text stringlengths 199 648k | id stringlengths 47 47 | dump stringclasses 1 value | url stringlengths 14 419 | file_path stringlengths 139 140 | language stringclasses 1 value | language_score float64 0.65 1 | token_count int64 50 235k | score float64 2.52 5.34 | int_score int64 3 5 |
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Muons - tiny, electron-like particles - are present in the final stages of many B meson decays, and so muon detection is vitally important for the LHCb experiment.
Located at the far end of the detector, the muon system comprises five rectangular ‘stations’, gradually increasing in size and covering a combined area of 435 m² - about the same size as a basketball court.
Each station contains chambers filled with a combination of three gases: carbon dioxide, argon, and tetrafluoromethane. The passing muons react with this mixture, and wire electrodes detect the results.
In total, the muon system contains around 1,400 chambers and some 2.5 million wires - enough to stretch from Geneva to Madrid. | <urn:uuid:e0bac2e6-58c7-4922-bccc-06cdf8fcabdd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://lhcb-public.web.cern.ch/lhcb-public/en/Detector/Muon-en.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00023-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.892633 | 161 | 3.171875 | 3 |
For the popular musical genre, see soul music.
The soul is the deeper essence of a person. This can be understood in a number of ways. It may be understood as a religious or supernatural concept, with each person having an inner being that transcends death, and can be embodied in spirits or ghosts. A more secular understanding of the soul is to talk, as ancient philosophers did, of the soul being the emotional, moral and intellectual temperament or identity - the thing which makes a person unique and essential. Soul can also be synonymous with consciousness.
The Catholic Catechism gives the following definition of soul: "the innermost aspect of humans, that which is of greatest value in them, that by which they are most especially in God's image: 'soul' signifies the spiritual principle in humans".In literature, souls are often sold or given away in return for a reward, often to a Devil character. This has a Biblical source in Matthew 16:26: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" The story of Faust is the paradigmatic example.
- Catechism, §363 | <urn:uuid:990f18ba-f7db-4ee7-834b-8c992ae6c141> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://en.citizendium.org/wiki?title=Soul&oldid=100397251 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00022-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942071 | 238 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Posted On November 5th, 2012 | Essay Writing
Define Punctuation and Its Functions
If you think that punctuation is one of the circles of Grammar Hell, this article is here to save you from it. So, let’s start with a simple and helpful punctuation definition.
Punctuation is the use of small signs and marks in the middle and at the end of sentences.
Here they are, your old good friends (or enemies), the punctuation signs and marks: , ; : . ? ! () “” – – …
If you think that punctuation has been invented to puzzle and torture poor students, you may want to learn now the true functions of punctuation:
- to show where one sentence ends and a new one starts;
- to separate different parts in the sentence;
- to prevent misreading (E.g. Compare: “A woman, without her man, is nothing.” and
“A woman: without her, man is nothing.” Or: “Let’s eat grandma!” and “Let’s eat, grandma!” In the latter case, proper punctuation might actually save a life…) | <urn:uuid:e1dfcff2-ac16-4f8d-a57f-f89fc9785897> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://writing-services.org/blog/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916045 | 257 | 3.875 | 4 |
Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center developed the assessment, which they call a functional diffusion map. They used a magnetic resonance imaging scan that tracks the diffusion, or movement, of water through the brain and mapped the changes in diffusion from the start of therapy to three weeks later. The tumor cells block the flow of water, so as those cells die, water diffusion changes.
In the study of 20 people with malignant brain tumors, the researchers found that any change in the functional diffusion map predicted 10 weeks before traditional techniques if the tumor was responding to the chemotherapy or radiation therapy. This has potential to spare patients from weeks of a grueling treatment regimen that's not working and gives doctors the opportunity to switch patients early on to a therapy that may be more effective.
Results of the study appear the week of March 28 in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Most primary brain tumors have a high mortality rate, with people surviving only 10 months after diagnosis. Typically, patients receive seven weeks of treatment, followed by a traditional MRI scan six weeks after completing therapy to determine if the tumor shrank. If the cancer did not respond to the treatment, a new approach may be tried.
Using diffusion MRI and the functional diffusion map, the U-M researchers were able to predict with 100 percent accuracy after only three weeks of treatment whether the therapy would be effective ?10 weeks before traditional methods would show a response.
"This is an important issue in terms of patient quality of life. Do you want to go through seven weeks of treatment only to find two months later that it had no effect? Using MRI tumor diffusion values to accurately predict the treatment response early on could allow some patients to switch to a more beneficial therapy and avoid the side effects of a prolonged and ineffective treatment," said Brian Ross, Ph.D., professor of radiology and biological chemistry at the U-M Medical School and a member of the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.
In the study, 20 participants with brain tumors underwent diffusion MRI before beginning a new treatment involving chemotherapy, radiation therapy or a combination. Three weeks later, they had another diffusion MRI. After finishing their treatment, the participants underwent standard MRI to determine whether their tumor responded to the therapy.
After three weeks ?more than two months before the final MRI scan ?researchers found significant differences between the patients' scans. Some areas reflected an increase in water diffusion, suggesting tumor cell death; other areas saw a decrease in diffusion, which Ross said could be accounted for by the swelling some cells undergo before dying; and in some participants, researchers saw no change in diffusion.
"In the end, we found if the diffusion changes in any way, up or down, it correlates to a positive outcome. The magnitude or amount of change relates to the effectiveness of treatment. This indicates a different mixture of cell death pathways within the tumors. In the end, any change is good. When you think about it, if the treatment is not having an effect, the tumor will continue to grow without any change to water diffusion," Ross said.
The researchers found that for each of the 20 patients, a change in the diffusion MRI accurately predicted the tumor's response. Researchers plan to test the technique with breast cancer and head and neck cancer.
In addition to Ross, U-M study authors are Bradford Moffat, Ph.D., assistant professor of radiology; Thomas Chenevert, Ph.D., professor of radiology; Theodore Lawrence, M.D., Ph.D., Isadore Lampe Professor and Chair of Radiation Oncology; Charles Meyer, Ph.D., professor of radiology; Timothy Johnson, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor and assistant research scientist in biostatistics; Qian Dong, M.D., a radiology fellow; Christina Tsien, M.D., lecturer in radiation oncology; Suresh Mukherji, M.D., associate professor of radiology; Douglas Quint, M.D., professor of radiology; Stephen Gebarski, M.D., professor of radiology; Patricia Robertson, M.D., associate professor of neurology and of pediatrics and communicable diseases; Larry Junck, M.D., professor of neurology; and Alnawaz Rehemtulla, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental health sciences, radiation oncology and radiology. | <urn:uuid:879a8fe6-b13e-4cd6-8045-e537077ccb0f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://bio-medicine.org/biology-news/New-imaging-method-gives-early-indication-if-brain-cancer-therapy-is-effective--U-M-study-shows-138-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00027-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925916 | 898 | 3.484375 | 3 |
Date of Award
Master of Science
Throughout the Central Hardwoods, fire return interval dramatically increased during the period of Euro-American settlement. Fire was used as a tool for clearing land and improving forage for grazing. The Shoal Creek study site is located in Jackson County, Illinois, 8 km southwest of Murphysboro. Shoal Creek is situated at the northern extent of the Illinois Ozark Hills, classified as a Subsection of the Ozark Highlands Section. The region is unglaciated and loess caps are 10 m deep on the ridgetops and 1-3 m deep on side slopes. Results show the site was frequently burned (MFI=2.95) from 1887 to 1946 during post-settlement. Fire waned from the site in the 1930's and the last major fire occurred in 1946. By this time, Shawnee National Forest had become established in southern Illinois and fire suppression was the preferred management technique. Thirty three fire scarred Quercus-Carya cross sections were opportunistically sampled from a southwest aspect. Cross sections were sanded to 600 grit and skeleton plots were used to determine signature years for cross-dating purposes. Year and seasonality of individual fire scars, and approximate pith date were determined for each sample to be utilized in FHX2. Recruitment history revealed that overstory oak-hickory species established under favorable conditions in the early 20th century. Timber was harvested from the site around 1900 and intense fires followed for the next 30 yrs. A small pulse of Acer-Fagus germinated as fire frequency decreased on-site during the 1930's and a significant pulse established immediately after the last recorded fire in 1946. Superposed epoch analysis (SEA) determines the influence of immediate weather patterns and overall climate trends surrounding fire event years. SEA was run to compare fire event years at Shoal Creek with PDSI climate reconstructions. For the 95% confidence interval, there was not a significant association between fire and climate. In the Central Hardwoods, lightning is associated with rainstorms and fires burn in both dry years and wet years so the relationship between fire and climate is not strong. The Shoal Creek study site will be compared with the Sugar Creek study site (located in the Shawnee Hills) to see if similarities in the historical fire regime and recruitment exist between the two physiographic provinces. If rehabilitation of oak-hickory dominated forest stands is the management objective, the results of this study will aid in fire cycle planning of frequency and seasonality. Managers may consider the MFI for rehabilitation burns, and range of fire intervals for long-term maintenance burns. However, prescribed burns are not the only answer for managers. Fire must be used in accordance with silvicultural techniques that mimic natural disturbance regimes such as TSI and shelterwood harvests which create large overstory gaps suitable for oak-hickory recruitment.
This thesis is only available for download to the SIUC community. Others should
contact the interlibrary loan department of your local library. | <urn:uuid:46f8337a-5cb7-46a9-9d63-18af762ad4f2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/816/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00085-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954266 | 619 | 3.125 | 3 |
MATH ENRICHMENTOne activity that students particularly enjoyed were solving multiplication problems that had missing numbers in them. Students had to think through what pairs of numbers could create specific numbers that end with a particular digit that is in place in the problem. Students made up their own examples to challenge their classmates.
Mr. Kendall works with students in a pull-out group that meets during their regularly scheduled math time. Students are selected from each class depending on recent pre- or post-test performance, so the group composition can change from unit to unit, serving identified gifted students and selected high-ability students.
There are aspects of fourth grade math curriculum that are of significant challenge to all students (long division, dividing and multiplying with fractions and decimals, etc.) During these more difficult units Mr. Kendall will do a compacted version of the day's lesson. Students do a few problems to show mastery and those who make errors are re-taught and asked to do additional problems while the other students continue to work independently.
For many students the pace of instruction they need will vary from unit to unit. With skills like long division students will need to be reminded step by step until it suddenly clicks and they are able to internalize the process. That "click" happens for students at various different times within the study of division and other more difficult concepts. During more challenging units students do not participate in the pull-out group, but they do not "fall behind" in the group because the work is self-paced.
E-mail Mr. Kendall if you have questions about this program: email@example.com
Link TO ON-LINE MATH GAMES. The best site for 4th graders is Johnnie's Math page (www.jmathpage.com) because it is organized by skill area and includes games relevant to many fourth grade SOLs. Another game on my list that is a good challenge in manipulating numbers is "Power Lines."
Curriculum Update - August - January
During August, September, and October students in all fourth grade classes work on problems that extend their thinking through multi-step problems for the Techniques of Problem Solving Series (TOPS). You will hear your children referring to these as their "TOPS packets" and they progress through levels of difficulty:
Each “deck” in the TOPS series has 200 questions. For a sense of challenge level in the series for 5th grade students here are some descriptions:
Deck A problems are designed to be a good challenge for high-ability 2nd graders and 3rd graders.
Deck B problems are designed to be a good challenge for high-ability 3rd graders and 4th graders.
Deck C problems are designed to be a good challenge for high-ability 5th graders and 6th graders.
Deck D problems are designed to be a good challenge for high-ability 6th graders and 7th graders.Most 4th grade students this year are working in Deck B or Deck C. Any students working in Deck C are doing exceptionally well.
Students also take on additional challenge problems that are more complex. Many students will need to be reminded that math cannot be completed "all in [their] heads" as it often was in prior years. This does not mean that children are any less skilled in math than in prior years, but that the challenge level of the curriculum is rising to the point where it is at least somewhat challenging for all students. Depending on pretest results, students who may be used to being pulled out to work with Mr. Kendall may find themselves needing to stay in the room for additional instruction on some skills.
During the fall students had some "reward" days when they have a chance to play challenging math games like Muggins, which uses all four operations and order of operations. This game one a Mensa award because of the unique challenges it provides in manipulating numbers. The other game students enjoy is "Set" in all fourth grade classes will get some experience with matrix logic problems of progressing levels of difficulty.
Curriculum Update - February - March
In February and March students in all fourth grade classes resumed work in the Hands-On Equations pre-algebra program (www.borenson.com) and worked at their own pace. As students reached new lessons they were given indidual and small group instruction to advance through the next set of necessary skills.
Curriculum Update - April - June
For the final nine weeks of the school year students will have a choice to continue in Hands-On Equations or return to TOPS word problems in early April. We will also enrich the curriculum with matrix logic problems and more advanced word problems. We will continue to work on more efficient and effective problem-solving strategies.
LANGUAGE ARTS ENRICHMENT
Reading enrichment in fourth grade occurs through ability grouping in reading within each regular classroom and sometimes with high-ability readers from multiple classes. Students read appropriately challenging novels from such authors as Roald Dahl, Avi, and Katherine Paterson, who are highly recommended for gifted students. Students engage in active discussions of the literature using the vocabulary of literary analysis. Students also do critical and creative writing assignments inspired by the literature they read. In addition, the fourth grade teachers have created a wonderful poetry unit that includes Sharon Creech's novel, Love That Dog, which traces a boy's development of his poet's voice from a highly reluctant and resistant writer to a student willing to share his creative thoughts with his peers. I highly recommend this book to any parent, especially those who have children who are reluctant writers. It is a quick and wonderful read written through a diary of poems and it has an appendix of the poems the teacher uses to inspire her students.
GRADE LEVEL UPDATES > | <urn:uuid:9132f785-7a18-4eec-94a5-b0195ddb7b2f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://sites.google.com/site/lexedukkendall/grade-level-updates/fourth-grade | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00019-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96616 | 1,200 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Since more than two-thirds of the nation's schools were considered rural during the first decade of the 20th century, the one-room schoolhouse dominated America's educational landscape.
In these cramped buildings, teachers had the daunting task of handling students ranging between 5 and 20 years of age. Memorization and recitation drills dominated the school curriculum.
Most rural children attended schools for no more than a few years, and their parents were often content with this limited classroom setup since their hands and healthy bodies were needed in the fields in order to put food on the table. If they received the basics in literacy and number skills, it was considered adequate.
The education picture was changing by 1909 but by today's standards, these were still very much the "horse and buggy" days for public schools. In towns, however, where schools were larger, students could be seated in a proper classroom setting with kids their own age.
With a population of 12,000 in 1909, Tamaqua could be considered one of the more progressive schools in the area. But, as in many school districts today, personnel and salaries were major issues facing the school board.
When Tamaqua high school students entered the fall term in 1909, they were welcomed with a new physics lab which cost the district $337. The Tamaqua Courier was excited about the new educational opportunities for students.
"Two years from now, we have every reason to believe that graduates from Tamaqua High School will be able to enter any college in the country," one writer said. "When we turn out pupils from Tamaqua high school, we want to feel that they are well-equipped to fight the battles of life," he said.
He stated however, that a new program was only as good as the instructors maintaining it.
"The new curriculum and the extending of the high school term are going to work a marvelous change, provided, of course, that the instructors are efficient and painstaking," he noted.
Salaries have always been a dominant part of school board meetings and in September 1909 Tamaqua's was no exception. One issue involved Miss Anna Johns, a graduate of Tamaqua and Millersville Normal School who came to the Tamaqua district after teaching for two years in New Jersey. Although her teaching experience was logged in New Jersey, she felt she was entitled to a salary of $50 per month, instead of the $40 she received.
Superintendent William Derr stated that Johns had taken a temporary position in New Jersey while waiting for a position to open in Tamaqua. He said that after writing to the state department of education about her request, he was informed that Pennsylvania did not recognize experience that was gained in New Jersey.
Several school boards, however, felt that Johns was qualified and deserving of the $10 monthly increase. Director Rev. Lobach said that Johns had the "practical experience" and that in cases like this the state allowed individual school boards to "use their own judgment."
Several directors felt that board members should not be raising teacher salaries randomly but adopt a uniform scale, based according to qualifications.
Johns' request for the salary increase failed by a vote of 7-3.
A group of grammar and sub-grammar teachers were also present at the meeting to protest salaries, which they said "were about the poorest in the state." Miss Steigerwalt argued that primary grade teachers were paid $5 per month less than the grammar school teachers, even though the higher grades were "considerably harder." She felt, however, "that all the teachers were underpaid."
Board president Shifferstein believed that every director favored the adjusting of salaries to make them commensurate with their duties, but he used a bit of school board reasoning still being used today throughout the nation.
"In view of the fact that the tax rate had already been fixed and the board was running greatly in debt, he did not believe favorable action would be taken this year," the Courier reported.
Shifferstein was interested in appointing a board committee to "investigate and recommend a scale of wages for the teachers for next year," a concept similar to today's salary negotiating teams.
In a separate salary issue during that Tamaqua school meeting a century ago, the directors hired constable Charles McConnell as a truant officer for $12.50 per month.
Truancy wasn't the worst thing on the minds of school officials at the start of school in 1909. Before classes even began, arsonists attempted to burn down the Market Street school.
Coal oil, which was contained in a pint whiskey bottle, was poured on the wood work. A broken bottle used by the suspected arsonists was found in the school yard.
Two young "witnesses" claimed to have seen a pair of young men running from the building with shawls over their heads, just before the fire alarm was sounded. Some of the statements they gave to police chief Hahn, however, didn't seem to add up.
After hearing these eyewitness accounts given to the police, a Courier writer felt that the two youngsters had fabricated the story in order to cover their own tracks.
"An investigation proves that the effort to burn down the building was the work of young school boys who had an imaginary grievance because they had to start school after a two-month vacation," the writer stated. | <urn:uuid:1ef00dd5-8a30-4f31-88f1-b55b3482e799> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.tnonline.com/print/2009/sep/24/tamaqua-teacher-protested-her-40month-salary-09 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00035-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989319 | 1,101 | 3.453125 | 3 |
The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Ocean County is the oldest in the nation and will close by 2019. That’s welcome news, given the safety risk and the damage the plant has done to Barnegat Bay by dumping massive amounts of heated water into its delicate ecosystem.
But the closure will leave a gaping hole in New Jersey’s energy mix, a hole that must be plugged if we want to keep the lights on. There are two options: replace the lost juice by building new power plants or build transmission lines to import the energy from other states.
This is a major challenge. And unfortunately, the state’s first big move to address the problem is a major misfire.
The plan is to run a natural gas pipeline through the Pinelands to supply a refurbished power plant, a move that would break faith with long-standing, bipartisan efforts to keep the region pristine. The project requires a waiver from the Pinelands Commission because it breaks the standing rules that limit development in the area.
The Christie administration is pushing the plan hard. But on Dec. 12, in an extraordinary rebuke of a sitting governor, four former governors wrote the Pinelands Commission asking it to reject the plan. They are Democrats Brendan Byrne and Jim Florio and Republicans Christie Whitman and Tom Kean.
Their concern, widely shared by environmentalists, is that development pressure is eroding protections of the Pinelands and that granting this waiver will accelerate the process.
Taking a strict stand, they argue, will force developers to devise new plans that would steer around sensitive areas.
To understand why the former governors feel so strongly, some history helps. These protections were the crowning achievement of the Byrne administration, with a crucial assist from Florio, who served in Congress at the time.
The Pinelands include 1.1 million acres, roughly one-fourth of New Jersey’s land mass. Pristine pine forests cover about 800,000 acres, which sit over giant aquifers supplying clean water to the entire region. It is the largest protected area on the East Coast.
Under the rules, the Pinelands are divided into several zones with varying degrees of protection. The relevant one here states that utility infrastructure, such as this pipeline, can only be built to serve the local population. This pipeline would feed gas into a power plant serving a wider region, which is why a waiver is needed.
The project’s developer, South Jersey Gas, has promised to donate $8 million to purchase private land that abuts the 22-mile pipeline and preserve it forever as undeveloped land. That is an attempt to address fears that the pipeline will spur nearby development.
But that misses the larger problem cited by the governors, who worry a waiver would encourage other developers to seek waivers for their own pet projects. It sends the wrong signal at a time when development pressures are intense.
“The plan will only work over the long term if the plan is implemented consistently,” they wrote.
The former governors have it right. Our hope is that the Pinelands Commission holds the line until a better plan comes along. | <urn:uuid:4710aa19-1794-40c3-96b5-0745718e42c1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2013/12/danger_in_the_pinelands_editor.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948593 | 646 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Yet, not only did Hasnain allow this claim to be repeated in November 2008, Peter Foster in the Financial Post reports that claim was also repeated in September 2009 in the Canadian Globe and Mail (link via Planetark). There we see the following:
Sayyed Iqbal Hasnain, one of India's leading glaciologists, who believes the Himalayas may be denuded of all snow and ice in as little as 20 years, despairs at the incompetent bureaucracy, the corruption and the short-sightedness of parliamentarians ...Furthermore, Hasnain may be being economical with the truth when he attributes the statement which found its may into the IPCC report to an interview with the New Scientist - the article, which is claimed as the original source (used by WWF). That was written by Fred Pearce and published on 5 June 1999, and reads:
"All the glaciers in the middle Himalayas are retreating," says Syed Hasnain of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, the chief author of the ICSI report. A typical example is the Gangorti glacier at the head of the River Ganges, which is retreating at a rate of 30 metres per year. Hasnain's four-year study indicates that all the glaciers in the central and eastern Himalayas could disappear by 2035 at their present rate of decline.Compare and contrast that with the actual IPCC report:
Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than in any other part of the world (see Table 10.9) and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 and perhaps sooner is very high if the Earth keeps warming at the current rate. Its total area will likely shrink from the present 500,000 to 100,000 km2 by the year 2035 (WWF, 2005).As pointed out here, this IPCC claim actually bears a remarkable textual similarity with a piece published in April 1999 in the India Environment Portal, two months before the The New Scientist went to press. There we see:
"Glaciers in the Himalaya are receding faster than in any other part of the world and, if the present rate continues, the likelihood of them disappearing by the year 2035 is very high," says the International Commission for Snow and Ice (ICSI) in its recent study on Asian glaciers. "But if the Earth keeps getting warmer at the current rate, it might happen much sooner," says Syed Iqbal Hasnain of the School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Hasnain is also the chairperson of the Working Group on Himalayan Glaciology (WGHG), constituted in 1995 by the ICSI.If looks very like Hasnainin talking to Pearce was, therefore, simply repeating an assertion he had made months earlier. But now the heat is on him personally – rather than the glaciers – this scientist is rather reluctant to stand by his previous claims. | <urn:uuid:ba34f1da-39fe-4fad-a6ae-610df8b6a18a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2010/01/outbreak-of-reticence.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00201-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965083 | 613 | 2.71875 | 3 |
|< Q12.6||TOC||Q12.8 >|
"Messiah" means annointed. Whenever a line of kingship was established, such as Saul, David, or after a disagreement about who should get the throne, the king was "crowned" by being annointed with olive oil. This was also done for the High Preists from Aaron until the end of the first Temple period. Cyrus is also called by G-d, "My annointed king". So, when we talk about "a messiah", we are merely talking about a king of the Davidic line. Not some kind of supernatural entity or one-of-a-kind event. It also means that the first mention of the messiah in the Torah would be any mention of King David or of Judah maintaining rule beyond the death of Gedalyah (the last governor of First Commonwealth Judea), which would imply a restoration of the rule. This we find toward the end of Genesis, 49:10.
Do Jews believe the Messiah will live an eternal life? No. The messiah, like all people, will live and die. He will then be succeeded by his son (if he has one), and the line of Davidic kings will continue. He will be resurrected when the rest of the righteous are. But that's (in nearly all opinions) a different era than the messianic one.
The different movements via the Messiah differently. The traditional opinion was best expressed by Moses Maimonides (RaMBaM), who said the following about the Messiah:
"If a king will arise from the House of David who is learned in Torah and observant of the mitzvot [the Torah's commandments], as prescribed by the written law and the oral law, as David his ancestor was, and will compel all of Israel to walk in [the way of the Torah] and reinforce the breaches [in its observance]; and fight the wars of G-d, we may, with assurance, consider him the Messiah.
"If he succeeds in the above, builds the Temple in its place, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Messiah. ...
"If he did not succeed to this degree or he was killed, he surely is not [the redeemer] promised by the Torah. [Rather,] he should be considered as all the other proper and complete kings of the Davidic dynasty who died. G-d only caused him to arise in order to test the many, as [Daniel 11:35] states; "and some of the wise men will stumble, to try them, to refine, and to clarify until the appointed time, because the set time is in the future."
The Rambam then continues by explaining why Judaism has rejected the claims of other religions, notably Christianity, that "caused the Jews to be slain by the sword, their remnants to be scattered and humbled, the Torah to be altered, and the majority of the world to err and serve a god other than the L-rd." Since, he said, the required criteria [as described in the preceding paragraphs] have not been met, all messianic claims to date, such as Christianity or the the beliefs of the followers of Shabtai Zvi, have been proven false.
The full text is in his Mishneh Torah, Sefer Shoftim, Hilchot Melachim U'Milchamoteihem, Chapter 11. This translation was done by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger, published by Moznaim Press, from Halacha 4.
The Rambam's statement is probably the definitive rendering of the traditional Jewish view on the subject. Others believe that the Messiah will usher in an age of miracles, and will come in a miraculous manner.
The liberal movements, such as Reform) do not believe in a personal messsiah, but do believe in the concept of a messianic age.
The FAQ is a collection of documents that is an attempt to answer questions that are continually asked on the soc.culture.jewish family of newsgroups. It was written by cooperating laypeople from the various Judaic movements. You should not make any assumption as to accuracy and/or authoritativeness of the answers provided herein. In all cases, it is always best to consult a competent authority--your local rabbi is a good place to start.
Hopefully, the FAQ will provide the answer to your questions. If it doesn't, please drop Email to firstname.lastname@example.org. The FAQ maintainer will endeavor to direct your query to an appropriate individual that can answer it. If you would like to be part of the group to which the maintainer directs questions, please drop a note to the FAQ maintainer at email@example.com.
© (c) 1993-2002
Daniel P. Faigin <firstname.lastname@example.org> | <urn:uuid:c92f1d3c-17b1-4c47-b61d-c42b482b1aa1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/12-07.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00135-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956915 | 1,021 | 2.6875 | 3 |
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
October 7, 1999 |
A few days ago, the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual report on income and poverty in the United States, including data on income distribution. As it does every year, the Census found a yawning income gap between the rich and the poor. However, the report is a gross exaggeration; the income gap is a gully, not a canyon. The Census Bureau measures income distribution by dividing society into fifths, or quintiles, and then calculating the share of total income received by each.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 20, 1999 |
Orange County is poised to become an increasingly vibrant, world-class economy, as illustrated by the projection that over the next 20 years it is expected to add 746,000 new jobs. Our export growth outpaces the rest of the Pacific region and the United States as a whole, and our fast-growing high-tech sector boasts the seventh-highest concentration of tech-related jobs among all U.S. metropolitan areas.
June 27, 1997 |
College-educated black women have nearly closed the income gap with their white counterparts, according to a snapshot of black America released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Black women with bachelor's degrees made 98% of what white women with the same level of education did in 1995, the figures showed. College-educated black men's income was 73% of that of similarly educated whites. Women of both races made less than men. Black per capita income overall was 56% of white income.
May 11, 1997 |
Countering a long-term national trend, members of most minority groups in Southern California earn less today compared to whites than was true nearly 40 years ago, according to a new study. The income gap widened most dramatically between Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites, the study shows. U.S.-born Mexican American men were paid about 81% of the median income of non-Hispanic white men in 1959, but the figure dropped to 61% by 1989.
May 11, 1997 |
Countering a long-term national trend, members of most minority groups in Southern California earn less compared with whites than was true nearly 40 years ago, according to a new study. The income gap widened most dramatically between Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites, the study shows. U.S.-born Mexican American men were paid about 81% of the median income of non-Hispanic white men in 1959, but the figure dropped to 61% by 1989.
January 10, 1997 |
Three days after President Clinton proclaimed the nation "on the cusp" of reversing its worst social problems, his outgoing Labor secretary issued an unusually public word of caution, warning that the continuing gap between rich and poor "threatens to blight an otherwise promising future." With pointed references to the president's campaign rhetoric, Robert B.
July 15, 1996 |
The gap between rich and poor in California has been steadily widening in the last three decades, as the rich got a little richer and the poor got a lot poorer, according to a study released today by a new California think tank. Though California's gap has generally mirrored the national income gap, "it has exceeded the nation in the last seven years--which is not something to be proud of," said Deborah Reed, principal author of "The Distribution of Income in California."
March 20, 1996 |
The income gap between the richest and poorest American families--a politically charged issue that figures to weigh heavily in this year's elections--kept widening during the early 1990s despite a recovering economy, a major new study reported Tuesday. The study, called the first comprehensive look at patterns of income distribution in the 1990s, said that the people who pulled ahead economically generally were older, highly educated and members of families headed by married couples. | <urn:uuid:655f8991-1543-4f76-bc47-b05362fd9239> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/income-gap/recent/5 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00033-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969662 | 787 | 2.6875 | 3 |
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7: FIRST JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Profile America — Saturday, September 7th. Of the millions of students going to class in the new school year, many are attending junior high schools or middle schools. The first such school in the U.S. opened its doors on this date in 1909 — the Indianola Junction Junior High School in Columbus, Ohio, with seventh, eighth and ninth grades. Ninth grade students were offered courses in English, German, algebra, science and geography, as well as manual training, domestic science, history, and the government of Ohio. Today, most middle schools are composed of grades six to eight, some even five to eight, with a much broader curriculum. Of the 79 million students across the nation — from preschool to college — almost 11 million of them are enrolled in grades six to eight. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.
Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 3087
Columbus Metropolitan Library
U.S. Census Bureau, Facts for Features, CB13-FF.17
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau | <urn:uuid:4034e6a0-b4c7-49c9-8280-52f877e813bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-census-bureau-daily-feature-for-september-7-222771251.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00122-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95385 | 344 | 2.59375 | 3 |
As timber companies divest themselves of million acres of land in the southeastern United States, conservation groups fear that lands now providing habitat and watershed protection will soon fall victim to urban sprawl. Frank Peterman, director of public and political awareness with the Wilderness Society's Eastern Forest program, talks about environmental groups' efforts to protect some of these lands, and explains why federal land conservation programs need more funding. Also, Peterman details his efforts to get more minority groups involved with the environmental movement.
Brian Stempeck: Hello and welcome to OnPoint. I'm Brian Stempeck. Joining us today is Frank Peterman of the Wilderness Society. He's the director of Public and Political Awareness with the Eastern Forest Program. Frank thanks a lot for being here today.
Frank Peterman: Thank you for inviting me.
Brian Stempeck: Now you just traveled up from Georgia to be with us. In your state, and throughout the Southeast, we've seen kind of a growing trend in the past few years where a lot of the timber companies are starting to sell off a lot of lands they have. Talk about that issue and why that's such a problem in the Southeast right now.
Frank Peterman: Well the number one reason that is such a problem in the Southeast is because very little of the land is owned by the federal government or local governments. In fact, less than 11 percent in the state of Georgia, which means that most of the forest and private lands that need to be conserved are in the hands of private interests. The Weyerhaeuser Corporation just sold 330,000 acres right in the middle of Georgia and has an upcoming sale from International Paper Company of another half-million acres. Unfortunately most of that land is being bought by speculators and developers. And that is not to cast them in a bad light, but their business and the way they make money is inconsistent with conservation and that is what is creating the tremendous problem in the Southeast now.
Brian Stempeck: Why is it such a problem? To somebody from the outside it looks like the lesser of two evils. I mean you're talking about the timber company owning the land versus a real estate developer opening the land. I mean from an environmental group's perspective, aren't those equally evil?
Frank Peterman: No. If the timber company is engaged in a sustainable harvesting then we would applaud that. We are not a "no cut" organization. We are about proper management and sustainability. When you take the land out of timber production for development and you pave it over you change the whole character of the land. And it loses its value as a habitat for animals, for recreation and for watershed protection, which is a very important feature that most citizens value.
Brian Stempeck: Now you mentioned this is happening in Georgia with the Weyerhaeuser Corporation and other companies, International Paper. Where else is it occurring throughout the Southeast? Can you give us more examples of that?
Frank Peterman: I can't give you exact examples of specific companies, but it is happening in every state in the Southeast. The International Paper Company's sale, I believe, is also taking in land in South Carolina and North Carolina. But it is a trend. And not to cast the timber companies as bad guys. They're in the business of making money. Let's understand why this is happening, is that they find it more profitable to move their operations overseas and other places. And you can do the numbers. Let's say it takes a tree 40 years to come to timber production in Maine. You see this started as the timber companies became, moved south. It takes it 20 years let us say in Georgia, it may take it 10 years in Central or South America. And now they actually have trees that can come to fiber production in less than 10 years. Do the math. This is all about numbers, about the business of making money from providing wood fiber. That's what the timber companies are in. So that is the reason that we have the crisis, is that they can make more money producing the timber in other places.
Brian Stempeck: What's the role for environmental groups here? I mean obviously these timberlands can become major habitat. They've become a place where you can work with the companies themselves in ways, as you said, to manage the woods in a sustainable way. What's the role looking forward as these companies start to sell off these lands? Is the Wilderness Society, or other groups, starting to work and try to buy these lands? What's the outcome here?
Frank Peterman: The outcome is certainly to, one, prioritize what lands are most important. We have to be realistic. The companies are selling, as I said, to speculators and developers, so some of this land is actually going to go into development. So what the first thing we have to do is determine which of these lands are most important. And especially those that are near the boundaries, our wildlife refuges, our national parks and national forests. Those are lands we want to take a hard look at and come up with ways to acquire them. The second thing is for us to beef up the federal funding for purchasing of land. If you look at the conservation trust fund of the federal government, for the last 22 years it has steadily been going down. Now the important thing about the trust fund is that these are monies that do not come directly from the taxpayer, but they come from the royalties that we get off of the leases that we give to oil companies, timber companies, etc. So what Congress has done, despite having said that it was going to give up to $900 million per year, they've steadily reduced that. And they've never reached the $900 million goal. I said all that to say one of the roles for conservation organizations is to begin to have a push to have Congress to increase their bonds and their trusts, the conservation trust, so that we'll have available funds to purchase many of these lands.
Brian Stempeck: Do you think that that push though needs to come from the White House as well? I mean the Interior Department, or the Agricultural Department I guess, the Forest Service has said that about 20 million acres have been sold off by the timber company since the early '90s. And they have said this is a major problem, urban sprawl coming in, losing a lot of these plains that you had in the past. Should we see the forest service and the Interior Department and the Agricultural Department stepping forward and making a greater push for these kinds of things?
Frank Peterman: Oh, I certainly wish we would see that. Of course the leadership could do us a tremendous job in pushing for this. So far as I can tell the present administration is not disposed to do that. I think that we have certainly made it clear that this is a very important tool to saving these places. But no one seems to have picked up the ball in the administration and helped prepare the public and to push Congress to do this. What they're doing is, I don't know, you've seen in some other states where they'll have the Lotto, saying it going for education. But then as the years go by they take a piece for something else and a piece for, and you end up with what the people approved, the funds not being used for what it was approved for. In '64 the Congress passed the conservation trust pact and said if you're taking the resources, then put some money back to protect and buy other resources, which to me is very simple. But Congress has not picked up the mantle to do that. And one of the reasons, I'm not so certain that the public understands how this works, because it's not like new taxation, at all. It is money that we are already getting from another source that Congress will, that diverts from its intended purpose to other purposes.
Brian Stempeck: It's kind of switching gears, but talking about what you just mentioned, working with the public. That's something you've done a great deal in the past. Specifically you and your wife started a group to work with minorities, trying to involve more African-Americans and people of color in getting into the environmental movement. Historically that's been a major weakness for the movement. Talk about the work you've done there in terms of trying to involve more people.
Frank Peterman: Well we sort of fell into this. In 1995 we went around the country, we went about 12,500 miles, 40 states, 15 national parks. I don't know how many states. And we went from Everglades in Florida to Arcadia National Park in Maine, across the Olympic, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, etc. We were astounded that once we left Arcadia National Park in Maine that we saw two black people in the national parks for that whole two-and-a-half months or 12,500 mile journey. On our way back we got to thinking that this is abnormal. Something is wrong with this, and it could not have been a coincidence that we just happened to hit all the parks where there were no black folk. And we decided we should do something about that. And so we started publishing a newsletter specifically targeting African-Americans, telling them about this wonderful land that's theirs and part of their heritage. Many of the national parks, particularly out West, were protected by the Buffalo soldiers. That's the reason they exist. Colonel Young and the Buffalo soldiers protected many of the old-growth trees out West. There is a very rich history among African-Americans and these places. So we decided we had to make more of an appeal. Now what we found is that often times the conservation and environmental organizations, as well as the national park, people in the National Park Service I should say, personnel, this is certainly not universal, but then we sort of felt like we should go farther. We need to make a special invitation. It's there for everyone. And this thinking still persists and it's hard to get through to people that when you have had a different cultural history in this country, particularly as it pertains in the South to the woods, there is an element of fear. And we have to overcome this by explaining what the parks are for and that they are open to everyone. If you don't have a history, here I am, I had not, other than the Everglades, I had never been to another national park until we took the tour that we took. I was aware of the national park system, but it just was not, my mother and father tried to expose us to everything. But they did not know about national parks so they didn't carry us to national parks. So one of the things that we have to do is try to get the word out to African-Americans because in a white home, if you grow up with Sierra Club magazine, Audubon magazine, Wilderness magazine, that this is part of what's in your house lying around, then you immediately gravitate towards wanting to know more about it. If your home is absent of these things then it is a whole new area for you and someone has to introduce you to it and explain what it is all about. This hit home with me when I first went to Yellowstone. While I was standing there I looked at the lodge and I said out loud, "Is that where the fire was?" I think it was, what? Was it '84 or '87?
Brian Stempeck: '88 I think it was.
Frank Peterman: And the gentleman standing, a white gentleman from Chicago standing next to me said, "Yes, because when my father brought me they were building this section. When I brought my son they were building this section." And for the first time it hit me I had missed something with my children because I had not brought them. It was not part of our tradition for us, for me to bring them to the national park. And you can repeat that with several African-American families in this country.
Brian Stempeck: Now you and your wife have also worked, I read a story where you're working on the New River in Florida, talking about involving a local black community trying to clean up the river. It seems like that kind of thing also needs to happen more in terms of getting African-Americans involved in the environmental movement. Talk a little bit about the work you did in Florida.
Frank Peterman: Well what we did in Florida, in trying to help the restoration effort of the Everglades, was to let people know that it had a direct effect on their lives. The New River was an exciting project because it runs through the heart of the black community in Fort Lauderdale, one of the largest black communities in South Florida. The great thing about it was because it had been left 'undeveloped' right in the heart of the city was this very wild place, wild birds, animals there. And it was part of the community. The community was not clamoring for it to be changed or moved or anything else. And the interesting thing about it, it was one of the last tributaries that was part of the old Everglades River and system. So we were able to generate public interest in saving the New River and thereby connect it to what we were doing for Everglades restoration.
Brian Stempeck: All right Frank, we're out of time. Thanks so much for being on the show. We appreciate you stopping by.
Frank Peterman: Thank you. I appreciate it very much.
Brian Stempeck: I'm Brian Stempeck. This is OnPoint. Thanks for watching.
[End of Audio] | <urn:uuid:769e5365-2bca-4c8d-a7fe-5fea34cbb80a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eenews.net/tv/videos/253/transcript | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978201 | 2,820 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Canada's Abstract Art Explosion During The Automatiste Period
Paul-Èmile Borduas revolutionized the art scene in Canada during the beginning of the 1940s by introducing the concept of abstract expressionism. Originating in Quebec, this marked the first appearance of abstract art in the country. The movement heavily drew inspiration from the literature at the time which was derived mainly of train-of-thought explorations. Applying the fluidity of unfiltered writing to painting, the Automatiste transcended the boundaries of conventional artwork and ushered a period of abstract expressionism.
This rebellious abstract art movement did not consist solely of abstract paintings; all forms of art were incorporated, including poetry and choreography. The underlying theme of such abstract expressionism was the ability to adventure within the sub-conscious realm freely. The result was a new form of abstract art that yielded no angular confines. Instead it relied only on loose organic lines to guide the eye around other-worldly representations of typically mundane human objects. The winding twists always convey a sense of spiritual anarchy.
Abstract paintings and abstract expressionism in general, were intertwined with an elaborate anti-religious coup. The manifesto of abstract art at the time was published by this group in 1948 and was entitled “Total Refusal”. It served as a complete rejection of all institutions that serve to confine and restrict the free flow of though and expression. Abstract paintings specifically witnessed the most pivotal transformations of the time and could not afford to be stamped out by Quebec's religious authorities.
The abstract paintings were named for their unifying surrealist traits by Tancrè de Marcil Jr., who coined the term Automatiste to describe the style while reviewing their second showing in Montreal. Among the abstract paintings viewed was “Green Abstraction” by Borduas. This piece was a signature demonstration of the abstract expressionism movement, having been painting in oil during 1941. The style of this individual piece of art was designed to parallel the cerebral poetry of Andrè Breton.
The Automatiste artists spent two decades ostentatiously challenging the religious government of Quebec until the death of Borduas.
The group disbanded as suddenly as they appeared; however, their abstract paintings lived on infamously. Abstract expressionism has endured the years and is a primary influence on current era Post-Modernism. Abstract art since has attempted to mimic the wavy fluidity of this historical scene, but few accomplish the task with originality. The Automatiste movement was the most original period of abstract art Canada had ever seen. | <urn:uuid:eec8325d-dd81-4c14-9494-71bd6318ace8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.artslant.com/mia/articles/show/33963 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967295 | 525 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Brown Discharge During Early Pregnancy
Brown discharge during early pregnancy is frequently an alarming sign. However, there are cases when this symptom doesn’t present any risks. Such details as the shade of your brown discharge, its consistence, time of occurrence and whether it’s accompanied by other symptoms or not, help to understand if your pregnancy is progressing safely or get the clues to the condition you may be developing. However, remember to inform your gynecologist about any doubtful discharge you may have, as soon as you notice it. Meanwhile, let’s have a better insight into the problem of brown discharge in the very beginning of pregnancy.
Brown Discharge During Early Pregnancy: When There’s No Ground for Worries
1. Dark brown discharge that occurs approximately 2 weeks after fertilization or a month after your last period is implantation bleeding, caused by the embryo’s embedment into the uterine wall.
2. The cervix during pregnancy is very sensitive. That’s why after such procedures as transvaginal ultrasound or sex, slight brown spotting may occur in pregnant women. In this case the discharge stops by itself within a few days.
3. Pregnant women must have blood tests taken to determine the level of hormones. If the level of certain hormones, like progesterone, for instance, is too low, your gynecologist may prescribe Duphaston that sometimes causes brown discharge.
Brown Discharge During Early Pregnancy as an Indicator of Dangerous Conditions
- Light brown discharge may be a symptom of human papillomavirus (hpv) or other vaginal infections. If there are suspicions of sexually transmitted diseases, it’s necessary to have a vaginal swab for STD taken.
- Yellowish brown discharge also indicates the presence of vaginal infection. If a vaginal swab for STD doesn’t reveal any infectious agent, this kind of secretion may be caused by such pelvic inflammatory processes as adnexitis or salpingitis.
- Dark brown discharge may be a sign of abnormal pregnancy form – molar pregnancy that occurs as a result of the impaired embryo development or abnormalities of the placenta cells.
- Brown spotting may be a signal of ectopic pregnancy, a process of embryo development outside the uterus. Ectopic pregnancy usually occurs in Fallopian tubes or other organs of female reproductive tract. It’s a very dangerous condition that must be interrupted, otherwise, the growing fetus will rupture the organ where it’s developing.
- Reddish brown discharge may be the symptom of miscarriage. Red color points at a possibility of the ovum’s separation. Besides the discharge, you may have such symptoms as pulling sensation and low abdominal pain, dizziness, nausea and vomiting.
- Scanty brown discharge may occur as a result of imbalance in hormones. If you have low level of progesterone, your doctor will help to pick safe hormonal medication to correct the level of hormones, necessary for the normal pregnancy progress.
- Pink brown discharge means the presence of occult blood in the uterus. Contact your doctor immediately if you have pink brown bleeding and its getting more intensive.
Brown discharge during early pregnancy, anyway, isn’t a reason to practice self-treatment. If needed, your doctor will take necessary tests and apply additional diagnostic methods. Your task is just to monitor the color and intensity of your vaginal secretion. If such types of discharge, as liquid brown, abundant brown, thick dark brown, yellowish or pale brown, bother you, that isn’t a variant of norm but a direct indicator of pathology. | <urn:uuid:ad3a3b2e-1b74-4b7b-aba4-9fdfe36c65e1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pinkdischarge.net/brown-discharge-during-early-pregnancy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00112-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900566 | 742 | 2.875 | 3 |
Trigonometry is usually taught in secondary schools either as a separate course or as part of a precalculus course. It has applications in both pure mathematics and in applied mathematics, where it is essential in many branches of science and technology. A branch of trigonometry, called spherical trigonometry, studies triangles on spheres, and is important in astronomy and navigation.
If one angle of a triangle is 90 degrees and one of the other angles is known, the third is thereby fixed, because the three angles of any triangle add up to 180 degrees. The two acute angles therefore add up to 90 degrees: they are complementary angles. The shape of a right triangle is completely determined, up to similarity, by the angles. This means that once one of the other angles is known, the ratios of the various sides are always the same regardless of the overall size of the triangle. These ratios are given by the following trigonometric functions of the known angle A, where a, b and c refer to the lengths of the sides in the accompanying figure:
- The sine function (sin), defined as the ratio of the side opposite the angle to the hypotenuse.
- The cosine function (cos), defined as the ratio of the adjacent leg to the hypotenuse.
- The tangent function (tan), defined as the ratio of the opposite leg to the adjacent leg.
The hypotenuse is the side opposite to the 90 degree angle in a right triangle; it is the longest side of the triangle, and one of the two sides adjacent to angle A. The adjacent leg is the other side that is adjacent to angle A. The opposite side is the side that is opposite to angle A. The terms perpendicular and base are sometimes used for the opposite and adjacent sides respectively. Many people find it easy to remember what sides of the right triangle are equal to sine, cosine, or tangent, by memorizing the word SOH-CAH-TOA (see below under Mnemonics).
The reciprocals of these functions are named the cosecant (csc or cosec), secant (sec) and cotangent (cot), respectively. The inverse functions are called the arcsine, arccosine, and arctangent, respectively. There are arithmetic relations between these functions, which are known as trigonometric identities.
With these functions one can answer virtually all questions about arbitrary triangles by using the law of sines and the law of cosines. These laws can be used to compute the remaining angles and sides of any triangle as soon as two sides and an angle or two angles and a side or three sides are known. These laws are useful in all branches of geometry, since every polygon may be described as a finite combination of triangles.
Extending the definitions
The above definitions apply to angles between 0 and 90 degrees (0 and π/2 radians) only. Using the unit circle, one can extend them to all positive and negative arguments (see trigonometric function). The trigonometric functions are periodic, with a period of 360 degrees or 2π radians. That means their values repeat at those intervals.
The trigonometric functions can be defined in other ways besides the geometrical definitions above, using tools from calculus and infinite series. With these definitions the trigonometric functions can be defined for complex numbers. The complex function cis is particularly useful
A common use of mnemonics is to remember facts and relationships in trigonometry. For example, the sine, cosine, and tangent ratios in a right triangle can be remembered by representing them as strings of letters, as in SOH-CAH-TOA.
- Sine = Opposite ÷ Hypotenuse
- Cosine = Adjacent ÷ Hypotenuse
- Tangent = Opposite ÷ Adjacent
The memorization of this mnemonic can be aided by expanding it into a phrase, such as "Some Officers Have Curly Auburn Hair Till Old Age". Any memorable phrase constructed of words beginning with the letters S-O-H-C-A-H-T-O-A will serve.
Calculating trigonometric functions
Trigonometric functions were among the earliest uses for mathematical tables. Such tables were incorporated into mathematics textbooks and students were taught to look up values and how to interpolate between the values listed to get higher accuracy. Slide rules had special scales for trigonometric functions.
Today scientific calculators have buttons for calculating the main trigonometric functions (sin, cos, tan and sometimes cis) and their inverses. Most allow a choice of angle measurement methods: degrees, radians and, sometimes, grad. Most computer programming languages provide function libraries that include the trigonometric functions. The floating point unit hardware incorporated into the microprocessor chips used in most personal computers have built-in instructions for calculating trigonometric functions.
Applications of trigonometry
There is an enormous number of uses of trigonometry and trigonometric functions. For instance, the technique of triangulation is used in astronomy to measure the distance to nearby stars, in geography to measure distances between landmarks, and in satellite navigation systems. The sine and cosine functions are fundamental to the theory of periodic functions such as those that describe sound and light waves.
Fields which make use of trigonometry or trigonometric functions include astronomy (especially, for locating the apparent positions of celestial objects, in which spherical trigonometry is essential) and hence navigation (on the oceans, in aircraft, and in space), music theory, acoustics, optics, analysis of financial markets, electronics, probability theory, statistics, biology, medical imaging (CAT scans and ultrasound), pharmacy, chemistry, number theory (and hence cryptology), seismology, meteorology, oceanography, many physical sciences, land surveying and geodesy, architecture, phonetics, economics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, computer graphics, cartography, crystallography and game development.
Certain equations involving trigonometric functions are true for all angles and are known as trigonometric identities. There are some identities which equate an expression to a different expression involving the same angles and these are listed in List of trigonometric identities, and then there are the triangle identities which relate the sides and angles of a given triangle and these are listed below.
In the following identities, A, B and C are the angles of a triangle and a, b and c are the lengths of sides of the triangle opposite the respective angles.
Law of sines
The law of sines (also known as the "sine rule") for an arbitrary triangle states:
where R is the radius of the circumcircle of the triangle:
Another law involving sines can be used to calculate the area of a triangle. If you know two sides and the angle between the sides, the area of the triangle becomes:
Law of cosines
Law of tangents
Hubungan fungsi trigonometri
Rumus sudut rangkap dua
Rumus sudut rangkap tiga
Rumus setengah sudut
Sinus dalam matematika adalah perbandingan sisi segitiga yang ada di depan sudut dengan sisi miring (dengan catatan bahwa segitiga itu adalah segitiga siku-siku atau salah satu sudut segitiga itu 90o). Perhatikan segitiga di kanan; berdasarkan definisi sinus di atas maka nilai sinus adalah
Nilai sinus positif di kuadran I dan II dan negatif di kuadran III dan IV.
Nilai sinus sudut istimewa
Dari Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, ensiklopedia bebas
Kosinus atau cosinus (simbol: cos) dalam matematika adalah perbandingan sisi segitiga yang terletak di sudut dengan sisi miring (dengan catatan bahwa segitiga itu adalah segitiga siku-siku atau salah satu sudut segitiga itu 90o). Perhatikan segitiga di kanan. Berdasarkan definisi kosinus di atas maka nilai kosinus adalah
Nilai kosinus positif di kuadran I dan IV dan negatif di kuadran II dan III.
Nilai cosinus sudut istimewa
Dari Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, ensiklopedia bebas
Tangen (bahasa Belanda: tangens; lambang tg, tan) dalam matematika adalah perbandingan sisi segitiga yang ada di depan sudut dengan sisi segitiga yang terletak di sudut (dengan catatan bahwa segitiga itu adalah segitiga siku-siku atau salah satu sudut segitiga itu 90o). Perhatikan segitiga di kanan; berdasarkan definisi tangen di atas maka nilai tangen adalah
Nilai tangen positif di kuadran I dan III dan negatif di kuadran II dan IV.
Hubungan Nilai Tangen dengan Nilai Sinus dan Cosinus
Nilai Tangen Sudut Istimewa | <urn:uuid:34beb344-9c17-4f51-a32d-104f69fe1a53> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://enychaiiank.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00013-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.790052 | 2,028 | 4.125 | 4 |
I can see most people agree that warm water fish arent going to be found in a cold water habitat and vice versu. If you notice, as you move down stream from a coldwater to cool water then warm you find fish species changing. Its not that the introduced trout are out competeting smallmouth or anyother fish populations in tailwaters, its just that habitat regimes for species differ. As for the snail darter, competition among fish was not the problem that was addressed, it was the dam itself. Snail darter young are palagic, high releases mean that the fry are washed further downstream, reducing young of year within their niche. Im a wildlife and fisheries student myself, and actually today we had a lecture from Ed Scott from TVA who ran stream surveys and is still deeply fascinated with the snail darter. The question of what is the snail darters main predatory fish came up, and it actually wasn't a game fish at all, he belives its sculpin, theres also a problem associated with (star grass?). It blankets the substrate, becoming to dense for proper habitat.
~If our father had had his say, nobody who did not know how to catch a fish would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching him.~ | <urn:uuid:4f7efe09-445d-4419-b4c4-55a524d78339> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://littleriveroutfitters.com/forum/showpost.php?p=50971&postcount=11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00011-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98244 | 257 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum)
Description: This is a slender, smooth scaled snake with reddish or brown blotches on a gray or tan background color. There is usually a light "Y" or "V" shaped marking just behind the head. The belly is white with a black checkerboard pattern. Adult length: 2 to 4 feet.
Photo © Jim Harding
Habitat and Habits: Milk snakes occur in woods, fields, marshes, farmlands, and suburbs. They normally stay out of sight, often hiding under boards and trash near buildings. Despite their name, these snakes do not (and could not) milk cows, but will seek mice and rats in and around farm buildings. They also eat other reptiles. These snakes are harmless to humans, though they may vibrate their tails and bite if cornered or handled.
Reproduction: From 6 to 20 eggs are laid in June. The brightly colored young hatch in late summer.
Range and Status: Milk snakes are fairly common throughout the Lower Peninsula, but are rare in the Upper Peninsula.
Eastern Milk Snake Occurrences Map | <urn:uuid:8c4c5df4-02e8-411f-9ecc-305d806b0f0f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_12145_12201-61211--,00.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00049-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942604 | 238 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Whether you have an indoor or outdoor cat, one thing is for certain: your feline friend has probably nibbled on grass on more than one occasion. While it might seem like strange behavior -- especially when your cat throws up afterwards -- there's really nothing to worry about. Not only is there no evidence to suggest that grass will harm your cat, but many experts theorize munching on those long green blades can be beneficial for your cat.
Cats regurgitate when they eat grass because they lack the necessary enzymes to break down vegetable matter. Does this mean your cat likes to throw up? Well, while it's doubtful that kitty enjoys the act, this up-chucking sensation may eliminate all indigestible matter from the cat's digestive tract, making it feel a whole lot better. This is important because cats eat their prey as is, including both the edible and inedible parts (fur, bones, feathers, etc.).
It's in the Juice
Much like mother's milk, the juices in grass contain folic acid. This is an essential vitamin for a cat's bodily functions and assists in the production of hemoglobin, the protein that moves oxygen in the blood. Think of it as a wheat grass shake for your kitty (let's hope they like it more than you do).
Another theory is that grass acts as a natural laxative, counteracting any cases of indigestion. As any cat owner knows, cats regularly throw up and leave lovely, wet little fur ball presents around the house. But when the fur moves deep into the digestive tract, kitty needs a little help to break it down and pass it out the other end. Call it a sixth sense or just intuition, but your cat knows that a little bit of grass may just go a long way in cleaning out its system (and may save you a trip to the veterinarian).
So all in all, ingesting grass is not a bad thing. Some even believe cats eat grass to relieve sore throats. We would like to point one thing out, though. Regardless of whether you have an indoor or an outdoor cat, you should make sure that all your household plants are of the non-toxic variety. You may also want to buy a small tray of grass just for the cat, or start an herbal home garden. This will give your cat an alternative to the outdoor grass and landscaping, the eating of which could lead to accidental ingestion of pesticides, herbicides, or chemicals that may have been used to treat your (or your neighbor's) yard. | <urn:uuid:ce076706-bcb5-4965-a547-894d693d11c3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.petmd.com/cat/wellness/evr_ct_eating_grass | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00008-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952122 | 522 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, ideas, economic exchange, friends, kinship, dislike, conflict, trade, sexual relations. The resulting structures are often very complex.
Social network analysis views interpersonal relationships in terms of nodes and ties. Nodes are the individual actors within the networks, and ties are the relationships between the actors. There can be many kinds of ties between the nodes. Research in a number of academic fields has shown that social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals succeed in achieving their goals.
In its simplest form, a social network is a map of all of the relevant ties between the nodes being studied. The network can also be used to determine the social capital of individual actors. These concepts are often displayed in a social network diagram, where nodes are the points and ties are the lines.
- Main article: Social network analysis
Social network theory views social relationships in terms of nodes and ties. Nodes are the individual actors within the networks, and ties are the relationships between the actors. There can be many kinds of ties between the nodes. In its most simple form, a social network is a map of all of the relevant ties between the nodes being studied. The network can also be used to determine the social capital of individual actors. These concepts are often displayed in a social network diagram, where nodes are the points and ties are the lines.
The shape of the social network helps determine a network's usefulness to its individuals. Smaller, tighter networks can be less useful to their members than networks with lots of loose connections (weak ties) to individuals outside the main network. More "open" networks, with many weak ties and social connections, are more likely to introduce new ideas and opportunities to their members than closed networks with many redundant ties. In other words, a group of friends who only do things with each other already share the same knowledge and opportunities. A group of individuals with connections to other social worlds is likely to have access to a wider range of information. It is better for individual success to have connections to a variety of networks rather than many connections within a single network. Similarly, individuals can exercise influence or act as brokers within their social networks by bridging two networks that are not directly linked (called filling social holes).
The power of social network theory stems from its difference from traditional sociological studies, which assume that it is the attributes of individual actors -- whether they are friendly or unfriendly, smart or dumb, etc. -- that matter. Social network theory produces an alternate view, where the attributes of individuals are less important than their relationships and ties with other actors within the network. This approach has turned out to be useful for explaining many real-world phenomena, but leaves less room for individual agency, the ability for individuals to influence their success, so much of it rests within the structure of their network.
Social networks have also been used to examine how companies interact with each other, characterizing the many informal connections that link executives together, as well as associations and connections between individual employees at different companies. These networks provide ways for companies to gather information, deter competition, and even collude in setting prices or policies.
Social network theory in the social sciences began with the urbanization studies of the "Manchester School" (centered around Max Gluckman), done mainly in Zambia during the 1960s. It was followed up with the field of sociometry, an attempt to quantify social relationships. Scholars such as Mark Granovetter expanded the use of social networks, and they are now used to help explain many different real-life phenomena in the social sciences. Power within organizations, for example, has been found to come more from the degree to which an individual within a network is at the center of many relationships than actual job title. Social networks also play a key role in hiring, in business success for firms, and in job performance.
Social network theory is an extremely active field within academia. The International Network for Social Network Analysis is an academic association of social network analysts. Many social network tools for scholarly work are available online (like "UCINet" or the "network" package in "R") and are relatively easy to use to present graphical images of networks.
Diffusion of innovations theory explores social networks and their role in influencing the spread of new ideas and practices. Change agents and opinion leaders often play major roles in spurring the adoption of innovations, although factors inherent to the innovations also play a role.
The so-called rule of 150, states that the size of a genuine social network is limited to about 150 members (sometimes called Dunbar's number). The rule arises from cross-cultural studies in sociology and especially anthropology of the maximum size of a village (in modern parlance most reasonably understood as an ecovillage). It is theorized in evolutionary psychology that the number may be some kind of limit of average human ability to recognize members and track emotional facts about all members of a group. However, it may be due to economics and the need to track "free riders", as larger groups tend to more freely allow cheats and liars to prosper.
Degrees of Separation and the Global Social NetworkEdit
The small world phenomenon is the hypothesis that the chain of social acquaintances required to connect one arbitrary person to another arbitrary person anywhere in the world is generally short. The concept gave rise to the famous phrase six degrees of separation after a 1967 small world experiment by psychologist Stanley Milgram which found that two random US citizens were connected by at most, six acquaintances. Current internet experiments continue to explore this phenomenon, including the Ohio State Electronic Small World Project and Columbia's Small World Project. As of 2005, these experiments confirm that about five to seven degrees of separation are sufficient for connecting any two people through the internet.
- Main article: Social network service
The first social networking website was Classmates.com, which began in 1995. Other sites followed, including SixDegrees.com, which began in 1997. It was not until 2001 that websites using the Circle of Friends online social networks started appearing. This form of social networking, widely used in virtual communities, became particularly popular in 2003 and flourished with the advent of a website called Friendster. There are over 200 social networking sites, though Friendster is one of the most successful at using the Circle of Friends technique. The popularity of these sites rapidly grew, and by 2005 MySpace was getting more page views than Google. Google has its own social network called orkut, launched in 2004. Social networking began to be seen as a vital component of internet strategy at around the same time: in March 2005 Yahoo launched Yahoo 360, their entry into the field, and in July 2005 News Corporation bought MySpace.
In these communities, an initial set of founders sends out messages inviting members of their own personal networks to join the site. New members repeat the process, growing the total number of members and links in the network. Sites then offer features such as automatic address book updates, viewable profiles, the ability to form new links through "introduction services," and other forms of online social connections. Social networks can also be organized around business connections, as for example in the case of Shortcut or LinkedIn.
Blended networking is an approach to social networking that combines both offline elements (face-to-face events) and online elements. MySpace, for example, builds on independent music and party scenes, and Facebook mirrors a college community. The newest social networks on the Internet are becoming more focused on niches such as art, tennis, football (soccer), golf, cars, dog owners, and even cosmetic surgery. See also Social computing.
A number of studies have highlighted the improved mental and physiclal health of people with developed social networks.
- Main article: Health benefits of wider social networks
- Bott Hypothesis
- Human bonding
- Hodological space
- Ingroup outgroup
- Interpersonal interaction
- Interpersonal ties
- Network analysis
- Network science
- Social connectedness
- Social groups
- Social interaction
- Social media
- Social network analysis
- Social Pyramid
- Social support networks
- Sexual network
- Social contract
- Social safety net
- Support groups
- Virtual community
- Virtual organization
References & BibliographyEdit
- Antonucci, T. C., & Akiyama, H. (1987). Social networks in adult life and a preliminary examination of the convoy model. Journal of Gerontology,
- Hill, R. and Dunbar, R. 2002. Social Network Size in Humans. Human Nature, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 53-72. Full text
- Levine, S. S. & Kurzban, R. (2006). Explaining Clustering in Social Networks: Towards an Evolutionary Theory of Cascading Benefits. Managerial and Decision Economics, 27, 173-187. Full text
- Sih, A., Hanser, S. F., & McHugh, K. A . (2009). Social network theory: New insights and issues for behavioral ecologists. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 63, 975-988. Full text
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).| | <urn:uuid:3750b420-538e-4698-9590-435aaab9b5fa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Social_network | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00086-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939232 | 1,972 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Case Studies in Botany
David R. Hershey
dh321 at excite.com
Sat Mar 27 19:21:40 EST 2004
I coauthored a lab exercise (Hershey and Stutte 1991) where students
would use simple chemical tests to determine which mineral nutrient was
missing from the mineral nutrient solutions of deficient plants.
The University of California, Davis, has a graduate level course,
Environmental Horticulture 241, Analysis of Horticultural Problems,
which is full of case studies that deal with "sick" plants. For one
exam, people would role play a person with a "sick" plant. The "sick"
plant was there for the student to examine. The student would interview
that person and try to figure out what was wrong with the plant. In
other exercises, students would evaluate irrigation water quality and
test soils for pH and electrical conductivity. The teaching staff would
intentionally make some plants "sick" by overwatering, underwatering,
irrigating with toxic levels of boron, flouride or salt, or deficient
levels of mineral nutrients.
On most college campuses, you can go on a walking tour and encounter a
number of plant disease and pest problems, as well as many landscaping
deficiencies such as substandard pruning, poor plant choices and poor
placement. Basic botanical concepts can often be discussed in relation
to these problems such as juvenility and negative phototropism in
English ivy, apical dominance as it relates to pruning and sun/shade
plants in relation to sun plants located in shade and shade plants in
Hershey, D.R. and Stutte, G.W. 1991. A laboratory exercise on
semi-quantitative analysis of ions in nutrient solutions. Journal of
Agronomic Education 20:7-10.
Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com
The most personalized portal on the Web!
More information about the Plant-ed | <urn:uuid:13f9e4a2-7cfe-4d81-ab6a-76462fb45feb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/plant-ed/2004-March/007671.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00022-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904374 | 427 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Sperryville in Rappahannock County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
From Slavery to Freedom
During the war, Terry acquired several military relics, including an 1851 Navy Colt revolver and binoculars she took from the body of a soldier while she assisted with a burial. The Union Army of Virginia occupied Rappahannock County in the summer of 1862, including Sperryville and Woodville, and camped in the fields just behind
After the war, she bought a small house near the first Hopewell Baptist Church, which she helped found. Many visitors sat on her porch to listen to her stories. She is buried in the “black cemetery” on Oven Top Road a mile west of here.
(Sidebar): The stories that Caroline Terry told on her porch included her sale to Francis Millan, her reputation as a good cook, and a visit of Union soldiers to her “plantation” home during the war. She also revealed one of the bleak realities of slavery: that her unusually comfortable cabin was called the “honeymoon house” for a reason. Three of her six children were what the slaves termed “gifts of the big house,” probably fathered by Millan and one of his sons. One pregnancy occurred in 1863, when she said she took a revolver and binoculars from a dead soldier’s body and hid them under her maternity dress.
Erected by Virginia Civil War Trails.
Marker series. This marker is included in the Virginia Civil War Trails marker series.
Location. 38° 39.486′ N, 78° 13.564′ W. Marker is in Sperryville, Virginia, in Rappahannock County. Marker can be reached from the intersection of Lee Highway (U.S. 211) and Sperryville Pike (U.S. 522). Click for map. Marker is located next to a pedestrian footbridge near Main Street. Marker is at or near this postal address: 12018 Lee Highway, Sperryville VA 22740, United States of America.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Medical Miracle (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line); John Kiger's Second Lot (about 700 feet away); John B. Kiger (approx. 0.2 miles away); Pope’s Army of Virginia (approx. 0.2 miles away); Sperryville (approx. 0.2 miles away); Cavalry Engagement (approx. Music, Omens, and Destiny (approx. 2.8 miles away); Banks’s Grand Review (approx. 3.6 miles away). Click for a list of all markers in Sperryville.
More about this marker. The upper center of the marker features two portraits captioned Caroline Terry as a young woman and Caroline Terry in old age. On the upper right of the marker is a map of Sperryville with historic sites and a portrait of Francis Millan. The sidebar inset contains photos of Caroline Terry's Colt Revolver and binoculars.
Also see . . . The Journey Through Hallowed Ground. Sperryville Historic District - African American Presence
Categories. • African Americans • War, US Civil •
Credits. This page originally submitted on . This page has been viewed 1,397 times since then. Photos: 1. submitted on . 2, 3. submitted on , by J. J. Prats of Springfield, Virginia. 4, 5. submitted on . 6. submitted on , by Linda Lavender of Stafford, Virginia. • Craig Swain was the editor who published this page. | <urn:uuid:3aeafe57-b9ba-4351-ba9e-c24863e52e7f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=26518 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950906 | 785 | 2.71875 | 3 |
changing the sine function
You need to find a solution of the form
A + B sin (Cx - D)
where A shifts the wave up, here A = 3 as the wave moves around +3
B gives the size up and down, if B = 1 we have a size of 2, so we want B = 3 as we have a size of 6
C controls the period, a normal wave is period 2 pi, we want period 6, so C = pi/3
D controls the shift to the right, we actually want the shift to the left so that Cx - D = 0 when x = -3 hence D = -pi
hope this helps you do the second question on your own. | <urn:uuid:49ce8d43-4f34-45fc-a8e0-87f49d860fbc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mathhelpforum.com/trigonometry/50650-trigonometric-graph-print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00064-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904679 | 152 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Using E-mail in Foreign Language Teaching: Rationale and SuggestionsMargaret Gonglewski, Christine Meloni and Jocelyne Brant
margaret [at] gwu.edu | meloni [at] gwu.edu | brant [at] gwu.edu
The George Washington University (Washington DC, USA)
IntroductionE-mail, a form of asynchronous computer-mediated communication, has been called "the mother of all Internet applications" (Warschauer, Shetzer, and Meloni, 2000, p.3). Since the evolution of networks, computers can offer foreign language (FL) learners more than drills: "they can be a medium of real communication in the target language, including composing and exchanging messages with other students in the classroom or around the world" (Oxford, 1990, p.79). Indeed, FL teachers are just beginning to sense the impact this medium is having on their profession, through the careful examination and creative integration of this tool into their classes.
In a single decade, we have seen many innovative ideas for the use of e-mail in the FL classroom. Because there are so many, it is often difficult to keep track of what these innovations are and how they might benefit the language learner. This article aims to provide an overview of the various uses for e-mail in FL learning. In the first section of this article, we describe the advantages that have been referred to in the literature about the use of e-mail in foreign language learning contexts. Following the explanation of the possible benefits to FL learners, we provide an overview of the different types of contexts and possibilities for communicative interaction through e-mail that have been attempted inside and outside of the FL classroom and then discussed in the literature.
Pedagogical Benefits of E-mail
Extends Language Learning Time and PlaceAs many researchers have noted, e-mail extends what one can do in the classroom, since it provides a venue for meeting and communicating in the foreign language outside of class. Because of the nature of e-mail, FL learners do not have to be in a specific classroom at a particular time of day in order to communicate with others in the foreign language. They can log in and write e-mail from the comfort of their own room, from a public library or from a cyber-cafe, and these spatial possibilities increase the amount of time they can spend both composing and reading in the foreign language in a communicative context. Rankin (1997) notes that the additional interaction in the foreign language provides FL learners with more input than they would be able to expect from class time, which typically amounts to not more than four hours per week in most high school or college settings.
Provides a Context for Real-world Communication and Authentic InteractionBy connecting FL speakers outside of the classroom, e-mail also provides a context for communicating with other speakers in authentic communicative situations. Interaction via e-mail lends a feeling of reality to students' communicative efforts that may seem artificial in a classroom setting. This communicative interaction is much like spoken language because of its informal and interactive nature. Yet, unlike face-to-face communication, e-mail is in written form and this can serve the language learner well. As Schwienkorst (1998) stressed, "The major advantage of written communication is ... the possibility for each learner to preserve the entire communication ..." and to have for future use "an enormous sample of his or her own efforts in the target language" (p. 125).
Expands Topics Beyond Classroom-based Ones.Language teachers often have to follow a rigorous schedule in terms of content and/or grammatical topics to be presented and practiced in a semester or marking period. Large chunks of time can rarely be spared for free communication. E-mail gives learners an additional context for discussion that can be -- but does not necessarily have to be -- linked to topics being covered in class.
Promotes Student-centered Language Learning.E-mail allows for communication between students in a context where the teacher's role is no longer at the center (Patrikis, 1995). In e-mail communication, FL learners can experience increased control over their own learning, since they can choose the topic and change the direction of the discussion. The end goal is to communicate with another person in the FL rather than to produce a mistake-free composition.
Encourages Equal Opportunity ParticipationBeauvois (1997) reported that computer-mediated communication increased total class participation to 100%. Others have noted that students reticent to speak in face-to-face contexts are more willing to participate in the electronic context (Beauvois, 1995; González-Bueno, 1998; Warschauer, 1995).
Connects Speakers Quickly and CheaplyE-mail allows students to communicate with native speakers of the target language without the high cost of traveling abroad (Hedderich 1997; Roakes, 1998). Before the advent of the Internet, it was not possible to communicate so immediately and so frequently with native speakers or with other learners.
Suggestions for Incorporating E-mail into Foreign Language ClassesThe benefits of e-mail for foreign language learning and teaching presented above provide little fodder for debate. Indeed, most would agree that e-mail can provide a wealth of advantages to foreign language learners and teachers. In this section we present a wide variety of activities that have been used successfully by FL teachers. We have divided these activities into group and one-on-one e-mail exchanges.
Group E-mail ExchangesE-mail offers students a practical opportunity to interact with others in the target language. Students can create their own mailing lists or the teacher can set up a class e-mail list or listserv. Allowing interested outsiders to subscribe to a class e-mail list can create additional opportunities for authentic communication with other target language speakers beyond one's own familiar classmates (Gonglewski, 1999).
Activities can be planned for use within a class or between two or more classes in different locations. Students can also join discussion forums outside of their regularly planned course. E-mail has been described as a conversational writing medium, a crossbreed language with elements of both written and spoken language (Moran & Hawisher, 1998). Because it is separated from face-to-face contact, the high pressure of such immediate demand for production is lessened, and learners can take their time formulating their thoughts, much like they might do in written composition. As decelerated conversation, e-mail communication "provides an excellent first step to help students prepare for the face-to-face classroom discussions as well as the more carefully conceived and polished written compositions instructors ultimately expect from their students" (Van Handle & Corl, 1998, p. 129).
E-mail Interaction within the ClassWhen e-mail communication is kept within one class, the teacher can easily connect communicative tasks to the topic currently being covered in class and thereby extend the learners' communicative time and involvement with that topic. Instructors can design e-mail assignments as pre-class, post-class, or supplementary activities. In this section, we describe e-mail tasks that fit into these three categories.
Pre-Class ActivitiesFrequently it is difficult for students to engage in an activity in a foreign language class without preparation ahead of time. A pre-class e-mail assignment can take care of the groundwork and save valuable class time. Examples are given of ways in which the teacher might prepare students for writing, listening, and speaking activities.
E-mail can provide a context to prepare students for longer written assignments. The teacher can tell the students, for example, that their next writing assignment will be to write a brief biography of a famous person of their choice. Through e-mail exchanges the students can collaborate on a list of potential subjects for this assignment in order to save valuable class time.
Another way learners can use e-mail for pre-class preparation is to share background knowledge on a topic before a listening comprehension exercise. The teacher can provide students ahead of time with the subject of a listening comprehension lecture, e.g. the celebration of Thanksgiving in the United States. Before listening to the lecture in class, students can share via e-mail what they know about this traditional holiday, including their own personal experience or their questions about it.
E-mail is ideal for preparing ahead of time for class discussions. Ramazani (1994) tells of an activity called "The Weekly Essay." A few days before the class meets, his students e-mail each other essays that they have written about a particular reading. In this way the students are better prepared for the class discussion of the essays. Ramazani (1994) uses another e-mail activity to prepare his students for class ahead of time. He asks them to submit short, one-sentence summaries of a reading. Next he organizes these ideas on a handout that he then uses in class for both brainstorming and stimulating class discussions.
Similarly, the teacher can assign a debate topic and ask the students to begin to discuss it via e-mail. When the time comes to form debate teams in class, the students will already have a satisfactory understanding of both sides of the issue and will be able to make a more informed decision about where they stand.
Post-Class ActivitiesTeachers can create e-mail assignments to reinforce or extend what students have done in the classroom. This encourages students to revisit class discussions, giving them the opportunity to reiterate or clarify opinions expressed in class or to offer an opinion they were not prepared to express in class. In post-class e-mail activities, students can also utilize new vocabulary or structures that they were exposed to in class. Here we provide some sample activities following this line of thought.
Bauman (2000) provides an example of how he extended a conversation activity into a second class session by using email between classes. During the first class session, he gave his students a handout in which three criminal cases were described (including details of the crimes and suspects). In small groups the students discussed the cases and reached a decision as to the appropriate punishments for the suspects. As homework, he asked each student to write an original case and send it to him via e-mail. He then e-mailed two cases to each student with instructions telling them to study the cases and to decide the punishments before coming to class. In the second class session, students who had received the same cases got together and discussed their judgments and tried to come to an agreement as to the appropriate punishment. Overall, Bauman found the e-mail option effective. He writes, "By exchanging material between class, both the writing of material and the initial judgements about the material are done outside of class" (Bauman 2000, p. 55). Through such exercises, valuable class time is saved for face-to-face interaction.
Manteghi (1995) suggests another e-mail task to build on an in-class reading task. Students in her German class first read and discussed a German fairy tale, its features and linguistic structure. They then collaboratively created a fairy tale via e-mail, each student composing a new portion and adding it to the tale as his turn came. Here, a cooperative writing was made easy through this electronic medium, since writers could simply add their own text to the bottom of the story they received via e-mail and then forward it.
Supplemental ActivitiesWith e-mail, teachers can assign supplemental activities for which students are responsible but which are not directly linked to class activities.
One such supplemental learning activity is a reading circle. Many teachers like to encourage their students to do as much extensive reading outside of class as possible but find that there is not enough class time to discuss the readings. A solution is to have the discussion take place outside of class via e-mail. The teacher can divide the class into small e-groups of four or five students each. Then the students are given a reading (groups may be given the same or different readings). After they have completed the reading (e.g., a magazine or newspaper article, a poem, or a short book) or a part of it (e.g. a chapter of a book), they can e-mail their reactions to it to the other members of their e-group (Ron Corio, personal communication).
MacNeill (2000) has his students submit weekly summaries of news stories to a class e-mail list. Students share their opinions on the issues raised in the stories and relate these issues to their own experiences and/or to society in general.
E-mail Interaction Between ClassesSince e-mail makes time and space/place immaterial for fast and easy communication, teachers have also explored its use for communicative interaction between learners outside of the immediate language learning context, for example at another university, in another city, or even in another country. Such a context makes it possible to exchange ideas with a new audience and focus on communication. In this section we highlight collaborative projects between classes in different locations.
Collaborative Projects: Focus on Reading and Writing ExchangeVan Handle & Corl (1998) report on an exchange between intermediate German learners at Ohio State University and Mount Holyoke College. The students in the two institutions exchanged e-mail over the course of one semester, to "promote participation and language skill development in the intermediate level classroom" (p.130). Students were assigned readings that they then discussed on a joint e-mail list. These e-mail contributions initiated and fed class discussion in the class periods and later became the basis for written papers. Instructors noted that participation increased in the class discussions for which students had prepared via e-mail with the other class. Some additional benefits observed included increased use of risk-taking strategies in class and experimentation with new vocabulary and structures introduced in the readings. In this context, both groups were still learning German and may have felt less intimidated than they would have if they had been interacting with native speakers of German.
Corio and Meloni (1995) report on the Guidelines Net Project that linked two EFL reading/writing classes at George Washington University and Virginia Commonwealth University. The classes had a common syllabus and common textbook, Guidelines: Strategies for Reading and Writing (Spack, 1990). Students were divided into Net Groups, comprised of three students from each university. In these groups they discussed the course readings and exchanged drafts of the writing assignments. Motivation was high because of the need to write well for a distant audience. The improvement in writing skills over the semester was clear to the instructors and to the students.
Collaborative Projects: Focus on a Joint ProductAndrew Hess of New York University designed the first "Cities Project." He brought together EFL teachers in three different US cities - New York, Washington, DC, and Richmond, Virginia. Students at each university were divided into five small groups of three students each. Each group then chose one of the following topics: Museums, Monuments, Historical Places, Restaurants, and Universities. Then each "local" group connected via e-mail with the two groups in the other cities that had chosen the same topic. These Net Groups discussed via e-mail how they would write their particular sections of the guide for their city. The students then did research for their pieces in their own cities and e-mailed drafts of their writing to their Net Groups. At the conclusion of the project, each teacher sent a photocopy of the individual city guide to the other two teachers who put all three guides together into one publication. The final product was a tri-city guide.
Two other "Cities Projects" followed. One involved EFL classes in New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Washington, DC and Trondheim, Norway (Meloni, 1995) and the other connected classes in Paris and Washington, DC (Meloni, 1997).
Ruth Vilmi, a professor of English at the Helsinki University of Technology, designed an ambitious e-mail project. Eleven teachers and 220 students from eight countries participated in the project. Students were divided into topic groups of eight students each (no more than two from the same university) and collaborated via e-mail on a research paper. Since then Vilmi has organized numerous e-mail and web projects for students around the world including the Robot Competition and the Environmental Project. (Complete descriptions of the projects that Vilmi has initiated can be found at her website http://www.ruthvilmi.net/hut/)
Junghans (1995) describes another collaborative project in which two groups of English and German native speakers jointly composed a bilingual slang dictionary via e-mail. Each group acted as the authority on its native language and learned a great deal about the target language in the process.
Independent Groups Outside of One's ClassStudents can also participate in group e-mail projects beyond regularly planned intra-class and inter-class activities. E-mail lists are very appropriate for more independent student group activities and allow students to explore language and topics outside of the purview of the instructor and a carefully planned curriculum. This type of activity can link students both to other native speakers and to other learners and increases input from a variety of sources.
In 1994 Holliday and Robb created the SL-Lists: International EFL/ESL E-mail Student Discussion Lists. The purpose of these lists is "to provide a forum for cross-cultural discussion and writing practice for college, university and adult students in English language programs around the world" (Holliday & Robb, n.d.) Students may sign up for one of the nine lists that currently exist: two general discussion lists (one for low level and the other for advanced students) and seven topic lists including business, current events, learning English, cinema, music, sports, and science, technology, and computers. Teachers can sign their classes up for the lists or, with permission, students can sign up independently. Interested teachers can visit their web site at http://www.latrobe.edu/au/www/education/sl/sl.html for complete information.
Teachers will find the List of Language Lists at http://www.egt.ie/langlist.html a useful resource for a variety of foreign language lists.
One-on-one E-mail InteractionWhile e-mail interaction between groups is almost always motivating and productive, exchanges between two individuals can also provide a very valuable language learning experience that is potentially--indeed, almost unavoidably -- more time-intensive and more personal. In this section suggestions are offered for one-on-one exchanges between the language learner and three possible partners: a teacher, a fellow language learner, and a native speaker of the target language.
E-mail Between the Teacher and the Foreign Language LearnerAn exchange with the teacher "may serve as a transition toward the use of foreign language in a real-cybernetic-world context" (Gonzales-Bueno,1998, p.55). Gonzales-Bueno (1998) points out that in addition to building up learners' confidence in their language skills, "[t]he initial opportunities to interact in the foreign language via electronic communication, as offered to students by their foreign language teachers, may provide the necessary first steps to render the learner capable of navigating the Internet autonomously in a foreign language" (p.55). Thus, the secure environment through one-on-one e-mail exchange with the teacher helps learners gain self-assurance as well as experience using electronic media in the foreign language.
Informal MessagesA teacher/student e-mail exchange can be simple and unstructured. Teachers can require that their students send them periodic e-mail messages. They must first decide on the frequency (e.g., once a week, once per chapter, twice a semester) and the content of the messages (e.g., course- or chapter-related, open). Linking the e-mail messages to course content encourages integration of new vocabulary and forms and also discourages overuse of the dictionary which can lead to frustration and discouragement. As teachers should respond promptly to the student messages, they should keep in mind how much time they would like to spend on the exchange and design the assignment accordingly.
Electronic Feedback on Writing AssignmentsTeachers can offer their students the opportunity to confer with them electronically about their writing. This possibility is very useful, especially when a class meets only once or twice a week. Students can e-mail their questions to the teacher, without having to wait for the next class session.
Students can also utilize e-mail to submit their composition assignments as soon as they are finished. The teacher can then make comments and return the assignments to the students electronically. The teacher's comments may have a more notable effect on students' revising process when the feedback is received shortly after the writing is completed.
Dialogue JournalsThe traditional dialogue journal carried out between teacher and student written in a paper notebook was and still is a popular way to assist students in developing their fluency in writing in the target language. The electronic dialogue journal offers the same advantages as the paper journal as well as additional ones, such as providing immediate response and saving time and paper. Teachers can require students to write one entry per week or one per lesson. They can require that the content be related to the current lesson or allow students to write on any topic they choose.
Writing only to the teacher through an e-mail journal provides a communicative outlet while keeping the language private. Gonzales-Bueno (1998) notes that "[s]tudents benefit from the advantages of a safe writing environment to communicate their messages while maintaining a conversational format" (p. 58). Another advantage to intensive communicating individually with the teacher at the early stages of language acquisition is the extent of authentic input and corrective feedback learners receive in this context as contrasted with the type of input learners would receive from the language and content their peers might send (Gonzalez-Bueno, 1998).
While the benefits of individual e-mail exchange with the teacher are obvious, the potential problems with such intensive e-mail communication must also be acknowledged. To begin with, student-teacher e-mail interaction might give the teacher a nearly impossible amount of work (Warschauer, Shetzer, and Meloni, 2000). While the student has one partner with whom to correspond, a single teacher could have as many as one hundred, and the responsibility to answer each e-mail -- or even one per student per semester -- would quickly become a formidable task.
Furthermore, the type of communication between teacher and student is likely to be different from that between peers. As evaluator, the teacher holds an authority that may skew the relationship and arguably also the communicative interaction. Students may pay more attention to form than content, knowing that the teacher's role is often to correct form.
There are, however, other alternatives that preserve the high level of feedback and input on an individual basis.
E-mail Between Two Individual FL LearnersThe word coined for the partners in this type of exchange is keypals, i.e. penpals who correspond via the computer keyboard. Teachers contemplating the introduction of keypals into their curriculum will find Robb's (1996) online article, "E-mail Keypals for Language Fluency" very useful. Teachers can assign their students keypals who are in the same class or who are in a distant location. Needless to say, student motivation is higher when the keypals do not know each other and are unable to communicate face to face.
Teachers can find keypals for their students by consulting one of the many lists posted on the Web. They can visit, for example, Kenji and Kathleen Kitao's (2000) website, "Keypal Opportunities for Students." A teacher may also have a friend or acquaintance in another location teaching the same target language to students of the same age and proficiency level and can then set up a partner exchange.
The e-mail exchange can be very closely integrated into the course by basing the topics for discussion on the content of the curriculum. The partners would engage then in discussions that would further their understanding of course materials as well as improve their language ability. The exchanges can also be structured so that students have specific tasks to carry out with their partners that are not specifically tied to course content but that assist the language learning process and are enjoyable and challenging. Thornton (1997) suggests information gap activities. She describes one such activity: "Give each partner a different picture. Have the partners write and e-mail sentences or questions to find the similarities and differences between two pictures" (p. 73).
In the sections that follow we consider three types of keypal e-mail exchange.
(a) E-mail Between Keypals Learning the Same Target LanguageThe question is frequently raised: How useful is it for learners of the same target language to engage in e-mail exchanges? Since their language is evolving, the learners will certainly make mistakes in accuracy, and some worry that they may learn each other's mistakes. In a form- or grammar-driven curriculum, where accuracy is the top priority and content is secondary, this concern may prove too daunting to the teacher for her to allow for the free communication (and error production) that can take place on e-mail.
If, however, one believes that authentic communication is first and foremost a negotiation of meaning between communicators, then it is indispensable to encourage FL learners to practice communicating with each other, in spite of their formally imperfect language, in unplanned, unscripted, unrehearsed contexts. Only in this way will students learn how to function in the language as they will eventually need to do in the foreign culture.
This same question arises in FL classrooms where instructors encourage learners to interact, asking students to form small groups for conversation, to make oral presentations, or to review each other's writing. While learners' oral and written production is not always formally accurate, learners benefit from interacting in communicative situations with other learners and, in the end, can even learn from their peers' mistakes. This holds true with e-mail. Though admittedly oral-like, e-mail is an asynchronous written medium, which allows not only for more time in preparation but also more time in comprehension. The 'frozen' language can be printed out and studied for grammatical or content-based input. In order to avoid unintelligible messages or ones with a high number of mistakes in an elementary e-mail exchange, Livesey (1995) had students print out incoming messages and write a draft of a reply that the class would rework together.
(b) E-mail Between Keypals Learning Different Target Languages: Language Learning in TandemTo some, the ideal for a language learner is to communicate with a native speaker. Unfortunately native speakers are not always motivated to carry out an exchange with learners. While the benefits for the learner are obvious, the native speaker might question what she will gain from the experience.
A "tandem exchange" offers an interesting alternative. In this type of exchange individuals are studying each other's native language and, therefore, they play both the role of native speaker and of language learner. The most important principle of tandem learning is that the exchange must be mutually beneficial to both learners. Each learner serves as the native speaker or "expert" of the language that the other is currently learning. Therefore, using the native language is key, because in doing so, "the learner provides an important model to his or her partner. If both provide this kind of modeling, both sides benefit" (Hedderich, 1997, p.142).
In tandem exchanges learner autonomy plays an equally essential role; learners themselves decide the ground rules for the exchange, i.e., "what they wish to work on and how they want to go about improving each other's foreign language skills" (Hedderich, 1997, p.142).
A French-English Tandem ExchangeAn example of a tandem exchange is that carried out between JP, a native speaker of French living in France, and C, a native speaker of English living in the US (Meloni, 2001). The two learners met on the listserv of the French-English subnet of the International E-Mail Exchange Network (cf. Benenson, 1997; Brammerts, 1995) and began a one-on-one correspondence. They established no fixed schedule but they tended to exchange e-mail messages once or twice a week. Each message that JP and C wrote was bilingual, half in French and half in English. The focus was more on content than on form; however, they did occasionally ask each other language questions or point out recurring or irritating language errors.
An English-German Tandem ExchangeSöntgens (1999) describes several tandem e-mail exchanges that took place between British and German university level students. Responding to the difficulty students had in working autonomously, he introduces the concept of "double-tandems" which paired up two sets of partners in e-mail correspondence. While the innovations eliminated problems in typical tandem arrangements (e.g., one partner slacking off in writing), the double tandem created some confusion regarding guidelines on the order and frequency of correspondence with the different partners and who should correct whom (Söntgens, 1999).
(c) E-mail Between an Individual Foreign Language Learner and a Native SpeakerBeing involved in an e-mail exchange with a native speaker may be the most advantageous type of exchange for a language learner, since, while maintaining the unrehearsed communicative context, learners receive plenty of authentic target language input from their exchange partner. In this context, the learner's comprehension can soar. In addition, teachers have reported that language learners writing to native speakers are more eager to self-correct their own grammar because the communicative aspect motivates them to make themselves understood (Kendall, 1995).
Such exchanges can be unstructured or structured. Three descriptions of unstructured exchanges and one structured exchange follow.
Spanish Learners and Native Speakers of SpanishAn individual e-mail exchange was conducted between Spanish learners and native speakers of Spanish in Mexico (Leh, 1999). The U.S. students voluntarily linked up with university students in Mexico studying math, and the topics for discussion were left up to the students. While the quantitative results of the study indicated no significant difference in the skills of students who wrote e-mail and those who did not, qualitative results indicated that the exchange motivated learners by providing personal interaction and creating a cultural connection to the target language culture. Leh (1999) strongly recommends that e-mail exchanges be integrated into course instruction so that instructors can link course content and daily class work to the questions which can be posed in the correspondence with the native speaker.
A German Learner and a Native Speaker of GermanIn their work entitled "Language Learning via e-mail: Demonstrable success with German," St. John & Cash (1995) describe an individual e-mail exchange between a native German speaker and an English speaker over a period of almost six months. Prior to the study, the learner's proficiency in German was at the novice level. During the study, the learner attended a weekly German intermediate class. The e-mail correspondence was conducted only in German and developed into discussions about hobbies, work, different mentalities, stereotypes, and private lives.
The evaluation of the study is very positive, noting that the learner made enormous progress. By the end of the exchange, he had gained confidence in the target language and was able to produce longer and more elaborate sentences using idiomatic expressions in the right context and correct grammar. His style had become more sophisticated and he was no longer falling back into literal translation of the mother tongue.
The learner was also able to use the appropriate register and an increased vocabulary. He writes,
It was obvious to me that I was using more vocabulary, better phrases, and I knew what I was copying ( except for typing errors on either side) was correct.. The German I encountered via e-mail was harder in my opinion than that of the course, and it was never interrupted with English. Also the course was only two hours, once a week, whereas at times I was writing e-mails nearly every day (p.196).
A Learner of French and a Native Speaker of FrenchA learner of French in the United States engaged in an intensive e-mail exchange for a period of six weeks with a native speaker of French in Paris. The primary purpose of the activity was to improve the learner's French, in particular her fluency. No specific guidelines were given to the participants except that the exchange had to take place completely in French and that the minimum number of messages per participant per week was to be five. The focus was to be on the content, not the form. The native French speaker made no explicit corrections, only some explanations on the meaning of words were given when requested.
At the end of the e-mail exchange, a team of researchers carried out an error analysis of the messages of the learner of French. The results of this analysis showed a steady improvement of the learner's ability to communicate in the target language. The conclusions were very similar to those of the German project. The grammatical errors decreased significantly, the sentences became more complex, and the vocabulary more accurate and varied. It appears to be obvious that such an informal and spontaneous exchange of messages contributed to giving the learner more confidence in using new structures and expressions, either by copying from the native speaker or by creating her own sentences with a better feel for the language (Brant, Gonglewski, & Meloni, 2001).
Japanese Learners and Native Speakers of JapaneseIshida (1995) initiated an e-mail exchange between native English speakers learning Japanese and Japanese teachers in training. In this exchange, the students of Japanese sent their compositions via e-mail to an individual teacher in training, who returned the essays with corrections and personal messages. Aside from increasing the motivation of the learners on both ends, this project benefited the language learners by providing them with authentic feedback from a communication partner, and it benefited the teachers in training by giving them "concrete practice in responding to students' writing" (Ishida, 1995, p.186).
ConclusionWhile e-mail is now already considered a relatively "low-tech" medium, it can bring effective benefits to the process of learning a foreign language. The most important benefit is its potential to offer learners opportunities for much more valuable communicative interaction in the target language than was ever possible in the traditional foreign language classroom.
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Secrets of the pyramids
In a boon for archaeology, particle physicists plan to probe ancient structures for tombs and other hidden chambers. The key to the technology is the muon, a cousin of the electron that rains harmlessly from the sky.
By Haley Bridger
|Illustrations: Sandbox Studio|
In the dense jungles of northwestern Belize, the sound of metal hitting rock startles flocks of tropical birds and troops of black howler monkeys. Archaeologist Norman Hammond and his team stop digging. They have hit a stone wall 10 feet below ground; inside is a royal tomb. After almost one hundred test excavations at La Milpa, an ancient Mayan city of 50,000 people, Hammond has unearthed something big.
Within the tomb lie the remains of a man wearing a jade pendant in the form of a vulture's head. He is thought to be either Bird Jaguar, the fifth-century ruler of La Milpa, or one of Bird Jaguars successors.
And finding him was an incredible stroke of luck.
Hammond made his famous discovery more than 10 years ago, but repeated efforts to find other tombs at the site have come up empty-handed. Lacking an ancient map of La Milpa or blueprints for its five pyramid mounds and buried plaza, archaeologists rely mostly on instinct. They run the risk of piercing priceless relics with their shovels or digging fruitlessly for years.
The ground beneath the site could be Swiss cheese, for all we know, riddled with burial chambers, tunnels, and hidden entrances, says Hammond, who is based at Boston University.
Now researchers hope to find those hidden spaces with the help of particle physics.
A cosmic X-ray machine
The key to the new approach is the muon, a heavy cousin of the electron thats created when cosmic rays hit the atmosphere. Muons pass harmlessly through people and buildings; in fact, nearly 600 of them fly through your body each minute. They fascinate scientists because theyre one of the few high-energy particles raining down from the sky that can be examined for clues to the nature of the cosmos. Particle physicists started building muon detectors in the 1940s and theyre still at it today; the most advanced particle detectors in the world, at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland, have components that record muons created in particle collisions. But its the ability of the muon to penetrate deep into rock and water that has archaeologists excited.
Muons traveling through rock or other dense material will slow and eventually stop, while those flying through empty spaces keep going fullspeed. The idea is to catch the muons after theyve passed through an archaeological site and measure their energies and trajectories. With this information, researchers can reconstruct their paths and compile a 3D image that reveals hidden chambers or other voids.
Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin plan to place two muon detectors on either side of a pyramid at La Milpa in Belize. This arrangement gives them a stereo view of the site, making it easier to compile a 3D image.
Photo: Norman Hammond, La Milpa Archaeological Project Schematic: Sandbox Studio
If archaeologists are like surgeons probing a patient, physicists are the radiologists whose X-rays show where to cut and how to do it safely. Just as X-rays leave patients unscarred, muons offer a way to explore ancient ruins without disturbing them.
This fall, a team led by Arturo Menchaca-Rocha of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM, plans to place a muon detector beneath the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacán, northwest of Mexico City. Meanwhile, Roy Schwitters of the University of Texas at Austin is making plans to install muon detectors in wells dug on opposite sides of a mound at La Milpa.
The detectors will gather muons for about a year, slowly building a picture of the interior of each pyramid.
First stop: Egypt
Muon detectors have a rich history of revealing the unusual and the unseen. Sixty years ago, scientists in Australia used them to measure layers of mountain snow. Today, Japanese scientists are testing the technology as a way to track magma rising within volcanoes, a possible sign of impending eruption. Border patrol agencies in the United States see muon detectors as a potential way to uncover radioactive materials shielded and hidden inside cargo containers and trucks.
It was about 40 years ago that archaeologists tapped muons for the first time. Luis Alvarez, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, wondered if muons might reveal chambers in the Second Pyramid of Chephren, one of the three great pyramids of Egypt, that had somehow escaped the notice of archaeologists and looters for 4500 years.
Alvarez and his team put a detector in the Belzoni Chamber, near the center of the pyramids base, and left it to collect muons for two years. They concluded that no additional chambers were hidden in the limestone above, although the scan was able to distinguish the four edges of the pyramid and what little remained of its smooth limestone facing. While it would have been more exciting to discover a new chamber, this information was nonetheless valuable for Egyptologists and archaeologists studying the pyramidand it showed that the technique worked.
There are other high-tech ways to explore a ruin. Ground-penetrating radar reflects off buried features, while electrical-resistivity probes measure the increased resistance to electrical flow due to the presence of stone and brick. Though useful, neither of them probes as deeply or takes as wide a view as the muon detector does.
In the first experiment of its kind, a team led by Luis Alvarez placed a muon detector in a chamber of Egypts Second Pyramid of Chephren. Although the muons revealed no hidden chambers, the experiment showed that the method had value for archaeology.
Schematic: Sandbox Studio
The pyramid of the sun
In the early 1970s, a pair of archaeologists cleared stone and gravel out of a well at the base of the worlds third-largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacán. Beneath the rocks they found a stairway leading to a tunnel 100 meters long and eight meters below ground. It opened an extraordinary opportunity for the physics community, Menchaca-Rocha says: It is the key that will allow us to carry out an experiment similar to that of Alvarez by placing a muon detector directly below the pyramid.
Menchaca-Rocha hopes to put the detector in place this fall and begin collecting data by the end of the year.
The detector contains six gas-filled chambers. When a muon travels through one of them, it collides with particles in the gas and gives off light. By recording those light flashes and noting exactly where the muon entered and left the chamber, researchers can calculate its energy and trajectory. Menchaca-Rocha thinks the detector will reveal any cavity more than 75 centimeters30 inchestall.
The results could help to answer a question that has stumped archaeologists for decades: What was the purpose of the pyramid?
Linda Manzanilla, an archaeologist with UNAM, studies Teotihuacán, once a bustling center full of pyramids and temples. It was a city that attracted many people, she says, and it flourished for five centuries. She believes a volcanic eruption drove people from the north towards the valley where the metropolis rose; There they built a temple to appease the fire gods.
Originally devoted to agriculture, the temple became a symbol of the state and its rulers. Could one of those rulers lie in a tomb within the Pyramid of the Sun? I dont think so. I dont believe we will find anything inside, Manzanilla says. No tombs have been found there yet, and she doesnt think that will change.
But without a muon detector, Manzanilla cant test her predictions. The Pyramid of the Sun is so wide and so high, she says. Ground-penetrating radar can see only a small depth and width. We can expand that view using the muon detector.
And, she hopes, put to rest speculation about what is inside.
At the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacán, scientists from UNAM will take advantage of an existing tunnel to place their muon detector. Muons traveling through its six gas-filled chambers will give off flashes of light.
Schematic: Sandbox Studio
Schwitters is eager to answer similar questions at La Milpa in Belize.
The design of his detector is slightly different. Its a gas-filled cylinder wrapped with strips of material that detect muons as they enter and leave. Another detector, at the bottom of the cylinder, picks up flashes of light from muons zipping through the gas.
Rather than putting his detector directly below the pyramid, which would require digging a tunnel, Schwitters plans to place two detectors in shallow shafts on either side of the structure and 50 to 60 meters apart. This will give them a stereo view of the site, eliminate blind spots and make it easier to construct a 3D image. Only the most energetic muons will be used for the reconstruction; since they are not as easily deflected, their paths through the site are truer and more direct. Schwitters says it should take about 10 days to record and trace 1000 muon arrivals.
While waiting for the funding they need to set up a laboratory in Belize, Schwitters and his team have been testing the 16-foot-long prototype detector they built at the University of Texas at Austin. Big stacks of bricks stand in for the stony bulk of the pyramid; the team moves the bricks up onto the roof and into other difficult positions to see how the detector handles the challenge. From the data, Schwitters and his group can see not only the piles of bricks, but also the shadows of the nearby engineering and physics buildings, massive structures that impede the flow of muons. If the detector can distinguish these dense objects, Schwitters says, it can find cavities as well.
The technology has really improved since the time of Alvarez, Schwitters says. The detectors are simpler and more robust. We are looking to make the detector more portable and improve our software, and then we can get serious.
Designing the detector is the first of many challenges for the Schwitters team. Once they get funding and permission, they will have to transport the detectors to Belize and dig holes in which to put them. Theyll also need to find a way to power the lab at the remote site. Its a slow process and weve got a lot to do here, Schwitters says, adding that he hopes to move to Belize by the spring of 2009.
La Milpa remains shrouded in mystery. Hammond says, Some questions we cannot yet answer are: Why was the city founded? What was its strategic or economic importance? Why did it collapse? And why was it abandoned in a time of great construction? Muon detection may answer at least some of these questions and give archaeologists enough of an edge to unearth the next exciting discovery.
|At left: This detector, developed for use at La Milpa in Belize, snags incoming muons in two ways. First, a muons trajectory is recorded by three layers of material wrapped around a cylindrical chamber. Meanwhile, photodetectors pick up flashes of light generated as muons strike molecules of gas inside the chamber.|
|At right:The detector developed by UNAM for the Pyramid of the Sun contains layers of scintillating material; they collect light produced when muons interact with gas in the detectors six chambers.
Diagrams: Sandbox Studio
Click here to download the pdf version of this article. | <urn:uuid:20ae9e5e-57ac-4f65-b8cd-605a881d9912> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/marchapril-2008/secrets-of-the-pyramids | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938039 | 2,443 | 3.4375 | 3 |
John F. Kennedy's victory over Richard Nixon in 1960 came soaked in symbols and lessons. It was the triumph of vision over experience, rich over poor, East over West, the playboy over the prig. And because a Catholic, for the first time ever, defeated a Protestant, the outcome was said to mark the burial of religious bigotry. Kennedy provided the case study for candidates ever since who have faced some version of the Religion Test. But his was an advanced course in strategy, judgment and rhetoric, and it may be harder for future candidates to pass than they realize.
The first time America searched her political soulwhen Al Smith ran for President in 1928perhaps 16% of the country was Catholic. Critics warned that if he won, he would take his orders from Rome and make Catholicism the national religion. But by 1960, the Catholic population had more than doubled, to 42 million, and urban Catholics were a dominant political force in states from Maine to California. This time, instead of the rambunctious "Happy Warrior" Smith, who had left school at 14, here was Harvard's polished son, with his chic wife and his Pulitzer Prize, a Catholic prince claiming his crown.
Kennedy wore his faith lightly; he was "casual about religious rituals and observances," his sister Eunice once said, and "a little less convinced about some things than the rest of us." But as Thomas Maier recounts in The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings, his letters home during the war suggested he was a man on a spiritual journey, if a private one. He made the effort to attend Mass even as he traveled the country during his campaigns, but he was not one to cross himself before big moments, and his close adviser Ted Sorensen says in all their years together, they never discussed his personal views of man's relation to his Creator. | <urn:uuid:52053347-e839-4fb9-8ba9-2a8a1b581c22> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1635958_1635999_1634947,00.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00139-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990387 | 380 | 2.890625 | 3 |
In this three part article, I will be addressing the top 3 questions asked by beginning balloon entertainers. In part 1 of 3, I will be discussing balloon stuffing.
Question 1. What do you use to stuff a balloon inside a balloon?
Answers: An elastrator, stuffing tube, force insertion, pre-inflation, The Magic Pipe, Conwin Insider Stuffing Tool, and Keepsafe Balloon Stuffer.
Elastrator is a tool designed to castrate male livestock, typically used on a bull calf. Elastration is placing a banding over the testicles, which shuts off the blood supply to the testicle, causing the testicle to be reabsorbed or fall off.
The elastrator can be used to stretch open the nozzle of a balloon, allowing objects to be dropped or forced into a deflated balloon.
Using a elastrator allows objects to be inserted into a balloon freely with the balloon wrapped around the object, which typically happens with force insertion. The elastrator gives the user the ability to stuff multiple objects into the balloon by inflating the balloon after the object has been inserted and moving it to the bottom of the balloon. This process is done repeatedly until the desired number of objects is inserted.
Stuffing Tube – I first learned about this technique from a Ralph Dewey article in BalloonHQ. Dewey used a drinking container and created a tool to insert smaller objects into a 350 balloon.
Force Insertion – this is the process of forcing an object, or balloon inside an inflated 260, 350, or 464 balloon. The larger balloon is inflated and depending on the design, the object is pushed from the front or back of the balloon.
If the object is force inserted from the nozzle side, the nozzle is encapsulated around the object. If you start at the end of the balloon, you will eliminate the bump caused by the nozzle.
This technique will cause a layer of balloon to be wrapped around the inserted object. Once the object is forced to the end of the balloon, the outer layer of the balloon is popped. The encased object is now being squeezed by the balloon, and when you inflate the remaining balloon,the object is free to move about, but may be distorted due to the pressure of the collapsed balloon.
Once the object is inserted, inflate remaining balloon.
Pre-inflation is the process of simply stuffing one balloon inside another balloon.
Decorators use this technique to create realistic faces and body parts that you see in competitions. The stuffing of multiple balloons along with using different shapes creates contours of the balloon figure’s face.
The Magic Pipe by Qualatex – This little tube allows a balloon entertainer to stuff small objects into a 260 balloon .
Demo video produced by T. Myers Magic.
Conwin Insider Stuffing Tool.
Keepsake Balloon Stuffer – These machines have been around for years and are used place objects in a crystal clear balloon.
Balloon stuffing is still evolving and new techniques are being developed. I have heard about, but not seen, homemade machines based on the Keepsafe concept, that are long tubes, allowing the artist to use 350 and 646 balloons. These longer balloon lengths allow the fabrication of realistic arms, legs, and when deflated, the outside balloon transforms into the skin of the object | <urn:uuid:8886f85b-e07e-4663-80d0-aa2e53a34279> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mbd2.com/forum/balloon_Animal_Blog/index.php/top-3-questions-asked-beginner-balloon-entertainers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395160.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00041-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916947 | 689 | 2.546875 | 3 |
& Cool Volcanoes: The New England Seamounts
If you drained the water from the ocean basins, some of the most dramatic features you would see are groups or lines of underwater volcanoes called "seamounts", sometimes in clusters and other times stretching across the ocean basin for many miles. Perhaps the best known of these is the Hawaiian Islands - Emperor Seamount Chain that stretches over 6000 km from Hawaii to near the Aleutian Islands west of Alaska. But there are also seamount chains in the Atlantic Ocean -- including the New England Seamounts. How do these chains of volcanoes form?
In some places on Earth, even beneath the middle of tectonic plates, isolated plumes of hot material rise from deep within the mantle. These are called "hotspots." As the plume melts, it erupts to form volcanoes. The volcanic activity then dies down for a while, but the tectonic plate above keeps moving. When the plume erupts again, a new volcano forms on the seafloor. If this happens many times over millions of years, a line of seafloor volcanoes will be formed. This line of volcanoes records the direction that the tectonic plate was moving over geologic time. Sometimes, plates change direction. The bend in the Hawaiian Islands - Emperor Seamount Chain shows such a change about 35 million years ago.
Map of the entire track of the hotspot that formed the New England Seamounts and other associated volcanoes, from the Monteregian Hills (red dots) in the west to Great Meteor Seamount in the east.
The bottom graph shows in red the height of the land and depth of the seafloor along the hotspot track. Blue lines show the seafloor depths surrounding the seamounts to emphasize the volcano heights.
The Hawaiian Island - Emperor Seamount chain stretching more than 6000 km in the Pacific Ocean.
The New England Seamounts, in the western North Atlantic, are the middle portion of a long-lived hotspot chain that extends from Canada to undersea volcanoes on the African tectonic plate. The volcanic activity that formed this long chain provides a history of how the North American and African plates have been spreading for over 100 million years.
The Monteregian Hills, which share a name with the city of Montreal, are the eroded remnants of volcanoes that were active about 125 million years ago - they are the oldest volcanoes in the hotspot track. Slightly younger parts of the hotspot track are found in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and neighboring U.S. states. These volcanoes erupted through continental crust. The next youngest section of the hotspot track forms the New England Seamounts in the Atlantic Ocean. They were active between 100 and 80 million years ago. The Corner Seamounts, farther to the east, formed around 75 million years ago. The most recent volcanic activity of this hotspot created the Great Meteor group of seamounts that are on the African tectonic plate and that formed 10-20 million years ago.
There are about 25 large volcanoes that make up the New England Seamounts over a distance of about 1200 km, and they get younger towards the east. Bear Seamount, at the west end of the chain is the oldest of the New England Seamounts. It was volcanically active just over 100 million years ago. The youngest is Nashville Seamount, which formed about 80 million years ago.
The volcanoes rise from 500 m to several kilometers above the surrounding seafloor, and they are conical in shape, often with flat tops. Submarine landslides down the sides of many of these volcanoes have changed their shapes. There are also many smaller volcanoes both on the slopes of the major volcanoes and surrounding them.
Seamounts are also important because they harbor more marine life than the surrounding seafloor. More organisms can live around seamounts because the seamounts disrupt ocean currents and cause deep waters rich in nutrients to move upwards towards the surface. The currents also sweep the seafloor free of sediments in places, so organisms that need to attach themselves to a hard surface, such as deep-sea corals, can grow on the sides of seamounts. Scientists make the analogy of the deep-seafloor being like a desert for marine life, one that is interrupted by biological oases at seamounts.
Back to Main Hot Topics | <urn:uuid:cc7f8a1a-3985-457c-bebd-5f61387ae44a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/hottopics/seamounts.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00013-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941386 | 913 | 4.21875 | 4 |
The normal range of blood sugar levels means that you the level of sugar /glucose in your bloodstream is not too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia). There are two major specific conditions that can affect and make your blood-glucose level raise & maybe reach its peak level. Those conditions are after eating and after fasting.
Almost all foods that you eat will be digested, and some that contain sugar will break down to become a simple sugar called glucose. This glucose then can enter into your bloodstream directly which then will be used by the body to make energy. In other words, glucose is the primary component for the fuel of your body.
When glucose flows into the bloodstream, there is a kind of hormone that very crucial to regulate the level or volume of glucose in the blood. This hormone is called insulin – it is produced in the pancreas. Your body needs insulin to facilitate the distribution of glucose from the bloodstream to the tissues or cells of the body.
The excess glucose in the blood usually will be converted to become glycogen and then stored in the liver. Some also can be stored in fat cells in a form as ‘fat’. Either glycogen or glucose in a form of fat can be a source of energy for your body between meals.
If your insulin doesn’t work properly, the mechanism of your glucose metabolism also will not work properly. In diabetes, this condition is often called as insulin resistance.
As the name implies, FBG or sometime called FBS (fasting blood sugar) is a procedure to measure the level of your blood glucose after fasting (when you don’t drink and eat anything for at least eight hours). Normally, the fasting blood sugar in adults is around 100 mg /dL or lower – according to WebMD.
But if it is higher than 100 mg /dL, it is considered abnormal. If left untreated, it may rise higher than 130 mg /dL which then can be considered into a condition called hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia is commonly found in diabetes, but sometimes it may also occur in non-diabetics.
Prolonged higher level of FBG can be an early sign that your insulin cannot work optimally in helping the absorption of glucose from the blood plasma (bloodstream) into the cells and muscles of the body. It may point to a condition called pre-diabetes (the phase prior to diabetes – as the name suggests).
If you experience this symptom and you don’t have diabetes, see a doctor to find help. You may be scared of pre-diabetes diagnosis, but don’t worry! You still have good chance to reverse and prevent type-2 diabetes if you are diagnosed with prediabetes. See also about foods to prevent diabetes onset in here!
Typically, the lowest levels of blood sugar occur at the times just before you get your meals of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In normal non-diabetic individuals, the range of their blood glucose levels before eating (between meals) is commonly about 70 mg /dL to 80 mg /dL. Depending on the fit status of each individual, sometime the range of 60-90 mg /dL before meals is still considered normal. | <urn:uuid:8e8483f4-f5dc-43cd-b51f-6289377ac404> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.healthclop.com/blood-sugar-levels-normal-range-after-eating-and-fasting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939184 | 668 | 3.6875 | 4 |
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(Hebrew word meaning "house of God").
An ancient Canaanitish town, twelve miles north of Jerusalem, not far from Silo on the way to Sichem. The primitive name was Luza. Abram twice offered sacrifice east of Bethel (Genesis 12:8; 13:3). In these passages the name of Bethel is used by anticipation, as it was given to the town by Jacob after his vision (Genesis 28:19). When the Israelites entered the promised land, Bethel was allotted to the tribe of Benjamin, but it was taken and occupied by the Ephraimites (Judges 1:22-26). It was a place of importance in the subsequent history. Here the Israelites in the days of the Judges were wont to consult the Lord (Judges 20:18, 26; 21:2; the phrase "in Silo" added in these texts by the Vulgate is a mistake) and the Ark of the Covenant was probably here for a time. Samuel was wont to judge in Bethel every year. After the division of the kingdoms Jeroboam desecrated the place by erecting a golden calf and introducing the Egyptian worship of Apis. This continued until Israel was led captive to Assyria (2 Kings 10:29) and was frequently denounced by the prophets Osee and Amos. Shortly before his assumption, Elias visited Bethel, where there was a school of prophets (2 Kings 2:2-3); the boys from the town mocked Eliseus on his return and were destroyed by bears (ibid., 23). One of the priests who had been carried away captive was allowed to return somewhat later and dwelt in Bethel to teach the people (2 Kings 17:28). Great confusion of idolatrous worship sprang up, until Josias finally destroyed the altar and the high place there (2 Kings 23:15). After the Captivity, the Benjaminites returned to Bethel. In the time of the Macchabees, it was fortified by Bacchides. There is no mention of Bethel in the New Testament, but Josephus records that it was taken by Vespasian (Bell. Jud., IV, ix, 9). Eusebius mentions the place as a village. It is commonly identified nowadays with Beitin. The ruins of several Christian churches on the spot would indicate that in the Middle Ages it had again grown to some importance. The name "Bethel" is also read in Joshua 12:16 and 1 Samuel 30:27; it is probably another name for Bethul (Joshua 19:4), a city of the tribe of Simeon, the site of which is uncertain.
HAGER, Lexicon Biblicum, s.v.; SMITH, Hist. Geogr. of the Holy Land, 119, 250f.; 290f., 352; ZANECCHIA, La Palestine d'aujourdæhui (1890), II, 488f.; SCHENZ in Kirchenlex., s.v.
APA citation. (1907). Bethel. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02532d.htm
MLA citation. "Bethel." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02532d.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by the Cloistered Dominican Nuns, Monastery of the Infant Jesus, Lufkin, Texas. Dedicated to the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. | <urn:uuid:a2f1cc0e-b3ab-4bfb-801d-c62baccb9395> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://newadvent.org/cathen/02532d.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00129-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948373 | 906 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Our electric grid is remarkably robust, but the next big storm or calamity can still bring costly, disruptive power outages. An entirely new way to monitor the flow of electricity through the grid is giving us deeper insight into its operating state - knowledge that can diminish outages and increase stability. A new instrument, called a micro-synchrophasor, puts a whole new twist on visibility of the the grid.
There’s no place like home, and i4Energy researchers know it, turning their own new building into a laboratory for leading-edge demand response approaches. Sutardja Dai Hall is CITRIS headquarters on the UC Berkeley campus. The goal: to develop intelligent control for its electricity load, and reduce peak demand by at least 30%. | <urn:uuid:8c033227-f7b4-4b05-b718-6b290cd9227e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://i4energy.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943703 | 156 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Study the relationship between the hydrologic cycle and weather with this tutorial and animations.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency developed this 25-question quiz on water. The quiz is appropriate for students in grades 6-12.
Features: Online Interactivity, Graphics/Multimedia, Assessment
Students follow a drop of water through the water cycle via text and pictures on this U.S. Geological Survey Web page. Links to many activities and topics are readily available.
Features: Graphics/Multimedia, Data Sources, Inquiry Materials
This quiz assesses student knowledge of water cycle vocabulary. Many other activities are also available with a single click.
An audio and video description of the water cycle. | <urn:uuid:28e865b0-0b19-4c12-8354-f5733ac18cfa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/pd/oceans_weather_climate/ocean_basics/water_cycle4students.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00013-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.82349 | 143 | 3.625 | 4 |
August is synonymous with abundance: tomatoes ripen plump and juicy, bell peppers sweeten to sugary red, zinnias flaunt their crayon-colored blossoms and the musky fragrance of cantaloupe wafts from tangled vines. It’s harvest season, so perhaps you’re busy canning tomatoes or freezing pepper slices for winter pizzas. But there’s another crop ready for picking—it’s time to collect seeds for next year’s garden.
There’s immense pleasure in seed-to-seed gardening. As you come to appreciate a plant’s life cycle through seed saving, your small, humble act grounds you in the deep history of human life. You may be gathering seeds from a cucumber developed by a gardener in the 1800s, or collecting the easy-to-harvest offspring of zinnias, marigolds, cosmos and hibiscus just as your great-grandmother once did. She knew that most seeds were ripe for harvesting when they were hard and dry. Here’s the simple test she likely performed: lightly pinch a sampling between your fingernails. If the seeds don’t dent, they’re mature.
Many of our favorite summer veggies are actually fruits that hide their progeny in tasty packages. Tomato and melon seeds are ripe when the fruit is ready to eat. Green peppers are immature, but deep red peppers contain harvestable seeds. A cucumber or squash must stay on the vine until it’s so overgrown the rind hardens, which saps strength from the plant and reduces subsequent production—not such a bad thing when it comes to zucchini! It only takes one fat cuke or squash to get enough seeds for the average household.
Though ripe seeds have dried to the appropriate state internally, it’s still prudent to remove surface moisture by air-drying them indoors before storing. Spread a single layer over a plate or tray. Label each crop. Leave the seeds in a cool, dry place for two or three days, then pack them into labeled envelopes and store in airtight containers in the refrigerator. The “airtight” part is crucial; if your seeds take up moisture in the fridge, they can deteriorate.
Our seed-saving ancestors didn’t have to deal with one modern complication—hybridization. Seed collected from hybrid plants often produce progeny with little resemblance to the parent. My suggestion with flowers? Try it anyway! Even if your seedlings don’t turn out like the mother plant, they will likely be interesting. It’s tougher to give that advice with veggies, since you’re planning to eat the fruits of your labor. But if you start with non-hybrid plants, sometimes referred to as heirlooms, you don’t have to worry about wild disparities between the parent plant and subsequent crops.
For more info on seed saving, check out plantanswers.tamu.edu/vegetables/seed.html and the book Saving Seeds: The Gardener’s Guide to Growing and Storing Vegetable and Flower Seeds by Marc Rogers. A whole new harvest awaits!
Read more “Gardening on the Cheap” by Pam Baggett | <urn:uuid:11a83684-f0a3-452d-be5d-657d2ff53ab4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.hortmag.com/weekly-tips/propagation/harvestinggardenseeds | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92132 | 689 | 2.953125 | 3 |
The History and Landscape of Mount Manresa is at RISK of being destroyed by developers! Once it is gone, it is gone…FOREVER.
- Mount Manresa is a ecological treasure for our neighborhood and all Staten Island, located at 239 Fingerboard Road, Staten Island, NY 10305.
- The hills of Mount Manresa were formed 20,000 years ago during the last ice age.
- The natural landscape of Mount Manresa contains very old rare Oak and Tulip Trees that have grown to great heights.
- Many wild animals (reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals) find refuge in this rural oasis. Two deer were recently spotted and photographed on property.
- The beautiful steep hillside facing the north contain a rare concentration of very tall old trees.
- A grotto and a valley extends beyond the base of the hill an a very rare 19th Century brick tower stands on the property.
- Mount Manresa was founded by the Jesuits in 1911 and is the oldest retreat in America. Over 15,000 people visited annually.
- In the lower valley there is the Sacred Heart Grotto. It is constructed of iron ore brought from Grymes Hill and Dongan Hill in Staten Island.
- Shealy Hall and Sacred Heart Chapel were completed in 1926.
- Sacred Heart Chapel follows a country church design with unusual stenciling on the wood beams of the ceiling, reputed to be of (Canadian) French Indian design.
History of Mount Manresa
About the Property:
20 Acres of land was purchased in 1860 by Louis H. Meyer, one of the first presidents of the Staten Island Savings Bank. Mr. Meyer. He built a square brick house over 20 bedrooms and a dining room that could seat 60, and a mansard roof that he named “Fox Hill Villa.” Mr. Meyer created vistas on the property to see New York Harbor. He sub–drained and surface drained the property and imported various trees and shrubs from Europe. As there was no water supply, he sank an artesian well, built a water tower, and constructed large cisterns. He also constructed greenhouses for tropical fruit. Louis Meyer had a grotto built on the North face of the hill. He produced Shakespearean plays in this grotto. After the death of Louis, and his wife Anna, Fox Hill Villa fell into disrepair and became a boarding house.
How it became Mount Manresa
In 1909 Mr. Sidney Finlay, Secretary of the Xavier (High School, NY, NY) Alumni Society petitioned the Provincial of the New York Province of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Joseph Hanselman, S.J., to establish a retreat house in the United States.The Provincial assigned the project to Fr. Terence J. Shealy, S.J. Fr. Shealy was a lecturer at Fordham University’s School of Law. Fr. Shealy became the founder of the retreat movement in the United States.1911 Fr. Shealy saw the Fox Hill Villa and He and his retreat league founded the first retreat house in the United States. He named the facility Mount Manresa. (Manresa is a town in Spain at which St. Ignatius Loyola, the Founder of the Jesuits, developed a method of spiritual retreats.) The first retreat at Mount Manresa on September 8, 1911.
Mount Manresa Property Today
Today, Mount Manresa is now a 15-acre site located North of the Staten Island Expressway and West of Fingerboard Road. The Water Tower is the oldest structure on the property. It is now a hollow brick structure with plants growing from the top of the tower.
In the lower valley there is the Sacred Heart Grotto. It is constructed of iron ore brought from Grymes Hill and Dongan Hill in Staten Island.
There is a plateau with pines and fruit trees and a view into New York Harbor. Under the plateau is a large, constructed cavern, possibly that had held water. In the wooded sides of the hill there are remnants of a cobble stone road.
Shealy Hall has two full floors, a partial basement, a small third floor office area, and an unfinished attic. The building has 44 bedrooms, 14 water closets, and eight showers. The building retains the original steam heating system, wood trim, the floors, and the design of the rooms all remain as when they were built.Sacred Heart Chapel follows a country church design with unusual stenciling on the wood beams of the ceiling, reputed to be of (Canadian) French Indian design.
A brick passage way connects the chapel to Shealy. The passage way includes stain glass windows transported from the old Jesuit Novitiate, now the Culinary Institute of America, in Poughkeepsie, NY.
Founders Hall was completed in August of 1950. Care was taken to match the exterior of Shealy Hall with a slate roof, brickwork, and stone trim.
In 1963 the original mansion, Fox Villa, was taken down. In 1964 the Bruno Building (then called the Men of Manresa building) went up. This is a brick building with wood trim painted blue grey with an asphalt shingle roof.
With the erection of the Bruno Building a new driveway was laid on the North side of the Fingerboard Road property line. The original drive and circle to the mansion were removed. In the 1990’s this drive and circle were restored and a gazebo erected on the circle.
Next to the drive a meditation garden had been installed. Smaller gardens have been added in various locations to enhance the visual appeal of the property.
In 2002 a benefactor provided funding to sink a well behind Shealy Hall, to provide irrigation for the gardens. In 2003 the same benefactor provided funding to begin an irrigation system. The benefactor hoped to ensure the care of the landscape and keep Manresa free of constraints from the City water system for it irrigation needs.
The property has been a haven for the community. It is a place of meditation and peace in a rapidly developing Island. This is WHY we have to SAVE IT! | <urn:uuid:ee900bcf-b8d5-4917-b3f3-8871858fce51> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://savemountmanresa.org/mount-manresa-facts-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00026-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961132 | 1,269 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Pen Tool Tutorial Recommended for Beginner Level Photoshop Users
In this Photoshop tutorial we will explore how to use the pen tool.
First, we will look at the pen tool’s basic controls. We will examine creating paths, curvature modification and anchor point adjustments.
Next, on the flollowing page, we will use our new pen tool skills to cut out an image. This skill is so essential to know when using Adobe Photoshop, and it really illustrates the power behind the pen tool.
Finally we will see how a path created with the pen tool can be used to create custom shapes. Custom shapes are vectors so they will never pixelate or lose quality. Again this is such a handy skill, you’ll end up using it all the time! | <urn:uuid:dbb633d4-0c1c-48cc-89bb-60a66609100f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.melissaevans.com/tutorials/how-to-use-photoshops-pen-tool | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00020-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.877955 | 157 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Published: Jan 1977
| ||Format||Pages||Price|| |
|PDF (180K)||12||$25|| ADD TO CART|
|Complete Source PDF (3.2M)||234||$72|| ADD TO CART|
Automotive gasolines are used to fuel internal combustion spark-ignition engines. While gasolines discussed in this chapter are used primarily in passenger car and highway truck service, they also are used extensively in off-highway utility vehicles, farm machinery, two- and four-stroke cycle marine engines, and other spark-ignition engines employed in a variety of different service applications. | <urn:uuid:4b34a633-0aff-4209-8594-ba294ec848c4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.astm.org/DIGITAL_LIBRARY/STP/PAGES/STP42067S.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00106-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.831341 | 137 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Once upon a time a family of crows lived in a huge banyan tree. There was
a Father Crow, a Mother Crow, and many baby crows.
One day a huge snake came to live in the hole at the bottom of the tree.
The crows were unhappy about this, but could do nothing.
Soon Mother Crow hatched a few more eggs and some more baby crows
were born. When the crows flew out in search of food, the snake ate up
the babies. When the crows returned, they could not find their babies.
They hunted high and low, but to no avail.
After a few months, Mother Crow gave birth to some more baby crows.
This time Mother Crow stayed home when Father Crow went out in search
of food. Ignoring the fact that Mother Crow was keeping a watchful eye
on her babies, the snake still slithered up the tree and attacked the
babies. Mother Crow tried to fight the snake off, but she was not strong
enough. Other crows came to her aid, but the snake had already eaten
the little ones and crawled back into its hole.
When Father Crow returned, he found all the crows weeping. He consoled
his wife who wanted to leave the tree house immediately. Father Crow
said that this tree had been their home for many years and they must live
here. He thought of asking a wise old fox for help in order to get rid of the
The old fox came up with a brilliant plan. He told them to go to the river
bank the next morning where the ladies of the royal family would be
bathing. Their clothes and valuables would be kept on the river bank while
the servants would be watching over them from a distance.
The fox asked the crows to pick up a necklace and while away making a
raucous noise. This would make the servants chase them to the tree
where the crows would drop the necklace into the snake's hole.
So the next morning when the crows flew to the river bank, Mother Crow
picked up a pearl necklace and flew off as Father Crow cawed loudly to
attract the servants' attention. The servants ran after Mother Crow and
reached the banyan tree where they saw her drop the necklace into the
snake hole. As the servants were trying to take the necklace out with the
help of a long stick, the snake came out of the hole and hissed at them
menacingly. The servants beat the snake to death. And so Mother and
Father Crow lived happily ever after in the banyan tree. | <urn:uuid:0a65840f-27cc-4e82-b4fc-451737fa51bc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.balagokulam.org/kids/stories/crowsnake.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00170-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971509 | 551 | 2.8125 | 3 |
We don’t know the exact date when the great and powerful Harriet Tubman (ca. 1820-1913) came into this temporal world, but we do know when she left it. One hundred years ago on this day, Harriet Tubman exhaled her final breath and spoke her last words to those at her side: “I go away to prepare a place for you, and where I am ye may be also.”
Another great legend had entered this world just one month earlier: Rosa Parks, who was recently memorialized as the first African American woman with a monument in the Capitol Rotunda. A century ago, one legend was born just before another one died.
And so it is, in this milestone year of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, that I organized with the help of my colleagues and friends at the University at Albany Women’s Studies Department the Harriet Tubman: A Legacy of Resistance symposium. How often do centennials come along?
It was a busy weekend, a nerve-wracking weekend, in which we battled a sudden March winter storm and I suffered a stubborn cold that would not go away. Despite everything, I heard Tubman urge me on: “Keep going!” And, thankfully, I didn’t need her urging at gunpoint. Our ancestral mother needed us to remember her come hell, snow or ice!
More significantly, all those who committed to take part in this momentous occasion made it through the snow and ice. Gathering in Albany on March 8, International Women’s Day, we would not be daunted. Besides, didn’t Tubman’s band of fugitives deal with much much worse?
What an honor it was to remember Harriet Tubman: her life, her legacy, her symbolism.
Vivien Ng, our department chair, reminded the audience that, as much as Tubman is a celebrated figure in our culture, she still remains invisible. Where, she asked, was Harriet Tubman in PBS’s recently televised series, The Abolitionists? Tubman, who collaborated with men such as Frederick Douglass and John Brown–both of whom were featured–did not even get a mention!
How does this contribute to our representations (or misrepresentations) of Harriet Tubman? This was the subject of the first panel, moderated by rhetorician Tamika Carey of the University at Albany, in which I delivered a paper on “Between History and Fantasy: Harriet Tubman in the Artistic and Popular Imaginary.” Music composer Nkeiru Okoye, who composed and penned the folk opera, Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom, followed up with a challenge to think of the woman behind the icon, behind the myth–whether in our art and popular culture or in our musical traditions. Okoye specifically shared with the audience how her opera challenged the musical conventions that confine Tubman to Negro spirituals.
Other presenters situated Tubman in the larger context of women’s histories–whether in relation to other resilient rebel leaders such as Nanny of the Maroons in Jamaica, as explored by Mildred Smith-Chang (author of the memoir The Mask is Off) or in relation to other black female fugitives, specifically those residing on the U.S./Canadian border, as examined by historian Daniel J. Broyld of the University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown. Broyld further invited the audience to think of Tubman as more than an “American” hero, redefining her as a transnational subject since she had resided in neighboring Canada for most of a decade when she and other African Americans fled the United States in the wake of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made this country unsafe for both enslaved and free blacks.
A highlight of this panel was Syracuse associate professor Vivian M. May’s paper, “Under-Theorized and Under-Taught: Re-examining Harriet Tubman’s Place in Women’s Studies,” which revealed that Tubman is significantly missing from the field of women’s studies. If a PBS series can’t recognize Tubman’s contributions to the antislavery movement, what does it mean to erase her from much of the curriculum in women’s studies? May specifically challenged us to complicate her history, to view her beyond simple “strong black womanhood” stereotypes and to especially reclaim her ties to the women’s rights movement, for which Tubman was an ardent supporter and champion.
Throughout the day, the conversation around Tubman grew richer and more complex. Especially provocative was a panel moderated by Barbara McCaskill of the University of Georgia on Tubman’s legacy in the criminalization of black women’s resistance. Literary historian Andrea N. Williams of the Ohio State University raised the specter of Tubman’s single status, despite her marriage to two men, and how productive she remained during her single years–and yet single black women in the 19th century existed outside the law and were thus criminalized in their status as well as in their resistance to the system of slavery. Talitha LeFlouria of Florida Atlantic University explored the importance of Tubman’s modeling of resistance to oppressive systems, as it would later impact on the resistance strategies of black women entrapped in the Convict Lease System during the post-Civil War years in the South.
Most important was the conversation panel, “What Would Harriet Tubman Do? A Legacy of Resistance and Activism,” featuring such renowned black feminists as moderator Paula Giddings, author of When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America; Barbara Smith, founding member of Combahee River Collective and Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press; and Beverly Guy-Sheftall, editor of the anthology Words of Fire and author of numerous works documenting the history and contemporary expressions of black feminism. Engaging the audience in provocative questions and comments–from what would Harriet Tubman do in response to the rampant violence in African American communities to her reaction to the existence of a black president–the panelists seemed unanimous: Tubman would be appalled at the former and demanding more race consciousness from the latter.
The first day closed with an evening performance from American Opera Projects of excerpts from Okoye’s Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom. Lead soprano Sumayya Ali, who later revealed to the audience that she drew on her feminist and womanist impressions to channel Tubman in this role, blew us away with her big, impressive voice. We witnessed in this performance the transformation of a girl into a woman into a leader: “I am Moses, the Liberator: Be free or die!”
After such a full and rich day, our Saturday event was more playful, beginning with a local bus tour (guided by the Underground Railroad Project of the Capital Region) of the places where Tubman passed here in Albany and Troy, then participating in hands-on workshops. An interactive music pedagogy workshop, which began with spirituals sung by local singer MaryNell Morgan, was led by Allison Upshaw, who incorporated a “Singing Quilt” education project to engage audiences and expose them to the knowledge, quilting and spiritual traditions of Tubman and other fugitives using the Underground Railroad. A final workshop by historian Kaye Wise Whitehead of University of Maryland at Loyola, summed up the themes of the symposium and implored us all to use our “critical imaginations” to not just think about “what would Harriet do,” but “What would Harriet Tubman say? What would she want to leave behind?”
We wrapped up with a student tribute as different black and Latina sorority organizations at the University at Albany performed a step routine, representing the precision, discipline, solidarity and community that Tubman most likely required of those she rescued from slavery and those she nurtured and collaborated with in sustaining a community of free people.
Harriet Tubman’s legacy of resistance: To remember, to struggle, to defy the constant erasure and to create community.
One hundred years later, we’re still walking in her footsteps.
The symposium papers will be featured in a forthcoming special issue of Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism. | <urn:uuid:81c0ce52-fc1a-455d-b83f-bc5028f6ffdb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/03/10/100-years-later-the-harriet-tubman-symposium/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00166-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95977 | 1,772 | 3.125 | 3 |
Fudge, Erica and Gilbert, Ruth and Wiseman, S J, eds. (2002) At the Borders of the Human: Beasts, Bodies and Natural Philosophy in the Early Modern Perdiod. Palgrave.Full text not available in this repository.
What is, what was the human? This book argues that the making of the human as it is now understood implies a renogotiation of the relationship between the self and the world. The development of Renaissance technologies of difference such as mapping, colonialism and anatomy paradoxically also illuminated the similarities between human and non-human. This collection considers the borders between humans and their imagined others: animals, women, native subjects, machines. It examines border creatures (hermaphrodites, wildmen, and cyborgs) and border practices (science, surveying, and pornography).
|Keywords:||human, self, Renaissance technologies, mapping, anatomy, colonialism, animals, machines, native subjects, women, hermaphrodites, cyborgs, wildmen, Criticism|
|Subjects:||Language and Literature > Literature (General) > Criticism|
|Department:||Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) > School of Humanities > English|
|Depositing user:||Pure Administrator|
|Date Deposited:||03 Jun 2011 09:25|
|Last modified:||29 Apr 2016 05:18| | <urn:uuid:508b2ed0-937a-49fa-adac-d7e75c345598> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/29575/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00157-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.829113 | 297 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Torah Portion for week of Tammuz 7-14
Balak send for Balaam
Chariot of God
Today in History - 5 Tammuz
· Galus Yehoyochin occurred on this day, 7 years after Yehoyokim was taken into galus, 433 BCE. Yehoyochin, king of Yehuda, was taken to Bavel together with the leading talmidei chachamim of his time.
· Yechezkel ben Buzi Hakohen gave his prophecy by the Kvar River, 5 years after Galus Yehoyochin, mentioned in the beginning of Sefer Yechezkel, 428 BCE
· Massacre of the Jews of Wiener-Neustadt, Austria, 1298.
· Pope allows Jews accused by the Inquisition the right to know who their accusers were, 1299.
· Rav Yom Tov Lipmann Heller, the Tosfos Yom Tov, was imprisoned, 1629.
· Passing of Daniel Mendoza, a Sephardi Jew who was known as the “father of scientific boxing”, 1876. Billing himself as “Mendoza the Jew”, he became one of England’s greatest boxing champions and the first boxer to win the patronage of the Prince of Wales.
· Mass killings of Jews in Auschwitz began by the Nazis, 1942.
· A postwar pogrom in Kielce, Poland, left 42 people, mostly yidden, dead and 50 wounded, 1946. Army and security officers took part in the attack that was sparked by the false story spread by Walenty Blaszcyk that his son had been kidnapped by Jews. The event is considered Europe’s last pogrom.
· Mohammed Bouyeri, a Muslim extremist on trial in the slaying of Dutch film-maker Thei van Gogh, unexpectedly confessed in court, saying he was driven by religious conviction. He was sentenced to life in prison. 2005
It has been said, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Please learn from the history of this Hebrew month and pray. This is going to be a very challenging month world-wide. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Israel’s enemies acknowledge historical dates and plan attacks on those dates.
Tammuz is known as the ‘fourth month’ in the Bible according to the Biblical Calendar and is the tenth month on the civil calendar. The number 4 carries the meaning of learning, teaching, testing and trials. It also is the number of material completeness, a world number since on the 4th day material creation finished. It is the number of the great elements (earth, air, fire, water) regions of the earth (north, south, east, west) divisions of day (morning, noon, evening and midnight) seasons (summer, fall, winter, spring). The number 10 signifies the perfection of Divine order, beginning a new series of numbers. It also stands for completeness of order, marking the entire round of anything, whole cycle is complete. Putting those 2 numbers together we see that there will be a completeness of things that have been sown these past months and many people will be reaping things they do not want to reap. It is a good time to pray for a crop failure on all the negative words and deeds sown and to stand in the gap for our nation like never before.
Tammuz is the name of a Syrian god, but was also worshipped also by the Hebrews women with lamentations, in the fourth month of every year. Their idol worship was an abomination to God! It is a proper noun and means ‘sprout of life’, a Sumerian deity of food and vegetation. The only time the Bible records that name is found in Ezekiel 8:14 when God was showing Ezekiel all the abominations that were going on in the Temple, “So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.” Vs 17 tells of how they were smelling the branch. The cedar branch is used in the worship of this Syrian god and instead of the Hebrew women trusting God for life, they had turned to trusting a cedar to give them fertility and life, IN THE HOUSE OF
JESUS COMES IN THE CLOUDS WITH POWER AND GLORY
Lk 9:26-27-WHEN HE SHALL COME IN HIS OWN GLORY, AND IN HIS FATHER'S, AND OF THE HOLY ANGELS.
Lk 21:27-AND THEN SHALL THEY SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD WITH POWER AND GREAT GLORY.
Mk 13:26-AND THEN SHALL THEY SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING IN THE CLOUDS WITH GREAT POWER AND GLORY.
Mt 26:64-JESUS SAITH UNTO HIM, THOU HAST SAID: NEVERTHELESS I SAY UNTO YOU, HEREAFTER SHALL YE SEE THE SON OF MAN SITTING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, AND COMING IN THE CLOUD OF HEAVEN.
Mk 14:62-AND JESUS SAID, I AM: AND YE SHALL SEE THE SON OF MAN SITTING ON THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, AND COMING IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.
"Behold, I come quickly"
EZEKIEL 1: 1-9
The Living Creatures and the Glory of the Lord
1 In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.
2 On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin-
3 the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the LORD was upon him.
4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal,
5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was that of a man,
6 but each of them had four faces and four wings.
7 Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze.
8 Under their wings on their four sides they had the hands of a man. All four of them had faces and wings,
9 and their wings touched one another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved. | <urn:uuid:e2638f99-2c49-4087-a871-72ec6754787d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/june2011/michelek630-1.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00194-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956832 | 1,447 | 2.75 | 3 |
Disease caused by the protozoan parasite (Trypanosoma cruzi) transmitted by bites of blood-feeding Assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae, subfamily Triatominae). Occurs in northern South America, Central America, and Mexico.
Related categories 3
CDC Travelers' Health: American Trypanosomiasis (Chagas Disease)
Advice for travelers on this infection including mode of transmission, occurrence, clinical signs, diagnosis, treatment, and the preventative measures that can be taken.
CDC: Chagas Disease
Detailed information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Information from the World Health Organization.
Blog on this disease which presents a serious public health challenge for Latin America and elsewhere.
The Kiss of Death: Chagas' Disease in the Americas
A study of the disease by Dr. Joseph Bastien.
MedicineNet: Chagas Disease (American Trypanosomiasis)
Provides information on this disease caused by a protozoan parasite, its history, cause, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment and the research being undertaken.
MedlinePlus: Chagas Disease
Directory of news, articles, and factsheets.
PAHO: Chagas Disease (American Trypanosomiasis)
Provides information on surveillance in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras and the prevention and control activities currently being carried out there.
Other languages 2
Last update:January 6, 2016 at 2:45:06 UTC | <urn:uuid:9858950e-925d-4283-92fe-7cabdb725bb2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dmoz.org/Health/Conditions_and_Diseases/Infectious_Diseases/Parasitic/Chagas_Disease | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.789265 | 318 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Cigarette vs Pipe Tobacco
Cigarette and Pipe Tobacco came from tobacco plants which were originally used as an entheogen commonly used is some occult or shamanic groups. Both these two contains different levels of nicotine. For those who did not know, the term nicotine is derived from Jean Nicot, a French ambassador in 1559.
Cigarette, developed in circa 1800s after the civil war in America, is made of carefully cut tobacco rolled in a special paper which is commonly made from wood pulp. Smoking cigarettes have been labelled as a dangerous thing to do. In fact, after few seconds upon smoking a cigarette, the nicotine would reach your lungs automatically and into your brains. It also contains other cancer-causing substances like tar, ammonia, and formaldehyde.
Pipe Tobacco or Smoking pipe started even before the birth of Christ around 5000-3000 BC. Back then on they burnt incense instead of tobacco but later on after discovering the effects of it, incense is replaced by tobacco and was adopted as a tool for pleasure rather than for spiritual and religious rituals. Interestingly, studies regarding the effect of tobacco show that the smoker’s mortality rate seems lower than non-smokers.
Difference between Cigarette and Pipe Tobacco
Cigarette and Pipe smoking are two dangerous habits today that cause lots of dreadful disease including cancer. While Cigarette is made by rolling the tobacco in a special paper, Pipe smoking on the other hand makes use of a pipe, and then the tobacco is place on the tip of the pipe. Cigarette can be consumed by smoking only, while in Pipe Tobacco smoking, the flavour of the tobacco can be tasted and also inhaled. Moreover, Cigarettes have undergone some chemical process making it more dangerous to our health whereas in Pipe tobacco, it is the natural tobacco as itself.
Whatever your reasons may be for smoking, we can not neglect the fact that it is harmful to your health. What more is that you are not the only one who will suffer the damage brought by smoking, the damage to the second hand non-smokers in your surroundings is doubled that of yours.
• Cigarettes are rolled in a special paper made of wood pulp while in Pipe tobacco, the tobacco is placed on the pipe for lighting.
• Cigarettes smoking can cause dreaded diseases like cancer and heart diseases but Pipe Tobacco smoking can lower the mortality rate of the smokers as what the study shows. | <urn:uuid:8e3bb041-a71a-4e9c-91fc-7b9251db56c1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-cigarette-and-pipe-tobacco/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00148-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9588 | 493 | 2.78125 | 3 |
POST-PLANTING WEATHER COULD DECIDE INSECT THREAT, PURDUE SPECIALIST SAYS
Apr. 22, 2013
Source: Purdue University news release
Farmers should look to the skies for an idea of how active below-ground insects could be in cornfields later this spring, a Purdue Extension entomologist says.
Weather conditions following planting are a good barometer for infestations of seedcorn maggots, wireworms, grubs and slugs, Christian Krupke said.
Those insects, and others like them, are beginning to move toward the surface of the soil after overwintering beneath the surface. They feed on plant roots and green material and are a greater threat if the corn plant is not well established.
"All of those pests get a foothold only when we get a cool, wet post-planting period," Krupke said. "If you don't have those weather conditions the corn plant generally pops out of the ground and does just fine in terms of insect pests. So in the early stages of the crop season it really is weather-dependent."
Corn planting is off to a slow start in Indiana. As of Monday (April 15) farmers had planted less than 1 percent of the 6.1 million acres they told the U.S. Department of Agriculture they intend to plant in a March survey. That compares with 21 percent planted by this time one year ago and the mid-April five-year average of 6 percent.
Cooler and wetter weather in much of Indiana has slowed planting progress but won't necessarily contribute to post-planting insect problems, Krupke said. Aside from timely control of winter annual weeds that can attract egg-laying moths like black cutworm, there's little farmers can do ahead of planting to reduce insect damage risk and only certain steps they can take after seeds are in the ground.
"Sometimes you'll get insect protection from insecticidal seed treatments at this time of year. Seedcorn maggot is one example," Krupke said. "For others such as rootworms, white grubs and wireworms, you also can get some protection from in-furrow insecticides - for those still using granular and liquid products.
The Bt corn hybrids have no affect on wireworms, white grubs, seedcorn maggots or slugs. There's not much that can be done in terms of managing below-ground pests once damage has occurred, however."
If the weather cooperates and corn plants are able to outgrow those pests, other insects - notably, armyworm and black cutworm - could present problems, Krupke said.
"Right now these moths are in the Gulf states where they can develop year-round," he said. "In the spring they move north on prevailing winds and with storm fronts - some years many, some years few - and look for places to lay eggs.
They prefer to lay eggs in green material such as weedy fields and fields with cover crops, and when those cover crops or weeds are killed the larvae will then move over to the corn that is out of the ground."
Purdue entomologist John Obermeyer coordinates a network of volunteers who monitor the moths and others using pheromone traps placed throughout the state. They report their findings in the weekly Purdue Pest & Crop Newsletter (http://extension.entm.purdue.edu/pestcrop/2013).
The good news for farmers is that last year's drought hurt some insects as much as it did crops. Krupke believes overwintering insect populations generally are lower and, with the exception of spider mites, which thrive in hot, dry conditions, could portend fewer insect problems this year.
But farmers should not be overconfident.
"If conditions are just right and these insects are in contact with germinating seed for a long time, that's when you have a recipe for bad things to happen," Krupke said. "Insects in general, and pests in particular, can increase their populations extremely rapidly when conditions are right."
Additional information about crop insects is available on Purdue's Field Crops Integrated Pest Management website, at http://extension.entm.purdue.edu/fieldcropsipm/. | <urn:uuid:27fe952f-ed99-4f2a-8619-5671e24311cd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.agrimarketing.com/s/81540 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00099-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950266 | 887 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Hermes Trismegistus and Apollonius of Tyana in the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
by Keven Brownpublished in Revisioning the Sacred: New Perspectives on a Bahá'í Theology, Studies in the Babi and Bahá'í Religions, vol. 8, pages 153-187
Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1997
The name Hermes Trismegistus is commonly associated with occult sciences, such as theurgy, alchemy, and astrology, which partly originated in the technical Hermetic literature circulating in the Roman empire from as early as the second century B.C.E. Our modern expression “hermetically sealed” derives from the name Hermes. Apollonius of Tyana, the Pythagorian philosopher of the first century C.E., is less well known. Greek and Latin sources do not connect these two figures doctrinally, but in the Arabic Hermetic literature, some of which was translated from pagan Syrian sources in the time of Caliph Ma'mún (813 - 833), Apollonius (in Arabic Balínús) is often associated with Hermes. There he is depicted as the discoverer and representative of Hermes' teachings on the secrets of creation that had been lost to the generations before him. It is this later picture of Hermes and Apollonius that is most relevant to this study, for it is the tradition that is adopted by Bahá'u'lláh in his writings. In his Lawh-i-Hikmat (Tablet of Wisdom), for example, Bahá'u'lláh states: “It was this man of wisdom [Balínús] who became informed of the mysteries of creation and discerned the subtleties which lie enshrined in the Hermetic writings.”
According to the Eastern, Islamic tradition of Hermes Trismegistus, Hermes was a divine philosopher or Prophet who lived before the time of the Greek philosophers, and he was the first person to whom God instructed the secrets of wisdom and divine and natural sciences. Muslims equate Hermes to the Prophet Idrís, whom the Jews know as Enoch. In the Qur'án, it is written: “Commemorate Idrís in the Book; for he was a man of truth, a Prophet; and we uplifted him to a place on high” (Q. 19:57-58). Hermes is also called the "father of the philosophers" in the Muslim Hermetic tradition, because he was believed to be the most ancient of those who propagated wisdom and sciences. In accord with this tradition, Bahá'u'lláh writes in his Lawh Basít al-Haqíqat (Tablet on the Uncompounded Reality):
The first person who devoted himself to philosophy was Idrís. Thus was he named. Some called him also Hermes. In every tongue he hath a special name. He it is who hath set forth in every branch of philosophy thorough and convincing statements. After him Balínús derived his knowledge and sciences from the Hermetic Tablets and most of the philosophers who followed him made their philosophical and scientific discoveries from his words and statements.
In this quotation, “after him” represents a long period of time, since Balínús lived in the first century C.E. The “philosophers who followed him” would, accordingly, refer to philosophers after the first century C.E. who followed the Hermetic tradition.
Inasmuch as Bahá'u'lláh refers to Hermes and Apollonius in his writings, (1) what relevance does the Hermetic legacy in Islam have to Bahá'í thought in general, and (2) what attitude should Bahá'ís take toward these references in view of the declared infallibility of Bahá'í scripture? The first question is important as part of an investigation of the sources of Bahá'u'lláh's cosmological teachings; the second question is significant insofar as it concerns the issue of scriptural interpretation for Bahá'í theology. Before answering these questions, however, it is first necessary, in order to obtain a more balanced picture, to see how Hermes and Apollonius were viewed in the Roman empire before the conquest of Islam, and then to see how they were incorporated into the Islamic worldview. Furthermore, what of their writings were known, and how did they influence religious and philosophical thought?
Since, from the fragmentary textual evidence remaining from the Roman empire, the names of Hermes and Apollonius are not associated with each other at that time, they will be examined separately. The legendary name of Hermes Trismegistus in the Roman empire is, firstly, connected to the Egyptian god Thoth, whom Herodotus associated with the Greek Hermes in the fifth century B.C.E. In Egypt, in the most ancient period, Thoth was a powerful national god associated with the moon. As the moon is illuminated by the sun, likewise Thoth derived his authority from the sun god Re, to whom he acted as secretary and advisor. The moon ruled the stars and distinguished the seasons and months of the year, thus becoming the lord of time and the regulator of individual destinies. Thoth came to be viewed both as the source of cosmic order and of religious and civic institutions, and, as such, he presided over temple cults and laws of state. According to one account, "Tiberius enacted his laws for the World in the same way as Thoth, the creator of justice."
As the lord of wisdom, a role in which he was widely recognized, he was regarded as the origin of sacred texts and formulae, and of arts and sciences. The tradition that Thoth had revealed the arts of writing, number, geometry, and astronomy to King Ammon at Thebes was known to Plato and related by him in the Phaedrus. As the scribe of the gods, he was the inventor of writing. Plutarch explains that the first letter of the Egyptian alphabet is the ibis, the sacred bird symbol of Hermes, because Hermes invented writing.
Thoth was also a physician. In a representation of him from the time of Tiberius, he appears holding the stick of Asclepius with the snake. When a person died, he guided the soul to the afterlife, where he recorded the judgments of Osiris. Because the Greek Hermes, like Thoth, was associated with the moon, medicine, and the realm of the dead, and both served as a messenger for the gods and were known for inventiveness, the Greeks assimilated Hermes to Thoth. It is the Egyptian Thoth, however, who comes down to us as Hermes Trismegistus. Walter Scott believes that to distinguish this Hermes from the Greek Hermes, the Greeks added the epithet Trismegistus, meaning "thrice-great," which they borrowed from the Egyptian epithet for Thoth, aá aá, meaning "very great."
But another view of Hermes also prevailed in the Roman empire, probably due to the appearance of the Hermetic writings between the late first and late third centuries C.E. In this view, Hermes is not a god but as a divinely-guided man or Prophet. Long before, Plato had already questioned whether Thoth was a god or just a divine man. In the writings ascribed to Hermes, he is usually pictured as the mortal agent of a holy revelation from God which offers salvation to the soul from the bondage of matter and promises to disclose the secrets of creation. Ammianus Marcellinus, the fourth-century pagan historian, refers to Hermes Trismegistus, Apollonius of Tyana, and Plotinus as individuals with a special guardian spirit. To both Christians and pagans of the Roman empire, the Egyptian Hermes was a real person of great antiquity. Some considered him to be a contemporary of Moses, and they regarded him as the first and greatest teacher of gnosis and sophia, from whose teachings later philosophers derived the fundamentals of their philosophy. For example, Iamblichus (d. ca. 330 C.E.), one of the Neoplatonic successors of Plotinus, wrote that Plato and Pythagoras had visited Egypt and there read the tablets of Hermes with the assistance of native priests.
Bahá'u'lláh does not explicitly support a direct philosophical connection between Hermes and the early Greek philosophers, as Iamblichus does, but only between Hermes and Balínús and the philosophers who followed after Balínús in the Hermetic tradition. This is significant because part of the Islamic Hermetic tradition from which Bahá'u'lláh draws, as will be seen below, places Balínús prior in time to Aristotle, which is impossible in the light of historical evidence. Bahá'u'lláh, therefore, may be deliberately recounting those parts of the tradition he believes to be true while remaining silent about those parts that he believes to be false. In regard to a possible Egyptian influence on the early Greek philosophers, Jonathan Barnes writes: “Although some [Egyptian] fertilization can scarcely be denied, the proven parallels are surprisingly few and surprisingly imprecise.”
Lactantius, one of the early fathers of the Christian Church, believed Hermes to be the Gentile Prophet, who not only predicted the coming of Christ but recognized the Logos as God's son. He writes in his Institutes:
And even though he [Hermes] was a man, he was most ancient and well instructed in every kind of learning--to such a degree that his knowledge of the arts and of all other things gave him the cognomen or epithet Trismegistus. He wrote books--many, indeed, pertaining to the knowledge of divine things--in which he vouches for the majesty of the supreme and single God and he calls Him by the same names which we use: Lord and Father. Lest anyone should seek His name, he says that He is “without a name,” since He does not need the proper signification of a name because of His very unity.
Augustine, likewise, allows that "Hermes makes many...statements agreeable to the truth concerning the one true God Who fashioned this world," but he also castigates Hermes for what appears to be his sympathy for the gods of Egypt.
The Hermetic Writings
The Hermetica are those writings which in antiquity were ascribed to the figure of Hermes Trismegistus. Apart from this, there exists a body of Hermetic literature in Arabic that appears distinct from the Hermetica of the Roman empire, and which will be considered separately. These writings are presented as revelations of divine truth, not as the products of human reason, which in itself distinguishes them from the Greek philosophical tradition. The Hermetica may be divided, for the sake of convenience, into two general categories: those which deal with philosophical and theological matters and those which are of a technical nature, i.e., texts on alchemy, astrology, and theurgy. Walter Scott, who translated the Hermetica into English and published it together with commentary and testimonia, put all of his attention on the philosophical writings. Other scholars of the Hermetica, including André-Jean Festugière and Garth Fowden, treat the philosophical and technical texts as manifestations of a single worldview.
The philosophical texts which have survived to the present consist of collections of discourses in dialogue form, usually between Hermes and one or more of his disciples. They include the Corpus Hermeticum (C.H.), a collection of eighteen discourses including the well-known Poimandres as C.H. I. The last three discourses in this collection were commonly dropped out by Christians, probably because they contained material more noticeably pagan. Another collection, the Anthologium, was made by Stobaeus in the fifth century. It included extracts from C.H. II, IV, and X, and from otherwise unattested Hermetica. Neither of these collections included the well-known Asclepius, or Perfect Discourse, which contains Hermes' famous prophecy on Egypt. The Perfect Discourse has survived only in Latin, save for Greek fragments in Lactantius, likely because the work contains several passages of a clearly pagan nature, which were proscribed by Byzantine censorship. Other specimens of philosophical Hermetica are known to exist in Coptic and Armenian translations.
The general consensus of modern scholars, beginning with Isaac Casaubon in 1614, puts the composition of the philosophical texts between the late first to the late third centuries C.E. The composition of the technical texts may have begun as much as two centuries earlier. These calculations are based on external testimonia and analysis of the linguistic style and the doctrinal content of the texts. Tertullian of Carthage is the earliest known writer to clearly quote from the philosophical Hermetica in his Adversus Valentinianos and the De anima, both composed around 206 - 207. There are earlier references to Hermetic texts. Galen of Pergamon mentions a treatise on medical botany by Hermes Trimegistus that was supposedly well-known in the first century.
The modern dating of the texts refutes the possibility that they themselves are an ancient fount of divine wisdom pre-dating Plato. Nevertheless, it is possible that the Hermetica represent an authentic Egyptian religious tradition that came under the influence of Greek philosophy and was later written down in a highly Hellenized style. This idea was proposed in antiquity in a book called Abammonis Ad Porphyrium Responsum, written by Iamblichus, although ostensibly written by Abammon, an Egyptian priest of high rank, in reply to questions addressed by Porphyry (c. 232 - 301). Porphyry asked about the theology and religious practices of the Egyptians, especially about theurgy, implying that he found it difficult to reconcile them with his own beliefs. “Abammon” says that he will base his answers on two sources: (1) the "books of Thoth," written in ancient times by Egyptian priests, and (2) books written by recent writers who have condensed or summarized the contents of the ancient writings. Under the second category the author includes the Greek Hermetica, which Porphyry said he had read. Abammon explains that these texts were based on Egyptian documents which were translated, paraphrased, or interpreted by priests who were experts in Greek philosophy. According to this scheme, the works of Balínús known in the Islamic tradition would also fall under the second category, since he was regarded as the discoverer and propounder of the Hermetic writings.
Scott was of the opinion that if the above hypothesis was true, then the Egyptian priests of the Roman period could only have imagined that they had found in their ancient writings doctrines that were in accord with Platonic philosophy. But there have been some modern scholars more sympathetic to the view of Abammon. For example, in 1904 Richard Reitzenstein published his Poimandres wherein he challenges Isaac Casaubon's opinion that the Hermetica were merely Christian forgeries. William C. Grese sums up Reitzenstein's position in that work: "Reitzenstein portrayed the Hermetica as a Hellenistic development of ancient Egyptian religion." With the publication of the Nag Hammadi library of Coptic gnostic and Hermetic texts in the 1970s, Garth Fowden states that Hermetic scholarship has entered a new phase, one which emphasizes a closer connection of the Hermetica to traditional Egyptian thought.
It is true that the Roman empire in the first few centuries after Christ was known for the syncretistic drive of its component cultures. Greeks and Romans were borrowing from the Egyptians, the Jews, and the Persians, while these cultures in turn borrowed from the Greeks and the Romans, and from each other. The intermingling of races as well as religious and philosophical ideas made such borrowing not only possible but necessary, and contributed to a widespread feeling of toleration.
In common with revived Platonism and Pythagoreanism, and with the monotheistic religions of the time, Hermeticism taught that all beings derive from one supreme God, who is the object of each soul's adoration. Although some of the Hermetic texts may lend themselves to a pantheistic interpretation, God is also depicted as a personal creator, who is separate and independent from the world He creates. Fowden concurs: "Some conception of the transcendence of God (as for example the creator of the All rather than Himself the All) can often be found even in the most immanentist of treatises." One's view of God depends upon the level of understanding obtained while journeying through the stages of the "way of Hermes." Hermes says: "By stages he [the seeker] advances and enters the way of immortality."
The first step of the soul seeking reunion with God is to recognize its own ignorance, for only then can it obtain the knowledge of God. It is God's wish to be known by humanity, God's most glorious creation. Knowing God requires the second birth of the spirit, the unveiling of the "essential" human within, which means that the seeker must acquire wisdom, practice virtue, and learn detachment from worldly things. Life is the classroom for such spiritual transformation. "The pious fight," teaches Hermes, "consists in knowing the divine and doing ill to no man." A human being becomes divine as he or she reflects the divine virtues that are equivalent to the essential self, which is the image of God. Such a life includes praying and singing hymns of praise to God. It does not preclude marriage and a normal family life, according to Hermes.
Apollonius of Tyana
Unlike the figure of Hermes Trismegistus, who is veiled in the mists of legend, Apollonius of Tyana is a known historical figure. According to his chief biographer, Flavius Philostratus (c. 175 - 245), Apollonius lived to be over ninety years old and died near the end of the first Christian century. Recent scholarship puts Apollonius' life between approximately 40 - 120 C.E. The empress Julia Domna, who was born in Syrian Emesa in the eastern confines of the Roman empire where Apollonius had flourished, commissioned Philostratus to write the life of Apollonius, which was completed some time after Julia Domna's death in 217. Philostratus says of his sources:
I have gathered my materials partly from the many cities that were devoted to him, partly from the shrines which he set right when their rules had fallen into neglect, partly from what others have said about him, and partly from his own letters....But my more detailed information I have gathered from a...man called Damis who...became a disciple of Apollonius and has left an account of his master's journeys, on which he claims to have accompanied him, and also an account of his sayings, speeches and predictions....I have also read the book by Maximus of Aegae, which contains all that Apollonius did there....But it is best to ignore the four books which Moeragenes composed about Apollonius, because of the great ignorance of their subject that they display.
As to the reliability of Philostratus' work and the possibility of reconstructing an accurate historical picture of Apollonius of Tyana from it, modern historians generally agree that Philostratus fabricated much of his biography to please the expectations of his patroness. Such likely fabrications include the figure of Damis, the accounts of Apollonius' encounters with several Roman emperors, and Apollonius' journeys to India and Rome. He does not seem to have been known in Rome until the fourth century, when his legend became famous due to the controversy between Eusebius and Hierocles, which will be explained below. Philostratus himself was “a man of letters and a sophist full of passion for Greek Romance and for studies in rhetoric…hardly interested in the historical Apollonius.”
The works by Maximus and Moeragenes have not survived, although there is a reference to Moeragenes' work by Origen in his Contra Celsum, in which he mentions Moeragenes' view that Apollonius was both a philosopher and a magician. The earliest known mention of Apollonius is in Lucian's Alexander sive Pseudomantis written in about 180 C.E., in which he ridicules Alexander as a charlatan whose teacher had been a pupil of Apollonius. In sum, historical sources contemporary with Apollonius are silent about him, those remaining from the second century are sparse and fragmentary, and Philostratus' biography written in the first half of the third century is unreliable. Furthermore, there is no body of extant works by Apollonius in Greek or in Syriac (at least ones considered to be authentic) to give us an accurate picture of his teachings. All that remains from the Greek is a collection of about one hundred of his letters, most quite short and some probably fabricated after his death. A fragment from a work of Balínús entitled Concerning Sacrifices found in Eusebius was probably translated into Greek, because Philostratus says that Apollonius wrote this book in his “own language,” Syriac. Given this state of affairs, revealing the true Apollonius is a formidable if not impossible task. Nevertheless, Philostratus' Life of Apollonius and the letters give us a picture of Apollonius that cannot be entirely out of line.
Philostratus describes many of Apollonius' wonderful acts, but he chooses to stress his wisdom, his ascetic practices, and his mission to restore the purity of the ancient religions of the empire. That Apollonius could do things beyond the capability of ordinary men, Philostratus explains, was the result of the "knowledge which God reveals to wise men." His wonders consisted primarily of instances of divining the future, seeing or hearing things in visions, and healing the sick. In a case where he restored a young girl to life upon meeting her funeral procession, Philostratus comments: "He may have seen a spark of life in her which her doctors had not noticed, since apparently it was drizzling and steam was coming from her face."
As Christianity grew in size and power, some pagans felt compelled to respond to the miracles Christians attributed to Christ with their own stories about the miracles of Apollonius. The first to do so in writing, according to Eusebius of Caesarea, was Hierocles, a philosopher and the governor of Bithynia at that time (302 C.E.). He wrote a work called A Friend of the Truth in which he contrasts the wonderful works of Apollonius with the miracles of Christ as a proof to Christians that they should not claim divinity for Christ based on his miracles. Eusebius of Caesarea responded vehemently to Hierocles, not by disclaiming the virtue of Apollonius, but by discrediting Philostratus' biography of Apollonius. Lactantius, who heard Hierocles read his book publicly in Nicomedia, argued that Christ is divine, not because of the miracles he did, but because it was Jesus who had fulfilled the prophecies announced by the Jewish Prophets. As a result of this debate between Christians and pagans, Apollonius' legend as a wonder-worker began to grow and Philostratus' biography became popular. The cult at the temple of Asclepius in Aegaeae, where Apollonius had served as a healer of both bodies and souls, began to flourish again (as did many other temples loyal to his memory), until the emperor Constantine had this temple destroyed in 331 C.E.
Where did the legends of Apollonius' talismans come from? They are not mentioned by Philostratus, so they were either unknown to him, or he did not wish to speak about them. Maria Dzielska, whose book Apollonius of Tyana in Legend and History has been very helpful in constructing this account of Apollonius, has explained this question. Eusebius is the first to refer to them in his Contra Hieroclem. He says that "certain queer implements attributed to Apollonius were used in his times." After Eusebius, references to Apollonius' talismans begin to appear frequently. Pseudo-Justin mentions the dissemination of Apollonius' talismans in Antioch. It appears that these objects were so popular that Antioch's Church leaders decided to accept them. Pseudo-Justin illustrates the problem in a work containing a dialogue between a theologian and a Christian:
The Christian is concerned about the popularity and spread of Apollonius' talismans. He wonders how to explain their magical powers....He wonders why God...allows them....The theologian dispels his doubts saying that there is nothing evil about those objects because they were produced by Apollonius who was an expert in the powers governing nature and in the cosmic sympathies and antipathies...and that is why they did not contradict God's wisdom ruling the world.
The talismans, which were usually made out of stone or metal, were placed in cities to protect their inhabitants against plagues, wild animals, vermin, natural disasters, and the like. Two other centers in the Greek east where memories of Apollonius had been strongest, Agaeae and Tyana, were completely converted to Christianity by this time, so there is no mention of Apollonius' talismans there. However, surprisingly, in Constantinople itself Apollonius' talismans became popular. The sixth century Antiochian historian Malalas wrote that, during Domitian's rule Apollonius paid a visit Byzantium, where he left many talismans in order to help the Byzantines in their troubles. In the thirteenth century, in the hippodrome in Byzantium, there was still a bronze eagle holding a snake in its claws, which citizens said had been placed there by Apollonius to protect them against a scourge of venomous snakes. This talisman was destroyed by the crusaders in 1204.
What is left of Apollonius' reputation if we divest him from his time-honored epithet "the producer of talismans, the performer of wonders"? In Philostratus' Life of Apollonius, we are told that Apollonius was a man vigorously devoted to God and to the spiritual life, and one who accepted all creeds as diverse expressions of one universal religion. In a letter to his brother, he writes: "All men, so I believe, belong to the family of God and are of one nature; everyone experiences the same emotions, regardless of the place or condition of a person's birth, whether he is a barbarian or a Greek, so long as he is a human being." In the fragment from the work of Apollonius called Concerning Sacrifices, he advises: "It is best to make no sacrifice to God at all, no lighting a fire, no calling Him by any name that men employ for things of sense. For God is over all, the first; and only after Him do come the other gods. For He doth stand in need of naught, even from the gods, much less from us small men....The only fitting sacrifice to God is man's best reason [i.e., man's "showing to God his own perfection" according to Dzielska, and not the word that comes out of his mouth."
Wherever he traveled, Apollonius is said to have discouraged the use of animals for sacrifice, and encouraged the use of incense instead. Philostratus relates that he refused to eat meat and subsisted on a diet of fruits and vegetables. As part of his daily regimen, Apollonius prayed three times a day: at daybreak, mid-day, and at sundown. Damis describes his manner as gentle and modest, yet if some injustice was being committed he would be the first to speak out against it. For example, in a letter to some Roman officials, he states: "Some of you take care of harbors, buildings, walls, and walkways. But, as for the children in the cities or the young people or the women, neither you nor the laws give them any thought. If things were otherwise, it would be good to be governed by you." In a letter to Valerius, we learn something about his opinion on human immortality: "There is no death of anything except in appearance only, just as there is no birth of anything except in appearance only. For the passage of something from the realm of pure substance into that of nature appears to be birth, and likewise the passage of something from the realm of nature into that of pure substance appears to be death."
The Islamic Hermetic Tradition
It is not clear when Hermetic works first became known to Muslims. According to the great catalogist Ibn an-Nadím, some alchemical treatises were known and used by Khálid (d. c. 720), son of the Umayyad Caliph Yazíd II. Later, the famous Muslim alchemist, Jábir ibn Hayyán (722 - 815), developed a good part of his own cosmological system from the Sirr al-Khalíqa (The Secret of Creation) attributed to Balínús (i.e., Apollonius of Tyana), which Balínús says he derived from the Kitáb al-`Ilal (The Book of Causes) of Hermes. In his works, Jábir also claims to have been an intimate disciple of the sixth Shí`í Imam, Ja`far as-Sádiq (d. 765), who acted as “Jábir's critic and guide par excellence.” Although Jábir's link to Ja`far as-Sádiq and the traditional dating and authorship of the Jabirian corpus have been challenged by Paul Kraus in his monumental study, recent and more critical scholarship by Syed Nomanul Haq shows that Kraus was unduely skeptical in his judgment. The name Hermes and perhaps Persian versions of Hermetic texts were also known during the reign of Hárún ar-Rashíd (786 - 809). Ar-Rashíd's Persian librarian and court astrologer, Abú Sahl al-Fadl, mentions a Babylonian Hermes, whose works were translated into Pahlavi during the reign of the Sasanian monarch Shápúr. Abú Sahl is said to have translated some of those works for ar-Rashíd.
Whatever the case may be, the identification of Hermes with the qur'ánic Idrís, who had already been identified with Enoch by the Jews, was made by the psuedo-Sabians of Harrán during the reign of al-Ma'mún. In the words of Mas`údí (d. 959): "Enoch is identical with the Prophet Idrís; the Sabians say he is the same person as Hermes." Harrán, in Syria, had remained a stronghold of pagan religion and learning where Christianity had not been able to penetrate. Here, it seems that both philosophical and technical Hermetica were well-known and in use. The story of al-Ma`mún's encounter with the Harránians is related by Ibn an-Nadím, who took his account from that of a Christian named Abú Yúsuf Aysha' al-Qatí`í. According to this account, the caliph was on a military expedition into the land of the Byzantines, during which time he was received by people who came to swear allegiance to him. Among them were the Harráians. When al-Ma`mún asked them about their religion, they were unable to give a satisfactory answer. Al-Ma`mún said: "Then you must be heretics and worshipers of idols; your blood is lawful....You must choose either Islam or any of the religions which God has mentioned in His Book, otherwise you shall be exterminated." To escape from this impasse, the Harránians identified themselves with the Mandaean Sabians mentioned in the Qur`án, and said that their Prophets were Hermes and Agathodaimon (said to be the Biblical Seth), and their scriptures the writings of Hermes.
Al-Kindí (c. 850) gives an account of the teachings of the Harránian Hermeticists, which was recorded in the memoir of Ahmad ibn ath-Thayyib, which bears some resemblance to teachings found in the Greek philosophical Hermetica:
The Sabians with one accord teach as follows: The world has one First Author, who has never ceased to be, who is unique and without plurality, and to whom none of the attributes of caused things are applicable. He (God) imposed on those of his creatures that are endowed with the faculty of judgment the duty of acknowledging his supremacy; he revealed to them the right way (of life and thought), and sent emissaries (Prophets) to guide them aright, and to establish proofs (of God's existence). He bade these Prophets summon men to (live according to) God's good pleasure, and warn them of God's wrath....According to their opinion, the rewards and punishments will affect the spirit only, and will not be postponed to an appointed time [i.e. there is no resurrection of the body, and no one Day of Judgment for all mankind together].
The Arabic Hermetic writings, a large share of which belong to the technical category, are numerous, and many of these texts have yet to be investigated. "The Book of Causes" of Hermes, adopted by Balínús under the title of The Secret of Creation, has already been mentioned. It ranges from explaining the metaphysical origin of the universe to considerations on the ontological categories of the world and the nature of the human soul. The Arabic version of this book is no doubt based on an original written in Syriac, Balínús' native tongue. A Christian monk of Neapolis in Palestine named Sájiyús states that he translated the work (into Arabic?) "so that those who remain after me may have the benefit of reading it." A number of the sayings of Hermes quoted in the Má' al-Waraqí (The Silvery Water) by Ibn Umail have been shown to be derived from Greek alchemy texts. Arabic authors who have included collections of philosophical and ethical sayings attributed to Hermes in their works include Ibn al-Qiftí, al-Shahrastání, Hunayn ibn Isháq, Miskawayh, Ibn Durayd, al-Mubashshir, and Abú Sulaymán al-Mantiqí. A discourse by Hermes to the human soul in Arabic, Mu`ádilat an-Nafs, was translated into Latin under the title Hermes de Castigatione Animae. Scott says of this work: "The doctrines taught in [it] have been derived from the similar doctrines taught in Greek writings; and it seems not unlikely that some of them are more or less exact translations of Greek Hermetica which were written in Egypt before A.D. 300, and were included in the collection of Hermetica which the Harranian Sabians, in A.D. 830, put forward as their scripture."
From the time of al-Ma`mún on references to Hermes and the Hermetic writings are frequent in the writings of Muslim philosophers and historians. Their view and that held by their Christian contemporaries in the West continued to be the view held by many people in antiquity: Hermes was a divine sage or Prophet and the founder of sciences and wisdom. Coming closer to the time of Bahá'u'lláh, the Safavid philosopher Mullá Sadrá (d. 1640) writes: "Know that wisdom originally began with Adam and his progeny Seth and Hermes....And it is the greatest Hermes who propagated it throughout the regions of the world...and made it emanate upon the true worshipers. He is the Father of the philosophers and the master of those who are the masters of the sciences."
As for Balínús, he carries into Islam the same contradictory reputation that followed him in the Roman empire. In one view, he is presented as a magician, who, in various cities of the Middle East, erected talismans (consecrated objects) to protect their inhabitants from floods, famines, insects, and the like. The Kitáb at-Talásim al-Akbar (The Great Book of Talismans), addressed by Balínús to his son, is a book of this category. It partly matches up with a Greek pseudo-epigraph titled The Book of Wisdom of Apollonius of Tyana, which Dzielska believes was composed no earlier than the late fifth century, probably in Antioch by Christian Gnostics. For example, when Balínús is threatened by one of the Roman emperors with death, he miraculously escapes to Antioch through a basin that had been prepared for him in the palace. A demon was frightening the inhabitants of Antioch, when Balínús, in the middle of being bled, reduces him to obedience with one word, obliges him to serve his bath, and then chases him through the eastern gate of the city. Upon the request of the inhabitants, he regulates the flow of the river and places talismans against the lice and rats. This tradition of Balínús, therefore, must have found its way into Islam some time after the Muslims conquered Syria.
Jábir ibn Hayyán, like Philostratus earlier, defends a different picture of Balínús. In his Kitáb al-Baht, he criticizes vehemently such stories of magical exploits and attributes them to the inventions of charlatans and liars. If Balínús is truly the master of talismans, according to Jábir, it is not due to magic but to his perfect knowledge of the properties of things. For Jábir and other Muslim scientists, Balínús was primarily a natural philosopher, and they attribute to him several cosmological, astrological, and alchemical treatises. Among these are the Sirr al-Khalíqa, mentioned above, and the Dhakhírat al-Iskandar (The Treasury of Alexander). In the introduction to the latter, Aristotle is made to present the book to Alexander, which he says was given to him by Balínús, who retrieved it from a watery tomb, where Hermes had deposited it for safekeeping. The book discusses, among other things, the principles of alchemy and the manufacture of elixirs, the composition of poisons and their antidotes, and the use of talismans for healing. Jábir ibn Hayyán also wrote ten books according to the opinion of Balínús (`alá ra'y Balínús). A collection of sayings from Balínús in Arabic have come into Latin under the title Dicta Belini. There is also a work in Arabic by a disciple of Apollonius named Artefius, called Miftáh al-Hikmat (The Key to Wisdom).
Hermes Trismegistus and Apollonius of Tyana in the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
With this information as background, it is now possible to answer the first question posed in the introduction: what is the relevance of the Islamic Hermetic tradition to Bahá'í thought? Bahá'u'lláh's reference to Hermes/Idrís as the first person to devote himself to philosophy and how Balínús derived his knowledge from the Hermetic writings has already been cited in the introduction. Another passage, along these lines, can be found in Bahá'u'lláh's Lawh-i-Hikmat (Tablet of Wisdom), here cited in full:
I will also mention for thee the invocation voiced by Balínús, who was familiar with the theories put forward by the Father of Philosophy [Hermes] regarding the mysteries of creation as given in his chrysolite tablets....This man hath said: “I am Balínús, the wise one, the performer of wonders, the producer of talismans.” He surpassed everyone else in the diffusion of arts and sciences and soared unto the loftiest heights of humility and supplication. Give ear unto that which he hath said, entreating the All-Possessing, the Most Exalted: “I stand in the presence of my Lord, extolling His gifts and bounties and praising Him with that wherewith He praiseth His Own Self, that I may become a source of blessing and guidance unto such men as acknowledge my words.” And further he saith: “O Lord! Thou art God and no God is there but Thee. Thou art the Creator and no creator is there except Thee. Assist me by Thy grace and strengthen me. My heart is seized with alarm, my limbs tremble, I have lost my reason and my mind hath failed me. Bestow upon me strength and enable my tongue to speak forth with wisdom.” And still further he saith: “Thou art in truth the Knowing, the Wise, the Powerful, the Compassionate.” It was this man of wisdom who became informed of the mysteries of creation and discerned the subtleties which lie enshrined in the Hermetic writings.
Balínús' exclamation: “I am Balínús, the wise one, the performer of wonders, the producer of talismans,” quoted by Bahá'u'lláh, can be found in the introduction to the Sirr al-Khalíqa. This statement may be a literary stock piece derived from the tradition that primarily regards Apollonius as a miracle worker. As for the supplications of Balínús to God cited by Bahá'u'lláh, they can also be found verbatim in the Sirr al-Khalíqa. They do reflect faithfully the picture of Apollonius given by Philostratus as one devoted to serving the one God behind the many. On the question of Bahá'u'lláh citing from ancient accounts, Juan Cole has established that several passages in the Tablet of Wisdom about the Greek philosophers are actually quotations from the works of Muslim historians such as Abu'l-Fath ash-Shahristání (1076 – 1153) and `Imámu'd-Dín Abu'l-Fidá' (1273 – 1331).
According to Balínús in the Sirr al-Khalíqa, God brought the universe into existence in the following manner:
The first thing to be created was God's Word: “Let there be so and so.” That Word was the cause of all creation, all other created things being the effects thereof….Now, there is no doubt that a caused thing has a cause; otherwise, it would be self-subsistent (fard), and this is manifestly not the case. Next it must be asked whether its cause is connected to it or not, for if it is connected [i.e., ontologically similar], then the cause is created, and if it is not connected to it [i.e., ontologically different], then it is not created and not, therefore, a cause. As we have explained, it is not possible for the Creator to be the cause of what He has created, because the cause must resemble in certain respects that of which it is the cause and differ in other respects, while the Creator has no resemblance to His creation whatsoever. Verily, the cause [of creation] must needs be other than God. It is, as we have described, the likeness of all created things in one respect and their contrary in another. Indeed, the Word of God—exalted be His glory—is higher and far superior to that which the senses can perceive. For it is neither a property nor a substance, neither hot nor cold, neither dry nor moist. But it was through it that all these things came to be. It is the Permission of God and His Command. Man cannot grasp the Word of God, for he is powerless to comprehend anything that transcends his own station. The human intellect is only capable of grasping what is associated with it in the realm of creation, because it is of the world and the world is of it, and man apprehends it according to his own capacity.
The first thing to arise after God's Word was action (fi`l). By action motion is implied, and by motion heat. This was the beginning of natural causation. Then, when motion diminished and ceased the opposite state of rest occurred, and by rest coldness is implied. That motion, which is the heat, is the spirit of our Father, Adam.
Balínús goes on to explain how the four elements were formed and the heavenly bodies, and plants and animals, the crowning goal of the process of creation being human beings. This picture of creation is strikingly close to the theory for creation given by Bahá'u'lláh in the Lawh-i-Hikmat. There, Bahá'u'lláh similarly states that the Word of God is "the cause of the entire creation, while all else besides His Word are but the creatures and the effects thereof." He goes on to say that this transcendent reality, the Word of God, "is higher and far superior to that which the senses can perceive, for it is sanctified from any property or substance....[It] is none but the Command of God which pervadeth all created things."
Bahá'í texts likewise take the position that God is not the cause of contingent beings in a necessary sense, wherein cause and effect share the same substratum of existence. The idea of creation as a necessary emanation from the Creator was accepted by most of the Islamic philosophers. Bahá'u'lláh, however, follows the position of the Islamic theologians in teaching that God is the creator of the world by choice. As a voluntary agent, God's relation to contingent existence is one of beneficence only. As it is expressed in Bahá'u'lláh's Hidden Words: "I loved thy creation, hence I created thee." God has willed creation into being freely, out of love. It is the Will, or Word, of God, which is God's first “emanation” (first in the sense of priority, not time), that has a necessary connection to created things, such that Bahá'u'lláh calls nature both "God's will and...its expression." In other words, the Will of God, once issued from the Supreme Godhead, necessarily manifests nature and all the beings in the universe, and it is itself, according to `Abdu'l-Bahá, identical to the inner realities of all created things.
Bahá'u'lláh continues to follow the cosmology of the Sirr al-Khalíqa very closely: the first thing to be generated from the Word of God is heat, and this heat is the cause of all motion in the universe. Although Balínús seems to equate heat and motion in the passage cited above, a little later when discussing the origin of the elements, he clarifies that “the cause of motion is heat, and the cause of rest is coldness.” In Bahá'u'lláh's scheme, the Word of God possesses two complementary poles, one active and the other receptive, for Bahá'u'lláh states in the Lawh-i-Hikmat that "the world of existence came into being through the heat generated from the interaction between the active force and that which is its recipient." It is my opinion that the active force and the recipient mentioned by Bahá'u'lláh in the Lawh-i-Hikmat correspond to the incorporeal, eternal Forms of Plato and primary matter, the passive, formless medium for their reflection. This notion is further confirmed by Bahá'u'lláh in one of his tablets wherein he says: “The meaning of the active force is the lord of the species (rabb-i naw`), and it has other meanings.” In the terminology of the Illuminationist philosophers, the lords of species are the same as Platonic Forms, which are the formal causes of the individual members of species over which they have influence.
In Bahá'í texts, as in the Sirr al-Khalíqa, the formative, purposeful motion, which is the effect of the heat generated by the Word of God, becomes, first of all, the four elements (also called by Bahá'u'lláh the two agents and the two patients, and which should not be confused with the active force and its recipient). For example, Bahá'u'lláh states in the Lawh-i-Ayiy-i-Núr: "Know that the first tokens brought into existence by the pre-existent Cause in the worlds of creation are the four elements: fire, air, water, and earth." These four elements are equivalent to the four basic states of matter in the modern sense: solid, gaseous, liquid, and radiant, and they were understood in a similar way by the ancient philosophers.
The theory of creation presented in the Lawh-i-Hikmat and other Bahá'í texts focuses chiefly on the metaphysical origin of existence. Bahá'u'lláh, in most cases, leaves the explanation of physical processes in nature to science, advising researcher to observe nature carefully, rather than to impose pre-conceived models on reality: "Look at the world and ponder a while upon it. It unveileth the book of its own self before thine eyes and...it will acquaint thee with that which is within it and upon it and will give thee such clear explanations as to make thee independent of every eloquent expounder."
Another Bahá'í text wherein Bahá'u'lláh mentions Hermes and Apollonius together is one of the Tablets of the Elixir (alwáh-i iksír). In this text, Bahá'u'lláh quotes part of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, which alchemists claim conceals the secret of their craft. Bahá'u'lláh relates:
Balínús, the sage, upheld the same view and mentioned the inscription on the Tablet held in the hand of Hermes. He said: "In truth and of a certainty, there is no doubt that the higher is from the lower and the lower is from the higher. The working of wonders is from one as all things came from one. Its father is the sun and its mother is the moon." Furthermore, He said: "The subtle is nobler than the gross. The light of lights with the power of the All-Powerful causeth the earth to ascend to heaven and then causeth it to descend. It holdeth sway over both earth and heaven, higher and lower." [translation revised since publication]
This passage can be found in its entirety on two pages of Jábir ibn Hayyán's Kitáb Ustuqus al-Uss. According to the account recorded in the introduction to the Sirr al-Khalíqa, Balínús discovered both the Emerald Tablet of Hermes and the "Book of Causes" while exploring a crypt beneath a statue of Hermes:
Thus, I found myself across from an old man seated upon a golden throne who was holding in his hand an emerald Tablet on which was written: “Here is the craft of nature.” And in front of him was a book on which was written: “Here is the secret of creation and the science of the causes of all things.” With complete trust I took the book [and the Tablet] and went out from the crypt. Thereafter, with the help of the book, I was able to learn the secrets of creation, and through the Tablet, I succeeded in understanding the craft of nature.
The full text of the Emerald Tablet can be found at the end of the Sirr al-Khalíqa. The first part that Bahá'u'lláh quotes is very close to the version given in the Sirr al-Khalíqa (reading variant L), but the second part does not quite correspond with any of the variants given by the editor. According to the Aleppo edition prepared by Ursula Weisser, the full text of the Emerald Tablet reads:
In truth and of a certainty, there is no doubt that the higher is from the lower and the lower is from the higher. The working of wonders is from one as all things came from one by the treatment of the one. Its father is the sun and its mother is the moon. The wind has borne it in its belly, and the earth has nourished it. It is the father of talismans, the bearer of wonders, and the perfecter of powers--a fire which became earth. Separate the earth from the fire, [for] the subtle is nobler than the gross, with care and prudence. It ascends from earth to heaven and then descends back to the earth. Within it is the power of the higher and the lower, for it has acquired the light of lights, and darkness thus flees from it. This is the power of all powers which conquers everything subtle and penetrates everything solid. In accord with the creation of the universe is the creative operation of the work. This is my glory, and for this reason I am called Hermes Trismegistus [“thrice great”]. [translation revised since publication]
Kraus is of the opinion that the cosmology and metaphysics presented in the Sirr al-Khalíqa ultimately have the "craft of nature" in mind, what Bahá'u'lláh usually refers to as the "hidden craft." In other words, the Sirr al-Khalíqa introduces the theoretical framework necessary for understanding and practicing the craft of nature. The Emerald Tablet itself teaches in veiled language how to produce the alchemical elixir, that which is born from a single thing, yet whose father is the sun and whose mother is the moon, which "conquers everything subtle and penetrates everything solid."
Bahá'u'lláh mentions or alludes to the hidden craft in about forty different tablets, and more may yet come to light. In ten of these he gives detailed explanations of its practice, explanations which depend for their proper interpretation upon correctly decoding the names used to describe different stages of the process. Bahá'u'lláh's descriptions of the hidden craft typically abound in metaphors, and he uses such terms as "sun" and "moon," “father” and “mother,” and the members of the four elements mentioned above. Regarding the use of this metaphorical terminology, Bahá'u'lláh explains: "These various names are the protectors of this treasure of the One True Lord, that the truth of it might remain hidden from the ignorant and preserved from the deceptive in heart."
Bahá'u'lláh believed in the truth of the hidden craft. For example, he wrote to one of his followers: "This is that which hath been called the hidden craft and the concealed secret by the tongues of the philosophers. By My life, assuredly it is a noble science. Whosoever God aideth unto it and its knowledge shall become apprised of the secrets of creation and independent from all save God. He shall be confident in the power of his Lord and shall be of those who are well-assured." In regard to the basic objective of the hidden craft, Bahá'u'lláh says: "In short, the object of the hidden craft is this: From one thing the four elements should be separated, and, after the purification of each of these elements from their non-essential drosses, these elements should be made one thing by dissolution and congelation."
Furthermore, Bahá'u'lláh explains: "If thou art able to separate anything in heaven or on earth and marry all of it together again, after purification, so that it becomes one thing, the secret of this great mystery will become clear to thee...for this principle hath encompassed the contingent world and all created things both inwardly and outwardly." Although these words may refer to a physical process that Bahá'u'lláh has in mind, they have a clear parallel in the process of spiritual transformation, both individually and collectively. Alchemy as a mirror for psychological or spiritual transformation has a long tradition, going back at least to the time of Zosimus (c. 300). For example, on the individual level, through suffering and life experience (separation), a human being can learn and grow, become purified from harmful habits and characteristics, and finally become a more integrated and whole person.
It is worth noting that in the same tablet in which Bahá'u'lláh praises the hidden craft, he dismisses other secret sciences (`ulúm al-gharíba): "Know that most of what thou hast heard about these sciences is such as doth not 'fatten nor appease the hunger', even were one to look attentively into them."
Despite his endorsement of the hidden craft, Bahá'u'lláh prohibited his followers from engaging in it, except for one or two individuals who were probably also the recipients of most of the practical elixir tablets. To others who asked, Bahá'u'lláh's typical response was, as placed into the mouth of his secretary Mírzá Aqá Ján: "Every soul desirous to work with this craft was forbidden by Him. He said: 'The time for it has not come. Be patient until God brings it forth in His time'." Bahá'u'lláh's purpose in prohibiting the practice of the hidden craft among his followers also appears to have been for their own protection, for he says: "Many who occupied themselves with the elixir and the science of divination lost their minds on account of their imaginings and the concentration of their thoughts, and evidences of insanity were observed in them."
I know of only one other Tablet of Bahá'u'lláh that mentions a statement made by Hermes, though more such texts may come to light. In response to a Bahá'í, who was asking about the uncertainty of events and the inconstancy of the world, Bahá'u'lláh responded:
The world has never had nor does it now possess stability (thabát), notwithstanding the complaints of some unfaithful and wavering souls. But, in truth, whatever takes place is well-pleasing, for the divine wisdom has ordained it. Without His command and will, not a leaf can stir, and whatever occurs is conformable to wisdom. All must be contented with it, nay eagerly desire it. However, in some cases, such as when the sweetness of reunion [with God] gives way to the bitterness of separation and, likewise, when, by the decree of remoteness, nearness and meeting are banished--this causes sighs of sorrow and grief to be upraised and the tears to flow. Otherwise, the matter is as some of the philosophers have cited from the words of Idrís [Hermes]: “It is impossible for the realm of creation to be better than it already is.”
In addition to its mention of Hermes/Idrís, this passage is important in itself in regard to the question of God's determinism versus human free will. This theme is discussed in many other Bahá'í texts, which indicate that it is not a question of one or the other, but of both. In other words, God's predestination of things and human free will work together to effect the outcome of history. What God has predestined is the laws of nature, such that necessary cause and effect relationships exist between all created things. `Abdu'l-Bahá explains: "For example, God hath created a relation between the sun and the terrestrial globe that the rays of the sun should shine and the soil should yield. These relationships constitute predestination, and the manifestation thereof in the plane of existence is fate. Will is that active force which controlleth these relationships and these incidents." This is why Bahá'u'lláh states that "without His command and will not a leaf can stir." The natural relationships existing between things are according to God's perfect wisdom, such that the universe cannot be better than it is, as given by Hermes. In other words, the determinism evident in the laws of nature is due to their perfection, and God does not change what is already perfect, although possessing the power to do so.
Since human beings are part of the web of life, they too cause events and receive the effects of events. But unlike other creatures who live perforce in harmony with nature's laws, human beings have a choice in observing these laws, insofar as they include ethical and spiritual principles meant to guide human actions. In other words, the circumstances that affect human beings during the course of life are part of the web of predestination, but how we choose to react to circumstances is not determined.
Human free will is also created in accord with the wisdom and love of God and, like everything else, it receives the power to act from the Primal Will of God. `Abdu'l-Bahá compares the condition of the human will to the captain of a ship who is able to turn the ship in whatever direction he wishes, but is dependent on the power of wind or steam to move the ship. This wind or steam is analogous to the Will of God, and without it a human being cannot carry out either good or evil actions. In sum, human beings and natural phenomena are secondary agents that directly effect the course of history, whereas God's Will is the necessary cause sustaining the existence of these secondary agents, and giving them the power to act.
The Hermetic writings describe a similar picture of determinism and free will. Human beings must choose to act, but may act either morally or like brutes. It is in this context only (the spirit) that Hermes indicated that human beings can achieve freedom from destiny. The body, however, was always regarded as held by the chains of multiple causes. The Alexandrian alchemist Zosimus refers Hermes' book On Natural Dispositions in which Hermes condemns those who seek to evade fate for self-aggrandizing reasons:
Hermes calls such people mindless, only marchers swept along in the procession of fate, with no conception of anything incorporeal, and with no understanding of fate itself, which conducts them justly. Instead they insult the instruction it gives through corporeal experience, and imagine nothing beyond the good fortune it grants.
From the foregoing it is evident that the Hermetic tradition is relevant to Bahá'í studies in several ways. For example, Bahá'u'lláh refers to Balínús as one who discerned the mysteries of creation "which lie enshrined in the Hermetic writings." Bahá'u'lláh's teachings on creation in his Lawh-i-Hikmat are seen to correspond very closely to the theory of creation contained in the Sirr al-Khalíqa.
A comparison of Bahá'í alchemy texts with the Emerald Tablet of Hermes and other alchemy texts is beyond the scope of this essay. However, the principles alluded to in the Emerald Tablet resemble statements made by Bahá'u'lláh on the same subject. Likewise, a comparison of Jábir's alchemy writings, which rely heavily on Hermetic sources, with Bahá'í alchemy texts will no doubt reveal many specific parallels.
The philosophical-theological texts of the Hermetica will likely prove a fruitful ground for comparison, due to their strong Platonic tendency and their close connection to religious doctrines found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Religious scholars from each of these religions, especially during the Middle Ages, held Hermes in high regard for this very reason. The Hermetic position on human will and fate, however briefly touched upon, is seen to have an affinity to the corresponding Bahá'í teachings.
Lastly, as a corollary issue, what attitude should Bahá'ís take toward Bahá'u'lláh's references to Hermes and Balínús in view of the declared infallibility of Bahá'í scripture? In my opinion, there are two possible perspectives for Bahá'ís to take. The first is to accept a non-metaphorical statement given in revelation as factually true, by virtue of the authority invested in the Manifestation of God, even though by the standard of current academic scholarship it is considered improbable. (This, of course, does not include passages that are obviously meant to be interpreted symbolically according to the standard given by Bahá'u'lláh in the Kitáb-i Íqán.)
For example, `Abdu'l-Bahá teaches categorically that Socrates journeyed to Palestine and Syria and there learned the doctrines of the unity of God and the immortality of the human soul from the Jewish divines. He continues that “this is authentic” even though it “cannot be found in the Jewish histories.” When Shoghi Effendi was asked about the discrepancy between this position and current views in Greek historiography, he answered: “We have no historical proof of the truth of the Master's statement regarding the Greek philosophers visiting the Holy Land, etc. but such proof may come to light through research in the future.” Shoghi Effendi does not compromise the Bahá'í principle of the essential harmony existing between science, as a method of acquiring truth about reality, and religion, as a vehicle of inspired knowledge, but he does deny the correctness of a particular modern historical perspective. The difference in conclusions depends on the initial premises. Because of lack of historical evidence, those who do not recognize the possibility of a divine source for historical knowledge logically deduce that Socrates did not acquire any of his theories from Jewish divines.
If this first perspective is applied to Bahá'u'lláh's statements about Hermes and Balínús, then the believer will accept as factual that Hermes was a real individual of great antiquity whose historicity has been lost in the mists of legend, and view the Hermetica not as mere syncretistic creations of the early Roman empire, but as authentic, albeit Hellenized, descendants of Egyptian religious doctrines originating with Thoth, doctrines which were later discovered and propagated by Balínús and accepted by the philosophers who followed Balínús in the Hermetic tradition.
How does this position hold up against the findings of modern scholarship in the field of Hermetic studies? First, let us look at Bahá'u'lláh's assertion that Hermes was the “first person who devoted himself to philosophy.” There is no historical evidence by which this statement can be proved or disproved. Rather, it is an assertion that can only be accepted on the authority of Bahá'u'lláh and the Hermetic textual tradition preceding Bahá'u'lláh. The modern dating of the earliest philosophical Hermetic texts from the late first to the late third centuries is not contrary to anything Bahá'u'lláh has stated, since Bahá'u'lláh only affirms the great antiquity of Hermes, not the texts associated with his name. As for Bahá'u'lláh's statement that Balínús “derived his knowledge and sciences from the Hermetic Tablets,” this is seemingly more problematic because Hermes is not mentioned in Philostratus' Life of Apollonius, where he should be mentioned if Apollonius/Balínús gained his knowledge from the Hermetic texts. However, in view of the fact that Philostratus' biography is considered to be unreliable as a historical source by most modern scholars of the subject, we should not be surprised if Philostratus has left out many crucial details about Apollonius' life and sources of inspiration. Since nothing in Bahá'u'lláh's account of Hermes and Balínús can be shown to be in opposition to historical facts, there is no reason why Bahá'ís should not accept Bahá'u'lláh's statements, in this case, as factually intended. The statements, however, are also not verified by known historical facts.
The second perspective, which it is possible for Bahá'ís to take in the absence of an authoritative statement in Bahá'í scriptures stating that a certain revealed passage is to be understood literally as stated, is for the believer to adopt a more broadly contextual view of particular statements embedded in revelation. Juan Cole has taken the position that some statements embedded in revelation, such as Bahá'u'lláh's quotation from Shahrastání that “Empedocles…was a contemporary of David, while Pythagoras lived in the days of Soloman,” are “factually inaccurate by any standards of reasoning and historical documentation available to contemporary historians,” while at the same time these statements do not invalidate “the central propositions contained in the Tablet of Wisdom.” In other words, Bahá'u'lláh's intention in revealing these statements is what is essential, not the historical accounts themselves. The Universal House of Justice, in a letter written on its behalf, states: “The fact that Bahá'u'lláh makes such statements [the historical accounts in the Lawh-i Hikmat], for the sake of illustrating the spiritual principles that He wishes to convey, does not necessarily mean that He is endorsing their historical accuracy.”
This view focuses on the Bahá'í principle of the relativity of religious truth, according to which religious teachings, as given by the Prophets, are suited particularly to the age in which they appear and are colored by the traditions and thoughts of the people living in the time of the Prophet. For example, `Abdu'l-Bahá says that earlier Prophets referred to the seven celestial spheres of the Ptolemaic cosmos without trying to correct peoples perceptions by explaining to them the true structure of the universe. "Such references," he explains, "were dictated by the conventional wisdom prevailing in those times, for every cycle has its own characteristics which are determined by the capacities of the people." Bahá'u'lláh likewise refers to the “fourth heaven” of the early astronomers without explanation in the Kitáb-i Íqán because this book, according to Shoghi Effendi, “was revealed for the guidance of that sect [the Shí`ah],” where “this term was used in conformity with the concepts of its followers.”
In the same way, the Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh mentioning Hermes and Balínús were addressed to individuals who were familiar with the Islamic Hermetic tradition, which was particularly strong in Iran. Within such a milieu, it would be reasonable for Bahá'u'lláh to use this tradition, without regard for its historical accuracy, to support the teaching he wished to convey. In the Lawh-i Hikmat, for example, Bahá'u'lláh is intent on affirming, through his accounts of certain Greek philosophers, their ultimate dependence upon the inspiration of the Prophets (particularly the doctrine of monotheism) as the only basis for developing an accurate system of metaphysics. The theories of these philosophers, in turn, had a significant impact on the development of Western civilization. He says:
Consider Greece. We made it a Seat of Wisdom for a prolonged period…
Although it is recognized that the contemporary men of learning are highly qualified in philosophy, arts and crafts, yet were anyone to observe with a discriminating eye he would readily comprehend that most of this knowledge hath been acquired from the sages of the past, for it is they who have laid the foundations of philosophy, reared its structure and reinforced its pillars. Thus doth thy Lord, the Ancient of Days, inform thee. The sages aforetime acquired their knowledge from the Prophets, inasmuch as the latter were the Exponents of divine philosophy and the Revealers of heavenly mysteries. Men quaffed the crystal, living waters of Their utterance, while others satisfied themselves with the dregs.
Since, from the second perspective, the accuracy of the historical details about Hermes and Balínús set forth by Bahá'u'lláh is not essential to the intention of the text, those details may be dispensed with, or regarded as insignificant. In regard to Bahá'u'lláh's words in the Lawh-i Hikmat that Empedocles and Pythagoras were contemporaries of David and Soloman, Shoghi Effendi advises: “We must not take this statement too literally.” The comparison made earlier in this paper, however, between the cosmology of Balínús in the Sirr al-Khalíqa and the cosmology of Bahá'u'lláh in the Lawh-i Hikmat, demonstrates that (historical views aside) Bahá'u'lláh considers Hermes and Balínús to be true sources of knowledge about the secrets of creation. He agrees with certain ideas that tradition says they supported, and he used them as examples within a culture that recognized them in order to support his own teachings.
1. Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1978) p. 148.
2. Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 148n. In the final sentence of this passage in the Persian, it is not clear whether the antecedent of the pronoun is Hermes or Balínús. The sentence literally reads: “Most of the philosophers made their philosophical and scientific discoveries from the words and statements of that blessed being (hadrat).” It is clear, though, that Bahá'u'lláh intends Hermes as the ancient source from which many philosophers derived their inspiration, and Balínús was the first to discover the Hermetic wisdom after it had been concealed for a long period of time.
3. Quoted in L. Kákosy, "Problems of the Thoth-Cult in Roman Egypt," Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 15 (1963) p. 124; see also Garth Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987) pp. 22-31 for the evolution of Hermes Trismegistus from Thoth.
4. Plato, Phaedrus 274d.
5. Ibid., 274c.
6. Kákosy, “Problems of the Thoth-Cult.”
7. Ibid., p. 125.
8. Fowden, Egyptian Hermes, p. 23.
10. Walter Scott, Hermetica: The Ancient Greek and Latin Writings which Contain Religious or Philosophical Teachings Ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus, vol. 1 (Boston: Shambhala, 1985) pp. 4-5.
11. Plato, Philebus 18b.
12. Ammianus Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire (A.D. 354-378) sel. and trans. Walter Hamilton (New York: Penguin Books, 1986), p. 228.
13. Quoted in Jack Lindsay, The Origins of Alchemy in Graeco-Roman Egypt (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1970) p. 107.
14. For this view that Bahá'u'lláh may be consciously and deliberately selecting from the Hermetic tradition only those parts that he regards to be true, I owe a great debt of thanks to Wendy Heller. She has pointed out the dangers of trying to interpret Bahá'u'lláh's words by reference to historical context alone: “Bahá'u'lláh often infuses new meanings into traditional concepts and terms through his usage of them. The Prophet, above all, is not bound by the conventional thought that characterizes any historical era, but often radically challenges and corrects it” (personal communication to the author).
15. Jonathan Barnes, Early Greek Philosophy (New York: Penguin Books, 1987) p. 15.
16. Lactantius, The Divine Institutes, trans. Sister Mary F. McDonald (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1964) I, vi.
17. Augustine, The City of God in Great Books of the Western World, vol. 18, trans. Marcus Dods (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1952) viii, 23. Book viii, chapters 23 through 26 contain Augustine's ideas about Hermes.
18. See Walter Scott, Hermetica. Scott's commentary on the Hermetica is contained in vols. 2-3, while the testimonia, addenda, and indices are in vol. 4.
19. André-Jean Festugière, La révélation d'Hermès Trismégiste, 4 vols. (Paris 1944-1954); and Garth Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind (Cambridge 1987).
20. Fowden, Egyptian Hermes, pp. 8-9.
21. Ibid., p. 10.
23. Ibid. p. 11; see also Scott, Hermetica, vol. 1, pp. 9-10.
24. Fowden, Egyptian Hermes, p. 198.
25. John Scarborough, "Hermetic and Related Texts in Classical Antiquity," Hermeticism and the Renaissance, ed. I. Merkel and A. G. Debus (London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1988) p. 22.
26. Abammonis Ad Porphyrium Responsum and Scott's notes on this text in Hermetica, vol. 4, pp. 40-102.
27. William C. Grese, "Magic in Hellenistic Hermeticism" in Hermeticism and the Renaissance, ed. I. Merkel and A. G. Debus, p. 45.
28. Fowden, Egyptian Hermes, p. xv. For example, J. P. Mahé, a professor of Armenian, is one who sees a connection between the philosophical Hermetica and the earlier Egyptian Wisdom literature in Hermès en Haute-Egypte (Quebec 1978-1982); also Eric Iverson, Egyptian and Hermetic Doctrine (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1984).
29. Fowden, Egyptian Hermes, p. 102.
30. Iamblichus refers to the "way of Hermes" in his response to Porphyry, Mysteriis viii, 4-5, cited in Fowden, Egyptian Hermes, p. 96.
31. “The Discourse on the Eighth and the Ninth,” The Nag Hammadí Library in English, gen. Ed. James M. Robinson (New York: Harper Collins, 1990) p. 326.
32. Corpus Hermeticum vii; i.27; x.8; and xiii.7,8. This and the following references to the C.H. are from Fowden, Egyptian Hermes, chapter four, pp. 105-112.
33. Ibid. C.H. i.31; x.4,15; and Asclepius 41.
34. Ibid. C.H. xiii.
35. Ibid. C.H. x.19.
36. Ibid. C.H. ii.17 and iii.3.
37. See Maria Dzielska, Apollonius of Tyana in Legend and History, trans. Piotr Pienkowski (Rome: “L'Erma” di Bretschneider, 1986) pp. 32-38, 185.
38. Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 2 vols., trans. F. C. Conybeare (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1912) i.2,3.
39. See Dzielska, Apollonius of Tyana, chapter 1, on problems with Philostratus' reliability as a historian, and arguments that "Damis" is a fictitious figure.
40. Ibid., p. 14.
41. See D. H. Raynor, "Moerangenes and Philostratus: Two Views of Apollonius of Tyana," Classical Quarterly 34 (1984) p. 223.
42. Dzielska, Apollonius of Tyana, p. 86.
43. Ibid., pp. 149-150.
44. Philostratus, Life of Apollonius, iv.44.
45. Ibid. iv.45.
46. Ibid., vol. 2, "The Treatise of Eusebius."
47. Lactantius, Divine Institutes, V, iii-iv.
48. Dzielska, Apollonius of Tyana, pp. 157-158.
49. Cited in Dzielska, Apollonius of Tyana, p. 101.
50. Ibid., pp. 101-102.
51. Ibid., p. 108.
52. Ibid., p. 110.
53. The Letters of Apollonius of Tyana, trans. Robert J. Penella (Leiden 1979) letter no. 44.
54. Dzielska, Apollonius of Tyana, p. 140.
55. Cited in G. R. S. Mead, Apollonius of Tyana: The Philosophical Explorer and Social Reformer of the First Century A.D. (London 1901) pp. 153-154.
56. Letters of Apollonius, no. 54.
57. Ibid., no. 58.
58. J. W. Fück, "The Arabic Literature on Alchemy According to an-Nadím," Ambix (Feb. 1951) p. 93.
59. Paul Kraus, Jábir ibn Hayyán: Contribution à l'Histoire des Idées Scientifiques dans l'Islam, vol. 2 (Paris: Société d'Édition les Belles Lettres, 1986) p. 282.
60. Syed Nomanul Haq, Names, Natures and Things: The Alchemist Jábir ibn Hayyán and his Kitáb al-Ahjár (Book of Stones) Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol. 158 (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994) p. 15.
61. Ibid., chapter 1.
62. See F. E. Peters, Allah's Commonwealth: A History of Islam in the Near East, 600-1100 A.D. (New York: Simon & Shuster, 1973) pp. 273-274. In Islam, there is also a tradition of three different Hermeses. Ibn Abí Usaybi`a records this tradition as he borrows it from the astronomer Abú Ma`shar al-Balkhí: "There were three Hermeses. As for the first Hermes...the Persians call him Hóshang, which means the Just....The Persians say that his grandfather was Kayómarth, that is Adam. The Hebrews say that he is Akhnúkh (Enoch), Idrís in Arabic. Abú Ma`shar said: He was the first man to talk about such things as the motions of the stars....He was the first man to build temples and praise God in them; the first person to study the science of medicine and talk about it....He was the first man to give warning of the Flood, and he foresaw the advent on earth of a great catastrophe coming from the skies by fire and water. He resided in Upper Egypt....As for the second Hermes, he was one of the Babylonians. He lived in the city of the Chaldeans, in Babel. He lived after the Flood....He excelled in medicine and in philosophy and he knew the nature of numbers. Pythagoras, the arithmetician was his pupil. This Hermes revived what was lost of medicine, philosophy and the art of numbers in the Flood, in Babel....As for the third Hermes, he lived in the city of Misr, and he came after the Flood. He is the author of the book about venomous animals. He was a physician and a philosopher, and he knew the nature of deadly medicines and harmful animals....He wrote a beautiful and valuable book about alchemy which is related to many crafts, such as the making of glass, glass objects, clay and the like. He had a disciple, by the name of Asklepios, who lived in Syria" (cited in A. Fodor "The Origins of the Arabic Legends of the Pyramids," Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 23 (1970) pp. 336-337).
63. An interesting study by Birger A. Pearson shows that the Poimandres of Hermes and a Jewish document, 2 Enoch, probably originating from first-century Egypt, have numerous, specific parallels, such that either one is borrowing from the other, or both must derive from a common, earlier source. ("Jewish Elements in Corpus Hermeticum I [Poimandres]" in Studies in Gnosticism and Hellenistic Religions, eds. R. van den Broek and M. J. Vermaseren [Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1981])
64. Quoted in Scott, Hermetica, vol. 4, (Testimonia) p. 255.
65. Quoted in A. E. Affifi, "The Influence of Hermetic Literature on Moslem Thought," Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, vol. 13 (1951) pp. 842-843.
66. Quoted in Scott, Hermetica, vol. 4 (Testimonia) p. 248.
67. Regarding Hermetic writings in Arabic, an-Nadím in his Fihrist (Catalog) lists twenty-two treatises of Hermes, thirteen on alchemy, four on theurgy, and five on astrology. Only a few of these remain intact, such as the Kitáb Qarátís al-hakím, Kitáb al-Habíb, Kitáb at-Tankalúsh, and Kitáb al-Masmúmát Shánáq. For a fuller treatment of Hermetic texts, see Seyyed Hossein Nasr's chapter "Hermes and Hermetic Writings in the Islamic World" in his Islamic Studies (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1967) pp. 63-89.
68. Balínús, Sirr al-Khalíqa wa San`at at-Tabí`at (Kitáb al-`Ilal), ed. Ursula Weisser (Aleppo, Syria: University of Aleppo, 1979) p. 100.
69. H. E. Stapleton, G. L. Lewis, and F. Sherwood Taylor, "The Sayings of Hermes Quoted in the Má' al-Waraqí of Ibn Umail," Ambix (April 1949) pp. 69-90.
70. Scott, Hermetica, vol. 4, pp. 280-281.
71. Quoted in Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islamic Studies (Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1967) p. 69.
72. Dzielska, Apollonius of Tyana, pp. 104-105.
73. Kraus, Jábir ibn Hayyán, pp. 293-294.
74. Ibid., p. 295.
75. Julius Ruska, Tabula Smaragdina: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Hermetischen Literatur (Heidelberg: Carl Winter's Universitätisbuchhandlung, 1926) pp. 72, 79.
76. Kraus, Jábir ibn Hayyán, p. 298, and Encyclopedia of Islam, new edition, vol. 1, p. 995.
77. Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets, pp. 147-148.
78. Balínús, Sirr al-Khalíqa, pp. 2, 51. Bah 'u'll h explains in the Lawh-i-Hikmat that he has not discovered these sayings by perusing books as other men do: "Thou knowest full well that We perused not the books which men possess and We acquired not the learning current amongst them, and yet whenever We desire to quote the sayings of the learned and the wise, presently there will appear before the face of thy Lord in the form of a tablet all that which hath appeared in the world and is revealed in the Holy Books and Scriptures. Thus do We set down in writing that which the eye perceiveth. Verily His knowledge encompasseth the earth and the heavens." (Tablets, p. 149)
79. See Juan Cole, “Problems of Chronology in Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet of Wisdom,” World Order (Spring 1979) pp. 24-39. Also see note 78 above on the manner in which Bahá'u'lláh says he acquired this information.
80. Balínús, Sirr al-Khalíqa, pp. 101-103.
81. Tablets, pp. 140-141.
82. Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1975) p. 6.
83. Tablets, p. 142.
84. See Keven Brown, "A Bahá'í Perspective on the Origin of Matter," Journal of Bahá'í Studies, vol. 2, no. 3 (1990) p. 24.
85. Bahá'u'lláh states: "The cause of motion has ever been heat, and the cause of heat is the Word of God," from Persian text in Vahíd Ra'fatí, "Lawh-i-Hikmat: Fá`ilayn va Munfa`ilayn," `Andalíb, vol. 5, no. 19 (1986) p.36.
86. Balínús, Sirr al-Khalíqa, p. 104.
87. Tablets, p. 140.
88. See Keven Brown, “A Bahá'í Perspective,” pp. 15-44, where this thesis is more fully treated.
89. Bahá'u'lláh, Áthár-i Qalam A`lá, vol. 7, p. 113.
90. Qutb al-Dín Shírází, the thirteenth-century commentator of Suhrawardí, explains: “Therefore, it is established that the intent of the sages is that the lords of species (arbáb al-naw`) are not the individualized forms of the images (asnám). Nay, rather the species lord is the model (mithál) of the image (sanam) in the world of intellect, just as the image with all of its accidents is its likeness in the world of sense.” Quoted by Ahmad ibn Harawí, Anwáriyya, ed. Hossein Ziai [Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1358] p. 40)
91. Bahá'u'lláh, Má'idiy-i Ásmání, vol. 4 (Tihran: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 129 B.E.) p. 82.
92. That the four elements were thought of as primary states of matter by the ancient philosophers is evident from Plato's frequent use of the term “kind” or “genus” as a synonym for “element” in the Timaeus 53a – 57d, so that earth includes all solids, water all liquids, and so forth. Baghdadí, one of the Muslim Mutakallimún, also uses the term “genus” (jins) for element. He says: “For example, earth loses density and changes into water, as with salt when it is dissolved, and water in some places freezes and becomes a stone, although it is from the genus of earth.” (Usúlu'l-Dín [Istanbul, 1928] p. 54)
93. Tablets, pp. 141-142.
94. Má'idiy-i-Ásmání, vol. 1, pp. 54-55.
95. See The Arabic Works of Jábir ibn Hayyán, ed. E. J. Holmyard, vol. 1 (Paris: Librairie Orientaliste, 1928) pp. 90, 104.
96. Balínús, Sirr al-Khalíqa, p.7. There is another story in Philostratus (viii, 19-20), where Apollonius enters a cave at the temple of Trophonius in Greece to visit its oracle, declaring that his purpose is "in the interests of philosophy." After seven days, he returns to his companions, carrying a book of philosophy supposedly conformable to the teachings of Pythagoras. Philostratus says that this book, along with the letters of Apollonius, was later entrusted to the care of the emperor Hadrian and kept in his palace at Antium.
97. Ibid., pp. 524-525.
98. The published Bahá'í alchemy texts, or texts which mention alchemy, may be found in the following sources: (1) Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 197-198, 200; (2) Kitáb-i Íqán, pp. 157, 186-190; (3) Má'idiy-i-Ásmání, vol. 1, pp. 19-20, 24-57; vol. 3, p. 15; vol. 4, pp. 77-85; (4) Amr va Khalq, vol. 3, pp. 350-358; and (5) Asráru'l-Áthár (letter alif) pp. 207-208. In addition to these published sources, several of which contain textual errors and omissions, a number of unpublished Bahá'í alchemy texts are held at the International Bahá'í Archives.
99. Má'idiy-i-Ásmání, vol. 1, p. 30.
100. From an unpublished Tablet of Bahá'u'lláh in the Bahá'í International Archives.
101. From two unpublished Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh in the Bahá'í International Archives.
102. Ibid. Seyyed Hossein Nasr explains what these secret sciences are in Chapter 9 of his Islamic Science: An Illustrated Study (World of Islam Festival Publishing Co., 1976): "Besides the 'open' and 'accessible' sciences...the Islamic sciences include a category called the hidden (khafiyyah) or occult (gharíbah) sciences, which have always remained 'hidden', both in the content of their teachings and in the manner of gaining accessibility to them, because of their very nature....Although dozens in number, the occult sciences were classified in the famous compendium of Husayn `Alí Wá'iz al-Káshifí into the five sciences of kímiyá' (alchemy), límiyá' (magic), hímiyá' (the subjugating of souls), símiyá' (producing visions) and rímiyá' (jugglery and tricks). The first letter of the five words together form the words kulluhu sirr, which means, 'they are all secret'....The texts on the occult sciences contain numerous other branches. Probably the most popular of the occult sciences was jafr, dealing with the numerical value of the letters of the Arabic alphabet and said to have been first cultivated by `Alí ibn Abí Tálib. It is used to this day for purposes ranging from interpreting the opening letters of the verses of the Holy Qur'án to casting evil spells. Almost as widespread is raml, or geomancy, which is said to have come down from the Prophet Daniel. Although it originally made use of pebbles of sand, special instruments were later devised with various squares and dots from which future events are prognosticated."
103. Bahá'u'lláh in Amr va Khalq, vol. 3 (Tihran: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 122 B.E.) p. 355.
104. Ibid., p. 353.
105. From an unpublished Tablet of Bahá'u'lláh in the Bahá'í International Archives.
106. An example of a Bahá'í text that emphasizes the importance of free will is the following: “All that which ye potentially possess can, however, be manifested only as a result of your own volition. Your own acts testify to this truth….Men, however, have wittingly broken His law. Is such a behavior to be attributed to God, or to their proper selves? Be fair in your judgment. Every good thing is of God, and every evil thing is from yourselves.” (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh [Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980] p. 149)
107. `Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1978), p. 198.
108. On the question of theodicy in Islam, see E. L. Ormsby, Theodicy in Islamic Thought (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984).
109. `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 249.
110. Corpus Hermeticum XII(i)7 in Scott, Hermetica.
111. Zosimos quoted in Fowden, Egyptian Hermes, p. 123.
112. Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets, p. 148.
113. `Abdu'l-Bahá, Selection from the Writings, p. 55. See also `Abdu'l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1970) p. 77.
114. From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 15 February 1947, published in Unfolding Destiny (London: British Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981) p. 445. The Bahá'í Faith also accepts some events as factually true, such as the virgin birth of Jesus by means of the Spirit of God, even though they go against the laws of nature. The principle of the harmony between science and religion is, once again, not compromised, according to Bahá'ís, because God is a higher principle than the laws of nature. As “the Father of the Universe, [God] can, in His wisdom and omnipotence, bring about any change, no matter how temporary, in the operation of the laws which He himself created.” (Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 27 February 1938, published in Bahá'í References to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, comp. James Heggie [Oxford: George Ronald, 1986] p. 143)
115. In a tablet written to Mrs. Ethel Rosenberg in 1906, `Abdu'l-Bahá indicates that Bahá'u'lláh's accounts of the philosophers in the Lawh-i Hikmat are to be taken as factually correct, for he states: “How many historical questions were deemed settled in the eighteenth century, and in the nineteenth century the opposite was proved true. Hence, the sayings of the historians and the accounts prior to Alexander the Great, even the dates of the lives of important persons, cannot be relied upon. Be not surprised, therefore, at the difference between the contents of the Tablet of Wisdom and the texts of the historians. It is necessary to examine carefully the great disparities existing among the various historians and historical accounts, because the historians of the East and the historians of the West differ greatly. The Tablet of Wisdom was written in accordance with some of the histories of the East….The firm basis of reality is the Divine Universal Manifestation of God. After He has established the truth, whatever He says is correct.” (Má'idiy-i-Ásmání, vol. 2, pp. 65, 67)
The second perspective given in the conclusion to this paper, namely that the historical accuracy of the accounts revealed by Bahá'u'lláh is tangential to his primary purpose, should not be considered contradictory to the view given here by `Abdu'l-Bahá. The second perspective holds that whether the historical accounts are accurate or not is insignificant compared to Bahá'u'lláh's purpose in revealing them.
116. Juan Cole, “Problems of Chronology in Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet of Wisdom,” World Order, vol. 13, no. 3 (Spring 1979) pp. 38, 39.
117. Letter of 3 November 1987 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual.
118. `Abdu'l-Bahá, Min Makátíb-i-`Abdu'l-Bahá, vol. 1 (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Bahá'í Brasil, 1982) p. 53.
119. Quoted in a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice dated 3 November 1987.
120. Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets, pp. 144-145, 149-150.
121. From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, quoted by Juan Cole in “Problems of Chronology,” p. 37n. | <urn:uuid:7a7383db-da17-44cb-98e6-413d099e8b32> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://bahai-library.com/brown_hermes_apollonius | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397567.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951882 | 21,678 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) was a Ghanaian nationalist politician, prime minister of the Gold Coast (1952-1957) and of independent Ghana (1957-1960), and Ghana's first president (1960-1966). His policy of "African socialism" led to links with the communist bloc.
Originally a teacher, he studied later in both Britain and the USA, and on returning to Africa formed the Convention People's Party (CPP) in 1949 with the aim of immediate self-government.
He was imprisoned in 1950 for incitement of illegal strikes, but was released the same year. As president he established an authoritarian regime and made Ghana a one-party (CPP) state in 1964. He then dropped his stance of nonalignment and drew closer to the USSR and other communist countries.
Deposed from the presidency while on a visit to Beijing in 1966, he remained in exile in Guinea, where he was made a co-head of state, until his death, but was posthumously "rehabilitated" 1973.
Why is Kwame Nkrumah famous?
Kwame Nkrumah was a Ghanaian leader from 1951 to 1966.
Kwame Nkrumah Lists
|Kwame Nkrumah Videos
Kwame Nkrumah - Part 1
|Kwame Nkrumah Relationships | <urn:uuid:46cfd963-cb6b-445e-9733-8685266ad89e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://people.famouswhy.com/kwame_nkrumah/ | 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 | 0.964321 | 291 | 2.9375 | 3 |
|Annu. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 1989. 27:
Copyright © 1989 by . All rights reserved
According to classical definition (Hubble 1926, de Vaucouleurs 1959, Sandage 1961), elliptical galaxies contain no dust. Galaxies with dust have usually been given So or later-type classifications. Now sensitive searches are finding that even the remaining, classical ellipticals often contain dust. This section summarizes its properties. Other recent reviews have been given by Schweizer (1987), Bertola (1987), and Nieto (1988; hereafter N88). A catalog of dusty ellipticals has been published by Ebneter & Balick (1985).
Progress in this subject has depended critically on the ability to detect subtle absorption features superposed on steep brightness gradients. CCD surveys are especially powerful: Their dynamic range is large, and the data can easily be subjected to digital "unsharp masking" (Sandage & Miller 1964, Malin 1977). This is done by dividing the image by a model of the overall brightness distribution without the fine structure. The model can be a smoothed version of the original image, or a synthetic galaxy image with the best-fitting elliptical isophotes, or an image taken in a redder bandpass. (In the last case, the ratio is a color image.) These techniques show that 50% of bulges and elliptical galaxies contain dust.
4.1. Frequency of Occurrence of Dust
A few dusty ellipticals have been known for years. They received little systematic attention until Bertola & Galletta (1978) pointed out that several ellipticals have dust lanes along their minor axes and therefore may be prolate. This had immediate impact because of the recent discovery (Bertola & Capaccioli 1975, Illingworth 1977) that most bright ellipticals are dynamically supported not by rotation but by velocity dispersion anisotropy, which suggests that they are triaxial (Binney 1976, 1978a, b, 1982a, b).
Systematic surveys for dust followed, and detection rates increased as search techniques improved. Hawarden et al. (1981) examined carefully chosen diskless galaxies on the ESO/SRC IIIa-J and Palomar sky surveys and found a substantial number (40) with dust. Sadler & Gerhard (1985a, b) found dust in 23 ± 7% of ellipticals with mean diameters of at least 2' on the ESO B survey. Like all such estimates, this is a lower limit. The dust is usually in well-defined, nearly edge-on disks; this implies that many face-on dust distributions are going undetected. Sadler & Gerhard estimated that the true fraction of ellipticals with dust is at least 40%. A CCD survey by Sparks et al. (1985) led to similar conclusions. More recently, Djorgovski & Ebneter (1986) and Ebneter et al. (1988) have detected dust in 36% of the 116 ellipticals they studied. Finally, CCD photometry with the CFHT (Kormendy & Stauffer 1987; J. Kormendy, to be published) shows a still higher detection frequency, because of the excellent seeing on Mauna Kea. Dust distributions are often so small that they are barely detected even with the CFHT. Many more may await discovery with the Space Telescope.
This dust was also found by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). Detection frequencies in co-added IRAS survey data on bright, nearby ellipticals are comparable to or larger than those seen optically (Jura et al. 1987). Optical and IRAS photometry both imply that typical dust masses are ~ 105 - 106 M; for canonical gas-to-dust ratios, this corresponds to ~ 107 - 108 M of cold gas (e.g. Sadler & Gerhard 1985b, Sparks et al. 1985, Jura 1986, Jura et al. 1987, Véron-Cetty & Véron 1988).
It is now clear that dust in elliptical galaxies is not rare. This is one more piece of evidence that ellipticals contain substantial amounts of interstellar matter [see Schweizer (1987) for a review). Some gas is acquired by accretion (see the next section), and some is expected from mass loss during stellar evolution (Sandage 1957, Faber & Gallagher 1976). With the discovery that ellipticals generally contain 109 - 1010 M of X-ray-emitting gas (e.g. Forman et al. 1985), the idea that they are surprisingly free of interstellar matter has disappeared.
Although the precise frequency is uncertain because of classification bias, the above surveys show that bulges contain dust still more often than ellipticals. Even prototypical bulges can be riddled with dust (e.g. M31; Johnson & Hanna 1972, Kent 1983, McElroy 1983), as well as ionized (Ciardullo et al. 1988) and other gas.
4.2. Origin of Dust: Further Evidence for Galaxy Mergers
There is strong evidence that many large-scale dust and H I gas distributions are accreted. The most convincing evidence is kinematic: The gas and dust are usually in disks rotating at random orientations with respect to the optical major axis [H I (e.g. Gallagher et al. 1977); H II (Schweizer 1980, 1981a, 1982, Davies & Illingworth 1986, Caldwell et al. 1986); H II associated with dust (Burbidge & Burbidge 1959, Graham 1979, Marcelin et al. 1982, Möllenhoff 1982, Sharples et al. 1983, Caldwell 1984, Bertola et al. 1985, Möllenhoff & Marenbach 1986, Wilkinson et al. 1986, Bland et al. 1987, Varnas et al. 1987, Galletta 1987, Bertola & Bettoni 1988, Bertola et al. 1988a, b, Möllenhoff & Bender 1988)]. Minor-axis dust lanes rotate at right angles to the stars. Sometimes dust lanes and stars even rotate in opposite directions. This gas cannot come from internal mass loss. Accretion is also suggested by the morphology (although dust is not correlated with the presence of ripples and shells; Schweizer & Ford 1985). At large radii, dust lanes often show S-shaped warps or transitions from regular disks to irregular distributions. Such behavior is expected for material just settling into equilibrium, since orbital clocks run slower at larger radii. Note that accretion does not require cannibalism; gas can be donated by a galaxy that gets away (Schweizer 1987).
Small dust lanes are more common than large-scale dust distributions. Whether or not they have the same origin is not clear. They are usually well-defined rings or disks near the center, often oriented parallel to the major axis. Many resemble the inner dust lanes commonly seen in SO and spiral galaxies (Sandage 1961). Some or even most may have an internal origin. However, a folklore is developing, perhaps prematurely, that dust in ellipticals is always accreted. Kinematic constraints are badly needed on the fraction of inner dust disks that are accreted. Is the fraction of counterrotating cases near 50% (as it is for large-scale dust lanes; Bertola et al. 1988a, b), or is it much smaller? At stake is a better understanding of how much secular evolution results from mergers and how much from internal processes.
4.3. Three-Dimensional Shapes of Ellipticals Containing Dust
Bertola & Galletta's (1978) pioneering paper raised the hope that dust-lane geometry could be used to measure galaxy shapes. However, the large number of free parameters make this complicated. The results provide further evidence that ellipticals are triaxial, and they sometimes favor an oblate or a prolate configuration, but tbey have not securely told us the shape of any individual galaxy.
This subject is reviewed in detail by Merritt & de Zeeuw (1983) and will also be reviewed in the next volume of this series by de Zeeuw (1990). Thus our summary of the predictions is brief. Gas in a spheroidal or triaxial potential settles into certain preferred planes through differential precession and dissipation (Kahn & Woltjer 1959, Gunn 1979, Lake & Norman 1983). Consider first the simplest case, in which the shape of the potential does not rotate. Then the gas settles into one of two planes, i.e. perpendicular to the shortest or to the longest axis (e.g. Heiligman & Schwarzschild 1979, Tohline et al. 1982, Steiman-Cameron & Durisen 1982). In a spheroidal galaxy, only the equatorial orbits are stable; polar orbits gradually tip over into the equatorial plane. If we knew that ellipticals are spheroids, then those with minor-axis dust lanes would be prolate and those with major-axis dust lanes would be oblate. But ellipticals can be triaxial. Then, for some infall angles and galaxy shapes, gas is captured into polar orbits. Therefore, a dust lane along a particular axis is consistent with either oblate or prolate structure. Already there is no unique relationship between galaxy shape and dust-lane geometry.
The next complication is that the figure can tumble (angular velocity p 0). However, the angular velocity we measure is that of the stars, and they stream through the figure (as they do through bars and spiral arms). Therefore, we do not know p; in fact, we are as interested in estimating p as in finding the shape of the galaxy. Tumbling elliptical galaxies allow additional equilibrium orbits, as summarized in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Stable orbits of gas in a rotating triaxial galaxy (adapted from Merritt & de Zeeuw 1983). As illustrated, the figure tumbles in the direction of stellar rotation (p > 0); if p < 0, the sense of gas rotation is reversed. Assume that the figure rotates about its shortest or longest axis (left). The second column gives the kind of orbit, and the third sketches resulting dust lanes seen edge-on. Anomalous orbits have different orientations at different radii (van Albada et al. 1982). They are the analogues of polar orbits in a stationary potential; at small radii, where p is unimportant, they are polar. At large radii, the figure rotates several times during an orbit and so is effectively oblate-spheroidal; then the orbit is equatorial (Simonson 1982). In between, the orbits have skew orientations determined by the Coriolis force. The schematic illustrations of dust lanes show the directions of stellar and gas motion; indicates approach, and indicates recession. The right column states the kinematic signature, i.e. the sense of rotation of the dust lane with respect to the stars.
Half of the configurations shown in Figure 1 may be uncommon. If a galaxy tumbles about its long axis, stellar rotation velocities will be large along the minor axis and zero along the major axis. This has been observed in only a few galaxies (e.g. NGC 4261; Davies & Birkinshaw 1986, Wagner et al. 1988). We assume that ellipticals usually tumble about their short axes. Then stable major-axis dust lanes should be prograde. Minor-axis dust lanes should be perpendicular at small radii and should twist at large radii and show retrograde rotation.
What do we observe? Major-axis dust lanes counterrotate in two of the four ellipticals studied (Bertola et al. 1988a); retrograde gas velocities are also seen in the SB0 galaxy NGC 4546 (Galletta 1987). Of seven minor-axis dust lanes measured so far, three show retrograde-rotating twists [NGC 1316 (), NGC 5363 (Sharples et al. 1983, Bertola et al. 1985), and A0609-33 (Möllenhoff & Marenbach 1986)] and four show prograde twists (NGC 4589 (Möllenhoff & Bender 1988), NGC 5128 (e.g. Davies et al. 1984, Bertola et al. 1985, Wilkinson et al. 1986, Bland et al. 1987), NGC 5266 (Caldwell 1984, Möllenhoff & Marenbach 1986, Varnas et al. 1987), and A0151-49 (Sharples et al. 1983, Bertola et al. 1985)].
The hypothesis that these dust lanes are in equilibrium can be saved if p < 0 (e.g. Varnas et al. 1987). Although it is difficult (Vietri 1986), Vietri (1988) has succeeded in constructing at least one realistic dynamical model in which retrograde figure rotation is slow enough, and prograde stellar streaming large enough, so that the sum (i.e. the observed galaxy rotation velocity) is opposite to the tumbling direction at some radii (see also Freeman 1966). On the other hand, N-body models that collapse and become bar-unstable have always resulted in p > 0 [see van Albada (1987) for a review]. It is not clear whether retrograde tumbling is a viable interpretation.
Therefore the observations suggest that many dust-lane warps are transient - that gas has settled to a preferred plane at small radii but still remembers the merger geometry in the warp (Tubbs 1980, Simonson 1982, Bertola et al. 1985, Wilkinson et al. 1986, Schweizer 1987, Schwarzschild 1987, Möllenhoff & Bender 1988). This possibility has existed from the beginning; it was resisted mainly because, warps then tell us less about galaxy shapes. But the fact that dust lanes are often regular at small radii and irregular farther out (e.g. NGC 1316; Schweizer 1980) should already have convinced us that settling into principal planes is not always complete.
We dwell on this subject because it has seemed to be the most rigorous new method to measure the shapes of individual ellipticals. It remains promising. But even with photometry and kinematic data, it is difficult to unravel the many unknowns: the amount of triaxiality, the orientation of the galaxy, the pattern rotation speed, and the question of whether dust has settled into equilibrium. There are other uncertainties that we have not discussed. For example, a slowly rotating elliptical may not be exclusively oblate or prolate; it may at some radius change from one to the other. And some conclusions summarized in Figure 1 may be violated in special potentials. Simple deductions seem reasonably secure: (a) Ellipticals are generally triaxial; (b) some are prolate and others are oblate; and (c) some warps imply that p 0 and others imply nonstationary structure. But more detailed progress has been elusive.
We know of no simple remedies. As Merritt & de Zeeuw (1983) point out, better statistics would help. We may be basing far-reaching conclusions on configurations that turn out to be rare. New discoveries of systematic behavior may reduce the available parameter space. But it appears that the implications of dust-lane geometry and kinematics become statistical. Unless further work sheds new light, we still do not know how to measure the shapes of individual ellipticals.
4.4. Dust and the Distinction Between E and SO Galaxies
The presence of dust contributes to a blurring of the distinction between E and S0 galaxies. This is partly just a practical problem of classification. When ellipticals were dust free by definition, dusty galaxies were easy to classify. If we now adopt as the main classification criterion the presence (S0) or absence (E) of a disk, then it is difficult to distinguish ellipticals from S0s with faint disks [see K82 and Capaccioli (1987) for reviews]. A significant number of galaxies must be misclassified in the literature. If the E-S0 sequence is continuous, this makes little difference for an individual object (Schweizer 1987). But it can systematically affect galaxy samples selected for physical studies.
There is also a more difficult problem of principle. Since dust lanes and gas can form stars, a galaxy can change our perception of its morphological type. For example, a slowly rotating, bright elliptical may, through judicious cannibalism, grow a disk and come to look like an SO. This would contribute noise to correlations between physical properties and type. For example, even if real bulges rotate rapidly, there would be apparent exceptions because some SOs started life as ellipticals. This is an example of how secular evolution can obscure a physical correlation that was set up during an earlier phase of galaxy formation. Since far-reaching conclusions are often based on a few galaxies with surprising behavior, we need to be careful to understand and allow for secular evolution. | <urn:uuid:239f61d2-f5e0-40ff-985a-83a319a76304> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/level5/Sept01/Kormendy/Kormendy4.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00032-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906051 | 3,550 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Beginning of the program
The program code begins in Listing 1.
Listing 1. Beginning of the program named BouncingBall02.
#include <allegro.h> //Declare a pointer variable named buffer that can be // used to point to a BITMAP. This will be the main // memory buffer containing an image. BITMAP *buffer = NULL; BITMAP *smallBuffer = NULL; //Note that the size of the image was known before the // program was written, and that size is used below to // set the size of the box. int width = 324;//width of box int height = 330;//height of box int radius = 9;//radius of ball int x = 100;//initial position of ball int y = 200;//initial position of ball int tempX;//used to save the current location of the ball int tempY;//used to save the current location of the ball //Keep track of direction of motion here. //0= northwest 1 = southwest, 2 = northeast, //3 = southeast int dir; | <urn:uuid:5b5a9b0d-29e9-4ec0-8294-5209f04a8076> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dickbaldwin.com/allegro/Slides/Alleg0160ad.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.873261 | 221 | 3.359375 | 3 |
William Harvey (15781657). On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals. The Harvard Classics. 190914.
VIII. Of the Quantity of Blood Passing Through the Heart from the Veins to the Arteries; And of the Circular Motion of the Blood
THUS far I have spoken of the passage of the blood from the veins into the arteries, and of the manner in which it is transmitted and distributed by the action of the heart; points to which some, moved either by the authority of Galen or Columbus, or the reasonings of others, will give in their adhesion. But what remains to be said upon the quantity and source of the blood which thus passes is of a character so novel and unheard-of that I not only fear injury to myself from the envy of a few, but I tremble lest I have mankind at large for my enemies, so much doth wont and custom become a second nature. Doctrine once sown strikes deep its root, and respect for antiquity influences all men. Still the die is cast, and my trust is in my love of truth and the candour of cultivated minds. And sooth to say, when I surveyed my mass of evidence, whether derived from vivisections, and my various reflections on them, or from the study of the ventricles of the heart and the vessels that enter into and issue from them, the symmetry and size of these conduits,for nature doing nothing in vain, would never have given them so large a relative size without a purpose,or from observing the arrangement and intimate structure of the valves in particular, and of the other parts of the heart in general, with many things besides, I frequently and seriously bethought me, and long revolved in my mind, what might be the quantity of blood which was transmitted, in how short a time its passage might be effected, and the like. But not finding it possible that this could be supplied by the juices of the ingested aliment without the veins on the one hand becoming drained, and the arteries on the other getting ruptured through the excessive charge of blood, unless the blood should somehow find its way from the arteries into the veins, and so return to the right side of the heart, I began to think whether there might not be a MOTION, AS IT WERE, IN A CIRCLE. Now, this I afterwards found to be true; and I finally saw that the blood, forced by the action of the left ventricle into the arteries, was distributed to the body at large, and its several parts, in the same manner as it is sent through the lungs, impelled by the right ventricle into the pulmonary artery, and that it then passed through the veins and along the vena cava, and so round to the left ventricle in the manner already indicated. This motion we may be allowed to call circular, in the same way as Aristotle says that the air and the rain emulate the circular motion of the superior bodies; for the moist earth, warmed by the sun, evaporates; the vapours drawn upwards are condensed, and descending in the form of rain, moisten the earth again. By this arrangement are generations of living things produced; and in like manner are tempests and meteors engendered by the circular motion, and by the approach and recession of the sun.
And similarly does it come to pass in the body, through the motion of the blood, that the various parts are nourished, cherished, quickened by the warmer, more perfect, vaporous, spirituous, and, as I may say, alimentive blood; which, on the other hand, owing to its contact with these parts, becomes cooled, coagulated, and so to speak effete. It then returns to its sovereign, the heart, as if to its source, or to the inmost home of the body, there to recover its state of excellence or perfection. Here it renews its fluidity, natural heat, and becomes powerful, fervid, a kind of treasury of life, and impregnated with spirits, it might be said with balsam. Thence it is again dispersed. All this depends on the motion and action of the heart.
The heart, consequently, is the beginning of life; the sun of the microcosm, even as the sun in his turn might well be designated the heart of the world; for it is the heart by whose virtue and pulse the blood is moved, perfected, and made nutrient, and is preserved from corruption and coagulation; it is the household divinity which, discharging its function, nourishes, cherishes, quickens the whole body, and is indeed the foundation of life, the source of all action. But of these things we shall speak more opportunely when we come to speculate upon the final cause of this motion of the heart.
As the blood-vessels, therefore, are the canals and agents that transport the blood, they are of two kinds, the cava and the aorta; and this not by reason of there being two sides of the body, as Aristotle has it, but because of the difference of office, not, as is commonly said, in consequence of any diversity of structure, for in many animals, as I have said, the vein does not differ from the artery in the thickness of its walls, but solely in virtue of their distinct functions and uses. A vein and an artery, both styled veins by the ancients, and that not without reason, as Galen has remarked, for the artery is the vessel which carries the blood from the heart to the body at large, the vein of the present day bringing it back from the general system to the heart; the former is the conduit from, the latter the channel to, the heart; the latter contains the cruder, effete blood, rendered unfit for nutrition; the former transmits the digested, perfect, peculiarly nutritive fluid. | <urn:uuid:c5331e1b-9ae8-456e-9b96-9d3baa19b215> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bartleby.com/38/3/8.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957608 | 1,228 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Cashed Coal Plants
As the US struggles to agree on an energy policy, Canada is telling energy providers that they’ll have to gradually close their coal plants when they reach the end of their commercial life, which in most cases is 5 to 15 years from now. As a weekend story in The Globe and Mail explains, the companies would not be allowed to replace or extend the life of those coal plants without adding technology to capture and sequester carbon dioxide.
It’s not clear exactly how the Canadian government will achieve its goal, but it seems like the strategy is basically to make the energy companies do it. (It’s worked elsewhere – Oregon regulators were requiring Portland General Electric to install so many expensive pollution controls at its Boardman coal plant that the utility now wants to shut it down decades earlier than it had planned.)
Meanwhile, Washington state has taken a more collaborative approach with the owner of the state’s only coal-fired power plant in Centralia, which happens to be the Canadian company TransAlta. State officials aim to convince the company to voluntarily phase out its coal power over the next 15 years by helping it find markets and financing to develop cleaner energy sources. (Updated details are at the end of this post.)
So how did energy companies react to Canada’s tough love? They expressed the usual concerns about where new power would come from, the impacts on shareholders and whether consumers would pay more for energy. But the article goes on to mention that these companies are, in fact, already phasing out coal. TransAlta had already decided to close a 54-year-old coal plant in Alberta, presumably because it was old and not very efficient or economical. Ontario Power Generation is planning to close another 4 coal plants in the next 4 years.
As the state of Washington tries to figure out what to do with the Centralia coal plant, it’s worth remembering that market forces could force the plant to close on its own. It might even happen years before the 2025 deadline that the state has set to cut the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions in half. Coal is such a dirty form of energy that simply putting a price on climate-warming pollution would radically change the economics of burning it.
In fact, modeling by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council shows that if certain carbon pricing policies are adopted, the Northwest’s big coal plants – Centralia in Washington, Boardman in Oregon and Colstrip in Montana – would shut down between 2018 and 2022 based on economics alone. Of course, that model is based on assumptions that may or may not come to pass. (In the model, coal plants become uneconomical around the time that carbon pricing reaches $25/ton.) But it represents regional power planners’ best estimate of what the future may hold.
Clearly, based on the political wrangling over a climate bill this weekend, it would be unwise for anyone in Washington state to assume that some future federal policy will just take care of things. State officials want guarantees that the Centralia plant will cut its greenhouse gas emissions, and sometimes a voluntary approach saves time and argument. But if it doesn’t, Canada’s example shows that strong policies – whether they employ economic or regulatory levers – can get the job done too.
P.S. Not to give Canada too much credit. The country only has 21 coal plants (compared to 650 in the US) so it’s much easier for policymakers to decide the country can live without them. The country already releases a lot of greenhouse gas emissions for its population, and as The Globe and Mail article mentions, an expanding oil sands industry that will just add to that pollution. And Canada is a huge producer of natural gas that will replace much of the coal power, which isn’t the cleanest energy source either.
Update: The state of Washington and TransAlta signed a memorandum of understanding this week outlining the broad parameters and process for their negotiations. The goals are: permanently limiting greenhouse gas emissions, ending the use of coal at the plant, assuring reliable power and retaining a significant number of jobs at Centralia. They expect to publicly release a draft proposal in July.
This post originally appeared at Sightline’s Daily Score blog. | <urn:uuid:9bfd4a15-606f-461f-9afe-e3aa7a63ad69> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://grist.org/article/cashed-coal-plants/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00146-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956173 | 873 | 2.625 | 3 |
According to Susan K. Perry in Playing Smart, the more a child uses brainstorming skills, the more creative a thinker she will be. Brainstorming is thinking up as many answers to a question as possible. Below are some ideas to get you started. After you've brainstormed for a while, brainstorm some new brainstorming topics!
- Think up far-fetched excuses for why something was or wasn't done, for example: I didn't have a bath because the tub was full of piranhas.
- Ask the question Must you ______ to ______? For example: Must you go to school to be smart?
- Make up a ten-ways-not-to list, for example: Ten Ways Not to Get Good Grades: Sleep during class. Don't do your homework....
- Fill in the blanks in the following sentence: It was so ______ that ______. For example: It was so hot outside that my lemonade boiled.
- Make up a 101-uses-for list, for example: 101 Uses for Paper Clips: Holding papers together. Picking locks. Making necklaces. Playing with magnets....
- Think up as many oxymorons (figures of speech that seem to contradict themselves) as you can, for example: an honest thief or tears of joy. Just for fun, you might think up oxymorons that are particular to your family. In our house, quiet boy and sleeping baby are oxymorons!
More on: Activities for Kids
Copyright © 2001 by Patricia Kuffner. Excerpted from The Children's Busy Book with permission of its publisher, Meadowbrook Press.
To order this book visit Meadowbrook Press. | <urn:uuid:5de41c6d-eab7-4cb3-a864-4bd2ed9335c4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://fun.familyeducation.com/writing/activity/37067.html?cc=us | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944318 | 351 | 3.84375 | 4 |
Detox With Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth
Throughout our daily lives, we encounter a large number of toxins in the air, in our food, and on surfaces we touch. Our world is literally crawling with bacteria, viruses, toxins, and parasites, which can have a negative impact on our health. These harmful materials can attach themselves to our digestive system and start to cause some major problems. This is why it is important to flush your body every so often to rid your body of these materials. One of the ways you can do this is through a diatomaceous earth cleanse.
What is Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth is a clay-like white powder that originates from the fossilized exoskeletons of unicellular algae called diatoms. Diatoms were an important food source during the prehistoric time period. Eventually as diatoms started to die, their exoskeletons fell to the sea floor and became hardened fossils. As time passed, these fossils started to collect and formed diatomite, which is the powder we see today called diatomaceous earth.
Diatomaceous earth is cylindrical in shape and actually looks like tiny shards of glass under the microscope. This is why a diatomaceous earth cleanse can flush your digestive tract.
As you consume diatomaceous earth, these cylinders enter your body’s digestive tract. As they travel through the digestive tract, the sharp edges of diatomaceous earth scrape away parasites and toxins that are clinging to the walls of your intestines and colon. These parasites are then absorbed by diatomaceous earth so they cannot harm you any further.
In addition to parasites or bacteria stuck to the walls of your intestines, any free-floating viruses or toxins are also trapped by diatomaceous earth and expelled when you have a bowel movement.
30 Day Diatomaceous Earth Cleanse
If you decide to go on a diatomaceous earth cleanse, you need to buy food grade diatomaceous earth, which is the form of diatomaceous earth that is safe for humans to consume. Most humans like to go on a 7,14, or 30 day cleanse, depending on how severe they feel they need to cleanse their digestive tract. Most people take about 1/4th of a cup of diatomaceous earth per day, although you can take more without any side effects or negative health effects.
After your diatomaceous earth cleanse, you can notice a slew of immediate health benefits. First, your body will digest food much more efficiently and quicker than it previously good. This means you will have more regular bowel movements and your organs will be able to receive the nutrients they need much quicker than they were previously receiving them.
Diatomaceous Earth Detox For Colon Health
Second, your colon can operate much more efficiently, which means that future toxins you ingest can be better removed. This will prevent your digestive tract from becoming damaged much more effectively. Plus, these toxins will be removed much faster as well.
In reality, your entire body will operate much more efficiently after a diatomaceous earth cleanse. In addition to the digestive benefits of diatomaceous earth, your bones, immune system, heart, and lungs are much healthier, which is another reason to consider a diatomaceous earth cleanse every so often. | <urn:uuid:2accf67f-2de8-4dc3-9293-0bf1d68cff90> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.diatomaceousearthusa.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958535 | 692 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Hercules and Perseus
By these arms the monster of Nemea lies crushed; upon this neck I upheld the sky!
—Hercules, in Ovid, Metamorphoses:197–198
Hercules (the Greek Herakles), one of the many sons born of Jupiter’s liaisons with mortal women, was the most admired of the classical heroes. In the Renaissance, he was revered for his wisdom and virtue as well as his superhuman strength. Considered a founder of Florence, he became closely linked to the Medici and also played an important role at such brilliant Renaissance courts as that of the Este in Ferrara and the Gonzaga in Mantua, where more than one family member bore the name “Ercole.” Throughout the following centuries, rulers continued to identify with the hero and his deeds. Moreover, as mythology developed into a metaphorical language, Hercules was often employed as a convenient symbol for virtuous strength in allegorical programs—from theatrical presentations to fresco paintings—of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Further contributing to Hercules’ popularity were the numerous ancient works of art that represented the hero and served as inspiration to artists of the Renaissance and Baroque. For all these reasons, Hercules was one of the most frequently represented figures in Italian prints.
The exploits of Jupiter’s son Perseus, who beheaded the dread Medusa and rescued the lovely Andromeda, also provided material for many Italian works of art.
The Trojan War and the Founding of Rome
Arms and the man I sing, who first from the coasts of Troy,
exiled by fate, came to Italy and Lavine shores …
—Virgil, Aeneid 1:1–3
The history of Rome’s origins, which began with the mythological tale of the apple of discord, was of the keenest interest to Italian artists and their patrons. The vicissitudes of the Trojan War were known through Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, but far more popular with Italian readers was the Aeneid of Virgil, which told the tale of the Trojan hero Aeneas and his long journey to Italy, where he became the father of the Roman race. Just as the emperor Augustus had claimed descent from Aeneas, a son of Venus, so many Italian princes traced their ancestry to the participants in the Trojan War or sought to equate their own accomplishments with the deeds of these heroes. While many prints record the frescoes that were commissioned to adorn the public rooms of royal palaces, others are independent creations. At least three of the compositions Raphael designed as models for engraving illustrated episodes from Rome’s mythic past. The Mantuan sculptor and printmaker Giovanni Battista Scultori also designed three large engravings representing events from the Trojan War. The epic poems of Homer and Virgil continued to provide inspiration to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century artists such as Salvator Rosa, Pietro Testa, and Giovanni David, who drew on them to create etchings of their own design.
Thompson, Wendy. “Heroes in Italian Mythological Prints.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hero/hd_hero.htm (October 2004) | <urn:uuid:9f4b12dc-33b2-4b81-9c85-8f6e2dd03362> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hero/hd_hero.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00067-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971373 | 699 | 3.5 | 4 |
The professions of accounting and finance, like most professions, have developed a complex jargon of terminology with specific meanings, particularly in accounting and financial contexts. And while this terminology may seem confusing at first, the concepts behind the jargon are often not that complex and relatively easy to understand once you have a basic background in the subject matter.
Revenue is typically defined as the total income of a business or the total amount of money made from an investment. Revenue can be broken down into gross revenue and net revenue, but when the term is used without a modifier, it generally means gross, or total, revenue.
Sales can be defined as income accrued from the selling of goods and/or services over a given period. It is typically used in a phrase such as "the net sales for the quarter" or "the gross sales for the industry this month." Like revenue, when sales is used alone as in "sales are down," it typically means total sales.
Sales Are a Subset of Revenue
For many businesses, sales are a subset of revenue. That is, the revenue of the business includes other income from investments or licenses or interest on debts as well as sales income. However, for some businesses that do not extend credit or have investments, it is possible that total sales equal total revenue. Basic accounting models usually use this assumption.
Sales vs. Revenue
It is important for businesses to closely track both sales and revenue. Keeping track of revenue is obviously important. As long as you keep expenses under control, increasing revenues means your business is likely to be flourishing. By the same token, if your revenues are increasing but your net profits are not, that is a sure sign your expenses are up. Sales is the leading indicator for most companies, so most companies track sales closely. Companies whose sole revenue is from sales tend to have especially sales-focused corporate cultures, as just a slight hiccup in sales is immediately noticed on the bottom line. | <urn:uuid:7ef19380-ea9a-430f-8c5d-15a8fdf0e156> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://smallbusiness.chron.com/definition-sales-vs-revenue-22279.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00033-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969109 | 394 | 2.96875 | 3 |
The U.S. and U.N. Response to the AIDS Crisis in Africa
T-NSIAD-00-99: Published: Feb 24, 2000. Publicly Released: Feb 24, 2000.
- Full Report:
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed its recent reports concerning the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on: (1) the social and economic implications of AIDS in Africa; and (2) efforts to combat the disease by the United States and the United Nations.
GAO noted that: (1) despite some breakthroughs in treatment and techniques for preventing AIDS, the epidemic continues to grow; (2) the broader economic and social consequences are becoming clear--and they are not good; (3) over the last decade, the life expectancy in nine African countries declined by over 17 years due to AIDS; (4) by 2010, the United Nations' Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that 42 million children in Africa will lose one or both parents to AIDS and that gross domestic product in many countries will decline by as much as 20 percent; (5) the countries in sub-Saharan Africa are among the poorest in the world and have a limited capacity to address the epidemic; (6) the United States and the United Nations have made some important contributions to the fight against AIDS; (7) the Agency for International Development (AID) helped to identify interventions proven to prevent the spread of AIDS and UNAIDS has supported research that played an important role as an advocate for increased spending for AIDS programs by national governments, private companies, and donors; and (8) however, the World Bank estimates that $1 billion a year is needed by the world community to address the epidemic in Africa--more than three times the current level of spending. | <urn:uuid:8ec35075-de6e-4769-a7aa-a7f8301e9255> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gao.gov/products/T-NSIAD-00-99 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00117-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944367 | 392 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Jason DeParle has written an extremely important article for the New York Times on how family structure shapes economic outcomes.
There is a data-rich passage (“A Broadening Gap”) that is particularly helpful. It opens by drawing on the work of sociologists Bruce Western and Tracey Shollenberger, who document the household income gap between households with children at the 90th percentile and at the 10th percentile: over the last four decades, it has gone from 5x to 10x. As DeParle explains, this divergence can be and has been attributed to a number of economic shifts, e.g., skill-biased technical change, financialization, organized labor’s decline, etc.
But marriage also shapes the story in complex ways. Economic woes speed marital decline, as women see fewer “marriageable men.” The opposite also holds true: marital decline compounds economic woes, since it leaves the needy to struggle alone.
“The people who need to stick together for economic reasons don’t,” said Christopher Jencks, a Harvard sociologist. “And the people who least need to stick together do.”
Changes in family structure do not explain the gains of the very rich — the much-discussed “1 percent” and the richest among them. That story largely spills from Wall Street trading floors and corporate boardrooms.
But for inequality more broadly, Mr. Western found that the growth in single parenthood in recent decades accounted for 15 percent to 25 percent of the widening income gaps. (Estimates depend on the time period, the income tiers and the definition of inequality.) Gary Burtless of the Brookings Institution found it to account for 21 percent. Robert Lerman of the Urban Institute, comparing lower-middle- and upper-middle-income families, found that single parenthood explained about 40 percent of inequality’s growth. “That’s not peanuts,” he said.
Moreover, the spread of single-parent families has been very rapid over the last two decades:
As recently as 1990, just 10 percent of the births to women like Ms. Schairer (white women with some postsecondary schooling but not a full college degree) occurred outside marriage, according to Child Trends. Now it has tripled to 30 percent, compared with just 8 percent for women of all races with college degrees.
Less-educated women are also more likely to have children with more than one man. Analyzing nearly 2,000 mothers in their mid- to late 20s, Child Trends found that a third of those with high school degrees or less already had children with multiple men. So did 12 percent of mothers with some post-high-school training. But none of the women in the study who had finished college before giving birth had children with multiple men.
I read DeParle’s article at the same time I’ve been reading Amy Wax’s extremely important 2010 book, Race, Wrongs, and Remedies. To get a sense of Wax’s themes, I recommend John McWhorter’s review. Though Wax’s book is focused on how to think about the historical disadvantage of black Americans, it has broader implications for how we think about anti-poverty policy, family structure, and the difference between “brick walls” and “hard struggles.” | <urn:uuid:6ac74c5a-f61a-4f94-a8f4-7c62b283a71b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nationalreview.com/agenda/309436/jason-deparle-changing-family-structure-reihan-salam | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00072-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956746 | 703 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Hidden Amazon Wildfires Devour More Rainforest Than Logging: NASA
Hidden, low-undergrowth fires are taking a bigger toll on the southern Amazon jungle than logging, NASA has determined with an innovative use of satellite data that has yielded the first-ever regional estimate of these hidden fires.
Based on the information compiled, they are predicting a higher-than-average fire season in the Amazon for 2013, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced on June 7.
A team of scientists headed by Doug Morton of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, discovered that during years with the highest number of hidden fires, known as understory fires—2005, 2007 and 2010 are three of them—such fires burned an area of forest that was several times greater than that deforested for agricultural expansion. In particular, NASA said, 2003–2004 showed the highest-ever deforestation rates along with the lowest number of fires.
Moreover, those peak years implicated climate conditions as more important in determining fire risk than deforestation was, Morton said in a statement from the agency.
Understory fires are low-key: They burn long and slow, advance just a few feet per minute and are only a few feet high, their only aerial evidence the ribbon of smoke that escapes through the forest canopy, NASA said. From 1999 through 2010, NASA’s study found, understory fires scorched 2.8 percent of the Amazon, or 33,000 square miles.
“The long, slow burn gives way to a creeping death that claims anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of the burn area's trees,” NASA said.
The fires, unmapped until now, destroy several times more forest than has been lost through deforestation in recent years, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a media release. They are called “understory fires,” occurring beneath the treetops and thus hidden from satellite view unless wisps of smoke escape the forest canopy.
To compare, wildfires on Turtle Island in 2012 burned about 14,000 square miles, or 9.2 million acres, the third-worst fire season in U.S. history, according to meteorologist Jeff Masters on WUnderground.com.
The risk for an Amazon fire season can be determined by measuring a variety of factors months ahead of time, ranging from ocean surface temperature to El Niño wind patterns to soil humidity, researchers said.
"A severe fire season in the Amazon is often preceded by low water storage in the soil, and this water deficit in the soil can be detected by the satellites several months before the fire season," said Yang Chen, a researcher at University of California at Irvine, who is studying the issue with other satellite data.
By studying the data, both groups of scientists are looking to measure the amount of carbon that could be released into the atmosphere from fires in the Amazon. Below, an understory fire doing its work, as recorded by Morton.
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Please use the log in option at the bottom of this page | <urn:uuid:ac794596-0174-4caa-af7d-eb2002efe5e8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/comment/1402626 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00198-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9494 | 630 | 3.46875 | 3 |
The display below shows six atoms packed together in a closest-packed arrangement. This particular geometry is octahedral. In the very center of this octahedron is a hole. This hole is said to be a octahedral hole because the hole is surrounded by six atoms (the coordination number is six).
Take note that the size of this hole is smaller than that of the atoms surrounding it. If an atom is sufficiently small, it can fit into this hole. Click on the "Show Atom in Hole" to insert a small atom (colored red) in the hole. (You may need to rotate the image to clearly see the red atom in the tetrahedral hole.)
What is the largest atom that can fit into the hole without pushing the outer (blue) atoms apart?
The radius of the outer atoms is designated r. The radius of the hole (this is the radius of the largest sphere that can fit in the hole) is represented by rhole.
What is the ratio rhole/r ?
Derive this ratio using the octahedral geometry of the outer (blue) atoms and the laws of trigonometry.
Hint: The Pythagorean theorem will be especially useful: C2 = A2 + B2
When you have completed your derivation, you may check your answer.
This virtual reality display requires Java3D. If the display is not visible, consult the Java3D FAQ. Dragging with the left mouse button rotates the display.
Holes in Closest-Packed Structures: Trigonal Tetrahedral Octahedral Cubic | <urn:uuid:c2acd1ec-ec48-4887-a1d1-5265ce106e3d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chm.davidson.edu/vce/Crystals/OctahedralHole.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901732 | 332 | 4.0625 | 4 |
The military strategists of the British Empire have long
had an actual plan for the military conquest and enslavement of the entire
planet, and this plan for global conquest was based on the military realities
which they believed any would-be world conqueror would encounter. The British
strategic plan for world conquest and the military perspective which it
is based upon both predate World War One, and both probably existed long
before that. The earliest known statement of this plan for world conquest
was expressed by imperial strategist Halford Mackinder,
who outlined the central global strategic problem in 1904 in a letter to
the British Royal Geographical Society. The letter was entitled, "The
Geographical Pivot of History." The most pertinent part of this
letter is quoted later on, and requires only a minimum of reading between
The most recent significant restatement of this plan for
world conquest was made by Zbigniew Brzezinski, who asserted
that world domination would require the conquest of the center of the Eurasian
landmass. They also believed that if they did not seize the Eurasian interior,
whoever was in possession of it would have the global strategic edge, and
would thus likely ultimately go on to conquer the world.
Here’s why they formed this military perspective. Britain
was a naval power, and therefore, as a rule of thumb, they could apply military
force with relative ease near the shores of the oceans anywhere on the globe.
That was the good news. The bad news was that the further from the coast
their military objective was, the harder it was to apply force to it. The
invading British armies were tethered to their fleets, because their armies
needed the re-supply and the firepower support of their navy.
Look at a map of the world. You will see that the area furthest
from any ocean is the deep interior of the Eurasian land mass. The British
reasoned that if they could conquer the Eurasian interior, they would then
be able to apply force from this region against the neighboring countries
while the British fleet would attack as usual against their coastal regions.
Thus Russia, China, India and all of Europe would be forever under British
military dominance, and thereby be eliminated as competitors in the struggle
for world conquest. They reasoned that the remainder of the globe was a
far lesser military challenge, which could be managed with relative military
ease by the British fleet, and thus easily accessible coastal regions of
the remainder of the world were not the focus of their military plans as
was the absolutely vital Eurasian interior.
One of the agenda items of the British Empire is
the culling of most of the people on the planet Earth. They also
intend that the mass of the remaining population will be reduced to peasant
social status, and kept in perpetual ignorance so that any revolt against
their overlords will be impossible. By these means they intend to establish
a global empire which will rule the world for all time without any possibility
of being overthrown, either by any competing empires, which will all have
been eliminated, or by the peasants, who will be held in perpetual bondage
and therefore likewise unable to rise up against the oligarchs.
The following quoted passage is from a letter written by
British imperial strategist Halford Mackinder to the British Royal Geographical
Society. The letter was entitled, "The Geographical Pivot of History."
"As we consider this rapid review of the broader currents
of history, does not a certain persistence of geographical relationship
become evident? Is not the pivot region of the world’s politics
that vast area of Euro-Asia which is inaccessible to ships, but in antiquity
lay open to the horse riding nomads, and is today about to be covered
with a network of railways. There have been and are here the conditions
of a mobility of military and economic power of a far-reaching and yet
limited character. Russia replaces the Mogul empire. Her pressure on Finland,
on Scandinavia, on Poland, on Turkey, on Persia, on India, on China replaces
the centrifugal raids of the steppe-men. In the world at large she occupies
the central strategically position held by Germany in Europe. In conclusion,
it may be well expressly to point out that the substitution of some new
control of inland area for that of Russia would not tend to reduce the
geographical significance of the pivot point. Were the Chinese, for instance,
organized by the Japanese, to overthrow the Russian Empire and conquer
its territory, they might constitute the Yellow Peril to the world’s
The following passage is quoted from the book, "The
Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives,"
which was written by Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1997.
""In that context, how America 'manages' Eurasia
is critical. Eurasia is the globe's largest continent and is geopolitical
axial. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world's
three most advanced and economically productive regions. A mere glance
at the map also suggests that control over Eurasia would almost automatically
entail Africa's subordination, rendering the Western Hemisphere and Oceania
geopolitically peripheral to the world's central continent. About 75 per
cent of the world's people live in Eurasia, and most of the world's physical
wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil.
Eurasia accounts for 60 per cent of the world's GNP and about three-fourths
of the world's known energy resources." (p.31)
Other statements in his book make it clear that Brzezinski’s
geographic focus is on the new Islamic nations of South Central Asia that
were formed out of the Breakup of the Soviet Union. Note that Brzezinski
even used the name "Oceania" to refer to the British Empire.
The British plan for world conquest also called for
the de-industrialization of all other nations so they would not
be able to build modern weapons to fight back against British attacks. All
major nations of the world were industrializing in the years prior to World
War One, and the British Imperialists decided that all other nations must
be both de-industrialized and depopulated so that they would never again
be potential rivals for world domination.
The British reasoned that Russia was their primary rival
for world dominance, partly because of it occupied much of the strategic
heart of the Eurasian land mass, and partly because it huge population and
abundant natural resources gave it vast military potential. Other smaller
potential rivals such as France, Germany and Japan would be crushed later
and reduced to depopulated puppet states with plantation economies. America,
was not considered an immediate potential rival because it was effectively
re-colonized and under British control, and had been since the assassination
of President McKinley by British design in 1901.
The British planned to provoke a war between Russia and Germany
so that Russia would be crushed and forced to accept a British-controlled
puppet government that would de-industrialized Russia, and thus make it
unable to defend the Eurasian heartland. The British also hoped that Germany
would be exhausted by all the fighting, and would thus be an easy opponent
in a subsequent war which would likewise result in its de-industrialization
and depopulation. It didn’t really matter to the British strategists
which side Britain would be on in the war; their primary goal was the destruction
of Russia industry, and the weakening of Germany as a hoped for bonus. The
British imperialists didn’t care much about the form of the new Russian
government. The British didn’t care if the new Russian government
was communist or fascist or whatever; all they really cared about was that
the new Russian government would suppress industrialization.
The British imperialists both planned and instigated
World War One, but unfortunately for them, their primary goal of
de-industrializing Russia was not achieved. Russia was defeated, but the
post-war communist government instituted a program of industrialization
and re-armament under both Lenin and Stalin. The post World War One situation
looked exactly like the pre World War One situation as far as the disappointed
British Imperialists were concerned. Russia was still the number one rival
because of its dominance of Eurasia, and because it still had its huge population,
and worst of all because it was still industrializing. Their other potential
rivals were likewise still industrializing, just exactly as they were before
The British imperialists planned and instigated World
War Two in order to achieve the exact same strategic goal they
had failed to achieve with World War One, and they used the exact same plan
because in their eyes the strategic situation had not changed at all. The
British imperialists therefore instigated World War Two between Russia and
Germany in order to achieve the exact same goal, and once again they failed.
Post war Russia continued to industrialize, and they were still in possession
of the heart of Eurasia.
The Geostrategic situation is pretty much the same today
as it was both before and after the two world wars that the British instigated,
and all the evidence indicates that the British strategic plan for conquering
the world remains exactly the same today as it was prior to World War One.
The British and their puppet ally America have established military bases
deep in the heart of Eurasia in the Islamic states that were formerly part
of the old Soviet Union. They have invaded Afghanistan and are preparing
to invade Iraq.
They will not abandon their campaign of looting of Eurasia,
and they will not stop their callous slaughter of Asian people unless they
are defeated militarily. If they succeed in their criminal aggression, they
will be forced by their own imperial logic to go on and instigate similar
wars of aggression against all their remaining potential rivals. Both China
and India are now immensely powerful and growing in economic might and military
capability. Both Britain and its puppet ally America are declining relative
to both China and India in economic ability and military might. The Anglo-Americans
have lost their nuclear monopoly. The Chinese will develop missiles capable
of reaching America and Britain.
Time is working against the Anglo-Americans in both economic
and military terms. The longer Britain waits to attack China and slaughter
it back to the stone age, the harder the task will be. The British and their
American stooge ally will not be able to defeat China if they wait another
twenty years. Their own logic tells them that it is now or never as far
as the British Empire is concerned. Britain will either conquer the world
within the next few years, or Britain and its stooge ally America will slide
first into insignificance, and then both will be torn apart in starvation-induced
internal wars because they will no longer be able to extort the resources
of the world at gunpoint.
In conclusion, it is clear that the century-old plan of the
British for the conquest of the world is still in effect. It also
seems undeniable that the culling of most of the world’s population
is a necessary and therefore built-in part of their plan to conquer the
world. The exact role that vaccinations
and other devices of mass murder [E.g. chemtrails]
will play in this blueprint for the coming global slaughter is still unclear.
The British aristocracy regards this as their last throw of the dice to
achieve world domination. From their perspective, it is now all or nothing.
By their own perspective and by their own logic, these aristocrats will
be compelled to use every device at their disposal, especially those of
mass destruction . The British aristocrats fear that if they fail, they
will be overthrown because they are utterly useless parasites, and the British
people will rise in the wake of so many of them being used up in a war whose
only goal is to preserve the dominance of the useless aristocrats.
Their hatred of humanity and the wickedness of their envisioned
global and eternal police state should prepare us to expect them to employ
every weapon at their disposal no matter how horrible. The recent media-friendly
terrorist attack was the latest bit of theater in their final bid at world
conquest. We can expect more such incidents, including even a nuclear detonation
on American, which will precede the erection of a complete police
state here in America, without which their plan for global conquest
will not succeed.
The British aristocrats are not the daffy, absent-minded
twits depicted in the mass media. These British aristocrats and
their banker bedmates are the worst collection of cold-blooded gangsters
and cynical mass murderers ever assembled. They will use diseases, revolutions,
starvation, planned economic disasters, civil wars, concentration camps,
nuclear bombs, and mass murder by vaccinations both here and abroad until
such time as they win, or until they are removed from power. This broad
outline of their plan for world conquest will provide a framework for understanding
events as the world plunges toward this very real Armageddon unfolding in
All information posted on this web site is
the opinion of the author and is provided for educational purposes only.
It is not to be construed as medical advice. Only a licensed medical doctor
can legally offer medical advice in the United States. Consult the healer
of your choice for medical care and advice. | <urn:uuid:a3392a08-e138-45fe-826b-da0e67a9f31c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://educate-yourself.org/cn/britishstraegyglobalconquest29jun05.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00091-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956712 | 2,850 | 3.296875 | 3 |
It’s been said that whoevers owns the dominant narrative in the courtroom wins.
How do you make sure that your story becomes the dominant story?
In Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die: Made to Stick, Chip Heath and Dan Heath provide six simple elements for creating narratives that stick. These elements are:
To keep a story simple find the core of the theory. A great compact theory can be summed up in one statement and is profound. The most profound of theories are those that a person can spend an entire lifetime learning. An example of a great profound statement is: “Don’t do unto others what you don’t want others to do unto you.”
For ideas to endure they must generate curiosity and interest. We engage curiosity by opening gaps in the audience’s knowledge and closing them. “Gaps cause pain”. Therefore, we should shift our thinking from: “what information do I need to convey” to “what questions do I want my audience to ask?” We set up interest by revealing the gaps in knowledge and we keep it by slowly filling them.
Wherever possible make ideas concrete. Move from the abstract to the concrete. Ideas are made clear through referencing discrete activities. An example of making an idea concrete is the saying “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.
By making ideas concrete, we reduce opportunities for multiple interpretations and make it easier for a novice audience to understand. For example, a juror compared to a judge is a novice in the courtroom. As a novice audience member, their ability to think abstractly is reduced. In fact, it is our ability to think abstractly that separates the beginner (like a juror) from the expert (like a judge).
Appeal to external sources of credibility, like credentials, and internal sources of credibility, like emotional associations that already exist. For example, a politician enticing voters to ask may appeal to a person’s internal credibility by asking: “before you vote, ask yourself if you are better off today than four years ago?” The voter imagines this and bases a decision on how he internally feels about something.
Stories that evoke emotions are far more powerful.
Paint a picture of events. Allow the audience to visualize the plot.
An example of a narrative that has all 6 elements is the subway commercial of Jared.
- It’s simple – He eats sub sandwiches and loses weight
- It’s unexpected – He lost a lot of weight eating fast food
- It’s concrete – He is shown holding oversized pants
- It’s credible- The guy that wore those pants lost the weight.
- It’s emotional – We care more about a person’s story than some statistic about eating subway sandwiches and losing weight.
- It’s a story – Our protagonist overcomes big odds to triumph and inspires us to do the same.
So when developing a theory of the case, lawyers should check to see if it has all 6 elements. A theory that has all elements will have a better chance of becoming the dominant story in the courtroom. And once a story becomes entrenched in the courtroom, it is difficult for the deviating narrative to gain traction. | <urn:uuid:016e9a74-f417-4085-84e7-35c20dd68175> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.slaw.ca/2016/03/16/developing-the-defining-narrative-winning-at-trial/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00152-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927357 | 683 | 3 | 3 |
One of the things that uses up the most energy in a home is hot water. And all of that heat is wasted as it drains away into the sewage system. The EcoDrain device pictured above allows you to partially warm up incoming cold water with the heat from the outgoing hot. It’s a heat-exchange system, and isn’t exactly a new invention, although unlike most other solutions can be installed horizontally. This allows it to be placed “under the bathroom floor immediately adjacent to the drain, thus catching the waste water at its hottest.” It won’t be enough to get the incoming cold up to a good steamy temp, but it’ll help you use less hot water mixed in, thus saving you money. It requires no electricity, and has no moving parts; once installed you can just forget its there. “It’s priced at US$439.95, and is claimed to offer a return on investment ranging from 17 to 43 percent per year – based on the energy costs in various American cities.” Or in other words, you’ll be able to shower for about 33% longer while using the same amount of power you would have without the EcoDrain. | <urn:uuid:ee33390f-3073-455f-81b0-7d62c35b13d9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ohgizmo.com/tag/home-improvement/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00133-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957291 | 254 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Smart Renewable Energy on Public Lands
Guest post by Hayley Connolly-Newman
Earlier this month, the EPA issued guidelines which would reduce coal generated power in each state by 6 percent over the next 15 years. This would give states the opportunity to reduce carbon emission amounts by choosing from other types of energy such as natural gas or renewable resources to improve their energy efficiency. In Montana, wind energy is set to play a role in achieving these new standards. Wind energy production has steadily grown in Montana over the last decade. A recently published economic report says Montana will support roughly 4,000 renewable energy jobs in the next 20 years.There is no question that wind farms have an impact on the landscape. But what if there was a way to mitigate the effects renewable development has on public lands, while identifying areas with low impact and high renewable energy potential?
The Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act does just that. Introduced by Sen. Jon Tester, with support from Senator Walsh and Representative Daines, along with most of the western delegation, the bill streamlines wind and solar permitting on public lands. The bill also creates a revenue share that is distributed between the state, county, and conservation projects in the region. As an organizer, I’m often asked what this means on the ground. What kind of restoration projects would get funded? How would it affect the surrounding region?The list of habitat restoration, improvement, preservation, and access projects around the state of Montana is daunting. Many of these projects require multiple years of management and a long-term source of funding. An example of this is along the hi-line in northern Montana. In many areas along the hi-line, the prolific seeding of crested wheat grass has overlapped with sage grouse habitat. Although not considered an invasive species, crested wheat grass is a non-native species, and is typically used by land managers for soil stabilization and control over more invasive species. The same characteristics that make it a good choice for range managers create a mono-crop in the system, and can displace native species and reduce overall species diversity. Historically the area had been prime sage grouse habitat, but decades of farming degraded much of the habitat from sage brush prairie to mono-crop grasslands. Sage grouse cannot thrive in homogeneous stands of a single plant species. Wildlife managers have started small scale sagebrush restoration projects, but there are thousands of acres that still need to be returned to a more diverse array of native grassland species.
Renewable energy on public land will not only help Montana reduce carbon emissions, but restore and maintain public lands, create jobs, and ensure our energy security into the future.
Please urge your delegation to move this important piece of legislation forward towards a hearing. Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Senator’s office. Ask to speak to the member of the staff who works on environmental, agricultural or appropriations issues. Tell them you would like to see the Public Lands Renewable Development Act get the hearing it deserves!
About the Author
Hayley was recently hired by National Wildlife Federation to help organize smart development of renewable energy on public lands in Montana. She received her M.S. from University of Montana focusing on road ecology and wildlife habitat corridors. In her spare time she can usually be found outside, whether it be exploring the mountains on horseback or perfecting her cast on one of Montana’s many scenic rivers. | <urn:uuid:4ff7c485-fd3e-4add-b1b3-7f68ab0f9a37> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.nwf.org/2014/07/smart-renewable-energy-on-public-lands/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00115-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955917 | 709 | 2.875 | 3 |
The demographics of health issues are similar to other rural areas, where there are higher numbers of elderly. In 2007, persons over 65 composed 21.4% of the island population while it was 11.7% in Washington State (Bureau, 2009). In 2007, the average life expectancy at birth was higher in San Juan County than the state average, especially for men. In the state, the average life expectancy in 2007 for both sexes was 80 years, for San Juan County residents total life expectancy at birth was 84 years. In the County, women were expected to live 85 years, while men were expected to live 83 years. In Washington State, women were expected to live 82 years and men were expected to live 77 years. In the United States in 2006, (2007 data is not yet available,) life expectancy at birth for females was 80 years and life expectancy at birth for males was 75 years. Total life expectancy reached a record high of 78 years in 2006. San Juan County’s 2007 age-adjusted death rate was 514 deaths per 100,000 population. This was a significantly lower overall mortality rate than Washington State 724/100,000 and the United States 776/100,000. According to the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics , age-adjusted death rates continue to decline significantly in Western countries over the last ten years, which matches the trend in San JuanCounty, as well. At the same time the death rate is decreasing, life expectancies are hitting record highs. In addition, death rates for 8 of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States all dropped significantly in 2006, including a very sharp drop in mortality from influenza and pneumoniaOver the last ten years Major Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer have been the leading causes of death in San Juan County, with a shift only in recent years to cancer as the more common cause of death. The third leading cause of death varies from year to year as our number of events are so small, one event changes the rank order when there are only 2 or 3 occurrences.ALL CANCER DEATHS-Malignant Neoplasms (MNP) : San Juan County has had a variable cancer death rate, without a significant trend, but that rate has been consistently lower than the state rate. In 2007 there were 36 cancer -caused deaths in San Juan County for a rate of 145 deaths per 100,000 age-adjusted population. At the state level there were 11,525 cancer deaths for a rate of 179 deaths per 100,000. The United States estimated total number of all cancer deaths for 2007 is 559,650 and there were 559,888 deaths in 2006 for a rate of 187 deaths per 100,000 age-adjusted population. These incidences resulted in cancer becoming the #2 cause of death in the United States in 2006. Because cigarette smoking is responsible for approximately 85% of lung cancer deaths, tobacco use and exposure remain the most common risk factors associated with death from lung cancer. Smoking prevention and cessation are the most important interventions for reducing lung cancer.Although mortality rates are declining, lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death among men and women in Washington State. Lung cancer death estimates for the United States are 160,390 deaths (2007). Washington State 3,172 deaths (2007) and 7 deaths in San Juan County (2007). The State 2006 age adjusted mortality rate was 49 deaths per 100,00 people, down 7.8% from 2000. The 2006 rate for males was 60 deaths per 100,000 men. The rate for females was 42 deaths per 100,000, which is an increased rate from years prior to 2000 . While rates for men in Washington have dropped 3.2% per year since 1993, rates for women have continued to increase 1.3% per year since 1990.The 2006 San Juan County age-adjusted incidence rate for cancer cases was 30 per 100,000 people, up 18% from the 2003-2005 period. The rate for females in 2006 was 16 cases per 100,000. The rate for males in 2006 was 46 cases per 100,000 . Rates in San Juan County can fluctuate widely due to our small population size. The 2006 San Juan County age-adjusted mortality rate was 37 deaths per 100,000 people, up 18.23% from the 2003-2005 period. The mortality rate for females was 33 per 100,000 in 2006, up 19% form the 2003-1005 period. The rate for males in 2006 was 38 per 100,000, up 18% from the 2003-2005 period. For the most part, variations in lung cancer incidence and death were consistent with smoking patterns among the different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. While interest in early detection of lung cancer through screening has been growing, studies indicate that even when screening identifies lung cancer in an early stage, there is no reduction in mortality.In 2006,Washington State had a rate of 12 per 100,000 for intentional self-harm, while San Juan County had a rate of 11. Intentional self-harm included cut/pierce, firearm, poisoning, suffocation and obstructing actions. This statistic over time shows from 2002-2006 that San Juan County had 12 deaths from suicides and 27 hospitalizations from suicide attempts. These numbers of suicidal actions are significant in our small populationbase as there were 26 deaths from all types of unintentional injuries over the same time period. The most prevalent cause of death by suicide in San Juan County was by firearm among 45-54 year olds.Unintentional injury is the leading cause of hospitalizations in San Juan County and the third most prevalent cause of death in the county (2006). In Washington State it is the 5th leading cause of death and in the United States the 4th leading cause of death (2006). The issue of unintentional injuries is important as unintentional injuries are events we can impact by our personal choices, community behaviors and infrastructure. Included in this category are motor vehicle crashes, drowning, falls, burns, suffocation and poisoning. Unintentional poisoning is a broad category that includes ingesting too much of any substance, like alcohol or pain medication.Access: Like other rural communities, access to health care clinics is a major issue for the island population. Unlike other communities, San Juan County posses a unique access problem due to geography with limited transportation across waterways. Health insurance coverage is critically important for obtaining access to health care. Almost all people aged 65 years and older have health insurance coverage through the Medicare program. The majority of persons under age 65 have private employer-sponsored group health insurance or some other type of coverage. The Centersfor Disease Control and Prevention estimated in 2007 that there were 43 million uninsured Americans, resulting in 16% of the total population. The percent of persons with private insurance was estimated at 67% and 13% were insured thorough Medicaid or other types of public coverage, and 16% were uninsured. The CDC also estimated 8.9% of children under age 18 were uninsured. In 2007, 60% of children under age 18 had private insurance with 33% having a public health plan type of coverage. The percent of uninsured persons has increased in both the county and state since 2000.Persons without health insurance coverage were for30% for adults and children under18 without health insurance coverage were in 2006. Four of every five adults ages 18 and older had a health care provider in 2006. In 2006, about 96% of Washington children had insurance, which included Medicaid. For the population ages 65 and older, insurance covered more than 99% of Washingtonians, due mainly to Medicare. The most critical insurance gap was for adults ages 18-64, among whom only 87% reported having insurance when interviewed in 2006. All together, nearly 600,000 Washington residents were uninsured at that time. San Juan County residents report higher numbers of people than both Washington State and the United States who need to see a doctor within the past year but could not due to cost. Adult health behaviorsThe 2006 San Juan County percentage of the population who reported binge drinking was 17%, higher than both the national and state figures. About 90% of the alcohol consumed by youth under the age of 21 years in the United States is in the form of binge drinking. Alcohol is implicated in nearly a third of youth fatalities and recent research shows that alcohol can affect the developing adolescent brain. Binge drinkers are 14 times more likely to report alcohol-impaired driving than non binge drinkers. Binge drinking is associated with many health problems, including but not limited to; unintentional injuries (e.g. car crashes, falls, burns, drowning) and intentional injuries such as firearm injuries, sexual assault, and domestic violence. Alcohol poisoning , unintended pregnancies, and sexually transmitted disease prevalence increase from the effects of binge drinking as well.A Draft Summary of San Juan County Public Health Indicators (2008). Personal communication.
Dental: Total tooth loss is more prevalent among the elderly. Loosing six or more teeth leads to inadequacy of oral functioning, such as chewing and speaking. In Washington in 2004 and 2006 combined, 5% of adults ages 35-44 years and 38% of seniors 65 years and older had lost six or more teeth. Despite improvements in partial and complete tooth loss, disparities remain among older adults, non-whites, people of Hispanic origin, smokers, and low-income groups. San Juan County residents had a lower percentage of its population (67%) visit a dentist within the past year(2006) than both Washington State (72%) and the United States(70%).Environmental:The on-site sewage program protects public health by regulating the treatment and disposal of human sewage in a manner that minimizes the potential for public exposure and detrimental impacts to ground water, surface water, shellfish and ground surfaces. Diseases that spread through contact with untreated or inadequately treated sewage are many and are well documented. They include, but are not limited to, shigellosis, poliomyelitis, infestations with various round and flat worms, cholera, typhoid, bacillary dysentery and amoebic dysentery, cholera, typhoid fever, giardiasis, and Hepatitis A. Public health and environmental protection officials acknowledge that onsite systems are not just temporary installations that will be replaced eventually by centralized sewage treatment services, but permanent approaches to treating wastewater for release and reuse in the environment. The Environmental Health Department regulations provide for the proper location, design, installation operation, maintenance, and monitoring of on-site septic systems. Most exposures to sewage occur after a septic system fails. One way to measure our success in preventing exposures is the percent of identified failures with corrective action initiated within 2 weeks. In 2008, San Juan County had a 100% failure correction rate.Woman’s health:From the period 2003-2005 San Juan County averaged 77% of its women receiving first trimester prenatal care.A Draft Summary of San Juan County Public Health Indicators (2008). Personal communication.
This rural health project in San Juan County, Washington will focus on smoking cessation in the elderly using Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), health care provider (HCP) counseling and follow up telephone contact. Tobacco use is responsible for more than 430,000 deaths/ year and is the largest cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States (CDC,ND). Long term smoking leads to multiple chronic health problems such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), recurrent respiratory infections, pneumonia, heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, oxygen dependence and frequent hospitalizations. Management of chronic illness generates substantial health care cost to the HC system. The Chronic Care Model (CCM) provides a framework by which smoking cessation interventions can be utilized by HCPs managing elderly with limited health care access.
The Community Guide, what works to promote health recommends several proven interventions for smoking cessation such as provider reminder systems, provider reminder systems with education, reducing out of pocket cost for cessation therapies and multi-component interventions that include telephone support (CommunityGuide, 2009). The CDC and Surgeon General (2008) developed recent evidence based guidelines for smoking cessation in the elderly. Researchers from Brandeis University (2002) identified several barriers to implementing a CCM model to promote smoking cessation. Reductions in state spending on tobacco-related projects could discourage implementation of innovative treatment models. They felt that in the absence of state-supported programs, integration of tobacco treatment into primary care practice is extremely important. Without outreach to practice sites, promulgation of the CCM and ongoing technical support that self-generated practice site changes is unlikely.Using the CCM and the 5A’s in San Juan County for smoking cessation in the elderly, can be an effective and sustainable treatment approach. The model does not solely rely on PCPs to provide smoking cessation counseling and telephone contact rather all members of the HC team and the community can provide ongoing support and resources to the individual attempting to quit. One advantage to living in a small community is that everyone knows the individuals who smoke, so support by all members of the community can provide encouragement for sustainable smoking abstinence. The community pharmacists are compassionate about their work and can provide NRT at a low cost to their patrons.
Smoking cessation project for elderly in San Juan County fits with the Chronic Care Model (CCM), for the following reasons: (a) the characteristics of this community are different from others which require special assessment and (b) smoking cessation should be approached with multi-component interventions. Based on the CCM, community resources are free cessation counseling provided by Washington State Quit Line (1-877-270-STOP), and San Juan County have private physicians. Recommended private physicians for smoking cessation are: SAN JUAN HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATES 378-1338INTER ISLAND MEDICAL CENTER 378-2141ORCAS ISLAND MEDICAL CENTER 376-2561LOPEZ ISLAND MEDICAL CLINIC 468-2245Community policies can be described as encouragement of smoke free restaurants. They are listed in the Health & Community Services website.http://www.sanjuanco.com/health/tobacco1.aspx?page=svces2 Providing telephone counseling for the elderly smokers will fall into self-management Support. The County has been trying to build more cell phone towers. It can aid the delivery system by providing more areas with cell phone access. Health and Community Services have ‘Tobacco Prevention and Cessation’ program, and provide various information. This can be a decision support. The link to the website is http://www.sanjuanco.com/health/tobacco1.aspx?page=links2Clinical information systems will be the database of participants who called for the telephone counseling.
One study looked at characteristics of older smokers, evaluated the effectiveness of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), identified predictors of those who successfully quit, and evaluated the effectiveness of intervention in those aged >or =75 years (Tait, Hulse, & Waterreus,A. et al. 2007) . There were 165 intervention subjects compared to 50 continuing smokers. Those in the intervention group were younger, had smoked less number of years, greater nicotine dependence scores and had more previous quit attempts. At six months 20 % remained abstinent. Those who used NRT were male, had higher anxiety scores, and quit due to more frequent colds and coughs. Those >=75 years matched cessation criteria. They concluded that older smokers engaged in a brief HCP counseling and provision of NRT can quit smoking.
In another study, the New York State HD and Roswell Park Cancer Institute evaluated the effectiveness of a large-scaled distribution program of free nicotine patches (Miller, Frieden, Liu, S. et al. (2005) . They found the stop rate was 20% among NRT recipients and 6038 successful quits were attributable to NRT at a cost of $ 464/quit. They concluded that easy access to cessation medication for diverse populations may help smokers quit. Free or low cost access to NRT and counseling by a HCP can promote smoking cessation in the elderly. Lightwood and Glantz (1997) they found that creating a new nonsmoker reduces anticipated medical costs associated with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke by $47 in the first year and by $853 during the next 7 years (discounting 2.5% per year). They concluded that primary prevention of smoking among teenagers is important, but reducing adult smoking pays more immediate dividends, both in terms of health improvements and cost savings.
In San Juan county there are higher numbers of elderly > 65 years 21.4% (State,11.7%), whose averagelife expectancy is 80 years. These individual depend on a fixed income and are dependent on Medicare for HC insurance. 30 % of adults in SJ county lack HC insurance. There a insufficient numbers of HCPs to meet the needs of this county. As the elderly age there will be an increased incidence of chronic illness. There is a 18.2 % increase in lung CA. Tobacco abuse to contributes to 85% of cancer deaths. 26 % of SJ county residents have no HCP. Tobacco use is preventable. Using the chronic care model, this project proposes to use a multi-pronged approach to tobacco cessation in the elderly; providing NRT at a low cost, encouraging all members of the HC team to counsel their patients, phone contact, the patient and community involvement.
San Juan County Health Project
San Juan County Rural HealthProjectSmoking Cessation in the Elderly<br />Chiyoung Cha PhC MN RN <br />Kristi Vaughn DNPC ARNP MN RN <br />UCONJ 501B<br />School of Nursing<br />University of Washington<br />
Table of Contents<br />Introduction<br />Demographics<br />Rural designation<br />Health issues<br />Elderly population<br />Access<br />Geographical<br />HCPs<br />Adult Health Behaviors<br />Tobacco abuse<br />Binge Drinking<br />Dental<br />Environmental<br />Woman’s Health<br />HCP communication<br />Access<br />Insurance<br />Tobacco use in SJ CO<br />Intervention Challenges<br />The Chronic Care Model<br />Evidence-based Interventions<br />NRT/ HCP counseling<br />Follow up telephone contact<br />Evidence base research<br />Mental Health services<br />Conclusion<br />References<br />
Health issues<br />Dental <br />33 % no dental visits (State, 28%)<br />Environmental<br />Increased waste facilities<br />Sewage 100% failure correction rate<br />Women’s health <br />low rate prenatal care 77% (State, 80%)<br />Breast CA screening rate 74% (State, 79%)<br />
Health Issues identified by SJ CO HCPs<br />(Personal communication)<br />Access<br />Geographical barrier<br />Limited HCPs<br />Aging work force<br />Low/slow pay<br />Rural HC overhead costs<br />No critical access hospital<br />Insurance<br />Poor reimbursement<br />Uninsured/ under insured<br />HCPs overworked/ no relief from locum tenums<br />Economic<br />Unemployment<br />Fixed income<br />Increased cost prescription drugs<br />SJ CO Health Care Providers<br />
Tobacco & Cancer Stats<br />514 deaths/100,000 <br /> population <br />(State, 724/100,000)<br />36 cancer related <br /> deaths 145/100,000<br />(State, 179 deaths/100,000)<br />7 deaths lung CA 2007<br />18% increase <br />compared to 2003-2005<br />1,900 adult smokers<br />200 smokeless tobacco<br />
NRT & HCP counseling<br />Rationale: Effective for elderly<br />Community Resources: <br />Partnerships w/community agencies<br />Free or Low cost NRT; reduce out of pocket $ for<br />cessation therapies<br />Health systems:<br />Self-management support: emphasis patient’s central role, 5A’s<br />Decision Support:multi-component interventions, <br />evidence-based guidelines, proven HCP education <br />Delivery system design: all HCPs & community involved, intense follow up<br />Clinical information system: provider reminder <br />systems w/education, ID individual smokers<br />
Rationale: Limited access to care, geographically isolated area, low cost<br />Telephone cessation support<br />Community<br />Resources: Private physicians, Free cessation counseling, Telepsychiatry service which was proven to be effective (funded through April, 2010)<br />Policies: Encourage smoke free restaurants<br />Health systems<br />Self-management support: Telephone cessation program<br />Decision Support: Health & Community Services <br />Delivery system design: County’s effort to build new cell phone towers<br />Clinical information system: Participants<br />
NRT & Counseling<br />Tait, Hulse, Waterreus, et al. (2007) <br />ID success predictors<br />Effectiveness aged >or =75 years<br />165 intervention subjects vs. 50 smokers<br />intervention group younger<br />smoked fewer years<br />>nicotine dependence scores<br />>previous quit attempts. <br />6 months 20 % abstinent<br />NRT use<br />Male<br />higher anxiety scores<br />quit due to more frequent colds & coughs<br /> >=75 years matched cessation criteria.<br />Conclusion: older smokers brief HCP <br /> counseling & NRT can quit smoking. <br />
NRT Access & Cost<br />Miller, Frieden, Liu, S. et al. (2005) <br />New York State HD & Roswell Park Cancer Institute <br />Effectiveness large-scaled distribution program <br />free nicotine patches<br />Stop rate 20% NRT recipients<br />6038 successful quits attributable NRT<br />Cost $464/quit<br />Conclusion:<br />easy access cessation medication diverse populations may help smokers quit<br />Free or low cost access NRT & counseling by a HCP can <br /> promote smoking cessation in the elderly<br />Lightwood & Glantz (1997) <br />new nonsmoker reduces medical costs associated AMI & CVA<br />$47 1st yr<br />$853 next 7 years <br />Primary prevention adult smoking pays immediate dividends<br />Health improvement & cost savings<br />
Conclusion<br />Elderly population<br />Increased life expectancy<br />Increased # adult smokers<br />Increased prevalence lung CA & other tobacco related illness<br />Access<br />Geographical barriers<br />decreased # HCPs<br />limited Insurance; Medicare, uninsured<br />fixed income<br />Chronic Care Model<br />Utilizes all members HC team <br />Solutions<br />NRT<br />Counseling<br />Telephone contact<br />Community participation<br />
Questions to our colleagues<br />A. Are there other formats available at a low <br />cost to provide NRT? <br />B. Who else would benefit from this information? <br />Q & A<br />
References<br />A Draft Summary of San Juan County Public Health Indicators (2008). Personal communication. <br />Brandeis University (2002). Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence as a Chronic Disease: A Planning Guide for Practice Sites in Developing an Office-Based System of Care. Retrieved on 8/1/2009 from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/treating_tobacco_use.pdf<br />Bureau, U. S. C. (2009). State & County Quick Facts: San Juan County, Washington Retrieved 6/30/09, from http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/53/53055.html<br />CDC & Surgeon General (2008). Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: 2008 update retrieved on 7/30/09 from http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/ <br />CDC. (ND). Smoking and Tobacco: Fast Facts. Retrieved 7/10/2009, from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm#facts<br />CityData. (2009). San Juan County, Washington (WA). Retrieved 07/08, 2009, from http://www.city-data.com/county/San_Juan_County-WA.html<br />CommunityGuide. (2009). Tobacco use. Retrieved 7/10/2009 from http://www.thecommunityguide.org/tobacco/index.html<br />Hung D. Y., & Shelly, D.R. (2009). Multilevel analysis of the chronic care model and 5A services for treating tobacco use in urban primary care clinics. HSR: Health Services Research, 44(1), 103-127.<br />
Manning, J. T., & James, F. (2009). The health of San Juan County. Friday Harbor, WA: Health and Community Serviceso. Document Number)<br />Miller,N., Frieden, T.R., Liu, S. et al.(2005).Effectiveness of a large-scale distribution programme of free nicotine patches: a prospective evaluation Lancet,365, 1849-54. <br />OFM. (2008). San Juan County Profile. from http://www.ofm.wa.gov/databook/county/sanj.asp#top<br />SJCWMC. (Date unknown). San Juan County characterization report. Retrieved 07/08/09, from http://www.sanjuanco.com/health/wtrshdpln/part2chap2.html<br />Tait, R.J., Hulse, G.KL., & Waterreus,A. et al. (2007)Effectiveness of a smoking cessation intervention in older adults Addiction, 102,148-55 <br />Wikipedia. (2009). San Juan County, Washington. Retrieved 6/30/09, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_County,_Washington<br />WSDH. (2007). Tobacco and health in Washington State- County profiles of tobacco use. Retrieved 7/10/2009, from http://www.doh.wa.gov/tobacco/data_evaluation/Data/County_profiles/2007/sanj_profile07.pdf<br />WSDH. (2009a). Guidelines For Using Rural-Urban Classification Systems for Public Health Assessment. Retrieved 06/26/09, from http://www.doh.wa.gov/data/Guidelines/RuralUrban.htm#classcounty<br />WSDH. (2009b). San Juan County Tobacco use statistics. Retrieved 7/10/2009, <br /> | <urn:uuid:9c747e26-a586-4de1-b2f9-520d7ca30fe0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.slideshare.net/guestf21450b/san-juan-county-health-project | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900854 | 5,727 | 2.78125 | 3 |
If the stressful situation is very intense or continues over a period of time,
the adrenal cortex becomes increasingly involved in the stress reaction. The
activity of the cortex is largely controlled by blood levels of
adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH, which is released by the anterior pituitary
gland. When information about sustained stress has been "processed" by the
central nervous system, a whole range of new bodily responses occurs, and it is
these longer-term reactions that can adversely affect the quality of life.
In general terms, the psychological reaction to stress takes the
- The initial fight-or-flight reaction is accompanied by emotions such as
anxiety or fear.
- Individual ways of coping are activated as we attempt to find a way of
dealing with the harmful or unpleasant situation.
- If the coping strategies are successful, the fight-or-flight reaction and the
anxiety state subside.
- If the coping strategies fail and the stress situation continues, a range of
psychological reactions, including depression and withdrawal, may occur.
The implication is that the consequences of failing to cope can be serious, and
it is therefore important that we develop our own ways of adapting to and
successfully dealing with stressful situations.
Research about how we cope suggests two broad categories of coping strategies.
The first involves attempts to change our unsatisfactory relationship with the
environment. Examples of this category would be:
The second category of response research involves "palliative"
strategies that attempt to soften the impact of the stress once it has
occurred. Examples of this category include:
- Escaping from the unpleasant situation-not always possible!
- Preparing ourselves for situations that we anticipate will be stressful. This
might involve thinking ahead of time about the situation and its likely impact,
thereby preparing ourselves adequately for the event; or it might involve some
actual work - for example, studying for an exam, instead of just worrying about
- Denial, by which we refuse to acknowledge all or some of the threat in the
- Intellectualization, by which we detach ourselves emotionally from the
Both of these strategies serve to protect us and help us maintain a reasonable
equilibrium through difficult times, but there is always the danger that such
strategies may make it more difficult for us to resolve a problem and may
become established as part of our psychological makeup.
Other coping strategies, including various relaxation techniques, may be
appropriate in some or all cases. However, the use of such strategies may delay
the direct reaction that we need to solve the problem that is causing the
stress. This is also true of another, particularly destructive way of coping:
escaping via the use of alcohol, tranquilizers, or other drugs.
There are some stresses for which no clear solution exists, for example, caring
for the chronically ill - and in such situations softening the impact of stress
may be the only way for us to cope. If stress is long-term or particularly
severe, marked emotional changes may take place. If the coping strategies we
employ don't work, we may regard the situation as one for which there is no
solution and increasingly see ourselves as unable to control the events of our
lives. Hopelessness and helplessness are both likely to give rise to feelings
of depression, and may even lead to suicidal thoughts. Following the stress of
chronic illness, for example, patients may literally give up hope. If this
occurs, they may become not only emotionally disturbed but also more vulnerable
to further physical illness. | <urn:uuid:5ca4201f-aa46-491c-9983-f565691c2d04> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.healthy.net/Health/Article/Stress/1609/3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398873.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00086-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93401 | 752 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Like me, you’ve probably been following the remarkable story of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani student targeted by the Taliban because of her efforts to promote girls’ education. On her sixteenth birthday, July 12—celebrated worldwide as “Malala Day”—a still-healing Yousafzai delivered a moving speech at the United Nations. “One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world,” she said. “Education is the only solution.”
While Yousafzai’s story has become an inspiration for activists worldwide, it also illustrates the challenges still facing girls in her home country. According to UNESCO, only 65 percent of girls in Pakistan attend primary school; by secondary school, that number drops to 29 percent. There are many reasons why: crowded classes, outdated teaching methods, and poor quality, even dangerous, school buildings. Parents are reluctant to send their daughters to schools without sanitation facilities, and many view early marriage as a higher priority for their daughters than education. The catastrophic floods of 2010 also destroyed many rural schools, leaving poor families with fewer options to educate their kids.
Oxfam is working in Pakistan to ensure that all children have access to an education, particularly girls living in rural poverty. Since 2006, Oxfam’s girls’ education program has been constructing model schools, which successfully withstood the floods. Today, Oxfam and local partners are renovating schools damaged by flooding, while working with district governments to replicate this model throughout affected provinces.
Earlier this year, Oxfam’s Georgette Thomas traveled to Pakistan to meet students and teachers at a school Oxfam rebuilt in Sindh province. Read their stories in their own words below.
Shazia Bhatti, student, age 11
“The old school was small, no water, very hot, and it was not very clean – it wasn’t nice to go there … But now there is a new school there will be more space to study. I want to learn and increase my knowledge; my father says if I study I can have a better life.
“There are lots of advantages to having an education but a lot of boys and girls cannot read or write. Girls and boys should get equal education.”
Naseeban Chandio, student, age 9
“I want to study to be a teacher because there is not a teacher in my village. Many of my friends in my village do not come as it is too far. [Her family lives about 15 minutes’ walk from the school.] … If I am not at school I have to work at home. They ask me to sew, cook or work in the fields. My mother says I have to both work (in the home) and study hard.
“I like to play with my friends, we chat a lot and tease each other, take each other’s books away. My teacher tells me off for talking!”
Hameeda Bano Bhatti, teacher
“We have a responsibility to motivate and mobilize children to come to school. It will give them respect and a good future,” said Bhatti, who teaches Sindhi, English, social studies, math and science.
“The [renovated school] will make a big difference to the girls – they can be taught separately away from boys and there is more space for different classes. They can also play and have entertainment in a safe area protected by a wall. Before the schools were open so they couldn’t play during breaks.”
Safia Bhatti, assistant teacher
“The salary [from teaching] is helping me to contribute to my family, I can buy clothes for me and my child — I have one baby who is seven months [old]. I have hopes that my daughter will get even better education than me, that she grows up and wants to be an engineer or doctor.”
Amna Khatto Brohi, student, age 9
“Our school was destroyed when the floods came, our studies were stopped and we moved to joined rooms. Then we got a small building but my father was afraid to send me there because it wasn’t secure. He said that boys are not good. He said that I could go back to school when a new school was built.
“I was disappointed when my father stopped me but now I am happy, they have built a new school and I am allowed to go … It is important I am being taught. I will go to school so that I will be able to teach other young girls so they have better lives.” | <urn:uuid:dbee88f8-0daa-42bc-b69c-3f683a5472ef> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://firstperson.oxfamamerica.org/2013/07/beyond-malala-five-stories-of-girls-education-in-pakistan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00130-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981044 | 975 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Show Number 908
How Do Toys Work?
When the Slinky's inventor Richard James, a naval engineer, and his wife decided to demonstrate their new toy at Gimbels Department Store in Philadelphia in the early 1940s, they feared that no one would buy it because it was so simple. They were so worried they gave a close friend a dollar to buy one. An hour and a half after the first demonstration, they had sold a total of 400 Slinkys!
The Slinky, whose design has been modified only once to crimp the ends for safety, remains the same today as it did at Gimbels. Not only is the Slinky an excellent toy, its action also demonstrates a variety of physical forces and principles.
The Slinky, like all objects, tends to resist change in its motion. Because of this inertia, if it were placed at the top of the stairs it would stay at rest without moving at all. At this point it has potential or stored energy. But once it is started down the stairs and gravity affects it, the potential energy is converted to the energy of motion or kinetic energy and the Slinky gracefully tumbles coil by coil down the stairs.
The physical properties of the slinky determine how quickly it moves under the influence of gravity. Although its movement may look simple, from a scientific point of view the motion is quite complex. As the slinky moves down the steps, energy is transferred along its length in a longitudinal or compressional wave, which resembles a sound wave that travels through a substance by transferring a pulse of energy to the next molecule. How quickly the wave moves depends on the spring constant and the mass of the metal. Other factors, such as the length of the slinky, the diameter of the coils and the height of the step must be considered to completely understand why a slinky moves as it does.
James originally developed the Slinky for the Navy as an anti-vibration device for ship instruments. When the Slinky failed to work for the Navy, it became one of the most successful toys of all time!
Longitudinal Wave--A wave in which the vibration is in the same direction as that in which the wave is traveling, rather than at right angles to it. Sound waves are longitudinal waves.
Transverse Wave--A wave in which the vibration is at right angles to the direction in which the wave is traveling. Waves in the stretched strings of musical instruments, upon the surfaces of liquids, and the electromagnetic waves which make up radio waves and light are transverse.
Inertia--A property, or quality, that tends to keep objects in motion in a straight line, or to keep objects at rest motionless, unless either one is acted upon by an outside force.
Friction--The force that acts when two surfaces rub against each other. Friction always acts to slow movement and if no other force is applied, it will bring motion to a stop.
Let 'em Roll
Find out how you can convert potential energy into kinetic energy!
You can overcome an object's inertia and watch physical forces act on it as it moves. You will also be able to create energy transfers.
1. Slip the rubber band through the hole of the empty spool.
2. Attach the end of the rubber band to the end of the spool with the tack or pin.
3. Pull the loose end of the rubber band through the metal washer.
4. Slip the match stick through the open end of the rubber band. Wind the rubber band around the match stick several times until there is no slack left in the rubber band.
5. Let go of the match stick and watch what happens!
1. Does the number of twists in the rubber band affect how far the model goes? What would happen if you used a longer rubber band?
2. Can you modify the design of your toy so that it can travel faster? Could you design it to go around corners?
3. What happens if you run the toy on a sloped surface? Does this affect the speed of the toy?
Collect as many dominoes as you can. Line them up in some creative patterns. Push the first domino to start a chain reaction of falling dominoes. How is the energy transfer similar to the operation of a Slinky? Can you find information about domino competitions? Draw some examples of the elaborate designs used in these competitions.
Select five of your favorite toys. These might include yoyos, hula hoops, roller skates, tops, marbles or any toy balls. The Slinky is an example of energy moving along a spring, but other toys transfer momentum from one object to another. Experiment with the motion of each and examine how potential energy is converted into kinetic energy.
United States soldiers who used radios during combat in Vietnam tossed the Slinky into trees to act as a makeshift antenna. Pecan harvesters used the Slinky to help collect the pecans and increase production. How do you think they did it? Find other ways Slinkys have been used by industry. What uses can you find for your Slinky?
With your hands held horizontally, hold each end of the Slinky so that it forms an arch. Move one of your hands up. What happens to the coils of the Slinky? If you repeat that action but quickly return your hand to its original position the coils move very quickly. How do the connections from one coil to another affect the speed a Slinky moves?
Tapes of this episode of Newton's Apple and others are available
from GPN for only $24.95.
Please call 1-800-228-4630.
For information on other Newton's Apple resources for home and school,
please call 1-800-588-NEWTON!
WE ENCOURAGE DUPLICATION FOR EDUCATIONAL USE!
Educational materials developed with the National Science Teachers Association. | <urn:uuid:49d9ccb6-715e-4b84-a29b-7ddbf8eea082> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.reachoutmichigan.org/funexperiments/agesubject/lessons/newton/slink.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942088 | 1,223 | 4.03125 | 4 |
Biologist Seeks Wolves' Return to Rockies
ALBUQUERQUE − A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist says returning wolves to the Rocky Mountains is "a chance to undo a great wrong" done when wolves were exterminated from about 98 percent of their range by the mid-1900s.
Steve Fritts said he believes the region from northern New Mexico stretching into Colorado and Wyoming could support wolves. Recent scientific studies by the federal government and independent groups suggest it could support as many as 1,100 wolves. About 60 percent of the 108,000-square-mile area is public land.
No proposals to reintroduce wolves to the region are currently under consideration, and it would be months before a formal recovery plan could be made. Gray wolves are an endangered species in the region.
Still, the idea of reintroducing the predators was a hot topic for conservationists, biologists and wildlife managers gathered this week in Albuquerque to celebrate a decade of gray wolf recovery efforts in the northern Rocky Mountains. The event, "Expanding Partnerships in Carnivore Conservation," was sponsored by Defenders of Wildlife.
Recent studies suggest wolves could return to the southern Rockies.
"I think there would be room for a population 20, 40, 60 years from now," Michael Phillips, who co-wrote a report analyzing the potential for reintroducing gray wolves in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico, said in an interview from Bozeman, Mont.
Phillips, executive director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund, said the report is centered around Ted Turner's Vermejo Park Ranch on the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
The study, using computer modeling, was done to see if putting wolves back into the wild in key locations could help regional recovery efforts by returning the animals more quickly and with greater viability than by them expanding their ranges naturally.
A panel of experts involved in restoring wolves to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Montana said the effort has been successful. Some 66 wolves were released in 1995 in Yellowstone and central Idaho, and the numbers have grown to more than 700.
"It is quite an accomplishment," said Doug Smith, lead biologist for the Yellowstone effort.
Smith said wolves are a "much maligned carnivore" which have gotten a "bad rap throughout history."
Wolves are back in the northern Rockies and Yellowstone because people wanted them, he said.
Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife, said reintroducing wolves has meant economic benefits through increased tourism to Yellowstone and more balance between prey and predator, spurring a greater diversity of both animal and plant life.
Source: Associated Press | <urn:uuid:3952f446-c7d0-4461-bafd-e76f46e0e7e1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.enn.com/wildlife/article/385/print | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964644 | 542 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Here’s another entry to add to our list of contagious behaviors (which currently includes yawning and driving like an old person): sniffing. In this study, the researchers had participants sit in an “odor clean room” and watch the movie Perfume, which contains “28 movie sniff events (MSEs) where a character takes a sniff” in the first 60 minutes of the film. While the movie was playing, the researchers measured how often the subjects sniffed within 7 seconds of hearing and/or seeing a sniff in the movie compared to all other sniffing. They found that the subjects sniffed along with the characters in the movie, and especially when the sniff was heard without seeing what was being sniffed. The authors speculate that this mirror sniffing could be an evolutionary adaptation, because when you see someone else sniff, “there is ‘something important in the air,’ and we better find out what it is.” Sniff-ty!
“Ample evidence suggests that social chemosignaling plays a significant role in human behavior. Processing of odors and chemosignals depends on sniffing. Given this, we hypothesized that humans may have evolved an automatic mechanism driving sniffs in response to conspecific sniffing. To test this, we measured sniffing behavior of human subjects watching the movie Perfume, which contains many olfactory sniffing events. Despite the total absence of odor, observers sniffed when characters in the movie sniffed. Moreover, this effect was most pronounced in scenes where subjects heard the sniff but did not see the sniffed-at object. We liken this response to the orienting towards conspecific gaze in vision and argue that its robustness further highlights the significance of olfactory information processing in human behavior.”
Flashback Friday: Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?
Flashback Friday: Study proves “old person smell” is real.
NCBI ROFL: Men without a sense of smell exhibit a strongly reduced number of sexual relationships. | <urn:uuid:19de4075-66b2-466e-aa46-99f5ef98a29e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/seriouslyscience/2014/07/30/apparently-sniffing-contagious/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00140-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953602 | 428 | 2.96875 | 3 |
This brings us rather neatly to an explanation of the Foveon X3 sensor, which has some fundamental differences to conventional CCD or CMOS image sensors. Although it still relies on the photoelectric properties of semiconductors, in this case each photocell actually has three semiconductor receptors, buried at different and precisely calculated depths in the silicon wafer.
As it turns out, when light passes through silicon, different frequencies penetrate to different depths. By having thee separate sensors set at the right depths, each photocell site can detect red, blue and green light simultaneously, so there is no need for the Bayer filter and the demosaicing and interpolation required to produce a final image. In theory, the Foveon sensor can produce much sharper, more detailed pictures with more accurate colour reproduction than conventional Bayer-type sensors. The technology behind the Foveon sensor is still relatively new compared to CCD and CMOS Bayer sensors, but as the successful Sigma SD series of digital SLRs has demonstrated, it is already capable of producing very impressive results.
Unlike the light-sensitive material in photographic film, the actual semiconductor photocells are not located directly on the surface of the sensor chip. Instead, they are located in tiny pits in the surface. This helps to eliminate cross-talk and charge leakage between photocells, which improves image quality, but it does lead to a problem. Like sunlight shining down a well, only light that enters the pit from a relatively narrow angle will strike the sensor. As the angle of incidence decreases, the amount of light hitting the sensor decreases, which causes vignetting problems with some extremely wide-angle lenses, especially those designed to work with film cameras. The edges and corners of the image will be noticeably darker than the centre.
To counteract this, a minute lens is fitted over each photocell, directly under the Bayer filter, to direct light from lower angles into the pit and onto the sensor. These microlenses can clearly be seen in the microscope photograph on a previous page.
This isn’t a perfect solution, and vignetting with wide-angle lenses can still be a problem on some cameras, but in-camera processing or special computer software can be used to correct it.
Sony’s Super HAD CCD uses a larger and more complex microlens system to collect light more efficiently, which potentially gives them better light-gathering capabilities than conventional microlens CCDs, although the advantage is relatively small.
The World of Tomorrow
So what does the future hold? Well, development of the innovative Foveon sensor will continue no doubt, but the main camera and electronics manufacturers have a lot of money invested in CCD and CMOS technology and will certainly continue to develop it. The race for ever more megapixels shows little sign of slowing despite the diminishing benefit of such sensors in compact cameras. Sharp has recently announced a 12-megapixel CCD for compact cameras, which will probably start appearing in production models within the next few months.
Meanwhile improvements in microlens technology, new thinner LCD screens and paper-thin batteries could potentially lead to digital cameras that are literally the size of a credit card, with sensor, lens and monitor all mounted directly onto a single ultra-thin board. | <urn:uuid:c0d38355-db01-4fd6-a09f-f7f0fd530510> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/digital-photography-tutorial-camera-sensors_Page-3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395621.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00021-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930734 | 669 | 3.234375 | 3 |
John Thomson (1837-1921) was born and brought up in Edinburgh. In 1862 he left Scotland to join his elder brother in Singapore.
While in Singapore he began to take serious photographs. Travelling to what is now Thailand, he photographed the Siamese royal family. He also visited Cambodia – where he became the first person to photograph the famous site of Angkor – and Vietnam. Thomson returned to Britain in 1866, publishing the results of photographic works and exhibiting his photographs around the country.
An authority on China
In 1867 he returned to the Far East. He travelled around mainland China, taking a large series of photographs with the intention of returning to Britain and publishing them in book form (see 'China' Thomson page).
Five years later Thomson settled in London, where he published his photographs on China and established his reputation as a leading authority on the country. His engagement with the world of publishing marked him out as an innovator in combining photography with the book.
Pioneer of photojournalism
In London he also joined forces with the journalist Adolphe Smith on an important monthly publication entitled Street Life in London (1876), which pioneered the genre of photojournalism.
He was interested in particular in the people who spent most of their lives on the streets, and who usually belonged to the 'lower' social classes – vendors, beggars, petty criminals, etc. He had a genuine concern for the welfare and the living conditions of the people he encountered in his travels and was keen to capture them on camera.
Awards for his work
John Thomson was as accomplished in portraiture as he was in architectural and landscape work. Throughout the 1880s he built up his portrait studio business and became an instructor in photography for the Royal Geographical Society. He received a number of awards for his photographic work during his lifetime.
A collection of almost 700 of Thomson's original glass negatives, and prints made from the negatives, is held by the library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London.
Exhibition in 1996
In 1996, the National Library of Scotland mounted an exhibition on Thomson and his photographic journeys, entitled Captured Shadows. The exhibition, and the publication which accompanied it, together made a major contribution to our knowledge of one of Scotland's most important photographers. | <urn:uuid:6f15d510-ebd8-4729-8fb0-42e403da8d7d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://digital.nls.uk/thomson/introduction.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00169-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980458 | 474 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Teacher evaluation criteria always generates controversy.
Measurement tests that are designed to determine the characteristics of a given teacher, learner’s performance test score and teacher’s performance in the classroom have been used as the primary techniques for teacher evaluation, but it is not always effective.
These teacher evaluation criteria are intended for two purposes, which are to determine how competent the teacher is and to promote the professional expansion and development of the teacher.
Carrying out an effective teacher evaluation is reliant on several things.
Both formative and summative evaluation needs to be carried out. The formative evaluation will serve as a tool or means of developing and at the same time improving teaching or instructions. The summative evaluation on its own will also serve as a tool or means of taking decisions as it has to do with the staff or workforce of the given school.
Effective teacher evaluation criteria should be able to provide teachers valuable response, criticism or response based on the needs of a given classroom. It should also be able to allow the teacher the privilege of learning new methods of teaching, and also grant them the privilege of being guided by the principal of the school in particular, and in general the teachers of that given school on what steps to take in modifying their classrooms.
In order for the above listed goals to be achieved, those who are playing the part of evaluators are under obligation to first of all, outline the precise teacher evaluation criteria and measures.
In setting the criterion, it should as much as possible,
- co-relate with relation to vital teaching ability or skill,
- be very purposeful and objective as possible,
- be unmistakably communicated to the teachers involved in the evaluation process. This should be done before the beginning of evaluation and after the evaluation, an appraisal should be made. And finally,
- it should be related or associated to the professional development of the teacher or teachers in question.
The people that are assigned to act as the evaluators should bring to the floor, the variance in teaching abilities or skills. If the given teacher’s capabilities or performance is being accessed from various sources, it will go a long way in helping the evaluators to carry out a more precise and accurate evaluation.
There exist several techniques or methods that can be used by evaluators.
- Monitoring and examining classroom activities: This very method seems to be widely used. It involves the process of collecting data for the sole purpose of evaluation. One aim of using this method is to be able to acquire a report based on the activities and performance of the teacher. This observation is not something that will be done in a matter of hours. The evaluating team will need to carry out an extensive evaluation which should not be restricted to just one class. In carrying out this evaluation, it could be official and properly planned or it could be made unofficial. What ever form of this evaluation was taken, each has the ability to offer information that is worthwhile.
- Lesson plans and classroom record appraisal: Any teacher, who has given himself ample time to go through the aims of his teaching, will end up providing the best lesson plans. Other classroom activities which are, but not limited to assignments and, tests will go a long way to show if the lesson plans, topic taught and tests written are linked.
- Increase in the number of evaluators: Majority of the evaluations that is been done in most schools are conducted mainly by the principal of the school. Though sometimes, the supervisors from various arms of the school handle the evaluation. Another thing again is that in some locations, the administrators whom the teacher is working directly under acts as the evaluators of the teacher’s achievement or performance. If it turns out that the one aim of this evaluation is to establish the competence of a given teacher, then the system of using just the administrators will work just very fine. But then if the aim is to encourage growth, other persons should be invited to serve as evaluators. In most cases, self or one person evaluation aids in giving the teachers clarity on the work they are doing. This kind of evaluation is being done by few schools.
Should the schools also engage in the activity of evaluating students of the institution, the teachers stand to gain more from it. A lot of teachers out there are looking for any possible means to modify and expand more in their teaching profession. They do this by leaving room for criticism, comments and responses from other teachers or even students based on the fact that they are the ones the teachers spend most of their time with, both in interaction and in teaching. This perception of theirs should be put into consideration while the teacher evaluation process is going on. | <urn:uuid:ae30b50c-6af9-430d-bed7-961975cbaed8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://drpfconsults.com/steps-to-determine-effective-teacher-evaluation-criteria/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00158-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967403 | 957 | 3.125 | 3 |
A 16-year-old is playing a key role in making energy more affordable.
"If we can incorporate methane as a fuel source for cars, gas prices will skyrocket down," he said. "I'd rather not have a portion of my limited income on gas."
The 16-year-old attends the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Sciences, a program at the University of North Texas that allows talented students to complete their high school diploma and two years of college credit.
"I'm always looking for a new challenge," Carsch said. "It was challenging, but when I saw this program, wow. Taking class at a college campus -- that's certainly more than any AP class can offer."
He now has all of UNT's resources at his fingertips. Under the direction of a chemistry professor, Carsch is part of a Department of Energy initiative.
"I'm essentially concerting methane gas into methanol liquid," he said.
It's a process that's already being done, but the teenager is researching more cost- and energy-efficient means. Carsch is working alongside UNT graduate students.
The trip to this weekend's state science and engineering fair means he will miss his prom.
"I feel very confident in this project, so I'm choosing the project," Carsch said. "While my friends are doing that, I will be in San Antonio just awaiting results." | <urn:uuid:2ad1d936-c2ba-447a-a12a-3aee91c988a5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/green/Teen-Finding-Ways-to-Cut-Energy-Costs-118807919.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00166-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976026 | 287 | 2.59375 | 3 |
|Lesson Plan ID:
Back in Time: Hieroglyphics in Ancient Egypt
There are over 500 ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Students will use the Internet to translate their names into hieroglyphs. They will use the translation to design a clay cartouche.
|AED(5) Visual Arts||2. Apply variety and unity in the production of two- and three-dimensional works of art. |
|AED(5) Visual Arts||6. Describe works of art according to the style of various cultures, times, and places. |
|AED(6-8) Visual Arts||1. Create works of art utilizing a variety of traditional and nontraditional media and techniques. |
|AED(6-8) Visual Arts||5. Define the appropriate technical terminology in creating a work of art. |
|TC2(3-5) ||5. Practice safe use of technology systems and applications. |
|TC2(3-5) ||8. Collect information from a variety of digital sources. |
National Art Standard: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and culture.
|Primary Learning Objective(s):
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the history and culture behind ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Students will search various web sites featuring hieroglyphics translators. Using the hieroglyphics translation of their name, students will create a clay cartouche.
|Additional Learning Objective(s):
|Approximate Duration of the Lesson:
|| 31 to 60 Minutes|
|Materials and Equipment:
self-hardening clay, raffia strips, wooden stylus, scrap paper for design work, cardstock for cartouche templates, colored paper for making beads
|Technology Resources Needed:
Computer(s) with Internet access and printer
1.)Introduce the lesson by giving background information about scribes in ancient Egypt. A sample introduction follows:
"How do we know so much about ancient Egypt? The scribe. The scribe was one of the most important people in society because the Egyptians wanted to keep records of what they did and what they had. There are over 500 different characters in Egyptian hieroglyphics so boys began learning this useful skill when they were nine years old. Parents wanted their sons to be scribes because it was easier work than building pyramids and paid much better than being a farmer.
Scribes worked keeping records of the king's treasure, his commands, and wise sayings. They also recorded weather, flood levels, crops, and inventories for merchants."
2.)Students will explore various hieroglyphic translator sites on the web. If time allows students should search for hieroglyphic translator sites on their own by using an approved search engine. If there is not time for students to complete their own search, the teacher may bookmark the hieroglyphic translator sites in the attached document for students to access. (If there are not enough computers available for student use, those students waiting to use computers can take this time to use colored paper to make beads that will later be attached with the cartouche to the necklace.)
3.)Instruct students to translate their names into hierloglyphics using one of the translator websites. Students should print their translated name and return to their seats.
4.)Upon returning to their seats students will use scrap paper to draw their names in hieroglyphics as found during the computer search. Once students have copied or traced the hieroglyphics onto the scrap paper they will turn the paper over and scribble under each picture with pencil to create carbon paper.
5.)Show students pictures of cartouches and explain that they will be using hieroglyphics to make a cartouche with their name on it. Pass out the cartouche templates to trace. Instruct students to roll the clay into a flat slab. Then have students trace the cartouche shape and cut it out with the wooden stylus. With the carbon side down, students will trace over the hieroglyphics to transfer the symbols to the clay. Remove the paper. Symbols will need to be refined with the stylus. Punch a hole in the top of the cartouche for attaching the raffia string later.
6.)Allow the clay to harden according to package directions. If they have not done so previously students may use colored paper to roll beads to add to the necklace. Once cartouches have hardened attach the raffia and beads.
(Salt Clay recipe
)You may use salt clay if self hardening clay is not available.
|Attachments:**Some files will display in a new window. Others will prompt you to download.
||Hieroglyphic Translator Websites.doc|
Books to Display in the Classroom.doc
Students will turn in the printed copy of their translated name. Teacher will use a hieroglyphic translator website or book to determine whether the names are translated correctly. Final product will be assessed for completion.
Students can visit Guardians Egypt website for childrens activities relating to ancient Egypt.
Each area below is a direct link to general teaching strategies/classroom
for students with identified learning and/or behavior problems such as: reading
or math performance below grade level; test or classroom assignments/quizzes at
a failing level; failure to complete assignments independently; difficulty with
short-term memory, abstract concepts, staying on task, or following directions;
poor peer interaction or temper tantrums, and other learning or behavior problems.
|Presentation of Material
||Using Groups and Peers
|Assisting the Reluctant Starter
||Dealing with Inappropriate
Be sure to check the student's IEP for specific accommodations.
|Variations Submitted by ALEX Users: | <urn:uuid:1ce31a3c-4943-4a1a-8008-977d752a4eb0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://alex.state.al.us/lesson_view.php?id=7231 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00170-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.887943 | 1,206 | 4.0625 | 4 |
SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - Two people in Utah have died following exposure to hantavirus, a rare but deadly disease of the lungs spread by rodents, health officials said on Tuesday.
The fatalities, the first from the virus in the state since 2009, occurred over the last four weeks in central Utah's Millard County and in Salt Lake County, said Rebecca Wood, an official at the Utah Department of Health.
The two deceased were adults, state epidemiologist Jodee Baker said. The cases were not linked but each individual was exposed to rodents a few weeks before becoming ill, Baker said. Privacy laws prevent officials from releasing the names or genders of the deceased. Authorities did not release the exact date of each death either.
State epidemiologists are working closely with health officials in Millard and Salt Lake counties to gather more details and to make sure no one else has been exposed, Baker said.
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome can be spread through contact with saliva of infected rodents - most often common deer mice -- or by breathing in dust containing rodent urine or droppings in rodent-infested areas, the CDC said on its website.
Symptoms include high fever, muscle aches and chills. Other symptoms include cough, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and headache. The virus has an unusually long incubation period of between two and five weeks, and can be mistaken for the flu, Baker said.
"Utah has maybe one case a year," Baker said. "It's really rare that we would have more than one case, period. And to have them both be fatalities so early in the summer months, that's a concern."
Instances of the disease increase during summer months and the data suggest most patients are sickened following exposures to mice feces or urine while cleaning out garages, sheds or other structures that were closed for extended periods.
To reduce the chance of exposure to hantavirus, health officials recommend spraying down rodent droppings with a mixture of water and bleach before trying to remove. Wearing a mask and gloves, and cleaning the area a second time with a disinfectant is also recommended.
Nationwide, 587 people were sickened with hantavirus between 1993 and 2011, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Deaths occurred in 36 percent of those cases.
Including the two most recent cases, Utah has had 31 reported cases since the early 1990s and 32 percent of those cases were fatal, Baker said. The last death was in 2009, she said. | <urn:uuid:bd61dd1c-4f68-4daf-878e-48af95610717> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lifescript.com/health/centers/cough/news/2012/06/06/rare_virus_linked_to_rodents_kills_two_in_utah.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00014-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975531 | 528 | 2.546875 | 3 |
This item is a Java simulation relating to work done by a spring. As a spring is stretched to its elastic limit, the movement is recorded on Force vs. Position and Work vs. Position graphs. Users may view the graphs in stepped motion to see how the position of the spring is related to the amount of work done.
This item is part of a collection of similar simulation-based activities. See Related Materials on this page for a link to the full index developed for first semester introductory physics students.
%0 Electronic Source %A Duffy, Andrew %D March 28, 2008 %T Boston University Physics Applets: Work by Springs %V 2016 %N 27 June 2016 %8 March 28, 2008 %9 application/java %U http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/semester1/c9_springwork.html
Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
This is the full index of interactive Java simulations by the same author on Classical Mechanics. This particular collection is devoted to topics typically covered in a first semester introductory physics class. | <urn:uuid:418f53ee-41a4-4a89-9392-74fb1dd8c92a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.compadre.org/introphys/items/detail.cfm?ID=6904 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910472 | 254 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Indiana's War: The Civil War in Documents, Richard F. Nation, Stephen E. Towne, eds. Ohio University Press, 2009. xx + 252 pp. $18.65 (paper).
Indiana's War in Documents A Review by A. James Fuller (University of Indianapolis),Published on H-CivWar, April, 2011.
Indiana’s War offers an excellent collection of primary source documents that will prove useful to scholars and students of the Civil War and midwestern history. Published as a volume in the Ohio University Press series, The Civil War in the Great Interior, the book is edited by Eastern Michigan University history professor Richard F. Nation and Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, archivist Stephen E. Towne, two established authorities on the nineteenth-century Midwest and Indiana in particular. Emphasizing race and politics, the book provides a wide range of documents that reflect current trends in historical research by including a diverse number of authors--rich and poor, well known and obscure, male and female, black and white--and covering topics ranging from the front lines to the home front, from southern Indiana to the northern part of the state, from state politics to slavery, from patriotism to treason. The editors provide brief, but interpretive introductions to the book as a whole and each chapter, along with a chronology and a section of discussion questions, which all combine to make this a powerful teaching tool for use in the college classroom.
The editors’ introduction sets up the interpretive framework of the book in its first sentence: “The two main issues that drove the Civil War--slavery and the right of a people to determine their own institutions--had animated politics in Indiana from its territorial slavery” (p. 1). Arguing that race and slavery played an essential role in early Indiana politics, despite the midwestern state being a free state that had been part of the Northwest Territory that forbade slavery from its beginning, Nation and Towne reflect the trends of the last several decades that have seen a return to seeing slavery as the dominant theme in studies of Civil War causation. Noting that Indiana had a large Southern influence due to early settlement patterns (the state was settled from south to north, with most of the first settlers coming from Virginia via Kentucky), the editors also point out the pervasive racism of white Hoosiers. While most of the state’s white citizens were antislavery in their sentiments, they had mixed reasons for that view.
For Full Text of Review Go To : H-Net Reviews | <urn:uuid:7f8f100a-97ec-4635-b254-f7041e91cc3f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://civilwarlibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/04/review-indianas-civil-war-from-front.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00035-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943418 | 522 | 2.953125 | 3 |
With the passage of the Healthy, Hungry-Free Kids Act of 2010, in addition to improving school meals, Congress required the U.S. Department of Agriculture to update nearly non-existent nutrition standards on so-called competitive foods. These are foods sold outside the school meal program, including fast food items sold alongside the reimbursable lunches, and soft drinks and junk food sold in vending machines, school stores, fundraisers, and the like.
As I wrote about in my book, the issue of unhealthy beverages and junk food in schools has been a contentious one for years, mostly being fought at the state and local levels. While it’s commendable that the federal government is now taking up the issue, I have some serious concerns about the feasibility of an approach that essentially endorses healthier junk food while allowing corporations continued unfettered access to children in schools.
That’s why I have submitted comments on behalf of Center for Food Safety, endorsed by several other organizations and experts, to ask that USDA assist schools with eliminating fast food, vending, and other competitive foods from schools altogether. Below are a few highlights from those comments. (You can read the entire document here.)
Competitive foods financially undermine the school meal program.
Congress’ clear intent with the federally-subsidized school lunch and breakfast programs is to ensure millions of schoolchildren are well-nourished. However, the ongoing presence of competitive food in schools undermines these programs financially. Indeed the very term “competitive” underscores this problem. According to school chef Ann Cooper: “Students should be eating healthy complete meals; the opportunity to opt-out by purchasing competitive food is actually counter to the mission of the National School Lunch Program.”
Indeed, a report from the Illinois Public Health Institute found that while “strengthening nutrition standards for competitive foods are associated with increased participation in the USDA reimbursable meal program, schools that completely eliminated competitive food sales tended to see the greatest increases in school meal participation rates.”
Competitive foods at school meals creates stigma for low-income children.
The presence of so-called “a la carte” items on the school meal line sets up a demographic divide between those who can afford these items and those who cannot. Eliminating any competing school meal items would avoid this stigma, making a more positive eating environment for all schoolchildren. School food expert and sociology professor Janet Poppendieck agrees that unless competitive foods are eliminated entirely, that stigma will persist: “Unless the new rules convince schools to do away with the competitive foods altogether, however, a la carte items and other competitive foods will continue to undermine the National School Lunch Program, because a la carte service stigmatizes the federal lunch.”
Slightly healthier junk food is still unhealthy, sends the wrong message.
USDA’s narrow focus on nutrients such as grams of fat and sugar will still result in highly-processed junk food with only slightly improved nutritional profiles. For example, reduced-fat corn chips and baked potato chips are still junk foods with almost zero nutritional value. Moreover, lower calorie soft drinks such as Diet Coke also offer zero nutrition and have no place in a child’s diet. With UDSA essentially giving such highly processed foods the “government seal of approval,” future efforts to remove such products from schools will become even more challenging. The food industry will very likely point to the federal nutrition standards on competitive foods as the “new normal” in schools, potentially undermining advocates who wish to rid schools of these unhealthy processed products altogether.
Competitive food allows junk food companies to market to children.
Maintaining the presence of fast food, soft drink, and junk food companies in public schools sends all the wrong messages to children. These companies are eager to sell their products in schools because they want to get kids hooked at an early age, to ensure brand loyalty for life. A vending machine that promotes Diet Coke versus Coke exploits children all the same. More important than the nutritional content is the branding messages that these products carry. Food corporations are happy to comply with minor tweaks to their products to ensure their brands remain in schools. With these proposed nutrition guidelines, USDA is helping to secure the inappropriate, exploitative, and harmful role these companies currently have in targeting children, in and out of schools.
To both maximize the economic benefit to schools and as well as protect schoolchildren, USDA should assist and provide resources to help schools that want to eliminate competitive foods, as opposed to simply placing a healthy halo and government seal of approval upon highly-processed and nutritionally-void products from companies seeking only to target children with their brands.
In addition to the Center for Food Safety, the following organizations and individuals signed on to the full comments: | <urn:uuid:3e4e4285-e168-473f-93e8-d1156346b133> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/blog/2060/about-us | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00003-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958083 | 985 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Dermatitis is a skin inflammation. Eczema is the most common type of dermatitis.
Eczema first appears as an episode of itching and redness of the skin. You also may have tiny bumps or blisters.
When eczema develops into a long-term condition, it is called chronic eczema. This leads to:
Thickening of the skin
There are many types of eczema. The type depends on the cause, shape and location of the rash.
Most eczemas are related to allergies or to contact with irritating substances. Some are associated with fluid retention in the legs.
Following are types of eczema:
Atopic eczema (atopic dermatitis) — This type of eczema comes and goes repeatedly. It usually occurs in people with an inherited tendency to allergies. These allergies may include allergic asthma, hay fever or food allergies.
Atopic eczema appears early in life, usually by 18 months. In babies, atopic eczema primarily affects the:
Tops of feet or outside of elbows (less commonly)
Atopic eczema in older children, teenagers and adults usually involves the:
Skin inside the creases of the elbow
Ankle or wrist joints
Contact dermatitis — When irritants touch the skin, they can produce two types of contact dermatitis. Irritant contact dermatitis is the direct irritation of the skin. It can be caused by prolonged contact with irritants such as:
The second type of contact dermatitis is allergic contact dermatitis. This is an allergic reaction in the skin. This type occurs in people who have an allergy to a specific substance. The most common allergens are poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac.
Other substances that can trigger skin allergies include:
Some building materials
Nickel in earrings
Skin cream and lotions
Hand eczema — Hand eczema is limited to the hands. It can be related to atopic eczema. Or it can result from repeated hand washing or exposure to strong detergents. Occasionally, it is caused by an allergy, such as to latex.
Nummular eczema — This eczema causes coin sized patches of irritated skin. It typically appears on the legs, arms or chest. It usually occurs in adults. It can be related to atopic dermatitis and, less often, allergic contact dermatitis.
Sometimes, it is an allergic reaction to a fungal infection such as athlete's foot. It still appears on the arms, legs or chest, even if the fungal infection is elsewhere on the body.
Asteatotic eczema — This eczema dries the skin, causing fine cracks. It often first involves the lower legs. It commonly occurs in the elderly. It is common during winter months spent indoors in low humidity environments.
Stasis dermatitis — This type appears on the calves, ankles and feet. It occurs in people who have poorly functioning veins in the lower legs. The veins cause blood to collect in the legs (stasis). This leads to leg swelling, which leads to the signs of stasis dermatitis:
Fine red bumps
Skin redness or darkening
Lichen simplex chronicus — This eczema is a reaction to repeated scratching or rubbing of the skin. A nervous scratching habit can lead to thickened, discolored skin. Skin picking can lead to smaller bumps of the same type of rash.
Seborrheic dermatitis — This type creates a greasier rash than usual for eczema. This scaly dermatitis commonly appears on the scalp of infants (as cradle cap). In adults, it appears as dandruff. It commonly affects the face or neck around the nose and at the scalp line. | <urn:uuid:de2c6377-ba60-40a7-a678-dfb7d5e70e6d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sparkpeople.com/resource/health_a-z_detail.asp?AZ=151 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395160.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00111-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910463 | 788 | 3.75 | 4 |
The old joke about the Human Development Index is that it was designed to show Americans how many countries were better than us. Typically, Scandinavian and Western European countries would fill the top ten, pushing the United States, discouragingly, into the mid-teens. But not this year. On the occasion of HDI's 20th anniversary, the United States finally made the top five.
We are number four! We are number four!
To learn more about the rankings, I spoke with William Orme from the Human Development Report about the survey -- why some nations shot up the rankings, why others fell and, most importantly, what makes America so great all of a sudden.
The Human Development Index was developed to create a more human alternative to GDP. Whereas GDP measures economic output, HDI measures the well-being of its citizens.
The formula is a three-legged stool, supported by the classic triad of health, income and education indicators. This year, researchers and statisticians updated the equation. Health continues to be measured by life expectancy. But with income, they shifted from Gross Domestic Product -- what a country produces -- to Gross National Income, what a country earns, which includes financial aid and remittances from expats to their families. For developing countries this is a big deal. Remittances to Mexico are larger than oil exports. In the Philippines, they are the largest source of foreign exchange.
The most notable change to the rankings happened in education, Orme told me. HDI used to measure education with literacy and school enrollment at the primary and secondary level. But because most top-tier countries have nearly 100 percent literacy, the statistic doesn't provide much in the way of distinguishing Luxembourg from Liechtenstein. School enrollment gives you a snapshot of current student population, but developing countries' education levels can change rapidly.
So this year, they looked at two variables: years of schooling for the adult population and expected years of schooling for elementary age children. "The unintended consequences of these new variables was that the United States, which had never been in top ten, entered the top five," Orme said. Another technical change to the income formula rewarded the United States for its higher per capita income.
Orme pointed out that Human Development Report also created an inequality-adjusted HDI that bumps the the United States down nine spots, because we are one of the least equitable high-ranking nations in terms of education, income, life expectancy.
The most important point to make about the list, Orme added, is how interchangeable the top-ranked countries are in this list. When a one-year difference in life expectancy can drop a country ten places, you should think of the index more like a cluster at the top than a clear cut ranking where nation seven clearly beats nation eight, he said.
To see more from the Human Development Index 20th anniversary report, go here.
A world of thanks to intern Elizabeth Weingarten for putting together our slideshow. | <urn:uuid:bc07b921-fb11-4a3c-8b53-048aa348696a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/11/forget-gdp-here-are-the-most-advanced-countries-in-the-world/66460/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950197 | 608 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The percentage alcohol in mashed and fermenting mixtures never exceeds. since the yeast plant cannot live in fluid containing a larger percentage.
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Distillation the fermented liquid furnishes a product much richer in alcohol raw whiskey, which then further rectified by treatment with recently burned charcoal and subsequent distillation in stills provided with a series condensers, in the first which much the water and amyl alcohol retained, allowing a purer and stronger alcohol pass the other condensers. For the further removal water and foreign odors from alcohol, distillation over sodium manganate, anhydrous sodium acetate, and freshly For the purpose facilitating the rectification alcohol a large scale, use made a distilling column or dephlegmator, which interposed between the still proper and the condenser, and, as shown, consists a series communicating chambers, one above the other.
The vapor rising from the still enters the lowest chamber through a narrow tube projecting essay on customer service upward into the chamber, and, having university assignment writing help filled the space, passes into the next compartment through a second tube situated the opposite the essay writer side that through which the vapor entered. By this arrangement the less volatile vapors will be condensed, and the resulting fluid collects the bottom each compartment and if in sufficient quantity rise above the projecting tube buy cheap research paper flows into the next lower chamber, thus gradually separating the less volatile vapors from the more volatile, and finally allowing only the more volatile vapor pass from the uppermost compartment into the condenser. Naturally the continual influx hot vapor from the still keeps the liquid collecting the bottom the several compartments warmed, whereby the more volatile portions are constantly being vaporized and loss thus avoided. successfully produced from cellulose treating dried peat with sugar formed, which subsequently fermented with yeast and distilled, yielding as much as Patents have also been obtained for the manufacture of alcohol from sawdust. The process now in operation consists in first digesting sawdust with water and sulphurous acid, under pressure, in sealed vessels during separated, the converted sawdust transferred tanks, into a mash, which then fermented and distilled, as in the much as gallons, alcohol has been obtained from pounds green or ton dry sawdust. The Pharmacopoeia recognizes three different grades strength alcohol, designated specific names, thus Column still or dephlegmator.
Whenever alcohol and water are mixed, heat evolved and contraction volume results, both varying with the proportions the liquids used.
According Fliickiger, the rise temperature will greatest when parts weight absolute alcohol are mixed with parts weight water, amounting, and the greatest contraction occurs when volumes absolute alcohol are mixed with volumes water, amounting a loss volumes, the total mixture.
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Commercial alcohol does not always come the requirements the Pharmacopoeia for official alcohol, averaging, as a rule, from volume ethyl hydroxide but the variety sold as Cologne spirit generally contains. the latter also preferred account paraphrasing a sentence its freedom from foreign odor. Alcohol which has been stored for some time in barrels, particularly if the latter have been imperfectly charred the inside apt contaminated with aldehyde and tannin for which the Pharmacopoeia gives an appropriate test with solution potassium hydroxide an alcohol responding this test should not used in making elixirs and other preparations unless they are colored.
As found the market, ordinary alcohol, and even Cologne spirit, frequently has an acid reaction, due the presence acetic acid, derived from the aldehyde always more or less present.
It therefore necessary redistil such alcohol from potassium hydroxide or lime before using for analytical purposes, especially the titration alkaloids. Since alcohol may adulterated with methyl alcohol, the Pharmacopoeia gives a special test for detection the latter, as follows Dilute the alcohol with distilled water that the liquid shall contain about, absolute alcohol. Transfer mils of the diluted alcohol a test tube, add mils potassium permanganate solution made dissolving potassium permanganate write custom essays mils distilled water. mil. sulphuric acid, and let the mixture stand for minutes. Now dissolve the precipitate manganese dioxide the addition sulphurous acid, drop drop, with agitation, then add mil. sulphuric acid and mils fuchsin-sulphurous acid testsolution and mix. After standing for minutes, a colorless liquid should result, indicating the absence methyl alcohol. Dehydrated Alcohol.
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Doubtful Descent of Human Rights from Stoicism
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If the Stoics contributed to the development of human rights or even natural rights in the modern sense, we would expect this tendency to be expressed in the writings and actions of the Greek and Roman Stoics. There ought to be historical evidence of commitment to something like human rights even if they would not have used our terminology. Let us look in particular in the writings of Roman-era Stoics like Seneca and that Stoic-friendly Skeptic Cicero, who gave positive expression to Stoic ideas in his dialogues.
not permit a thorough discussion of
No things are private by nature but either through long occupancy . . . or through victory [i.e., conquest in war] or by [due process of] law, bargain, purchase, or allotment . . . Whence of [originally common] things [some] became each one’s own, what had fallen to each, each one should retain it.
course, is a key human rights issue today. In one defense speech,
The Roman-era Stoics did occasionally address the issue of gender equality. Musonius Rufus, a first-century Stoic philosopher whose students left us notes on his discourses, addressed the question of the capacities of women for virtue and philosophy. In his view women’s capacities in this respect are equal to men’s but one should not infer from this that there should be any major change in male and female social roles.
Seneca’s writings on slavery are famous. He discusses the condition of those who are slaves by legal status in a number of places. He argues for kind treatment of such slaves and insists that masters should not act as haughty superiors toward them.
In his essay On Benefits Seneca praises the virtue “humanitas” at some length. This virtue seems to connote kindness or liberality toward the needy and socially vulnerable within one’s sphere of influence and avoidance of cruelty. Yet because ancient and medieval writers commonly distinguish the sphere of justice from that of generosity and gratitude, even if there are analogous features in the corresponding duties, it is unlikely that humanitas can generate a doctrine even of very limited human rights. A virtue related to what modern philosophers would have called imperfect duties, humanitas does not correspond to duties that call for legal enforcement.
In his letters on slavery Seneca stresses that virtually everyone is a slave. His message is the standard Stoic one that all but the rare sage are slaves to external things because of their false judgments about the value of externals. Adopting a metaphor more suggestive of the Platonic tripartite model of the soul than the unitary model of the early Stoics, Seneca suggests that many “free” people are slaves to lust or greed or ambition or fear. He calls for masters to treat slaves kindly to win respect from them. The larger context of the letter shows that Seneca opposes what he considers cruel and inhumane treatment of slaves, but he proposes neither abolition of slavery nor the gradual emancipation of slaves. He knew how much slaves hated their condition and wished to escape it. “In exchange for freedom they pay out the saving which they have scraped together by cheating their own bellies.” But his real aim is to convince his reader to escape from the more serious slavery that derives from not knowing or not practicing the precepts of philosophy: “[Moral] liberty cannot be bought. You must . . . seek [this good] from yourself.”
Elsewhere Seneca addresses the question of slaves’ moral status in a discussion of whether slaves can properly be said to benefit their master. He insists on the humanity of the slave: “He who denies that a slave can sometimes give a benefit to his master is ignorant of the nature of the bond connecting human beings [ius humanum]; for not the [social] status, but the intention, of the one who bestows is what counts. Virtue closes the door to nobody.” Later he explains:
It is a mistake for anyone to believe that the condition of slavery penetrates into the whole being of a man. . . . Only the body is at the mercy and disposition of a master; but the mind is its own master. It is, therefore, the body that Fortune hands over to a master . . . that inner part cannot be delivered into bondage [unless, of course, it delivers itself by judging externals to be truly good or evil—J.G.].
This is surely an eloquent passage, but it does not
transcend the standard Stoic teaching about moral freedom. Far more letters are
reliably attributed to Seneca than to
Thus we have seen that although the natural law as the Stoics understood it clearly dictated certain moral attitudes, it did not call for a concerted effort, as modern human rights doctrine does, to promote or defend legal or constitutional standards or to pressure states to modify their policies toward sections of their own population. The absence of such a mandate is reflected in the actual practice of influential Stoics during the Roman imperial era.
The Stoic writers, especially in
the imperial era, were politically
very cautious. That fact did not rule out acts of courage, as when Stoic
philosopher Musonius Rufus tried personally, even if
ineffectively, to prevent armies engaged in a civil war from carrying their
mayhem into the streets of
De Officiis 1.7.21.
Marcus Tullius Cicero: For
Sulla 28.78, in M. Tullius
Cicero: Orations (Perseus Digital Project,
Gregory R. Crane (ed.) <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu>) (visited
For Rabirius, Accused of Treason, V.6-17, in
Lucius Annaeus Seneca: Ad Marciam 20.2-3, in J. W. Basore (trans.): Moral Essays (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1932), vol. II; Epistulae Morales 70
Musonius Rufus 3, 4, in “Women’s Life in
Seneca: Epistulae Morales 47, 80; On Benefits III.18-22, in Moral Essays (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1939) vol. III
Seneca: Epistulae Morales 47
Seneca: On Benefits 1.4.2, 1.15.2, 2.3.1, 2.11.4, 3.18-28, 4.14.3, 4.17.3-4, 4.18.1, 6.25.5, 6.26.2, 6.27.6
Seneca: On Benefits 3.18.2, Basore trans. modified.
Letter to Philemon 1:16
For a fuller account of Seneca as a Stoic in politics, see Miriam Griffin: Seneca: A Life in Politics (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976)
Tacitus: The Histories 3.81 in M. Hadas (ed.), The Complete Works of Tacitus (New York: Random Houses, 1942)
Tacitus: The Annals 16.21-34, in Hadas (ed.) | <urn:uuid:7d6afa45-0f02-48b2-a772-1ac91023a7d6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://people.wku.edu/jan.garrett/doubtful_descent_3.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00038-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926689 | 1,537 | 3.625 | 4 |
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When the Great Flood of 1927 occurred, Jackson Countians rushed to help the people of the Mississippi Delta who experienced a shocking loss of life, homes and possessions.
Newspaperman Arthur Smith wrote about the disaster and how aid was rushed to the Delta from this area.
The column is printed in its entirety in "The Columns of Arthur V. Smith," printed in 1982. With permission of the Smith family, the Jackson County Historical and Genealogical is working on having the book reprinted later this year as it is now out-of-print. An expanded index will be included.
After the Great Flood, the Delta appealed to the Coast for boats and men to handle them to rescue thousands of people marooned in the scattered population county by the turbid flood waters from the Mississippi and its tributary rivers.
Pascagoula and Moss Point quickly took action. "Moss Point Mayor D.W. McLeod and a committee composed of J.D. Lower, K.W. Burnham, F. Colmer, C.M. Fairley, and W.M. Alexander, immediately raised $1,791 in cash and collected supplies to go to the relief headquarters in the Delta. Later they gathered more supplies and collected more money to send."
Smith wrote about how Pascagoula "hurriedly loaded nine oyster skiffs on flat cars, and the railroads rushed them to the flooded area."
Pascagoula then manned a boat relief expedition led by W.M. (Bill) Colmer, Hermes Gautier, Frank S. Canty and Dr. J.N. Lockard. The other boatmen were J.I. Ford, P.H. Hinkel, Rocky Routee, Joe Purdy, Travis Avara, Fred Dees, Joe Lesline and Fennimore Hudson. "All could handle small boats and several were skilled motor mechanics," Smith wrote.
They left the night of April 27 and headed for Yazoo City where they slept on the upper floors of plantation homes. "They returned the next morning with 300 persons picked from roof tops and knolls near Midnight, Holly Ridge and Louise.
During the 10 days they were in the Delta, they rescued an estimated 1,000 people of all ages, resting only briefly in a hotel.
According to Smith, the last to return to Pascagoula were Purdy, Routee and Hudson. The boats were shipped back later.
In May of that year, Jackson County sent a full carload of food, clothing and other articles to the Delta Relief Headquarters. Most of the goods were collected by County home demonstration agents from canned and preserved supplies in rural homes.
According to Wikipedia.com: "The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States - with 27,000 square miles inundated up to a depth of 30 feet. To prevent future floods, the government built the world's longest system of levees and floodways. Many Afro-Americans displaced from their homes along the Lower Mississippi River started a big migration north to the industrial cities...The flood caused over $400 million in damages in seven states."
It is believed that more than 1,000 people lost their lives with only 246 confirmed dead.
Correspondent Joanne Anderson may be reached at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:dc029ab0-394c-4ee1-89a0-9ab95b44b0fb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-living/2014/07/sampling_history_jackson_count_2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00035-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964184 | 700 | 2.65625 | 3 |
When one thinks of the Renaissance, usually one pictures Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, or the Medicis. But if you travel westward from the Italian countryside, cross the vast western European taiga forests, and swim to the British Isles, one encounters the greatness of the English Renaissance. Here, it is not about the explosion of painting and sculpture, instead, the Elizabethan theater. And one immediately recalls the great wordsmith of 16th century England, William Shakespeare.
Renaissance history for the seventh graders of Davis Waldorf would not be complete without the performance of a Shakespearean play. However, perhaps in the spirit of creativity, and in a very conscious effort to give a balanced amount of lines for each of my students, I wrote a play, which incorporated passages from Shakespeare's plays, epic poems, and sonnets.
The play is titled Star Cross'd. It takes us on a journey from Shakespeare's birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon to the Globe Theater in London. What had interested me as I imagined the plot of Star Cross'd was how Shakespeare got his start, and what inspired him. His life during the time of Queen Elizabeth I included many people that were as interesting as his fictional characters, so I decided to include some of them in our play. And though while historically they existed, I took creative license in their interactions with Shakepseare.
If love is at the heart of the writer's soul, then it was Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife, who was his muse. When Shakespeare leaves Stratford, he arrives in London at the Master of Revels office where he meets the Burbages, financiers and actors in the Chamberlain's Men. The Master of the Revels is the Queen's censor, and with Shakespeare's wordsmithing prowess, the Burbages ask Shakespeare to join them as their playwright.
The play jumps a few years and Shakespeare is invited as the guest of honor of the Queen and her Royal Court. Here, he meets Sir Walter Raleigh and Bess Morton (Elizabeth Throgmorton). I discovered that Morton was secretly in love with Raleigh and the two eventually married each other. I decided to use their secret love affair as the vehicle that inspires Shakespeare to write his play Romeo and Juliet. So the second half of our play is a "play within a play," as the Chamberlain's Men perform Rome and Juliet (excerts from the play) for the Queen and the Royal Court to convince Bess Morton to follow her heart.
Here is an excerpt of our play, where Shakespeare is quietly talking to Bess Morton:
Oh, Mr. Shakespeare, I hope I did not offend thee
With an amateur’s recitation of your epic poem.
No, not at all! I express the opposite, gentle lady.
Words are just words without heart. And your heart
Sings of one truly in love. And dare I presume, a love
You are keeping in shadow.
Sir, you are gifted in knowing the human soul.
It is no wonder the characters in your plays speak
With genuine emotion.
I am in love, but I must not act upon my heart’s call.
As Lady to the Queen’s Privy Chamber, I am
To serve only Her Majesty.
I am forbidden to fall in love.
Forbidden to fall in love?!
Can a rose be forbidden to bloom in beauty?
Can the wind be ordered to hold sway its might?
Can the sun be estopped from slicing the summer sky
With it glorious rays of light and heat!!
The Queen cannot ever know, else I draw her rage.
Or worse, I become a prisoner of the Tower.
Oh dear Lady Bess, I am reminded of what my
Wife Anne tells me:
Love looks upon tempests and is never shaken.
We were young, foolish perhaps, but impassioned
By the unwavering truth of love.
A Queen’s temper cannot temper love.
You are asking me to disobey the wishes of my Queen.
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At the dig site we begin by looking for exposed fossils. When we find something we start digging. We dig slowly and carefully so we don't damage the specimen. Back in the lab, we can study the fossil more closely. Our goal is to determine what kind of animal it was and when it lived.
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From age zero through sixteen, there was one top priority that I had with my daughters: Make sure that they grew up to be “free-thinking” individuals. Whether you have a young son or daughter, the importance of raising a free-thinking child is more important today than ever before.
What exactly is a “free thinker”? John Steinbeck once wrote,
“This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: The freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.”
Raising Free-Thinking Children
There are five key characteristics of a true free-thinker:
- They can develop their own beliefs and opinions unguided by external influence.
- They have a “shield” against the influence of modern culture.
- They’ve developed an immunity to group-think.
- They have a scientific curiosity and sense of wonder about the world.
- They know what questions to ask to understand the truth.
Whether your child is a boy or a girl, there are elements of society that will try to define them. Society works to restrict free-thinking and instead guide people toward predefined roles — artifacts of eons of tradition.
Boys and girls both face gender-based challenges because of long-standing traditions and institutions. These are traditions that in some cases help or hinder the child, depending what the child hopes to accomplish in the future.
For example, from my own personal experience as a child, I know that boys face influences that encourage them to self-sacrifice their own health — and life, if need be — to protect the health and welfare of others. Whether it’s comic book superheroes, movie role models and other cultural influences, boys are cultivated into expendable commodities.
Little boys are encouraged to dream of being a soldier, a cop or a fire fighter — or other dangerous forms of work. The coercion is so deeply rooted that the U.S. government even denies college-bound boys federal financial assistance if they do not agree to register for the military draft, a restriction that college-bound girls are privileged to be free from.
The list goes on for boys, but having raised two teenage daughters, I’ve finally gained some insight into the unique challenges young women face in becoming free thinkers in today’s world.
In this article, I hope to give parents of young daughters some powerful tools and resources to raise confident, intelligent, free-thinking daughters.
Girls Are Taught the Lie That Success is Innate
While growing up, girls face an onslaught of messages from ads, movies and other media creating expectations about what one must do to be “pretty”, “girly” or “good”.
In an interesting Psychology Today article by Heidi Grant Halvorson, she explains how researchers examined the habits of 5th grade boys and girls when faced with especially difficult academic challenges. Researchers found that even the brightest and smartest of girls were quick to give up, while boys often took the difficulty as a challenge, and would redouble their efforts.
The intelligence levels of the boys and girls were pretty much even, but the girls were found to give up more easily.
The reason researchers found as the root cause was the most revealing, and it helps with fostering free-thinking behaviors in young women.
Halvorson explained that parents and teachers tend to respond to girls who follow instructions and perform well as “smart”, “clever” and “good”. On the other hand, because young boys are often difficult to get to sit still and pay attention, they are told things like, “If you would just try a little harder you could get it right.”
The underlying message is this: Boys become convinced that they only got an answer wrong because they didn’t try hard enough. Girls become convinced that they got the wrong answer because they aren’t smart enough.
As Halvorson explains, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy — an enemy within — that sabotages the best efforts of young women in the face of adversity and challenges.
“We continue to carry these beliefs, often unconsciously, around with us throughout our lives. And because bright girls are particularly likely to see their abilities as innate and unchangeable, they grow up to be women who are far too hard on themselves — women who will prematurely conclude that they don’t have what it takes to succeed in a particular arena, and give up way too soon.”
How, as a parent can you counter this? There are many ways.
Encourage Scientific Curiosity
The best antidote to self-doubt is a healthy interest in Science.
The organization ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) advises that the best way to counter this kind of self-doubt (called “self-efficacy”) is:
- Teach your child that academic abilities are not fixed, but expandable and improvable
- Expose your daughters to female role models who have succeeded in math and science
- Provide informational feedback (focus on mistakes as opportunities to improve through trial and error)
I’m going to dive into two of these elements you can foster as a parent — teaching your child that abilities are not fixed, and exposing them to positive role models as evidence of what is possible for girls to accomplish.
Teaching Young Girls How Practice Improves Performance
In recent years, the whole concept of video games as being “bad for kids” has been turned on its head. New research reveals that the right kind of educational video games are actually beneficial to developing minds. The best effect video games have is that they teach kids how much better you can get at achieving something through practice.
Up until now, video games have been the playground of boys, mostly — but girls are becoming more interested in the activity in droves, and you can contribute to that by introducing your little girl to video games early on.
Scribblenauts Unmasked is a great game to start with. It’s available on the Wii U, the Nintendo 3DS, and even on PC.
Your daughter will have a chance to use her imagination to create objects and battle villains in this virtual universe modeled after their favorite characters and locations from DC Comics.
Your child will be able to use those objects to solve puzzles throughout the game. Leveling up in a game like this is like a massive boost of confidence for any small child — and confidence is always a great thing.
This game is a combination of first-person shooter and puzzle game wrapped into one. You are a “test subject” put through seemingly impossible courses, with just your wit and your brain power to get you through. Choose Portal 1 or Portal 2, available for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
And if you’d like your daughter to expand beyond just playing video games into the world of designing them (possibly sparking an entire career in computer science), then you should introduce her to Gamestar Mechanic, where she’ll learn how to make her own games from professional game designers.
Of course, you can’t forget the single most popular game of all time among pre-teens over the past several years: Minecraft.
Minecraft is an entire virtual world that just sparks the imagination due to the free-play nature of the game. Children can craft whatever they like, however they like, wherever they like. Alongside friends, kids can build entire communities.
And, if your daughter is as into Minecraft as mine was, she may even ask you if she can start her own Minecraft server (like my daughter did) to host her own Minecraft universe. Ah…but that’s an article for another day.
However, you can only imagine the powerful effects playing these games has on the young, female mind. It shows them that even if you fail at first, nothing is impossible if you just keep trying. It teaches them that they are as capable at mastering something as anyone else.
Exposing Girls to Female Role Models
You can tell your daughter until you’re blue in the face that women are capable of accomplishing anything they set their mind to. But the reality is that there’s just so much that they’ll encounter out in the world that it won’t be long before they’ll start to doubt what you’ve said.
This is why it’s so important early on to introduce your daughters to the women who have already accomplished the things you’ve said they can.
Female Leaders at NASA
The first place to bookmark and explore with your teenage daughter who may be considering the field of science (or even space travel!) is Women@NASA. This is an inspirational website featuring biographies, blog entries written by NASA scientists, and even outreach programs where NASA employees will reach out and mentor children.
If your daughter has expressed any interest in science or space, these are opportunities that you want to get them involved with right away.
Oh, and by the way – if your daughter is especially interested in space travel, you may want to expose her to some of Dr. William Rowe’s writings. At his website, he explains how physiologically, females are actually better suited for space, and he advocates that NASA should take this into account when selecting astronauts!
Of course, one of the most well-known female astronauts was the first American woman in space – Sally Ride. Introduce your child to her story, and while you’re at it, maybe send them to one of the many Sally Ride Science camps offered by Universities around the country.
It is actually only one of the many offerings you’ll find from the Center for STEM education for girls.
It isn’t just in space where women are making tremendous accomplishments, but women have also been very successful in the fields of science and technology as well.
Math Doesn’t Suck is a website created by Danica McKellar (remember the girlfriend from the TV show The Wonder Years?) Well she is also mathematician with a degree from UCLA and has been featured in the Journal of Physics and the New York Times.
The site is a companion to the math-tutorial book of the same name. The website features a full solution guide to problems in the book, as well as Danica’s encouragement for girls to excel in Math.
Engineer Girl is probably one of the most inspiring sites of all. Not only does it frequently updates articles and videos about science and technology, but it features a long list of successful women (under the “I’m an Engineer” section) who’ve landed impressive jobs around the world as engineers.
If you need evidence to show your daughter that being a girl who wants to be an engineer is really cool, this site is it.
Girls Who Code is an organization that can help you, as a parent, find opportunities to instill a love of computer science in your daughter. Of particular interest is the 7 week “Summer Immersion Program“, available in ten cities across the U.S., which trains young ladies in areas of computer science including robotics, web design and even mobile app development.
According to the site, 90% of the girls who attended the program majored or minored in a computer science related field! And if the Immersion program isn’t for you, there are Girls Who Code clubs launched all around the country — or launch one at your own daughter’s school!
FabFems is probably the first place you should start if you’d like to find a mentor for your daughter. Just click on the “Find a Role Model” link, and you’ll have access to a very large directory of women scientists from all around the world who are very happy to mentor your daughter in any field of study she may be interested in.
And if any of these resources aren’t enough to get you started, take a look at the long list of website resources offered by the Center for Stem Education for Girls for more.
Female Military Leaders
Do you have a daughter who has expressed interest in a military career? Well, today, more than ever before, there are unlimited opportunities for her. In December of 2015, the Pentagon finally completed the process started in 2013 when a bill was passed by Congress to allow women in combat roles.
In December, Defense Secretary Ash Carter essentially removed all remaining limitations by saying that women can now serve in combat roles and that, “There will be no exceptions.”
Forget those silly movies with the lead heroine clad in skin-tight, low-cut leather. No, instead opt to expose your military-bound daughter to war movies like Courage Under Fire; the story of a female Gulf War pilot played by Meg Ryan who had…well…courage under fire.
Of course, that’s a fictional story. You’ll also want your daughter to see some real-world examples of courage by spending some time exploring Women in The U.S. Army, a site offered by the U.S. Army showing examples of successful women in the military.
With the historic “formal” acceptance of women in all ground combat roles (formal, because many women have been serving in combat roles before 2015), now is a time of the greatest opportunities for girls who are considering joining the military.
For women in Britain, there is a similar page on the Army site called Women in the Army.
The great thing about raising daughters is that these days there are so many resources available for mentoring, summer camps, technical training, college scholarships and so much more. This makes it so easy to put together a low-cost program of activities and resources to help guide your daughter into a field that may have traditionally been one that mostly boys were interested in.
However, keep in mind that part of what will make your daughter a true “free-thinker” is that you are not pushing her in any one direction when it comes to everything from job choice and appearances to religion or politics. The idea is that you need to educate your daughter on the skills required to learn and think for herself, but then you have to step back and let her actually think for herself.
Encourage Girls to Be Proud of Who They Are
Stories abound of teenagers who run off and become homeless, or otherwise disappear without a trace, often simply to escape a dictatorial household that seeks to define everything she must believe in and become.
However, when you let go of those demands, and if you’ve raised her with a proper “training” on how to think for herself — she will not be drawn in by the temptations many radical groups use to draw in more “followers”. Or, simply put, if she can think for herself, she won’t ever let someone else do her thinking for her.
The Nerd Community Will Help Her Look “Beyond the Norm”
Young girls face influences of the “cultural norm” the day they are born. Pink ribbons, frilly clothes, Barbie dolls with inhuman proportions, female superheroes who for some reason need to be half-dressed when fighting crime. You don’t need to shield your daughters from these things, but you do need to teach them how to view these cultural norms from the “outside” — they need to learn how to think intelligently and above the noise.
There are lots of online (and offline) communities that will teach your daughters that being “weird” is actually pretty cool. Think “nerd” and “geek” communities.
Nerdist, for example, is chock-full of podcasts, videos and other content that make the anti-culture nerds (most of whom are probably our most loyal readers) smile.
These aren’t the types of shows, movies and other things that all the teenagers of the world will love, but it is what people who have a deeper appreciation for science and technology will lean towards. People who think a little bit deeper about things, and are a tad more insightful about life, and the important things. Like Doctor Who.
It may sound strange, but if you want to introduce your daughters to a world where people don’t care what the rest of the world thinks about them, you want to take them to a Comic-Con convention. The International San Francisco one would be brilliant, but any of the smaller ones that take place across the country (and the world) would be more than enough exposure to spark the inner cosplayer in your daughter.
At first, it may seem awkward walking around and seeing all these people dressed up as characters from various comics, books and movies — but once your daughters see just how comfortable in their own skin these people are (and how much fun they’re having together) — honestly, it’s contagious. Before long, your daughters will want to dress up as their favorite book characters and attend the next convention again.
And if they really get into it, they can visit cosplay.com to get some fresh ideas for new characters to dress as, and for costume ideas and tricks.
The idea here is, instead of allowing the world and modern culture to define how your daughter should dress or look, using cosplay is a powerful tool to teach your daughter that she can use dress or makeup as an authentic way to express herself outside of those defined and expected “norms”. There’s not much “normal” about the cosplay community — except a general acceptance toward one another, and what expressing one’s true self really means. That’s some powerful stuff for a young woman to have access to at a young age.
Mel Levine, University of North Carolina Psychologist put it best in a Psychology Today interview and why parents shouldn’t try to force their kids to conform to middle school or high school social conventions:
“It’s the tastes they develop in their kids, the clothing and pursuits they pick for them. There are a lot of depressed cool kids, and it’s better to be a happy nerd than a popular anorexic. Nerdiness isn’t a pathology.”
If you want to develop a free-thinking daughter, start out by not defining how she should dress, look or act — but instead allow her the freedom and the space to define that for herself. Exposing her to awesome examples of free-thinking individuals along the way, of course.
Encourage Her to Question Everything
If you want to help your daughter avoid falling for the various gimmicks and frauds that await her in the world (like that smooth-talking player working all the college night-clubs), then you want to make sure she’s got a good head on her shoulders. Give her the tools and the discipline to question everything she is told, and to dig out the truth for herself.
One great way to do this is introducing your little daughter to sites that teach them to dig deep in order to solve complex puzzles.
Puzzle games for kids can be found all throughout the Internet, from sites like Zylom, Games.com, AddictingGames and more. We’ve covered long lists of great puzzle games for adults and kids alike right here at MakeUseOf. Most are so convenient you can play them right in your browser.
One research study in Singapore in 2014 at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) found that puzzle type video games enhance the “executive brain function”.
“The process-of-elimination study examined the effects of several genres and found that a physics-based, complex puzzle game called “Cut the Rope” came out on top for improving executive brain functions. The scientific designation ‘executive functions’ is an umbrella term that implicates management of cognitive tasks such as memory, decision making, planning and problem solving.”
In my own case, my daughters were playing such games as early as three years old (age appropriate puzzles, of course), and over time they graduated to more difficult ones — and loved playing them as much as they loved playing with their toys (if not more).
When your daughters are young, their brains are developing dramatically — much faster than you might expect. Playing mystery games is another way to mold the thought processes into a pattern where your little girl will learn to always think critically when presented with any situation or information. The right games can train your daughter to be a skilled problem solver.
Zylom has a whole section of mystery games for you to download and play with your child.
Each one has a background story that’ll pull at the imagination. You can play some of the games for free, but the full games need to be paid for.
If you prefer free, Gamesloon has a whole selection of mystery games in the adventure game style format. If you’ve played any of the point-and-click adventure games of the 90s where you need to explore rooms and areas to find clues, this is exactly that sort of thing.
My daughters got wrapped up into playing these kind of online games for hours, at a very young age. They devoured them, and after a while they could solve the games in record time. All the while, their ability to discern unusual or out-of-place elements in a given scenario became razor sharp. Today, as young teenagers, they’ve retained those skills and use them all the time in their school work and in life.
Of course, you don’t only have to depend on online games for these, just check out game download sites like Big Fish Games which has a whole assortment of games for PC, Mac, mobile, and online that your kids can try out for free and purchase to download if you like.
The idea here is that there’s a never-ending supply of resources to entertain your daughters, and teach them to observe, analyze, and problem-solve with the best of them.
What will this do for them? Lots.
People with strong problem solving skills are the kind of people who land high-paying jobs. According to University.com, the best-careers for problem solvers include financial advisers, graphic designers, engineers and more. Not only that, but when your daughter is confronted by faulty logic and ridiculous claims that are so prevalent on the Internet today, they will be the last to believe it, and the first to challenge it with facts and evidence.
Give Her a Shield Against Modern Culture
All the skills that you’ve provided your daughter through the years, using the tools and techniques above, will serve her so well in life. They are skills that parents naturally teach to their boys — it’s part of modern culture for boys to be guided toward an interest in detective work, spy craft, science and technology.
Start early, buck those social trends. Give your daughters the advantage that they deserve. And if they want to pursue fields that are not traditionally male-dominated, that’s fine too — that’s the beauty of free-thinking; a person’s decisions are their own.
As they make their life, your daughters will have a natural pride for their abilities. Not because they are girls, but because they have the skills. You’ve taught them to view themselves as capable and effective human beings, not as the victimized “weaker” gender who need protection or assistance.
Author Elizabeth Wasserman once explained this kind of “free-thinking” mentality as follows:
“At a certain point, when we demand an equal ratio of men to women in certain fields, what we’re criticizing is not ‘the system,’ but the choices that women themselves are making…let’s keep our eye on the question of equal opportunity and stop obsessing about equal outcomes, lest we find ourselves trying to cure society, not of sexism, but of free choice.”
And for all that effort — for all those years of practicing thinking critically via online resources, doing electronic wiring projects together, studying the stars through a telescope, and exploring science museums – my two daughters are well on their way toward high-tech fields; one plans to go into graphic design, and the other will be pursuing either engineering or forensic science (she hasn’t decided yet!).
Do you have daughters? How do you encourage them to think critically and develop an interest in science and technology? Share your own advice and tips in the comments section below! | <urn:uuid:2b6ba856-b86a-4fc2-86b1-ea4a74d26fce> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/raise-free-thinking-daughters-online-world/ | 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 | 0.960197 | 5,155 | 3.0625 | 3 |
'Brain changes' seen in young American footballers
- 1 December 2014
- From the section Health
Some teenagers appear to show changes in their brains after one season of playing American football, a small study suggests.
Even though players were not concussed during the season, researchers found abnormalities similar to the effects of mild traumatic brain injury.
Twenty-four players aged between 16 and 18 were studied and devices on their helmets measured head impacts.
The study was presented to the Radiological Society of North America.
In recent years, a number of reports have expressed concern about the potential effects on young, developing brains of playing contact sports.
These studies have tended to focus on brain changes as a result of concussion.
But this study focused on the effects of head impacts on the brain, even when players did not suffer concussion at any point during the season.
Using detailed scans of the players' brains before the season began and then again after it ended, the researchers were able to identify slight changes to the white matter of the brain.
White matter contains millions of nerve fibres which act as communication cables between the brain's regions.
Those players who were hit harder and hit more often were more likely to show these changes in post-season brain scans.
Dr Alex Powers, co-author and paediatric neurosurgeon at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre in North Carolina, said the changes were a direct result of the hits received by the young players during their football season.
"American football is a direct contact sport. The object is to bring people down.
"When players are hit, the brain moves violently within the skull. The harder the hit is, the more the brain is going to move."
He said the changes could not be called "brain damage" because they do not yet know if the changes were reversible or not.
Their next aim is to find out when young, developing brains are at their most vulnerable - in order to make the sport safer for everyone.
Antonio Belli, professor of trauma neurosurgery at the University of Birmingham, said there was a lot of interest in these kind of injuries, but there was still more research to be done.
"The jury is still out: there are some detectable changes after sub-concussive injuries but we don't know what these mean.
"These may well be innocuous changes in the vast majority of people, but potentially significant in people with a previous head injury." | <urn:uuid:6ccbf1b9-43a3-4265-911d-698424b2518f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30248886 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00007-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981433 | 502 | 2.671875 | 3 |
The Capital Asset Pricing Model or CAPM
, is a model that is used in corporate finance to evaluate the expected return of capital assets
based on their systematic risk
. Systematic risk is the risk of a firm that contributes to the overall market portfolio- a portfolio that contains a weighted average of all capital assets. Non-systematic
risk is, therefore, risk that comes from asset specific or industry
specific sources. Most theorists in the area of corporate finance
believe that you can eliminate almost all non-systematic (asset-specific) risk and be left with only systematic (market driven risk) by diversify
ing in around thirty assets. Eg shares, properties etc. CAPM prices assets on the basis that this non-systematic risk has been diversified away- that is, there is no compensation
for bearing non-systematic risk by way of a higher expected return.
The equation for CAPM is as follows:
CAPM: E(ri) = rf + Bi(E(rm) - rf )
E(ri) is the expected annual return as a percentage on asset i
rf is the risk free rate of return (usually measured by treasury yields, since governments are highly unlikely to default on their bonds).
Bi is the Beta of asset i.
E(rm) is the expected return of the market portfolio.
So what is Beta? Beta is a measure of the extent to which an asset’s expected return can be expected to change given some change in the market portfolio. Hence, the market portfolio is defined as having a Beta of 1. Betas higher than one are riskier than the market portfolio. For example, if the market portfolio expected return increases by 10% and an asset j has a Beta of 1.5, then we would EXPECT j’s expected return to increase by 15%. In other words, assets with high Beta are expected to magnify movements in the market portfolio. Conversely, returns on assets with low Beta are expected to move more conservatively than the market portfolio.
Beta of an asset i is defined as follows:
Bi = (Covariance(E(rm), E(ri)))/(Variance of Market)2
We see from the equation for the CAPM, that a higher Beta will increase Bi(E(rm) - rf ), known as the asset’s risk premium. A higher risk premium will give a higher overall expected return for the asset. So, since Beta is a measure of an asset’s contribution to the overall market risk or systematic risk, then investors are compensated by bearing high systematic risk with a higher expected return.
An Example: Treasury bonds have an expected return of 6%, but their Beta is virtually zero, ie close to no risk. A biotechnology stock might be extremely volatile and have a Beta of 2. This means we expect its return to change two-fold of however the market portfolio’s return changes. If the market risk premium (E(rm) - rf) is ten percent, then we would expect a return on this asset of 6% + 2*(10%) = 26%. A much higher return than the treasury bonds to compensate the holder of the asset for the riskiness of its return.
If it is priced at any expected return below this then we say that the stock is overvalued and if it is priced at an expected return above this, then we say it is undervalued. Market forces should act to correct any considerable mis-evaluation. eg "bargain hunting" in the stock market. That is, the price will move either upward or downward to decrease or increase expected return until it correctly compensates holders of the asset for its risk.
Much of the work on CAPM was done in the 1960s by Sharpe and Lintner. Subsequent testing of the CAPM to determine its relevance in real world corporate finance has found it to be useful, but flawed. The primary criticism of the model is based around the difficulty of acquiring and measuring a market portfolio. Roll’s Critique (1976) stated that the market portfolio, the central element of CAPM is impossible to study since it contains a weighted amount of each and every capital asset in the world – shares, property, machinery etc. The closest that we can come to such an index is perhaps the Morgan Stanley Capital Index, but clearly this is a far cry from the true market portfolio.
Nevertheless, CAPM and Beta are fundamental tools of much financial analysis and will be used widely until a more testable model is developed 1.
1. Bishop. (1999). Corporate Finance. | <urn:uuid:4fd3304d-0525-4b46-a7fc-af99477a1375> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://everything2.com/title/capital+asset+pricing+model | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939451 | 956 | 2.84375 | 3 |
The Voting Rights Act – its constitutionality and its future
June 26, 2013
Guests: Gary May and Heather Gerkin
The Voting Rights Act which was passed in 1965 to prevent racial discrimination in voting practices gives the federal government the right to approve any changes in election laws in nine states, mostly in the South, where the rights of blacks were historically denied. Yesterday, in the case of Shelby vs. Holder, the Supreme Court struck down a crucial provision of the law — saying that Congress must change the formula it uses to determine which states are required to get clearance by the U.S Justice Department or federal courts before changes to their voting laws are made. In its majority opinion, the Court said the data the government uses is outdated and that high voter registration among blacks in the South and the re-election of a black president is proof that minorities were no longer disenfranchised when it comes to voting. Civil rights leaders, on the other hand, point to the 2012 elections where long lines at the polls and efforts to change voter ID requirements were significant problems. We’ll discuss the significance of the Supreme Court’s ruling and the history and future of the Voting Rights Act with Yale University law professor HEATHER GERKEN and University of Delaware historian GARY MAY. | <urn:uuid:f2917cc1-46d8-4344-9c3b-33411b733ba6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2013/06/26/the-voting-rights-act-its-constitutionality-and-its-future/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402699.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00088-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962727 | 257 | 2.875 | 3 |
Go ahead: stress him out a little
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
Learning on the edge
Ignition: why stress works
Deep practice: after stress, what next?
Stress that works: schools that challenge
Skateboarders, snowboarders, and kayakers all know it is true: a little competition goes a long way. Without that touch of adrenaline, without someone at your back, or that impossible rapid before you -- offering the sure possibility of failure -- no one would ever learn anything.
In the world of athletics, this tenet is taken for granted: teenagers need a certain amount of stress to advance. But in school, stress is anathema to parents, to students, to teachers. In our local middle school, the going academic philosophy is stated quite succinctly by its principal: “From 6th to 8th grade, students are on a hormonal high that makes learning impossible. They just need socialization and fun activities that keep them in school. They can learn what they need to know later.” Unfortunately, by 11th or 12th grade, parents realize that their kids can’t write; students realize that they are not prepared for that Ivy League school that will not accept them anyway.
New research in brain chemistry validates what has long been apparent to educators who believe in a little stress. Sheryl Smith, a professor of physiology and pharmacology at SUNY Downstate, looked at the significant differences in the ways stress receptors react to hormones in the brains of mice before, during, and after puberty. While pre-pubescent and adult mice had no trouble learning spatial concepts in a series of mazes, the “teenage” mice simply could not remember solutions to posed problems. Even after several tries, they could not learn how to negotiate the maze -- unless they were injected with a stress hormone (THP) which, only in teenage brains, increases, rather than reduces, stress.
“In children and adult humans, THP is naturally released in response to stress. It reduces brain activity and calms you down,” says Smith. “But in pubertal mice, THP has the opposite effect – increasing their stress.”
This increased stress allowed the teenage mice to learn how to solve presented problems – and to perform in a way that showed they could learn. Without stress, they were miserable, unmotivated, incorrigible, “lazy” deadbeats; and it was not their fault.
This result indicates that students who receive some pressure to study, and to achieve academically, starting in sixth or seventh grade, have a huge academic advantage over those who wait until they come out of their “hormonal high” in high school. In an interview with Robert Frederick of Science Magazine, Smith says:
“…the results indirectly suggest that perhaps a little bit of stress is good for you. And this wouldn’t mean anything about injecting drugs or using a pharmacological approach, but the kind of stress that has been shown to improve learning, if you look through the literature, it just, it has to do with motivation. And internally, you know, motivated kinds of stress where people care more about doing well and perhaps therapies that are targeting that kind of motivation stress might be an interesting approach.”
Interesting, indeed. “Stressing” middle school students with academic challenges which are just out of their reach – which stretch their brains and make them have to work to achieve success – help them to achieve positive academic results. Of course, teachers and parents must believe in and support this process for it to work. Athletes understand the rewards of reaching beyond their apparent limits. However, as Paulo Coehlo says in The Diary of a Magus:
“Fans who lack the faith can make a team lose a game it is already winning.”
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Comments Policy: Comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome. Email Marie at email@example.com or leave comments on this site. If you have a product to market or ideas for future articles, please notify Marie via email. | <urn:uuid:b2e06d8a-edf9-4620-8790-993d1f2c3535> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.examiner.com/article/stress-essential-for-teenage-learning | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00200-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968053 | 901 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Changed to Sarah
|The first matriarch of the Jewish People.|
Sarah was Abraham’s wife. She married Avram when that was still his name and her name was still Sarai. They lived in Ur Casdim (Ur of the Chaldees).
They always wanted children, but never had any. At one time, Sarai even told Avram to use a surrogate mother and have a child with her servant Hagar. It didn’t work out, because Hagar still lived with them and Ishmael was really Hagar’s child.
After Avram and Sarai had gone to Eretz Ysrael, (Canaan), They were visited by three angels. One of them told Avram that his name was now Abraham and his wife’s name was now Sarah. The angel also told them that in one year they would have a child.
Even though Sarah was pleased to find out that she would finally have a child, she was worried because she was nearly 100 years old. When Sarah gave birth to Isaac, she was so very happy. After a while she got jealous of Abraham’s first son Ishmael, the son of Hagar.
Sarah told Abraham to send Ishmael away, and following HaShem’s command, Abraham did as Sarah wished. When Sarah died Abraham bought the land of the cave of Makhpelah and the land around it the field of Mamre. Abraham buried Sarah in that cave of Makhpelah. The cave is there for all to visit in the city of Hebron, in Israel. | <urn:uuid:2a85a505-5dd6-43db-8a9f-4f839a40b68f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.akhlah.com/jewish-heroes/torah-heroes/sarah/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00139-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992127 | 334 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Jan 05,2007 00:00
Bend Weekly News Sources
As January gets under way, public health officials in the Oregon Department of Human Services are encouraging people to make emergency planning one of their New Year resolutions.
"The end of this year has shown us the disruption that severe weather can bring to daily life," said Susan Allan, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) public health director. "Are you ready to confront an emergency that could last more than several days?"
Allan, whose job includes public health emergency preparedness planning, noted that whether it's a natural disaster, pandemic influenza or terrorism, survival may depend on how prepared people are.
"You need to be able to make it on your own for at least three days," she said. "In a severe disaster or pandemic, it could be even longer."
The first step toward becoming prepared is to assemble an emergency kit. This project can be as simple or elaborate as you choose. Allan advised that your emergency kit should contain these basics:
• Water -- one gallon per person per day for a minimum of three days, ideally ten days;
If you expect to be traveling in hazardous weather conditions, it's also a good idea to prepare an emergency kit for your car. In addition to items noted above, the Red Cross advises including a fire extinguisher, jumper cables, tire repair kit, compass, road map, knife, windshield scraper and a heavy sack of sand and a tow rope.
A second important step is to develop a family communication plan, because you may not be together when a disaster occurs:
• Make an agreement that you will all call or e-mail a specific friend or relative. This person will be a contact who can communicate among separated family members. Depending on the emergency, it may easier if the person lives in another town or state.
Allan noted there are additional things you can do that may benefit others:
• Make a list of elderly family members, neighbors or others with special needs who you may need to check on.
"Emergency planning is something we may not really want to think about," Allan said, "but it could make a critical difference for you and your family sometime in the future. The images we all saw following the 9/11 terrorist attack and Hurricane Katrina make clear that emergency planning is an important and urgent task."
Two reliable resources that can help with personal emergency planning are on the Web; information is available from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at www.ready.gov and the American Red Cross at www.redcross.org/. | <urn:uuid:ce122d1c-7832-4f77-be77-4c3a0fb3ede7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bendweekly.com/print/1740.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00001-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95451 | 544 | 2.65625 | 3 |
- Gather your materials. You will need some construction paper or cardboard, black foam or paper , some paint, glue, scissors and a pipe cleaner.
- Draw a big A on the cardboard/ construction paper.
- Have your child paint the A in fun bright colors, we used the dot a art paint dobbers.
- Keep going with a new paint color! Let dry.
- While your child is painting cut out 2 big alien eyes, and a mouth out of the black foam sheet or construction paper.
- Cut out your A and add your glue. As you can see I forgot to cut it out. …so just pretend I did.
- Add the eyes and mouth, let dry.
- Poke two small holes in the top of the A and thread the pipe cleaner through. Bend it to make fun antennae.
- Glue the A onto a full piece of paper and voila!
~Click here for more space activities, books and songs!~
Note about Learning Letters
Spend time pointing out letters to your child throughout the day. A simple ” What do you see?” is a great way to start , there is no need for you to point out what they miss, just follow their lead. Have them help you read recipes, mail and signs at the store – yes toddlers too! Children need to see that letters are everywhere and when they learn in context they retain what they have learned well. So don’t limit yourself to just these activities, use them for what they are, a fun way to introduce a letter, but focus on learning in a comprehensive way- which for young children must include play! Don’t forget to sing, and read all kinds of books! | <urn:uuid:f774578b-5b39-484e-aa97-0d9dbab7d908> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2008/08/letter-of-the-week-aa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00101-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915659 | 359 | 3.625 | 4 |
- So far, most of the discussion of Lieberman's Jewishness has focused on a particular religious practice: sabbath observance.
- The command to keep the Jewish Sabbath could then be taken metaphorically to refer to any day of rest, and because of the history and customs of this country, that day is Sunday, the Christian sabbath.
- Nor are the sabbath candles in a Jewish household lit by a rabbi - unless she happens to be the leader of a synagogue that ordains women.
- It shows a young musician who, in a series of opium-induced dreams, pursues his unattainable Beloved or idée fixe through a ballroom, an idyllic landscape, a prison, and a witches' sabbath where she appears hideously transformed.
- He produced some altarpieces, but his main speciality was in small cabinet pictures with historical, mythological, or allegorical themes as well as genre and fantastical scenes, such as the witches' sabbath.
- Medieval witchcraft was not a rebellion against orthodoxy so much as a continuation of heathen impulses (the witches' sabbath resembled Dionysian revels).
The sabbath is the day of rest—Saturday for Jews, Sunday for Christians. The Hebrew word sabat, ‘to rest’, is the ultimate source. The Law of Moses dictated that every seventh year should be observed as a ‘sabbath’, during which the land lay fallow. In the late 19th century US universities extended the idea of this sabbatical year to give professors and other academic staff every seventh year free to research or travel. Nowadays a sabbatical may come at other intervals of time, and members of other occupations also use the term for paid leave for professional development.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: sab|bath
Definition of sabbath in:
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:dfd66d47-b9be-4ff6-8d2b-ffd3d9d8d0b6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sabbath | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00164-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946709 | 426 | 2.875 | 3 |
Learn About A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol, probably the most popular piece of fiction that Dickens ever wrote, was published in 1843.
Dickens’s Life When Writing A Christmas Carol
- Late in 1842 or early in 1843 Dickens begins work on Martin Chuzzlewit.
- Dickens begins work onA Christmas Carol in October of 1843. It is published during the holiday season of that year.
- On January 15, 1844 Francis Jeffery (Frank) Dickens, the third son of Charles Dickens, is born.
Popularity of A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol was the most successful book of the 1843 holiday season. By Christmas it sold six thousand copies and it continued to be popular into the new year. Eight stage adaptations were in production within two months of the book’s publication.
The book is as popular today as it was over 150 years ago. Charles Dickens, through the voice of Scrooge, continues to urge us to honor Christmas in our hearts and try to keep it all the year.
Dickens was involved in charities and social issues throughout his entire life. At the time that he wrote A Christmas Carol he was very concerned with impoverished children who turned to crime and delinquency in order to survive.
“This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want.”
Dickens, as well as others, thought that education could provide a way to a better life for these children. The Ragged School movement put these ideas into action. The schools provided free education for children in the inner-city. The movement got its name from the way the children attending the school were dressed. They often wore tattered or ragged clothing.
Themes of A Christmas Carol
Scrooge’s transformation is legendary. At the beginning of the story he’s a greedy, selfish person .
“Every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.” to the man who “knew how to keep Christmas well”
Initially Scrooge is a miser who shows a decided lack of concern for the rest of mankind. However after a ghostly night, Scrooge sees life in a whole new way.
He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.
Beyond merely urging his readers to not be miserly Dickens seems to be reminding us of the importance in taking notice of the lives of those around us.
“It is required of every man,” the ghost returned, “that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide; and, if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death.”
Dickens had this to say about A Christmas Carol:
I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.
Their faithful Friend and Servant, | <urn:uuid:b2c81c83-060e-494b-8c18-6606b44ac896> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.charlesdickensinfo.com/christmas-carol/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976809 | 693 | 3.375 | 3 |
Climate and the Carbon Cycle: Unit Overview
Student Pages »
NOTE TO USERS: This module is still under development. Content has not yet been finalized for classroom use.
Why teach about carbon and the earth system?
Carbon, like water, is essential to life as we know it on Earth. It is a component of our DNA and of the foods we eat, and its presence in the atmosphere (in the form of carbon dioxide, a "greenhouse gas") helps keep our planet warm enough to be habitable. Like water, carbon continuously cycles through the major components of the Earth system—the Geosphere and the Biosphere - driven by processes that occur at incredibly different time scales, from fractions of a second (photosynthesis) to millions of years (formation of fossil fuels).
Why use this set of lessons?
This unit will introduce students to the basics of the carbon cycle. They will learn how the carbon cycle, climate and the abiotic and biotic components of the environment influence each other. They will learn where carbon is stored in the Earth's system (reservoirs) and by what processes it moves from one reservoir to another. Using case studies, NASA visualizations, current research, and interactives, students will explore how living things on land, in soils, and in our oceans regulate the carbon cycle. Students will analyze the effect of carbon dioxide on the Earth's thermostat and our climate. Finally, they will seek possible solutions to a warming climate.
Key questionsKey questions addressed by this unit include:
- How do the carbon cycle, climate and the environment influence each other?
- How does carbon move through the Geosphere and the Biosphere, in what forms and at what time and spatial scales?
- How is the carbon cycle interconnected with other biochemical cycles such as the nitrogen cycle?
- How does the carbon cycle regulate the temperature of Earth's atmosphere?
- Will carbon dioxide continue to rise, and if so, what can we do about it?
Before starting this unit
Read the Lab Overviews section, which identifies all of the materials you'll need to gather and provides a quick scope and sequence of the unit. If you have not already done so, please read the Climate Series Introduction where you will find additional information about climate science as well as suggestions for helping your students get the most out of their engagement with the module. Install and practice using new software and digital tools; acquire needed lab materials; and print out student handouts.
Several options for assessing student understanding are provided throughout this module. Some Lab sections are "learning assessments" with culminating performance assessments. Stop and Think questions can be used to assess student understanding at key points within each lab. These questions are available on the Instructor Page for each lab, under the Printable Materials heading. Short written tests to assess student understanding of material covered by each lab can be found on the corresponding Instructor Pages, under the Assessment heading. A full list of lab-level assessments as well as a cumulative end-of-module test can also be found on the Assessments page.
ResourcesThe resources below provide important background information relevant to this module and to the entire set of Climate EarthLabs modules.
- Earth System: The Basics (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 151kB Jun6 12)
- Realities VS Misconceptions About the Science of Climate Change (Acrobat (PDF) 429kB Jun6 12) This document was made available by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (http://www.c2es.org/)
- Introduction to the Basic Drivers of Climate
- Factors Affecting Global Climate
- Studying and Projecting Climate Change with Earth Systems Models | <urn:uuid:bb799de9-e712-4363-8577-cde7213668d5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://serc.carleton.edu/earthlabs/carbon/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00175-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906751 | 753 | 3.953125 | 4 |
Sargon II (721-705 BC) was an Assyrian King. He took the throne from Shalmanassar V in 722. It is not sure if he was the son of Tiglatpilesar III or an usurper unrelated to the Royal family. In his inscriptions, he styles himself as a new man, rarely referring to his predecessors, and he took the name 'Sharru-kinu', true king, after Sargon of Akkad, a mighty king who had been found in a wicker basket, a child of a temple prostitute and an unknown father. Sargon is the name given by the bible. Beset by difficulties at the beginning of his rule, Sargon made a pact with the Chaldean Marduk-apla-iddin. He freed all temples, as well as the inhabitants of the towns of Assur and Haran from taxes.
While Sargon was thus trying to gain support in Assyria, Marduk-apla-iddin conquered Babylon in with the help of the new Elamite king Ummanigash and was crowned king in 721. In 720 Sargon moved against Elam, but the Assyrian host was defeated near Der. Later this year, Sargon defeated a Syrian coalition at Qarqar, which gained him control of Arpad, Simirra and Damascus. Sargon conquered Gaza in Palestine, destroyed Rafia and won a victory over Egyptian troops. On his way back, he had Samaria rebuilt as the capital of the new province of Samerina and settled it with Arabs. In 717 he conquered parts of the Zagros-mountains and the Hittite city of Karchemish on the Upper Euphrates. In 716 he moved against the country of Mana, where the ruler Aza, son of Iranzu, had been deposed by Ullusunu with the help of the Uratians. Sargon took the capital Izirtu and stationed troops in Parsuash (Persia) and Kar-Nergal (Kishesim). He built new bases in Media as well, the main being Harhar and Kar-Sharrukin. In 715, others were to follow: Kar-Nabu, Kar-Sin and Kar-Ishtar, all named after Babylonian gods and resettled by Assyrian subjects.
The 8th campaign of Sargon against Urartu in 714 is well known from a letter from Sargon to the god Ashur (found in the town of Assur, now in the Louvre, Paris) and the bas-reliefs in the palace of Dur-Sharrukin. The campaign was probably motivated by the fact that the Urartians had been weakened by incursions of the Cimmerians, one Urartian army had been completely annihilated, the General Qaqqadanu taken prisoner. The Cimmerians were mentioned a number of times in letters by the crown-prince Sennacherib, who ran his father's intelligence service, that unfortunately cannot be dated exactly but are believed to have been composed before 713. The letter relates how Sargon crossed the upper and lower Zab and moved over the mountains of Kullar in the direction of Lake Urmia, crossing the country of Zikirtu, whose ruler Metatti had fled to Uishdish, the provinces of Surikash, Allabria and parts of Parsuash. The reliefs show the difficulties of the terrain: the war-chariots had to be dismantled and carried by soldiers (with the king still in the chariot), the latter describes how ways had to be cut into the intractable forests. After reaching Lake Urmia he turned east and entered Zikirtu and Andia on the Caspian slopes of the Caucasus. When news reached him that king Rusas I of Urartu (730-713 BC) was moving against him, he turned back to Lake Urmia in forced marches and defeated an Urartian army in a steep valley of the Uaush (probably the Sahend, east of Lake Urmia, or further to the South, in Mannean country), a steep mountain that reached the clouds and whose flanks were covered by snow. The battle is described as the usual carnage, but King Rusas managed to escape. The horses of his chariot had been killed by Assyrian spears, therefore he had to ride a mare in order to get away, very unbecoming for a king. Sargon plundered the fertile lands at the southern and western shore of Lake Urmia, felling orchards and burning the harvest. In the Royal resort of Ulhu the wine-cellar of the Urartian kings were plundered, wine was scooped up like water. The Assyrian host then plundered Sangibuti and marched north to Van without meeting resistance, the people having retreated to their castles or fled into the mountains, having been warned by fire-signals. Sargon claims to have destroyed 430 empty villages. After reaching lake Van, Sargon left Urartu via Uaiaish. In Hubushkia he received the tribute of Nairi. While most of the army returned to Assyria, Sargon went on to sack the Urartian the temple of the god Haldi and his wife Bagbartu at Musasir (Ardini). The loot must have been impressive, its description takes up 50 columns in the letter to Assur. More the 1 ton of gold and 5 tons of silver fell into the hands of the Assyrians, 334.000 objects in total. A relief from Dur Sharrukin depicted the sack of Musasir as well, it unfortunately fell into the Tigris in 1846 when Botta transported his loot to Paris. King Rusas was understandably despondent when he heard of the loss of Musasir and fell ill. Musasir was annexed. Sargon claims to have lost only one charioteer, 2 horsemen and three couriers at this occasion. King Rusa was understandably despondent when he heard of the loss of Musasir and fell ill, according to the Imperial annals he took his own life, with his own iron sword, like a pig.
In 713 Sargon stayed at home, his troops took, among others, Karalla, Tabal and Cilicia. Some median rulers offered tribute. In 711, Gurgum was conquered. A rising in Ashdod, supported by Judah, Moab, Edom and Egypt was suppressed and Ashdod became an Assyrian province.
In 710 Sargon felt safe enough in his rule to move against the Babylonian arch-enemy. One army moved against Elam and her new king Shutruk-Nahhunte II (Shutur-Nahundi), the other, under Sargon himself, against Babylon. Sargon laid siege to Babylon and Marduk-apla-iddin fled. He was finally captured in the swamps of the Shatt-el-Arab (as he was to prove a thorn in the side of Sanherib later on, this might not have been quite true). Southern Babylonia, settled by nomadic Aramaic tribes, was conquered and turned into the province of Gambulu. After the capture of Marduk-apla-iddin, Babylon yielded to Sargon and he was proclaimed king of Babylonia in 710, thus keeping the dual monarchy of Babylonia and Assyria intact. He remained in Babylon for three years. In 709, he led the new-year procession as king of Babylon. He married his son, crown-prince Sanherib to the Aramaic noblewoman Naqi'a and stayed in the south to pacify the Aramaic and Chaldean tribes of the lower Euphrates as well as the Suti-nomads. Some areas at the border to Elam were occupied as well. In 710, the seven kings of Ia' (Cyprus) had accepted Assyrian sovereignty, in 709 Midas, king of Phrygia, beset by the nomadic Cimmerians submitted to Assyrian rule and in 708, Kummuhu (Commagene) became an Assyrian province. Assyria was at the apogee of its power. Urartu had almost succumbed to the Cimmerians, Elam was weakened, Marduk-apla-iddin was momentarily powerless and the Egyptian influence in Syria was temporarily waning as well.
Sargon preferred Niniveh to the traditional capital at Ashur. In 713 he ordered the construction of a new palace and town called Dur-Sharrukin (House of Sargon, Khorsabad), 20 km north of Niniveh at the foot of the Gebel Musri. Land was bought, and the debts of construction workers were nullified in order to attract a sufficient labour force. The land in the environs of the town was taken under cultivation, and olive groves were planted to increase Assyria's deficient oil-production. The town was of rectangular layout and measured 1760 * 1635 m. The length of the walls was 16280 Assyrian units, which corresponded to the numerical value of Sargon's name. The town was partly settled by prisoners of war and deportees under the control of Assyrian officials who had to assure they were paying sufficient respect to the Gods and the king. The court moved to Dur-Sharrukin in 706, although it was not completely finished yet.
In 705, Sargon fell in a campaign against the Cimmerians, a nomadic tribe from southern Russia who were to destroy the kingdoms of Urartu and Phrygia before moving even further west. Sargon was followed by his son Sennacherib (Sin-ahhe-eriba, 704-681 BC).
Under the rule of Sargon the Assyrians completed the defeat of the Kingdom of Israel, capturing Samaria after a siege of three years and dispersing the inhabitants. This became the basis of the legend of the Lost Ten Tribes. | <urn:uuid:630a450c-0b7d-47dd-a512-172ade754ade> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.biographybase.com/biography/Sargon_II_of_Assyria.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396224.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00165-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977756 | 2,108 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Laura Nielsen for FrontierScientists
We know that the Arctic holds unique climate conditions and a complex carbon balance. Tundra fires and thawing permafrost release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, while unique ocean currents and cold waters prompt higher levels of ocean acidification. Methane emerges from sea and soil. The Arctic sea ice cover shrinks to increasingly startling extents. Plant life changes in response to altered conditions, and wildlife struggles to adapt. Understanding Arctic systems is a vital piece of climate science that can provide policy makers the knowledge they need to predict and manage biological systems in an increasingly climate-uncertain world, yet the remote locations and harsh conditions of the Arctic create challenges for scientists.
Visit Alaska’s remote Toolik Field Station, where hundreds of scientists undertake research projects in the field. Often clad in neoprene boots and carrying Global Positioning Systems, they study arctic ground squirrel societies, the myriad thermokarst lakes formed by melting ground ice in regions underlain by permafrost, and everything in between. Toolik is a site for international science cooperation, education and outreach.
Toolik Field Station sits on the shore of Toolik Lake, 189 miles north of the Arctic Circle in the northern foothills of Alaska’s Brooks Range. The field station is operated by the Institute of Arctic Biology (IAB) at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and supported by the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs. Just one of many IAB initiatives, Toolik Field Station is a world-renowned research platform for studying Arctic climate change, Arctic ecology, and more. First utilized in 1975 when researchers studied inland coastal ponds and camped in tents on the shores of Toolik Lake, the site has developed into a top-of-the-line research station. This environmental observatory has hosted upwards of 500 scientists at a time, a diverse crowd of national and international professionals and students undertaking Arctic research projects. On-the-sites laboratories are available year-round, as well as essential science and communication equipment and vehicles (including a helicopter) for traversing the arctic coastal plains and navigating the foothills of the majestic Brooks Range.
The station hosts ecological observing systems, including the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research and Arctic Observatory Network, serving to flesh out observations of Arctic environmental conditions. It’s also the Arctic site for the National Ecological Observatory Network program, and part of the International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic. As a monitoring and research facility, it contributes slews of data and long-term ecological research that scientists and policy makers can use to better understand arctic ecosystems, the effects of climate change… and to predict the future our world faces.
Toolik Field Station’s mission: to support research and education that creates a greater understanding of the Arctic and its relationship to the global environment.
Besides housing, equipment and field laboratories, the station provides research support in the form of Geographical Information Systems and mapping services (ToolikGIS). The Toolik GIS (Geographical Information Systems) and Remote Sensing (RS) Program is said to be like a library catalogue for available information about the arctic. Scientists (and the public too!) can search for and access spatial datasets like regional maps, GPS survey information, photographs, and other records. While present Arctic GIS records are hosted by many organizations, the community has worked to consolidate nodes of information and hopes to progress to an internet-based Geospatial Portal that organizes Arctic Spatial Data Infrastructure and makes data readily available within the growing international network of climate and science information. This can help synthesize existing research with new studies, and contribute to a library of data that can be assimilated by climate and biospheric models that help assess future climate and ecosystem trends.
Facilitating and enhancing arctic research, the Toolik Field Station helps organize information to make it available to regional and international entities. “Toolik Field Station GIS is also committed to developing the database, hardware and personnel to anticipate future requirements and provide a legacy dataset to enhance the management and science conducted at Toolik Field Station and in the Arctic. … To date, the Toolik GIS and RS database includes several hundred spatial datasets.” *
Armed with new knowledge, we can better understand the role of the Arctic as it reacts to and drives climate change in the coming centuries.
- Toolik Field Station http://toolik.alaska.edu *
- Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks http://www.iab.uaf.edu/
Watch It’s A Bore Hole! … Scientists collect surface and subsurface data on permafrost to apply to climate models. | <urn:uuid:d955f305-b38d-4238-919b-fc1a3c8e8afd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://frontierscientists.com/2012/10/portal-toolik-field-station/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00037-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897871 | 981 | 3.984375 | 4 |
Charlie Lee Byrd (September 16, 1925 – December 2, 1999) was an American guitarist. His earliest and strongest musical influence was Django Reinhardt, the gypsy guitarist. Byrd was best known for his association with Brazilian music, especially bossa nova. In 1962, Byrd collaborated with Stan Getz on the album Jazz Samba, a recording which brought bossa nova into the mainstream of North American music.
Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (January 25, 1927 – December 8, 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈtõ ʒoˈbĩ]), was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within Brazil and internationally.
Widely known as the composer of "The Girl from Ipanema" (Garota de Ipanema), one of the most recorded songs of all time, Jobim has left a large number of songs that are today included in the standard Jazz and Pop repertoires.
Samba (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈsɐ̃bɐ] ( listen)) is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival. Considered one of the most popular Brazilian cultural expressions, samba has become an icon of Brazilian national identity. The Bahian Samba de Roda (dance circle), which became a UNESCO Heritage of Humanity in 2005, is the main root of the samba carioca, the samba that is played and danced in Rio de Janeiro.
The modern samba that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century is basically 2/4 tempo varied with the conscious use of chorus sung to the sound of palms and batucada rhythm, adding one or more parts or stanzas of declaratory verses. Traditionally, the samba is played by strings (cavaquinho and various types of guitar) and various percussion instruments such as tamborim. Influenced by American orchestras in vogue since the Second World War and the cultural impact of US music post-war, samba began to use trombones, trumpets, choros, flutes, and clarinets.
In addition to rhythm and bar, samba brings a whole historical culture of food, varied dances (miudinho, coco, samba de roda, and pernada), parties, clothes such as linen shirts, and the NAIF painting of established names such as Nelson Sargento, Guilherme de Brito, and Heitor dos Prazeres. Anonymous community artists, including painters, sculptors, designers, and stylists, make the clothes, costumes, carnival floats, and cars, opening the doors of schools of samba.
An awful lot of musical history here. An awful lot of energy & talent goes into the making of this extraordinary piece.
Makes you want to travel to where the people know how to really dance, play, make love joyfully & just live life as it should be lived. I guess I'm thinking of Utopia, Ultima Thule or someplace magical like that.
Certainly no place where any kind of dour hypocritical soul-killing life-snatching puritanism holds sway.
One of the best versions ever. Tasteful and graceful chord changes plus superb melody. Shortly less than a year later Charlie passed away. | <urn:uuid:fbdb278c-8c17-43aa-bad6-8765a8bb0993> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://greenpagan.newsvine.com/_news/2012/10/08/14302650-corcovado-composed-by-antonio-carlos-jobim-performed-by-charlie-byrd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00165-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955761 | 773 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Since WCARRD, held in 1979, there has been greater emphasis on the reduction of poverty and improved nutrition and on increased self-reliance in rural areas, particularly at the household level. To achieve this, there have been efforts to improve the awareness of decision-makers and planners of the role played by women in agricultural production, marketing and rural development, and to better identify and respond to women's needs for training and access to inputs and services for food production and associated activities.
Mrs. Manju Dutta Das started working for the Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Assam, India as an Assistant Professor. Along with her colleagues and students she conducted a few short-term extension projects in areas such as kitchen gardening, fishery, poultry and duck rearing, sericulture, food processing, adult education, and energy conservation based on priority need areas of women farmers in the University adopted villages. However, the nature and extent of women farmer's participation in agricultural extension activities in different countries were not clear.
Because of her high qualifications and relevant experience, Mrs. Dutta Das was awarded an FAO André Mayer Research Fellowship by FAO and, for sixteen months starting from March 1993, explored some of the important factors for improving the relevance and effectiveness of agricultural extension activities in reaching the women farmers of Thai/and, Trinidad, Nigeria and Syria. Selection of these four countries was based on the knowledge that they have a long history of general agricultural extension services to farming communities.
In connection Wit/? this study, Mrs. Dutta Das had discussions with related informed persons at various levels - ministries, research institutes and universities - of these four countries. The administrators at different levels of the extension departments in the ministries of agriculture provided current information on the various problems and constraints of agricultural extension services in reaching women farmers.
The FAO library in Rome and in different related institutes of the study countries (IITA, NISER and University of lbadan, Nigeria, Department of Sociology and Department of Extension Education, Kasetsart University, Thailand, CARDI, CNIRD, University of West Indies and the Information and Training Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Trinidad, and ICARDA in Syria) were also consulted for the collection of secondary information.
Due to a limited time period in each country (two months in each) and language constraints in three of the countries (excluding Trinidad), Mrs. Das designed her research instrument very carefully for primary data collection. The study has had limitations. But efforts were made to include the main problems that might affect the agricultural extension system in reaching women farmers who really need urgent attention.
The findings of this study confirm that women farmers are not a homogeneous group. They represent different situations which need to be considered as a useful factor in planning extension strategies. The nature and extent of their involvement in agriculture no doubt varies greatly from region to region. But regardless of these variations, the most important activities mainly performed by women farmers are planting, transplanting, weeding, harvesting, storage and food processing. Apart from Syria, most of the women farmers of three of the study countries engaged in the marketing of their farm produce. Decision-making patterns in farm activities seem to be changing and women have increasingly become an important partner for their husbands, except in one country. Despite their valuable contribution in agricultural production, women do not have easy access to agricultural resources, such as the required amount of cultivable land, tit/e of land ownership, improved farm implements, improved seeds, fertilizers, chemicals, marketing outlets and credit. It was also observed that real problems and needs for agricultural advice are not considered on a gender basis when planning and preparing extension packages in the agricultural services, and a comparatively lower percentage of women farmers in Thailand and Trinidad participated in the programs than in Nigeria and Syria. Lack of address of women farmers explicitly as an important clientele group in respective extension programmed activities, lack of women us contact framers, lack of appropriate technology suitable for women farmers, the required amount of demonstration materials and equipment for the extension service, lack of appropriate training of field extension agents in extension methodology to serve women farmers, poor monitoring and evaluation systems and inadequate extension/research linkages are the most important factors which need to be improved to make agricultural extension activities effective in reaching women farmers.
Throughout the study, Mrs. Das met with her advisory committee which consisted of Dr. Marie Randriamamonjy, Senior Officer in the Women in Agricultural Production and Rural Development Service, Dr. Ronny Adhikarya, Agricultural Extension, Education and Training Methodology Specialist, and myself as Chairman, who were able to assist her with problems in dealings with such a complex subject.
T. E. Contado, Chairman
André Mayer Research Fellow Advisory Committee and Chief; Agricultural Education and Extension Service | <urn:uuid:f087bd15-0fbe-4c2b-b0ec-5d28cc6d4ccc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fao.org/docrep/V4805E/v4805e01.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953696 | 979 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Studies Find Payoff, Drawbacks Persist for Pupils in Preschool and Child Care
Both the positive and the negative effects of spending long hours in organized child care and preschool are evident even after children move into elementary school, two new studies show.
The first paper—the latest from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development—shows that benefits children experience by being exposed to high-quality child care, such as higher mathematics, vocabulary, and memory skills, appear to remain at least through 3rd grade.
The closely watched, federally financed project began in 1991 with a sample of more than 1,300 newborns. This newest research focuses on 972 children who remained in the sample as 3rd graders.
The benefits of high-quality, center-based care apparently don’t extend to children’s social development, says the study. Behavior problems, such as mother-child conflicts and some poor conduct at school, were still detected in 3rd grade among children who had spent more, rather than less, time in center-based programs.
Surprisingly, the researchers also found that some of the negative behavior patterns detected earlier for students in any kind of day care —findings that received considerable attention in the press a few years ago—actually faded by the time the children finished the 3rd grade. In 2001, researchers said that these children were more aggressive and disobedient than other children who had been home with their mothers.
“In some respects, the current findings stand in contrast to our findings prior to school entry,” the authors write in the paper, which appears in the fall issue of the American Educational Research Journal.
But they also caution the public and policymakers against celebrating those dissipating traits.
“Because development is dynamic, we are not surprised that effects are more in evidence at some periods than others,” the researchers write.
In fact, some new negative effects—or “sleeper” effects—that were not detected when the children were younger, such as poor work habits in school among children who had spent more time in child care, showed up for the first time in 3rd grade.
Embracing Good News
Some fear that child care and preschool advocates will play up the finding in the NICHD study that some negative effects fade over time and brush aside the data on problems that remain.
“I just know that there is so much readiness to embrace the good news and so much unwillingness to embrace the bad news,” said Jay Belsky, a psychology professor at Birkbeck College in London and a member of the vast network of researchers on the child-care study.
He also was the most outspoken about the findings four years ago on negative effects and has clashed with others in the network over the conclusions.
After all the time and money spent on the research project—about $10 million a year since 1991—he said he doesn’t think the study has much to offer to the average parent or policymaker trying to decide on child care. Still, he said, the study raises huge questions about how teachers handle classrooms full of children who have spent a lot of time in child care or preschool. ("Study: Quality of 1st Grade Teachers Plays Key Role," Sept. 21, 2005.)
In the second newly released study, researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed a much larger sample: more than 14,000 kindergartners from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.
As with the NICHD study, the authors found cognitive gains among children, particularly those from the poorest families, who attended a center-based preschool program the year before kindergarten. Because of the sample size, they were also able to see differences between subgroups. While white and African-American children benefited to some extent from such preschools, Hispanic children showed double the gains in early language and pre-reading skills.
But the Stanford and Berkeley researchers, too, found poor social behavior, such as bullying and aggression, and a lack of motivation to take part in classroom activities. Those patterns for former center-based preschoolers were the strongest among white children from high-income families and among low-income black children. Those negative effects did not show up among Hispanic children, but the researchers say it’s not clear why that is the case.
‘Ignoring Their Hearts’
The researchers, led by Susanna Loeb, an assistant professor of education and economics at Stanford, also found that some children, particularly those from middle-class and upper-income families, displayed more behavior problems if they had attended preschool for more than 30 hours a week. For white children, cognitive gains flattened after 30 hours of attendance each week, but continued among black children the more hours they attended.
The authors suggest that policymakers think about whether full-day or half-day preschool classes are more appropriate for certain groups of children as they work to expand state-financed programs with limited resources.
State leaders, they suggest, might also consider whether they are focusing as much attention on children’s social-emotional development as they are on their early academic skills.
Bruce Fuller, an education professor at Berkeley and one of the paper’s authors, said that advocates of expanding preschool to all children might be so focused on “pumping up kids’ brains that they’re ignoring their hearts.”
Libby Doggett, the executive director of Pre-K Now, a Washington-based preschool advocacy group, said that even if poor children benefit more, that “doesn’t mean that middle-income children should be excluded from access to early education.”
“Quality pre-K can no longer be considered a luxury for wealthy families or a targeted program for low-income families,” she said. “America should provide it for all children.”
The Stanford-Berkeley study has been accepted for publication in the Economics of Education Review.
Vol. 25, Issue 10, Page 12 | <urn:uuid:7b6845e9-d33d-4b07-993d-d82e92584056> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/11/02/10care.h25.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00031-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969663 | 1,256 | 2.890625 | 3 |
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