway can be charged with a criminal offense.
Therefore, people found under the influence of alcohol, illegal drugs or prescription drugs that are capable of impairing their ability to safely operate a car are likely to be charged with a DUI.
On the other hand, a DWI is an acronym that stands for Driving While Intoxicated. Such a charge is for individuals caught driving a vehicle while intoxicated with alcohol. The definition of intoxication varies slightly from state to state and each and every state has a a legal limit for blood alcohol content. Simply put, driving while intoxicated refers to cases where the individual operates a vehicle with an elevated blood alcohol content that’s above their state’s legal limit.
The implications for both DWI and DUI vary from state to state. Both can warrant jail time, community service and monetary fines. Most states will give lesser punishments to a first time offender, but they will still have a form of legal punishment. Situations that have the most serious implications for the offender are those that involve damages or, sadly, death. |
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