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What is MARGINS?
Continental margins are the Earth's principal loci for producing hydrocarbon and metal resources, for earthquake, landslide, volcanic and climatic hazards, and for the greatest population density. Despite the societal and economic importance of margins, many of the mechanical, fluid, chemical and biological processes that shape them are poorly understood. Progress is hindered by the sheer scope of the problems and by the space and time scales as well as the complexities of the processes. To overcome these obstacles, the earth science community has identified the outstanding scientific problems in continental margins research and the MARGINS Program is promoting research strategies that redirect traditional approaches to margin studies. In particular, the MARGINS Program will focus on the coordinated, interdisciplinary investigation of four fundamental initiatives; the Seismogenic Zone Experiment, the Subduction Factory, Rupturing Continental Lithosphere, and Sediment Dynamics and Strata Formation (Source to Sink). Each initiative is associated with two focus sites, research locations selected by the community to address the complete range of field, experimental and theoretical studies, over the full range of spatial and temporal scales needed to address fundamental questions associated with each initiative. The MARGINS Focus Sites are shown on this web page. The MARGINS Program is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and is driven by input from, and interaction with the earth science community:
e-mail: margins @ nsf-margins.org
The MARGINS Office is now in transition and will become the GeoPRISMS Office, hosted at Rice University, after 1st October 2010. During this transition period, the following listserv and sign-up functionality will be unavailable. These functions will return once the GeoPRISMS Office is in place at Rice.
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by National Science Foundation
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Last updated Monday, September 27, 2010 | <urn:uuid:4ee6e3b5-0b9f-42b6-8e85-c06214257cbe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nsf-margins.org/MARGINS_Office/AboutMARGINS.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00034-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.901612 | 397 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Scottish sovereignty and the union of 1707: Then and now
Abstract:This article discusses the history of Scottish sovereignty as a component of Scottish identity. The argument is that certain aspects of Scottish sovereignty were preserved by the union, and that these have often remained latent until the devolution settlement. The new political landscape in the UK has contributed to a redevelopment of ideas of British parliamentary sovereignty, which have served to render these elements of preserved Scottish sovereignty active, and this new state of affairs is reflected in the findings of the Calman Commission. In this context, what is independence?
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: College of Arts,University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Publication date: March 1, 2012 | <urn:uuid:cdc49322-0379-4ac2-b0b1-ccba40c77541> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/routledg/cnid/2012/00000014/00000001/art00002 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939761 | 147 | 3.125 | 3 |
BRISTOL, England, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- A spacecraft has seen an atmospheric change on Saturn's moon Titan that only happens every 15 years and is never observable from Earth, British researchers say.
NASA's Cassini space probe, which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, has allowed scientists for the first time ever to observe Titan's seasonal atmospheric circulation direction change, they said.
Titan, while technically only a moon, is bigger than the planet Mercury and is often considered a planet in its own right.
It possesses one of only four terrestrial atmospheres in our Solar System, the other three being Earth, Venus, and Mars.
As Titan's rotation axis is tilted by a similar amount to that of the Earth, it experiences seasons in a similar way, but at a much more relaxed pace as Saturn takes 29.5 Earth years to orbit the Sun.
Nick Teanby of the University of Bristol and colleagues used one of Cassini's instruments to map out the seasonal changes in Titan's atmosphere in great detail.
"Using measurements of temperature and chemical tracers by Cassini, we were able to observe changes in the subtle vertical winds and reveal the pole-to-pole circulation cell," Teanby said in a university release.
"For the first time ever, we observed the circulation cell direction reverse over the south pole around the time of the 2009 southern autumnal equinox."
In the coming years Cassini will continue to observe how the seasons develop, researchers said.
"So, these results could eventually lead to a more complete understanding of atmospheric processes on Earth, other Solar System planets, and the many exoplanetary systems now being discovered," Teanby said. | <urn:uuid:0576e59b-2d03-4620-bee3-74dd045bf283> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/11/28/Seasons-on-Saturn-moon-observed/UPI-75661354150774/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00068-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938314 | 349 | 3.484375 | 3 |
‘Single-Payer’ Debated: What Does That Mean?
By Julie Rovner
Fri, Jan 22 2016
Health care has emerged as one of the flash points in the Democratic presidential race.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has been a longtime supporter of a concept he calls “Medicare for All,” a health system that falls under the heading of “single-payer.”
Sanders released more details about his proposal shortly before the Democratic debate in South Carolina Sunday night. “What a Medicare-for-All program does is finally provide in this country health care for every man, woman and child as a right,” he said in Charleston.
Sanders’ main rival for the nomination, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has criticized the plan for raising taxes on the middle class and said it is politically unattainable. “I don’t want to see us start over again with a contentious debate” about health care, she said Sunday night.
Some of the details of Sanders’ plan are still to be released. But his proposal has renewed questions about what a single-payer health care system is and how it works. Here are some quick answers.
What Is Single-Payer?
Single-payer refers to a system in which one entity (usually the government) pays all the medical bills for a specific population. And usually (though again, not always) that entity sets the prices for medical procedures.
Single-payer is NOT the same thing as socialized medicine. In a truly socialized medicine system, the government not only pays the bills but owns the health care facilities and employs the professionals who work there.
The Veterans Health Administration (VA) is an example of a socialized health system run by the government. It owns the hospitals and clinics and pays the doctors, nurses and other health providers.
Medicare, on the other hand, is a single-payer system in which the federal government pays the bills for those who qualify, but hospitals and other providers remain private.
Which Countries Have Single-Payer Health Systems?
Fewer than many people think. Most European countries either never had or no longer have single-payer systems. “Most are basically what we call social insurance systems,” said Gerard Anderson, a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who has studied international health systems. Social insurance programs ensure that almost everyone is covered. They are taxpayer-funded but are not necessarily run by the government. | <urn:uuid:51c62218-0ce8-42ef-bb4b-acc24d2204c4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/20160122/democratic-candidates-debate-singlepayer-but-what-does-that-mean?src=RSS_PUBLIC | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954515 | 519 | 2.921875 | 3 |
The breath of life
God’s gift to all creatures
One of the best-known verses in the Bible is Genesis 2:7, ‘And the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.’ This verse sets a pattern for the rest of the Bible, where breath is often equated with life itself. In fact, references to breath or breathing are frequent in the Bible, with many allusions to God as the giver of breath (and life) to man and animals.
The respiratory system has many distinctive design features, which show forth the providence of God. Breathing also illustrates our human vulnerability and complete dependence upon God. One easy experiment to show this is to try to hold our breath. For most of us, air hunger becomes painful well within a minute, and we would die in just a few more minutes if completely deprived of air. So, our breathing apparatus is one of our most vital systems—absolutely necessary to sustain us from moment to moment. How does it work?
Designed to breathe
Respiration in humans begins with the nose. Our nasal passages are much more than just a source of discomfort when cold and flu season comes around. They are a high-tech air conditioning and purification system. They filter out the larger dust particles and microbial spores by focusing incoming air onto the mucous membrane lining the nasal cavity. The cells of this lining secrete sticky mucus, where impurities are trapped and disposed of. The nasal passages also provide air warming and humidification, through a rich blood supply just beneath the mucous membrane. (This is why nosebleeds happen fairly easily.) The blood supply also acts as a chemical cleanser of the air, and gives the nose design features in common with modern air-cleaning antipollution devices:
‘In an engineer’s terms, the nose is said to function like a scrubbing tower supplied with fresh [cleaning] fluid at successive levels. Despite a fractional-second contact time with the nasal mucosa, the inspired air is efficiently cleared of ozone, sulfur dioxide, and other water-soluble pollutant gases, far better than it is cleared by the oropharynx [by breathing through the mouth].’1
Lung fact file
- Did you know?
- Your lungs have about 800 million alveolar air sacs (see main text)
- It only takes about 1½ seconds for your heart to spread blood over a lung area of half a standard tennis court and then shunt it back into circulation. This happens about 100,000 times every day, usually totally automatically.
- The weight of the total blood circulated through your lungs each day is around 8 tonnes. In an average lifetime, this is double the weight of the giant aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (see below for more). Yet:
- The work of breathing at rest only takes some 3–5% of the body’s energy consumption.
- To ensure smooth breathing without gasps, the basic nerve impulse controlling it is a ‘ramp’ signal that begins weakly and increases steadily for about two seconds, then stops for three.
Jerry Moore M.D.
USS Nimitz aircraft carrier
After being warmed up and cleaned, air passes into the main windpipe, or trachea. From there it goes into two large branches, the main bronchi (singular bronchus) where further cleaning, by removal of finer particles, takes place. These progressively branch into increasingly smaller bronchi, with the very small ones being called bronchioli.2 The mucous membrane lining the bronchi also has cells with cilia, tiny whip-like hairs which can beat directionally. These waving hairs move a layer of mucus ever upwards toward the throat, where the layer and its entrapped particles can be swallowed. This air-cleaning system is called (appropriately) the ‘mucociliary escalator’.
Just before each bronchiolus ends in a tiny air sac called an alveolus, the cells lining it change. Instead of making mucus, they have enzymes to dissolve it, and thus the smallest are kept from being plugged by the protective mucus.
Each alveolus is shaped like a tiny room, with thin surrounding walls, and a doorway coming from a bronchiolus.3 Within the walls (like water pipes in the walls of a house) travel tiny blood vessels, or capillaries. The walls are ultra-thin, and tightly packed with these capillaries, so that gas exchange by simple diffusion can take place. ‘Used’ blood coming into the lungs (from the body’s veins via the heart) has a surplus of carbon dioxide, which is exchanged for oxygen through the alveoli. The oxygenated blood is then returned to the heart for circulation to the rest of the body. The renewed oxygen, in turn, drives the metabolic reactions which give our cells energy (and life).
The specialized cells of the alveoli are fascinating. The lining cells flatten themselves out like pancakes, to make the alveolar walls as thin as possible. In the corners of the alveolar ‘rooms’, there are cells secreting a soapy substance called surfactant,4 which keeps the moist alveoli from being collapsed by water’s surface tension. Also, there are patrolling white blood cells called macrophages (meaning ‘big eaters’). These body-defence cells are found in many tissues, but the kind in the lungs are super-specialized.5 Like the alveolar lining cells, they are flattened, but unlike the lining cells, they are mobile. They rove across the alveolar walls like flatfish on the ocean bottom, eating any fine contaminants which have escaped the air cleaners above. When they are ‘full’ they work their way up the mucociliary escalator, to be recycled and replaced. If the macrophages are overwhelmed by an infectious invasion, then white blood cells migrate into the alveoli to help them. Widespread lung infection is called pneumonia.
Why the great emphasis on air-cleaning in the respiratory system? For one thing, the warm, wet climate of the alveoli makes them an ideal place for microbes to grow, and the air is full of microbes and their spores. We would all die of pneumonia in a few days without our built-in air-cleaning systems.
Another reason is that otherwise the lungs would soon fill up with inhaled dust. Finally, toxic inhalants need to be cleared out before they can permanently disable the delicate alveolar cells.
The lung damage and death caused by tobacco smoking is a good example of the issues involved. Despite the cleaning mechanisms, some smoke, dust and toxins will reach the alveoli. The lungs and airways can temporarily overcome the injuries of smoking, sometimes for many years. However, various degrees of permanent lung damage will eventually ensue and, while smoking continues, will progress. Such damage can often cause early death.6
Human lungs can generally withstand disease for a long time because of the abundance of functional reserve built into them. Studies have shown that people, on average, must lose nearly ¾ of their lung tissue before serious respiratory difficulty develops.7
This high degree of functional reserve is also found in most other human body organs (e.g. we can cope with only one kidney). It is in keeping with the providence we should expect of a good and generous God.
Does the respiratory system show any signs of evolution? No, none at all. Evolutionists cannot explain marked differences in respiratory design among the vertebrates.8 Furthermore, mutations have not been shown to provide any benefit to this system (see panel below).
Breathing is also part of a much larger design—the entire balance of life on Earth. People and animals must consume oxygen to live, giving off carbon dioxide as a waste gas. But plants mostly do the exact opposite. They take in CO2 and give off O2. This provides a constantly renewing balance in the atmosphere, so that the oxygen we need is never used up. It also provides us with a dependable and pleasing environment of greenery, flowers and food.
Could there be an even more important reason why God created our bodies so that we must breathe? Breath is used in the Bible as a powerful symbol of the life-giving presence of God. Like God Himself, the air we breathe is invisible, odourless and tasteless—it cannot be perceived at all unless it moves. It is usually peaceful and still, but it is a reservoir of enormous power. The air is a massive ocean—invisible, yet completely necessary for our life, for we are quickly dead without it. It seems reasonable to suggest that one reason God created the air—and respiration—was to show us graphically how great and immediate is our need for Him.
Eastern mystics teach meditation upon one’s breath as a way of controlling body functions and gaining inner peace. Christians could also benefit from meditating upon breath, but in a different way. They should recognize that the breath of life is a great gift from God, and a powerful biblical metaphor used to speak of His very presence.
Even as we study it scientifically, the knowledge we gain should generate continual thanksgiving, so that we might join the psalmist in praising God along with ‘everything that has breath’ (Psalms 150:6).
Breath, spirit and life
Photo by Jerry Moore
Photomicrograph of normal lung (630x magnification). This shows how much of the lung is air-filled space. Walls of the alveolar sacs are ultra-thin. Though capillaries surround the alveolar sacs, the vessels themselves are so thin as to be inconspicuous at this magnification.
Genesis 1:2 tells us that ‘the Spirit [Hebrew ruach] of God moved upon the face of the waters’. Ruach can also mean ‘breath, air or wind.’ In Job 38, there is the striking image of God’s speaking to Job out of the ‘whirlwind’.
The idea continues in Ezekiel’s vision (Ezekiel 37:5) of dry bones, where God says, ‘I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live’. In the New Testament, the word for ‘spirit’ becomes the Greek word pneuma, with the same range of meaning as its Hebrew counterpart. In John 20:22, when the risen Jesus appears to his disciples, John records a remarkable event: ‘He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.’’’ This is a reminder to us of who first breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life.
Lucky lung mistakes?
Large numbers of inherited (genetic) mistakes—i.e. mutations—are known which affect respiratory function, virtually all harmful. Not a single beneficial one, let alone one which adds any information, has been described in relation to the respiratory system.
For example, the common genetic disease of cystic fibrosis has been traced to mutations of a single gene regulating cell membrane electrochemistry. Hundreds of mutations of this gene alone have been found so far, with none of them being beneficial.1 Also, one form of a mysterious lung disease called ‘interstitial pneumonia’ has recently been traced to mutations of a gene regulating surfactant production in alveolar cells.2
Mutations affecting respiratory cilia (see main text) leave the airways vulnerable to chronic severe infection (the ‘immotile cilia syndrome’). Again, a wide variety of mutations affecting cilia have been found, with none of them beneficial.3 The respiratory system shows every sign of being a complex optimally designed system—all randomly introduced changes decrease, rather than increase, its efficiency. Breathing is a strong witness to intelligent design.
- Cotran, R.S. et al., Robbins Pathologic basis of disease, 5th edition, W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, USA, pp. 451–454, 1994.
- Nogee, L.M. et al., A mutation in the surfactant protein C gene associated with familial interstitial lung disease, New England Journal of Medicine 344(8):573–579, 2001.
- Stryer, L., Biochemistry, W.H. Freeman and company, 3rd edition, New York, USA, p. 943, 1988.
References and notes
- Weis, L., Histology, Cell and Tissue Biology, Elsevier Science Publishing Co. Inc., 5th edition, New York, USA, p. 791, 1983. Return to text.
- The smallest ones, which carry air without exchanging it, are called the terminal bronchioli. Return to text.
- Called the alveolar duct. Return to text.
- In other contexts, the word ‘surfactant’ can be used (as an adjective) to refer to the property of reducing surface tension, or (as a noun) to a whole group of substances with this property. I.e. soap is a ‘surfactant’ as it has ‘surfactant properties’. But doctors use it to describe the particular surfactant substance found in the human lung. Return to text.
- Ref. 1, pp. 836–843. Return to text.
- Likewise, industrial smog and pollutants have a bad effect on lungs as well as the environment, and Christians should be concerned about the environmental stewardship and health-care issues involved. Return to text.
- Guyton, A.C., Textbook of Medical Physiology, 8th edition, W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, USA, pp. 427–428, 1991. Return to text.
- Denton, M., Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Adler and Adler, Maryland, USA, pp. 210–213, 1985. Return to text. | <urn:uuid:2597fbc9-409e-41ff-8f98-780ce88542f5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://creation.com/the-breath-of-life | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00025-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930834 | 2,963 | 2.75 | 3 |
The Plantation at Comal Bluff
Sneed House ruins tell a story beneath and behind modern Austin
Over its long history, a number of stories have been written about what has come to be known as the "Sneed House." Like teasers in a TV news report, they typically begin with titillating commentary on its origins, meant to catch the reader's interest. This story, I hope, will be different; but like any writer, I want you to keep reading. To that end, let me briefly introduce the Sneed House, also called "Comal Bluff."
According to scans of faded documents generously provided by the Austin History Center, the house was commissioned by Sebron Graham Sneed in 1852, on a hill near what is now the corner of I-35 and William Cannon Drive, in what is now the Dove Springs neighborhood. Slavery was legal in Austin then, as it was in all of Texas, and Sneed was a slaveowner, which came in handy in procuring labor power for the house's construction. The house was ready to live in by 1857. What the slaves built for Sneed and his family was a six-room limestone estate, a rather severe edifice designed (most likely) by Abner Cook, the same man who designed the Governor's Mansion.
A look into the timeline of the house suggests a long run of deteriorating luck that began almost as soon as construction was completed. The Sneeds were owners of 21 slaves as late as 1860, a year before the start of the Civil War. Sebron was a delegate to the Texas Secession Convention, which decided the state of Texas should secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. Sneed's sons fought for the Confederacy, and Comal Bluff was used as a Confederate recruiting station. (A 2013 Austin American-Statesman article says the house was a Confederate hospital. Either way, the political affiliation seems clear. Perhaps the house served as both.) In the end, things didn't turn out well for slavery, and by 1865 the laborers who'd built and maintained the house a few years earlier were no longer obliged to do so.
The Sneed family gained various positions of prestige around the Austin area both before and after the war. Sebron himself was a judge. His son, Thomas, was briefly mayor of Austin. The family lived in the house until 1921, when it was sold. According to the Statesman, a man named Calvin Hughs purchased the house from a Sneed descendant and lived there until his death, at which point his daughter stayed there until she died at an old age some time "in the 1960s."
This is when the story of the house starts to become a troubling puzzle of squabble and conflict between various corporate owners interested in making use of the land for profit and those, like the Texas Historical Commission, who wish to harness and commemorate the significance of the house as a relic of Texas' past. More recently a local resident, Bobby Cervantes, has made serious efforts to save the property. While he's had luck securing the nearby Sneed family burial plot, he has had much more difficulty keeping current owners Indo Pak Investments LLC from infringing on the ruins of the house itself. "At times," Cervantes says, "it seems as though no one cares. Calls, emails go unanswered, City Hall and our City Council couldn't care less."
It is not hard to sympathize with his frustration. Reading the reports of meetings and lawsuits and appeals is confusing and disheartening, as no clear plan ever seems to shake loose from the proceedings. There have been times when the house has come to public attention, only to disappear again until someone new (like myself) comes along and takes it up as though we were the first to hear of it.
All along, the house itself has remained in the same place, on an unnamed lot behind a shopping center, surrounded by apartment complexes on Austin's mostly ignored southeast side. Since its last resident departed, "in the 1960s," it has gone through a persistent and seemingly irreversible process of decay, the windows boarded up and antique interior elements stolen by pillagers, until its original details have been utterly stripped away, its white walls marred with graffiti. In 1989, at the end of a series of meetings and threats between the city and then-owners Data Port Inc. (the city wanted the owners to secure and renovate the house; the owners said they couldn't afford it), most of the house was burned down – razed in a devastating and permanent way. All that remains is a stone, Gothic skeleton.
A Lost History
This was the state of Comal Bluff when I first came to learn of it, in the early Nineties. I grew up in Dove Springs, the low-income, mostly Latino neighborhood that currently circles the house. One day my mom stopped at the corner of Bluff Springs Road and Nelms Drive and pointed out the car window toward the trees on the other side of a chain-link fence. Near the top of the tree line was the unmistakable and thrilling sight of a ruin: the white stone walls of something ancient. She said it had been a plantation, and that it had burned down. My mind was blown, because this was not the kind of history that was supposed to exist only a few hundred yards from the Supercuts where I had my head buzzed, behind the Target where my mom bought my school clothes. I'd had some introduction to the Civil War and slavery, some understanding of what took place on a plantation – mostly based on my sister's VHS copy of Gone With the Wind. They were not stories I associated with Austin. How could they be, when despite my years of Texas history in Austin public schools, and even through my ensuing high school years, the state's intimate relationship with slavery and segregation was rarely, if ever, mentioned?
In the context of this astounding ignorance, the "plantation" my mom pointed out to me that day was an impossible insistence of history upon a city and a neighborhood that, from my perspective, didn't even have one. How could slavery and the Civil War possibly exist in a neighborhood that as far as my 8-year-old mind knew hadn't come into being until the early Eighties?
Imagine my surprise when my mom later pointed out the Williamson Creek Cemetery (distinct from the Sneed family plot), a small and overgrown graveyard near the intersection of I-35 and Stassney Lane, the highway separating the cemetery from Comal Bluff, like the modern ancestor of an early Texas river set into the hills of old Austin country. According to documents provided by the Texas Historical Commission, the cemetery is known to hold the graves of members of the Sneed family as well as some of former slaves, and has seen its own history of neglect and abuse, including the vandalization and theft of headstones. When my mom took me into the cemetery (nearly 20 years ago) it was little more than a patch of weeds and brush in an anonymous lot. Stones had been kicked over and names had been rubbed away. The cemetery is currently settled within short reach of the Metropolis movie theatre and a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop, among other establishments. At the time, my mom said it was a slave cemetery, though it is difficult to say for sure. Some stones are so rubbed down that their origins are unknown and they could, indeed, be the final resting places of people who died in slavery, including some who may have laid stones and gathered lumber for Comal Bluff.
Forgetting a Bloody Past
Whether Williamson Creek Cemetery can truly be called a slave cemetery or not, its existence, as well as its relationship to the Sneeds' antebellum estate, helps to complete a story on Austin's southern border that has largely been overlooked – a story of a time and place when and where the buying and selling of human beings for forced labor was an accepted practice, a practice that was worth fighting two wars over: the Texas Revolution and the American Civil War. With a tighter and more personal focus, the story becomes one of pain, loss, tragedy, persistence, wealth, power, family, and time, a story that was taking place on the edge of the Texas frontier in the middle of the 19th century, in places all across the Hill Country and deeper into the slaveholding regions of the state.
Considering the degree to which Comal Bluff has deteriorated, the story can also be said to be one of forgetfulness and, perhaps, regret. In some places south of the Mason-Dixon Line, the antebellum and Confederate past remains, somewhat awkwardly, still a glorious dream. Richmond, Va., the former capital of the Confederacy, has maintained Confederate President Jefferson Davis' house, and erected a museum to the Confederacy, both venues dedicated to the memory of an unfortunate history Virginians have embraced, largely because it is a history they could never realistically manage to abandon. Austin, although its history is likewise tightly intertwined with that of the Confederacy and the antebellum South, has largely managed to distance itself from what took place here when slavery was still legal, and later, when Jim Crow still menaced – when race and racial relations were more overt, virulent, and bloody affairs than they are now.
Austin has largely understated (or forgotten) its role during the years of slavery and the Civil War, but that doesn't change what actually happened. S.C. Gwynne puts it plainly in his remarkable book Empire of the Summer Moon, when he describes the mood in the city at the beginning of the war, just four years after the completion of construction on Comal Bluff: "Abraham Lincoln had been elected president the previous fall, and anti-Union sentiment in Texas was in full cry. Austin was its center." Indeed, it is likely those Civil War-era residents would recognize lingering elements of Austin's secessionist past that typically go unnoticed by 21st century Austinites.
While working on this story, for example, I was reminded that some statues on the Capitol grounds as well as the University of Texas campus are specifically dedicated to "heroes" of the Glorious Cause. A page on the UT website refers to statues of Jefferson Davis and Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Albert Sidney Johnston as an "honor court." I do not know what an "honor court" is, but it does sound sufficiently Southern. Fittingly, these statues are located on the campus' South Mall and, equally fitting, they face south. The statue of Jefferson Davis is especially noble, standing at the foot of the UT Tower in rank with Presidents George Washington and Woodrow Wilson, looking toward the Capitol Building, location of both the Confederate Soldiers Memorial (erected in 1903 on the south side) and the Hood's Texas Brigade Memorial (erected in 1910). It is as though President Davis is still giving orders and surveying territory for the rebellion.
I have passed these monuments innumerable times and, to my discredit, never stopped to truly consider what they referred to until now. I can distinctly recall noting that it was odd to see a memorial to Confederate soldiers on the Capitol lawn when the Confederacy had lost the war, but odd is all it seemed to me. Even more preposterous, and more telling of the degree to which I was unable to recognize the significance of what was right in front of me, is that I graduated from Albert Sidney Johnston High School. The tragic irony of a high school in a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood being named after a high-ranking Confederate commander is almost as rich – or tasteless – as that of a house built by slaves existing within the confines of Dove Springs, another mostly Mexican-American neighborhood. (The high school has since been renamed Eastside Memorial.)
I lived in the shadow of Comal Bluff for most of my life, and would like to think that I am somewhat more enlightened, and can comprehend the situation of the crumbled plantation on Austin's southeast side. But even now I have no firm grasp of what the house means to the city, aside from its being an unmistakable reminder of the way years pass and times change. The house seems to have been built for an era that ceased to exist almost before the building was finished. Since then, days, months, and years have rolled over it like tides, unstoppable, and our memories have gone with it.
Beauty and Horror
Like anyone else alive today, I have no real knowledge of what black American slavery was like before the Civil War, in Austin or anywhere else. I only know that it was a degrading and miserable manifestation of human cruelty, a three-century holocaust whose legacy continues to darken social, economic, and political dialogue across the nation.
I have always wanted to climb the fence surrounding the house's ruins to get a good look at them, wander among the rubble and trash I'd surely find there, but I don't know what I might actually learn by doing so. Even reading articles and looking at pictures seem to have the same result as going on a ghost hunt, searching constantly for an ultimate answer to something that has already said its piece, though softly: You cannot know. It is a haunting claim to consider, especially for those dedicated to saving the house, who have suggested plans for memorializing it. Personally, I am a fan of these ideas. I ache to see the house maintained, for what is left of it to be conserved for public display. I do believe there is something in the object, something to be learned, something we need, especially in the South, a seat of American beauty and American horror.
As I mentioned above, I wanted this Sneed House story to be different from those that have come before it. In retrospect, that was a terribly pompous statement. It first suggests that I might have had the time and initiative to read everything that has ever been written on the house (in fact, there does not appear to have been much, so I may have come close to doing this). It then suggests I might be able to stumble on some angle that no other writer or reporter has previously considered. I would like to believe that by adding my words to the conversation, a tide of new interest might bring the house out of the catacombs of Austin's cultural awareness and into the light for good, turning it into a popular attraction like the Alamo or Monticello (the former home of President Thomas Jefferson, another slaveowner. Austin's leadership could perhaps learn a lesson from that Virginia plantation, an example of a memorial that is determined not to forget its roots in human bondage) – that somehow I will be doing a small part to reclaim a bit of important history.
These seem worthy goals, but unlikely to be achieved. This story has been less about the house itself, than about the tendency of events to be replaced by more events until all or most are forgotten, and only the most meager strands survive. While I would like to see the house renovated to recall some semblance of what it once was, a more conspicuous reminder of our own complex past, this is mostly out of curiosity, my personal interest in relics and legends. Ford's Theatre in D.C., where Abraham Lincoln was shot, and the Petersen House across the street, where he died a few hours later, have both been kept in a condition that is very close to what they were in 1865 when those events occurred. They include period furnishings as well as some original artifacts, such as the pillow Lincoln bled on as he was dying. I've visited these places and, to some extent, was moved by them. But even with the attention these historic places have seen, and the upkeep they have benefited from, they do not replicate the eras they have witnessed. It is this fleeting quality of lives and moments that leaves me more befuddled than outraged at the glorification of Confederates on the Texas Capitol grounds, or the subtle, determined nudging of Comal Bluff toward oblivion.
I described the house as having been "marred" by graffiti. Perhaps it is appropriate that it is so. After all, what amount of allegiance to a 19th century slaveowning family's home could a modern teenager, most likely a racial minority, be expected to have? What is unfortunate may be not that the graffiti exists, but that it is more blind deviance than political gesture, an artifact of economic and social disparities which are themselves a product of America's legacy of inequality. These economic and social structures are far more sinister, and much harder to ignore, than a crumbling foundation on the south side of town.
I can write my story, but in the face of the years, those before me and the ones to come long after I've gone, I am powerless. This story, like the Sneeds, might briefly shine a light on a corner of Austin – but after a few days, that light will fade, and the story will retreat to the margins to haunt the legacy of the house ... another ghost.
The house will stay where it is, on an unnamed portion of acreage at the edge of civilization, destined for demolition, primed to be forgotten. | <urn:uuid:3d62a7bb-7ebb-416f-9ba4-e691ff19a70a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2014-05-23/the-plantation-at-comal-bluff/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00083-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982248 | 3,520 | 2.890625 | 3 |
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Bile is a fluid that is made and released by the liver and stored in the gallbladder.
Bile helps with digestion. It breaks down fats into fatty acids, which can be taken into the body by the digestive tract.
Bile contains mostly cholesterol, bile acids (also called bile salts), and bilirubin (a breakdown product of red blood cells). It also contains:
- Body salts (such as potassium and sodium)
- Copper and other metals
Afdhal NH. Diseases of the gallbladder and bile ducts. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman's Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2011:chap 158.
- Last reviewed on 10/27/2014
- Laura J. Martin, MD, MPH, ABIM Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Atlanta, GA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Isla Ogilvie, PhD, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. © 1997- 2013 A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. | <urn:uuid:dd852d41-f68f-4d23-a045-9d40f44e9220> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://umm.edu/Health/Medical/Ency/Articles/Bile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.896539 | 332 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Laser Power Sensors
Ophir provides two types of power sensors: Photodiode sensors and Thermal sensors. Photodiode sensors are used for low powers from picowatts up to hundreds of milliwatts and as high as 3W. Thermal sensors are for use from fractions of a milliwatt up to tens of thousands of watts.
Thermal sensors can also measure single shot energy at pulse rates not exceeding one pulse every ~5s.
Laser Power Sensors introduction»
BeamTrack series Thermal Sensors 100µW to 1000W
Thermal sensors that measure laser power and single shot energy like standard thermal sensors but in addition measure laser beam position and laser size. This position sensing detector measures laser beam position to 0.1mm accuracy and laser size measurement of a Gaussian beam to +/-5% accuracy. Measuring laser position is important for laser alignment where the laser position sensor can provide feedback to the laser position control.
Standard Photodiode Sensors - 10pW to 3W
Ophir's Laser Measurement Photodiode PD-300 sensor series measures laser power with spectral coverage from 200nm – 1800nm, and automatic background subtraction so the laser measurement is not sensitive to room light. All models have wavelength calibration built into the system.
Round Photodiode Sensors – 20pW to 3W
Ophir's Round PD300R sensors are similar to the standard PD300 sensors but have cylindrical geometry where preferable. They have SM-1 mounting threads.
Special Photodiode Sensors
Integrating spheres for measuring laser power of divergent beams, flat response sensors for broadband sources, eye response detectors for Lux measurements, peak detector for measuring scanned or chopped laser beams. FPS-1 sensor for measuring temporal laser response into oscilloscope with 1ns response time.
High Sensitivity Thermal Laser Sensors – 300fm to 12W
Very low noise and drift thermal sensors accurately measure very low laser and LED powers over a wide range of wavelengths from UV to IR. These sensors also measure low single shot laser energies down to tens of µJ.
Low Power Thermal Sensors – 20mW to 50W
Ophir has the widest selection of laser and LED power measurement sensors for low average laser powers in the industry, pulsed or continuous laser sources and various beam sizes.
Low-medium power thermal sensors - 30mW-150W
Apertures from 17 to 35 mm. Sensors for measuring low powers continuously or higher powers intermittently. For pulsed or CW lasers or LEDs.
Medium Power Thermal Sensors – 100mW to 300W
Apertures from 50 to 65 mm. Sensors for larger beams and higher powers. Compact sensors for intermittent use.
Medium-High Power Fan Cooled Thermal Sensors - 50mW to 1100W
Compact fan cooled sensors for continuous use at higher laser powers.
High Power Water Cooled Thermal Sensors And Power Pucks – 1W to 120kW
These sensors for high power industrial lasers have the highest power measurement capability in the market – up to 120 kW. Ophir meters also have the highest damage thresholds available, up to 10 kW/cm² at full power.
High Power Laser Beam Dumps
Laser beam dumps for high power laser processing, laser measurement and other applications
Spectral and Damage Threshold Graphs
Graphs of spectral absorption and damage threshold to help choose thermal laser power sensors. | <urn:uuid:e66ae9b6-3a07-4c2a-98d5-4b7251326272> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ophiropt.com/laser-measurement-instruments/laser-power-energy-meters/products/power-sensors | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00031-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.860022 | 711 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Question: Are totally implantable artificial hearts ready for heart failure patients?
Answer: So, there is no such thing as a totally implantable artificial heart. All of the current devices that we can plant to help the heart do its work have an external power source. However, there is a total artificial heart that has been approved by the FDA as what's called a bridge to transplant. So, patients who are on the transplant list but are not expected to survive until a donor heart is identified, which can sometimes take months to years, can be eligible for the total artificial heart.
The total artificial heart substitutes not only for the left ventricle, the main pumping chamber of the heart, but for the right side of the heart, which pumps blood into the lungs. In some patients, the right side of the heart has become very weak as well, and cannot effectively pump the blood into the lungs to get to the left side of the heart, the main pumping chamber of the heart. If the left side of the heart is predominately the weak side, a Left Ventricular Assist Device is the optimal therapy. But if the right side has also become weak, a total artificial heart implant may be the only life-saving therapy available to such a patient.
Again, it's not totally implantable because the power supply remains external to the body. And until very recently, these devices had no portable drive line unit so that patients who had total artificial hearts had to remain in the hospital until their transplant -- although this is changing with current technology and the ability to discharge these patients to home is being tested currently. The Left Ventricular Assist Devices that just substitute for the left-sided pumping chambers do allow patients to leave the hospital and live at home and restore quality of life to a much greater degree than the total artificial heart at the current time. But these technologies are evolving so quickly that within five years, there will likely be total artificial heart that allows you to go home. | <urn:uuid:be290f82-3b6e-4968-b496-48bbfb775696> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartFailureTreatment/story?id=5229318 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00108-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95308 | 398 | 2.53125 | 3 |
- FAMRI Center
Smokers seeing ecigs being used makes them want to smoke (cigarettes)
On May 21, 2014 Andrea King and colleagues published a nice experimental study, "Passive exposure to electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use increases desire for combustible and e-cigarettes in young adult smokers," in Tobacco Control, showing that when young adult smokers saw someone using an e-cigarette it made them want to smoke as much as if they saw someone smoking a cigarette. (The "passive exposure" is watching someone use an ecig during a conversation.)
Seeing an ecigarette being used did not make smokers who did not already use ecigarettes want to use an ecigarette, but did stimulate desire for an ecigarette among ecigarette users. Exposure to to a neutral stimulus (seeing someone drink a bottle of water) did not affect desire for either a cigarette or ecigarette.
This result is consistent with an earlier study,"Adult smokers’ receptivity to a television advert for electronic nicotine delivery systems," that Annice Kim and colleagues published in Tobacco Control (in October 2013), that found that watching an ad for Blu ecigs that stressed that they can be used anywhere elicited an ureg to smoke and thoughts about smoking cigarettes as well as thoughts about quitting. People who used ecigs were significantly more likely than non-users to report thinking about smoking cigarettes after seeing the Blu ad. (Lorillard Tobacco sells Blu, so they win either way.)
These papers contribute to our understanding about why people who use ecigarettes are less likely to quit smoking (even if ecigarettes are helpful for those using them to make a quit attempt).
Another interesting paper just published in Nicotine and Tobacco Research by William Lechner and colleagues in Oklahoma of people recruited in vape shops, "Effects of Duration of Electronic Cigarette Use." This cross-sectional study showed that the longer that they had been using e-cigarettes the fewer cigarettes they were smoking. They also found some evidence that nicotine dependence in ecigarette users dropped among people who were heavy cigarette smokers but increased among people who were light smokers. (The authors raise the possibilty that people using tank systems at vape shops may behave differently than people who use other kinds of ecigarettes.) | <urn:uuid:2af93191-7ba2-4dd3-9361-4fd342f28f4a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://tobacco.ucsf.edu/smokers-seeing-ecigs-being-used-makes-them-want-smoke-cigarettes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00142-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956932 | 463 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Life in the Open Ocean
The open ocean, called the pelagic zone, is the largest area of the marine ecosystem. It extends from the coasts to the middle of the ocean and includes all areas above the ocean floor. The living things that survive in the open ocean need to have a way to float or swim in ocean water.
The area of the open ocean where sunlight penetrates, called the photic zone, is where most life is found. In the photic zone, drifting algae and other protozoa are able to use the Sun’s energy to do photosynthesis. They are the beginning of food chains in the open ocean.
Animals, protists, plants, and bacteria that float or drift in the open ocean instead of swimming are called plankton. They are moved around the open ocean by surface currents and wind. Phytoplankton are types of plankton that do photosynthesis like diatoms and other algae. Zooplankton are animals and one-celled protozoa that drift in the ocean water. Many zooplankton eat phytoplankton. Some zooplankton eat other types of zooplankton. Many are able to propel themselves only short distances through water to catch prey.
Animals that are able to move through the water are called nekton. In the open ocean there are many types of swimmers including fish, whales and other marine mammals, and sharks. Some fish, such as herring and tuna, swim in schools while others are solitary. Swimming in a school offers some protection from predators. Some nekton have other ways of moving besides swimming. For example, squid propel themselves through the ocean with a jet of water and flying fish are able to glide just above the water surface at up to 40 miles per hour using fins shaped like wings.
In the parts of the open ocean below where light can penetrate, there are fish and other living things like the elusive giant squid. Because there is no sunlight, there are no algae to start food chains. Instead many animals living in the deep ocean rely on the bodies of dead animals falling from the water above for food. | <urn:uuid:36bea698-6316-4cf2-8a22-065aec37a586> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/life_pelagic.html&edu=high | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00061-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9419 | 447 | 3.984375 | 4 |
The order permitted those schools to consider race when selecting students, and at least two of Richmond County’s three magnet schools did. Without a desegregation order, the U.S. Department of Education requires race-neutral policies and allows schools to use a student’s race only in addition to other criteria.
Because students for the county’s three magnet schools have already been selected for the 2013-14 year, Superintendent Frank Roberson said he plans to re-examine policies later this year to prepare for the 2014-15 class.
Because the district’s demographics have shifted to majority-black students, Roberson said he does not foresee any problems.
“I think the natural selection or application process is going to almost guarantee diversity because of the nature of the demographics in the population in our community,” he said. “There’s really not anything to do but let the application process happen naturally, and you’re going to get the balance you desire.”
Federal guidelines released in 2011 allow schools to consider race as a “plus factor” among other admissions criteria, but it cannot be the defining feature.
For example, in competitive schools such as magnet schools, a district could draw from a lottery system made up only of students who meet basic criteria, such as grades. A district could also give preference to qualified students based on their socioeconomic status, their parents’ level of education or their neighborhood to achieve diversity, according to the guidelines.
“We live in a segregated society still, and if you’re not paying attention to diversity it’s not going to just magically appear on its own.” said Erica Frankenberg, an assistant professor in the department of education policy studies at Pennsylvania State University. “Magnet schools that say they have a goal of diversity are more diverse than those that don’t say they have that goal.”
In Richmond County, both C.T. Walker Traditional and John S. Davidson Fine Arts magnet schools maintain almost an even split of black and white students.
All students who meet C.T. Walker’s academic and conduct requirements are placed into a lottery when there are more applications than available seats. Principal Renee Kelly said students are placed in separate lotteries based on race so the school can draw a balanced amount of black, white and other qualified students.
“It’s important because it exposes kids to diversity they encounter in the real world,” Kelly said. “In the 21st century, that’s even more important.”
By their nature, magnet schools are more diverse than traditional public or charter schools because they draw from wide attendance zones and admit students based on a central theme or interest. They were established in the 1960s as a remedy to segregation by attracting students of all backgrounds to high-achieving schools of an individualized focus.
“All students, no matter what their ZIP code or race, have gifts and talents,” said Magnet Schools of America executive director Scott Thomas. “When you design a school around a specific interest, you’re going to get a wider array of diverse students.”
A.R. Johnson Health Science and Engineering Magnet School Principal Lamonica Lewis said her school receives more black applicants than white, and her enrollment reflects that. A.R. Johnson has certain academic and standardized testing requirements for entrance, and students are ranked based on those criteria and required recommendations.
It has resulted in a student body that is nearly 70 percent black and 23 percent white, which is level with the makeup of the district.
“We really had no reason to look at race,” Lewis said. “We simply rank the students based on the information that they give us. … It is my hope that children of any background that have an interest in health, science and engineering apply, and that’s how it’s been for years.”
Thomas said nationally, many magnet schools are using other factors to achieve racial diversity by proxy – such as socioeconomic status, their native language or neighborhood – which helps add more cultural variation to the environment.
Thomas said diversity is proven to boost achievement among students, help in the development of empathy, improve language acquisition, increase the chances of going to college and develop overall character.
“A lot of school districts are happily moving away from race because socioeconomic diversity is still extremely important to schools and school districts,” Thomas said. “At the end of the day, what they have found works best is letting students choose and having compelling, high-quality programs will attract anyone and everyone.” | <urn:uuid:5cc6caf2-7f29-4988-8014-6cb3f6991b16> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/education/2013-07-15/court-action-raises-question-about-magnet-school-admissions?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964657 | 964 | 2.640625 | 3 |
About Maths of Planet Earth
2013 is the International year of Mathematics of Planet Earth. The Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute is teaming up with societies and organisations in Australia to spread the word about the role of maths and stats in understanding the challenges of our world in a fun and accessible way.
Our planet is the setting for dynamic processes of all sorts, including the geophysical processes in the mantle, the continents, and the oceans, the atmospheric processes that determine our weather and climates, the biological processes involving living species and their interactions, and the human processes of finance, agriculture, water, transportation, and energy.
Whether findings are directly from the mathematical sciences or branches of chemistry, physics or biology; chances are some form of mathematics is used.
There are four international themes for the year
Let’s get Australians as excited and proud of their mathematicians and scientists as they are about their sports. | <urn:uuid:aa4bd946-026e-489c-8d38-4cd4c90cd596> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mathsofplanetearth.org.au/about-maths-of-planet-earth/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925754 | 184 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Excerpted from Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Weekdays by Reuven Hammer
This phrase is found in 1 Kings 17:1 as part of Elijah's curse of the wicked King Ahab: “...there will be no dew or rain except at my bidding.” The presence of dew and rain would be the very opposite, a great blessing. In the summer, when there is no rain in the Land of Israel, we ask only for blessing. Since there is dew in the summer – on the first day of Pesah we recite a special prayer for it – Louis Ginzberg suggested that originally the phrases were תן טל לברכה, “grant dew as a blessing” (for the summer), and תן מטר לברכה, “grant rain as a blessing” (for the winter).
The Mishnah (Taanit 1:3) sets the date of 7 Heshvan, fifteen days after the conclusion of Sukkot, as the time to begin to pray for rain. This was intended to give pilgrims time to return from Jerusalem to their homes in Babylonia before the beginning of the rain. The Talmud (Eruvin 56a) records that in the Diaspora (Babylonia) the practice was to determine the date for this prayer according to the Equinox of Tishrei (autumn). It is recited sixty days after the Equinox (that is, usually from December 5th), since rain before that time would damage the date crops. When there is a civil leap year, however, the date is delayed until December 6th. This occurs whenever the Hebrew year is divisible by four (Lasker). This is the current practice throughout the Diaspora. Abudarham records that in Provence they followed the Hebrew calendar (7 Heshvan) and remarks "that seems very proper to me." | <urn:uuid:6e825a85-d15a-49d9-9092-de153a73d4a9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/jewish-law/holidays/about-jewish-calendar | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00183-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952643 | 425 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Eight hundred miles north of Anchorage, in a place where caribou outnumber people, a rich Hawaiian history exists. The small Eskimo village of Barrow is home to a number of Native Hawaiians; Anchorage is home to a few thousand Native Hawaiians. And locals will tell you that Alaska’s wild, irresistible terrain isn’t nearly as fascinating as the people who inhabit it.
In sleepy villages throughout Alaska, where one is more likely to die from hypothermia than a grizzly bear, there are clusters of Native Hawaiians living in houses built on stilts, pilings and pedestals, rising humbly from the immense Northern Slope, seemingly set adrift in time and space. With the Arctic Ocean on three sides, flat tundra stretching some 200 miles and no wind barriers, one wonders what drew Hawaiians to Alaska in the first place.
“There are incredible connections between Alaska and Hawaii,” says Native Hawaiian, Robin Danner, who is the founding president of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement. “Hawaiians had been catching whaling ships north, trading and such, for generations and centuries. Alaskans still come to the Hawaiian Islands in droves.”
The deep connections between the two states symbolize a shared history with the US, the Manifest Destiny policy and European exploration. Historians believe that the first non-native contact in Alaska was in 1741 by Russian explorer Titus Bering and later, in 1778, by Captain Cook. There are rivers in Alaska, such as the Hulahula River which traverses the northern portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and Hawaiian place names that exist throughout the state and are clearly kanaka maoli, and according to Danner, who worked in the arctic of Alaska and whose family lives in Barrow, there is a respective “hardiness” to the people of both regions.
“[We] have a strong connection to the animals, the sea and the land,” says Danner. “There’s an important connection in the existence of our voyaging sailing canoe. We have so many commonalities between us, just a weather difference of 100 degrees sometimes. And we have a very strong connection to food.”
In the US, all 50 states have a Spam recipe contest at their state fairs. Alaska’s, however, has the highest number of entries, the most serious competitors and, according to their government website, the most unique recipes. Said a spokesperson for Spam, “You don’t see as many Spam desserts in the other states.”
The only state that consumes more Spam, per capita, is Hawaii. The canned, precooked meat covered in a gelatinous glaze has become the target of many jokes, but in Alaska, Spam remains a standard part of one’s diet when hunting and fishing out on the tundra.
Although many of us have an idealized picture about what Alaskans eat, the truth is, most freezers aren’t filled with whale, seal and beluga. The local diet in Alaska is as problematic as it is here in Hawaii, however in rural, Northwestern regions of Alaska communities still fish for wild salmon and hunt moose and waterfowl. Strong culinary connections such as lomi-lomi salmon still exist today, and its ingredients, which took a while to assemble, are now a large part of Hawaiian cuisine.
The onion, introduced to Hawaii by Captain Cook predated the arrival of tomatoes–courtesy of renowned Spanish horticulturalist Francisco de Paula Marin. (If Cook wasn’t the one to actually introduce onions, he was the first to successfully cultivate them.) Whalers and traders introduced salmon to Hawaii’s merchants, who in turn traded premium salt–hence, the standard ingredients for one of the most famous of Hawaii’s local dishes.
Leading a Double (Wild) Life
North Pacific Humpback Whales leave the icy waters of Alaska during the fall, swimming practically non-stop for six to eight weeks before reaching their winter home in the Hawaiian waters. Here, they mate, give birth, nurture their calves and await the return to sub-arctic regions in the summer months. As many as 6,000 humpbacks make the annual voyage; and at 6,000 miles (round-trip), it’s the longest migratory trip of any mammal.
Mother whales nursing their young are first to arrive in Hawaii, next are the juveniles and newly-weaned yearlings; and by the time the adult males arrive, their numbers have doubled. Last to join them are the pregnant females.
In general, humpbacks seem to prefer the four-island region of Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kahoolawe, as well as the Penguin Bank (a tongue of shallow water extending 25 miles southwest of Molokai) during Hawaii’s warm winter months.
These extraordinary animals aren’t the only ones who make the epic journey from Alaska to Hawaii. The kolea, also known as the Pacific golden-plover, is a shorebird; and like most of its cousins, it’s a champion flier, traveling for long distances at 50-60 miles per hour. From Hawaii to nesting grounds in the Alaskan tundra, these birds defend their territory in places like front lawns, ballparks and parking lots. A US Fish and Wildlife plane in Alaska recently documented one kolea’s trip that took 70 hours from the time the bird disappeared from its territorial home on Oahu until it landed in Alaska for the summer.
All part of a shared responsibility, Alaska and Hawaii seem to be interconnected and very much interdependent. When it comes to the humpback whale and the kolea, these creatures are no doubt living a double life.
Shouldn’t we all be so lucky.
Native World View
In Alaska, Native peoples exhibit dozens of unique cultural and linguistic styles. It is, perhaps, one of the most misunderstood aspects of Alaska, in addition to the notion that they don’t have federal recognition of tribal governments.
“The fact is,” says Danner, “there are at least 227 federally recognized tribes or native governments in Alaska, almost half of the total number in all of the US. In addition, over 200 congressionally created Alaska Native Corporations have been charged with managing the interests of both their lands and enterprises. These types of Native organizations are vital to Alaska’s economic and cultural well-being.”
Native Alaskans have been on a long political journey, but Danner believes they’ve made the most progress on economic and self-determination issues within the last 50 years.
“These organizations were able to make decisions for themselves–and not by state or federal governments–to address not just the issues facing Alaska Natives, but are the overall well-being of the state,” explains Danner.
It’s hard to beat Hawaii in terms of multicultural diversity, but Alaska’s population is equally diverse in its Native peoples, where Alaska has been their ancestral home for over 10,000 years. The Athabascan Indians, the Inuit peoples, Aleuts, Tlingits, Haida and Chugach peoples–all very distinct Native cultures, each of which have shared 360 million acres of land that make up the state of Alaska. With just 700,000 people in the entire state, one could fit Hawaii in Alaska 60 times.
Most people don’t realize the incredible ambassadorship responsibilities of Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian leaders, especially in terms of language preservation, community-based education and cultural practices as potential solutions to challenges facing both states. When asked to comment on local “tension” in comparison to Hawaii, Danner says the word “tension” better describes the relationship between rural residents and urban ones, regardless of their cultural origins.
“Tension isn’t a word that comes to mind when I think of the multi-cultural relations [there]. When I peer through the lens at Alaska, I see a place where Native identity and presence is strong, where Native leaders are very much a part of the state’s economic reality, the political landscape and the social safety net of all Alaskans. They’re engaged, a part of the solution.” As a Native Hawaiian with a German father and Native Hawaiian mother, Danner says “Being haole in Hawaii stands out far more than it does in Alaska.”
Red, Blue and Palin
When former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was seeking reelection in 2008, Sen. Dan Inouye gave his enduring support, traveling to Alaska to campaign for Stevens, even contributing $10,000 from his political action committee to Stevens’ campaign, and appearing as a “special guest” at a Washington fundraiser for his friend, leaving many to believe that when it comes to Alaska and Hawaii’s political connections, friendship trumps everything. They were from opposite sides of the aisle but that didn’t stop Inouye from putting his decades-long friendship with Stevens ahead of party loyalty.
Inouye was reported in the LA Times as saying, “I want my partner to go back to Washington…Our parties don’t understand, but there are things that are more important than political considerations. And that’s friendship.”
Their commonalities were as distinct as the two states they represented: Both were in their mid-80s; both represented the newest states; both were injured in war and they sat next to each other for years on the Defense Appropriations Committee. In a senate tribute to Stevens, Inouye said, “We call each other brothers.” When Stevens’ plane crashed in 2010, Inouye said, “I’ve lost my brother.”
Although Alaska has historically been a red state, it has shared an extraordinary relationship with Hawaii’s congressional delegations. “The reality is, only two states are disconnected geographically from the other 48,” says Danner. “[Our relationship] began out of necessity…Alaska, like Hawaii, breeds people that value people…It’s a place where titles and stature are less important than who your family is, where they’re from and the connections people have to the environment around them.”
Much like Hawaii, Alaska’s politics are built largely on development, except that in Alaska, it’s oil development, mineral depletion and forestry. Alaska Natives frequently roll out the un-welcome mat, as politicians and developers dispute the impact of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The debate over ANWR focuses on over 16 billion barrels of oil, which at peak production, could yield more than a million barrels per day–nearly as much as the US imports from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela combined. To environmentalists, it’s a last stand against corporate oil drilling and a step toward an alternative energy economy. To ANWR’s supporters, it’s the most logical, sensible thing to do to reduce the country’s dependence on unstable foreign oil suppliers. But for Native populations, such as the Gwich’in Indians, who live near the wildlife refuge, drilling for oil means the inevitable extinction of native wildlife.
As Native peoples, says Danner, “We know that our lifeways and knowledge about our respective places on the planet–Hawaii and Alaska–took centuries of investment, and learning that there is a responsibility to care for our land, no matter how small our population is.”
For Danner, whose two brothers, son, daughter and numerous other family members still live in Barrow, politics seems to be less important than the work they are doing as educators, social workers and cultural ambassadors. And when it comes to Sarah Palin…
“Not popular in the state at all,” she says, smiling.
Longing for Hula
Shantell Haunani Kanehailua-Leleo, a Native Hawaiian who lives in Alaska, says hula is of utmost importance, not only to her, or her halau ‘ohana, but to her community too. “Hula is the only connection many of us have to Hawaii,” she says. “I teach several keiki that are Hawaiian but were born and raised in Alaska, including my own three children. Without hula we are unable to perpetuate our culture, song, dance and the spirit of aloha. Aloha cannot be taught, it has to be demonstrated as a way of life.”
Kanehailua-Leleo admits the winters are long, but hula keeps her connected to something else she can’t do without. “Hula gets us out of the house and keeps us active,” she says. “I wish Native Hawaiians and Alaska Natives could have communicated with each other and been more supportive prior to Hawaii becoming a state. Native Alaskans were successful at negotiating their rights with the government and today are compensated financially for land use. They are also given medical treatment, and there was no overthrow of their government. As you know, Hawaii was unsuccessful.”
Kanehailua-Leleo says Alaska has been a wonderful place to live and raise a family, “Although Hawaii will always be our home, Alaska is my home as well.”
There’s no mistaking that Native Hawaiians and Alaska Natives share a sense of place, of responsibility to their homelands and a shared desire and willingness to do what it takes for their language and culture to thrive. It’s taken centuries of investment, learning and a committment to their ancestry, legacy and the fight for independent status. The stories of both cultures are epic, the terrains extreme and the journeys within the Pacific extraordinary.
What locals will tell you, once you get there, is how you can still pan for gold right on the beach before dining on fresh crab; that Alaska’s rich dog-sledding history predates the days of Captain Cook; and that the long-term bond among the Native peoples of the Pacific is something many of us may never truly understand. | <urn:uuid:ed9c0fd4-3b03-4c00-8813-89d88bc963aa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://honoluluweekly.com/cover/2011/05/going-the-distance/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960464 | 2,999 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906) played a pivotal role in the nineteenth-century women’s rights movement. She introduced women’s suffrage into the United States. While she advocated for women’s rights at a time when women were not even allowed to vote, Anthony viewed abortion as a means of exploiting both women and children. She referred to abortion as “child murder”, stating:
“I deplore the horrible crime of child murder … No matter what the motive, love of ease or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed.” She added: “Guilty? Yes … It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death!”
None of the early feminists believed that abortion was a woman’s right. On the contrary, they believed that women’s equality would end abortion for good. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902), whose “Declaration of Sentiments” (1848) is credited with initiating the struggle towards women’s suffrage in the United States, explains in a letter to a supporter, in 1873: “When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.” She was following in the steps of the eighteenth-century British writer Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), who stated in her feminist classic A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792):
Women … sacrificing to lasciviousness the parental affection … either destroy the embryo in the womb, or cast if off when born. Nature in everything demands respect, and those who violate her laws seldom violate them with impunity.
Although the early feminists expressed an undeniable opposition to all forms of abortion, they were followed decades later by a new breed of left-leaning feminists who have promoted abortion as a means of identity politics, economics and sexual liberation. What is today defined as “feminism” stands in general for abortion on demand, the welfare state and identity politics.
Let’s have look at some of the statements of today’s feminists. Kate Michelman, a leading feminist and former president of NARAL, writes: “We have to remind people that abortion is the guarantor of a woman’s right to participate fully in the social and political life of society.” Likewise, feminist scholars Kate Hindell and Madelaine Simms believe that abortion is a fundamental right of the woman. They even employ sham science to contend that the foetus is merely a part of the woman’s body, and not yet human. So the foetus may be extracted and destroyed like any tooth or tumour. If anyone is willing to see what feminists like Hindell and Simms regard as a mere “part of the woman’s body”, there are now 3D images of life in utero, showing these “part” bouncing around, sucking their thumbs, and even smiling. Reading such sentiments makes one wonder what Wollstonecraft, Stanton and Anthony would think about today’s feminists. By Anthony’s own judgment, they would be “guilty” of the wholesale slaughter of the “unborn innocent”.
According to Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth of Harvard University Medical School, “it is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception”. Her medical assessment is endorsed by Dr Alfred M Bongioanni, professor of obstetrics at the University of Pennsylvania:
I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception … human life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood … any interruption at any point throughout this time constitutes a termination of human life.
Speaking of the early stages of a child’s development in the womb, Dr Bongioanni concludes:
I am no more prepared to say that these early stages represent an incomplete human being than I would be to say that the child prior to the dramatic effects of puberty is not a human being. This is human life at every stage.
The moment of a human’s creation is the moment of her conception. The newly fertilised egg contains a staggering amount of genetic information, sufficient to control the individual’s growth and development for her entire lifetime. Perhaps for this reason the United States Congress passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in 2004, declaring that anyone who “intentionally kills or attempts to kill the unborn child … be punished … for intentionally killing or attempting to kill a human being”. Congress also voted unanimously to delay capital punishment of a pregnant woman until after her delivery. Every congressman, even if “pro-choice” (that is, pro-abortion), acknowledged that the unborn baby was a separate person, innocent of her mother’s crime. Furthermore, numerous American states have passed foetal homicide laws, declaring it murder for anyone but the mother to deliberately take the life of an unborn child. These laws are an explicit affirmation that the unborn is a human being.
The “pro-choice” position always overlooks the victim’s right to choose. The high sounding “right to choose” ignores the fact that not all choices are legitimate or morally valid. When someone opposes a “right” to things such as rape or child abuse, she is not opposing a right. She is opposing a wrong. By contrast, “every movement of oppression and exploitation—from slavery, to prostitution, to drug dealing, to abortion—has labelled itself pro-choice. They have opposed those who offer compassion and deliverance as ‘anti-choice’”. The pro-choice movement is actually a pro-abortion movement in which “choice” is basically a euphemism for the killing of the unborn child. As Mary O’Brian Drum points out, “After a woman is pregnant … all that is left to her to decide is whether she will deliver her baby dead or alive.”
Since leading feminists have tried to tie the abortion agenda to the legitimate issues of women’s rights, one feminist “dissenter”, Mary Ann Shaefer, has labelled this attempt to marry feminism to abortion as “terrorist feminism”. As she points out, it forces the whole feminist movement to be “willing to kill for the cause you believe in”. Hence legal scholar Erika Bachiochi, who grew up absorbing feminist philosophy, explains: “I was pro-choice because I was a feminist.” As Bachiochi’s “pursuit of truth” began to replace her “pursuit of the self”, she began to reconsider her thinking and to understand that abortion diminishes the humanity, femininity and well-being of women, and is a means of demeaning and abandoning the poor. Ultimately, her rejection of abortion as a “women’s rights” issue led to her questioning mainstream feminism:
… abortion hijacked feminism. Rather than elevate the status of the feminine virtues in the public square and teach the power of serving, as a true feminism ought, mainstream feminism, having allowed itself to be corrupted by the abortion imperative, taught women to place ambitions and desires of the self above those in need, and to value power more than truth and love. Some women, persuaded by this corrupted feminism, have sacrificed their very womanliness—most manifest in the ability to bear a child—by having abortions in order to continue pursuing success in the public square. Such a course of action is inherently anti-woman … Hearts will not change concerning abortion until women … insist through both words and deeds that acts of love are far more impressive, attractive and noble than acts of power.
The US environmentalist Rosemary Bottcher, in her essay “Feminism: Bewitched by Abortion”, contends that mainstream feminism has degraded women by portraying them as unable to handle the stress and pressures of pregnancy without resorting to killing their children. Such feminism opposes all the efforts to require that abortion be treated like every other surgery when it comes to informing the patient of its nature and risks, because it appears not to believe that women are capable of making intelligent choices after being presented with the facts. Among the facts one finds the scientific evidence that while women with one abortion double their risk of cervical cancer, women with two or more abortions multiply such risk by nearly five times. And similar risks of breast, ovarian and liver cancer are also linked to abortion. In her testimony before a United States Senate sub-committee in 2004, Dr Elizabeth Shadigan testified that abortion increases rates of placenta previa, pre-term births and maternal suicide. Statistically, she concluded: “all types of deaths are higher with women who have had induced abortions”.
Naturally, many will say that abortion might be justified when a woman’s life or health is threatened by pregnancy. It is an extremely rare case when abortion is required to save the mother’s life. While he was US Surgeon General, Dr C. Everett Koop stated that in his thirty-six years as paediatric surgeon, he was never aware of a single situation in which a pre-born child’s life had to be taken in order to save the mother’s life. Dr Koop described the use of such argument to justify abortion as a “smoking screen”. Another medical surgeon, Dr Landrum Shettles, has said that less than 1 per cent of all abortions are performed to save the mother’s life.
Although leading feminists insist that abortion is a fundamental woman’s right, the “pro-choice” agenda of today’s mainstream feminism does not necessarily represent the position of most women. On the contrary, abortion on demand is rejected by the majority of women both in the United States and beyond. Indeed, opinion polls reveal that more women than men affirm the unborn’s right to life. By contrast, the group that is most consistently pro-choice is actually single men. That being so, as Randy Alcorn says, “it is ironic that abortion has been turned into a women’s rights issue when it has encouraged male irresponsibility and failure to care for women and children”.
Arguably, the mainstream feminist agenda of abortion on demand and its casual attitude towards sex is quite pleasing to promiscuous men, although it is deeply debasing to women who are used (and abused) in the process. A major four-stage research project carried out in Australia concluded that 60 per cent of all abortions taking place here are done under male coercion. Such coercion against pregnant women, forcing them to abort their unborn babies, comes from their boyfriends, doctors and parents—including their boyfriends’ parents. In fact, the male partner plays a central role in the abortion decision in 95 per cent of cases, even although 70 per cent of Australian women believe that having an abortion is morally wrong.
Regardless of this, feminists around the world have continued to fight for the right of women to “choose” ending their pregnancy. Ironically, non-Western women have used such a right and chosen not to give births to girls. Indeed, one of the greatest ironies of feminism is that all its ideological advocacy of abortion has unintentionally sanctioned the elimination of unwanted girls across the globe. “Son preference” is overwhelming among women in some non-Western countries such as Pakistan and Yemen, who say they want only sons, not daughters, by margins of ten to one. The situation is not restricted to Muslim-majority countries. According to the Economist, distorted sex ratios constitute a reality in all East Asian countries, including Taiwan and Singapore, as well as former communist states in the western Balkans and the Caucasus, and even among entire sections of the American population (Chinese- and Japanese-Americans, for example).
In 1999, the government of India asked women what sex they wanted their next child to be. “One third of those without children said a son, two-thirds had no preference and only a residual said a daughter”. Because of sex-selection abortions, a survey of a dozen villages in India has found that out of a total population of ten thousand, only fifty were girls. In neighbouring China two-thirds of all children born are males because of selective abortion against female babies. In the countryside, the ratio of boys to girls is four to one. One academic source has suggested that there could be a ratio of 168 males for every 100 girls in Danzhou. According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, by the year 2020 there will be 30 million more men than women of marriageable age in China. One in five young Chinese men will be unable to find a bride.
This is the choice these women have made: to abort their baby girls. Mainstream feminists have demanded a “right to choose” and they are hypocrites if they find this to be unacceptable. Needless to say, if it is a woman’s “right” to choose whether or not to give birth to a baby, it must therefore be okay to choose whether or not to give birth to a girl. There is an ugly new word for this sort of mass slaughter: gendercide—a term used in the title of a 1985 book by Mary Anne Warren. As the Economist explains:
It is no exaggeration to call this gendercide. Women are missing in their millions—aborted, killed, neglected to death. In 1990 an Indian economist, Amartya Sen, put the number at 100 million; the toll is higher now. The crumb of comfort is that countries can mitigate the hurt, and that one, South Korea, has shown the worst can be avoided. Others need to learn from it if they are to stop the carnage.
In the United States approximately 1.37 million abortions have taken place each year since 1973. Each year some 190,000 abortions are performed in England and Wales and up to 100,000 in Australia. So the number of babies killed in the USA through abortion in four months is about the same number of Americans killed during the whole of the Second World War.
Of course, if one has the “right” to eliminate pre-natal life, then one might well eventually acquire a similar “right” to take post-natal life of other “categories” of human beings. Surely the next step following widespread abortion is the devaluation of human life in general—the denial of basic human rights to other categories of human beings. It is no coincidence that the eras in history which have most favoured abortion have also had higher suicide rates.
In this sense, the primary result of the successful support by mainstream feminism for legal abortion is that we have become the arbitrary judges over human life. A 2004 survey conducted in Australia by Southern Cross Bioethics discovered an overwhelming support for abortion for foetal disability. It has been reported that a baby girl of two weeks from natural birth was killed in a Melbourne hospital only because the doctor thought that she could have dwarfism. It emerged that the hospital routinely performed late abortion (that is, after twenty weeks of pregnancy) each year. The treatment of unborn children in the Western democracies is comparable to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor that Hitler executed for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, “spoke as strongly against abortion as he ever did against Nazism”. He was fully convinced that
The destruction of the embryo in the mother’s womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed upon this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder.
One in three Australian women now will have an abortion in their lifetime. There is one abortion in Australia for every 2.8 births. The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001 Year Book states that “abortion is being used as a form of contraception as well as a way of protecting rights of women”. Quite a number of abortions (32.2 per cent) were performed on women who were married or in de facto relationships, and who wished to have an abortion due to “having completed their families” or for purely economic reasons. Any society which tolerates such mass extermination of innocent humans has ceased to be truly civilised. Indeed, one of the most visible signs of moral decadence of the Roman empire was that unwanted babies were either killed or left abandoned to die. So we conclude with the words of the late British theologian John Stott:
Can we claim that contemporary western society is any less decadent because it consigns its unwanted babies to the hospital incinerator instead of the local rubbish dump? Indeed modern abortion is even worse than ancient exposure because it has been commercialised, and has become, at least for some doctors and clinics, an extremely lucrative practice. But reverence for human life is an indisputable characteristic of a humane and civilized society.
Augusto Zimmermann is Senior Lecturer in Law and Chair of Legal Theory, Murdoch University; Adjunct Law Professor, Universitas Kristen Maranatha (Indonesia); President, Western Australian Legal Theory Association; Commissioner, Law Reform Commission of Western Australia.
4:4 July 8, 1869. Quoted from Gary D. Naler, The Curse of 1920 (Salem/MO: 2007), p. 229.
For instance, Sarah Norton, the great-granddaughter of President John Adams and who argued successfully for women’s admission to Cornell University, regarded abortion as a moral and social abomination. She wrote: “Child murderers practice their profession without hindrance, and open infant butcheries unquestioned … Is there no remedy for all this ante-natal child murder? … Perhaps there will come a time … when the right of the unborn will not be denied or interfered with”. C E Sarah F. Norton, in Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly, November 9, 1870.
Frank Ludwig, ‘There is No Doubt the Early Feminists Were Pro-Life on Abortion’, LifeNews.com, June 22 2013, available at http://www.lifenews.com/2013/06/22/there-is-no-doubt-the-early-feminists-were-pro-life-on-abortion/
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Letter to Julia Ward Howe (October 16, 1873). J.W. Howe’s Diary is available at Harvard University Library.
Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), Chapter VII, available at http://www.bartleby.com/144/8.html
Kate Michelman, quoted in The New York Times, May 10, 1988. See: Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004), p.40.
R.F.R. Gardner, Abortion: The Personal Dilemma (Paternoster Press, 1972), p.62. Quoted from: John Stott, New Issues Facing Christians Today (London/UK: Harper Collins, 1999), p.351.
Babette Francis, ‘A Slaughter We Cannot Ignore’, Melbourne/Vic, 25 November 2005.
Quoted from Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004), p.40.
Sub-committe on Separation of Powers to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, Report, 97th Congress, 1st Session, 1981.
A single thread of DNA form a human cell contains information equivalent to a library of one thousand volumes. At conception, in the objective scientific sense, the embryo is every bit as human as any older child or adult. At eighteen days after conception her head is formed and the eyes start to develop. By thirty days she has a brain and has multiplied in size ten thousand times. No matter how she looks, a child is a child and abortion terminates that child’s life.
HR 1997 was passed by a Senate roll call vote of 61-38, March 25, 2004. See: Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004), 40-1.
Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004). 40.
In Australia, the government of New Sought Wales in 2004 passed legislation to protect unborn children against acts of violence, yet abortion was specifically excluded.
Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004), p.64. As Alcorn put it, “Blacks did not choose slavery. Jews did not choose the ovens. Women do not choose rape. And babies do not choose abortion”. Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004), p.64.
Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004), p.63.
Mary O’Brian Drum, ‘Meeting in the Radical Middle’, Sojourners, November 1980, p.23.
Mary Ann Shaefer, quoted by Chaterine and William Odell, The First Human Right (Toronto/QC: Life Cycle Books, 1983), pp.39-40.
Erika Bachiochi holds a J.D. from Boston University and a M.A. in Theology from Boston College. Her social conscience and concern for the poor eventually led her to examine the pro-abortion advocacy of “elitist women’s groups” as a means “to solve the problems of the poor by helping them rid themselves of their children”. See Erika Bachiochi, ‘Coming of Age in a Culture of Choice’, in Erick Bachiochi (ed.), The Cost of “Choice”, Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion (San Francisco/CA: Encounter Books, 2004), p.28.
Erika Bachiochi, ‘Coming of Age in a Culture of Choice’, in Erick Bachiochi (ed.) The Cost of “Choice”, Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion (San Francisco/CA: Encounter Books, 2004), p.28.
Rosemary Bottcher, ‘Feminism: Bewitched by Abortion’, in Dave Andrusko, To Rescue the Future (New York/NY: Life Cycle Books, 1983
‘After extensive research, Dr Joel Brind, professor of endocrinology at City University of New York, concluded: “The single most avoidable risk fact for breast cancer is induced abortion’. Joel Brind, ‘Comprehensive Review and Meta-Analysis of the Abortion/Breast Cancer Link’, at http://members.aol.com/DFjoseph/brind.html. A woman who has abortion increases her risk of breast cancer by a minimum of 50 percent as much as 300 percent. LA Brinton, R Hoover, and IF Framueni, (1983) British Journal of Cancer 47, 757-62. Moreover, another study of pregnancy-associated deaths published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology demonstrates that the mortality rate associated with abortion is 2.95 times higher than of pregnancies carried to term.’
F. Parazzini et al, ‘Reproductive Factors and the Risk of Invasive and Intraepithelial Cervical Neoplasia’, British Journal of Cancer, 59:805-9 (1989); H. L. Stewart et al, ‘Epidemiology of Cancers of the Uterine Cervix and Corpus, Brest and Ovary in Israel and New York City’, Journal of the National Cancer Institute 37(i):1-96; I. Fujimoto et al, ‘Epidemiologic Study of Carcinoma in Situ of the Cervix’, Journal of Reproductive Medicine 30(7):535 (July 1985); C. LaVecchia et al, ‘Reproductive Factors and the Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Women’, International Journal of Cancer, 52:231 (1992).
Elizabeth Shadigan, MD, testimony before the Senate sub-committee on science, technology, and space’s hearing to investigate the physical and psychological effects of abortion on women; cited in ‘Witnessess Ask U.S. Senate for Research into Side Effects of Abortion on Women’, Culture & Cosmos, vol.1, no.30, March 9, 2004. See: Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004), p.69. Likewise, the odds of malformations in later children are increased by abortion (S. Linn, ‘The Relationship Between Induced Abortion and Outcome of Subsequent Pregnancies’, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, May 15, 1983, 136-40) In addition, the frequency of early death for infants born after their mothers have had abortions is between two and four times the normal rate. (John A. Richardson and Geoffrey Dixon, ‘Effects of Legal Termination on Subsequent Pregnancy’, British Medical Journal (1976):1303-4). For more information on these and other consequences of abortion for women’s health, and a list of supporting references has been produced by the USA-based Elliot Institute. See: Thomas W. Strahan (ed.), ‘Detrimental Effects of Abortion: An Annotated Bibliography’, Elliot Institute, 2001, www.abortionfacts.com/pas.asp
Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004), p.76.
Landrum B. Shettles and David Rorvik, Rites of Life: The Scientific Evidence for Life Before Birth (Grand Rapids/MI: Zondervan, 1983), p. 129.
‘Abortion and Moral Beliefs: A Survey of American Opinion”, conducted by the Gallup Organization, 1991, 4-7. See: Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004), p.59.
Guy M. Condon, ‘You say Choice, I Say Murder’, Christianity Today, June 24, 1991, p. 23.
Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004), p.59.
Irving Kristol, Neoconservatism (Chicago/IL: Elephant Paperbacks, 1995), p.56.
See: Changing Hearts & Finding New Alternatives. Published by Respect Life Office, Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, 2005.
‘The Worldwide War on Baby Girls: Technology, Declining Fertility and Ancient Prejudice Are Coming to Unbalance Societies’, The Economist, March 4th, 2010, at http://www.economist.com/node/15636231
‘Gendercide: Killed, Aborted or Neglected, at Least 100m Girls Have Disappeared—And The Number is Rising’, The Economist, March 4th, 2010, at http://www.economist.com/node/15606229 “China is nominally a communist country, but elsewhere it was communism’s collapse that was associated with the growth of sexual disparities. After the Soviet Union imploded in 1991, there was an upsurge in the ratio of boys to girls in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Their sex ratios rose from normal levels in 1991 to 115-120 by 2000. A rise also occurred in several Balkan states after the wars of Yugoslav succession. The ratio in Serbia and Macedonia is around 108. There are even signs of distorted sex ratios in America, among various groups of Asian-Americans. In 1975, calculates Mr Eberstadt, the sex ratio for Chinese-, Japanese- and Filipino-Americans was between 100 and 106. In 2002, it was 107 to 109”.—‘The Worldwide War on Baby Girls: Technology, Declining Fertility and Ancient Prejudice Are Coming to Unbalance Societies’, The Economist, March 4th, 2010, at http://www.economist.com/node/15636231
‘The Worldwide War on Baby Girls: Technology, Declining Fertility and Ancient Prejudicie Are Coming to Unbalance Societies’, The Economist, March 4h, 2010, at http://www.economist.com/node/15636231
Robert Stone, ‘Women Endangered Species in India’, The Oregonian, March 14, 1989, B7. See also: Jo McGowan, “in India They Abort Females”, Newsweek, February 13, 1989.
Straits Times report, Beijing, February 7, 2000. Randy Alcorn, Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and their Mothers (Peabody/MA: Hendrickson, 2004), p.60. Related stories www.lifesite.net
Peter Hitchens, ‘Gendercide: China’s Shameful Massacre of Unborn Girls Means There Will Soon be 30m More Men Than Women’, Daily Mail, London/UK, 10 April 2010, at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1265068/China-The-worlds-new-superpower-beginning-century-supremacy-alarming-surplus-males.html
‘The Worldwide War on Baby Girls: Technology, Declining Fertility and Ancient Prejudice Are Coming to Unbalance Societies’, The Economist, March 4th, 2010, at http://www.economist.com/node/15636231
In China, baby girls are victims of a malign combination of ancient prejudice and modern preferences for small families. The main problem seems to be the one child policy. Parents can only have one child, so many are very motivated to make that child a son. The quickest way to solve this would be to drop the policy. Also, the one child policy will cause economic problems later on, as China will have a large old population and a small young population. Thus, dropping the policy would be best. India is a different case altogether. Indians can have as many children as they want, but the truth is that women are strongly looked down upon in that country.
The Department of Health and Ageing estimated that there are approximately 90,000 abortions in Australia each year (Answer to Senate Question Number 325 on notice on 31 January 2005 by Senator Boswell). The date contains the figures for abortions performed only in public hospitals. So the 90,000 figure does not include abortions which were privately funded.
Rousas John Rushdoony, Law and Liberty (Vallecito/CA: Ross House, 1984), p.151. Regarding the abortion of the disabled, there is overwhelming support for the killing of the disabled unborn. According to an in-depth investigation carried by Southern Cross Bioethics Institution, 60% of Australians support abortion in cases of only mild disability. (See: J.I. Fleming and S. Ewing, Given Women Choice: Australia Speaks on Abortion, Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, 26 April 2005). Before the Nazis started killing the Jews in Germany, they first ordered the handicapped to be exterminated. (Bill Muehlenberg, ‘Dismantling the Abortion Myths’, The Australian Family, Vol.25, No.1, March 2004, p.22). The support of ‘civilised’ countries for legal abortion of the disabled is caused by today’s eugenic cult of the ‘perfect baby’. Hence genetic manipulation dictates that the unborn is only allowed to stay alive if the doctor thinks he or she is perfectly healthy. And yet the main reason for the killing of the disabled unborn must also justify the killing of the disable adult and the terminally ill.
According to the survey, 85% of Australians support abortion in the case of server foetal disability and 60% support it in the case of mild foetal disability. (J.I. Fleming & S Ewing, ‘Give Women Choice: Australia Speaks on Abortion, Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, 26 April 2005, p.10).
Andrew Bolt, ‘Yes it’s an Abortion’, Herald Sun, Melbourne/Vic, August 8, 2004.
“Despite the worse efforts of doctors, a number of babies have survived abortions. Possibly some 500 to 1,000 abortions are born alive each year in the USA … On 14 July, 1998 in Darwin, Australia, a baby was supposed to be 19 weeks’ old, and the mother had been given drugs to induce an abortion During the night of 13-14 July she gave birth to a daughter who exhibited encouraging vital life signs. A registered mid-wife was shocked when she heard the little girl cry, and felt herself in the midst of what she called a ‘very big moral dilemma’–having come to work expecting to preside over a stillbirth, she was faced with a life infant. The doctor experienced no such dilemma, and denied any doctor-patient relationship with the infant’.” Peter Barnes, Abortion: Open Your Month for the Dumb (East Peoria/IL: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2010), p.11.
Peter Barnes, Abortion: Open Your Month for the Dumb (East Peoria/IL: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2010), p.7.
Peter Barnes, Abortion: Open Your Month for the Dumb (East Peoria/IL: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2010), p.7.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (London/UK: SCM, 1963), pp.149-150.
‘Abortion in Australia into the 21st Century: Facts, Current Trends and A Way Ahead’, NSW Right to Life, 2006, p.9.
Australia Bureau of Statistics 2001 Yearbook, No.83, p.176, ABS Canberra, ABS Catalogue N. 1301.0.
‘Pregnancy Outcome in South Australia 2002’, Department of Human Sciences, Tables 39 & 40.. Quoted from: ‘Abortion in Australia into the 21st Century: Facts, Current Trends and A Way Ahead’, NSW Right to Life, 2006, p.9.
To be fair, a major quantitative survey of 1200 Australians designed to explore in depth the attitudes of Australians to abortion found out that 64% of the community either oppose or are not strongly supportive of abortion on demand. Moreover, 58% of Australians do not accept the ‘foetus is not a person’ argument. Apart from ‘hard cases’ involving a danger to the mother’s health or foetal disability, fewer than 1 in 4 thinks abortion is morally justified. While 74% feel positively towards women who choose alternatives to abortion, only 28% are positive towards women who choose to have an abortion. And 80% believe that “the consequences for the unborn child” is a significant consideration informing a woman’s choice to have or not have an abortion. There is also almost unanimous support for counselling prior to abortion. Indeed, 99% of Australians believe that women contemplating an abortion should have access to counselling. Of these, 78% believed women should have counselling. Finally, 71% of the Australian community support greater public discussion of the abortion issue, and three-quarters (including 71% of women) think men have an equal right to be involved publicly in this discussion.—J.I. Fleming & S Ewing, Give Women Choice: Australia Speaks on Abortion, Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, 26 April 2005, pp.3, 4 and 22.
Alvin Schmidt, How Christianity Changed the World (Grand Rapids/MI: Zondervan, 2004), p.60. In those days of Roman rule the Christian opposition to infanticide and abortion was a leading factor in institutionalising the sanctity of human life in the Western world. With the decline of Christian morality, abortion on demand has become more broadly accepted.
John Stott, New Issues Facing Christians Today (London/UK: Harper Collins, 1999), p.349. | <urn:uuid:2c86993e-34be-4e2f-bd60-3c6a1bafcb7d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2014/04/feminism-gendercide-unwanted-girls/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00167-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935988 | 7,774 | 3.21875 | 3 |
This article appeared in the RL Online issue of Website. The text of this article is not available online. Follow the link to the full issue listing to see if the back issue is available through our webstore.
- June 12, 1990: Russia declares itself an
independent and sovereign state known as the Russian Federation
- June 12, 1991: Boris Yeltsin became the first democratically elected president of the Russian Federation. He was inaugurated on July 10, 1991.
In most countries, Independence Day conjures up images of grand celebration, fireworks, family get-togethers, parades and so on. These celebrations commemorate the declaration and establishment of sovereignty by a colony or nation occupied and governed by another nation. This is not exactly the case with Russia's Independence Day.
During the Soviet Era, Russia was considered the center of power of the USSR. In fact, the Soviet Union is often referred to as Soviet Russia. This is, of course, incorrect as Russia was one of fifteen Soviet States. Russia was the largest of the states and the capital of the USSR was in Moscow, giving the idea that Russia was the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union was Russia.
The question is, who did Russia gain independence from? This goes back to how Russians viewed their country during the Soviet Era. It was Russia which, one after another, brought together fourteen other states to form a union of states. Russia was considered the motherland and everything political led to the Kremlin and Moscow. Russia pulled the union together, Russian was the common language and to this day you can still hear people, especially in the West, use the terms Russia and Soviet Union interchangeably.
Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on March 11, 1985. One of the first things he did was to crack down on alcohol consumption and mandated that all embassy events be alcohol free. During October and November of 1985, Gorbachev presented a sweeping plan for Soviet economic improvement. From 1986 - 2000, Gorbachev envisioned a total increase in the production of consumer goods of 90 percent. Quality of living standards were to rise 60 - 80 percent and nuclear energy output was to increase by ca. 500 percent. Wages and salaries for workers, scientists, etc., were to be doubled and he forbad agricultural workers from gaining employment in the cities and factories.
Perestroika got its start at the Twenty-Seventh Party Congress in 1986. Gorbachev's program of economic, political, and social reform would represent the end of roughly 70 years of the Soviet state. Most of the world observed the evolution of perestroika in shock and awe. The Soviet giant was something we never expected to see come to an end. Germany was reunited, the Warsaw Pact faded away and the all too familiar Cold War suddenly ended.
While the West lauded perestroika and glasnost, the reality inside the Soviet Union was much different. People were accustomed to the old authoritarian and centralized rule. The new freedoms of speech and religion led to worker's strikes, protests and a fast growing crime rate. For over three generations, Soviet citizens had lived under totalitarian rule. You lived by the rule or endured the consequences. Much was achieved under this highly disciplined system including a 99 percent literacy rate, many firsts in science and technology and a defense build-up that demanded the respect of the rest of the world. Suddenly, almost overnight, these people had freedoms that they had only heard about and, gradually, contact with the world outside the Soviet Union. It is human nature to want to test these new freedoms and to express all the thoughts and grievances that you, hitherto, had to keep to yourself.
Boris Yeltsin and the Rebirth of Russia
Library Binding, 112pp.
Free Weekly Russia File newsletter. Exclusive discounts. | <urn:uuid:b3a9fd0e-fe50-4aef-bf92-9b4000c468ea> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.russianlife.com/archive/article/params/Number/177/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973701 | 784 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Nez Perce National Historical Park - http://www.nps.gov/nepe
For thousands of years the valleys, prairies, mountains, and plateaus of the inland northwest have been home to the Nimiipuu or Nez Perce people. Explore these places. Learn their stories. Treat them with care.
The 38 sites of Nez Perce National Historical Park are scattered across the states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana and have been designated to commemorate the stories and history of the Nimiipuu and their interaction with explorers, fur traders, missionaries, soldiers, settlers, gold miners, and farmers who moved through or into the area. | <urn:uuid:945dc7d7-0b5f-4d13-b197-f0b4dace4608> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pbase.com/ambadale/image/70622502&exif=Y | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00019-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941395 | 137 | 3 | 3 |
The Gulf oil spill could not have occurred at a worse time or a worse place, environmentally, a United States expert on the region said last night.
The gigantic slick is likely to hit marine and coastal wildlife at the height of the breeding season, said Aaron Viles, the campaign director of the New Orleans-based Gulf Restoration Network.
"We are very concerned, especially if you look at it in terms of sensitive and threatened species," Mr Viles told The Independent. "BP's oil drilling disaster couldn't have happened at a worse spot at a worse time of the year."
Among the deep-water species for which there is great anxiety are sperm whales, because the Gulf of Mexico population have their primary feeding grounds in the "Mississippi canyon" – a deep water trench 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana which is five miles wide and 75 miles long.
This is where the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, which exploded and sank a week ago beginning the colossal oil spill, was located. There are thought to be only about 1,600 sperm whales in the Gulf, in a population which is classed as endangered.
There is also great concern for the western Atlantic population of the bluefin tuna, which is the world's most sought-after fish because of the Japanese demand for it for use in sushi and sashimi.
Just as the eastern Atlantic population of Thunnus thynnus breeds only in the Mediterranean, where its population is thought to be on the brink of collapse from overfishing, so the western Atlantic population breeds only in the Gulf of Mexico – and it is spawning at the moment.
"The primary season is right now," Mr Viles said. "This is a horrible time."
Besides marine mammals and fish, marine reptiles are also threatened: three of the world's seven species of marine turtle breed in the Gulf, the green, the loggerhead, and the Kemp's Ridley, the latter being the rarest of all, officially classed as critically endangered and nesting only on Gulf of Mexico beaches, mainly in Mexico itself, but also on the shore of Texas. (Nearly all of the Kemp's Ridley turtles in the world nest on a single beach, Rancho Nuevo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas).
But the concern for deep-water marine life is, if anything, exceeded by fears for what the oil slick will do if its hits the shoreline along the four Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
At the moment it looks like the black tide will, if not prevented, come ashore at the Birdfoot Delta, the estuary where the Mississippi river enters the sea.
But there are fears that it may affect the coastline all the way east to Florida. "This is an oil slick the size of Jamaica," Mr Viles said. "We have never seen an oil spill of this magnitude, and it is likely to be the worst ecological disaster ever to hit the northern Gulf coast."
Birds that nest on the shores and in the marshes of the coastline are likely to be hit by the oil, such as the brown pelican, whose population crashed in the 1970s because of pesticides, and which only came off the US endangered species list late last year.
Another species in the firing line is the least tern, a charming bird closely related to the little terns of Britain and Europe.
In a further dangerous twist, also at risk are the migratory birds which are currently pouring into North America from the neotropics of Central and South America where they have spent the winter: millions of them cross the Gulf from Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and the first place they make landfall is the Gulf coast itself.
The oil slick also presents, of course, a substantial commercial threat to wildlife – especially to the oyster and shrimp fisheries which, along the North-Central Gulf coast alone, are thought to be worth $3bn a year. "The fishermen are likely to have their worst year ever," Mr Viles said.
Gulf wildlife endangered
Brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
The smallest of the eight species of pelican, the brown pelican nests in colonies, often on small islands, along the coastlines from Washington and Virginia in the north to the mouth of the Amazon in the south. In the 1970s, the birds suffered a severe population decline because of the use of pesticides.
Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)
The largest of the toothed whales, the creature on which Moby Dick, "the great white whale" in Herman Melville's story, was based. The sperm whale lives on squid, for which it can dive as deep as 10,000 feet. It can be 70 feet long and weigh as much as 50 tons.
Western Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)
The bluefin is one of the world's most sought-after fish, prized for its flesh, especially in Japan, where it is a prime ingredient of sushi and sashimi. The Eastern Atlantic bluefin spawns in the Mediterranean, where overfishing has nearly driven it to extinction; the Western Atlantic form spawns only in the Gulf.
Green turtle (Chelonia mydas)
Green turtles are mostly herbivorous. Their meat and eggs are considered delicacies in many countries, so hunting has devastated green turtle populations around the world. There is an important population in the Gulf.Reuse content | <urn:uuid:8955bc4d-c72e-4926-afdf-63a70af54949> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/michael-mccarthy-this-couldnt-have-happened-at-a-worse-time-or-a-worse-place-1958677.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953334 | 1,122 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Arduino can be run from a DC power source between about 8 and 20 volts. This includes 12V "gel-cell" batteries like the one in the picture below. This tutorial shows you how to connect the Arduino to a 12V gel-cell, which can provide days of Arduino runtime.
Arduino takes cover behind a large gel-cel battery.
What you'll need: a 5.5mm/2.1mm power plug, a soldering iron, solder, some black and red wire, an inline fuse holder and a couple of crimp terminals that fit your battery.
First, solder a piece of black (-) wire to the outside connection of the plug. Next, solder a piece of red (+) wire to the centre connection of the plug.
Optionally, add a piece of heatshrink tubing on the red wire to protect the positive connection.
Next, solder the fuseholder inline with the red wire (the fuseholder is the black tube-thing in the image below). A fuse is a wise idea because these batteries can supply huge, spectacle-producing amounts of currents over short periods. The fuse is there to prevent fireworks. A one or two amp slow-blow fuse should do the trick.
Finally, crimp or solder your terminals onto the remaining ends of the red and black wires.
You should have something like this:
Don't forget to charge! | <urn:uuid:e5dbdab6-af2a-4461-8e57-a58a9b6e1a07> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://playground.arduino.cc/Learning/LeadAcidBatteryAdapter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00091-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909772 | 287 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Enggano, Bengkulu, Indonesia
Woman's ritual belt
mid 19th century or earlier
plant fibre, rattan, glass beads
overall 33.5 (h) x 95.0 (w) cm
National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden
Relatively little is known about the beaded objects of the Enggano people who inhabit islands off the west coast of Sumatra. This rare ceremonial belt formed part of the ritual finery worn by women during harvest feasts. Reportedly, the weight of the heavily beaded belts worn around the hips caused some Enggano women to faint during the rites. The number of red beads that hang from the front of the belts is said to represent the number of heads taken by the men of the community as a prelude to the feast. | <urn:uuid:193d423c-c7b2-4628-81da-7c5c113bc55a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nga.gov.au/exhibition/LIFEDEATHMAGIC/Default.cfm?IRN=196971&BioArtistIRN=&MnuID=3&GalID=0&ViewID=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00135-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946576 | 167 | 2.65625 | 3 |
The Moon: Resources, Future Development and Colonization. David G. Schrunk, Burton L. Sharpe, Bonnie L Cooper and Madhu Thangavelu. xxxxiv + 439 pp. John Wiley & Sons/Praxis Publishing, 1999. $64.95.
In the heyday of the Cold War between two opposing social systems, the moon came to the fore as the focus of the space race and an emblem of technological advance. Earth's natural satellite was nothing less than a great cosmic promised land. The moon race resulted in a dozen Americans walking on the lunar surface, whereas the Soviets dropped lunar investigations forever.
The American lunar program was a great technological achievement costing $25 billion. Without stimulating competition, however, Congress proceeded no further and NASA practically dropped its lunar robotic program, too. A three-decade hiatus in human presence on the moon persists, as does a lack of systematic robotic investigations.
This thorough loss of official interest in the moon is groundless because the future of manned spaceflight in this century will depend on one of two alternatives: either a manned expedition to Mars or a manned, long-term base on the moon. The latter is perhaps not so admirable in the public eye. But it has many advantages, and they are examined in their entirety by the multifaceted team of four authors of The Moon, a provocative entry in the prominent Wiley-Praxis Series in Space Science and Technology.
The series is well known for its profound monographs, broad in scope, rich in content and international in approach. The same, with a certain reservations, can be said of this volume. The authors' idea was to collect the tremendous body of lunar data while discussing the future development and colonization of the moon. This grandiose ambition, of course, cannot be satisfied in so few pages. Thus it should come as no surprise that the book is fragmentary, and the level of presentation in different sections varies considerably. What is more, there are several inaccuracies, and the authors display a lack of in-depth knowledge of the scientific literature, particularly that of foreign origin.
But these flaws recede in light of the authors' enthusiasm for future lunar research and development. That future is not science fiction but reality based, supported by modern technology. A reader will find here such important and often unusual topics as engineering challenges and lunar logistics, mining and manufacturing, lunar power plants and utilities, exploration from the moon and even potential problems in lunar governance. Numerous appendices of the book are extremely interesting and attractive. This book will find a broad audience of scientists, scholars, students, engineers, designers and even the general public.—Alexander Gurshtein, Astronomy, Space Research and History of Science, Mesa State College, Colorado | <urn:uuid:f31ba80f-c7c6-4de8-a606-abed9b46bb39> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/id.2753,content.true,css.print/bookshelf.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930061 | 561 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Darkness makes a few cameo appearances in the drama of the speaker's crying-baby dilemma. It's not always just the absence of light, though. Throughout the poem and with some tricky line-breaks, the speaker acknowledges the dark as something with lifelike, human qualities (a neat trick called personification), which makes the darkness an integral part of the speaker's experience. It's a force to be reckoned with.
- Line 4: The speaker ends the line with "his dark", meaning his son's dark bedroom. The enjambment puts an emphasis on the word "dark" in two ways. The first is that "dark" is a slant rhyme with the word "stars." It's a nice light-dark contrast, there, rhyming two words that are completely opposite. But the line break also makes the word dark work as a noun and an adjective. If we just read line 4, dark belongs to the son, as if it's a metaphorical darkness of his son's discomfort. But if when we read on to line 5, it's no longer "his dark", but "his dark / bedroom," so dark becomes an adjective for where they're standing. This play on words links the emotional with the physical. While they're standing in darkness, there's also an emotional darkness that's present, which surfaces as the son is breastfed and the speaker gets all jealous.
- Line 9: The speaker begins this line with "In the dark" and goes on to say that "mothers illuminate like the stars!" Here again is a contrasting image of darkness and mothers lit up like stars. Of course, he's not saying mothers literally light up and glow, but he's using a simile to associate mothers with stars. That means she's praiseworthy, and she alone can take away the son's dark. After all, she's the only one that can feed him, and that darkness inside the boy is hungry!
- Line 15: Here, darkness is written as "the hungry dark." This is an example of personification, where the dark takes on a human quality of hunger. Sounds sort of scary, right? Who wants to be swallowed by darkness? Probably nobody, especially not the speaker of this poem. He could be talking about the dark in figurative terms again, as something he has to feed, or that wants his attention, but is incapable of satisfying. Like a personal darkness, for example, some place inside that feels like it can never be satisfied. | <urn:uuid:0a5c0dd8-6712-4303-b14f-dd4e2193b7b1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shmoop.com/dangerous-astronomy/darkness-symbol.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00059-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968853 | 514 | 2.96875 | 3 |
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DESCRIPTIONRett syndrome (RTT), a neurodevelopmental disorder, is usually caused by mutations in the MECP2 (methyl-CpG-binding protein 2) gene. Genetic testing is available to determine whether a pathogenic mutation exists in a patient with clinical features of Rett syndrome, or in a patient’s family member.
There is wide variability in the rate of progression and severity of the disease. In addition to the classical form of RTT, there are a number of recognized atypical variants. Variants of RTT may appear with a severe or a milder form. The severe variant has no normal developmental period; individuals with a milder phenotype experience less dramatic regression and milder expression of the characteristics of classical RTT.
The diagnosis of RTT remains a clinical one, using diagnostic clinical criteria that have been established for the diagnosis of classic and variant Rett syndrome.
Treatment of Rett Syndrome
Pharmacologic approaches to managing problems associated with RTT include melatonin for sleep disturbances and several agents for the control of breathing disturbances; seizures; and stereotypic movements. RTT patients have an increased risk of life-threatening arrhythmias associated with a prolonged QT interval, and avoidance of a number of drugs is recommended, including prokinetic agents, antipsychotics, tricyclic antidepressants, antiarrhythmics, anesthetic agents and certain antibiotics.
In a mouse model of RTT, genetic manipulation of mutated MECP2 has demonstrated reversibility of the genetic defect.
Genetics of Rett Syndrome
As the spectrum of clinical phenotypes is broad, to facilitate genotype-phenotype correlation analyses, the International Rett Syndrome Association has established a locus-specific MECP2 variation database (RettBASE) and a phenotype database (InterRett).
Approximately 99.5% of cases of RTT are sporadic, resulting from a de novo mutation, which arise almost exclusively on the paternally derived X chromosome. The remaining 0.5% of cases are familial and usually explained by germline mosaicism or favorably skewed X-chromosome inactivation in the carrier mother that results in her being unaffected or only slightly affected (mild intellectual disability). In the case of a carrier mother, the recurrence risk of RTT is 50%. If a mutation is not identified in leukocytes of the mother, the risk to a sibling of the proband is below 0.5% (since germline mosaicism in either parent cannot be excluded).
The identification of a mutation in MECP2 does not necessarily equate to a diagnosis of RTT. Rare cases of MECP2 mutations have also been reported in other clinical phenotypes, including individuals with an Angelman-like picture, nonsyndromic X-linked intellectual disability, PPM-X syndrome (an X-linked genetic disorder characterized by psychotic disorders [most commonly bipolar disorder], parkinsonism, and intellectual disability), autism and neonatal encephalopathy.
A proportion of patients with a clinical diagnosis of RTT do not appear to have mutations in the MECP2 gene. Two other genes, CDKL5 and FOXG1, have been shown to be associated with atypical variants.
Clinical laboratories may develop and validate tests in-house and market them as a laboratory service; laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) must meet the general regulatory standards of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA). Genetic testing for Rett syndrome is available under the auspices of CLIA. Laboratories that offer LDTs must be licensed by CLIA for high-complexity testing. To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has chosen not to require any regulatory review of this test.
POLICYMutation testing for Rett syndrome may be considered medically necessary to confirm a diagnosis of Rett syndrome in a female child with developmental delay and signs/symptoms of Rett syndrome, when a definitive diagnosis cannot be made without genetic testing.
All other indications for mutation testing for Rett syndrome, including carrier testing (preconception or prenatal), and testing of asymptomatic family members to determine future risk of disease, are considered investigational.
POLICY EXCEPTIONSFederal Employee Program (FEP) may dictate that all FDA-approved devices, drugs or biologics may not be considered investigational and thus these devices may be assessed only on the basis of their medical necessity.
Genetic counseling is primarily aimed at patients who are at risk for inherited disorders, and experts recommend formal genetic counseling in most cases when genetic testing for an inherited condition is considered. The interpretation of the results of genetic tests and the understanding of risk factors can be very difficult and complex. Therefore, genetic counseling will assist individuals in understanding the possible benefits and harms of genetic testing, including the possible impact of the information on the individual’s family. Genetic counseling may alter the utilization of genetic testing substantially and may reduce inappropriate testing. Genetic counseling should be performed by an individual with experience and expertise in genetic medicine and genetic testing methods.
Medically Necessary is defined as those services, treatments, procedures, equipment, drugs, devices, items or supplies furnished by a covered Provider that are required to identify or treat a Member's illness, injury or Nervous/Mental Conditions, and which Company determines are covered under this Benefit Plan based on the criteria as follows in A through D:
A. consistent with the symptoms or diagnosis and treatment of the Member's condition, illness, or injury; and
B. appropriate with regard to standards of good medical practice; and
C. not solely for the convenience of the Member, his or her Provider; and
D. the most appropriate supply or level of care which can safely be provided to Member. When applied to the care of an Inpatient, it further means that services for the Member's medical symptoms or conditions require that the services cannot be safely provided to the Member as an Outpatient.
For the definition of Medically Necessary, “standards of good medical practice” means standards that are based on credible scientific evidence published in peer-reviewed medical literature generally recognized by the relevant medical community, and physician specialty society recommendations, and the views of medical practitioners practicing in relevant clinical areas and any other relevant factors. BCBSMS makes no payment for services, treatments, procedures, equipment, drugs, devices, items or supplies which are not documented to be Medically Necessary. The fact that a Physician or other Provider has prescribed, ordered, recommended, or approved a service or supply does not in itself, make it Medically Necessary.
Investigative is defined as the use of any treatment procedure, facility, equipment, drug, device, or supply not yet recognized as a generally accepted standard of good medical practice for the treatment of the condition being treated and; therefore, is not considered medically necessary. For the definition of Investigative, “generally accepted standards of medical practice” means standards that are based on credible scientific evidence published in peer-reviewed medical literature generally recognized by the relevant medical community, and physician specialty society recommendations, and the views of medical practitioners practicing in relevant clinical areas and any other relevant factors. In order for equipment, devices, drugs or supplies [i.e, technologies], to be considered not investigative, the technology must have final approval from the appropriate governmental bodies, and scientific evidence must permit conclusions concerning the effect of the technology on health outcomes, and the technology must improve the net health outcome, and the technology must be as beneficial as any established alternative and the improvement must be attainable outside the testing/investigational setting.
The coverage guidelines outlined in the Medical Policy Manual should not be used in lieu of the Member's specific benefit plan language.
POLICY HISTORY11/15/2012: Approved by Medical Policy Advisory Committee.
11/15/2013: Policy reviewed; no changes.
10/20/2014: Policy reviewed; description updated regarding genetics of Rett Syndrome. Policy statement unchanged.
08/18/2015: Medical policy revised to add ICD-10 codes.
02/15/2016: Policy description updated regarding treatment of Rett Syndrome and testing. Policy statements updated for clarification. Medically necessary statement updated to change "but when there is uncertainty in the clinical diagnosis" to "when a definitive diagnosis cannot be made without genetic testing." Investigational statement updated to change "prenatal screening" to "carrier testing (preconception or prenatal)." It previously stated: All other indications for mutation testing for Rett syndrome, including prenatal screening and testing of family members, are considered investigational. Policy guidelines updated regarding genetic counseling and to add medically necessary and investigational definitions.
06/07/2016: Policy number added.
SOURCE(S)Blue Cross Blue Shield Association policy # 2.04.81
This may not be a comprehensive list of procedure codes applicable to this policy.
The code(s) listed below are ONLY medically necessary if the procedure is performed according to the "Policy" section of this document. | <urn:uuid:17e480d5-2a77-4da2-b2c5-ca9bd7ec2b8a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bcbsms.com/index.php?q=member-medical-policy-search.html&action=viewPolicy&path=%2Fpolicy%2Femed%2FGenetic+Testing+for+Rett+Syndrome.html&source=emed | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918241 | 1,912 | 2.53125 | 3 |
In recent years, a number of fitness trackers have hit the market, with the promise of helping people develop a healthier lifestyle by tracking how many calories they consume and burn during the day, and how much exercise they do. Now, a new study shows these monitors are fairly accurate, but some more so than others — and they still may not deliver on all expectations.
In the study, performed at Iowa State University, 30 men and 30 women wore eight different fitness trackers all at once, while performing a series of tasks designed by the researchers to take 69 minutes. Among the eight trackers, there were seven marketed to consumers, and one designed exclusively for laboratory use. The researchers also took readings with a metabolic analyzer — a laboratory device that measured the participants' actual energy expenditure based on their oxygen intake.
After the tasks were completed, the researchers compared the measurements of the eight trackers. [Best Fitness Trackers 2014]
In terms of calories burned, all of the trackers gave readings that were within 10 percent of the participants' actual energy expenditure, as recorded by the metabolic analyzer. But two devices performed better than the rest: The BodyMedia Fit was found to be the most accurate, and the Fitbit Zip was close behind, showing "promising preliminary findings," according to the study, which was funded by the university and published online in February in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
"There are so many versions [of fitness trackers]," said study author Jung-Min Lee, now an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. "If [consumers] like any typical one, they can use it, because most of the consumer versions accurately measure energy expenditure."
But, Lee added, there is still some work being done on the usefulness of specific fitness trackers. The devices may be worn on the waist, which is more accurate for measuring steps, or on the wrist, which is often more comfortable for users.
A lot of the current research is focused on weight management, which is often the goal people hope to achieve with these devices. In the study, the devices that the researchers tested included BodyMedia FIT, DirectLife, Fitbit One, Fitbit Zip, Jawbone UP band, Nike+ Fuel Band and the Basis B1 Band.
Although he called the new research a good study, Ray Browning, director of the Physical Activity Energetics/Mechanics Lab at Colorado State University, was a bit more skeptical about the ability of today's fitness trackers to help people with weight management.
Browning said he believes fitness trackers remain inadequate for measuring calories burned in a way that would let people use their readings to build a diet and estimate their calorie intake. But at the same time, he said, using the devices is an excellent way to compare day-to-day activity and maintain an active lifestyle.
"I wouldn't use it to plan my meals," because that requires a more accurate measure of energy expenditure, Browning said. "It's a tall order for these devices to deliver accuracy on that."
Nonetheless, the devices remain useful for people who want to make sure they are moving around enough and burning calories during the day. "From one day to the next, they should be able to basically tell you the same thing," Browning told Live Science.
And, he added, the data in the new study indicates that newer models, such as the newer Fitbit devices, appear to be more accurate than the ones he and his colleagues tested a few years ago.
But the study still represents a best-case scenario in terms of the trackers' accuracy, because the tests were done in a lab with designed activities, rather than being based on the way people might perform these activities in the real world, Browning said. But for many people who want to use a fitness tracker, that may be enough.
"It's important to focus on [the fact] that these devices are worn, in large part, by people trying to change their behavior," Browning said. "We shouldn't throw them out because of limits on accuracy." | <urn:uuid:c80760c6-dbfa-44fb-9108-d8d3fce2ae6e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.livescience.com/45665-fitness-tracker-accuracy-comparison.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00095-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976974 | 849 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Definitions for gavelˈgæv əl
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word gavel
a small mallet used by a presiding officer or a judge
a small heap of grain, not tied up into a bundle
the mallet of the presiding officer in a legislative body, public assembly, court, masonic body, etc
a mason's setting maul
tribute; toll; custom. [Obs.] See Gabel
Origin: [OF. gavelle, F. javelle, prob. dim. from L. capulus handle, fr. capere to lay hold of, seize; or cf. W. gafael hold, grasp. Cf. Heave.]
A gavel is a small ceremonial mallet commonly made of hardwood, typically fashioned with a handle and often struck against a sounding block to enhance its sounding qualities. It is a symbol of the authority and right to act officially in the capacity of a chair or presiding officer. It is used to call for attention or to punctuate rulings and proclamations. It is customarily struck to indicate the opening, keep the meeting itself calm and orderly, and the closing of proceedings, giving rise to the phrase gavel-to-gavel to describe the entirety of a meeting or session. It is also used by judges in the courts of some countries and by auctioneers to signal a sale. The gavel is used in courts of law in the United States and, by metonymy, is used there to represent the entire judiciary system, especially of judgeship; to bring down the gavel means to enforce or compel with the power of a court. It also represents the authority of presiding officers; thus the expression passing the gavel signifies an orderly succession from one chair to another. The sound of the gavel strike, being abrupt to start and stop, and clearly audible by all present, serves to sharply define an action in time in a manner clearly perceivable by all, and to endow the action with practical as well as symbolic temporal finality.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
gā′vel, a prov. form of gable.
gav′el, n. an old Saxon and Welsh form of tenure by which an estate passed, on the holder's death, to all the sons equally.—v.t. to divide or distribute in this way.—ns. Gav′elkind, a tenure now peculiar to Kent by which the tenant at fifteen can sell the estate or devise it by will, the estate cannot escheat, and on an intestacy the lands descend from the father to all sons in equal portions; Gav′elman, a tenant holding land in gavelkind. [A.S. gafol, tribute; cog. with giefan, to give.]
The numerical value of gavel in Chaldean Numerology is: 9
The numerical value of gavel in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2
Sample Sentences & Example Usage
Patricia Espinosa, with a stroke of the gavel, changed the political norm from 'everybody' to 'almost everybody'.
I think the Democrats could have the gavel in 18 months, even some pollsters are saying to us, 'I see a prospect of a wave.' Now, I think right now, today, you won't tell anybody I said this: I see us probably easily winning half the seats -- maybe two-thirds -- with what we have in place.
With only four legislative days left until the Republican Homeland Security Shutdown, Speaker Boehner made it clear that Speaker Boehner has no plan to avoid a government shutdown, the speaker's reliance on talking points and finger-pointing was a sad reflection of the fact that the Tea Party continues to hold the gavel as Senate Democrats insist on Senate Democrats futile anti-immigrant grandstanding.
Images & Illustrations of gavel
Translations for gavel
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
Get even more translations for gavel »
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Select another language: | <urn:uuid:f8f14188-45c0-4bae-bb5b-9422a16a622f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.definitions.net/definition/gavel | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00141-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911489 | 849 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Ernest Hobson addresses the British Association in 1910
To read the second part of Hobson's lecture, follow the link: British Association 1910, Part 2
To read the third part of Hobson's lecture, follow the link: British Association 1910, Part 3
To read the second part of Hobson's lecture, follow the link: British Association 1910, Part 2
To read the third part of Hobson's lecture, follow the link: British Association 1910, Part 3
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTI0N. - Professor E W HOBSON, D.Sc., F.R.S.
THURSDAY, 1 SEPTEMBER 1910.
Ernest Hobson, the President, delivered the following Address:-
Since the last meeting of our Association one of the most illustrious of the British workers in science during the nineteenth century has been removed from us by the death of Sir William Huggins. In the middle of the last century Sir William Huggins commenced that pioneer work of examination of the spectra of the stars which has ensured for him enduring fame in connection with the foundation of the science of Astrophysics. The exigencies of his work of analysis of the stellar spectra led him to undertake a minute examination of the spectra of the elements with a view to the determination of as many lines as possible. To the spectroscope he later added the photographic film as an instrument of research in his studies of the heavenly bodies. In 1864 Sir William Huggins made the important observation that many of the nebulae have spectra which consist of bright lines; and two years later he observed, in the case of a new star, both bright and dark lines in the same spectrum. In 1868 his penetrating and alert mind made him the first to perceive that the Doppler principle could be applied to the determination of the velocities of stars in the line of sight, and he at once set about the application of the method. His life-work, in a domain of absorbing interest, was rewarded by a rich harvest of discovery, obtained as the result of most patient and minute investigations. The 'Atlas of Representative Stella Spectra,' published in the names of himself and Lady Huggins, remains as a monumental record of their joint labours.
The names of the great departments of science, Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, Meteorology, which are associated with Section A, are a sufficient indication of the vast range of investigation which comes under the purview of our Section. An opinion has been strongly expressed in some quarters that the time has come for the erection of a separate Section for Astronomy and Meteorology, in order that fuller opportunities may be afforded than hitherto for the discussion of matters of special interest to those devoted to these departments of Science. I do not share this view. I believe that, whilst the customary division into sub-sections gives reasonable facilities for the treatment of questions interesting solely to specialists in the various branches with which our Section is concerned, a policy of disruption would be injurious to the wider interests of science. The close association of the older Astronomy with Mathematics, and of the newer Astronomy with Physics, form strong presumptions against the change that has been suggested. Meteorology, so far as it goes beyond the purely empirical region, is, and must always remain, a branch of Physics. No doubt, the more technical problems which arise in connection with these subjects, though of great importance to specialists, are often of little or no interest to workers in cognate departments. It appears to me, however, that it is unwise, in view of the general objects of the British Association, to give too much prominence in the meetings to the more technical aspects of the various departments of science. Ample opportunities for the full discussion of all the detailed problems, the solution of which forms a great and necessary part of the work of those who are advancing science in its various branches, are afforded by the special Societies which make those branches their exclusive concern. The British Association will, in my view, be performing its functions most efficiently if it gives much prominence to those aspects of each branch of science which are of interest to a public at least in some degree larger than the circle of specialists concerned with the particular branch. To afford an opportunity to workers in any one department of obtaining some knowledge of what is going on in other departments, to stimulate by means of personal intercourse with workers on other lines the sense of solidarity of men of science, to do something to counteract that tendency to narrowness of view which is a danger arising from increasing specialisation, are functions the due performance of which may do much to further that supreme object, the advancement of science, for which the British Association exists.
I propose to address to you a few remarks, necessarily fragmentary and incomplete, upon the scope and tendencies of modern Mathematics. Not to transgress against the canon I have laid down, I shall endeavour to make my treatment of the subject as little technical as possible.
Probably no other department of knowledge plays a larger part outside its own narrower domain than Mathematics. Some of its more elementary conceptions and methods have become part of the common heritage of our civilisation, interwoven in the, everyday life of the people. Perhaps the greatest laboursaving invention that the world has seen belongs to the formal side of Mathematics; I allude to our system of numerical notation. This system which, when scrutinised, affords the simplest illustration of the importance of Mathematical form, has become so much an indispensable part of our mental furniture that some effort is required to realise that an apparently so obvious idea embodies a great invention; one to which the Greeks, with their unsurpassed capacity for abstract thinking, never attained. An attempt to do a multiplication sum in Roman numerals is perhaps the readiest road to an appreciation of the advantages of this great invention. In a large group of sciences, the formal element, the common language, so to speak, is supplied by Mathematics; the range of the application of mathematical methods and symbolism is ever increasing. Without taking too literally the celebrated dictum of the great philosopher Kant, that the amount of real science to be found in any special subject is the amount of Mathematics contained therein, it must be admitted that each branch of science which is concerned with natural phenomena, when it has reached a certain stage of development, becomes accessible to, and has need of, mathematical methods and language; this stage has, for example, been reached in our time by parts of the science of Chemistry. Even Biology and Economics have begun to require mathematical methods, at least on their statistical side. As a science emerges from the stages in which it consists solely of more or less systematised descriptions of the phenomena with which it is concerned in their more superficial aspect; when the intensive magnitudes discerned in the phenomena become representable as extensive magnitudes, then is the beginning of the application of mathematical modes of thought; at a still later stage, when the phenomena become accessible to dynamical treatment, Mathematics is applicable to the subject to a still greater extent.
Mathematics shares with the closely allied subject of Astronomy the honour of being the oldest of the sciences. When we consider that it embodies, in an abstract form, some of the more obvious, and yet fundamental, aspects of our experience of the external world, this is not altogether surprising. The comparatively high degree of development which, as recent historical discoveries have disclosed, it had attained amongst the Babylonians more than five thousand years B.C., may well astonish us. These times must have been preceded by still earlier ages in which the mental evolution of man led him to the use of the tally, and of simple modes of measurement, long before the notions of number and of magnitude appeared in an explicit form.
I have said that Mathematics is the oldest of the sciences; a glance at its more recent history will show that it has the energy of perpetual youth. The output of contributions to the advance of the science during the last century and more has been so enormous that it is difficult to say whether pride in the greatness of achievement in his subject, or despair at his inability to cope with the multiplicity of its detailed developments, should be the dominant feeling of the mathematician. Few people outside the small circle of mathematical specialists have any idea of the vast growth of mathematical literature. The Royal Society Catalogue contains a list of nearly thirty-nine thousand papers on subjects of Pure Mathematics alone, which have appeared in seven hundred serials during the nineteenth century. This represents only a portion of the total output; the very large number of treatises, dissertations, and monographs published during the century being omitted. During the first decade of the twentieth century this activity has proceeded at an accelerated rate. Mathematical contributions to Mechanics, Physics, and Astronomy would greatly swell the total. A notion of the range of the literature relating not only to Pure Mathematics but also to all branches of science to which mathematical methods have been applied will be best obtained by an examination of that monumental work, the 'Encyclopädie der mathematischen Wissenschaften' - when it is completed.
The concepts of the pure mathematician, no less than those of the physicist, had their origin in physical experience analysed and clarified by the reflective activities of the human mind; but the two sets of concepts stand on different planes in regard to the degree of abstraction which is necessary in their formation. Those of the mathematician are more remote from actual unanalysed percepts than are those of the physicist, having undergone in their formation a more complete idealisation and removal of elements inessential in regard to the purposes for which they are constructed. This difference in the planes of thought frequently gives rise to a certain misunderstanding between the mathematician and the physicist due in the case of either to an inadequate appreciation of the point of view of the other. On the one hand it is frequently and truly said of particular mathematicians that they are lacking in the physical instinct; and on the other hand a certain lack of sympathy is frequently manifested on the part of physicists for the aims and ideals of the mathematician. The habits of mind and the ideals of the mathematician and of the physicist cannot be of an identical character. The concepts of the mathematician necessarily lack, in their pure form, just that element of concreteness which is an essential condition of the success of the physicist, but which to the mathematician would often only obscure those aspects of things which it is his province to study. The abstract mathematical standard of exactitude is one of which the physicist can make no direct use. The calculations in Mathematics are directed towards ideal precision, those in Physics consist of approximations within assigned limits of error. The physicist can, for example, make no direct use of such an object as an irrational number; in any given case a properly chosen rational number approximating to the irrational one is sufficient for his purpose. Such a notion as continuity, as it occurs in Mathematics, is, in its purity, unknown to the physicist, who can make use only of sensible continuity. The physical counterpart of mathematical discontinuity is very rapid change through a thin layer of transition, or during a very short time. Much of the skill of the true mathematical physicist and of the mathematical astronomer consists in the power of adapting methods and results carried out on an exact mathematical basis to obtain approximations sufficient for the purposes of physical measurement. It might perhaps be thought that a scheme of Mathematics on a frankly approximative basis would be sufficient for all the practical purposes of application in Physics, Engineering Science, and Astronomy; and no doubt it would be possible to develop, to some extent at least, a species of Mathematics on these lines. Such a system would, however, involve an intolerable awkwardness and prolixity in the statement of results, especially in view of the fact that the degrees of approximation necessary for various purposes are very different, and thus that unassigned grades of approximation would have to be provided for. Moreover the mathematician working on these lines would be cut off from his chief sources of inspiration, the ideals of exactitude and logical rigour, as well as from one of his most indispensable guides to discovery, symmetry, and permanence of mathematical form. The history of the actual movements of mathematical thought through the centuries shows that these ideals are the very life-blood of the science, and warrants the conclusion that a constant striving towards their attainment is an absolutely essential condition of vigorous growth. These ideals have their roots in irresistible impulses and deep-seated needs of the human mind, manifested in its efforts to introduce intelligibility into certain great domains of the world of thought.
There exists a widespread impression amongst physicists, engineers, and other men of science that the effect of recent developments of Pure Mathematics, by making it more abstract than formerly, has been to remove it further from the order of ideas of those who are primarily concerned with the physical world. The prejudice that Pure Mathematics has its sole raison d'être in its function of providing useful tools for application in the physical sciences, a prejudice which did much to retard the due development of Pure Mathematics in this country during the nineteenth century, is by no means extinct. It is not infrequently said that the present devotion of many mathematicians to the interminable discussion of purely abstract questions relating to modern developments of the notions of number and function, and to theories of algebraic form, serves only the purpose of deflecting them from their proper work into paths which lead nowhere. It is considered that mathematicians are apt to occupy themselves too exclusively with ideas too remote from the physical order in which Mathematics had its origin and in which it should still find its proper applications. A direct answer to the question cui bono? when it is raised in respect of a department of study such as Pure Mathematics, seldom carries conviction, in default of a standard of values common to those who ask and to those who answer the question. To appreciate the importance of a sphere of mental activity different from our own always requires some effort of the sympathetic imagination, some recognition of the fact that the absolute value of interests and ideals of a particular class may be much greater than the value which our own mentality inclines us to attach to them. If a defence is needed of the expenditure of time and energy on the abstract problems of Pure Mathematics, that defence must be of a cumulative character. The fact that abstract mathematical thinking is one of the normal forms of activity of the human mind, a fact which the general history of thought fully establishes, will appeal to some minds as a ground of decisive weight. A great department of thought must have its own inner life, however transcendent may be the importance of its relations to the outside. No department of science, least of all one requiring so high a degree of mental concentration as Mathematics, can be developed entirely, or even mainly, with a view to applications outside its own range. The increased complexity and specialisation of all branches of knowledge makes it true in the present, however it may have been in former times, that important advances in such a department as Mathematics can be expected only from men who are interested in the subject for its own sake, and who, whilst keeping an open mind for suggestions from outside, allow their thought to range freely in those lines of advance which are indicated by the present state of their subject, untrammelled by any preoccupation as to applications to other departments of science. Even with a view to applications, if Mathematics is to be adequately equipped for the purpose of coping with the intricate problems which will be presented to it in the future by Physics, Chemistry, and other branches of physical science, many of these problems probably of a character which we cannot at present forecast, it is essential that Mathematics should be allowed to develop itself freely on its own lines. Even if much of our present mathematical theorising turns out to be useless for external purposes, it is wiser, for a well-known reason, to allow the wheat and the tares to grow together. It would be easy to establish in detail that many of the applications which have been actually made of Mathematics were wholly unforeseen by those who first developed the methods and ideas on which they rest. Recently, the more refined mathematical methods which have been applied to gravitational Astronomy by Delaunay, G W Hill, Poinearé, E W Brown, and others, have thrown much light on questions relating to the solar system, and have much increased the accuracy of cur knowledge of the motions of the moon and the planets. Who knows what weapons forged by the theories of functions, of differential equations, or of groups, may be required when the time comes for such an empirical law as Mendeléeff's periodic law of the elements to receive its dynamical explanation by means of an analysis of the detailed possibilities of relatively stable types of motion, the general schematic character of which will have been indicated by the physicist? It is undoubtedly true that the cleft between Pure Mathematics and Physical Science is at the present time wider than formerly. That is, however, a result of the natural development, on their own lines, of both subjects. In the classical period of the eighteenth century, the time of Lagrange and Laplace, the nature of the physical investigations, consisting largely of the detailed working out of problems of gravitational Astronomy in accordance with Newton's law, was such that the passage was easy from the concrete problems to the corresponding abstract mathematical ones. Later on, mathematical physicists were much occupied with problems which lent themselves readily to treatment by means of continuous analysis. In our own time the effect of recent developments of Physics has been to present problems of molecular and sub-molecular Mechanics to which continuous analysis is not at least directly applicable, and can only be made applicable by a process of averaging the effects of great swarms of discrete entities. The speculative and incomplete character of our conceptions of the structure of the objects of investigation has made the applications of Dynamics to their detailed elucidation tentative and partial. The generalised dynamical scheme developed by Lagrange and Hamilton, with its power of dealing with systems, the detailed structure of which is partially unknown, has however proved a powerful weapon of attack, and affords a striking instance of the deep-rooted significance of mathematical form. The wonderful and perhaps unprecedentedly rapid discoveries in Physics which have been made in the last two decades have given rise to many questions which are as yet hardly sufficiently definite in form to be ripe for mathematical treatment; a necessary condition of which treatment consists in a certain kind of precision in the data of the problems to be solved.
JOC/EFR April 2007
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Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women. More than 1 million women worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. The American Cancer Society estimates 178,000 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer resulting in approximately 40,000 deaths. With the use of mammography as a screening tool and better treatment for breast cancer the death rates from breast cancer are steadily decreasing.1
Breast cancer is a malignant tumor that starts in the cells of the breast. There are many different forms of breast cancer, some that are invasive (meaning that it has spread to other portions of the breast tissue) and those that are non-invasive. The two most common types of breast cancer are: Ductal carcinoma in situ, the most common form of non-invasive breast cancer; and Invasive ductal carcinoma.
CA 15-3® and CA27.29 are biomarkers that are highly associated with breast cancer and are derived from the MUC1 gene. Neither of these markers is recommended by physician organizations for use in the screening or detection of breast cancer. This is in part due to the elevation of the markers in benign conditions including: breast, liver and kidney disorders and other cancers.
Breast cancer today is often diagnosed through mammography or the identification of a lump within the breast. Following imaging and a clinical breast exam that is suggestive of cancer patients will often be referred to a specialist for a biopsy. The biopsy results are then used to diagnose the type of cancer.
Upon diagnosis of breast cancer there are many options available to women for treatment, which include: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, hormone therapy, and biological therapy. Patients can receive one treatment but many women will receive a combination of therapies. The therapy that is recommended for patients is dependant upon the stage of disease at time of diagnosis and surgery.
CA 15-3 and CA27.29 are used in combination with other testing to aid physicians in following the course of cancer in patients. They have been approved for monitoring the response to therapy and to monitor for recurrence of disease in patients diagnosed with breast cancer.
- What is the CA 15-3 tumor marker and how does it relate to breast cancer?
- How is the CA 15-3 test performed?
- Why is the CA 15-3 test performed?
- What do the CA 15-3 test results mean?
CA 15-3 is a tumor marker that is elevated in the serum/plasma of approximately 75% of women with metastasized breast cancer. CA 15-3 levels can also be raised due to the presence of other conditions or cancers (for example, colorectal cancer, hepatitis, and benign breast disease).
A blood sample is taken from the patient and then sent to a laboratory for testing to determine the level of CA 15-3 present in the blood. The laboratory determines the amount of antigen present in the blood sample by using a monoclonal antibody known to specifically bind to the CA 15-3 antigen. By measuring the amount of bound antigen/antibody units the laboratory can quantitate the amount of CA 15-3 antigen present in the patient's blood sample.
The CA 15-3 test is performed to aid physicians in the monitoring of treatment of women with invasive breast malignancies. It can also be used to diagnose recurrence of the disease following first-line therapy. By using the measurements obtained from the CA 15-3 test the physicians can help to determine if the patient is responding to treatment or if additional treatment or testing is required.
Physicians use the CA 15-3 test results in conjunction with other diagnostic test results and full medical history to make decisions about the management of their patients. A physician typically requests a CA 15-3 test prior to the patient receiving treatments. This result serves as a baseline to compare with future measurements. During therapy, serial CA 15-3 results may be used to monitor response to therapy. Increasing results may be indicative of progressive disease, decreasing results may be indicative of response to therapy and constant results may be associated with stable disease.
If you'd like to learn more, please refer to one of our recommended breast cancer resources.
- CDC's National Breast Cancer Early Detection Program - Through their national breast cancer early detection program, CDC's mission is to provide critical screening services to underserved women in the United States.
- Living Beyond Breast Cancer - The mission of Living Beyond Breast Cancer is to empower all women affected by breast cancer to live as long as possible with the best quality of life.
- Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation - For more than 20 years, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has been a leader through its efforts to eradicate breast cancer through research, education, screening, and treatment.
- Ferlay, J, Bray, F, Psiani, P, Parkin, DM. Cancer Incidence, Mortality and Prevalence Worldwide IARC CancerBase No.5, version 2.0 Lyon, France: IARCH Press; 2004. | <urn:uuid:b75059b5-de2e-4f57-9799-ff408d4573f4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://fdi.com/us_home/patients/breast_cancer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00027-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947409 | 1,034 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Description from Flora of China
Caprifolium Miller; Euchylia Dulac; Xylosteon Miller.
Shrubs erect or dwarf, rarely small trees, sometimes climbers, deciduous or evergreen. Branches hollow or solid with white or brown pith; winter buds with 1 to several pairs of scales, rounded or acutely 4-angular, inner scales sometimes accrescent and reflexed. Accessory buds sometimes present, occasionally terminal buds reduced and substituted by 2 lateral buds. Leaves opposite, rarely whorled, margin entire, rarely dentate or divided; leaves usually estipulate, occasionally with interpetiolar stipules or a swollen interpetiolar line; sometimes 1 or 2 pairs of leaves below inflorescence connate and forming involucral bracts. Inflorescence thyrsoid, terminal or axillary, cymes opposite and usually reduced to paired flowers, rarely 1-, sometimes 3-flowered. Inflorescence occasionally pedunculate; cymes sessile, sometimes forming a capitulum, or cymes pedunculate with a pair of bracts and 2 pairs of bracteoles; bracts usually small, sometimes leaflike; bracteoles usually free, sometimes ± fused and cupular occasionally enclosing ovaries, sometimes absent. Paired flowers with free or partially to completely fused ovaries. Calyx 5-lobed, rarely 4-lobed, sometimes truncate, base occasionally with a collarlike emergence. Corolla white, yellow, reddish, or purple-red, often changing color after anthesis, campanulate, funnelform, regularly or subregularly 5(or 4)-lobed, or bilabiate and upper lip 4-lobed; tube long or short, often shallowly to deeply gibbous on ventral side toward base, rarely spurred. Nectary of compact sessile glandular hairs on ventral side toward base of corolla tube, occasionally in 5 regular lines, rarely swollen at base of style. Stamens 5; anthers dorsifixed. Ovary 2 or 3(-5)-locular; style slender, hairy or glabrous; stigmas capitate. Fruit a berry, red, blue-black, black, green, or white sometimes pruinose, bracteoles occasionally accrescent in fruit and enclosing paired berries. Seeds 1 to numerous, smooth, pitted or granular, with rounded embryo.
See Rehder, Rep. (Annual) Missouri Bot. Gard. 14: 27-232, t. 1-20. 1903.
The identities of Lonicera confusa var. glabrocalyx Miau & X. J. Liu (Acta Sci. Nat. Univ. Sunyatseni 28(4): 78. 1989), L. fengkaiensis Miau & X. J. Liu (Acta Sci. Nat. Univ. Sunyatseni 28(4): 78. 1989), L. stenantha Pojarkova var. angustifolia C. Y. Yang & J. H. Fan (J. Aug. 1st Agric. Coll. 18(2): 7. 1995), and L. subrotundata C. Y. Yang & J. H. Fan (J. Aug. 1st Agric. Coll. 18(2): 8. 1995) cannot be determined because of the unavailability of the type specimens for examination or the original publications. One North American species, L. sempervirens Linnaeus, is occasionally cultivated.
- 6-8. Lonicera tangutica species complex
Shrubs, deciduous, to 1-4 m tall. Branches with solid pith. Winter buds with 2-4 pairs of scales. Petiole 1-5 mm; leaf blade obovate to lanceolate, 0.5-8.5 × 0.2-2.5 cm, both surfaces glabrous or pubescent, base cuneate, apex obtuse to acute. Inflorescences axillary, paired flowers; peduncle usually nodding, 0-3 cm, slender, glabrous, rarely pubescent; bracts narrow, sometimes leaflike, usually exceeding or rarely shorter than ovaries; bracteoles sometimes present, separate or fused, minute to 1/4 as long as ovaries, often ciliate. Neighboring 2 ovaries fused completely or at least to middle, elliptic or oblong, ca. 2 mm, glabrous or occasionally pubescent. Calyx cupular, to 2 mm, truncate or with ovate to triangular lobes, glabrous to pubescent, sometimes ciliate. Corolla white, yellow, or pink, sometimes tinged purple, tubular-funnelform, 8-13 mm; tube glabrous, occasionally with sparse stiff hairs, nectary swollen or gibbous on ventral side at base of corolla tube, sometimes forming a spur shorter than ovaries; lobes suberect, orbicular-ovate, 1-2 mm; mouth glabrous or with sparse spreading stiff hairs. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube; anthers partially exserted, glabrous or ciliate. Style exserted by 1-3 mm. Berries orange, red, purple, or black, 5-6 mm in diam.; seeds brownish, ovoid or oblong, 2-2.5 mm, smooth. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Jul-Sep.
Forests, forest margins, grasslands, scrub, mountains; 800-4500 m. Anhui, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, W Hubei, W Hunan, Ningxia, E Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, India (Sikkim), Nepal].
This is a highly variable species complex; further studies are needed for a satisfactory taxonomic treatment.
- 19-23. Lonicera hispida species complex
Shrubs, deciduous, to 3 m tall, occasionally dwarf. Winter buds with a pair of narrow keeled outer scales, covering inner scales and sometimes longitudinally sulcate. Young branches often pruinose, minutely scabrid to stiffly hairy and glandular hairy, very rarely glabrous. Petiole 1.5-6 mm; leaf blade usually ovate to oblong, sometimes elliptic, 0.6-9 × 0.4-3.5 cm, subglabrous, with short stiff hairs or adpressed villous, base cuneate to slightly cordate, margin hirsute-ciliate, apex acute to obtuse and mucronulate. Inflorescences axillary paired flowers, and at base of new shoots; peduncle stout, sometimes slightly compressed, 0.5-2 cm; bracts broadly ovate, 1-4 cm; bracteoles absent. Paired ovaries free, glabrous to hirsute, often glandular hairy. Calyx cupular, 1-4 mm, to 5 mm at fruiting, truncate or lobed; lobes broad and hirsute-ciliate. Corolla yellow-green or dark purple, funnelform, subregular, 13-35 mm; tube shallowly to deeply gibbous toward base, glabrous to puberulent outside and inside at upper part; lobes erect, ovate, 5-10 mm. Stamens and style usually subequaling or longer than corolla, occasionally shorter. Style stiffly hairy on lower half. Berries red, black-brown, or blue-black and pruinose, ovoid, 1-1.5 cm, 3-8-seeded; seeds deep brown, irregularly triangular-oblong, 4-5 mm, smooth. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 18*.
Forests, scrub, alpine grasslands, rocky places, slopes, high mountains; 1700-4800 m. Gansu, Hebei, ?Henan, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan [Afghanistan, Bhutan, India (Sikkim), Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan; SW Asia (Iran)].
Lonicera sublabiata P. S. Hsu & H. J. Wang (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 17(4): 78. 1979), based on a type specimen collected in Lixian, Sichuan, by Z. He (12715) and kept in the Shanghai Museum of Natural History (SHM), could not be located; it has a short hispid style, a bilabiate corolla (though the 5 lobes are all located on the same side so it must be the result of a deliberate split of the corolla), and it seems to flower with the emerging leaves. Nevertheless, it does not seem to differ significantly from L. hispida species complex.
- 27-28. Lonicera alpigena species complex
Shrubs, deciduous, to 4 m tall. Winter buds with 2-5 pairs of outer scales; inner scales accrescent, enlarged and sometimes reflexed. Branches glabrous to densely hairy with mixed glandular hairs. Petiole 3-20 mm; leaf blade obovate or ovate-elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-17 × 0.8-6 cm, with dense or sparse stiff hairs and sparse glands or glabrous, base cuneate to subcordate, margin ciliate, apex apiculate to long acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, paired flowers; peduncle 0.5-9 cm, usually thickened toward apex; bracts linear-subulate, to 10 mm, or sometimes minute or leaflike and ovate-lanceolate, to 15 mm; bracteoles separate or sometimes fused into a cupule, ovate to oblong, to 1 mm, ciliate. Neighboring 2 ovaries free to fused, glabrous or densely glandular hairy. Calyx lobes ovate to orbicular, to 1 mm, sometimes forming a collarlike emergence at base, apex irregularly lobed, sometimes glandular ciliate. Corolla bilabiate, purple-red, very rarely white or turning from white to yellow, 1-1.5 cm, outside sparsely pubescent and glandular hairy or glabrous; tube 4-7 mm, inside puberulent, deeply gibbous above slender base; upper lip erect, 4-lobed to 1/4; lower lip recurved. Stamens subequaling corolla; filaments and style hirsute on lower part or glabrous. Berries red or black, globose, ca. 1 cm in diam.; seeds ellipsoid, 5-6 mm, shallowly pitted to smooth. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jun-Oct.
Needle-leaved and broad-leaved mixed forests, scrub, grassy slopes; 900-4000 m. Anhui, S Gansu, W Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, S Ningxia, E Qinghai, S Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, NW Yunnan, Zhejiang [Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kashmir, ?Myanmar, Russia; Europe].
Lonicera alpigena Linnaeus occurs in Europe; further studies are necessary to better understand the relationships within this species complex in Europe and Asia.
The type specimen of Lonicera jilongensis P. S. Hsu & H. J. Wang (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 17(4): 76. 1979) has suffered extensive insect damage, but it seems to belong here.
- 31-33. Lonicera nigra species complex
Shrubs, deciduous, to 4 m tall. Winter buds with several pairs of outer acute, keeled scales; inner scales sometimes accrescent and enlarged. Branches with white or sometimes brown pith. Young branches and peduncles often puberulent and glandular hairy. Petiole 2-10 mm; leaf blade oblong to elliptic-lanceolate, 1.5-10 × 1-3 cm, glabrous throughout but abaxially often white hairy on midvein, base cuneate to rounded, apex acute to acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, paired flowers; peduncle 0.5-3 cm; bracts lanceolate-linear, ca. 2 mm; bracteoles free, fused into 2 pairs or into an entire or lobed cupule, 1/3 to almost as long as ovaries, glandular ciliate. Neighboring 2 ovaries free, fused in lower half or completely fused. Calyx lobes triangular or linear-lanceolate, 1-2 mm, sometimes with a collar emergence at base, glandular ciliate. Corolla bilabiate, purplish, purple-red, or white becoming yellow, 9-13 mm; tube ca. 5 mm, shallowly gibbous at base, outside puberulent or glabrous, inside puberulent; upper lip crenulate; lower lip reflexed. Stamens and style exserted from corolla tube; filaments glabrous or hairy at base. Style hairy below middle part or throughout. Berries black, often pruinose, globose, 5-7 mm in diam.; seeds oblong or ovoid, 3-7 mm, granular-raised and coarse. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 18.
Forests, scrub, coniferous forests, forest margins, grasslands; 1500-4000 m. W Anhui, Gansu, NE Guizhou, W Henan, W Hubei, Jilin, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, S Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Korea, Nepal; Europe].
Lonicera govaniana Wallich ex Candolle (Prodr. 4: 337. 1830) and L. orientalis Lamarck (Encycl. 1: 731. 1785) belong to L. caucasica Pallas (Fl. Ross. 1(1): 57. 1784). Further studies are necessary to determine if L. caucasica, predominantly from Asia Minor and S Asia, differs from L. nigra in Europe and China.
- 34-36. Lonicera maximowiczii species complex
Shrubs, deciduous, to 2 m tall. Winter buds with several pairs of outer acute, keeled scales; inner scales sometimes accrescent and enlarged. Branches sparsely puberulent to glabrescent. Petiole 2-8 mm; leaf blade ovate or broadly ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 4-12 × 1.5-3.5 cm, abaxially sparsely strigose, minutely tomentose, or glabrous, adaxially sparsely strigose or glabrous, base cuneate to rounded, margin often ciliate, apex acute to acuminate. Inflorescences axillary, paired flowers; peduncle 1-2.5 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy; bracts subulate, 1-3 mm; bracteoles fused into a cupule, 1/3 to as long as ovaries. Neighboring 2 ovaries more than half to completely fused, very rarely completely free. Calyx lobes triangular to linear, 1-1.5 mm. Corolla bilabiate, dark purple to purple-red or white becoming yellow, ca. 1 cm, outside glabrous; tube slightly gibbous toward base, ca. 4 mm, inside densely hairy; upper lip 4 lobed, lobes 1-2 mm; lower lip recurved. Stamens and style exserted from corolla tube; filaments hairy at base. Style hairy throughout. Berries red, ovoid-orbicular; seeds yellowish brown, oblong, 4-5 mm, granular and coarse. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.
Forests, forest margins, scrub; 400-2400 m. S Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, ?Henan, Jilin, Liaoning, ?Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, N Sichuan [Japan, Korea, Russia].
- 47-51. Lonicera macrantha species complex
Climbers, semievergreen to deciduous. Branches solid, often becoming hollow. Branches, petioles, and peduncles with ± dense spreading, yellow-brown long stiff hairs and minute glandular hairs, grayish pubescent, yellow-brown velutinous, or sometimes glabrous. Petiole 3-15 mm; leaf blade ovate or oblong to lanceolate, 2-14 × 1-5 cm, abaxially hirsute mixed with short glandular hairs, pubescent, shortly white velutinous, glaucous with large sessile orange glands, or occasionally subglabrous, veins reticulate and raised, adaxially hirsute-hairy on veins and midvein, veins conspicuously impressed, sometimes wrinkled, base rounded to subcordate, occasionally broadly cuneate, margin ciliate and revolute, apex acute to acuminate, sometimes obtuse and mucronate. Flowers fragrant, paired and in racemes toward apex of branchlets, often paniculate with leaflike to subulate involucral bracts; peduncle 1-15 mm, sometimes to 40 mm in lower part of inflorescence; peduncle, bracts, bracteoles, and calyx lobes stiffly hairy and glandular hairy; bracts lanceolate to linear, 2-7 mm, occasionally leaflike to 14 mm; bracteoles orbicular-ovate, ca. 1 mm. Neighboring 2 ovaries free, ca. 2 mm, glabrous or sometimes sparsely to densely hirsute or with sessile glands. Calyx lobes lanceolate, 1-2 mm, ciliate. Corolla bilabiate, white, later yellow, (1.5-)3-7 cm, outside with spreading hairs and minute glandular hairs, glabrous, or strigose; tube (1-)2-5 cm, inside densely puberulent, not gibbous at base; upper lip 4-lobed, lobes ca. 5 mm; lower lip recurved. Stamens and style slightly exceeding corolla, glabrous or sometimes pubescent at base. Berries white or black, sometimes pruinose, 1 of paired ovaries sometimes aborting, globose or ellipsoid, 7-12 mm; seeds few, ovoid, compressed, 5-7 mm, shallowly pitted and furrowed. Fl. Mar-Jul, fr. Jul-Dec.
Forests of mountain valleys or slopes, scrub, riversides, streamsides, roadsides; 200-2900 m. S Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Japan, ?Kashmir, Myanmar, Nepal, N Vietnam].
These species have long been used medicinally in China.
About 180 species: N Africa, Asia, Europe, North America; 57 species (23 endemic) in China. | <urn:uuid:ce3c3fce-ba4c-4fa7-81ec-fd4924f58a7a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=620&taxon_id=118877 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.812686 | 4,250 | 2.53125 | 3 |
A national conversation is taking place about the "stand-your-ground" laws that a number of States have passed in recent years. The controversy generated by the case of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was killed by a gun (allegedly) fired by George Zimmerman, a volunteer community watch coordinator for a gated community in Sanford, Fla., has caused many to question whether those laws encourage unjustified violence in threatening situations.
While the right to self-defense is a principle deeply rooted in Jewish biblical and rabbinic sources, this week's Torah portion actually calls on us to think about how not to stand our ground as we respond to the needs of others.
In the famous Holiness Code found in the portion of Kedoshim (the second of our two Torah readings this week, Leviticus 16:1-20:27), we find a far-reaching commandment in Leviticus 19:16: Lo ta'amod al dam re'ekha, "you shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor."
The rabbis of the Talmud understand this verse to obligate Jews to save people from mortal danger (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 73a). There are different opinions in the Jewish legal tradition about how much risk one is obligated to take in order to save the life of another in distress. Some require the bystander to put him/herself in uncertain danger to save the life of someone in certain danger; others do not require any risk of one's own life. This issue is at the center of Jewish legal debates on the permissibility of kidney donation in situations where there is risk to the donor.
A famous case in the Talmud records a story of two men traveling in the desert. Only one of them has enough water to survive. The sage Ben Petura argues that the water should be shared so that one does not witness the death of the other. However, Rabbi Akiba contends that the one who possess the water should drink it since one's own life takes precedence over the life of another. The rabbis adopt Akiba's latter position as normative practice. But what about cases in which it is not certain that you will die? Should you take a risk to save your fellow human being? How much risk? There is much disagreement in the tradition on these questions.
There is also a lively discussion among rabbinic authorities about how much money one is obligated to spend in order to save the life of a person in distress. According to Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (popularly known as the Chafetz Chaim), a great rabbinic authority of the early part of the 20th century, one is obligated to spend all one's money if necessary to save another's life (Ahavat Chesed 2:20).
While most authorities consider 20 percent of one's wealth the upper limit for charitable giving, this case might be an exception to the normal limits of charity since the obligation derives from the commandment not to "stand idly by the blood of your neighbor," which demands the use of all of our resources. Indeed, this biblical injunction may be the most far-reaching command obligating us to assist those whose lives are in jeopardy because of disease, hunger, abuse or war.
The Israeli Knesset actually passed a Lo ta'amod al dam re'ekha Law in 1998. It requires a citizen "to proffer assistance, when able to do so without endangering himself or his fellow, to a person who, in close proximity, and following a sudden event, is subject to a serious and immediate danger to his life, his person, or his health." This piece of modern Israeli legislation requiring a citizen to assist another in danger is a direct outgrowth of the biblical verse from our Torah portion. In general, U.S. law does not mandate a similar obligation to intercede on behalf of another citizen.
The debate about "Stand your ground" laws encourages us to think about the limits of individual rights when we are confronted by danger. Important as this discussion may be, we must also be attentive to the obligations we have to preserve and protect the lives of our fellow citizens.
Those involved in the national conversation about health care reform, poverty and unemployment would do well to listen to the words of this week's Holiness Code. If life is sacred, then our society must take the obligation to save life with utmost seriousness.
Washington seems filled with people willing to stand their ground, to take a stand and defend sacred principles. Saving the lives of our most vulnerable citizens may require a different stance, one that calls on us not to stand firmly but to act boldly on behalf of those in need.
ON Scripture -- The Torah is a weekly Jewish scriptural commentary, produced in collaboration with Odyssey Networks and Hebrew College. Thought leaders from the United States and beyond offer their insights into the weekly Torah portion and contemporary social, political, and spiritual life. | <urn:uuid:d9a1b8d5-2019-4d37-a97c-e1e4033743e3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-daniel-lehmann/leviticus-19-to-stand-or-not-to-stand-your-ground_b_1465729.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00113-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952923 | 1,015 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The dog at the East Lawn Animal Hospital wasn't showing any symptoms of illness. But when veterinarian Michael Bottorff had him tested for a routine heartworm checkup, the test came back positive.
"The dog was not on the preventative last year, and he tested positive today. That tells me he's got worms living in his heart," Bottorff said.
It's much better to catch the disease through a routine screening than to see a dog that's showing signs of disease, he said.
-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
East Lawn Animal Hospital veterinarian Jen Arnold holds a box of heartworm preventative. Although heartworm is usually thought of as a canine malady, it is possible for cats to contract the parasite, Arnold said. “There are flea and tick prevention products that also include heartworm prevention,” she said. Farm cats, for example, have an increased exposure to mosquitos that spread heartworm.
-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen
East Lawn Animal Hospital veterinarian Michael Bottorff looks at a blood sample under the microscope to check for heartworm and other parasites.
"Usually by the time they show symptoms, the disease is pretty well advanced. That's why we like to find it before they become sick. It's one of those things where an ounce of prevention is worth 10 pounds of cure in this case."
Untreated heartworms take up space in the heart, Bottorff said, and cause it to lose effectiveness. The blood can start to back up into the liver and lungs. Eventually the dog can start to show signs of heart, liver or lung disease.
"A dog that begins to lose weight, or a dog that coughs ... those would be the two main things," he said. "A dog that starts to look poor, lose weight, that has a poor hair coat."
At a glance:
Always use a heartworm preventative for dogs.
Tick preventatives can last a month from one application, and protect pets from diseases ticks carry such as Lyme disease.
Provide pets with plenty of water in the summer, and never lock a pet in a car.
Keep animals up to date with vaccinations.
Heartworms are spread by mosquitoes, Bottorff said, and the best way to prevent them is to keep dogs on a preventative medicine. All dogs should be on a heartworm preventative for the summer. In fact, more and more Bottorff recommends using a year-round preventive.
"That also prevents intestinal worms," he said.
Veterinarian Kimberly Shimkat at the Family Pet Medical Center agreed.
"There's a push to move (treatments) to year-round," Shimkat said, "just to make sure everyone's protected longer since the seasons seem like they're getting milder. It gets warmer earlier and stays warmer later in the fall."
Plus, the treatments are easier to administer than they once were.
"It used to be you had to give pills every day; now you can do once a month," Bottorff said.
East Lawn veterinarian Jen Arnold said cats could also catch heartworm, but it is less common.
"We don't do routine heartworm checks for cats," Arnold said.
Since cats are smaller, they can get sicker from fewer worms than dogs would. This also makes it harder to detect them, she said.
Some people do give their cats heartworm preventatives.
"There are flea and tick prevention products for cats that also include heartworm prevention," she said. "It's good for outdoor cats who are exposed to mosquitoes, like farm cats.
"Fleas are a big one for cats. Even if it's an indoor cat, if there's flea prevention on the dog but not on the cat the dog can carry them in, and they can live off the cat."
"Fleas are always present," Shimkat said. "It's always around 100 degrees on the dog, so fleas can live on them year-round. We tend to see them proliferate more in the warmer months."
It's also important to keep pets' vaccinations up to date, Bottorff said. Shimkat said most vets send reminders to help pet owners keep current.
Ticks are another source of disease in the spring and summer.
"Ticks have been out for three or four weeks now," Bottorff said. "We've had a terribly early spring; that's great for the ticks. Ticks themselves don't cause a lot of problems, but the diseases they spread including Lyme disease are very significant."
Shimkat said most tick prevention treatments would kill any ticks on contact within 24 to 48 hours. There are many options, including sprays, topical products and tick collars.
"We like the once-a-month products because they're easy to apply, and they last so you have a barrier of protection. A lot of them are waterproof, so for an outdoor dog it doesn't matter if they're swimming and in and out of creeks," Shimkat said.
As far as repelling mosquitoes go, Shimkat said there were some products available, but that it wasn't as big a deal for dogs.
"Animals aren't sensitive to mosquito saliva like people are. So while mosquitoes are an annoyance, they don't tend to have the itchiness and irritation that we have. As long as you are using a good heartworm preventative, we don't concern ourselves too much about that. The preventative will take care of anything they're exposed to."
As summer comes on with warmer weather, Bottorff said it's important to keep dogs from overheating.
"The only way dogs can get rid of heat is to pant. Panting, of course, can dehydrate a dog if he doesn't have access to fresh water all the time," he said. "Dogs can tolerate heat if they have access to fresh water, and also some shade, especially for darker colored dogs.
"Don't leave pets in cars. Cars become like an oven really quickly - on a 90-degree day it can get to 120 in a car. We all know that."
Cracking the window "doesn't do any good," he said. It helps a little, but the car still heats up, and dogs can be overcome.
"If people call and have a dog who's panting excessively, maybe a little disoriented, I tell them to quick get a garden hose, put a fan on the dog to cool it down. Dogs can go into shock and die pretty quickly from heat stroke."
Contact Joe Sutter at (515) 573-2141 or email@example.com | <urn:uuid:fba67a1a-0204-4e0d-be07-e0e86388209b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.messengernews.net/page/content.detail/id/547727/Nicer-weather-brings-unwanted-visitors.html?nav=5007 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00149-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971776 | 1,392 | 2.71875 | 3 |
A Help Or Hindrance In Your Garden?
Do rhubarb-companions such as the brassica family mysteriously help your rhubarb patch? As a rule, do you add specific plantings in with any of your plants with a special role to play in the garden?
Do other closeby plants aid or act as a hindrance to the growth of your rhubarb?
It's all about getting along which is the basis for companion-planting and complimenting the progress of each-other throughout the growing season.
It would seem that certain plants appear to do better when grown near
other plants, and for any variety of reasons. It is apparently not an exact science for all plant combinations either.
When it comes to rhubarb-companions, I can tell you what I have observed in other gardens.
But first of all, the idea behind companion-planting is what benefit does one plant provide that can meet the need for the other to thrive?
For instance, tall flowers that love the sunshine, can provide a source of shade for the smaller ones who don't require as much.
It has been suggested that small rhubarb-companions can benefit from the shade, but be protected from the winds and other harsh elements as well.
Regarding moisture and nutrients, some plants literally soak up as
much as possible from the soil, whereas other plants only need a
small portion of nutrition or require a drier area anyway to sustain themselves.
If two different plants were competing heavily for the same resources, they could both wind up the losers if too close together in one area.
Therefore, they may not make good plant companions.
Some plants will return nutrients such as nitrogen to the soil.
In fact, they may return more than they take, which in turn will
benefit "the others" around them.
By harvesting plants that have quickly matured early in the season, you will have created room for a row of another plant that grows at a much slower rate beside it.
This and some of the earlier theories behind companion-planting make use of much smaller spaces when planning your garden.
The planting of specific plants near each-other can simply be for the purpose of visual beauty by arranging various colors and heights.
Some people say that one plant can enhance the flavor of another.
And then there are the insects.
This is where rhubarb-companions come in handy.
Companion-planting uses the theory that certain plants will attract
specific insects, thus luring them away from other plants, like your prized vegetable bed for example. The "bait" plant is referred to as the "trap-crop", which is discarded from time to time. The prized vegetable bed remains protected.
Garlic and onions are good rhubarb-companions through smell, as they do the opposite, but to the same outcome. They repel aphids which love to get at the rhubarb. Sweet peppers act in the same way.
In turn, rhubarb is a good friend to columbine flowers, as it repels spider mites.
Rhubarb protects beans against black fly infestation.
Other good rhubarb pals are members of the brassica-family.
This family includes kale, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower.
They seem to do very well near a rhubarb patch, though I have not
heard a specific reason why. It may have something to do with the
acid in the rhubarb root, but no-one seems quite sure.
Organic Veggie Patch
for more extensive information on companion planting.
So what makes a good rhubarb plant friend? Does the rhubarb need
protecting, or is the rhubarb actually the protector? It's a little bit of both I guess.
I have in fact seen a huge row of rhubarb planted at the back
of a garden, with rows of tomatoes, cucumbers and beans fairly
close in front. Neither seemed affected by the presence of
the other two. I believe there were raspberries nearby as well.
The garden produced well, and we ate from that garden every year. It was wonderful.
The only complaint I actually heard was about the slugs which
were in the rhubarb. I think in that instance, toads would have made good rhubarb-companions.
Speaking of slugs, there are some great methods you can use to help rid your garden of them.
Slug Catcher Methods
Rhubarb can play other roles in your garden as well. Not only
is it grown for food, acts as a protector to other plants, but it
can just add to your garden landscape simply from the natural
beauty of the various species.
different types of ornamental rhubarb
and you may decide they have a place in your garden as well.
Other rhubarb look-alikes act in the same way rhubarb does as a companion in the garden.
is one such species. Think you have room for THIS one?
Return To Savor The Rhubarb Home Page | <urn:uuid:463cd724-d571-4ccf-920c-bede234bd68b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.savor-the-rhubarb.com/rhubarb-companions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396224.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00015-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952907 | 1,065 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Why Use an Earth System Science Approach to Education?
Jim Hays (Chair),
Mary Jo Richardson,
Martha L. Sykes,
Richard S. Williams
ResolvedIt is critical that the world's citizens thoroughly understand the relationship between humanity and the Earth system, including the impacts of natural processes on human health and safety, the dependence of all people on Earth resources, and the consequences of human activities on global processes. The Earth system approach, which views the Earth as a single integrated system, is a powerful tool for providing this understanding. It is currently used by scientists researching the relationships between people and the Earth, as well as those studying different parts of the Earth system, because it has remarkable parsimony of representation, provides greater precision in stating hypotheses, and allows us to deal more responsibly and rationally with regional and global environmental issues.
DiscussionEarth system science provides an important tool for understanding the relationship between humans and the Earth. From the Earth system perspective, humans are a part of the Earth system, dependent on it, impacting it, and responding to its variability. The Earth system has been in dynamic equilibrium for billions of years, cycling matter and energy through a set of complex reservoirs (atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, biosphere, solid Earth, and the near space environment). During the last few thousand years, humans have assumed an ever larger role in Earth processes. Consequent detrimental effects on our environment are forcing us to change our role, but how? Only through a new synthesis derived from the integration of social and natural science knowledge, and close scrutiny of our cultural values can this question be addressed. It is the most important question facing humanity as we move into the next century. Earth system science provides the scientific context to address this question.
Earth system science conveys the complexities, ambiguities, and uncertainties of the processes that control and shape the planet. The world is viewed as a multi variate, nonlinear, and sometimes stochastic system. Studies in this field range from interactions among small components of the system to an holistic view of the Earth system and its place in space. At some levels, the system's behavior is predictable, while at others it is not and may never be. The Earth system approach allows students to understand not only the interconnected nature of the system but also how these connections add uncertainties to predictions.
Complex system behavior is not limited to the Earth system—it is also manifested by engineering and social systems. Earth science is an excellent tool for conveying ideas about systems in general because the Earth system is familiar. As a part of the system, we interact daily with system processes. Some inspire strong emotions such as the danger of earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions. Others evoke pleasure, such as the mineral and agricultural bounty of the system or the exquisite beauty of system components, e.g., snowflakes, butterflies, and thunderheads. Weather phenomena can be used to introduce atmospheric processes and their variabilities—short-term (hourly), day-to-day, and longer-term variations. For example, El Niño represents a response to oceanic forcing, which produces unusual weather phenomena, affecting tropical and possibly extra-tropical agriculture. In this way temperature, rain, and wind can be used to introduce complex system behavior.
Global environmental and resource issues transcend national boundaries. Earth system science provides a scientific framework for international cooperation in resolving resource and environmental problems. The globalization of markets, especially mineral and agricultural markets, link Earth resources to resource users. As these markets have aided the development and distribution of resources, so also must efficient ways be found to deal with shortages and to protect the system from damaging exploitation. Only through an understanding of resource renewal and consumption rates, and a reassessment of cultural values can necessary balances be developed. Earth system science provides a scientific context for understanding this global issue in which we all have a stake.
The famous geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky once said, "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." The organizing power of the evolutionary paradigm, so clearly recognized by Dobzhansky, is paralleled by the organizing power of an Earth system perspective. Evolution explains current biological processes as well as how they came to be the way they are. Similarly, most aspects of the Earth are explainable in the context of the Earth system operating over time.
Climate variability is a good example of the clarifying power of the Earth system approach. Climate is influenced by the solar flux, our distance from the Sun, and properties and processes in various parts of the Earth system. The climate can be changed on different timescales by different processes in the Earth system. For example, human-induced changes in atmospheric composition may cause climate change on the 10-100 year timescale; while on the 10,000-100,000 year timescale, changes caused by orbital variations may dominate. On the 100,000-100,000,000 year timescale, changes in the distribution of continents and oceans may be important. On the billion year timescale, interactions between the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and solid Earth have produced major modifications of these subsystems, while feedback among them has resulted in remarkable climatic and environmental stability. The Earth system approach provides the context for understanding the relationships between timescale and system components that result in climate change. A systems view of the Earth, like an evolutionary view of biology, provides explanatory power, enhancing our understanding of the planet and improving our capacity to survive.
RecommendationsEarth system science provides a powerful, coherent framework for instruction in all the Earth and space sciences. We recommend:
- Infuse the Earth system approach into existing courses in the Earth and space sciences. (Joint recommendation with Panel 2)
- Develop new Earth system science courses at all levels of the curriculum. (Joint recommendation with Panels 2 and 3)
- Consider setting up new integrated degree programs in Earth system science. (Joint recommendation with Panel 2)
To the National Science Foundation and Other Funding SourcesThe National Science Foundation, in cooperation with other funding sources, is urged to fund high-quality projects that explore:
- How data, visualizations, models, and other tools can best be used to convey key Earth system science concepts.
- How instructional and assessment practices should evolve to respond to the multidisciplinary nature of Earth system science.
- What information and media will be most useful to the instructors of the next century in their efforts to accurately convey the concepts of Earth system science.
To Community Leaders
- Foster meaningful dialogues among government, science, industry, university, and local decision-makers for the purpose of designing and implementing strategies that allow for sustainable development of communities throughout the world; individual Earth and space system scientists should actively participate in this community outreach.
- Develop partnerships among university, government, and industry that sponsor and fund community education forums that include the Earth system perspective in addressing local, regional, and global problems.
To Educational and Scientific Organizations
- Submit proposals to public broadcasting organizations (e.g., Annenberg Foundation and Corporation for Public Broadcasting), with potential funding from federal scientific agencies (e.g., National Science Foundation and U.S. Geological Survey), to create a video/television series about the Earth system and global environmental change. This series should:
- explore the most significant linkages and cycles in the Earth system;
- stress the dependency of civilization upon these Earth system elements and their sensitivity to human activity;
- be suitable both for introductory college teaching as well as prime time television audiences; and
- have a companion book or topic-specific booklets as resource guides for students and teachers. A fully expanded telecourse may be envisioned as well.
- Sponsor a study and implement a pilot program to explore ways to make Earth system science information on the Internet more available to students, teachers, and researchers. Dissemination of materials, curricula, student assignments, career materials (including promotion of education as a career track in the discipline/profession), and notices of research and outreach opportunities can be done effectively and efficiently through electronic media. The Internet is an important resource for Earth and space scientists, yet it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate high-quality information. There is an immediate need for a central facility in which librarians and information specialists would develop systems to search, locate, catalog, index, abstract, and review web sites containing Earth system science information. The product of this work will be a searchable web site available to the teaching and research communities. This site can also serve as a showcase for exemplary instructional material. (Joint recommendation with Panels 3, 4, and 5) | <urn:uuid:3b046e3d-7c7f-4a41-8ffc-1e14b023d3ef> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://serc.carleton.edu/shapingfuture/panel1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916189 | 1,774 | 3.453125 | 3 |
by Patrick J. Buchanan
Of the Bourbons, restored to the throne after the French Revolution, the guillotining of Louis XVI and the Napoleonic interlude, Talleyrand said, they had “learned nothing and forgotten nothing.”
Unfortunately, so may it be said of our own George II.
Last week, at Czermin Palace in Prague, George Bush delivered his latest epistle on democracy as mankind’s salvation, as though he had learned nothing since ordering the invasion of Iraq – to bring the blessings of democracy to Mesopotamia and the Middle East.
President Bush began by paying tribute to the founding father of Czech democracy. “Nine decades ago, Tomas Masaryk proclaimed Czechoslovakia’s independence based on the ‘ideals of democracy.’”
Well, that may be what the Masaryk said, but it is not exactly what he did. In 1918, he did indeed proclaim the independence of Czechoslovakia, confirmed by the Allies at Paris. But inside the new Czechoslovakia, built on the “ideals of democracy,” were 3 million dissident Germans who wished to remain with Austria and half a million Hungarians who wished to remain with Hungary. Many Catholic Slovaks had wanted to remain with Catholic Hungary. Against their will, all had been consigned to Masaryk’s Czech-dominated nation.
Query for Bush: If 3 million Germans were put under alien rule without their consent and against their will, and they wished to exercise their right of self-determination, as preached by Woodrow Wilson, did they not have a right to secede peacefully and join their German kinsmen?
Because that is what Munich was all about.
Between 1938 and 1939, dissident Germans, Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians and Ruthenes – abetted by Berlin, Warsaw and Budapest – broke free of Masaryk’s multinational democracy. Rather than let them secede from Prague, Churchill thought Britain should go to war.
Was Winston right, or were the Sudeten Germans right?
In 1945, liberated Czechoslovkia solved its dissident German problem by wholesale ethnic cleansing.
“Freedom,” declared the president, “is the design of our Maker and the longing of every soul. … Freedom is the dream … of every person in every nation in every age.” Interesting.
Did Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Fidel, Uncle Ho and Pol Pot long for freedom in their souls? Did Churchill long for freedom, as he fought to preserve the British Empire and British rule in India?
“Expanding freedom,” said Bush, “is the only realistic way to protect our people in the long run.” That is another way of saying that, if we abandon the Bush crusade for global democracy, we can never be secure.
Yet America has always been among the most secure nations on earth, even when the world was unfree. Has invading Iraq to expand freedom made us more secure? For it has surely gotten more Americans killed than died on 9-11 and served as the No. 1 recruiting poster for al-Qaida.
“Governments accountable to their people do not attack each other,” said Bush. This may come as a surprise to descendants of those who fought for Southern independence from 1861 to 1865. Does Bush think Mr. Lincoln’s government or those of the CSA, the Confederate States of America, were not “accountable” to their people? Yet 600,000 Americans died in that war between two democratic republics.
Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan are democratic, but they appear ready to have a go at each other. Last summer, democratic Israel, enraged by a Hezbollah kidnapping, bombed democratic Lebanon for five weeks, killing a thousand Lebanese and rendering 10,000 homeless.
In 1914, the most democratic nations in Europe plunged into the bloodiest war in history. Free people in European capitals cheered lustily as their sons marched off to die.
Democratic peoples are not immune to blood lust.
“Young people who can disagree openly with their leaders are less likely to adopt violent ideologies,” said Bush.
But Weimar was the freest government Germany ever had. Yet Nazis and communists battled constantly, and in 1933, a majority voted for them. Puerto Rican terrorists tried to kill Harry Truman, shot up the House and dynamited Fraunces Tavern in New York in the freest country on earth.
The anarchists, the Red Brigades, the Baader-Meinhoff gang, the IRA, the Basque ETA and the Islamist subway bombers of Britain all operated in democratic societies.
“(E)very time people are given a choice, they choose freedom,” said Bush. Oh. In Iran in 2005, the people chose Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In 2006, free elections gave victories to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Hezbollah, Hamas and anti-American radicals in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, who joined forces with twice-elected Hugo Chavez.
The German people chose Hitler and the Nazi Party.
It is one thing to believe democracy is a superior form of government. It is another to worship it, or ascribe to it powers or attributes that can ensure permanent peace among nations. As Douglas MacArthur said, citing Plato, “Only the dead know the end of war.”
Democracy means rule by the people, and peoples can be as corrupt and bloodthirsty as tyrants and kings. Today in Moscow, Beijing and Hanoi, Lenin, Mao and Ho – mass murderers all three – lie in honor. | <urn:uuid:9bf10504-c8ed-4544-b9b1-507d13c84e94> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://buchanan.org/blog/pjb-the-democracy-worshiper-782 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395621.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95947 | 1,172 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Each day, 12 people die in the United States waiting for an organ
transplant. Solving the organ shortage will require more than just additional
donors. Demand will still far outstrip the supply. So researchers at the Mayo
Clinic and elsewhere are developing a new source of organs - pigs.
Organs transplanted from animals - known as xenotransplants - are a challenge for medical researchers. They present several problems including rejection by the human host and the possibility that viruses will jump from pigs to people.
57-YEAR-OLD JOHN MCGARRY IS WAITING for a new liver and a new heart at the Mayo Clinic. A rare condition makes his liver produce too much protein. The protein attacked his heart, which is now so weak he's been hospitalized for 10 weeks. Any day, he could get the word that a donated heart and liver are available but, in the meantime, he sits propped up in bed in a purple robe with small, gold Irish good-luck angels pinned to the lapel. He spends a lot of time looking out the window.
McGarry: I count all the cars in the gas station. And I count all the bricks in the hotel across the street. I've counted them about 40 times.McGarry says he's confident a donor will become available. He'll make it through the surgery and then return to his home in Chicago in a few months. One of McGarry's doctors, Christopher MacGregor, is Mayo's director of cardio-thorasic transplantation. MacGregor has spent years watching patients wait for organs, wanting another option for them. He says Mayo is recruiting xenotransplant researchers hoping to reduce the waiting time for patients like John McGarry.
MPR:How many bricks are there in the hotel across the street? McGarry: 3,014 I think. No. 3,214.
MacGregor: Not just one investigator, but a critical mass of investigators. And it's this commitment to a critical mass of scientists over a long period of time that, hopefully, will produce positive results.Dr. Jeffrey Platt leads the team and he's setting up a lab in one of Mayo's research buildings in downtown Rochester.
Platt: This is the main part of the laboratory. Its quite a large room and its designed as an open room.Platt says scientists are trying to build artificial organs and "grow"" organs using genetic engineering. But he believes xenotransplants, or organs from animals, are more promising because researchers don't have to start from scratch. Doctors have used baboon organs in some cases, but Platt says pigs are the donors of the future because there aren't enough primates available.
Platt: Another reason for using pigs is that they're the same size as humans and their tissues and organs would work the same in a human, we think, as they would in a pig and vice versa.Doctors already use pig valves to replace leaky heart valves in cardiac patients but since that tissue is sterilized and essentially dead, it doesn't present the potential for viral transmission. Mayo researchers aren't the only ones studying xenotransplants. Scientists at the University of Minnesota have transplanted several pig hearts into baboons.
Bach: The real danger is that that virus would mutate, would change genetically in such a way that it could then spread from the recipient of the porcine organ - presumably through close contacts of the patient into the general population - and cause a pandemic, perhaps not unlike AIDS.Scientists believe the virus that causes AIDS moved from chimpanzees or monkeys to humans and mutated into a form that spread from person to person. Researchers will try to stem the spread of pig-borne viruses by keeping the pigs in sterilized environments, not an ordinary feedlot. Mayo and Baxter-Nextran, a Chicago-based drug company, are building a special facility in northwest Rochester where the pigs will breathe filtered air, eat sterilized food and be housed separately.
Bach: We don't know the extent of risk. Many people say it's very small. I don't know what that means. And to be honest, I think if they were asked they wouldn't know either in quantitative terms. But we have to remember that if it were to occur, the results are catastrophic. If we say that, if it were to occur, that is the release of a pandemic, we may not recognize that for 10 years that it's happened, and then it'll burst on the scene.Bach worries that someone might move to clinical trials of xenotransplants too quickly in the pursuit of profits or prestige. He's calling for a moratorium on clinical trials until there's been adequate public discussion on the risk of an epidemic - like AIDS - spreading from pigs to people.
Persing: I think that since humans and pigs have co-mingled for so many thousands of years, I think that we would have seen something already. We would have known about something happening within individuals that were studying. More likely, I think, if transmission of viruses occurs, they're likely to be, essentially, harmless.Persing and other supporters of xenotransplant research say there are adequate safeguards in place to prevent a viral jump including oversight by the Food and Drug Administration. They say many more studies will be conducted before anyone can move to clinical trials and when those trials do begin, the human recipients are likely to be quarantined while scientists study them for any signs of viral transmission.
McGarry: No time to get bored around here. There's always something going on around here. I go for a walk. If I get bored, I play my music.McGarry plays traditional Irish music on a small bedside tape player to help pass the time. A nurse comes in with another dose of pills and asks if she can get him anything else. Just a heart and a liver he answers with a smile. | <urn:uuid:81678268-5182-4b42-8803-0e0a905edcdc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/199905/11_wolfeb_organs-m/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00095-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971091 | 1,220 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Reports of the death of common sense in American law may have been premature. It seems to be making a comeback.
As this term of the U.S. Supreme Court reached its final week, there were signs that the justices are breaking from the mindless muddle that characterized the O'Connor Court. (As the swing vote on the court, Sandra Day O'Connor seemed to think it her duty to avoid taking clear positions.)
The turn to clarity since Justice O'Connor's departure was most evident in the court's 5-to-4 decision in a couple of school integration cases, one each out of Seattle and Louisville. It seems some white students there had been turned way from schools they otherwise would have been entitled to attend - because they were the "wrong" color. Just as nine black students, now known as the Little Rock Nine, were denied entrance to that city's Central High School back in 1957.
Once upon a long-ago time, some of us thought Brown v. Board of Education would end racial discrimination in the public schools. But half a century later, it was still being practiced - if against a different race.
How could that result have flowed from Brown?
In order to break up the old segregated order, it was thought necessary to take students' race into account when making school assignments - as a temporary means to an end.
Once justice had been done and the schools were integrated - or if they'd never been segregated by law in the first place - assigning students to schools on the basis of their race wouldn't be necessary, or constitutional. At least that was the theory.
But the means became the end in school districts like those in Seattle and Louisville. This is what comes of placing a collective social goal (racial balance) ahead of the rights of the individual.
This time the U.S. Supreme Court wasn't buying. To quote the majority opinion delivered by its still new chief justice, John Roberts: "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."
In any field but law, such an observation would have been recognized as a tautology, self-evident, too obvious to need stating. But in the sophisticated circles in which constitutional lawyers ply their trade, the chief justice's words rang with the power of a newly discovered insight. Imagine: A equals A! The law had finally caught up with simple logic.
In a separate opinion, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, always eager to elaborate the obvious, or at least complicate it, explained that the goal of racial balance might still be sought by various means - drawing attendance zones, for example, or tracking students by race to see if all are served equally. But he drew the line at discriminating against any individual student because of race. Fair enough, and constitutional enough in hazy theory. (Justice Kennedy is no Sandra Day O'Connor, but he does what he can to blur the law.)
The really striking opinion in this case was delivered by an associate justice, Clarence Thomas. His concurrence may prove as memorable as John Marshall Harlan's great dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson, in which the ideal of a color-blind Constitution was first pronounced. His contemporary restatement of Justice Harlan's thesis rang with the same moral authority, but Clarence Thomas' words were reinforced by personal experience. Maybe that was the source of their moving eloquence.
In response to the argument that racial discrimination is now permissible because it's for a good cause - racial balance - Justice Thomas pointed out that the Constitution does not waive the rights of the individual because an elite has decided its motives are pure. He noted that advocates of racial preferences in the last century also considered their separate but equally exalted aim (social stability) worth the ignoble means.
Neither good intentions nor stirring shibboleths (Diversity! States' Rights!) can in the end justify denying American citizens, even a small minority of them, the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. Changing the color of the race involved does not change the principle at stake. To quote Justice Thomas: "What was wrong in 1954 cannot be right today."
After half a century of various detours and delays, the original spirit of Brown v. Board of Education shines again, so brightly that those who consider their own concept of the ideal society the highest consideration, may be blinded by the light. Shielding their eyes, they try to take refuge in various and complicated sophistries that are a credit to their ingenuity - but not to their consistency. What was wrong in 1954 cannot be right today. That brightness, a rare sighting after all these dimmed years, has a name: Reason. | <urn:uuid:1828a347-b6b5-475b-9b77-271dcd516552> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://townhall.com/columnists/paulgreenberg/2007/07/11/rare_sighting_reason_in_the_law/print | 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 | 0.980017 | 958 | 2.890625 | 3 |
6. Smartphone features cont.
These are some of the additional things a smartphone can do
Touch screen, real and virtual keypads
The screen tends to be a bit larger than the standard mobile phone screen. There are sensors below the screen which allow you to control the device by touch and gesture. For instance, you can touch the letters on the keyboard very gently to select the text you want. By moving your thumb and forefinger you can increase and decrease the size of the display.
The device can be tilted horizonally or vertically to change the display from portrait to landscape.
Email and internet
Smartphones are able to connect to the internet to retreive your emails. They can also be used to browse the Web. This is made possible by the larger touch screen feature along with in-built web browser and email reader. Web browsing is still a bit slow as in the UK a technology called '3G' is the most common. As of 2013, a new generation called '4G' has been launched that offers much faster internet speeds.
Some smartphones have GPS chips included so they can act as fully fledged satellite navigation devices.
Because the device knows your location with the GPS chips, there are applications that can display your location on a map (graphical or real satellite photo) along with perhaps the nearest cinema, cafe or even the houses for sale.
Challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you
Click on this link: Smartphones | <urn:uuid:3fb7a397-e12c-4509-9b2d-82391f4d1605> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.teach-ict.com/gcse_new/communication/mobile_phones/miniweb/pg6.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00142-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942887 | 312 | 2.625 | 3 |
VirtualBox is a free and easy to use multi-platform Virtualization software.
It means you can run a different OS inside your current OS (Linux in Windows, Windows in Linux, Linux in Linux, Windows in Windows, almost everything is possible!).
It is very easy to start a new virtual machine and use space on a virtual hard drive on your local hard drive (or USB drive). Just follow the VirtualBox wizard.
However, some people want more portability in the physical meaning. To have a system that you can put in your pocket, bring anywhere, plug into any computer and it will run YOUR system.
This is possible by installing a system on a USB stick! This guide won't explain how to install an OS on a USB stick but how to boot on this USB disk in VirtualBox.
Sometimes you don't want to boot on your USB stick directly but within another running system. Then, you need to run the system in a Virtual Machine.
Unfortunately, VirtualBox doesn't allow you to boot from the USB from the GUI.
Nevertheless, there is a small trick to make it possible, using only a single built-in VirtualBox command-line tool.
Let see how to do so in this tutorial!
This tutorial is largely inspired by the Boot your USB Drive in VirtualBox tutorial by AgniPulse, only updating it to the last current version of VirtualBox (4.0).
I assume you have:
- a bootable USB stick/drive with the system you want to boot on
- VirtualBox installed with the Expansion Pack (to support USB2 devices)
First, we need to know what is the device ID of your USB. Plug your USB in.
If you are running VirtualBox on Linux, the USB ID will be something like /dev/sdx (for example /dev/sdb for me).
On Windows, you can see it in the "Disk Management".
Start typing "dsk" after entering the Start Menu and choose Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions:
Then you will have a page where you can identify the device number of your USB stick or drive.
In my case, my 8GB USB stick is on the Disk 1:
Note that on Ubuntu with VirtualBox 4.0.4 OSE (Open Source Edition): Make sure that you remove the USB device from the "USB Device Filters" list in the machine's settings (thanks Tim).
Now we are ready to create a Raw Virtual Machine Disk that will link to our USB stick.
Simply open a terminal on linux or a command-line tool on Windows (Win+R cmd) and change directory to your VirtualBox folder.
cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox"
Then we run the VBoxManage command with the following options to link the USB Drive to a vmdk file (Virtual Machine Disk):
VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename output_usb.vmdk -rawdisk path_to_usb
You need to change the two red color highlighted parts to YOUR settings.
For example on Linux if I want to save in /home/thomas/.VirtualBox/usb.vmdk a virtual machine disk that links to my USB in /dev/sdb, I type the following line:
VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename /home/thomas/.VirtualBox/usb.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/sdb
On Windows, if I want to save the virtual machine disk in C:\Users\Thomas\.VirtualBox\usb.vmdk that links to my USB in in Disk 1 (according to the previous Disk Management), I type the following line:
VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename C:\Users\Thomas\usb.vmdk -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive1
Replace the 1 in \\.\PhysicalDrive1 by YOUR device number os the USB drive (for example \\.\PhysicalDrive2).
VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename "C:\Documents and Settings\Carletdesiles\.VirtualBox\usb.vmdk" -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive1
That's it, you have done a Virtual Machine disk that should be very tiny (~1KB) and links to your USB drive.
You just need to import this hard drive in VirtualBox and use it as primary hard drive (to boot on) for your new system.
You can do it step by step by following the screenshots:
You can see the result of my Ubuntu 10.10 on my 8GB USB stick running on VirtualBox on Windows 7 at the very beginning of this article (first screenshot).
Video Summary of this tutorial | <urn:uuid:ce6daeb2-b04d-435c-b73a-915540d2d1cc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dallagnese.fr/computers-it/boot-on-your-usb-drive-in-virtualbox-4/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00065-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.830823 | 1,003 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Karate Orange Belt 9th kyu
The Shotokan Karate Orange belt is the second belt given to a kyū-level practitioner of this Martial Art.
9th kyu Karate Orange Belt
To obtain this belt usually requires 4 months of continous training from white belt. The next belt after this belt is red belt.
Orange belt requirements
Choku Zuki (5 times)
Oi Zuki Jodan (step forwards and backwards 5 times)
Oi Zuki Chudan (step forwards and backwards 5 times)
Age Uke (step forwards and backwards 5 times)
Soto Ude Uke (step forwards and backwards 5 times)
Uchie Ude Uke (step forwards and backwards 5 times)
Gedan Barai (step forwards and backwards 5 times)
Mae Geri Chudan (step forwards and backwards 5 times)
Yoko Geri Keage from Kiba Dachi (step sideways to the left, then to the right, 5 times)
Gohon Kumite (Five Step Sparring)
1 x Jodan, 1 x Chudan
Information on Karate terms
Kihon (基本, きほん) is a word (Japanese) that means "basics" or "fundamentals" and is used to refer to the basic techniques that are taught and practised as the foundation of most Japanese martial arts.
Kihon kata is prearranged partner drills. Here, two students face either other and alternate execution of a technique. This approach combines repetition with training in distancing. Targets for punching and kicking, such as bags, shields, or dummies, are also commonly used in kihon training to strengthen muscles, bones, and even skin.
Kumite (組手) is a word that basically means sparring. It is one of the three primary sections of karate training, along with kata and kihon. Kumite can be used to develop a particular technique or a skill or even used within a competition.
Kata is a word which is a way of describing detailed choreographed patterns of movements. There have been conflicting stories on why this has been created but the most commonly accepted explanatino is that it acts as a reference guide for a set of moves which can then be used in a sparring scenario. The main objective here is to try out different combinations of techniques in a safe manner. | <urn:uuid:eab9f482-e96d-4997-a783-7ce556d3831f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.intermartialarts.com/karate-orange-belt | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395613.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00157-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930775 | 517 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Most of the media reports of President Bush’s speech yesterday in Kernersville noted that it was the first presidential visit in the town since George Washington passed through in 1791.
Washington visited North Carolina on his tour of the southern states in the spring and summer of 1791, as part of his plan to visit every state in the union during his term in office. We know about his visit to Kernersville from an entry in his diary for June 2, 1791. Washington’s party was traveling from Salem, where he had spent several days, to Guilford, where he was to visit the site of the Revolutionary War battle of Guilford Courthouse. Washington wrote,
“In company with the Govr. I set out by 4 Oclock for Guilford — Breakfasted at one Dobsons at the distance of eleven Miles from Salem . . . .”
The “one Dobson’s” was Dobson’s tavern, located at Dobson’s crossroads, at the site of what would later become the town of Kernersville (incorporated 1871). Sadly, there is no mention in the diary of what was served. | <urn:uuid:d7b8f0f8-3792-4941-a9c6-21d742feb772> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.lib.unc.edu/ncm/index.php/2005/12/06/presidents-in-kernersville/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00172-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990003 | 249 | 2.75 | 3 |
S ugarloaf Mountain is located near the mouth of Little
River at the confluence of the Brazos River. Indian legend says that on this mountain was carved a monument in the form of an Indian with a skull in his teeth. Some believe this monument was a marking which led to a burial ground which has never been found.
The mountain is capped with red sandstone rock and overlooks a broad stretch of flood plain land that has been under cultivation since American settlers arrived in the early 1800s.
From 1700 to 1720 a large Native American village known as “Rancheria Grande de los Ervipiames” was located in the vicinity of these same two rivers.
This village was visited by several Spanish Explorers including Diego Ramon. In 1716 the village consisted of approximately 2,000 individuals.
Another Spaniard, A lvarez Barrero, stated that the Rancheria Grande was made up of 22 nations that had been broken up by the Apache.
The dominant members of these 22 nations appeared to be Ervipiame and were first seen by the Spanish in northern Mexico during the 1670’s and 1680’s.
Seeking a safe place they moved northward to escape the Spanish and Apache encroachments.
In July, 1994, Virginia Combrink, president of the Tonkawa Tribe, in a letter to the editors of newspapers in Hearne and Rockdale, wrote:
The earliest “ white man’s” documentation of the Tonkawa’s habitation of “La Tortuga” called the Turtle, or Tortoise, was made in the 1600’s by the Spanish Missionaries.
“ In the early 1700’s, reference was made to a large Native American village known as the Rancheria Grande de los Ervipiames.”
It is also known that the Ervipiames became a part of the Tonkawa tribe during the last decades of the 1700’s.
The Tonkawa Tribe also refers to the sacred place of their origin as “Red Mountain” and it is depicted in their tribal seal. | <urn:uuid:08bd78d4-d28e-4d09-b2bc-38bfc405b800> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rockdalereporter.com/news/2011-03-10/Columns/MILAM_HISTORY.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00081-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98487 | 456 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Priority eye diseases
Genetic eye diseases
Genetic eye diseases include a large number of ocular pathologies which have in common the transmission from parents to children by their genetic inheritance. All do not cause visual impairment.
Knowledge about genetic eye diseases has increased dramatically during the last twenty years. Although there are no global statistics which let us know the extent of the burden of visual impairment from genetic causes, it does seem that genetic eye pathology represents a significant percentage of the causes of blindness in industrialized countries.
Prevention and treatment
The only current means of prevention of genetic eye pathology is genetic counselling. Treatment of genetic eye disorders is largely experimental, with the exception of surgeries on the cornea, lens and vitreous, which are well-documented in certain cases. The best hopes for treatment, however, lie in the use of gene therapy, growth promotion therapies for degenerative diseases, and possibly the grafting of retinal cells. | <urn:uuid:49bcc1d3-16e7-46a3-b86f-a9df7694e55e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://unitaid@who.int/blindness/causes/priority/en/index9.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942238 | 191 | 3.1875 | 3 |
A survey of intertestamental history from 600 to 5 B.C. with special attention given to the literature of the period as a theological bridge between the Old and New Covenants. Areas of study include OT Apocrypha and selections from the OT Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the development of apocalyptic literature and rabbinic Judaism.
Trinity college of Biblical Studies-Free Online Bible College
Register for this free Online Bible class by clicking on this link
The course surveys the main historical events and important literary achievements of Hellenistic Judaism from ca. 600 BC – 5 BC. The professor will emphasize important theological developments that contributed to the mindset of Judeans during this period.Also the course will survey the Apocrypha, Pseudipigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Tannaitic Rabbinic literature relevant to the period under investigation.
1. Enable students to broadly outline the flow of historical events in Judea during the Hellenistic period.
2. Expose students to the primary sources that record the events and theological developments of this period.
3. Enable students to define the themes and describe the basic content of the Apocrypha and other relevant literature of the period.
4. Enable students to relate the literature of this period to both the Old and New Testaments.
5. Enable students to trace the origins of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Qumran community, Samaritans, zealots, tax-collectors and other groups that play a significant role in the New Testament.
Holy Bible with Apocrypha, online material, and handouts
1. Students are expected to complete the following in order to make a passing grade in the class.
2. Research paper
A research paper of 6 pages (12 point, type written, double spaced) will allow the student to investigate a particular issue of Judio/Christian practice addressed in the class material. Many examples of topics may be gleaned from the list of class topics. Please obtain in advance the instructor’s approval for the topic you propose to research. Include documentation and bibliography.
3. Theology paper
A theology paper of 8-10 pages (12 point, type written, double spaced). For this paper, a particular doctrinal theme may be traced throughout all or part of the class material; or a practical issue may be chosen and investigated regarding its associated theological implications.
Papers should not merely report the results of research, but should show that the student is evaluating and processing the material. Be sure that 1) research regarding social/historical background, 2) exegesis of relevant passages of the class material, Apocrypha, Pseudipigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Tannaitic Rabbinic literature. Work should be free of grammar and spelling mistakes
4. Complete all Reading Assignments
5. Pass all Tests and Quizzes
6. Make a timeline of the Intertestamental Period with all major events
COURSE EVALUATION AND GRADING SCALE
Category Percent of Final Grade
Required Reading 10%
Research Paper 15%
Theology Paper 20%
Email us for the Lectures
Reading Assignments(Click on links to view)
Sketches of Jewish Social Life
Apocrypha the Bridge of the Testaments
The Wars Of The Jews
The Dead Sea Scrolls
Prophesies concerning the coming of the Messiah
Dead Sea Scrolls
Background of the Silent Years
Listen to Excerpt about the Essences
Images of Herods Dynasty
Ancient History Sourcebook of Rome
British Museum Virtual Tour of Cleopatra VII
Ancient Roman Images
Virtual Tour of Modern Rome
Listen to Holy Bible(Download Now)
Links to Home Pages
Trinity College of Biblical Studies
Trinity College of Biblical Studies Library
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Confession of Faith
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Holy Land Pilgrimages
Archaeological Field Trips
Footsteps of Paul | <urn:uuid:86745b9d-97de-494d-a185-9e17c4c5d44c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.thefishersofmenministries.com/Intertestamental%20Literature.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00174-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.678388 | 827 | 3.171875 | 3 |
CPAP is the abbreviated term for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. A CPAP machine is used for those who have obstructive sleep apnea. When a person has obstructive sleep apnea, they stop breathing during times of sleep. This is caused by a blockage in the airway from the soft tissue in the back of the throat. When a person falls asleep the tissue closes blocking the air from getting into the lungs. A CPAP machine is used to keep the airway open by increasing the air pressure in the throat, preventing the airway from being blocked from the soft tissue.
The CPAP machine can be used every night when a person goes to bed. There are a few different types of masks that can come with the CPAP machine. There is a mask that covers your nose and mouth, a mask that covers just the nose or you can have prongs that fit into the nose that provides constant air. The most common form of mask used is the mask that covers the nose only. This is referred to as the Nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure or the NCPAP.
Using a CPAP machine can take time to get used to. For the first few times of use, the mask may feel uncomfortable and hard to adjust to. If after a few days you are unable to sleep with the style mask that has been given to you, you may need to ask your doctor for a different fit or different style mask. For those that are able to get accustomed to the mask, sleeping may be dramatically improved. By having a constant oxygen supply you will be able to have less sleep disruptions. More people claim to have more energy during the day since they are sleeping better and longer at night. Other benefits from using a CPAP machine can include lowering your blood pressure, and for those who suffer from coronary artery disease using a CPAP machine can help prevent heart failure.
There are a few risk factors that can come with using a CPAP machine. CPAP machines can cause dry nose, sore throat and nose bleeding. They can also cause nasal congestion or a runny nose. The mask and air pressure may cause irritation on the face or to the eyes. Some people may experience stomach bloating, headaches or nightmares while using a CPAP machine. During the first few times of use you may find that air is leaking out the side of the mask due to improper fitting. Also it may take some time to get used to the machine and you may feel uncomfortable after waking the first few days after wearing the mask. Once you find the proper fitting mask and spend a few nights getting used to the feeling of the mask on the face, you may find that using the CPAP machine has improved your life.
Unfortunately for those whose health insurance does not cover the cost of a CPAP machine, a person may be stuck paying for one on their own. A CPAP machine can be expensive. They can also be a little noisy and may be a little too loud for the partner sleeping in the same bedroom.
Once a CPAP machine is being used for sleep apnea it is important to see your doctor for follow up appointments. This will allow the doctor to make sure the machine is working appropriately and is taking care of your needs. Further sleep studies may need to be done to ensure your breathing is better at night. If the CPAP is not doing the job correctly, your doctor may need to prescribe another type of breathing machine to help you breathe and sleep better.
Comments are closed | <urn:uuid:ec04c9f5-f020-40a6-9d22-5f4963ced658> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ihealthdirectory.com/cpap-machine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00051-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963028 | 708 | 3.078125 | 3 |
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A national study that involved UAB researchers and about 6,100 Alabama volunteers found that screening for colorectal cancer by a procedure less invasive than colonoscopy can reduce cancer incidence by 21 percent and death by 26 percent.
The study and an editorial about its significance were both published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Increasing the number of screenings for the cancer in people 55 and older could reduce those deaths.
One way to screen is a colonoscopy, which requires bowel cleansing and anesthesia for the patient, and a medical specialist who examines the entire four-foot length of the colon with an endoscope. A procedure called flexible sigmoidoscopy examines only the lower part of the colon -- the 18-inch sigmoid colon -- with an endoscope, but it can be done by a nurse practitioner or primary care doctor, and only requires the patient to have an enema.
Researchers didn't expect this less-invasive procedure -- which some have said is like doing mammography on just one breast -- to have such benefits, said Dr. Mona Fouad, who is director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's division of preventive medicine and one of the authors in Monday's study.
"It's effective, cheaper and easier," said Fouad. "Our message is to encourage people to get screening, and any screening is better than none."
Both procedures can reduce cancer by detecting the growth of precancerous polyps.
UAB won the competition to be one of 10 sites in this massive study because of its ability to enroll blacks as participants, said Fouad, who also directs UAB's Minority Heath & Health Disparities Research Center. Half of the volunteer participants enrolled by UAB were black, and many of those were from the rural counties of Alabama's Black Belt, which is named for its soil.
The 6,100 participants from Alabama were about 4 percent of the 155,900 people from across the nation who enrolled in the study, which followed participants for nearly 15 years. But the blacks who volunteered for the UAB screenings made up about 40 percent of all the blacks in the national study. Participants ranged from 55 to 74 years old.
UAB's participation in the study has brought in nearly $19 million of funding, Fouad said. When participants were scheduled to be seen, UAB would send a van to the Black Belt and bring six or eight people at a time to the research clinic in the Medical Towers building near Five Points South. All of the flexible sigmoidoscopies at UAB were done by a nurse practitioner who was trained and supervised by a UAB gastroenterologist.
Screening can find cancer before it reaches a late stage, when the risk of death is much higher. One of the goals of UAB's Comprehensive Cancer Center is increased education and awareness of cancer among minority and underserved populations.
In the national study -- which also looked at prostate, lung and ovarian cancer screening -- half of the participants had a flexible sigmoidoscopy, with a repeat screening after three or five years. The other half received their usual care. Everyone was then followed for an average of 12 years to see if they got colorectal cancer or died from it. Twenty-five researchers, including Fouad, are co-authors of Monday's report.
Besides the cost of a colonoscopy, some people avoid the procedure because of the time it takes and the unpleasant bowel cleansing procedure the day before the test.
In his editorial on Monday, Dr. John Inadomi said that "significantly fewer persons with a recommendation for a colonoscopy chose to undergo screening than did persons with a recommendation for alternative screening strategies."
Even though the flexible sigmoidoscopy does not examine all of the colon, "the best test," wrote Inadomi, "is the one that gets done."
Join the conversation by clicking to comment or email Hansen at email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:1cade273-985e-4db2-a9ed-38db20424a55> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/05/uab_plays_role_in_colon_cancer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00033-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96801 | 841 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Government shutdown threats in 2013 continue to mount, but what happens to Obamacare and Social Security if a government shutdown happens?
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the government shutdown 2013 history stretches back years, all the way back to laws created in 1917.
In order to prevent a government shutdown in 2013, both political parties would have to come to an agreement very soon. This seems unlikely to happen, with Sarah Palin urging Republicans to force a government shutdown and Nancy Pelosi insulting anyone considering a government shutdown. With six days left until the government shutdown date, and no agreement in sight, it seems almost a certainty Congress will let it happen.
What Happens: Government Shutdown Blues
On October 1, the 1982 Antideficiency Act would kick in, with President Obama being given some control what happens in a government shutdown. The IRS, US mail delivery, “essential” judicial work, and critical government functions will still operate normally under a government shutdown. But the government shutdown would affect air traffic control, national security, the handling of hazardous waste, food inspections, border protection, maintenance of the power grid and disaster assistance, and Federal programs, museums, and parks.
During the 1995 government shutdown, hundreds of thousands of government employees simply chose to not show up for work when their salaries were put on hold, but this only amounted to less than half of the government workforce. A 2013 government shutdown would result in the same thing and critical services would remain functioning via a funding gap resolution. But many government and defense contractors might find themselves on hold with projects so it’s possible some employees would be let go.
Government Shutdown: Obamacare
The only reason Obamacare is part of the government shutdown debate is because its budget has grown from the original $850 billion to almost $2 trillion, which Republicans claim could sink the economy. Despite threats of defunding Obamacare, the government shutdown would probably not slow Obamacare down one bit. Most of the implementation of Obamacare is occurring within state governments and the government shutdown affects only the Federal side. But even on the Federal side, Obamacare mostly affects the IRS, which, as already mentioned, will stay up and running during a government shutdown.
Government Shutdown: Social Security
Unfortunately, Social Security disability benefits funds are estimated to run out of money by 2016. The reason this happened is because Social Security disability claims rose rapidly and 14.5 million Americans are receiving benefits. This means this portion of the Social Security program is now running out a deficit instead of being self-sustaining as originally designed. The Congressional Budget Office projects Social Security to cost over one trillion in 2018, which is over one-third of the entire Federal budget.
The only goods news is that a government shutdown won’t affect the delivery of Social Security checks that many rely upon to live. Funding for Social Security is collected through payroll taxes, which is collected by States and the IRS, both of which will remain functioning under a government shutdown.
Government Shutdown: What Happens If The US Doesn’t Balance Its Budget
A government shutdown actually means the United States Federal government puts a hold on paying its debts. Yet, at the same time, if Federal spending is not put under control a Federal debt default becomes much more likely, which would hurt the United States credit rating even worse.
If the 2013 government shutdown doesn’t resolve anything the Federal government runs the risk of lowering the value of the US dollar to the point of creating a hyperflation scenario where the cost of everything doubles within months or even weeks or days. This final fiscal super cliff would make a government shutdown permanent in certain areas, with the Federal government unable to provide many of its basic functions that US citizens have come to rely upon.
With the government shutdown 2013 date quickly approaching, what do you think should be done to solve our debt woes? | <urn:uuid:8683a623-cbc0-48df-93fa-6ec8f55feb8b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.inquisitr.com/964929/government-shutdown-2013-date-what-happens-to-obamacare-social-security-other-services/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00017-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955224 | 777 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Heritage > Counties > England
The famous 'Red Rose' county of Lancashire has, since 1974, lost much of it's coverage in terms of land, yet still retains it's traditional charm.
Formerly a world centre for cotton manufacture the traditional crafts, along with 'dark satanic mills' have been replaced by more modern and varied industries.
Lancashire covers an area of 1,173 square miles and has it's administrative centre at Preston. The old mill towns of Blackburn, Chorley, Lancaster, Accrington, Burnley the port of Fleetwood and the resorts of Blackpool (with it's world famous tower)and Morecambe all blend together to make Lancashire a fascinating mixture of past and present.
Geographical features within the borders of Lancashire include the River Ribble and Pendle Hill, the traditional centre of witchcraft. Lancashire is separated from it's traditional rival county of Yorkshire by the 'backbone of England' the Pennines.
The county has a population of 1,400,000 and is still one of the largest counties in England in terms of size and density of population.
THE COUNTY LANDSCAPE
Between the mountains of the Lake District and the point where the river Mersey separates it from Cheshire, this is arguably the most varied of the northwestern counties. There is splendid scenery here with lofty mountain peaks and bare moorland, beautiful rivers and fast-flowing streams.
In Northwest England, the main county (excluding Furness) has clearly defined geographical boundaries. To the north, it is marked by the high fells of the Lake District; to the east by the Pennines; to the south by the River Mersey; and to the west by a long and irregular coastline on the Irish Sea, broken into two unequal parts by Morecambe Bay. Off the coast at Barrow is Walney Island. The Mersey forms the boundary between this county and Cheshire for some distance.
The scenery is mountainous in the north, hilly in the east, and low-lying in the south on the border with Cheshire. But there is also a good deal of fertile farmland, particularly in the Fylde and in the southwest of the county.
Furness is the peninsula jutting down in the northwest, separated from the main part of Lancashire by the stretching sands of Morecambe Bay. It is bordered by Westmoreland and Cumberland to its north and west.
Easter: In the town of Bacup, Coconut Dancers, ÔNutters', perform a traditional dance with wooden cups attached to their hands, waists and knees. On Easter Monday, the ancient custom of Egg Rolling takes place in Preston.
June: Hornby Village Festival.
July: St Helen's Show at Sherdley Park.
July: At the Manchester Show at Platt Fields, there is a flower show, military tattoo and show jumping.
End of July: Royal Lancashire Show at Chorley.
August: Southport Flower Show, one of the largest in the country, is held at the end of the month.
Late August: Blackpool illuminations are turned on.
August Bank Holiday: Lancaster hosts the Georgian Legacy Festival and one of the highlights is the National Sedan Chair Carrying Competition.
September: The Greater Manchester Marathon is held on the first Sunday of the month.
ORIGIN OF NAME: From the Brittonic/Anglo-Saxon meaning Ôthe Roman fort on the River Lane'. The local English population often called any Roman settlement Ôceaster' - hence Lune-ceaster which became Lancaster.
NAME FIRST RECORDED: 1127 as Loncastra.
COUNTY MOTTO: In Concilio Consilium (ÒIn Counsel is WisdomÓ).
COUNTY TOWN: LANCASTER The town fairly creaks and groans under the weight of its formidable history and some of its oldest buildings are still in use. The castle is used partly as a crown court and prison and the Shire Hall, which has a collection of coats of arms dating from the 12th century, can also be visited.
BARROW-IN-FURNESS: Capital of a beautiful area with the ruins of Furness Abbey, once the most powerful around, lying in a wooded vale. The town is a succession of terraced houses dominated by the once all-menacing Trident nuclear submarines.
BLACKBURN: Another of Lancashire's key cotton weaving centres with the Lewis Textile Museum to prove it. Modern engineering is the main industry.
BOLTON: Busy industrial town and cotton-spinning centre with many old mills converted to other industries. Ye Old Man and Scythe inn situated in Church Gate has Civil War connections and is an attractive pub to visit. William Lever, son of a Bolton grocer, was born here and went on to soapmaking and the beginnings of Port Sunlight and Unilever.
BURY: A Roman station, Saxon fort and baronial castle at Castle Croft shows this was an important place before King Cotton made its name for the town.
LIVERPOOL: Beatles fans may head for Mathews Street site of the Cavern Club, or try the Magical History Tour. Take a ferry across Mersey to get glorious views of the waterfront or shop at Albert Docks. There is so much on offer in this city which vividly reflects the later history of England.
MANCHESTER: The Castleford area boasts a fine industrial museum on the site of the world's oldest passenger railway station. The G-Mex Exhibition Centre and club scene is the modern face of the city.
OLDHAM: History has it that this was a textile town in Charles I's day and of course it then developed into one of the great Lancashire contributors that put the Great in Britain. Its Town Hall cost £4,000 in 1840.
PRESTON: Lancashire County Council's administrative centre. North End FC, once a major footballing force, now famed for its unique Tom Finney Stand, opened in 1995. Fine museums and an art gallery.
SALFORD: After cotton came rubber and waterproofing industries and considerable replanning. The Quays are a reminder of its links to Manchester to which it is more or less joined. A new Lowry Art Gallery and Albert Finney Theatre have opened here.
ST HELENS: Began its development as an industrial town in the 1600s with coal-mining, and in 1773 glass making was introduced. There have been four different churches on the site of the current one.
WARRINGTON: Equidistant between Manchester and Liverpool but with an identity of its own, designated a new town in 1968 and now a communications centre.
Grange over Sands
COUNTY RIVERS: The major rivers are the Mersey, Ribble and Lune, all of which flow westwards into the Irish Sea. Also the Calder, Hodder and Wyre.
HIGHEST POINT: The Old Man of Coniston at 2,633 feet.
LANCASHIRE'S LOCAL GOVERNMENT: The County of Lancashire has a complicated administrative map. Lancashire County Council only caters for about half of the County of Lancashire which is shared on a two-tier basis with 12 District Councils, namely Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire and Wyre. Blackpool and Blackburn are unitary councils where Lancashire County Council has no place. Lancashire North of the Sands, known as Furness, is two-tiered with Cumbria County Council, Barrow in Furness District and South Lakeland District Councils (shared with the Counties of Westmorland and Yorkshire) providing the services. In the south, a number of unitary metropolitan authorities cut a swathe across Lancashire's boundary with Cheshire where the Metropolitan Boroughs of Halton, Manchester, Tameside, Trafford and Warrington actually provide services for parts of both Counties. Todmorden (partly in Yorkshire) comes under Calderdale council. Bolton, Bury, Knowsley, Liverpool, Oldham, Rochdale, St Helens, Salford, Sefton, and Wigan are unitary councils solely to administer Lancashire lands.
Liverpool will forever be remembered for its popular music connections from the war years to the 90s rave scene. All four members of the Beatles were born in Liverpool, as were 60s singers Frankie Vaughan, Cilla Black and Gerry Marsden (Gerry and the Pacemakers). The 80s saw the likes of bedsit favourites The Smiths and Echo And The Bunnymen , and New Order (resurrected in the 90s).
The Manchester dance scene produced the Happy Mondays, since transformed into Black Grape, and another band, Oasis, have crafted two of the best pop albums of the 90s. Take That burst on the scene here also in the 90s and disappeared to reappear in solo guises. Mark Owen lives at Leck.
Gracie Fields was a native of Rochdale and a museum honouring her is to be built in the town.
Lisa Stansfield, the international pop star, is related to Gracie Fields, and like her famous relative comes from Rochdale.
The town of Preston, ÔProud Preston', has many famous sons (and daughters). Sir Richard Arkwright, a prominent figure in the Industrial Revolution, was born in the town and the house in which he developed his water frame in 1768 survives on Stoneygate.
Other natives of Preston include the 18th century painter Arthur Devis and poets Francis Thompson and Robert Service. The opera singer Kathleen Ferrier was born three miles southeast of the town at Higher Walton.
Children's author Beatrix Potter lived on the county's northern border at Hill Top Farm, near Sawrey, until her death in 1943.
Writer John Ruskin, after whom the Oxford college is named, bought a house in Coniston in 1871 and retired there in 1884. He died in 1900 and is buried in the churchyard at Coniston.
The Manchester aviators Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown made the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic by air in 1919, flying from St John, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Ireland.
The long-running ITV soap Coronation Street is shot almost entirely on location in a specially built set at the Granada studios in Manchester. The set forms part of a studio tour along with Russell Grant's World of Astrology and Sherlock Holmes's Baker Street.
The film version of Noel Coward's Brief Encounter, directed by David Lean, was shot on location at Carnforth station.
Brookside, Channel 4's soap, is shot and set in Liverpool.
Albert Finney, recently resurrected in Dennis Potter's bequest plays, was born in Salford.
Stan Laurel (the tall thin one) was born at Ulverston, which now houses the Laurel and Hardy Museum.
Ukulele-playing comedian with the toothy grin, George Formby, was born in Wigan and was hugely popular in the music halls and cinemas of the region.
Josef Lock, Irish tenor and subject of the movie Hear My Song, lived in Lytham St Anne's.
Errol Flynn, Clark Gable and Johnny Weissmuller were stationed in Warrington during the Second World War and drove to Royal Lytham to play golf.
Dame Thora Hird comes from Morecambe. | <urn:uuid:6bd68612-1fc8-4f2c-86a8-aeecac432b86> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.camelotintl.com/heritage/counties/england/lancs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00025-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952441 | 2,446 | 3.34375 | 3 |
There are many kinds of ocean waves, and some of them are definitely huge. However, not all large waves are rogue waves. Strong storms, such as hurricanes, can cause large waves, but these waves tend to be relatively regular and predictable, though certainly capable of causing serious harm to ships and coastal areas. Undersea earthquakes, coastal landslides and glacial calving (when a large chunk of a glacier breaks off and falls into the ocean) can also create enormous and catastrophic waves. Undersea earthquakes can produce tsunamis, and coastal landslides can produce tidal waves. These could be considered rogues, but, to a certain extent, they are predictable -- as long as someone noticed the event that caused them. So, that pretty much rules them out of rogue status.
A true rogue wave arises seemingly out of nowhere and is significantly higher than the other waves occurring in the area at the time. Exactly how much higher is open to interpretation -- some sources suggest anything twice as large as the current significant wave height is a rogue, while others think anything 33 percent larger counts. It is probably sufficient to say that any wave so large that it is unexpected based on current conditions can be counted as a rogue. A craft navigating 3-foot waves could encounter an 8-foot rogue wave -- while not a record-breaker, it would certainly cause problems for a small boat.
Rogue waves also tend to be steeper than most waves. The average ocean waves may take the form of massive swells, allowing vessels to maneuver up and down them even if they are many feet high. By contrast, consider this report of the Queen Elizabeth II's encounter with a freak wave:
At 0410 the rogue wave was sighted right ahead, looming out of the darkness from 220°, it looked as though the ship was heading straight for the white cliffs of Dover. The wave seemed to take ages to arrive but it was probably less than a minute before it broke with tremendous force over the bow [source: Science Frontiers].
The phrase "wall of water" is very common in rogue wave reports -- they are usually much steeper than other waves, and therefore slam into ships with tremendous force, often breaking over them.
While scientists have gained a greater understanding of rogue waves in the last decade, they are still quite enigmatic. No one has ever filmed the formation of a rogue wave in the ocean or followed one through its entire life cycle. There are very few photographs of rogue waves. For centuries, the best evidence for their existence was anecdotal -- the countless stories told by sailors who had survived one.
Gallimore and another crewman were in the wheelhouse. The wind had been blowing fiercely at 100 knots for more than a day, and "Lady Alice" was struggling in rough seas with waves 16 to 23 feet high … At 8:00 A.M. Gallimore looked up and saw a huge wall of water bearing down on "Lady Alice." From his view in the wheelhouse, he could not see the top of the wave …The wave crashed down on top of the wheelhouse, driving the vessel underwater …The crewman in the wheelhouse with him was thrown down with such force that he suffered two fractured vertebrae. To top the radar antennas with enough force to rip them from the steel mast where they are bolted … the wave had to be 40 feet or higher [source: Smith, 195]. | <urn:uuid:f0249472-b13e-4762-a32d-c025eced264a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/rogue-wave1.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973549 | 690 | 3.53125 | 4 |
It’s National Girl Child Day
The Indian Government declared January 24th as National Girl Child Day in the year 2009. Starting from this day a series of events celebrates the Girl Child and these events continue right up to March 8 which is International Women’s Day.
The purpose of this day is to focus attention on the depleting female to male ratio and take a stand on issues of female foeticide, domestic violence and malnutrition in children. Campaigns around these 3 major concerns are highlighted and the government tries to raise awareness as well as propagate gender equality among people.
Advertisements are run in local newspapers, TV channels and radio stations. The message of ‘Save the Girl Child’ is spread far and wide as the government along with NGO’s come together to fight this social stigma against the Girl Child.
Join hands in the fight to Save the Girl Child!
Know more about other festivals, events and important days: | <urn:uuid:aa7342a6-5273-4b9e-9380-066bdadf25ce> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.shaadi.com/its-national-girl-child-day-4/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950273 | 193 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Here’s a great way to get kids involved in a craft from beginning to end—have them make the tools they need to do the crafts! You can start by making these paintbrushes. They work well, and they teach kids how different textures can create different looks and art styles. Start to finish, this is a craft that has big pay-off. Not only are these paintbrushes fun to make, but you can keep using the brushes over and over again for future crafts.
What You Do:
- Gather pine needles with your child. You'll need at least five handfuls of needles. Be sure to look for needles that are all different lengths.
- Lay the needles out on the ground. Discuss with your child whether he wants to use a lot of needles to make thick, big brushes, or only a few to make thin, skinny brushes. Encourage him to try making both.
- To make a paintbrush, have your child place a stick or twig in the middle of a bundle of needles. Using twine or strong string, tie a knot around the bundle onto the stick. Make sure to tie it tight. Some of the needles may slip out.
- Now that you've made these homemade brushes, let your child test them out. Pour some paint into a bowl, and dip the homemade brush in the paint to start. As he's painting, encourage your child to compare how the strokes of the thicker brush look in relation to the thinner brush.
- When you're finished with the painting, carefully wash the brushes and lay them out to dry for use next time.
For variation, encourage your child to make brushes with something other than pine needles. Maybe there's an interesting grass or plant that grows in your backyard. Let your child experiment with his bristles and create diverse and different works of art each time!
Lisa M. Cope is a freelance writer who focuses on parenting and child development issues, among many others. She is the mother of two boys, ages five and two. | <urn:uuid:d3c843fb-d927-43c6-8fcf-ce8216abbc58> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.education.com/activity/article/Make_your_own_paintbrushes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00090-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959493 | 418 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Descriptive Model of the July 17, 1998 Papua New Guinea Tsunami:
Assumptions and Specifications for Animations
- A linearized form of the shallow-water wave equations was used to simulate the tsunami. Because non-linear terms were not included, the computations are probably only accurate for water depths deeper than 50 m.
- The computations were performed on a 3.7 km grid at a time interval of 10 seconds. Although the model is stable, the nearshore evolution of the tsunami is not accurately portrayed because of the large grid size.
- The model does not compute runup or inundation.
Earthquake Source Model:
- Because only the location, depth, and seismic moment of the event are known at this time, certain assumptions must be made to determine the rupture area and slip.
- Slip on the vertical plane is assumed.
- An empirical relationship is used to determine the rupture area from the seismic moment (Wells and Coppersmith, 1994). An assumed 3:2 aspect ratio (length:width) yields the dimensions of the rupture zone.
- Using the assumed rupture area (above) and a shear modulus of 30 GPa results in an average slip of 2.15 m.
- Assuming uniform slip typically underestimates the tsunami that is produced (Geist, 1998). Therefore, an arbitrary and symmetric slip distribution is assumed that averages to 2.15 m.
- Because this was a very shallow event, the rupture extends to the seafloor.
- A 10 second rise time is assumed, making this a nearly impulsive event with respect to tsunami propagation speeds.
- Because of the steep bathymetric gradient, errors in the epicenter location result in significant changes to the tsunami time history. The Harvard centroid location is used. | <urn:uuid:4e69b80a-4e98-4e63-b80c-13c057bb4841> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/tsunami/specs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00152-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.896225 | 381 | 3.25 | 3 |
Park Ridge, Ill. - Biochip development, which peaked two years ago during the national anthrax scare, has begun paying unexpected dividends, as research work in the area yields a new breed of "protein chips" that could aid in the early detection of cancer, Alzheimer's disease and HIV.
Researchers at a nanotechnology startup have taken a step toward commercializing the technology by licensing a protein-chip-based detection system from Northwestern University. Nanosphere Inc. (Northbrook, Ill.), which hopes to integrate the system into desktop products within a year, said the technology exhibits about 1 million times more sensitivity than conventional methods in the detection of prostate-specific antigen, a protein linked to prostate cancer. Last week's announcement followed the publication of a company co-founder's description of the technology in the Sept. 26 issue of Science.
Nanosphere's announcements put the company in lockstep with other players that have been accelerating their development of protein chips. "Protein chips are the next generation of biochip technology," said Darrell Chandler, technical-group leader for Argonne National Laboratory's Biochip Technology Center (Argonne, Ill.). "DNA chips were the first generation, and now a lot of people are working very hard on protein chips because they provide the ability to diagnose diseases based on certain protein signatures."
Looking for proteins
Researchers at Argonne said last week that their Biochip Technology Center has developed protein chips that can be connected to a charge-coupled device camera or CMOS chip, and could one day serve in handheld protein-chip-based diagnostic devices. "Ultimately, we can foresee putting the chip into a cartridge, and having the cartridge fit into a Palm Pilot or a similar device," Chandler said.
Similarly, scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, Wash.) are developing protein chips that allow researchers to screen for multiple proteins simultaneously. They plan to use the technology to identify new protein markers that could serve as a screen for the presence of breast cancer.
Some researchers, such as those at Argonne, are developing systems that work with optical detection techniques and don't need to be directly connected to electronics. Argonne's chips are not conventional integrated circuits, but are essentially glass slides that employ an array of tiny gel elements, or "nano test tubes," onto which researchers cram tens of thousands of proteins in a square area measuring a half-centimeter on a side. Argonne has demonstrated the technology in portable biochip readers that optically examine the slides as a means of detecting biological agents or chemicals.
Argonne's approach differs from that of Nanosphere, which plans to employ an electrical technique that uses silicon protein chips containing gold nanoparticles. The technology, invented by a Northwestern University professor who is also a company founder, is already being used to detect strands of DNA. The company now intends to use it to locate protein markers as well.
Nanosphere uses the technique to measure bonding between DNA strands in, for example, a drop of blood. DNA strands in the sample combine with similar strands in the silicon substrate and in the gold nanoparticles, which measure about 15 nanometers wide. To check for bonding, researchers measure the electrical resistance across two gold particles, located microns from each another. The chip has no memory or processing capability, but engineers can measure inductance, capacitance, impedance or resistance across the device.
When no bonding is present, resistance is high and electrical current barely conducts across the gap between the particles. But by laying a capture strand of DNA across the gap and then applying a blood sample, researchers can create an electrical bridge. The resulting change in conduction signals the presence of the DNA or protein for which they're looking.
The company's engineers said the electronic technique shows promise for high-volume production of handheld detection devices. Nanosphere said that when it gets to volume production, it will contract out the construction of the chip to an electronics company, but will do its own DNA or protein "spotting." Spotting refers to the placement of the DNA or protein strands on the chip, which shares such standard semiconductor technology as inlaid circuitry and contact pads.
"Electronics allow you to put gold electrodes onto a silicon base, which can be manufactured in high quantities," said William Cork, the chief technical officer for Nanosphere. "With electronics, the costs go down because the complexity goes down."
The startup company said it has used the silicon-and-gold configuration in its Verigene ID desktop system, which was unveiled over the summer and is currently undergoing clinical trials. Nanosphere's engineers designed the system using an off-the-shelf single-board computer from Ampro Computers Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) and an in-house-developed "glue logic" board that integrates all the I/O, including touchscreen drivers, along with FPGAs and software interfaces.
Nanosphere's biochips, like those made by other researchers, can also be used for identification of DNA from such pathogens as anthrax, smallpox and tuberculosis. Many researchers are working with government agencies on biochips that can be used to detect the deadly contaminants in military and civilian settings.
Nanosphere engineers said they plan to initially sell their Verigene ID desktop system for $30,000, and their Verigene Mobile system for approximately $5,000 when it reaches the market.
"But if we get an order for 10,000 units from the Defense Department, the prices would drop fast," CTO Cork said.
In medical settings, Cork maintained that the protein chips offer vastly greater sensitivity than existing protein-detection methods that are being used by today's medical community.
Tests using the protein chip may be more expensive than those using conventional methods, said Vijaya Vasista, chief operating officer of Nanosphere, but would have other cost benefits for cancer treatment, for example. "By detecting the cancer earlier, you're actually saving on health care costs as well as reducing grief for the patient," Vasista said. "That's where the value proposition of this technology becomes really compelling."
CTO Cork said that the detection of proteins is "fairly routine" in many applications today, but that Nanosphere's protein chip "offers far greater sensitivity than those tests, and it gives more diagnostic information than has ever been available before."
For cancer victims, or for those with the potential of contracting certain cancers, the new technology reportedly could detect the disease as much as 10 times sooner than it is found today.
"There is concurrence [within the research community] that we could detect it earlier," Cork said. "How much earlier we still don't know for sure."
Researchers said that the protein chip techniques could also be used for earlier detection of Alzheimer's disease and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"The real value of the protein chips will definitely be in life-science research," said Chandler of Argonne. "Discovery of the proteins will come first, and then we'll create tools to do the diagnostics." | <urn:uuid:5fd921ff-0c94-4852-9275-1aab63ab54b3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1147266 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958326 | 1,440 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Research conducted by a team in Switzerland suggests that a family of genes involved in regulating the expression of other genes in the brain is responsible for helping us deal with external inputs such as stress. Their results, appearing in the December 11 advance online version of the journal Neuron, may also give a clue to why some people are more susceptible to anxiety or depression than others.
The researchers from EPFL and the National Competence Center "Frontiers in Genetics" studied the role of a family of genes known as KRAB-ZFP, which acts like a group of genetic censors, selectively silencing the expression of other genes. These repressors make up about 2% of our genetic material, but little is known about how this "epigenetic" silencing process works, what the long-term consequences are, and even which genes are targeted. (Epigenetics refers to a change in gene expression that is caused by something other than a change in the underlying DNA sequence.)
The researchers bred a strain of mice that lacked in the hippocampus, a part of the forebrain involved in short-term memory and inhibition, a key cofactor used by the KRAB family. The genetically altered mice appeared completely normal until they were placed in a stressful situation. Then they became extremely anxious. Although the normal mice quickly adapted, the altered mice never managed to overcome their stress, and remained anxious and unable to complete simple cognitive tasks. The disruption of the KRAB-mediated regulatory process thus altered the mice's normal behavioral response to stress.
"The KRAB regulators appeared fairly recently on an evolutionary scale," notes EPFL professor Didier Trono, lead author on the study, " and it's very likely that there is a fair degree of polymorphism between individuals. We postulate that variability in these genes is one factor that may participate in predisposing people to anxiety syndromes or depression. "
Because epigenetic alterations are often long-lasting and sometimes permanent, one could also interpret them as a way in which an individual's personal history can have a lasting impact on his or her genetic expression. "It's a way for a cell to have a sort of memory," explains Trono.
This work opens promising leads for further exploration, because evidence of epigenetic modification has been observed in animal models of depression, addiction, schizophrenia and neuro-developmental disorders. Some psychoactive drugs like cocaine or anti-psychotics also cause changes in some of the co-factors involved in this genetic regulatory system. With an understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in epigenetic modulation, it might be possible to develop targeted therapies for those individuals in whom it malfunctions. | <urn:uuid:1c008dd1-5185-4736-8ca9-c71a7e350b3a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2008/12/11/stressedout_mice_reveal_role_of_epigenetics_in_behavior.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962713 | 541 | 3.734375 | 4 |
ELIZABETH DAVIS DURFEE
When Elizabeth met
Jabez Durfee in 1834 she was a widow, having lost her first two husbands
in a shipwreck and sickness. Jabez was a widower, his wife having
passed away earlier that year. They combined their families, 10 children
between them, and were married in March of 1834 in Clay County, Missouri.
Elizabeth and Jabez
moved to Nauvoo in 1839. There, Elizabeth participated in the newly
established women’s organization, the Relief Society. On April 14,
1842 Elizabeth was administered to by Society President Emma Smith and
her two counselors. Later Elizabeth, “bore testimony to the great
blessing she received when administered to...by Prest. E.S. & Councillors
Cleveland and Whitney. she said she never realized more benefit thro’ any
administration-that she was heal’d, and thought the sisters had more faith
than the brethren”. In response to complaints about women giving
blessings, Joseph shared his approval saying, “If the sisters should
have faith to heal the sick let all hold their tongues...if God gave his
sanction by healing...there would be no...sin”.
In the Spring of 1842
Elizabeth, now fifty one, married Joseph Smith. Like Patty Sessions,
another one of Joseph’s relatively older wives, Elizabeth was a “Mother
in Israel” who helped introduce younger women into plural marriage.
In the Spring of 1843, nineteen-year-old Emily Partridge recalls being
approached by Joseph: “If you will not betray me, I will tell you something
for your benefit...[he] asked me if I would burn it if he would write me
a letter”. Emily declined Joseph’s letter thinking, “it was
not the proper thing to do”. Soon after, Elizabeth invited Emily
to her home. Emily remembers, “She introduced the subject of spiritual
wives as they called it in that day [and wondered] if there was any truth
in the report she heard...[I thought to myself] I could tell her something
that would make her open her eyes if I chose”. Emily kept quiet but
later noted, “I learned afterward that Mrs. Durfee was [already] a friend
to plurality and knew all about it”. On March 4th, Elizabeth
again met with Emily. Emily wrote, “Mrs. Durf- came to me one
day and said Joseph would like an opportunity to talk with me. I asked
her if she knew what he wanted. She said she thought he wanted me for a
wife...I was to meet him in the evening at Mr. Kimballs”. Aided
by Elizabeth's prompting, Emily met and married Joseph that evening.
After Joseph’s death
in 1844, Elizabeth separated from her first husband, Jabez, and soon married
Cornelius Lott. Lott’s daughter Melissa had also been a wife of Joseph
Smith. Elizabeth and Cornelius started west with the majority of the saints.
Elizabeth’s son, John remembers, “we went with [Brigham] as far as the
Missouri River and then we saw so much of their manner of doing business,
that we went back to Quincy”. Cornelius continued on to Utah, eventually
taking 5 plural wives. In Quincy, Elizabeth renewed her friendship
with “President” Emma Smith. | <urn:uuid:56d1dae9-981b-43ab-9854-c9e13636a09b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://wivesofjosephsmith.org/12-ElizabethDavisDurfee.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00130-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975004 | 761 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Civil War blog NOV 02 2010
[November 1, 1860] was an ordinary day in America: one of the last such days for a very long time to come.
In dusty San Antonio, Colonel Robert E. Lee of the U.S. Army had just submitted a long report to Washington about recent skirmishes against marauding Comanches and Mexican banditti. In Louisiana, William Tecumseh Sherman was in the midst of a tedious week interviewing teenage applicants to the military academy where he served as superintendent. In Galena, Ill., passers-by might have seen a man in a shabby military greatcoat and slouch hat trudging to work that Thursday morning, as he did every weekday. He was Ulysses Grant, a middle-aged shop clerk in his family's leather-goods store.
Great idea. The Times started publishing in 1851 so their archives should have a ton of stuff related to the war. (via df) | <urn:uuid:37a93f2c-76ca-481b-81c8-19218df1e4dd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kottke.org/10/11/civil-war-blog | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962763 | 198 | 2.703125 | 3 |
|Thermodynamics and Propulsion|
In general, for any two objects in space, a given object 1 radiates to object 2, and to other places as well, as shown in Figure 19.10.
We want a general expression for energy interchange between two surfaces at different temperatures. This is given by the radiation shape factor or view factor, . For the situation in Figure 19.11,
For body 1, we know that is the emissive power of a black body, so the energy leaving body 1 is . The energy leaving body 1 and arriving (and being absorbed) at body 2 is . The energy leaving body 2 and being absorbed at body 1 is . The net energy interchange from body 1 to body 2 is
Suppose both surfaces are at the same temperature so there is no net heat exchange. If so,
but also . Thus
Equation (19.4) is the shape factor reciprocity relation. The net heat exchange between the two surfaces is
The net heat transfer from surface 1 to surface 2 of Figure 19.12 is
We know that , i.e., that all of the energy emitted by 1 gets to 2. Thus
This can be used to find the net heat transfer from 2 to 1.
View factors for other configurations can be found analytically or numerically. Shape factors are given in textbooks and reports (they are tabulated somewhat like Laplace transforms), and examples of the analytical forms and numerical values of shape factors for some basic engineering configurations are given in Figures 19.13 through 19.16, taken from the book by Incropera and DeWitt. | <urn:uuid:a377de8c-611f-485c-8563-c2989c2617bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://web.mit.edu/16.unified/www/SPRING/propulsion/notes/node137.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00116-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925343 | 334 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Continuous volcano monitoring stations can be used to gauge both short-lived degassing episodes that happen within minutes to hours as well as long-lived activity that happens over days to years. With advancing technology, scientists are able to set up a station to monitor gases from fumaroles, vents, soils, hydrothermal deposits, etc and transmit the data directly to an online directory or observation location.
To monitor the activity at the Pu `u `O `o vent on the Big Island of Hawai’i, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) set up a monitoring station on the flanks of Kilauea’s east rift zone. Gas emissions as well as the wind speed and wind direction are periodically sampled and get transmitted every 10 minutes to HVO. This allows HVO to monitor degassing at the active vent almost instantaneously. | <urn:uuid:1acf9717-cd81-4cb0-8290-0418d735fd65> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/book/export/html/435 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00112-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934402 | 174 | 3.5 | 4 |
As is true for the economy, having an understanding of California's population characteristics and trends is important for understanding the fiscal conditions and policy challenges facing California's governments. Population factors influence the economy and government revenues. They also help determine government spending needs and priorities.
In 1994, California's population reached 32 million, representing 12.6 percent of the nation. By comparison, California had a population of 21 million in 1974, or 9.9 percent of the nation. Thus, over the past 20 years, California's population has grown by 11 million people, or over 50 percent.
California's average population growth rate was 2.1 percent during this period, or twice that of other states combined.
California's population growth was particularly strong from 1985 to 1990, averaging 2.5 percent. This was about three times as fast as the rest of the country.
Since 1990, however, California's population growth has slowed dramatically, largely in response to the poor performance of the state's economy. In 1993, population growth dipped to 1.4 percent--the lowest rate in 20 years. Nevertheless, the state's rate of population growth continues to outpace the rest of the nation, which is growing at about 1 percent annually.
Population growth results from two factors.
During the latter half of the 1980s when California's population grew very rapidly, net migration to California contributed somewhat more to population growth than the gain from natural increase. Both foreign immigrants and migrants from other states contributed to this growth.
Net migration to the state peaked in 1990, when California gained almost half a million residents from foreign nations and other states.
Since 1991, however, natural increase has accounted for most of the state's population growth, as net migration to the state dropped sharply in response to the recession and poorer employment opportunities.
The recent decline in net migration reflects a decline in net domestic migration.
In contrast, foreign migration to California has remained strong--about 300,000 annually.
California's population is widely distributed throughout the state, but is highly concentrated in certain areas.
Population growth rates in California vary considerably depending on the region of the state.
Currently, the highest population growth rates are occurring mainly in Central Valley and foothill counties, and in Riverside and Imperial Counties in Southern California. About five million Californians live in those counties that are growing by 2 percent or more annually.
In contrast, annual growth is less than 2 percent in all of the urban coastal counties. The growth rate is less than 1 percent in Los Angeles County. About 30 percent of the population lives in counties with growth under 1 percent.
In terms of the number of people added, however, the highest ranking counties are not those with the highest percentage growth rates. Los Angeles County, for example, added the most people in 1993--72,000. Only two of the top ten counties in terms of numeric population change (Riverside and Fresno) also ranked in the top ten in terms of percentage growth rates.
California's population will be undergoing dramatic changes in its age-mix over the next ten years.
California will be getting both younger and older, as growth occurs at both ends of the age spectrum. The school-age population will grow significantly by 2004, and the elderly population, while small, also will grow very rapidly.
By the year 2004, the number of people between 40 and 60 years old will increase by more than 50 percent as the baby boomers age. Meanwhile, the number of younger adults-- those in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties--will decline over the next ten years. As a result, the average age of California's working-age population (18-65) will increase from 38 to 40.
These changes will have a variety of economic effects and fiscal implications for California's state and local governments, especially in such areas as education and health care.
Significant changes in California's ethnic mix also are in the offing.
Between 1990 and 2010, California's Hispanic population will double, and the state's Asian population will grow by two-thirds. The projected growth in the state's white (non-Hispanic) population is only 13 percent over the same period, so that by 2010:
Return to Cal Guide Table of Contents
Return to LAO Home Page | <urn:uuid:966df7f8-c926-42be-9050-abb1d0456fc9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lao.ca.gov/1995/010195_calguide/cgep2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00198-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951532 | 874 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Any tomato that is hardy in zones 6a to 7b--Maryland's growing region--will perform well in the state, enabling gardeners to plant cherry, heirloom or paste tomatoes. The University of Maryland recommends many varieties for Maryland gardeners, including Better Boy, Celebrity, Early Girl, Cherokee Purple, Pruden's Purple, Brandywine, Pineapple, Striped German, Lemon Boy, Green Zebra, San Marzano, Roma, Sun Cherry, Sun Gold and Juliet. These varieties do best in Maryland's climate and soil conditions.
Prepare the garden soil for Maryland tomatoes, waiting until the danger of frost has passed. Turn the soil over with a trowel to loosen and aerate clumped soil. Remove any weeds, old plants or other debris.
Fertilize the soil with 10-10-10 fertilizer. Sprinkle 1 to 2 tbsp. of fertilizer in the garden bed, then turn the soil and fertilizer over with a trowel. Fertilize before you plant and again afterward, while the tomatoes grow.
Dig holes in the garden bed twice as wide as the tomato starts. While spacing will vary slightly from one type of tomato to another, the University of Illinois suggests leaving 15 to 24 inches between plants.
Remove the tomato transplants from their container and squeeze the transplant to break apart the root ball. Separate tangled roots. Place the plant in the hole at the same depth as it was planted in the container, spreading the roots out with your fingers. Fill in the hole with soil.
Water until the soil is saturated.
Water again when the soil becomes dry to the touch, saturating the soil.
Mulch the ground below the tomatoes with hay or pine straw. This delays the growth of weeds and helps the soil retain moisture during Maryland's hot summer days. Place a tomato cage around the growing plant to provide support and push the ends of the wire cage into the soil by at least 1 inch.
Fertilize the tomatoes once fruit sets and every 10 days thereafter. | <urn:uuid:c4670510-1721-4e60-a876-25d51eaf808d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gardenguides.com/138349-plant-maryland-tomatoes.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00119-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.893077 | 422 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Basic Guide to Safer Internet Use
Written by Treacodactyl
This is a very basic guide to help new or inexperienced Internet users surf the web a little more safely and to help people avoid some common problems. It's not a comprehensive set of instructions; but it should provide a reasonable starting point.
Email & Spam
If you post to Internet newsgroups, make your email details visible on a forum or give them to people you do not fully trust there is a risk that you may receive unsolicited or unwanted email (typically referred to as spam). If it is just one or two items this may not cause too much of a problem, especially with the faster mail transfer speeds available today. However, problems arise when a vast amount of spam is sent or it contains content that may be offensive.
Once your email address has been given it will be very hard to prevent spam, so it is advisable to spend a little time sorting out things before posting or joining any group.
When joining an unfamiliar forum or newsgroup it is wise to set up a new email account first. Free accounts such as a Yahoo or Hotmail (address) are ideal and these should have a good spam handling ability and virus protection built in. Use this email address when posting or in your profile for people to reply to. If the email address starts receiving too much spam or if you have any problems with the group the account can be closed and a new one set up. This will prevent your work or home personal account, which are far harder to change, from becoming unmanageable.
Today it is pretty much essential to protect your computer from virus and malicious programs. They can be transmitted in a variety of ways, most frequently via emails and attachments. A virus may not be noticed or could completely ruin your computer's data causing problems recovering important files and wasting time and money rectifying the problem.
A simple way of reducing the risk of virus infection is to only read emails from trusted senders. Do not open any emails that you are unsure of.
A virus checker should also be installed on your home computer and the software kept up to date. These can be purchased, found free on the front of computer magazines or downloaded from the Internet. AVG is a free program that seems to perform well in tests.
(See http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/1/ )
Virus protection programs will need their configuration files updated on a regular basis so that they provide protection against the latest viruses. Make sure this is done or they will rapidly become less useful.
It is also worth pointing out that the operating system you use (typically Microsoft Windows) should be kept up to date with the various service packs, especially the security releases. However, please remember there can be problems with upgrades so back up your data!
Many operating systems are designed to respond to external requests from the Internet. These features can be used by people to gain access to information and resources on your PC. Confidential information can be read and programs installed that then run without the user's knowledge, they in turn can attack other PCs or send out spam from your PC.
A firewall is either a program (software firewall) or a piece of equipment (hardware) that provides a security system to prevent unauthorized access to a PC from the Internet or network. They may be run together and can vary in price from nothing to several hundred pounds.
A correctly configured firewall should prevent these problems. Software firewalls are the most often used on home PCs and they can be part of the operating system. They are also often provided as part of a virus package. Hardware firewalls are considered to be more secure and range from about £30 upwards. A good option if more than one PC is connected to the Internet in a household is a multi-port router, which starts at about £50.
Windows XP Firewall
Many people will be running Microsoft XP on their PC. This comes with its own built in software firewall. It is worth ensuring this is activated. Note any settings before changing them, just in case you have any problems and they need to be reset!
To view the status of the firewall select the 'Control Panel' from the 'Start Menu'. Open the Network Connection settings and then select the properties (right click on the modem or router connection icon, then select 'Properties'). Select the 'Advanced' Tab and ensure the Internet Connection Firewall is turned on (ticked). For more details read through the XP help.
When visiting Internet sites and opening emails software can often be installed on your PC. It is always wise to only visit sites and open emails from people you trust. If you do not know much about the site you should think very hard about whether you run anything from that site.
Even if you have been very careful, some software may infect your PC. Most of it will be harmless, although too much can slow a PC down. There are applications that can be used that will examine your PC and inform you of what is running. You will then have the choice of removing the spyware.
A good application I have used is Spybot Search & Destroy at: http://www.spybot.info
Clearing Files on Browsers & Cookies
When browsers run they often store information you enter onto sites in cookies. This may often only be a password for logging into a forum or it may be bank details and online banking passwords. Unless you are very confident who uses your PC and that all the virus software and firewalls are set up correctly it is wise not to allow your browser to remember any detailed personal information such as banking details. Browsers can be set up so that these are deleted whenever it is shut down, this may make life a little more difficult but it save the hassle of having your bank balance emptied!
Yahoo mail account: http://edit.europe.yahoo.com/config/mail?.intl=uk
Hotmail mail account: www.hotmail.com
Further information can be found in your PC's help files or from these two links:
Finally, if you have any comments or questions there are often people on the IT forum who could help. Click HERE to go to the forum now. | <urn:uuid:e64b7a32-cd72-4c78-81f8-e357dc0b72b5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.downsizer.net/Articles/Everything_else/Basic_Guide_to_Safer_Internet_Use/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00065-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940691 | 1,283 | 3.125 | 3 |
As early as 3 September 1944 the need to clear the Scheldt Estuary was recognized by the Allies. Admiral Sir Bertam Ramsay - Naval Commander-in-Chief under Eisenhower at SHAEF - outlined in a telegram to Eisenhower, Montgomery (21st Army Group), and the Admiralty that "It is essential that if Antwerp and Rotterdam are to be opened quickly...It will be necessary for coastal batteries to be captured before approach channels to the river routes can be established."3
After Normandy, the British 2nd Army made spectacular progress, capturing Amiens on 31 August 1944, crossing the Somme River, and, moving at a rate of 60 miles a day, capturing Antwerp with port facilities intact on 4 September 1944. Unfortunately, the Scheldt Estuary - fifty miles of waterways leading to Antwerp - remained in German hands. At the time of Antwerp's capture, however, the Germans were disorganized and the estuary defences only lightly held. With Antwerp's vital port facilities taken (with the major ports on the northern Channel coast still in German hands, supplies were still arriving on the Continent in Normandy, facilitating the need to truck them forward to the now rapidly moving front), the decision not to press on and take the Scheldt Estuary would be controversial.
First Canadian Army in September 1944
The First Canadian Army would not have the opportunity to clear the Scheldt in September 1944, for the Canadians were acting under a directive by 21st Army Group, promulgated on 26 August 1944 and ordering the capture of Le Havre and Dieppe, and the destruction of German coastal defences all the way to Bruges. I British Corps was ordered to Le Havre and II Canadian Corps was directed to take Le Treport, Dieppe and to cross the Somme at Abbeville.
By 10 September, the importance of clearing the Scheldt and opening the port of Antwerp was being stressed by General Eisenhower to Field Marshal Montgomery. The Combined Chiefs of Staff, meeting at Quebec, also sent Eisenhower a telegram on 12 September 1944, reminding him of the importance of Antwerp. Montgomery asked Crerar if he could accomplish it. By the 13th, Montgomery was stressing a sense of urgency in clearing Boulogne, Dunkirk and Calais, in addition to clearing the Scheldt. "He hoped that Crerar could carry out all these tasks simultaneously. Given their nature and the size of First Canadian Army, the Field Marshal was being unrealistic."6
The Canadian Army would have its hands full with three major operations during late September 1944:
There is evidence to suggest that Field Marshal Montgomery was focusing the operations of his armies on the broad strategic goal of winning the war by crossing the Rhine with his single thrust concept. While the Canadians were engaged in these tasks along the Channel coast, Allied resources were concentrated into one dramatic effort to cross the Rhine River, Operation MARKET-GARDEN, launched on 17 September 1944. Canadian involvement in this Operation was minimal, and Canadian engineers played a small part in the evacuation of some of the paratroopers of the British 1st Airborne Division. Several CANLOAN officers did take part in the fighting at Arnhem.
However, the securing of the Channel Ports were not unrelated to the airborne offensive in the Netherlands:
North from Antwerp
The final two actions described in this section of the website could also be considered part of the Battle of the Scheldt.
Fighting at Wyneghem by the 5th Canadian Brigade on 21-22 September 1944 created a bridgehead over the Albert Canal, east of Antwerp. Fighting to expand the bridgehead occupied the 2nd Division from 24-29 September 1944, recognized by the Battle Honour "Antwerp-Turnhout Canal."
The line of the Antwerp-Turnhout Canal was held by the German LXVII Korps under Otto Sponheimer, consisting of three divisions, the 711th, 719th, and 346th. The first attempt to force the canal was on 23 September by the 6th Canadian Brigade. Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal and the South Saskatchewan Regiment attempted to cross by boats in front of Lochtenberg; the FMR made it across but were held up by heavy MG fire while the SSR could not make a crossing due to snipers and MGs. A second attempt under cover of smoke later in the day got the SSR across and pressing onto Lochtenberg itself. Heavy counter-attacks forced the FMR back across the canal, and the SSR were forced to withdraw. The brigade had suffered 113 casualties in the day long operation. On 28 September 1944, another attempt to cross the canal was made by the brigade, but this attack was also rebuffed.
The decision was made to move the 2nd Canadian Division through a bridgehead created on the canal by the British 49th Division. On 28 September 1944, the 5th Brigade went into action, extending the bridgehead towards St. Leonard. The Cameron Highlanders of the 6th Brigade lend assistance, but movement was slow, and Brecht, less than two miles from St. Leonard, did not fall until 1 October 1944.
While the month of September 1944 saw Allied armies liberating almost all of France, with US soldiers approaching the German border, few port facilities of significance had been wrested from the Germans. Dieppe's port was in disrepair and facilities there were not large. Other captured ports like Boulogne and Calais were badly damaged during the liberation, and other ports continued to hold out - and would, in fact, remain in German hands until May 1945. These ports were "masked" by Allied units as the armies moved on.
Significantly, First Canadian Army also captured a large proportion of German V2 Rocket sites, which had been sending high-explosives into the United Kingdom and causing significant numbers of civilian casualties.
The following Battle Honours were granted for the fighting between the Battle of Normandy and the Battle of the Scheldt: | <urn:uuid:61eeac8f-2b19-4092-afc4-d585658166bf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/history/campaigns/northwesteurope/channelports.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00048-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978361 | 1,242 | 3.609375 | 4 |
Sorry for not being explicit. I use this function to get the bit representation of a number of a given type. In the first one, for example, if value is -675.78125, then the function save the number 11000100001010001111001000000000 on the bits variable. My problem is that I try to use the same function, modified like in the second function, to produce the bit representation of a double type, but this last function doesnt produce the bit representation as expected. And I dont understand why this is so.
Thank you smac and Zaita, and thak you coder777. So, accordingly, please correct me if I'm wrong, the '>>' operator only moves the block of 32 bits to the left while the remaining 32 never change their position while doing *tem>>=1. So after the iteration of 32 times it will be only 0's. Coder777, I already did the program with your suggestion and it works perfectly. | <urn:uuid:657f5339-871a-4df0-aa88-7f0741d97c9f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/general/90058/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00041-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890557 | 202 | 2.65625 | 3 |
METHADONE DEATHS MARCH UPWARD
December 6, 2007
For some heroin addicts, methadone, the drug that is supposed to help them, is the drug that kills them, according to a report by the Justice Department's National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC).
- Deaths caused by overdoses of methadone, a synthetic narcotic dispensed to reduce heroin abuse, soared nearly 400 percent over the five years ending in 2004.
- Methadone deaths climbed to 3,849 in 2004 from 786 deaths in 1999.
- Cocaine-related deaths rose only 43 percent during the same period, to 5,461 from 3,822.
At least some of the deaths reported resulted from misuse of legitimately prescribed methadone because patients weren\'t properly counseled. Methadone should be used under the care of a physician, the report says.
"NDIC views the abuse and misuse of Methadone with concern because of a significant increase in methadone related deaths that have occurred over recent years," says Charles Miller, senior liaison for Interagency Affairs of NDIC. "Most methadone deaths are believed to be related to opioid abusers who abuse diverted methadone rather than to the use of legally obtained methadone."
Source: Shirley S. Wang, "Methadone Deaths March Upward," Wall Street Journal, December 5, 2007.
Browse more articles on Health Issues | <urn:uuid:e00746ed-6473-4d4c-9268-84f2b80a3d80> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=15331 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942708 | 297 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Missouri State University was granted a statewide mission in public affairs in 1995 when Senate Bill 340 was signed into law. The public affairs mission defines a primary way in which an education from Missouri State is different from that of other universities and one way by which we educate our students to imagine the future.
What is Public Affairs?
Three pillars of public affairs
The public affairs mission has three pillars: ethical leadership, cultural competence and community engagement.
Goal: Students will articulate their value systems, act ethically within the context of a democratic society and demonstrate engaged and principled leadership. (Adapted from the Center for Ethical Leadership)
Missouri State is preparing students for the future by helping them understand the ethical dimensions of leadership and take what they learn in the classrooms and use it to help solve problems and bring about change.
Goal: Students will recognize and respect multiple perspectives and cultures.
Missouri State helps students develop cultural knowledge in several ways. Study abroad programs, interactions with international students and opportunities to study different languages, histories and religions, help students broaden their horizons, build relationships and bring about better competition for the future.
Goal: Students will recognize the importance of contributing their knowledge and experiences to their own community and the broader society.
Goal: Students will recognize the importance of scientific principles in the generation of sound public policy.
Community engagement lets students branch out and see how the world is working through a different lens, giving them the opportunity to work with their communities and build up their ability to lead in their careers. | <urn:uuid:85bb2db4-2f89-4993-87f8-d33d2b30ea7e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/About.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00007-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950044 | 310 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Talking with Your Teen -- David Elkind, PhD
By David Elkind
What's the matter? Nothing. Where are you going? Out. Do you want to talk? No. Does this sound like typical communication between you and your teen? If so, explore these tips for starting an open and frank discussion about drugs, sex, self-esteem, and other vital issues. David Elkind, PhD, was our guest.
The opinions expressed herein are the guest's alone and have not been reviewed by a WebMD physician. If you have questions about your health, you should consult your personal physician. This event is meant for informational purposes only.
Welcome to WebMD Live, Dr. Elkind. Why do parents have such difficulty talking with their teens?
Well, a lot of reasons. I think that young people, for the first time, can realize that they can think one thing and say another, that their thoughts are private. It's a whole new level of thinking. They have a certain concern about privacy, because they realize that what they're thinking no one else is thinking. They can now think about their own thinking, and they develop a sense of privacy. So when adults ask them, it's an intrusion on their newfound privacy, on their thinking. That's one reason adolescents are more reluctant to talk than children might be. They may not be ready to share their thoughts right away.
Given their newfound sense of privacy, how do we engage them in conversation?
One way is to listen. I think sometimes we're so eager to talk we're not willing to ask. Sometimes it's more important to share. We sometimes ask questions like an interrogator. If we share some of our experiences with them, what happened in your day, adolescents might be more willing to share their thoughts. They see us as being private and not willing to share ours, so if we share ours, they may be more willing to share theirs. That's one strategy.
Ideally we begin preparing for adolescence when our children are very young, when we listen and respond, giving them opportunities for them to respond. Sharing in this way, by starting when children are small, listening to them and involving them in decision-making, we prepare the way for better communication once they become adolescents. | <urn:uuid:15f68bfe-578e-49b4-b62f-94a2303470c4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.webmd.com/parenting/talk-to-your-teen-3/teen-speak | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00099-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968103 | 465 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Summary of Cleaning and Pest Control Alternatives:
- Many cleaning and household products contain hazardous chemicals.
- Never combine two different items as contents may react in dangerous ways.
- Consider using less toxic or non-toxic alternatives as often as possible.
- Always store chemicals in a safe place and in original containers in good condition.
- Unwanted chemical products should be taken to a hazardous waste collection.
What's Inside Matters: Read Product Labels...
Ingredients from household cleaning products enter the environment by being flushed down toilets, poured down sinks, sprayed into the air, thrown into the trash, and dumped onto the ground.
Hazardous cleaning products that are landfilled or incinerated may release toxins into the environment. They can contribute to ozone layer depletion, groundwater pollution, soil contamination, and are harmful to plant and animal life.
The following hazardous ingredients should be avoided when possible:
Alkylphenol Ethoxylates (APEs) are found in personal care products, detergents, disinfectants, all-purpose cleaners and laundry cleansers. They are also found in many self-care items including spermicides, sanitary towels and disposable diapers. APEs do not biodegrade easily, and contaminate water.
Chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite) available alone and in detergents and other products, is toxic to fish and can bind with organic compounds in water to form organochlorines, which break down slowly in the environment and accumulate in the fatty tissues of wildlife.
Ether-type solvents, methylene chloride, butyl cellosive, and petroleum distillates found in oven cleaners are hazardous waste and can contaminate the air, water, and soil.
Formaldehyde, an ingredient in furniture polish and various cleaning products, is a potential human carcinogen and a known cancer-causing agent in animals.
Napthas and Mineral Spirits found in furniture polishes, are neurotoxins and considered hazardous waste. Mineral spirits break down very slowly and contaminate air and water.
Pesticides found in disinfectants are fat-soluble, making them difficult to eliminate from the body once ingested. Pesticides are designed to kill or otherwise adversely affect living organisms.
Phosphates found in dishwasher and laundry detergents cause algae bloom, which kills fish and aquatic plants. Phosphates produce chemicals that are toxic to animals and people who drink the water.
Phthalates found in furniture polish, disrupt hormone function and can cause genetic defects in both animals and humans.
Sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide in drain cleaners can change the pH of water and cause fish kills.
Trisodium nitrilotriacetate is a possible carcinogen in laundry detergents. It can disrupt the elimination of metals in wastewater treatment facilities.
Commercial air fresheners mask smells and coat nasal passages to diminish the sense of smell. Try one of these natural alternatives:
- Houseplants help reduce odors in the home.
- Place bowls of fragrant dried herbs and flowers in a room.
- Place baking soda or vinegar with lemon juice in small dishes to absorb odors.
- Place a small dish of white vinegar in the room for fresh paint odors.
- Set a sliced onion on a plate in the garage or basement for 12-24 hours to eliminate ordor from dead mice.
- Keep fresh coffee grounds on the counter.
- Simmer water and cinnamon or other spices on stove.
- Prevent cooking odors by simmering vinegar (1 tbsp in 1 cup water) on the stove while cooking.
- Grind up a lemon or orange peel in the garbage disposal.
Safer Alternatives: What You'll Need...
Natural cleaning products offer environmentally sound, cost-efficient alternatives to the toxic and potentially lethal household cleaning products.
Baking soda- (sodium bicarbonate) neutralizes acid, softens fabrics and water, cleans, deodorizes, scours and polishes metals and plastics.
Borax- (sodium borate) removes stains, deodorizes, disinfects, prevents mold/ mildew, softens water, cleans wallpaper, painted walls and floors. * Although borax is a more natural substance, its mineral crystals can endanger health and safety. Click Here to read more about the hazards of using borax.
Cornstarch- can be used to clean windows, polish furniture, shampoo carpets and rugs.
Citrus Solvent- cleans paint brushes, oil and grease, some stains. (May cause irritations for people with multiple chemical sensitivities.)
Isopropyl Alcohol- is an excellent disinfectant.
Lemon- one of the strongest food-acids, effective against most household bacteria-deodorizes, cleans glass, and removes stains.
Mineral Oil- polishes furniture.
Soap-unscented soap in liquid form, flakes, powders or bars is biodegradable and will clean just about anything. Avoid using soaps which contain petroleum distillates.
White Vinegar- cuts grease, removes mildew, odors, some stains and wax build-up.
Washing Soda- or SAL Soda (sodium carbonate decahydrate). Washing soda cuts grease, removes stains, softens water, cleans walls, tiles, sinks and tubs. Do not use on aluminum. (Washing soda can irritate mucous membranes.)
The ABC's of Cleaning Alternatives
All-Purpose Cleaner: Mix 1/2 cup vinegar and 1/4 cup baking soda (or 2 teaspoons borax) into 1/2 gallon (2 liters) water. Store and keep.
Bathroom Mold: Mix one part hydrogen peroxide (3%) with two parts water in a spray bottle and spray on areas with mold. Wait at least one hour before rinsing or using shower.
Carpet Stains: Mix equal parts white vinegar and water. Spray directly on stain, leave for several minutes. Clean with a brush or sponge using warm soapy water. Heavy duty carpet cleaning: mix 1/4 cup each of salt, borax and vinegar. Rub paste into the carpet. Leave for a few hours then vacuum.
Chopping Block: Rub a slice of lemon across a chopping block to disinfect the surface. For tougher stains, squeeze some of the lemon juice onto the spot and let sit for 10 minutes, then wipe.
Coffee and Tea Stains in cups can be removed by applying vinegar to a sponge and wiping. To clean a teakettle or coffee maker, add 2 cups water and 1/4 cup vinegar; bring to a boil. Let cool, wipe with a clean cloth and rinse thoroughly with water.
Dishwasher Soap: Mix equal parts of borax and washing soda, but increase the washing soda if your water is hard.
Dishwashing Soap: A detergent substitution is to use liquid soap. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of vinegar to the warm, soapy water for tough jobs.
Disinfectant: Mix 2 teaspoons borax, 4 tablespoons vinegar and 3 cups hot water. For stronger cleaning power add 1/4 teaspoon liquid Castile soap. Apply with dampened cloth or non-aerosol spray bottle.
Drain cleaner: Pour 1/2 cup baking soda down drain, add 1/2 cup white vinegar, and cover the drain. Wait 15 minutes and then pour 1 gallon of hot water down the drain.
Fabric softener: To reduce static cling, dampen your hands, then shake out your clothes as you remove them from the drier. Line-drying clothing is another alternative.
Floors: Most floor surfaces can be easily cleaned using a solution of vinegar and water. For damp-mopping wood floors: mix equal amounts of white distilled vinegar and water. Add 15 drops of pure peppermint oil; shake to mix.
Ink spots, pencil, crayon or marker spots can be cleaned from painted surfaces using baking soda applied to a damp sponge. Rub gently, then wipe and rinse.
Laundry Detergent: Mix 1 cup Ivory soap (or Fels Naptha soap), 1/2 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup borax. Use 1 tbsp for light loads; 2 tbsp for heavy loads.
Lime Deposits: You can reduce lime deposits in your teakettle by putting in 1/2 cup (125 ml) white vinegar and 2 cups water, and gently boiling for a few minutes. Rinse well with fresh water while kettle is still warm.
Mold and Mildew: Use white vinegar or lemon juice full strength. Apply with a sponge or scrubby.
Oil and Grease Spots: For small spills on the garage floor, add baking soda and scrub with wet brush.
Oven Cleaner: Do not use this cleaner recipe on self-cleaning ovens. Moisten oven surfaces. Use 3/4 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup salt and 1/4 cup water to make a thick paste, and spread throughout oven interior. (Avoid bare metal and any openings.) Let sit overnight. Remove with spatula and wipe clean. Rub gently with fine steel wool for tough spots.
Tub and Tile Cleaner: For simple cleaning, rub in baking soda with a damp sponge and rinse with fresh water. For tougher jobs, wipe surfaces with vinegar first and follow with baking soda as a scouring powder. (Vinegar can break down tile grout, so use sparingly.)
Rust Remover: Sprinkle a little salt on the rust, squeeze a lime over the salt until it is well soaked. Leave the mixture on for 2-3 hours. Use leftover rind to scrub residue.
Scouring Powder: For top of stove, refrigerator and other such surfaces that should not be scratched, use baking soda. Apply baking soda directly with a damp sponge.
Toilet Bowl Cleaner: Mix 1/4 cup baking soda and 1 cup vinegar, pour into basin and let it set for a few minutes. Scrub with brush and rinse. A mixture of borax (2 parts) and lemon juice (one part) will also work.
Water Rings on Wood: Water rings on a wooden table or counter are the result of moisture that is trapped under the topcoat, but not the finish. Try applying toothpaste or mayonnaise to a damp cloth and rub into the ring. Once the ring is removed, buff the entire wood surface.
Window Cleaner: Mix 2 teaspoons of white vinegar with 1 liter (qt) warm water. Use crumpled newspaper or cotton cloth to clean. Be sure to follow the recipe, because using too strong a solution of vinegar will etch glass and eventually cloud it.
Safer Products: Available for Purchase...
Switching to safer cleaning products may be as easy as a click away! Here are some websites that offer safer cleaning alternatives.
Pest Control Alternatives
Fruit Flies / Gnats: Clean surface areas and containers that are attracking pests. Place a shallow glass bowl or glass nearby, fill partially with 1/2 inch of apple cider vinegar, cover with plastic wrap or secure paper, poke small holes in the cover with toothpick or fork. Empty and refill every few days as needed and repeat.
Mice: Clean area where droppings are found. Place food or other items in hard plastic containers when possible. Set traps. Peanut butter is usually favored over cheese.
More information on a wide variety of pests: Visit Safer Pest Control Project's website for fact sheets and guides to exterminator and lawn control companies that offer non-toxic alternatives.
Click Here to download Will County's Cleaning Alternatives Brochure | <urn:uuid:625b1abc-e2f4-455f-bc93-d469dd9c05d0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.willcountygreen.com/greenguide/cleaning_alternatives_.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00164-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.876065 | 2,451 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Finding shipwrecks from the air. Can it be done? Absolutely! The first wreck I found from the air, was the Georgiana.
A book on the Confederate Navy published in the late 1800s described the armed steamer Georgiana as the most powerful Confederate cruiser. I also knew she had carried a million dollar cargo. Fascinated by her history, I had been dreaming of discovering her for years.
On March 19, 1965, the one hundred and second anniversary of her sinking, I booked still another flying lesson with the hope that the tide, currents and sunlight would be exactly right and allow me to spot the wreck from the air. My theory was that the strong currents running cross the seafloor would pick up loose silt from the muddy bottom and, as they crashed into the wreck, the muddy water would be thrust up towards the slightly clearer surface waters making a muddy but visible streak. After almost an hour of doing tight, nauseating circles back and forth about a mile off the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, I finally saw what I was after.
It was a brown plume of mud, roiling up around a huge, slightly darker mass of wreckage that I could barely make out, even though the water was fairly shallow. Less than a quarter mile offshore and further south of it, I spotted another mud plume, this time I could clearly make out the top of a ship’s boiler. Inshore of those two sites both was still a third mud plume.
Based on my research, I realized that the middle site had to be the wrecks of the Georgiana and Mary Bowers. The Bowers having run on the Georgiana, which had wrecked first, would be on top. The offshore wreck had to be the Constance Decimer, which had also struck the wreck of the Georgiana and turned offshore before sinking. Although I couldn’t make out any wreckage at the inshore site, I suspected it was the Norseman, which had also been lost by running onto the Georgiana. Her captain, realizing she was sinking had tried to beach her. Later dives from Captain Wally Shaffer’s boats would prove me right on all three sites.
Anyway, with that success behind me, I knew it could be done.
I also found that I could spot shipwrecks (and other underwater obstructions) in rivers by carefully noting the surface currents and eddies. A wreck will cause the water immediately above and downstream of to look smooth almost like the upwelling surface of a freshwater spring. We actually found lots of such obstructions this way. When you see them, pay special attention to sandbanks and log jams, as they may have been caused by an earlier wreck.
In very clear waters you can see anchors, cannons and piles of iron or stone ballast (perhaps even even piles of durable cargo such as silver bars), but the higher your vantage point the better. Several friends have used ultralight aircraft to search for wrecks, still another used a tethered balloon. But quite often, all you need to do is look from the highest point on your boat, which is why I love fishing boats with tall tuna towers, especially when working in the shallows of the Bahamas or the Caribbean. Polarizing sunglasses will also help.
On one offshore project, where we needed to search a relatively large area fast, we used an airborne magnetometer. We managed to find a number of shipwrecks, so I can assure you that method can work too. However, don’t fall for the scams by people claiming that, for the right money, they can detect gold by satellite. You would simply be throwing away your money.
Now that you know my secrets, get up in the air and start finding some shipwrecks. LOL
Fly safe and dive safe, | <urn:uuid:3f8f2b94-2a3b-4005-9feb-6c00d3026608> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://shipwrecks.com/finding-shipwrecks-from-the-air/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00144-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979128 | 790 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Putting hunger on vacation thanks to the new Summer Meals Site Finder tool.
USDA’s Summer Food Service Program, a federally-funded, state-administered program, last year served more than 187 million meals to children in low-income areas to ensure that they continued to receive proper nutrition throughout the summer when schools were closed. But that number represents just a small fraction of the children who are eligible to receive summer meals. Many families may not have taken advantage of the program because they didn’t know where meals were served near them.
That’s why this summer we here at USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service recently launched the Summer Meal Site Finder, a new web and mobile tool that allows parents, teens and children in all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, to type in their address, city, state or zip code to get a list of the summer meal sites closest to them. The tool also provides information about each of the 45,000 sites already registered for this summer, including their operating hours, contact information, and directions to each site. Read more »
Childhood Hunger in America infographic. Click to enlarge.
USDA nutrition programs help families gain access to safe, nutritious food. Still many families with children don’t have the security of knowing they will be able to feed their family tomorrow. Further, many families often rely on cheaper, less healthy foods because of financial constraints and transportation issues. USDA is working to address the intertwined challenges of hunger, malnutrition, and childhood obesity through several initiatives, including the newly announced Child Hunger Demonstration Projects and increased efforts in USDA Summer Meals Programs. Read more »
Every day, millions of students are able to enjoy a nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunch thanks to the National School Lunch Program. Everyday they’re in school, that is. But what happens to these children when school lets out during the summer? That’s when vital programs offered by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service come into play. The summer meals program defends against hunger – ensuring that millions of the most vulnerable Americans have the energy they need to perform at work and school by receiving a healthy meal or snack when school meals are not available. Those meals are served at a variety of community centers throughout the country.
In the summer of 2014, USDA set a goal of serving 10 more million meals than in the summer of 2013 through the two programs that comprise USDA’s summer meal programs: USDA’s Summer Food Service Program and the National School Lunch Program’s Seamless Summer Option. With the help of partners, elected officials, and community leaders across the country, the goal was exceeded. We now want to build on that momentum. We’ve set new goals and need your help. Read more »
Girls enjoying a healthy meal at a summer meals kick-off event.
At USDA, we value the work of the many partners who administer and support our diverse and far-reaching nutrition assistance programs. In my hometown of Chicago, an inspiring group has been meeting year-after-year to ensure that child hunger in the metropolitan area and beyond is eliminated. In this post, Illinois Hunger Coalition’s Diane Doherty explains the important work this group performs.
By Diane Doherty, Executive Director, Illinois Hunger Coalition
On a perfect summer day in June, the Illinois Hunger Coalition joined the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Catholic Charities of Chicago, the Illinois State Board of Education and other members of the Chicago Summer Food Work Group for its annual summer meals kick-off event. The event, which is part of the work group’s efforts to raise awareness and increase participation in the summer meal programs, was held this year at Armour Square Park on Chicago’s South Side. Read more »
Sarah Adler, Nevada USDA Rural Development State Director, facilitates discussion between Federal, State, food bank, and Tribal partners. Photo credit to Jenny Taylor, Nevada USDA Rural Development.
Today in Nevada more than one in four children (28 percent) live in households that cannot reliably provide nutritious meals every day. This dubious distinction makes it the state with the nation’s fourth highest rate of child hunger. And for children living on Indian reservations, the incidence of hunger may be even higher.
What does food insecurity look like on Nevada reservations? With few places to shop, reservation residents have very limited access to fresh produce. Food insecurity not only equates to a lack of nutritious foods available, but also means families must drive great distances to a grocery store. To cope, families choose more canned and frozen foods that will last until the next weekly or monthly shopping trip, which often means less consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. Read more »
Federal partnerships, like the one between USDA and the Department of Education, work to provide healthy summer meals solutions for our nation’s children.
As we approach the summer season, USDA is vigorously preparing to fill the nutrition gap faced by millions of kids across the country. While 21 million of our sons and daughters receive free and reduced-priced lunches during the school year, only a small percentage participate in the summer meals programs, leaving too many of our most vulnerable without a nutritious meal.
A new partnership between the USDA and the Department of Education seeks to transform these alarming rates of food insecurity for the better. Last week I had the pleasure of convening with Dr. Jonathan Brice, Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education in the Department of Education. This meeting was the first of the current administration, solidifying the strong partnership in summer meals and placing an emphasis on school participation. Read more » | <urn:uuid:eb7d74ca-e8d7-48cb-8cbd-28f15b158999> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.usda.gov/tag/child-hunger/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956569 | 1,158 | 2.828125 | 3 |
With U.S. forces seemingly closing in on Osama Bin Laden, the Bush administration may soon have to decide whether to execute its plan to try suspected terrorists— including American residents —before military tribunals. Just as the Bushies have invoked Abraham Lincoln's suspensions of the privilege of habeas corpus to justify their summary detentions, so they have hearkened back to the use of military tribunals in the Civil War to justify their new proposal. The big difference between the Bush plan (click here for the president's executive order) and Lincoln's plan, of course, is that while Bush intends to try mainly what the Supreme Court has called "enemy belligerents" in his military courts, Lincoln prosecuted American civilians. Still, now as then, using Army courts to try anyone but U.S. soldiers is to court the reproach of posterity.
Lincoln's Army tribunals began operating just a few months after the Civil War began. Disorder was acute in border states such as Maryland and Missouri, which remained loyal to the republic but contained many citizens who sympathized with or aided the Confederate rebels. In Maryland, Lincoln sought to quell the chaos by suspending habeas corpus (as discussed in last week's "History Lesson"). But Missouri was more intractable. In June 1861, the state's governor declared war on the Union forces even as he swore his fidelity to the United States; a month later, all-out combat had consumed the state. Union Gen. John C. Frémont imposed martial law in August.
Martial law, which Army commanders impose on populations when regular governments cease to function, is not the same as military law. According to the Articles of War passed by Congress in 1806, only members of the armed forces can be tried under military law. Once, during the War of 1812, Gen. Andrew Jackson tried a civilian journalist before a military commission, but the journalist was acquitted on the grounds that as a civilian, he wasn't subject to military justice. (Jackson, on the other hand, was fined $1,000 for contempt.) During the Mexican War, Gen. Winfield Scott made extensive use of military courts, but he obeyed the Articles of War and tried only soldiers in his own ranks who had broken laws.
Yet Frémont and his successor, Henry W. Halleck, believed (incorrectly) that they could legitimately employ military courts in Missouri because they had imposed martial law there. This belief probably stemmed from innocent confusion since, despite a Lincoln administration white paper spelling out the differences between the two concepts, few people understood them.
The defendants who came before these tribunals weren't Confederate soldiers, who, when captured, typically became prisoners of war and weren't put on trial. Rather, the defendants in military court were mainly civilians suspected of aiding the rebels. Gen. Halleck explained the rationale: In Missouri, he said, those burning bridges or buildings weren't "armed and open enemies" but "pretended quiet citizens living on their farms." These civilian rebels couldn't be treated as prisoners of war, but neither could they be entrusted to the local courts, which Halleck deemed "very generally unreliable"—not least because so many locals were likely to sympathize with the South. (International war crimes tribunals, like those used to try the Nazis at Nuremberg after World War II, weren't yet common practice.) So starting in September 1861, Missourians were prosecuted under military tribunals that Union generals established. Lincoln did nothing to deter his generals from doing as they saw fit to subdue Missouri.
Eleven months later, such tribunals were given explicit sanction to operate nationwide. In August 1862, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, on Lincoln's orders, suspended habeas corpus across the country and decreed that a range of civilian criminals and dissenters would face arrest and trial before military courts. Of the 4,000-plus military trials throughout the war, about 55 percent took place in the border states of Missouri, Maryland, and Kentucky (where the Union military maintained a strong presence and where generals wouldn't trust juries composed of locals). Roughly 32 percent occurred in the Confederate states. The rest occurred in Washington, D.C. (which was also under martial law for some of the war), and the North.
As noted, captured Confederates weren't the usual defendants since they were typically held as prisoners of war. To be sure, after the war, some Confederates were tried before military courts. One Confederate Army officer, Henry Wirz, who ran an inhumane POW camp at Andersonville, Ga., was so tried and was executed for war crimes. The men who conspired with John Wilkes Booth to assassinate Lincoln were also convicted in a military court. On the other hand, civilian courts were often deemed fit to try Confederates. Even Confederate President Jefferson Davis was tried in U.S. federal court, although after President Andrew Johnson pardoned all rebels in 1868, Davis' indictment was dismissed.
The military trials that became most controversial were those of civilians who lived in Union or border states. Their offenses—which were categorized, rather indiscriminately, as "treason," "conspiracy," "rebellion," or other similar crimes—included engaging in guerrilla warfare, spying, avoiding the draft, and even voicing disloyal opinions. These defendants often received less than full justice.
The problem wasn't that the tribunals were kangaroo courts. Staffed by military officers, they did abide by set procedures and sometimes acquitted defendants. Sentences were subject to review by senior officers, death penalties by the president himself. Lincoln himself spared many lives.
But as is typical of military justice, those procedures afforded fewer protections than those of civilian courts. Basic constitutional requirements were ignored. The Army courts had no juries, as the Constitution mandates. Nor did they require a unanimous vote to convict. A majority vote sufficed, except in capital cases, which required a two-thirds vote.
Another injustice was that Army courts were used to prosecute common thieves or liquor traffickers—purposes far from those the Lincoln administration intended. Worse, defendants were charged with crimes incommensurate with their behavior. Some who had simply shown sympathy to the Confederacy were accused of treason, a clearly inapplicable charge according to Article III, Section 3 of the Constitution, which defines treason as an "overt act" of "levying war" against the United States or of "adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort." Some were sentenced to hard labor or death, though none was ultimately executed.
The most egregious violations of civilians' rights occurred in the North, where unreliable or ill-functioning civil courts could not be used as an excuse for resorting to military justice. One famous case involved Clement Vallandigham, an Ohio Democrat, former congressman, and leading "Copperhead," or Northern opponent of the war. A double victim, Vallandigham suffered from both the suspension of habeas corpus and the rough justice of military courts.
On May 1, 1863, Vallandigham delivered a fiery anti-war speech in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in which he attacked, among others, Gen. Ambrose Burnside, the military officer in charge of the region. A short-fused Burnside ordered Vallandigham's arrest. A few nights later, troops burst into Vallandigham's house in the wee hours and carried him away. Within days, an Army court sentenced him to jail for the rest of the war. Vallandigham petitioned a federal judge for a habeas corpus writ, but the judge noted that Lincoln had suspended the privilege. Vallandigham had in fact been trying to provoke just such a result, and he knew full well that Burnside was likely to come after him. He thus achieved his purposes: attaining martyrdom for himself and throwing Lincoln on the defensive.
The controversy deepened with the case of Lambdin Milligan, whom a military court in Indiana had sentenced to death for joining a pro-Confederate secret society called the Sons of Liberty. The Supreme Court, which in 1864 had declined to rule on Vallandigham's case, agreed in 1866 to hear Milligan's. In Ex Parte Milligan, Justice David Davis, delivering a majority opinion in Milligan's favor—which four justices joined and with which four others concurred in a separate opinion—strongly rebuked the government. Davis, who had been Lincoln's friend and campaign manager, held that military tribunals had no jurisdiction over civilians. Article III of the Constitution, he noted, mandates that courts be set up by Congress, and the Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a jury trial.
Technically, the court didn't question Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus since the Habeas Corpus Act passed by Congress in 1863 had removed the pressing constitutional questions surrounding that action. But it did order the lower court to give Milligan a writ for his freedom. More important, Davis' opinion included a passage about wartime encroachments on freedoms that became a touchstone for civil libertarians ever since:
The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances. No doctrine, involving more pernicious consequences, was ever invented by the wit of man than that any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government. Such a doctrine leads directly to anarchism or despotism.
Milligan didn't prevent presidents from sending civilians to Army courts. During Reconstruction, military justice was used to suppress insurrections and punish criminals. During World War II, too, the Roosevelt administration prosecuted eight Nazi spies under military law and executed six, with Attorney General Francis Biddle deriding Milligan as a "bad case." (The administration could have held the potential saboteurs as POWs and tried them later at the war crimes tribunals.) The Supreme Court upheld FDR's action, ruling in Ex Parte Quirin that Milligan's example wasn't relevant because Milligan was not an "enemy belligerent." In essence, Quirin tried to broaden the class of those subject to military justice beyond U.S. soldiers to include hostile combatants as well—the key point on which the Bush administration today rests its case.
Nonetheless, for decades now it has been Milligan, not Quirin, thathas been considered a landmark, an eloquent articulation of the paramount need for protecting civil liberties in wartime. To be sure, presidents and attorneys general have had little use for Milligan and legally speaking, Quirin overturned, or at least modified, it. But students of history and constitutional law have consistently considered Milligan the better decision. And if Milligan hasn't deterred wartime politicians from using military justice against enemy soldiers—just as it doesn't seem apt to disturb the Bush administration's military tribunal plans today—it has seared in the record the idea that future generations will not look kindly on such actions. | <urn:uuid:14ed349a-3a57-400f-86d0-1ac176697c5c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history_lesson/2001/12/uncivil_courts.single.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00083-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976883 | 2,281 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Definitions for person of size
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word person of size
person of size(Noun)
A person who is significantly overweight.
Origin: By analogy with person of color.
The numerical value of person of size in Chaldean Numerology is: 7
The numerical value of person of size in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5
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"person of size." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2016. Web. 27 Jun 2016. <http://www.definitions.net/definition/person of size>. | <urn:uuid:db4dd29e-6fa8-46c7-8269-b816c7b4132c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.definitions.net/definition/person%20of%20size | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.749884 | 200 | 2.75 | 3 |
set theory / predicate logic math language problem
I'm seeking help with some math in a scientific paper. I'm having trouble understanding the mathematical language used in the paper. I understand some of it, but I can't seem to find a reasonable explanation of some of the symbols and hence the meaning of the math escapes me.
I refer you to the attachments to this forum post. They are screen grabs from the paper.
In definition 1 my understanding is this:
K = set of (referents , 0 element set) PIPE append ( 0 element set, y ) to K
I understand all this except for the PIPE (vertical stroke). Some math symbol references describe this as "such as" but that doesn't seem right here. Is the pipe used to separate the equation from the append operation and that in English it means "separately"?
Points 1 and 3 in the where clauses I understand however I'm stuck on 2. The PIPE character appears again:
y = R(x1,...,xn) PIPE not K PIPE if K1 then K2
What is the meaning of the PIPE and therefore what is the meaning of where clause 2?
In definition 4 I'm also having trouble. I understand the second part of clause 1 (ie. "if and only if the domain of g equals the union of domain of f and U") however the first part I'm lost.
Also there are parts of clause 2 I don't understand such as the first part and the circle in the second part.
Any help in translating this stuff into English would be much appreciated!
I'm happy read some reference material to understand this stuff but I don't even know what it's called. What kind math is this? Where can I learn more about it?
Some notes about the paper: DRS means discourse representation structure; the math in the paper contains set theory and predicate logic (both of which I am OK with).
For your interest, the paper is called "Segmented Discourse Representation Theory" and is about a computer program being able to understand natural language. | <urn:uuid:cea108ed-69ef-48c4-ab63-fdb3d2b3f66d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mathhelpforum.com/discrete-math/165545-set-theory-predicate-logic-math-language-problem-print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00017-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958247 | 440 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. King has become a national icon in the history of American progressivism
In Celebration of Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. Day! here are a few great songs for Dr.King.
Outkast “Back of the Bus”
Jay Z/Kid CuDi ” I have a Dream” MLK speech remixed
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FOLLOW ME, Kristen K, on Facebook/Twitter: radioonekristen | <urn:uuid:9dbd26c4-a18e-4396-9b0d-b0a4990a873c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://wiznation.com/1214866/celebration-of-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-songs-for-him/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00057-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895335 | 156 | 2.671875 | 3 |
“How do you know? Were you there?” is a summary dismissal of evolution and “Old Earth” science favoured by many creationists — who weren’t there either. It is a form of escape hatch. The idea is that if we cannot personally verify what we’ve inferred from evidence, then we cannot be certain of facts and theories when it comes to describing the world as it was millions of years ago, therefore the world must be young. The argument is indexed as TalkOrigins claim CA221.
When considering historical evidence, first-hand accounts (primary sources) are generally taken as better evidence than second or third-hand accounts and those written down long after the fact. However, this is a mere guideline and the first-hand accounts can often be subject to greater bias. “How do you know? Were you there?” presumes that only first-hand, eyewitness testimony is reliable – and so it is invalid to make inferences about things beyond our immediate observations.
This assumption is notably odd given our attitudes to personal accounts in other areas of life. In a court of law, eyewitness testimony is considered relatively weak evidence compared to physical evidence (e.g., from DNA or CCTV footage) because human memory is provably terrible, people can lie, exaggerate or forget events, and contradictions can mount when multiple stories conflict. It is also very unlikely that one would believe extraordinary claims by word-of-mouth and an eyewitness statement alone. Therefore it is not valid to say that, because someone was not personally present, they cannot make a very informed and very accurate appraisal of a situation given other evidence.
The obvious problem with the argument is that anyone using this argument also wasn’t there to see the event. But compare to holy books: how does the believer using this statement know that it is eyewitness testimony when they weren’t there when the testimony was given? Indeed, who could have even been the eyewitnesses during creation week?
The phrase is a self-contradicting, thought-terminating cliché. Much of our knowledge is about things which are too big or too little, too fast or too slow, too distant or otherwise inaccessible, to be directly observed. Indeed, the real power of science comes from our ability to know and reason about things that are directly and indirectly observable through instruments that are much better calibrated for the intended observation than the unaided eye. This is how scientific theories work: by building up a chain of causality from what the theory predicts, to what indirect evidence it produces and then what direct evidence that indirect evidence will manifest as. This can be looking at fossils to gather evidence about what creatures lived millions of years ago, or it can be looking at what lines and squiggles will appear on a computer screen to show the existence of the Higgs boson.
In June 2011, Ken Ham was most pleased over one of his school-age followers asking the “were you there” question of a NASA scientist who was talking about multi-million year old Moon rock. Ham himself was very smug over the situation, stating how atheists always went ballistic over incidents like this — although most atheists, freethinkers and rationalists view Ken Ham’s brainwashing of young children to be outright horrifying. PZ Myers wrote a lengthy open letter to Emma B, the girl in question, covering in detail exactly how the scientist did know. He sums up the main problem with the “were you there?” component of this loaded question:
One serious problem with the “Were you there?” question is that it is not very sincere. You knew the answer already! You knew that woman had not been to the moon, and you definitely knew that she had not been around to see the rock forming 3.75 billion years ago. You knew the only answer she could give was “no,” which is not very informative.
The take-home message from this is simple: “how do you know?” is far more interesting than “were you there?”. Naturally, Ham lost his shit over this.
When teaching children, we tell them they should politely ask the question “Were you there?” when talking to someone who believes in millions of years and molecules-to-man evolution. If someone replies by asking the same question, as you have done, we say, “No we weren’t there, but we know Someone who was there, Someone who cannot lie, who knows everything, and has always existed. And this One has revealed to us what happened in the past in His history book called the Bible. Are you interested in reading God’s history book to find out what the Word of One who was there tells us about the true history of the world?”
We can count up the false arguments here. Firstly, it offers no actual proof, merely argument by assertion. Secondly, it still conflates actual evidence with hearsay and uncorroborated eyewitness testimony — whether it’s God, Jesus or the myriad authors of the Bible — this alone proves nothing. Thirdly, it’s simple special pleading that their indirect evidence is right but a scientist’s isn’t. Fourthly, it’s just a plain and simple cop-out akin to “my mate Dave down the pub said …”.
Alternately, we can respond by asking what they are asking (again): “How do you know that the special ‘Someone’ possess all these attributes? Were you there to witness the Bible being written?” | <urn:uuid:9c15fc3e-6661-4bd0-9da6-13a6a9bea540> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://rationalblogs.org/rationalwiki/2013/04/20/how-do-you-know-were-you-there/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00045-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964235 | 1,163 | 3.75 | 4 |
Scrabble word: ENDED
In which Scrabble dictionary does ENDED exist?
Definitions of ENDED in dictionaries:
- verb - have an end, in a temporal, spatial, or quantitative sense
- verb - bring to an end or halt
- verb - be the end of
- verb - put an end to
- adj - having come or been brought to a conclusion
There are 5 letters in ENDED: D D E E N
Scrabble words that can be created with an extra letter added to ENDED
All anagrams that could be made from letters of word ENDED plus a wildcard: ENDED?
Scrabble words that can be created with letters from word ENDED
Images for ENDED
SCRABBLE is the registered trademark of Hasbro and J.W. Spear & Sons Limited. Our scrabble word finder and scrabble cheat word builder is not associated with the Scrabble brand - we merely provide help for players of the official Scrabble game. All intellectual property rights to the game are owned by respective owners in the U.S.A and Canada and the rest of the world. Anagrammer.com is not affiliated with Scrabble. This site is an educational tool and resource for Scrabble & Words With Friends players. | <urn:uuid:d42c80cd-ca87-40f7-bb74-fc49df21c149> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.anagrammer.com/scrabble/ended | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00026-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900446 | 277 | 2.609375 | 3 |
This highly finished drawing is a design for a tomb by the French academician and sculptor Augustin Pajou (1730-1809). Dated to 1761, the drawing is executed with pen and wash and heightened with white gouache, and is signed and dated by the artist in the lower right corner. This tomb design is an innovative composition that presents a novel outlook on death and the afterlife in eighteenth-century France.
The tomb was designed for Charles-Louis-Auguste Fouquet ( 1684 – 1761), Maréchal de Belle-Isle. The Maréchal was the grandson of Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV’s ill-fated Superintendent of Finance, now remembered as the creator of the opulent Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte. Unlike Fouquet, the Maréchal enjoyed an illustrious military and political career under Louis XV, serving as commander-in-chief of the French troops in the Bohemian campaign (1741-43) and ultimately serving as the Secretary of War. The writer and philosopher Voltaire especially admired Belle-Isle’s abilities as a commander and as a statesman, and incorporated Maréchal’s dispatches in writing his Histoire de la guerre de 1741.
In Pajou’s design, the Maréchal , dressed in neoclassical armor, stands on a platform up a flight of stairs. His wife receives him to the left and his son, the Comte de Gisors, kneels to the right—their poses inspired by baroque catafalques. While the Maréchal’s wife wears a shroud, the Comte de Gisors is dressed all’antica. Both predeceased Belle-Isle and the two figures replace the Christian allegorical figures that would normally be in their places according to conventions of tomb design. In the background, the angel of death holds a scythe and closes the door to the sepulchral chamber to indicate that the Maréchal is the last of his line to die. In the lower right, the club of Hercules, Roman cuirass and martial trophies emphasize the military heritage of the family, while the open book and the olive branch in the left foreground symbolize peace that follows war. Smoking braziers in the foreground give the tomb a pictorial atmosphere. The central tablet reads “Dis Manibus” (To the Spirits of the Dead/Departed) and the tablet to the side reads, “Dom : deo optimo maximo”(To god the greatest good). In the lower register, the text can be translated as, “Project for a Tomb for the Maréchal de Belle Isle/ Allegory, the Maréchale enters a sepulchral chamber where the tombs of his wife and his son, the Comte de Gisors are. Both dead before him.” The captions and the composition together reveals that Pajou has created an imaginary architectural space not privy to the living—a glimpse inside the sepulchral chamber for the dead spirits.
This tomb was not realized due to the debts in the Marechal’s estate. Pajou likely designed this tomb on speculation and in fact, the arms at the top of the drawing are not those of Belle-Isle. Pajou exhibited this drawing at the Salon of 1765, where the art critic and connoisseur, Denis Diderot was dismissive, writing “M. Pajou, Give it a sepulchral and lugubrious air if you want me to say something good about it.” Diderot’s criticism can be attributed to Pajou’s audacious conception of the underworld and his bold composition that takes the tragic extinction of a family line as its main theme. Pajou’s design negotiates traditional visual imagery with innovative narratives and appears at a transitional moment when Enlightenment ideals influenced representations of death and the afterlife.
Cabelle Ahn is a graduate intern in the Department of Drawings, Prints and Graphic Design at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. She received her MA in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art and is currently studying eighteenth century decorative arts at the Bard Graduate Center. | <urn:uuid:070cf12f-5f59-43fb-b0b4-95c91cd21dd1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cooperhewitt.org/2014/08/12/behind-deaths-door-augustin-pajous-tomb-design/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00155-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9303 | 898 | 2.984375 | 3 |
|The following is based on Van Buren and has not been confirmed by canon sources.|
Repudiate the downtrodden, the oppressed, and the persecuted, but know well that the Children of the Wasteland shall inherit the Promised Earth.”— Willem Clark
The Reservation, formerly known as the Los Alamos Nuclear Testing Facility, was a top secret military and nuclear research facility before the bombs dropped. It was tasked with developing and building the nuclear missiles that went into the B.O.M.B. satellites. The Reservation was nestled deep in the rocky hills of northern New Mexico where the U.S. government felt that no enemy satellites or spies would ever think to look. But nuclear bombs and missiles don't usually discriminate. During the flurry of falling bombs and missiles from the holocaust, the area around and near the Reservation was annihilated – it would seem that someone had a hunch about the Reservation's whereabouts. However, even though the area around the Reservation was destroyed and rendered radioactive, the Reservation itself remained relatively intact thanks to most of the facility being underground. In fact, many people who worked at the Reservation survived the attacks, but over time many succumbed to radiation poisoning and died. Out of fifteen-hundred people who were at the underground facility when the bombs fell, only forty "survived," and eventually became ghouls. Due to fear, these "survivors" did not venture out of their impromptu bomb shelter for nearly ten years.
After about a decade of lollygagging about within the maze-like corridors of The Reservation's sub-levels, the surviving ghouls eventually ventured topside. It was then that about a dozen ghouls were tasked with braving the radioactive wasteland and seek out other "survivors." Among these brave ghouls was Dr. Willem Clark, a lead Reservation scientist and part time thrill seeker (in his smooth-skin days). Willem eagerly hit the wastes not only to seek out other survivors, but also to see what could be salvaged. Of the twelve ghouls who went into the wastes, Willem was the only one to return after almost a year. Willem was accompanied by fifty or so other ghouls that he found in his travels; ghouls who wanted a safe place to live, away from not only the hardships of the wasteland, but also away from the persecution ghouls experienced from smooth skin humans.
Willem's return was celebrated among the ghouls, but Willem himself was unable to celebrate. He witnessed first hand the prejudice and reprehensible treatment ghouls received in the wastes, and he vowed to make a difference. With near religious fervor, he proclaimed the Reservation a sanctuary for what he called the Children of the Wastelands; the ghouls. He preached his version of the truth about ghouls and their rightful place as rulers of the Promised Earth. Willem became the unchallenged leader of the growing ghoul community and mandated that all the knowledge and research that was archived and stored in the Reservation's libraries and laboratories should further the ghouls' cause. Research once again blossomed in the Reservation, and over the course of nearly two centuries, weapons and war materials were hacked together to one day not only beat back what they thought would be an inevitable invasion by smooth-skins, but eventually to overtake and conquer the "chosen peoples'" lands.
The Reservation ghouls are not planning an immediate invasion, at least not yet, but are actually a very paranoid group that believes it is inevitable that either the smooth-skins or the mutants will invade their precious facility and try to wipe out the ghouls. This paranoia feeds the ghouls' desire to scavenge, create, and build new weapons with whatever they can find in the "gold-mine" of a research facility. In addition, the labyrinth of underground tunnels makes hiding the ghouls' accomplishments and numbers from prying eyes easy. In fact, the casual passer-by on the surface of the Reservation would only see one ruined one-story office buildings, two dilapidated aircraft hangers with decaying aircraft, and maybe two dozen ghouls meandering about. Surrounding this decaying mess is a large stretch of barbed wire and sheet metal (probably from destroyed planes in the hangers) that keeps trespassers away and the ghouls on the surface feeling a tad safer. No other organization or faction is aware that deep underground this ruined community there is a multitude of ghouls working, researching, creating, and living in paranoid harmony (and armed to their rotting teeth).
One of Willem Clark's immediate plans is to find a way to disable a potential threat to the Reservation. On the third level of the Reservation, there is a powerful gun called a Nuclear Nellie, capable of firing a nuclear shell some thirty miles away. However, Willem lacked sufficient uranium to make a complete nuclear weapon, so he used what was left to make a dirty bomb. He figures that a dirty bomb delivered in the heart of an enemy's town will be enough to devastate their growth. This type of bomb, Willem felt, would buy enough time for he and his ghouls to increase their combat prowess, and, more importantly, find a source of uranium so he can build actual nuclear weapons to complete the process of turning the Earth into his Promised Earth.
Since the area surrounding the Reservation is highly radioactive, the only safe way to approach the makeshift surface community by a human is with a lot of Rad-X, or a radiation suit. Since there is trade on the surface, the player would be able to come across traders who sell radiation suits, or the player could mug a group of traders for their suits – it's up to the player. When the makeshift gate guards are approached by someone wearing a radiation suit, the ghouls will be civil, but not warm (civil enough to find out what the hell you want). Mention that you're here for trade and they will let you into a holding area just big enough for perhaps two-dozen people. Here the player will find a couple of old husks of Army trucks posing as trade tents, an actual tent used for slave trading, and about a three ghouls to communicate with and trade. No sightseeing allowed.
Trading Post LocationsEdit
The Trading Post is pretty much the only locale non-ghouls will ever see of the Reservation; that is, any free non-ghoul. The ten-foot outer wall is comprised of steel paneling from automobiles, tanks, helicopters, and whatever other metal siding the ghouls could find, and meshes into the surrounding jagged, rocky hills. It literally looks like a junkyard exploded to form this wall, but it is effective in keeping out undesirables, especially when the two Gatling gun towers are taken into consideration.
Another natural (depends how you look at it, really) safeguard against intruders is the high level of radiation in the area. During the big war, several nuclear bombs fell within five miles of the Reservation, but never actually hit it. Because of this, the region still glows with radioactivity even after two-hundred years. Also, since this region is still highly radioactive, all non-ghouls visiting the Trading Post must either wear a radiation suit or be stocked to the gills with Rad-X and Rad-Away. Failure to do so will result in high doses of radiation, sickness, and death within a week.
If the gate guards deem the player worthy of trading (and most likely they will since they always seem to be interested in new folks who might have something interesting to offer, especially services), they will allow the player entrance into the Trading Post, but nowhere else. Upon entering, the player will see two beat-to-hell husks of what used to be Army supply trucks. Mended with spit and gum (some places literally), the cargo beds and tarps now serve as makeshift stores. The store to the north is run by a ghoul named Hank. Hank is a friendly enough ghoul who seems to be in complete social contrast to the surly ghoul guards at the gates and looming inside the Trading Post. Hank's little shop specializes in weapons and ammo, and seems to have a very good supply of both. As it turns out, Hank is the master weapons smith of the Reservation and oversees all scavenging of materials, and manufacturing and forging. If Hank doesn't have the conventional weapon the player wants, it might not exist anywhere else in the wasteland.
Hank is also accompanied by a human female dressed in a radiation suit who seems to be doing the brunt of the physical work. As it turns out, this female is Jillian McKinley, one of the escaped prisoners and current slave for Hank. It seems that Jillian was an exceptional mechanic and had a gift when dealing with guns and ammo. The ghouls were impressed with her abilities in this capacity and gave her to Hank. Hank eagerly accepted the help and quickly grew fond of Jillian. Over the course of a few months, this fondness turned into a crush, though he never made any advances on Jillian knowing that a beautiful, smooth skin woman would never shack up with a drippy, smelly ghoul (and he'd be right, in this case). However, Jillian does not mind working for Hank, as slavery goes, especially since the alternative was too horrible to imagine. This horrible alternative is something the player can investigate further, if he so chooses.
The store to the south is run by Betty, a female ghoul who has a way with armor, if not congeniality. She does not like humans and likes even less that she must deal with them in order to trade. In addition, her surly attitude is coupled with the fact that she has a crush on Hank. She might actually act on the crush, but his affection towards Jillian is so obvious that she just does not see the worth in trying. Normally she would just kill the human, but Jillian is Hank's property and Betty would be kicked out of the Reservation if she did.
On the east side of the Trading Post is a large Army tent. This tent is used specifically for slave trading and is run by a very intimidating ghoul named Horatio. Before becoming a ghoul, it looks like Horatio must have been a very large athlete of some sort, something akin to a football interior lineman or professional wrestler. In either case, it looks like a lot of the size carried over to his present ghoul form. Horatio mainly stays inside the Army tent where he can watch over his newest slave acquisitions and bargain with the members of Caesar's Legions, the main suppliers of the slaves. A large bargaining table rests on the south side of the tent, and along the eastern wall are two cabinets filled with Rad-X and Rad-Away, which will be used on the purchased slaves before taking them into the Reservation proper. At different times during the day, the north end of the tent is occupied by sickly slaves suffering from radiation exposure. Also at different times in the day, the slaves are taken through the heavily guarded Town Gate in the north, never to be seen again.
Some things get better with time; the Reservation Town is not one of those things. Upon entering through the homemade steel gate, it becomes apparent that the Reservation, though it missed most of the Big War and the after affects, it did not miss all of it. The player is immediately walking through chunks of debris that looks every bit the two-hundred years it is. The asphalt road that goes north and west is cracked, bleached from sand and sun, and full of potholes, some of them as big as a car. On this road can be found several abandoned husks of what were once fine quality jeeps, cars (with 50' wings, no less), and a couple of tanks here and there. With a bit of close examination, the player can find that a lot of parts have been salvaged from these abandoned vehicles, but for what use, that's a mystery – for now.
Going west, the player will run into two helicopter hangers that are pretty much destroyed. There's not much to look at here, except the careful scavenger might find some useful parts from the helicopter wreckage there. There are some ghouls living in the less exposed sections of the hangers, but for the most part, these are just big ruins.
To the east, after entering the town proper is a dilapidated office building. Several sections have caved in from either an old bomb blast or time – or both. However, in the offices that have not collapsed, several ghouls have taken up residence. All the ghouls here are very standoffish, and will try to avoid conversation. All, that is, except for Florence, a very old ghoul who was old even when she was human before the bombs dropped. Florence was the disgruntled janitor for the office building, but the day the bombs fell she was in sub-level 1 cleaning a particularly stubborn commode. "Luckily" for her, she survived the war, but became even more cantankerous over the last couple of centuries. However, even though she is a fungus-grump, she is more than willing to chat the player's ear off (if she isn't tempted to eat it). If the player gained access to the town proper through sneaking, Florence is a good primary source for the player to discover how to get into Sub-level 1.
Down the dusty road and further into the Reservation Town, the player will come across a true shanty town, complete with holey, rank tents and holey, rank ghouls living in them. In the center of this shanty town is a large Army tent occupied by the commander of the Reservation guards, Colonel Green. The Colonel is another ghoul who was around when the bombs first dropped. He was assigned security duty at the Reservation and was in Sub-level 2 when the war started. He will not give away any information about the sub-levels, but he will speak to the player to find out his/her intent. However, if the player sneaks into the town proper, he and his men will immediately try to capture the player to find out how he/she got in, and how the ghouls could make good use of the player. It's up to the player to decide if he/she wants to go along with being captured.
The last stop for the player is at the railroad cars, Main Access Elevator, and Equipment Lift. This area is heavily guarded by the ghouls and would represent quite the challenge for the sneaky player type. In fact, sneaking into the elevator and using it is pretty much impossible without the guards noticing. If the player gets captured, he will be brought before Measles and questioned, in which case, depending on how cooperative the player is being, Measles will contact Dr. Willem Clark, via direct comm. link, and consult. Negotiations can start from this point.
Based on either the negotiations or the player's actions within the Trading Post, there are several ways the player can get authorized access to the sub-levels - which will be explored in more detail in the Quests section. But as a primer, a couple of ways is to foil a scam being placed on Horatio by a Caesar's Legion slave trader. Another way is to turn in Hank for being a dissenter. And another way is to seek out and kill a caravaner who managed to steal some shotguns, ammo, and a couple of human slaves. Bringing back his head and the loot will make Measles very pleased, who will in turn contact Willem Clark about the deed. Willem Clark finds it interesting that a human would care so much as to help ghouls, so he decides to meet with the player. Measles will then escort the player to Sub-Level 1 and introduce the player to Willem Clark through the General Computer. Only a mouth appears in the computer monitor (obviously Willem's), and the owner of the chewed up mouth will ask some questions of the player. It is here that Willem will offer Measles as a companion and will give the player access to Sub-Level 2, the level where all the ammo and arms are manufactured.
If the player gains access to the sub-levels, this is more than likely his first stop. Built pretty much like a typical vault, this level is the main sleeping area for the sub-level ghouls. This level is clean, crisp, and very well taken care of, unlike the Reservation Town. The contrast between the two should be somewhat shocking. The floors of the level are sparkling, the walls show no sign of wear, and the sleeping quarters are very well maintained, with two beds each and toilets in pristine condition. Depending on the time of day, half the beds and/or rooms will be occupied by ghouls in clean white lab coats, and the other half of the rooms will not. In addition, each room will have two chests for the ghouls to store stuff.
Conversation is pretty limited here to just floats and such, except for Marty. Marty is a disillusioned ghoul who has the same type of thinking that Hank has; all is not right in paradise. If Marty feels like he can trust the player, he will divulge some of the things he's working on. One of those things is the assembly of dirty bombs on sub-level 3. The player will get the opportunity to eventually help or hinder Willem Clark and his diabolical plans based on info from Hank and Marty. Of course, one of the best ways to earn trust from Measles is to snitch on Marty about his rebellious thoughts, but I'll get into more detail in the quests section.
In addition to speaking to Marty, the player can hack into the General Computer on this level and find out little tidbits about the Nuclear Nellie, the dirty bombs, and just the very slightest hint at the ghoul procreation experimentation.
Once the player has access to Sub-Level 2, he will have access to mechanics labs engineered for weapon, armor, and ammo-smithing. However, the player may be in for a bit of shell shock once he enters Sub-Level 2. This level is very dirty, akin to an early 19th century English machine factory. The floors and walls are covered with soot and the air is a thick fog of mixed fumes generated by large boilers and burners. Evidently there is not a good air filtration system on Sub-Level 2, not that the ghouls would really need one. The player would be wise to use a gas mask down here (radiation is not as big a factor as on the surface. The sub-levels were well enough insulated during the Big War to keep out most of the radiation from above, but obviously not all).
However, the people who do need protection from the fumes are the human slaves working in the large, but smog congested smithing rooms. All of them have scarf-like materials wrapped around their faces as a weak form of protection, though every one of them frequently coughs. Though one might expect to see a few large slaves handling the brunt of the shoveling, the opposite is true. All the slaves lurking about are quite frail. At first assumption, one might think that their frailness is a result of long term exposure to the level's fumes and poor treatment of the slaves. However, a bit of investigation will reveal that all the working slaves are usually the weakest of the crop purchased. Evidently, the strongest human slaves are carted off to a room that emits a strange green glow through the door cracks on Sub-Level 3A slave or two may mention that at night, when they are resting in their holding cell, that they can hear screams coming down the hall where the "Green Room" is.
The first room the player will run into is the firing range directly north. It looks like a standard indoor firing range, except for the filth, comes complete with three ranges and, at any given time, a couple of ghoul guards trying out a new conventional firearm. Since the guards have a bit of an ego, they are anxious to challenge the player to a contest of skills. Best of ten shots at the maximum distance in the range wins the contest (prize is TBD).
To the northeast of the level is a large room used for armor manufacturing. Inside, there are two large furnaces next to makeshift anvils and tables. A couple of ghouls bang away at stretching leather and forming metal to make suits of armor. Several slaves toil away at moving around the scrap materials and shoveling coal into the furnaces from large piles of coal along the northern wall.
Just south of the armor-smithing room is the weapon and ammo-smithing room. It looks very similar to the armor smithing room, except that there a lot of medium sized crates filled with ammo and guns (a lot for the FO3 world, anyways). One side is filled with crates of non-functioning weapons, and another, guarded by four ghoul guards, is filled with functioning guns and ammo, though this side is much smaller than the non-functioning side. The two weapon smith ghouls toil away at dismantling the non-working guns to either piece together the different parts into a functioning weapon, or melt down the metal to forge new components. The slaves cart coal from the stockpile in the armor smith and shovel it into the furnaces in the weapon smith facility. Again, these slaves are frail and look like they are going to keel over at any moment. Even though the slaves are frail, the floating toxins do not help their health conditions. The slaves rarely live longer than a couple of years before the toxins kill them. The player will have the opportunity to either find proper gas masks or devise a makeshift air filtration system.
Running the whole show on Sub-Level 2 is Milt the Foreman. He can be found walking from room to room, making sure things are running smoothly. He's a no-nonsense ghoul who tells it like it is, and he'll waste no time telling the player what he thinks of human scum. In any event, Milt will serve as a focus point to augment current weapons and armor for the player to make them more deadly, provided the player has the blessing of Dr. Willem Clark. If not, he'll call the guards and they will lay the smack down!
There's also a Chem Lab on this level where the player can use the chem.-mechanic's table to concoct stim packs, Rad-Away, and other such things. There is a science techy in here every once in a while, but he only comes in to get supplies and such – nothing to buy here. But if the player follow said techy, he will see that he takes a different elevator than the one the player came. This elevator is the only way to Sub-Level 3 and its big mysteries.
There's also the requisite sleeping chambers for the ghoul workers, as well as a bathroom/locker-room complete with lockers for the player to pick.
The last place of note on this level is the Incinerator Room. Periodically during a given day, a techy will come up from Sub-Level 3 with a large, covered trash can. He will head into the Incinerator room and dump the contents into the very large incinerator. The player may try to investigate the ashes and such around the incinerator to determine what was thrown in there. A good Perception will uncover human bone in the ash.
Sub-Level 3 used to be the meat and potatoes of the Reservation back in the day. Little has changed in that regard. While Sub-Level 2 maintains manufacturing of armor and arms for trade on the surface, the true research and development, and the means by which Willem Clark fulfills his dream, occurs on Sub-Level 3.
The only way for the player to access this level is through the southern elevator on Sub-Level 2. The use of this elevator requires the visual approval of Willem Clark himself. The player's options to gain entry are to earn the trust of Willem Clark through completing quests, going Rambo and killing everyone topside and the first two sub-levels – this brings Willem and his cronies to the player for a final showdown, and by doing this Willem forgets to reset the security on the elevator - , or the final way is to sneak down the elevator using deception. However, since Willem visually checks everyone in and out of the elevator through a heavily protected camera over the elevator, and he is personally familiar with all who works for him, the player would need a very high Deceive skill to pull off the scam.
As Sub-Level 1 is sharply contrasted in appearance and feel to Sub-Level 2, so is Sub-Level 3 to both previous levels. Not only is Sub-Level 3 very clean and tidy, but it is also eerily dark and cold, both figuratively and literally. The halls are permanently lit by red power back-up lights, and the purple glow of the force field at the end of the hall accentuates the dark mood. During the daylight hours, the entire level is deathly silent, save for the hum of the force fields. During the night, inconsistent screams of terror and pain can be heard coming from within a room; a room known to the slaves only as the "Green Room."
The first room to the right from the elevator in Sub-Level 3 is a long room consisting of three smaller rooms. The rooms are regular, square rooms each with a single bed and a cabinet against the wall. If the player has entered this area during the day, the rooms will be empty. However, at night the rooms will be occupied by their respective owners getting ready for a good night's rest. These rooms, as it turns out, belong to the successful results of the ghoul procreation experiments. Like Measles, these three ghouls are born ghouls. However, only Belle will give the player the time of day, the other two will brush the player off.
- Reservation Town
- Reservation Town Gate
- Dilapidated Helicopter Hangers
- Decrepit Office Building
- Central Street
- Shanty-Town Shacks
- Railroad and Railcars
- Equipment Lift & Main Access Elevator
- Reservation Trading Post
- Trading stores
- Slave trading tent
- Trading Reservation Main Gate
- Gatling Gun Towers
- Reservation Town Gate
- Dr. Willem Clark
- Jillian McKinley
- Colonel Green
- Caius Drusus
- Dr. Sebastian
- Milt the Foreman
- Learn the Scaven-picker's gibberish language
- Teach the Scaven-pickers to make their own Rad-X
- Learn the Scaven-picker's unarmed fighting style, "Powpapa"
- Learn the Scaven-picker's melee fighting style, "Shinkpapa"
- Eliminate the Scaven-picker pests
- Sell "smooch" to the Scaven-pickers
- Gain entrance into the Reservation Town
- Hook up Betty and Hank by freeing (acquiring) Jillian
- Acquire Jillian
- Player acquires Measles as a companion
- The trouble with Florence
- Colonel Green's Quest; or "How the hell do I get into the Sub-levels" quest
- Smooch dealer
- Blackmail Marty
- Fetch the cable for the heavy lift
- Get Hermes XIII launch codes
- Fix air filtration device
Behind the scenesEdit
- This area was designed by Damien Foletto. | <urn:uuid:904a5db6-632e-454b-a5ca-a7195560d2db> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Los_Alamos | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00022-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969273 | 5,772 | 2.625 | 3 |
Survey genocide resources on curricula, scholarship, primary source documents, eyewitness accounts, literature, culture, and history.
Gain new insight into the geography of the Armenian Genocide by viewing a series of specialized maps.
Learn about video documentaries and other multimedia resources designed to introduce students and adult audiences to the Armenian Genocide and its aftermath.
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Get answers to frequently asked questions about the Armenian Genocide. | <urn:uuid:7b609470-f6a4-4421-9c9a-68e28aeb7915> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.armenian-genocide.org/education.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00090-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.878953 | 130 | 3.34375 | 3 |
The monkshood plant is an herbaceous wildflower that can be found growing in mountain meadows throughout the northern hemisphere. The plant gets its name from the shape of the posterior sepal of the flowers, which resembles the cowls worn by monks. Also known as wolfsbane and Aconitum, monkshood has become popular as a garden addition because of its purple/blue flowers and attractive foliage.
Aconitum Monkshood Info
Growing 2 to 4 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide, perennial monkshood is best grown as a background plant. The leaves of the monkshood plant are palmate, meaning hand shaped, with lobed “fingers” that often have toothed edges and vary in color from light to dark green. In late summer or early fall, it sends up showy spires of purple/blue flowers. Species of Aconitum monkshood with white or yellow flowers are available, though not as common.
Monkshead is not invasive and is both deer and rabbit resistant. However, monkshood, or wolfsbane, is moderately difficult to grow and once planted, doesn’t like to be moved so the best way to grow monkshood is to choose your spot carefully. It sometimes takes a while for it to become established.
What Is the Best Way to Grow Monkshood
The best way to grow monkshood is to plant it in soil similar to what it grows in when wild, that is, average and moist, but well drained. If the soil is too rich, the plants will become leggy and if it holds too much water, the fragile roots will drown.
Perennial monkshood prefers sun, but can tolerate some shade and grows well in USDA plant hardiness zones 3 to 7, where the summer is not too hot. The hotter the summer, the more shade it needs, but beware; the more shady the area, the more likely your monkshood plant will need staking. Try a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade for best results.
If you must move your plants or propagate new ones, perennial monkshood can be divided, but the results are not always successful. If you must transplant, do it in early spring or late fall. Carefully tease the fragile roots apart and replant the crowns just below the soil surface.
The best way to grow monkshood yourself is by seed. The seed should be just barely ripe to avoid a long dormancy and it’s best to sow too many rather than too few because the germination rate is low unless conditions are perfect.
Aconitum plants are readily available through catalogs and may be listed as either monkshood or wolfsbane and as its popularity increases, you’ll see more of them at your local garden centers. Please, for the health of our environment and the beauty of nature, do not attempt to dig up a monkshood plant you have found growing wild.
A Warning About Aconitum Monkshood
All members of the genus Aconitum, monkshood included, are poisonous. In fact, wolfsbane, that other common name, came about from using the ground root of perennial monkshood in meaty bait to kill the once hated animals. It should never be grown within reach of children or pets and all parts of the plant are toxic, including the sap, so appreciate its beauty in the garden and not as a cut flower.
To prevent absorption through the skin, wear gloves when you are gardening around monkshood. In the case of the monkshood plant, beauty comes with a price. Please be careful. | <urn:uuid:40ef15fc-c243-4a21-8411-305c2e3528f0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/monkshood/growing-monkshood-plants.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00170-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950204 | 743 | 2.796875 | 3 |
In the movie Inside Job, one person interviewed says the current U.S. government is now a “Wall Street government” because of the revolving door between the financial services industry and those that regulate the industry. This means that those in power are on the side of Wall Street. The same can be said for Monsanto, which is really a chemical company. Key figures in the regulatory bodies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have, according to Rense.com, “held important positions at Monsanto” before working in those regulatory bodies or have held them “after their biotech related regulatory work for the government agency.” As a result, the government has become one with Monsanto in terms of favorable policy. The reason for this collusion was hinted at in Clifford D. Corner’s book, A People’s History of Science. Corner pointed out that government is often in collusion with those they are regulating.
The problems of Monsanto have been highlighted by activists especially with the prominence of the internet in social activism. But, the real focus on genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) and genetically-modified (GM) food began a while ago. Simply, GMOs can be defined as new organisms created by altering DNA of existing organisms; an attempt to make an organism desirable. More and more people are concerned about GMOs because the effects on health are unknown, they could create super-bacteria, such organisms could be allergic to certain genes and it is possible all foods could become toxic. In the movie, Food Inc., one farmer cleaned his seeds of GMOs (he grew non-GMO crops, but everyone around him had them) and was sued by Monsanto for supposedly violating their patent.
In recent times, these problems have not been solved because of the revolving door with GMO companies. In the Obama Administration, connections with Monsanto have intensified. A U.S. government initiative published in 2010, the “Southern Africa FY 2010 Implementation Plan,” calls for “the need for increased cooperation [on]… GMOs… through support of a harmonized regional bio-safety framework, standardized regional sanitary and phytosanitary… measures, and trade” including “national-level implementation of the harmonized system [to]… increase trade and private sector investment in seeds across the region and allow smallholder access to improved seeds.”
This would allow the American government to keep the revenues of GM crops growing from their revenue of about $76 billion in 2010, according to the April 2012 National Bioeconomy Blueprint.
In March 2010, President Obama’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology talked about GMOs with 100 other observers from the public. More than a year later, in May 2011, Tikkun magazine criticized Obama for pushing the USDA to deregulate GM alfalfa and sugar beets in America despite court orders to the contrary, warning that since sugar beets are about “50 percent of the sugar Americans use in their coffee, cereals, and desserts” it would adversely affect Americans. Tikkun warned the Obama Administration that this deregulation will mean “the end of the organic meat and organic dairy industries.” The validity of the statement is unsure, but Tikkun still highlights a good point. Supposedly, according to the U.S. government, “oversight systems have been developed to identify and reduce any environmental risks that might be associated with [the]…use [of GMOs]” but the question remains if the government can be fully trusted with that task.
The Center for Responsive Politics questions that trust. One of their projects, OpenSecrets, wrote in a 2010 blogpost that “… a close… look at the FDA reveals a close relationship between FDA personnel and private sector professionals that represent big agricultural companies.” President Barack Obama has appointed several people who were related to such a big agricultural company, Monsanto. USDA Secretary Tom Vislack did not necessarily work for Monsanto, but he favored GMOs as Governor of Iowa (i.e. in 2002 he wrote a letter to biotech groups chastising them for not growing GM corn and was supported by GMO-front groups. The Organic Consumers Association, when it opposed Vislack’s nomination in November 2008 (who was consequently confirmed by the Senate), declared he was a shill “for agribusiness biotech giants like Monsanto.” A Washington Post article in March 2011 proved this point, noting that Vislack approved GM alfalfa and corn for being used for ethanol and approved GM sugar beets. This was a step back from his previous policy to broker an agreement between the organic food groups and the GMO lobby. However, the USDA under Vislack’s management has approved every single GMO-based crop: they haven’t denied a single one.
Vislack wasn’t the only one who had a pro-GMO stand in the Obama Administration. Another nominee, Michael Taylor, clearly shows the connection of Monsanto and the national government. Taylor was a former attorney and vice president of public policy at Monsanto before he became the FDA Commissioner. In his position, according to Grist Magazine, he is a “kind of food czar of the Food and Drug Administration [who] assess[es] current food program challenges and opportunities, identif[ies] egulatory priorities, develop[s] the FDA’s budget request for fiscal year 2011, [and] implement[s] new food safety legislation.”
Other important figures, Islam Siddiqui who is the Agricultural Negotiator Trade Representative, and Lidia Watrud in the United States Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Effects Laboratory both worked at Monsanto prior to their jobs (Siddiqui as a lobbyist and Watrud as a former biotechnology researcher). Roger Bleachy, the director of the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIDA) from October 5, 2009 to May 20, 2011, was previously the director of the Monsanto Danforth Center. NIDA claims to “advance knowledge for agriculture, the environment, human health and well-being.” Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is tied to Monsanto! She was a Monsanto counsel when she worked at the Rose Law firm because she represented them among many other corporate interests.
The revolving door in the Obama Administration is small compared to the corruption in Congress by Monsanto. OpenSecrets wrote last month that they spent over “$1.4 million lobbying Washington… and spent about $6.3 million total last year, more than any other agribusiness firm except the tobacco company Altria.” This is not a good sign for a country that is supposed to value democracy. But as privileged “Founder” James Madison pointed out in Federalist 10, “the most powerful faction must be expected to prevail.” There is hope, however, in Federalist 51 (also written by Madison) that “the more powerful faction… [will] wish for a government which shall protect all parties, the weaker [and]… the more powerful.”
In this case, Monsanto does not wish for a government to protect all parties. For them, a pro-GMO government would be their interest which is enforced by the fact that they are “the most powerful faction” and can “be expected to prevail.” Proposed legislation written by anti-GMO legislator Dennis Kucinich to label GM foods has not been received well in Congress. Grassroots petitions telling President Obama to cease corporate influence of the FDA, ten petitions on Change.org against Monsanto (ranging from 10 to about 25,000 supporters), and more than one million people petitioning the FDA to label GMOs have been equally unsuccessful.
The reason for these unsuccessful efforts is because the political process is awash with Monsanto money. According to OpenSecrets, the company has “access to members of Congress who are likely to be key in shaping the final legislation” especially through its PAC, the Monsanto Citizenship Fund, which has spent $383,000 this cycle. The PAC has importantly given $20,000 to Oklahoma Republican Representative Frank D. Lucas, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, meaning that “no farm-related legislation is passed without his say-so.” In addition, a top-ranking Democrat in the same committee, Minnesota Representative Collin Peterson received $13,500 from the PAC. Overall $77,500 has been given by this PAC to 17 other “members of the House agriculture committee, or their leadership PACs.”
If this isn’t enough, Monsanto has lobbied for numerous bills in its interest, since it is a chemical company. Also it met with bureaucrats and other governmental officials as a way to lobby the government to their bidding. In terms of contributions, Monsanto usually gives more to Republicans than Democrats ($105,000 to House Republicans and $40,000 to House Democrats, $26,000 to Senate Republicans and $16,000 to Senate Democrats) but this still means that the company is hedging its bets. Monsanto is playing the same card as corporations back in the Nixon Administration by giving money to both sides so that they will have friends in Congress.
The “friends” of Monsanto are numerous. The state of Missouri has the highest concentration of these “friends,” according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Five Congressmen, Republican Vicky Hartzler ($2,000), Democrat Emanuel Cleaver ($3,500), Republican Billy Long ($1,500), Republican Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) ($5,000), and Democrat William L Jr. Clay, (D-MO) ($10,000) all received money from Monsanto, with Democrat Clay with the highest amount, $10,000 given to his campaign coffers. Thirty-five other representatives received money from Monsanto including House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. In the U.S. Senate, thirteen members received contributions. Three of those members were from Missouri, two were from Nebraska, and the other eight were from Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Idaho, Hawaii, Iowa, Mississippi, Indiana, Montana and Pennsylvania. Some of these thirteen members included Senators Ben Nelson, Claire McCaskill, Orrin Hatch, Dick Lugar, Bob Casey, and Max Baucus, a mix of Democrats and Republicans. Combined together, there are 48 “friends” of Monsanto in Congress (13% of the Senate and 8% of the House). This small group of Congress members may seem insignificant, but this group of politicians constitutes a powerful lobby in the halls of the national legislature.
Many readers may be disillusioned and feel powerless with Monsanto’s extreme influence. But there is hope. Occupy Monsanto, which was formed in early 2012, declared “Monsanto is contaminating our political process” and formed a “Genetic Crimes Unit” (GCU) to “protect America from genetically modified foods.” In March 2012, the GCU assessed if members of Congress and their staff had committed “genetic crimes” and declared that “Congress is genetically modified” in conjunction with “Occupy Monsanto” protests nationwide and in four other countries.
The international online hacking justice group, Anonymous, followed in these efforts by shutting down Monsanto.com. They conducted this action in solidarity with farmers “and food organizations denouncing the practices of Monsanto according to the Organic Common Sense Blog. Anonymous also demanded Monsanto’s contamination, attempted bribing of foreign officials, hijacking of United Nations Climate Change negotiations, bullying of small farmers and infiltration of anti-GMO groups (among other demands) stop immediately. According to the online group, the reason for the prudence in this matter is because Monsanto has engaged in “oppressive business practices” that include following other big agricultural companies by preying “on the poorest countries by… rescu[ing]” the farmers and the people with GMO crops and chemical pesticides.” These practices result in drastic change in the farmer’s income. Finally, Anonymous tells all citizens “to stand up for these farmers… [and] your own food.”
The worldwide 99% can stand with corporate giants, stand with those fighting Monsanto or do nothing. If a person wants to do something, they should push their country to sign the Cartegena Protocol on Biosaftety which lessens the threat of gene transfers from GMOs to their wild relatives. If someone lives in the United States, they should push the government to ratify the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which limits genetic materials that agricultural companies can patent and affirms the right of farmers to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seeds. In the end, the 99% of people worldwide should follow the advice of the black hip-hop/rap group, Public Enemy, and “fight the power!” by assisting the efforts of Occupy Monsanto. | <urn:uuid:02819f3c-c249-4d72-b6b3-9c75d2fd03c7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/06/its-a-monsanto-government/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00045-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960438 | 2,691 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Students majoring in physics have two degree options — the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) and the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.). While both degrees share the same university, school, science, and math requirements, the B.S. requires a research experience and the stronger component of physics coursework. The B.A. degree requires fewer physics credits and more general electives.
Bachelor of Science in Physics
The B.S program offers the choice of a broad track and three specializations — astronomy, condensed matter, and education. Find out more about the B.S. in Physics curriculum.
The B.S. program, with two credit hours of research and a minimum of 39 to 45 credit hours of physics coursework, depending on the track, is recommended for students interested in pursuing employment in science and technology, or advanced degrees in physics, astronomy, chemistry, engineering, and secondary education.
Bachelor of Arts in Physics
The B.A. degree can be obtained as a stand-alone program, or as part of a four-year B.A./B.S. or B.A./B.A. with chemistry or mathematics, or as part of a 3/2 double-major B.A./B.S. program with engineering from an associate university. Find out more about the B.A. in Physics curriculum.
The B.A. program, with a minimum of 32 credit hours of physics coursework, is suitable for students with a broader range of interests, particularly those planning to attend law, medical, or dental school.
Dual Degree Programs
The Department offers two dual degree programs:
- Binary Engineering Program: B.A. in Physics and B.S. in Engineering
- Physics Teacher Program: B.A. or B.S. in Physics and M.S.Ed in Secondary Education
Study Abroad Opportunities
Students in the Physics program can enhance their academic experience by taking advantage of several Study Abroad programs offered by Duquesne University. | <urn:uuid:05aa5fea-4a4e-49aa-a5a0-8bfe5b6e2f3c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://duq.edu/academics/schools/natural-and-environmental-sciences/academic-programs/physics/undergraduate-programs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00025-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934064 | 416 | 2.5625 | 3 |
to Tie a Four-in-hand Knot
Description of the Four-in-hand Knot
four-in-hand knot is the easiest to learn among the four most commonly
used tie knots (the four-in-hand knot, the half-Windsor knot, the Windsor knot and the Pratt knot). It is a small tie
knot that suits shirts with a narrow collar opening and is suitable
for most occasions. However, the four-in-hand knot is asymmetric,
which does not look good on wide collar shirts.
for Tying a Four-in-hand Knot
instructions for tying a four-in-hand knot are shown below. We assume
that you are right-handed in the following instructions. The figures
below are mirror images. They are what you will see if you stand in
front of a mirror.
At the beginning, the wide end of the tie should be on your right
side and the other end should be on your left side.
Cross the wide end over the other end. Now three regions are formed
(Left, Right and Center).
Bring the wide end underneath the narrow end from Left to Right.
Bring the wide end over from Right to Left.
Bring the wide end under the knot to the Center region.
Bring the wide end down and pass the loop in front. Ensure that the
knot is tightened.
Use one hand to pull the narrow end down gently and use the other
hand to move the knot up until it reaches the center of the collar.
What Do You Want to Do Next?
Want to Help Us? | <urn:uuid:4af0622f-3f2c-46f3-83ea-e5a156c97a9d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.totieatie.com/fourInHand.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00152-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890166 | 337 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibits outsider works
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Museum of Art, home to thousands of works by history's most esteemed fine artists, is presenting an exhibit that celebrates the contributions of artists who had no formal training and worked outside the boundaries of the art establishment.
More than 200 widely varied works in the Great and Mighty Things exhibit include paintings, drawings, sculptures and other objects made by 27 self-taught artists from 1930 to 2010. All are owned by local collectors Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, who bequeathed to the museum the works they've collected for 30 years.
“It is a gift that is both transformative and also forward-looking in establishing this institution as one of the leading centers in this country for the study, acquisition and display of works of this type,” said Timothy Rub, the museum's director and chief executive office.
Rub called it “a watershed exhibition” for the museum and the self-taught genre that “not only presents the works of a number of gifted artists but also makes a compelling case for the attention that should be paid by museums like ours to this fascinating but still little-known aspect of 20th-century art.”
Outsider art is generally defined as work by self-taught artists who operated outside the mainstream art world. Many were unknown to the art world during their lifetime, lived in rural areas and worked with salvaged materials.
“A lot of the time you don't even know what has been lost. Unless the work becomes known to the market or museums, it's likely to be lost, it's likely to be tossed,” curator Ann Percy said. “Over and over again, it's artists who notice the work of outsider artists who aren't part of the mainstream art world ... and bring it to somebody's attention.”
The Bonovitzes began buying outsider art before it was generally considered collectable and they just bought what they liked. Consequently, their collection includes both widely known names like Howard Finster and Sister Gertrude Morgan, along with less recognized but equally remarkable works like the jewel-bedecked assemblages of Simon Sparrow, bold expressionistic paintings of Jon Serl and the mobile-like so-called healing machines of Emery Blagdon.
“We recognize how appreciated it is and we said this is something we'd like to continue to share,” he said. “It's really a legacy we can leave to somebody; we've enjoyed it (and) it can pass it intact and be in great hands.”
The works in the show are grouped by artist because they are very diverse and have little in common with each other stylistically. The first piece greeting visitors is a tower of chicken bones by Wisconsin baker Eugene Von Bruenchenhein and the last is a vivid green tower painting by William Hawkins.
Also on view are large and intricate drawings by Martin Ramirez, who spent much of his life in a California mental institution; modernist silhouettes of people and animals by Bill Traylor, born a slave in Alabama who started painting in his 80s; limestone carvings by William Edmonson, considered one of the pre-eminent outsider artists; and stitched paper assemblages by James Castle, who drew on scrap paper with ink made of soot and saliva. All are recognized as important not only as self-taught artists but in the larger context of contemporary art.
“Not very many large general museums in this country collect work by self-taught artists, so we are among a handful,” Percy said, “and this addition to the collection will spring us into the really top ranks of museums that collect outsider art.”
Great and Mighty Things will be on view through June 9. | <urn:uuid:3fb3d86d-5ebc-476e-a7f4-888431d1df39> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/3590992-74/art-artists-works | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978467 | 790 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Adobe Photoshop Tutorials
Photoshop Layer Masks Some tips and techniques to using Layer masks.
Loading Photoshop Brushes in version 5.5. Explaining how to load brushes using photoshop 5.5.
Loading Photoshop Brushes in Photoshop 6.
Loading Photoshop Brushes in CS (version 8).
Creating a Photoshop Brush from a Photograph.
Saving Single Photoshop Brushes. How to edit an ABR file and save single photoshop brushes.
Saving Photoshop Brush Sets A step by step guide to saving brush sets.
Resetting Photoshop Brushes. How to reset back to the default photoshop settings.
Using Photoshop Brushes the basics. Tips on using brushes in Photoshop.
Making Shiny Buttons Step by step illustrated guide to creating shiny grey buttons in Photoshop.
Distorting Photoshop Lettering. Tutorial on distorting lettering and adding grunge effects.
Distorting Photoshop Lettering page 2. Continuation of the above tutorial.
Aging Photographs using Photoshop Brushes page 1. Tutorial showing a step by step guide to making photographs look older.
Aging Photographs using Photoshop Brushes page 2. Continuation of the above tutorial.
Rotating Layers in Photoshop. How to rotate layers, so you can rotate brush artwork.
Dragging Photoshop Layers. Photoshop tutorial showing how to quickly drag layers from one document to another.
Creating Scanlines in Photoshop A simple tutorial showing how to create Scanlines in Photoshop.
Glass Buttons How to create glass looking button using Photoshop. | <urn:uuid:20702dab-20ad-43fe-8dcd-ab0787d3d097> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.photoshopbrushes.com/tutorials.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00112-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.760564 | 313 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Washington : Government Printing Office
|Chap. 470||Apportionment of Representatives in Congress.
46 Stat. 26.
2 U. S. C. § 2a.
|Chap. 470||Statement of number of persons in each State, etc.|
|Chap. 470||Number of Representatives to which each State entitled.|
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 22 of the Act entitled "An Act to provide for the fifteenth and subsequent decennial censuses and to provide for apportionment of Representatives in Congress", approved June 18, 1929, as amended, is amended to read as follows:
"SEC. 22. (a) On the first day, or within one week thereafter, of the first regular session of the Eighty-second Congress and of each fifth Congress thereafter, the President shall transmit to the Congress a statement showing the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed, as ascertained under the seventeenth and each subsequent decennial census of the population, and the number of Representatives to which each State would be entitled under the apportionment of the then existing number of Representatives by the method known as the method of equal proportions, no State to receive less than one Member.
"(b) Each State shall be entitled, in the Eighty-third Congress and in each Congress thereafter until the taking effect of a reapportionment under this section or subsequent statute, to the number of Representatives shown in the statement required by subsection (a) of this section, no State to receive less than one Member."
Approved, November 15, 1941. | <urn:uuid:9d7f7c7d-54be-482b-ad96-4802c9a8fa3f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/vol6/html_files/v6p0143.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934332 | 345 | 2.6875 | 3 |
(A version of the following commentary by Mackinac Center Adjunct Scholar Mark J. Perry was published on May 31, 2005 in USA Today. The graphs that accompany the piece were supplied independently by the author.)
If you’re like most Americans, you have probably found yourself complaining lately about the high price of gasoline — especially if you just spent a day or two in the car over Memorial Day weekend. A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll in May found that 59 percent of those surveyed said high gas prices had caused hardship for them. You might even find yourself longing for the good old days of cheap gas.
If so, think again. Gas prices today, by any measure that adjusts for inflation and rising real income, are a bargain.
Gas prices appear to be at a historical high, and prices of the past appear to be cheap (17 cents per gallon in the 1930s, a quarter in the 1950s and 50 cents in the 1970s). But this is a classic example of "money illusion." In real inflation-adjusted dollars, gas prices are the same or lower today than in most previous decades.
Measured in real dollars, gas prices peaked in March 1981 at more than $3 per gallon. We have not even come close to paying the highest real gas price in history — today's prices are still 30 percent below the all-time high.
We can compare gas prices over time by calculating the cost of 1,000 gallons of gas purchased at the average price in a given year as a percentage of per-capita disposable income in that year. For example, in 1935, when gas prices were 17 cents per gallon and annual disposable income was $466, the cost of 1,000 gallons of gas was 36 percent of average disposable income. Today, it takes less than 7 percent of our disposable income to buy 1,000 gallons of gas at the current U.S. average price of $2.10 per gallon. The "cheap" gas of the ‘60s and ‘70s cost about 12 percent as a share of income.
Gas prices since the mid-1980s have not only been more affordable as a share of income than at any other time, they also have been remarkably stable. The recent small increase in gas prices relative to income is fairly insignificant.
Further, we can avoid the money illusion by pricing gas in "minutes of work at the average wage per gallon of gas," instead of dollars per gallon. Priced in minutes per gallon, you certainly wouldn’t be longing for yesteryear’s gas prices.
A typical American working today at the average hourly wage of $17.50 works about seven minutes to buy a gallon of gas for $2.10. In contrast, the average worker in the 1930s labored more than 20 minutes to buy a gallon of gas. During the 1940s, it fell to 12 minutes of work. During the 1950s, it took about 10 minutes per gallon.
Americans are paying about the same for gas in minutes per gallon today — 7.2 minutes — as during the 1970s, when the retail price was only 40 cents per gallon, and we are paying much less than during the early 1980s, when real gas prices peaked and the average worker toiled for more than 10 minutes per gallon.
Finally, consider the consumers in most other countries. With the exception of members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, such as Iran, U.S. gas prices are lower than almost anywhere in the world.
Go to Europe and you’ll pay from $5 to $7 per gallon — even in Finland and the United Kingdom, which are major oil producers and exporters. In Mexico, the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, they pay $3.20 per gallon, about the same as in India, Brazil and Singapore.
Consumers might have a lot to justifiably complain about, but the illusory high price of gas is not one of them. The good old days of cheap U.S. gas are here now.
Mark J. Perry is a professor of finance and economics at the University of Michigan-Flint and an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute headquartered in Midland, Mich. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the Center are properly cited. | <urn:uuid:96226d9b-e573-4af6-b2cc-1086e9c34e94> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=7126 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00053-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964298 | 910 | 3.03125 | 3 |
gcsescience.com 22 gcsescience.com
The Periodic Table
The Transition Metals - Hydrogenation of Vegetable Oils.
What is the Hydrogenation of Vegetable Oils?
is used in the
vegetable oils to make margarines and soft-spreads.
Hydrogenation means adding hydrogen to a substance.
oils that are unsaturated will react with hydrogen
at about 60 °C in the presence of a nickel catalyst.
This is an example of an addition reaction where hydrogen
adds across the double bond leaving only single bonds.
The picture below shows hydrogenation of a double bond.
raises the melting point above
and makes the liquid oil become solid in a process called hardening.
The solid product is used as a margarine or spread.
Links Chemistry Quizzes Revision Questions
gcsescience.com The Periodic Table Index Periodic Table Quiz gcsescience.com
Home GCSE Chemistry GCSE Physics
Copyright © 2015 gcsescience.com. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:108ebe97-6b92-497a-aee5-f461cb00dcc0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gcsescience.com/pt22.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00133-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.806655 | 227 | 3.75 | 4 |
Soil Solarization and Weed Control- Garden Pest Tip
If there were one sure way to destroy virtually every kind of harmful insect egg and larvae in your garden soil, would you be interested? How about if the process were easy, cheap, and carried a host of other benefits along with it? Solarization is a simple, five-step process that kills insects, plant diseases, nematodes, harmful fungi, and weed seeds. At the same time, helpful microorganisms within the soil apparently benefit, possibly form the lack of competition. Soil that has been solarized allows plants to draw on the nutrients, especially nitrogen, calcium, and magnesium more readily. Seeds germinate more quickly. Plants grow faster and stronger, often maturing earlier with substantially higher yields than in unsolarized soil.
Solarization works in the same way as a greenhouse, where a transparent covering, in this case 3 or 6 mm plastic sheeting, traps the sun's heat. After several days of sunshine, soil temperatures rise to as high as 140 degrees at the surface and well offer 100 degrees as far down as 18 inches. It takes four to six weeks of sunny weather to pasteurize the soil. For most of the USA, that means planning to spread plastic somewhere between the end of June and the first of September.
Any size plot, down to a 3-foot wide bed, will retain enough heat to do the job, although the larger the area, the more heat is generated and maintained, and the longer lasting the effects. It's easier to lay plastic down in a narrow strip than a wide patch. so that is a major consideration. And therein lies the solitary expense in using the sun's energy to improve your soil: a strip or roll of clear plastic large enough to cover your area and overlap on all sides by at least a foot.
Five Steps to Healthier Soil
Prepare the Soil. Pull any weeds or old crops. Turn in any soil amendments and then rake the surface smooth. It's important to remove any stones or clumps that might raise the plastic and create air pockets that could cause uneven heating.
Water thoroughly. Leave a sprinkler on for several hours or overnight to soak the soil. This creates 100 percent humidity under the plastic, which acts with the heat to kill all those unwanted critters.
Dig a trench all around the bed or plot 6-8 inches deep.
Lay a clear plastic sheet, 3-6 mm thick, over the area, overlapping the trench on all sides. Fill in the trench, weighing down the plastic while pulling it as tight as possible.
Sit back, relax, and wait. Although cloudy weather will slow things down by cooling the soil under the tarp, a few weeks of sunshine will improve your soil dramatically, easily, and inexpensively. If you live in an area with cool or cloudy summers, or if you just don't want to wait all season, you can speed up the process by adding a second sheet of plastic. Using the hoops commonly used to elevate row covers or bird netting, raise the second sheet of plastic over the ground-level sheet. The airspace between acts as a temperature buffer zone during cloudy weather and the combination of the two sheets of plastic serves to raise the soil temperature an additional 6 degrees. | <urn:uuid:68b03800-5566-49ec-837d-c8641e6e08d6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.gardenguides.com/834-soil-solarization-weed-control-garden-pest-tip.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00147-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949009 | 671 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Halifax students helped people around the world by bolstering the genetic diversity of a stem-cell donor bank this week.
The One Match Stem Cell and Marrow Network gathers information and a cheek swab from volunteers. One of the Canadian Blood Services program’s key goals is to make the bank more ethnically — and therefore genetically — diverse.
For example, there are more than 20 million potential stem-cell donors registered in 72 countries worldwide, but only one per cent are black.
'It's an opportunity to do something that's simple, but can make a huge impact on someone else's life.' - Emmanuel John
Students at Halifax West High School used their break to change that Monday.
Habiba Cooper Diallo helped organize the event. She said the international nature of the Clayton Park school made it ideal.
“We have students from Iran, students from Nigeria, students from Ghana, students from Afghanistan. That diversity is so key to increasing the number of black potential donors, the number of South Asian potential donors,” she said.
“That's what my school community can bring to the One Match program — that diversity which is so essential.”
Donations can help people with diseases including:
- sickle cell anemia
The donor must be a precise genetic match.
Easy way to make a big difference
Emmanuel John is a student volunteer.
“It's an opportunity to do something that's simple, but can make a huge impact on someone else's life. To come out here and encourage fellow students to participate in something like this, it's not that hard to do,” John said.
Javon Parris said it’s a weird sensation, but that’s soon displaced. “You get a good feeling. That plays a part in why I'd give some bone marrow, too,” Parris said.
The swabs collected Monday will be processed and entered into a database. That will take about a month.
After that, the potential donors could be asked to make a donation that could save a life.
The program is run by the Canadian Blood Services, not the Canadian Red Cross.Feb 18, 2014 10:08 AM AT | <urn:uuid:d40a7e04-dceb-4f88-a627-6b78f1e50418> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/halifax-students-boost-stem-cell-bank-s-genetic-diversity-1.2541435?cmp=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00179-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936209 | 462 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Grade III Chondrosis of the Medial Compartment
Your diagnosis is deep (Grade III) cartilage damage of the inner (medial) weight-bearing compartment.
Injury or Condition
This condition represents a breakdown of the weight bearing (articular) cartilage of your knee. Cartilage cracks lead to deep fissures. The outer cartilage “skin” is lost and leads to progressive erosion of the deeper cartilage layers. This condition is pre-arthritic in most patients.
The most common cause is abnormally accelerated “wear and tear” of this protective cartilage layers within your knee. This may evolve from a previous high impact injury (often unrecognized), obesity or prolonged weight-bearing on hard surfaces. It can develop from a prior injury or loss of the shock absorbing fibrocartilage (meniscus) within the inner (medial) weight-bearing compartment of your knee.
Typical symptoms include pain that is related to weight-bearing activities and is relieved by rest. Pain is often located along the inner (medial) aspect of the knee. Slight swelling and weakness are commonly present. Also, some patients may experience a catching or grinding sensation.
Standard treatment includes:
- Weight loss: 1 lb. of upper body weight translates to 4 lbs. of force on the knee.
- Regular non-weight-bearing exercises such as biking, rowing or swimming.
- Cartilage and bone nutrients like glucosamine, chondroitin, calcium and vitamin K twice per day.
- Tylenol and/or anti-inflammatory medication (i.e. Diclofenac/Voltaren or Ibuprofen/Motrin).
- Walking and standing on softer surfaces.
- Wearing soft-soled shoes.
- Arthroscopic surgery to remove damaged and inflamed tissue. Surgical stabilization of the cartilage defect may be needed. Surgical stimulation to replace lost cartilage is successful in cases where the surrounding cartilage is healthy.
- No single treatment method is optimally successful. Try to follow most, if not all, recommendations.
- Anti-inflammatory medication should be taken with food. If you remain on anti-inflammatory medication for six months, a blood test is indicated to document safety.
- Try to avoid abusive activities which involve impact or shear stress on the knee such as running and tennis.
- Improvement from cartilage nutrients often takes 2-3 months.
Complete recovery is rare. Treatment is designed to improve knee function and delay the development of osteoarthritis. In cases treated by arthroscopic surgery, recovery takes 1-6 months depending on the extent of cartilage damage. | <urn:uuid:3b7a2d9e-8a2d-4dad-8d9b-af5d02c8b76b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rcmclinic.com/patient-info/knee/diagnosis/59-knee-diagnosis/78-grade-iii-chondrosis-medial-compartment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00174-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.889021 | 562 | 3.046875 | 3 |
This page introduces the properties of exponents one by one in a way designed to help you remember them. If you want a fast reference, all the properties are listed in a table at the end of this page.
How do you simplify ?
If you recall the way exponents are defined, you know that this means:
If we remove the parentheses, we have the product of eight , which can be written more simply as:
This suggests a shortcut: all we need to do is add the exponents!
In general, for all real numbers , , and ,
To multiply two powers having the same base, add the exponents.
If you remember only this one and forget the rest, you can use it to figure out most of the other properties.
Many beginning students think it's weird that anything raised to the power of zero is . ("It should be ") You can use the product of powers property to show why this must be true.
We know . So, this says that . What number times equals ? If we try , we have . No good.
In general, for all real numbers , , we have:
Note that is undefined. (Click here to see why.)
You can use the product of powers property to figure this one out also. Suppose you want to know what is.
We know , and we know . So, this says that . What number times equals ? That would be its multiplicative inverse, .
In general, for all real numbers and , where , we have:
When you multiply two powers with the same base, you add the exponents. So when you divide two powers with the same base, you subtract the exponents. In other words, for all real numbers , , and , where ,
What you're really doing here is cancelling common factors from the numerator and denominator. Example:
When you multiply two powers with the same exponent, but different bases, things go a little differently.
In general, for all real numbers , , and (as long as both and or both and are not zero):
To find the power of a product, either find the power of each factor and then multiply or multiply the factors and raise the product to the power.
This is pretty similar to the last one. By canceling common factors, you can see that:
For all real numbers , , and (as long as , and and are not both ):
The product of powers property can be extended. Suppose you have a number raised to a power, and you multiply the whole expression by itself over and over. This is the same as raising the expression to a power:
But the product of powers property tells us that
So it is enough to just multiply the powers!
In general, for all real numbers a, b, and c,
To find a power of a power, multiply the exponents.
We've covered positive exponents, negative exponents, and zero exponents. But what if you have an exponent which is not an integer? What, for instance, is ?
We can fall back again on the product of powers property to find out:
We know , so . Thus, the exponent works like a square root. Similarly, is equivalent to .
and in general
Zero Exponent Property
Negative Exponent Property
Product of Powers Property
Quotient of Powers Property
Power of a Product Property
Power of a Quotient Property
Power of a Power Property
Rational Exponent Property | <urn:uuid:ddc1f3f8-27c5-4e73-9371-d2c2e45d9622> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://hotmath.com/hotmath_help/topics/properties-of-exponents.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403825.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00014-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903328 | 723 | 4.15625 | 4 |
Food oral immunotherapy is becoming popular in Sacramento as one way to desensitize children who have peanut allergies. Developed by allergists at Mercy Medical Group in Sacramento, the new treatment is the first such program to be rolled out in the region. What food oral immunotherapy is about focuses on peanut desensitization. Some people theorize that if a dog is brought into the home, a child born into an environment with an animal in the home might have more exposure to microbes so that the immune system wouldn't get confused and attack the food as if it were a microbe.
Peanut allergies in children is a growing problem in Sacramento as well as in other cities nationwide. But Sacramento has started using a novel, new treatment for nut-allergic kids. Now the question for scientists to ponder is why are peanut allergies exploding in number in children, including babies in the USA and especially here in Sacramento?
The question is why are peanut allergies and other food allergies growing so rapidly in Sacramento as well as across the country? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that, from 1997 to 2011, food allergies grew in number by 50 percent from 3.4 percent to 5.1 percent of American children.
Scientists only have theories for the rapid rise in food, particularly peanut allergies. One theory is that children are growing up in homes so clean and hands washed so often that the human immune system gets confused which are the microbes the system is supposed to attack. Instead, immune systems attack peanuts in any form and/or other foods such as shellfish. Food allergies on the rise also include reactions to tree nuts, soy, wheat, shellfish and eggs, with eggs being the most common.
Recently, buckwheat joined the list of food allergens. Why is the human immune system, especially of children, attacking these foods? Could it be due to the fact that the foods are genetically changed? Or is it the immune systems of kids so unused to certain microbes in the home, that the immune system attacks the food thinking it's an invading bacteria, virus, or other parasite?
You may wish to check out the Sacamento Bee article by Cynthia H. Craft, "Treatment for deadly peanut allergy exposes children to peanuts." Mercy developed the program to introduce tree nuts to young patients in very small doses, gradually increasing the child’s exposure to try to lessen the body’s immune system reaction to peanuts, explains the article.
No parent wants to his his or her children exposed to a lethal dose of peanuts when someone brings in a sandwich or treat to school and the kid gets a lethal allergy attack from a whiff or coming into contact with a tiny amount of peanut. Children show up in emergency rooms in increasing numbers, especially here locally. They may feel their throat is closing up, swelling, or other throat sensation, or have hives all over their body, or suffer anaphylactic shock.
It's too dangerous for some parents to wait until the child has a lethal exposure to peanuts from some sudden, unexpected source, for example somebody next to the child in a plane, bus, train, boat, or other public transit situation or waiting room opens a snack that contains peanuts and the odor wafts onto the child who then has a reaction, or the child eats food that contains peanuts without knowing that the food contained a small amount of an ingredient that came from peanuts.
The individual is exposed to a tiny, diluted amount of the allergen to encourage desensitization
The new treatment in Sacramento works something like homeopathy where a person is exposed to a tiny diluted amount of the allergen. It also works like innoculation, where a vaccine contains a very tiny amount of the culprit that end up protecting the individual. For example, if a person is allergic to a particular type of pollen, sometimes allergy innoculations or 'shots' are made with that type of pollen to ease the allergy symptoms of those who react to pollen in the air during seasonal situations, such as spring when pollen is wafting in the air.
With the treatment known as peanut desensitization, Mercy's program comes with “significant risk of a serious allergic reaction, including hives, swelling, bronchospasm, difficulty breathing, loss of consciousness and shock, which may necessitate emergency treatment and hospitalization.” And, the unmentionable: risk of death, says the Sacramento Bee article.
The program is run by allergists. What happens in the protocol is a situation focused on preventing harm from coming to the dozen or so children Mercy treats. During a period of more than 18 months, the two allergists in the program painstakingly reviewed research and protocols of a handful of similar programs across the country.
Food allergies also appear to plague mainly urbanites and suburbanites
Why are people from extreme rural areas less likely to be allergic to peanuts, shellfish, eggs, or other foods? It can't be genetic when country people move to the city, the protective effect that may come from living in a rural environment seems to vanish. So, if it's not a peanut allergy gene, for example, but moving from rural areas to urban areas, perhaps it's environmental or related to more pollution in the city, or maybe to cleaner homes with fewer germs? These are all theories scientists research.
What's known from the global allergy data, is that people living in extreme rural conditions seem to be getting exposure to all kinds of microbes, and so their immune systems have targets to focus on. If you look at Europe, you can see in the remote areas there, people work closer to animals and share the animal's bacteria. So is the answer to bring a dog into your house and let the dog's bacteria rub off on your skin? That's still a theory. Scientists are still questioning and researching whether or not a dog in the house will bring in enough microbes from outdoors to help reduce food allergies, asthma, or other immune system reactions being treated as if the foods were microbes to be attacked.
Fewer food allergies show up when people live in extreme rural areas
In the meantime, scientists are looking at all the possibilities of why allergies are on the rise. For example, why do more people, including babies and children become allergic when they move from extreme rural environments to urban or suburban lifestyles? If you look at timelines, you can see how fast food allergies have grown over the past century.
Parents are wondering whether the kids are not playing outdoors long enough because in modern times, it's too dangerous to let kids play outdoors for hours when there's no one to supervise who makes contact with them or what they are doing. In the past kids played in mud. But here in California, if kids play in mud, they may come down with the Valley Fever fungus, warts, or other conditions. Interestingly, the treatment for food allergies somewhat resembles homeopathy and innoculation, which were new and suspect treatments a century or more in the past.
Homeopathy is a system of medicine which involves treating the individual with highly diluted substances, given mainly in tablet form, with the aim of triggering the body’s natural system of healing. Based on their specific symptoms, a homeopath will match the most appropriate medicine to each patient, according to the website of the Society of Homeopaths. To read more about safety studies: click here.
How the peanut allergy - food oral immunotherapy treatment works is that it focuses on peanut desensitization
A child might get daily an exact dose, such as 6 grams of peanuts measured precisely. The parents would use a digital scale. Then another dose would come 12 hours later. The child would be monitored for any immune system reaction for an hour, and no vigorous exercise would be allowed for two hours. The child also would be kept from getting overheated.
The dose might be different for another child. But for the child mentioned in the Sacramento Bee article, the treatment started with a tiny bit of peanut powder mixed into liquids or soft foods. The child is brought back to Mercy allergists every two weeks. Gradually, the peanut dose would be increased by a tiny amount until the child reaches a maintenance dose.
The big issue is when the maintenance dose is stopped, the full force of allergy to peanuts may come back. But the maintenance dose is continued for 18 months, which is part of the program. No promise is made to families whether or not the child will someday be free of the peanut allergy in the future.
The purpose of the treatment is to desensitize a child to peanuts, not to cure the food allergy
The treatment is supposed to be a safety net in case the child accidentally comes in contact with a food that contains some peanuts, such as eating a treat outside the home and not knowing whether any ingredient in that food has peanuts, peanut butter, powder, or any ingredient derived from peanuts.
You have families who live in fear their child will come into contact with some food or other item that contains an ingredient that came from peanuts. The desensitization also helps the rest of the family lessen their anxiety. However, there is a risk when allergic kids expose themselves to peanuts in the treatment regimen.
Parents keep watch as the treatment progresses, keeping the EpiPen at hand, for any signs of swelling, hives or trouble breathing. The issue for now is desensitizaton rather than thinking the kid will be cured. But anything is possible with food oral immunotherapy.
In other studies, a new approach to treating peanut and other food allergies appears in recent research
These days, more and more people seem to have food allergies, which can sometimes have life-threatening consequences. In ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists report the development of a new type of flour that someday could be used in food-based therapies to help people better tolerate their allergy triggers, including peanuts in the latest study, "Novel Strategy To Create Hypoallergenic Peanut Protein–Polyphenol Edible Matrices for Oral Immunotherapy," published online April 23, 2014.
Mary Ann Lila and colleagues note that of the 170 foods that cause allergic reactions, peanuts can be the most dangerous. These reactions can range from mild itching and hives to life-threatening anaphylactic shock, in which a person's throat swells, making it difficult or impossible to breathe. An experimental treatment that involves giving minute quantities of the trigger food to patients over a period of time in a clinic is successful for some patients who are allergic to peanuts.
The process, called desensitization, sets off beneficial responses by the body to the food. But the milled roasted peanut flour that is currently used can have severe side effects. Lila's team set out to design a new type of flour that could help control food allergies without causing dangerous side effects, according to the May 14, 2014 news release, "A new approach to treating peanut and other food allergies."
They turned to plant polyphenols, which have shown promise as compounds that can dampen allergic reactions. The scientists developed a modified flour powder in which cranberry polyphenols were bound to peanut proteins. With this extra cargo, the peanut-containing powder triggered the beneficial desensitization reactions, without provoking harmful allergic responses in laboratory tests with mice. The scientists note that the technique could also be adapted for other food allergies.
The authors acknowledge funding from the Everett W. Byrd Endowment and the North Carolina State University's Plants for Human Health Institute at the N.C. Research Campus at Kannapolis. The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 161,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio. | <urn:uuid:f233388c-219f-46a1-8c13-48df5284d11c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.examiner.com/article/food-oral-immunotherapy-peanut-allergy-desensitization-methods | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00020-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957935 | 2,437 | 3 | 3 |
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes. England: Vols. IIV. 187679.
Felicia Hemans (17931835)
Snowdon was held as sacred by the ancient Britons as Parnassus was by the Greeks and Ida by the Cretans. It is still said, that whosoever slept upon Snowdon would wake inspired, as much as if he had taken a nap on the hill of Apollo. The Welsh had always the strongest attachment to the tract of Snowdon. Our princes had, in addition to their title, that of Lord of Snowdon.Pennant. | <urn:uuid:c4d9a6b8-43e4-46d9-9660-1e5d54333b34> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://bartleby.com/270/1/641.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00008-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977582 | 139 | 2.71875 | 3 |
The Rena disaster posed a grave question for ecologists racing to save the Bay of Plenty's precious population of endangered New Zealand dotterels.
Should they rescue all of them, risking their deaths from stress in captivity, or leave them in the path of the oil?
They made a grim gamble - taking half the birds as potential insurance to later re-establish the population.
"In previous oil spills, people have caught birds - particularly penguins - and moved them out of the way and then let them go again almost straight away," independent shorebird ecologist Dr John Dowding said.
"But we knew if we tried to do that with the dotterels, within 24 hours they would have been right back on beaches where the oil was, so it wouldn't really have helped."
Ultimately, the decision worked out.
Six birds out of 60 died of a stress-associated condition at the Oiled Wildlife Facility - a reasonably successful result given the delicate nature of the tiny, vulnerable species.
Four of the birds required a full wash, which Dr Dowding said would have been "45 minutes of hell".
"We weren't totally flying blind, though - we wouldn't have done it if we didn't have a clue how to look after them in captivity. It was a risk, but we thought it was a controlled risk."
Dr Dowding admitted there were arguments with authorities over which beaches needed to be cleaned first.
"We saw we needed four or five weeks to get the beaches clean, otherwise we'd start losing [the dottrels] in captivity."
Since the release the birds had fared well, and most of the survivors were paired and breeding at hotspots such as Matakana Island and Maketu. Once dotterels began breeding, they typically remained at the same site for many years.
"One year on, numbers at most of the important sites are similar to those before the grounding," he said.
"This is an encouraging result - dotterels can live for up to 30 years, and the one season of disruption needs to be viewed in that context.
"After some losses shortly after release, the birds held in captivity also appear to have readjusted to life in the wild, showing normal rates of survival and dispersal, and typical levels of breeding activity."
National Oiled Wildlife Response Team co-ordinator Kerri Morgan said while the deaths were disappointing, they were not unexpected.
"However, it's encouraging to see that survival rates of released birds have now normalised and hopefully this will continue into the future." | <urn:uuid:66850e15-ca7c-4acb-ae47-ab2f97894905> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rena-oil-spill/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503203&objectid=10878966 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00173-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979076 | 533 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Reflected Light Rainbow
January 01, 2004
Uh, un, un! Wouldn't this be a nice way to start off the new year; a tranquil lagoon, swaying palms, tropical breezes, and even a rainbow. However, this isn't "just" a rainbow, it's a reflected-light rainbow. The near-vertical shaft to the left of the primary rainbow is caused by the reflection of the Sun in the water. It was taken from a small boat on the lagoon shown above, just off the island of Aitutaki (Cook Islands), as a rain shower paid a brief visit on an otherwise sunny day. Back on dry land, a few minutes later, a spectacular double rainbow was visible.
The reflected-light rainbow is produced when light from the Sun reflects off a smooth body of water and into the sky at a higher angle than the sunlight responsible for causing the primary rainbow. Essentially, the mirror-like reflection of sunlight from the lagoon interacted with cloud droplets to form the steeper bow at left. You can tell that this bow is a reflected bow and not a secondary rainbow since the color sequence is the same as that of the primary bow. | <urn:uuid:372714f4-0e51-4394-bbd0-87d46d51b7ed> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2004/01/reflected-light-rainbow.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946918 | 244 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Taken from the Preface
Mission history usually embraces wide vistas and a broad theme with incisive and penetrating descriptions of personalities and events- a collection of tales that help explain and reflect an era. For those expecting something of the same I can only offer an apology for a poor attempt in that direction.
The whole Korea mission north and south, has been an ongoing entity for some eighty years. nothing would do it less justice than a single overview. Instead, this is only an attempt to lay the foundation for a history of Maryknoll in the South. It is a bric-brac of names, places and dates- with an occasional vignette to underscore a point- but on the whole a telephone book of collected date.
Background to the Faith
The Korean Church is justifiably proud in being the only one not started by foreign missionaries. In the 17th century when intellectuals increasingly questioned the suffocating confines of Confucian society they came across the writings of Matteo Ricci in China. At first Christianity's philosophy and practical aspects for solving social problems was the main attraction. "Gradually though the scholars were captivated by the beauty of the content. "
Korea as a vassal state of China sent royal envoys and yearly tribute to Peking. Those diplomats knew Chinese because it was the language of the educated class. Except for the royal convoys no one could enter or leave the hermit kingdom. Books were brought back and studied and in time a select few under the leadership of Lee Byok came to understand and appreciate the Christian religion. Finally in 1784 one member of the winter convoy was encouraged to seek baptism.
Yi Sung -hun christened Peter returned and baptized others . The number of believers increased. Soon they began to appoint their own "priests" to offer Sunday Mass and administer sacraments. Realizing their mistake they stopped the practice and sent a request for priests to the bishop of Peking. In March 1785 the young community was detected and the first martyrs gave their lives in 1791. This was the first in a serious of persecutions lasting for over one hundred years.
Father James Chu Mun-mo a Chinese priest, entered Korea ten years after the first baptism. When he assumed pastoral direction of the faithful in 1794 Catholics already exceeded four thousand in number. In 1801 seven years after arrival, Father Chu was martyred and the flock was without a shepherd for thirty-three years. Though deprived of Mass and the sacraments they encouraged each other in the faith and continued sending emissaries to Peking with requests for priests. Paul Chong Ha-sang later canonized with Father Andrew Kim Tae-gon as a proto-martyr of the Korean saints, made nine trips to China pleading for clergy but the Church beset by persecution was unable to send anyone.
Rome prevailed upon the "Societe des Missions-Etrangeres de Paris" to take the Korea mission despite the congregation's shortage of priests and funds. Three missionaries, two priests and a bishop, arrived separately in the years 1836 through 1838. They were martyred in 1839. Another French bishop already had died on the China-Korea border waiting for an opportunity to enter the country.
Father Andre Kim ordained in Shanghai, China on August 17, 1844 was the first Korean priest. He was martyred at Saenamto, Seoul on September 15, 1846. Intense persecution continued but the laity fearlessly spread the faith and one by one French missionaries slipped into Korea. Of the twelve present in 1866, nine were martyred and three escaped to China. In the following years repeated attempts to enter the country failed. In 1876 two priests, Fathers Jean |Gustave Blanc and Victor Deguette, entered Seoul in disguise and for the first time since the persecution in 1866, the Church had priests.
Imposition of trade treaties forced an opening to the West. Persecution ceased and Catholics began to enjoy full liberty. When freedom of religious practice was decreed in a treaty with France in 1886 there were five priests and 12,500 baptized members. To continue in the next blog. | <urn:uuid:6fcc3171-9572-4d0f-80a9-302aac846004> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://catholicamericaneyesinkorea.blogspot.com/2009/07/background-to-faith-in-korea-part-i.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96404 | 861 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Depending on who’s talking, the North American F-107A was either the best fighter the Air Force didn’t have the sense to buy, or a politically flawed loser from the outset.
From This Story
The F-107A will be remembered forever, if it is remembered at all, for being configured as no jet had been before or since: the sharp-edged maw of its air intake, feeding a prototype Pratt & Whitney YJ-75 engine, was just above and behind the cockpit, giving the otherwise sleek fighter the look of a fourth grader with an oversize backpack. In an era of dart-like Mirages and Delta Daggers, the F-107A was a single-engine-jet Winnebago.
The F-107As were built during the mid-1950s paroxysm of fighter/interceptor/fighter-bomber development that resulted in what came to be called the Century Series—all with -100 designations—which, except for the initial un-Area Ruled Convair F-102s, were the first reliably supersonic Air Force jets.
In the 1950s, every service but the Boy Scouts seemed to want nuclear-strike capability. And not only were the Air Force, Navy, and Army all competing to deliver The Bomb, within the Air Force, both Strategic and Tactical Air Commands wanted nuclear bombers, whether they were strategic goliaths or small tactical fighter-bombers. So rather than a bomb bay, the -107 had a kind of belly pouch that could half-cradle a hydrogen bomb to drop at Mach 2 from altitude or deliver from an under-the-radar approach.
That’s why the intake was piggyback. A conventional nose inlet would have required an internal air duct that would interfere with the centerline weapons station. Wing-root intakes that bracketed the bomb might have worked, but North American thought the dorsal tunnel straight back to the engine was a neater solution. (Some have claimed that wind tunnel tests showed airflow around a nose intake would interfere with bomb release, but no such testing was ever done on an F-107A.)
The -107A’s inlet ducting had panels that automatically choked off or opened the inlet to allow the proper amount of air to the engine at everything from double-supersonic to runway-approach speeds. The fighter-bomber lacked conventional flight control surfaces: Roll was controlled by spoilers rather than ailerons, an all-moving vertical fin instead of a
separate stabilizer and rudder worked yaw, and the horizontal stabilizer for pitch control was also an all-moving unit.
In his 2002 book, North American F-107A, William J. Simone recounts one of the hairiest F-107A flights, which was made outside the testing program. Air Force Major Clyde Good delivered the number-two airplane to the Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio, in November 1957. Good’s -107A, by then almost ready for the scrap yard, had no navigation radios, so he planned a day trip to follow an F-100 Super Sabre from Edwards Air Force Base in California to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where the museum is located.
Problems at a refueling stop en route resulted in Good becoming separated from his lead, and after following highways as far as St. Louis, he ended up in the dark, atop an undercast. He had already discovered that the airplane had no cockpit or instrument lights, since it was never intended to fly at night. Nor had Good intended to fly at night, so he hadn’t bothered to pack a flashlight—just a Zippo lighter that he occasionally flicked to check the instruments. He guessed at a heading from St. Louis toward Dayton, and eventually Wright-Pat radar picked him up and vectored him down through the clouds and onto final.
Gear down, landing lights on…oh wait, no landing lights either. Good set down with one hand on the stick and the other on his Zippo so he could monitor the approach speed. | <urn:uuid:c38e8002-99ec-4653-a6fb-9332f1b2a4db> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/century-series-wannabe-209334/?page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00199-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96804 | 855 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Latin America and the Caribbean
The Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region is a pioneer on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) and has been working on it since 2003, when the Regional SCP strategy was developed and a Regional Council of Government Experts on SCP was established. One of the main functions of this Regional Council is to act as a specialist advisory body on SCP for the Regional Forum of Ministers of Environment. SCP has become a priority for the Region as it is expressed by the high level political support and commitment received from the Ministers of Environment in the Region. Within their specific SCP Decisions the Ministers have stressed their support and commitment to implement the 10YFP, and have recalled the regional SCP priorities (national polices, SMEs, sustainable public procurement and sustainable lifestyles) while at the same time calling for additional programmes on SMEs and integrated waste management.
In their latest meeting, the XX Regional Forum of Ministers of Environment that was held from the 28th to the 30th of March 2016 in Cartagena, Colombia, SCP played a central position during the discussions and the importance of the 10YFP implementation for the region was reinforced. Decision 6 on SCP includes focus and synergies on several issues, some of them being, climate change, sustainable cities, use of scientific knowledge for policy making, biodiversity, among others.
Another demonstration of regional commitment shows that out of the 33 countries of the region, 23 have designated their 10YFP National Focal Points (NFPs) and more countries are very close to do so. Please consult the full 10YFP NFP directory.
In the region, dedicated national SCP policies and plans exist in many countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, among others. Honduras is starting its National Action Plan on SCP and Chile and Costa Rica are about to launch their National Programs. Other countries such as Ecuador and Cuba make great efforts mainstreaming SCP into other national strategies/plans. Also, inter-ministerial and multi-stakeholder committees are being conformed in many countries in the region.
By the beginning of 2016, the SCP Clearinghouse had registered more than 176 SCP initiatives from LAC.
Regional strategy on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP)
Since 2003, the Latin-America and the Caribbean (LAC) region counts with a Regional Strategy on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP). Under the Executive Committee of the Regional Council’s leadership and with UNEP’s support, a new version was elaborated in the light of the context of the 10YFP, the SCP Decision 7 adopted by the LAC Regional Forum of Ministers of Environment (March 2014, Los Cabos, Mexico) and the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development including its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
This Regional Strategy on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) for the 10YFP implementation in Latin-America and the Caribbean (2015-2022) and its Roadmap 2015-2016 were launched at the Eight Meeting of the Regional Council of Government Experts on SCP which took place in Panama during 4 and 5 May 2015.
Up-coming SCP LAC relevant events for 2016:
- 10YFP South South Conference (dates to be confirmed, Brasil)
- Meeting of the Executive Committee on SCP (dates and place to be confirmed)
Projects in the LAC region:
1. National Action Plan for Honduras: With financial support from the UNDA, UNEP is working with the National Council for Sustainable Development (CONADES) on a project that will develop a National Action Plan in Honduras starting in June 2016. The National Cleaner Production Center will help convene a broad range of stakeholders to build the National Action Plan on SCP and establish implementation partnerships and alliances.
2. Sustainable Public Procurement and Ecolabelling project: At the regional level, in 2015 a project component started with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay focused on the development of voluntary sustainability criteria for two pilot product areas selected by participant countries. At the national level, it supports countries according to their needs to develop and implement policies and action plans for sustainable public procurement (in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru). More information here.
3. Eco-innovation project: In partnership with the European Commission (EC), UNEP is currently implementing this project to promote resource efficiency and eco-innovation. The project aims to change consumption and production patterns in developing and transition economies by encouraging businesses to reduce their environmental footprint. This project is taking place in 8 countries worldwide being Colombia and Peru the ones from LAC. More information here.
4. Integrated waste management project in Colombia: With financial support from the UNDA, UNEP is working with the Fundacion Academia de Innovación Sostenibilidad (FAISO) on an initiative that will implement a demonstration project on integrated waste management within the prepared meals and dishes sub-sectors in Bogota, Colombia, focusing on food waste. The duration of this project is estimated to be around one year starting June 2016.
5. Regional publication on Sustainable Lifestyles in LAC: Universidad El Bosque (Colombia) is working on the development of a regional study on the state of the art of sustainable lifestyles in LAC, including cases of success and policy recommendations. The launch of this publication is estimated by October 2016.
6. 6 more projects are about to start in the region regarding 10YFP implementation and financed by the 10YFP Trust Fund:
- “Towards a Sustainable Public Procurement System” in Uruguay
- “Smartphone App for Sustainable Consumption” in Chile
- “Direct use of geothermal energy for the promotion of sustainable production model in rural areas” in Chile
- “Education for Sustainability and Consumption” in Brazil
- “Implementation phase of the Sustainable Construction Policy in the Aburrá Valley” in Colombia
- “Inca Alliance for Sustainable Tourism. Public Private Partnership Model for Innovative and Sustainable Eco-Tourism in Historical-cultural and nature destinations” in Peru
7. Project on SCP Indicators: this project funded by Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) is analyzing the potential indicators that can be used to monitor SCP progress at the national and regional level taking into consideration the work on indicators developed by ILAC’s GTIA group and also potential synergies with the Regional Strategy and the SDG.
8. World Resources Forum Latin America & the Caribbean and the International Sustainable Building Congress 2016: The Congress took place between the 17 and 20 of May, 2016, in San José, Costa Rica. It was co-organized by UNEP together with Green Building Council – Costa Rica – and the World Resource Forum. The overarching theme of the Congress was “Building Sustainable Cities and Lifestyles in Latin America and the Caribbean”. The 10YFP organized two specific workshops. More information here.
9. National Roundtables on Sustainable Consumption and Production: National Roundtables on SCP took place in Cuba, Ecuador and Costa Rica during the period from September to November 2015. The main objectives were to present the consumption and production trends and associated impacts on the environment and society at the regional and global level; to share the 10YFP objectives and progress in its implementation; to facilitate the national mapping of SCP initiatives and policies; and to develop, through working groups with relevant stakeholders, national action plans for the SCP and other policies and initiatives.
10. Capacity Building Webinars for 10YFP National Focal Points: From July to September 2015 a series of webinars were held for 10YFP National Focal Points and other stakeholders from the LAC region. Participants had the opportunity to exchange and learn information on: Sustainable Consumption and Production in the region, creating strategic alliances for implementing the 10YFP, Integrated Waste Management in the region, SCP for Small Island Developing States, and Sustainable Public Procurement. More informative webinars will be developed during this year.
11. SCP Regional mapping: UNEP has developed a regional and sub-regional mapping of SCP initiatives and policies with the support of graduate students from the University of Buenos Aires where more than 200 initiatives under the 9 SCP regional priorities were identified and documented.
For additional information please write to email@example.com
Other relevant activities in the recent history are:
- Meeting of the Executive Committee on SCP (13-15 October, Santiago de Chile, Chile). More information here.
- XIX Meeting of the Forum of Ministers of Environment for LAC (15 March 2014, Los Cabos, Mexico). More information here. | <urn:uuid:b77acec7-db84-49f3-8577-19a8565d4eda> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.unep.org/10yfp/tabid/129611/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00001-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924183 | 1,788 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Psalm 121 is a psalm of ascent written by David. Pilgrims sang it as they marched up to Jerusalem for one of the three yearly festivals.
As the pilgrims traveled up to Jerusalem, they used the hills around Jerusalem as a metaphor to express the source of their help.
The psalmist expresses trust in the protection and care while on the journey. The main theme in Psalm 121 is the safety God provides as we journey through life.
Along with the profession, "My help comes from the Lord" (Psalm 121:2a), is the qualifying title, "Maker of heaven and earth" (Psalm 121:2b).
Even on a short journey to Jerusalem, the travelers surely observed worship sites devoted to other deities. Thus, to confess that God was "Maker of heaven and earth" was to declare those other deities ineffective.
When the psalmist says the Lord did not slumber nor sleep, he was confirming that God could keep constant watch over Israel and its pilgrims. The point is emphasized by the six occurrences of the word "keep" or "keeper" to describe what God does and who God is.
Psalm 121 is well suited for the joy of our pilgrimage during the Lenten season on the way to Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. Even though there were many false gods all along the route to Jerusalem, Psalm 121 highlights a point that the Lord is "Maker of heaven and earth," the only one who gives and sustains life. The Lord is therefore the only one worthy of our devotion.
As you travel during this Lenten season, remember Psalm 121. Become one of the pilgrims going up to Jerusalem where God is the shade at your right hand. Also, know the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore (Psalm 121:8).
Reflect on this lesson throughout Day 12. You are invited to read Day 13 of the Lenten lessons. | <urn:uuid:7985eda7-0ea5-4f10-939d-8910ce21db75> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.examiner.com/article/day-12-lenten-scripture-and-mediation-psalm-121?cid=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00101-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961599 | 401 | 2.75 | 3 |
Print version ISSN 0042-9686
Bull World Health Organ vol.86 n.4 Genebra Apr. 2008
Recent news from WHO
More than 1.27 million people have been vaccinated against yellow fever in Paraguay, after an outbreak that has so far claimed six lives, it was reported on 7 March. They were the first cases of the mosquito-borne disease in a Latin American urban area in 60 years.
On 6 March, the first Global Forum on Human Resources for Health called for immediate action to resolve the critical global shortage of some 4 million health workers. WHO estimates that 57 countries have an acute shortage with sub-Saharan Africa alone requiring an additional 1 million health workers.
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) has reached the highest recorded level so far. There are half a million new cases of MDRTB annually, about 5% of the estimated 9 million new TB cases worldwide. WHO's report, released on 26 February, was based on a survey of 90 000 patients in 81 countries from 2002 to 2006. Surveys in Latvia and Ukraine found nearly twice the level of MDRTB among TB patients living with HIV compared with TB patients without HIV.
WHO has published the third edition of the International Medical Guide for Ships on behalf of the International Maritime Organization and the International Labour Organization. The new edition is consistent with both the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines and the International Health Regulations.
For more about these and other WHO news items please see: http://www.who.int/mediacentre | <urn:uuid:6ce699a7-c4da-4954-b498-a19ff4ade5f8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862008000400008&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00091-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.919314 | 314 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Date: 05/18/97 at 22:12:09 From: Roz Subject: phi What is phi? I heard it's kind of like pi.
Date: 05/18/97 at 22:54:13 From: Doctor Mike Subject: Re: phi Hello Roz, Phi is one of the 24 letters in the Greek alphabet. Sometimes it is pronounced like the first part of the English word "fine," and sometimes like the English word "fee." Use of the Greek alphabet is popular in writings about math, probably since some of the early great mathematicians, like Euclid and Pythagoras, were Greeks who lived between two and three thousand years ago. Greek letters are used as names for college fraternities and sororities. They are also used as names of some professional organizations, like Kappa Sigma for the legal profession. Also, an organization for college students who get excellent grades is called Phi Beta Kappa. The Greek letter pi is often used to represent the ratio of the circumference of any circle to its diameter: Pi = 3.14159 http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.pi.html while the Greek letter phi is often used to represent another famous ratio: Golden Ratio, Fibonacci Sequence http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.golden.ratio.html I hope this helps. -Doctor Mike, The Math Forum Check out our web site! http://mathforum.org/dr.math/
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© 1994-2015 The Math Forum | <urn:uuid:44b52cc0-e4ce-4b7f-92ad-f98381fba1c8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/58383.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00098-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92008 | 335 | 2.78125 | 3 |
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