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Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) is a nearly pandemic condition that has the potential to cause loss of limb or even loss of life. Peripheral vascular disease manifests as insufficient tissue perfusion caused by existing atherosclerosis that may be acutely compounded by either emboli or thrombi. Many people live daily with peripheral vascular disease; however, in settings such as acute limb ischemia, this pandemic disease can be life threatening and can require emergency intervention to minimize morbidity and mortality.
PVD, also known as arteriosclerosis obliterans, is primarily the result of atherosclerosis. The atheroma consists of a core of cholesterol joined to proteins with a fibrous intravascular covering. The atherosclerotic process may gradually progress to complete occlusion of medium and large arteries. The disease typically is segmental, with significant variation from patient to patient.
Vascular disease may manifest acutely when thrombi, emboli, or acute trauma compromises perfusion. Thromboses are often of an atheromatous nature and occur in the lower extremities more frequently than in the upper extremities. Multiple factors predispose patients for thrombosis. These factors include sepsis, hypotension, low cardiac output, aneurysms, aortic dissection, bypass grafts, and underlying atherosclerotic narrowing of the arterial lumen.
Emboli, the most common cause of sudden ischemia, usually are of cardiac origin (80%); they also can originate from proximal atheroma, tumor, or foreign objects. Emboli tend to lodge at artery bifurcations or in areas where vessels abruptly narrow. The femoral artery bifurcation is the most common site (43%), followed by the iliac arteries (18%), the aorta (15%), and the popliteal arteries (15%).
The site of occlusion, presence of collateral circulation, and nature of the occlusion (thrombus or embolus) determine the severity of the acute manifestation. Emboli tend to carry higher morbidity because the extremity has not had time to develop collateral circulation. Whether caused by embolus or thrombus, occlusion results in both proximal and distal thrombus formation due to flow stagnation.
The primary factor for developing peripheral vascular disease (PVD) is atherosclerosis.
Other maladies that often coexist with PVD are coronary artery disease (CAD), myocardial infarction (MI), atrial fibrillation, transient ischemic attack, stroke, and renal disease. Studies have suggested that even asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is associated with increased CAD mortality.1
Risk factors for PVD include smoking, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and hyperviscosity.
Other etiologies for developing PVD may include phlebitis, injury or surgery, and autoimmune disease, including vasculitides, arthritis, or coagulopathy.
PVD rarely exhibits an acute onset; it instead manifests a more chronic progression of symptoms.
Patients with acute emboli causing limb ischemia may have new or chronic atrial fibrillation, valvular disease, or recent MI, whereas a history of claudication, rest pain, or ulceration suggests thrombosis of existing PVD.
Radiation-induced PAD is becoming more common, perhaps due to the efficacy of current antineoplastic treatment and increased survival.2
Intermittent claudication may be the sole manifestation of early symptomatic PVD. The level of arterial compromise and the location of the claudication are closely related as follows:
Aortoiliac disease manifests as pain in the thigh and buttock, whereas femoral-popliteal disease manifests as pain in the calf.
Symptoms are precipitated by walking a predictable distance and are relieved by rest.
Collateral circulation may develop, reducing the symptoms of intermittent claudication, but failure to control precipitant factors and risk factors often causes its reemergence.
Claudication may also present as the hip or leg “giving out” after a certain period of exertion and may not demonstrate the typical symptom of pain on exertion.
The pain of claudication usually does not occur with sitting or standing.
Ischemic rest pain is more worrisome; it refers to pain in the extremity due to a combination of PVD and inadequate perfusion.
Ischemic rest pain often is exacerbated by poor cardiac output.
The condition is often partially or fully relieved by placing the extremity in a dependent position, so that perfusion is enhanced by the effects of gravity.
Leriche syndrome is a clinical syndrome described by intermittent claudication, impotence, and significantly decreased or absent femoral pulses. This syndrome indicates chronic peripheral arterial insufficiency due to narrowing of the distal aorta.
The patient’s medications may provide a clue to the existence of PVD.
Pentoxifylline is a commonly used medication specifically prescribed for PVD.
Daily aspirin commonly is used for prevention of cardiac disease (CAD), but PVD often coexists, to some degree, in patients with CAD.
A systematic examination of the peripheral vasculature is critical for proper evaluation.
Peripheral signs of peripheral vascular disease are the classic “5 P’s”:
Paralysis and paraesthesia suggest limb-threatening ischemia and mandate prompt evaluation and consultation.
Assess the heart for murmurs or other abnormalities. Investigate all peripheral vessels, including carotid, abdominal, and femoral, for pulse quality and bruit. Note that the dorsalis pedis artery is absent in 5-8% of normal subjects, but the posterior tibial artery usually is present. Both pulses are absent in only about 0.5% of patients. Exercise may cause the obliteration of these pulses.
The Allen test may provide information on the radial and ulnar arteries.
The skin may have an atrophic, shiny appearance and may demonstrate trophic changes, including alopecia; dry, scaly, or erythematous skin; chronic pigmentation changes; and brittle nails.
Advanced PVD may manifest as mottling in a “fishnet pattern” (livedo reticularis), pulselessness, numbness, or cyanosis. Paralysis may follow, and the extremity may become cold; gangrene eventually may be seen. Poorly healing injuries or ulcers in the extremities help provide evidence of preexisting PVD.
The ankle-brachial index (ABI) can be measured at bedside. Using Doppler ultrasonography, the pressure at the brachial artery and at the posterior tibialis artery is measured. The ankle systolic pressure is divided by the brachial pressure, both measured in the supine position. Normally, the ratio is more than 1. In severe disease, it is less than 0.5.
A semiquantitative assessment of the degree of pallor also may be helpful. While supine, the degree of pallor is assessed.
If pallor manifests when the extremity is level, the pallor is classified as level 4.
If not, the extremity is raised 60°. If pallor occurs within 30 seconds, it is a level 3; in less than 60 seconds, level 2; in 60 seconds, level 1; and no pallor within 60 seconds, level 0. | <urn:uuid:7d348d0d-ad75-432a-a5eb-4f38f1fd99d3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://odlarmed.com/?p=3342 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913954 | 1,589 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Crossing the Sea
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton
The Junior High class had an excellent question the other day: Just where did the Israelites cross over from Egypt to the Sinai Peninsula? If you look at the maps in the back of most of our Bibles you will find multiple routes shown. None of the routes actually cross the Red Sea proper, but show paths that are North of the sea. One reference, which I included with this article for your amusement obviously implies God needed a map. How can people with even a grain of intelligence seriously consider such a route?
The exodus of the Israelites is described in Exodus 13:17 to 14:31. We don't have a drawn map of the route, but we have numerous details given.
1) They started in the land of Goshen which is the eastern part of the Nile river delta.
2) They did not go by the route of the Philistines (Exodus 13:17). This is the northern most highway into the land of Egypt. Someone should have pointed out this verse to the map makers.
3) They crossed the wilderness of the Red Sea. (Exodus 13:18).
4) They camped near Pi Hahiroth ("mouth of Chiroth" - believed to be the entrance to a valley running from Etham to the Red Sea), which is located between Migdol and the sea. The town of Baal Zephon was on the opposite shore. (Exodus 14:2) We still don't know the location of these towns, but notice the freedom the map makers use in the placement of these cities. Someone should have told the map makers that the sea in this verse was referring to the Red Sea, not the Mediterranean Sea.
5) Pharaoh thought the Israelite's route was crazy because they were trapped by the wilderness with no escape. (Exodus 14:3) If you look at most maps, the routes they show follow major caravan routes. Either Pharaoh didn't know a trap when he saw one, or the map makers are once again wrong.
6) Exodus 14:9 states the camp near Pi Hahiroth was on the edge of the Red Sea, yet the map makers obviously think Israel believed a lake or a swamp was the sea.
So why do the map makers show routes that obviously do not match the Scriptures? Many people do not believe the miracles recorded in the Bible really happened, so they attempt to find alternative explanations. They can't explain how 3 to 6 million people cross the Red Sea, so they assume Moses meant the Reed Sea - a swamp just north of the Red Sea. A drought must have dried up the swamp, allowing the Israelites to reach the Sinai Peninsula.
Of course these conjectures do not match the details in the Exodus account. How did Pharaoh, 600 hundred chariot drivers, and uncounted horsemen and foot soldiers drown in a dried up swamp? How did God make a wall of water on each side of the path the Israelites took through the sea? How could Pharaoh trap the Israelites on a plain?
Consider the amount of water it would take to drown an army. Unless they were knocked unconscious, it would take fairly deep water to drown men and horses. Also, the water must have been fairly wide to prevent the Egyptians from swimming to shore. If the chariots were traveling five across and they kept apart by 25 feet, it would mean the chariots alone stretched across a half-mile or more. It is easy to imagine the entire army length being 1 to 2 miles. Add a mile on either side to prevent someone swimming to shore and you need a place at least 4 to 5 miles wide of deep water to drown the army. Only the lake north of Etham and the Red Sea are large enough. The rivers and swamps of this region definitely do not match the description.
Is it so hard to believe that the Creator of the universe brought his people through the Red Sea, on dry land, and then drowned their pursuers in that very same sea?See "Exodus Map: Crossing the Red Sea" for a more likely route. | <urn:uuid:354a1df3-874d-4860-8010-4097cc24e6c1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVarticles/CrossingtheRedSea.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00004-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967899 | 846 | 2.75 | 3 |
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Next, we report on one small text for man, one giant leap for text messaging.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some young scientists were paying close attention to a rocket bound for space last night. The control center at NASA's Wallops flight facility in Virginia did the countdown.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Five, four, three, two, one.
MONTAGNE: The successful launch from Virginia's Atlantic coast was visible in the night sky, up and down the Eastern Seaboard. And as NASA flight control explained, the rocket carried a special cargo.
The launch tonight will be carrying several payloads that are developed by university students from across the country, and the first high school-built satellite coming from Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia.
INSKEEP: That's right: a satellite built by Virginia high school students. It's a cubed-shaped device, we're told, and it's going to communicate in a way that many a teenager will find normal: text messages. The satellite is designed to receive text messages from Earth, turn them into voice signals, and transmit them back to Earth by radio.
Just remember guys: Your parents may be listening. | <urn:uuid:055b327f-cc3e-4e68-bf3a-69a92f5ba171> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=246244688 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939469 | 259 | 2.96875 | 3 |
This worksheet will help your child learn the days of the week and the months of the year. What day comes after Wednesday? What month is before February? To complete this activity he will need to put the name of the month at the top of the worksheet, fill in the days of the week, and number each day. Have your child do one for each month of the year! This activity will give him daily practice with reading a calendar. | <urn:uuid:c42975a7-f4c4-4048-86b5-6b84514e69ad> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.education.com/worksheet/article/make-a-calendar/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402699.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962956 | 91 | 4.15625 | 4 |
A Journey to Flamenco and Back
The 1960s were years of political turbulence and dramatic awakening for young people in Europe and America. Exciting new music was being created, reflecting and providing voice for the changing values of the times.
Artists were also making pilgrimages to other cultures in search of musical and spiritual resources to compliment or supplement their own. They ventured to India, Japan, North Africa, Cuba and South America. The world had become an open resource for those willing, capable and adventurous enough to find it. The Beatles were influenced by Indian ragas; the "Concierto de Aranjuez" inspired Miles Davis. Among these young pilgrims was a handful that went to Spain in search of the art and spirit of flamenco.
They arrived with energy and enthusiasm. A few also brought cameras and tape recorders, arriving not as professionals looking for material to appropriate or exploit, but because they loved flamenco.
Much of Spain under Franco's repressive dictatorship existed as an agrarian society, economically undeveloped and relatively affordable for more affluent world travelers, allowing students to spend months and, in some cases, years living among the flamencos, studying the music, hosting fiestas, paying and transporting artists to perform together in intimate, supportive and respectful surroundings. Due to the generosity and openness of the flamencos – many of whom were Gypsies – these students were accepted into the artists' social spheres and were invited to events otherwise closed to outsiders. They were not a political or social threat to the families and were supportive and respectful of the music. An anomaly in the fabric of daily life, they were a compliment to the artists' world.
Those who had tape recorders made audio recordings of these fiestas. Discretely recording the music was generally condoned and often encouraged by the artists. They also took photographs, mostly amateur photographs, like one would take on vacation of family and friends. Many of these images were extraordinary in content as well as in their own artfulness, yet their technical quality varied widely, and not all have survived to this day.
These were students of guitar and cante, ethnomusicologists, self-proclaimed aficionados or social partners just along for the ride. For those attuned to the power and integrity of the life and music, there was no better place to be. They returned to their home countries with experiences that would change their lives, memories they would never forget and friendships that would be sorely missed. They also spread awareness of flamenco puro around the world.
Aside from José Manuel Caballero Bonald's 1964 seminal field recordings Archivo del Cante Flamenco
, José María Velázquez-Gaztelu's monumental TV film project, "Rito y Geografía del Cante" broadcast between 1971 and 1973 and the occasional local radio station's recording of festivals, these foreigners were among the very few individuals making informal documents of flamenco art. Memorable performances of many great artists, who were never recorded professionally, are to be found on their tapes.
These documents create a picture of flamenco life, experienced through the eyes and ears of those foreigners who came to witness the intimate moments of joy and pain expressed in the art and the daily routine of flamenco life. The documents reflect an outsider's perspective on pueblo life, portraying flamenco in its original context.
It is time to share these memories with those who have only heard stories and bits and pieces of the music of that era. It should not be forgotten.
Although the phenomenon of the "foreign invasion" of the 1960s and 70s ended with political and economic changes in Spain, foreigners still ventured to the Meccas of flamenco, continuing to enjoy the music and photograph emerging artists. Currently, the flow of cultural and musical influence has reversed course: flamenco has embraced Jazz and even Hip-Hop as major influences, and we now have "flamenco nuevo" born again as a commercially viable, flamenco–inspired genre of "world music".
The material in the Collection is wholly owned by the individual contributors. The Project is a temporary construct maintained by the Editor Steve Kahn to house and present the material. It is the intent for the collection to be exhibited along with original audio recordings of fiestas and films, accompanied by a full catalog and a limited-edition, 10-print portfolio available for collectors. Furthermore, it is a goal for the work to be acquired and archived by one or more institutions dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of these documents of the great legends of flamenco.
The Flamenco Project consists of a growing collection of more than one hundred fifty images culled from the work of 16 non-Spaniards who loved the art of pueblo flamenco. They have seen things as others have not, and their images bring a fresh point of view to the visual history of the flamencos from 1960 to 1985.
Christopher Carnes (USA Ð deceased) William Davidson (USA) Ruth Frazier (USA) Dick Frisell (England/Sweden - deceased) Ira Gavrin (USA) David George (USA - deceased) Paco Grande (USA) Jane Grossenbacher (USA - deceased) Mark Johnson (USA) Steve Kahn (USA) Robert Klein (Germany) George Krause (USA) Charles Mullen (USA - deceased) Daniel Seymour (US - deceased) María Silver (USA) Phil Slight (New Zealand)
Four original flamenco juergas recorded in Morón de la Frontera by Steve Kahn in 1967, previously unpublished. Artists include Diego del Gastor, La Fernanda de Utrera, Perrate de Utrera, Curro Mairena, Fernandillo de Morón, Luis Torres ”Joselero”, Andorrano and others.
Danny Seymour's long-lost 17-minute documentary "Flamencología" filmed in Morón de la Frontera in 1970;
Tao Ruspoli's contemporary narrative film "Flamenco: A Personal Journey" recording his encounters with flamencos old and young in Andalusia, and the revealing links between the two generations.
Various articles, essays, personal impressions and anecdotes by non-Spaniards who lived the life during this unique window of opportunity as well as by those Spaniards whose insight and knowledge have contributed to the greater appreciation and understanding of the music and cultural exchange during this period.
Robin Broadbank, David George, Mica Graña, Steve Kahn, Nina Menendez, Carl Nagin, Lorin Piper, D.E. Pohren, José Manuel Gamboa, José María Velázquez-Gaztelu, William Washabaugh, Remy Weber, Estela Zatania, Brook Zern
About The Editor
Steve Kahn is a New York based, internationally known commercial and fine art photographer whose work has been exhibited, published and collected worldwide. Already a student of classical and flamenco guitar in 1967, he traveled from New York to Morón de la Frontera, on leave of absence from a doctoral program in physics, in search of Diego del Gastor and the art of pueblo flamenco. His three-month break grew into a two-year adventure that changed the course of his life. He lived among the flamenco artists, absorbing what he could of Diego's musical genius and shot a few photographs before his camera was lost. Upon returning to the States, he dropped out of academia to pursue a career as a freelance photographer.
Forty years later he is still shooting pictures and playing the guitar. Recently he started to wonder, "What happened to all those photographs of the flamencos that I have seen in broken frames and taped to refrigerator doors over the years? Are they lost, destroyed, or forgotten in dark closets somewhere? Where are they now?" He set out on a quest to find them, and over the next seven years recovered over one hundred fifty images, collected numerous anecdotes and digitalized many wonderful fiesta recordings.
Steve has brought both his music experience and digital photographic skills to make this collection into a superb body of museum-quality work. He has scanned the original negatives and prints, restored the images and produced archival prints for exhibition and preservation.
Steve Kahn's photography website: http://www.stevekahn.com
About PHOTOVISION and the Prints:
Steve Kahn has been working closely with Ignacio González, director of PHOTOVISION publishing and digital print studio and exclusive distributor in Spain of Legion digital printing and fine art papers. As production partners in the exhibitions and book, they have brought
together their critical experience, aesthetic judgments and different cultural perspectives into a genuinely collaborative effort. Photographer and master digital printer Alejando Sosa made the exhibition prints at PHOTOVISION's studio in Utrera (Sevilla). The prints were made on Legion
Entrada Natural Rag (300 gsm) paper using an Epson 9800 wide format inkjet printer.
PHOTOVISION's website: http://www.photovision.es | <urn:uuid:dc293dc3-d3e1-401d-ae9b-3d36ca189748> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.flamencoproject.com/description_english.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952361 | 1,895 | 2.9375 | 3 |
This is Phoebe Zimmerman with the VOA Special English HEALTH REPORT.
Some estimates say that one in as many as eighty-thousand of all births results in two babies joined together. Conjoined twins happen about once out of every two-hundred births of identical twins.
Some twins develop from two separate eggs that are fertilized at the same time. These babies are called fraternal twins. One can be a girl and the other a boy.
Other twins develop from a single egg. These are called identical twins. Identical twins result when a fertilized egg divides into two.
Sometimes the division begins but is not completed. This produces twins who are physically linked. Medical experts say genetic and environmental influences are involved in the development of conjoined twins.
Recent separations have taken place in Britain, Singapore, Italy, Australia and the United States. These included an operation where doctors at the Children's Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, separated two Egyptian boys joined at the head.
Conjoined twins may be linked only by a thin piece of tissue. Or they may be attached at the chest or other part of the body. Sometimes they share a heart or other internal organ.
In the past, conjoined twins were called Siamese twins. This was because the first well-known twins were born in Siam, the country now called Thailand. Chang and Eng were born in eighteen-eleven. A twelve-centimeter-long ligament near their breastbones connected them. Chang and Eng grew up, married and had a total of twenty-one children. The two men died in eighteen-seventy-four.
Historically, the survival rate for conjoined babies has been between five and twenty-five percent. But medical progress has increased those chances.
Today, most conjoined twins are found during examinations before they are born. Some are easier to separate than others.
The book "Entwined Lives" by Nancy Segal says doctors have performed about two-hundred operations to separate conjoined twins. Ninety percent have taken place since nineteen-fifty. The book says most of the operations resulted in the survival of at least one of the babies.
One Web site where you can learn more about conjoined twins is twinstuff-dot-com.
This VOA Special English HEALTH REPORT was written by Nancy Steinbach. This is Phoebe Zimmermann. | <urn:uuid:caad73e2-30c3-4a64-8460-f58e15c3d135> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.manythings.org/voa/0/11110.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393533.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00048-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972115 | 495 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Species of the BCCER
Terrestrial habitats in the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve are extremely varied. Plant assemblages may change abruptly at the junction between two geologic substrates or at the edge of a past disturbance event such as fire or human clearing. More commonly, they grade slowly into one another as aspects of the microhabitat (slope, exposure, elevation, soil moisture, soil depth) change. In a particular transect, blue oaks in a savanna may gradually get denser until at some arbitrary point the habitat would be classified as a woodland, then a few interior live oaks will be mixed in, then more live oaks and a few canyon oaks. Gradually the canyon oaks will come to dominate, and other species (ponderosa pine, big-leaf maple, black oak, incense cedar) will be mixed in and the vegetation will be dense enough to be classified as forest. Because of these ubiquitous spatial gradients, a fine-scale vegetation map is impractical for making any reserve-wide decisions. Below the BCCER vegetation types are grouped into broad-spectrum categories with the caveat that each category represents an artificial segment of the total vegetation gradient. These categories are: grassland, wet meadow, riparian, valley oak savanna/woodland, blue oak savanna/woodland, mixed woodland/forest, chaparral, and chaparral/savanna.
Select link below to view lists (pdf documents) | <urn:uuid:dbb92178-3198-47e6-8c8a-6aef150ff7f7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.csuchico.edu/bccer/natural_resources/species/index.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00069-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.891943 | 307 | 3.53125 | 4 |
XML makes it possible to store content in a standardized format that can be converted to a variety of output media using a broad choice of technologies. Most of these technologies build on related W3C standards with both commercial and open source tools support. XSLT lets you define a transformation of a set of documents into a particular format, so that three XSLT stylesheets could create published products from the same content for three different media. The XQuery language lets you pull subsets of XML content from huge repositories, so that XML databases that support XQuery can (among other things) provide dynamic publications customized for different customers.
The classes in this course will show you what you need to put XSLT and XQuery to work, as we look at efficient and effective development practices, how to write test-driven XSLT applications, and where XSLT, XQuery, and related technologies best fit into the application architecture of a larger system.
Because the "Hands-on Introduction to XML" course will provide introductory material on XSLT and XQuery, classes in this course will focus on helping existing XSLT and/or XQuery developers get the most out of their code and their development time.
Classes for 2011
- Querying XML Databases with XQuery
Taught by Priscilla Walmsley.
This class will provide an overview of the capabilities and use cases of XML databases, examining some of the database products that support XML and how they are being used. It will then cover the role of XQuery among other XML technologies in the querying of XML databases.
As a group, the class will build a simple search application using XQuery and an XML database (eXist). For this part of the class, we suggest you bring a laptop you can type on easily, or be prepared to share with someone else. This will provide an opportunity for attendees to learn the syntax and capabilities of XQuery, as well as see it in action. Major features of the XQuery language such as FLWOR expressions, XML constructors, and user-defined functions will be explained.
- Lunch break, day one
- XSLT 1.0 to 2.0 Conversion Workshop
Taught by Dr. Michael Kay
XSLT 2.0 is a significant improvement over XSLT 1.0. This class will provide a tour of the new features in XSLT 2.0, allowing you to make the most of its advanced capabilities. We will talk about grouping, user-defined functions, regular expression handling, and typing and schema support. We will also discuss some of the potential backward incompatibilities associated with upgrading stylesheets from 1.0 to 2.0.
After reviewing the available 2.0 features, we will do a group exercise of reviewing existing 1.0 stylesheets and making recommendations for improving their design, using XSLT 2.0 features when appropriate. We encourage attendees to submit their own XSLT transformations before or during the session to give us real-world examples to review.
- End of day one
- Developing and Testing in XSLT
Taught by Jeni Tennison and Tony Graham
Unit tests, profiling, debugging and, increasingly, test-driven development are part of the bread and butter of working with other programming languages but are not always so with XSLT or XQuery.
In test-driven development, which is a fundamental part of agile approaches to software development, the developers write tests that describe the desired behaviour of their application, then write code that meets the tests. This style of development keeps code focused, avoids breaking existing code and facilitates refactoring.
In this session, Jeni Tennison and Tony Graham will describe both the state of the art in testing and debugging XSLT and XQuery and how test-driven development applies to XSLT and XQuery development. In particular, they will focus on the use of the XSpec testing framework.
- Lunch break, day two
- XSLT Efficiency and Effectiveness
Taught by Dr. Michael Kay and Priscilla Walmsley
Effective software development is a two-sided coin: on the one hand, you want to develop systems that run quickly and are easy to maintain; on the other hand, you want to make the best use of your own time in building these systems, getting to that fast, maintainable system as quickly as possible. In this session, leading experts on XSLT and related technologies will head up interactive sessions on effective stylesheet development. The discussion will focus on best practices for building stylesheets that run quickly, are easy to maintain, handle unexpected conditions gracefully, and are flexible enough to be easily customized. Bring your own ideas and questions, and we'll compile, sort, and discuss them to develop a series of recommendations to get the best out of your future XSLT development. | <urn:uuid:00452f63-130e-41ac-961f-d7029dfc175d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://xmlsummerschool.com/curriculum-2011/xslt-and-xquery-2011/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903822 | 1,008 | 2.75 | 3 |
Despite projections to the contrary, the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season has largely been a dud — and there’s no sign that will change any time soon. Tropical Storm Karen briefly threatened the Gulf coast this weekend, but by Sunday it was clear that the storm was weakening, and the National Hurricane Center — understaffed because of the government shutdown — issued no coastal warnings or watches because of the storm. We’re also at eight years and counting without a major — Category 3 or above — hurricane making landfall in the U.S. (Sandy, for all the damage it caused, was never a major hurricane and wasn’t even a hurricane, officially, when it did make landfall.)
Why have there been so few storms so far this year? First of all, there have been storms — 11 named storms so far, which is about average for this time of year. But those storms have been weaker than average — only two, Humberto and Ingrid, were classified as hurricanes — and none of them have yet made landfall. A Texas A&M University researcher suggests the weakness of those storms might be because of unusually dry air.
Robert Korty, an associate professor of atmospheric science at Texas A&M University, notes that August and September, usually very active months for tropical storms, were especially quiet:
If you had to point to one reason, it would be dry air. The dry air coming across the Atlantic from Africa prevented a lot of storms from developing during August, and the ones that did develop were not very strong. So the result has been a hurricane season of about normal in number of storms, but these have been relatively weak ones so far.
What this means, really, is that we’ve been lucky. The historically active 2005 hurricane season — which featured 28 total storms and seven major hurricanes — was less than 10 years ago. The effect that climate change will have on hurricane intensity and frequency is less than clear. The recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found low confidence that there will be climate-change-caused increases in tropical storms, though other studies — completed too late to be included in the IPCC report — differ. But we do know that sea levels will keep rising, which increases the danger from storm surges, and the growing density of people and property along the coasts will amp up the potential damage a storm can cause. Over the long term, the odds aren’t in our favor. | <urn:uuid:0d0e178b-d70c-4942-96d7-51de6f5e95f9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://science.time.com/2013/10/07/as-tropical-storm-karen-dissipates-the-debate-grows-over-a-quiet-hurricane-season/?iid=ent-article-mostpop2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00013-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973406 | 506 | 3.03125 | 3 |
e were twelve grades of sable, and eight even of deer, the grading, which fell to the clerks, was no light task. Heads of brigades that had brought these furs from the wilderness stood by to challenge any mistake in the count. It was the height of the fur season, and Mackinac Island was the front of the world to the two or three thousand men gathered in for its brief summer.
Axe strokes reverberated from Bois Blanc, on the opposite side of the strait, and passed echoes from island to island to the shutting down of the horizon. Choppers detailed to cut wood were getting boatloads ready for the leachers, who had hulled corn to prepare for winter rations. One pint of lyed corn with from two to four ounces of tallow was the daily allowance of a voyageur, and the endurance which this food gave him passes belief.
Étienne St. Martin grumbled at it when he came fresh from Canada and pork eating. "Mange'-du-lard," his companions called him, especially Charle' Charette, who was the giant and the wearer of the black feather in his brigade of a dozen boats. Huge and innocent primitive man was Charle' Charette. He could sleep under snow-drifts like a baby, carry double packs of furs, pull oars all day without tiring, and dance all night after hardships which caused some men to desire to lie down and die. The summer before, at ninet | <urn:uuid:9a46cf65-77bc-4c3c-a840-951cb6d12708> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://manybooks.net/titles/catherwo2324823248-8.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00061-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98098 | 309 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Pisco is a colorless or yellowish-to-amber colored brandy produced in winemaking regions of Peru. Made by distilling grape wine into a high-proof spirit, it was developed by 16th century Spanish settlers as an alternative to orujo, a pomace brandy that was being imported from Spain. It had the advantages of being produced from abundant domestically grown fruit and reducing the volume of alcoholic beverages transported to remote locations.
The oldest use of the word pisco to denote Peruvian aguardiente dates from 1764. However, there are several, often nationalist theories about the origin of the word pisco. Pisco may have received its Quechua name from the Peruvian town of Pisco – once an important colonial port for the exportation of viticultural products – located on the coast of Peru in the valley of Pisco, by the river with the same name. Chilean linguist Rodolfo Lenz claimed that the word pisco was used all along the Pacific coast of the Americas from Arauco to Guatemala and that the word would be of Quechua origin meaning "bird".
This claim is disputed by Chilean linguist Mario Ferreccio Podesta who supports the former Real Academia Española etymology that said that pisco was originally a word for a mud container. However, the Real Academia Española actually supports the Lenz theory and underlines the Quechua origin.
Other origins for the word pisco have been explored, including a Mapudungun etymology where "pishku" has been interpreted as "something boiled in a pot," which would in this hypothesis relate to the concept of burned wine (Spanish: vino quemado).
The term influenced the Mexican Spanish use of the slang term pisto to denote distilled spirits generally.
Unlike the land in most of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, where only very few vineyards were established (mostly for the production of sacramental wine), some locations in the Viceroyalty of Peru—what is today Peru, Bolivia and Chile—were quite suitable for growing grape vines. By 1560 Peru was already producing wine for commerce; over time, a significant wine industry arose in the region. It grew sufficiently strong and threatening to the Spanish mercantilist policies that in 1595 the Spanish Crown banned the establishment of new vineyards in the Americas to protect the exports of its native wine industry; however, this order was largely ignored. As further protectionist measures, the Crown forbade exportation of Peruvian wine to Panama in 1614 and Guatemala in 1615.
Distillation of the wine into pisco began in earnest around the turn of the 17th century, perhaps in response to these pressures. Until the early 18th century, however, most aguardiente was still primarily used to fortify wine, in order to prevent its oxidation, rather than drunk on its own. This method of conservation corresponds with fortified wines that were shipped to Italy and Spain from other parts of the world (e.g. wines from Madeira and Marsala).
Recession of Peruvian pisco
The entire southern coast of Peru was struck by the 1687 Peru earthquake, which destroyed the cities of Villa de Pisco and Ica. Wine cellars in the affected area collapsed and mud containers broke, causing the nation's wine-growing industry to collapse.
Still, in the early 18th century wine production in Peru exceeded that of pisco. By 1764, pisco production dwarfed that of wine, representing 90% of the grape beverages prepared. With the suppression of the Society of Jesus in Spanish America, Jesuit vineyards were auctioned off, and new owners typically did not have the same expertise as the Jesuits – leading to a production decline.
In the 19th century demand for cotton in industrialized Europe caused many Peruvian winegrowers to shift away from vineyards to more lucrative cotton planting, contributing further to the decline of wine production and the pisco industry which depended on it. This was particularly true during the time of the American Civil War (1861–1865) when the cotton prices skyrocketed due to the Blockade of the South and its cotton fields.
Peruvian Pisco must be made in the country’s five official D.O. (Denomination of Origin) departments—Lima, Ica, Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna (only in the valleys of Locumba Locumba, Sama and Caplina)— established in 1991 by the government.
In Peru, pisco is produced only using copper pot stills, like single malt Scotch whiskies, rather than continuous stills like most vodkas. Unlike the Chilean variety, Peruvian pisco is never diluted after it is distilled and enters the bottle directly at its distillation strength. For the production of a regular Peruvian Pisco bottle is required 8 kilograms of grapes and for the production of a Mosto Verde variety is necessary 12 kilograms of grape
Many types of grapes were used to produce pisco, leading to a wide variation in flavor, aroma, viscosity and appearance of the liquor. This harmed attempts to export the product under a single denomination, resulting in numerous regulations setting a baseline for a product to carry the name. Four distinct types of pisco were thus designated:
- Puro (Pure), made from a single variety of grape, mostly Quebranta, although Mollar or Common Black can be used; however, no blending between varieties is accepted ("pure" pisco should contain only one variety of grape).
- Aromáticas (Aromatic), made from Muscat or Muscat-derived grape varieties, and also from Albilla, Italia and Torontel grape varieties; once again, the pisco should only contain one variety of grape in any production lot.
- Mosto Verde (Green Must), distilled from partially fermented must, this must be distilled before the fermentation process has completely transformed sugars into alcohol.
- Acholado (Multivarietal), blended from the must of several varieties of grape.
Some other specific restrictions of note are:
- Aging: Pisco must be aged for a minimum of three months in vessels of "glass, stainless steel or any other material which does not alter its physical, chemical or organic properties".
- Additives: No additives of any kind may be added to the pisco that could alter its flavor, odor, appearance or alcoholic proof.
Peru currently exports three times more Pisco than Chile. Peruvian Pisco won over 20 gold medals and was named the best liquor of the world in the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2011.
Chilean Pisco must be made in the country’s two official D.O. (Denomination of Origin) regions—Atacama and Coquimbo—established in 1931 by the government. Most of it is produced with a "boutique" type of distillate made by the Aguirre family among other producers. Others types are produced with double distillation in copper and other materials.
During the adaptation of many vineyards to pisco production, the most widespread grape was used as raw material, namely the Muscat, with some vineyards preferring the Torontel and Pedro Jiménez varieties. As is the case with Peru, regulations for pisco designations have been enacted in Chile, including the following classifications:
Regulation for pisco producing in Chile is quite high. Chilean distilleries are required to grow their own grapes and are grouped into two categories based in aromatic expressiveness: Muscat types (Pink Muscat, Muscat of Alexandria) are very fragrant, while Pedro Jiménez, Moscatel de Asturia and Torontel are more subtle.
The Special and Reserve variations are very similar in flavor and color, both being subtly sweet and of a clear birch to transparent color. The flavor is much stronger than regular pisco with aromatic refreshing tones.
Chile has taken steps to have a clean and environmentally friendly production of pisco. In order to crack down on pollution, and to increase competitiveness, the National Council for Clean Production agreed with the pisco producers and pisco grape agronomists, to collaborate, signing an Agreement of Clean Production (APL). Capel, by itself invested more than CL$ 800 million.
Peru's production of Pisco remains artisanal and do not alter the physical, chemical or organic properties before bottling. The pisco must be bottled directly after aging, without alteration or adding any product which could alter the odor, flavor or appearance.
Appellation of origin
The right to use an appellation of origin for pisco is hotly contested between Peru and Chile. Peru claims the exclusive right. In 2013, Pisco has been recognized as a Peruvian geographical indication by European Union, without prejudice to the use of the name "Pisco" for products originating in Chile protected under the Association Agreement between the Union and Chile of 2002. However, various large-market countries (e.g., the United States, France, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Australia, etc.) allow products of Peru and Chile to be identified as "Pisco".
Peru argues the word "pisco" has a close relationship with the geographical area where it is produced, as Champagne in France, and thus should be used only by the liquor produced in Peru. El Salvador and the European Union recognize the exclusive Peruvian origin of Pisco.
It claims pisco was developed in its territory, citing many historical and etymological sources:
- Historical documents about the origin of the word “pisco”, “pisko” or “pisko”, applied to pre-Inca hunter-gatherer settlements.
- To the age of the term and the multitude of applications of the same : a "bird", a "valley", a " river", a port, to liquor, and to a vessel.
- To the application of the term to a city for over twenty centuries: Pisco.
Chile, however, regards the term "pisco" as generic, and it argues the spirit is simply a type of alcoholic beverage made from grapes (as in the case of Whisky and Vodka). It cites the name being used to designate a similar grape brandy produced in both countries and maintains two regions of Chile, Atacama and Coquimbo, are legally bound to use the term.
Some of the most popular cocktails with pisco include:
- Pisco Punch, the first known pisco cocktail, invented in San Francisco, California in the 19th century. It contains pineapple, gum Arabic, and syrup, among other ingredients.
- Pisco Sour, originated in Lima, prepared with egg white, lime juice, simple syrup, and bitters. The Chilean version usually has no bitters.
- Serena Libre — sweeter than Pisco Sour, made with Chilean papaya juice and sugar.
- Cóctel de Algarrobina — Peruvian Pisco with algarrobina syrup (or carob syrup), cinnamon, egg yolk, and cream.
- Pisco Flip — a flip on the traditional Pisco Sour, made with egg yolks instead of whites.
- Cupid's Cup — Peruvian pisco, aperol, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, and egg whites. A thyme sprig is used for decoration.
- Tampisco Bay — a cocktail inspired by Tampa Bay, Florida. Made using Pisco and fresh cucumber juice, agave nectar, jalapeño slices, and red bell pepper slices and served in an ice filled highball glass.
Some examples of mixed drinks with pisco include:
- Chilcano de Pisco, a Peruvian cocktail made with Pisco, lemon juice, ice, bitters, and ginger ale.
- Piscola, also called "national cocktail" in Chile (Spanish: Combinado nacional or combinado) a cocktail prepared mixing Coca-Cola and pisco. Other combinations of Pisco and cola include the Perú Libre differentiating the same drink made with different origin piscos.
- Pisco Sorpresa, a cocktail originated in East London, inspired by the Latin American classic. Involves shaking gin, Cointreau, triple sec, Bacardi and Pisco, adding raspberry juice, pouring into a cocktail glass and finishing off with a dash of soda, grenadine and a squeeze of lemon.
- Roller Pisco
- Don Alfredo, a Peruvian cocktail made with mosto verde Pisco, Saint Germain, lime juice, ice and soda water.
Per capita consumption of pisco in Chile is 3 litres per year, of which an average of 18% is spent on premium piscos. Peruvian annual per capita consumption was reported in 2008 as 0.5 litres and growing (at the expense of market shares for rum and whisky, although whisky remains the most popular spirit in Peru). Recent reports mention also an increase per year on 3,5 millions of liters produced for Peruvian market.
The top importer of Peruvian Pisco is the US, with an estimated import value of US$2 million in 2012. Chile is the second highest importer, with an estimated import value of US$449,000.
- Pisco definition in Concise Oxford Dictionary.
- "SICE - Free Trade Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Peru and Chile". Sice.oas.org. Retrieved 2012-03-26.
- Nuñez, Daisuke. "Diferencias entre la Grapa Italiana, el Pisco peruano y el Aguardiente Chileno". http://es.scribd.com/doc/137201126/Diferencias-Entre-La-Grapa-Italiana-Aguardiente-Chileno-y-Pisco Retrieved on September 23, 2014.
- http://www.odepa.gob.cl/odepaweb/publicaciones/doc/2439.pdf Pisco: Producción y mercado
- http://elcomercio.pe/economia/peru/produce-produccion-pisco-marco-record-historico-2015-noticia-1876498 Produce: Producción de pisco marcó récord histórico en 2015
- "La vid y el vino en América del Sur: el desplazamiento de los polos vitivinícolas (siglos XVI al XX)". Scielo.cl. 1990-01-06. doi:10.4067/S0718-23762004000200005. Retrieved 2012-03-26.
- Concise Oxford Dictionary, 12th edition, 2012.
- "Pisco." The Oxford English Dictionary. second ed. 1989.
- "Real Academia Española, Diccionario usual.". RAE.es. Retrieved 2013-08-03. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Orich" defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- Rice, Prudence M. 1996. The Archaeology of Wine: The Wine and Brandy Haciendas of Moquegua, Peru. Journal of Field Archaeology
- "Historia de la producción de vinos y piscos en el Perú". Scielo.cl. 1990-01-06. doi:10.4067/S0718-23762004000200004. Retrieved 2012-03-26.
- Potosí, Encyclopedia Britannica
- Toro-Lira, G., History of Pisco in San Francisco: A scrapbook of first-hand accounts, CreateSpace, Sep. 29, 2010.
- Blazes, Marian. "Pisco, Famous Liqueur from Peru and Chile". About Food. About.com. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
- A la contra. Efraín Wong, un pisco con estirpe peruana (in Spanish)
- Norma Téchnica Peruana NTP 211.006 (in Spanish), Comisión de Reglamentos Técnicos y Comerciales - INDECOPI, 7th edition, Nov. 2, 2006.
- , Chilean Government, Nov. 24, 2012 (in Spanish).
- Economía y Negocios Online (in Spanish).
- Commission Regulation No 1065/2013, European Commission, 30 october 2013
- Main Specifications of the Technical File for 'Pisco', European Commission document 2011/C 141/16, 12 May 2011.
- Appelation 865: Pisco, WIPO
- France refusal of protection of Pisco appellation (appellation registration no. 865), submitted to WIPO by France, 7 July 2006 (in French)
- Italy refusal of protection of Pisco appellation (appellation registration no. 865), submitted to WIPO by Italy, 7 July 2006 (in French)
- Mexico negation of protection of Pisco appellation (appellation registration no. 865), submitted to WIPO by Mexico 19 June and 24 October 2006 (in Spanish and French)
- Roffe, P., Bilateral Agreements and a TRIPS-plus World: The Chile–USA Free Trade Agreement, Quaker International Affaires Programme, Ottawa.
- Canadian Gazette Part I, Vol. 136, No. 32 (pages 2422 and 2423), Aug. 10, 2002.
- "Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement, Article 3.12: Treatment of Certain Spirits". Dfat.gov.au. 2011-01-13. Retrieved 2012-03-26.
- Farah, Miguel. "Días feriados en Chile: Anexos - Listado de leyes y otras normas relevantes". www.feriadoschilenos.cl. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
- Meehan, Jim (2010). History of Pisco in San Francisco. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 1452873011.
- Garbee, J., A summer twist on pisco sour, caipirinha cocktails, Los Angeles Times, May 21, 2008.
- "Pisco Flip". Viviza, LLC. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- "Cupid's Cup". Viviza, LLC. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- "Tampisco Bay". Viviza, LLC. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- Chile - Mercado de Pisco, Latin American Markets (in Spanish).
- Consumo per cápita de pisco es de 0.5 litros al año, afirma Viña Ocucaje, Andina, Feb. 25, 2008 (in Spanish).
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to pisco.|
- Pisco information, Peru
- Pisco: A Peruvian Tradition of Excellence, Peruvian Business Association of Vancouver
- Pisco Sour: Served in the traditional way
- Pisco Chile | <urn:uuid:db1235cf-d30f-494f-b49a-13afc7b068fa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisco | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.875205 | 4,035 | 3.625 | 4 |
The Black Death was a Pneumonic Plague Spread by Coughing say scientists
The Bubonic Plague of 1348 was actually a pneumonic plague
RATS and fleas have been unfairly implicated in the spread of the Black Death, according to scientists studying the remains of Londoners who died in the 14th century.
Around 60 per cent of people living in the capital died at the peak of the Black Death pandemic, which arrived in England from central Asia in 1348. But, following excavations of medieval graves in the course of Crossrail construction works, scientists now believe that a death rate of such magnitude would only have been possible if the plague had been airborne.
Skeletons dug up in Charterhouse Square, just north of the City of London, still contained the DNA of the bacterium responsible for the plague: Yersinia pestis. Researchers compared this DNA with that from a strain of the plague which recently killed 60 people in Madagascar. They found the medieval strain was no more virulent than the modern strain.
However, scientists now believe the only way that the Black Death could have killed so many people in 1348 was if it was actually a pneumonic plague – an airborne version of the disease which can be spread from person to person through coughing.
Dr Tim Brooks from Public Health England at the Porton Down research facility has a theory. Speaking of rats and fleas, Dr Brooks told the Guardian: "As an explanation for the Black Death in its own right, it simply isn't good enough. It cannot spread fast enough from one household to the next to cause the huge number of cases that we saw during the Black Death epidemics."
Scientists believe the poor health of the population of London was also a factor in the high death rate. The skeletons in Charterhouse Square showed evidence of rickets, anaemia and childhood malnutrition.
Skeletons reveal Black Death Secrets
Skeletons dug up in London last year are indeed the remains of people who died from the Black Plague—and who suffered a tough life before falling ill, the BBC reports. Forensic analysis shows that teeth taken from at least four of the 12 corpses discovered during excavation for a rail line contained trace amounts of plague DNA, indicating exposure. Early burials found at the site, from the late 1340s, are nice and orderly, with bodies wrapped in white shrouds, but skeletons from a second outbreak in the 1430s are tossed in with what appear to be upper-body injuries—evidence of "a period of lawlessness and social breakdown." …Several skeletons suffered from malnutrition and 16% had rickets. Many had back damage, signalling stressful manual labor.
Posted by Jill Fallon at April 1, 2014 10:17 AM | <urn:uuid:7030f862-4f8a-4e9a-b421-b9708d5c242e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.estatevaults.com/bol/archives/2014/04/01/the_black_death.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00187-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96369 | 558 | 3.28125 | 3 |
In case you missed it, last week the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released the preliminary report of their Fact Finding Mission to Japan. (http://iaea.org/newscenter/focus/fukushima/missionsummary010611.pdf)
The expected observation that the tsunami threat was underestimated has gotten most of the headlines. More interesting to me, however, was the mention of remediation efforts in contaminated areas to allow people to resume their normal lives. Once the reactors are completely “turned off” (which may take the rest of this year and beyond), these issues of decontamination, radiation risk assessment and communication with the public will be a running public learning exercise for the next nuclear power disaster or dirty bomb.
There are already indications that the Japanese government has already stumbled in this arena: raising radiation limits for children without explaining the decision to the public or efforts to take simple measures to decontaminate schoolyards near the Fukushima plant.
Interesting as well is the fact that security is never mentioned explicitly, though references are made to “extreme external events.” The nuclear power industry is hesitant to engage issues of security in addition to safety, regardless of the fact that a terrorist attack might also aim to disrupt the primary and backup power systems of a nuclear power plant with the purpose of causing similar consequences. Hopefully, the earthquake/tsunami combination that led to the nuclear meltdown will drive planning for simulataneous and unexpected events, including terrorist attacks.
The report also underlines the point that the physical impact on people of the radiation release has been minimal: “To date no health effects have been reported in any person as a result of radiation exposure from the nuclear accident.” So much attention here in the U.S. has focused on the nuclear disaster that it is easy to forget we’re worried about events that haven’t led to one death while not seriously considering how we would handle events that could kill tens of thousands.
The main preliminary findings and lessons learned are:
- The Japanese Government, nuclear regulators and operators have been extremely open in sharing information and answering the many questions of the mission to assist the world in learning lessons to improve nuclear safety.
- The response on the site by dedicated, determined and expert staff, under extremely arduous conditions has been exemplary and resulted in the best approach to securing safety given the exceptional circumstances. This has been greatly assisted by highly professional back-up support, especially the arrangements at J-Village to secure the protection of workers going on sites.
- The Japanese Government’s longer term response to protect the public, including evacuation, has been impressive and extremely well organized. A suitable and timely follow-up programme on public and worker exposures and health monitoring would be beneficial.
- The planned road-map for recovery of the stricken reactors is important and acknowledged. It will need modification as new circumstances are uncovered and may be assisted by international co-operation. It should be seen as part of a wider plan that could result in remediation of the areas off site affected by radioactive releases to allow people evacuated to resume their normal lives. Thus demonstrating to the world what can be achieved in responding to such extreme nuclear events.
- The tsunami hazard for several sites was underestimated. Nuclear designers and operators should appropriately evaluate and provide protection against the risks of all natural hazards, and should periodically update these assessments and assessment methodologies in light of new information, experience and understanding.
- Defence in depth, physical separation, diversity and redundancy requirements should be applied for extreme external events, particularly those with common mode implications such as extreme floods.
- Nuclear regulatory systems should address extreme external events adequately, including their periodic review, and should ensure that regulatory independence and clarity of roles are preserved in all circumstances in line with IAEA Safety Standards.
- Severe long term combinations of external events should be adequately covered in design, operations, resourcing and emergency arrangements.
- The Japanese accident demonstrates the value of hardened on-site Emergency Response Centres with adequate provisions for communications, essential plant parameters, control and resources. They should be provided for all major nuclear facilities with severe accident potential. Additionally, simple effective robust equipment should be available to restore essential safety functions in a timely way for severe accident conditions.
- Hydrogen risks should be subject to detailed evaluation and necessary mitigation systems provided.
- Emergency arrangements, especially for the early phases, should be designed to be robust in responding to severe accidents. | <urn:uuid:848c8ca5-fdbd-4e30-acb2-54af3d37effc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.hlswatch.com/2011/06/05/the-international-atomic-energy-agencys-preliminary-report-on-japan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00046-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949472 | 915 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Also Known As
Guttural pouch empyema, Guttural pouch mycosis
Because of the nature of its workings, a horse's guttural pouch may become a haven for bacteria, fungi, or other infectious agents that are inhaled or ingested by the horse. When these bacteria and fungi become trapped in the mucus that lines these pouches they cause infection and inflammation.
In a horse, the guttural pouches extend from the inner surface of each eardrum to the sides of pharynx, which is the opening in the back of the horse's mouth where nasal passages and the oral cavity join before separating into the trachea and the esophagus.
Although much research has been done on the role of the guttural pouch in horses' health, this unique structure remains somewhat of a mystery.
Indications are that these pouches serve several purposes in regulating temperature through air circulation with the cooling of the horse's brain as their key function. Fortunately, guttural pouch diseases do not occur frequently, but because of the potentially devastating effects, every horse owner should be knowledgeable about this part of the horse's body and its multiple functions.
Since the guttural pouches contain important nerves, arteries, and blood vessels, infection and tumors become serious problems when they occur.
Nerves in this area are responsible for crucial body functions, such as breathing, swallowing, and chewing.
Guttural pouch empyema, the presence of pus in the pouches caused by bacterial growth, often occurs following an infection of the pharynx. The most common organism involved is Streptococcus equi, but other organisms and fungi can cause erosion of the blood vessels and nerves leading to internal bleeding often revealed by intermittent bleeding from the nostril.
- External swelling of the pouch area
- Nasal discharge, often creamy in consistency and color and from one nostril
- Weight loss and debilitation
- Difficulty eating and swallowing because of nerve damage
- Drooping lip or ear or other facial abnormality if facial nerves are involved
- Intermittent bleeding, usually from one nostril as blood vessels and arteries become affected
With each breath or swallow a horse takes, bacteria, fungi, or other infectious agents have ready access to the guttural pouches. Most of the time the horse's immune system destroys these bacteria and fungi, but occasionally they survive and continue to grow by invading the warm, moist lining of the pouches.
When pus develops in the pouches, the condition is known as guttural pouch empyema and often occurs following an infection of the pharynx. Streptococcus equi is the most common organism involved, and the infection may follow a case of strangles. These bacteria cause a large amount of mucus that contains white blood cells, bacteria, and necrotic tissue from the guttural pouch.
This cottage cheese-like mass of debris is called chondroids. The first symptom is often a creamy discharge from one nostril when the horse lowers its head to graze.
The growth of fungi in the guttural pouch usually begins over one of the main arteries. A defect in the artery wall is usually present and allows the fungal infection to start. Aspergillus, Candida, Penicillium, and Mucor are the fungi most commonly found in the pouches. They grow naturally in hay, forage, and other parts of the horse's environment.
These fungi infections slowly erode the walls of the blood vessel and the horse will begin to bleed. If the bleeding is allowed to continue untreated, the blood vessel eventually will rupture and the horse will bleed to death.
Fungal damage may also affect the nerves in the walls of the pouches. When this occurs, horses may be unable to eat and swallow. They often lose tremendous amounts of weight, and eventually die.
Keeping the horse's environment clean and free of breeding places for bacterial and fungal infestations is one way to keep guttural pouches from becoming infected.
Since these agents are always present in the horse's environment, it is nearly impossible to prevent all cases of guttural pouch infection, but knowing the symptoms and being aware of each horse's physical condition will allow the owner or trainer to catch the infections in the earliest stages and treat the horse effectively with positive results.
Some cases of guttural pouch infection resolve themselves, but the majority of horses require treatment and therapy for a complete recovery. Aggressive flushing of the pouch by placing specialized catheters in the affected pouch and flushing large volumes of fluids repeatedly and with significant pressure will often remove the chondroids if they are caught in the early stages.
If the condition is chronic and severe, surgery may be necessary to drain the pouch. Technically, the surgery is difficult, but horses that receive the treatment before damage is done to the nerves and blood vessels respond favorably and often recover fully.
When the disease is caused by fungi in the pouch that affects the arteries, one possible treatment is restricting the blood flow through the artery, thereby curing the condition.
In advanced cases, a complicated surgery to ligate or tie off the blood vessels traveling through the pouch is necessary. Balloon catheters and surgical lasers are now being used in these procedures, but prognosis remains guarded in most cases.
Antifungal medication is administered for optimal recovery chances. If diagnosed early enough, the horse may fully recover with no permanent damage to crucial blood vessels and nerves.
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Folic Acid | Benefits, Overdose, and Deficiency Symptoms
Folic acid or folate, as it is often commonly referred to, is an important nutrient for human beings. It is a water-soluble vitamin that is part of the B-complex vitamin group.
Folic acid takes part in the metabolism of proteins and is vital for normal growth and wound healing.
One of the most important functions of folate or folic acid is the production of new body cells and tissues. An adequate supply of this vitamin is critical for pregnant women.
Folic acid enables pregnant women to create new tissue during and after pregnancy; it also enables the production of fetal tissue during pregnancy. Folic acid also dramatically reduces the risk of spinal cord birth defects.
This vitamin is known as "the pregnancy vitamin" for it's ability to aid in a healthy pregnancy and healthy delivery. Folic acid is best taken during the early stages of pregnancy. Folic acid taken in the later stages of pregnancy should be done under the close supervision of a doctor.
Folic Acid Food Source
Folic comes from the Latin word folium, meaning foliage, meaning plant leaves. This vitamin is found primarily in leafy green vegetables. Even though folic acid is plentiful in fresh, unprocessed foods, deficiency is still very common.
Because most people do not eat uncooked green leafy vegetables, folic acid is added to a variety of processed foods to fight the very common deficiency.
Folic acid is found in spinach, kale, chard, and broccoli. It is also found in corn and wheat.
Folic Acid Overdose and Deficiency Symptoms
The risk of overdose from folic acid is low because folate is a water-soluble vitamin and its excess is removed from the body through urine.
Folate deficiency can lead to many serious side effects such as, diarrhea, depression, confusion, anemia.
Folic acid deficiency is especially dangerous in pregnant women because it can lead to fetal birth defects, fetal development issues, and fetal brain defects.
Return to B-complex Vitamins Intro
Return to Home Page | <urn:uuid:512423c5-73da-4c29-af5a-04d23723d5b5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.vitamins-and-health-facts.com/folic-acid-benefits-overdose-deficiency-symptoms.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00144-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953568 | 435 | 3.546875 | 4 |
News Picks : Brain imaging could further understanding of psychiatric disorders
20 November 2013
Los Angeles Times: Human brain function relies on three major neural networks— the central executive network (CEN), the salience network (SN), and the default mode network (DMN).The first two are thought to deal with outside-world stimulation, which requires cognition and decision making,and the third is thought to center on self-directed processes such as introspection and recall. To better understand the causal relationships among the three, researchers used transcranial magnetic stimulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging. What they found was that stimulation of the CEN and SN resulted in a drop in activity of the DMN, while inhibiting the CEN and SN caused the DMN to become more active. Their results, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help further the study and treatment of such psychiatric disorders as depression, autism, and schizophrenia. | <urn:uuid:618f437c-f3a8-4363-8e6e-0a04d74e0644> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/magazine/physicstoday/news/news-picks/brain-imaging-could-further-understanding-of-psychiatric-disorders-a-news-pick-post | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9441 | 189 | 2.546875 | 3 |
It's a stunning sight many in Hawaii have experienced: humpback whales breaching and playing out in the open ocean, near island shorelines, and even in Honolulu's harbors.
In recent years, populations of the endangered humpback whales in the North Pacific have climbed to about 21,000, way up from the 1960s, when numbers sank to one or two thousand.
"The endangered species list is really the protection of last resort," began Philip Hernandez, president of the Hawaii Fishermen's Alliance for Conservation and Tradition.
In April 2013, HFACT filed the first ever petition with the federal government to take Humpback whales off the endangered species list.
It's a move that has Hawaii's sun, ocean and whale-loving population concerned.
"It's one of the most beautiful things you can lay your eyes on. Seeing things like that are why I moved here from Texas," said surfer Cole Jones.
"How do we really know if they should be taken off? I don't really see a change in how we treat the environment," said environmental studies student Sarah Moore.
"I think we should save the whales, because if we lose the whales we lose the whales," said surfer Perry Fernandez.
But Hernandez said, from the group's perspective, taking the Humpback off the list is not a fishing, environmental or protection issue.
They see it as a budget management issue.
"There are other species that need extra protection. Shouldn't the money be going to the ones that really need it?" he said.
The National Fisheries Service filed a status review to determine if the humpback whale population had indeed recovered, but that was in August 2009.
"It's a very expensive status review, with a team of eminent whale scientists. So, we're working away on it. It's been up for some level of internal peer review. So, these things take time and with other competing priorities, it's taken longer than we originally hoped it would," said Angela Somma, Division chief for the Endangered Species Conservation Division, for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Division.
"We've been waiting and waiting," said Hernandez.
The Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary said humpbacks will still be protected under federal and state laws that, for one, prohibit anyone coming any closer than 100 yards.
The petition forces NOAA to respond to within 90 days, possible triggering an expedited review.
NOAA would then need to make a determination by April 2014. | <urn:uuid:129fa7d6-5ce8-4d6d-aac7-a3bd7324f735> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://m.kitv.com/news/resources-should-be-moved-to-species-more-in-need-of-protection-says-hfact/20012920 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958232 | 514 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Wood Smoke Pollution Home: Effects on Health and Environment
The Truth About Wood Smoke Pollution
Even though humans have burned wood for thousands of years, scientists have only recently discovered just how hazardous wood smoke pollution is to our health.
Hundreds of studies have now documented the harmful health effects of wood smoke pollution. Yet many people remain unaware of the facts—or refuse to accept them.
The current situation is similar to the way we used to treat second-hand tobacco smoke—by the time the public finally accepted just how hazardous second-hand smoke was, there had already been incalculable damage to human life.
There’s good reason to be even more concerned about wood smoke pollution than about second-hand tobacco smoke, since it’s more hazardous: according to the US EPA, the lifetime cancer risk from wood smoke is estimated to be 12 times greater than from a similar amount of cigarette smoke.
The time has come for all of us to acknowledge the real dangers of burning wood. | <urn:uuid:24afb8bc-f640-4b4c-ae24-08e5837c7771> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.familiesforcleanair.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00193-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939826 | 205 | 2.8125 | 3 |
2 powerful techniques to illuminate your travel writing
IN REAL LIFE we simultaneously process dozens of thoughts, memories, ideas and emotions. The stories that seem real and alive are stories that contain multiple layers.
The beginning writer, however, usually tends to focus on one thing at a time.
Here are two techniques that will add depth and layering to your travel narrative.
1. Object Correlative
One of the simplest but most powerful techniques to layer descriptions, narration, and characters’ emotions, is called the object correlative.
The idea is that instead of simply stating how a character feels or thinks, the writer suggests it, using a correlation between an object and the way a character observes or acts upon it.
- Example 1 (Basic) “I felt lonely.”
- Example 2 (Object Correlative) “I’d go out to the harbor around dusk and look at the ships tied to their moorings.”
The first example-“I felt lonely”-only works on one level, telling how the character feels. The second example-if placed within the proper context-works on at least two levels, suggesting how the character feels while seamlessly continuing the narration of the story.
One of the most noted examples of all time is the “bacon fat” scene in Hemingway’s story “Soldier’s Home.”
Harold Krebs, a young soldier back in Kansas after being wounded in WWI, is unable to return to work, to his mother’s ideal of “a normal life.” Now he must endure her questioning at the breakfast table:
“I’ve worried about you too much, Harold,” his mother went on. “I know the temptations you must have been exposed to. I know how weak men are. I know what your own dear grandfather, my own father, told us about the Civil War and I have prayed for you. I pray for you all day long, Harold.”
Krebs looked at the bacon fat hardening on his plate.
In your reading, begin noting whenever a writer uses an objective correlative to express a character’s feelings. When applying it to travel writing, a good starting point is to remember a scene and note what comes to mind first.
Was it a certain music that was playing? A feature of the landscape? Keep in mind that the most effective objects are universal, things that everyone can picture and relate to immediately.
Experiment with whatever thing you want to use, trying different ways to correlate the object to your central character’s thoughts and emotions. As with any new technique it will probably come out stilted and forced at first, but will flow naturally with practice.
2. The Minor Character As Mirror
Here is an example from Arthur Miller’s memoir Timebends. Arthur has just met an old acquaintance while getting a haircut. Note how, like an object correlative, the actions of the barber (the minor character) are used to suggest the multiple emotions that the main character feels:
“I’ll come by again,” I said, with the foreboding that I would not because nothing was left of any life between us, or that if I did she would not be here. She nodded and seemed to know this too, and walked to the door and into the dark street at the end of another day. The barber, finishing up, slipped off my semi-shroud and shook the hair off into the floor, saying nothing. He had caught her coolness, the disturbance I had brought her.
As before, look for places where writers use a minor character to help illustrate a main character’s emotions. Then experiment with the technique in your own writing.
Using a minor character as a mirror can be especially useful in travel writing, which is so often rich with minor characters-people on the streets, fishermen, merchants, fellow travelers, etc.
When the writer fails to incorporate these people into the emotional context of the story, they often become like scenery, or cardboard cutouts-and thus the story loses its verisimilitude.
*Get access to paid freelance travel writing opportunities and an active community of travel journalists by enrolling in the MatadorU Travel Writing program. | <urn:uuid:aedc1ad0-037d-4f6c-892c-4d52e6156eb2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/literary-techniques-for-travel-writers-part-one/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00120-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96063 | 902 | 2.671875 | 3 |
The history of liberalism in our times is not, for liberals, a happy one. Modern liberalism originated in the first third of the twentieth century, dominated the middle third, and then all but came apart in the final third.
The simplest indicator of that decline is the flight from the term itself. Franklin Roosevelt, frustrated over the connivance of Southern Democrats with Republicans in defeating New Deal measures, expressed the desire that party alignments might more precisely follow liberal/conservative lines. He assumed, it is clear, that an arrangement that consistently matched liberal Democrats against conservative Republicans would result not only in a more rational politics but also in perpetual Democratic supremacy. Conservatives implicitly conceded the point. When Dwight Eisenhower midway through his presidency told a gathering of Republicans that they should not be afraid of the term conservative, he was thought courageous, even foolhardy, for his daring.
Not that long afterwards, matters had turned upside down. Lyndon Johnsons landslide victory over Barry Goldwater in 1964 appeared to mark the fulfillment of FDRs dream, but just a few years later the Great Society, riven with conflict over the Vietnam War and racial unrest, self“destructed virtually overnight. Liberalism has never recovered from that debacle. Politicians of progressive tendencies fled from the L word, while Republicans, flaunting their conservatism, won five of the next six presidential elections, losing only to Jimmy Carter in 1976 in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
Bill Clinton, a Southern moderate, recovered the presidency for the Democrats, but he never ran as a liberal. Indeed, he famously proclaimed the end of the era of big government”and big government had been what liberalism was most fundamentally about. Even so, after the 2000 election, the Republicans”unashamedly (if compassionately) conservative”controlled, for the first time in almost a half century, both Congress and the White House.
But if liberalism, or at least liberalism as it was generally understood from the Progressive era up through the Great Society, has fallen on lean days, not everyone has given up the faith. Its adherents make up an aging congregation, consisting mainly of those who came to maturity in liberalisms glory years, 1933“1945, the era of the New Deal and World War II. Of those who still practice the Old Religion, no one is more steadfast, or more engaging in its defense, than Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., who helped write its history even as he was expounding and refining its doctrine. His memoir, A Life in the Twentieth Century: Innocent Beginnings, 1917“1950 (Houghton Mifflin, 557 pp., $28.95
), provides a lively and elegant apology worth the attention even of those who find baffling the authors unshakable and unquestioned commitment to liberal orthodoxy.
The simplest and truest thing to say about Schlesinger is that he is thoroughly his fathers son. The memoir is suffused with a warm, unforced filial piety. The senior Arthur Maier Schlesinger was himself a successful American historian whose teaching career took him from brief stints at Ohio State and Iowa to a long tenure at Harvard. (The history gene was apparently matrilineal as well: family lore had it that Elizabeth Bancroft Schlesinger was a descendant of the great nineteenth“century whig“progressive historian and ardent Jacksonian Democrat George Bancroft.) From his father the young Schlesinger inherited not simply his professional bent but his general approach to political life. Father and son alike were utterly dismissive of conservatism, drawn enough to radicalism to flirt with a mild socialism (though never for a moment susceptible to communism), most at home in a social democratic left“liberalism. The most striking evidence of Schlesingers devotion to his father is his name: at his birth on October 15, 1917, his parents named him Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger, but at about age fourteen”the age at which most young men enter on a period of adolescent rebellion against their fathers”Schlesinger decided quite on his own that he would henceforth be Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Interestingly, Schlesinger was perhaps least like his father in his approach to history. The elder Schlesinger was an advocate of the New History”an early version of social history most closely identified with James Harvey Robinson”while his son became a master of the old“fashioned analytical narrative focused on traditional political events and leaders. In discussing his fathers career, Schlesinger is admirably delicate. He praises his fathers accomplishments while noting only by indirection his relative lack of scholarly productivity. (The senior Schlesinger, to his ultimate regret, edited more volumes of history than he wrote.) The fact is that the son outstripped the father professionally by a considerable margin, but if that ever complicated their mutual high regard there is no evidence of it here.
The deep love lavished on Schlesinger by both his parents got him through the storms of childhood and adolescence relatively unscathed. (He is reticent about his relations with his brother Thomas, five years his junior, who is scarcely present in these pages.) Those years, first in the Midwest and, beginning at age seven, in Cambridge, could not have been entirely easy. A precocious student, Schlesinger skipped the second and fourth grades, which put him socially and physically behind his classmates, and he suffered both from poor eyesight, which required thick glasses, and, later, poor complexion. Still, he remembers his childhood as a generally sunny time. Much of his time he spent in reading. Even with allowance for his precocity, Schlesinger was a voracious, and attentive, reader. The chapter on his childhood reading depends, as does much else in the book, not just on the vagaries of memory but on the detailed, if intermittent, journals and diaries he kept over the years. Those sources, from which Schlesinger quotes extensively throughout the book, give the reader more confidence than is normally the case that the memoirist is not simply creating for himself a usable and compatible past.
In 1931, Schlesinger entered Phillips Exeter Academy, where, for the first (and last) time in his life, he found he had to work hard to get good grades. After Exeter, he says, Harvard was a breeze. When he graduated from Exeter two years later, his parents decided that at age fifteen he was too young to begin college, and so his entry to Harvard was delayed for a year while he accompanied his family on a year“long tour of the world.
Harvard was indeed a breeze: Schlesinger received his only B in a required course in biology. He flourished in the History and Literature program, where his tutors were the literary critic F. O. Matthiessen and the brilliant historian of American Puritan thought Perry Miller. He wrote his senior honors thesis on the then obscure nineteenth“century intellectual Orestes Brownson. Brownson had a notably erratic career, beginning as a Calvinist minister, then moving successively to Unitarianism, Universalism, and Transcendentalism. At the same time he wrote radical political tracts, including The Laboring Classes, an 1840 essay that predicted class war and proletarian revolution. (This, Schlesinger notes, came eight years before The Communist Manifesto .) Yet just a few years later he shifted radically to the right, joining the Catholic Church in 1844 and encouraging the presidential ambitions of John C. Calhoun. The thesis received a summa , and, on his fathers urging, Schlesinger expanded it into his first book, Orestes A. Brownson: A Pilgrims Progress , which was published in 1939.
His academic exploits did not prevent Schlesinger from enjoying a rich extracurricular life. He was active in literary circles on campus and made frequent trips to New York to indulge his interests in theater, jazz, and especially movies. He began a lifelong interest in film at Exeter, and during both prep school and college he spent a great deal of time in movie theaters. Between 1931 and 1936, he reports, he saw 482 movies, for each of which he wrote a brief review, followed by a letter grade. In his extensive recording of the literature, music, movies, and plays of these and later years, as well as in his witty, affectionately bemused (and remarkably detailed) recall of the events of daily life, large and small, Schlesinger provides a kind of capsule social history of his class and generation.
Harvard also solidified Schlesingers politics. He had been one of the few in his class at Exeter to prefer FDR to Hoover in the 1932 presidential election, and at Harvard he ardently supported the New Deal against enemies right and left. Republican conservatives, tied narrowly to business interests, were unenlightened, uninteresting, and unintelligent; and Marxism, while analytically challenging, was a sideshow, irrelevant to the American future. Even in the depths of the Depression, Schlesinger never doubted that FDR and the New Dealers could work things out and do so within the system. He has not for a moment wavered in that political allegiance: I remain to this day a New Dealer, unreconstructed and unrepentant.
In his personal life, Schlesinger was not, he admits with chagrin, unimpressed with his own abilities, and he often displayed the arrogance of youth. He reports an argument over dinner at which his mother finally said to him in frustration, Why are you shaking your head? Cant I say what I believe? His reply: No, mother, not when you dont know what youre talking about.
In his romantic life, he was not so assured. Like many undergraduates he fell in and out of love frequently. In his junior year, when he was nineteen, he fell seriously in love with Marian Cannon, who was five years his senior. Their rocky, up“and“down courtship led three years later to a marriage that, Schlesinger suggests, was not always serene. (His account of all this is subtle and restrained.)
Following graduation in 1938, Schlesinger spent a year at Peterhouse College, Cambridge, on a fellowship. He seems to have studied little, but he socialized widely, and he offers brief, vivid descriptions of the wide range of British academics and political leaders he encountered. Schlesinger as a historian has always had a remarkable ability to sketch and capture personalities within a paragraph or two, and his memoir exploits this talent to the utmost. By the end of the book, after experiencing an immense and absorbing variety of these mini“biographies, the reader gets the sense that Schlesinger has come to know virtually everyone in the Anglo“American political“intellectual establishment. Perhaps his was the last generation in which that was possible. In any case, scores of prominent figures crowd the pages of Schlesingers memoir, many of them appearing and reappearing in shifting circumstances and unusual coincidences. He is a great fan”odd, given the works conservative politics”of A Dance to the Music of Time , Anthony Powells masterful twelve“volume novel of life within the English governing class in the interwar period. Powells complex work captures for Schlesinger what he, out of his own experience (and invoking Powells title), calls the circularity of life: Characters appear and disappear and then reappear in vividly different settings and circumstances, the rhythm of life sooner or later bringing them together again as in the performance of one or another sequences of a ritual dance.
In fall 1939 Schlesinger returned to Harvard, where he had been elected to a three“year term in the prestigious Society of Fellows. The Junior Fellows could work on any project they wished, except the pursuit of a doctoral degree. The Society had been created in 1933 to escape what William James called the Ph.D octopus. (The no“Ph.D rule eventually gave way to the pressures of academic credentialism, and Schlesinger is rare among academic historians in his lack of an earned doctorate.)
While beginning research on his presumed forebear George Bancroft”a project that gradually expanded to become The Age of Jackson ”Schlesinger maintained his intense interest in politics. Like Bancroft, he wanted both to make history and to write it. He loved working in archives and he wrote easily and with grace; at the same time he envied the engaged and energetic New Dealers he met while on research trips to Washington. In the end he opted for the academic life”though with recurring forays into politics”but the history he wrote always reflected the politics he practiced.
Among a few of the Senior Fellows Schlesinger encountered the first intelligent conservatives he had ever met. Dealing with their arguments, he reports, forced him to reshape his liberalism to give it a more realistic and hard“edged cast. That process further developed under the influence of Reinhold Niebuhr, whom Schlesinger first met when his wife dragged him, against his protests, to hear a Niebuhr sermon at Harvards Memorial Church in the winter of 1940“41. Schlesinger was immediately drawn to Niebuhrs unlikely combination of liberal political activism and conservative Christian theology.
It was not the theology as such that attracted Schlesinger. His parents were mildly religious at best”when they moved to Cambridge they exchanged their lukewarm Congregationalism for Unitarianism. On the evidence of the memoir, Schlesingers own attitude toward religion ranged between indifference and hostility (he hated the compulsory daily chapel and Sunday worship at Exeter).
But he nonetheless found Niebuhrs skeptical view of human nature intellectually more compelling than the typically American faith in human innocence and virtue that prevailed among most progressives. The doctrine of original sin made anthropological, if not theological, sense of human life. Schlesinger had been prepared for Niebuhr by his undergraduate studies with Perry Miller. Miller was himself an atheist, but as a student of the New England Puritans he absorbed from them”and passed on to Schlesinger”insights into the dark power of the Augustinian strain in Christianity, the anguished awareness of human finitude, failure, guilt, corruptibility, the precariousness of existence and the challenge of moral responsibility.
Niebuhrs neo“orthodox theology would almost certainly have been less attractive to Schlesinger had it issued in the political quietism and sense of resignation normally associated with Augustinian perspectives. But Niebuhr, though resolutely anti“utopian, was neither quietist nor resigned. He was always a man of the left”first a socialist and later a social democrat”and as Professor of Applied Christianity at Union Theological Seminary in New York he remained a major political presence in left“liberal circles from the 1930s into the 1960s. His Christian realism did not excuse sinful humanity from acting against evil in the world. He had broken with liberal Christianity over what he considered its sentimental pacifism in the face of the Fascist threat in Europe. Power must be met by power, and in the sermon that introduced him to Schlesinger he urged America not to turn away from the war that had begun with Hitlers invasion of Poland in September 1939.
The message resonated with Schlesinger. He had himself, in the wake of Hitlers blitzkrieg in the spring of 1940, forsaken his earlier isolationism and become an ardent interventionist. The isolationist/interventionist debate of 1940“41 is not much remembered today, but Schlesinger recalls it as the most bitter and divisive of his lifetime”more so than the quarrels over communism in the postwar forties, McCarthyism in the fifties, or Vietnam in the sixties. None of these, he insists, so tore apart families and friendships as that earlier conflict. The debate cut across ideological and class lines. The cynicism of American Communists during the period”insistently anti“interventionist following the Nazi“Soviet pact that immediately preceded Germanys strike into Poland, even more insistently pro“interventionist following Hitlers invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1940”confirmed Schlesingers already well developed anti“Communist instincts.
Pearl Harbor, of course, ended the debate over Americas role in the world conflict. (Indeed, it virtually put an end to the isolationist impulse itself. After December 7, l941, America would never again seek to distance itself from international affairs.) Schlesingers poor eyesight kept him out of the draft, and he sought a job in Washington in support of the war effort. In September 1942 he joined the Writers Division of the Office of War Information (OWI). On the side he performed ghostwriting chores for various New Deal officials, including the drafting of low level proclamations for President Roosevelt. His first assignment”ironic given his anticlerical inclinations”was a statement by FDR in support of Universal Bible Sunday. In it, Schlesinger had FDR call the Bible a book not for a day or a week but for eternity. (I was deplorably adept, Schlesinger notes dryly, at a ghostwriters duplicity.)
Schlesinger enjoyed his work with OWI, but he soon found himself embroiled in a dispute within the agency pitting its bureaucratic leadership against the young New Dealers who staffed the Writers Division and who worked to insure that the war effort would not obliterate the Administrations reform purposes. After a series of murky internal squabbles, Schlesinger and several of his liberal colleagues resigned in protest in April 1943. The next month he signed up with the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), but he found his work there frustrating and inconsequential: In OSS it was as if one put a message in a bottle and threw it into the sea. He maintained his independent streak, not only over against his superiors but against the numerous Communists and fellow travelers who infiltrated the agencys ranks. His efficiency rating reports, obtained years later, ranked him as excellent in every category but cooperativeness, where he was only deemed adequate.
By 1944 Schlesinger was desperate to get closer to the fighting in Europe, and he applied for a commission as a naval intelligence officer. The commission never came through (despite his anticommunism, Schle singers liberal activism made him suspect on political grounds), but he wangled an assignment to the OSS office in London with the civilian equivalent of the rank of major. (The following spring, after the eyesight requirements for military service had been lowered, he found himself unhappily drafted into the army in Europe as a buck private.) In the meantime, in his intelligence investigations in London, Paris, and elsewhere in Europe, he became persuaded that the U.S. should cast its political lot in the postwar years neither with the increasingly popular Communists nor with the conservatives who had dominated most prewar governments but with the emerging non“Communist left. He returned to America in October 1945 and was mustered out of the military in December.
Schlesinger came back to the U.S. as a minor celebrity. During the war years he had continued to labor nights and weekends on The Age of Jackson , and the work was published to considerable attention and acclaim in September 1944. The book, which won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1945, was an intellectual tour de force”spirited, ambitious, panoramic, iconoclastic. It ingeniously combined political history with the history of ideas: Schlesinger intended it as the intellectual history of a political movement.
The Age of Jackson turned Jacksonian historiography on its head. In the tradition of Frederick Jackson Turners frontier thesis, which associated the rise of American democracy with the nations continuous expansion westward from colonial days through the end of the nineteenth century, Jacksonian democracy had traditionally been viewed as an essentially western phenomenon. It was seen as an extension of Jeffersons agrarian vision of the nation as a perpetual republican arcadia”a vision in conflict with the eastern Federalist/Whig preference for economic development, urban growth, and government of the few, not the many. Not so, said Schlesinger. He did not deny the influence of the western Jacksonians and their Jeffersonian concern for expanded political democracy. But he argued that the real dynamic of Jacksons presidency lay in the increasingly urban industrial east, and he emphasized the importance for the Jacksonian movement of the rise of the laboring classes and the leadership of eastern writers and intellectuals in the struggle for a more radical economic democracy. Jeffersonian democracy had been essentially a matter of aristocracy vs. democracy; its more realistic Jacksonian variant pitted rich vs. poor.
Jacksonian democracy was not so much a sectional struggle as a class struggle. Schlesinger had earlier praised Orestes Brownson for seeing class conflict as the dynamic force in the evolution of society. In American terms, that conflict took the form of the struggle over control of the state between the business community and all other groups in the nation. To be a liberal in America meant, for Schlesinger, to be above all else an opponent of business power. Jackson, he indicated, had intuitively understood that, and his titanic (and successful) struggle in the 1830s against the Bank of the United States and the business“government alliance it represented became the prototypical event of the nations political history. In a speech delivered shortly after his books publication, Schlesinger argued that in sustaining Jackson against the Bank the American people made unmistakably clear for all time their conviction that basic economic decisions were matters of democratic responsibility and could not be left in private and irresponsible hands (emphasis added).
In speaking of class conflict in these terms, Schlesinger was not vindicating Karl Marx, he was vindicating Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Critics of FDR regularly charged that the class politics of the New Deal represented a radical break with the nations past. Schlesinger intended to demonstrate, to the contrary, that Roosevelt was acting in the great tradition of American liberalism. He concedes that The Age of Jackson voted for FDR and against the notion that the New Deal was somehow un“American: I wanted to show that, far from importing foreign ideas, FDR was acting in a thoroughly American spirit . . . . Jacksons war against . . . the Second Bank of the United States thus constituted a thoroughly American precedent for the battles FDR waged against the economic royalists of his (and my) day.
Yet the radical Jackson“FDR tradition, Schlesinger argued, was not socialist, much less Marxist. Class conflict was inevitable, but class warfare was not. Schlesinger selected a quotation from George Bancroft as the frontispiece of the book: The feud between the capitalist and laborer, the house of Have and the house of Want, is as old as social union, and can never be entirely quieted; but he who will act with moderation, prefer fact to theory, and remember that everything in this world is relative and not absolute, will see that the violence of the contest may be stilled. The essential intent of the democratic left, past and present, was to preserve capitalism by taming its excesses. Schlesinger insisted that the object of liberalism has never been to destroy capitalism, as conservatism invariably claims”only to keep the capitalists from destroying it.
Schlesingers was a bravura performance, but The Age of Jackson , for all its panache, was vulnerable both in its interpretation of the Jacksonian era and in its larger understanding of the American political tradition. Schlesinger himself notes the intense reaction the book provoked, citing the comment of Robert V. Remini, a later biographer of Jackson, that The Age of Jackson swept the historical profession like a tornado, eliciting both prodigious praise and, within a relatively short time, fierce denunciations.
In his portrait of the struggles of the Jacksonian period as precursors of those of the 1930s, Schlesinger was guilty, critics charged, of anachronism. Jacksonian America was, after all, still a largely rural society, not the advanced industrial order that FDR had to deal with a century later. In 1830, 91 percent of Americans lived in communities with populations of less than 2,500 people, and Schlesingers emphasis on the urban and working“class component of the Jacksonian coalition”not to mention his suggestion of a society divided along class lines”seemed overblown. In any case, other critics noted, the nascent workers movement and its radical spokesmen often worked independently of the Jacksonian Democrats.
As to the struggle over the Bank and related issues, one school of historians saw the conflict as matching not so much rich vs. poor as rival groups of agrarian and commercial entrepreneurs. Jacksons opposition to the Bank, in their view, stemmed in large part from economic ignorance, in particular a rigid devotion to a reactionary hard“money monetary theory that, had it been consistently followed, would have hampered the nations economic growth. More than that, and as Schlesinger himself concedes (despite his vigorous objections to the rival“entrepreneurs interpretation), in contrast to the antistatist Jacksonians their Whig Party opponents had a sounder conception of the role of government and a more constructive policy of economic development.
Later scholars offered more fundamental criticisms of Schlesingers analysis. Like other Progressive historians, they charged, he had misconceived the fault lines of American politics. From early on, American political divisions had had more to do with complex ethnocultural differences, religion chief among them, than with economic or class issues.
The ethnocultural critique dovetailed with the analysis put forward by the emerging school of Consensus historiography. In opposition to Schlesinger and others of the Progressive school, Consensus historians emphasized that what was distinctive about the American experience, compared with that of Europe, was the relative lack of fundamental disagreement about the constituting elements of the nations political economy. Most Americans most of the time had agreed on the essentials of democratic capitalism: political equality, individual rights and responsibility, private property, free enterprise, limited government, equality of opportunity. The political spectrum was more narrow in America than anywhere else in the West. The U.S. had little of the intense anti“Enlightenment spirit that marked elements of the European right, even as it was unique among industrialized nations in its lack of a significant Socialist movement. Americans had, to be sure, quarreled among themselves along socioeconomic lines”and those arguments were not about nothing”but the heat of political rhetoric had obscured just how narrowly circumscribed, in comparative terms, those quarrels had been. Attachments of ethnicity and religion generally counted for more in American politics than attachments of class.
Yet whatever the weaknesses of The Age of Jackson ”it is, one might fairly say, a great book but an unreliable history”most critics recognized the abundant talent of its author. Several universities made offers to Schlesinger, but he was initially inclined, given his activist impulses, to pass up academia and make his way as a reporter on politics. My thought, he says, was to try, at least for a while, the life of a writer. I could always in the end retreat to the cloisters. The retreat came more quickly than he had anticipated. In April 1946, he reports, Harvard made an offer I could not refuse. Part of the unrefusability of the offer was that the university agreed to put off the beginning of his teaching duties until September 1947, and in the intervening period he pursued his freelance ambitions, writing a wide range of articles”on, among other things, the American Communist Party, U.S. relations with Latin America, the Supreme Court, and the future of American socialism”for a variety of journals.
Schlesinger was a natural optimist, but the immediate postwar political situation appeared decidedly unpromising. The Republicans, as always, were beneath consideration, and the new Truman Administration seemed not appreciably better. Not only is [Truman] himself a man of mediocre and limited capacity, Schlesinger wrote dismissively in 1946, but . . . he has managed to surround himself with his intellectual equals. The announcement of the Marshall Plan for European recovery the following year somewhat improved Schlesingers estimation of the Administration, as did Trumans liberal 1948 State of the Union address, but he shared the widespread assumption that Truman could not win election on his own in the fall and that he might well drag his fellow Democrats in Congress down to defeat with him.
The situation appeared so desperate that Schlesinger joined the short“lived effort in spring 1948 to draft General Dwight Eisenhower to replace Truman at the top of the ticket, even though he concedes, looking back in embarrassment, that no one knew how Eisenhower stood on the issues or whether he was even a Democrat. It turned out, of course, that Eisenhower was neither a liberal nor a Democrat, and after he withdrew his name from consideration Schlesinger looked forward gloomily to the fall campaign.
The Democrats prospects looked especially hopeless because they faced opposition not only from the rejuvenated Republicans, who in the off“year election of 1946 had won control of both Houses of Congress for the first time since 1928, but from splinter movements on both the right and the left. The first, the so“called Dixiecrats, began with southern Democrats who had walked out of the party convention in July when northern liberals (enthusiastically cheered on by Schlesinger) inserted a civil rights plank in the party platform. The dissidents organized themselves officially as the States Rights Party and nominated Strom Thurmond as their presidential candidate. The second threat, which initially seemed all but certain to guarantee the election of Republican candidate Thomas Dewey, came from the new Progressive Party, a coalition of left“liberals, fellow travelers, and Communists. Their candidate was Henry Wallace, a veteran of the left who had served as Vice President during FDRs third term and who had emerged as chief spokesman for those opposed to the Truman Administrations increasingly anti“Soviet foreign policy.
The Wallace campaign marked a critical moment of truth for the postwar American left. Most American liberals, like their counterparts throughout the West, had found it difficult entirely to discard their initial estimate of the Russian Revolution of 1917 as the extension, even the ultimate fulfillment, of the eighteenth“century revolutions in France and America. Glimmers of disillusionment crept in during the twenties and thirties, at least among those open to the evidence, over periodic revelations of the brutalities of the Lenin and Stalin regimes; but majority liberal opinion, while willing to concede certain excesses, held to the view of the Soviet Union as a progressive force in world“historical development. That attitude hardened with the rise of fascism, and most liberals endorsed the anti“Fascist Popular Front movement of the thirties, with its doctrine of no enemies to the left.
The World War II alliance with the USSR solidified the benevolent view of Stalinist Russia, a view actively encouraged by the Roosevelt Administration. For the Popular Front left, therefore, Trumans gradually developing skepticism concerning Soviet intentions following FDRs death in April 1945 seemed a betrayal of his predecessors legacy. In the Popular Front mind, the world was still divided between Fascists and anti“Fascists, and in the emerging Cold War conflict, with the U.S. pitting itself against a progressive“by“definition USSR, the nation was placing itself on the wrong side of history. Wallace, like many around him, was given to vague but ominous reflections on the dangers of American fascism.
Schlesinger, as we have seen, never succumbed to Popular Front illusions. His memoir plays down”excessively in my view”the influence of communism on American political culture in the 1930s and 40s, but at the time he consistently and honorably fought that influence wherever it arose. When the postwar Popular Front forces consolidated at the end of 1946 in forming the Progressive Citizens of America (PCA), he eagerly allied himself with the anti“Communist liberals in the formation just afterward of Americans for Democratic Action (ADA). Despite their agreement on the need for a revitalized and extended New Deal, the difference between the organizations was stark. The PCA, in varying degrees of innocence and cynicism, still thought of the USSR as a natural ally in the ongoing struggle between Fascists and anti“Fascists. For the ADA the defeat of fascism in 1945 had reconfigured world politics, and it was the Soviet Union that was on the wrong side of what, in fact, had always been the more fundamental division”that between totalitarians and anti“totalitarians.
Faced with the incontrovertible evidence of the USSRs expansionist and anti“democratic policies in Eastern Europe, the great majority of liberals came down on the anti“Communist side, and Trumans unexpected victory in 1948 marked, among other things, the elimination on the respectable American left of pro“Soviet sympathies. (Even Wallace came around when, two years later, Communist North Korea invaded South Korea.) Schlesinger rejoiced in Trumans triumph”he had come to a grudging admiration for the President”but the confusions of the campaign and the perceived need, in post“New Deal and postwar conditions, to rethink liberal assumptions led him to the writing, in the winter of 1948“49, of The Vital Center: The Politics of Freedom , an influential work that in the words of one critic announced the spirit of an age to itself.
In a sense, one could summarize The Vital Center as an extension of The Age of Jackson s political argument taking into account the confrontation with communism and the infusion into liberal thought of Niebuhrian perspectives. Mid“twentieth“century liberalism, Schlesinger wrote, has . . . been fundamentally reshaped by the hope of the New Deal, by the exposure [of the evil] of the Soviet Union, and by the deepening of our knowledge of man.
The left“liberal Vital Center faced significant challenges on both right and left. The forces of the business community against which democratic leaders struggled disqualified themselves from political leadership by their narrow preoccupation with class interests, their consistent political incompetence, and their lack of vigor and purpose. Schlesinger filled out the sketch of American history suggested in The Age of Jackson in which an inept business class, perpetually enfeebled by its lack of a will to govern, created inevitable crises whenever in power from which it had to be rescued by the radical democracy. By 1949, Schlesinger was so fearful of business rule that he warned that an America returned to business control might be delivered through the incompetence of the right into the hands of the totalitarian left.
But Schlesinger continued to reject the Socialist alternative. He recognized”though not sufficiently, as his memoir concedes”capitalisms strengths, particularly its economic vitality and its commitment to a free and open society. More strongly still, he recognized socialisms weaknesses: its problems with amassing the necessary information and skill truly to plan and direct an economy and, above all, its dangerous propensity towards the concentration of power in a few hands. Variety of ownership and control was the answer, as much variety . . . as is consistent with energetic action by the government. The prophet of the new radicalism was not Marx but John Maynard Keynes; the triumph of the New Deal was the triumph of the middle way between unregulated capitalism and orthodox socialism.
The dynamic required to prevent this Vital Center from slipping into a slack and banal centrism was the creative social conflict provided by perpetual group struggle. Where Marxism envisioned that struggle as warfare to the apocalyptic death, Schlesingers version kept it, through an emphasis on gradualism, pragmatism, and parliamentarianism, as a perpetual tension issuing not in actual warfare or final resolution but in an ongoing balancing and rebalancing of social forces that offered society the best guarantee of freedom, stability, and progress.
Schlesingers insistence that his preferred program of democratic radicalism (he did not hesitate to use the terms liberal and radical interchangeably) be kept distinct from Marxism stemmed from his generations experience of Stalinist oppression. The revelations in the late thirties of Soviet labor camps and mass purges bred a new skepticism toward unlimited state power and a renewed commitment to individual liberties. His subtitle, the politics of freedom, marked the enduring dividing line between democracy and communism.
That line also defined the nature of postwar relations between America and Russia: the conflict between the U.S. and the USSR would be permanent. A permanent crisis? Well, a generation or two anyway, permanent in ones own lifetime, permanent in the sense that no international miracle, no political sleight of hand will do away overnight with the tensions between ourselves and Russia. Yet for all his support of the Truman Administrations firm anti“Soviet stance, Schlesinger insisted that containment no more meant intimidation than it did appeasement, and he warned that America must not succumb to demands for an anti“Soviet crusade or a preventive war. He understood as well the subtler dangers of anticommunism. We must not, he said, permit ourselves to become the slaves of Stalinism, as any man may become the slave of the things he hates. It was essential that a genuine radicalism be sustained in Western Europe and America, that the non“Communist left of the Atlantic community remain as left as it was non“Communist.
Anticommunism must also not come at the price of the sacrifice of civil liberties. As we anti“Stalinist liberals saw it, he writes in his memoir, communism was a threat to America, not a threat in America. Freedom meant freedom for American Communists to spread their pernicious ideas. Schlesinger opposed the firing of Communist professors solely on the basis of Party membership, and he suggested that Communists in government should be removed only for disloyal actions or if they held sensitive positions in the national security apparatus.
All in all, Schlesinger maintained the necessary distinctions that, when the time came, would allow him firmly to oppose McCarthyism without for a moment softening his anticommunism. The line he liked to draw between rational and obsessive anticommunism was not always as precise as he imagined, but, especially in light of the intense and conflicting passions that attended the issue, he struck a commendable balance.
The Niebuhrian influence on Schlesingers thought showed itself in The Vital Center s somber summary of the postwar situation. With traditional faiths under question and with modernitys dreams of redemption through science, reason, and technology made a mockery by global war and mass brutality, the result was lives empty of belief lived in quiet desperation. The imperatives of industrialization required of modern man that he organize beyond his moral and emotional means; here was to be found the fundamental cause of our distempers.
Given these realities, the traditional liberal belief in progress was no longer tenable. The optimism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had assumed humanitys essential rationality and virtue, but the twentieth had revealed its capacity for evil. A responsible liberalism would have to discard its progressive sentimentalities and accept people as they are, limited and flawed; and it would have to accept as well the compromises, complicities, and uncertainties of responsible political action.
The threat to America from Soviet expansionism abroad and creeping social malaise at home made it essential that freedom regain its vitality and become once more a fighting faith. Yet, Schlesinger noted, democracys commitment to tolerance and diversity, its basis in compromise and consent, made such a faith hard to come by. Its renewal and nourishment depended on the maintenance of certain fruitful social tensions: between individualism and community, freedom and security, private initiative and public power. The tensions had to remain forever unresolved, for democracy was a process and not a conclusion; the struggle was without end and without hope of utopia. All important problems are insoluble, Schlesinger concluded, that is why they are important.
The most striking aspect of The Vital Center was the distance between its philosophy and its politics, the movement from conservative assumptions to liberal conclusions. Schlesinger himself, looking back twenty years later, noted a combination in the book of a certain operational optimism with a certain historical and philosophical pessimism. The note of pessimism recurred frequently in Schlesingers immediate postwar writings. History is not a redeemer, he insisted; it is rather a tragedy in which we are all involved, whose keynote is anxiety and frustration, not progress and fulfillment. In denying Whittaker Chambers claim that anticommunism must be founded on religious belief, Schlesinger argued that the issue was rather the sense of human limitation, of human fallibility, of . . . the moral incompleteness of man. Doubters as well as believers could be tentative and experimental in history and humble and contrite before the mystery which lies behind history. When one recalls the classic definition of conservatism as a sense of humility before God and history, it is quite possible to categorize Schlesinger as a philosophical conservative. Yet his politics remained unreservedly liberal as well as basically optimistic. The New Deal, whatever its flaws, had made an admirable record and it remained for Schlesinger a source of hope and of faith in democracy.
The disjunction between philosophy and politics was not necessarily a contradiction, as the career of Reinhold Niebuhr demonstrated. But if the movement from realist assumptions to left“liberal politics was not impossible, neither was it at all axiomatic. The tragic vision was hardly a major perspective for most New Dealers, the majority of whom were far closer in spirit to the optimistic pieties of Eleanor Roosevelt than to Niebuhrs tough“mindedness. Niebuhrian theological perspectives could doubtless be made to conform with a number of political perspectives, but at whatever point on the political spectrum they were applied their influence would inescapably tend in a conservative direction.
As it turned out, Niebuhrs influence on liberal thought did not much outlast his presence on the political scene. His was a moment in liberalism, not a transformation of it. Niebuhr is not often referred to today”much, in my opinion, to our detriment”and when he is invoked, it is among neoconservatives, not among liberals.
There were difficulties in Schlesingers own appropriation of Niebuhrs thought. Niebuhrs pessimism about human nature was countered by an ultimate optimism rooted in faith in Gods providential purposes that was not available to Schlesinger and other atheists for Niebuhr. One felt the irony, Schlesinger writes, that unbelievers, appropriating so much of [Niebuhrs] thought, left off when the part that mattered most to him”the ineffable mystery and grace of God”came in. Niebuhrian thought stripped of its eschatological confidence could only chasten the left, not sustain it. Schlesingers liberalism, for all its musings on Augustinian themes, was in the end, as the title of one of his later books put it, a politics of hope, and he perhaps underestimated the extent to which his Niebuhrian rejection of belief in human goodness and social progress undermined that hope.
The potential difficulties in the Vital Center were practical as well as philosophical. The delicate balance between antibusiness politics and procapitalist economics was not easily maintained. How did society give business leaders sufficient freedom for economic initiative and yet create a polity in which they were effectively restricted in political power?
Schlesingers social analysis, for all its emphasis on economic forces, tended regularly and almost inevitably to a separation of politics and economics. As a man of the left persuaded of capitalisms economic virtues, Schlesinger alternated ambivalently between vigorous condemnation of business executives and uneasy acceptance of the business system. To critics to his left, Schlesingers liberalism seemed an exercise in futility: in a capitalist system capitalist interests will necessarily prevail. To conservatives, that liberalism seemed counterproductive and even perverse: why continually beat up on those most responsible for national prosperity? Schlesinger had noted that a new depression would discredit capitalism and move the country, probably through a series of New Deals, toward socialism. He did not foresee that an extended period of prosperity”such as in fact developed in the 1950s”would make socialism as irrelevant as it had normally been in America and, beyond that, begin to bring into question the New Deal impulse itself.
Both the pressure of events and tendencies from within, then, acted gradually to drain the Vital Center of its vitality. For a few brief years in the late 1940s, a sobered liberalism, sustained by memories of the New Deal, by a foreign threat, and by a newly sophisticated view of man and society, enjoyed one of the more creative moments in its long tradition. But it could not for long preserve that moment.
Schlesinger of course made necessary adjustments in political tactics and strategy in the long years to follow after 1950, but he never abandoned, or even seriously questioned, the ideological commitments of his youth. At the end of his memoir, he offers this tongue“in“cheek conclusion: It is, I suppose, evidence of lack of imagination or of some other infirmity of character, but I am somewhat embarrassed to confess that I have not radically altered my general outlook in the more than half century since The Vital Center s publication. Perhaps I should apologize for not being able to claim disillusions, revelations, conversions. But in fact I have not been born again, and there it is.
There is much to respect in the liberalism Schlesinger has for so long represented. It has been at once optimistic and unsentimental. What Schlesinger says about his friend Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. could as well be said of Schlesinger himself: An unrepentant New Dealer, he embodied the old, realistic, exuberant American liberal tradition”liberalism without mawkishness, without self“pity, without guilt, without illusion, but with zest in the struggle and unquenchable hope for all humanity.
But there were costs to Schlesingers constancy. The New Deal era was, with the possible exception of the 1790s (and of course the Civil War), the most intensely partisan epoch in American history. FDRs conservative opponents hated him and everything he stood for, and he returned the hatred. Zest in the struggle hardly does justice to the intensity of the political wars of the 1930s.
Schlesinger is not, on the evidence of his memoir, a man given to hatreds, but his writings, historical and political, have always reflected his deep partisan commitments. His liberalism is not so much a conclusion as an assumption. Particular items of the liberal creed may be open to question and revision, but outside the boundaries of liberalism itself there is finally only folly and illusion. Towards conservatives and conservative ideas, Schlesinger is almost wholly dismissive. It is as if conservatives, American conservatives at least, have no ideas, just unfortunate retrograde instincts. (He is rather more tolerant of European conservatism. Its aristocratic tone he finds more worthy of consideration than the plutocratic mentality of its American counterpart.)
Schlesingers formative experience of the New Deal imbued him with a political philosophy based on the doctrine of liberal legitimacy. America in its authentic expression is necessarily liberal, not just in the broad Lockean sense, but in the specific spirit of the New Deal. Periods of conservative domination are but interludes, in“between times before the liberal legitimists again return to power.
But that makes for a peculiar perspective on the American experience. The era of the New Deal was in fact quite atypical. The economic devastation of the Great Depression and the political polarization that accompanied the Roosevelt Administrations attempts to deal with it were unprecedented in the nations history, which had mostly been marked by widespread prosperity and by consensus on fundamental political ideas.
The irony of Schlesingers liberalism is that it held up as normative for the nations political experience the most aberrant period in its history. In the broad sweep of the American past, the liberalism of the Vital Center and its author stood on the edge of things.
James Nuechterlein is Editor of First Things . | <urn:uuid:b2963e65-5b44-4716-abaa-86852cac65f7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.firstthings.com/article/2001/08/the-last-liberal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969734 | 10,064 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Does Salt Turn into Sugar when its contained by the human body?
Salt is made up of sodium and chlorine so when saline is broken down it will turn into the same components.
Sugar is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
There are big differences between the two.
In a deepest sense, if the elements within salt will own atomic configuration in the human body afterwards that be the explanation you can give for it to turn into sugar. That is the possibility I can predict.
no it turnes surrounded by to celulite
no, sugar is glucose.salt isnt
No, here is no way saline can turn into sugar. They may look similar, but the chemical make-up is severely different.
Everything converts to sugars and undigestibles (waste) after digestion except for trace minerals such as salts.
why of coarse it does..lol actual starch turns to sugar!
nope. saline is sodium chloride, we get it from the the deep water, while sugar is made of glucose, and it comes from plant. see? there's a BIG difference..
no.not at adjectives inside the human body..
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EAST-WEST IDEOLOGIES, THE COLD WAR AND NOW
At a grander scale of history, the Korean War and the North-South divide was inevitable and in no way was it avoidable. If you look at the historic period of the Cold War, both Western and Communist regime had no choice to protect its own interest and the territorial influence of its surrounding region was crucial in protecting itself.
Certainly, there was a divide amongst Koreans about development of Korea after being colonized by Japan. Certainly, there were different views amongst scholars, politicians and Korean people. But, as a South Korean, I cannot help but to feel that we were merely pawns to protect Western/Communist ideologies in the East Asian region.
With the same line of reasoning, I am skeptical of the possibility of the reunification of the Koreas. China’s economical and political power is disrupting the hegemonic position of the Western ideology. Within the East Asia region, China enjoys the kind of power U.S. used to enjoy during post-Cold War period. Certain countries have started to trade with Yuan as their main currency and China has assertively started to demand a re-negotiation of its sea territorial boundaries.
Therefore, how likely would it be for China to want the reunification of the Korean people and have a democratic government, based on Western ideology, right next to its boundaries?
Not very likely.
It is saddening, and somewhat infuriating, to know that your own people had to suffer from a major civil war because of an ideology split between major powers and because we were a country that was, at the time, powerless to control our own fate.
But, South Korea is starting to become an economical power house, and along with it, our political influence is increasing. Also, with China’s recent condemnation towards North Korea there is certainly hope.
Therefore, as active citizens, we must inform our governments that human rights should not be subjective to politics, and this includes the rights of the North Korean people. That’s why I believe awareness campaigns like North Korean Human Rights Film Festival is so important because for any change to occur we must begin with knowing or understanding the problems.
As you come and watch our films in July, I hope you will understand that this isn’t just about watching an interesting movie or documentary, this is about real life social problems. Problems that are affecting close to 20 million people in North Korea and we could, if we choose to, gather support for a mass global campaign to pressure North Korea and its close allies to provide a better future for North Korean citizens.
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Culture Of Sri Lanka.....
Sri Lanka is one of the few countries with a very vast and rich cultural diversity. The culture is itself very unique and thereby contributes to the Sri Lankan identity. Sri Lankan culture includes a lot of customs and rituals, whish date to more than 2000 years which were handed down from generation to generation. The most prominent feature of the Sri Lankan is its colourful festivals , which is one of the main tourist attractions. Religion plays an important role in molding the Sri Lankan culture and traditions.
Sri Lankan culture if often reflected by the use of art, architecture, sculptures ,and even food. Some people would say that Sri Lanka has a more conventional culture which is obviously influenced by the prominent religions prevailing the country such as buddhism, hinduism, islam , etc. The Sri Lankan way of life is very simple and filled with humility and happiness , this is one of the reasons why the Sri Lankans have a very great sense in appreciating the simple things in life such as nature.
One of the main features of the culture is its Indian and Europen influence. Since most of the time Sri Lankan kings married Indian princesses they incorporated Indian culture into ours but still preserving the unique Sri Lankan identity. The European influence was a result of invasion from the Dutch and Portugese and finally the British. Hospitality is also one of the prominent characteristics of the culture, making Sri Lankans one of the friendly nations in the world.
Indigenous medicine ( ayuruvedic )
Indigenous medicine is also a huge part of the culture which even has said to be able to cure terminal diseases such as cancer. These days in Sri Lanka a lot of ayuruvedic spas and clinics are open for tourists who visit the country , which is also considered as one of the major tourist ( recreational ) attractions.
Sri Lankan CuisineThe most vital part ( for all the food –lovers ) that dominates our culture is our mouth-watering , exotic food. The recipes might have abit of Indian influence upon it but still it is very unique in its own way. Most of vegetable and fruits dat are used for cooking are sometimes only found in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan food culminates a variety of spices which integrates the exotic taste of the food. Besides the fact that the food is delicious it is widely believed that the food is made in such a way that provides for a very heathly life style. The best part of the cuisine is that its very versatile, where there are a lot of ways to cook one particular dish, which is great for avoiding monotony.
Visual and Performance Arts
Art, music, drama and even architectire also is a part of the cultural fusion. Art plays an integral part in the history of Sri Lanka providing a figurative gold mine to archeologists and anthropologists since art speaks a lot about the Sri Lankan way of life. From castles to frescoes art itself chronicles the history and culture leaving people filled with wonder , reverence and respect.
Sri Lanka is one of the biggest and best tea producers of tea. Tea is an integral part of the culture since it goes hand in hand with hospitality, every household offers tea to guests everytime, no exceptions. It has been said thet the British Royal Family drinks Sri Lankan Tea.
Sri Lanka is one of the handful of countries that offers free education to children even upto higher education such as doctorates. Because of this reason Sri Lanka has a boasting literacy rate of 97%, a suprisingly high rate for a South-East Asian Country.
The national sport is volleyball however Sri Lanka has done extremely well in cricket bagging the ICC World Cup in 1996. Rugby , aquatic and motor sports follow next in popularity after the former two sports.
Sri Lankan Martial Arts
There are two styles of martial arts native to Sri Lanka, these are Cheena di and Angampora. Chenna Di is more popular of the two whereas Angampora shows a decline in students each year due to the fact of the length of time to master the art. | <urn:uuid:f85e4b66-d935-4e0f-ae9d-d8309389892c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.srilankatravelandtourism.com/srilanka/culture/culture.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964085 | 846 | 3 | 3 |
Sallie A. Keith/Katherine K. Martin
NASA Glenn Research Center
February 8, 2006
Local Teachers Fly and Experiment on NASA's 'Weightless Wonder'
Teachers from Cumberland Middle School are taking their experiment out of the classroom and into NASA's "Weightless Wonder," a flying microgravity laboratory.
As part of their participation in the NASA Explorer Schools Program, Cumberland Middle School's Anna Mika, seventh grade math and science teacher, and Cheryl Schnell, eighth grade science teacher, along with Marge Lehky, Aerospace Education Specialist and Nancy Hall, research scientist, both at NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, will arrive at NASA's aircraft facility at Ellington Field, Johnson Space Center, Houston, on Feb. 13. They will spend a week preparing themselves and their experiment for a unique experience outside the bounds of gravity aboard the modified C-9 aircraft. The C-9 produces 25 seconds of weightlessness by flying in a roller-coaster-like path of steep climbs and free falls.
When the school was selected as a NASA Explorer School in 2004, it began a three-year partnership with NASA, using the agency's unique missions and resources to help address mathematics and science needs.
"By working with teachers to develop a microgravity experiment to fly on the aircraft, the investigations help students see an application of science and mathematics concepts," said NASA Explorer School Program Manager Peg Steffen. "Students worked closely with NASA engineers and scientist mentors on the experiments, giving them a first-hand look at possible careers."
Cumberland Middle School's experiment will help develop NASA's Vision for Space Exploration. The purpose of the experiment is to determine whether liquids of unequal densities separate differently in reduced gravity than they do on Earth in a gravitational environment. The students hope to verify four specific predictions of how liquids will behave in space.
Using the data gathered on the flight, teachers and students will submit a final report to NASA. They will discuss the experiment's effectiveness, scientific findings and conclusions.
The teachers who are flying the experiments at Johnson will also have the opportunity to communicate with their students in Cumberland, Wis. through videoconferencing via NASA's Digital Learning Network. After the team returns to Cumberland, they will then share the results of their science experiment with students through outreach activities.
For more information on NASA Education's Reduced Gravity Flight programs, call Debbie Nguyen of NASA Johnson Space Center at 281-483-5111, or visit the Web at:
For more information on NASA Explorer Schools on the Web, go to:
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Leave the subject and body blank. | <urn:uuid:46c67a30-38ef-4a95-a425-761a8a04e5be> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/news/pressrel/2006/06-009_Teachers_Fly.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00131-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.881307 | 613 | 3.15625 | 3 |
A heterosexual couple.
An example of a heterosexual is a boy who likes girls or a girl who likes boys.
- Sexually oriented to persons of the opposite sex.
- Of or relating to different sexes.
(comparative more heterosexual, superlative most heterosexual)
- A heterosexual person, or other heterosexual organism.
hetero- + sexual | <urn:uuid:eba31f2a-1b09-4474-b459-880e278a9ae0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.yourdictionary.com/heterosexual | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00194-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.681833 | 75 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Many policy-makers, journalists and social commentators suggest that in previous decades, fathers were distant family members and did not have close relationships with their children. In June 2011 in The Independent, journalist Terence Blacker stated that 'The generation of men who fought in the Second World War and their immediate successors had many great virtues... But they were not good at fatherhood'. In the 2011 controversy surrounding the birth of actor Hugh Grant's baby, Hugo Schwyzer, writer and historian, suggested in The Guardian that Grant's obvious joy on becoming a father was a modern phenomenon, marking 'Grant once again not only as essentially decent, but as a most representative modern man'.
It is often assumed that in the past fathers' roles were clearly defined, whereas their duties and place in the family are much more confused and complex today. Many perceived problems in today's society are attributed to a lack of strong male figures in the lives of young people. Discussing the riots of August 2011, for example, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith suggested that 'constructive fatherhood' had too often disappeared. Acting as a role model has long been seen as a key duty for fathers, yet there has always been a diversity of experience. Fears about the absence of fathers causing rebellion among young people have a long history and were particularly prominent during and after the two world wars. Assumptions about what fathers did in the past are not borne out in historical evidence.
Historians, such as John Tosh and Joanne Bailey, have uncovered much evidence of very involved fathers, who spent a lot of time with their children in the home and had close emotional relationships with sons and daughters throughout past centuries. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, 'tenderness' was understood by social commentators and individual parents as a crucial quality for fathers. In the nineteenth century, the stereotype of the distant and tyrannical Victorian patriarch conceals substantial evidence of fathers who cared greatly for their children and played with them, educated them, and even nursed them. In the early part of the twentieth century, the stern Victorian stereotype was itself held up in contrast to the supposed contemporary reality of less distant men. By the 1930s and 1940s, it was frequently asserted that fathers were forming genuine friendships with their children and taking an active role at the heart of family life. In the post-Second World War era, it was said that many men were determined to cultivate much closer relationships with their children than they had experienced with their own fathers.
This was reinforced by important social trends. The reduction in average family size meant that many parents could devote more time to each of their children. The emphasis on the small, nuclear family as a self-sufficient entity gave fathers a place at the heart of the family. A decrease in working hours and increased holiday time meant that men had more time available to spend with their families. After the Second World War, increased living standards for many working-class families meant that homes became more pleasant places to spend leisure time, due to better housing, private gardens and affordable commodities, from refrigerators to televisions.
The emphasis on the nuclear family was reinforced after 1945 by the expansion of state welfare and psychological thinking about the family. Policy-makers often assumed that a 'family' meant a man working full time, a woman primarily occupied in the home or working part-time, if at all, with two or three children of nursery or school age. This was reflected in legislation, such as the introduction in 1945 of family allowances, which were paid directly to mothers at the insistence of feminist campaigners, who called for the greater recognition of motherhood as a vocation and the importance to the economy of domestic work. These sentiments were reflected in William Beveridge's proposals for the post-war welfare state. Influential psychologists such as John Bowlby suggested that children needed almost constant attention from a mother-figure, which further encouraged housewifery and motherhood as women's main roles and discouraged female employment. Ideas about the 'normal family' could also be seen in the design of new housing, with a proliferation of modestly-sized semi-detached houses with three bedrooms and a private garden. The conception of the small, nuclear family as 'normal' thus pervaded society, though many families did not fit this model.
This focus on the nuclear family, the high marriage rate and the early average age of marriage, was particular to this period. This was challenged in the 1960s and 1970s by the rise of second-wave feminism, a revolution in attitudes towards sexuality and the increase in the divorce rate following changes in the law from 1969. An influx of migrants, particularly from the Caribbean, India and Pakistan, also produced a greater diversity of family forms. From 1973, men and women were given equal rights regarding the guardianship of children in the event of separation. Then, in the 1970s, fathers' groups were rapidly established to promote fathers' rights, perceiving a need to reassert the significance of fathers now that mothers' rights were more firmly entrenched in law.
Over the last century, there has been some increase in men's participation in childcare, but this has not been as rapid and dramatic as is often assumed. John and Elizabeth Newson, social researchers working in Nottingham in 1963, found that 78 per cent of men fed their one-year-old infants 'often' or 'sometimes', 80 per cent took part in the bedtime ritual, and 99 per cent played with their children. However, the majority of fathers did not bathe their baby or attend to him or her in the night, and 43 per cent never changed a nappy. In 1982, this research was repeated. Charlie Lewis found that around one third of men took little or no responsibility for feeding. Men's involvement in putting the child to bed was slightly lower than in Newson and Newson's study: 74 per cent had some or a lot of involvement, and 26 per cent, 'little or none'. Again, the majority of men had little or no involvement in bathing their child, and 40 per cent rarely changed a nappy, though many more (87 per cent) attended to their baby when he or she woke in the night.
Contemporary research, such as a recent study entitled ''Family Man': British Fathers' Journey to the Centre of the Kitchen' conducted by the Fatherhood Institute in 2011, suggests that men now spend more time interacting with their children. It is argued that this is a wholly positive development for the happiness and wellbeing of those children as they grow older. By re-examining the historical record, however, it is evident that fathers have been much more involved in family life in the past than is generally recognised. To support families' choices about the division of domestic labour, childcare duties and paid work, it is necessary to move on from the notion that fathers are inferior as parents in comparison to mothers, and that they have only recently become fully involved in their children's lives. This is particularly so given the rise in divorces and separations. For single fathers, these assumptions can hamper men's chances to gain custody of their children and consequently their ability to care for and develop relationships with them as they grow older. Changes in both policy and related social attitudes will be necessary if further developments in fathers' involvement are to be supported.
Paternity leave was introduced in April 2003 by the Labour government. Fathers were given two weeks' leave to be taken within 56 days of the baby's birth, in one single block, paid initially at £100 per week or 90 per cent of earnings, whichever was lower. This changed in April 2011, when a scheme of Additional Paternity Leave was introduced. This is more flexible, and enables fathers to take the equivalent of any maternity leave that is not used by the mother, after the first 26 weeks, if she has returned to work.
Again, the history of paternity leave is more complex than has been assumed. Men in the past frequently took time off work to be with their wives or partners and babies around the time of birth. This could take the form of unpaid leave, annual holiday, sick or compassionate leave - indeed doctors were often willing to sign sick notes to facilitate this. In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers found that it was not uncommon for factory workers to take a week off work when a baby was born. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, a small number of employers, such as the Greater London Council and British Rail, had limited paternity leave schemes as an additional employer benefit. In the 1980s, one study found that only 18 per cent of men did not take any time off work, and 30 per cent took eight or more days' leave. Another research project published by the Equalities Commission in 1983 suggested that only around five per cent of employed fathers took no time off, and over 70 per cent took more than one week. Over 90 per cent of fathers supported the idea of an official scheme of paternity leave. According to research by the Fatherhood Institute, over 90 per cent of men currently take some leave after the birth of their child, with around 60 per cent taking official paternity leave. Many men prefer to take annual leave because it is paid at a higher rate.
The implications of the new flexible rules regarding parental leave remain to be seen. It is clear that, like active fatherhood, informal paternity leave has a much longer history than tends to be assumed. Throughout the twentieth century, fathers have found a variety of ways to help their wives during the important period around and just after a baby's birth. As the number of families who employed domestic servants decreased, and some working-class families relocated to areas away from relatives, the support and help of a husband has become increasingly necessary. It is clear that many fathers want to, and do, help a great deal during this period, and have managed to do so through both official and unofficial channels. Supporting men in this way through flexible parental leave schemes reinforces a long trend of men's choice at this key time.
A final issue to consider is the rapid and dramatic transformation in men's attendance at childbirth over the last fifty years. Until the 1950s, very few men were present when their child was born, as both men and women thought this to be an invasion on the woman's privacy and 'unmanly' on the part of the father. One exception was upper-class fathers - there is evidence that in aristocratic families, fathers did sometime attend the birth. Indeed, Prince Albert was present when Queen Victoria gave birth to several of their children.
By 1960, around one in ten of all men attended their child's birth and this increased through the latter half of the twentieth century as more hospitals allowed fathers into delivery rooms. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, around 80 to 90 per cent of men were present during at least part of the labour. Since the 1990s, over 90 per cent are present, though no exact statistics are available throughout this period, as hospitals do not generally record them. This major shift reflects changes both in relationships between couples and in fatherhood. The opportunity to cut the umbilical cord gives fathers a symbolic role in the process of birth, and fathers are encouraged to provide the first skin-to-skin contact with the baby if the mother cannot, such as during instrumental and Caesarean deliveries. The presence and participation of men in this event is connected to their bonding with the baby afterwards. In a 1992 study, for example, 92 per cent of men stated that they felt closer to their child because of their presence at the birth. If there is a desire to encourage strong involvement of fathers with their babies, hospitals and midwives should be supporting the active participation of fathers in the labour process, when both partners want this. Research by the National Childbirth Trust in 2000 suggests that this is not always happening; around a quarter of men felt they were not always informed or included, and many more feel they do not know how to best support their partner.
Key developments in the recent history of fatherhood include the increase in the numbers of single-parent families, the rise in adoption and fostering by homosexual individuals and couples, and the progress of reproductive technologies around IVF, opening the possibility for parenting for different groups of people. These changes reinforce the importance of recognising that 'the family' can refer to a range of different groupings, not just the stereotypical nuclear family.
Contemporary commentators often assume that women always had priority for the custody of children. In fact, this is a relatively new development, because in law men had ultimate authority over their children's lives until 1973. Until 1839, women could under no conditions apply for custody of their children; this was granted to men alone. Under the 1886 Guardianship of Infants Act, the welfare of the child was prioritised, which increased the likelihood of a mother winning custody. The Guardianship of Infants Act, 1925, was a crucial moment in a gradual shift towards equality, intending to provide custody rights to both men and women on equal terms when married couples separated. Until then, women had only been able to apply for custody of children under seven years of age. Mothers were not granted fully equal child custody rights with fathers until the Guardianship Act of 1973, which gave women independent authority over their children. Today, however, it is men who frequently have to fight for custody rights, as both the legal framework and cultural mores assume that women have a greater natural ability to parent. Fathers' rights campaigners have criticised the final report (November 2011) of the Family Justice Review, which was appointed to review the whole family justice system in England and Wales. Many argued that the report should have recommended that the rights of both parents should be enshrined in law, as many fathers have little power to insist on contact with their child if the mother does not support this.
A change in the law is called for by many organisations, such as Families Need Fathers and Fathers For Justice, who campaign for an assumption of shared parenting in custody cases. Whilst this may not be appropriate in all circumstances, such a change would emphasise the benefit of engaged relationships with both parents. Indeed, research conducted by the Fatherhood Institute and by sociologists Eirini Flouri and Ann Buchanan has found that secure and close relationships with more than one adult figure in a child's life is beneficial. Policies to support the presumption of shared parenting in the event of separation are reportedly being developed by the current government, and are said to be supported by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. However, as such a move would contradict the recommendations of the Family Justice Review, it is yet to be seen as to whether this will result in legislation.
Two key ideas are inherent in this debate and have a long history. Firstly, it is consistently argued that both parents should have equal rights to custody of their child. This is accepted by most involved, but opinions differ about how best to ensure this. Secondly, whilst the law places an absolute priority on the child's rights and wellbeing, and most involved in the system agree with this, the balance between the child's and parents' rights continues to provoke controversy. These two key aspects of the current debate have been present for decades; both, for example, were at the forefront of discussions about the Guardianship Act of 1925, in parliament and in the press.
A crucial point here is that both government policies and social and cultural attitudes have lasting effects on individual lives, both positive and negative. The key aims of legislators have not changed dramatically in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The paramount importance of the child's welfare and the equal rights of parents have usually been at the forefront of debate. Examining the historical record can reveal a lot about the interaction between legislation and cultural norms. Mothers were for decades in an inferior position, even when the law was designed to secure equality, because of long-held attitudes about the inherent authority of the father. Now, the balance has shifted, but due to society's belief in the superior innate parental instincts and abilities of mothers, they are more likely to be given primary custody rights, particularly as they are more likely to be the resident parent at the time of a legal hearing.
Only around one in ten 'single parents' - i.e. those caring solely or primarily for their children - are men. Statistics on the outcomes of court cases relating to child custody are often misused, contradictory and confusing, but it seems clear that mothers are more likely to be seen as primary carers for children, often, but not always in accordance with the wishes of both parents. Indeed, research by the Family Rights Group in 2010 found that fathers are often overlooked by social workers. It is important to note that the vast majority of divorces and separations result in informal and usually amicable agreements regarding the custody of children - around 90 per cent of cases never go to court. Again, ensuring choice for parents is crucial, and cultural attitudes are very important in influencing this, to ensure that support is equally available to mothers and fathers. An insistence on the equality of parents from a social and cultural point of view is needed alongside policy and legislation.
Similarly, these same attitudes about the relative abilities of fathers and mothers, have an important impact on paternity leave. If employers and male workers believe fathers are inferior and less significant as parents, paternity leave will remain under-used and even stigmatised. Though most fathers take time off after their children are born, many continue to use annual leave rather than official paternity or parental leave schemes. The continuing impact of traditional gender stereotyping can be seen in the resistance to move towards fully shared parental leave by employers' groups, who cite the costs involved. However, if every couple has one year's shared leave available on the same financial basis as maternity leave, only minimal further costs would be incurred, as research by the Tavistock Institute revealed in 2011. The reluctance to welcome this change reflects wider social attitudes about the relative importance of fatherhood in comparison to motherhood. Other EU states have made further progress in this area; the EU Work-Care Synergies project has found that the increased numbers of men taking extended periods of time off work in countries such as Sweden and Denmark are due to better financial compensation and 'use it or lose it' schemes.
If policy-makers and others want to support more active fatherhood in Britain, to support the greater well-being and happiness of children, and positive male role models who fully embrace domestic responsibility, history can provide a useful tool. Three key points need to be conveyed to policy-makers:
Firstly, through an awareness of the varied and active roles fathers have played in the past, we can better judge, and support, the involvement of fathers in family life today. By recognising the long history of active fatherhood, it is clear that men have not suddenly started engaging with their children in meaningful ways.
Secondly, policies should be designed to ensure parental choice. Throughout the twentieth century, fathers have used a variety of means to spend time with their babies and support their partners, and facilitating this through flexible policies should be a key aim for the future. Furthermore, supporting a wide range of family forms and both parents (whether they are adoptive parents, homosexual, biological or otherwise) is crucial. Policies relating to family separation and child custody should be designed with such flexibility in mind. An assumption of shared parenting in custody cases may be one solution, and more transparency in terms of the family courts would also be beneficial.
Thirdly, both social and cultural norms and policy have made and continue to make a difference. Whilst equality between parents has been a central aim for policy-makers for decades, beliefs about mothers and fathers, and powerful gender stereotypes in society, continue to influence those who make and carry out legislation. Encouraging more flexible and open ideas about social roles would help ensure the wellbeing and happiness of families, children and individuals.
John and Elizabeth Newson, Patterns of Infant Care in an Urban Community (Harmondsworth, 1963)
Colin Bell, Lorna McKee and Karen Priestley, Fathers, Childbirth and Work: A Report of a Study (Equal Opportunities Commission, 1983)
Charlie Lewis, Becoming a Father (Milton Keynes, 1986)
Adrienne Burgess, Fatherhood Reclaimed: The Making of the Modern Father (London, 1987)
Leonore Davidoff, Megan Doolittle, Janet Fink and Katherine Holden, The Family Story: Blood, Contract and Intimacy 1830-1939 (London, 1999)
John Tosh, A Man's Place: Masculinity and the Middle-Class Home in Victorian England (New Haven, Connecticut, and London, 1999)
Brid Featherstone, Claire Fraser, Bridget Lindley, and Cathy Ashley, 'Fathers Matter: Resources for Social Work Educators' (2010)
Adrienne Burgess/The Fatherhood Institute, ''Family Man': British Fathers' Journey to the Centre of the Kitchen' (London, 2011)
Family Justice Review Final Report (London, November 2011)
Joanne Bailey, Parenting in England c.1760-1830: emotions, self-identities and generations (Oxford, 2012)
We are the only project in the UK providing access to an international network of more than 500 historians with a broad range of expertise. H&P offers a range of resources for historians, policy makers and journalists. | <urn:uuid:1ba91431-5e86-4a4c-bfe8-914e8c9871dc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/supporting-active-fatherhood-in-britain | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00082-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976393 | 4,376 | 3.515625 | 4 |
DESJARDINS, dit Desplantes, LOUIS-JOSEPH, Roman Catholic priest and missionary; b. 19 March 1766 in Messas, France, son of Jacques Desjardins de Lapérière, a merchant, and Marie-Anne Baudet; d. 30 Aug. 1848 at Quebec.
Louis-Joseph Desjardins, dit Desplantes, studied in France at the Petit Séminaire de Meung-sur-Loire and at the Séminaire Saint-Martin in Paris; on 20 March 1790 he was ordained priest in Bayeux. During the revolution he and his brother Philippe-Jean-Louis* were imprisoned and threatened with death, as were many of their fellow priests who refused to take the oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which the Constituent Assembly required from 1 Oct. 1791. By good luck they managed to escape and cross to England late in the summer of 1792.
In 1794, abandoning all hope of returning to his native land in the near future, Desjardins resigned himself to joining his brother, who had emigrated to Lower Canada the year before. He reached Quebec in June, along with Jean-Denis Daulé*, Jean-Baptiste-Marie Castanet*, and François-Gabriel Le Courtois*. After serving as assistant priest to Joseph-Octave Plessis*, the parish priest of Quebec, in 1795 he agreed to a proposal from Bishop Jean-François Hubert* of Quebec that he and Abbé Castanet go to serve in the settlements scattered along the shores of Baie des Chaleurs, replacing Joseph-Mathurin Bourg*. The missionaries left on 21 July, at the same time as Hubert set out on a pastoral visit with Philippe-Jean-Louis, who had been made vicar general.
The two young priests were not prepared for the exhausting ministry that apostolic zeal had led them to choose. Castanet soon ruined his already delicate health and returned to Quebec, where he died on 26 Aug. 1798. Desjardins held on for three more years. He won the esteem and affection of those to whom he ministered, as is evident from a letter written in 1801 by his successor at Baie des Chaleurs, René-Pierre Joyer, to Plessis, the bishop of Quebec: “Everywhere I have been aware of people who greatly miss – and with reason – M. Desjardins, for whom I am but a pale substitute.” According to Joyer, what the region needed was “a man of as amiable a nature as M. Desjardins.” After his recall in 1801 Desjardins was assistant priest, and then priest, of the parish of Notre-Dame at Quebec until 15 Oct. 1807. Plessis then appointed him chaplain to the nuns of the Hôtel-Dieu in Quebec. He was also superior of the Ursulines of Quebec from 1825 till 1833.
Desjardins accompanied Plessis on his first pastoral visit to the Maritimes in the summer of 1811. It was he who organized the practical details of the trip, and in 1812 and 1815 he again looked after preparations for the bishop’s visits to that part of his immense diocese. Subsequently Desjardins continued to give many missionaries moral and financial support. “I have so much writing and calculating to do,” he observed in 1830, “that I scarcely know how to manage: my relations with the missions have always been a heavy burden for me.”
His brother Philippe-Jean-Louis had returned to France in 1802, and in 1817 sent him nearly 200 religious pictures to make available to parishes and communities in the diocese of Quebec. Louis-Joseph conscientiously carried out his task, which led to his becoming friends with the painters Antoine Plamondon* and Joseph Légaré* and some of their pupils. He commissioned works from them and on several occasions entrusted them with touching up paintings and making copies of them. Furthermore, the Ursuline annals relate that “M. Desjardins was not satisfied with simple encouragement; through subscriptions among the clergy and his friends he obtained passage to Europe for his protégés, trying in all respects to encourage application and talent.”
In 1836 age and disabilities, including a sprain suffered in 1824 that kept him on crutches, forced Desjardins to tender his resignation as chaplain of the Hôtel-Dieu. To show their gratitude the nuns let him have the use of his rooms until his death in August 1848. He was buried in the convent chapel. Tributes to him were unanimous in their praise of his goodness of heart, gentleness, and graciousness, and his kindly, unfailing charity.
AAQ, 311 CN, V: 150–68; VI: 4–6, 12, 19. Arch. du monastère de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, Fonds L.-J. Desjardins, t.4, c.600, nos.1–5 Arch. du monastère des ursulines (Québec), Fonds L.-J. Desjardins; Fonds P.-J.-L. Desjardins. ASQ, Fonds Viger–Verreau, sér.O, 085–86. “Quelques prêtres français en exil au Canada,” ANQ Rapport, 1966: 141–90. La Minerve, 13 févr. 1834. Caron, “Inv. de la corr. de Mgr Hubert et de Mgr Bailly de Messein,” ANQ Rapport, 1930–31. Barthe, Souvenirs d’un demi-siècle. Burke, Les ursulines de Québec, vol.4. Dionne, Les ecclésiastiques et les royalistes français. | <urn:uuid:b7302e20-b2e6-402f-bed6-23119547dccd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/desjardins_louis_joseph_7E.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00189-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95459 | 1,299 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Gardening Answers Knowledgebase
Search Results for ' Cucumis sativus'
PAL Questions: 1 - Garden Tools: 1
Will watermelon and cantaloupe cross-pollinate and produce bad-tasting melons? Is it possible for a vine that had cucumbers growing on it earlier in the season to produce a cantaloupe? I could swear that we now have what looks like a melon on a vine that had cukes before...
The short answer is, no. It's fine to grow watermelons and cantaloupe side by side. Cross-pollination between melon varieties may occur, but not between watermelons (Citrullus lanatus v. lanatus) and cantaloupes (Cucumis melo ssp. melo v. cantalupo), as they are two different species. In addition, cross-pollination affects not the melon produced that year, but the melons one might grow from any seeds produced inside that melon. According to Sue Stickland's Back Garden Seed Saving (Chelsea Green, 2001), "commercial seed growers are recommended to isolate melon varieties by 500-1000 meters" or "bag and hand-pollinate the flowers" to keep unwanted hybridization from happening.
The same principle holds true for cantaloupe (Cucumis melo and cucumber (Cucumis sativus): they are indeed in the same plant family (Cucurbitaceae), but they are different species. If your vines were planted close together, you night not have realized there was a melon developing in among the cucumbers--and if you planted the vines from seed, it's very possible the seed packet contained a surprise cantaloupe!
You may find this information from Iowa State University Extension about cross-pollination among vine crops interesting:
"Since they have a similar flowering habit, bloom about the same time, and are members of the same plant family, it is logical that gardeners might assume that squash, melons, and cucumbers will cross-pollinate. Fortunately, however, this is not true. The female flowers of each crop can be fertilized only by pollen from male flowers of the same species. Cross pollination, however, can occur between varieties within a species."
An article on fruit set in the
Cucurbit family from University of California, Davis (which also has information on how to hand-pollinate plants when necessary) says much the same thing:
"A common misconception is that squash, melons, and cucumbers will cross-pollinate. This is not true; the female flowers of each can be fertilized only by pollen from that same species. Varieties within each species, however, will cross-pollinate."
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Keep harvesting all those beans, zucchini, cucumbers and other summer vegetables to keep the production going. Any fruit left to mature on the plant will cause flowering to slow and reduce the harvest. If you can't keep up with your bean plants why not try pickling? Here are some Web resources that give explicit safety instructions and recipes:
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December 12 2014 11:33:49 | <urn:uuid:2191a58e-9e21-4aa2-8cf9-fcd0055fe3fe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://depts.washington.edu/hortlib/resources/resource_search.php?term=1749 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00107-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931304 | 710 | 2.640625 | 3 |
MIAMI BEACH -- The autoimmune disease lichen planus may affect the ear more commonly than previously thought, researchers reported here.
In a review of records from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., 19 patients over a 10-year period were diagnosed with otic lichen planus, reported Julio Sartori Valinotti, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, during a poster session at the American Academy of Dermatology meeting.
"Otic lichen planus has a nonspecific presentation, because pruritus, otorrhea, and hearing loss are not necessarily complaints that will make people think about lichen planus," Sartori Valinotti told MedPage Today. "That's the reason we think people need to be aware that these common complaints could lead you to this uncommon disease."
Lichen planus is an autoimmune, inflammatory disease of unknown origin that typically affects the skin, nails, and hair, and can also involve the mucosal surfaces of the mouth, nose, and esophagus.
However, the epithelium of the external auditory canal can also be affected, leading to otorrhea, external auditory canal stenosis, tympanic membrane thickening, and conductive hearing loss, Sartori Valinotti said.
However, the prevalence of ear manifestations with the disease is difficult to estimate because of a lack of data.
So he and colleagues reviewed the electronic medical records of their patients seen between Jan. 1, 2001 and May 31, 2011.
Overall, they identified 19 cases of otic lichen planus, which mostly occurred in females (15).
The most common symptoms were otorrhea and hearing loss, occurring in 15 patients; 11 had both conditions simultaneously. There was also external auditory canal plugging in six patients and pruritus in five patients.
A total of 11 patients had bilateral disease, while eight had unilateral disease.
The most common exam findings were erythema, external canal stenosis, and thickening of tympanic membranes.
The mean duration of symptoms before diagnosis was 4 years in 13 patients, they reported.
Just five patients had only otic lichen planus; other patients had multiple sites involved. Most had other forms of lichen planus diagnosed for several years before noticing the otic disease, Sartori Valinotti said.
Indeed, one patient had otic involvement for 27 years before the diagnosis of lichen planus was confirmed, he added.
The majority of patients were treated with topical tacrolimus, although one was given systemic treatment with rituximab (Rituxan) because of severe esophageal stenosis.
Sartori Valinotti emphasized that clinicians should think about lichen planus, particularly in patients who complain of these symptoms and have other areas affected by the disease.
"We think it's underdiagnosed," Sartori Valinotti said to MedPage Today. "Only 19 patients in 10 years is underrepresented because people don't think about this. "Not all patients are seen by dermatologists, so sometimes they're seen by a primary care physician for common otic complaints or by an ENT who may not be aware of this entity."
He noted that early detection may lead to better outcomes, and that a biopsy isn't needed because patients have usually had them at another site.
The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.
- Reviewed by F. Perry Wilson, MD, MSCE Instructor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
American Academy of DermatologySource Reference: Sartori Valinotti JC, et al "The Mayo Clinic experience with otic lichen planus: A 10-year review" AAD 2013. | <urn:uuid:e011036f-e4f5-4576-b62d-4edcd4f3b01e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AAD/37693 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00149-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964754 | 778 | 2.59375 | 3 |
| 12th Jun 2009, 17:14 PM |
| (514 Reads)
Read Passage A and complete the five sentences below. Write ONE word in each space. The key to this exercise and Passage A, with the parts relevant to the questions highlighted in yellow, are set out at the bottom of this article. | <urn:uuid:451ddea7-667c-4bf7-9347-feea9570a33c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://englishwizard.mysinablog.com/index.php?op=Default&Date=200906&postCategoryId=0&page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.864638 | 66 | 2.625 | 3 |
Atthe Newarke Houses Museum in Leicester, England hangs a portrait of Britain’s first obese man, painted in 1806. Daniel Lambert weighed 335kg and was considered a medical oddity. Too heavy to work, Lambert came up with an ingenious idea: he would charge people a shilling to see him. Lambert made a fortune, and his portrait shows him at the end of his life: affluent and respected.
Two hundred years on, I’m in a bariatric ambulance (an alternative term for obese, favored by the medical world because it’s less shaming to patients) investigating why the UK is in the midst of an obesity crisis. The crew pick up a dozen Daniel Lamberts every week. Three-hundred and-thirty-five-kg is nothing special, it’s at the lower end of the weight spectrum, with only the 500kg patients worthy of mention when a shift finishes. As well as the ambulance, there’s a convoy of support vehicles including a winch to lift patients on to a reinforced stretcher. In extreme cases, the cost of removing a patient to hospital can be up to US$155,000, as seen in the recent case of 400kg teenager Georgia Davis.
But these people are not where the heartland of the obesity crisis lies. On average, in the UK, Britons are all — every man, woman and child -— 19kg heavier than they were in the mid-1960s. They haven’t noticed it happening, but this glacial shift has been mapped by bigger car seats, swimming cubicles, XL trousers dropped to L (L dropped to M). An elasticated nation with an ever-expanding sense of normality.
Why are Britons so fat? They have not become greedier as a race. They are not, contrary to popular wisdom, less active — a 12-year study, which began in 2000 at Plymouth hospital in southwest England, measured children’s physical activity and found it the same as 50 years ago. But something has changed, and that something is very simple. It’s the food Britons eat. More specifically, the sheer amount of sugar in that food.
The story begins in 1971. Former US president Richard Nixon was facing re-election. The Vietnam war was threatening his popularity at home, but just as big an issue with voters was the soaring cost of food. If Nixon was to survive, he needed food prices to go down, and that required getting a very powerful lobby on board — the farmers. Nixon appointed Earl Butz, an academic from the farming heartland of Indiana, to broker a compromise. Butz, an agriculture expert, had a radical plan that would transform the food we eat, and in doing so, the shape of the human race.
Butz pushed farmers into a new, industrial scale of production, and into farming one crop in particular: corn. US cattle were fattened by the immense increases in corn production. Burgers became bigger. Fries, fried in corn oil, became fattier. Corn became the engine for the massive surge in the quantities of cheaper food being supplied to American supermarkets. As a result of Butz’s free-market reforms, American farmers, almost overnight, went from parochial small-holders to multimillionaire businessmen with a global market.
By the mid-1970s, there was a surplus of corn. Butz flew to Japan to look into a scientific innovation that would change everything: the mass development of high fructose corn syrup, or glucose-fructose syrup as it’s often referred to in the UK, a highly sweet, gloppy syrup, produced from surplus corn, that was also incredibly cheap. High fructose corn syrup was soon pumped into every conceivable food: pizzas, coleslaw, meat. It provided that “just baked” sheen on bread and cakes, made everything sweeter, and extended shelf life from days to years. In Britain, the food on our plates became pure science — each processed milligram tweaked and sweetened for maximum palatability. And the general public was clueless that these changes were taking place. | <urn:uuid:621e9aa6-6b20-4050-81bd-e7a346767eed> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ns2.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2012/06/17/2003535523 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970471 | 858 | 2.53125 | 3 |
I am confused about two points, on the history of ‘mocha’. The first, which is trivial but nonetheless intriguing, is why the word is pronounced so differently within the English-speaking word. You may say moh-ka or mock-a depending on whether you also say tomayto or tomahto and fanny-pack or bum-bag. Just don’t say fanny-pack if you come to Australia, please.
The second mystery is – when did the word ‘mocha’ come to specifically mean a mixture of coffee and chocolate?
Mocha was the port on the Red Sea in what is now Yemen, which is part of what used to be called Arabia Felix (Fertile, as distinct from Desert, Arabia) by the Romans. The coffee plant originated in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) but was being cultivated and traded in the Yemen as early perhaps as the seventh or eighth centuries. By the fifteenth century, Mocha was the major marketplace for coffee, and the Arab monopoly on the increasingly desirable product remained intact until well into the seventeenth century.
The coffee from Mocha retained its reputation as a superior product long after fertile beans found their way to the West, and the first coffee plantations outside of Arabia were established in Martinique by the mid-eighteenth century. Eventually, coffee from Mocha became known simple as ‘mocha’. This was certainly the case by 1773 in Britain, if the first reference mentioned by the Oxford English Dictionary is indeed the earliest. The quotation says:
1773 J. Pringle Let. in Encycl. Brit. (1797) V. 124/1 The coffee ought to be of the best Mocco.
By the early nineteenth century, recipes in cookery books for things ‘mocha’ were still exclusively coffee-containing, with no evidence (that I have found so far) for the inclusion of chocolate.
One example is the recipe for A Cream Cake, with Mocha Coffee in The Royal Parisian Pastrycook And Confectioner, from the original of M.A. Carême, F.J. Mason (1834) in which the cake is embellished with a coffee cream
The OED is certainly at least half a century behind in giving the first reference to mocha as ‘a drink made by combining or flavouring coffee with chocolate’ as occurring in 1977 in the Washington Post. The supporting quotation reads:
1977 Washington Post (Nexis) 20 Jan. f12 The beverages are called (1) Old World Style Swiss Mocha mix, artificially flavored chocolate instant coffee beverage [etc.].
There is an advertisement in the Woman’s World of April 1925 which gives a recipe for Mocha frosting, which includes cold coffee and cocoa powder, and I feel sure there are even earlier examples. If you know of any, please let us know, and we will see how far we can inch the coffee-chocolate combo backwards in time.
For the recipe for the day, I cannot resist the following. It has ingredients and flavours enough to please everyone. The amount of chocolate chips was impossible to read, but one cannot have too many chocolate chips in a cake, even if there are also mini-marshmallows present, so may I suggest one cupful, at least?
One cup butter, one cup sugar, 2 cup light molasses, 2 beaten eggs, 5 and 1/2 cups sifted flour, 2 teaspoons soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons each of ginger, cinnamon, and allspice, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 2 cups strong cold coffee, 1 cup miniature marshmallows, [?] cup semi- sweet chocolate chips.
Cream butter, sugar, spices, vanilla. Blend in eggs and molasses. Sift together the flour, salt, soda and add alternately with the coffee. Fold chocolate chips and marshmallows. Bake in a greased and floured pan (13 by 8 inch size) at 325 degrees for one hour. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool.
This makes 50 squares.
Washington Post November 25, 1965
Quotation for the Day.
Almost all my middle-aged and elderly acquaintances, including me, feel about 25, unless we haven't had our coffee, in which case we feel 107. | <urn:uuid:e43d96d9-2603-465c-aceb-f74f5db0a0bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2012/02/mystery-of-mocha.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00100-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950342 | 915 | 2.875 | 3 |
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Over 21 million Beetles were built, making it the most popular car ever. Designed by Dr Ferdinand Porsche in the 1930s, it was adopted by Adolf Hitler as the Volkswagen or People’s Car. Production for the civilian market started under British military control in 1945, passing back to German ownership in 1948. This car was presented to Edward, 3rd Baron Montagu in 1963 to mark the sale of 100,000 Volkswagens in Britain.
Porsche started work on the design of a small family car with air cooled engine in the early 1930s. In 1934 his ideas were adopted by the German government, Hitler suggesting that the car should be streamlined and “look like a beetle”. The cars were exported worldwide with assembly plants in 19 countries, where production continued long after ending in Germany in 1978. The last Beetle was built in Mexico during 2003.
|Output||25hp @ 3,300rpm|
Site by Surface Impression | <urn:uuid:6c9d6eec-5ff6-4f2e-af5d-bc5b9e29c538> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://nationalmotormuseum.org.uk/?location_id=335&item=243&offset=250 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395160.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00131-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95882 | 205 | 2.765625 | 3 |
4610.0 - Water Account for Australia, 1993-94 to 1996-97
Previous ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 03/05/2000
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Australians Use More Than 1 Million Litres of Fresh Water Per Person Each Year
Despite living on the driest continent on earth, Australians used more than 1 million litres of fresh water per person during 1996-97 according to a report released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today.
Of the 22,186 Gigalitres (GL) consumed in 1996-97 in Australia, agriculture accounted for 15,502 GL (70%), households; 1, 829 GL (8 percent), water supply, sewerage and drainage services; 1,706 GL (8 percent), electricity and gas; 1,308 GL (6 percent), manufacturing; 728 GL (3 percent) and mining; 570 GL (3 percent). (One Gigalitre is 1 billion litres.)
Agriculture consumed the vast majority of the water, but the economic return per unit of water used was relatively low.
The agricultural sector earned $588 of industry gross product per megalitre (ML) water used. (One megalitre is 1 million litres.) In comparison industry gross product for manufacturing ranged from $32,000/ML to $680,000/ML and service industries ranged from $2317/ML to $1.1million/ML.
Irrigated production accounted for 26 percent of the total gross value of production from agriculture. Vegetables and fruit returned the highest gross value per ML water used at $1760/ML and $1460/ML respectively, while rice production returned the lowest gross value/ML water used of $189/ML.
A breakdown of the agriculture sector showed pasture, livestock, grains and other agriculture (mostly irrigated pastures) accounted for 8,795 GL, cotton industry 1,841 GL, rice industry 1,643 GL and sugar industry 1,236 GL. Rice was the thirstiest crop and used the most water per hectare of irrigated area, followed by grapes and fruit. Cotton was the agricultural sector which used the least water per hectare of irrigated area.
An analysis of figures in the report shows the industry that used the most water for each full time employee was water supply, sewerage and drainage services, although it should be noted this included a lot of water released to maintain environmental flows. Of the remaining industry sectors, agriculture used the most water per full time employee, followed by electricity and gas, mining, manufacturing and service industries.
Water used for hydro-electric generation and discharged directly back to existing surface waters was listed in a separate category to water consumed. Water in this category totalled 46,509 GL. The total surface and groundwater extracted from the Australian environment for use in 1996-97 was estimated at 68,703 GL which was more than 3 million litres per person.
Approximately 52 percent of water consumed in Australia was supplied via mains infrastructure, with the remaining 48 percent extracted directly from the environment for use. At a state level, NSW and ACT (8,716 GL, 39 percent) consumed the most (the ACT accounted for approximately 1 percent of the NSW-ACT totals) followed by Victoria (6,687 GL, 30 percent), Queensland (3,680 GL, 17%), WA (1,424 GL, 6 percent), SA (1.261 GL, 6 percent), Tasmania (314 GL, 1 percent) and NT (103 GL, 0 percent).
Average water consumption per household was measured in kilolitres (1kL is 1,000 litres) and was highest in the NT (500 kL/year), followed by Queensland (340 kL/year), WA (320 kL/year), with NSW and ACT (237 kL/year), Victoria (227 kL/year) and SA (218 kL/year). Tasmania had the lowest mean household usage of 176 kL/year.
International comparative estimates published by the World Resources Institute for 1995 showed Australia ranked second in per capita water use. Only North Americans, who used almost 2 million L/person consumed more. Central Americans consumed about 900,000 L/person, Europeans consumed about 600,000 L/person, Asians about 550,000 L/person, South Americans about 350,000 L/person and Africans consumed about 200,000 L/person.
Natural Resource Accounts
Australia is the driest continent excluding Antarctica and very little of the rain that does fall, finds its way into flowing rivers. Major agricultural and urban areas of Australia have a limited supply of water. Ineffective and inappropriate use of water can result in environmental problems of national significance.
Water Account for Australia (Cat. 4610.0) is the first attempt anywhere in the world at producing an environmental account for water and quantifying these issues on a national level.
The System of National Accounts (SNA) has historically had little regard for environmental matters. An important aim of environmental accounting is to assess the environmental sustainability of economic activities and economic growth by quantifying any depletion and degradation of a natural resource. An environmental account links the activities and uses of a resource to changes in the natural resource base and other economic data.
The Water Account for Australia is part of a series of environmental accounts which includes energy (cat. no. 4604.0), minerals (cat. no. 4608.0) and fish (cat. no. 4607.0).
Further information on Australia's water supply, use, consumption, and related economic information is presented in the report Water Account for Australia, 1993-94 to 1996-97 (cat. no. 4610.0).
A summary of the main findings are available on this site. If you wish to purchase a copy of this publication, contact the ABS Bookshop in your capital city.
These documents will be presented in a new window. | <urn:uuid:ab8688c2-0725-4bf9-a9e7-5ff636aa620c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/65BFCA907C7B0D6BCA2568D400055A46?OpenDocument | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00004-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909293 | 1,233 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl, the son of Connecticut portrait painter Ralph Earl (1751-1801) and his second wife, Ann Whiteside, was probably born in New York City in 1788. He is presumed to have received his initial painting instruction from his father.
The earliest known portrait by Earl is dated 1802. In 1804 he painted the ambitious family portrait in the National Gallery and several other dated works. These early efforts reflect his study of his father's compositions, yet they are characterized by figures with artificially erect postures and greater simplification of the body, most evident in the ovoid heads and cylindrical arms.
Earl was soon to learn perspective, anatomy, and three-dimensional illusion. In 1809 he journeyed to London, where he studied with John Trumbull and was advised by Benjamin West. After a year in London, he moved to the residence of his maternal grandfather and uncle in Norwich. He remained in Norwich for four years, receiving portrait commissions, notably from General John Money, his father's patron many years before. Earl left England in 1814 and traveled to Paris. He stayed nearly a year to study paintings at the Louvre, and made the acquaintance of John Vanderlyn.
Inspired by the grand tradition of history painting he witnessed in Europe, Earl returned to the United States in December 1815 with ideas for a grand-scale historical composition. Landing in Savannah, Georgia, he traveled about the southern states making portraits for inclusion in a portrayal of the battle of New Orleans. Although he never completed this project, his experience in the South was valuable. He established a reputation as a portraitist and met General Andrew Jackson, who was to become his lifelong patron and friend.
Earl visited Jackson's home in Nashville, Tennessee, known as "The Hermitage," in January 1817, and painted portraits of the general, his family, and friends. He married Mrs. Andrew Jackson's niece, Jane Caffery, on 19 May 1819. She died in childbirth the following year.
After the death of Mrs. Jackson in 1828, Earl became the General's closest companion and lived at The Hermitage. When Jackson was elected president, the artist accompanied him to the White House, where he was known as "Court Painter" and "the King's painter." Jackson returned to The Hermitage after his second term in office, taking Earl with him. The painter died there on 16 September 1838. [This is an edited version of the artist's biography published, or to be published, in the NGA Systematic Catalogue]
Morrissey, Eleanor Fleming. Portraits in Tennessee Painted Before 1866. National Society of Colonial Dames of America in Tennessee, Nashville (?), 1964.
MacBeth, Jerome R. "Portraits by Ralph E. W. Earl." Antiques 100 (September 1971): 390-393.
The American Earls. Ralph Earl, James Earl, R. E. W. Earl. Exh. cat. William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1972.
Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 103-104. | <urn:uuid:1f7df1b6-a5ba-4d26-aa7c-771ce1948d9a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/artist-info.1262.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398873.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00199-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976151 | 696 | 2.625 | 3 |
Broth is a thin, clear liquid made from cooking meat, poultry, or vegetables in water. Cooking mussels in broth adds an extra burst of flavor.
- Discard any mussels that remain open when tapped with fingers.
Discard any mussels that do not close when tapped.
- Scrub mussels with stiff brush under cold running water. To debeard, pull threads from shells with fingers.
Pull any stray threads from mussels with your fingers.
- Soak mussels in mixture of 1/3 cup salt to 1 gallon water for 20 minutes. Drain water; repeat 2 more times.
- Place broth in large stockpot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and boil 3 minutes. Add mussels. Cover; reduce heat to medium. Steam 5 to 7 minutes until mussels are opened. Remove from stockpot with slotted spoon; set aside. Discard any unopened mussels.
Steam the mussels until they open.
- Cooking: Learn the ins and outs of some basic cooking techniques in this helpful article.
- Cooking Seafood: Get your feet wet by exploring the best ways to prepare seafood.
- Shellfish: From shrimp and lobster to clams, mussels, and more, you'll find valuable information on shellfish at HowStuffWorks.
- Shellfish Recipes: Dive into the many amazing shellfish recipes featured in this article.
- Cooking Crabs: Almost all parts of a crab are edible, from the claws to the legs to the body. What's more, there are a variety of ways to prepare crab. Learn about them in this article. | <urn:uuid:9f54ce4f-5a46-436d-a5c3-eb765d21e337> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/cooking-mussels.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00164-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.88691 | 337 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Ed.note: see update: Dolly’s premature aging and death.
A technological ‘world first’ happened when Scottish scientists recently performed the world’s first true ‘cloning’ of a mammal. The result — a sheep named ‘Dolly’. ‘Clone’ means a creature which is an exact genetic ‘carbon copy’ of another. Not just bacteria, but also some of the plant, amphibian and reptile species reproduce in this way, by ‘cloning’ themselves without the need for both a mother and father.
In a similar way, identical twins, which each carry the same DNA information, are constructed virtually alike as far as their physical characteristics are concerned. However, identical twins (whether occurring naturally, or as in the recent media report of ‘human cloning’, from manipulation during in vitro fertilization procedures) result from a ‘doubling up’ of the DNA information at a very early stage of development in the womb. Whereas, cloning à la Dolly means using the DNA information from an adult creature to direct the development through to birth of a genetically identical, though younger, individual.1
This is why cloning has long fascinated science fiction writers, because it conjures up the image of, say, getting a carbon copy of an Einstein or a Hitler, (perhaps even after their death, if all the DNA from one of their cells were somehow preserved).2
Would a clone of Hitler be a Hitler?
Every parent of identical twins knows, however, that each is a unique human being. Their differences would be even more magnified if they were to be raised in two different families. If a Michael Jordan were ‘duplicated’, the ‘clone’ would have his own unique set of life circumstances. Upon growing up, he may have no aptitute for, or even interest in, basketball. A Hitler ‘double’, given the right circumstances, could grow up as a peace-loving convert to Judaism!
Christians also know that each person is more than just ‘matter + information’. He/she is also infused with an individual human spirit, is uniquely and separately created in the image of God, and is individually responsible if they reject God’s offer of salvation. Thus, if John Wesley had had a cloned offspring, there is no reason that the child would necessarily become a Christian, let alone a great evangelist — any more than an identical twin of Wesley would.
Each cell in a sheep (or a human) — bone cells, liver cells, and so on, contains all the DNA information required to ‘spell out’ the development of the complete adult organism. However, such cells have most of the information ‘switched off’, except for that which allows them to function as bone cells, etc. Though not understanding all the mechanisms involved, the Scottish researchers managed to ‘trick’ the information in one of a full-grown sheep’s cells to ‘switch on’ again.
They put the nucleus of one (mammary) cell from an adult sheep, A, containing its DNA information, into an egg cell from another sheep, B, which first had its nucleus (with its DNA) removed. This one cell could then start to grow and divide in the womb of another sheep, C, as if it were a fertilized egg. Notice that you need the machinery in the egg cell from B to express the information from sheep A. Thus, Jurassic Park’s becoming a reality would require not just a complete, uncorrupted batch of dino DNA, but also a live egg from a female dinosaur!
All ‘genetic engineering’ by humans of the amazing DNA program of living things, far from confirming evolution, merely shows us creative intelligence manipulating an already-existing batch of information coded on DNA. But evolution is supposed to be all about how such information arose (and progressively increased) by itself, with no intelligence!
Is it good or bad?
Is genetic engineering good or bad? Before the Fall, mankind was given dominion over creation (Genesis 1:28). Scientific advances can be used for good — or for evil. Certain forms of genetic manipulation may help feed hungry nations3, or heal inherited diseases. However, in an evolution-soaked world increasingly hostile to its Maker, the fear that such technology will eventually be abused does not seem unrealistic.
- Dolly is not the first reported mammalian clone, but the first one which involved neither forced ‘twinning’ of an embryo, or implanting an embryonic nucleus. Such ‘adult’ cloning means one can first see what the adult organism is like before cloning. Return to text.
- A more macabre scenario is that of wealthy people contracting to have brain-dead clones ‘grown’ in order to be able to have a supply of perfectly matched replacement ‘parts’ for transplanting as their own organs wear out. Return to text.
- Cloning has been proposed for animals which, through selective breeding (also a form of genetic manipulation, in a sense) have outstanding commercial qualities. E.g. if you had a cow which could produce vast amounts of milk, then cloning it could generate an entire herd of supermilkers. However, this does not generate new information any more than breeding does, so is not relevant to evolution. All it involves is ensuring that a fortuitous combination of genes is totally passed on, (rather than the usual half). But those cows which had maximal genes for one trait would fail to carry some other genes in the population. If then all milk cows consisted only of such ‘supermilkers’, there would be a serious loss of genetic information from the population. Were a new disease problem to arise to which these were not resistant, those other cows which produce less milk would be the source to which one would need to turn for genes to confer resistance. Return to text. | <urn:uuid:32d44868-fed8-4728-903d-f7fdaf549b2c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://creation.com/hello-dolly | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00151-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958159 | 1,245 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Over the past several decades, developing countries have made remarkable progress in achieving quantitative education targets. Since the turn of the millennium, almost 50 million children around the world have gained access to basic education – and most are reaching completion. But as recent PISA data shows, this is not typically the case for qualitative improvements in education. A persistent learning gap remains for an estimated 250 million children who are unable to read and do math, even after spending three or more years in the classroom.
Education systems reforms are needed in many countries to turn the tide. In a recent article, we propose the following as six necessary components (referred to as the 6A’s) to achieve such reforms:
Assessment. Benchmarks and benchmark-based assessments are the cornerstone of education planning and reform aiming to improve quality. Countries that are unable to determine where their education system stands currently will find it difficult to make improvements or to reach their goals. One example of success in this area can be found in Jordan, where use of international tests for benchmarking and the use of feedback loops led to impressive gains.
Autonomy. Empowering schools will determine quality improvements. This includes giving them ownership, resources, and voice while enhancing school competitiveness. Across Australia, Canada, Finland, Japan and Korea – the five OECD countries with both an above-average student performance in science and a below-average impact of socio-economic background on student performance – 80% of 15-year-olds are in schools which report competing with one or more other schools in the area for students. Students in districts with 85% of schools competing with other schools tend to perform better. Autonomy’s potential for transforming education systems depends on whether increased autonomy is accompanied by enhanced accountability mechanisms.
Accountability. As mentioned, autonomy and accountability are closely related. Accountability increases time on task and academic achievement. As decision-making power is redistributed, local authorities, school principals, teachers, and students are given new responsibilities for resource deployment and school activities. In an autonomy-based structure, school principals are held accountable to municipal authorities for (efficient) use of financial resources. Likewise, school principals are held accountable to both parents and local authorities for improving the learning environment and outcomes.
An accountability-based system usually entails a shift of decision-making authority from the government to the community, which is represented by school governing boards and integrated by teachers, parents, and community members.
In the United Kingdom in 1988, the government gave public secondary schools the option of removing local education authority control and becoming autonomous grant-maintained (GM) schools. GM schools were funded by a new agency but were owned and managed by the school governing body, a new 10-15 member entity composed of the head teacher, as well as teacher and parent representatives. Research finds large achievement gains at schools that voted for GM.
Attention to teachers. Studies across the world show that a good teacher–one that adds value to the learning process– can be effective in helping students to improve their learning outcomes. The top-performing school systems recruit their teachers from the top third of each graduate cohort: top 5% in South Korea, top 10% in Finland, and top 30% in Singapore and Hong Kong SAR, China. This screening helps to ensure that teachers possess the skills and knowledge necessary to be effective educators. Additionally, in-service training helps teachers to maintain those skills.
Attention to early childhood development. Early childhood development (ECD) may be the most cost-effective educational investment. Empirical evidence demonstrates that quality ECD interventions increase educational success and adult productivity, and decrease public expenditures later on. A study in Jamaica found that children in a treatment group, whose mothers were taught ways in which to promote cognitive, physical, and emotional development during their child’s early years, earned on average 42% more as young adults than children in the control group who did not receive these benefits.
- Attention to culture. Culture is important and often neglected. The use of the mother tongue as the language of instruction is one cultural area frequently disputed in many countries. For some, the topic has political overtones, for others it can be associated with religious values, and still for others costs are used as an excuse for opposition. In many countries, a significant number of students do not speak the national language in the home, which has practical implications for education. We, and others, have found that schools using mother tongues as the language of instruction have higher attendance and promotion rates, and lower repetition and dropout rates. This trend has specifically been noted in the case of indigenous peoples in Guatemala. Students also better learn their national language by the end of basic education if they first become literate in their mother tongue.
Follow the World Bank education team on Twitter: @wbeducation | <urn:uuid:02f9c0c9-9b68-4e3e-be0f-b69aba48948f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.worldbank.org/education/six-s-quality-education | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964032 | 976 | 3.90625 | 4 |
December 11, 2013
By Nicole Akoukou Thompson
Nochebuena ("the Good Night"), more frequently called Christmas Eve, is a night of celebration within Latino households. While most Americans sit in anticipation of Christmas day, Latino celebrate early, gathering family and friends for a big dinner; an evening that also has plenty of music and gifts. From household to household traditions may vary, but generally the celebration that begins on the eve of Christmas bleeds into the next day, and Christmas morning is used as a time for rest.
Misa de Gallo (Midnight Mass) occurs on the eve of Christmas to commemorate the birth of Jesus, which took place at midnight. Many mass-goers attend service with a baby Jesus figurine so that it can be blessed before placing it back in their nativity. Misa de Gallo, which translates to Mass of Roosters, grew from a legend about a rooster who witnessed and announced the birth of Jesus to the world. It is now a mainstay tradition in many Latino households, and usually led by a feast.
"In Mexico, for example, dinner can include homemade tamales, atole, bacalao (cod) a la Vizcaina or romeritos en revoltijo (a dish made with Mexican greens) accompanied by buñuelos (small donuts) for dessert and ponche (punch) to toast," said Roxanne A. Soto of Denver Post. "In other Latin American countries, especially those in the Caribbean, the main dish is roast pork with rice and beans, pasteles (tamales) and different salads. Plus, it wouldn't be Christmas without Coquito, an alcoholic beverage made with coconut milk, condensed milk and white rum."
La Cena de Nochebuena or Christmas Eve dinner that precedes or follows mass, consists of main dishes that draw from countries of national origin, as well as personal preference. Turkey is also incorporated on the eve of Christmas, a tradition that was adopted from American customs; also, pork is usually present.
Source: Latin Post | <urn:uuid:7a60358b-da42-490d-a138-a48b6dd3f4a3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.hispanictrending.net/2013/12/nochebuena-celebrations-start-on-dec-24-in-latin-american-households.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00158-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953184 | 430 | 2.9375 | 3 |
(CORVALLIS, Ore.) -- College students have a lot on their plate without having to worry about something termed “food insecurities.”
Researchers from Oregon State University and Oregon’s Benton County Health Department say nearly six of ten students have some form of this condition, which means they have limited or uncertain access to healthy food because of high costs.
The researchers, who based their findings on more than 350 college students, say young people put themselves at higher risk of malnutrition when they mostly eat unhealthy foods.
There are a number of reasons why students can’t afford healthier choices with the first and foremost being the high tuition they’re already paying to attend school, which doesn’t leave much cash left over for meals.
The 59 percent of college students with food insecurities compares to those with the same problem in 14.9 percent of all U.S. households.
Meanwhile, low-income students may already have food insecurities before even beginning college, meaning it’s a continuation of a troubling trend.
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio | <urn:uuid:541e0702-5045-488b-968c-f11bb2cc1bdc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://abcnewsradioonline.com/health-news/food-insecurities-plague-most-college-students.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00172-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959167 | 227 | 2.78125 | 3 |
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Buckwheat is easy to grow. This is recommended as a green manure/cover crop and small grain.
The seeds will germinate in a wide range of soil temperatures (45 to over a 100 degrees Fahrenheit). However, a more serious factor is late spring frosts. For that reason, wait until the weather is sufficiently warm. Typically planting is done from somewhere between the last week in May through July 15th. For grain crops, experts recommend planting about three months before the first killing frost in the fall for your area. The best planting date can vary slightly from one location to another.
The seeding rate depends upon whether this is planted as a cover crop or grain. The recommended rate for grain crops is lower than that for green manure and cover crops. Sowing grain crops too thickly is undesirable as this can cause the plants to lodge. The optimal rate can vary slightly according to the source one uses and the type of variety being sowing. The seeding rate can be increased slightly for varieties that have larger seeds.
Do a soil test to see whether any fertilizer is needed. Avoid adding more nitrogen and phosphorus than the recommended amounts, particularly for cereal crops, as these can cause the plants to be so lush that they lodge.
Sowing is often done with a grain drill with 12-18 inches between drills. This can also be broadcast and disked. The optimal sowing depth is 1 to 1Ĺ inches. Never plant deeper than two inches in any case.
In general, the soil is generally well prepared because the seeds tend to be small. Use seeds that are less than a year old. Seeds that are freshly harvested arenít good for planting as these will need to be dried and stored for a minimum of one to two months before planting.
Seeds will usually begin germinating in about three to seven days. The blooms begin to appear very quickly, about a month to six weeks after the seeds are planted. The grain crop matures very quickly after flowering begins.
Pests and Disease Problems of Buckwheat
For the most part buckwheat has fewer disease and pests than most other grain crops. The most common pests are deer, birds, mice, rats, wireworms, aphids, and Japanese beetles.
Fungal leaf spot and root rot are the most common diseases. Weeds are rarely a serious problem as buckwheat can usually outgrow most of these.
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Translation of documentary in Spanish:
- Example sentences
- We had told Mr Blunkett's officials about our irrefutable documentary evidence before he wrote his article.
- The discussion so far has been mainly based upon literary and documentary evidence.
- His published record was the first documentary evidence in Europe of the existence of the New World.
noun plural documentaries
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. | <urn:uuid:c32bf606-2d12-4e7b-9400-d162ccb31b64> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/translate/english-spanish/documentary | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96566 | 104 | 2.53125 | 3 |
What is meant by “bipolar behavior”? How do the internal symptoms of bipolar disorder get “acted out”? Bipolar disorder has two dimensions to it: 1. The bipolar symptoms that a person experiences as moods, thoughts and feelings, and
2.The bipolar “signs” that are observable to others, that is, the bipolar person’s behavior – how they act out their bipolar disorder.
Although bipolar disorder is all about mood swings – the extremes of depression and mania – it is much more than an internal experience of mood swings and overwhelming feelings.
The thoughts and feelings experienced during episodes of mania and depression are manifested in actions – externally visible behavior.
Although the internal experience of bipolar disorder can cause someone a great deal of suffering, it is this external behavior that often causes the person so many problems with their work life, personal life, and social life.
Diagnosing bipolar through behavior
Bipolar behavior is a critical element of correctly diagnosing bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder behavior WILL BE DIFFERENT FROM THE PERSON’S NORMAL OR USUAL BEHAVIOR.
A skilled clinician with genuine expertise in bipolar disorder will take a detailed personal and family history. Yes, they will be interested in how the patient describes their moods, and they will also be alert for any family history of bipolar disorder.
HOWEVER, CERTAIN BEHAVIOR MUST ALSO BE PRESENT FOR A DIAGNOSIS OF BIPOLAR I.
According to the American Psychiatric Association’s <i>Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders</i>, Fourth Edition, 1994 the DSM-IV), there must have been at least one Manic Episode involving some of the following bipolar signs (as distinct from thoughts or feelings):
1. Decreased need for sleep, for example only sleeping 3 hours a night.
2. More talkative than is usual for that person, and/or pressured speech. (Pressured speech is rapid, loud and difficult-to-interrupt talking, or talking even where there is not actually anyone listening.)
3. A noticeable increase in goal-directed activity, for example starting new projects at home or work.
4. Excessive levels of involvement in pleasurable but risky activities such as spending sprees, sexual promiscuity or infidelity, or reckless investments or business ventures.
In addition, these bipolar signs (behaviors) must have serious adverse consequences such as causing problems at work, in personal relationships, or disruptions in normal social activities, OR hospitalization to prevent harm to self or others.
Despite these clear “official” diagnostic indications, there is a lot of confusion about what constitutes bipolar behavior.
Today it is very common for the media and for individuals to label any action they regard as eccentric or annoying as “bipolar”.
Bipolar disorder is a clinical condition with medical diagnostic criteria. Bipolar” is NOT a synonym for obnoxious, annoying, awful, disagreeable, mean, nasty, objectionable, or unpleasant.
Further, “bipolar” is NOT a synonym for erratic, unpredictable, abnormal, bizarre, eccentric, inconsistent, peculiar, unreliable, or weird.
(I could go on, but I’m sure you get the idea.)
The constant use of the word “bipolar” as cultural shorthand for anything we find strange or objectionable is foolish and destructive.
The upside of bipolar behavior
People with bipolar disorder often do things that have negative consequences for themselves and others.
But there is an upside!
Without the behavior, bipolar symptoms of mood alone would be far more difficult to diagnose and manage.
How can “bad” behavior ever be a good thing?
It is both good and useful because it makes the internal and subjective experience of bipolar symptoms objective, observable, and externalized.
This is very important for arriving at an accurate diagnosis.
My own diagnosis (very late in life in my mid-forties) finally happened this way. My psychiatrist was treating me for depression and we had tried some medications that were making me worse instead of better. When I casually mentioned to her some shopping I had done (over $5,000 on Italian designer furniture for a very down-market, temporary grad student apartment when I was making no money), there was an aha moment. These sort of irrational spending sprees are classic bipolar behavior. I had been unable to adequately describe my thoughts and feelings, but this allowed my psychiatrist to ask me about other activities.
It was a conversation that changed – and saved – my life.
Further, if you and your loved ones know the behaviors that indicate you are entering an episode of mania or depression, it is possible to intervene before any damage is done. This can result in a positive spiral. Fewer episodes and relapses improves coping skills and brain health, just as more frequent episodes become a negative spiral.
We also have bipolar prodromes or a bipolar relapse signature – bipolar behavior that signals the onset of mania or depression.
Also, many of the most energetic and resourceful business-people and other leaders have had bipolar disorder.
Just please understand that treatment does not destroy these more positive faces of bipolar. In fact, proper treatment can boost productivity.
Most of all, here is a key take-away for you. PLEASE remember that bipolar behavior differs from the individual’s usual behavior. Someone with consistently, rather than episodic, bad behavior very likely does NOT have bipolar disorder.
Understand the difference between who you or your loved one REALLY is and the transient, treatable behaviors of bipolar. | <urn:uuid:18d21121-2b85-4211-a4ce-2bb9b8add9e2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bipolar-lives.com/bipolar-behavior.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00146-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944316 | 1,174 | 3.546875 | 4 |
The Glastechnische Laboratorium Schott & Genossen Jena (now SCHOTT AG) launched the first laboratory glassware made of borosilicate glass on the market in 1893. Until then, soda-lime glass and lead glass had been used and borosilicate glass represented a completely new third type of glass. Its main features are high resistance to heat and temperature changes, and very high chemical resistance and mechanical strength. With this invention and its subsequent further development, the chemist and glass technician, Otto Schott, became the founder of modern glass technology. The invention of laboratory glassware made of borosilicate glass made a number of new scientific methods of application possible. Today, borosilicate glass is still an essential material used in laboratories, industrial applications and households around the world. Alongside standard laboratory glassware, the material is also used to make thermometers, lamp chimneys, ampullae, syringes, baby bottles, chemical apparatus and coffee machine jugs. The DURAN® brand was registered in 1938. Today, the DURAN Group's laboratory glassware range includes over 5,000 standard articles. As a result of the fully automated production process, DURAN® laboratory glassware is characterised by extraordinarily consistent, technically reproducible quality. Even 120 years after it was introduced on the market, DURAN® is a unique and essential brand for important industries – and still holds potential for the innovations of tomorrow.
Dr Otto Schott (1851 – 1935), chemist and glass technician, inventor of borosilicate glass
With the development and market introduction of borosilicate glass 120 years ago, Otto Schott became the creator of a new, third type of glass. The soda-lime glass and lead glass that had been used until then have considerable weaknesses: they are not resistant to acids or alkaline solutions, or even water after permanent exposure. Furthermore, they are not resistant to high temperatures or quick changes in temperature. This makes them unsuitable for use in laboratories, for lamp chimneys and for precise temperature measurements.
An epoch-making invention
Otto Schott started from this basis and began developing glassware in 1887 using flint ("silicate") and boric acid ("boro") as a glass former until it reached scientific and technological maturity. From 1891 onwards, thermometer glass was made from borosilicate glass, the new type of technical glass. This made scientific measurements up to 500 degrees Celsius possible for the first time. A further milestone was reached in 1893: the Glastechnische Laboratorium Schott & Genossen Jena (what is now SCHOTT AG) launched the first laboratory glassware made of borosilicate glass on the market. It is characterised by three main features that are still essential for good laboratory glass today:
- high resistance to heat and changes in temperature
- very high chemical resistance
- mechanical strength
The new company was founded by three men: the chemist and glass technician Otto Schott, the physics professor Ernst Abbe, and Carl Zeiss. The extensive market introduction of the new type of laboratory glass occurred in winter 1893/94: the first leaflet entitled "Jena appliance glass with high resistance to differences in temperature and chemical attacks", advertised flat-bottomed flasks, Erlenmeyer flasks and beakers in different sizes and announced the manufacture of other laboratory apparatus "on request". Otto Schott already knew that he would revolutionise the procedures and structures in laboratories all over the world with this product range. Analysis results could be reproduced thanks to the availability of standardised boiling containers, test tubes and storage vessels – representing an important advancement in scientific work. As early as 1897, the company published a catalogue-like price list with product sketches and precise dimensions. One major advantage offered by the new laboratory glass was its extraordinary resistance to chemical substances.
Market introduction: the first leaflet on laboratory glassware made from borosilicate glass was published by Schott in 1893
The response to the product made purely by hand was immense. The product range was then added to over time and within just a few years, the new laboratory glassware made of borosilicate glass had penetrated the market: by March 1901, the glass factory was supplying 35 companies in Germany and 49 in the rest of Europe, the US, Canada and South Africa. The application areas for borosilicate glass were expanded: it had been used exclusively as glass for thermometers since 1891, but just two years later it was also being used as laboratory glassware and lamp chimneys for glass lighting. This was followed by many other applications, for example as pharmaceutical packaging and domestic glassware.
Market introduction: the first leaflet on laboratory glassware made from borosilicate glass was published by Schott in 1893
To differentiate between the different products, a clear designation was needed for the laboratory glassware made of borosilicate glass – a brand with the corresponding brand characteristics that could be used internationally. A brand name was soon found: the material's high resistance to chemicals and temperatures resulted in the brand name DURAN® (durus = hard, durable). The brand was registered at the State Patent Office in Berlin in 1938.
Today, borosilicate glass is used in many different ways in industry and in the home. The material is used to make ampullae, syringes, baby bottles, chemical apparatus and tubing, fire protection glass, coffee machine jugs and glass kettles, for example.
Otto Schott – "the founder of modern-age glass technology"
With the development of borosilicate glass, the chemist and glass technician, Otto Schott, opened up new dimensions for glass technology and revolutionised modern chemistry. Without this invention, significant developments in biology, bacteriology, medicine, pharmaceutics and chemistry would not have been possible, or at least would not have become possible so quickly. The invention of laboratory glassware made of borosilicate glass made a number of methods of application possible that were previously unimaginable. In 1925, Otto Schott was honoured by the Deutsche Glastechnische Gesellschaft as the "founder of modern-age glass technology".
Registration of the DURAN® brand at the State Patent Office (1938)
The DURAN® brand
Since the turn of the century, borosilicate glassware produced by the Jena-based glass factory has been further developed and continuously improved to cover new application areas. Even today, the manufacture of borosilicate glassware remains one of the core competencies of the international technology group SCHOTT. DURAN® is the best known brand in SCHOTT’s borosilicate family. Today, the name DURAN® is used exclusively for borosilicate glass 3.3, a material that meets the criteria for resistance to water and acids, thermal expansion coefficient, density and conductivity as defined in the international DIN-ISO 3585 standard.
Over the last 120 years, DURAN® glassware has proved its worth not only in laboratories, but also in industrial applications and households around the world. DURAN® tubing and rods for scientific and technical applications are manufactured at the SCHOTT site in Mitterteich (Germany). In 2005, the DURAN Group was bought out of SCHOTT AG by Munich-based investor ADCURAM and is one of the world's leading international manufacturers of borosilicate glass. The medium-sized company has two divisions (Laboratory Glass and Engineered Glass) and covers the entire value-added chain from glass melting to precise forming and processing procedures. At the sites in Mainz and Wertheim (Germany) and Pula (Croatia), a comprehensive range of over 5,000 standard articles are produced, in addition to a number of customer-specific special products for industrial applications in sectors such as mechanical engineering, the chemical industry and medical technology. Its customers include development departments from the chemical industry, companies from the biotechnology, beverage and food industries as well as quality assurance laboratories. In addition to the production and sale of laboratory glassware, the DURAN Group also handles logistics, which means that the products are transported quickly from the fully automated high-rack warehouse to their destinations across the globe.
DURAN® stands for safe products of a consistently high quality that is guaranteed by a high level of investment in quality assurance and state-of-the-art manufacturing and testing procedures. To guarantee the safety of laboratory workers and the reproducibility of analysis results, the DURAN Group has committed itself to manufacturing according to strict standards for laboratory glassware. In addition to the properties of the material, these specifications relate primarily to safety-relevant criteria. This covers, in particular, characteristics such as stones, bubbles or streaks in the surface of the glass that, as a result of stresses, could lead to dangerous breakages if heated, potentially causing injury.
Fully automatic glass production: glass bulb on the blowing machine shortly before the mould is closed
Unlike most of its competitors, who manufacture their products by hand using glass tubes, DURAN Group produces laboratory glass using fully automatic processes and the very latest technology. The DURAN Group's melting tank runs around the clock to ensure consistent product quality. The precise size and shape of the glassware is achieved with the help of moulds. Firstly, this is of great importance for the resistance to mechanical impacts and to changes in temperature. Secondly, it facilitates precise reproducibility through comprehensive monitoring of the production process (melting, forming, cooling, quality control). DURAN® thereby guarantees both compliance with the dimensions and tolerances of the major quality standards such as ASTM, ISO and DIN, as well as a binding production numbers. The fully automated glassware production method thereby offers distinct advantages over manual production, which greatly depends on the skills of the glass worker and the quality of the tube material supplied by a third party. Furthermore, dimensions and tolerances as well as comparably high production volumes are difficult to achieve using manual production methods.
The original: today, the DURAN® GL 45 laboratory glass bottle is standard equipment in laboratories around the world
Quality – Made in Germany
In the lab, the DURAN® brand stands for the highest levels of safety and reliability thanks to the reproducibility of the analysis results (in this regard, the product meets stricter criteria than those stipulated by the various standards, as the permitted tolerances are not utilised in full in production) and availability. A further advantage over unbranded laboratory glassware made from borosilicate glass: the application of the DURAN® brand on each product certifies compliance with strict, self-imposed production specifications and can therefore be identified by the user in the event that issues arise relating to product liability. Many DURAN® products are retraceable as far as the production date (batch certificate).
The properties of DURAN® correspond to the specifications of ISO 3585. Compared to other borosilicate glass 3.3, DURAN® is characterised by extraordinarily consistent quality that can be technically reproduced. Very good chemical resistance, inert behaviour, a high usage temperature, minimal thermal expansion and the resulting high degree of resistance to changes in temperature are just some of its key properties. This optimum physical and chemical behaviour predestines DURAN® for use in laboratories as well as for large-scale systems in the construction of chemical apparatus. It is also considered to be a technical multi-purpose glass in all application areas requiring extreme thermal resistance, resistance to changes in temperature, mechanical strength and extraordinary chemical resistance.
Very high chemical resistance
DURAN® borosilicate glass 3.3 is highly resistant to water, neutral and acid solutions, strong alkaline solutions and their compositions, chlorine, bromine, iodine and organic substances. Even at longer exposure times and temperatures above 100°C, it exceeds the chemical resistance of most metals and other materials. Only hydrofluoric acid, concentrated phosphoric acid and strong alkaline solutions strip the glass surface (glass corrosion) when high temperatures (>100°C) also occur. Thanks to its high resistance to water, DURAN® complies with USP, EP and JP guidelines and is a neutral glass that corresponds to glass type 1. This means that DURAN® can be used in almost all pharmaceutical applications and in contact with foodstuffs.
Thanks to the almost inert behaviour of DURAN®, there is no interaction – e.g. ion exchange – between the medium and the glass. This rules out any influence on the experiments.
High usage temperature
The highest permissible usage temperature for short-term use of DURAN® glassware is +500°C. At temperatures of +525°C and above, the glass will begin to melt and, from temperatures of +860°C, it will change into a fluid state.
DURAN® can be cooled down to the maximum possible negative temperature and is therefore suitable for use in liquid nitrogen (approximately -196°C). Generally, use down to -70°C is recommended for DURAN® products. When thawing, it is important to make sure that the difference in temperature does not exceed 100 K. DURAN® glassware is also suitable for use in the microwave.
Minimal thermal expansion and high resistance to changes in temperature
DURAN® glassware is characterised by high resistance to changes in temperature (ΔT=100 K). With its very low coefficient of linear expansion, literally no tension is built up in the article, when the temperature changes rapidly. Therefore, it does not crack or shatter, when boiling water is filled in.
In the spectral range of approximately 310 to 2,200 nm, the absorption of DURAN® is negligible. It is transparent and colourless. Larger coating thicknesses (axial inspection for tubes) appear slightly yellow/greenish.
Even wall-thickness distribution
The strictly monitored, even wall thickness is the most important parameter for mechanical stability and resistance to changes in temperature. This results in a longer product service life and corresponding cost savings as well as in increased safety for the user.
DURAN® guarantees raw materials of a consistently high quality by means of long-term suppliers, ultra-modern weighing facilities, fully automatic batch preparation and daily retain samples of the raw materials.
DURAN® stands for decades of manufacturing expertise and experience, not only in moulding by hand, but also in fully automatic production lines. Technically mature cooling processes guarantee stress-relieved products.
The DURAN Group is certified in accordance with ISO 9001 and consistently manufactures in line with DIN/ISO specifications. Continuous process control takes place according to ISO 2859.
Many DURAN® products are retraceable as far as the production date (Retrace Code).
DURAN® is a unique material that has become essential for many important industries due to its excellent properties. It is also a material that holds great potential for the innovations of tomorrow. The DURAN Group works continuously on the development of additional properties in order to extend the range of technical application possibilities. These include intelligent coatings with temperature-resistant plastics such as DURAN® Protect, which increase the safety of glass containers by guaranteeing effective protection against leakage. Coatings on the interior based on silicon oxide are also of significance: they support Research and Development in optimising the quality of analysis results. In the future, it will be possible to significantly improve work processes in the laboratory and – above all – their documentation through the combination of active memory chips (RFID) with glassware articles. | <urn:uuid:8e8420a5-f7df-4ebb-bc18-c80d5119c91c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chemeurope.com/en/whitepapers/126361/duran-group-celebrates-120-years-of-laboratory-glassware-made-from-borosilicate-glass.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00072-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938681 | 3,227 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Originally posted on Food Forever – The AJWS Food Justice Blog.
Today’s heart-breaking New York Times story about Haiti’s orphans is a painful reminder of the earthquake’s enduring devastation. The article offers a harrowing portrait of Daphne, a 14-year-old girl who watched her mother’s mangled body get carted away in a wheelbarrow from a shattered marketplace. Daphne then lived in a makeshift orphanage founded by Frades—a grassroots collective that specializes in microloans and began supporting abandoned and orphaned children after the earthquake. Daphne was just beginning to feel at home until she was claimed by a distant relative.
The article goes on to profile other children who have faced similar hardships—a 13-year-old named Michaelle who lost both of her parents in the earthquake and resides at Frades, cooking for the younger children with whatever food she can procure.
Frades’s board members and volunteers all shared similar thoughts: that even with so many international aid groups in Haiti, sustained help is hard to find. Mattresses, latrines, showers, medical care, psycho-social counselors and, most importantly, a consistent food and water supply are profoundly limited.
Nearly six months after the earthquake, cries for help are falling on deaf ears and efforts to hasten Haiti’s reconstruction have been stalled. It is absolutely unthinkable that countless other Haitian orphans could be profiled in the New York Times six months from now.
Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen. Tell your senators to pass the Haiti Empowerment, Assistance and Rebuilding (HEAR) Act to ensure that Haitians get the long-term aid and attention they need to build a sustainable future. | <urn:uuid:48171769-4e2b-49b4-861c-7393312e733a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://jcarrot.org/haitis-orphans-crisis-wheres-aid-when-need | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00021-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955599 | 364 | 2.625 | 3 |
What I Learned on a Hillside in Rwanda
Submitted by Chris Helfrich on March 1, 2013
My unforgettable visit today to Gihembe Refugee Camp in Rwanda with the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign reinforced two things.
One: Our collective work to fight malaria is paying off.
Two: We still have a lot of work to do to end malaria deaths for good.
More than 14,000 people live in Gihembe in northern Rwanda, although it’s difficult to call these mud houses perched on terraced hillsides home. Most of Gihembe’s residents are women and children who have fled violence in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which neighbors Rwanda to the west. The fighting there has claimed the lives of many men, leaving untold numbers of families fatherless and seeking safety in Gihembe and other camps in the region operated by our partners with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
A woman I met in the pediatric room of the camp’s small health center illustrated the progress we’re making against malaria, and Nothing But Nets’ contribution to this fight. Yvonne, a single Congolese mother who has lived in the camp for 15 years, was helping care for her 6-year old son, “George,” suffering from a routine infection. A white bed net hung above George’s hospital bed, just like every bed in the clinic.
I asked Yvonne whether any of her three children have had malaria. She said no; I was floored. I assumed that I was asking a rhetorical question to spark discussion about her family’s experience with the disease. But Yvonne explained to me that her children have slept under a bed net since they were born.
“Every single night,” she said.
What a simple, but profound, revelation. These 1.1 million life-saving nets that we’ve sent to help refugees since 2008 are reaching families in the camps. And they’re using them. Now, we have parents whose children are growing up malaria-free!
Our day in Gihembe Camp with our partners at WWE also highlighted how important our work is to provide bed nets to often-neglected groups. Since fighting erupted in DRC last April, tens of thousands of Congolese women and children have escaped the country to find safety in the camps. Today, I spent time with two teenage sisters, “Joy,” 14, and “Bora,” 13, who fled DRC last summer. Their parents were killed in the conflict. The sisters live at Gihembe, alone. Joy and Bora were reserved and stuck close together. But the longer I spent with them, the more I glimpsed their beautiful smiles and warm personalities.
These teenage girls are orphaned, sharing a tiny mud home with just enough room for a single bed that they share. And they had no bed net until we delivered one today, meaning they spent the last seven months vulnerable to malaria. With all of the horrors they’ve endured, potentially dying from a preventable disease shouldn’t be one of them. A bed net will keep Joy and Bora safe from malaria. The net also gives the girls a measure of hope in a place where one can often feel forgotten. Nothing But Nets will make sure they will not be.
Fighting malaria must remain a global priority to sustain this critical forward momentum. Our collective efforts are working and saving lives. But millions of people just like Joy and Bora still need our help protecting themselves against a devastating but preventable disease. | <urn:uuid:c4b31c83-0154-4b6e-81c5-5ed8bde1316d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nothingbutnets.net/blogs/what-i-learned-on-a-hillside-in-rwanda.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00006-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959735 | 752 | 2.921875 | 3 |
2. Calcium is also very important during pregnancy and nursing (and for moms, in the months just after nursing, to replenish the calcium in their own bones). If you’re a vegetarian or vegan, add rich sources of calcium in your diet, such as tofu, tempeh, sesame seeds, greens (collard greens, turnip greens), and figs. (Check the label on your tofu. Tofu processed with calcium sulfate tends to have much higher levels of calcium than tofu processed with nigari.) You’ll also get some calcium from kale, soybeans, bok choy, mustard greens, tahini, broccoli, almonds, and spinach. And you can find many calcium-fortified foods (soy milk, orange juice—even whole grain waffles), and of course, calcium supplements. The lower animal protein intake of vegetarians does seem to reduce the body’s calcium losses, but there is not enough evidence to say that vegans need less calcium when pregnant or nursing. I recommend getting 1,000 milligrams every day (1,300 milligrams if you are under age nineteen).
Read more from Can You Be Vegetarian or Vegan while Pregnant? | <urn:uuid:7b4d5501-a47a-4d57-a803-7060d4ef6e69> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.drgreene.com/part-two-vegetarian-vegan-pregnant/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908276 | 254 | 2.71875 | 3 |
November 16th, 2008 by Michael Oliver
I recently came across this history of Marana Arizona; it is very interesting to say the least. I was really surprised at a number of things I read here and how the beginnings of the town were formed. The most interesting part was reading that Juan Bautista de Anza, Captain of the Presidio (fort) of Tubac took a group of pioneers and eventually led them to the founding of San Francisco CA. Part of his path is still preserved in Marana and able to be seen.
Prehistory Period (2200 B.C. – 1450 A.D.)
Archaeologists have documented about 4200 years of continuous human
occupation in Marana and the surrounding middle Santa Cruz Valley. The
prehistoric inhabitants of this valley were the first farmers, potters, canal
builders, and villagers in the Southwest.
Corn arrived to the area from Mexico about 4000 years ago, and cotton
pollen found at archaeological sites in Marana reveal either wild native cotton or
domesticated cotton from Mexico was cultivated in this area as 800 years later.
At this time, canals were used to irrigate cotton, corn, squash, beans, and
tobacco. About 2800 years before present Marana’s occupants started using the
bow-and-arrow with the older spear-thrower-and-dart tool to harvest game,
representing the earliest documented use of the bow-and-arrow in the Southwest.
On the slopes of the Tortolita Mountains extensive areas of wild agave
were cultivated by clearing rocks and building rock-piles, terraces, and checkdams
to slow storm runoff. One species of agave growing in this area today is
outside of its natural range, and probably represents the descendents of plants
brought there by prehistoric farmers.
Many important archaeological sites occur near Marana. The following are
some of the most significant:
i) Las Capas (the Layers) is a large, long-occupied early agricultural site
related to the nearby Costello-King site near Ina Road and the Interstate 10
interchange. There are numerous layers of occupation dating between about
4,200 and 2,500 years ago. Among the significant artifacts recovered are stone
smoking pines with tobacco residues, the oldest tobacco pipes in the world. The
site is most important for the presence of the oldest cemetery in the southwest
and the oldest canals in North America.
ii) Los Morteros is a Hohokam ballcourt village ruin located on the Santa
Cruz floodplain near the Point of the Mountain at the northern end of the Tucson
Mountains. It was occupied between 850 and 1300 A.D., and is one of the
largest prehistoric communities in the Marana area. The remains of 770
prehistoric features were uncovered, including 349 houses, an adobe-walled
compound, five discrete cemeteries, and artifacts numbering in the tens of
thousands. It was during the study of Los Morteros that evidence of the historic
Pointer Mountain stage station was found within the limits of the nearby Puerta
del Norte trailer court. Los Morteros has also been identified as the probable
location of the Llano del Azotado campsite used by the Juan Bautista de Anza
expedition in 1775. The village Father Kino refers to as El Valle de Correa is in
the vicinity of this site.
iii) Linda Vista Hill is the Trincheras component of the Hohokam Los
Morteros site in the Tucson Mountains, dating between 1200 and 1350 A.D. The
Trincheras culture inhabited the on mountain slopes overlooking arable land
along streams. These have been interpreted both as agricultural sites and/or
defense positions. The Linda Vista hillside has over 150 terraces, 75 pit-houses
excavated into the terraces, and a massive adobe-walled compound located on
the hill summit.
iii) The Marana Mound site is the remnant of a large platform mound that
was once the focal part of the community that lived between
the Santa Cruz River and the Tortolita Mountains during the
later phase of the Hohokam Culture (1150-1300). The
mound is surrounded by an adobe compound wall from
which multiple rooms were constructed. This structure, in
turn, is associated with 30-35 additional nearby residential
compounds, multiple house features both inside and outside
the compounds, wall segments, and trash mounds that
collectively cover an area of approximately one square mile.
Long before the coming of the Spanish Conquistadors and missionaries in
the 17th Century, the area now called Marana was inhabited by the Hohokam
Culture (550 to 1450 A.D.). These people were the probable ancestors of the
present day Tohono O’odham, which are part of a regional culture called Papago
or Pima. The Hohokam developed extensive canal systems and used waters
from the Santa Cruz River to irrigate crops. When the first Spaniards arrived in
the 1690s, the Hohokam had long since vanished, and their irrigation canals were
Turning Point (1450 – 1690)
About 1690 the history of the Marana area changed forever with the arrival
of the Spanish and Apache—the Spanish from the south and the Apache from the
north. The local O’ohdam culture was invaded by two new cultures with
conflicting agendas. One wanted to convert souls to Christianity and the other to
plunder and steal assets. What happened to the original inhabitants during a
period of about 240 years is a matter of historical debate.
Spanish Period (1690 – 1821)
The first European to visit the Marana area was a Jesuit
Priest, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino in 1694. Father Kino
explored the Santa Cruz Valley from 1691 to 1711 and
founded a series of Jesuit missions, the most famous being San
Xavier del Bac, south of Tucson.
Early Spanish accounts of the Marana area report the
existence of villages of Sobaipuri people, who spoke a dialect
of the O’odham language different from the Tohono
O’odham, near the confluence of the Santa Cruz River and the Rillito River.
Until the Spanish established a presidio (fort) at Tucson in 1776, the Marana area
lay under the domination of these people, who themselves were subject to the
domination of the Apache.
In 1775, Juan Bautista de Anza, Captain of the Presidio (fort) of Tubac in
Sonora (now southern Arizona) led an expedition north along the Santa Cruz
River to found the city of San Francisco, California. The colonizing expedition
of about 200 included 30 soldiers and their families, and an array of escorts
consisting of cowboys, translators, mule-packers, Indian
guides, priests, escort soldiers. They brought over 1,000 head
of livestock, horses, mules and cattle. Their campsite was
Llano del Azotado at Point of Mountain near the present day
Arizona Portland Cement Plant in the Town of Marana. The
route they took is now designated the “Juan Bautista de Anza
National Historic Trail” by the National Park Service. A 15-
mile segment of this trail passes through the present day Town
In 1810 war between New Spain and what later was to become known as
Mexico further altered the cultural dynamics of the region.
Mexican Period (1821 – 1854)
With independence from Spanish colonial rule in 1821,
official jurisdiction over the Marana area passed to the new
Republic of Mexico and remained so as part of the State of
Sonora until 1854.
The American flag came to the Marana area for the first time in 1846,
carried by about 350 troops of the Mormon Battalion on their way to San Diego,
California. They blazed the first wagon road along the Anza Trail, which, in
part, later became a stagecoach route, railroad, and corridor for Interstate 10.
Territorial Period (1854 – 1912)
Despite the trek of the Mormon soldiers to secure
Mexican Territory for the United States, when the
Mexican war ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, all of Arizona south of the Gila River
remained in the hands of Mexico. With the Gadsden
Purchase in 1854, 29,640 square miles of New Mexico
and Arizona south of the Gila River were purchased from Mexico for $10
million, about 53 cents an acre, and opened a transcontinental corridor for the
Southern Pacific Railroad.
During the Gold Rush to California in 1849, some 10,000 49ers followed
the Santa Cruz River through the area of Marana, north to the Gila River then on
to California. About this time, many Mexican ranchers established large cattle
ranches in the area, displacing many Tohono O’odham. With the Marana area
under the jurisdiction of the United States in 1854, prospectors seeking mineral
riches intensified their efforts in the region. Gold was not discovered in
abundance, but by 1865, high-grade copper ore was being shipped from mines in
the Silver Bell Mountains to Yuma, and then by ship to Baltimore for smelting.
The Butterfield Overland Mail Company arrived
to Marana in 1858 and established the Pointer
Mountain Station about 18 miles northwest of Tucson.
It carried mail and passengers until 1861 when it was
discontinued after the out break of the Civil War.
During the Civil War, Union troops withdrew from southern Arizona to
fight in the east. Confederate troops moved in to occupy the Tucson Presidio
and extended their control through the Marana area and north
to the Gila River. In early 1862, Union troops were sent
eastward from Yuma to take back southern Arizona. These
troops engaged a patrol of about 12 Confederate Calvary at
Picacho Pass, site of the westernmost fatal battle of the war.
The Union prevailed and the troops rode south to retake
Tucson and replanted the American flag in May of 1862. In
1863 Arizona became a Territory of the United States.
Mining booms began in the 1860s with the opening of the
Silverbell Copper Mine (1860s-1920s), and later resumed with
the reopening of the Silver Bell (1948-1980s). Sasco, a present
day ghost town, was a smelter town for mines at Silverbell and
Picacho Peak between 1907 and 1919.
The Bojórquez Ranch site, near what is now Silverbell and Cortaro Roads,
is one of the areas last remaining examples of Territorial period Mexican
ranches. The ranch was founded in 1878 by Juan and Mariz Bojórquez, sold to
Leandro Ruiz and Feliberto Aguirre in 1895, and abandoned about 1900. A
stone house foundation, an adobe house foundation, and a stone-masonry water
tank constructed during the Ruiz and Aguirre occupation still remain.
The railroad arrived in 1880 and the name Marana first appeared on
Southern Pacific Railroad maps in 1890. “Maraña” is a Mexican word meaning
dense brush, a tangle or a thicket and was given by the railroad workers as they
hacked their way through dense mesquite trees along the Santa Cruz River.
Beginning after the 1880s, a new Native American people
settled in the Santa Cruz Valley. These are the Yoem (Yaqui)
from the Yaqui River area in northwestern Mexico. Many fled
north to escape persecution by the Mexican government or to
find work. One settlement is the Yoem Pueblo in Marana
established in 1936, which today consists of 4.2 acres and about
40 tribal members. Prior to 1980, the Yoem in Marana lived in a
cluster of about 20 homes that was known as “Yaqui Camp.”
This Marana settlement of Yoem is not recognized by the U.S.
Bureau of Indian Affairs, while the settlement of New Pascua southwest of
Tucson gained official recognition as a United States Indian Tribe in 1978. The
people in Yoem Pueblo do, however, receive financial assistance from the tribal
government of New Pascua.
Statehood (1912 – Present)
Arizona became the 48th state on February 14,
World War I brought new prosperity to what was
left of the once thriving Silverbell Copper Mine, which operated from the 1860s
to the 1920s, and again from 1948 into the 1980s. The population grew to over a
thousand and the mining town had both a school and a hospital.
Ranching formed the backbone of this
community along the Southern Pacific Railroad.
Ranching has a 300-year history in the Santa Cruz
Valley, including the oldest cattle ranch in what is
now the United States at Guevavi near Nogales.
The Marana Stockyards (1996 to present) is the
only stock auction house in the Santa Cruz Valley. The Lazy K Bar Guest Ranch
and White Horse Guest Ranch continue to celebrate ranching traditions.
It was not until after WW I
that Marana became primarily an
agricultural center. There arose a
need for cotton to manufacture
tire cord, airplane fabric, and
other war-related materials. In
1917 the community was called Postvale after the Michigan immigrant Edwin R.
Post. In 1920 Post drilled a number of wells, installed a pumping plant, and
constructed an extensive irrigation system. Many families migrated to the area
to grow cotton between 1920 and 1924. Wheat, barley, alfalfa, and pecans have
also been cultivated since the 1940s, although the majority of Marana farmland
has always been devoted to cotton.
A substantial and influential Chinese community began to
develop in the Marana area in the 1930s. Many Chinese arrived to
the Tucson area with the Southern Pacific railroad in 1880. Of the
1,300 workers hired to construct the railroad 1,100 were Chinese.
Some began farming vegetables in large numbers on what became
known as truck farms; others opened grocery stores, laundries and
restaurants. In the 1930s they sold vegetables to miners and
ranchers in the Marana area. Eventually they bought land and became some of
the areas most profitable farmers.
The Producer Cotton Gin was built with dried adobe
in 1938 and comprises two buildings, an office and a
warehouse. These buildings are now treasured historic
features and represent the cotton growing industry,
historically a driving force in the settlement of Marana.
During World War II, the impact of the rising
importance of air power came quickly to Marana. In
1942, the U.S Government bought about 3.5 square miles
of the old Aguirre Ranch southwest of Red Rock for construction of an air base.
The Marana airfield (1942-1945) was the largest pilot-training center in the
world during WWII, training some 10,000 flyers. To serve the nearby military
facility, the highway from Tucson to Casa Grande was
improved and soon became the major road through the
Marana area. A German and Italian prisoner-of-war camp
was built northwest of Marana, and the prisoners helped
harvest crops. These developments, along with the arrival
of electricity in 1945, moved Marana into the 20th
The Arizona Portland Cement Company’s Twin Peaks limestone mine was
opened in 1949 and is today the largest limestone mine in the Santa Cruz Valley.
The migrant work camps that dotted the Marana area up until
the late 1950s were replaced by a new structure born of the cold
war and space age. Between 1959 and 1984, five Titan missile
sites were located in the Marana area as part of a complex of
ballistic missile installations built around Tucson. Many rural
roads in the area were paved, making parts of Marana more
In 1961, the Arizona Highway
Department and Federal Government removed most of
the historic northern Marana business district known as
the Mercantile to widen Interstate 10. The high school
and most businesses relocated throughout the area.
With no “Main Street” in northern Marana, the
business district in southern Marana became the main shopping region.
In March of 1977, the Town of Marana incorporated about 10 square miles
and in August the 1,500 townspeople elected their first town council. In early
1979 the town began to grow through an aggressive annexation policy and is
now nearly 120 square miles with an estimated population of 21,000.
Since the 1980s the amount of farmland has declined as farms have been
converted to housing developments. But, the area still has six large farms, which
primarily grow short staple cotton. Durum wheat is exported to Italy for making
pasta and is increasing in importance.
In 1992, Marana began receiving Colorado River water
from the Central Arizona Project (CAP), a federal project
authorized by Congress in 1968. Along the 336-mile-long
route, CAP water is delivered from Lake Havasu along a series
of canals and lift stations. Marana is entitled to nearly 23
million gallons of water each year.
Today, Marana is a thriving community on the banks of the Santa Cruz
River, which historically has been important to the cultures that have settled
there. This river’s riparian habitat supports a variety of wildlife, and presently is
kept alive by effluent released by Pima County sewage treatment facilities at
Roger and Ina roads. Effluent is a valuable water source for recharging the
groundwater along this reach of the river.
Marana is the boundary between the Middle and Lower Santa
Cruz River where the river loses its channel and spreads over
a large flood plain on its way to the Gila River. Marana is
also located at the confluence of three significant tributaries
of the Santa Cruz River: the Rillito River, Canada del Oro,
and Altar-Brawley Wash. Point of the Mountain near the
Portland Cement Plant was historically the last perennial water source for early
travelers before crossing the “90 mile desert” to the Gila River.
The Town of Marana now has a population of 26,725 people, covers an
area of 118 sq. miles, has seven Town parks, and is surrounded by large tracks of
protected open space, including Ironwood National Monument to the west,
Saguaro National Park to the south, and Tortolita Mountain Park to the east.
Within the town limits is the 2,500-
acre Tortolita Preserve. The 110,000
square foot Marana Municipal
Services, Customer Services,
Development Services, the Marana
Police Department and the Municipal
Courts—was dedicated 2005. | <urn:uuid:a0170d08-77d6-4538-8aa3-88622caec3f6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sellingtucsonrealestate.com/blog/the-history-of-marana-arizona/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00200-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951451 | 4,095 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Is the ocean really inside seashells
or is it all in your mind?
—PICHON DE LA ONCE
Behold and soak like a sponge.
I have discovered that the island of Puerto Rico
is the ears of Saru-Saru, a poet reputed to have lived
in Atlantis. On the day that the water kissed and
embraced and filled all the holes of that giant
missing link, this bard’s curiosity was the greatest
for he kept swimming and listening for causes.
He picked up rocks before they sank and blew
wind viciously into them. Finally he blew so hard
into a rock that he busted his ear drums; angry,
he recited poems as he tried turning into a bird
to fly to green Brazil. His left ear opened up
like a canal and a rock lodged in it. Rock attracts
rock and many rocks attached to this rock. It got
like a rocket. His ear stayed with it in a horizontal
position. Finally after so many generations he got
to hear what he most wanted: the sounds made by flowers
as they stretched into the light. Behold, I have
discovered that the island of Puerto Rico is the
ears of Saru-Saru.
Note to Poetry Out Loud students: This poem begins with an epigraph that must be recited. Omitting the epigraph will affect your accuracy score. | <urn:uuid:55f6c4ef-9b74-4377-98b7-cf1e62fe393e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poem/179547 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395621.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00073-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957768 | 297 | 2.9375 | 3 |
A dyer stirs multiple skeins in one of the vats with a long stick. A long-handled sieve for retrieving skeins rests beside him. Outside we can see long rinsing trays, most likely next to a river.
In the second image, fabric dyers reel lengths of fabric over large reels in both square and round tubs. Skeins are also dyed in this house, and can be seen hanging from dollies and racks on the walls. The tubs to the right have ledges overhanging them, upon with the skeins can be placed before dyeing and while waiting to be wrung. Buckets, barrels and long-handled sieves are also found in this dyehouse, as is a large tub of running water to the front left, used to fill the vats and rinsing tubs. Barrels of dyestuffs are shown to the rear.
< Previous | Next > | <urn:uuid:649d5d22-86f1-41a1-bfec-2fb843debb12> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.elizabethancostume.net/dyes/dyepics/diderot.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00137-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946196 | 194 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Open-source software is one of the great success stories of the past few decades. The Apache HTTP Server is the world's most popular Web server, Linux, has more than held its own against Unix and other proprietary operating systems, and Mozilla's Firefox browser has given Microsoft's Internet Explorer strong competition over the years.
Could the same philosophy -- the free and public dissemination of underlying code and specs, with multiple developers from disparate sources contributing to the design -- work for tech gadgets as well? Will we one day commonly use smartphones, netbooks or other gadgets that have been developed under an open-source model, maybe even preferring them over proprietary products like the iPhone?
After all, it's possible today to design a device -- including its electrical and mechanical architecture -- on a personal computer with CAD and schematic design software, order nearly all the components needed for it online, and then process the manufacturing of a prototype through a low-cost supplier. So the idea of organizing an open-source project online to build a device isn't far-fetched, nor is it one that requires millions in start-up funding.
But can such gadgets succeed against those developed by established commercial manufacturers with deep pockets? Mark Driver, a Gartner analyst who specializes in open source, thinks that open-source gadgets have the best chance in markets where the technology has matured to the point that it is commonplace.
"Open source is about commoditization," Driver says. "These products are taking a market where there really isn't a lot of concrete differentiation ... between what's out there and providing an alternative, which is exactly what open source does right. Linux got wildly popular not because it did something new; it's because it did what Unix did, but did it in a much more open fashion."
Defining open-source hardware
While there are numerous open-source computer and electronics components available today, only a handful of complete tech gadgets are being developed under an open-source philosophy. However, what exactly defines a hardware project as being open source remains ... well, open.
Generally, hardware that is "open sourced" means at least some of its plans have been made available to the public, thus allowing others to contribute to its development or, if permitted by its creator, to manufacture the device themselves or even modify the plans to create a new device.
Always Innovating Inc., for example, encourages outsiders to contribute to the development of its ARM-processor-based tablet/netbook hybrid, the Touch Book. Weighing 1.8 lbs., the device features a touch screen, a removable keyboard and a customized Linux operating system distribution. It can run for 10 hours on a single battery charge.
The schematics for the Touch Book are freely available on Always Innovating's Web site. "We also provide advanced support and consulting services for companies who want to build their own devices starting from our design," says Chief Operating Officer Alexandre Tisserant.
"This is the way we are following: Build reliable, innovative products, and by opening them, you will get the necessary feedback and contributions to improve them and design new ones faster and easier," Tisserant says.
That's the open-source ideal, anyway. On the flipside, "the worst-case scenario would be a project emerging using an open-source moniker, and it ends up being nothing more than a marketing gimmick," says Gartner's Driver. "If it's only from one vendor, or one source of support, those kind of things are the weakest forms of open source."
Who's in the market for open-source gadgets?
Unsurprisingly, the kind of user such gadgets are geared toward -- and appeal to -- the most is the tech hobbyist. The Touch Book has so far sold mainly to this crowd, says Tisserant, who says "several thousand" units have been sold. Yet his company is looking now to sell it to vertical markets. Because the Touch Book is highly customizable, it could easily be integrated into taxis or police cars, or connected to a hospital's private network as an "always on" portable device for medical staff, Tisserant says.
Then there's the Frankencamera, a Linux-based digital camera that can be programmed to control exposure, flash, focus settings and more. The camera is being developed by a team of graduate students at Stanford University and is meant for academic use.
"Specifically, we want to make this easy for graduate students doing research that could use a programmable camera, or undergraduate CS students doing courses in programming," says Andrew Adams, one of the lead developers of the Frankencamera. "We're graduate students ourselves, and this whole project is born out of our frustration with trying to program cameras to do what you want them to."
A consumer-oriented open-source project that has so far failed to catch on is the Neo FreeRunner smartphone and its supporting Linux-based platform, called Openmoko. The project was launched by Openmoko Inc., with both the operating system and the design plans for the internal electronics and housing available for others to use and improve on.
The company officially stopped supporting the project in April 2009, according to Product Manager William Lai. "As time and technology progressed, the funds involved in competing with the likes of Apple, RIM, Android, etc. were out of our scope, and we soon realized that the technology outpaced our ability to deliver on a timely basis," he says.
However, the Openmoko platform and FreeRunner phone are still being developed by a volunteer community. | <urn:uuid:c63e9d4e-9e86-4d4e-88fb-e76683759666> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/338317/open-source_hardware_takes_steps_toward_gadget_mainstream/?fp=4&fpid=1968336438 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00017-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962017 | 1,141 | 2.921875 | 3 |
This category contains links to the candidates and campaigns for President of the United States in the year 2000 AD. The President is the chief executive of the United States, with powers and duties enumerated under Article II of the United States Constitution. To be eligible for office, he or she must be a native-born citizen of the United States and a resident thereof for 14 years, and at least 35 years of age. The President and Vice-President are elected together. When Americans vote for President and Vice-President, it should be noted, they do not actually vote for them but for a candidate's electors, who subsequently meet in state capitals after the general election and cast the official votes. Each state is allowed as many electors as it has Senators and Congressmen; thus, California has 54 (52 members of the US House and 2 US Senators) and Delaware has 3 (1 member of the US House and 2 US Senators). A candidate who wins a state's vote, no matter by how small a margin, is entitled to all the electors from that state-- which impacts the manner in which Presidential campaigns are conducted.
Related categories 1
Concord High School: The 2000 Presidential Election Information Center
High school history project with information about candidate positions on health care and campaign finance reform.
Copernicus Election Watch
Educational resource for democracy, voting, and political history within the context of the 2000 U.S. presidential election.
JURIST - Presidential Election Law: Florida Recount and Other Issues
Extensive resource provides a timeline, FAQs, legal news, statutes and cases, departments and officials, lawsuits, documents, glossary and legal commentary.
Last update:May 6, 2016 at 6:11:37 UTC | <urn:uuid:530bf26e-6d9d-4423-a48f-3c909632aeb9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/United_States/Government/Elections/President/2000/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941588 | 352 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Linux never used 286 style segmentation for separating processes, or otherwise making the virtual memory interestingly segmented, but rather used 386 style paging from the beginning. Transfer to kernel mode (syscall) used to be a simple
int instruction which transfered execution according to the interrupt table and caused the CPU to enter the kernel mode (protection level 0). However, the CPU still had to reload segment descriptors to "learn" the new protection level and where the new segment is (although it was always the same dummy kernel mode segment which the CPU just "didn't know".).
AMD and Intel came forward with optimized instructions to make this process faster and this is what all operating systems on this platform use in reality.
Kernel code then has to do even more work to save registers on the stack and initialize them to new values, and this has not changed. But this is normally not understood to be a part of the system call process.
When system call is made, is previlege level checked using code
segment registers or control register are used?
The privilege level is obtained, not checked, from the new code segment as referenced through the interrupt table - or, in the optimized case, as pre-loaded into a MSR (a CPU register not accessible by non-kernel code).
Another way of saying the same is that the switch to level 0 happens automatically on CPU level, but the segment descriptors and/or MSRs need to be prearranged by the kernel in a way that really results in kernel executing the trap handler and not just a general protection fault. | <urn:uuid:68e58e44-1504-4813-99e5-e1595ac0854e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11380498/role-of-code-segment-registers-in-system-calls | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00087-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917134 | 323 | 2.921875 | 3 |
In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people was created to militate against segregation and widespread discrimination in the United States. The group was also established to fight racism and ensure that blacks received their constitutional rights.
Richert, Lucas Paul. "NAACP founded". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2008
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=2796, accessed 29 June 2016.] | <urn:uuid:c33c9e17-02db-4c8b-a5de-af6e35037e25> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=2796 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947914 | 102 | 3.9375 | 4 |
In this course I will show you how to create your own Story/Activity books, the way I
But why create an activity book?
There are many reasons:
Because you love writing and drawing
Because you feel you can create much more than just texts stories.
Because you wish to show your work to your students and try it out in class.
Because you wish to learn something new and exciting.
Because you want to try a new market.
There are more reasons, depending on the needs of a writer, so why don’t you just
add your own ones? Story/Activity books can be fun to create, so, even if you
only need that fun, it’s a great activity for you, the writer and artist.
Objective: Aspiring writers and artists will learn how to create a story for kids and enrich
it with illustrations and activities that cater to primary school children. The final product will look like a picture book
with activities that will educate and entertain the young readers.
Duration: There are 5 lessons within 5 weeks.
Prerequisites: Basic writing skills.
Class material: Instructor will use e mail to supply all material to student. No need to buy any book, but if the student wishes to have more sample material they can follow the suggestions
of the instructor.
Curriculum: In this 5-week course, you will learn how to create a story for kids, how to combine
the illustrations with the text, how to create the activities and finally, how to transform your word copy into a PDF file,
that is, an e book. The course will also instruct you on how to promote and sell
Lesson 1: The Story.
This lesson will look at how to craft and present a story for kids through fast and simple
Lesson 2: The illustrations.
In this section the student will learn how to combine text and illustrations
via the use of a computer.
Lesson 3: The book structure.
This lesson focuses on the book plan. The student will learn how to
compile the different parts of the book and create a Story/Activity book. There
is advice on the kind of activities that a story book can have, so that the student can create their own pages.
Lesson 4: The e book.
Finally, there is advice on how to transform the Word file into an
e book. All is free and a great fun to do.
Lesson 5: Promote your book.
In this section the student will learn how to market the book in a
variety of ways. There is information about reviewers, agents, publishers and
a lot of other recourses and help, such as publications and organizations related to children’s books.
Liana Metal, an MA
(Applied Linguistics) holder, has been teaching young children for over twenty
years, and during that time she has written a wide range of teaching material, fiction and non fiction for children and young
adults. She is currently writing articles and reviews for various publications,
both online and print ones, and creating e books. Her first site, http://lianametal.tripod.com, caters to all writers and artists, while her second site, http://liamet.tripod.com, is for e books. Both
sites offer free exposure to writers and artists.
Her latest children’s book is Achilleas’New Pet and can be viewed at http://liamet.tripod.com/achilleasnewpet
Email Liana Metal to register now: | <urn:uuid:3bac49a2-3540-4365-a7be-e5314b5e4437> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://liamet.tripod.com/id31.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00099-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919708 | 750 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Jazz Survivor: The Story of Louis Bannet, Horn Player of Auschwitz, by Ken Shuldman. London and Portland, OR: Vallentine Mitchell, 2005.
ISBN: 0-85303-476-1 (paper). Pp. 70. $18.50.
In the Museum of Jewish Heritage/A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City is displayed a large-bell Bb trumpet on permanent loan. The owner had been Louis Bannet. An inscription in the exhibit information informs the viewer that it was that actual trumpet that gave Bannet the strength to live through the unimaginable horrors of Auschwitz. Musicians often have a strong tie to their instruments but few can be credited with life-saving power. This and many other aspects of Louis Bannet’s life are effectively related by Ken Shuldman, but perhaps of even greater interest to readers of this Society is the examination of how jazz was embraced by one of Europe’s early proponents of this music.
Bannet, born in 1911 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, was a child prodigy whose chosen instrument was the violin, but intense professional competition drove the young musician to switch to the trumpet. He displayed an equal virtuosity on his new instrument. At some point after his 13th year young Bannet began to frequent a coffee house, which also doubled as a musician’s hiring hall, and in this rough waterfront district he obtained his first professional music experiences. The sailors and dockworkers brought many objects of world-wide trade including jazz records. Armstrong’s classic 1925 Hot Five recordings were among the treasures from the New World and Bannet quickly became completely absorbed in Armstrong’s new jazz vocabulary. While dates of his progress are not systematically recorded in this book, a photo dated 1928, shows a 17-year-old Bannet, trumpet in hand (a trumpet, not a cornet!), with Anton Swan and The Swantocker, the very first jazz group he was associated with. Bannet was well on his way to becoming the “Dutch Louis Armstrong,” as he became known in Europe during the next decade.
Only within the last several years have early jazz developments in Europe drawn the serious attention of music historians, and the same can be said of music during the Nazi period. What is of particular interest is the time frame of the availability of the American jazz recordings and the remarkable speed in which the music was disseminated and learned by Bannet and his European colleagues. Shuldman’s account of Bannet’s familiarity with the Armstrong Hot Five recordings indicates that he was studying them almost as soon as they were released. That his improvisational skills were honed enough to have been in a professional jazz band by 1928 also speaks to the speed in which this new music was absorbed by European musicians. Also of importance is the quick reception and acceptance by the general public. Clearly the new European jazz groups would not have been able to perform and develop had there not been a large enough audience to support those developments. Accounts of the musical interaction with Coleman Hawkins and the repertoire they performed is also revealing. At the height of his fame in the 1930s fronting his group, Louis Bannet’s Rhythm Five, the trumpeter received the thrill of his life. A knock on his door was followed by a raspy proclamation, ”So you’re the Dutch Louis Armstrong. Well, it’s nice to meet you; I’m the American one.” This tale is so full of the straightforward wit and warmth Armstrong was famous for, it’s hard to deny the veracity of it.
The bulk of this short study is biographical and detailed musical issues are not addressed to any great degree. This is an unfortunate shortcoming but Bannet’s story is fascinating in its own right. The insight it offers concerning the reception and development of jazz by European musicians is extremely valuable and the jazz community owes Ken Shuldman a great debt for that alone. For students of the Holocaust, this book also presents an inspiring story. Not for the faint of heart, the horrors of Auschwitz are revealed in the starkest light. Elie Wiesel relates an anecdote meeting the great trumpeter in his seminal holocaust book, Night. He mentions Louis, the distinguished musician from Holland, who was upset that the Nazis would not let him play Beethoven because Jews were prohibited from playing German music. It is ironic however, that in spite of a ban on “degenerate music,” which included jazz, Bannet and his Auschwitz band members regularly performed jazz for the Nazi officers and even for the birthday party of the notorious Dr. Josef Mengele. It is said that survivors have a certain personality that allows them to survive but certainly luck often plays a part. His “audition” for the Auschwitz band was held in a freezing cold room and when exhaustion and frost bitten hands of his fellow musicians resulted in their inability to play, they were instantly shot. Bannet however, spied a stove in the back of the large room, managed to work his way toward it and placing his hands on it, brought some warmth to his hands and mouth and played well enough to live another day.
Live he did. After the War and resuming his playing career, Louis Bannet emigrated to Canada where he flourished and became somewhat of a TV celebrity. In 2002, past the age of 90, Bannet died of cancer. There are scant references to his activities in the standard jazz reference works. The holder of the moniker, “The Dutch Louis Armstrong” certainly deserves better and Ken Shuldman’s brief but fascinating study is a step in the right direction. | <urn:uuid:5a5b78a0-0b06-4547-9b74-8d93ffce3b0f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.historicbrass.org/TheStacks/BookReviews/BookReviews2008/JazzSurvivor/tabid/297/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00147-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983217 | 1,193 | 2.765625 | 3 |
“Urgent action on a global scale is needed to alleviate the world’s oceans from the many pressures they face, and to protect them from future dangers that may tip them beyond the limits of their carrying capacity. ”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
2016 Theme: Healthy oceans, healthy planet
Plastic bottles and garbage from a nearby village wash on the shores of a river and then spill into the sea in Dili, Timor-Leste. UN Photo/Martine Perret
The ocean is the heart of our planet. Like your heart pumping blood to every part of your body, the ocean connects people across the Earth, no matter where we live. The ocean regulates the climate, feeds millions of people every year, produces oxygen, is the home to an incredible array of wildlife, provides us with important medicines, and so much more! In order to ensure the health and safety of our communities and future generations, it’s imperative that we take the responsibility to care for the ocean as it cares for us.
This year, the theme is Healthy oceans, healthy planet, and we’re making a special effort to stop plastic pollution.
Plastic pollution is a serious threat because it degrades very slowly, polluting waterways for a very long time. In addition, plastic pollution impacts the health of aquatic animals because animals including zooplankton mistake the microbeads for food. Scientists also fear health impacts for humans.
The United Nations will celebrate World Oceans Day 2016 and recognize the winners of the Annual World Oceans Day Oceanic Photo Competition at an event on 8 June 2016 at the United Nations Headquarters.
Why do we celebrate World Oceans Day?
- To remind everyone of the major role the oceans have in everyday life. They are the lungs of our planet, providing most of the oxygen we breathe.
- To inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean.
- To develop a worldwide movement of citizens for the ocean.
- To mobilize and unite the world’s population on a project for the sustainable management of the world's oceans. They are a major source of food and medicines and a critical part of the biosphere.
- To celebrate together the beauty, the wealth and the promise of the ocean. | <urn:uuid:bf6ffe6a-e8dd-4a2a-bd7c-a8a8ed74d929> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.un.org/en/events/oceansday/index.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90804 | 470 | 3.515625 | 4 |
The sail (tower) from the nuclear powered submarine ”Kursk” has been placed outside the church “Our Saviour on the Water” in Murmansk, where a memorial over sailors who have died in peace time will be raised.
The sail was put in place earlier this week, TV channel Tsentr reports. The unveiling ceremony is planned to take place on Russian Navy’s Day, which is celebrated on the last Sunday of July.
The Northern Fleet submarine “Kursk” sank with 118 sailors in the Barents Sea in 2000. As BarentsObserver reported, in March the sail was found rusting at a scrap metal ground in Murmansk. The discovery created much indignation amongst Russians, and Murmansk Oblast Governor Dmitry Dmitriyenko said he would take personal responsibility for raising of a monument over the sailors on “Kursk”.
Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Northern Fleet’s “Admiral Kuznetsov”, has finished repairs and is ready to leave the port of Murmansk. According to a Russian news agency, the vessel will sail to Syria.
A century and a half ago, Norway was home to roughly three thousand brown bears, the majority of bears in all of Scandinavia. By 1930, the bears were virtually extinct. Decades of aggressive management tactics and bounties had wiped out one of the area’s most iconic species.
Microplastics, the tiny plastic particles that are accumulating in marine waters and big lakes around the world, are now showing up in the Arctic waters south and southwest of Svalbard, Norway, a new study says.
REYKJAVIK: The climatic changes taking place in the Arctic are a call to action for the world. We must answer with more international cooperation and more research, says Tore Hattrem, State Secretary of Norway’s Foreign Ministry.
“Partnership should and shall shape the development of the Arctic, therefore cooperation is the starting point for our Arctic policy,” Vladimir Barbin, Senior Arctic Official and representative to the Arctic Council, said at the Arctic Circle 2015 assembly.
August 9th, the Barents Region celebrated the UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The day was commemorated in several parts of the region, including Karasjok in Northern Norway and Teriberka in Northwestern Russia.
Norway’s Foreign Minister Børge Brende has asked Russia for an explanation to the high number of asylum seekers coming to Norway via Russia. Syrian refugees that have lived in Russia for a long time, will be stopped on the border and sent back. | <urn:uuid:e65b3322-bc2c-41eb-bfd7-2068761d76d8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://barentsobserver.com/en/node/18512 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00024-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952799 | 563 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The Chandra observations of the bright portion of the moon detected x rays from oxygen, magnesium, aluminum, and silicon atoms. The x rays are produced by fluorescence when solar x rays bombard the moon's surface. The dashed line shows the moon's terminator when the observations were made. X rays detected in the dark region of the moon are actually from atoms in the foreground.
NASA / CXC / SAO / J. Drake et al. | <urn:uuid:6ee578d0-7a12-4e7a-8339-8537852af06d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.astronomy.com/sitefiles/resources/image.aspx?item=%7B20D24EB7-DE07-4668-A89B-47829F57A39F%7D | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.872677 | 91 | 3.75 | 4 |
The mitzvah of mezuzah is one of the most universally known mitzvos among non-observant and observant Jews alike. It is of such importance that it is mentioned twice in the recital of the Shema prayer, which we say multiple times daily. In fact, since it is the actual written Shema prayer that makes up the substance of the mezuzah, the mitzvah is doubly interrelated with the Shema — the description of the essence of a Jew.
The actual mitzvah of mezuzah is to write the first two chapters of the Shema on a kosher parchment scroll and attach it to the doorpost of one's home.1 This mitzvah requires great adherence since one who is diligent in its observance will extend the lives of oneself and one's family, while one who neglects it could G-d forbid do the opposite.2 One who constantly passes a mezuzah will be reminded of the oneness of Hashem and refrain from sinning. Mezuzah is also one of the only mitzvos that can be observed constantly, even while sleeping.
In addition, a dwelling with a mezuzah is guarded by our King in Heaven as He protects us from the outside of our homes, as opposed to the custom among mankind where the king remains indoors while the guards watch the doorway. However, one should not use the effect of protection as motivation to affix a mezuzah – it should be done because it is a commandment from Hashem.3
Others disagree with the notion that a mezuzah cannot be affixed with protection as the motivation since this is not the actual reward for fulfilling the mitzvah but a side (and natural) benefit.
However, those authorities require that the person acknowledge that they would fulfill the mitzvah of mezuzah with the same enthusiasm even if it did not provide protection.4
When one leaves his home, it is proper to place his hand on the mezuzah and some say, "G-d watches my leaving and entering."5 Others place the third finger on the word Shin Daled Yud (י"שׁד) written on the outside of the scroll and then kiss this finger. One ought not to touch the scroll unless in a case (as with a Torah) and should not remain in a house if one discovers there is no kosher mezuzah if alternative arrangements can be made.6
The mitzvah of mezuzah is incumbent on both men and women since it is constant, not time bound.7 In addition, one who fulfills the mitzvah of mezuzah is promised the reward of a long life, which applies to both genders.8 Although the mitzvah is also incumbent on women, a woman should not affix the mezuzos. If she did, they should not be taken down and put up again.9
All types of buildings are subject to the mitzvah of mezuzah, the exception being "non-honorable" edifices, like an outhouse or bathhouse).10 In addition, gates around cities and towns require mezuzah at the entrance if the population is only comprised of Jews.11 In the days when Jewish people were required to live in walled ghettos they did not place mezuzos on the entrance so as not to antagonize the non-Jewish population of the city.12
However, with the exception of the aforementioned examples, all buildings require mezuzos; even barns and chicken coops, provided there is not an overpowering stench.13 Shuls that are strictly utilized for prayer do not require mezuzos unless they contain a room for dwelling.14 In fact, in the Bais HaMikdash, none of the gates had mezuzos except for the one that led to the room that housed the High Priest during his Yom Kippur preparations, and this requirement lasted only during that week.15 The source for this is that the verse states "your house" needs a mezuzah, not the house of G-d. However, a Bais Medrash which is also used for learning should have a mezuzah that is affixed without a brocha.16
A dwelling needs four walls in order to require a mezuzah.17 However, as stated, a gateway also needs a mezuzah even though it does not have four walls. Both a sukkah and rooms on a ship do not require mezuzos.18 A room must have a minimum area of four cubits in order to require a mezuzah (16 square feet).19 The ceiling must also be more than 10 handbreadths (approximately 40 inches) from the floor.20
All inner rooms require mezuzos on the doorways, even if there is no actual door, as long as the doorway has both a doorpost and a lintel.21 This requirement comes from the Exodus from Egypt when the Jewish people were required to place sacrificial blood on these areas to be protected from the plague of the Death of the Firstborn.22 The height of both sides of a doorway do not need to be even, but the doorway only requires a mezuzah if the right doorpost is taller.23 If the left side is taller a mezuzah is affixed without a brocha.
The doorpost of an archway needs to be at least 10 handbreadths tall in order to require a mezuzah.24 A lintel that is not straight still requires a mezuzah because it is similar to an archway. A doorway that is split by a pole in the middle is counted as two separate doorways if both doors open to the pole. If the pole is only erected for decoration, and not for structural integrity, only one mezuzah is required.25
One who rents a house or room for less than 30 days outside the Land of Israel or one who stays in a hotel outside of Israel does not need to affix a mezuzah, but one who rents in Israel, even for less than 30 days is required to have mezuzos on the doorposts.26 This even refers to a situation when one rents from a non-Jew. A hotel owned by a Jew needs mezuzos on all of the rooms up for rent, even those that will be rented to non-Jews, since the mitzvah is incumbent on the owner.27
One who rents a room must affix a mezuzah at his own expense and cannot remove it when he leaves (although the Jewish owner must reimburse him).28 However, if the owner or new tenant is not Jewish he may remove the mezuzah unless the owner asks him to leave it for a new Jewish tenant.29
If one rents a home from a Jew who is not Torah observant, one should not leave the mezuzos when moving out, because the apartment might be rented to a non-Jew.30 If a non-Jewish tenant insists on having a mezuzah, one can affix a mezuzah for him.31
A garage that is only utilized to park cars does not need a mezuzah. If it is also used for storage and connected to a house, or there is no public street that separates it from a house, then one should affix a mezuzah without a brocha. If the garage is separated by a public street and is not used for storage, it does not require a mezuzah.32
A mezuzah must be written on parchment produced specially for writing mezuzos (there is no minimum or maximum size) and should preferably be written on one piece of parchment with a margin of ½ a fingernail width on all sides.36
The first two parshios of Shema must be written in order and not be missing a single letter or the mezuzah is possul with no remedy.37
The letters must be written like those of a Sefer Torah with the appropriate togim on the designated letters.38 There are several accepted styles – Bais Yosef, AriZal, the Baal HaTanya and Vellish (which is utilized exclusively by Sefardim and should not be used by Ashkenazim).39 The guidelines must be pre-etched in the parchment and all of the written lines should be evenly spaced.40
It is customary to write a mezuzah in 22 lines with only the last two words written on the last line.41 The line separating Shema and V'haya should have the words written from beginning to end, without a larger margin.42
The mezuzah should be written with the right hand and rolled from left to right.43 On the outside one should write the name י"שׁד opposite the separating line on the inside.44 Also the letter following the holy name of Hashem are written on the outside.
Due to unfortunate occurrence of unscrupulous proprietors of mezuzos, one should be careful to purchase mezuzos only from a reputable sofer to be sure they were written correctly.
When purchasing a mezuzah, one should see it unrolled in order to tell if it is shiny, which is a sign of a problematic, cheap mezuzah.
The minimum price for a reputable mezuzah is around $30. Otherwise, the mezuzah might be sold by an unauthorized dealer, written by a child who is not obligated in the mitzvah, written out of order, or the sofer might not have been mekadesh Hashem's name before writing the mezuzah or did not prepare the parchment or ink with the proper intentions.
One places the rolled up mezuzah in a case and fastens it to the doorway with a brocha that encompasses all mezuzos attached in the house at that time.45
The mezuzah is attached on the outside handbreadth of the doorpost at the beginning of the top 1/3 of height, but the placement is valid as long as the mezuzah is more than a tefach from the top on the right side facing the entrance.46
The doorpost must be attached before the mezuzah is attached.47
Mezuzos should be checked twice every seven years50 and many have the custom to check their mezuzos before the birth of a child or when one is G-d forbid experiencing a serious illness or problem, and some have the custom to check them yearly in the month of Elul.51
Since the mezuzah protects our spiritual atmosphere indoors, it is essential to have a mezuzah on every entry. In contrast, the menorah influences the outside world, so we place it at the exit of our homes where it can be noticed from the outside.52
There is a very strong parallel between the mitzvah of mezuzah and the holiday of Passover, when G-d commanded us to paint our doorposts with the sacrificial blood of the Paschal lamb to protect our homes from the plague of Death of the Firstborn.
Once we left Egypt, we were protected from the outside by Hashem's Cloud of Glory, just as Hashem stands guard outside our homes when our doorways are adorned with mezuzos.
May it be in this season of redemption, in the merit of adherence to the mitzvah of mezuzah, that we, too, will be led out of our current exile in a miraculous manner with the immediate coming of Moshiach and the ultimate Redemption.
1. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 288:1.
3. Oruch HaShulchan 288:3.
4. Likkutei Sichos 19, Parshas Eikev.
5. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 288:2, Rama.
6. Oruch HaShulchan 288:5.
7. Minchas Chinuch, Mitzvah 423:1.
8. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 288:1.
9. Be'er Moshe, Volume 2, 100.
10. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 286:1,4.
11. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 286:3.
12. Shach 186:7.
13. Taz 286:1.
14. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 286:3.
15. Oruch HaShulchan 286:17.
16. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 286:10.
17. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 286:6.
18. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 286:11.
19. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 286:13.
20. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 287:2, Rama.
21. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 286:17.
22. Oruch HaShulchan 287:2.
23. Oruch HaShulchan 287:4, Tur.
24. Oruch HaShulchan 287:11, Rambam.
25. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 286:21.
26. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 286:22.
27. Oruch HaShulchan 286:48.
28. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 291:2.
29. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 291:2, Rama.
30. Igros Moshe, Yoreh Deah 1:182.
31. Igros Moshe, Yoreh Deah 1:184.
32. Be'er Moshe, Volume 2, 82-85.
33. Be'er Moshe, Volume 2, 88.
34. Be'er Moshe, Volume 2, 93.
36. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 288:1-5.
37. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 288:3.
38. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 288:7.
39. Chabad Sefer Torah style.
40. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 288:8.
41. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 288:1.
42. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 288:13.
43. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 288:12.
44. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 288:15, Rama.
45. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 289:1, Rama.
46. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 289:2.
47. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 289:4.
48. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 289:6, Rama.
49. Minchas Yitzchok 7:70.
50. Shulchan Oruch, Yoreh Deah 291:1.
51. Chabad custom.
52. Shem MiShmuel 5674 | <urn:uuid:dd280d53-de18-4350-9bdb-15b57a1e53b5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kosherspirit.com/Article.asp?Issue=25&Article=347 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91732 | 3,321 | 2.53125 | 3 |
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
T HE following pages contain the description of a part of Africa hitherto unknown to Europeans, but which has recently been travelled over and explored by the Author. His journey was a tedious and a very anxious one, but happily brought to a close without loss of life or serious accident to any member of his large party, which altogether amounted to nearly forty men.
The result of this excursion has been to fill up that blank in our maps which, lying between the Cape Colony and the western Portuguese settlements, extends to the interior as far as the newly discovered Lake 'Ngami.
The country of the Damaras-warlike, pastoral Blacks-;vas in the first instance explored ; beyond them he found a broad tract, inhabited by aboriginal Hottenttots ; and, again, to the north of these, the Ovampo, a race of intelligent and kindly negroes, who are careful agriculturists, and live in a land of great fertility.
On his return southwards, a quick journey was made into the interior, near the line of the southern tropic, until a road, which had recently been travelled from the borders of the Cape Colony to Lake 'Ngami, was reached, and in this way a practicable route between the Lake and the Atlantic was proved to exist.
Few new objects of natural history were either collected or heard of, as the tract in question cocas for the most part a high barren plateau, that supported but little variety of either animal or vegetable life.
The journey may pcmaps produce a useful result, by indicating a very favourable opening to missionary enterprise, namely, among tile Ovampo. The writer has no wish to commit himself to extreme views either on this or on kindred subjects, but, if philanthropists continue anxious to promote African civilisation, the remarkable | <urn:uuid:c85189e9-efb8-47fa-85ac-d538ce0733c8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://galton.org/cgi-bin/searchImages/galton/search/books/south-west-africa/pages/narrative_0008.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00042-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969309 | 379 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Rollin King Found Legal Way to Avoid Fed's Regulations
(p. 25) Rollin W. King, a co-founder of Southwest Airlines, the low-cost carrier that helped to change the way Americans travel, died Thursday [June 26, 2014] in Dallas. He was 83.
. . .
The concept for Southwest came to Mr. King when he noticed that businessmen in Texas were willing to charter planes instead of paying the high fares of the domestic airlines.
At the time that Mr. King first proposed the idea to Mr. Kelleher over drinks, the federal government regulated the fares, schedules and routes of interstate airlines, and the mandated prices were high.
Competitors like Texas International Airlines, Braniff International Airways and Continental Airlines waged a protracted legal battle before Southwest could make its first flight. By not flying across state borders, Southwest was able to get around prices set by the Civil Aeronautics Board.
For the full obituary, see:
(Note: ellipsis, and bracketed date, added.)
(Note: the online version of the obituary has the date June 28, 2014, and has the title "Rollin King, Texas Pilot Who Helped Start Southwest, Dies at 83.") | <urn:uuid:6bab6e40-390b-4670-b501-a73df4d31df1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.artdiamondblog.com/archives/2014/08/_for_the_interv.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00120-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959702 | 259 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Our definition of a Machine Gun is a shoulder fired automatic rifle firing rifle caliber ammunition. The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) was developed near the end of WWI and is a good example of an early machine gun. Because of the problem of controlling recoil and muzzle climb using full powered ammunition in automatic fire, shoulder fired Machine Guns didnít become significant until late WWII . The German development of the MP43, chambered for the 8mm Kurz intermediate cartridge, paved the way for the automatic assault rifle of today.
This page is arranged by country of origin and then commercial/military machine guns. Navigate the Price Charts by clicking the thumbnail image or highlighted title for full-screen charts and use the arrow icons to move within chart groups. | <urn:uuid:4d874965-e66c-46e7-91a9-0237fb8578c9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.machinegunprices.com/html/machine_guns.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00013-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912739 | 154 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Torque is defined as the force multiplied by the lever arm.
Lever arm is the distance of line of force acting from the axis of rotation.
To tear a paper towel of a full roll, the maximum amount of torque applied on the towel is equal to product of its radius and applied force. As the smaller roll paper towel has a smaller radius, for the same applied force, the greater amount of torque would needed to tear it. Thus, it is easier to tear a paper towel off a full roll than off a used small roll. | <urn:uuid:89883e54-d661-40aa-91f1-0d059f11ae3f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/an-introduction-to-physical-science-12th-edition-chapter-3-solutions-9780618935963 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00177-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951252 | 111 | 3.234375 | 3 |
A team of researchers from Universite Laval and CHU de Quebec identified unusually high levels of a certain protein in the brains of people suffering from essential tremor (ET), a movement disorder that affects 4% of the adult population. The discovery, the details of which were published in the most recent edition of the journal Movement Disorders, could lead to an effective treatment for this neurological condition, which is 10 times more prevalent than Parkinson's disease.
As its name suggests, ET causes tremors in various parts of the body - usually the arms, head, and vocal chords. Although onset most often occurs after age 50, cases of ET in childhood have been documented. Over 10 million Americans reportedly suffer from the condition, whose exact cause remains unknown.
"Even though it's not a lethal degenerative disease, essential tremor still poses a serious problem to sufferers, making it extremely difficult to perform basic everyday activities," explains lead researcher Frédéric Calon, a professor at Université Laval's Faculty of Pharmacy.
Calon and his colleagues had access to a brain bank developed more than 40 years ago by University of Saskatchewan professor Ali Rajput to test their hypothesis that the brains of ET sufferers show an overabundance of certain proteins. The researchers focused on two proteins in particular - LINGO1 and LINGO2 - which, according to some genetic studies, may be linked to the movement disorder. They measured the concentrations of these proteins in the cerebellums of nine subjects with essential tremor, 10 Parkinson's subjects, and 16 healthy subjects.
Their analyses revealed a concentration of LINGO1 in the cerebellar cortex of people suffering from essential tremor twice that of healthy subjects. This overexpression was even more pronounced in people who had been living with the condition for over 20 years. These differences were not observed in the subjects with Parkinson's.
"Other studies have shown that LINGO1 slows neuroregeneration following damage to the brain or spinal cord," points out Calon, who is also affiliated with CHU de Québec Research Center. "So we believe that inhibiting this protein could be a promising treatment avenue to explore for essential tremor. The drugs currently prescribed to people suffering from this neurological condition were developed 30 years ago and their effectiveness is limited." | <urn:uuid:16e3a11d-5649-4fec-a542-38e3ccd2083e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/273547.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00066-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963026 | 472 | 3.375 | 3 |
Habit formation is enabled by gateway to brain cellsDecember 21, 2011 in Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
A brain cell type found where habits are formed and movement is controlled has receptors that work like computer processors to translate regular activities into habits, researchers report.
"Habits, for better or worse, basically define who we are," said Dr. Joe Z. Tsien, Co-Director of the Brain & Behavior Discovery Institute at Georgia Health Sciences University. Habits also provide mental freedom and flexibility by enabling many activities to be on autopilot while the brain focuses on more urgent matters, he said.
Research published in the journal Neuron shows that NMDA receptors on dopamine neurons in the brain's basal ganglia are essential to habit formation. These receptors function like gateways to the brain cells, letting in electrically charged ions to increase the activity and communication of neurons. Their pivotal role reminds neuroscientist Dr. Lei Phillip Wang of a computer's central processing unit. "The NMDA receptor is a commander, which is why it's called a master switch for brain cell connectivity," said Wang, the study's first author.
To determine their role in habit formation, GHSU researchers used a genetic trick to selectively disable the NMDA receptors on dopamine neurons and found, for example, mice could be trained to push a lever for food without it becoming an automatic response. If they were full, they wouldn't push the lever. But just as humans can't refrain from flipping a light switch during a power outage, satiated mice with receptors could not pass up the lever.
When they compared the firing of the dopamine neurons in regular versus the mutant mouse, they found a dramatic spike in response to a cue that signals food in the normal mouse and a significantly dampened one in the mutant, Wang said. "We think this reduced response is probably sufficient for other types of learning, but not for habit learning," he said.
The finding that the receptors are critical to turning learned behavior into a habit provides new direction for therapy to better treat diseases such as Parkinson's, which in addition to the hallmark shaking, causes the loss of some old habits and impedes the ability to make new ones. "When Parkinson's disease begins to kick in, your memory of habits begins to go away, often before the uncontrolled movement becomes prominent," Tsien said.
It also opens the door to speeding up the process of forming good habits and, possibly, selectively removing bad ones such as drug addiction or smoking since the same circuits are seemingly involved in both.
"If you know cell circuits controlling a specific habit, it puts you in a better position to devise strategies to hit different points and selectively facilitate the formation of a good habit and maybe even reverse a bad one," Tsien said.
The fact that their mutant mice did not have motor deficits like Parkinson's patients fits with the fact that a precursor to dopamine can reduce motor symptoms in these patients, at least for a while, but does little to help cognitive function, Tsien said. Previous research indicating that just dousing a brain with dopamine doesn't rescue the ability to form habits led GHSU researchers to pursue the more sophisticated regulation that must enable habit formation.
"Dopamine neurons regulate circuits all over the brain but they need to be regulated too," Tsien said. "The questions become how and whether regulation of dopamine neurons is important. Our study shows it's important and it's through the NMDA receptors." Part of that regulation includes proper sequencing: so a habit plays out the same way every time, Tsien noted, much like standard lettering on a keyboard enables typing rather than confusion.
Dopamine is a chemical that helps brain cells communication. Glutamate, another neurotransmitter, brings information to the dopamine neurons to enable learning and memory but the neurons must travel through the gateway NMDA receptors to get properly categorized, the researchers noted.
As pervasive and efficient as habits are, these automatic memories that enable driving a car or typing, are not well studied or understood. "We tend not to pay attention to them because they are so spontaneous and automatic," said Tsien. GHSU scientists want to better understand why, for example, certain actions move from purposeful acts to automatic ones. They also want to know if one way NMDA receptors work is by causing dopamine neurons to release dopamine at the right time, amount and places in the brain.
Habits are generally characterized as procedural rather than declarative memories, such as those of events, people and places, things that require active thought. Declarative memories are more typically lost in Alzheimer's while habits often remain intact, at least for a while.
Provided by Georgia Health Sciences University
"Habit formation is enabled by gateway to brain cells" December 21, 2011 http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-habit-formation-enabled-gateway-brain.html | <urn:uuid:b9b2efb1-6237-430f-bf10-01da4b05fcbe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://medicalxpress.com/print243693199.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00065-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945983 | 1,002 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Egyptian Myth and Legend, by Donald Mackenzie, , at sacred-texts.com
In the Streets--The Temple of Ptah--Glimpses of Life--A Dispute--Old Age is honoured--A Dignified Nobleman--High--born Ladies--Racial Types--Bearers of Temple Offerings--In the Slums--Artisans at Work--The Marketplace--Fresh Fish on Sale--On the Quays--Sailors from Crete--Pharaoh's Soldiers--Arrest of the Tax Collectors--A Significant Folk Tale--The Wronged Peasant--His Appeal to the judge--Eloquent Speeches--Honoured by His Majesty.
As we gaze upon the scenes depicted in tombs, read the inscriptions, and piece together fragments of papyri containing old legends, we are afforded vivid glimpses of life in the Old Kingdom. The great city of Memphis is conjured up before us; its gates lie open, and armed guards permit us to enter. We walk through the crowded streets, pausing now and again to gaze upon the people as they come and go, or, perchance, we loiter in front of a yard or workshop, watching the busy artisans plying their trades.
We pass through a main thoroughfare. Most of the houses are built of brick; the dwellings of the poor are of wattles daubed with clay. . . . Now we enter a spacious square, in the centre of which towers a sublime statue of the Pharaoh. The sun is hot, although it is yet early forenoon, and we seek the shadow of that vast dominating building round which the city has grown up. It is the stone temple of the god Ptah, grandly severe in outline and fronted by two noble pylons of massive
proportions. We peer through the gateway as we pass. A procession of priests is crossing an inner court on which lie the broad shadows of great square pillars set widely apart, and supporting immense blocks of limestone. One is impressed by the air of mystery and solemnity which pervades the temple interior.
We can seat ourselves here on the stone bench and watch the crowds pouring from the streets. Memphis is a wonderfully quiet city. You hear a constant hum of voices; it murmurs like a great beehive. But there is no clatter of traffic, for the streets are devoid of vehicles, and horses are as yet unknown in the land of Egypt. Peasants from the country are leading their asses laden with salt, corded bales, rushes for basket makers, bundles of papyrus stalks, and hard stones. Great burdens are carried on the shoulders of labourers; even boys stagger under heavy loads.
Everyone is scantily clad. Men of the lower classes wear only a loincloth, while those of higher social rank have short kilts of linen which are strapped round their waists with leather belts. Women of all ranks are gowned to the ankles, and ladies have skirts so narrow that they walk with short steps, but yet not ungracefully.
Half-naked the men may be, yet it is not difficult to distinguish the various classes. There is no mistaking the labourer, even although his burden has been delivered, or the tradesman, for he carries his tools. Here is a busy merchant knitting his brows, and there a bland-faced scribe with dry, pouting lips and peering eyes set in cobwebs of wrinkles. A few merry students are walking leisurely towards the temple with papyrus rolls under their arms.
A loud clamour of voices in dispute has broken out at a street corner. Two carriers have collided, and the
one who has fallen is an Egyptian; the other is a tall negro. The smaller man leaps to his feet. Insult has been added to injury, for the alien is but. a slave, and, fuming with anger, he throws himself on the black man, who is hampered by his load, and belabours him with his fists. A crowd collects, and its sympathy is evidently with the Egyptian. But suddenly a few city guards rush forward; they smite the combatants with their staves, force them apart, and cause them to hasten away. The crowd disperses speedily, and order is again restored.
Note the studied politeness of the greater number of pedestrians. Age is highly honoured, young men stand aside to allow their seniors to pass; three lads have risen from a shaded seat near to us to make room for an old man who is frail and breathless and desires to rest a little ere he enters the temple.
Now the moving crowd breaks apart, for somebody of importance is coming up the street. He is a nobleman and a royal official of high rank. In. the Court he is "Keeper of the Royal Robes" and "Sandal-bearer to the Pharaoh". He is also one of those great judges who sit in the Hall of justice. In his youth he was a college friend of the monarch's, and is now privileged at Court ceremonies to kiss the royal toe instead of the dust on which it trod. He owns a large estate, and has much wealth and influence. As he walks past, the pedestrians salute him respectfully with uplifted arms. He makes no response; he appears to be oblivious to their presence. Mark his imperious air and lordly gait. . . . His kilt is finely embroidered; the upper part of his body is bare; on his head he wears a great stiff wig which falls down behind over his shoulders, protecting his neck from the hot sun. He is square-chested and muscular; he walks erect, with tilted chin. His face is drawn and severe; he
has firmly set, drooping lips, and his eyes are stern and proud. He is obviously a man accustomed to command and to be obeyed. . . . A servant shuffles after him carrying his sandals and water bottle.
He has just acknowledged with a curt bow the profound obeisance of that rich merchant. But now he meets an equal in the middle of the square--Imhotep, Chief Architect to the King. Ere they speak they both bow gravely, bending their backs, with hands reaching to their knees. Then they converse for a few moments, salute one another again, and turn gravely away.
Some high-born ladies have gathered in the shade. Two carry bunches of lotus flowers, and the others smell them with appreciation. Their faces are refined and vivacious, and one is "black but comely", for she is a Nubian by birth. How they chatter as they flicker their broad fans! Their white gowns are elaborately embroidered in colours, and they all wear sandals, for the builders have left much grit in the streets. Their wigs are drawn low on their foreheads, round which they are clasped by graven bands of silver and gold. Gems sparkle in their necklaces, which are of elaborate design, and one or two wear their wigs set well back to display heavy car-rings, which are becoming fashionable. A handsome girl is wearing a broad gold armlet which came from Crete. The others examine it with interest, and when they break into laughter, displaying gleaming white teeth, the girl looks sideways in confusion, for they tease her about her far-travelled lover who gifted her that rare ornament. Now they saunter in pairs across the square; they are going down to the quays to sail on the Nile.
There is a variety of racial types about us. The southern Egyptians are almost black, those from the centre of the kingdom are brown, and the Delta people
have yellow skins. That bearded man who has just gone past is a Semite from Arabia; and here comes a soft-featured Syrian, walking with an oblique-eyed Sumerian from Babylonia. These tall negroes are Nubian mercenaries, who were taken captive in a frontier war. Of late the stone builders have been purchasing them in large numbers, for they have great muscular strength and make excellent labourers.
There is no mistaking the awkward, wide-eyed peasant who came to the market with salt, and is now surveying the great city of wonderful buildings and endless streets.
That red-haired man who is hurrying past is an Amorite; he came south to barter rugs for corn. He looks behind with an ugly scowl-a carrier has shouted something after him, because an Egyptian peasant dislikes a man who reminds him of red-haired Set, the slayer of Osiris.
Now here comes a handsome stranger who is exciting much interest. Men and women turn round to look after him. Children regard him with wonder. Not only is he taller than the majority of Memphites, but he is distinguished by his lightly coloured hair and his strange blue eyes. Some would fain know if his cheeks are a natural red or smeared with face paint. No one doubts whence he came. He is one of the fair Libyans, and he is evidently a man of some importance, for even royal officials acknowledge his salutations.
Ere we turn away, let us watch that little procession of young peasants walking past. They are bearers of offerings, and are going to the temple. One lad has shouldered a live calf, another brings a bundle of papyrus stalks, and a third has a basket of flour upon his head. The girls carry bunches of flowers, doves in pairs, and tame pelicans. One or two calves are led by boys. Little
notice is taken of the peasants. Processions of similar character are seen daily in Memphis.
We had better cross over quickly, for here comes a great herd of unwilling goats driven by shouting peasants who wield their staves rather freely, nor care whether they miss a goat and strike a pedestrian. The city guards are watching them with interest, for they know their men.
Now turn down this narrow twisting street. Houses are lower here, and some are built with brick, but most of them are constructed of clay-plastered wickerwork. Why not enter this little dwelling? The door lies open, and there is nobody within. Man and wife labour in a potter's yard. The furniture consists of one or two tough stools, a low bed over which hangs a gnat-protecting net, and here and there are a few jars and pots of coarse pottery. Within the window lattice a bunch of lotus leaves is drying in the sun; a cut of salted fish hangs on the wall; a flint knife lies on the floor. The house is used mainly as a sleeping apartment, and if there is a baby it is near the mother in the potter's yard.
Outside, a few children are playing a curious game, which appears to be an imitation of a temple ceremony. Wives of artisans sit gossiping in the shade of a brick building; some are sewing, and others are cutting vegetables which they have brought from the market. Two girls go past with water pots on their heads.
We have glimpses, as they walk on, of long narrow lanes of small and low-roofed houses. There is evidently much congestion in the poorer quarters of the city. Look through that open door and you will see an industrious family. A widow and her three daughters are spinning and weaving fine linen, which might well be mistaken for silk.
Here is a brickyard. Labourers are mixing the clay; others shape the bricks with a binding of straw and lay them out to dry. Carriers come for those which are ready, and take heavy loads in two slings suspended from poles which they lift upon their shoulders. An overseer hastens them on, for the builders cannot be kept waiting.
Farther on is a stoneworker's yard. Under an awning squat several skilled artisans who are engaged making vessels of alabaster and porphyry. The process is slow and arduous. One has shaped and polished a handsome jar with fluted lip and narrow neck, and is hollowing it out with a copper-tipped drill which is fed with ground emery. He pauses for a moment to wipe the perspiration from his forehead. and remarks to a fellow: "This is certainly a handsome vessel." The other looks up and surveys it critically. "It is your masterpiece," he remarks, with a smile, and then goes on drilling a large shallow milk bowl.
Two men are cutting a block of porphyry with a copper saw, while an apprentice supplies the emery, and relieves now one and then the other. See how skilfully those labourers are levering a granite boulder into position; it is mounted on a rounded wooden cradle, and slewed this way and that. A lad is gathering wedges with which to raise it up. One or two naked boys, squatted in a shady corner, are watching the proceedings with interest. They are going to saw stone too, when they grow strong.
We enter another street and our ears are assailed by the clamour of metal workers. It is a noisy quarter. Bang, bang, go the hammers on a large sheet of copper. One would be deafened if he stayed here long. Passersby twitch their eyes and foreheads and hurry on. Look
at these naked men kneeling round the blazing furnace, puffing their cheeks and blowing through long pipes. No Egyptian inventor has yet contrived a mechanical bellows. Now the glowing metal is pulled from the furnace, and a dozen exhausted workers rise, with their blowpipes in their hands, coughing and rubbing their eyes, to wait until the hammermen require them again.
Here are goldsmiths at work. A man is weighing precious metal in a balance, and a scribe sits in front of him making careful records on a sheet of papyrus. Near by are men with clever fingers and keen eyes, who engrave and pierce little pieces of gold and silver, shape ear-rings and necklaces, and hammer out sheets of gold which are to be inscribed with hieroglyphics. An overseer moves to and fro from bench to bench and artisan to artisan, surveying everything that is being done with critical eyes.
So we pass from street to street, here watching potters at work, there sculptors and carvers of wood and ivory, and anon the sandal makers and those deft leather cutters who provide gentlemen with slitted network to suspend on the back of their kilts for sitting upon.
Now we reach the principal marketplace. The scene is animated and intensely human. Merchants are squatted beside their stalls, some drowsing in the heat while they await purchasers, and others gesticulating excitedly at bargain making. There is a good deal of wrangling, and voices are often raised in dispute, while friends gather in knots and chatter and laugh or engage in lively argument. Some make purchases with ring money, but the majority engage in barter. Here a merchant has displayed a fine collection of vases and bowls. A lady surveys his wares critically and shakes her head over the prices he demands; but he waits patiently, for he knows
she is tempted to purchase and notes that she always returns to a particular porphyry jar of exquisite design.
A woman of the working class leans over a basket of fish, and doubts if they are quite fresh. The vendor lifts one, presses it with his fingers, and smiles to her. "Caught this morning," he says. She decides to have it for her husband's dinner, and gives in exchange a piece of red pottery. Another woman barters a small carved box for ointment and perfume, while a man gives a fan for a bundle of onions.
A steward from a nobleman's house passes from stall to stall, accompanied by two servants, making numerous purchases, because several guests of note are coming to the evening meal. He is welcomed, although a hard bargainer, for he pays with money.
We catch, as we turn away, a soothing glimpse of the broad blue river, and turn towards it, for the streets are dusty and hot, and we know the air is cooler beside the quays. We cross an open space in which are piled up the cargoes of unloaded boats. Here come half a dozen foreign sailors who are going sightseeing. They also intend to make private purchases for their friends at home. You can tell by their pants and characteristic "wasp waists" that they are Cretans. They are short of stature and slim and have sharp features like the Delta coast dwellers, and their movements are active. Their dark hair is pleated in three long coils which fall over their shoulders, and they affect small coloured turbans. They all wear armlets, which are greatly favoured in the distant island kingdom.
A company of Pharaoh's soldiers are marching towards the great limestone fortress. They are naked, save for their loincloths, and about half of them are archers; the others are armed with long spears and
A SEATED SCRIBE
From the limestone statue in the Louvre, Paris
AN OLD KINGDOM OFFICIAL
The name "Sheikh-el Beled" (village chief) was given to the statue by the Arabs on account of its resemblance to a familiar specimen of that modern functionary
From the wooden statue in the Cairo Museum
carry wooden shields, square at the bottom and arching to a point at the top. They go past with a fine swing, although they have been drilling all forenoon on an open space two miles southward of the city.
Yonder are boatbuilders at work. The Cretan traders have brought them a fresh supply of seasoned timber as well as a raft of drifted logs from Lebanon. Wood is scarce and dear in Egypt, and watchmen are on duty in the yard day and night.
Three commodious river boats are being constructed. The work is well advanced, for the carpenters are fitting in the benches, which are being pierced and prepared for jointing on trestles by men who sit astride them. The artisans are skilled and active, and the overseers who direct operations are easily recognized; they carry long staffs in their right hands and constantly urge on the men.
But what is happening yonder in front of the Government buildings? A large crowd has assembled, and the jeers and roars of laughter indicate that something of amusing character is in progress. We press forward to find that the city guards have made several arrests, and are hauling their protesting prisoners through the doorway. The spectators are delighted to see "the tables turned", for these are their oppressors--the tax collectors--who are being taken before the Pharaoh's accountants so that their accounts may be audited. There have been several complaints of late of extortionate dealings and dishonest transactions. In a large hall within we see the stern auditors kneeling at their low desks, on which are piled the official records. Scribes record the proceedings. Each arrested man crouches on his knees, and is held firmly by a guard while he is sharply questioned and his accounts are checked. All his private
papers have been seized; he must explain every entry and prove that he is a man above suspicion. It is a rough-and-ready, but effective, manner of doing business. Punishments for dishonesty or oppression are sharp and peremptory.
The Pharaoh is the protector of all his subjects great and small. A poor man may suffer a great wrong and find himself unable to have it righted even in the Hall of justice; but if the great monarch is appealed to, he will prove to be no respecter of persons, and visit the wrongdoer with punishment of great severity.
A tale has come down the ages which was often related in the dwellings of poor and great alike, to show how Pharaoh might espouse the cause of the humblest man in the kingdom. Scribes recorded it on papyri, and fragments of these still survive.
Once upon a time a peasant had his dwelling in the Fayum, and it was his custom to load his ass with nitre and reeds, salt and stones, and seeds and bundles of wood, and drive it to a town in the south, where in the marketplace he exchanged what he had brought for other things that he and his family required. He began to be prosperous.
One day, when it was nigh to harvesttime, he journeyed townwards and reached the estate of a great royal official named Meritensa. As he passed through it he came to the farm of Hamti, a feudal tenant. The farmer saw him approach, and to himself he said: "May the god permit me to rob the peasant of his ass and its burden. I have need of salt."
The path along the river bank was exceedingly narrow, for Hamti had sowed much land. Between his corn and the water there was scarcely the breadth of a man's body.
Said the farmer to one of his servants: "Bring me a rug from within." The man ran to Hamti's house and came back with a rug, which was spread out upon the path, and it reached from the corn to the river edge.
The peasant drove his ass along the narrow way, past the corn, and when he drew nigh, the farmer called to him, saying: "Observe where you are going; do not soil my rug."
"I will do according to your will," remarked the peasant, "and avoid troubling you."
So he smote his ass and turned it inland to pass round the field. But the farmer would not be satisfied with that even. He shouted with an angry voice, saying: "Would you dare to trample upon my corn? There is no path that way."
"What else can I do?" remonstrated the peasant; "you prevent me from using the path by laying a rug upon it."
As he spoke his ass began to eat the grain, and the farmer seized it and said: "I will take this animal in payment for the damage it has done."
The peasant cried indignantly: "What? first you close the path against me, and now you seize my ass because it has taken a few ears of barley. Dare not to wrong me on this estate; it belongs to the just Meritensa, the great judge, who is a terror to all evildoers in the kingdom. Well you know that I speak truly. Do not imagine that you can oppress me on the land of such a good and high nobleman."
But the farmer laughed. "Heard you not," he asked, "the maxim which says: 'A peasant is esteemed only by himself?' Know now, too, that I am even Meritensa, the judge, of whom you have spoken. I will deal with you here and now."
Having spoken thus, the farmer seized a scourge and lashed the peasant fiercely, seeking to drive him away. But the wronged man refused to depart. His body ached with many wounds. He waited about all day, but neither by threat nor tearful appeal could he prevail upon the farmer to give him back his ass and the burden it carried.
Then the peasant hastened towards the dwelling of Meritensa. He waited the coming forth of that great lord, sitting patiently beside the wall gate. Hours went past, and at length he saw Meritensa walking out to step into a boat at the river side.
"Hail to thee, my lord!" he called. "Bid one of your servants to hear the tale of my wrong."
As the man desired, so did the nobleman do. He bade a scribe to converse with the peasant, who related how he had been wronged by Hamti.
So it happened that, when sitting in the Hall of justice next morning, Meritensa repeated the accusations which the peasant had made against the farmer. The other judges heard, and then said:
"It is our rule here that these peasants should bring witnesses. We know their ways. If it is proved that the farmer stole some nitre and salt, he can be ordered to make payment, or else he can be scourged. But we must first hear evidence to confirm what is said by this peasant fellow."
Meritensa made no reply. He was indignant at the other judges, and scorned to discuss the matter with them any further. He decided to advise the wronged man what to do.
But the peasant could not find witnesses, and again he waited the coming forth of the good judge. Then he praised him with a loud voice, saying: "Thou art
mighty among the mighty ones and the good friend of poor men. May fair winds waft thee on the lake of truth; may no wave smite thee or any terror come nigh. Thou art a father to the fatherless, and a husband to the widow and a brother to the girl in need. I laud thy name, for thou dost give excellent counsel without desire of reward. Thou art the enemy of the wrongdoer and the lover of justice. My cry thou didst hear, and thou hast permitted me to speak. Thou art esteemed by those who are worthy. Now show me mercy and undo my wrong; consider my prayer, enquire regarding me, and thou wilt find that I have been plundered."
Meritensa was on his way to the palace, and he repeated unto Pharaoh what the peasant had said, and related how he had been robbed by the farmer.
His Majesty said: "This man hath great eloquence. See that his wrong is not righted for a little time yet, and arrange that all his fine speeches are recorded by your scribes. I should like to hear them word by word. Meantime see that his wife and his children do not want for food."
The peasant was given a supply of bread each day, and Meritensa arranged that his wife and children should also be supplied with food in abundance.
Daily did the wronged man wait the coming forth of the noble, whom he addressed with great eloquence and poetic fervour. The scribes recorded all the words of his mouth. But Meritensa pretended not to heed him, and he even had him beaten.
Nine times did the peasant make appeal to the judge, and at length two servants went and spoke to the man, who, when he saw them approach, feared that he was about to be scourged once again. But the words which they spake for their lord were:
"You have no cause to be afraid because you addressed the judge these many times. The Pharaoh has read your speeches and has praised them, and you will be rewarded."
Meritensa then caused his scribes to take down the evidence of the peasant regarding the robbery of his ass and its burden of nitre and salt, and he laid the document before His Majesty.
Pharaoh said: "I cannot attend to this matter. Consider it yourself and see that justice is done."
Meritensa then dispatched his officers to the farm, and he caused Hamti's house and all his goods to be confiscated and given unto the peasant.
All that was done was confirmed and approved by the Pharaoh, who commanded that the eloquent peasant should be brought to the palace. His Majesty took delight in his speeches and honoured him greatly, for he caused rich dainties from the royal table to be sent unto the man and his family. | <urn:uuid:888a324f-6488-4974-b01e-0a449df723c5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sacred-texts.com/egy/eml/eml12.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396455.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975378 | 5,737 | 2.5625 | 3 |
It has often been repeatedly said that India is a land of ‘Unity in Diversity’. Though this apparently sounds as a contradiction in terms but that is what we have always cherished for and have even demonstrated as and when occasion arose.
The diversity in the country has several facts. There are several religions, several communities and castes; several languages and different life-styles in different regions.
By the very fact of these different life-styles we easily distinguish between a Bengali from a Punjabi’ a Southerner from a Northerner, and of course community wise — a Hindu from a Muslim.
With these apparent diversities we have constantly to face problems. These are asterism, regionalism and linguist. These create divisions among people.
The divisions are rather deep-rooted too. Though much has been done and much has happened in removing the caste divisions but still the discrimination on the basis of castes continues.
The upper castes — the Brahman, Kshatrias and Vaishs are still not completely reconciled to a total alignment with the backward and the scheduled castes. So much so that evens the constitution of India grants reservation to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
That having been made a part even the constitution, this discrimination keeps on continuing and successive governments have gone on extending the time-limit of these reservations in the matter Rudiment to government services or selection to technical courses.
Religion has been a great dividing force of the Indian community. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians and even Buddhists have their separate religious sects and different tenets of religion.
Regionalism also raises its ugly head at times and divides the interest of people either in favour or against people of the other region. Every region has its own manners, customs, food habits and dress and can easily be distinguished by these from the others.
Then there are divisions on the basis of languages. There are so many languages — to start from the north — Dogri, Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Oriya, Kannada, Konkani,Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and some more.
The protagonists of all these languages promote their language and are not prepared to accept their language as in any way inferior to any other. And true it is that literature of a very high order has been produced in all these languages. Hindi has been accepted as the official language but not as the lingua franca of the country. Conflicts are going on, on this account.
In spite of all these basic diversities, one comes across a peculiar sense of unity among all the people of this vast country in the matter of religious beliefs and gills. If there is a Kumbh mela either at Allahabad or at Haridwar people from all parts of the country would congregate in large numbers.
Bengalis throng the streets Varanasi or Mathura. Even Hindus visit the Dargah of hwaja Salim Chishti or the Dargah of Dewa in U. Pand during the Guru Pooja on the Kartiki full moon, Hindus and Sikhs all congregate at the Gurdwaras and partake in their’ Langars’ — the congregational meal.
The greatest unity has been demonstrated arrionn the people whenever there has been a foreign invasion challenging the frontiers of our country whether it was the Chinese aggression in the year 1962, or the Pakistan aggression in 1965 or 1971 when India fought a war with Pakistan to liberate Bangladesh. During the recent warlike conflict in the Kargil Sector with Pakistan, the whole country rose up in unison and demonstrated the true national spirit of unity. The Indian psyche gets surcharged with the sense of unity and integrity in such times of challenge which in itself is a great comforting factor of Unity.
Even culturally India feels the same pulse, breathes the same air and remains one or exhibits total unity — be one a Southerner or a Northerner or from the West or the East, fairs and festivals or temples bring them all together and that is a great oneness.
What is needed is that in our country further strengthening of this process and spirit of Unity needs to be inculcated among our children from their very young age.
For this it is not the government but the people; the parents; the schools and their teachers who have to play their part with a sense of dedication and a commitment to the national cause. It may appear to be an arduous task but is not an impossible one. National Integration should become the watchword of all education at all levels. | <urn:uuid:0c3d153a-06bd-4b97-910a-8391fa6426b7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shareyouressays.com/84007/short-essay-on-unity-in-diversity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00192-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957944 | 962 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Up to a fifth of U.S. service members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have come home with a blast-related concussion or post-traumatic stress disorder — or both.
A study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry helps detail the relationship between the two conditions.
Marines who suffered mild traumatic brain injuries while deployed were roughly twice as likely to get PTSD, researchers found.
One likely explanation is that the bomb blasts, the most common cause of brain injuries during the wars, are psychologically traumatizing as well.
In addition, structural changes in the brain after a head injury may increase the likelihood of developing PTSD and decrease the chances of recovery, said Dr. Dewleen Baker, a co-author of the study and research director at the Veterans Affairs Center of Excellence for Stress and Mental Health in San Diego.
The study followed 1,648 Marines from four battalions in Southern California as they deployed to war and returned between 2008 and 2012. | <urn:uuid:cf282a63-9615-4c7f-b1ec-ba642d511d7c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/12/science/la-sci-sn-ptsd-tbi-brain-injury-combat-marines-20131212 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958447 | 194 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Mitochondria have two functionally distinct membrane systems separated by a space: the outer membrane, which surrounds the whole organelle; and the inner membrane, which is thrown into folds or shelves that project inward. These inward folds are called cristae. The number and shape of cristae in mitochondria differ, depending on the tissue and organism in which they are found, and serve to increase the surface area of the membrane.
Mitochondria are the site of the citric acid cycle, also known as the Kreb's cycle, which is a vital metabolic pathway for generating energy in eukaryotic cells.
Mitochondria as cellular power plantsCells are powered primarily by energy released from ATP (adenosine triphosphate) as it becomes ADP (adenosine diphosphate). ATP is made in the mitochondria (1, see diagram below) by recycling ADP. The first step is to split pyruvate (2) – a fuel molecule derived from glucose in the cytoplasm – into carbon dioxide, hydrogen and high-energy electrons. These electrons pass along a line of proteins in the inner membrane (3), giving them energy to pump out protons (4) into the intermembrane space (5). As more protons are pumped out, a pressure builds up in the space, forcing protons back across the membrane. But the protons can only flow back into the matrix via the ATP generator (6) – the enzyme ATP synthetase – and as they do so they drive round the blades of this turbine, producing ATP (7).
Related category• CELL BIOLOGY
Home • About • Copyright © The Worlds of David Darling • Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy • Contact | <urn:uuid:479a886a-84c9-48d6-b3f1-b0176b67d13c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/M/mitochondria.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395160.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00059-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918721 | 355 | 4.25 | 4 |
American women first voted in 1920. Yet in the almost 100 years since then, no female has been elected president of the United States. “Why is that?” asked Lynn Hawley, Delta College history instructor, at the March American Association of University Women meeting.
According to Hawley, while women campaigned for the vote, they never had an agenda beyond being able to vote in 1920. When women voted, they voted similarly to men. Women voted in the same percentages as men, as both Republicans and Democrats. Women never fielded large numbers of candidates with lobby groups in support of them or for their issues.
In addition, there are major barriers to women as political candidates. Discrimination against women in many institutions prevented them from getting into the political stream. For example, most U.S. Presidents graduated from Harvard or Yale. However, Harvard did not admit women until 1973, while Yale first admitted women in 1969. Americans elect men who have leadership experience, particularly in the military, in their resumes. However, women have been prevented from attaining high military rank by being prohibited from serving in combat.
Finally, Americans elect men who exhibit sensitivity. Thus, Americans favor fathers with attractive families. But the double standard treats men and women who run for office differently. No one asks men who is minding their children while they are on the campaign trail. However, women who have run for office as recently as 2008 have been hounded with questions about whether they can be good mothers and still be successful in a high-powered job.
Hawley concluded her talk by saying that she looks forward to the day, which she hopes is soon, when there will be a woman president of the U.S.
AAUW will host the next meeting on April 16 at 6:30 p.m. at the United Congregational Church. Pat Stump will speak about the Master Gardener Program. Everyone is invited. Contact Margie Paulsen at 209-334-4443 regarding the program and Sharon Ceresa at 209-481-3007 regarding membership. | <urn:uuid:0f023b5f-cff0-4dc2-93fb-f8bcdf661476> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lodinews.com/newsyneighbors/clubroundup/article_0cdffc7c-97ab-11e2-bbf3-001a4bcf887a.html?mode=story | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00147-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980294 | 419 | 3.03125 | 3 |
From plastic drain pipes and satellite dishes to coastal flooding : archaeological heritage within standing buildings
Why do people in England not comply with the Legislative and Regulatory Framework for the Protection of Archaeological heritage in Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas.
Despite more than a hundred and fifty years of stringent legislation to preserve and conserve archaeological sites and buildings, the UK has continued to lose archaeological heritage‖; Loss which often happens without anyone being aware of what is foregone. Every few days, the media detail planning examples that indicate a lack of compliance with the legislative and regulatory framework for conservation of archaeological heritage within buildings. Indeed across the English landscape of archaeological sites and buildings, it is possible to see lack of compliance almost everywhere. Moreover entering and working on any site or building of known or potential archaeological heritage means facing a compromise between, the Health and Safety at Work Act, Building Regulations, Fire Regulations, the Offices and Shops Act, Insurance specifications/ conditions and the wealth of Local Authority and National legislation and Regulation on listed buildings, conservation areas, areas of Outstanding National Beauty, World Heritage Sites Etc.
This research explores the present position, in England, of compliance to the national and local Legislative and Regulatory framework for archaeological heritage in standing buildings. After a consideration of the English and European Legislative and Regulatory Framework, human motivation theory and the methodology used in this research, there will be an exploration of several case studies which demonstrate many of the issues that the research exposes. This research responds to both the House of Lords and European appeals to identify why people who own or work in English standing structures which are listed or in conservation areas, do not comply with legislation. An understanding of the lack of compliance with the present Planning Policy Framework and Regulations for repair and development of buildings which are listed or in conservation areas might also assist in the questions now asked about sustainability of Heritage during a period of significant climate change.
- BA Mediaeval History York 1970
- AHSM 1978
- MA Archaeology, UCL 2009 | <urn:uuid:7c78dd08-60f8-4be8-aaf6-2dd83472d693> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/people/research/coe/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937003 | 402 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Colour Matching Worksheets
Colour Matching worksheets are specially designed for children to recognize colors and like coloured objects. Kindergarten children are sure to enjoy matching different colors with like coloured alphabets, numbers and objects. These kids are sure to turn attentive while doing exercises on these downloadable and printable activity sheets.
Note: Place the mouse over the links to preview the Activity sheets. Click on the Image to download the activity sheet. | <urn:uuid:da8863a4-47a5-4120-a51f-ec8d105d59de> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kidzpark.com/kids-activity-sheets/Colour-Matching-worksheets/118/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00011-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920835 | 95 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Resilience education makes people happier
Character strength training can make people feel happier, new research has suggested. Investigators from the University of Zurich found these types of programmes might boost a person's sense of wellbeing by providing a lift in curiosity, humour, enthusiasm, optimism and gratitude.
Willibald Ruch, Rene Proyer and Claudia Buschor from the Department of Personality and Assessment at the learning institute, discovered individuals reported a higher level of life satisfaction when training character strengths - traits that are viewed as being positive from a moral perspective.
Mr Ruch, who is a Professor of Personality and Psychology and Diagnostics at the university, explained people who trained in this manner saw their sense of wellbeing markedly improve, adding: "This manifested itself in the fact that these participants were more cheerful or more often in a good mood, for instance."
In addition, it was found the participants who gained the most from training were those who learned how to manage their feelings while also developing the most enthusiasm.
Chartered Psychologist Dr Tom Fawcett comments: "The research brief provides an indication that ' positive psychological interventions have an important contribution to a sense of overall well being'. More research is required to support this and follow up studies are ongoing." | <urn:uuid:78f10839-08bd-46a1-a92c-564c1689dcb7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bps.org.uk/news/resilience-training-makes-people-happier | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00154-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959069 | 252 | 2.6875 | 3 |
The structure depicted by Eastman is the third fort constructed on the same site with the same name. In 1775, recognizing the necessity of protecting harbors from British occupation, the General Assembly of Connecticut ordered fortifications prepared between the mouth of the river Thames and the town of New London. Named for Governor Jonathan Trumbull, the first Fort Trumbull, completed in 1777, was apparently a primitive affair designed solely to cover the river. Its fatal flaw, an open landward side, allowed British forces, led by the American Benedict Arnold, easily to overrun the fort's 23-man garrison from the rear and put New London to the torch in 1781.
In 1812, again responding to the threat of British occupation, a new, more powerful redoubt was erected on the site. Although British warships remained near the mouth of the Thames River for much of the War of 1812, this fort, in conjunction with its companion on the opposite shore, apparently provided sufficient deterrence to prevent the fleet from attempting to enter the harbor. In 1839 a new fortress replaced this second fort. According to the 1870 Surgeon General's report on barracks and hospitals, it incorporated "all the latest improvements in the science of defense and gunnery." The completed 1839 fortress appears in Eastman's painting. | <urn:uuid:95cdb2ce-0446-4bda-a4a0-ca59d90d9ea4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://history.army.mil/html/artphoto/pripos/eastman/trumbull.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00155-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948434 | 263 | 3.90625 | 4 |
Eco-Friendly Vacation Travel Options
The first question to consider when you decide you need a vacation is how far you need to travel. Local vacations are the greenest, but even a green vacation destination means travel propelled by fossil fuels, which mean increasing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which means causing harm to the planet. You can choose transportation that lessens the harm, and you can compensate for it; you just have to pay attention to how you travel.
Getting there and back in an earth-friendly way involves looking at alternative ways of traveling, including the train, which can open up new travel possibilities. Going away for longer than the typical vacation and choosing only one long-distance trip per year (instead of several trips) cuts down on carbon emissions no matter how you travel.
Flying isn’t eco-friendly
Air travel may be convenient, but it’s also one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions. And because many of those gases are released at high altitudes where they do the most damage, flying does significantly more damage than other forms of travel. Even long-haul flights, considered the most efficient in terms of emissions per mile, still emit more greenhouse gases per passenger per mile than a small car does.
If you do nothing else to get greener on vacation, think about how to cut down on the number of flights you take each year. If you have to get to the other side of the country or even the planet to see friends and family, doing so without flying may not be an option. But if you have the choice and can go somewhere closer to home or use alternative forms of transportation, think about your options before you book airline flights.
Modern planes built using the latest technology are cleaner, less noisy, and more environmentally friendly than their predecessors, but they still can’t counteract the effect of air travel’s growing popularity. Fuel economy may be increasing, but total fuel consumption is also increasing as more people choose to fly.
Boarding a train, boat, or bus rather than a plane
If there’s a choice between flying, driving, and taking a train or bus, go for the train or bus. When you let them take the strain, you can save three to seven times the greenhouse gas emissions compared to taking a plane, depending on the route you’re traveling. Of course, it’s difficult — even impossible — to avoid driving to some destinations that aren’t served by public transportation. In European countries, for example, the local train and bus networks are often very good, but in North America, the long distances make comprehensive networks much more challenging for transportation operators.
In the United States, you can take wonderful vacations in which traveling by train, boat, or bus adds to the enjoyment, or even becomes the reason for the journey. Scenic train trips, such as through the Rocky Mountains or along the Pacific coast, give you a chance to relax, let someone else do the driving, and simply enjoy the scenery. You don’t have to worry about your bags getting lost, and you get to see a lot of your home country. | <urn:uuid:a951f39c-eb55-4915-b442-61f395ca7b31> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/ecofriendly-vacation-travel-options.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00006-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94627 | 647 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Guidance Document on the Benzene in Gasoline Regulations
- Outline of the federal Benzene in Gasoline Regulations
- Questions and Answers on the Federal Benzene in Gasoline Regulations
- Questions on Section 1 of the Regulations
- Questions on Section 2 of the Regulations
- Questions on Part 1 of the Regulations
- Questions on Part 2 of the Regulations
- Questions on Part 3 and Part 4 of the Regulations
- Questions on the Schedules to the Regulations
Questions and Answers on the Federal Benzene in Gasoline Regulations
G.1 Why is benzene in gasoline being regulated?
Benzene is a known human carcinogen. It is a non-threshold toxicant -- a substance for which there is considered to be some probability of harm at any level of exposure.
In January 1994, the joint Environment Canada-Health Canada Priority Substance Assessment determined that benzene is in the environment in a concentration that constitutes or may constitute a danger in Canada to human life or health. Consequently, benzene was determined to be "toxic" as defined by the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
Benzene occurs naturally in crude oil and so is found in gasoline. Unlike lead, for example, benzene is generally not added to gasoline. In 1995, approximately 56% of the Canadian emissions of benzene were from the combustion of gasoline in the engines of vehicles. In urban areas, this source was responsible for over 80% of the emissions of benzene. Emissions of benzene from vehicles are from benzene in the gasoline that survives combustion and from aromatics that are converted to benzene during the combustion process.
Benzene in gasoline is currently regulated in many areas of the United States and will soon be regulated throughout Europe. In July 1995, the federal Minister of the Environment announced regulations on benzene in gasoline. In October 1995, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment endorsed the regulation of benzene in gasoline and tailpipe emission performance of benzene.
G.2 Why are the regulations so complicated?
The complications arise largely from allowing the use of annual pool averages (which is a compliance option) and the use of an emissions modelling approach (instead of, say, a limit on aromatics). These features were incorporated in the regulations at the behest of the petroleum industry in order to provide flexibility in how environmental performance is achieved. Any person who does not opt to use an annual pool average is not subject to Part 2 of the regulations.
The use of annual averages requires additional enforcement provisions, such as compliance plans, independent audits, additional records, sample retention, and never-to-be-exceeded caps.
As well, the use of annual pool averages necessitates that the primary points of compliance be the refinery gate, point of importation and the blending facility. This focus on upstream compliance points requires defining what qualifies as a "pool" for averaging purposes. This is further complicated by the need to address downstream blending issues.
The use of an emissions modelling approach further complicates the regulations in that it necessitates that a number of gasoline properties be measured, and that the equations for benzene emissions from the U.S. Complex Model be provided in the regulations.
G.3 To whom do the regulations apply?
No person may sell or offer for sale gasoline with a benzene content of greater than 1.5% by volume.
The persons most affected by the regulations are those who produce (including by blending) or import gasoline. The term "primary supplier" has been adopted to cover:
- A manufacturer (producer or refiner) is any person who owns, leases, operates, controls, supervises or manages a refinery.
- A blender is any person who owns, leases, operates, controls, supervises or manages a blending facility (including mobile blending facilities -- cargo tankers, etc.) or owns the gasoline in a blending facility. Certain blending operations are excluded from the regulations (see below).
- An importer is any person who imports gasoline into Canada, and is usually thought of as the importer of record. Gasoline in the fuel tank of a vehicle for use of that vehicle is not considered by the regulations to be imported.
G.4 What types of blending operations are not covered by the regulations?
Any person only mixing together low-sulphur gasolines or California Phase 2 gasoline, or both is not considered, for the purposes of the regulations, to be "blending" gasoline. Therefore, these types of blending operations are not subject to the regulations.
Any person only adding additives to complying gasoline is not considered, for the purposes of the regulations to be "blending" gasoline. Additives are substances that "improve" the characteristics of the gasoline, but do not materially affect its composition. Therefore, this type of blending operation is not subject to the regulations.
Any person only blending a commercially pure oxygenate or commercially pure butane with complying gasoline is not considered, for the purposes of the regulations, to be "blending" gasoline. Therefore, this type of blending operation is not subject to the regulations.
G.5 If I only buy gasoline, but do not refine, blend or import myself, what requirements must I meet?
If you only buy complying gasoline from others (e.g., a wholesaler), then you are not a primary supplier, and therefore you do not have to meet any of the requirements placed upon a primary supplier.
You would, however, be subject to the following requirements:
- you cannot sell gasoline with a benzene level in excess of 1.5% by volume (subsection 3(2)); and
- upon request by Environment Canada, you must provide Environment Canada with gasoline samples and information on the names and addresses of the persons that sold or provided the gasoline to you and the data of the transfer (section 11).
If you buy gasoline-like blendstock, there are requirements that you must fulfill (refer to questions on section 13).
G.6 What parameters of gasoline are controlled?
Two parameters of gasoline are controlled by the regulations: (1) the benzene concentration in gasoline, and (2) the benzene emissions number of gasoline. The benzene emissions number, or BEN, is a calculated parameter that relates gasoline quality to the emissions of benzene from a typical automobile.
The BEN is computed by determining seven characteristics of gasoline (called "model parameters" in the regulations) and using a formula, or model, to calculate the benzene emissions number. The model parameters are the concentration of oxygen, sulphur, benzene and aromatics, the type of oxygenate, the vapour pressure, and two distillation fractions. The formula, or model, is based on the Phase 2 equations for exhaust and non-exhaust emissions of benzene from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Complex Model for use in the northern half of the U.S. (i.e., Area C).
G.7 What options do I have in meeting the requirements?
All primary suppliers, regardless of size or nature of operations, have the options of electing to meet a per-litre limit or a yearly pool average limit for each of their facilities and import pools. The options may be elected separately for benzene and the BEN. Yearly pool averages provide more flexibility to the primary supplier, but have considerably more administrative requirements (discussed in Part 2 of this document). Elections must be made or changed by May 2 for the year 1999 or by November 2 for any subsequent year. An election cannot be changed part way through a year (refer to the first item in Part 2 for further details).
Primary suppliers who elect to meet yearly pool average limits for the BEN have the additional option of applying to use their own historical (1994, 1995 or 1996) BEN level as their limit.
G.8 How do these regulations relate to the federal Gasoline Regulations?
The federal Gasoline Regulations control lead and phosphorous in gasoline. Those regulations are separate from the Benzene in Gasoline Regulations, which control benzene in gasoline and the benzene emissions number of gasoline. Both regulations must be complied with.
G.9 How do these regulations relate to the federal Fuels Information Regulations?
The federal Fuels Information Regulations, No. 1 require that refiners and importers report annually the levels of sulphur in all liquid fuels, including gasoline, during each quarter of the year. They also require one-time notification of any changes in the use of additives in liquid fuels. Those regulations are separate from the Benzene in Gasoline Regulations. Both regulations must be complied with.
G.10 How do these regulations relate to provincial gasoline regulations?
At present British Columbia, under its Cleaner Gasoline Regulation, is the only province to control benzene in gasoline. B.C.'s regulation controls other characteristics of gasoline as well as benzene. The federal and B.C. regulations have the same average for benzene; the federal regulations have a never-to-be-exceeded cap whereas B.C.'s regulation does not. Within B.C., both provincial and federal regulations must be complied with.
G.11 What are the important dates in the regulations?
Primary suppliers must meet the requirements for benzene and the BEN by July 1, 1999. Sellers of gasoline have until October 1, 1999 to meet the never-to-be-exceeded cap for benzene (there are no downstream requirements for the BEN). The three-month difference is to allow gasoline produced or imported just prior to January 1, 1999 to move through the gasoline distribution system. (Note that sellers of gasoline in remote northern areas of Canada have until July 1, 2000 to comply with the cap for benzene.)
There are other dates in the regulations, mostly for administrative purposes. A list of all important dates in the regulations is presented below:
Important Dates in the Benzene in gasoline regulations
November 1, 1998
Existing refiners, importers and blenders must be registered with Environment Canada (or 15 days prior to commencing operations for new refiners, importers or blenders).
November 2, 1998
Application for alternative sampling or analysis methods (or 60 days prior to use).
December 1, 1998
Submission of data supporting an application for an alternative limit for the BEN for those intending to use an alternative limit.
January 1, 1999
Requirements for reporting composition come into force..
February 1, 1999
Submission of compliance plans (or by August 4 of any subsequent year for a new election) for companies intending to elect for yearly pool average limits.
May 2, 1999
Election for yearly pool average limits (by November 2 of any subsequent year for a change of status).
May 15, 1999
First quarterly report on gasoline composition is due. Subsequent reports are due February 14, May 15, August 14 and November 14 of each year until February 14, 2003 (thereafter annually by February 15).
July 1, 1999
- Requirements for benzene and the BEN come into force for refiners, importers and blenders.
- General reporting, samplinolg, analysis, record keeping and auditing requirements come into force.
October 1, 1999
The never-to-be-exceeded cap for benzene of 1.5% by volume comes into force for anyone selling of gasoline (July 1, 2000 in remote northern areas).
May 31, 2000
First report by the auditor is due for those on a yearly pool average (thereafter annually by May 31).
January 1, 2002
A statistical quality assurance program can be used under certain circumstances, if an application is made at least 60 days prior to its use.
February 14, 2003
Last quarterly report on gasoline composition.
February 15, 2004
First annual report on gasoline composition (subsequent annual reports are due by February 15 of each year).
- Date modified: | <urn:uuid:85158407-cd55-4625-85e6-92108a1b9e04> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ec.gc.ca/lcpe-cepa/default.asp?lang=En&n=4BFBD709-1&offset=2&toc=show | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00191-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935711 | 2,447 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Minesweeper Construction at Gamage Shipyard, South Bristol, ca. 1942
Click on the image to zoom. Click and drag your mouse over the image to move it left or right. Use the small navigation window to select the area you wish to zoom on.
From 1940 to 1944, the Gamage Shipyard built minesweepers for the U.S. Military to use in World War II. As shown in the photograph, the vessels were built of wood instead of metal, to avoid detection from sensitive mines planted on the floor of the ocean.
Please post your comment below to share with others. If you'd like to privately share a comment or correction with MMN staff, please use this form. | <urn:uuid:d22592aa-80ee-4f38-b0e3-8e69d26bd268> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mainememory.net/artifact/79566/zoom | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913104 | 147 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Hamilton, ON (February 13, 2009) - Researchers of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research have discovered a new way that bacteria evolve into something that can make you sick.
The finding, published in the Feb. 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has implications for how scientists identify and assign risk to emerging diseases in the environment.
The researchers found that bacteria can develop into illness-causing pathogens by rewiring regulatory DNA, the genetic material that controls disease-causing genes in a body. Previously, disease evolution was thought to occur mainly through the addition or deletion of genes.
Brian Coombes, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, was the lead investigator of the study which involved researchers at McMaster University, the University of Melbourne, Australia and the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
"Bacterial cells contain about 5,000 different genes, but only a fraction of them are used at any given time," Coombes said. "The difference between being able to cause disease, or not cause disease, lies in where, when and what genes in this collection are turned on. We've discovered how bacteria evolve to turn on just the right combination of genes in order to cause disease in a host. It's similar to playing a musical instrument you have to play the right keys in the right order to make music."
With infectious diseases on the rise, the McMaster finding has implications on how new pathogens are identified in the environment. Scientists currently monitor the risk of new diseases by assessing the gene content of bacteria found in water, food and animals.
"This opens up significant new challenges for us as we move forward with this idea of assigning risk to new pathogens," Coombes said. "Because now, we know it's not just gene content it is gene content plus regulation of those genes."
|Contact: Veronica McGuire| | <urn:uuid:e6c11454-d8ef-4d9f-ad4b-4d26e0a4f0ca> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/McMaster-researchers-discover-new-mode-of-how-diseases-evolve-7095-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939104 | 393 | 3.140625 | 3 |
A painting, reduced to canvas and cadmium, gesso and wood, is not worth much. It is the genius behind the image that imbues it with value. Its meaning cannot be divorced from history.
You have seen this painting somewhere. The portrait of the sultry woman surrounded by gold is one of the most famous in the world. You may not remember the name of the artist. Perhaps you never knew it. But you remember the woman's face, pale as a diva of the silent screen.
The face keeps resurfacing, on key chains, paperweights, even clogs. People who know nothing about this anonymous woman, or the outrage the artist aroused, are still seduced by her enigmatic smile, by the painter's shimmery language and by the sheer sensuality of art.
A few observers might recognize her as an icon of turn-of-the-century Vienna. A woman who rushed to embrace new ways of experiencing art, music and the human psyche while the rest of the world was still adjusting its eyes and ears.
FOR THE RECORD
Los Angeles Times Saturday December 22, 2001 Home Edition Part A Part A Page 2 A2 Desk 1 inches; 30 words Type of Material: Correction
Czech president: In "The Immortal Golden Lady" (Los Angeles Times Magazine, Dec. 16), it was incorrectly reported that Jan Masaryk was the first president of Czechoslovakia. The first president was Tomas Masaryk.
For the Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday January 13, 2002 Home Edition Los Angeles Times Magazine Page 4 Times Magazine Desk 1 inches; 25 words Type of Material: Correction
In "The Immortal Golden Lady" (Dec. 16), it was incorrectly reported that Jan Masaryk was the first president of Czechoslovakia. The first president was his father, Tomas Masaryk.
They recognize Adele Bloch-Bauer, one of the patronesses of the arts, most of them Jewish, whose husbands commissioned portraits by the brilliant artistic heretic Gustav Klimt. Perhaps they recall some of her story.
Didn't people once whisper that Adele and Klimt were lovers? Didn't she die young, before Adolf Hitler ravaged her world? Isn't this painting caught up in the international imbroglio over art looted by the Nazis?
This is the story behind the paint on the canvas. It begins in the tumultuous world of fin-de-siecle Vienna and leads to turn-of-the-century Los Angeles, where the value and meaning of this work of art is being debated as fiercely today as the moment it was unveiled.
it is a weeknight in westwood, and a corps of committed art lovers is crowded into a Klimt lecture at the UCLA Hammer Museum. A slide of the "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" looms above them like a ghost. Yes, she is beautiful, an Austrian art expert tells the audience, but her face betrays her longings and desires far more than was acceptable for a woman of her time.
Her willowy form is trapped behind the gold armor covering the surface of the painting, just as Vienna's hidebound society contained the forces of modernism straining against it a century ago. Adele, the lecturer says, was a princess of the Vienna avant-garde, one of Klimt's most illustrious co-conspirators.
Just a few miles away, in Cheviot Hills, Maria Bloch-Bauer Altmann, Adele's niece, carefully hands me a Viennese coffee brimming with whipped cream. Once a belle of Vienna, Maria is 85 now, and a widow. She is gracious and warm, the kind of woman referred to in another era as a grande dame. And she is suing the Austrian government, and its national art museum, to recover the portrait of her aunt and five other Klimt paintings.
Maria pauses a moment, trying to decide where to start.
"It is a very complicated story," she begins in an elegant Old World accent, sitting down in her sun-dappled living room. "People always asked me, did your aunt have a mad affair with Klimt? My sister thought so. My mother--she was very Victorian--said, 'How dare you say that? It was an intellectual friendship.' "
Maria looks up at a reproduction of Adele's portrait on the wall, regarding her face thoughtfully.
"My darling," she says finally, "Adele was a modern woman living in the world of yesterday." She was one of those people who are put on earth to ask uncomfortable questions, to imagine the unimaginable, to push history forward.
She was born Adele Bauer in August 1881. Her father was Jewish financier Moriz Bauer, general director of the seventh-largest bank in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Restrictions on Jewish settlement in Vienna, a metropolis of nearly 2 million when Adele came of age, had relaxed. A community of a few thousand Jews had swelled to nearly 1 in 10 Viennese. Wealthy Jews were among the city's most prominent citizens and generous philanthropists. A few, like the Rothschilds, were even given titles by the Hapsburg monarchy. They were, in the words of Czech novelist Milan Kundera, the "intellectual cement" of Middle Europe. Adele grew up in luxury; she was poised and arrogant and seemed perfectly cast in the role she was born to play: privileged society woman. But she was also intellectually precocious. What she really wanted was to study.
It was an unlikely aspiration. There was no high school for girls in Vienna. Respectable women didn't frequent cafes--Vienna's most populist cultural hubs-- where the men table-hopped, smoked and argued in German, Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Polish and Russian. "[Adele] wanted to go to the university. She wanted to work in an intellectual job," Maria says. "But that wasn't done at the time by women of her so-called social position. So she married, at 17, just to get out of the house. They had great respect for each other, but I don't think there was any love, definitely not on her side." | <urn:uuid:6cf0e973-67c1-4d92-a321-5a819bf654e2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://articles.latimes.com/2001/dec/16/magazine/tm-15268 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973844 | 1,294 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Fix For Global Warming? Scientists Propose Covering Deserts With Reflective Sheeting
ScienceDaily (Dec. 23, 2008) — A radical plan to curb global warming and so reverse the climate change caused by our rampant burning of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution would involve covering parts of the world's deserts with reflective sheeting, according to researchers writing in the International Journal of Global Environmental Issues.
Engineers Takayuki Toyama of company Avix, Inc., in Kanagawa, Japan, and Alan Stainer of Middlesex University Business School, London, UK, complain that there have been very few innovative remedies discussed to combat the phenomenon of global warming caused by human activities, despite the widespread debate of the last few decades. They now suggest that uncompromising proposals are now needed if we are to avert ecological disaster.
Finding a way to 'stop,' or at least minimise, global warming and to even cool the Earth can be achieved by focusing on the primary heat balance between the amount heat produced by human activities and the loss of heat to outer space. They emphasise that efforts to reduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, are not likely to work soon enough.
Pessimism that minimising carbon dioxide will no longer solve the problem seems to be spreading among environmental specialists," they say. As such, a lateral-thinking approach that acknowledges the fact that the heat created by human activities does not even amount to 1/10,000th of the heat that the earth receives from the sun.
Toyama and Stainer suggest that heat reflecting sheets could be used to cover arid areas and not only reflect the sun's heat back into space by increasing the Earth's overall reflectivity, or albedo, but also to act as an anti-desertification measure. The technology would have relatively minimal cost and lead to positive results quickly. They add that the same approach might also be used to cover areas of the oceans to increase the Earth's total heat reflectivity.
The team's calculations suggest that covering an area of a little more than 60,000 square kilometres with reflective sheet, at a cost of some $280 billion, would be adequate to offset the heat balance and lead to a net cooling without any need to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, they caution that it would be necessary to control the area covered very carefully to prevent overcooling and to continue with efforts to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
- Toyama et al. Cosmic Heat Emission concept to 'stop' global warming. International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, 2009; 9 (1/2): 151 DOI: 10.1504/IJGENVI.2009.022093 | <urn:uuid:290576c5-c123-4386-8d4f-aaddc03dae24> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://climatechangepsychology.blogspot.com/2008/12/fix-for-global-warming-scientists.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398873.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00160-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943874 | 546 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Superintendent of Public Instruction Patricia I. Wright announced today that the Virginia Grade-Level Alternative (VGLA), a locally scored portfolio assessment for students with disabilities, will be replaced by a new online test – beginning with mathematics testing in 2011-2012 and reading testing in 2012-2013.
The new assessment, the Virginia Modified Achievement Standard Test (VMAST), is designed for students with disabilities who are learning grade-level content but cannot fairly be held to the same achievement standards as their nondisabled classmates. Items on the VMAST will include supports and simplified items not available to students who take Standards of Learning (SOL) tests in reading and mathematics.
“There will be strict criteria for the selection of students for the VMAST and safeguards to prevent misuse,” Wright said. “And because it will be computer scored like SOL tests, VMAST will be an objective and reliable measure of student achievement.”
VMAST mathematics assessments for grades 3-8 and Algebra I will be introduced during 2011-2012. VMAST reading assessments in grades 3-8 and high school will be introduced the following year.
Initial development of the tests was supported with a 2007 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Federal special education funds were identified this week to cover the costs of implementing the VMAST mathematics and reading assessments.
The VGLA was introduced during 2004-2005. It was intended for students with disabilities capable of meeting grade-level standards but unable – because of their disability – to demonstrate their achievement on standard SOL tests, even with accommodations permitted in Virginia's testing program.
This spring, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) directed assessment, special education and other staff in divisions with VGLA participation rates of 25 percent or greater to undergo training on proper administration of the test. The state average is 20 percent in both reading and mathematics.
The 2010 General Assembly expressed its concern about overuse of the test by passing legislation requiring superintendents to certify that students assessed with the VGLA meet the participation criteria. House Bill 304, sponsored by Delegate John M. O'Bannon of Henrico County, also states the legislature's desire that VDOE phase out the assessment.
"Today's announcement is the first step in carrying out the will of the General Assembly and addressing my own concerns about overuse and misuse of the VGLA," said Wright.
A time table has not been established yet for phasing out use of the VGLA for writing, history and science. | <urn:uuid:cc5713aa-f6c9-49da-8988-2baa18b24f1e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.doe.virginia.gov/news/news_releases/2010/apr22.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00184-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947848 | 518 | 2.53125 | 3 |
One of the major epics of India and the longest poem in the world, the Mahabharata is a sacred Hindu text. It consists of many legends and tales revolving around the conflicts between two branches of a mythical family. The stories—which involve deities, demigods, and heroes—contain elements of cosmology, philosophy, and religious doctrine. A section of the epic called the Bhagavad Gita is the most important religious text of Hinduism.
Origin, Setting, and Background. Although tradition holds that an ancient sage, or wise man, called Vyasa wrote the Mahabharata, it was almost certainly composed by a number of different poets and then collected into a single work sometime between 400 B . C . and A . D . 200. The epic reached its present form about 200 years later. It contains nearly 100,000 verses and is divided into 18 sections called parvans.
The Mahabharata is set in the kingdom of Kurukshetra on the northern plains of India along the Ganges River. The opening parvans explain the ancestry of the major characters and provide background for the central conflict of the work. That conflict begins when the rightful heir to the throne of Kurukshetra, a blind prince named Dhritarashtra, is passed over in favor of his younger brother Pandu. Instead of taking the throne, however, Pandu goes to the Himalaya mountains to live as a hermit, leaving Dhritarashtra on the throne after all.
Rivals for Power. Before Pandu left Kurukshetra, his two wives gave birth to five sons, who became known as the Pandavas. They lived at the royal court with their cousins, the 100 sons of Dhritarashtra known as the Kauravas.
When the Pandavas came of age, the eldest, Yudhishthira, demanded the throne from his uncle, claiming that he was the rightful heir. A feud broke out between the two branches of the family, and the Kauravas eventually forced the Pandavas into exile in the forest.
While in exile, the Pandavas entered a tournament to win the hand of a beautiful princess named Draupadi. The Kauravas also entered the contest, but the Pandava brother Arjuna won the princess, who became the common wife of all five Pandavas.
epic long poem about legendary or historical heroes, written in a grand style
deity god or goddess
demigod one who is part human and part god
cosmology set of ideas about the origin, history, and structure of the universe
doctrine set of principles or beliefs accepted by a group
After the tournament, King Dhritarashtra called the Pandavas back to his court and divided the kingdom among them and his own sons. Unhappy with this settlement, the Kauravas challenged the Pandavas to a game of dice and won back the entire kingdom by cheating. Once again, the Pandavas were forced into exile.
War and Aftermath. After many years of wandering, the Pandavas returned to reclaim the kingdom, but the Kauravas refused to give up control and both sides prepared for war. The god Krishna, a relative of both the Pandavas and Kauravas, supported the Pandavas. Although he took no part in the fighting, he served as charioteer for the Pandava brother Arjuna and gave him advice. Their conversations make up the section of the Mahabharata known as the Bhagavad Gita.
The Pandavas and Kauravas met in a series of battles on the plains of Kurukshetra. In the end, the Pandavas emerged victorious after killing all their cousins. The Pandavas gained the kingdom, and the oldest brother, Yudhisthira, took the throne.
The Pandavas ruled peacefully, although their uncle Dhritarashtra mourned the loss of his sons and frequently quarreled with his nephews. Dhritarashtra eventually went to live in the forest and died there. Some time later, Yudhisthira gave up the throne and went with his brothers and their wife, Draupadi, to live on Mount Meru, the heaven of the god Indra.
Other Tales and Impact. The conflict between the Pandavas and Kauravas makes up only a portion of the Mahabharata. The work includes many other tales about deities and heroes and covers an enormous range of topics. The stories present complex philosophical ideas that form the basis of the Hindu faith—codes of conduct, social duties, and religious principles.
The Mahabharata became immensely popular in India and throughout Southeast Asia. The work inspired many ancient works of art, such as Indian miniature paintings and the elaborate sculptures of the ancient temples of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thorn in Cambodia. Today the Mahabharata remains the most important Hindu epic and continues to serve as the foundation for religious faith and mythology. | <urn:uuid:99b911f8-0c69-47f8-9a49-4d29f968931d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Le-Me/Mahabharata-The.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00002-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963637 | 1,049 | 3.65625 | 4 |
It was 234 years ago today that the British snuck across the little channel from Staten Island, slipped in through the back door of Brooklyn, and began their assault on New York.
It was a very bad day for the adolescent nation, still giddy from declaring its independence eight weeks earlier and eager to take its shiny, new liberty out for a spin. The British had been amassing ships, some 400, off Staten Island for weeks while the citizens of Manhattan watched, waited and gradually flipped out (but also made creative use of their time by redecorating – a prominent statue of King George III was melted down for musket balls).
When the onslaught finally came, it confused the hell out of George Washington, Esq. — as the British commander impudently addressed him — who had been expecting the main offensive to come on Manhattan. Washington grossly underestimated the size of the British force that had landed in Brooklyn, was betrayed by some Loyalists who tipped the British off to an unguarded pass, and soon found his troops surrounded and badly outnumbered.
But here’s the delightful part, as anyone who has read David McCullough’s essential “1776” surely recalls.
Thanks to some very unfavorable winds that prevented the British from sailing up the East River, Washington and Co. were not entirely cut off. On the night of August 28, 1776, they agreed on an ingenious plan — run away! Or rather, row away. Very, very quietly. All 9,000 of them, in boat after boat, in the rain and darkness.
The British troops awoke the next morning to find that the Americans had literally vanished into the mist.
Today, the only battle being waged on that historic embarkment place is one of tedium – tourists stand in line two hours for pizza, gaggles of bridesmaids wait to be photographed against the Manhattan skyline, toddlers fumble ice cream cones, tour buses idle.
This also happens to be the spot where I once heard Sheryl Crow repeatedly shout “Happy Birthday, America!” during numerous takes for a pretaped “Fourth of July” concert in the middle of June. The irritable crowd, which had been hastily recruited from the neighborhood, became impatient when Crow kept starting over because hair was blowing in her face. Like the British fleet, the wind was against her.
And like the American soldiers, who could not yet be called an army, I learned a valuable lesson about cutting your losses and beating a hasty retreat. | <urn:uuid:a53fab53-fb8e-44cc-94ce-183dd094f4df> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/the-daily-need/happy-battle-of-brooklyn-day/3189/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00069-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977849 | 518 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Pressures on the Sanctuary
Numerous human activities, natural events, and processes affect the condition of natural and archaeological resources in marine sanctuaries. This section describes the nature and extent of the most prominent pressures in Cordell Bank sanctuary.
The Cordell Bank area supports an active commercial and recreational fishery (Figure 20). Commercial and recreational fishing combined with habitat destruction, poor recruitment and anomalous oceanographic conditions have contributed to declines of many marine species in central and northern California waters. Several runs of Chinook salmon, Coho salmon, and steelhead (O. mykiss) in central California have been federally listed as endangered and threatened since 1994. The complex life histories of these species, spanning fresh water rivers and ocean environments, subject them to negative impacts from many different sources at all stages of their lives. Many rockfish populations have declined under fishing pressure and years of recruitment failure due to unfavorable oceanographic conditions (Ralston 2003), and several species are currently considered overfished, including cowcod, canary, yelloweye and darkblotched rockfish (S. crameri).
Commercial and recreational fisheries in Cordell Bank sanctuary have generally targeted rockfish, lingcod, flatfish, salmon, Dungeness crab and albacore tuna (Figures 21 and 22). Commercial boats will travel from out of the area to fish for groundfish, salmon and crab. Most of the private boats and charter vessels that fish Cordell Bank sanctuary are from Bodega Bay or San Francisco Bay. Rough ocean conditions often prevent smaller boats from accessing the sanctuary. Gear types used in the sanctuary have included bottom trawl, mid-water trawl, hook and line, gill nets, crab pots and long lines (including troll long line, vertical long line, and fixed gear long line), although not all of these gear types are currently used.
Analysis of temporal patterns of landings indicate that overall landings for Bodega Bay (the closest port for fish caught within Cordell Bank sanctuary) have declined dramatically from 1981 to 2003 (Figure 21). Fisheries that made up the majority of landings in the 1980s (e.g., bottom trawl rockfish and sole, midwater trawl rockfish) have been virtually absent in the Bodega Bay landings data since 2000. Hook and line rockfish, halibut, sablefish, and lingcod made up a small proportion of landings in the late 1980s and 1990s; however, due to a stringent groundfish regulatory environment, landings from these fisheries from Bodega Bay were minimal or non-existent between 2000 and 2003. Landings from trap crab and hook and line salmon appear to be more stable through the years of 1981-2003; however, landings of these species has been low in the last several years due to population declines and restrictions on salmon fishing as well as low catch levels of Dungeness crab.
Fishing activities not only impact target fish populations through direct extraction, but can also influence the sanctuary ecosystem through habitat degradation and bycatch of non-target species. Observations from submersibles have documented the presence of lost fishing gear entangled in rocky areas of the bank (Cordell Bank sanctuary unpubl. data). These bottom-tending gear types can damage sensitive habitats that provide food and shelter for invertebrates and fishes (Barnes and Thomas 2005). In addition, selected open ocean fisheries have significantly reduced some populations of seabirds that are taken as bycatch in these fisheries (Forney et al. 2001). Pinnipeds, cetaceans (Read et al. 2006) and sea turtles (Spotila et al. 2000) are also taken as bycatch and die from entanglement in active and derelict fishing gear.
West Coast groundfish fisheries, and fisheries that may take groundfish incidentally are managed with a variety of closed areas intended to either protect specific overfished groundfish stocks and aid in their recovery (Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCA)) or to protect groundfish habitat (Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) conservation areas). Fishing closures in the vicinity of the Cordell Bank sanctuary include both RCA and EFH conservation areas (Figure 23). Rockfish Conservation Areas are areas where fishing for groundfish is prohibited for 3 different modes of fishing - trawl, non-trawl and recreational. Within the RCAs, certain fishing gears and take of certain species is allowed. Additionally, the RCA boundaries change both within and among seasons. EFH conservation areas are closed to specific types of fishing gear. All EFH conservation area closures were put in place in 2006, while the date in which RCA closures were implemented varied (start date ranged between 2002 to 2005). Specific regulations associated with different gear and seasons as well as updates and archives of past closures can be found here.
Currently, there is limited commercial and recreational fishing for groundfish permitted on Cordell Bank (fishing only allowed for some flatfish, including several species of sole and Pacific sanddab (Citharichthys sordidus) because the bank falls within the Cordell Bank Rockfish Conservation Area established in 2005 by the Pacific Fishery Management Council to protect several species of overfished rockfish (Figure 23). The establishment of Rockfish Conservation Areas has improved the status and recovery of depleted fish stocks, including several rockfish populations. It is unclear when or if these closures will be lifted.
In 2002, sanctuary staff observed fishing gear, primarily long lines, entangled on the bottom, during 18 of 20 dives over rocky habitat on Cordell Bank. Based on these findings, staff worked with their advisory council, NOAA Fisheries and the Pacific Fisheries Management Council to recommend protection for this critical habitat. In 2006, Cordell Bank was identified as a Habitat Area of Particular Concern under NOAA Fisheries Essential Fish Habitat designation and the Cordell Bank (50 fathom isobath) EFH Conservation Area was implemented. Under this designation, the use of bottom contact gear was prohibited in waters shallower than 50 fathoms (90 m) on Cordell Bank. Additionally, the establishment of the Cordell Bank/Biogenic Area EFH Conservation Area and the Seaward of 700 fathom EFH Conservation Area in 2006 prohibited the use of bottom trawls on some of the soft bottom habitat in the sanctuary.
The southeast corner of Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary is located approximately five nautical miles (8.9 km) from the terminus of the northern shipping lanes that funnel commercial vessels into and out of San Francisco Bay (Figure 24). This traffic corridor is used by large commercial vessels entering San Francisco Bay from the north or leaving San Francisco Bay and transiting to the north. Because the terminus of the northern lane is adjacent to the sanctuary, all inbound and outbound traffic using the northern lanes passes through the sanctuary on their approach to or departure from San Francisco Bay. In 2004, 2,608 commercial vessels were reported transiting the northbound shipping lanes into and out of the Bay (United States Coast Guard, Automatic Identification System, unpubl. data).
Vessel spills are a major concern when considering potential threats to Cordell Bank's resources. Historically, the total number of oil spills from transiting vessels has been small, but potential impacts could be enormous given the number and volume of vessels and the sensitivity of resources in the area. In addition to oil tankers, large cargo vessels are a concern because in addition to their cargo, they can carry up to one million gallons of bunker fuel, a heavy, viscous fuel similar to crude oil. In late 1984, on-board explosions about eight miles (13 km) seaward of the Golden Gate Bridge disabled the tanker Puerto Rican. The vessel broke apart and discharged refined oil products within the boundary of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Thousands of seabirds were oiled and died. In November 2007, the container ship Cosco Busan collided with the Bay Bridge within San Francisco Bay, spilling 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel that spread throughout the Bay and into coastal waters (Figure 25). Oil from the spill traveled over 25 miles (40 km) and reached beaches adjacent to Monterey Bay and Gulf of the Farallones sanctuary waters. Wildlife impacted from the spill included thousands of seabirds that were oiled and killed (Oiled Wildlife Care Network, unpublished data). There is no evidence to suggest that oil from the Cosco Busan spill reached Cordell Bank sanctuary; therefore, it is not thought that habitats were directly impacted by this spill. NOAA is currently undergoing damage assessment from the spill and it is undetermined if wildlife resources of the sanctuary were impacted. Nevertheless, the impacts of these incidents demonstrate the seriousness of the potential hazards to Cordell Bank sanctuary from vessel spills, including spills from accidents that occur outside the sanctuary boundary.
California ports handled an estimated 650 cruise ship port calls in 2004. In 2003, the cruise industry predicted a 25 percent increase in the number of vessels operating in the waters of California over the next 10 years (California Environmental Protection Agency 2003). Cruise ships make port calls to at least six locations in California, including San Francisco and Monterey Bays. Many of these ships have over 3,000 people on board and have the potential to severely impact water quality in localized areas if they are not responsibly operated. Cruise ships are capable of generating massive volumes of waste. The main pollutants generated by a cruise ship are: sewage (also referred to as black water), gray water, oily bilge water, hazardous wastes, and solid wastes. Cruise ships are the equivalent of small cities with respect to waste production, and though these vessels generally incinerate the majority of waste produced, they are not subject to the strict environmental regulations and monitoring requirements imposed on land based facilities, such as obtaining discharge permits, meeting numerous permit conditions, and monitoring discharges.
Within sanctuary waters, disposal of bilge water with any concentration of oil, and disposal or discharge of any harmful substance is prohibited. However, discharge of water and other biodegradable effluents incidental to vessel use, including treated effluent from a Type 1 or Type 2 marine sanitation devices, deck wash down, and engine exhaust, is currently allowed.
Sunken vessels residing on the seafloor have the potential to leak oil or other contaminants into the sanctuary. To date, there are no documented findings of any shipwrecks on the seafloor of the Cordell Bank sanctuary. However, the Farallon Islands and the mainland coast north of San Francisco have historically provided hazardous navigational obstacles to shipping. Many known shipwrecks litter the seafloor of the nearby Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary; therefore it is possible that shipwrecks exist within the boundaries of the Cordell Bank sanctuary and will eventually be identified. It is uncertain if sunken vessels are currently decreasing the water quality within Cordell Bank sanctuary.
In addition to the threat of materials being deposited from vessels into the sanctuary, vessels themselves could directly affect various sanctuary resources. Vessels can potentially alter the behavior of marine mammals and seabirds, changing the distribution of the animals or the amount of time that they spend feeding and/or resting. Vessels can also injure or kill marine mammals through collisions; although no marine mammal injuries or mortalities due to vessel strikes have been directly observed within Cordell Bank sanctuary (Figure 26). In the Eastern North Pacific, the average number of humpback whale and blue whale deaths due to ship strikes was at least 0.2 per year from 1999-2003 and 1998-2002, for humpback and blue whales, respectively (Carretta et al. 2007). In the fall of 2007, there were at leastthree blue whales deaths off the coast of southern California that were attributed to ship strikes. This number of deaths so close together is considered a highly unusual event, and scientists are investigating potential contributing factors to these deaths.
The level of noise pollution in the oceans has increased dramatically during the last 50 years, with much of this due to commercial shipping (National Research Council 2003). As ships get bigger and noisier, this could become a larger issue within sanctuaries. Another source of noise pollution that has the potential to impact sanctuary resources is exploration for oil and gas. Although oil exploration/production is currently prohibited within the Cordell Bank sanctuary, activity adjacent to the sanctuary would have the potential to affect the integrity of its resources. An additional source of noise pollution is from sonar activities, including human-generated mid-frequency sonar from military vessels.
The effects of noise on marine mammals, seabirds, fishes, and turtles are not entirely known, though some mass strandings of cetaceans have been spatially and temporally coincident with the deployment of military sonar (Rommel et al. 2006). Many marine mammals respond to noise by altering their breathing rates, increasing or reducing their time underwater, changing the depths or speeds of their dives, shielding their young, changing their song durations, and swimming away from the affected area. Extreme noise pollution may cause temporary or permanent hearing loss in marine mammals and other organisms. Disorientation and hearing loss may account, in part, for cases in which ships collide with marine mammals that are apparently unaware of the approaching vessel (NRC 2005). Oil exploration-related seismic surveys may cause fish to disperse from the acoustic pulse with possible disruption to their feeding patterns. Available data on fish indicates potential effects on sensitive egg and larval stages within a few meters of the sound source (Lagardere 1982). These surveys may also disrupt prey location and communication among marine mammals and in severe cases cause internal injuries.
The calendar year at the Cordell Bank sanctuary is comprised of three distinct oceanographic periods. These periods, described as upwelling, wind relaxation (oceanic), and winter storm (Davidson Current) seasons are associated with distinct oceanographic conditions. The amount of production in surface waters and the extent to which organisms disperse is directly affected by these different conditions. In response to oceanographic drivers (as well as seasonal migration patterns), the abundance and diversity of organisms present in a given region change dramatically throughout the year and from one year to the next.
In addition to seasonal and annual climatic variations that influence productivity of the sanctuary, longer-term climatic phenomena influencing the region include the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, global climate change, and other processes that operate on varying spatial and temporal scales. Off the coast of California, El Niño events are characterized by increases in ocean temperature and sea level, enhanced onshore and northward flow, and reduced productivity. During this period, survivorship and reproductive success of some seabirds and fishes decreases with reduced plankton abundance. The disruption of the food web also impacts higher level predators like marine mammals that depend on krill and fish for food, leading to widespread starvation and decreased reproductive success. In addition, changes in current patterns and increased water temperature affect immigration of warm-water species and emigration of cold-water species.
Pacific Decadal Oscillations are periods of sustained climate conditions associated with shifts in ecosystem production regimes in cycles of about 50 years duration. Associated with these cycles, the surface waters of the central and northern Pacific Ocean shift several degrees from the mean temperature. Such shifts in mean surface water temperature have been detected five times during the past century, with the most recent shift in 1998. Biological patterns are related to these climate ‘regime shifts’. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation affects production in the eastern Pacific Ocean and, consequently, affects organism abundance and distribution throughout the food web. For example, the alternating 20 to 30 year cool and warm periods in the Pacific cause the abundances of anchovies (cool periods) and sardines (warm periods) to alternate (Chavez et al. 2003).
As evidence has mounted in recent decades for accelerated warming of the world’s oceans (Levitus et al. 2000), increased attention has been focused on the potential impacts of this change on marine organisms. Researchers predict that a gradual increase in ocean water temperature will cause a northward shift in the ranges of at least some species. It is also possible that some organisms will move to deeper, cooler water. Of course, not all species will shift their ranges in response. If their rate of northward migration is too slow to keep pace with the changes, they will adapt, live under suboptimal conditions, or vanish locally. Regardless, the composition of local species assemblages is expected to change.
An increase in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has lead not only to increased temperatures on Earth, but also to higher levels of dissolved CO2 in the world’s oceans (Feely et al. 2004). Since CO2 reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid, the addition of increased amounts of CO2 has lowered the pH of the oceans (a condition termed ocean acidification) and has reduced the amount of freely available carbonate ions. These conditions could be detrimental to many marine organisms, including mollusks, corals, and certain shell-producing plankton which rely on carbonate from seawater to build their shells and other hard parts. Recent work demonstrates that large sections of the continental shelf of western North America are affected by ocean acidification, as seasonal upwelling brings corrosive deep water (enriched in CO2 and undersaturated with respect to aragonite) closer to the surface and near the coast (Feely et al. 2008).
Levels of debris in both the ocean and at the land-sea interface are of growing concern. Marine debris poses a growing threat to marine life and biological diversity. Various types of debris are known to have adverse effects on marine species. Ingestion and entanglement are two of the largest problems associated with marine debris, which may cause injury and death to selected marine wildlife, including some endangered and protected species found in the Cordell Bank sanctuary. Marine debris originates from both land and ocean-based sources, although the majority of marine debris (approximately 80%) appears to come from land-based sources (U.S. Dept. of Commerce and U.S. Navy 1999). Land-based sources include: littering, storm water runoff, coastal municipal landfills, loss during garbage transport, open trash collection containers, industrial facilities, and beach-goers. Ocean-based sources include: commercial and recreational fishing, overboard disposal of passenger and commercial shipboard waste, and cargo containers falling off ships in high seas. The potential impact of floating marine debris on living resources in Cordell Bank sanctuary was highlighted by high rainfall in 2006, which flooded inland areas in the San Francisco Bay watershed and resulted in large amounts of debris washing 50 miles (80 km) to the northwest to Cordell Bank (Cordell Bank sanctuary, unpubl. data).
lastics in the marine environment never fully degrade and recent studies show plastic is consumed by organisms at all levels of the marine food web. Given the quantities of plastic debris floating in the ocean, the potential for ingestion is enormous. For example, survival of endangered sea turtles is threatened by ingestion of plastic; studies have found that as many as 75% of sampled loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) had plastic debris in their digestive tracks (Tomas et al. 2002). Plastic marine debris also impacts many seabird species. Surface feeding seabirds, including albatrosses, shearwaters, fulmars, and storm-petrels, are most susceptible to plastic ingestion, with frequency of individuals with plastic in the stomach ranging from 50 to 80% (Nevins et al. 2005). For example, adult Black-footed Albatross often mistake floating plastic debris as food and ingest huge quantities of plastic bottle caps, plastic fragments, discarded cigarette lighters, and plastic toys (Figure 27). When these adults return to their nests on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to feed their chicks, a high percentage of the meal is composed of plastic. Tagging studies have documented Black-footed Albatross crossing the eastern Pacific to feed in and around Cordell Bank sanctuary (Hyrenbach et al. 2006); it is unknown what proportion of plastic these birds ingest comes from within sanctuary waters.
Entanglement in marine debris is another serious problem, and it has been linked to measurable population declines for a variety of marine mammals. Scientists have estimated that thousands of marine mammals are killed by entanglement in debris each year in the North Pacific (Wallace 1985). Recent stock assessments indicate that annual mortality and injury due to entanglement is 1.2 individuals per year in the eastern north Pacific stocks of humpback whales (data from 1999-2003: Carretta et al. 2007).
Significant amounts of derelict fishing gear have been documented in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary (Cordell Bank sanctuary, unpubl. data) (Figure 28). This includes long lines, gill nets, and crab gear entangled on and around the bank. One concern is that the abandoned fishing gear on Cordell Bank may be harming sanctuary resources, creating artificial habitat for marine life, and potentially impacting the physical structure of the bank. Derelict gear also poses a danger to personnel and equipment involved in sanctuary research and monitoring activities.
Non-indigenous species can alter species composition, threaten the abundance and diversity of native species, and interfere with healthy ecosystem function. Once established, non-indigenous species can be extremely difficult to remove, especially in deep water habitats like Cordell Bank.
A number of non-native species are present in the marine environment near the Cordell Bank sanctuary, but none are known to currently exist in the sanctuary. Non-native species are still considered to be a potentially major threat to living resources and habitats in the sanctuary. Numerous non-indigenous species have been found in the adjacent Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (deRivera et al. 2005, Byrnes et al. 2007), and a list of non-native species that have a high probability of being found in the Cordell Bank sanctuary has been compiled (J. Byrnes, unpubl. data). The list was obtained by comparing lists of species within and around sanctuary waters to lists of known invaders within California, Bodega Harbor, Tomales Bay, and Elkhorn Slough. The list should therefore be regarded as conservative, including some species that may not yet be within sanctuary waters, but given their geographic proximity, have a high probability of invading in the near future. For example, there is concern regarding an invasive tunicate Didemnum sp. that has been observed in nearby coastal areas (Tomales Bay and Bodega Bay, CA) and has the potential to cause great ecological and economic damage (Bullard et al. 2007). This invasive species is known to spread rapidly, alter benthic habitats, and overgrow sessile organisms such as sponges, anemones, bryozoans, hydroids, macroalgae and tunicates (Bullard et al. 2007) (Figure 29). | <urn:uuid:71dbf6b4-1cf6-4ffb-a95a-874c4bb9dad7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/condition/cbnms/pressures.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940884 | 4,717 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Molds - Where Do They Grow?
Molds can be found wherever there is moisture, oxygen, and a source of the few other chemicals they need. In the fall they grow on rotting logs and fallen leaves, especially in moist, shady areas. In gardens, they can be found in compost piles and on certain grasses and weeds. Some molds attach to grains such as wheat, oats, barley, and corn, making farms, grain bins, and silos likely places to find mold.
Hot spots of mold growth in the home include damp basements and closets, bathrooms (especially shower stalls), places where fresh food is stored, refrigerator drip trays, house plants, air conditioners, humidifiers, garbage pails, mattresses, upholstered furniture, old foam rubber pillows, and sleeping bags.
Bakeries, breweries, barns, dairies, antique shops, saunas, summer cottages, hotels and greenhouses are favorite places for molds to grow. Loggers, mill workers, carpenters, furniture repairers, and upholsterers often work in moldy environments.
For additional information, please visit the following MedicineNet.com Centers:
Portions of this article were used with the kind permission of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease.
Last Editorial Review: 8/5/2002 | <urn:uuid:ad626930-40d8-4fc8-b43d-b1759588844e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=18662 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905861 | 284 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Kids usually like doing Word Searches. It's a great way to introduce or review the essential vocabulary for a unit on Magnetism or any other topic.
You can visit Learning Workroom's website for a FREE Magnetic Energy Word Search that you can download and print.
Click here: http://www.LearningWorkroom.com
Then go to: Free Worksheets
Here's a video by Bill Nye on Magnetism.
Click Here: Bill Nye Magnetism Video
Have fun with Science! | <urn:uuid:fb10e741-ab3b-4356-a5d5-329dbe68f90c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/01/magnetism-word-search.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00034-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.797325 | 105 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The Apophis asteroid probably won't hit the Earth after all, according to Nasa.
It had been feared that the 300 meter long asteroid could strike the Earth in 2036, with the impact likely to cause a 500 megaton explosion.
According to initial calculations, there was a one in 200,000 probability that the Apophis asteroid - so named after the Egyptian god of destruction - would collide with our planet. Fortunately, after fresh inspection, the odds have recently been revised to virtually zero.
"The impact odds as they stand now are less than one in a million, which makes us comfortable saying we can effectively rule out an Earth impact in 2036," said Nasa's Don Yeoman in a statement.
It's not the first time scientists have been made to sweat over the course of the Apophis asteroid. Back in 2004, when it was discovered (see picture), it was thought that there was a one in 45 chance that the asteroid would hit the Earth in the year 2029.
As it turns out, Apophis will instead pass within 32,000 km miles of Earth in that year. That might sound like quite a distance, but it is in fact closer than the orbit of many satellites.
Whilst Nasa's Near Earth Objects program claims to be tracking some 9,000 objects in space, it admits that there are many thousands that remain unknown. As such, the chances are we'd be unaware of an impending apocalyptic meteor strike until it had hit the Earth.
Just a cheery thought to leave you all with ahead of the weekend.
Via: Huffington Post | <urn:uuid:8d15401c-8497-4b07-b36f-eabdd90f63bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/apophis-asteroid-won-t-hit-earth-after-all | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970017 | 326 | 3.296875 | 3 |
This page contains a recipe for finding the times of events such as sunrise, sunset, and the times for various definitions of twilight. The recipe is illustrated by direct calculation, and implemented as
Sunrise and sunset are often defined as the instant when the upper limb of the Sun's disk is just touching the observer's mathematical horizon assuming a spherical earth, and allowing for the atmospheric refraction. This corresponds to an altitude of -0.833 degrees for the Sun. The various 'twilights' are usually defined in terms of the Sun's altitude as follows;
Astronomical twilight altitude -18 degrees Nautical twilight altitude -12 degrees Civil twilight altitude -6 degreesThe limit of astronomical twilight is defined as when the light from the Sun scattered by the atmosphere is roughly the same as that the combined light from the stars, the zodiacal light and the gegenschein. In my inner city area, the sky brightness never drops to such a low level, so I use the nautical twilight to indicate observing times.
The method implemented on this page is taken from the Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac section 9.33, and uses a simple iterative scheme which will converge on the times of events. This method may not converge above latitudes of 60 degrees North, or below latitudes of 60 degrees South. The times produced are found to be within seconds of times from a planatarium program, and Dr Ahmed Monsur's Mooncalc. A similar method is explained by Paul Schlyter on his excellent page.
The method described on this page falls into a number of steps. Suppose we want to calculate the time of Sunrise one autumn morning. The process goes as follows;
You can calculate the rise and set times of the Sun for any day in the past or future 500 years to reasonable accuracy using an ordinary pocket calculator. However, there is a large calculational effort at each repetition of steps 3 and 4, and most people will use a programmable calculator, a spreadsheet or a program function to calculate the times of events.
As a concrete example, I shall calculate the time of the Sunrise on 1998 October 25th at Birmingham UK, latitude 52.5N, longitude 1.9167W.
We start by finding the number of centuries since J2000.0, as all the formulas for the position of the Sun depend on this. As outlined above, we calculate the position of the Sun for 0h on the day in question. We use this position to calculate the time of Sunrise (even though the Sun will have moved a fraction of a degree in the sky), and then recalculate the position of the Sun for the new time. A refined time for the Sunrise can then be calculated.
We find the number of days since J2000.0 (in this case a negative number) and then divide by 36525 to find the number of (julian) centuries. The table below can be used to find the days since J2000.0;
Calculating the centuries from J2000 ------------------------------------ The tables below can be used to calculate the number of days and the fraction of a day since the epoch J2000. If you need the number of Julian centuaries, then just divide the 'day number' by 36525. Table A | Table B Days to beginning of | Days since J2000 to month | beginning of each year | Month Normal Leap | Year Days | Year Days year year | | | | Jan 0 0 | 1998 -731.5 | 2010 3651.5 Feb 31 31 | 1999 -366.5 | 2011 4016.5 Mar 59 60 | 2000 -1.5 | 2012 4381.5 Apr 90 91 | 2001 364.5 | 2013 4747.5 May 120 121 | 2002 729.5 | 2014 5112.5 Jun 151 152 | 2003 1094.5 | 2015 5477.5 Jul 181 182 | 2004 1459.5 | 2016 5842.5 Aug 212 213 | 2005 1825.5 | 2017 6208.5 Sep 243 244 | 2006 2190.5 | 2018 6573.5 Oct 273 274 | 2007 2555.5 | 2019 6938.5 Nov 304 305 | 2008 2920.5 | 2020 7303.5 Dec 334 335 | 2009 3286.5 | 2021 7669.5 Worked Example To find the number of days from J2000.0 for 1998 October 25th, 1. find from table A the number of days to the beginning of October from the start of the year, here 273 days 4. write down the day number within the month, here 25 above 5. find from table B the days since J2000.0 to the beginning of the year, here -731.5 6. add these three numbers. For the date above; 273 + 25 + -731.5 = -433.5 days from J2000.0 7. to find the number of centuries t, divide by 36525, t = -433.5 / 36525 = -0.01186858316
In all the calculations below, we measure time in degrees (180 degs = 12h), and we take a crude first guess at the time of sunrise as 12h UT on the day (180).
The 'low precision' formulas below give the Sun's position to an accuracy of about 0.1 degree over a few centuries either side of J2000.0. Taking the figure of t = -0.01186858316 for the number of Julian centuries since J2000.0 as calculated above for our example date;
L = 280.460 + 36000.770 * t (Mean longitude including aberration) = -146.81813257 + 360 = 213.1818674 G = 357.528 + 35999.050 * t (Mean anomaly) = -69.7297186 + 360 = 290.2702814 ec = 1.915 * sin(G) + 0.020 * sin(2*G) (eq centre correction) = -1.7964017 - 0.0129997 = -1.8094014 lambda = L + ec (ecliptic longitude of Sun) = 213.1818674 - 1.8094014 = 211.3724660 E = -ec + 2.466 * sin (2 * lambda) - 0.053 * sin(4 * lambda) = 1.8094014 + 2.1922164 - 0.0431536 = 3.9584642 GHA = UTo - 180 + E, where UTo is the current estimate of the time of Sunrise expressed in degrees. For this first iteration, this gives GHA = 180 - 180 + E (Hour angle of Sun on Greenwich meridian) = 3.9584642 We also need the Sun's declination (delta), for which we need the obliquity of the ecliptic (tilt of the Earth's axis); Obl = 23.4393 - 0.0130 * t = 23.43945429 delta = asin ( sin (obl) * sin(lambda)) (Sun's declination) = -11.9515161
The guts of this iterative algorithm are the two formulas below;
UT' = UT - (GHA + long + correction) sin(h) - sin(phi) * sin(delta) cosc = -------------------------------- cos(phi) * cos(delta) If cosc > 1 then correction = 0 Else If cosc < -1 then correction = 180 Else Correction = acos(cosc)Formula gives us a way of calculating a better estimate of the time of sunrise, given the current estimate (ut) and the hour angle of the Sun for that time, and the correction term. The quantity GHA + long gives us the Sun's hour angle on the local meridian. Our first guess for the time of sunrise is ut = 180.
For setting events (sunset, end of twilight) we subtract the correction term in formula ;
(setting) UT' = UT - (GHA + long - correction) Formula gives us the value of the correction term for each successive estimate. As we will see in the spreadsheet example below, the correction terms converge rapidly to a single value under most circumstances. You have to calculate the correction term first, before you can use the iteration formula to find your next estimate. I've never really understood why the textbooks list them in this order!
For our example date of 1998 October 25th, at Birmingham (phi = 52.5, long = -1.9167), we have for the correction term ;
sin(h) - sin(phi) * sin(delta) cosc = -------------------------------- cos(phi) * cos(delta) = -0.1453808 - 0.79335234 * -0.20708391 --------------------------------------- 0.608761429 * 0.978323186 = 0.14975242 ------------ = 0.2514458 0.59556542 acos(cosc) = correction = 75.436916and this leads to the refined estimate for the time of Sunrise;
UT' = UT - (GHA + long + correction) UT' = 180 - (3.9584642 + -1.9167 + 75.436916) = 102.52132 degrees = 6.83475 hrs UT.
The above is not a bad approximation to the true time that day, but we can calculate the next approximation by;
New figure for centuries; t = (-433.5 + 102.52132/360) /36525 = -0.0118607863 Sun's modified position L = 213.4625604 G = 290.5509609 ec = - 1.7931300 - 0.0131480 = -1.806278 lambda = 211.6562823 E = 1.806278 + 2.2032968 - 0.0425355 = 3.9670393 GHA = ut' - 180 + E = 102.52132 - 180 + 3.9670393 = - 73.5116407 New obliquity and declination Obl = 23.43945419 (not very significant change!) delta = -12.04991163 Correction term cosc = -0.1453808 - 0.79335234 * -0.208763698 --------------------------------------- 0.608761429 * 0.977966113 (notice that only the values of cos and sin of delta actually change, the other numbers stay the same) correction = acos(cosc) = 75.298919 New estimate of UT ut'' = ut' - (GHA + long + correction) ut'' = 102.52132 - (-73.5116407 - 1.9167 + 75.298919) = 102.650741 = 6.84338 hrs UT = 6 h 50 m 36 sec
When I did this calculation myself (using a basic scientific calculator and rounding answers in a convenient if unsystematic way) I used a column layout, with a new column for the second iteration.
As a 'column based' layout seems so natural for this kind of calculation, I have devised a simple spreadsheet based on the formulas above. I have tried to use 'standard' formulas and so if you follow the instructions below, you should be able to build a working spreadsheet using just about any spreadsheet program you may have.
The sunrise.zip file contains copies of this spreadsheet in .WKS and .SLK formats, as well as the full MS Excel version. One of these should load into most spreadsheet programs.
The main limitations of working in a 'portable' spreadsheet format are;
To build the spreadsheet, I have an 'input area' with labels in A5 to A12 and corresponding values in B5 to B12, and an 'output area' with labels in D5:D8 and the results of the calculations in E5:E8. The main calculation consists of four successive approximations to the UT of the event, and I put these calculations in the cells B17 to E28, with labels for each term in A17 to A28. It might help if you look at a screenshot of the basic spreadsheet layout.
Put the following labels in A5 to A12;
Year Month Day Latitude Longitude time zone Required alt Rise or setand put the 'test values' in B5 to B12;
1998 10 25 52.5 -1.9167 0 -0.833 (-6, -12 or -18 for twilights) 1 (-1 for setting events instead of rising events)These values correspond to 1998 October 25th, Birmingham, no zone offset, finding Sunrise (upper limb in contact with mathematical horizon), and a rise event.
Put the following labels into cells D5 to D8;
Event UT Event zone time Days since J2000 Centuriesand put the following formulas into E7 and E8,
=367*B5-INT(7*(B5+INT((B6+9)/12))/4)+INT(275*B6/9)+B7-730531.5 =E7/36525These formulas will give the number of days from J2000.0 in cell E7and the number of Julian centuries from J2000.0 in E8. I get -433.5 and -0.0118685832 in cells E7 and E8 using the 1998 October 25th test date.
Now put the following labels into cells A17 to A28, these names should tie in with the example calculations above;
L G ec lambda E obl delta GHA cosc correction utnew new centuries
Now we can put the first column of formulas into cells B17 to B28. You should be able to copy and paste the formulas into a spreadsheet as one block;
=MOD(4.8949504201433+628.331969753199*$E$8,6.28318530718) =MOD(6.2400408+628.3019501*$E$8,6.28318530718) =0.033423*SIN(B18)+0.00034907*SIN(2*B18) =B17+B19 =0.0430398*SIN(2*B20) - 0.00092502*SIN(4*B20) - B19 =0.409093-0.0002269*$E$8 =ASIN(SIN(B22)*SIN(B20)) =3.14159265358979 - 3.14159265358979 + B21 =(SIN(0.017453293*$B$11) - SIN(0.017453293*$B$8)*SIN(B23))/(COS(0.017453293*$B$8)*COS(B23)) =ACOS(B25) =3.14159265358979 - (B24+0.017453293*$B$9 + $B$12*B26) =($E$7 + B27/(6.28318530718))/36525Notice the use of 'absolute cell referencing' for $E$7, $E$8, and a few other cells. Note how I have kept a large number of decimal places in the coeficients for the mean longitude (L) calculation. Any rounding here causes trouble. Using our example data for Sunrise on 1998 October 25th, at Birmingham, 52.5 N, 1.9167 W, I get the following values in cells B17 to B28 (output formatted to 6 decimal places);
3.720725 5.066172 -0.031580 3.689146 0.069088 0.409096 -0.208593 0.069088 0.251446 1.316622 1.789335 -0.011861
The next set of formulas in cells C17 to C28 calculates the next approximation to the time of Sunrise, these formulas are slightly different to the first column in that they pick up the new centuries figure from B28 and the new guess for UT from cell B27;
=MOD(4.8949504201433+628.331969753199*B28,6.28318530718) =MOD(6.2400408+628.3019501*B28,6.28318530718) =0.033423*SIN(C18)+0.00034907*SIN(2*C18) =C17+C19 =0.0430398*SIN(2*C20) - 0.00092502*SIN(4*C20) - C19 =0.409093-0.0002269*B28 =ASIN(SIN(C22)*SIN(C20)) =B27 - 3.14159265358979 + C21 =(SIN(0.017453293*$B$11) - SIN(0.017453293*$B$8)*SIN(C23))/(COS(0.017453293*$B$8)*COS(C23)) =ACOS(C25) =B27 - (C24+0.017453293*$B$9 + $B$12*C26) =($E$7 + C27/6.28318530718)/36525And using the test values, I got the following values in cells C17 to C28;
3.725625 5.071071 -0.031525 3.694099 0.069238 0.409096 -0.210311 -1.283020 0.253776 1.314214 1.791594 -0.011861You can now copy the formulas from C17:C28 into D17:D28 and into E17:E28 to provide the next iterations in the calculation. I get the following values in D17:D28, and E17:E28 when doing this;
3.725631 3.725631 5.071077 5.071077 -0.031525 -0.031525 3.694105 3.694105 0.069238 0.069238 0.409096 0.409096 -0.210313 -0.210313 -1.280761 -1.280758 0.253779 0.253779 1.314211 1.314211 1.791597 1.791597 -0.011861 -0.011861Four iterations are usually enough to get a reliable result, and as you can see the results in C27 and D27 (1.791597) are identical to 6 dp in this case.
I put the time of Sunrise in cell E5 with the following formula to convert the time from radians to hours;
=E27*57.29577951/15 =E5 + B10Cell E8 now holds the time of the event in decimal hours in the time zone entered in cell B10 originally. For Birmingham on 1998 October 25th, I get 6.843 UT as the decimal hours of Sunrise, which corresponds to 0651 hrs.
The 'portable' spreadsheet above will work on almost any program, but it is inconvenient if you want to make a table of sunset or sunrise times. Most modern business spreadsheets have a macro language built into them, and Microsoft Excel comes with Visual Basic for Applications. The VBA code below defines a range of 'user functions' including;
' define some numerical constants - these are not ' accessible in the spreadsheet. Public Const pi As Double = 3.14159265358979 Public Const tpi As Double = 6.28318530717958 Public Const degs As Double = 57.2957795130823 Public Const rads As Double = 1.74532925199433E-02 ' The trig formulas working in degrees. This just ' makes the spreadsheet formulas a bit easier to ' read. DegAtan2() has had the arguments swapped ' from the Excel order, so the order matches most ' textbooks Function DegSin(x As Double) As Double DegSin = Sin(rads * x) End Function Function DegCos(x As Double) As Double DegCos = Cos(rads * x) End Function Function DegTan(x As Double) As Double DegTan = Tan(rads * x) End Function Function DegArcsin(x As Double) As Double DegArcsin = degs * Application.Asin(x) End Function Function DegArccos(x As Double) As Double DegArccos = degs * Application.Acos(x) End Function Function DegArctan(x As Double) As Double DegArctan = degs * Atn(x) End Function Function DegAtan2(y As Double, x As Double) As Double ' this returns the angle in the range 0 to 360 ' instead of -180 to 180 - and swaps the arguments ' This format matches Meeus and Duffett-Smith DegAtan2 = degs * Application.Atan2(x, y) If DegAtan2 < 0 Then DegAtan2 = DegAtan2 + 360 End Function Private Function range2pi(x) ' ' returns an angle x in the range 0 to two pi rads ' This function is not available in the spreadsheet ' range2pi = x - tpi * Int(x / tpi) End Function Private Function range360(x) ' ' returns an angle x in the range 0 to 360 ' used to prevent the huge values of degrees ' that you get from mean longitude formulas ' ' this function is private to this module, ' you won't find it in the Function Wizard, ' and you can't use it on a spreadsheet. ' If you want it on the spreadsheet, just remove ' the 'private' keyword above. ' range360 = x - 360 * Int(x / 360) End Function Function degdecimal(d, m, s) ' converts from dms format to ddd format degdecimal = d + m / 60 + s / 3600 End Function Function day2000(year As Integer, month As Integer, day As Integer, hour As Integer, _ min As Integer, sec As Double, Optional greg) As Double ' returns days before J2000.0 given date in gregorian calender (greg=1) ' or julian calendar (greg = 0). If you don't provide a value for greg, ' then assumed Gregorian calender Dim a As Double Dim b As Integer If (IsMissing(greg)) Then greg = 1 a = 10000# * year + 100# * month + day If (month <= 2) Then month = month + 12 year = year - 1 End If If (greg = 0) Then b = -2 + Fix((year + 4716) / 4) - 1179 Else b = Fix(year / 400) - Fix(year / 100) + Fix(year / 4) End If a = 365# * year - 730548.5 day2000 = a + b + Fix(30.6001 * (month + 1)) + day + (hour + min /60 + sec / 3600) / 24 End Function Function Sunrise(ByVal day As Double, _ glat As Double, glong As Double, index As Integer, _ Optional altitude) As Double ' Takes the day number of 0h UT on a given day, and returns the ' time of sunrise or set according to index 1 or 2. The optional ' argument can be used to give an arbitrary value for the altitude ' of the Sun. The default value corresponds to the top limb of the ' Sun touching the mathematical horizon, allowing for refraction ' at sea level. Method from 9.311 and 9.33 of the Explanatory ' Suppliment to the Astronomical Almanac (Seidelmann, 1992). Dim sinalt As Double, gha As Double, lambda As Double, delta As Double, _ t As Double, c As Double, days As Double, utold As Double, utnew As Double, _ sinphi As Double, cosphi As Double, _ L As Double, G As Double, E As Double, obl As Double, signt As Double, _ act As Double If (IsMissing(altitude)) Then altitude = -0.833 utold = 180 'initial value finds first position at 12h UT on day utnew = 0 sinalt = Sin(altitude * rads) 'go for the sunrise/sunset altitude first sinphi = DegSin(glat) cosphi = DegCos(glat) If index = 1 Then signt = 1 Else signt = -1 Do While Abs(utold - utnew) > 0.1 utold = utnew 'carry forward the iteration days = day + utold / 360 'update the arguments for sun's position t = days / 36525 ' find sun's coordinates L = range360(280.46 + 36000.77 * t) G = 357.528 + 35999.05 * t lambda = L + 1.915 * DegSin(G) + 0.02 * DegSin(2 * G) E = -1.915 * DegSin(G) - 0.02 * DegSin(2 * G) + 2.466 * DegSin(2 * lambda) - 0.053 * DegSin(4 * lambda) obl = 23.4393 - 0.13 * t ' update the hour angle and declination of the Sun gha = utold - 180 + E delta = DegArcsin(DegSin(obl) * DegSin(lambda)) ' calculate the correction term for this loop c = (sinalt - sinphi * DegSin(delta)) / (cosphi * DegCos(delta)) act = DegArccos(c) If c > 1 Then act = 0 If c < -1 Then act = 180 ' find the newly corrected ut for sunrise/set utnew = range360(utold - (gha + glong + signt * act)) Loop Sunrise = utnew End Function
To add these user defined functions to your spreadsheet, you should;
=day2000(1998,10,25,0,0,0)/36525into a cell, then press enter.
-0.01186858316, i.e. the number of centuries since J2000.0 for 0h 1998 October 25th
QBASIClisting for a simple program which will prompt the user for;
The easiest way to transfer the listing into QBASIC would be to;
All files (*.*), and using the file extension
QBASICor the FirstBas basic compiler.
'******************************************************************** ' Sun rise/set /twilight ' From Explanatory Supplement ' definitions and functions DEFDBL A-Z pi = 4 * ATN(1) tpi = 2 * pi twopi = tpi degs = 180 / pi rads = pi / 180 ' ' the function below returns the true integer part, ' even for negative numbers ' DEF FNipart (x) = SGN(x) * INT(ABS(x)) ' ' FNday only works between 1901 to 2099 - see Meeus chapter 7 ' DEF FNday (y, m, d, h) = 367 * y - 7 * (y + (m + 9) \ 12) \ 4 + 275 * m \ 9 + d - 730531.5 + h / 24 ' ' define some arc cos and arc sin functions ' DEF FNacos (x) s = SQR(1 - x * x) FNacos = ATN(s / x) END DEF DEF FNasin (x) c = SQR(1 - x * x) FNasin = ATN(x / c) END DEF ' ' the function below returns an angle in the range ' 0 to two pi ' DEF FNrange (x) b = x / tpi a = tpi * (b - FNipart(b)) IF a < 0 THEN a = tpi + a FNrange = a END DEF ' ' the function below returns the time in 24 hour ' notation - hhmm - given a decimal hours figure. DEF FNdegmin$ (d) c = ABS(d) a = INT(c) b = 60 * (c - a) d$ = STR$(INT(a * 100 + b + .5)) d$ = RIGHT$(d$, LEN(d$) - 1) WHILE LEN(d$) < 4 d$ = "0" + d$ WEND FNdegmin$ = d$ END DEF CLS ' ' get the date and geographical position from user ' INPUT " lat : ", glat INPUT " long : ", glong INPUT " zone : ", zone INPUT "rise/set : ", riset INPUT " Sun alt : ", altitude INPUT " year : ", y INPUT " month : ", m INPUT " day : ", d day = FNday(y, m, d, 0) PRINT " day no : "; day utold = pi utnew = 0 sinalt = SIN(altitude * rads) 'go for the sunrise/sunset altitude first sinphi = SIN(glat * rads) cosphi = COS(glat * rads) glong = glong * rads DO WHILE ABS(utold - utnew) > .001 utold = utnew days = day + utold / tpi t = days / 36525 ' get arguments of Sun's orbit L = FNrange(4.8949504201433# + 628.331969753199# * t) G = FNrange(6.2400408# + 628.3019501# * t) ec = .033423 * SIN(G) + .00034907# * SIN(2 * G) lambda = L + ec E = -1 * ec + .0430398# * SIN(2 * lambda) - .00092502# * SIN(4 * lambda) obl = .409093 - .0002269# * t delta = FNasin(SIN(obl) * SIN(lambda)) GHA = utold - pi + E cosc = (sinalt - sinphi * SIN(delta)) / (cosphi * COS(delta)) SELECT CASE cosc CASE cosc > 1 correction = 0 CASE cosc < -1 correction = pi CASE ELSE correction = FNacos(cosc) END SELECT utnew = FNrange(utold - (GHA + glong + riset * correction)) LOOP PRINT " UT : "; FNdegmin$(utnew * degs / 15) PRINT " zone : "; FNdegmin$(utnew * degs / 15 + zone) END '******************************************************************
Below is the input and output of the program given the example case used throughout this page, sunrise on 1998 October 25th at Birmingham UK.
lat : 52.5 long : -1.9167 zone : 0 ise/set : 1 Sun alt : -0.833 year : 1998 month : 10 day : 25 day no : -433.5 UT : 0651 zone : 0651
Seidelmann, P. Kenneth (ed)
Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac
University Science Books
1992, completely revised
Definitive reference on all aspects of the ephemeris and
associated calculations. No hostages taken, no example calculations
and modern vectoral notation used throughout. Relevant sections are
9.311 (p484) and 9.33 (p486).
Paul Schlyter's page contains a restatement of a method similar to
the one used here, but applicable to his planetary and lunar positions
Last Modified 1999 May 30th
Paul Schlyter's page contains a restatement of a method similar to the one used here, but applicable to his planetary and lunar positions method. | <urn:uuid:39747106-0c49-4c50-ae7b-3bd668ea0976> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.stargazing.net/kepler/sunrise.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00168-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.720291 | 6,831 | 3.375 | 3 |
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It is important not to neglect yourself while grieving. Try to eat regular, healthy meals. If meal preparation is too difficult, try eating several smaller snacks throughout the day.
Grieving is extremely tiring, both physically and emotionally. The grief one is feeling is not just for the person who died, but also for the unfulfilled wishes and plans with the person. Death often reminds people of past losses or separations. Mourning may be described as having the following three phases:
* The urge to bring back the person who died * Disorganization and sadness * Reorganization
Depression shares common features with grief, but can completely take over the way you think and feel.
Symptoms of depression include:
* A sad or "empty" mood that will not go away or lighten * Persistent feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness * A negative preoccupation with self
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Grief therapy may be available as individual or group therapy. A contract is set up with the individual that establishes the time limit of the therapy, the fees, the goals, and the focus of the therapy.
Complicated grief reactions require more complex therapies than uncomplicated grief reactions. Adjustment disorders (especially depressed and anxious mood or disturbed emotions and behavior), major depression, substance abuse, and even post-traumatic stress disorder are some of the common problems of complicated bereavement. Complicated grief is identified by the extended duration of the symptoms, the disruption to daily life caused by the symptoms or by the intensity of the symptoms (for example, intense suicidal thoughts or acts).
Complicated or unresolved grief may appear as a complete absence of grief and mourning, an ongoing inability to experience normal grief reactions, delayed grief, conflicted grief, or chronic grief. Factors that contribute to the chance that one may experience complicated grief include the suddenness of the death, the gender of the person in mourning, and the relationship to the deceased (for example, an i
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I am most thankful for resilience and my notion that over time, wounds will heal. Not rated yet
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There is a reason why probabilities are assigned and not measured : it's because probability is a mathematical concept, and in mathematics we do not measure things because there is no such thing as experience in mathematics (at least the theoretical part of it). In probability theory, when one defines a probability over a probability space, it is up to the mathematician to decide what probability is attributed to each event ; whether he sees fit that one probability works better than another is up to him.
Now what happens in real life is that there are standard intuition for probability definitions ; the most basic one would be to define the probability of an event as the number of possible cases where it happens over the number of possible cases in total. That makes sense if you want to count things ; in sampling theory, however, this does not fit the situation. In that case, the sampling plan needs to be adjusted so that the samples are chosen such that every sampling unit has a non-zero probability of being chosen, but there are many different kinds of sampling plans for many different reasons ; the most important one being when a sampling plan needs to take into account auxiliary information to improve accuracy of the sampling. That auxiliary information would've had to be measured, but the sampling plan is an assignment of the probabilities that each sample gets chosen.
I have not studied Bayesian statistics so I'm afraid I can't comment on that.
Hope that helps, | <urn:uuid:1bdbbc42-619e-49e7-9a75-386c6e2c4787> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/262033/probability-assignment-vs-measurement | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00047-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96801 | 284 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Born on January 1, 1919, in New York, J.D. Salinger was a literary giant despite his slim body of work and reclusive lifestyle. His landmark novel, The Catcher in the Rye, set a new course for literature in post-WWII America and vaulted Salinger to the heights of literary fame. In 1953, Salinger moved from New York City and led a secluded life, only publishing one new story before his death.
J. D. Salinger | <urn:uuid:6b896846-eb3b-4632-90c4-903dfd0ba67f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookreporter.com/print/48102 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00187-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964035 | 100 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Asset and Liability Management
The Government's balance sheet shows the stocks of all government assets and liabilities. Measures such as net debt, net worth and net financial worth are aggregates drawn from the balance sheet that provide an indication of the Government's financial strength (see Box 1).
The outlook for the Government's balance sheet, including the aggregates for net debt, net worth and net financial worth, are based on a range of assumptions. If the basis for these assumptions changes, it is likely to impact on the projected value of assets and liabilities, and hence change the projected path of net financial worth.
Statement 3: Fiscal Strategy and Outlook examines the impact of altering key economic assumptions on payments and receipts. Since the Budget outcome is one of the main drivers of the movement in the Government's asset and liability position, changes in the economic assumptions will also impact on net financial worth.
The Government reports on a range of other fiscal risks in Statement 8: Statement of Risks. These risks comprise general developments or specific events that may affect the fiscal outlook. Fiscal risks may affect expenses or revenue and, as a result, may contribute to variability in the Government's projected net debt, net worth and net financial worth position.
Box 1: Net debt, net financial worth and net worth
Net debt is a commonly quoted measure of a government's financial strength. Historically, this was the only available stock measure for governments that were recording financial information in a cash‑based accounting system. Net debt provides a useful measure for international comparisons, given most OECD countries report on it.
Net financial worth is used by the Government as the primary indicator of balance sheet sustainability because it provides a more effective and intuitive indicator of the sustainability of the Government's finances. It is a broader measure than net debt as it includes government borrowing, superannuation and all financial assets, but is narrower than net worth since it excludes non‑financial assets. There are advantages to excluding non‑financial assets since they are often illiquid and cannot easily be drawn upon to meet the Government's financing needs.
Net debt, net financial worth and net worth
The stronger economic outlook and fiscal discipline has contributed to lower estimated net debt across the forward estimates. The level of net debt in 2010‑11 is estimated to be $78.5 billion, which is $33.7 billion lower than estimated in the 2009‑10 Budget. By the end of the forward estimates, net debt is expected to be around $90.8 billion (5.5 per cent of GDP) in 2013‑14.
Net debt is now expected to peak at 6.1 per cent of GDP in 2011‑12. This peak in net debt is at levels less than a tenth of the average of the major advanced economies.
Net financial worth for the Australian Government general government sector has also improved compared with the 2009‑10 Budget. In 2010‑11, net financial worth is estimated to be ‑$160.6 billion, compared to the 2009‑10 Budget estimate of ‑$193.1 billion. Net financial worth is estimated to be ‑$168.5 billion by the end of the forward estimates.
Chart 1 shows the projected movements in net financial worth since the 2009‑10 Budget.
Chart 1: Net financial worth comparison
Note: Net financial worth for 2013‑14 was not projected in the 2009‑10 Budget.
Net worth is currently estimated at ‑$56.5 billion for 2010‑11 compared with around ‑$90.0 billion estimated at the time of the 2009‑10 Budget.
The improvements in the outlook for net debt, net worth and net financial worth since the 2009‑10 Budget are primarily the result of a lower borrowing requirement across the forward estimates.
The lower borrowing requirement is driven by a significantly improved fiscal outlook reflecting both the stronger economic outlook as well as the Government's budget discipline. The small size of Australia's borrowing program relative to the major advanced economies leaves the Government well placed to pay down debt quickly as the economy improves and the budget returns to surplus.
The Government's financial assets are expected to increase by around $16 billion over the Budget year and, across the forward estimates, by $29 billion.
The Future Fund was established in 2006 to accumulate financial assets and invest them on behalf of the Australian Government to address the Government's unfunded superannuation liability.
The Investment Mandate for the Future Fund gives guidance to the Future Fund Board of Guardians in relation to its investment strategy. The Investment Mandate sets a benchmark return of at least the CPI plus 4.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent per annum over the long term. The Investment Mandate also requires the Board to take an acceptable but not excessive level of risk for the Fund, measured in terms such as the probability of losses in a particular year.
During the initial transition period of the Future Fund, it was envisaged that returns would be lower while investments were built in line with the long‑term strategic asset allocation. Since inception, returns have reflected this situation. Since the effective start of the investment program on 1 July 2007, the Future Fund has generated a nominal return of 3.1 per cent (excluding its Telstra holdings). Since the first contribution to the Future Fund on 5 May 2006, the return has been 4 per cent per annum.
At 31 March 2010 the Future Fund's return for the financial year to date was 11.8 per cent (excluding its Telstra holdings). The Future Fund's Telstra portfolio returned ‑7.1 per cent for the March 2010 quarter and ‑1.8 per cent for the financial year to 31 March 2010.
In August 2009, consistent with its strategic asset allocation, the Board reduced the Future Fund portfolio's holding in Telstra from 16.4 per cent of the company to 10.9 per cent through an underwritten sale to institutional investors of 684.4 million Telstra shares at a price of $3.47 per share.
The Future Fund was valued at $67.6 billion at 31 March 2010. Table 1 shows changes in the asset allocation of the Future Fund over 2009‑10.
Table 1: Asset allocation of the Future Fund
|Asset class||30 June 2009
|31 March 2010
|Total (excluding Telstra holdings)||54,115||63,692|
|Total Future Fund assets||61,040||67,622|
The Building Australia Fund (BAF), the Education Investment Fund (EIF) and the Health and Hospitals Fund (HHF) were established on 1 January 2009. These Nation‑building funds were established to finance investment in transport, communications, broadband, energy, water, higher education, research, vocational education and training, and health infrastructure.
The Future Fund Board of Guardians has responsibility for managing the investments of the BAF, EIF and HHF. The Investment Mandates for the Nation‑building funds give guidance to the Board in relation to its investment strategy for the funds.
The Investment Mandates set a benchmark return on the Nation‑building funds of the Australian three‑month bank bill swap rate plus 0.3 per cent per annum calculated on a rolling 12‑month basis. The Investment Mandates require that investments minimise the probability of capital losses over a 12‑month horizon. Consistent with these requirements, the assets of the three funds are invested in combinations of short‑term and medium‑term debt instruments.
The March quarter 2010 return for each of the funds was 1.3 per cent. Since the inception of the funds, the BAF and the HHF have returned 4.1 per cent per annum while the EIF has returned 4.2 per cent per annum.
At the end of the March quarter 2010, the value of the BAF was $10.1 billion, the EIF was $5.9 billion and the HHF stood at $4.9 billion.
The estimated uncommitted balance of funds at 31 March 2010 was $0.7 billion for the BAF, $2.7 billion for the EIF and $2.0 billion for the HHF. These figures include net investment earnings up to 31 March 2010.
Residential mortgage‑backed securities
Developments in international capital markets since mid‑2007 led to the dislocation of the Australian residential mortgage‑backed securities (RMBS) market. In view of these developments, in October 2008 the Government directed the Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM) to invest $8 billion in high‑quality AAA‑rated Australian RMBS to support competition in residential mortgage lending from smaller lenders.
In October 2009, the Treasurer announced that the Government would extend the program to invest an additional $8 billion to support competition in the mortgage market.
The objectives of the program were also extended to include support for lending to small business. As a result, lenders who seek support under the RMBS program are encouraged to outline their lending activities to small business and to allocate part of the proceeds to these loans. It is expected that about 10 per cent of the funds raised by lenders so far during this second investment phase will be lent to small business.
Investor sentiment towards investment in RMBS improved over the course of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010. The private sector's contribution to RMBS transactions supported by the Government increased from around 20 per cent towards the end of 2008 to around 80 per cent in the first quarter of 2010.
However, the RMBS market continues to be affected by the fallout from the global financial crisis. The Government will continue to monitor market conditions and the impact of the program in assessing whether further support is required.
National Broadband Network
NBN Co was created in April 2009 to build and operate a new high‑speed National Broadband Network (NBN). NBN Co is a wholly‑owned Australian Government company that has been prescribed as a Government Business Enterprise (GBE).
In August 2009, the Government commissioned McKinsey/KPMG to conduct an implementation study examining a range of issues relating to the NBN, including operating and governance arrangements for NBN Co, network design, ownership caps, and scope for private sector investment.
The implementation study concluded that the NBN can be constructed within the $43 billion envelope identified by the Government in April 2009, even assuming the NBN does not have access to existing infrastructure. The study also indicates that NBN Co will have a positive business case, and that NBN Co can expect to generate a rate of return that allows the Government to cover its cost of capital.
The implementation study recommends that private equity should not be introduced prior to privatisation. This will allow the Government to retain policy and regulatory flexibility before introducing private sector equity investment.
The Government has made appropriate provision in the Budget for the roll‑out of the NBN, subject to a final response on the implementation study.
Higher Education Loan Program
The Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) comprises concessional loans to students that enable them to meet their education costs prior to earning an income above a certain level. The value of HELP is estimated to be around $12 billion at 30 June 2010 and is estimated to grow to around $16 billion by 2013‑14. This is due to the estimated increase in university commencements over the forward estimates, principally due to the Government's Bradley reforms which lifted the over‑enrolment cap from 5 per cent to 10 per cent in 2010 and 2011 and will uncap Commonwealth supported places from 2012.
The Government's total liabilities are expected to increase by around $59 billion over the Budget year and, across the forward estimates, by $79 billion.
Public sector employee superannuation liabilities
Public sector employee superannuation entitlements relating to past and present civilian employees and military personnel is a financial liability on the Government's balance sheet. The Government's superannuation liability is estimated to be around $123 billion at 30 June 2010.
The Australian Government has never fully funded its superannuation liabilities. The Commonwealth Sector Superannuation Scheme and the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme were closed to new members in 1990 and 2005 respectively. The Public Sector Superannuation Accumulation Plan was introduced from 1 July 2005 and provides fully funded accumulation benefits for new civilian employees.
Despite these reforms, the value of the Government's existing superannuation liability is projected to continue growing (in nominal terms) into the future, reaching $140 billion by the end of the forward estimates. This is the result of growth in the membership of the Military Superannuation and Benefits Scheme, which remains open to new military personnel, and continued growth of entitlements accruing to existing members of the closed civilian and military schemes.
An actuarially determined discount rate is used to value the nominal amounts of the future superannuation liability to today's dollars. Owing to the long‑term nature of the unfunded superannuation liability, the value recorded on the balance sheet is highly sensitive to the discount rate used. As the superannuation liability is included in the Government's net worth and net financial worth aggregates, revaluations of the liability have an impact on these aggregates (see Note 1 in Budget Statement 9).
Commonwealth Government Securities
The total stock of Commonwealth Government Securities (CGS) on issue at 30 June 2010 is expected to be $154 billion.
Net issuance of CGS in 2010‑11 is expected to be around $55 billion.
Chart 2 shows Treasury Bonds outstanding at 30 June 2009 and new issuance in 2009‑10. Three new Treasury Bond lines were issued in 2009‑10.
Chart 2: Treasury Bonds on issue 2009‑10
Note: New issuance in 2009‑10 is to 11 May 2010.
The face value of Treasury Bonds on issue at 30 June 2010 is projected to be around $125 billion. Treasury Bond issuance in 2010‑11 is expected to be around $56 billion.
Treasury Indexed Bonds
Following consultations with a wide range of financial market participants, the Government recommenced the issuance of Treasury Indexed Bonds in 2009‑10. Treasury Indexed Bonds are medium‑term to long‑term securities that have a capital value which is adjusted for movements in the CPI. Interest is paid quarterly, at a fixed rate, on the adjusted capital value. At maturity, investors receive the adjusted capital value of the security.
Treasury Indexed Bonds contribute to the management of Australian Government debt by widening the range of available debt instruments, diversifying risk and tapping additional sources of investor demand.
Chart 3 shows Treasury Indexed Bonds outstanding at 30 June 2009 and new issuance in 2009‑10.
Chart 3: Treasury Indexed Bonds on issue 2009‑10
Note: New issuance in 2009‑10 is to 11 May 2010.
The face value of Treasury Indexed Bonds on issue at 30 June 2010 is projected to be around $11 billion. Treasury Indexed Bonds issuance in 2010‑11 is expected to be around $4 billion.
The Government recommenced the issuance of Treasury Notes in early 2009. Treasury Notes are short‑term debt securities used primarily to meet within‑year financing requirements resulting from differences in the timing of receipts and payments.
The volume of Treasury Notes on issue will vary over the course of the year, depending on the size and profile of the within‑year funding flows. It is anticipated that approximately $10 billion of Treasury Notes will be kept on issue at all times to maintain a liquid market in Treasury Notes.
The face value of Treasury Notes on issue at 30 June 2010 is projected to be around $11 billion.
Aussie Infrastructure Bonds
On 7 April 2009, the Government announced that its investment in NBN Co would be partly funded through the issuance of Aussie Infrastructure Bonds to both household and institutional investors. In 2010‑11, $300 million of this investment will be financed by Aussie Infrastructure Bonds.
The component of this funding to be provided by institutional and other wholesale investors will be through the issue of CGS as part of the Government's overall debt issuance program. These bonds will not be separately identified from other CGS at the time of issue, but will be reported in the annual budget statements.
Consideration is currently being given to offerings of Aussie Infrastructure Bonds for household investors.
If www.budget.gov.au responds slowly or you are having trouble downloading a document, try one of the Budget Website Mirrors
Note: Where possible, Budget documents are available in HTML and for downloading in Portable Document Format(PDF). If you require further information on any of the tables or charts on this website, please contact The Treasury. | <urn:uuid:04ae354d-7db7-4a97-ae15-4d630a8fc7c4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.budget.gov.au/2010-11/content/bp1/html/bp1_bst7-01.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931846 | 3,380 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Where Students Can Study Abroad
The Erasmus Programme is a university student exchange programme that operates in the European Union. Students in the programme are able to attend and study for a part of their degree at a university in another European country.
The Erasmus Network has mapped the connections of European universities to each other within the Erasmus Programme. The map provides a great visualization of the network and allows students to easily view the partner universities of their home institutions. If students select their university on the map they can instantly see the university's partner institutions across the EU.
Posted by Keir Clarke at 6:08 AM | <urn:uuid:9d4ca140-28d4-44a2-8465-5b32377fbbf1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2013/12/where-students-can-study-abroad.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945447 | 134 | 2.703125 | 3 |
In 1797, community members organized the academy, chaired by Rufus Putnam. Even though the school only lasted about 30 years, it symbolized the importance of education during the early pioneer days, said Marietta College history professor Jim O’Donnell.
“The Muskingum Academy represents the desire of education in the West while they were still trying to survive,” O’Donnell said. The city of Marietta itself had been settled nine years before in 1788.
In 1800, the Muskingum Academy erected its building between Front and Second streets where the First Congregational Church is today. It was a wood building, about 24 feet by 40 feet in size. From the school’s original donor list, O’Donnell said it is clear that Rufus Putnam believed in the need for a strong local education presence.
“He donated $300, which was quite a bit of money back then because no one else pledged more than $40,” O’Donnell said. Putnam also went on to help found Ohio University in 1804.
Historian and author Robert Cayton said the Muskingum Academy taught the classical basics of reading, writing, mathematics, Latin and Greek, but in a less rigid way than some schools in the east. While most students of the time learned primarily by memorization and recitation, students at the Muskingum Academy were learning how to apply their academics to life.
“It enabled them to read and write and do something in life,” Cayton said. “I wouldn’t call it a vocational school, but that’s kind of what they were aiming for.”
This style of education brought in a variety of students, O’Donnell said.
“The academy could take you in to learn how to read and write or it could take you in to get ready for college,” O’Donnell said.
However, Muskingum Academy didn’t last long. Starting in 1816, the building went through several educational renters and eventually was abandoned and destroyed.
Marietta College later became the area’s main higher institution of learning, but Cayton stressed that the 1835 founded school had no link to Muskingum Academy.
Cayton authored the book “A House Suitable for Instruction, A History of Muskingum Academy,” which is available at the Washington County Public Library. | <urn:uuid:ff1e670b-7193-4f0a-97de-a63517e399f2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/500048/Early-school-pioneered-education--Muskingum-Academy-taught-classical-subjects.html?nav=5069 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00022-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976766 | 513 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Change the following sentences into indirect speech.
1. He said to me, ‘You are very ambitious.’
2. He said to me, ‘Your father has sent you a gift.’
3. James said, ‘I am working against heavy odds.’
4. He said to me, ‘I have often told you not to play with fire.’
5. ‘You have done very badly,’ remarked the teacher.
6. They wrote, ‘It is time we settled the matter.’
7. The mother said, ‘I am longing for my son’s return.’
8. He wrote, ‘I am unable to come just now because I am ill.’
9. She said, ‘I left school long ago.’
10. I said to her, ‘I have not seen him in years.’
1. He told me that I was very ambitious. OR He remarked that I was very ambitious.
2. He told me that my father had sent me a gift.
3. James said that he was working against heavy odds.
4. He reminded me that he had often told me not to play with fire.
5. The teacher remarked that we had done very badly.
6. They wrote that it was time we settled the matter.
7. The mother said that she was longing for her son’s return.
8. He wrote that he was unable to come just then because he was ill.
9. She said that she had left school long ago.
10. I told her that I had not seen him in years. | <urn:uuid:1617c014-65b5-4fc1-9b0a-566b5b047df2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.englishgrammar.org/indirect-speech-exercise/?article2pdf=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00082-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.997248 | 358 | 3.25 | 3 |
You can’t call a pharmacy these days without hearing a chirpy voice imploring, “Protect yourself from the flu. Stop by and get your flu shot from a certified vaccinating pharmacist!” Doctors, schools, billboards, TV ads—everyone is pushing the flu vaccine, so it must be great, right?
Wrong. In 2014, scientists reviewed all the studies comparing outcomes in healthy adults and pregnant women who had flu shots with those who had received a placebo or no intervention. This comprehensive review, involving 90 studies and more than 9 million people, concluded that the flu vaccine has a “very modest effect” in reducing flu symptoms and sick days—and no effect at all on preventing hospitalization or serious adverse events.
For people over age 65, the available evidence was of such poor quality that the researchers couldn’t determine if the flu vaccine was protective or not. For children, the evidence was somewhat stronger, except for the very young—just one study supported its use in kids under age two.
Yet every man, woman, and child six months and older is urged to get vaccinated.
Other Concerns About the Flu Vaccine
I have other concerns about the flu vaccine. In past years it’s been associated with hundreds of cases of neurological disorders such as Guillan-Barre syndrome. In addition, several studies have demonstrated that the flu vaccine actually weakens the immune system. Furthermore, vigorously held assertions to the contrary, giving healthy workers flu shots provides no economic benefits whatsoever when the costs of vaccination are compared to the costs of flu-related sick days and medical care.
Finally, the flu vaccine certainly doesn’t protect against the numerous other bugs that cause the majority of respiratory infections during cold and flu season.
Flu Vaccine Doesn’t Prevent Pneumonia
Although no one wants to deal with congestion, cough, fever and other miseries of the flu, symptoms are usually short-lived and not particularly serious. Far more worrisome are complications such as bacterial pneumonia, which causes most of the thousands of annual deaths that are chalked up to the flu. The flu vaccine is purported to reduce hospitalization by a third and cut deaths in half. But this notion has been shot down as well.
A study published in The Lancet found that the flu vaccine does not reduce risk of pneumonia in people older than 65. In fact, during peak flu season, pneumonia rates were actually higher in vaccinated individuals. The researchers concluded that this lack of benefit means one of two things: Either influenza is not a primary cause of pneumonia or the flu vaccine is ineffective.
Let me make it clear that this study involved people over 65 living on their own. Previous research suggests that the flu vaccine may be advisable for frail older people in assisted living facilities.
But for most of us—and that includes children—the current scientific research doesn’t even come close to supporting the wildly overblown claims about the value of the flu vaccine.
What About Other Common Recommendations for Avoiding the Flu?
In addition to getting the flu vaccine, another common recommendation is to avoid infection by keeping your distance from sick people and washing your hands often. This is good advice, but as one study demonstrated, avoiding bugs is harder than it seems.
To determine the rate and extent of viral spread, researchers from the University of Arizona, Tucson applied inactivated “tracer viruses” (similar to norovirus, which causes diarrhea and vomiting) on a single doorknob or tabletop in offices, conference rooms, and health care facilities. Within two to four hours, the virus was detected on 40–60 percent of the light switches, countertops, coffee pots, phones, keyboards, and other surfaces—and on a similar percentage of workers’ and visitors’ hands.
Cold and flu viruses are even more contagious because they also spread through the air. MIT scientists found that tiny droplets expelled in coughs and sneezes travel 200 times farther than previously believed. And flu viruses can spread up to six feet even without a cough or sneeze. Of course, you should practice good hygiene. In the Arizona study, scrupulous use of antiviral disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizers reduced contamination by 80–99 percent. But unless you hole up at home all winter, it’s hard to avoid exposure to seasonal viruses.
Safe, Effective Alternatives to the Flu Vaccine
Therefore, your best bet is to increase your immune system’s chances of successfully fighting off infections. Get plenty of sleep. Eat right and exercise moderately. And take a good multivitamin, and at least 2,000 mg of vitamin C daily in divided doses. It has both antiviral and antibacterial activity, and it boosts the immune system.
I also recommend adding N-acetylcysteine (NAC), which is a precursor to glutathione, the body’s preeminent antioxidant. Italian researchers recruited older people who had not had flu shots but were considered to be high risk because of chronic non-respiratory diseases. They were randomly divided into two groups and given either 600 mg of NAC or a placebo twice a day for six months during the fall and winter. Although exposure to the prevailing viral strains was similar in both groups, just 25 percent of those taking NAC developed symptomatic flu versus 79 percent in the placebo group.
Other proven immune-enhancing supplements include zinc (30–60 mg per day), vitamin D, and probiotics.
Vitamin D is particularly important because your body’s natural production of this vitamin, which produces antimicrobial compounds called cathelicidins and defensins, plummets during the winter—at the same time infectious diseases surge. Studies show solid links between vitamin D blood levels and risk of influenza, pneumonia, ear infections, and other viral and bacterial illnesses. I’ve found that 2,000–5,000 IU of vitamin D daily works for most people. But your best bet is to have your blood level of vitamin D (25(OH)D) tested and take enough supplemental vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) to keep it in the optimal range of 50–80 ng/mL.
Although probiotics are best known for their effects on gastrointestinal health, these beneficial bacteria are also a boon for the immune system. In one study, children who took probiotic supplements daily for six months had significant reductions in fever, runny nose, and cough incidence and duration; antibiotic prescriptions; and days missed from school. Look for a high-quality probiotic supplement that contains multiple strains of beneficial bacteria with a delivery system that keeps them alive and intact until they reach your intestinal tract, and use as directed.
If You Do Get Sick…
If you do get the flu, your doctor will probably prescribe Tamiflu or Relenza, the only two FDA-approved antiviral drugs.
According to an April 2014 review based on data previously withheld or intentionally hidden by Big Pharma, the most that can be expected of these drugs is shortening of the duration of flu symptoms by half a day. There is no evidence they reduce pneumonia, bronchitis, sinusitis, hospital admissions, or person-to-person spread of the flu. But they do cause nausea, vomiting, headaches, and psychiatric disturbances and decrease natural immunity.
Yet aggressive marketing and unsubstantiated claims—outright lies, actually—made by drug makers led countries around the world to spend billions stockpiling antivirals in preparation for an influenza pandemic. Folks, this is fraud of the worst kind. They’ve already siphoned off billions of taxpayer dollars. Don’t waste your money on these worthless drugs.
Most of us suffer through mild to moderate colds and flu with rest, boxes of tissues, over-the-counter therapies such as echinacea and the homeopathic flu remedy Oscillococcinum, chicken soup, and, if we’re lucky, a little TLC. And we come through it just fine. If you’re really sick, however, I suggest you temporarily increase your intake of vitamins D (50,000 IU per day for three days) and C (500 mg every two to three hours)—and find a clinic that offers IV vitamin C.
During the cold and flu season, our IV department at Whitaker Wellness is filled with patients relaxing in recliners, reading, or chatting as they get their infusions of high-dose vitamin C. One of these patients, Marie F., reports, “I come to the Whitaker clinic for vitamin drips when I first begin to feel achy or stuffed up. I rarely get much worse, and I haven’t missed work in the five years since I learned about IV vitamin C.” To learn more about IV vitamin C and other therapies at Whitaker Wellness, call 866-944-8253.
The Choice Is Yours
While I can’t make the decision for you of whether or not to get a flu shot, I strongly encourage you to discuss this information with your physician and decide for yourself if you’re an appropriate candidate for the flu vaccine. And, regardless of your decision, for maximum protection, beef up your supplement program during the cold and flu season. | <urn:uuid:1e5bfd19-ba5f-4ded-bdc1-54397919b249> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.drwhitaker.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/article.detail/ID/006ad596-0f37-427f-af72-54b336e997d3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949003 | 1,921 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Karen Kirkpatrick is happy to talk to anyone about vitamin B17 on 01483 423235 (UK) 9am-5pm Monday-Friday. This is a private telephone number and she may not always be able to answer, but keep trying.
No information from anticancerinfo.co.uk may be construed as medical advice or instructions. Readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and wellbeing.
Apricot kernels are, like most nuts and seeds, very nutritious. Among the nutrients they contain is one called amygdalin, which is also known as vitamin B17. This attacks cancer cells, and thus can help prevent cancer from breaking out in our bodies.
Amygdalin (vitamin B17) is contained in many hundreds of foods, but ones that are particularly rich in amygdalin have disappeared to a large extent from our Western diet. Peoples throughout the world who still eat a traditional diet, have been found to be largely free from cancer. These diets are rich in foods containing amygdalin.
Apart from apricot kernels, examples of other amygdalin rich foods are bitter almonds (amygdalin tastes bitter - sweet almonds do not contain it, and apricot kernels that are not bitter do not contain it). Other foods containing amygdalin are apple pips, grape seeds, millet, broad beans, most berries, cassava and many other seeds, beans, pulses and grains - but not ones that have been highly hybridised (African orange pips contain some amygdalin, but American ones don't, wheat is low in amygdalin).
There are many ways you can fight cancer. One is to build up the immune system so that it is very strong. Another is to supplement with antioxidants which fight carcinogens in the body. However, amygdalin seems to be unique in the way that it directly attacks cancer cells.
Amygdalin was first extracted and named over one hundred years ago and has been listed in pharmacological dictionaries since that time as being non-toxic. However it does have a poison locked away in it - one of its constituents is cyanide. But, locked into the compound amygdalin, it is chemically inert and harmless to normal living tissue. In the same way common salt (sodium chloride) is safe to eat, and in fact is necessary to the body. But this also has locked away in it a poison - chlorine. Of course if you ate too much salt at one time you would be ill. This is true of any substance, and would equally apply to apricot kernels. However, amygdalin is less toxic than salt, and less toxic than sugar.
We are told that our bodies are creating cancer cells all the time. Normally the immune system can deal with them. However at times of stress or in a particularly weak part of the body, or under extreme or regular exposure to carcinogens, then the multiplication of cancer cells may become too great for the immune system to handle. Amygdalin comes alongside the immune system and attacks the cancer cells directly. The cancer cells have within them an enzyme which unlocks the poison in the amygdalin, and in this way the cancer cells are destroyed. Normal, healthy cells do not have this enzyme. In fact they have a different enzyme which unlocks the amygdalin in a different way and releases nutrients and also a neutralising agent which would neutralise any of the poison it came into contact with. Researchers at Imperial College London have been experimenting using cyanide to kill cancer cells, and state that any poison that escaped into the bloodstream would be quickly neutralised by the liver. (See reports in UK national newspapers of 7th September 2000).
Amygdalin is sometimes referred to as Vitamin B17 and is found in nitriloside rich fruits and plants. In its extracted, pure, concentrated form it is known as laetrile. Laetrile is used as the main therapy, but supported by other non-toxic therapies and good nutrition, in treating cancer sufferers in some clinics.
For prevention, however, Dr Ernst T Krebs Jr., the biochemist who first produced laetrile (concentrated amygdalin) in the 1950s, recommended that if a person would eat ten to twelve apricot kernels a day for life, then barring the equivalent of Chernobyl, he is likely to be cancer free. At the beginning of the 21st century it is expected that one in eight women in the UK will get breast cancer and one in nine men prostate cancer. If other types of cancer are added in, then no family is likely to be free. Therefore the suggestion that eating 10 - 12 kernels per day for life is likely to prevent cancer - is very good news indeed.
Most of this information comes from World Without Cancer by G. Edward Griffin (American Media, California, 1974 and 1997). For testimonies of cancer sufferers treated with laetrile and nutrition therapy read Alive and Well (American Media, California, 1994) by Philip E Binzel, Jr., M.D. If you have cancer see Summary of amygdalin/vitamin B17 therapy.
Kernels can be ordered from Dayspring on 01483 418258.
Taking the above preventative action can cost less than a pint of beer or a cup of coffee per week.TOP of PAGE PRINT this page | <urn:uuid:ce561793-8a0b-4cd1-ac0c-4d20aedbc1b8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.anticancerinfo.co.uk/apricot_kernels.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00081-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958292 | 1,103 | 2.515625 | 3 |
New Lupus Genes Identified
WEDNESDAY, April 4 (HealthDay News) -- Three new genes linked to the chronic autoimmune disease lupus have been identified by an international team of researchers.
The analysis of more than 17,000 genetic samples from people of several ethnic groups also pinpointed another 11 genetic regions that may be related to lupus and require further study.
The researchers found that the genes IRF8 and TMEM39a are associated with lupus in European-American, African-American, Gullah (a distinctive group of African-Americans in Georgia and South Carolina) and Asian patients. The gene IKZF3 is only significantly associated with lupus in African-Americans and European-Americans.
The researchers said their findings, which appear in the April 6 issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, show that the genes that cause lupus aren't always universal.
The next step is to study the three genes to find out exactly what role they play in lupus, said lead author Christopher Lessard, a scientist at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City.
Lupus affects about 1.5 million Americans, and about 90 percent of patients are women. The disease causes the immune system to become overactive and attack the body's own cells. Symptoms include fatigue, fever, rashes and joint pain.
A combination of environmental and genetic factors cause lupus. Learning more about genetic risk factors may lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
The U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases has more about lupus.
-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:7debb878-a348-4c17-810b-239abf780585> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.ecommunity.com/news/healthstory.aspx?id=663251 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00040-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932055 | 356 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Hirbet Madras, known as Churvat Madras in Hebrew, is the remains of an agricultural village located in Park Adulam. The Hirbet Madras ruins include houses, burial caves, hiding caves, a columbarium cave, and a burial pyramid.
The village has origins which date back to the iron age (1000 BCE), but its peak was in the Roman era. The village was later used by the fighters during the Bar Kochba Revolt in 132-135 CE. The village was deserted in the 4th century.
What to see
The burial pyramid was used as an impressive tombstone for a burial system which was located next to the pyramid. The pyramid is 10 meters long at its base, and reaches a height of 3.5 meters. The top layers of the pyramid are missing, and the original height of the pyramid is estimated at 5 meters.
Outside of the village, a burial cave with a rolling stone to close the entrance to two burial rooms is located. The burial rooms have multiple niches for burial. The burial cave also contained small sarcophagi for collecting the bones of the decomposed bodies, as was the custom of the Jews during the second temple period. Pottery found in the burial cave was used from the 1st century BCe until the Bar Kochba revolt in 132-135 CE.
A Byzantine church was discovered in 2010 with a well preserved mosaic floor and imported marble Corinthian pillars. Near the church is a burial cave, which is believed by some to be the tomb of the prophet Zecharia, as shown in the Madaba map.
The hiding caves are an underground tunnel system of interconnecting rooms which was used during the Bar Kochba revolt in 132-135 CE. The tunnels were used as shelter for the fighters in the revolt, as well as for storage of food and water. The village was destroyed after the Bar Kochba revolt, but was rebuilt and used a few hundred years later by Christians during the Byzantine Period.
Tip: The hiding caves can be entered and navigated by crawling; arrows mark the direction to be followed. Wear long clothing and bring a flashlight. Carry a minimum of items with you, because you will be dragging these along as you crawl on your stomach. The tunnels take about 20 minutes, but will take longer if there is a crowd.
Tip: The Hirbet Madras site takes about 1.5 hours to cover. The ruins are located in the JNF park known as Park Adulam, which is opposite Park Brittania. To get there, take route 38 and then follow the signs to Hirbet Madras. Park in the parking lot and head towards the ruins.
Tip: Take the blue trail. When the trail splits after a few minutes, stay on the blue trail; the green trail will lead you back to the parking at the end of the trail. The blue trail leads you to the hiding caves, and thereafter to other ruins at the site. The trail takes about 1.5 hours, not including time spent in the hiding caves. | <urn:uuid:7499ce19-6f4e-4436-8bcb-47776db23c1f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.attractions-in-israel.com/jerusalem-area/jerusalem-historical-sites/madras-ruins-in-park-adulam-%E2%80%93-hirbet-madras-near-beit-shemesh-%E2%80%93-churvat-madras-in-park-adulam/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00179-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979343 | 626 | 3.453125 | 3 |
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