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In my online life I encounter many people who are staunchly against or for the movement to change the Washington Redskins name and mascot.
“Politically correct BS” “word police” “would you call a Native American a ‘Redskin?’“ “Don’t they have bigger problems to deal with?” “Who cares?” “If you were naming a franchise today, would you even consider ‘Redskins’?” “They don’t even want the name changed!” “Who would name their team something they didn’t like?” and the list of comments goes on and on. And some of these responses to the controversy are valid, or at least are worth thinking about. But the question that never seems to come up is, “how does the name and mascot affect real people?” This question I believe cuts to the heart of all the other questions and arguments put forth by all sides.
The answer to that question has not been fully parsed out, but also hasn’t been ignored by the psychiatric and social science community. I’d like to look at other racial stereotypes and their effects on those cultures because unfortunately we have plenty to look back on, but one argument is that the term “redskin” is not a slur and can’t be compared to other racial epithets. I doubt I will be able to prove to some people that it is a slur, so that’s not what I am interested in doing. I want to understand how a mascot, any mascot, that depicts a group of people, affects peoples’ lives. This is what it all comes down to right? There are humans in our society who might be hurt by this, shouldn’t we look deeper into the science and try to find some factual evidence?
There have been a few studies that focus on Native American adolescents and the effect representations of Native Americans in popular culture have on psychological well-being, physical health, and educational attainment. Stephanie Fryberg, a professor of psychology at The University of Arizona, conducted multiple studies and found “that it turns out that being exposed to any one of these mascots decreased achievement-related possible selves, so what it means is if they saw the Indian mascot, then any possible selves they had related to achievement in school were depressed.”
She also found that even young people who agreed with the mascots “actually have less community worth. And this was particularly interesting to us because you’d like to think that if you agree with it, you must think it’s good, but actually following the psychology literature, it turns out that when you disagree with the stereotype, there are psychological resources that buffer you from the effects of that image.” So just the act of defiance of the mascot helps shield a young Native American boy or girl from the effects of the representation of their culture, while agreeing with it allows the representation to do harm to them and their future selves.
That’s a scary proposition for those who revel in whatever polls they can find that say Native people like the name.
Another study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology called “Effect of Exposure to an American Indian Mascot on the Tendency to Stereotype a Different Minority Group” looked at stereotypes and how they affect those that aren’t being stereotyped. In the study they talked with students at the University of Illinois. Some participants were exposed to the Illinois mascot (at the time) Chief Illiniwek or a reading of a flattering historical portrayal of Chief Illiniwek from the university library, while others weren’t given any prompts related to the mascot. Then they were to answer questions about Asian Americans. The results provided evidence that when exposed to the American Indian icon or even the positive literature, participants were more willing to endorse stereotypes about a different racial minority group, in this case, Asian Americans.
Around this time the University of Illinois’ board of trustees had passed a resolution noting Chief Illiniwek’s status as a “treasured symbol” of the university, symbolizing “dignity, strength, intelligence, and grace.” Much like Washington Redskins team owner Dan Snyder speaks of his team’s name. Yet this study proved that, “even if the intention of the depiction may have been to honor and respect, the ramification of exposure to the portrayal is heightened stereotyping of racial minorities. . . The evidence suggests that the effects of these mascots have negative implications not just for American Indians, but for all consumers of the stereotype.”
Besides doing harm to Native Americans, the mascots also do harm to non-Native people. So the argument that this controversy is just spearheaded by a few radical voices falls short with me. Even if that were true, the evidence suggests that this is a real problem for real people. We can argue all we want about the origins of the word “Redskins” or take as many polls as we would like, but real, peer-reviewed science shows us that these mascots have a psychological impact on all of us to some degree. And these are just a couple of the studies done, there are more that show a similar impact, especially to young Native Americans.
Is that impact enough to sway those who want to keep the name? I have no clue, but these are the questions we should be investigating. All the rest feels like a lot of noise. A mascot represents something. It is a metaphor. It holds power that we don’t always see at the surface. Our job as a society and as fellow humans should be to investigate the symbols and metaphors we put out into the world and at least try to understand their layers of meaning and affect and use that knowledge to do as little harm as possible.
Kim-Prieto, Chu, Lizabeth A. Goldstein, Sumie Okazaki, and Blake Kirschner. “Effect of Exposure to an American Indian Mascot on the Tendency to Stereotype a Different Minority Group.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 40.3 (2010): 534-53. Web.
Rooney, Jack. “Professor Affirms Effects of Indian Mascots // The Observer.” The Observer. 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 June 2014. | <urn:uuid:48479200-ebc6-4111-9c8b-eac1894f62ad> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://thefakefootball.com/native-american-mascots-asking-right-questions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00085-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964056 | 1,330 | 2.703125 | 3 |
The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) Extended Mission has included dozens of opportunities to point the spacecraft directly at features of interest so that pictures of things not seen during the earlier Mapping Mission can be obtained. The example shown here is a small meteorite impact crater in northern Tharsis near 17.2°N, 113.8°W. Viking Orbiter images from the late 1970's showed at this location what appeared to be a dark patch with dark rays emanating from a brighter center. The MOC team surmised that the dark rays may be indicating the location of afresh crater formed by impact sometime in the past few centuries (since dark ray are quickly covered by dust falling out of the martian atmosphere). All through MOC's Mapping Mission in 1999 and 2000, attempts were made to image the crater as predictions indicated that the spacecraft would pass over the site, but the crater was never seen. Finally, in June 2001, Extended Mission operations allowed the MOC team to point the spacecraft (and hence the camera, which is fixed to the spacecraft) directly at the center of the dark rays, where we expected to find the crater.
The picture on the left (above, A) is a mosaic of three MOC high resolution images and one much lower-resolution Viking image. From left to right, the images used in the mosaic are: Viking 1 516A55, MOC E05-01904, MOCM21-00272, and MOC M08-03697. Image E05-01904 is the one taken in June 2001 by pointing the spacecraft. It captured the impact crater responsible for the rays. A close-up of the crater, which is only 130 meters (427 ft) across, is shown on the right (above, B). This crater is only one-tenth the size of the famous Meteor Crater in northern Arizona.
The June 2001 MOC image reveals many surprises about this feature. For one, the crater is not located at the center of the bright area from which the dark rays radiate. The rays point to the center of this bright area, not the crater. Further, the dark material ejected from the crater--immediately adjacent to the crater rim in the picture on the right (above, B)--is not continuously connected to the larger pattern of rays. Asymmetries in crater form and ejecta patterns are generally believed to occur when the impact is oblique to the surface. The offset of the crater from the center of the rays suggests that the meteor struck at an angle, most likely from the bottom/lower right (south/southeast). The strange geometry of the rays is quite different from that seen for rays associated with impact craters on the Moon and other airless bodies; one possible explanation is that they resulted from disruption of dust on the martian surface by winds generated by the shock wave as the meteor plunged through the martian atmosphere before it struck the ground.
Malin Space Science Systems and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. | <urn:uuid:efddb2df-83a0-4c80-a613-417163c6b9b6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03469 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00168-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943569 | 690 | 3.375 | 3 |
Reading Group Guide
1. So many New York City landmarks lend atmosphere to this novel: the St. Regis Hotel, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and, of course, Tiffany’s. If the novel were set in your town, what local landmarks would it feature? Do you think this novel would be as interesting if it were set somewhere else?
2. Michael says that the role of an imaginary friend is to make children feel less alone and to help them find their place in the world. Do you think imaginary friends help children deal with their lives or keep them from dealing with life head- on? In what other ways do we use our imagination to cope with life or hide from it?
3. When Michael leaves Jane on her ninth birthday, Jane is devastated and says, “I’ll never forget you Michael, no matter what.” Do you think there is one perfect love for each of us? How influenced are we by portrayals of love and love affairs in the media, movies, and on television?
4. Jane is involved in an unfulfilling relationship with Hugh McGrath. Is it surprising that without a good role model for loving relationships from her own parents, she would find herself staying in a bad relationship? With so many of us coming from divorced homes, how can we break the cycle and have successful love relationships?
5. Jane’s play, Thank Heaven, is based on her childhood friendship with Michael. Would you have an interest in seeing the play? Do you prefer the play’s ending where Michael leaves on Jane’s ninth birthday or do you prefer the book’s ending where Jane and Michael meet again as adults?
6. Jane’s special emergency feel- good food is Oreos. Do you have a favorite comfort food? Is it good to avoid your favorite foods or does that just lead to more bingeing behavior? How can you help children so they develop healthy relationships with food?
7. Jane “gifts herself” with a diamond ring from Tiffany’s to wear on her right hand. The salesperson assures her that more and more women are buying them. If you could afford a $65,000 diamond for yourself, would you like one? If a woman does not have a man in her life, do you think it is an empowering act for her to buy her own diamond ring?
8. Michael explains to Jane that when children turn nine years old, their imaginary friends must leave them. But he recalls that when Jane was just four, she told him, “Love means you can never be apart.” Does this statement from Jane explain why they don’t forget each other? How do you explain it?
9. Michael gives up his immortality to be with Jane. Do you think he could have made another choice? Do you support his decision? If you had been presented with a similar situation, what would you have done to be with the one you loved?
10. Michael takes Jane to Nantucket because he doesn’t want to waste a minute of the time they have together. Michael says, “Is it so difficult to imagine or believe that a man and a woman can find happiness together for a little while, which, after all, is all that we have?”Is this the moral of the story for you? If not, what is?
Sundays at Tiffany’s
- Publication Date: April 28, 2008
- Genres: Fiction
- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
- ISBN-10: 031601477X
- ISBN-13: 9780316014779 | <urn:uuid:c3c8269a-4246-449f-bc25-3fade9b80276> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/sundays-at-tiffany%E2%80%99s/guide | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00075-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966318 | 775 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Covers Celsius, Fahrenheit, and Kelvin temperature scales. Shows the relationship between kinetic energy and temperature.
Encourages viewers to learn more about how thermometers work by making their own using household materials.
Reviews the definition of temperature and the Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin temperature scales.
Explains the properties of lightning and the temperatures achieved by lightning bolts. | <urn:uuid:6f07c9dd-2b7e-4e42-863d-4363d7111b47> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ck12.org/chemistry/Temperature-and-Temperature-Scales/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00013-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.83099 | 74 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Astrology took its place in the body of Western knowledge with the spread of astrological lore from Babylon to Greece several centuries before Christ. This transmission began with Berosus, a priest of the temple of Bel, who settled on the island of Cos, the home of Hippocratic medicine, where he established a school of astrology at the end of the fifth century bc. However, the full application of astrology to medicine called iatromathematica, was developed subsequently in Hellenistic Egypt.
Both Greek medicine and Greek astrology shared the predominant Aristotelian physics of the day: that everything was composed of the 4 elements of fire, air, water, and earth in varying proportions. The 12 signs of the zodiac were divided into four groups of three, each group or ‘triplicity’ being associated with one of these elements, whose qualities of heat, cold, dryness, and moisture they symbolized. A particularly Egyptian feature was to give to each zodiac sign signification over certain parts and organs of the body, the first sign, Aries, signifying the head, through to the twelfth sign, Pisces, for the feet. Moreover, the four humours, which Hippocratic medicine held to constitute the human body as the elements composed the physical world as a whole, were assigned planetary significators, along with the organs which contained them: Jupiter ruled the blood, the liver, and the veins; the Moon, phlegm and the brain; Mars, yellow bile and the gall bladder; and Saturn, black bile and the spleen. The Moon in addition represented the humours as a whole, while the Sun denoted the vital spirit of the body, radiating from the heart via the arteries. Venus governed the genitourinary system, while to the seventh planet, Mercury, was given rulership of the mind.
The continuous movement of the planets in their courses, and their mutual interactions, were seen to correlate with the constant changes in the physical world: the cycle of the seasons, its mirroring in the four ages of Man, and the alternations between health and disease in an individual or community. The birth horoscope was used to identify the individual temperament, whether sanguine, choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic, or a combination of these, from which followed advice on the correct diet and lifestyle to maintain health and avoid the diseases to which that particular temperament was liable. The horoscope cast for the time of a person falling ill, called a decumbiture, was employed to help identify the nature, origin, and location of the disease, the likely prognosis, the kind of treatment to be given, and the most propitious times for its administration. The critical days in a disease, when an alteration in the condition for better or worse was anticipated, were calculated from the movements of the Moon and Sun for acute and chronic conditions respectively.
Medicine, as systematized by Galen in the second century ad, combined with late Stoic and Hermetic doctrines concerning the influence of the seven planets in the zodiac on terrestrial matters — encapsulated in the notion of a ‘cosmic sympathy’ and in the phrase ‘as above, so below’ — produced a positive science of astrological medicine for medieval men. A more fated attitude took hold among Arab, Jew, and Christian, that everything was ‘written in the stars’.
When astrological medicine was transmitted to Western Europe in the later Middle Ages; it required harmonizing with Christian theology. The position came to be accepted that the stars incline but do not compel, keeping intact Man's essential free will. For, although the human body might be subject to alteration and change occasioned by the movements of the planets in the zodiac, Man's immortal soul remained free from such influences so that he could indeed command the stars, insofar as he commanded his passions. This theme, that ‘the wise man rules his stars, the fool obeys them’, was powerfully developed by Marsilio Ficino, a fifteenth-century Florentine priest and physician steeped in Plato. The notion of a pre-ordained length of life, calculated from the points of life (apheta or hyleg) and destruction (anareta) in the natal horoscope, was overturned by correct physical habit and spiritual development, which nurtured the health of the body and soul, so extending the lifespan. However, the planets were still held accountable for epidemic diseases. The medical establishment in Paris blamed the triple conjunction of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn for the outbreak of the Black Death in 1348. The spread of syphilis at the end of the fifteenth century was thought to be caused by the conjunction of many planets in Scorpio in 1484, while the very name ‘influenza’ is testimony of the belief in the celestial origin of that disease.
Nicholas Culpeper, the famous seventeenth-century herbalist and astrologer, was one of the last to practise with integrity the combination of Galenic medicine and astrology, before the celestial art was relegated among the educated to a superstition, along with alchemy, which depended on astrology for its correct operations. Culpeper popularized astrological medicine by issuing inexpensive books in straightforward English on these learned subjects, with the effect of extending people's knowledge beyond the simple rules for seasonal blood-letting, purging, and bathing, and the times for doing so according to the zodiac sign occupied by the Moon, which were common to many popular almanacs of the time.
This astrological medicine, now very much marginalized, was carried on by a small number of enthusiasts. Ebenezer Sibly, an eighteenth-century doctor, believed that Enlightenment learning derived from observation and experiment was improved by a knowledge through astrology of the occult properties of substances. His Solar and Lunar tinctures, for men and women respectively, achieved some efficacy and popularity as medicines, while his edition of Culpeper's Herbal carried on the iatromathematical tradition. In Victorian England, the astrologer A. J. Pearce, whose career stretched into the 1920s, used to assist his father, a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and a homoeopath, by providing astral diagnoses of his patients. Today, on the fringes of the popular revival of astrology, the iatromathematical tradition continues.
— Graeme Tobyn
- Tester, S. J. (1987). A history of Western astrology. Boydell Press
One of the clearest examples of an item of culture originating among intellectuals, but passing to the peasantry. Throughout much of its long history, it derived its authority from complex mathematics and philosophical speculations; its prestige was high in courts and universities in medieval and Renaissance Europe, and as late as the English Civil War it was still important in political propaganda. Its symbols and concepts were also diffused through cheap printed almanacs, and were used in simplified forms by farmers, magicians, healers, and fortune-tellers (Davies, 1999a: 229-46).
During the 18th and 19th centuries astrology became marginalized, and by the early 20th century had virtually disappeared from public view. However, it was given fresh life by a press stunt in 1930, when the Sunday Express invited an astrologer to draw up a nativity chart for the newborn Princess Margaret, and to compile a simple horoscope applying to anyone whose birthday fell that week. Other newspapers copied the idea, encouraging semi-serious curiosity about astrology; like other aspects of the occult, it is currently enjoying a revival.
See also DR JOHN DEE.
The study of the heavenly bodies as predicting the fate of individuals was ultimately due to the Babylonians. The belief underpinning astrology, common to educated people generally, was that the cosmos was a unity, and that whatever happened in the heavens was bound to affect or be reflected in events on earth. As it was possible to predict the recurrence of celestial phenomena by astronomy, so it might also be possible to predict terrestrial events by observation of the heavenly bodies (astrology), and it came to be generally believed that the fortunes of an individual depended upon the aspect of the sky at the moment of his birth, and that astrologers could give guidance accordingly.
Astrology does not seem to have exerted much influence on Greek life until after the third century BC, in the wake of Alexander the Great. By the next century astrology had spread to Rome, and a vogue for it began when a number of manuals began to circulate widely. Believers included Sulla, Posidonius, and Varro (but not Cicero). Vitruvius, Propertius, and Ovid all professed to believe, and Augustus published his horoscope. From the first century AD onwards virtually everyone, Christians, pagans, and Jews alike, accepted the predictability of fate and the maleficent powers of the planets (see MANILIUS). A few held out against this tyranny, usually with the argument that while stars, by reason of the universal ‘sympathy’ pervading the cosmos, may indicate the future, they cannot determine it. Rome particularly was sensitive to the potential political dangers, and at times of national crisis banished all professional astrologers. However, no permanent ban was intended, and the emperors themselves frequently had recourse to horoscopes. It was not until the fourth century, with Augustine's emphatic denial of its validity, and with the advent of the Christian emperors, that the practice of astrology was officially banned. Neverthless for the ordinary man it retained an axiomatic validity until the seventeenth century and beyond. See also PTOLEMY.
In India, Buddhism adopted the Hindu scheme of astronomy but rejected the latter's preoccupation with astrology. The position and movement of the celestial bodies was of interest to Buddhists only for pragmatic purposes such as calculating the time of day, the length of the lunar month and its holy days, and the period of retreat during the rainy season. Such skills were especially important in the case of forest-dwelling monks who were cut off from society. Such monks were to learn ‘the positions of the constellations, either the whole or one section, and to know the cardinal points’. Astrology as we know it probably did not exist at the time of the Buddha—it is largely a Greek synthesis of Fertile Crescent star-lore, created around the 3rd or 4th centuries bce. Nevertheless, early sources such as the Brahmajāla Sutta of the Pāli Canon describe numerous techniques of divination including predicting eclipses of the sun, moon, and stars, and forecasting the events they were believed to herald. The Buddha is singled out for praise as one not devoting himself to such ‘low arts’ (tiracchāna-vijjā). Despite this, in practically all Buddhist cultures, monks officiate as advisers to the laity and employ techniques of divination. In south-east Asia the use of horoscopes is widespread among Buddhists, and they are known in Burma as sadā, and as cata in northern Thailand. In the Buddhism of Tibet and central Asia, indigenous shamanistic practices were incorporated with only superficial modifications, and in China a complete system of astrology and divination based on the Book of Changes (I-ching) found an accommodation within Buddhism.
Students of the study of the purported influence of the stars on our lives profess to see evidence of astrological thinking in their reading of Celtic myth, but there is scant verbal evidence in early texts to demonstrate the widespread practice of astrology. The Irish term néladóir, ‘cloud diviner’, may be synonymous with ‘astrologer’. Another Irish word, astralaíoch, is borrowed from the Greek. Reflecting Christian attitudes towards astrology, Scottish Gaelic speuradaireachd may also mean ‘swearing loudly’ or ‘blasphemy’. Manx planartys; Welsh sêr-ddewiniaeth, astroleg; Breton hudsteredoniezh. See also DIVINATION.
See E. McCaffery, Astrology: Its History and Influence in the Western World (rev. ed. 1942); L. Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science (rev. ed. 1958); M. Gauquelin, The Cosmic Clocks (1967); C. McIntosh, The Astrologers and their Creed (1969).
Defining early modern astrology is a thorny issue. The early modern distinction between "natural" and "judicial" astrology, still widely used among scholars, served to express moral and religious qualifications. Hence, its meaning was highly localized. A more useful starting point is obtained from astrology's status as an academic discipline, which endowed it with more universal pedagogical narratives. Following Hellenistic and Arabic antecedents, Italian professors such as Peter of Abano (1257–c. 1315) distinguished between a "science of motions" and a "science of judgments." While this distinction roughly mirrors that between our "astronomy" and "astrology," a closer look reveals important overlaps. For instance, late medieval astronomical textbooks often included considerations of the distances and size of celestial bodies, astrological aspects, planetary conjunctions, eclipses, and lunar mansions. It is therefore best to approach late medieval astrology as a "science of the stars" that comprised both celestial motions and judgments. Paraphrasing Gervasius Marstaller (1549), we might define our topic as follows: "Astrology aims at predicting and/or studying the power of celestial bodies on earth and measures their positions by means of astronomy."
This definition reflects astrology's position within the disciplinary hierarchies of the late medieval university. The emphasis on prediction reveals the simple fact that astrology was mostly taught as an auxiliary tool for medical prognosis. A practical ability to calculate astronomical data and assess concomitant celestial effects was widely expected from medical graduates. The reference to a more "theoretical" study of celestial effects reflects the pervasive influence of Aristotelian logic, epistemology, and physics, which was institutionalized in the arts faculties. Just like medical physiological textbooks, most introductions to astrology (typically Ptolemy or Alcabitius) sought to express basic parameters like planetary effects, or the nature of zodiacal signs, in terms of Aristotle's four manifest qualities (hot, cold, wet, dry). When this proved unconvincing, astrological effects were counted as "influences," based on "occult qualities": one could perceive their results on earth, but not their manifest action in the celestial bodies. This did not necessarily undermine astrology's academic status. Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly (1350–1420), for instance, promoted a "concordance of astrology and theology" that proved highly successful in several universities.
Many developments in the early modern period can be interpreted as attempts to safeguard astrology's status as it branched out beyond the university. Most academic astrologers were trained to perform a wide range of astrological tasks: they discussed large-scale predictions (mundane astrology), individual fates (natal astrology), or even particular events (horary astrology, subdivided into elections and interrogations). Courts and local town authorities increasingly drew upon political astrological consulting in the late Middle Ages. Beginning in the 1470s, print technology brought these political particulars to a wider, predominantly urban, audience through a new astrological genre: the annual prognostication. The propagandistic value of such initiatives contributed to the formation of close alliances between prognosticators and court culture in Italy, France, Germany, Poland, and the Low Countries in the late fifteenth century.
Such alliances proved to be a liability in times of political or religious crisis. The self-fulfillment of popular prognostications, and their ability to stir unrest, provoked several astrological debates, where both prognosticators and their university learning came under attack. Undoubtedly the most influential example of such criticism was Giovanni Pico's massive Disputations against Divinatory Astrology (1494). By the early sixteenth century, humanistic astrologers in both Italy and northern Europe addressed the Piconian challenge through reform proposals. These were often, but not exclusively, directed at the courtly audience that supported the rise of the prognosticators.
In the course of the sixteenth century, astrological reformers accomplished two significant feats. By advocating a return to ancient, mostly Ptolemaic astrology, they inaugurated a departure from the Arabic traditions that dominated the late medieval "science of judgments." And by tackling both astronomical and astrological reform, they legitimized a gradual change in the definition of astronomy. For example, it is now becoming clear that the astronomical innovations of Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Johannes Kepler can be interpreted within the framework of Pico's attack. Their reversal of the traditional subordination of mathematics to natural philosophy seems to flow from an attempt to rescue the physical basis of astrology. Likewise, educational reformers like Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) strongly emphasized astrology as a part of physics.
This development also provoked a gradual separation of the "science of motions" and "science of judgments." Although Copernican astronomy also presented theological challenges, these were easier to negotiate than the social and religious problems of astrological judgment. As a result, reformers gradually abandoned public astrological predictions: first horary astrology, then natal astrology, and finally weather prediction and some forms of medical astrology. Likewise, "astrological" prediction was gradually ousted from official university curricula. After the 1560s, and well into the second half of the seventeenth century, Catholic and Protestant church authorities issued numerous condemnations of "judicial" or "superstitious" astrology. The "science of motions," on the other hand, was flourishing. It is important to realize that this emerging "astronomy" retained several astrological interests, such as the nature of the heavens, the size and distance of celestial bodies, and the origins of comets.
The pace at which such changes occurred depended on local circumstances. In England, central licensing through the Stationers Company (1603), the absence of strong academic links, and the subsequent explosion of astrological consulting during the Civil War propelled astrological reform projects into the late eighteenth century. Possibly due to local academic structures, Italian medical astrology also seems to have enjoyed a longer lease on life than elsewhere on the Continent. In the seventeenth century, influential astrologers Simon Forman, William Lilly, and Jean-Baptiste Morin remained highly visible, while astrological almanacs even outsold the Bible.
But although extraordinary phenomena like eclipses (1652, 1654) or comets (1664–1665) still provoked general unease, a gradual popularization of astrology occurred in the second half of the seventeenth century. The new royal scientific societies rejected astrology from their research agendas. The upper class no longer found its way to reputed astrological practitioners by the late seventeenth century. After 1650, ecclesiastics and university physicians increasingly left the writing of popular almanacs to surveyors, engineers, or local teachers. Their products became increasingly pseudonymous or anonymous, showed a rapid decline in astrological content, and were mainly distributed in rural areas by peddlers. By the early eighteenth century, the middle class and the nobility were closing ranks in the condemnation of an "irrational" astrology, which, at the same time, became socially innocuous. Paradoxically, this situation may have contributed to the survival of local pockets of astrological beliefs, both "traditional" (such as Ebenezer Sibly) and "modernized" (for example, among British colonial army doctors).
Curry, Patrick. Prophecy and Power: Astrology in Early Modern England. Princeton, 1989. Innovative in its systematic focus on the social and political meaning of seventeenth-century astrology, but with a somewhat narrow selection of relevant backgrounds.
Grafton, Anthony. Cardano's Cosmos: The Worlds and Works of a Renaissance Astrologer. Cambridge, Mass., 1999. An entertaining introduction to Italian astrology in the Renaissance.
Harrison, Mark. "From Medical Astrology to Medical Astronomy: Sol-lunar and Planetary Theories of Disease in British Medicine, c. 1700–1850." British Journal for the History of Science 33 (2000): 25–48.
Smoller, Laura Ackerman. History, Prophecy, and the Stars: The Christian Astrology of Pierre d'Ailly, 1350–1420. Princeton, 1994.
Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic. New York, 1971.
vanden Broecke, Steven. The Limits of Influence: Pico, Louvain, and the Crisis of Renaissance Astrology. Leiden, 2003. Investigates the links between astrological practice in the university, court, and city, and the implications for elite astrology, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Westman, Robert S. "Copernicus and the Prognosticators: The Bologna Period, 1496–1500." Universitas 5 (1993): 1–5.
—STEVEN VANDEN BROECKE
The art of divining the fate or future of persons from the juxtaposition of the Sun, Moon, and planets. Judicial astrology foretells the destinies of individuals and nations, while Natural astrology predicts changes of weather and the influence of the stars upon natural things.
The characters used in astrology to denote the 12 signs represent natural objects, but they have also a hieroglyphic or esoteric meaning that has been lost. The figure of Aries represents the head and horns of a ram; that of Taurus, the head and horns of a bull; that of Leo, the head and mane of a lion; that of Gemini, two persons standing together; and so on. The physical or astronomical reasons for the adoption of these figures is explained by the Abbé Pluche in his Histoire du Ciel (1739-41), and Charles F. Dupuis, in his Abrégé de l'Origine de tous les Cultes (1798), endeavors to establish the principles of an astro-mythology by tracing the progress of the moon through the 12 signs in a series of adventures he compares with the wanderings of Isis.
Traditionally, the cases for which astrological predictions have chiefly been sought were nativities, that is, in ascertaining the fate and fortunes of individuals from the positions of the stars at the time of birth, and in questions called horary, which comprehend almost every matter that might be the subject of astrological inquiry. Sickness, the success of business undertakings, the outcome of lawsuits, and so on are all objects of horary questions.
A person is said to be born under that planet that ruled the hour of his birth. Thus two hours every day are under the control of Saturn; the first hour after sunrise on Saturday is one of them. Therefore, a person born on Saturday in the first hour after sunrise has Saturn for the lord of his or her ascendant; those born in the next hour, Jupiter; and so on in order. Venus rules the first hour on Friday, Mercury on Wednesday, Jupiter on Thursday, the Sun and Moon on Sunday and Monday, and Mars on Tuesday.
In drawing a nativity or natal chart (horoscope) a figure is divided into 12 portions representing the astrological houses. The 12 houses are similar to the 12 astrological signs, and the planets, being always in the zodiac, will therefore all fall within these 12 divisions or houses. The line that separates any house from the preceding is called the cusp of the house. The first house is called the ascendant, or the east angle; the fourth, the imum coeli, or the north angle; the seventh, the west angle; and the tenth, the medium coeli, or the south angle. After this figure is drawn, tables and directions are given for placing the signs, and because one house corresponds to a particular sign, the rest can also be determined. When the signs and planets are all placed in the houses, the astrologer can augur, from their relative position, what influence they will have on the life and fortunes of the native.
History of Astrology in the West
The precise origin of astrology is lost to history, but its practice appears to have developed independently in both China and Mesopotamia, and was quite known early in India. One of the most remarkable astrological treatises of all history is the fabulous Bhrigu-Samhita of ancient India, said to contain formulas for ascertaining the names of all individuals, past, present, and future, and their destinies. Unlike popular Western astrology, the key to a Bhrigu consultation is not the birth sign and conjunction of planets, but the moment of consultation of the oracle.
Marco Polo found astrology well established in China, although Chinese astrology developed apart from Western history and only recently has been imported into the West. Western astrology seems to have originated in Mesopotamia, and all of the cultures of ancient Iraq and Iran contributed to its creation. Among the earliest records of astrology are the cuneiform tablets from the library of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria (669-626B.C.E.). Astrologers were making periodic reports to Ashurbanipal on such matters as the possibility of war and the probable size of the harvest. Astrology had been present in the region for at least a millennium but was given a distinctive boost by the Chaldeans who took over the Tigris and Euphrates valleys in 606 B.C.E. The Chaldeans mapped the sky, improved the methods for recording the passing of time, successfully predicted eclipses, and accurately determined the length of the solar year (within 26 minutes).
Thus astrology was well developed in Chaldea when (in the second millennium B.C.E.) the biblical Abraham migrated from Ur of the Chaldees (Gen. 11:31) to Palestine. The conflict between the emerging religions of the Israelites and Babylonian astrology can be seen in Isa. 47:13 and repeatedly in the book of Daniel (e.g. 2:27, 4:7). A primitive astrology had developed among the Greeks, but during the conquests of Alexander in the West beginning in 334 B.C.E. Chaldean astrology flowed into the Mediterranean basin. Alexander's conquests also introduced astrology into India, although the Indians took the Chaldean notions and developed them in a unique direction.
In Egyptian tradition the invention of astrology is attributed to Thoth (called
In imperial Rome astrology was held in great repute, especially under the reign of Tiberius (14-37 C.E.). Augustus (27 B.C.E.-14 C.E.) had discouraged the practice of astrology by banishing its practitioners from Rome, but his successors recalled them; and although occasional edicts in subsequent reigns restrained and even punished all who divined by the stars, the practices of the astrologers were secretly encouraged and their predictions extensively believed. Domitian (51-96 C.E.), in spite of his hostility toward them, was in fear of their pronouncements. They prophesied the year, the hour, and the manner of his death, and agreed with his father in foretelling that he should perish not by poison, but by the dagger. The early Christians gave some sanction to astrology in the Gospel of Matthew, which opens with the visit of the three magi (Persian astrologers) who, having seen the star in the east, have come to worship Christ.
After the age of the Antonines and the work of the third-century C.E. Roman scholar Censorinus, we hear little of astrology for some generations. In the eighth century the Venerable Bede and his distinguished scholar, Alcuin, are said to have pursued this mystic study. Immediately following, the Arabians revived and encouraged it. Under the patronage of Almaimon, in the year 827, the Megale Syntaxis of Ptolemy was translated, under the title Almagest, by al-Hazen Ben Yusseph. Albumasar added to this work, and the astral science continued to receive new force from the labors of Alfraganus, Ebennozophim, Alfaragius, and
The conquest of Spain by the Moors carried this knowledge, with all their other treasures of learning, into Spain, and before their cruel expulsion it was naturalized among the Christian savants. Among these Alonzo (or Alfonso) of Castile has immortalized himself by his scientific research, and the Jewish and Christian doctors who arranged the tables named for him were convened from all the accessible parts of civilized Europe. Five years were employed in their discussion, and it has been said that the enormous sum of 400,000 ducats was disbursed in the towers of the Alcazar of Galiana in the adjustment and correction of Ptolemy's calculations. Nor was it only the physical motions of the stars that occupied this grave assembly. The two Kabbalistic volumes, yet existing in cipher, in the royal library of the kings of Spain, and which tradition assigns to Alonzo himself, indicate a more visionary study. In spite of the denunciations against this orthodoxy, which were thundered in his ears on the authority of Tertullian, Basil, and Bonaventure, the fearless monarch gave his sanction to such masters as practiced the art of divination by the stars, and in one part of his code enrolled astrology among the seven liberal sciences.
In Germany many eminent men pursued astrology. A long catalog could be made of those who have considered other sciences with reference to astrology and written on them as such. Faust has, of course, the credit of being an astrologer as well as a wizard, and we find that singular but splendid genius, Cornelius Agrippa writing with as much zeal against astrology as on behalf of other occult sciences.
Of the early developments in astrology in England little is known. Bede and Alcuin have been mentioned. Roger Bacon included it among his broad studies. But it is the period of the Stuarts that can be considered the acme of astrology in England. Then William Lilly employed the doctrine of the magical circle, engaged in the evocation of spirits from the
While astrology flourished in England it was in high repute with its kindred pursuits of magic, necromancy, and
Astrology has now permeated every activity of modern life, from daily household activities to politics and stock market speculation. Leading names that have emerged in the astrology revival include Luke D. Broughton, Evangeline Adams, Manly Palmer Hall, Elbert Benjamine Heindel, and Llewellyn George. More recently, figures have included Sydney Omarr, Jeane Dixon, "Zolar" (Bruce King), "Ophiel," andSybil Leek. Also still popular in its various editions is the mass circulation almanac of "Old Moore," which first appeared nearly three centuries ago.
The psychologist C. G. Jung related astrology to "synchronicity," an acausal connecting principle in nature (as distinct from normal cause and effect), and believed that horoscopes offered useful psychological information on patients. Astrology was widely used during World War II as a psychological weapon by both Germans and British.
The most noticeable aspect of the occult revival of modern times has been the widespread popularity of astrology, particularly among young people. It is estimated that there are more than ten thousand professional astrologers in the United States, with a clientele of more than twenty million people. Most American newspapers run an astrology column. Even the respected Washington Post includes a horoscope column.
In 1988 the revelations of former White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan (in his book For the Record) caused widespread media comment with the claim that Nancy Reagan consulted astrologers on questions relating to presidential schedules of her husband, Ronald Reagan. Joan Quigley was cited as her astrological consultant. Caroline Casey, daughter of a former congressman, was also revealed as a leading astrologer to politicians, high-ranking officials, and Georgetown socialites.
None of this would be surprising to Indian and other Asian celebrities, since the astrologer is still an indispensable figure in Asian society, consulted on marriage dates and partnerships, business enterprises, and affairs of state. But the extent of American involvement with astrology surprised and infuriated many commentators, who condemned "occult superstitions." In May 1988, testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, Donald Regan was asked whether he had ever heard of American stockholders using astrology for guidance. He replied, "Recently a study was made of Wall Street people and stockholders—and 48 percent admitted that they used astrology of one sort or another in the stock market."
One astrologer responded, "What's new? Queen Elizabeth I set her coronation date by her guy, John Dee, and consulted him every day. Kings have always used us—and popes! Some of those guys were do-it-yourselfers, like Fixtus IV and Julius II. Others just kept their astrologers in the closet, like Nancydid."
There has been little new to add to popular belief in astrology in the present revival except its linking with modern technology in the use of an IBM computer for rapid calculation of horoscopes. For some time the giant
In spite of its pseudoscientific basis, deriving from outmoded theories of the planetary system, astrology can point to documented successes, particularly by astrologers who combine their calculations with an intuitive faculty of interpretation. There is also scientific evidence for the influence of lunar and solar rhythms on human activity.
One interesting development in modern astrology has been the research of the French statistician Michel Gauquelin and his wife Francosise Gauquelin, beginning in 1950. They claimed to find a significant correlation between the position of planets at birth and the chosen professions of a large sample of people from all walks of life. The research of the Gauquelins, whose collaboration lasted until 1980, is so significant that it is the most frequently cited research validating astrology.
Collins, Rodney. The Theory of Celestial Influence. London: Stuart & Watkins, 1955.
Eisler, Robert. The Royal Art of Astrology. London: Herbert Joseph, 1946.
Gauquelin, Michel. The Cosmic Clocks. Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1967.
——. Cosmic Influences on Human Behavior: The Planetary Factors in Personality. New York: Stein & Day, 1973. Rev. ed. New York: ASI Publishers, 1978.
——. Dreams and Illusions of Astrology. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1978. Reprint, London: Glover & Blair, 1980.
——. Scientific Basis of Astrology. New York: Stein & Day, 1969. Reprinted as Astrology and Science. London: P. Davies, 1970.
Hone, Margaret. Modern Textbook of Astrology. London: Fowler, 1951.
Howe, Ellic. Astrology & Psychological Warfare during World War II. London: Rider, 1972.
Kenton, Warren. Astrology: The Celestial Mirror. London: Thames & Hudson, 1974.
Lee, Dal. Dictionary of Astrology. New York: Warner, 1968.
Leo, Alan. Casting the Horoscope. London: Fowler, 1969.
Lewis, James R. The Astrology Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994.
McIntosh, Christopher. The Astrologers and their Creed. London: Praeger, 1969.
Rudhyar, Dane. From Humanistic to Transpersonal Astrology. Seed Center, 1975.
Sachs, Gunter. The Astrology File. London: Orion, 1998.
Thompson, C. J. S. The Mystery and Romance of Astrology. London, 1929. Reprint, Detroit: Singing Tree Press, 1969. Reprint, New York: Causeway, 1973.
"Faithful horoscope-watching, practiced daily, provides just the sort of small but warm and infinitely reassuring fillip that gets matters off to a spirited start." - Shana Alexander
"The stars which shone over Babylon and the stable in Bethlehem still shine as brightly over the Empire State Building and your front yard today. They perform their cycles with the same mathematical precision, and they will continue to affect each thing on earth, including man, as long as the earth exists." - Linda Goodman
"We need not feel ashamed of flirting with the zodiac. The zodiac is well worth flirting with." - D. H. Lawrence
"You stars that reigned at my nativity, whose influence hath allotted death and hell." - Christopher Marlowe
"Look you, Doubloon, your zodiac here is the life of man in one round chapter. To begin: there's Aries, or the Ram -- lecherous dog, he begets us; then, Taurus, or the Bull -- he bumps us the first thing; then Gemini, or the Twins -- that is, Virtue and Vice; we try to reach Virtue, when lo! comes Cancer the Crab, and drags us back; and here, going from Virtue, Leo, a roaring Lion, lies in the path -- he gives a few fierce bites and surly dabs with his paw; we escape, and hail Virgo, the virgin! that's our first love; we marry and think to be happy for aye, when pop comes Libra, or the Scales -- happiness weighed and found wanting; and while we are very sad about that, Lord! how we suddenly jump, as Scorpio, or the Scorpion, stings us in rear; we are curing the wound, when come the arrows all round; Sagittarius, or the Archer, is amusing himself. As we pluck out the shafts, stand aside! here's the battering-ram, Capricornus, or the Goat; full tilt, he comes rushing, and headlong we are tossed; when Aquarius, or the Waterbearer, pours out his whole deluge and drowns us; and, to wind up, with Pisces, or the Fishes, we sleep." - Herman Melville
"This is the excellent foppery of the world: that when we are sick in fortune -- often the surfeits of our own behavior -- we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars, as if we were villains on necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence. An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition on the charge of a star!" - William Shakespeare
See more famous quotes about Astrology
Astrology (from Greek: αστήρ, αστρός (astér, astrós), "star", and λόγος, λόγου (lógos, lógou), "word" or "speech" lit. to talk about the stars) is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs in which knowledge of the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details is held to be useful in understanding, interpreting, and organizing information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters. A practitioner of astrology is called an astrologer, or, less often, an astrologist. Numerous traditions and applications employing astrological concepts have arisen since its earliest recorded beginnings in the 2nd millennium BCE. It has played a role in the shaping of culture, early astronomy, and other disciplines throughout history.
Historically, astrology and astronomy were often indistinguishable, with the desire for predictive and divinatory knowledge one of the primary motivating factors for astronomical observation. Astronomy began to diverge from astrology after a long period of gradual separation in the 18th century, and has since distinguished itself as the scientific study of astronomical objects and phenomena, placing no significance on these phenomena's supposed astrological correlation.
Proponents have defined astrology variously, as a symbolic language, an art form, a science, and a method of divination. The scientific community generally considers astrology as a pseudoscience or superstition. While there is no scientific evidence behind the principles of astrology, belief in astrology is widespread
mobile no. 9411404497 and 9359816086 | <urn:uuid:7c07487b-237e-4a6a-9015-d86d0ffb505b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://dixitastrologer.blogspot.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00077-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951224 | 8,596 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Exposure to high levels of environmental pollutants called organohalogen compounds (OHCs) seems to reduce the size of sexual organs in male and female polar bears, researchers report in an article scheduled for the Sept. 15 issue of the ACS journal, Environmental Science & Technology.
OHCs include dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls and some pesticides.
Christian Sonne and colleagues checked 55 male and 44 female East Greenland polar bears for a correlation between OHC levels in body tissue and size of sexual organs.
Sonne's group did the study to close gaps in knowledge about the OHC's possible effects on reproduction in polar bears, a vulnerable population because of their low reproductive rates. The bears have elevated OHC levels, due to a diet that includes seals, which accumulate large amounts of OHCs in their blubber. Past studies have linked OHCs to various health effects in the bears.
The new study reports a connection between OHC levels and reduced size of the uterus in female bears and reduced size of the testis and baculum (penis bone) in males. A large baculum is critical for successful mating in an arctic climate, the researchers note, and even slight decreases may interfere with reproduction.
"Furthermore, similar physiological impacts from organohalogen-pollutant exposure may be manifested on the reproductive tract of humans relying on OHC-contaminated food resources," the study states.
Reference: "Xenoendocrine Pollutants May Reduce Size of Sexual Organs in East Greenland Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus)." Environmental Science & Technology
Source: American Chemical Society. September 2006. | <urn:uuid:478c88ec-5e94-42f0-843a-770472275bc6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.biology-online.org/articles/high_levels_pollutants_may.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923893 | 341 | 2.875 | 3 |
DNA analysis of almost every Hawaiian monk seal that lived during the past 25 years reveals that the animal has the lowest genetic diversity of any mammal ever studied - less even than the cheetah, the northern elephant seal and the northern hairy-nosed wombat.
Jennifer Schultz, a doctoral candidate at the University of Hawaii, did most of the DNA work, using tissue collected by field researchers from the Hawaiian Monk Seal Program of the National Marine Fisheries Service Protected Species Division. The endangered seals are tagged by punching a hole in a flipper, and the plugs of flesh are saved.
The finding that the seals went through a genetic "bottleneck" probably means they have reduced ability to cope with changes in their environment, and it has implications for wildlife biologists who are trying to reverse the catastrophic decline in the species, which has been about 4 percent per year.
The Maui News file photo
Hawaiian monk seals, like this female are increasingly seen around the main islands. The main population, however, is in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, although the seals travel throughout the islands. This seal is wearing a tracking device.
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Schultz
Jennifer Schultz studied the genetic diversity of Hawaiian monk seals for her dissertation. But she also has done research in marine biology around the Pacific. This photograph shows her beside a stream in New Zealand.
Being hunted to near extinction does not mean a species cannot bounce back. In the famous case of the northern elephant seal on the West Coast, hunters killed all but 10 to 20 animals around the time of World War I, but the population is now over 175,000.
Historical data and statistical analysis of the Hawaiian monk seal suggest that its total population also got down to about two dozen early in the century. That did not preclude a rapid regrowth of its population - at 7 percent a year, about the same as recently exhibited by the Northern Pacific population of humpback whales that winter in Hawaii.
But evolution is a hard taskmaster, and despite legal protection and attention from biologists, the seal has been in steady decline for a least a quarter of a century. The population peaked around 1958, the time of the first comprehensive census. Annual censuses since the early 1980s have charted a steady drop in population, from more than 1,500 to about 1,200.
The reasons are uncertain and could include predation by sharks, competition with sharks and ulua for prey, pollution or a scarcity of food.
However, there is no evidence that reproductive problems associated with the reduction in genetic diversity are contributing, which has been a problem with the cheetah.
In a paper published in the Journal of Heredity, Schultz, Robert Toonen and Brian Bowen of the UH Department of Zoology and the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and Jason Baker of the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service reported that comparison at 154 locations on the DNA "revealed unprecedentedly low levels of allelic diversity and heterozygosity."
No study before has achieved the almost compete survey of a mammalian species' members over so many generations, even for animals much rarer than the Hawaiian monk seal, like the northern hairy-nosed wombat. The lack of genetic variability is even more striking than for some other famous and rare Hawaiian animals that also went through tiny population bottlenecks, like the nene or the Laysan duck.
Statistical analysis suggests that the Hawaiian monk seal did not have a high level of genetic diversity even before humans began interfering. Today it has less genetic diversity than its cousin the Mediterranean monk seal, which, however, has an even lower 21st century population of about 300. (The Caribbean monk seal was driven to extinction before genetic sampling techniques were invented.)
Hawaiians before Western contact possibly hunted the seal, but the real slaughter came in the 19th century.
On a single voyage in 1859, 1,500 seals were killed. By the 1890s, there may have been as few as 23 seals left. There was no nose count; the estimate comes from statistical analysis of the genetic variation.
Although the seals now get lots of attention, there are still many mysteries. Even the timing of the switch from rapid population growth to rapid decline is not precisely known.
Schultz said the low genetic diversity does not mean that helping the seal population recover is a hopeless proposition, but it does enhance risk. With less genetic diversity, the chance that an epidemic disease could sweep through is greater. This happened to the Mediterranean monk seals with the past decade.
"The fact that there is high genetic connectivity among the main and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (all seals interbreed freely) means that a disease could easily move up the island chain," Schultz said. "This is why it is so important for humans to not get too close (and to keep their pets away) from seals."
Besides, close approaches are against the law. Monk seals are entitled to at least 100 feet of space, more for nursing mothers and pups.
Schultz said it is a hopeful but puzzling sign that seals have began recolonizing the main islands. Not only that, the seals found now around Maui and other inhabited islands are "fat and happy," while the main population in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands is going hungry.
Despite competing with human fishermen, the seals are finding something to eat. A new research program will use DNA analysis of seal fat to determine what prey species are important in their diet. The seals will eat most anything.
Schultz said she suspects that part of the reason the seals are doing better in the main islands is there may be less competition and/or fewer predators.
As for the reason that the Hawaiian monk seal never developed a great deal of genetic variation compared with other seals, nobody knows, according to Schultz, but it must have gone through repeated population bottlenecks. Possibly, the variations in sea level in the Hawaiian Islands contributed. Rising seas could have eliminated beaches the seal needed for resting.
"We don't know if it has always been low" since monk seals first reached Hawaii, or if there have been population explosions followed by crashes, she said.
Now that more is known about the genetic characteristics of the seals, biologists can think about analyzing families to see which are more successful in bringing up pups. This could lead to refined management strategies.
Schultz recently succeeded in her oral defense of her dissertation and will be awarded her doctorate degree this summer. She has been named a Young Scholar of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, known as SOEST and will continue research at the University of Hawaii for the next year on seals, lemon sharks and pygmy angelfish.
She and a friend, Timothy McGovern, an ocean technician, also have a nonprofit organization, Marine Realm, with a Web site devoted to providing a multimedia experience to students interested in pursuing careers in marine science.
On the Net:
* Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center monk seal research: www.nmfs.hawaii.edu/psd/mmrp/monkseals.php
* Marine Realm: marinerealm.org/
* Harry Eagar can be reached at email@example.com.
* This story includes a correction from the original published on Monday, Mar. 16, 2009. The name of the marine sciences school at thge University of Hawaii was incorrect. | <urn:uuid:574c1419-04a3-4d24-a82f-128f96fcb244> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/516113.html?nav=10 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965798 | 1,514 | 3.1875 | 3 |
This Month in Physics History
October 1993: Congress Cancels Funding for the SSC
The old interior of the Magnet Development Laboratory where technicians coiled superconducting niobium wires to make powerful magnets.
What the same space looks like today.
The roots of the SSC arose from a cancelled project at Brookhaven National Laboratory called ISABELLE, during the Reagan administration. By 1984, the under-construction ISABELLE was beset with problems, notably superconducting magnets that didn't work. Even worse, its primary purpose had been to discover the W and Z bosons — and those particles were found the prior year by CERN's rival accelerator in Switzerland. Leaders in the high-energy physics community decided the best course of action would be to cancel ISABELLE and redirect the funds to the design and construction of an even bigger accelerator, initially nicknamed the "desertron," possibly because it would be so large, it would have to be built in a remote low-population area where land came cheap.
In 1986, physicists unveiled the SSC's design, which featured a ring 53 miles in circumference, filled with 8600 superconducting magnets. The 20 TeV proton beam would pass through a four-centimeter bore in each magnet as it made its way around the ring. The following year, the Department of Energy presented the SSC plans to President Reagan and his cabinet, estimating the total cost at around $4.4 billion (later raised to $5.3 billion to include the cost of detectors). The project appealed to Reagan, who recalled advice he'd once received from a star quarterback: "Throw deep." Told that he would make a lot of physicists ecstatic with his decision to approve the SSC, Reagan purportedly replied. "That's probably fair, because I made two physics teachers in high school very miserable."
That sense of victorious elation did not last long; the project experienced difficulties from the start. Still, construction began in 1991 in Waxahachie, Texas, and within two years, workers had bored through enough sandstone and limestone to create 30 kilometers of tunnels. A 1991 effort to cancel the SSC, brought on by concerns about cost overruns, failed in the House of Representatives, 165 to 251. But it proved to be a temporary reprieve.
The rising price tag in the face of economic recession as President Bill Clinton took office in the early 1990s certainly figured prominently in the collider's falling fortunes. By then the estimated cost had ballooned to more than $10 billion, and the DOE's 1993 Baseline Validation Report called for increased safety and contingency margins, resulting in another 15% increase to the budget, to $11.5 billion. National priorities had shifted, and slashing the federal budget topped the list. The SSC was not the only major science project with a hefty budget; it was competing with the International Space Station, which held greater appeal for the new Congress than the more esoteric objectives of the SSC; nor were Clinton's science advisor, or his Energy Secretary, particularly passionate about the SSC.
One of the most frequent criticisms leveled was poor management, particularly when it came to implementing the required bureaucratic procedures. A 1994 follow-up Congressional report listed several examples, spanning a lack of mandatory internal reviews and communication breakdowns, to consistently underestimating costs on the project. The physicists may have been brilliant at science, but they were less enthusiastic about red tape. One senior physicist grumbled undiplomatically, "Our time and energy are being sapped by bureaucrats and politicians."
There was considerable tension even within the physics community itself, with physicists in other subfields resenting the high-energy physicists for garnering what they perceived to be the lion's share of funding and public attention. They perceived it as a zero sum game: the more government money funneled into building the SSC, the less was available for other projects. Among the most vocal detractors was Nobel Laureate Philip Anderson, a condensed matter physicist who bemoaned "the almost complete irrelevance of the results of particle physics not only to real life but to the rest of science."In the end, the House of Representatives voted to cancel the SSC on October 27, 1993, by a vote of 283 to 143, cutting its losses on the $2 billion already spent. The decision did not lead to increased funding for other areas of physics. In fact, the biggest beneficiary was the LHC, as the US particle physics community successfully lobbied for a greater role in the international collaboration. That investment paid off handsomely with the discovery of the Higgs boson. An International Linear Collider is planned for the next generation, but whether it will actually be built is still uncertain.
As for the SSC, its empty, abandoned tunnels are still there, under the plains of central Texas. The equipment was sold off long ago, and a multimillionaire named Johnnie Bryan Hunt finally bought the site in 2006, intending to build a large and secure data storage facility there. Alas, six months later, Hunt slipped on a patch of ice and hit his head on the pavement; the fall killed him, and his Collider Data Center project died with him. A chemical manufacturer bought the site in 2012.
Perhaps the SSC's most lasting contribution has been to fiction: it inspired two novels: a comic novel by Herman Wouk called A Hole in Texas, and John G. Cramer's Einstein's Bridge. The latter envisions an alternate history in which the collider was actually built and begins trial runs, with earth-shattering ramifications involving exotic particles, wormholes, aliens, and time travel. It seems a fitting paean to the accelerator that might have been.
- Carroll, Sean M. The Particle at the End of the Universe. New York: Dutton, 2013.Cramer, John G. Einstein's Bridge. New York: Avon, 1997. (fiction)
- Cramer, John G. "The Decline and Fall of the SSC," The Alternate View, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May 1997.
- Riordan, Michael. (2001) "A Tale of Two Cultures: Building the Superconducting Super Collider, 1988–1993," Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 32(1): 125–144
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Definition of Snot
Snot: A popular and pejorative, term for nasal mucus (mucus produced in the nose).Source: MedTerms™ Medical Dictionary
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The School Psychology Program courses are all guided by Big Ideas. These Big Ideas are interwoven throughout the Program sequence and inform both what is taught (i.e., content), and how it is taught (i.e., a developmental approach to instruction and supervision). We will update this page with all of our Program's Big Ideas shortly, but for now, here are a few examples:
Introductory Seminar in School Psychology (EPS 540): Big Ideas
- As schools are changing, so too is the role of the school psychologist.
- Too many educators think that school psychology and school psychologists “just” test students for special education eligibility, serving as gate keepers.
- School psychologists have major roles in prevention and promotion, especially around positive behavior support and school climate, including a variety of mental health issues.
- Schools lag behind in implementing evidence-based practices. School psychologists are integral to reducing that gap.
Theory and Practice of School-Based Consultation (EPS 561A): Big Ideas
- Indirect service delivery (helping students by working with adults), is a critical role of the school psychologist which promotes positive outcomes for children, adults, and systems.
- Consultation is a complex skill that needs to be systematically learned. Like all complex skills, consultation should not be learned on the job but rather through a strategic training process, including supervision.
- Consultee-Centered Consultation (CCC) models are distinguished from other models of consultation given emphases on: (a) the power of communication in consultation; (b) the complexity of consultant-consultee interchanges; and (c) the potential to empower consultees and systems through the consultation process.
- The focus of problem solving should be the instructional match between a child’s prior knowledge and the learning environment rather than perceived within-child deficits. | <urn:uuid:41449965-a999-4ec9-b10b-a359fcbb92ab> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nl.edu/schoolpsychology/programbigideas/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00122-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942182 | 383 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Bioenergy and Biodiversity in the Southeast: Like Speeding in a Crowded Neighborhood?
The street to my house goes through a school zone and our neighborhood is full of kids. I have a school-aged daughter myself. I pride myself on being a safe driver. I try to look carefully and slow down. Of course I would never intentionally hit a kid who happened to be in my way. But I have to admit I wouldn’t slow down as often or as much if it weren’t for the speed camera that was recently installed.
The same basic truth applies to people ‘driving’ businesses in crowded neighborhoods. Sure, they have deadlines and payments to meet. Yes, they get impatient with caution and rules that might seem unnecessary at times. But to avoid accidents, we establish speed limits and other traffic rules. I’d suggest that a new, fast-charging industry might need a few new rules to avoid colliding with some precious ones that might happen to be in their way.
The industry involved uses wood for energy—“biomass,” it’s called—and the crowded neighborhood is the Southeast U.S.
Why Study the Southeast?
Until recently, we haven’t had much specific knowledge about the impacts of woody bioenergy harvesting on wildlife. There’s been a lot of concern—and rightly so—about the impacts of bioenergy on climate change. But these analyses are necessarily done at regional and global scales, and carbon impacts differ from wildlife impacts. So I’ve been very excited about a new report that NWF commissioned that is taking a good, close look at biodiversity.The study focused on the Southeast U.S., and for good reason. The region has some of the highest concentrations of biodiversity in America. I had known that the hardwood forests in the Appalachians harbor high levels of biodiversity, perhaps owing to the long persistence of the ecosystem without glaciation or other major disruptions. What I’ve been learning lately is that Southeast coastal forests have high biodiversity, too. In fact, the renowned biologist E. O. Wilson has observed that while longleaf savannahs can have 200 species per acre, SE pitcher plant bogs might have the highest fine-scale (i.e., within a very small area) biodiversity in the world—as many as 50 species per square meter.
Fueling Biomass/Bioenergy DevelopmentAnd when it comes to biomass development, the Southeast is where action is. Some of the biomass industry’s growth in the Southeast is in the use of biomass by local power plants, displacing some or all of their coal. Most of the growth, though, is in the production of wood pellets—ground, dried and densified wood fibers that can be easily handled and shipped. (Incidentally, it’s no coincidence that biomass pellets look a lot like rabbit pellets; the manager of one pellet mill that I visited told me that their mill uses the same die that is used to make rabbit pellets.)
Some of the SE’s pellets are made on a relatively small scale for the domestic home-heating market, but the fastest growth is in the large-scale production of pellets for export to Europe utilities. In fact, biomass, much of it from the U.S., is expected to supply up to half of the renewable energy needed to meet the European Union’s 20% by 2020 Renewable Energy Directive. In the U.S., the pellet industry is expected to almost double between 2012 and 2014, to a capacity of almost 14 million tons, with much of this growth occurring in the SE.
Seeing the Forest for the Species
The study marks a significant improvement in the quality of biodiversity impact assessments from bioenergy. Led by Jason Evans, an environmental sustainability analyst at the University of GA who has expertise in wildlife and GIS analysis, the study used a two-step approach to assess potential impacts. First, Dr. Evans developed spatially-explicit sourcing models to predict where, over the next few decades, logging will be done to supply six actual bioenergy facilities, ranging from small pellet plants in the mountains to utilities in the mountains and piedmont to large export pellet plants in the coastal plain. Their sourcing model is based on what types of biomass resources the plants will use, the distribution and abundance of local forest types, demand from other forest product industries, and even the local road networks.
Then the researchers assessed where this logging might conflict with biodiversity. Because the actual distribution of biodiversity isn’t mapped well, scientists need to use proxies or ways of representing biodiversity (or risks to biodiversity). The first proxy that the team used was an assessment of which natural forests might be converted to plantations, which can reduce habitat value and thus biodiversity, and which rare forest types might be logged, in response to new biomass demand.
The second proxy was indicator species, which ecologists choose to represent a group of species dependent on similar habitats. The indicators species include includes two mammals (eastern spotted skunk and long-tailed weasel), four birds (northern bobwhite, Swainson’s warbler, brown-headed nuthatch, and prothonotary warbler), two amphibians (gopher frog and northern cricket frog), and one reptile (timber rattlesnake).Lastly, the team assessed policy drivers behind biomass demand and the policy options for reducing wildlife impacts.
Importantly, the report does not assess carbon benefits—or risks—from any of the bioenergy facilities, but an earlier report commissioned by NWF found that using whole trees to generate electricity in inefficient power plants would increase atmospheric carbon for many decades, until the regrowth of trees finally re-sequesters the emitted carbon.
Diverse Impacts on Wildlife Diversity
What emerges from the dizzying array of maps and data that the team produced is a picture that, not coincidentally, is as varied as the distribution of most species. The projected impacts of woody bioenergy harvesting depend a lot on where the harvesting will be done, how much will be done, what kinds of biodiversity exists in the forests that might be logged, and what sorts of existing or new policies are put in place to protect biodiversity.
The GA Biomass, LLC pellet plant is a good example of how good placement of a plant, and adoption of new but basic protections for biodiversity, could significantly reduce the threat to biodiversity. Though the GA Biomass plant was located in an area with a high predominance of existing plantations, the research team still found that because the new demand for biomass, and the presence of natural stands within the hauling territory that don’t have protections against conversion to plantations, there is a risk that up to 43,000 acres of natural forests could be converted to plantations, of which over 30,000 acres could be longleaf.
However, a simple policy, either adopted voluntarily by the company or enforced by the EU, to not purchase biomass from new plantations, would reduce the threat that biomass harvests would directly lead to conversion. For its new biomass plant, the city of Gainesville already adopted such a prohibition against purchasing biomass from new plantations, as a way to discourage conversions.
There was one alarming finding in the study. Based on its business model to log hardwood forests, and its location in an area with a high concentration of ecologically-critical wetland hardwood forests, the Enviva pellet plant in Ahoskie, North Carolina will pose significant risk to rare forest types, biodiversity, and water quality. Over its expected span, the plant will log about 100,000 acres of hardwood forests along rivers, and about 50,000 acres of swamps away from rivers. Many of these wetland hardwood forests are in the Roanoke River floodplain, which is identified in the NC Wildlife Action Plan (NCWAP) as the “finest example remaining in the state.” The wetland hardwood forests that are located away from the rivers are identified in the NCWAP as “urgently needing protection.”And we know from a story in the Wall Street Journal that Enviva isn’t sourcing its biomass with ‘tread-lightly, low-impact’ forestry.
Clear-cutting wetland forests poses risks to two indicator species—the prothonotary warbler and Swainson’s warbler—and many other associated species, not to mention likely negative impacts on water quality.
This is not a sustainable form of biomass. It should not be allowed to count toward any nation’s renewable energy requirement. The research team suggests that Enviva could start planting fast-growing poplars as a more sustainable source of biomass, but planting trees is far more expensive than harvesting standing timber, and of course it’d take years after the planting investment to get the biomass. With its current sourcing strategy, I can’t see a way that the Ahoskie plant could be made sustainable. And it’s important to remember that this sustainability issue isn’t some accident. The plant was intentionally located near where a large hardwood paper plant had closed: logging these wetland forests is their business model. The future of the Enviva Ahoskie plant is the demise of far too many of the region’s wetland forests.
On a more optimistic note, the study does note a possible wildlife benefit from biomass harvests. Many pine stands in the SE are planted with a high density of trees with the expectation that some will die and others will be thinned after about 15 years (for pulpwood, a small-diameter product). But given fluctuating paper markets and other factors, many landowners delay thinning, or don’t thin at all. As a result, many pine stands have so many trees that they shade out almost all other plants, particularly the grasses, which is where most species live. If it focused on thinning pine stands, bioenergy harvesting could improve habitat for quail and many other species, particularly if the harvesting was targeted toward areas with better wildlife potential, and if landowners also used prescribed fires to maintain the habitat value of the grass layer.
For me, the study reinforces my conviction that bioenergy can be done badly and become a threat to diversity, or that it can also be done well and reduce risks to biodiversity—and can even help improve wildlife habitat in some cases. The difference between doing bioenergy well or badly is the enactment of policy—some speed limits and stop signs, if you will—that insist that bioenergy be done well, including the protection of biodiversity. | <urn:uuid:4a46936d-d41b-4156-942e-36056503e9e2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.nwf.org/2013/12/bioenergy-and-biodiversity-in-the-southeast-like-speeding-in-a-crowded-neighborhood/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00020-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954562 | 2,197 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Christmas is not complete without those amazing Christmas lighting display. During the 17th century people are using small candle to light up the Christmas tree. This has been the developed and has many variation since the replacement of candles by electric lights. These lights provide an awesome and festive charm that nothing else can. Christmas lights usually come in different forms and you will be confounded if you go to a store offering these lights. You will find the fundamental round colored bulbs which have been used conventionally, however there are lots of fancy shapes available today. Before purchasing you need to consider the following: size and shape of the bulb, color, length of bulb strings, types of bulbs and for outdoor or indoor use. These factors will help you in searching the right Christmas lights for your decorations.
Here is a short history of Christmas lights. The story of this holiday light started in the early 1880s the associate of Thomas Edison, Edward Johnson make used of a homemade string of lights to decorate his Christmas tree. In 1890 GE purchased the rights to Edison’s light bulb. In 1895 President Grover Cleveland decorated the White House Christmas tree using the electric lights. After the World War II General electric started producing the bulb shapes which includes Santa and stars. In 1925 a group of American based manufacturers of Christmas light formed the NOMA – National Outfit Manufacturer’s Association. You can find these NOMA tag in every holiday lights produced in the US. The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree has lights since 1931, but was not able to have a real electric lights until 1956.
During the same decade bubble lights was introduced, created by Mr Carl Otis in late 1930. It was only marketed after World War II in the later 1940. The distribution of the bubble light in 1945 was lead by NOMA and was joined by others offering the same shapes and size. This has provide good business in the holiday light industries. In 1950s bubble lights and twinkle bulb lights were quite a rage in America. Several other manufacturers are creating this type of bubbling holiday lights. The popularity of bubble lights were halted. In 1960s replacements for string lights and basic evergreens where created. Rotating colored discs, artificial silver or aluminum trees and spotlights are some of the light replacing the traditional holiday lights. Wanamaker department store was the first store that display the most amazing holiday lights display in United States.
Christmas Lighting Using LED Christmas Lights
Because of the present situation of the economy today people are using the energy saving LED Christmas lights in stores and houses in Cincinnati. This type of light bulb is not only an energy saver but is safer to use as well it emits blue color light. LED lights will not overheat, thus it will not burn the fingers or does not present a fire hazard if left for too long. Although the incandescent lights remain widely used, the use of LED lights are starting to increase its sales. The light emitting diodes make use of 1/10 energy required to burn the same wattage of filament lights. This type of Christmas lights is long-lasting diodes, easy to handle cables and plastic casing. It is also available in multi-color sets, icicles, nets and snowflake. The LED lights are impervious to shock, environmental fluctuation and vibration. These LED holidays lights can be converted into leg lamp after the season.
Outdoor Christmas Lights For Christmas Lighting
Decorating your backyard with swag outdoor Christmas lights to make it distinctive within your neighborhood might seem an easy task but actually it is not. There are some individual that get injured and hurt while decorating their outdoor with netted Christmas lights. It is important that you plan first before decorating your outdoor. Holiday C9 green ceramic is one of the common outdoor Christmas light that is used most of the time. Your selection of illuminated festive designs will be very easy. Obviously, Santa and his reindeer climbing down the chimney wall will be placed on your chimney, angels singing can be displayed near the window and you can use a steady or blinking lights. It is enjoying to see an illuminated palm snowman installed in your garden with speedway. In planning your display, check that your lights are functioning very well. Some of the most irritating part is hanging a long string of lights only to discover that the whole section is broken.
Christmas LED rope lights is recommended as your outdoor lights. You can also find mini lights encased in clear flexible PVC tubing . These outside lights are available in pack of multi-color sets, icicle, snowflakes and nets to staybright at night. All the colors can be found in varying lengths which is suitable for every situation. These rope lights are very flexible so you can produce your own illuminated figures. You can place these string of lights in the bottom half of the awning hangers using a glue gun rest.
A national lottery in UK Camelot Lotto has taken the page of Miller light’s book with TV advert featuring holiday lights. It is a 20 second advert begins with a view of dimly-lit suburban house. The scene will become lively form the piano soundtrack which sounds similar to Trans-Siberian Orchestra Wizard of Winter after a couple of seconds the tempo of the music will picks up
Christmas Lighting Utilizing Battery Operated Christmas Lights
Battery operated Christmas lights also known as string light, party lights or fairy lights are the most adaptable and multi-functional all battery powered lights since as it can be used not only for Christmas but on different occasion as well. The main purpose of this type of lights is to light up your Christmas tree. With this type of LED Christmas lights you will not see cables running the ground and getting twisted up in extension leads. It is available in different colors or plain white which makes it cool for every color theme and the Mini LED lights are amazing for Christmas wreaths and angel design. Since it is battery operated there is no need for you to look for a place near the mounted socket. The LED closet light bulbs is automatic it turns on and off every 20 minutes. It has fast release feature which lets you change the batteries easily. You can change it using a Phillips screw, tester is needed in order to check which is needed to be replaced. This could be installed with mounting bracket or double sided tape. Since it does not have any wires you can install this light easily, thus there is no need to spend an added amount to pay for an electrician and there is no added amount on your electric bill.
Christmas Tree Lights – Great Display of Christmas Lighting
Christmas tree lights consider the natural traditional visage of a tree and add sufficient twinkle and warmth so it can have that unique look of the Christmas season. Lights are available in various shapes, styles and colors. Some maybe in simple strands, while some take the form of icicle, baubles, stand-alone or baubles decorations. These holiday game lights are easy to install and can be done either by an installer or you can do the installing by your own. Professional Installers may or may not charge you depending on your agreement upon purchase. No matter what Christmas tree lights you choose, they are certain to include a invaluable effect to your home’s decoration. Some take a variety of methods to Christmas tree lighting, and it will depend on what it means to you. Others prefer multi-coloured strands of Christmas lights to make the season more lively. Most Christmas lights are wired as series of bulbs to illuminate. If one of the bulb is missing the quickest way is to repair the strand. Repairing is very easy and there is no need to ask the service of the repairman. Troubleshooting and fixing your holiday lights is easy. Most holiday lights stores fix your lights free of charge or you can exchange the defective lights with a new sets.
You can also choose solid colors lights the most popular could be all white and all red and may provide a reflective, simple tone to your Christmas decoration. To create a more unique look you can choose micro-bulbs that will add twinkle to the tree. To evoke tiny fruits of winter you can choose the berry lights and to provide warm glow a flickering cone lights is a good choice. These Christmas lights could be used both in outdoors and indoors and you can hang these holiday lights using gutter hooks or clips to easily clip it in the gutter. In Los Angeles city center the holiday lighting displays along the beach which is controlled by computer are digital and are getting more and more amazing and exotic to watch. The display requires a LED cordless holiday lights. These lights are working without cord and is battery operated.
Christmas Lights For Sale At Home Depot
LED Christmas lights are the most safest, efficient and also cost effective on the market based on reviews. It has a variety of vibrant colors and several sizes and shapes. Discount coupon can be redeem at home depot. LED Christmas lights for sale now have several vibrant colors such as purple, spiral and many sizes and shapes. You can choose from 12v, low volt bulbs, medium voltage, miniature bulbs, spectrum and ultraviolet. It can also now blink just like other traditional string lights. Some of the familiar manufacturers are Sylvania, Philips, GE and Westinghouse. These brands are sold at wholesale price in Walmart and other local stores. This is the only the reason why it is the superior topper choice. You can also choose from tree toppers star design, aside from Santa. Most LED based holiday lights use copper wire that connects to the aluminum-based wires of the LEDs and thus the bulbs flicker in sync with alternating current.
By buying this type of lights you will be purchasing the more efficient and cheap string of lights. It actually burn 90% more efficiently as compared to traditional lights. Another consideration in buying LED Christmas lights is safety. Review shows that these light are ideal in creating a unique display of holiday lights. You can purchase these 50 clear twinkling Christmas lights bulb at discounted prices by getting coupon codes. If one bulb burns out, the other bulb will not burn and it will remain lit it would be best if you have spare bulbs. These types of lights are best for Christmas wreaths and trees. They could be utilized as steady burning lights or as two way flash lights. For outdoor lights you can choose from beautiful clear silhouette LED and colored lights. Particularly at night when the entire street is lit up. You can purchase a Robson green wire C7 light set add-on connector and 25 clear lights which can extend out to 25ft in length or the C6 light set.
Home Depot is offering a free shipping on the Christmas accessories that you buy. In Lowes they are offering an animated large inflatable Christmas lawn decorations which includes the realistic scene of Bethlehem and the nativity scene. It is complete with the Holy Family figures and the whole manger scene. If you are looking for fun and high grade holiday lights, GKI Bethlehem Decorations can provide one for you. You can also find a life-sized Santa created by Gemmy which seems to be ready to take a child on his lap and has a long list of Christmas gifts. It has an internal lights to illuminate the decoration at night, testers, yard stakes and a stand. You can also choose the bubble light in different colors including a merry red border. If you want some tips on purchasing holiday light visit the Frisco shop stores offers a wide array of holiday light that you can position on windows.
You can also deck your lawn with the two of the most unforgettable characters from the 1974 Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus, Heat Miser and Snow Miser. It is a 42-inch tall Massachusetts, Ma metal sculptures, that come with a stand, floodlight and stakes. It can be also folded for easy storage. you might also want to consider these giant ornament in classic designs and shapes from Grandin Road with pre-strung with lights and are ready to hang outdoors from a trellis, porch or tree. It is made from PVC and steel, five oversized ornaments are in the market, ranging from 12 inches in diameter to 30 inches long and in teardrop and round shapes. Putting Christmas rope lights are fun to hang, and it provides giggles. It is also available in colored flood lights and spot lights to celebrate your tree and your home. In Bristol clearance sale coupons code must be used to get a discount. For those who fail to use these coupon code there will be no refunds.
Use Solar Christmas Lights To Brighten Your Holiday Season
You might not noticed that your neighbour is using solar Christmas lights on their Christmas tree. These type of lights seems to look the same vs the usual Christmas lighting. It differs only in the power supply that one’s put. Solar lights gets their power from batteries and cells. If you think your lights will be less brighter during winter because the sun does not shine and will not provide power for solar lighting then you are wrong. Actually, even during cloudy day or even when there is rain the solar cells can function. The energy are being stored in one or two batteries the lights will surely shine brightly during the night. It comes in several styles, designs, colors and sizes.
You can purchase the one that light continuously or others that will twinkle like stars. It is equipped with controller board that will switch it on and turn it off by themselves. You also use it both outdoors and indoors. They are ideal when attached on porches, trees, guttering and garden accessories. It is available in two forms string lights and rope lights. You can search online for great graphic and clipart design. Some are available in gif files for better viewing.
Amazing Christmas Lighting Display in America
Christmas lighting has been a holiday tradition since the first tree was decorated indoors. Up until 1930 the lighting of the Christmas tree included the use of real candle and fire. It was not the safest thing to do. Because of the danger involved inventors has created electric light bulbs that is changing constantly. At first, these vintage electric bright lights were used only indoors until in 1904 in San Diego the first outdoor lights was dangled in the tree. Then New York, NY New Jersey, NJ caught up in 1912. In 1956 North Carolina was given the official credit for making the tradition of stringing outdoor lights around evergreen trees. Christmas lighting has become an art form for many individual not only in NYC but in every part of the world and you don’t have to avail tickets just to see the display. This requires months of hard work and several dollars, masterpieces against the dark sky illuminate the entire city block.
Every year Atlanta is lighting a giant Christmas tree atop Lenox Mall. In 2009 the Lighting of the big tree featured the performance of LeeAnn Rimes from Dallas,Texas, Tx. It includes festivals and special events to several places in Atlanta throughout the season. Denver outlet is also offering free installation of equipment. Photographing the Phoenix, Arizona 2010 annual Mesa Temple Garden Christmas Lights display entitled The Birth of Christ in Lights and Music. It conveys peace and goodwill of the season with the spectacular and unique exhibit hundreds of thousands of crazy lights which serve as a backdrop for the sounds of the holidays. You can park along the Boston tree display shows gratitude with the symbol of thanksgiving for helping them in their need.
In 2008 the Magnificent Mile 2008 lights festival on North Michigan Avenue’s start the Holiday season. Million of lights are brightly prelit. The lighting ceremony is culminated in a spectacular fireworks show which covers the entire Chicago River. The Magnificent Mile is popular for upscale shopping, so it is a great day to spend in the city to enjoy and shop the light show. Each year from the third week of November until Christmas week, Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort is hosting the Country Christmas that includes the viewing of spectacular holiday lights. Manufacturers has reported a surprisingly good sales even during an economic downturn. Lightbulb maker Osram Sylvania has doubled its LED sales since last year. You can also enjoy the Columbus, Ohio best Orange County holiday display of lights by taking a Segway tour.
As you search for the best Christmas lighting display you might encounter the house full of holiday lights which was located in Pleasant Grove, Utah and was designed by Richard Holdman. It has 45,000 techno crystal lights and is controlled by computer by 180 individual channels. This video of the house has gone viral and was viewed by millions of people all over the world. Flixxy. com also has amazing videos that features great Holiday lights designs. In Cleveland Blossom Music Center transforms into a lovely holiday wonderland with thousands of dripping lights displays scattered around the grounds. Places like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Pa, Portland, Seattle, Sacramento, Oregon and Maryland has one thing in common when it comes to holiday lighting, they all make use of funny, flashing lights. To have fun in Houston ice skating rink during holidays it has great lighting ideas displays. You can take pictures of them as they do their skating stint. In Jones Beach, Jewish prepares holiday lights display every year. They display their ever unique decoration of holiday lights along the lake.
If you are looking for the most extravagant lighting displays you can visit the Lake Lanier Islands Resorts. It includes one of the greatest lighting display using pink lights to make it look different from the rest.
Graceful Flickering of Christmas Lights to Music
There is one decoration that can stand out above the rest and these are the Christmas lights display with music. You will be able to set your lights display dancing with the tune of your favorite Christmas music and will be amazed at the well-timed and graceful flickering of brilliant colors. You can purchased these commercial synchronize musical Christmas display at several electronic stores in order for you to have the holiday decorations that you like. In buying your Christmas lights you need to decide how many channels you must have. A channel can handle up to thousand Christmas lights and thus even four channels is enough and do wonders for your synchronized lights display. You can also create your own kit for a lower price. The kit includes a software application for the lighting and music effects control. It comes with several wallpaper pre-programmed soft music with special effects and all you need to do is to plug it in your PC, connect the lights to the kit, and you will be able to enjoy the synchronized display. These holiday lights with music are programmable so you can choose the music that you prefer and you can use a timer to set up the length of the song.
If you want your holiday lights dance to the tune of your favorite song here’s how to do it. Get a remote control system. You require a hardware and tool that hooks up to your computer. You can purchase a computerized system completely built, a kit or a DIY system motor. The fully built system can work right out of the box controlled by pc where the controllers were attached. You can design your actual outside part of your display. Some of the elements includes net or mini lights go on landscaping, c-series lights on roof or icicle lights, mini-trees to three foot tall trees, made of tomato cages wrapped in multiple or single colors. It is usually arranged in triangle or line, they are very useful in animated displays. The mega tree is also very useful in animation extending from the top to a large ring around the base. You can also target the blow molds which are made of plastic lighted sculptures. C9 lights on yard perimeter and trees, deer & etc. You can checked out youtube for amazing designs of dancing holiday lights. The video will provide an idea on what you can display that will fit your home. You can add the songs of Grace Griffith who was from Washington Dc and has done several great songs about Christmas.
Amazing Christmas lighting displays using different types of Christmas lights is what makes this holiday season complete. | <urn:uuid:d3506344-a0ab-42ab-8b8a-e71a3f8646bd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.holidaylighting.org/home/christmas-lighting/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00027-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947555 | 4,051 | 2.609375 | 3 |
It seems almost too obvious to state - but a reading child is a successful child.
So the attention-grabbing headlines of today's National Literacy Trust report make for dismal reading:
• 17% of youngsters would be embarrassed if their friends saw them reading
• three in 10 youngsters read daily in their own time, compared with four in 10 in 2005
• 54% of those questioned said they preferred watching TV to reading
• Of those who did read outside class, 47.8% said they read fiction, down from 51.5% in 2005.
The survey was substantial - 21,000 children - and comes on the eve of tomorrow's International Literacy Day. How to get children reading has become a political football but it's clear this issue should be at the top of the political agenda. The National Literacy Trust director, Jonathan Douglas, said: "The fact that children are reading less than in 2005 signals a worrying shift in young people's literacy habits. We are calling for the Government to back a campaign to halt this reading decline and to give children time to read in their daily lives."
Time to read is vital. The more kids read, the better readers they become and giving them books that they'll devour will make them ask for more. Encouraging children to read (especially to read for pleasure) needs money, resources and time. Closing libraries cuts off access to free books and around 160 libraries have already closed their doors or been handed over to volunteers in the past 18 months.
In addition,schools need the freedom and resources to fight a trend of children not reading. School libraries should be a magnet and there needs to be someone in a school trained and interested in running the library and who is on hand to give advice not just to pupils but to teachers, guiding them on what can be enjoyed and what should be stocked in class libraries.
Children would benefit from 'ring-fenced' time during every week when they have nothing else to do with a book other than to read it, hear it being read, and to discuss it in a relaxed and open way. Former children's Laureate Michael Rosen has previously listed 20 ways on how to make a book-loving school, including the re-introduction of children’s literature courses on teacher and assistant teacher training courses.
It's not just down to schools. We adults have a responsibility. The best role models are in the home and children need to see adults enjoying reading. The National Literacy Trust report says that young people who read outside class on a daily basis were 13 times more likely to read above the expected level for their age.
Although the findings are depressing, it's also worth remembering that it's not all doom and gloom. Not a single children's bookshop closed in 2011, according to the Booksellers Association and children's book purchases rose slightly too last year by both volume and value. This is a golden age of children's literature and illustration. The choice of books (fiction, comic and factual) available has never been stronger or more varied. There are wonderful initiatives - such as StoryCloud, during the London 2012 Olympics - to encourage children to read. Authors spend a lot of time, for little personal reward, visiting schools and colleges and encouraging literacy.
And let's not forget that multitudes of children DO think reading is cool. It's heartening to attend the Hay Festival's Hay Fever programme or the Bath Festival Of Children's Literature and see how much children love books and how they revere authors. And, it's true, probably be fortunate to have affluent parents who support reading habits.
Getting children reading is a challenge for the future (globally, almost 800 million people are illiterate) and it is a complex issue (you can read today's full report at The National Literacy Trust as well as a previous one on the benefits of reading for pleasure).
Yet it's vital that problems are addressed. Even if one single child feels embarrassed about reading, then something is badly wrong. | <urn:uuid:37becaa5-e4e2-4a0e-adc0-910d0b54f170> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/9527793/Children-embarrassed-to-read-is-an-issue-that-should-worry-us-all.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972952 | 819 | 2.859375 | 3 |
When World War II threatened, President Franklin D. Roosevelt turned over the war department to Stimson, realizing the need for a bipartisan military policy. (For Secretary of the Navy he chose Frank Knox, the 1936 GOP vice presidential candidate). Stimson brought business leaders to Washington. As Secretary of War during World War II he took a hard line against Nazi and Japanese aggression. During the war he was responsible for supplying soldiers and weapons to the Army and Air Force. He promoted the growth of military industries, and reorganize the War Department and expanded it to 12 million men and women. More than anyone he controlled the atomic bomb project, including its high priority construction and the decision to use it against Japan to end the war without millions more American or Japanese deaths.
Scion of a wealthy family from New York City, Stimson was educated at Phillips Andover Academy, Yale College, and Harvard Law School. In 1892, he became a parter to a prestigious Wall Street law firm. And in 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He unsuccessfully ran for Governor in 1910.
Stimson's distinguished career began in the William Howard Taft administration when he was appointed Secretary of War in 1911 and helped modernize the army's structure on the eve of World War I. Stimson supported Taft in the 1912 GOP contest with Roosevelt. During the war he was a colonel on active service; he was thereafter always known as "Colonel Stimson".
He was asked by President Calvin Coolidge settle Nicaragua's murky finances; in 1927 he became governor general of the Philippines, at the time an American colony. He was not loved by the Filipinos, who wanted independence immediately. He was President Herbert Hoover's secretary of state and was involved with foreign policy matters such as the London Naval Conference of 1930 and the invasion of Manchuria.
In 1940 he was appointed Secretary of War by Roosevelt. As War Secretary during World War II he expanded the army base to over 10,000,000 soldiers. As Secretary of War he was the person most responsible for the Manhattan Project, which built the atomic bombhe was the major advisor who designed the policy of using it against Japan, as approved by President Harry Truman.
Stimson died in 1950 at the age of 83.
- Hodgson, Godfrey. The Colonel: The Life and Wars of Henry Stimson, 1867-1950 (1992), popular
- Morison, Elting E. Turmoil and tradition: A study of the life and times of Henry L. Stimson (1960), the standard scholarly biography
- Newman, Robert P. "Hiroshima and the Trashing of Henry Stimson", The New England Quarterly, Vol. 71, No. 1 (Mar., 1998), pp. 5–32 in JSTOR
- Stimson, Henry L., and McGeorge Bundy.On Active Services In Peace And War (1948, 2007) excerpt and text search, Stimson's autobiography | <urn:uuid:50a21ccf-3c38-446c-8b3a-f0e80254cb41> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.conservapedia.com/Henry_Stimson | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00104-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966347 | 613 | 3.453125 | 3 |
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Sand CastleThis is an ice cream cake. To make this, you will need a clean sandcastle mould, a beige ice cream such as butter pecan, maple walnut or French vanilla, sand-coloured cookie crumbs, shell and/or rock candy, optional: candy clay to make starfish embellishments.
Start by softening (not melting!) your ice cream just enough so it can be pressed into the sandcastle mould. Refreeze until firm, then invert onto a prepared cakeboard. Sprinkle on the cookie crumbs, especially along the bottom edges. Add shell, rock and starfish embellishments as desired. The starfish can be made using a small star cookie cutter or by hand. Try using pink and purple to mimic the colours of the more common types of starfish. You can also use green ribbon-shaped licorice or fruit roll-ups for seaweed.
Sprinkle into individual clear plastic cups a thin layer of "sand coloured" cookie crumbs. Add any shell and/or rock-shaped candy on top of the crumbs. Prepare blue gelatin or agar (plant-based gelatin) to pour into cups (let it cool a bit before pouring into the plastic!). If it is not flavoured, prepare it with white grape juice instead of the water, and add a few drops of blue colouring.
Fill each cup about 1/4 full and let set. Add a gummy sea creature (fish, whale, octopus, shark, etc.), then add another layer of liquid and let set, add another creature, etc. until the cup is nearly full. Consider embellishing with a swimmer or two, or make a large bowl of this and add a toy duck and/or boat on top.
For this particular cake, I scooped off the excess icing (crumbs and all), and reheated it until the colour darkened slightly. The crystals in this were now larger, and I spread small clumps on various parts of the cake to add texture and make it look rockier. We also added some toy animals for decor. Some cone trees would also set it off nicely.
I chose the rich caramel icing for the main icing, and spread marshmallow fluff where the lake would be. I then made the fruity sauce, using blueberry jam and fresh blueberries and a few drops of blue food colouring. I poured this over the marshmallow, then sprinkled on cookie crumbs to make the beach. I prefer the President's Choice Funshine cookies (just toss a few into the chopper or blender to make crumbs), but any plain cookie will work.
Then I made the campfire, and the campers, followed by the sugarcone tree and candy rocks. If you have a larger cake, you may wish to add a tent, which can be made with rectangular cookies (to form a simple A frame) and fruit roll-ups to cover them and make tent flaps.
Once you have chosen and baked your cake, freeze it. While still frozen, cut a lengthwise, diagonal cut from the upper long edge to the opposite bottom long edge. Using a thick, spreadable icing (buttercream or similar), attach the top and bottom sides together to make an A-frame tent shape. Decorate the cake by covering in a rolled or poured fondant icing. Once that has set, make 2-3 camper "heads" as directed under "campers" and arrange them along one end where the door would be (so they appear to be peeking out the door). Use a knife rinsed in hot water to score the door seam above and below the camper heads. Pipe or roll skin-tone icing to form a hand holding the tent flap "open" just beneath the top camper's head. Embellish with pretzel "stakes" along the sides (just use a small bit of icing and insert pretzel stick).l
Start with your favourite sheet cake. We actually once made this with a pineapple-upside down cake that we left unflipped. Chocolate cake will lend itself to excavation.
Spread a very thin layer of brown icing over the entire cake.
Now you can get creative! Is it aroad construction, or a new housing survey that is under construction? Use the following items to create your custom construction scene:
Flatbed: fill loaf pan 1/4 full and bake a shorter cake. Add 3 small chocolate "roll" cakes on top as "logs", kept in place with black licorice rope "chains".
Caboose: Freeze baked loaf cake. While frozen, cut out a section from the top end corner about 1/2 way down the cake so that you leave behind the little "porch" at the back of the car. Cut the removed piece in half and arrange on top (fastening in place with icing) to make the top viewing window. Create a railing ising firm licorice sticks, candy sticks or pretzel sticks.
Tank Car: Use a loaf-sized jelly roll, or bake a loaf cake, freeze, then trim to make it cylindrical. Add a licorice ladder up the side if desired.
Pipe car: bake regular mini loaf cake, add candy sticks as pipes, and pipe an icing frame around the cargo
Coal car: bake regular mini loaf cake, pipe a thick icing outline on the top and add either black coloured sugar, dark chocolate chips (or any other candy) inside the outline.
Engine: for a modern diesel engine, bake a regular loaf pan then ice it to look like your favourite engine line. For a steam engine, bake a regular loaf cake, freeze, then round out the top edges to about 2/3 back to make the boiler shape. Add another 1/4 to 1/3 section of cake to the back top of the engine. On top of the boiler, add a small stack of lifesavers candy (or marshmallows) to form the stack, then add your choice of smoke (see clouds, below). Ice as desired, and add a camper (head only) to each engine window (this will be your engineer). Use a Gold or silver Hershey's kiss for the engine light, and don't forget the engine number!
Wheels: use any dark round cookies; make a larger set of wheels for the engine with a larger cookie type. Join steam engine whees with a licorice or other candy stick. Optional: glue with icing a small round candy at the centre of each wheel.
Ice cream version: Soften (do not melt!) your choice of ice cream (use several flavours in layers for greater effect) and press into your moulds, which are a large bowl and a small bowl. Let set in the freezer again. Meanwhile, prepare your lava. For the molten lava, combine equal parts marshmallow fluff and strawberry fruit sauce (see recipe below). If you want it an orangier colour, use 1/2 apricot jam and half strawberry for the fruit sauce. The marshmallow and fruit don't need to be thoroughly mixed. For lava that is cooling, use a hot fudge sauce, or a chocolate magic shell topping.
Next, invert the larges bowl of ice cream onto your cake board (I suggest using a tray that has a lip around the edge to contain overflowing lava and melting ice cream). Invert the smaller bowl on top, pressing it down firmly. Seal any seams with additional ice cream and smooth to desired shape with a spatula. Press a small indent into the top of the volcano. Return to the freezer if necessary.
Now add the cooling lava, followed by the hot lava and fireballs. Serve with a small sparkler in the top, or put all the candles at the top.
For lava bombs, use tiny round chocolate donuts with white sugar coating, and roll them in orangy-red coloured sugar as well and arrange along the sides and bottom of the cake.
Cake version: Use an angel food cake (or any cake that is that shape) and a small (16 cm/ 6") round cake to build this cake. Ice the top only of the angel cake, and place the round pake on top. Carve a small pit through the centre of the round cake (this will reach to the bottom of all the cake). Insert a small yogurt container down the centre to be sure it will fit, then remove until all of the icing has been applied. This will hold the dry ice, should you care to use it.
Make up a batch of spreadable (buttercream or similar) icing, tinted to the main colour you want for your volcano base, and ice a very thin layer over the entire cake.
Make up a batch (or 1/2 batch--you will only need about 1/2 cup total for this step) of pourable icing and divide it into two or three parts. Colour each part a suitable lava colour. Optional: make up some fruity sauce using strawberry and apricot jam. Mix a few cake chunks and crumbs from the section you cut out earlier with the darkest colours of lava. Pour the different lava colours from the top of the cake and down the sides randomly. Add a few chocolate candy rocks here and there as desired.
When it is time to serve the cake, insert the yogurt container into the centre of the cake, and using gloves and tongs, add a couple of dry ice pellets to the container and use a turkey baster to add some warm water to the dry ice. Add a sparkler on top for a more explosive effect (the dry ice "smoke" will roll down the sides of the cake so the sparkler will still burn).
This is best made in clear glass or plastic containers. You can make one large group serving, or individual dirt cups.
There are many versions of this dessert available.
For the layers, you will need an assortment of ingredients (choose at least two of the following):
First add any cookie or cake crumbs, in layers. Next add the ice cream or mousse, again, in layers. Follow this with any sauces, then sprinkle on more crumbs, powder etc. Lastly, arrange gummy worms and garnishes as desired. Be sure to push a few gummy worms down the sides of the container so they show through.
If you make a large serving of this, you can also garnish it with sugar cone trees on top.
Choose one (or more) of the graves to "haunt" by piling dark cookie crumbs in front to make it look fresh (or even dig a hole in the cake if you are feeling especially morbid, and pile the crumbs as dirt beside the hole). Make a white candy clay "ghost" by rolling a ball then elongating it to a point at one end; add facial features with a toothpick dipped in food colouring or a melted dark chocolate chip, then insert just behind and peeking out from behind the tombstone, or attached to the back of the tombstone using icing.
Additional details you may wish to add: candy pumpkins, traling vines and weeds (piped on with green icing), candy black cats and/or bones, icing or cake sprinkle flowers at some of the graves, candy clay barren trees, and paper "beware" signs (paper on a toothpick).
This is a simple, but effective cake. Start with a round cake, single or multi-layered. Make a slight indent on either side of the area that will be your stem, and cut a tiny wedge on either side to round out the area beside the stem. Ice the stem a light brown, light green or beige colour as desired. Ice the rest of the pumpkin with your favourite spreadable icing, tinted orange. Smooth the icing by dipping a spatula in warm water, and make the natural "bumps" you find on a pumpkin. From a sheet of yellow fruit leather, cut our Jack O' Lantern facial features. Place these in position on the cake. Use the end of a butterknife to gently press the edges into the icing so that the features are set in a little. You may wish to trace around the features with some contrasting piped icing, but it is just as effective without this as well.
Use your favourite white cake batter, and slightly underfill the cupcake sheet before baking. Let the cupcakes cool completely. Add a round scoop of vanilla icecream on top of each cupcake, then add three mini chocolate chips for buttons, five for a mouth, two for eyes and an orange Hershey's mini kiss for the nose. Add two pretzel sticks out the sides for arms, and serve.
Ice the cake in either green icing, or white if you prefer a snowier Christmas tree effect. For the green tree, sprinkle on some coconut grass to simulate needles if desired. Decorate your tree with your favourite candy. Foil chocolate balls and bells, mini candy canes, and round gumdrops are especially effective. Don't forget to add a star (cookie, foil, candy, candy clay or a small sparkler) to the top of your tree!
Along the outside of the cake, press in plain rectangular cookies to make walls. Create a diving board using a wafer cookie, and add an icing or licorice ladder up the side leading up to the board.
Make swim noodles using lengths of coloured licorice, and rings using lifesaver candy. Insert gummie bears or bear cookies as swimmers, or use a camper's head (see campers below) on top of the ring. Make a buoy line using a length of shoestring licorice and lozenge-shaped candy distributed over it along its length, or just pipe white icing and add icing floats.
To make a tiled deck, use Chicklets-style gum or other tile-shaped candy around the sides. Add a gummy shark and/or whale for fun.
You will need:
a cake for the base (any plain cake will work)
flavoured agar or gelatin mixed and ready to pour
1 teaspoon of sugar
Use a fork to pierce holes all the way down through the cake, evenly over all the cake surface. Pour on the agar or gelatin mix and refrigerate until it has set in the cake. Whip the cream with the sugar and spread evenly over the cake surface. Embellish with toy airplanes, hot air balloons and birds as desired.
Pour 1/2 cup of grated coconut into a closable container. Add a drop or two of green food colouring, seal the container and shake. Add more food colouring if desired. Sprinkle on your choice of icing before the icing sets.
Or, use green cake sprinkles for grass.
The easiest way to show these is to use cotton candy. You can also use marshmallow fluff or popcorn balls, or thread popcorn on a wire. Cotton candy and fluff can be used on both 2-D and 3-D style cakes; popcorn is best left for 3-D cakes.
This needs to be assembled in place.
Sprinkle some cookie crumbs in a circle the size of your fire. Cut up a few yellow, orange and red jujubes or gummy candies and arrange in the centre; these are the flames. Arrange several pretzel sticks in a teepee formation over the flames. Insert a single yellow birthday candle (which will look much more effective than the striped one in the picture!) in the centre through the middle of the flames. Circle the entire fire with chocolate rock candy.
Take a fig cookie and, working parallel to the rounded edges, cut out the middle 1/3 of the cookie. Press the cut sides together to form the sleeping bag. Decorate the sleeping bag with icing or candy clay. Use any round skin-toned candy for the head. Use icing or candy clay to form hair around the head, then paint on a face with a toothpick dipped into watered down food colouring.
Rich Caramel Icing
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup evaporated milk
3 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Combine sugar and milk in saucepan, cover and heat for 3-4 minutes. Uncover and cook without stirring to 238-240 degrees Farenheit. Add the butter and remove from heat until it cools to 110 degrees Farenheit. Add the vanilla and beat the icing until it reaches a good icing consistency. If it is too thin, refrigerate for a short time, then beat it some more. If too thick, add a little more milk and beat.
No-Fail Cream Cheese Icing
This easy icing adapted from "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron, has the consistency of buttercream icing, spreads well, and tastes fantastic.
3/4 package cream cheese, softened (this equates to 6 ounces or 61 grams)
4 tablespoons softened butter
1-1.5 teaspoons lemon juice (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
4 cups icing sugar
Cream the first three ingredients together, then slowly mix in the icing sugar. If you wish to thin the mixture, add a few drops of milk.
This is best if it uses jam made with sugar rather than corn syrup (aka glucose), but any kind of jam will still work. Into a small saucepan, add 1/2 -1 cup of your favourite jam, and about 1/4 that amount of water (more if the jame is expecially thick, less if it is a bit runny). If the jam has large chunks of fruit in it and you desire a smooth topping, run it through a blender with the water before heating. Bring the jam and water to a slow boil for about one minute, then turn of heat but let the pot remain on the burner for another couple of minutes. Remove from the burner, cover and let cool to room temperature. Stir the mixture well before using on your cake or dessert.
Combine: 4 tablespoons thick yogurt (or regular yogurt plus 1 tablespoon powdered milk), 1 tablespoon blueberry jam and 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice; add fresh berries if desired. Blend in blender or food processor until smooth. To thin add a few drops of water; to thicken add powdered milk.
Perhaps it would be misleading to call a birthday cake healthy, but there are some steps you can take to add nutrition without sacraficing flavour. | <urn:uuid:8508c487-239b-4a26-96d6-b9ec08c13fdd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.llemonade.com/cakedetails.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00042-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.886317 | 3,902 | 2.78125 | 3 |
The NINT function returns the nearest INTEGER to a REAL argument.
SyntaxNINT (a [, kind])
a is an INTENT(IN) scalar or array of type REAL.
kind is INTENT(IN) and determines the kind of the result. It must be a scalar INTEGER expression that can be evaluated at compile time. To maintain portability, this argument should be the result of a KIND Function or SELECTED_INT_KIND Function.
The result is of type INTEGER. If kind is present the result is that kind; otherwise it is a default INTEGER.
If a > 0, the result has the value INT(a+0.5);
If a ≤ 0, the result has the value INT(a-0.5)
Examplereal :: a=1.5,aa(3)=(/-.5,0.,.5/) write(*,*) nint(a) ! writes 2 write(*,*) nint(-a) ! writes -2 write(*,*) nint(aa) ! writes -1 0 1 write(*,*) nint(-aa) ! writes 1 0 -1 | <urn:uuid:01f691d0-6c5f-436e-bea0-bafad8cb838a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lahey.com/docs/lfpro75help/f95arnintfn.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00015-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.714634 | 248 | 3.015625 | 3 |
1. Pronunciation where you can practice your listening and spelling skills.
2. Takako's Great Adventure, a listening story about a Japanese girl who comes to Canada.
3. Movies and slide shows of our students over the years.
4. Chalkntalk, a video grammar series.
5. Cultureshock, an interactive look at the stages.
6. Global Views, a look at several students and their thoughts on the world.
7.. Our teaching staff in the ESL department.
8.. The online DVD guide to the 1992 movie, Of Mice and Men.
9. Help Files for the Can8 Virtualab
10. Explanations of Azar's Understanding and Using English Grammar (flash files)
last updated: July 9, 2005 | <urn:uuid:baeb8872-39f6-4ae0-89b9-9c6c1f73ff4d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://international.okanagan.bc.ca/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00073-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.85878 | 163 | 2.578125 | 3 |
competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics
.It would be the last time that Estonia would compete at the Summer Games as an independent nation until the 1992 Summer Olympics
. After the nation was occupied by the Soviet Union
in 1940, Estonian athletes would compete at the Olympic Games as part of the USSR delegations.
The 1936 Estonian Olympic Team
Estonia sent 37 athletes and 13 representatives to those games.
Estonian National Olympic Committee representative was Konrad Mauritz
. Estonian team representatives were delegation heads: NOC
secretary Ado Anderkopp
and Harald Tammer
Councillor at the Legation Georg Meri
, Officer of the Honorary Service Lieutenant Refior, manager Johannes Villemson, Aleksander Paluvere in athletics, Nikolai Kursman in wrestling, Eduard Kõppo in weightlifting, Peeter Matsov in boxing, Gustav Laanekõrb in sailing, Richard Mast in swimming, Edgar Kolmpere in basketball, Aleksander Praks – massage therapist, Valentin Purre – team chef, dr. Arnold Roomere-Rõmmer – medical doctor.There were also 30 Estonian youths, led by Johan Meimer
, taking part of The International Youth Encampment and 28 students took part of The International Physical Education
Students’ Encampment in Berlin.
- Team coaches
– athletics, Nikolai Kursman
– wrestling, Herbert Niiler
, Peeter Matsov
in boxing; Johannes Kauba
, Karl Kullisaar | <urn:uuid:57f5eec1-e166-4dc0-b813-18fd8d9f9d83> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://pages.rediff.com/estonia-at-the-1936-summer-olympics/774858 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.894821 | 330 | 2.53125 | 3 |
A) Your job is to find ways to help. In your group discuss what you need to know to assist our school in conserving energy. Here are some starting points.
Compile your list of what you need to know and submit these in your daily report. Include any Web sites you found that you thought were beneficial to the problem. (These might help other students find answers.) We will discuss your findings with the other groups during class. Also, include any discussions you have had in your family about any energy-saving tips, especially when it is too hot or cold outside.
B) After you have found what you need to know, how can you collect this information? For help in data collection, use may use the following Web sites: (Remember you do not need to use all of them if you have found other sites you have shown me and I had told your group you
1. Examine activities involved in an energy audit in your home by examining Home Energy Audit, and see how this applies to our school by viewing Energy Resource Center.
2. Begin your investigation of energy issues and discover your area of interest by visiting the EnergyNet Community Web.
3. View the EnergyNet Data collected during the 1995-1996 school year by retrieving the table in the data sharing. Examine each one of the activities. Then choose your area of interest and create a grid to collect data for equipment, energy efficiency, or lighting. Everyone will learn to interpret electric bills when a representative from Commonwealth Edison presents this information.
4. Meet with your task group and design a group data-collection sheet that fulfills the EnergyNet requirements for your area.
5. Make sure your data is in the form needed to submit to EnergyNet data sharing. See me if you do not remember the school's username and password. Use the data collection report to submit your findings. Remember you can use this section for looking at other school's data and for posting messages to Dr. Data.
C) Your next step is to compare, analyze, and synthesize your data. Remember to submit your daily report.
1. Collate your data for comparison with the data collected by the other groups.
2. Compare your data with at least one other group to determine any consistencies and/or inconsistencies.
3. Determine the source of any inconsistencies and determine interventions to remedy sources of these differences.
4. Use your data to calculate the energy consumption for your task.
5. Create a representation of this energy consumption information that another student can easily understand.
6. Schedule a time for your group's oral presentation of your findings of your energy data. Use the oral presentation rubric as a guide for determining the criteria for you oral presentation. See me if the rubric does not fit your oral presentation and you could create another rubric that still will cover everything you need to present. You might want to combine your group with another one if both of you have similar data.
D) Next your group needs to research, collaborate, and formulate an evaluation of your data. Remember to submit your daily report.
1. Schedule time for Web searches and collaboration. You may combine your data with another group's information. Research the Web for information. Use past investigations from other schools in the EnergyNet data sharing. Look there for any similarities.
2. Locate print material available in the resource center and computer resources available in the classroom .
3. Brainstorm a list of hypotheses for possible interventions that could reduce the current level of energy consumption. Use the hypotheses report form for submitting your data.
4. Develop a list of criteria to use in your evaluation of the interventions. Some possible criteria might include: ease of application, cost, research-based support, and energy payback.
5. Select an intervention, support it with evidence from your criteria, and develop a graphic representation of your system. You may create Web pages or PowerPoint presentation to convey your ideas. If you need assistance, let me know.
6. Schedule your presentation for the class and possible community presentations. Use the intervention plan rubric for help. | <urn:uuid:10f8f782-6a01-4c24-9f31-b4e4f7c471f8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ed.fnal.gov/help/kuhrt/student/invest.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00067-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915371 | 839 | 3.078125 | 3 |
This ear deformity is the most most common ear abnormality in children, occurring when the ear protrudes farther from the skull than normal. Ear prominence may be limited to the upper, middle or lower third of the ear. Prominent ears may be the result of excess conchal cartilage, abnormal positioning of the ear cartilage or absence of normal folding of the ear cartilage when the ear is forming.
If the prominent ear deformity is noted in the first days of life, the abnormal shape and projection of the ear may be corrected non-surgically by ear molding techniques. In order for molding to be successful, treatment must be started in the first 2 weeks of life. When molding is not a possibility, either because of the deformity or because of later diagnosis, surgery may be required. Surgical treatment of prominent ears may involve removal of excess conchal cartilage, recreation of the absent helical fold and specialized suturing techniques to help minimize protrusion and reposition the ear. Although the timing of surgical correction varies, most surgeons perform surgery to correct prominent ears when the child is 4 or 5 years of age. Surgery is typically done as a day surgery procedure. | <urn:uuid:7619fb2f-c952-444b-b82c-310ba6138e8a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.med.unc.edu/plastic/ptinfo/pediatric-plastic-and-craniofacial-surgery/prominent-ears | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00127-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931888 | 243 | 3.640625 | 4 |
In the last few years, keeping with its mandate, UNIDO coined the concept Green Industry to place sustainable industrial development in the context of new global sustainable development challenges.
Green Industry means economies striving for a more sustainable pathway of growth, by undertaking green public investments and implementing public policy initiatives that encourage environmentally responsible private investments.
Greening of Industry is a method to attain sustainable economic growth and promote sustainable economies. It includes policymaking, improved industrial production processes and resource-efficient productivity.
Our Green Industry Initiative creates awareness, knowledge and capacities. We work with governments to support industrial institutions that in turn provide assistance to enterprises and entrepreneurs in all aspects relating to the greening of industry. Following is a brief overview of the sectors within which we work.
Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP):
Taking care of materials, energy, water, waste and emissions makes good business sense. RECP is the way to achieve this. RECP covers the application of preventive management strategies that increase the productive use of natural resources, minimize generation of waste and emissions, and foster safe and responsible production.
Cleaner Production (CP):
RECP uses CP to accelerate the application of preventive environmental strategies to processes, products and services, to increase efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment. It addresses, a) Production Efficiency: optimization of the productive use of natural resources (materials, energy and water); b) Environmental management: minimization of impacts on environment and nature through reduction of wastes and emissions; and, c) Human Development: minimization of risks to people and communities and support for their development.
The Stockholm Convention and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs):
The Stockholm Convention is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals, Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), that remain intact in the environment for long periods of time, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife, and have adverse effects to human health or to the environment
The Montreal Protocol (MP):
The Montreal Protocol is an international environment treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of a number of substances believed to be responsible for ozone depletion. Since 1989, a time table establishes the different phase-outs; for example, it has been agreed to initially phase-out hydro-chlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) – a chemical compound containing hydrogen – by 2015, with a final phase-out by 2030.
In its daily work, UNIDO focuses on cost-effective ways to reduce ozone-depleting substances (ODS), such as freons, halons and chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), in the areas of refrigeration, plastic foams, halons, solvents, fumigants and aerosol.
UNIDO works with projects, policies and regulations, institutions and sectoral capacity-building, development of preventative approaches and new business models such as Chemical Leasing, to assist enterprises reducing risks and impacts associated to the use of chemicals.
Chemical Leasing (ChL):
Chemical Leasing (ChL) is a strategy which creates a business environment to tackle the challenges of the changing global context and offers solutions for sound management of chemicals and reduction of emissions to the environment. UNIDO plays a leading and coordinating role for the implementation and further development of ChL.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR):
Nowadays, requirements for the integration of environmental concerns, human rights issues, fair labour conditions and good governance in industrial development are significantly affecting the business sectors in developing and transition countries. This is referred to as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
In this context, UNIDO works on a framework for small- and medium-sized firms (SMEs) that helps translate CSR principles into a relevant SME perspective, thereby enhancing their competitiveness and market access. Through a series of technical assistance activities, global forum events and research projects, UNIDO offers SMEs and their support institutions a simple and practical approach to meet productivity/quality, environmental and social requirements of stakeholders in this area.
UNIDO’s Water Management programme provides services to transfer the best available environmentally sound technologies and environmental practices to improve water productivity in industry, as well as prevent discharge of industrial effluents into international waters (rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastal areas). Protecting water resources for future generations is amongst the top priorities.
Energy access is linked a global challenge needing to be addressed; it has links in social development and poverty alleviation, environmental degradation and climate change, and food security. It is a defining issue of our time.
UNIDO aims to provide access to modern energy services for the poor, with emphasis on renewable energy projects. The Organization further helps to increase productivity and competitiveness by improving industrial energy efficiency projects, and works on reducing GHG emissions through capacity-building projects for climate change in general, and Kyoto Protocol mechanisms in particular. | <urn:uuid:ab523ed8-139c-409a-b9e8-f6c8acb17c70> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=4835&ucg_no64=1/fileadmin/fileadmin/import/index.php&id=1001254 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00002-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909139 | 1,021 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Leland C. Clark was born in 1918 in Rochester, New York. Known as the “Father of Biosensors,” Dr. Clark invented the first device to rapidly determine the amount of glucose in blood. His sensor concept permits millions of diabetics to monitor their own blood-sugar levels. He is most well-known as the inventor of the Clark electrode, a device used for measuring oxygen in blood, water and other liquids.
Leland Clark started high school and discovered that science was an educational discipline, complete with course work, lab sessions and grades. He attended Antioch College and the University Of Rochester School Of Medicine, where he received his Ph.D. in biochemistry and physiology. Very soon he became an assistant professor of biochemistry at Antioch and a research associate and chairman of the biochemistry department at a renowned Institute. He also served as a professor of research pediatrics and head of the division of neurophysiology at the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation for a long time.
Contributions and Achievements:
Now talking about his great inventions, he conducted pioneering research on heart-lung machines in the 1940s and 50s and was holder of more than 25 patents. He is also the inventor of Oxycyte, a third-generation per fluorocarbon (PFC) therapeutic oxygen carrier designed to enhance oxygen delivery to damaged tissues. Clark had studied the electrochemistry of oxygen gas reduction at platinum metal electrodes, in fact, Pt electrodes used to detect oxygen electrochemically are often referred to generically as “Clark electrodes”.
More than almost any single invention, the Clark Oxygen Electrode has revolutionized the field of medicine for the past 50 years. The Clark oxygen electrode remains the standard for measuring dissolved oxygen in environmental and industrial applications.
Clark, one of the century’s most prolific biomedical inventors and researchers, is also recognized for pioneering several medical milestones credited with saving thousands of lives and advancing the technology of modern medicine. His research accomplishments include the development of the first successful heart-lung machine, the advancement of technology leading to the development of one of the first intensive care units in the world, and pioneering research in biomedical applications of per fluorocarbons and biosensors.
Leland published more than 400 scientific papers in biomedicine and generated numerous US and foreign patents, mainly in the field of medical instrumentation and fluorocarbons. He is the beneficiary of numerous honors and awards including induction into the National Academy of Engineering and the Engineering and Science Hall of Fame.
Leland Clark received the American Physiological Society’s Heyrovsky Award, in recognition of the invention of the membrane polarographic oxygen electrode. He was a person who gave his all and was very dedicated to helping and using his talents to make a difference, to improve the quality of life for others. This great man died on September 25, 2005 at the age of 86. | <urn:uuid:877d3cc5-0353-4138-91ce-36c7d369479b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.famousscientists.org/leland-clark/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00056-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962961 | 601 | 2.953125 | 3 |
The Senate of the state of Kentucky wants to run an experiment. It has passed a bill that establishes a new law. As of January 1, all gun owners in one city must bring in their guns. The police will attach a battery-powered chip that will track its whereabouts. The police will charge the gun owners for this service.
Anyone who fails to do this could be fined or sent to jail.
The city chosen is Winchester. You think the politicians are not sending a message? If there had been a Kentucky city called Glock, they would have chosen it instead.
If the politicians get away with this, it is expected that the program will be imposed in every county in the state.
The preliminary report does not indicate that the governor has signed the bill into law.
If this does not lead to protests in Kentucky, gun-control lawmakers around the United States hope to get every state to impose this requirement.
Then, when confiscation day comes, the police will know where every gun is, other than those owned by criminals, who will not register their guns.
This is a trial balloon. The politicians will keep extending this law until they receive opposition sufficient to threaten their re-election. | <urn:uuid:b334e013-fd3c-49e4-a643-356e6f014bdf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://teapartyeconomist.com/2013/09/13/kentucky-trial-balloon-rfid-tracking-chips-guns/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00168-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979797 | 245 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Food waste is costing the global economy billions each year, and governments should act quickly to reduce it if they want to save money and scale back their carbon emissions, according to a new report.
The report, published this week by the U.K.-based Waste & Resources Action Program (WRAP), found that if countries made a point of reducing their food waste, the globe could save a total of $120 to $300 billion each year by 2030. Globally, the report states, a third of all food is wasted, an amount that totals $400 billion each year. And that value will only go up, the report warns — if estimates that the world’s middle class will double by 2030 pan out, the yearly value of food waste could increase to $600 billion.
That’s bad news for the environment. In its report, WRAP looked at the greenhouse gas emissions associated with food waste in the U.K., and found that each metric ton of food that’s wasted in the U.K. is associated with 4.0 to 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Previous reports have also found food waste to be a significant factor in global greenhouse gas emissions: in 2013, a report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization found that, if global food waste was a country, it would be the third largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions in the world.
“Reducing food waste is good for the economy and good for the climate,” Helen Mountford, Global Program Director for the New Climate Economy, said in a statement for WRAP. “These findings should serve as a wake-up call to policymakers around the world.”
When it’s sent to a landfill, food waste decomposes and produces methane, a greenhouse gas that’s much more potent than carbon dioxide. Composting food instead of throwing it away can help cut back on those emissions, but it doesn’t treat the whole problem: the report notes that the best way to cut down on the emissions related to food waste is to simply reduce the amount of food that’s wasted.
Previous studies have illustrated how different countries face different challenges in cutting down on food waste. In poorer countries, lack of refrigeration, inadequate transportation, and inefficient harvesting methods are major contributors to food waste, while in wealthier countries, the waste tends to occur on the consumer side, with people buying too much food and then throwing away what they don’t eat. In wealthy countries, waste also comes from food that doesn’t live up to cosmetic standards: according to the U.N. Environment Program, up to 20 to 40 percent of fresh produce is thrown away by farmers because it isn’t attractive enough for the supermarket shelves.
Some supermarkets and groups have decided that discarding produce on the basis of beauty just won’t stand anymore. In France, major supermarket Intermarche launched an “inglorious fruits and vegetables” campaign last year to try to get consumers to stop overlooking fruits and veggies that were blemished or disfigured, and may otherwise have been thrown away if they had remained on the shelf too long. The supermarket also experimented with selling blemished and disfigured produce at 30 percent off in one of its stores.
Other supermarkets and organizations have taken similar steps: a recently-created group in Portugal purchases blemished or unattractive produce from supermarkets and sells it to customers at a discounted price. The E.U. relaxed its standards on what misshapen and blemished fruits and vegetables can be sold in supermarkets in 2009, making it easier for groups like this to be created. | <urn:uuid:42ac35a3-f39b-4e75-b6c0-848a5ff3d0c1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/02/26/3627531/wasting-food-expensive-bad-for-climate/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94336 | 758 | 3.8125 | 4 |
Object: 40 Eridani, Struve 518 (A, B, and C components)
RA / DEC
Magnitude A / B / C
Separation A-BC/ AC
Position angle A-BC / AC
Spectral class A / B / C
Colour A / B / C
: 04:15:49 / -07.37
: 4.4 / 9.5 / 11.2
: 83" / 80"
: 104°/ 117°
: K0.5V / DA 4 / M4.5
: Yellow / White / Red
Seeing / Transparency
Magnification / Field of View '
: Saint Amand de Coly
: 4 / 4
: Orion Optics UK 300mm
: 17mm Nagler Type 4
: 94x / 52'
40 Eridani is visible as a double, even at lowest magnification. The A component really looks yellow through the eyepiece. The B component looks white. The optimum view is with the 17mm Nagler. At this magnification the third component, a magnitude 11.2 faint and dark red star becomes visible at
7 o' clock, very close to the white star. They are separated only by a few arc-seconds. An amazing sight. There are no other significant field stars visible, so for my sketch I concentrated only on the triple star 40 Eridani.
Image from Voyager by CapellaSoft
Difference in brightness between the three components
In the table below you find some basic data on the three components of 40 Eridani.
But besides visible light, stars also emit forms of electromagnetic radiation that are invisible to our eyes, like infrared or ultraviolet. In fact, stellar electromagnetic radiation spans the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from the longest wavelengths of radio waves and infrared to the shortest wavelengths of ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays.
The light of a star often comes very close to having a blackbody (or Planck) spectrum. (follow the previous link for more info on the blackbody spectrum).
The white dwarf 40 Eridani B
When looking at the Blackbody spectra 1 and 2 I thought I understood why I see the yellow dwarf, with a temperature of 5.160 degrees, much better in the visual light, than the hot white dwarf with a temperature of 16.700 degrees.
The white dwarf peeks in the ultra violet (see blackbody spectrum 1), which means that a large part of the radiation is invisible to human eyes. The yellow dwarf peeks in the green part of the visible spectrum (see blackbody spectrum 2), so we see large parts of its radiation visually, with our own eyes.
But that's not the main reason. According to Professor James Kaler (which I contacted over the e-mail) even if the white dwarf 40 Eridani B would have its peak in the visible light, it would still appear fainter than the cooler 40 Eridani A. The main reason why this white dwarf is so faint is it incredible small size.
In the case of Eridani 40 B, the 0.44 solar mass is crammed into a sphere with a diameter of 1.48 earths! Very small indeed. Imagine an object of 1.5 earth diameters on a distance of 16 light-years.
Blackbody spectrum 1: a theoretical
source with a temperature of 16.700K (40 Eri B)
Blackbody spectrum 2: two theoretical sources
of 5.160K (yellow line, 40 Eri A) and 3.300K (red line, 40 Eri C)
On the image below you see a comparison I made between the Sun and the three components of 40 Eridani. The tiny white spec of Eridani 40 B shows how incredible small this hot and compact star is when compared to our sun, and the cooler A component. of 40 Eridani. The solar radius of the white dwarf is 0.02!
The A,B and C component of 40 Eridani compared to the Sun.
Listed are the Solar Mass, Radius and Luminosity, as well as the temperature (T) in Kelvin
The other question I wanted an answer for, is why the M4.5 red dwarf 40 Eridani C was visually even fainter than the very small white dwarf.
With the red dwarf it is a combination of reasons. It is small, but with a solar radius of 0.31 considerably larger than the white dwarf with a solar radius of 0.02. The red dwarf's luminosity however, is almost the same as the white dwarf's, even a bit more. But look at the temperatures. 40 Eridani C is with 3300 K much much cooler than 40 Eridanus B with 16700 K. On top of that, the M4 red dwarf has its peek radiation in the infrared, part of the spectrum which is invisible to our eyes (see Blackbody spectrum 2). Both the combination of lower temperature and peek radiation in the infrared, explain the very dim appearance of the red dwarf.
• The the blackbody spectra were created with a free application which I downloaded from the website of the "PhET Interactive Simulations University of Colorado".
• The image of the electromagnetic spectrum is by courtesy of: LASP/University of Colorado
• Extreme Stars by James Kaler
• Stars an their Spectra by James Kaler
• The hundred greatest stars by James Kaler
• An introduction to Sun and Stars by Green and Jones
• The website "Stars" by James Kaler | <urn:uuid:7475a526-24fa-415c-8dd1-082dcf5ebd31> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.starobserver.eu/multiplestars/40eridani.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00100-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906589 | 1,155 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Believe it or not, there was a time when passengers were treated with dignity and respect when they traveled by air. Hard to believe, right? The passengers even dressed up for the flights and they were served food on real china.
The first double-decker plane was not the Boeing 747 but the Boeing 377 which ruled Pam Am and the skies from about 1947 to its last flight in 1963. Only 56 of them were built and used in flight.
The plane could have up to 28 sleeping berths and five additional seats. Without the sleeping berths, the aircraft could seat several dozen passengers. It was one of the first aircraft to have a pressurized cabin. A spiral staircase connected to the lower deck which had a bar and lounge.
The aircraft was often called 'The Gubby' based on its appearance! | <urn:uuid:7b59edc8-5054-4be3-b70e-cce79f0250b7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.davidmixner.com/2013/12/the-golden-age-of-passenger-air-travel-the-boeing-377-stratocruiser.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.993198 | 168 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible, by Matthew Henry, at sacred-texts.com
Jonah was a native of Galilee, Kg2 14:25. His miraculous deliverance from out of the fish, rendered him a type of our blessed Lord, who mentions it, so as to show the certain truth of the narrative. All that was done was easy to the almighty power of the Author and Sustainer of life. This book shows us, by the example of the Ninevites, how great are the Divine forbearance and long-suffering towards sinners. It shows a most striking contrast between the goodness and mercy of God, and the rebellion, impatience, and peevishness of his servant; and it will be best understood by those who are most acquainted with their own hearts. | <urn:uuid:669bbb0d-c1f0-4e54-8734-0dde9d9e252b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/mhcc/jon000.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00046-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972473 | 167 | 2.765625 | 3 |
- Galvanizing search results
Frequently Asked Questions About Galvanizing
Galvanizing involves applying a special zinc coating over iron or steel for protection, preventing rust accumulation. Hot-dip galvanization, the most common galvanization technique, involves dipping steel parts in molten zinc. Take a look at these frequently asked questions about galvanizing the next time you are considering these products and services:
What is Hot-Dip Galvanizing? This common process is a type of galvanization that coats iron, steel or aluminum with a thin layer of zinc via immersion of the metal in molten zinc at 860 degrees. Why? This process is designed to avoid both corrosion and rust formation. Galvanized steel is often used when the possibility of rust is a high concern.
Do You Provide Electroplating and Plating? Electroplating is a common plating process involving a solution of metal ions that coats an electrode using electrical current and moving by an electrical field to cut down on cations from a solution. This coats the conductive metal item with a thin layer for the purposes of abrasion. Plating involves depositing a metal onto a conductive metal surface to decorate objects, improve wearability, prevent corrosion, cut down on friction and improve paint adhesion of paint.
Do You Offer Powder Coating? Many companies in the galvanizing business offer powder coating, which is applied as a free-flowing, dry powder, as opposed to a liquid coating requiring a solvent. Powder coatings, applied in an electrostatic process, are cured under heat to form a thin layer of protection. This common process is used to coat many different metals for anything from household appliances to automobile parts.
Dealers that will galvanize metals can be found by searching the internet or looking in a phone book. You can call and ask if they offer hot dip or cold galvanized steel. Some companies will specialize in some areas and not others. Therefore, call the company and ask if they offer nickel plating, stainless steel coatings, zinc layering on aluminum alloy or iron, or anything else you may be looking for. Fabrication of steel has many different requirements, as does welding galvanized steel, which is why hiring a professional to do the job is important. Plate strips, coil coating, electro-galvanizing or galvanizing bolts and wires will range in price depending on the dealers. Shop around to see where you can get the best deal for galvanized plates. Ask how long the company has been in business and if they offer any discounts for large purchases if you have a large order to fulfill. Ask how much sheets of different materials are and compare with other companies you speak with. You may be able to visit the company and take a look at the process yourself and see the fasteners they use and the processes they do for cold and hot dip galvanized steel. Any type of metal, including zinc and copper can be used for coating other types of metal depending on how it will be used. You can often speak with a professional to see what the best option is for what the metal is to be used for. Take into consideration their customer service department in case you have any questions or complaints in the future. | <urn:uuid:ce1b006a-c2d2-4947-8a06-c70cba7358d9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.magicyellow.com/category/galvanizing/jackson_ms.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937144 | 653 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Scientists at Singapore's Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology have solved this problem by developing a lower power battery that runs on urine. The battery is made of a piece of paper soaked in copper chloride then sandwiched between strips of magnesium and copper and laminated. Adding 0.2 ml of urine to the battery produces 1.5 volts or 1.5 mW of power.
The battery measures a mere 6 cm x 3 cm and is just 1 mm thick. It can be produced very cheaply and is easily disposed of after use. Most importantly, it makes the medical kits complete, eliminating the need for a separate power supply.
It is hoped that the battery will aid in the development of more advanced biochips that can test for many different diseases.
Read more at The Telegraph. You can also see the paper's abstract from the latest issue of the Institute of Physics' Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, or read the whole paper, titled Urine-activated paper batteries for biosystems (PDF, with free sign-in account required).
I am sure a lot of you are scrunching up your noses and saying, “Ewww” at the thought of using your own urine for power, but it is a genius idea. How many times have you gone to use something only to find it needs batteries and you haven't got any? With health checks it is imperative that people aren't deterred from using them because they have to go find or buy a power source.
This battery isn't a reusable solution for a long term power source, but it does serve a need, especially in poorer countries where the need for health checks is great but the availability of power is scarce. Health tests are becoming more advanced, checking for a lot more diseases and illness. The introduction of a cheap battery included with the tests should only encourage this development, and will hopefully offer people around the world a convenient solution to checking for health problems.
USER COMMENTS 37 comment(s)
|Piss on it! (12:00pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
I am impressed. This is something that literally EVERYONE can use! – by MaximumCat
|I'm #1! (12:01pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
YaY the evil first post! Good idea on the battery. Oh yea, mac=suxor fire fox won't let me customize my nav bar. – by 1st and best
|Peee… (12:02pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
I knew that someday my collection of piss in 2 liter bottles were going to come in handy. Maybe I will put them up for auction on ebay. – by I pee in bottles
|doh (12:02pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
you just beat me ya bastid…………
My barb still owns your bowzon. – by ouch
|Yes, this is a very good idea (12:10pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
For me to poop on!! – by Triumph
|a TEN shun! (1:32pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it'd do any good. – by General Beringer
|huh (1:40pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
im still waiting for cars that will be able to run on my shit,urine,garbage, and my recycling. – by bla
|when will this be available for laptops??? (1:53pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
I'd love to slap out my wang and piss all over my work laptop in front of my boss. – by lol.
|a few beers (2:10pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
If I drink a few beers, my piss is pretty clear. Does that mean it won't have enough byproducts in it to power the battery? Of course it means there probably isn't enough of whatever is being measured too, so maybe this is a good self-test–if you can't start the battery, your urine is too dilute to run the test.
– by engineer
|Batteries (2:50pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
I can say that I am Energized and Everready for this to come become MAIN-STREAM……..LOL – by TC-Pee-I-Pee
|yup (3:16pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
I will piss on you
yes i will
I will piss on you
just as well
I will pee pee on you
becarefull smells like Bill
I will doo doo on you
ewwwww came from dell – by bla
|hmmm (3:32pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
All jokes aside it sounds intriguing.
could this be made reusable?
Will it remain sterile after several uses, bacteria love piss… all the mmmmm mmmmm goodness.
Is it safe for air travel?
Is it the Ammonia in the urine…if so a little oven cleaner should work?
Does it smell?
I gotta make one at home…..maybe not.
|This is good (4:49pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
But I think I will wait for the battery that runs on sperm. That way most of you will have a reason to defile yourselves.
– by templer
|re: templer (5:17pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
These folks don't need a reason. In fact they are doing it right now. – by Geekzilla
|Uhm… (5:28pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
I believe the idea is to make the battery and put the pee in it before the customer gets the unit. Thus, you don't use your own pee… you use someone elses.
– by pee power
|Hmmmm (6:32pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
“Nahhh, they are taking the piss….”
“I'm gonna get pissed and see what i can invent!”
“What a piss poor effort!”
“Piss on me?”
“Ahh just piss off!”
All of which are false of course. It is quite an ingenious idea, alot better than having rechargable batteries and a solar panel. How long would the charge last though i wonder?
– by Headley
|Not everyone.. (9:53pm EST Tue Aug 16 2005)
What about those half-people out there? Can they pee? Jerry Springer showed a half guy on his show. I'm sure he doesn't have a pee pee. – by YellowSnow
|Half the wang it used to be… (12:04am EST Wed Aug 17 2005)
Actually, every person who is still functional enough to continue living disposes of uric acid and other wastes via the urinary tract, regardless of whether the exit in question is a 'normal' body part. Even people who have to use catheters and such can use this… it's just a little more complicated. – by MaximumCat
|wow… (1:00am EST Wed Aug 17 2005)
.. this is a good idea… but the trable will come from convincing people to actualy *USE* it. Even if you brove it to people, there is a large chance that they will walk away from a battrie that you PISS in.
Any way… you will still need to *BUY* these paper battries. – by some random idot
|Not that… (6:07am EST Wed Aug 17 2005)
… it's just a little more complicated. – by MaximumCat
Actually, you can connect them up straight to those batteries, or make them function as a refilling station.
|ahhh! (8:22am EST Wed Aug 17 2005)
We can derive energy from almost any waist product the body produces.
We can extract methane and pass that through a fuel cell….etc…
When we go into space and live there we will need all these technologies.
– by EGadz
|waist (8:23am EST Wed Aug 17 2005)
waste – by EGadz Waste
|Good Idea (8:25am EST Wed Aug 17 2005)
It will be interesting to see if they could build a portable U.T.I. detection kit.
One day you can pee into a urine kit, to test to see if you got a bladder infection.
Better to pee into a kit then to get catheterized, and then find out what it is like to give birth.
– by Human
|Urine Battery for Electric Car (9:41am EST Wed Aug 17 2005)
have a portapottie in a trunk of the car.
When I saw the movie Back to the Future 2 when first came to theater, and saw Doc stuffing garbage in the juice machine look-a-like on the engine in the back for power.
Also I remember reading something like that long time ago that someone made electric from farm animal waste(liquid and solid)to their home. I don't know if thats true.
|If I (9:46am EST Wed Aug 17 2005)
piss for you would you piss for me? – by ToeKnee
|Urine (12:05pm EST Wed Aug 17 2005)
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What about throwing these things away… I mean there will be a dump site of pissed up batteries.
Also when you were a kid were you dared to lick a battery? Would you lick this one?
I do think though this is a great idea, we have to pee so why not make some use of it. – by Wet patch
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Gan HaShlosha National Park (Hebrew: גן השלושה, literally: "Park of the three"), also known by its Arabic name Sahne (Arabic: الساخنة, literally: "The hot (pool)"), is a national park in Israel. Located near Beit She'an, it has naturally warm water where visitors can swim all year.
The spring water that emerges in the western part of the park maintains a constant, year-round temperature of 28 degrees Celsius. Amal Stream, which crosses the park, has been widened into pools.
An old water-powered mill operates at the site and an adjacent madafeh, or Arab hospitality room, has been restored. A model of Tel Amal, one of the Tower and Stockade settlements set up by Jewish pioneers on the night of 10 December 1936 after the British banned Jewish settlement, is located in the park.
The Museum of Regional and Mediterranean Archaeology is located on the grounds of the park. It houses a display of rare Greek tools, artifacts from excavations in the Beit She’an Valley and a exhibit about the Etruscans.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Veterans Day Book (Easy)
A short, printable book (for beginning readers) about Veterans Day, November 11th. Information on the branches of the US Armed Forces
Veterans Day Book
A short, printable book (for fluent readers) about Veterans Day, November 11th. Information on the major wars since WWI.
The US Flag
A short, printable book on the history of the US flag.
Military Word Activities:
Put 10 Memorial Day Words in Alphabetical Order - Worksheet
Put 10 Memorial Day words in alphabetical order. The words are: honor, service sacrifice, veteran, death, cemetery, grief, May. Go to the answers.
Courage Definition - Multiple Choice Comprehension Quiz
Answer 8 multiple choice questions on the definition of courage; a lesson in using a dictionary. Go to the answers.
Write Eight Veterans Day Words
Think of and write eight Veterans Day words. Then, for each word, write a sentence containing the word. Sample answers: soldier, battle, war, troops, marching, salute, platoon, regiment.
Match the Syllables: Veterans Day Words #1
Match two syllables to make 10 Veterans Day Words words. The words are army, navy, marines, soldier, sailor, pilot, hero, rifle, battle, weapon. Or go to the answers.
Match the Syllables: Veterans Day Words Words #2
Match two syllables to make 10 Veterans Day Words words. The words are defend, valor, freedom, attack, warfare, fighter, treaty, platoon, bullet, helmet. Or go to the answers.
Match Three Syllables: Veterans Day Words
Match three syllables to make 10 Veterans Day words. The words are sacrifice, veteran, victory, enemy, battleship, infantry, uniform, general, invasion, defending. Or go to the answers.
Veterans Day Word Shape Puzzle
Solve a word and letter-shape puzzle on Veterans Day words. Words: army, day, fight, flag, gun, honor, jet, serve, valor, war. Or go to the answers.
Put 10 Veterans Day in Alphabetical Order - Worksheet
Put 10 Veterans Day in alphabetical order. The words are: navy, marines, army, soldier, marching, fighter, defend, valor, honor, service. Go to the answers.
Word Hunt Worksheet
How many words can you make using the letters from "Memorial Day"? Sample answers: dream, memory, dial, ... Go to worksheet with 30 blanks or a worksheet with 50 blanks.
Word Hunt Worksheet
How many words can you make using the letters from "Veterans Day"? Sample answers: yeast, stand, trade, ... Go to worksheet with 30 blanks or a worksheet with 50 blanks.
Veterans Day Spelling Word Questions
Use the list of Veterans Day spelling words to answer simple questions. Words: soldiers, weapon, helmet, uniform, war, enemy, defending, general, sailor, pilot, veteran, camouflage. Or go to the answers.
Find a Military Word for Each Letter
See if you can think of and write down a military-related word for each letter of the alphabet. Or go to a sample answer page.
Write Military Words by Category
Write 5 military words for each category. The categories include: Vehicles, Weapons, Clothing, People + Ranks, Groups of People, Military-Related Verbs, Wars + Conflicts, and Miscellaneous Military Words. Or go to sample answers.
Write Military Words by Category
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Work Bank Printouts:
List of Military Words
This is a word bank of words related to the military.
List of Words: Weapons
This is a word bank of terms for weapons.
This is a word bank of anagrams of words about the military. An anagram is a word or phrase that is made by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase. For example, spot is an anagram of tops.
Military-Related Writing Activities:
America: Acrostic Poem
Write a poem about America. Start each line with a letter from the word "America."
Write an Acrostic Poem About Freedom
Write a poem about freedom. Start each line with a letter from the word "freedom."
Veteran Acrostic Poem
Write a poem about a veteran. Start each line with a letter from the word "VETERAN."
A Veteran's Story
Write a page about a relative or friend who was in the army, marines, navy, air force, coast guard, or national reserve. Who was this person (what is their relationship to you), when did this person serve, was it during a war (if so, which one), what did that person do during their service, and what are their recollections of their service?
Rewrite the Paragraph
about Veterans Day
Rewrite the paragraph, correcting the capitalization and spelling and adding punctuation marks. Or go to the answers.
Military Coloring and Drawing Activities:
US Air Force Flag
Print and color the flag of the US Air Force.
US Army Flag
Print and color the flag of the US Army.
US Marine Corps
Print and color the flag of the USMC.
US Navy Flag
Print and color the flag of the US Navy.
US Coast Guard Flag
Print and color the flag of the US Coast Guard.
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Color two US flags and learn about the history of the flag.
World War I
Do this fill-in-the-blank activity on WWI (also called the Great War), a huge war fought from 1914 until 1918. Or go to the Answers.
Printable Read and Answer Worksheet
A printable worksheet on Veterans Day, with a short text, a picture to label, vehicles to match, and questions to answer. Or go to the answers.
|US Flag and Eagles Letterhead
Print out a US flag and eagles letterhead to make patriotic stationery.
Flags Picturing a Weapon
Weapons (swords, rifles, canons, etc.) are pictured on many flags.
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Comparing neuropsychological test results against age-adjusted norms is one way of determining whether an individual might be facing impending dementia. However, “normal” values can vary considerably, even after accounting for variables such as age and education. An alternative, and possibly more sensitive, method is to look for within-person inconsistencies across a range of neuropsychological tests. In yesterday’s JAMA, Roee Holtzer and colleagues from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, New York, report that just such an approach can predict future dementia, even after a single baseline session of testing. “That is a fairly novel finding,” said Holtzer in an interview with Alzforum, adding that it has the potential to improve current diagnostic tests. “The advantage is that this strategy simply complements existing methods and can be used without further taxing the patient and the clinician because it doesn’t require any additional measures and it doesn’t require any additional time,” he said.
The rationale behind the idea is that different tests have different sensitivities to age-related disease, resulting in greater inconsistency or variability across test outcomes in affected subjects. In dementia, for example, memory is particularly vulnerable. “If there is a decrement in memory but other cognitive abilities that are not as sensitive to age-related changes remain fairly intact, then by definition you would also expect the [across test] variability within that person to increase,” explained Holtzer.
To test if this is true, Holtzer and colleagues looked at test variability in 897 patients who were enrolled in the Einstein Aging Study, a population-based longitudinal study of older adults (aged 73 or older) in Bronx County, New York. The researchers looked at baseline scores on three neuropsychological tests—the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test, and the Digit Symbol Substitution and Vocabulary subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Revised. Holtzer said those tests were carefully chosen because they are commonly used, were available for all patients, and because they test three different domains—memory, attention/executive function, and verbal IQ, the last not being sensitive to the effects of aging and age-related diseases.
The researchers calculated the within-person, across-test variability for each subject and then compared the results with rates of incident dementia (all patients in the Einstein Aging Study are followed up with every 12 to 18 months). The number of incident dementia cases (12 percent) in the quartile with the highest across-test variability was significantly higher than the other three quartiles. For example, only 1 percent (three out of 225 subjects) of people in the lowest quartile developed dementia. Importantly, the results were still significant even after correcting for the performance level on each test alone. “That is very important because without that particular analysis one could argue, and rightly so, that the variability we’ve calculated and demonstrated to be predictive of future dementia is mediated entirely by simply poor memory scores or by poor scores on measures of attention and executive function. We have controlled for that and we have shown that above and beyond performance level on individual tests, the degree of within-person variability remained a significant predictor of future dementia.”
As the authors point out, this study needs to be replicated in an independent population, but should it stand up to that test, it may help researchers detect those earliest changes that are harbingers of future dementia. “If we really want to detect the earliest declines in performance in people who are on the path to dementia, we need to focus on intra-individual decline, and that is exactly what this group has done in a very well carried out study,” said John Morris, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.
Within-person, across-test variability might also fluctuate. “It will be interesting to look at changes in variability over time to see how those are also related to prediction of dementia,” said Holtzer. It might also be attractive to those looking for early changes in randomized clinical trials, given that the method does not require any additional testing beyond that already incorporated in trial design. “In trials we want measures that are sensitive to change and intervention, and in most trials we want changes that are economic. The advantage of this method of within-person variability is that you don’t need to augment an already standardized neuropsychological assessment. You can use values from existing tests and simply calculate the variability within persons. Potentially it can be used within trials as a measure sensitive to change over time, or intervention, or both,” said Holtzer.—Tom Fagan
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- Holtzer R, Verghese J, Wang C, Hall CB, Lipton RB. Within-person across-neuropsychological test variability and incident dementia. JAMA. 2008 Aug 20;300(7):823-30. PubMed. | <urn:uuid:3dbb68e0-11b1-41ee-963d-90c5a4bf366b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.alzforum.org/news/research-news/keeping-it-personal-intra-individual-testing-predicts-dementia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00076-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944912 | 1,026 | 3 | 3 |
Charles Edenshaw (attr.), Platter (How Raven gave Females Their Tsaw), pre-1894, argillite. The Field Museum, Chicago, 17952. Photo: © The Field Museum (#A114412_05d, John Weinstein)
A long time ago, women did not have a tsaw. All they had was a pee hole. The women asked Raven to help them, and he agreed to get tsaw from tsaw gwaayaay. But after only a few paddle strokes he—xaawlagihl—became sweet, collapsed and fell out of the canoe. The power of tsaw gwaayaay was too strong!
(gid7ahl-gudsllay, lalaxaaygans, Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson, 2013)
This delightfully bawdy legend of how Raven gave females their tsaw is illustrated by 19th-century Haida artist Charles Edenshaw on a carved argillite platter, currently on display at the National Gallery. There, in the black stone, are Raven and his steersman, galaga snaanga (Fungus Man), paddling a canoe towards tsaw gwaayaay (Vagina Island). In the bow, Raven holds his spear, ready to seize the treasure. Behind him, the clown-faced steersman, also known as Ugly Biscuits, will prove to be the only man able to stay upright in the canoe against the powerful draw of such a landscape.
The platter is one of nearly 80 objects in Charles Edenshaw, a retrospective exhibition devoted to the master carver, who is regarded as one of the Northwest Coast's most accomplished and influential artists. Organized and circulated by the Vancouver Art Gallery—where it appeared to rave reviews this past winter—the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see the full range of Edenshaw’s creative output over his entire career, from carved wooden boxes, engraved jewellery and silver spoons, to argillite platters, model poles, ivory-handled canes, and painted basketry. Each is decorated with bold, flowing designs featuring animals, birds, sea creatures and mythological beings rendered in distinctive Haida style.
For Edenshaw, the argillite platter was a favourite medium for passing on Haida stories, at a time when it was illegal to do so through the traditional potlatches. “Charles was embedding his cultural knowledge in the work of art,” says Robin K. Wright, co-curator of the exhibition, speaking from her home in Seattle, Washington. The story of how Raven gave females their sex was one of the most important origin stories, and Edenshaw illustrated it in at least three platters.
Each piece in the exhibition is proof of the artist’s mastery of Haida design, form and technique. Even visitors unfamiliar with Edenshaw’s name will recognize his signature style: the fluid, elegant lines; the balanced, interconnected forms; the single, double and triple U forms; the cross-hatched negative space—all elements of Haida design that have become iconic.
Charles Edenshaw, Sea Bear Bracelet, late 19th century, silver. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Purchase 1974, 1981.108.1. Photo: Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery
Among the exquisite gold and silver jewellery in the exhibition is Sea Bear Bracelet, a broad silver band depicting a supernatural creature—part bear, part killer whale. His largest known bracelet, it contains all of those characteristic Haida design elements. As Wright says, it is “classic Charles Edenshaw.”
At the same time, Sea Bear Bracelet, like all of his jewellery, is astoundingly modern and elegant. “His work is timeless,” said artist James Hart—Edenshaw’s great-great-grandson—in an interview with NGC Magazine from a foundry in Newburgh, New York. “It will never be out of date.”
Charles Edenshaw, Beaver Bracelet (c. 1900), gold. Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift of Michael and Sonja Koerner, 2008, 2008/49
Charles Edenshaw was born Da.a xiigang around 1839, in Haida Gwaii—an archipelago off the northern coast of British Columbia—to a high-ranking family of carvers. Following Haida custom, he was trained by his uncle Albert Edward Edenshaw, a skilled carver and metalsmith, and inherited from him the title of Chief 7Idansuu (pronounced "ee-dan-soo") of the Eagle Clan. Upon his marriage in 1873 to Qwii.aang, the Anglican priest gave them the names Charles and Isabella Edenshaw.
Isabella was herself a highly regarded artist, known for her intricate weaving of spruce root. The couple worked together, with Charles painting Isabella’s baskets and hats. Thunderbird Hat displays Isabella’s fine handiwork—especially the dragonfly weaving pattern she favoured, with its concentric diamonds. The red and black four-pointed star painted on the top of the hat is a characteristic marker of Charles Edenshaw’s work.
An astute businessman, Edenshaw was able to live largely on income generated by his art, supplemented by his wife’s income. Although the Haida people had already occupied Haida Gwaii for over 17,000 years, and had thrived with the arrival of fur traders in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and then during the various gold rushes, contact had also brought devastating disease, especially smallpox. By the end of the 19th century, an estimated 90 per cent of the Haida had succumbed to the disease.
Charles and Isabella Edenshaw (attr.), Thunderbird Hat, c. 1890, spruce root, paint. Museum of Anthropology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, A6390. Photo: Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery
“When smallpox hit, it knocked the wind out of people,” says Hart. “It became all about surviving.” Edenshaw succeeded largely by hard work: “Charles just carved and carved. That’s all he did every day.” Privilege and talent worked in his favour as well, according to Hart. His position within the Haida hierarchy opened certain doors, and allowed him to travel to sell his work. He also possessed legendary promotional skills, and interacted well with the many collectors and anthropologists who descended upon the region when it was thought that the Haida and other Indigenous peoples were on the brink of extinction.
Today, Edenshaw’s work continues to have an impact, especially on the many prominent West Coast artists who are related to him, notably Hart, Robert Davidson and Bill Reid, all of whom have works in the NGC collection.
Representing that powerful lineage in the exhibition are two contemporary works: Hart’s Raven Transformation Mask and Davidson’s Nangkilslas: he whose voice is obeyed. Both are striking, carved wooden masks adorned with fur and feathers, which the artists created in response to a work done by their ancestor. Edenshaw’s remarkable Transformation Mask, which was acquired by an Anglican missionary in the 1880s, remains at Oxford University in the U.K., too fragile to travel.
James Hart credits Charles Edenshaw for giving him the “fuel” to carry on his work. “Whenever you see his pieces, you’re going to school,” he says. “These old masters, I want to see exactly where they left off, and carry on where they were headed.”
Charles Edenshaw is curated by Daina Augaitis and Robin K. Wright, with Haida advisors James Hart and Robert Davidson. The exhibition, on view at the NGC from March 7 until May 25, 2014, is accompanied by a handsomely illustrated catalogue.
Share this page | <urn:uuid:6672acaa-5503-4c8b-a4ab-fb7eb8b48f9b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ngcmagazine.ca/exhibitions/charles-edenshaw-the-raven-the-sea-bear-and-other-stories | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00115-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965141 | 1,695 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve is one of the best and most accessible places in the world to see nesting seabirds.
Located about 200 km southwest of St. John's, Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve also known as "the Cape" is one of Newfoundland and Labrador's major seabird colonies. During the breeding season, it is home to 24,000 Northern gannet, 20,000 black-legged kittiwake, 20,000 common murre, and 2,000 thick-billed murre. In addition, more than 100 pairs of razorbill, more than 60 pairs of black guillemot, plus double-crested and great cormorant, and Northern fulmar nest there. (more info : http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/parks/wer/r_csme/) | <urn:uuid:bda5e781-8a4d-45dd-9f36-03d7ce00fec8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/North_America/Canada/Atlantic/Newfoundland/Cape_St._Marys/photo914056.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00043-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.90374 | 181 | 2.625 | 3 |
Scientists in Japan have found a way to improve on a promising diabetes treatment. In the October 3 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Masaru Taniguchi and colleagues report that transplanted insulin-producing cells survive better when the activation of a specific type of immune cell is blocked.
Insulin-dependent diabetes is caused by the destruction of the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas (called islet cells) by auto-reactive T cells. The loss of insulin results in an inability to control blood sugar levels. Transplantation of islet cells is an effective way to restore insulin production, but this therapy requires life-long immunosuppression of the patient. Even with immunosuppression, up to half of the transplanted cells are rapidly destroyed by the patient’s own T cells.
Taniguchi’s group used a mouse model to show that a subset of cells known as natural killer T (NKT) cells instigates the rapid destruction of the islet cells. NKT cells become activated — likely in response to the stress of the transplant procedure — and produce an inflammatory molecule called interferon (IFN)-gamma, which helps to activate the auto-reactive T cells. In mice that lack NKT cells or are unable to produce IFN-gamma, the transplanted cells survived.
The group went on to show that multiple doses of a drug (called alpha-galactosylceramide), which activates NKT cells in single doses, caused these cells to produce less IFN-gamma. The decreased IFN-gamma production protected the transplanted islet cells. The authors thus suggest that multiple doses of the same compound, currently in clinical trials in humans, might help prevent the early loss of transplanted islet cells in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes.
From Journal of Experimental Medicine | <urn:uuid:4ef42903-1774-4e26-a34a-bb46729b1f3e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://scienceblog.com/8979/potential-new-treatment-for-insulin-dependent-diabetes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00035-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904061 | 382 | 3.390625 | 3 |
The fact that certain poems of Eliot's have been included in the Faber Book of Religious Verse suggests that, by Gardner at least, they are regarded as 'religious poems'. However, where Gardner feels the necessity to create criteria by which to recognise religious literature, Eliot questions the validity of the concept of 'religious literature' as a distinct body of works, suggesting that all literature is to some extent religious:
I am convinced that we fail to realize how completely, and yet how irrationally, we separate our literary from our religious judgements. If there could be a complete separation, perhaps it might not matter: but the separation is not, and never can be, complete.1
Although Eliot speaks of religion in general, his personal focus is on Christianity; he explicitly states his desire for "a literature which should be unconsciously, rather than deliberately and defiantly, Christian"2 in the context of a parallel desire for a world which is in itself Christian. The idea that all literature is somehow connected with religion assumes that the basis for religion is something which transcends the individual mind; and from the Christian point of view, of course, this is emphatically so. As far as Christianity is concerned there is only one true religion; therefore the world is 'Christian', created by the Christian God, even if it does not realise this. The existence of this viewpoint must at least be acknowledged in order to fully understand Eliot's view of all literature as being 'religious'.
Ideas of religion are always contentious, and ideas of revelation are often more so, even within the context of a religion. The New Shorter OED provides a relatively unbiased and clear explanation of what is meant by 'revelation':
1 Theol. The disclosure or communication of knowledge by a divine or supernatural agency; an instance of this; a thing disclosed or made known by divine or supernatural means.
The definition allows for the existence of, or at least belief in, more than one god; if, however, there is only one God, then all revelation must point to one truth. If this truth is that of the Christian faith, then the supreme revelation is that by which God revealed Himself to mankind, in the person of His son; the Word becoming flesh is the ultimate revelation, the living communication of knowledge by God and through God. Christians believe that this revelation was for all mankind and for all time; if this is so, then all literature must on one level be "concerned with revelation and man's response to it": it must constitute some kind of response, even if neither positive nor conscious, to that revelation.
It would be surprising if Eliot's post-conversion poetry did not in some way respond to this personal revelation. Assuming, however, that Eliot's conversion was no "Road to Damascus" experience, that 'revelation' would be a gradual process mirrored in the body of his poetry as a whole. This has been suggested by B. Rajan, who asserts that
Eliot's poetry is an advance, an inch-by-inch movement up the stairway in which the end is significant because it both remembers and fulfils the beginning.3
This sense of memory and fulfilment supports the idea of a gradual revelation, realised over a period of time; it also suggests a structure to Eliot's poetic œuvre which is almost Biblical, reflecting the way in which the Old Testament prophecies look forward to the New Testament and the coming of Christ, are fulfilled in Him, and are remembered by Him as He uses their language in direct quotations, adapted quotations, and a subtle but complex framework of allusions. The parallels with Eliot's poetry are immediately apparent. If this "advance" occurs in the macrocosm of the body of Eliot's poetry, it also occurs in the microcosm of a single poem; the image of the "stairway" immediately calls to mind Ash-Wednesday, which mimetically reproduces the struggle of the sinner through repentance and purgation. The poet strives towards both the desired redemption and the finished poem: redemption by words, in words, and by the Word within the word. The poetic act itself, the ascent of the stair, represents Eliot working out his own salvation in fear and trembling.
Religion and poetry, spiritual and poetic development, seem here to be inseparably intertwined. The idea of this dual advancement and improvement is reflected in the opinions of those critics who would describe Four Quartets as Eliot's greatest work, a literary and spiritual triumph; Watkins, however, argues that
After Eliot turned to Anglo-Catholicism [...] in 1928, his poetic power began to wane. Because the subject of his later poetry treats a great and noble religious faith, a believer wishes to regard it as great and noble poetry. And presumably genuine Waste Landers [...] would like to find in the later poetry not only art but also the end of the search for grounds for belief.4
Watkins, less concerned with the question of whether Eliot's later poetry is "religious" poetry than with that of whether it is "great and noble", suggests that a concern with the Word is insufficient; the concern with words must equal it. However, central to his reassessment of Eliot's later poetry is his assertion that it is insufficiently concrete: "The words and the Word are traditional, abstract, general, unspoken."5 The irony of describing Eliot's work as "traditional" in the context of negative criticism of his work appears to go unnoticed by Watkins, and the invocation of the unspoken Word, although alluding to Ash-Wednesday, seems in some ways more germane to the uncertainty of the early poetry, such as the words of Gerontion which turn out to be merely "Thoughts of a dry brain" [my italics]. Watkins implies that the "Waste Landers" would be deluding themselves in believing that the end of the spiritual quest lies in Eliot's later poetry; however, in doing so he suggests that the quest begins with The Waste Land. If this is the case, then this pre-conversion poem is nonetheless a 'religious' poem. If the beginning of Eliot's spiritual development can be seen in his earlier poetry, then Rajan's Ash-Wednesday-esque idea of a "movement up the stairway" would suggest that the later poetry marks not, as Watkins argues, a falling-off, but a "significant" end.
A different view again of interlinked poetic and spiritual development is offered by Toien; he sees Eliot's poetry as a progression "from the barren aimlessness of The Waste Land to the highly directed, intensely focused Christian mysticism of his last major work, Four Quartets."6 This apparent "barren aimlessness" seems incompatible with revelation or a meaningful response to it; yet The Waste Land displays intense spirituality, and could even be described as "religious" according to Gardner's criterion. More "barren aimlessness" can be seen in Eliot's pre-Waste Land poetry, although even Prufrock expresses a momentary desire to be an instrument of revelation as he contemplates Lazarus and John the Baptist. Most obviously concerned with the Christian revelation, however, is "Gerontion", whose speaker reflects on the confusion and doubt which attends man's desire for revelation:
Signs are taken for wonders. 'We would see a sign!'
The word within a word, unable to speak a word,
Swaddled with darkness.
The respective voices of poet and Pharisees express a longing for revelation, a desire to "see a sign", but when the sign comes it is "Swaddled with darkness"; Gerontion seems to blame the silent word and the darkness for his incomprehension, but the Bible verses to which Eliot may be alluding when he speaks of "signs" and "wonders" rather imply that the hearer is at fault:
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard [...]. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles [...]?7
The speaker in "Gerontion" reveals his inability to heed or 'read' the words shown to him, the revelation of the Word in words: the "word within a word" is both the "sign" which the Pharisees are unable to read, and the Word signified by that sign. That the darkness is in the hearer, not the word, is further confirmed by the allusion implicit in the phrase "Christ the tiger"; Blake's words are immediately recalled, his "tyger" not "swaddled in darkness" but "burning bright / In the forests of the night".
The failure to read the signs in "Gerontion" is symptomatic of a more general failure to comprehend the Word; a new language is required for a new spirituality, and the speaker in "Gerontion" is trying to understand the former without having acquired the latter. Watkins comments that
When Eliot [...] turned to the faith, he was faced with the need for a new theological language.8
The fact that Watkins goes on to argue that Eliot never convincingly achieved that language, or at least never managed to fuse that language with successful poetry, suggests that words are in themselves somehow inadequate for expressing the Word:
Ultimate meanings in poetry are unutterable just as in theology words cannot describe the Word of God.9
Human language has fallen from the unity of sign and signified which can be found in the "word within a word", the signified Word within the signifying word: it has lost the ability to make a fitting response to the Word through words. The poet must therefore strive to make the necessary response through a language which is fundamentally inadequate; the 'religious poem' expresses the poet's response to revelation in terms of his own inability to make that response.
"Gerontion" not only addresses the conflict between faith and doubt implicit in any revelation, but more the problems of any revelation realised through History:
[History] Gives too late
What's not believed in, or if still believed,
In memory only, reconsidered passion.
Temporal revelation is inevitably caught up in the "many cunning passages, contrived corridors" of History, and is reduced from something given "too late", to something which is "not believed in" anyway; the words "if still believed" afford a momentary hope, but this is quickly dashed by the acknowledgement that it is believed "in memory only". Belief is a present state of mind; something cannot still be believed "in memory only". It is as false as a "reconsidered passion", a passion rendered lifeless by Prufrockian "decisions and revisions". In order to understand and respond to a revelation which occurs for all time, as the ultimate revelation of the Christian Incarnation is believed to have done, that revelation must be understood outside the context of time. "The tiger springs in the new year" suggests the passing of seasons; but "the juvescence of the year" must be understood in terms of a timeless "new year", a cycle of seasons, the significance of which seems to be missed by Gerontion. His very name implies an acceptance of time's linearity; he has grown old, and appears to face the only end of age with a mixture of fear and resignation:
What will the spider do,
Suspend its operations, will the weevil
This is perhaps why his response to revelation is so self-defeatingly rooted in time: age has alerted him to the passing of time. Yet he also seems to possess some awareness of the cyclical nature of time and the seasons, as he begins with an acknowledgement that he is "waiting for rain", although he ends with "a dry season".
In these hints of the promise of rain, and rain's attendant fertility and rebirth, can be seen a movement towards the relative timelessness of The Waste Land, with its fertility rituals and, on a more self-consciously literary level, its plethora of allusions and quotations from sources throughout literary time. Desire for revelation is apparent from the poem's outset, the epigraph referring to the prophetic Sibyl; the antiquity of the quotation suggests the timelessness of man's desire to hear the gods speak. The boys who question her, however, seek not so much knowledge as an opinion; with their naïve "τι θελεις" they uncover the Sibyl's buried life, her preference for death over a meaningless existence. While the need for revelation is inherent in the epigraph, what the quotation makes apparent is rather the inaccessibility of revelation; dead languages obfuscate the meaning, and even that meaning seems without hope: a question which shows a desire for communication but not for objective knowledge of the divine; and an answer which suggests that the oracle has no divine knowledge to impart, only hopelessness and despair.
Despair may seem prevalent in The Waste Land as a whole, with the ever-present image of the desert underlying and undermining every instance of hope; yet the desert, by its very lack of water, promotes thirst, a thirst for spiritual refreshment, such as can be seen in the desperate longing of
If there were water
And no rock
If there were rock
And also water
A pool among the rock
If there were the sound of water only...
The desire for "water" and "the rock" foreshadows Eliot's movement towards Christianity: the image of God as a Rock occurs several times in the Psalms10, and also on numerous occasions in the New Testament11; but it is the references to the pre-Christian Old Testament which are particularly interesting to examine in conjunction with The Waste Land, since the poem predates Eliot's acceptance of Christ. In the book of Exodus, which tells of the Israelites' wanderings "in the wilderness", their own Waste Land, the water and the rock are explicitly linked as God tells Moses how the people's thirst can be quenched:
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.12
Just as this event in the history of the Israelites looks forward to the Rock of the Christian church, and the living water of Christ, so too can The Waste Land's expression of the desire for water, for the shelter of "this red rock", be seen as prefiguring Eliot's conversion; the poem shows clear signs of Eliot's personal spiritual quest being under way.
The quest mentality is prominent in The Waste Land, in its use of the Grail legend and, more generally, its strong sense of a search for some kind of objective meaning; it also contains several moments in which the need for revelation becomes apparent, and often, too, either the impossibility or incomprehensibility of revelation, or the impossibility of any adequate response. This theme is introduced in Biblical diction, reminiscent of God's words to Ezekiel:
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images [...]
The "son of man" is silenced, the Word is "unable to speak a word"; all that can be salvaged from the hint of the divine is "A heap of broken images". In the end all that is seen is "fear in a handful of dust", a bleak revelation compared to Blake's visionary "World in a Grain of Sand". The response to this partial, misunderstood revelation is not inspiration but fear. The subsequent "hyacinth garden" episode also suggests a kind of revelation but also the complete inability to respond to it:
[...] I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
The experience on looking into the "heart of light" is not "the horror" of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, but rather total paralysis, perhaps provoked by the protagonist's recognition of his own inadequacy: "I knew nothing". Immediately following this episode, the reader is confronted with Madame Sosostris, to whom revelation appears to be denied, and by whom what is revealed is misunderstood. She advises the protagonist to "Fear death by water", failing to see the potential for purification and rebirth which this symbol represents elsewhere in the poem; also, the Christian revelation appears to be hidden from her: she "do[es] not find / The Hanged Man", the figure who represents the type of the dying and resurrected god, fulfilled in Christ.
Moments such as these, hinting at a kind of revelation, all move towards the finale of The Waste Land. The voice of the thunder explicitly represents the "disclosure or communication of knowledge by a divine or supernatural agency"; however, the crux of this episode is not so much the revelation but the response to it. In the fable of the meaning of the Thunder, three groups of beings respond to the thunder's "Da", each group interpreting it differently: the gods hear the word as "damyata", which Eliot translates as "control"; man interprets the syllable as "datta", translated as "give"; and the Asuras or devils hear "dayadhvam", or "sympathise". Eliot changes the original order of these responses, however, beginning with man; this implies that it is man's response to revelation with which Eliot is primarily concerned, and suggests that according to Gardner's criterion The Waste Land is in fact more a "religious poem" than the poem of "barren aimlessness" which Toien sees.
The threefold interpretative response to an ambiguous revelatory syllable and the subsequent inconclusive conclusion with which The Waste Land ends is indicative of a movement towards a greater awareness of the ultimate inadequacy of man's response to revelation; even when the Thunder does speak, when the divine does communicate, responses to it are cryptic and disparate. Also, the long-awaited rain does not appear to fall; rather, the final confusion ushers in a new waste land of doubt where enlightenment should have sprouted. This new desert is realised in the dry hopelessness of The Hollow Men:
This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.
Eliot's deserts symbolise spiritual barrenness and thirst; yet in this desert there is a slight hope of constructiveness and coherence, in that the "broken images" of The Waste Land are replaced by "stone images" which are "raised", which "receive / Supplication", implying that they are at least believed in. Yet the supplication is that of "a dead man's hand", suggesting something that is "not believed in, or if still believed / In memory only." The worship offered to these unapproachable-sounding "stone images" is a formalised and meaningless worship, a "reconsidered passion". Yet there is a desire for something meaningful to respond to, and for the ability to respond:
At the hour when we are
Trembling with tenderness
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.
Despite the tenderness, the "broken stone" reveals that the "stone images" of line 41 are not in fact all that far from the "broken images" of The Waste Land; nor is the response of the Hollow Men, sightless and speechless, all that different from that of the protagonist in the hyacinth garden:
In this last of meeting places
We grope together
And avoid speech
This avoidance of speech could be seen as an avoidance of the Word, or of a response in words.
What paralyses the Hollow Men, prevents them from making the desired response, is "the Shadow". The word suggests the "shadow of death" from which the Christian "fear[s] no evil"13; this is, after all, "the dead land", the "hollow valley". It is this shadow of death which has fallen on the supplicating hand, making it "a dead man's hand"; and when the shadow falls "Between the desire / And the spasm" it is hard not to think of this latter as the convulsions of death rather than the spontaneous movement of the living towards God. It is the Shadow which turns the "Trembling with tenderness" into "prayers to broken stone":
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
Man's immediate response to revelation is an emotional one; but the emotion has to become words, just as God became the Word, in order for it to form a meaningful response. Both the ultimate revelation of incarnation and our response to it seem vulnerable to the Shadow:
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
The shadow falls between the divine and the revelation, separating the "descent" to earth of God in human form from the "essence" or spirit of God; however, there is also an obvious contrast between "essence" and "existence", suggesting momentarily that it is the shadow of existentialism which prevents man's response to a divine power independent of the self. The Shadow also falls within time:
Between the conception
And the creation
The fact that the Shadow can fall between two chronologically distinct stages of the revelationary act, or a creative response to it, suggests that such linearity is easily disrupted. A revelation is required which exists throughout time, outside time: the type of revelation for which The Waste Land is an unsuccessful, or only partially successful, quest.
The timelessness created in The Waste Land through its web of allusion is that of the "tradition" with which Eliot became so concerned, the "historical sense" which
is a sense of the timeless as well as the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together, is what makes a writer traditional. And it is at the same time what makes a writer most acutely conscious of his place in time, of his own contemporaneity.14
The poetic, creative act must be situated within "tradition"; as Eliot continues, "No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone." However, this is balanced by the acknowledgement that the artist must not simply "conform" in such a way as to lose his individuality: "To conform merely would be for the new work not really to conform at all; it would not be new, and would therefore not be a work of art."15 The individual gains a sense of individuality in relation to the past, a past which consists of other individuals operating within the framework of tradition. This is a theme to which Eliot returns in "Religion and Literature", denouncing the "unrestrained individualism" which he sees as being promoted by modern liberals as being unrealistic since
the reader of contemporary literature is [...] exposing himself to a mass movement of writers who, each of them, think that they have something individually to offer, but are really all working together in the same direction.16
That Eliot should write of tradition in conjunction with ideas of religion and literature being inseparable suggests that he sees a link between the two, and this link can perhaps be found in "After Strange Gods", in which Eliot addresses not only the need for tradition but also the danger that one might "associate tradition with the immovable" or "think of it as something hostile to all change."17 Since the fabric of history changes subtly every time a new event or creative act is added to it, tradition itself must be continually shifting and changing; yet it must also remain constant. As Eliot speaks of establishing tradition among a population he asserts that in so doing, "What is still more important is unity of religious background"18, a kind of orthodoxy; his view of the link between religion and tradition is later stated unequivocally: "I believe that a right tradition for us must be also a Christian tradition"19. This may seem, to the non-Christian, a preposterous statement to make; but Christianity and tradition are well-suited to one another. The changing yet constant tradition which encompasses individuals without subsuming their individuality immediately recalls, for the Biblically aware, the reconciliation of stillness and movement, universality and individuality, which is found in the Christian God: this God can say "I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed"20, but it can also be said that "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning [...]."21 The individual is "not consumed" because of God's unchanging changefulness: God's mercies are new every morning, yet He does not change. Likewise, tradition is constantly being renewed, rewritten by additions to it, yet remains a solid and unmoving benchmark against which the individual can be measured. Eliot weaves literature, tradition and religion into one thread; and, as Ecclesiastes tells us, "a three-fold cord is not quickly broken."22
It is towards this reconciliation of time and eternity, stillness and movement, tradition and individuality, that Eliot's poetry gradually progresses, and many have seen Ash-Wednesday as marking the beginning of the deliberate ascent of the "stair" to spiritual understanding, and to an adequate and personal response to what has been revealed by God. As the poem commences, however, the speaker is still confined within the temporal, not understanding the need to step outside time; his reaction is one of renunciation:
Because I know that time is always time
And place is always and only place
And what is actual is actual only for one time
And only for one place
I rejoice that things are as they are and
I renounce the blessèd face
If "what is actual is actual only for one time", and if this is the limit of the individual's vision, then any sense of tradition, any sense of a revelation or even a religion which transcends the temporal, will appear meaningless. Eliot covers similar ground in "Burnt Norton":
Time present and time past
Are perhaps both contained in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
It is in this poem that Eliot most memorably speaks of the reconciliation between past and present, stillness and movement, which he so often appears to be seeking:
At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement.
In Ash-Wednesday, Eliot searches for "the still point of the turning world" almost without knowing what he seeks; when he says "Teach us to care and not to care / Teach us to sit still" he appears to be close to the stillness, recognising the paradox inherent in what he desires, but not yet seeing the way towards reconciling it. Later the poet begins to see how the "Lady of silences" brings unity from disparity; she is
End of the endless
Journey to no end
Speech without word and
Word of no speech
As "End of the endless" the Lady is a point in time, occurring within infinity; she is movement towards stillness, the "still point of the turning world". As "Speech without word and / Word of no speech" she is both the Word and the response to it; yet she is not confined within man's inevitable inadequacy, for she can respond both with and without words, in and outside time. It is she, or the Saviour whom she symbolises, who can unify past and present:
The new years walk, restoring
Through a bright cloud of tears, the years, restoring
With a new verse the ancient rhyme. Redeem
The cyclical movement of time is suggested by "new years", as opposed to the single point in time of the "new year" in "Gerontion". Also, the combination of "new verse" and "ancient rhyme" suggests the creativity of an individual within the framework of tradition, the sense of the past in the eternal present; although "Redeem the time" implies that all time is not "eternally present", being "redeemable".
As Eliot continues his ascent of the stair, he begins to more fully recognise the importance of words as a response to the Word:
Still is the unspoken word, the Word unheard,
The Word without a word, the Word within
The world and for the world;
And the light shone in darkness and
Against the Word the unstilled world still whirled
About the centre of the silent Word.
The word may be unspoken, but the Word is already spoken and can only be unheard; man may fail to respond to revelation, but it is man's words which fail, not God's. The Word of revelation, the Word that is not only from God but is God, may seem silent; but the fact that Eliot uses the words "and the light shone in darkness" suggests that, as John's Gospel tells us, the darkness comprehended it not; the Word goes unheard and misunderstood, but it is still a word and has been so since "the beginning", before time. Although there may seem to be "not enough silence" for the word to "Resound", the revelation, the voice of God, cannot be denied:
No place of grace for those who avoid the face
No time to rejoice for those who walk among noise and deny the voice
Walking "among noise" may allow man to "deny the voice", pretend he does not hear; but this only leaves him with "No time to rejoice", nor even time to construct something on which to rejoice. There must be a response, and by the end of Ash-Wednesday the speaker begins to make it:
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated
And let my cry come unto thee.
The response may only be a wordless cry, coupled with the borrowed words from the hymn Anima Christi, but it is nonetheless a cry; and although it is "separated" by the line-break, it is still tied to the closing prayer by rhyme.
The Four Quartets develop and resolve the uncertainty shown in Ash-Wednesday, as Eliot strives to express the frustrating paradoxes of time and timelessness. In the Quartets he seems to have a far greater sense of the possibility of reconciliation; the poems work towards the unification of their various symbols, reaching towards the "still point of the turning world", where all paradoxes are resolved and "the fire and the rose are one". The movement is necessary for the stillness:
Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
The still point and the dance complement one another as do tradition and the individual artist. That the reconciliation of stillness and movement is necessary both in religion and literature, if indeed the two can be separated, is made clear in Eliot's mention of "both a new world / And the old made explicit"; the words could be seen as once again recalling the respective worlds of the Old and New Testaments. Just as art must be understood in the context of tradition, so the revelation of the "good news" must be understood within the context of the prophetic tradition. The parallels do not end here, however: the message of the gospel is believed by Christians to be true for all people and for all time, yet at the same time Christ is believed to have occupied a distinct historical time; this existence as God incarnate is fundamental to his importance as the centre of the Christian faith. Only by God's incarnation in time can mankind be set free from temporality and death, free to enjoy eternal life; "Only through time time is conquered." Likewise, the individual must respond in time, but in the framework of tradition:
[...] the past experience revived in the meaning
Is not the experience of one life only
But of many generations [...]
("The Dry Salvages", lines 97-100)
If a revelation has been made for all time, then not only all literature but all experience is part of the response to revelation; to ignore this would be to have "had the experience but missed the meaning". The individual is "one life only", but the individual's experience is part of that of "many generations"; that experience only makes sense as part of the bigger picture:
There is, it seems to us,
At best, only a limited value
In the knowledge derived from experience.
The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,
For the pattern is new in every moment...
("East Coker", lines 81-85)
Knowledge based on the individual's experience is only relevant to the moment from which it is derived, and therefore has no generalised value. However, if the individual sees experiential knowledge in the light of the experience "of many generations", then that knowledge begins to be applicable to the larger pattern of history. Similarly, the individual's response to revelation can only be useful to other individuals if it is seen in the context of the experience of others. In the end, however, what is important is not an intellectual response:
You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid.
("Little Gidding", lines 43-46)
Again, response to God within tradition is suggested; the place is sanctified by the tradition of prayer which belongs to it. Yet the poet merely says "kneel", does not give the response any words; what results may be a "hardly, barely prayable / Prayer", or it may be simply the humility towards which Eliot moves in "East Coker". A poetic response to revelation must be in words, but the poet suggests that the individual may respond to revelation on a different level of communication, in greater humility.
Much of Eliot's poetry could be seen as "religious" according to Gardner's criterion, being concerned on many levels with revelation and man's response thereto. However, if Eliot's critical discourse concerning religion, literature and tradition is taken to its logical conclusion, then all literature fits this category; the distinction is no longer helpful or meaningful. Indeed, "religious" themes can be found throughout Eliot's work, not only in those poems which Gardner selects as "religious" or those overtly concerned with Christianity. Some later poems, such as "Journey of the Magi" and "A Song for Simeon", express a far more uncomfortable attitude to a revelation which ushers in "the time of cords and scourges and lamentations", rendering those who have experienced it
no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
("Journey of the Magi", lines 41-42)
The response to revelation, as Gardner admits, "may be negative or uncertain", and Eliot works through a variety of responses to a revelation which at first is only barely known, and later is more fully known and understood. The response changes through time, although the revelation is for all time; Eliot's later poetry shows a greater degree of experience, a stronger sense of the pattern. This sense of tradition is perhaps what makes a truly "religious poem", as the poet comes to see himself as a part of God's plan and to respond accordingly.
1 T.S. Eliot, "Religion and Literature", in Selected Prose of T.S. Eliot ed. Frank Kermode (London: Faber and Faber Ltd.), pp 97-106 (p 100)
2 Ibid. , p 100
3 B. Rajan, "The Dialect of the Tribe", in The Waste Land in Different Voices ed. A.D. Moody (London: Edward Arnold, 1974) pp. 1-14 (p 5)
4 Floyd C. Watkins, The Flesh and the Word: Eliot, Hemingway, Faulkner (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971) p 53
5 Ibid., p 63
6 Bruce Toien, "T.S. Eliot's Spiritual Rebirth", DeKalb Literary Arts Journal vol. 10, no. 4 (1977), pp 37-45 (p 37)
7 Hebrews 2:1-4
8 Watkins, op. cit., p 62
9 Ibid., p 79
10 e.g. Psalms 18:2, 92:15
11 e.g. John 4:10, 1 Cor. 10:4
12 Exodus 17:6
13 Psalm 23:4
14 T.S. Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent", in Selected Prose of T.S. Eliot ed. Frank Kermode (London: Faber and Faber Ltd.), pp 37-44 (p 38)
15 Ibid., p 39
16 "Religion and Literature", p 104
17 T.S. Eliot, After Strange Gods: A Primer of Modern Heresy (London: Faber and Faber, 1934) p 18
18 Ibid., p 20
19 Ibid., p 21
20 Malachi 3:6
21 Lamentations 3:22-23
22 Ecclesiastes 4:12
23 Helen Gardner, ed., The Faber Book of Religious Verse (London: Faber and Faber, 1972), p 7 (introduction) | <urn:uuid:e0919bab-21cd-471f-b6a4-84d898a18e15> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~janetmck/books/dissertation_eliot.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00102-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956582 | 7,838 | 2.5625 | 3 |
An extensive LCA analysis has led the company to drop Polystyrene in favor of plant-based plastic.
This month, Stonyfield Farm announced they will begin using PLA, a plant-based plastic, for all multipacks in the YoBaby, Yo Toddler, Yokids, B-Well, B-Healthy, Probiotic & O'Soy product lines. PLA (polylactic acid) is made from corn and will cut packaging GHG emissions by 48% and reduce their overall GHG emissions by 9%.
Although originally skeptical about using a plant-based material, Stonyfield did an intensive LCA analysis with Dr. Ronaly Geyer from UC Santa Barbara, that showed over the entire life cycle of the product, PLA is preferable to polystyrene. PLA can be made from a variety of sugary plants, including beets, sugar cane and tapioca. In the US, the only maker of PLA uses corn as its sugar source. New technologies are currently in development to make PLA from agricultural by-products or perennial plants that grow near prime agricultural land.
Until now, polystyrene has been the only plastic suitable for the machines used to form, fill and seal multipacks. If all dairy companies in the United States follow suit and replace their polystyrene containers with plant-based plastics, carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by 671,234 metric tons a year. That’s equal to the emissions from 1.5 million barrels of oil. Stonyfield is joining other companies in the move towards polystyrene alternatives. (Source: Stonyfield Farm) | <urn:uuid:742102d6-e7a4-4f7c-ab8a-09bc80cc9fbb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://crispgreen.com/2010/10/stonyfield-farm-makes-the-move-to-pla-for-yogurt-cups/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00169-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946336 | 330 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Train delayed again? Blame the oil boom.
With oil production booming in the US, producers are increasingly turning to railways to get crude to refineries. And so much oil is hitting the rails that it's crowding out grain and coal – and even people.
US oil production is the highest in decades, and more and more crude is traveling by train. That is slowing shipments of grains, gravel, and even coal, as commodities and a resurgent oil industry compete for a finite amount of US rail. More oil pipelines could help ease the freight bottleneck, but those take time to build and have become controversial topics in the debate over the future of US energy.
In the meantime, firms are taking to the rails to get the country’s newfound oil wealth to market.
“Oil just tends to be more valuable than other products,” says Adie Tomer, a senior research associate in the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank. “As more and more oil comes online, the freight companies want to ship more.”
Today, rail carries more than 11 percent of US oil. That’s a huge jump from five years ago, when trains transported less than 1 percent of domestic oil, according to a March report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank.
The glut of oil trains is even pushing other fossil fuels out of the market, with sparse coal shipments creating headaches for utilities in Wisconsin and Minnesota. In North Dakota, trains full of Bakken oil push aside grains and other crops. And the stakes are high: North Dakota growers could lose $160 million if they are unable to ship grains via rail and must instead sell locally at a reduced price, according to a North Dakota State University study.
“This rail backlog is a national problem,” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D) of North Dakota told the New York Times. “The inability of farmers to get these grains to market is not only a problem for agriculture, but for companies that produce cereals, breads and other goods.”
So how to alleviate the rail bottleneck? Pipelines are the obvious answer, but concerns over climate change and carbon emissions have made long-term investments like the Keystone XL pipeline controversial flash-points. Environmentalists and green groups contend that pipelines will become stranded assets in a post-carbon economy, and will encourage risky oil development in the meantime.
For his part, President Obama has said he will only approve the Keystone XL pipeline – which would help alleviate the Bakken bottleneck – if it does not “significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.” That pledge ties pipeline construction to strategic decisions on climate issues, and not to market forces.
Demand for oil in the global marketplace isn’t slackening, though, even if there is political will to veer away from carbon-intensive fossil fuels. With pipelines a far-off and uncertain solution, rail is a convenient stop-gap.
Rail is especially necessary for oil shipments in regions lacking in pipeline capacity, like North Dakota. There, 60 percent of the oil leaves via rail, en route to refineries in other states.
“That’s why Keystone XL is such a big deal – there’s no pipeline in that region. Rail is the only way to get that oil out,” Mr. Tomer says in a telephone interview Tuesday.
High-profile catastrophes like the deadly Lac-Megantic rail explosion in Quebec last year have raised concerns about the safety of rail. In July, the Department of Transportation proposed new safety rules in an effort to improve the safety of transporting crude oil by rail. But as CSIS’s report on rail safety demonstrated, rail is accident-free more than 99 percent of the time.
With increased traffic comes increased risk, though – especially with train cars hauling flammable crude. “As you use more of the capacity in the system, you're more prone to accidents – and with oil on rail, those can become disasters,” Tomer says.
In contrast, pipelines tend to reroute around areas of heavy population, according to Tomer, and are dramatically safer and more efficient.
The drawback? Pipelines aren’t built in a day. Whereas rail has some ability to expand and contract to meet the demand of oil shipments, pipelines lack that flexibility. | <urn:uuid:186093e0-f15e-4043-b04a-2a7aa3c6f9c9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2014/0827/Train-delayed-again-Blame-the-oil-boom | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957438 | 913 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Mexican symbols make their people proud. The official Mexican symbols according to the Ministry of Interior Affairs (Secretaria de Gobernacion) are the flag, the coat of arms and the national anthem. These symbols are well respected by Mexicans because through education they are part of their identity, and they represent Mexico's values, culture and history.
The flag has three equally divided vertical sections in green, white and red colors.
The current design was adopted on September 16th, 1968 and confirmed by law on February 24, 1984.
While the meaning of the colors has change over time, according to Mexican history, the original meaning is:
The current meaning of the colors are:
According to the official history of Mexico, the coat of arms of Mexico was inspired by an Aztec legend on how Tenochtitlan was founded.
The Aztecs, then a nomadic tribe, were wandering throughout Mexico in search of a divine sign that would indicate the precise spot where they were to build their capital. The symbol they were looking for was an eagle eating a snake.
The National Anthem of Mexico was officially adopted in 1943. The lyrics of the national anthem, which allude to Mexican victories in the heat of battle and cries of defending the homeland, were composed by poet Francisco González Bocanegra in 1853. In 1854, Jaime Nunó arranged the music which now accompanies the poem.
The anthem consisting of ten stanzas and a chorus, entered into use on September 16, 1854. From 1854 until its official adoption, the lyrics underwent several modifications due to political changes in the country.
The Mexican symbols are used in official celebrations and wherever Mexicans like to share their patriotic feelings such as in sporting events. It doesn't matter where Mexicans are, if they see the flag, the coat of arms or listen to the National Anthem, they respond with pride and loyalty. | <urn:uuid:1e30e56f-a50c-45d7-b24c-9ee6d59a8817> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mexican-clothing-co.com/mexican-symbols.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00049-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975789 | 388 | 3.59375 | 4 |
Essay Topic 1
Personal identity was a main theme in this book. Where does this theme appear and how does its inclusion in the novel shape the course of the plot? Provide examples from the book.
Essay Topic 2
Meg and Molly are two very similar people, yet they have some very notable and important differences. Write a compare/contrast essay about these two characters and use the text to cite examples to support your argument.
Essay Topic 3
Why does the family move to the country and what changes occur in their lives because of this move? Provide specific examples from the book to support your essay.
Essay Topic 4
Belonging and security are two themes presented in this book. Where do these themes appear and which characters were most motivated by them?
Essay Topic 5
How does the relationship between Will and Meg come to be and how is Meg's life...
This section contains 625 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) | <urn:uuid:3324ef90-a825-4d1c-b5b5-4090c36ed749> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/a-summer-to-die/essaytopics.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00057-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967566 | 202 | 3.25 | 3 |
- need for food, shelter, and clothing
- need to defend oneself from danger
- need to move from place to place
- need to receive care when ill
- the need to communicate
- the need to express oneself (through artistic works)
- the need for meaning in their lives
Maria Montessori believed it was important to study what humans have in common to instill in the child a greater sense of belonging to the universe. Humans all over the world share the same common needs. By examining the similarities and differences of humans around the globe, we build a sense of connection to all human beings, thus creating a deeper sense of cosmic community.
Celebrating Cultural Diversity in the Montessori Classroom - Heritage Survey ActivityThe Montessori curriculum strives to create a connection between home and school environment. In an effort to make this connection, some Montessori teachers have found that creating a cultural heritage survey helps not only the children to make this connection, but also involves the parents with what is occurring in the Montessori classroom. By explaining that the Montessori curriculum looks at both the Common Needs of People as well as the differences of others, it sends the message that it is okay to be different, along with the need to respect the differences of others. Parents can assist their children in filling in the survey.
Items to Include on Your Cultural Heritage Survey
- Child’s name
- Child’s birthplace
- Family members (name, relationship, birthplace)
- Languages spoken at home (primary and others)
- Family’s cultural heritage (all applicable heritages and cultures that influence family traditions)
- Special customs and traditions
- Traditional cultural items, clothing, music, dance that can be shared with the classroom/school
- Traditional foods that can be shared with the classroom/school
- Important family celebrations or festivals
You may also want to arrange some other related cultural activities such as a potluck where each student either brings a traditional dish, or a dish their family enjoys.
NAMC’s Lower Elementary History manual contains many activities for studying the Common Needs of People, as well as the Concept of Time, Timeline of Life, Timeline of People, and Introduction to Civilizations. The NAMC Elementary History blackline masters (see sample), available on CD-ROM, provide curriculum support material for the Montessori classroom as well.
© North American Montessori Center - originally posted in its entirety at Montessori Teacher Training on Wednesday, June 3, 2009. | <urn:uuid:13e9848e-63b6-4582-8f07-b86dfb953c36> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://montessoritraining.blogspot.com/2009/06/celebrating-cultural-diversity-in-your.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00003-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951476 | 522 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Environmental protection initiatives are an important part of most Heifer projects in the the Ukraine. Responding to the needs of project participants, Heifer staff asked an agroecology expert to help villagers solve water pollution problems usually caused by waste, erosion and a low refill rate.
Participating in a countrywide initiative, "Let's Clean Up Ukraine," more than 30 Denezhnikove village, Luhansk Oblast, residents pledged to clean the streets and help make their village look better. More than 200,000 volunteers in 54 other villages across the country did the same, while waste incineration plants provided recycling services.
"It is not so hard to spend one day outdoors, walking down the streets and collecting garbage," said cooperative leader Vasyl Voronkin. "This is an excellent initiative, because there is no need for major financial investments, but the results are impressive. From now on, we are planning to organize such events more often, on a regular basis."
"Let's Clean Up Ukraine" is part of Let's Do It!, an international initiative of nonprofit organizations founded in Estonia in 2008. They're planning a World Cleanup on March 24, 2012. Check it out and get involved!
Cleaner communities are more attractive to tourists, who can bring valuable income to local families. Learn how you can help Ukrainian families build green tourism in the Turka Raion region. | <urn:uuid:a3312851-2829-4458-90a1-a53d2211aacf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.heifer.org/join-the-conversation/blog/2011/July/ukrainian-participants-clean-up-their-village.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00042-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933499 | 284 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Riordan, Cornelius. (2013). Single Sex Schools.
In George Ritzer (ed.) The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (2E)., NewYork:: Blackwell Publishing..
Riordan, Cornelius. (2004). Equality and Achievement: An Introduction to the Sociology of Education (2E). .
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Riordan, Cornelius. (2003). Failing in School? Yes; Victims of War? No. .
Sociology of Education, 76, 369-272.
Riordan, Cornelius. (1990). Girls and Boys in School: Together or Separate.
New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University. | <urn:uuid:82c7e432-45f5-44c5-98f6-2dabb14e6683> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://providence.edu/sociology/faculty/Pages/criordan.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00016-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.694763 | 151 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Back in the 1970’s, I made a discovery that seemed unique to me. As a young teacher, musician, band, orchestra and Jazz ensemble director, it was my unexpected pleasure to discover that junior high and middle school aged students had an unbelievable capacity to learn and to excel. This discovery was recently confirmed in an article which appeared in a special edition of U.S. News and World Report, “Secrets of Your Brain,” by Nancy Shute entitled, “How to Deploy the Amazing Power of the Teen Brain.”
Early on in my teaching career, I discovered a mystery of life that, until Nancy’s article, seemed rather extraordinary to me, but I had no scientific evidence to back it up. Before the use of MRI’s beginning in the 1990’s, it was impossible to know what nuanced changes were occurring in the brains of teenagers, but that is not the case today. Of course, the neurologists still don’t understand all of the myriad details of change that appear to be occurring, but they can make certain not so speculative statements about these changes. According to the article, what they found astonished them. The brain’s gray matter, which forms the bulk of the structure and processing capacity, grows gradually throughout childhood, peaks around age 12, and then furiously prunes underused neurons.
Because these changes begin in the back of the brain and move forward, sensory and motor skills mature first followed by the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for judgment and impulse control. According to the scientists at the NIH, the prefrontal and cortex isn’t done until the early 20’s or later in men. The following quote from the article, however, should be the basis for all of the arts education in the United States, “Neurons, like muscles, operate on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis: a teenager who studies piano three hours a day will end up with different brain wiring than someone who spends that same time shooting hoops or playing video games. “Eureka!”
When we consider that during the teenage years, emotion and passion also heighten attention and tramp down fear, teenagehood turns out to be the perfect time to master new challenges. According to Frances Jensen, a neurologist at Children’s Hospital in Boston, “They can do things now that will set them up later in life with an enhanced skill set.” Of course, the 70’s in semi-rural America did not harbor all of the challenges that we face now for our teenagers, but challenges did exist. What I had discovered in my work was by treating the teenagers more closely as peers than subservient children, while still maintaining control, by allowing them to work with you to select and enumerate their goals, and finally by encouraging them along the way, their passions and intensity would take the music and their performances to heights that would have seemed otherwise incomprehensible.
Music arranged for teenaged performing groups was typically watered down and lacked both emotion and challenge. Because of that, it was my choice to make musical scores available to them that would have been considered too mature, too challenging and too far beyond their comprehension. The trade off, however, was that we were careful never to let them hear any of those “too hard” descriptors. The results were stupefying. The kids worked endlessly and tirelessly to make sure these musical scores were mastered. Because their parents were, in many cases, second generation immigrants, they worked to ensure that the kids had: 1.) Plenty of sleep 2.) Healthy foods 3.) No drugs or alcohol.
The U.S. News article concluded with something that was instinctive to me: “Nature had a reason to give adolescents strong bodies, impulsive natures, and curious flexible minds.” It was the stuff from which scholars, great artists and future leaders were made, and to all of my former students who have been so incredibly successful…I hope you’ve tried to give your children these same experiences! | <urn:uuid:b632023b-02f3-41c7-9ced-69c0d32ec55b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://takingthehelloutofhealthcare.com/blog/category/development/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976634 | 838 | 2.96875 | 3 |
If you watch science fiction movies, the robots of the future look like us. The truth is, though, many tasks go better when robots don’t look like us. Sometimes they are unique to a particular job or sometimes it is useful to draw inspiration from something other than a human being. One professor at Johns Hopkins along with some students decided to look at spider crickets as an inspiration for a new breed of jumping robots.
It’s name is Blaberus Cranifer, or Death’s Head for short. Light has now been shed on this once secret project built by the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University for a “vague” Russian organization. The little guy has a 20 minute battery life and can carry a 10 gram payload. Which comes in handy when you want to sneak a camera into hard to reach places. Other requirements were for it to look and behave like a real live insect.
It’s an impressive project considering it was built from scratch in only seven months time. Its intricate gears and other mechanical features would require the hands of a skilled watch maker to construct. Alternatively, one can control live insects such as controlling a roach’s brain or hooking up some radio controls to a live beetle. But building robotic insects is still pretty cool.
Be sure to check out the well made video detailing some of the project’s build process.
Producing micro robotics is not yet easy or cost-effective, but why do we need to when we can just control the minds of cockroaches? A team or researchers from North Carolina State University is calling this augmented Madagascar Hissing cockroach an Insect Biobot in their latest research paper (PDF). It’s not the first time the subject has come up. There have already been proofs in research and even more amateur endeavors. But the accuracy and control seen in the video after the break is beyond compare.
The roach is being controlled to perfectly follow a line on the floor. One of the things that makes this iteration work so well is that the microcontroller includes a new type of ADC-based feedback loop for the stimulation of the insect brain. This helps to ensure that the roach will not grow accustom to the stimulation and stop responding to it. Since this variety of insect can live for about two years, this breakthrough makes it into a reusable tool. We’re not sure what that tool will be used for, but perhaps the next plague of insects will be controlled by man, and not mother nature.
[Fotoopa] keeps churning out new iterations of his laser-triggered camera rig. This is his latest, which he calls the 2011 setup. Regular readers will remember that we just covered a different version back in November; that one was the 2010 rendition. It had two DSLR cameras offset by 90 degrees with mirrors to face forward. This time around he has gone back to the single camera setup which was what he used on the first and second versions seen way back in 2008.
Whew, that’s a lot of links to specialty DSLR hardware. Let’s bring it back to this newest model (the link at the top). The biggest improvement is the shutter delay between when the laser beam is tripped and the image is take. [Fotoopa] reports that he’s managed to reduce that time down to 3.3 milliseconds. This is thanks to an external shutter replacement which improves on the stock shutter’s 52 millisecond delay.
For those that are seeing this for the first time. [Fotoopa] uses this rig to photograph insects in motion. A laser trip wire is responsible for triggering the shutter, and it does so with stunning results!
We’ve seen so many stories in the news about the growing plague of bedbugs. It kind of infuriates us because the spin of these “news” pieces is always that we’re going to have to live with these insects and there’s nothing you can do to avoid it. Bullcorn! [Ed Nisley] was dealt a bum hand in the form of a bedbug infestation but instead of losing his mind he used it to get himself out of the mess. One of the steps in the dis-insecting process was to develop a bedbug killing box that raises the contents above the kill temperature for the pests. He built an insulated chamber, with a grate to raise the target material off the bottom and allow for heat exchange around all edges of the item. Light bulb combinations of 60, 100, and 120 Watts were tested along with a fan for air circulation. He graphed the results and plans to use what he learned to build a more efficient heater for the box.
But the hot box isn’t his only defense. His household developed barriers, blocking the insects by height or with a sticky zone. Check out the collection of his bedbug posts and stop being afraid of these things! We can fight back and we can do it using common items and ingenuity.
Earlier this year we were amazed when University of California researchers controlled a beetle via electrical implants. The video available at the time of the original report showed beetles tethered in place while electrical stimuli was applied via the chip. New video of free flight is has now been posted. Although the motion is rather sporadic, it is obvious that simple commands to start flight, stop flight, and turn left or right are having their intended effect. Check out this cyborg action after the break. Is DARPA one step closer to unleashing legions of insect warriors on unsuspecting masses? Continue reading “Radio controlled beetle flight footage”
When we saw the video of the Phasma insectoid robot above, we immediately thought of the iSprawl. After checking out their site, it turns out that the two are connected in some way, we’re not sure how, maybe just inspiration. The Phasma gives us a little more insight into the construction of the bot. The photos are highly detailed so you can see how the drive works, using the sliding cables to extend the “feet”. It seems quite agile in the video. The drive system, working off of a single cam seems like it would be easy to convert to steam. We would love to see that.
[via the pink tentacle] | <urn:uuid:bf24302f-0dc1-49a7-8f90-7c6b651144fc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://hackaday.com/tag/insect/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00039-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953281 | 1,301 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Honor to Whom Honor is Due' Origin of Steam Navigation. A View of Collect Pond and Its Vicinity in the City of New York in 1793'
1846 14.5 x 18.5 in (36.83 x 46.99 cm)
An extremely scarce 1846 broadside issued by John Hutchings to promote the awareness of John Fitch as a pioneer of steam navigation. Fitch was an instrument maker working in the later part of the 18th century. As an early pioneer of steam navigation, Fitch tested several steamboats on the Delaware River between 1785 and 1788. One of these, the Perseverance, is depicted in the upper right quadrant of this sheet. Fitch's real success, however, occurred a few years later when, in 1793 he tested another ship equipped with a paddle wheel on New York's Collect Pond. This was a full six years before Fulton and Livingston launched 'Fulton's Folly' on the Seine. Hutchings claims to have been a 'lad' at the time who 'assisted Mr. Fitch in steering the boat.' Hutchings asserts that it was in fact Fitch who designed the steam propulsion mechanism. He claims that both Fulton and Livingston were present during the Collect Pond tests and in fact depicts both, as well as Fitch and himself, in a paddlewheel steam ship in the upper left quadrant. Though Fulton seems to have received most of the credit for the era of steam navigation, Hutchings hoped, through the publication of this broadside, to shed some light on Fitch's contributions as well. Central to this publication is a map of the Collect Pond and vicinity extending roughly from Broadway westward to Chatam Street, south as far as City Hall Park and north to Canal. Roughly between Barlet Street and Franklin rested the Collect Pond, a natural depression and drainage area that filled with water seasonally. The Collect Pond appears in early maps of New York City and until the construction of the Croton Aqueduct was one of the few sources of fresh water in lower Manhattan. This pond was filled in around 1811 when it transformed into the notorious and poverty stricken 'Five Points' district. When Fitch tested his steamboat the pond would have been surrounded by slaughterhouses, tanneries, gunpowder storage, bogs and prisons – not exactly a pretty place for an afternoon boat ride. The map image is surrounded by a brief biography of Fitch, signed attestations from important figures regarding the character of Fitch and Hutchings, and eye-witness accounts of the events in question. Right of the map is a description, written by Hutchings, describing the event and the Collect Pond vessel itself. Dated and copyrighted: 'Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1846 by John Hutchings in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of N.Y.'
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Very Good condition. Contemporary color. Original folds. A very nice clean example.
Collect Pond, Manhattan.' New York Public Library: American Shores, Maps of the Mid Atlantic Region to 1850. 2002, http://www.nypl.org/research/midatlantic/geo_collect.html. Peters, Harry T., AMERICA ON STONE / THE OTHER PRINTMAKERS TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, p. 282 | <urn:uuid:210ed44a-e6a9-4575-8e51-4e98616fc6a0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/CollectPond-hutchings-1846 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95542 | 707 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Gene key to taste bud development identified
DURHAM, N.C. -- Scientists have identified a gene that controls the development of taste buds.
The gene, SOX2, stimulates stem cells on the surface of the embryonic tongue and in the back of the mouth to transform into taste buds, according to the researchers. Stem cells are immature cells that can develop into several different cell types depending on what biochemical instructions they receive.
"Not only did we find that SOX2 is crucial for the development of taste buds, but we showed that the amount of SOX2 is just as important," said Brigid Hogan, Ph.D., chair of the Duke University Medical Center Department of Cell Biology and senior member of the research team. "If there isn't enough SOX2 present, or if there is too much, the stem cells will not turn into taste buds."
The researchers made their discovery in mice, but they believe the same process occurs in humans.
According to the researchers, the findings will help scientists better understand how the behavior of certain stem cells is controlled. The SOX2 gene is already known to be crucial in controlling whether embryonic stem cells remain undifferentiated and whether stem cells in the brain, eye and inner ear differentiate into specialized nerve cells.
Taste bud cells, much like skin cells, continually slough off and are replaced by new ones. So the new findings not only provide insights into the interactions between SOX2 and tongue stem cells during embryonic development, but also into how stem cells continue to operate in adults, the researchers said.
The researchers published the findings in the October 2006 issue of the journal Genes and Development. The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Their findings were entirely serendipitous, Hogan said.
"In my laboratory, we were studying the role of SOX2 in the development of the lung, esophagus and the gut in embryonic mice" she said. "We were quite surprised when we accidentally found the gene's role to be so pronounced in the developing tongue."
The particular strain of mice that Hogan and her colleagues use had been developed by Larysa Pevny, Ph.D., a geneticist and developmental neurobiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who is co-author with Hogan of the journal report.
In engineering her new mouse strain for studying stem cells in the nervous system, Pevny combined the SOX2 gene with another gene, derived from jellyfish, and inserted the combination into the animals' chromosomes. She selected the added gene for its capacity to produce a special protein, called enhanced green fluorescent protein, that glows green when exposed to ultraviolet light.
"When we shine light on tissue from these animals, any cell that is expressing SOX2 will fluoresce, or light up," Pevny explained. "This allows us to directly visualize those areas where SOX2 is active. It is a very powerful tool."
In their work, Hogan and her colleagues use this fluorescence marker as a tool for tracking the activity of SOX2 in the esophagus, among other sites. As they worked with the mice, they noticed that specific areas on the tongue and in the back of the mouth lit up, in addition to areas in the esophagus. Further studies, Hogan said, confirmed that SOX2 was present in high amounts during the development of taste buds.
In another set of experiments, Hogan's team used another variant of the mouse strain made by Pevny in which the SOX2 gene was altered to produce only low levels of SOX2. In these animals, the stem cells in the tongue were not transformed into taste buds, she said. Instead, the cells became the "scaly" cells that cover the surface the tongue and help to direct food to the back of the mouth.
The new findings could lead to a better understanding of developmental disorders of the gut caused by mutations in the human SOX2 gene, Hogan said. For example, babies with such mutations can develop a tracheoesophageal fistula, a condition in which there is an abnormal connection between the windpipe and throat that requires surgery for correction.
Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy often report the loss of taste during treatments. These therapies target cells that are dividing, making them effective in killing cancer cells but also causing the unwanted side effect of killing taste buds. When the cancer treatments end, the taste buds gradually return, Hogan said.
Tadashi Okubo, a former post-doctoral fellow in Hogan's lab and now at the National Institutes of Natural Sciences, was also part of the research team.
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Apr 2016
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:e3d0eb9e-b1a3-4696-9904-850b85e2be5f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2006-09/dumc-gkt092806.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962455 | 989 | 3.359375 | 3 |
This episode is a really important one. I’m going to introduce to you guys the basic elements that make up any picture.
We see everything around us in 3d. Then we try to draw a 3d world on a 2 dimensional surface. Of course drawing an actual 3d world is impossible on paper. We have to learn to create the Illusion of depth. Any picture can be broken down into 4 elements to create that illusion of form. It’s like the periodic table of elements for artists. And luckily for us, it’s a much smaller table.
We can use these elements to show form and depth if we are realists or representational artists, but it’s not limited to just showing form. Any picture, anything you can see can be broken down into these elements. An abstract watercolor painting, a realistic portrait drawing, a photograph of a sunset, anything that you can see can be described with Shape, Edge, Value, and Color. I would even argue that there are only 3 major elements. Shape, edge, and color. Because value is just a sub-element of color. But value is so important that artists have separated it as its own thing. Also, when we’re drawing, we’re usually drawing in black and white. And in a black and white drawing value is the only visible part of the color. So, we put aside the concept of color, and just say value. When we start painting, we introduce the other two sub-elements of color – hue and chroma.
Let’s go over these elements one by one, starting with Shape.
Shape is a concept that’s familiar to most of us. It’s the elements we use to draw as kids. It’s the area that something takes up. It’s the outline, or the contour of all the pieces in the drawing. But it’s not limited to just the outline of the big elements. The smaller parts also have specific shapes.
For the early stages of a drawing you want to develop your ability to simplify a shape. This is important so that you can focus on the composition and the breakdown of the big picture. Getting distracted by the smaller details too early, can hurt you in the long run. Working big to small is usually a good idea.
When simplifying, think about geometric shapes – circles, ovals, squares, rectangles, triangles, diamonds, crescents and so on.. These are simple shapes as opposed to complex organic shapes. For example this complex shape of a leaf can be simplified in the first stage of the drawing and then the details can be found in the later stages.
Shape is the most important element to convey the identity of an object. These two shapes are very different and symbolize two very different things. They are not 3 dimensional, but its still very obvious what they represent, just by looking at the shape. That’s why “shape design” is such an important skill to practice and develop. Simply put, shape design is making your shapes look good. It’s a bit arbitrary, but you know it when you see it.
You could say that shape A is better than shape B because it’s cleaner and more interesting. It does a better job of getting the point across and doing so in a more interesting way.
Now let’s move on to color. I’ll go into more depth on color theory later, since it’s a very complex topic and deserves it’s own episode or even a whole series of episodes. Right now, I’ll just go over the basics.
Color has 3 subcategories. The hue, the chroma, and the value. For example, this color has a purple hue, a number 3 value, and a medium chroma.
Hue is what we typically refer to when we say color. Yellow, orange, red, blue, green – these are all hues. Your traditional color wheel is an arrangement of hues.. If you shine a light through a prism, it will break up the light and reveal the color spectrum. The same colors as the rainbow. And the same colors as the color wheel.
The terms warm and cool are used to describe the two sides of the color wheel if you cut it in half. The warm family shares orange as a common color and the cool family shares blue as a common color. Think of fire being warm and ice being cool.
Chroma refers to how grey or how pure the color is. On one end are the high chroma colors that you’ll see in the rainbow, and on the other end are the low chroma greys with a gradual transition.
In some color wheels you’ll have the high chroma colors on the outside with a gradation towards grey in the center. You’ll often hear people using the term “neutralizing” a color. This just means lowering the chroma and bringing it closer to grey. There’s two ways you can do that. The first is just adding grey to it. As you’d expect this will bring it closer to grey. The other way is to add its complement, or the color across from it on the color wheel. Mixing two complimentary colors will result in the color in between them. Half and half will theoretically make grey. Now, pigment isn’t perfect.. you usually won’t get that exactly perfect grey. But you’ll definitely bring it closer to grey. Depending on the ratio you mix, will result in a color somewhere in between the two. If you add just a little bit of green to red, you’ll still have a red, just a lower chroma version.
Value is how light or dark the color is. There is an infinite amount of values, but most artists like to think of a finite scale, zero to ten. It’s more manageable that way and it makes it a lot easier to communicate. A teacher might say, make that shape one value darker. And you’ll know roughly how much 1 value is.
Drawing with charcoal we don’t use color, since everything is grey scale. Or a better way to put that is, we don’t use hue and chroma, the only element of color that we see is value. So, many artists have separated value as its own element and say its more important than the other elements of color. You can have a very beautiful drawing without using color – just grey-scale you don’t need it to draw a representation of what you’re looking at. You don’t need it to show form and depth. I think it’s wise to practice drawing without color as a beginner, since that’s one less ball you have to juggle as you’re learning. Once you get the hang of values, then add the colors, and go wild.
But, I don’t want to make it seem like color isn’t important. It is! Colors are beautiful and quite often its what will catch the eye of someone looking at your artwork. It could set off an emotional response to a piece of art, that a gray scale drawing can’t do. But as the artist you must understand, that if you don’t get the values right, the rest of the color won’t look right. Focus on accuracy of values, and that will allow you to experiment and bend your colors.
That’s your color basics 101, maybe not even 101. More like 1-0-half…
Edge is the transition between two shapes. It doesn’t have to be an edge of a volume. The shapes within the volume have edges too.
The types of edges range from sharp to extremely soft, with an infinite amount in between. But to simplify it we’ve come up with 4 types of edges: sharp, firm, soft, and lost.
- A sharp edge is a very sudden transition between 2 shapes. It’s sharp like a razor blade. There is no transition, its a sudden change.
- A firm edge is almost hard, but it has a very small gradation to it. Think of these as corners that have a bevel or rounded corner. On a figure you’ll typically see firm edges on tendons and joints.
- A soft edge is a very smooth transition between 2 shapes. You’ll see a longer gradation. Soft edges are like clouds or baby butts.
- A lost edge is one that is so soft, that you can’t see it anymore. It’s frequently used in areas where the values of two forms are close together and a really soft edge would merge the two volumes together.
Putting it all together
Every time you’re drawing or painting and you look at your reference, you need to have an intuitive checklist of elements to identify. What’s the shape, color, and edge? And within color, what’s the value, hue, and chroma? To make this intuitive you have to train your brain by intentionally thinking about these things while you’re analyzing the subject. Eventually you don’t have to force it anymore, it becomes part of your observation process.
For example as you look at this clementine and you observe the shadow, you ask yourself:
- what is the shape? is it circular, rectangular, triangular etc. In this case, its a crescent if you simplify it.
- What is the value on a scale of 0-10? And more importantly what is the value in relationship to all the other values in the picture? The occlusion in the cast shadow, is the darkest part of the picture. If you want your picture to have the full range of values, from 0-10, you have to make it a value 0. The top part of the shadow on the clementine is about 1 value lighter than under the clementine The reflected light below is another 1 to 2 values lighter. Instead of the full value range of 0-10, you can choose to go for a narrower value range, say 3-7. The darkest part would be a 3 and the highlight would be a 7. And accommodate the other values to fit within that range. It’s the relationships between all the values in the picture that really matter.
- The next question is, what is the hue? Even though it’s an orange clementine, not all the colors on it are orange. I’m seeing a transition from orange on the light side, to a redder hue on the shadow side.
- What is the chroma? Ehh, it’s somewhere in the middle, probably a little closer to the high chroma side..
- And the edge is firm on the left side of the shadow and softer on the right (at the terminator).
The ability to see and properly identify all these elements is a skill, its a sense that you need to develop. At first you will struggle to see the subtleties , but just as a musician tunes her ears to hear notes and compose the notes into a symphony, you too can develop your ability to see these subtleties and view the world through an artist’s eye. As with most things, it’s about repetition through practice.
Before you go, I want to thank everyone who bought my Portrait Drawing DVD. You guys have been really supportive and I owe you a big thank you! If you don’t have one yet and are interested, you can go to proko.com/dvd1 to learn more. Thank you guys so much! I’m really lucky to be able to do this | <urn:uuid:2cb89338-09a2-43c1-9e42-de1b1acb0c33> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.proko.com/basic-elements-shape-value-color-edge/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00108-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938707 | 2,462 | 3.515625 | 4 |
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I think that policy making is impacted by political parties in a couple of ways. The most basic element is that an elected representative who is loyal to their party must generate policies that reflect the overall platform of the party. If not, they certainly must speak out against policies that go against party platform ideas. In this, political party influence policy making because it forces representatives to make fundamental choices between what is advocated in the legislative sphere and what is embraced by the party. It is essential for the representative to ensure that they have the support of the political party. Losing this is almost as bad as losing the support of their represented people. The political party influences the direction of policies advocated and initiated in that the legislation that comes out of the representative sphere of government is reflective of the party's belief system. In the past summer, the United States political sphere saw this with the debate on the raising of the debt ceiling. The Republican Party was committed to not raising the debt ceiling. This became part of the party's belief system. Members of the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party were committed to this idea. In the end, this is a good reflection of how political parties can influence policy making.
Political parties are relavent only in countries where they have democratic form of govenment.In democracy the political party which wins the largest/ majority of seats in the legislature will be allowed to form government.Every political party has their own manifestoes/agenda and it contains the vision and mission of the party.once elected this document is the one which guide the party to formulate various policies of the government. The ruling party can get a law passed only if the new bill get majority vote in the legislature.
All political parties leadership will suggest new policies to its grass root members and at local level the members will discuss and deleberate upon the suggested policies. The recommendations from these party leadership will be discussed at higher levels of the party and then they decide to present it in the legislature to get it passed as law.A vote on the new bill will be conducted in the legislature and if the bill get majority votes it could be passed as new law by the executive arm of the government.Political parties are always tempted to suggest policies which are popular with the ordinary citizens and often this will lead to the creation of laws which may not be sound from the economic,religious,moral and social point of view!
Many of the economic problems like the recession in the U S and elsewhere are due the popular but wrong policies adopted by those governments. The US government allowed a lot of financial engineering which encouraged financial institutions to lend a lot more. This encouraged banks to lent a lot, borrowers to borrow a lot which they canot repay, discouraged people to save and encouraged them to spent more!
Of late, all political parties have more or less same policies and hence they are neither Right nor Left!They look for policies wihich will attract more voters to vote for the party. It seems thay they believe " in the long run we are all dead"
One can come to the conclusion that all political parties want to be popular and their policies are to win votes in the short run and if this kind of policy making is allowed to continue,in the long run a prosperous country llike the US might become a failed state!
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Lox/Kerosene propellant rocket stage. Loaded/empty mass 110,000/8,250 kg. Thrust 2,393.72 kN. Vacuum specific impulse 311 seconds. R-7 strap-ons increased in size dimensionally 50%, equipped with 6 engines from R-9. Boost nuclear thermal core stage to altitude before ignition of nuclear engine. Masses calculated based on vehicle total weight and performance.
No Engines: 6.
Status: Development ended 1949.
More... - Chronology...
Gross mass: 110,000 kg (240,000 lb).
Unfuelled mass: 8,250 kg (18,180 lb).
Height: 27.00 m (88.00 ft).
Diameter: 3.33 m (10.92 ft).
Span: 3.33 m (10.92 ft).
Thrust: 2,393.72 kN (538,131 lbf).
Specific impulse: 311 s.
Specific impulse sea level: 269 s.
Burn time: 125 s.
RD-111 Glushko Lox/Kerosene rocket engine. 1628 kN. R-9 stage 1. Isp=317s. Developed for R-9 ICBM. It had special flexible pipelines and gimbals, allowing lox loading in 20 minutes. First flight 1961. More...
Associated Launch Vehicles
YaKhR-2 Russian nuclear-powered orbital launch vehicle. First large space launcher considered in the Soviet Union. It would have had the same layout as the R-7, but with six strap-ons increased in size by 50%. The core, igniting at altitude, used a nuclear thermal engine using ammonia as propellant. Dropped in favor of development of conventional chemical propulsion. More...
Lox/Kerosene Liquid oxygen was the earliest, cheapest, safest, and eventually the preferred oxidiser for large space launchers. Its main drawback is that it is moderately cryogenic, and therefore not suitable for military uses where storage of the fuelled missile and quick launch are required. In January 1953 Rocketdyne commenced the REAP program to develop a number of improvements to the engines being developed for the Navaho and Atlas missiles. Among these was development of a special grade of kerosene suitable for rocket engines. Prior to that any number of rocket propellants derived from petroleum had been used. Goddard had begun with gasoline, and there were experimental engines powered by kerosene, diesel oil, paint thinner, or jet fuel kerosene JP-4 or JP-5. The wide variance in physical properties among fuels of the same class led to the identification of narrow-range petroleum fractions, embodied in 1954 in the standard US kerosene rocket fuel RP-1, covered by Military Specification MIL-R-25576. In Russia, similar specifications were developed for kerosene under the specifications T-1 and RG-1. The Russians also developed a compound of unknown formulation in the 1980's known as 'Sintin', or synthetic kerosene. More...
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The camps which the enemy occupied during the night were comparatively uninjured, so confident were the Rebels that our defeat was assured.
It was the arrival of General Buell’s army that saved us. The history of that battle, as the Rebels have given it, shows that they expected to overpower General Grant before General Buell could come up. They would then cross the Tennessee, meet and defeat Buell, and recapture Nashville. The defeat of these two armies would have placed the Valley of the Ohio at the command of the Rebels. Louisville was to have been the next point of attack.
The dispute between the officers of the Army of the Tennessee and those of the Army of the Ohio is not likely to be terminated until this generation has passed away. The former contend that the Rebels were repulsed on the evening of the 6th of April, before the Army of the Ohio took part in the battle. The latter are equally earnest in declaring that the Army of the Tennessee would have been defeated had not the other army arrived. Both parties sustain their arguments by statements in proof, and by positive assertions. I believe it is the general opinion of impartial observers, that the salvation of General Grant’s army is due to the arrival of the army of General Buell. With the last attack on the evening of the 6th, in which our batteries repulsed the Rebels, the enemy did not retreat. Night came as the fighting ceased. Beauregard’s army slept where it had fought, and gave all possible indication of a readiness to renew the battle on the following day. So near was it to the river that our gun-boats threw shells during the night to prevent our left wing being flanked.
Beauregard is said to have sworn to water his horse in the Tennessee, or in Hell, on that night. It is certain that the animal did not quench his thirst in the terrestrial stream. If he drank from springs beyond the Styx, I am not informed.
SHILOH AND THE SIEGE OF CORINTH.
The Error of the Rebels.—Story of a Surgeon.—Experience of a Rebel Regiment.—Injury to the Rebel Army.—The Effect in our own Lines.—Daring of a Color-Bearer.—A Brave Soldier.—A Drummer-Boy’s Experience.—Gallantry of an Artillery Surgeon.—A Regiment Commanded by a Lieutenant.—Friend Meeting Friend and Brother Meeting Brother in the Opposing Lines.—The Scene of the Battle.—Fearful Traces of Musketry-Fire.—The Wounded.—The Labor of the Sanitary Commission.—Humanity a Yankee Trick.—Besieging Corinth.—A Cold-Water Battery.—Halleck and the Journalists.—Occupation of Corinth.
The fatal error of the Rebels, was their neglect to attack on the 4th, as originally intended. They were informed by their scouts that Buell could not reach Savannah before the 9th or 10th; and therefore a delay of two days would not change the situation. Buell was nearer than they supposed. | <urn:uuid:e09973b8-31d5-44b3-8dc3-f260f9e9f080> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/12068/66.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00175-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979663 | 637 | 2.75 | 3 |
The three major distinctions that matter to most bakers are the color, season, and hardness of the wheat.
Red vs. White: This refers to the color of the bran, which is the outer protective coating of the wheat kernel. Bran color is less important in refined flours than in whole wheat flours.
Winter vs. Spring: While it probably doesn’t matter to you when your wheat was planted or harvested, it’s useful to know that flour from winter wheat has an average protein content of 10-12 percent and medium gluten strength, while flour from spring wheat has an average gluten content of 12-14 percent, and high gluten strength.
Hard vs. Soft: This is the most important category. Flour from hard wheat has a higher protein content and stronger gluten-forming proteins, making it better for yeasted products. Flour from soft wheat has less protein, low gluten strength, and is are better for chemically-leavened products like cakes, muffins, biscuits, and cookies.
Any flour can be any combination of those three categories, so you could have a hard red spring wheat or a soft white winter wheat, for example.
On thing to keep in mind is that protein and gluten are related, but not exactly the same. The proteins in the flour create gluten, but a high-protein flour may not always create the best quality gluten. So the strength of the gluten is as important as how much protein there is to start with. However, the more protein there is in a flour, the more potential gluten there is as well.
Flour quality isn’t just about the grains themselves. Milling plays an important role. When grain is milled, the first product is straight flour, which contains some bran and germ. Bakers in France might use straight flour, but it’s uncommon in the US where straight flour is sifted into other categories that you’re more likely to see on store shelves.
Clear Flour is what’s left over after the patent flours have been removed from straight flour. It is darker than the patent flours and has a higher ash content. The only clear flour I’ve seen marketed is first clear. It’s made from hard wheat and blended with lower-gluten flours. First clear is good for whole wheat and rye flours, where the darker color isn’t a problem. Because higher mineral content in first clear flour, many people like to use it to feed sourdough starters.
Speaking of ash content, that doesn’t mean there’s burned crud in the flour. It’s really all about the amount of mineral content in the flour. Basically, when a flour sample is burned in a lab, the ash that is left is the minerals in the flour.
European flours are more likely to be categorized by ash content, while American flours are more concerned with protein content. In theory, as ash goes down, protein goes up, but it also depends on the protein level that was present to begin with.
Italian flours are classified by the fineness of the grains and the amount of bran and germ removed. Type 00 flour is the finest grind, is very powdery, and has the least bran and germ remaining. Following Type 00 are Types 0, 1 and 2 with Type 2 being the coarsest flour. Since this is all about milling and not about protein, it’s possible for 00 flour to have varying amounts of protein depending on the original amount in the grain. However, since the Type 00 flours have less bran and germ, they would have a higher percentage of protein than a Type 1 flour milled from that same grain.
Many bakers choose to substitute lower-gluten American flours for the relatively higher-gluten Type 00 flour used in Italy for pizza. For one thing, the gluten quality in those Italian flours is not equivalent to the gluten in American hard red wheat that’s typically found in bread flour. The gluten in American bread flours is hard and springy and results in a very elastic dough, whereas the Italian gluten is firm but not as elastic, making it better for stretching or rolling pizza and pasta.
One thing to keep in mind is that the Italian flours have less gluten overall, with an average range of about 7.5 to 11 percent, and generally not much higher than 9.5 percent. Lower-protein Italian flours are often labeled as grano tenero, while the higher protein flours would be grano duro.
The “Italian-Style” flour made with American wheat sold by King Arthur Flour has a protein content of 8.5 percent, putting it in the same range as Italian flours. Other types of American flour vary in protein content by manufacturer, but in general, cake flour has 6-8 percent protein, pastry flour has 8-10 percent, all purpose flour has 10-12 protein, white whole wheat flour has about 13 percent, bread flour has 12-14 protein, and first clear flour has about 15 percent.
Unfortunately for American bakers, flour labels aren’t always very forthcoming about what sort of wheat is in the bag or exactly how much protein or ash it contains. However, much of that information can be found at product websites or by emailing the companies.
While bread and pizza-makers concern themselves with the amount and quality of gluten in flour because of the structure it provides, that protein also has another effect on dough – higher-protein flours absorb more water. What that means to the baker is that a 67-percent hydration dough might feel wetter or drier depending on the brand and type of flour being used.
For commercial bakeries or die-hard bakers who use the same suppliers consistently, the inconsistencies among manufacturers aren’t an issue. But for casual home bakers, it’s just one more reason why the same recipe might have different results on different hands or on different days. | <urn:uuid:c46968a3-9ebf-49d4-87d4-c548ea68748a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cookistry.com/2010/11/technique-deciphering-refined-wheat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957664 | 1,247 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Archaeologists have revealed what could be part of a 1,500-year-old wine-making factory underneath a street in the ancient city of Jaffa, now part of Tel Aviv, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced.
Researchers think the installation dates back to the second half of the Byzantine period, around the sixth to early seventh centuries A.D. Its smooth, mosaic surfaces suggest it was used in the production of some kind of liquid.
"Due to the mosaic's impermeability, such surfaces are commonly found in the press installations of the period, which were used to extract liquid," Yoav Arbel, director of the IAA excavations, said in a statement. "Each unit was connected to a plastered collecting vat. The pressing was performed on the mosaic surfaces whereupon the liquid drained into the vats."
These archaeological features are often identified as wine presses, used to squeeze juice from grapes. But Arbel told Israel's Haaretz newspaper that wine presses generally have larger collecting pits than this one. It is possible then that the installation could have been used to make wine or alcoholic beverages from smaller fruits, such as pomegranates, figs or dates. Alternatively, it could have been used to make paint, Arbel told Haaretz.
Arbel said he believes the section discovered could be a small part of a much larger installation that may be uncovered with further excavations along nearby streets later this year.
"This is the first important building from the Byzantine period to be uncovered in this part of the city," Arbel said in an IAA statement. He added that the installation is relatively far outside of Jaffa's ancient archaeological mound, which "adds a significant dimension to our knowledge about the impressive agricultural distribution in the region in this period." | <urn:uuid:17a2ee1f-05b3-4bd7-a944-008943bac885> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.livescience.com/27266-byzantine-wine-press-jaffa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00136-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968238 | 370 | 3.4375 | 3 |
There must have been 386 doubloons in one box, 8,450 in another, and
16,514 in the third, because 386 is the smallest number that can occur.
If I had asked for the smallest aggregate number of coins, the answer
would have been 482, 3,362, and 6,242.
It will be found in either case
that if the contents of any two of the three boxes be combined, they
form a square number of coins.
It is a curious coincidence (nothing
more, for it will not always happen) that in the first solution the
digits of the three numbers add to 17 in every case, and in the second
solution to 14.
It should be noted that the middle one of the three
numbers will always be half a square. | <urn:uuid:a884f805-0181-420a-b581-2e53ba45dda9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pedagonet.com/mathgenius/answer131.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946954 | 170 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Three Mattingly brothers came with Lord Baltimore to the shores of Maryland in 1633. After nearly 200 years their decendants, still clanlike and strongly Catholic in religion, drove their covered wagon across the Alleghenies, over Zanes Trace, and into the woods of Muskingum township.
The letters they sent back to Maryland by stagecoach gave a good report of the land, and so many other Mattinglys followed the first of their family that the settlement spread over a five-acre area.
Other family names have been preserved in the place names of the county. We find them in Frazeysburg, Gratiot, Adamsville, Roseville, Chandlersville, Putnam and Zanesville. But the names honor one person, while the Mattingly Settlement was so called because about two dozen families by that name lived near each other.
In the last 50 years the number of Mattinglys has decreased. Many have moved away, and the name has been lost by marriage so that only half a dozen families bearing the name of Mattingly live in the settlement today.
Although the Mattinglys are scattered, their clanlike trait brings them back to the Mattingly church for a family reunion each year.
There is a town named Mattingly in England. It was from England, according to tradition, that the first members of the family came to America. Three brothers Charles, James, and Caesar Mattingly came with Lord Baltimore to Point Comfort on February 24, 1633. In England they had been ship engineers, and no ship could leave the shores of England without their approval.
The first member of the Mattingly family who migrated to the settlement was William Mattingly of St. Marys County, Maryland. Born in 1774, he left home with his family in a covered wagon and came westward to Newcomerstown. After spending a year there, he became the first of his name to settle in Muskingum township in 1812.
Rev. J. F. Mattingly said in his "Traditions and Genealogy of the Mattingly Family" that "William was a devout Catholic, never missing mass on Sunday, making the trip to Zanesville. 10 miles distant, every Sunday.
Makes Large Donation
When the St. Thomas church was under construction but could not be completed for lack of money, William Mattingly came to the rescue with a donation of $4,000 enough to complete the edifice according to the family history. In appreciation of his gift, a marble slab was imbedded in the sanctuary beside the main altar. But it has been removed in alterations of the church.
After William Mattingly settled in Muskingum township, other members of the family came from Maryland and bought farms near him.
As the Catholic population increased and the farms prospered, the people in Mattingly settlement decided they would build a church of their own. Cletus Mattingly says that his uncle, William, offered a site west of the present church, but the congregation accepted the donation of a tract of land from Williams brother, John, where the church stands today.
Church built in 1856
As you drive west on the Old Creamery road about a mile and a half, you see a neat brick church to the north. This is St. Marys Catholic church, built in 1856. It has the same name as the Maryland county church from which the first of the Mattingly family came to Muskingum township.
A marker that stands north of the church has this inscription: "St. Marys Cemetery, Mattingly Settlement. Perpetual care, 1929."
A grotto of flint stands in the churchyard. Inside the grotto is a statue of the Virgin Mary imported from Italy.
The brick for this church were made on the John Mattingly farm and the lime for cement was burned in the field adjoining the churchyard. Although the church will be a hundred years old in eight more years, the brick walls are still solid and the cement between the bricks is still hard. It has never been pointed.
Four large larch trees planted symmetrically in the front of the church and the white fence around the yard give a beautiful setting to the historic building.
Three Become Priests
Because of the strong religious faith of the Mattinglys, it is not surprising that a grandson of the first settler by that name became a priest. Rev. Father Theodore Mattingly was born within a stones throw of the church and ordained in Cincinnati on June 19, 1895. He said his first mass in the church at the Mattingly settlement and observed his golden anniversary at the same church in 1945.
Rev. Julius Mattingly was born in the settlement in 1863 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1890. He became rector of St. Marys church, Richmond, Ind. He died in 1935. He was the author of the family history.
Rev. James Mattingly was a third member of the Mattingly settlement to become a priest.
Today only about a half dozen families by the name of Mattingly live in the settlement.
The five children of Vincent Mattingly live near the church. They are John, Benjamin, Estella, Cletus, and Lucinda. Their parents went to housekeeping in a two-story hewed log cabin near the present frame residence. It was built by George Conn.
Born in Cabin
John Mattingly was born in the cabin. The cellar beneath the cabin collected water in rainy weather. When Mrs. Vincent Mattingly wanted some of the stone jars of fruit she had placed in the basement, she told her husband to put on his boots and go down through the water to get them.
The log cabin is used for a tool shed today. Although the farm is modern and mechanized, John Mattingly still makes red oak shingles with a frow to roof the cabin and other farm buildings.
A hand made sleigh collects dust on the second floor of the cabin, and from the rafters hang a pair of saddle bags. John and Cletus Mattingly have heard their father tell that he took eggs in those saddlebags to Nashport and sold them for four cents a dozen. The white oak logs of the cabin are 18 to 22 inches high. | <urn:uuid:c869f311-ae29-4aeb-af70-4778c72df709> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohmuski2/muskingum/mattingly_settlement_1949.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00168-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982324 | 1,316 | 3.0625 | 3 |
The following strategies and techniques have helped many people with insomnia.
Progressive muscle relaxation
Exercises that tense and relax each muscle group can help the body prepare for sleep. As you lie in bed, tense the muscles in each area of your body and then relax them, one area at a time. Start with your legs, then your buttocks and thighs, and so on up your body until every part of you has had the chance to relax.
In guided imagery, you imagine yourself in your favorite peaceful place—maybe a porch swing at a beloved house or on a beach in the late afternoon when the crowds are gone. You close your eyes and imagine the sights, sounds, and smells of the place. This can help you relax and, if you continue imagining the same place over the course of weeks, doing so can become part of a routine that your mind associates with sleep.
This can be done by itself or as part of any relaxation technique. Breathe deeply, but instead of lifting your chest and shoulders, breathe down into your abdomen. Breathe in slowly, hold the breath for a second or two, and relax to let the air escape. Repeat.
In biofeedback, a technician places sensors on your skin, connected to machines that display information about brain waves, skin temperature, and other physiological aspects of the stress response. Through biofeedback training, you may be able to learn to recognize and control your stress response.
In meditation, you learn to concentrate without allowing the mind to wander. Quieting your mind has been shown to decrease stress. | <urn:uuid:d79bbbaa-db49-4cce-83d2-b41f53b9a126> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.nationaljewish.org/healthinfo/conditions/sleep-disorders/types/insomnia/treatment/relaxation-techniques | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00131-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931903 | 319 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Speeding Data Entry with Excel 2007's AutoFill Feature
Use the AutoFill feature in Microsoft Office Excel 2007 to quickly create a series of entries based on the data you enter in one or two cells. Excel 2007's AutoFill works with days of the week, months of the year, and yearly quarters. If you want to use AutoFill for a series of numbers, enter two values in two adjacent cells, select both cells, and then use the AutoFill handle to drag through the remaining cells you want to fill. Excel continues the series.
Type the first cell entry that is part of a series, such as Monday or August, and press Enter.
You can enter the entire word, or you can enter the abbreviated form (such as Mon or Aug).
Select the cell and position the mouse pointer on the small black box at the lower-right corner of the cell.
The small black box is called the AutoFill handle. When you point to this handle, the mouse pointer turns into a small black cross.
Drag the AutoFill handle across the cells you want to fill.
You can drag up, down, left, or right, through adjacent cells.
Release the mouse button.
Excel fills in the selected cells with a continuation of your data, such as the days of the week.
You can create a custom AutoFill series of names or locations that you use frequently and then use AutoFill to fill in the names for you in a workbook. Click the Office button and click Excel Options. Click the Popular tab and then click the Edit Custom Lists button. Click Add, type the items in the List Entries box, and then click OK two times to close both dialog boxes. | <urn:uuid:3dc702dd-a843-4c12-bb0f-11c3482c28d6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/speeding-data-entry-with-excel-2007s-autofill-feat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890326 | 350 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Morehouse College in Atlanta is an all-male, historically black college that can trace its founding back to 1867, a time when America was trying to put itself back together after racists and racism had torn it apart.
You may have missed it, since most journalists these days are focused on other things, but President Obama actually gave an important, and highly personal, speech on Sunday, a speech addressed to the 500 or so black men who graduated from Morehouse this year, the same college that sent Martin Luther King, Jr., into the world as an educated man with a mission to improve that world.
About Dr. King, the President said,
his education at Morehouse helped to forge the intellect, the discipline, the compassion, the soul force that would transform America. It was here that he was introduced to the writings of Gandhi and Thoreau, and the theory of civil disobedience. It was here that professors encouraged him to look past the world as it was and fight for the world as it should be. And it was here, at Morehouse, as Dr. King later wrote, where “I realized that nobody…was afraid.”
That special college, the President said, is where,
young Martin learned to be unafraid. And he, in turn, taught others to be unafraid. And over time, he taught a nation to be unafraid. And over the last 50 years, thanks to the moral force of Dr. King and a Moses generation that overcame their fear and their cynicism and their despair, barriers have come tumbling down, and new doors of opportunity have swung open, and laws and hearts and minds have been changed to the point where someone who looks just like you can somehow come to serve as President of these United States of America.
While all that is true enough and powerful enough, it is the example of Dr. King’s willingness “to look past the world as it was and fight for the world as it should be” that has been the theme running through these types of speeches the President has given, when he is obviously speaking to black audiences. “There are some things, as black men, we can only do for ourselves,” Mr. Obama insisted.
Among those things are taking care of “those still left behind.” Quoting social activist and scholar and minister—and former president of Morehouse College—Dr. Benjamin Mays, President Obama said,
Live up to President Mays’s challenge. Be “sensitive to the wrongs, the sufferings, and the injustices of society.” And be “willing to accept responsibility for correcting [those] ills.”
The President told these graduates that planning a future that involves making money is okay, that “no one expects you to take a vow of poverty.” But, he added,
it betrays a poverty of ambition if all you think about is what goods you can buy instead of what good you can do.
That line, that sentiment, that call to contribute to the well-being of America, is, of course, not just something that only black men graduating from a prestigious liberal arts college in Atlanta need to hear. All of us need to hear it. However, we must not kid ourselves. These particular black men, hearing such a call from President Obama, hear something a little different from what the rest of us might hear.
These men know the poverty around them in black communities. They know the crime that infects places where young men, men not as fortunate as Morehouse graduates, actually live and die. And they have heard the criticism from white conservatives and the alibis from white liberals, the condemnations and the rationalizations from both sides, as they try to explain what is wrong with those communities and how to fix it.
Not often, though, have they heard words like the following, coming as they did from the most powerful man in the world, a man with the credentials, both genetic and experiential, that no other president has ever had:
We know that too many young men in our community continue to make bad choices. And I have to say, growing up, I made quite a few myself. Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down. I had a tendency sometimes to make excuses for me not doing the right thing. But one of the things that all of you have learned over the last four years is there’s no longer any room for excuses.
I understand there’s a common fraternity creed here at Morehouse: “Excuses are tools of the incompetent used to build bridges to nowhere and monuments of nothingness.” Well, we’ve got no time for excuses. Not because the bitter legacy of slavery and segregation have vanished entirely; they have not. Not because racism and discrimination no longer exist; we know those are still out there. It’s just that in today’s hyper-connected hyper-competitive world, with millions of young people from China and India and Brazil — many of whom started with a whole lot less than all of you did — all of them entering the global workforce alongside you, nobody is going to give you anything that you have not earned.
Nobody cares how tough your upbringing was. Nobody cares if you suffered some discrimination. And moreover, you have to remember that whatever you’ve gone through, it pales in comparison to the hardships previous generations endured — and they overcame them. And if they overcame them, you can overcome them, too.
It just wouldn’t do, given our history, for a white man to lecture black men, black men who had just earned college degrees, in such a way. It wouldn’t do. Nor would it do for a white man, even the President of the United States, to related to black men in this way:
Every one of you have a grandma or an uncle or a parent who’s told you that at some point in life, as an African American, you have to work twice as hard as anyone else if you want to get by.
And that’s the point here, isn’t it? Why should it be, here in 21st century America, that such a sentiment is still alive among black folks? Why should black men, or women, still be told to “work twice as hard as anyone else if you want to get by”? Because, as sad as it is to admit, it still rings true. And as sad as it is to say it, part of the reason is related to the the disorganization and dysfunction of black families in America:
I was raised by a heroic single mom, wonderful grandparents — made incredible sacrifices for me. And I know there are moms and grandparents here today who did the same thing for all of you. But I sure wish I had had a father who was not only present, but involved. Didn’t know my dad. And so my whole life, I’ve tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father was not for my mother and me. I want to break that cycle where a father is not at home — (applause) — where a father is not helping to raise that son or daughter. I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better man.
It’s hard work that demands your constant attention and frequent sacrifice. And I promise you, Michelle will tell you I’m not perfect. She’s got a long list of my imperfections. Even now, I’m still practicing, I’m still learning, still getting corrected in terms of how to be a fine husband and a good father. But I will tell you this: Everything else is unfulfilled if we fail at family, if we fail at that responsibility.
I know that when I am on my deathbed someday, I will not be thinking about any particular legislation I passed; I will not be thinking about a policy I promoted; I will not be thinking about the speech I gave, I will not be thinking the Nobel Prize I received. I will be thinking about that walk I took with my daughters. I’ll be thinking about a lazy afternoon with my wife. I’ll be thinking about sitting around the dinner table and seeing them happy and healthy and knowing that they were loved. And I’ll be thinking about whether I did right by all of them.
So be a good role model, set a good example for that young brother coming up. If you know somebody who’s not on point, go back and bring that brother along — those who’ve been left behind, who haven’t had the same opportunities we have — they need to hear from you. You’ve got to be engaged on the barbershops, on the basketball court, at church, spend time and energy and presence to give people opportunities and a chance. Pull them up, expose them, support their dreams. Don’t put them down.
We’ve got to teach them just like what we have to learn, what it means to be a man…
He insisted that, “as you do these things, do them not just for yourself,” or for only “the African American community,” because,
I want you to set your sights higher. At the turn of the last century, W.E.B. DuBois spoke about the “talented tenth” — a class of highly educated, socially conscious leaders in the black community. But it’s not just the African American community that needs you. The country needs you. The world needs you.
The world needs them, the President declared, because,
many of you know what it’s like to be an outsider; know what it’s like to be marginalized; know what it’s like to feel the sting of discrimination. And that’s an experience that a lot of Americans share. Hispanic Americans know that feeling when somebody asks them where they come from or tell them to go back. Gay and lesbian Americans feel it when a stranger passes judgment on their parenting skills or the love that they share. Muslim Americans feel it when they’re stared at with suspicion because of their faith. Any woman who knows the injustice of earning less pay for doing the same work — she knows what it’s like to be on the outside looking in.
So your experiences give you special insight that today’s leaders need. If you tap into that experience, it should endow you with empathy — the understanding of what it’s like to walk in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, to know what it’s like when you’re not born on 3rd base, thinking you hit a triple. It should give you the ability to connect. It should give you a sense of compassion and what it means to overcome barriers.
And I will tell you, Class of 2013, whatever success I have achieved, whatever positions of leadership I have held have depended less on Ivy League degrees or SAT scores or GPAs, and have instead been due to that sense of connection and empathy — the special obligation I felt, as a black man like you, to help those who need it most, people who didn’t have the opportunities that I had — because there but for the grace of God, go I — I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me.
So it’s up to you to widen your circle of concern — to care about justice for everybody, white, black and brown. Everybody. Not just in your own community, but also across this country and around the world. To make sure everyone has a voice, and everybody gets a seat at the table; that everybody, no matter what you look like or where you come from, what your last name is — it doesn’t matter, everybody gets a chance to walk through those doors of opportunity if they are willing to work hard enough.
Yes, I know there was criticism of President Obama’s remarks. And I’m sure there will be more. But if he can’t say these things to newly-educated black men, if he can’t challenge an elite group of black graduates to do more for their communities and country than just “get that fancy job and the nice house and the nice car — and never look back,” or if he can’t tell them to “be a good role model, set a good example for that young brother coming up,” then who can? | <urn:uuid:e97b0edd-dcb5-492c-9d6a-2ea1a781779b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://duanegraham.wordpress.com/tag/martin-luther-king/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972102 | 2,662 | 2.59375 | 3 |
On Easter Monday, March 25, 1940, Hitler drove with his staff down the winding road from the Berghof and returned to the Chancellery in Berlin. The next time he was to see the Obersalzberg mountain it would be high summer, and he would be master of all northern Europe from North Cape to the Pyrenees.
The risks involved in the Norwegian operation were daunting, but he felt he must eliminate this constant source of worry implanted in his mind by Admiral Raederthe fear that the Allies might obtain a foothold in Norway and cut Germany off from her iron-ore supplies. For the present his plans were delayed because the Baltic ports were still icebound and the transport ships he needed could not yet be assembled there. The world press slowly filled with speculation about the Allied designs on Scandinavia, but so far no word of Hitlers own daring intentions had leaked out. This was the first success of his stringent new security regulations. He had not even breathed a word of his military plan to Ribbentrop.
At noon on the day after Hitlers return to Berlin, Admiral Raeder put it to him that although a British invasion of Norway now seemed less acutely imminent than it had two weeks earlier, the Germans would do well to seize the initiative there now. It would be best to occupy Norway in a surprise operation timed to coincide with the new moon on April 7 ; by the fifteenth the dark nights would already be too short. Hitler agreed, but opted for a date between the eighth and tenth so that Yellow could begin four or five days after, if conditions were right. Raeder also asked Hitler to authorize an immediate resumption of Luftwaffe minelaying operations, as it seemed that the secret of the magnetic mine was now out ; although both Keitel and G–ring wanted the minelaying campaign delayed until Yellow began, the F¸hrer directed that it must begin immediately. Against G–rings advice, Hitler also allowed himself to be persuaded by Raeder on another issue : the F¸hrer had originally wanted the dozen destroyers that were to carry troops to Narvik and Trondheim to remain as a source of artillery support and to boost the morale of the troops they had landed ; as he put it to Jodl one evening in his map room, he could not tolerate the navy promptly scuttling out of the Norwegian ports. What would the landing troops make of that ? But Raeder dug his heels in. The most perilous phase of the whole invasion campaign, he insisted, would be the withdrawal of the warships from northern Norway to the safety of German waters under the nose of the most powerful navy in the world. If the destroyers were detained one moment too long, they would be bottled in by the British and wiped out when they emerged. Raeder was prepared to risk his fleet for Norway, but he would not stand by and see it frittered away, and in a private clash with Hitler on March 29 he told him so. Hitler yielded to the force of argument.
Intelligence on Britains intentions in Scandinavia hardened, although on March 22, Raeders codebreakers found to their dismay that the British had just changed one of their most important codes ; this might hamper cryptanalysis for two weeks. The Scandinavian press began to speculate on an imminent Allied operation in Norwegian waters. Raeder warned Hitler of a perceptible stiffening in Norways attitude toward Germany. Far more important was that Hitler now learned of an Allied Supreme War Council decision in London on March 28 to develop a two-stage Scandinavian operation early in April : the cynical Allied master plan was to provoke Hitler into an overhasty occupation of southern Norway by laying mines in Norways neutral waters ; Hitlers move would then justify a full-scale Allied landing at Narvik in the north to seize the railroad to the Swedish ore fields. This first stage would later be coupled with several operations farther south. On March 3o German Intelligence intercepted a Paris diplomats report on a conversation with Paul Reynaud, Frances new premier. According to a summary in the naval staffs war diary, Reynaud had assured this unidentified diplomat that the dangers in western and southern Europe would shortly pass, as in the next few days the Allies would be launching all-important operations in northern Europe. On the same day, Churchill broadcast on the BBC a warning to Norway that Britain would no longer tolerate a pro-German interpretation of neutrality ; the Allies would continue the fight wherever it might lead them. (Churchills designs on Norway were known to German Intelligence from a series of incautious hints he dropped in a secret press conference with neutral press attachÈs in London on February 2.) Small wonder that Hitler later referred more than once to the indiscretions committed by Reynaud and Churchill as providing the final urgent stimulus for his own adventure.(1)
On March 30, German cryptographers also intercepted a cable from the Romanian legation in Oslo conveying the impression being created by the British envoy there : conspicuous protestations that no far-reaching decisions had yet been taken in London or Paris about violating Norwegian waters were coupled with British denials that they intended to land troops in Norway. The combination finally convinced the German naval staff that in reality a British operation against Scandinavia is imminent, and that a race between Britain and Germany was developing. An intercepted Swiss legation report from Stockholm claimed that British and German invasions of the Norwegian coast were imminent. Major Quisling said the situation was so urgent that the Germans should not wait for him to build up his organization first ; British and French officers were being installed in key points in Norway, disguised as consular officials. Admiral Raeder nervously pressed Hitler to launch the invasion on April 7, the earliest possible date ; but after spending two days investigating every detail of the operation with all the commanders involved, Hitler decided on April 2 that the first assault on Norways coastline was to take place at 5:15 A.M. on the ninth.
The nervous strain on Hitler would have overwhelmed most men. Perhaps the very idea was too audacious to succeed ? How could trainloads of South German mountain troops heading for the Baltic coast be plausibly explained ? How could ponderous transport ships laden with hundreds of troops, guns, and ammunition be safely dispatched toward the Arctic without alerting the British fleet in time to wipe out the German navy ? When on April 1, Hitler personally addressed the handpicked commanders, one report noted : The F¸hrer describes the operation ... as one of the cheekiest operations in recent military history. But in this he sees the basis for its success. He offered the familiar preventive reasons for occupying Norway but added that the time had come for Germany to win safe channels to the outside world. It is intolerable that each generation is subjected to renewed pressure from Britain. Sooner or later the fight with Britain would have been inevitable. It has to be fought. It is a matter of life and death for the German nation.
At 2 A.M. on April 3, Hitlers operation passed the point of no return. The first three transports camouflaged as coal vessels sailed from Germany, bound with the tanker Kattegat for Narvik, a thousand miles to the north. Four more coal shipsthree for Trondheim and one for Stavangerwere ready in German ports. All carried heavy equipment, artillery, ammunition, and provisions concealed beneath the coal. The initial assault troops would be carried on fast warships, some entering the Norwegian ports under cover of the British flag : ten destroyers would carry two thousand troops to Narvik, escorted by the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau ; another seventeen hundred troops would be landed at Trondheim by the cruiser Hipper and four destroyers. Thousands of assault troops would be landed at five other ports by virtually the rest of the German navya fleet of cruisers, torpedo boats, whalers, minesweepers, submarine chasers, tugs, and picket boats. Troop reinforcements would arrive during the day in fifteen merchant ships bound for Oslo, Kristiansand, Bergen, and Stavanger. If anything prematurely befell even one of these ships laden with troops in field-gray, the whole operation would be betrayed.
Hitler ordered the OKW to disclose the impending operation to Ribbentrop. By April 5, the admiralty in Berlin could recognize that a fresh British operation had begun. An imperfectly broken British radio message of very unusual length appeared to be an operational order to fifteen or twenty submarines ; since the operation seemed to be one of particular importance, it was decided that either the British were deploying against Hitlers operation or that the enemy has his own plans to invade Norway. The German naval staff correctly deduced the two-stage character of the Allied planfirst the British would lay a mine barrage, then, as soon as the Germans retaliated, the Allies would use this as justification for an invasion. Since there was no other evidence at all that the Allies might have detected Germanys strategic plan, let alone the audacious scale on which Hitler had prepared the invasion, the naval staff concluded on April 6 that the enemy is on the threshold of conducting operations in Norwegian waters or on Norwegian soil. In Berlin, the foreign ministry learned that the Allied governments had sent to the Scandinavian governments crisply worded notes indicating that since the latter were no longer entirely free agents in handling their foreign affairs, the Allies reserved all rights.
In his Chancellery, Hitler feared that at any moment word would arrive that the Allied invasion had begun. On the afternoon of the sixth the war department notified him that the railroad movement of invasion troops from their assembly areas in the heart of Germany to the Baltic dockyards had begun on schedule. From Helsinki came fresh word of an imminent British operation against Narvik ; Swedish and Norwegian officers tried to assure Berlin that the Allies were just trying to provoke Germany into an ill-considered preventive campaign, but Hitler remained unconvinced. He already felt that the Swedes knew more than was good for them. He had arranged for all the foreign military attachÈs in Berlin to tour the West Wall over the next few daysbut the Swedish legation had declined the invitation, explaining that the attachÈ would be urgently needed at the time scheduled. Equally ominous were the telephone conversations the Forschungsamt now intercepted between the Danish military attachÈ and the Danish and Norwegian ministers in Berlin, in which the attachÈ urgently asked for immediate interviews with them as he had something of the utmost political significance to tell them.(2)
During the night of April 6-7, the German fleet operation began. The battleships, cruisers, and destroyers sailed from their North Sea ports. A further stiffening in the Norwegian attitude to Germany was detected. Norwegian coastal defenses were on the alert, troop movements were reported, lighthouses and radio beacons were extinguished. Norwegian pilots for the coalships waiting to pass northward through the Leads to Narvik and Trondheim were only slowly forthcomingwas this deliberate Norwegian obstructionism, or had the German admiralty simply failed to impress on these ships captains the importance of the timetable ? It was too late to speculate now, for the entire German invasion fleet was at sea. Hitler was committed to either a catastrophic defeat, with the certain annihilation of his navy, or to a spectacular victory.
Early on April 8, the German legation in Oslo telephoned Berlin with the not altogether unexpected news that British warships had just begun laying minefields in Norwegian waters. This violation of Norways neutrality could hardly have been more flagrant, nor more opportune for Hitlers cause. Now he could present his seizure of the Norwegian coast as a dramatic, and highly effective, answer to the Allied action ; and a gullible world would believe it. In Oslo, there was uproar and anger at the Allied presumption ; the redoubled Norwegian determination to defend their neutrality caused Raeder to order his warships to abandon their original intention of entering the Norwegian ports under the British flag, as he could now see little profit in the deception.
The elation in Berlin at the Allied action was shattered by a second telephone call from the Oslo legation in the early evening. The Rio de Janeiro, a slowmoving merchant ship headed for Bergen with horses and a hundred troops, had been torpedoed a few hours earlier off the Norwegian coast. Troops in field-gray uniforms had been rescued from the sea and were presumably even now being interrogated by the Norwegians. But Hitlers luck still held. The hours passed, and although word came that the Norwegian Cabinet had been urgently called into session, it seemed to have resolved upon no clear course of action. From intercepted radio messages the British admiralty was known to have identified the fast warship groups heading for Narvik and Trondheim during the eighth. But in Berlin the naval staff was confident that the British would wrongly conclude that this was an attempted breakout into the Atlantic. Raeder had insisted on attaching battleships to the first group, and this was now vindicated, for the British were indeed deceived, and deployed their forces far to the north of the true seat of operations.
In the small hours of April 9, Berlin picked up a Norwegian radio signal reporting strange warships entering the Oslo Fjord. Now Hitler knew that the toughest part of the operationrunning the gauntlet of the Norwegian coastal batterieshad begun. But shortly before 6 A.M. German signals from the forces landed at Narvik, Trondheim, and Bergen were monitored ; they called for U-boats to stand guard over the port entrances. Access to Norway had now been forced. Hitler and Jodl read the signals with evident relief, though not until later did the full measure of this German victory dawn on them.
By the evening of April 9, 1940, Norway and Denmark appeared securely in German hands. General von Falkenhorst reported at five-thirty : Norway and Denmark occupied ... as instructed.
Hitler himself drafted the German news-agency report announcing that the Danish government had submitted, grumbling, and almost without a shot having been fired, to German force majeure. Grinning from ear to ear, Hitler congratulated Rosenberg : Now Quisling can set up his government in Oslo. The unbelievably sluggish British naval command had fumbled every countermove. In southern Norway the strategically well-placed airfield at Stavanger had been captured by German paratroops, assuring Hitler of immediate air superioritythe key to the later campaign ; at Oslo itselfwhere the seaborne forces arrived three hours latefive companies of paratroops and airborne infantry landed on Fornebu airfield. A small party of infantry marched with band playing into the Norwegian capital and Oslo fell.
At the Reich Chancellery in Berlin there was the heady scent of victory and relief. When the gold-embossed supper menu was laid before Hitler that evening, the main course of macaroni, ham, and green salad was appropriately prefaced by sm–rrebr–d. Scandinavia was indeed just the hors doeuvre ; as soon as the Luftwaffe could disengage itself from Norway, Yellow would begina feast of military conquest which Hitler was already savoring in advance.
As Admiral Raeder had predicted, the German navy had suffered grievous losses and was to suffer yet more ; but Hitler confided to his adjutants that if his navy was to do naught else in this war, it had justified its existence by winning Norway for Germany. In the final approach to Oslo along the fifty-mile-long Oslo Fjord, Germanys newest heavy cruiser, the Bl¸cher, had been disabled by the ancient Krupp guns of a coastal battery and finished off by torpedoes with heavy loss of life. Off Bergen the cruiser K–nigsberg was also hit by a coastal battery ; it limped into port and was sunk the next day by British aircraft. South of Kristiansand, the cruiser Karlsruhe was sunk by a British submarine. Three more cruisers were damaged and many of the supply vessels sunk, for during their own invasion preparations the British had stationed sixteen submarines in the area ; this was the operational signal the German admiralty had been unable to decipher completely.
In one incident, the cruiser Hipper and four destroyers bearing seventeen hundred troops to Trondheim were challenged by the coastal batteries guarding the fjord ; the Hippers commander, Captain Heye, steered directly toward the batteries, signaling ambiguously in English : I come on government instructions. By the time the puzzled gunners opened fire, the ships were already past.
It was at Narvik that the real crisis began. Ten destroyers landed General Eduard Dieds two thousand German and Austrian mountain troops virtually unopposed, for the local Norwegian commander was a Quisling sympathizer. But the three camouflaged supply ships and the tanker Kattegat never arrived from Germany. Only the tanker Jan Wellem arrived punctually from the naval base provided by Stalin at Murmansk ; as the ten destroyers could refuel only slowly from this one tanker, they could not be ready to return before late on the tenth. But earlier that day five British destroyers penetrated the fjord in a blinding snowstorm ; in the ensuing gunplay and the battle fought there three days later, the aging British battleship Warspite and a whole flotilla of destroyers sank all ten German destroyersthough not before they had taken a toll from the British. Thus half of Raeders total destroyer force had been wiped out.(3) Hitler had that morning already radioed Died to hold on to Narvik at all costs. He was to prepare frozen Lake Hartvig as an airfield ready to receive Luftwaffe supply planes. After word came of the sinking of the destroyers, Rosenberg found the F¸hrer slumped deep in thought following a conference with G–ring. When over the next two days news arrived of British troops landing at Harstad, not far north of Narvik, and at Namsos, to the north of Trondheim, the military crisis brought Hitler to the verge of a complete nervous breakdown.
Had the diplomatic offensive in Oslo been prepared with the same thoroughness as the military invasion, the Norwegian government could have been won over or effectively neutralized. Thus armed Norwegian resistance would have been avoided and the interior lines of communication secured from one end of Norway to the other. But bad luck had dogged events in Oslo : when the Bl¸cher had sunk in Oslo Fjord, the assault party detailed to arrest the Norwegian government had foundered with her ; in addition, the airborne troops due to land at Forneb¸ airport were delayed by fog. As a result, the king and government had had time to escape the capital, and the local German envoy, Kurt Brauer, was not equal to the situation.
On April 10, both king and governmentin refuge outside Oslohad been amenable to negotiation, but Brauer wanted them to recognize Major Quislings new government and left the talks without awaiting the outcome of his proposals. Back in Oslo, Brauer learned that the proposals were rejected : the king refused to violate the constitution by appointing Quisling, whom the Norwegian public regarded as a traitor. The fugitive government issued a call to arms and sabotage, and a confused but still undeclared war between Norway and Germany began. Had Brauer not insisted on Quisling but dealt with the existing government instead, this situation would not have arisen.
Hitlers support for Quisling was short-lived. On April 14, the foreign ministry flew Theo Habicht, a Nazi revolutionary and ministry official, to Oslo to straighten matters out. His instructions were to make a last attempt to secure agreement with the king. Quisling was forced to climb down next day ; but with the British operations in Narvik stiffening the Norwegian resolve, Germanys position was weaker politically than it had been four days earlier. Ribbentrops representatives scraped together an Administrative Council of leading Oslo citizens including the chief justice of the Norwegian Supreme Court, Paul Berg, but progress was slow and quite the opposite of what Hitler had wanted. He was apoplectic with rage at Brauer and Habicht for allowing these Norwegian lawyers to dupe them ; he had wanted to see Quisling at the head of an ostensibly legal Norwegian governmentnot some lawyers junta. Habicht and Brauer were fetched back to Berlin and dismissed from the foreign serviceit was all Ribbentrop could do to save them from incarceration in a concentration camp. Hitler fumed that all he desired in these northern lands was law and order ; since the foreign ministry had failed, the army and Party must now try.
Next to the old Reich Cabinet Room Hitler used for his war conferences were the rooms his military advisers Jodl and Keitel occupied ; additional offices were supplied for their adjutants and clerical staff. It was on this small stage that in mid-April 1940 the command crisis over Narvik was played. It shed such unfavorable light on Hitlers qualities of leadership that Colonel Schmundt, his faithful Parsifal, ordered all reference to it excised from the official records of the High Command ; it showed Hitler in an all too mortal posturewhen the strain upon him grew too great, his nerves cracked and he lost his powers of reason.
Neither Luftwaffe nor submarines could carry munitions, reinforcements, or artillery to General Dietl in any quantity. Eleven Junkers 52 transport planes had landed on Lake Hartvig with the components of a mountain battery, but no sooner were the aircraft unloaded than the ice thawed and all eleven aircraft sank. With his own two thousand troops now augmented by the two thousand shipless sailors of the destroyer force, Dietl could not hold Narvikthe whole point of the Norwegian campaignonce the main British assault on the port began. Together with G–ring, Hitler studied one plan after another for the relief of the Narvik force. It worried him that they were mostly Austrians, for he had not yet wanted to place such a burden on the Anschluss. By April 14, he was already talking to Brauchitsch of abandoning Narvik and concentrating all effort on the defense of Trondheim, threatened by the British beachhead at Namsos and now by the onset of a fresh invasion at Aandalsnes to the south. He planned to expand Trondheim into a strategic naval base that would make Britains Singapore seem childs play. Over the next few days, after repeated conferences with G–ring, Milch, and Jeschonnek, he ordered the total destruction of Namsos and Aandalsnes, and of any other town or village in which British troops set foot, without regard for the civilian population. He frowned at his adjutants and said, I know the British. I came up against them in the Great War. Where they once get a toehold there is no throwing them out again.
On the fourteenth, he had somehow gained the impression that the British had already landed at Narvik. He knew of no other solution than that Dietl should fight his way southward to Trondheim. Jodl scorned the idea. Mein F¸hrer, I have been there. An expedition there is like a Polar expedition ! Jodl knew and trusted Dietl ; he also knew Narvik, and he considered it quite possible to defend it for a long time with meager resources. But Hitler had no intention of wasting more aircraft in supplying Dietl. He announced Dietls promotion to lieutenant general and at the same time dictated to Keitel a message ordering Dietl to evacuate Narvik forthwith. The British would now take Narvik unopposed ; that Sweden would defend her iron-ore fields, as G–ring believed, seemed to Hitler unlikely. Jodl wrote in his diary : The hysteria is frightful. His deputy later recalled that when Hitler was not loudly giving vent to irrelevant suggestions, he sat glowering in one corner of Jodls room. Hitler had acted like this once before, during a minor crisis over the capture of Warsaw. If he was plagued by nervous fits in a subsidiary campaign like this, it augured ill for Yellow, which was to begin as soon as the Luftwaffes paratroops and transport squadrons were released from their commitment in Norway. Jodls staff was scandalized by the F¸hrers lack of comportment in these days.
In fact Hitlers radio message to Dietl was never sent. It reached the OKW offices at Bendlerstrasse, and at 10:40 A.M. on the morning of April 15 it was back in Jodls room, in the quivering hands of his army staff officer, Colonel Bernhard von Lossberg. Lossberg angrily refused to send out such a messageit was the product of a nervous crisis unparalleled since the darkest days of the Battle of the Marne in 1914. The whole point of the Norwegian campaign had been to safeguard Germanys iron-ore supplies. Was Narvik now to be relinquished to the British without a fight ? Jodl quietly advised him that this was the personal desire of the F¸hrer. Keitel turned his back on Lossberg and left the room. With Jodls permission, Lossberg visited the Commander in Chief of the army and urgently begged him to talk Hitler around, but Brauchitsch curtly refused. I have nothing whatever to do with the Norwegian campaign. Falkenhorst and Dietl are answerable to Hitler alone, and I have not the least intention of going of my own free will to that clip joint, meaning the Reich Chancellery. However, the colonel craftily persuaded Brauchitsch to sign another message to Dietl, one congratulating him on his promotion and ending : I am sure you will defend your position, which is so vital to Germany, to the last man. Lossberg handed this text to Jodl and tore up Keitels handwritten F¸hrer Order before their eyes. Thus ended one day of the Narvik crisis.
It is clear Hitler feared the blow that the loss of Narvik would inflict on his prestige. Now Jodl began to assert his authority as strategic adviser. He openly rejected Hitlers muttered reproaches against the army and navy operations. When Hitler drew ugly comparisons between the scuttling of the disabled destroyers at Narvik and the ignominious end of the Graf Spee, Jodl pointed out that when a warship has no fuel and has expended her last ammunition she has no choice if she is to avoid capture. As each day of this Narvik crisis passed, Jodls voice was raised with more assurance. Eventually the Allies had landed some twelve thousand British, French, and Polish troops to confront Dietls lesser force. Jodl remained unimpressed ; and when Hitler again began talking of abandoning Narvik, he lost his temper and stalked out of the Cabinet Room, slamming the door behind him with a noise that echoed around the Chancellery building.
Upon reflection, however, Jodl decided that his faith in Hitler had not been misplaced. Had not precisely the same despondency smitten Frederick the Great at the battle of Mollwitz two hundred years before ? When that battle had turned against the great Prussian monarch, he had taken flight with his cavalry. And hadnt it been Schwerin and his infantry who had saved the day without him ?
Jodl expressed his opposition to Hitlers policy of despair with the advice : You should not give up anything until it is really lost. Throughout the seventeenth the argument raged back and forth between them. Hitler had already drafted a radio message ordering Dietl to withdraw. There must be some way out ! he exclaimed, leaning over the chart of Norway. We cannot just abandon those troops. Jodl retorted in his earthy Bavarian accent, Mein F¸hrer, in every war there are times when the Supreme Commander must keep his nerve ! Between each word, he rapped his knuckles on the chart table so loudly that they were white afterward.
The psychological effect of this drama on Hitler was interesting. He composed himself and with deliberate controlled evenness replied, What would you advise? Thereupon Jodl showed him an appreciation by his staff, appended to which was a draft directive to Dietl to hold out and contain enemy forces there as long as possible. That evening Hitler signed the order ; but he made it abundantly clear in a preamble that he thought the whole northern position was bound to be overwhelmed by the Allies eventually, since all the odds were against Dietl and his four thousand ill-armed men. It was not one of his more felicitously worded messages.
His fifty-first birthday passed without noticeable public enthusiasm. When Alfred Rosenberg presented him with a large porcelain bust of Frederick the Great, tears welled up in the F¸hrers eyes. When you see him, he said, you realize how puny are the decisions we have to make compared with those confronting him. He had nothing like the military strength we command today !
But military strength, if mindlessly applied, often proves counterproductive. In Norway, Falkenhorst had begun draconian reprisals to quell the incidence of sabotage. Hostages were taken. G–ring mentioned during an audience with Hitler that a mass resistance movement in Norway was growing. By late on April 18 it was clear that earlier attempts at kid-glove tactics had failed. On that day, the fugitive Norwegian government declared itself at war with Germany. All diplomatic talks ceased, and Hitler told his staff that from now on brute force was the only answer. At the war conference he announced his intention of transferring executive authority to Falkenhorst ; the tough young Gauleiter of Essen, Josef Terboven, would be appointed Reich Commissioner for Norway, answerable only to the F¸hrer himself. Keitelrightly fearing that Norway was now to suffer as Poland was already sufferingraised immediate objections. When Hitlers only reply was to snub the OKW chief, Keitel took a leaf from Jodls book and stormed out of the conference chamber. Afterward he privately cornered Hitler and warned that friction was bound to arise between Terboven and the military commander. Nevertheless, by that evening Terboven was already at the Chancellery ; the next day saw him ensconced in private with Hitler, Himmler, and Martin Bormann ; and on April 21, Terboven and his staff were en route for Oslo and ready to introduce a reign of terror to the Norwegian people.
Again Hitler was plagued by sleepless nights. What was the true situation in Norway ? If the Luftwaffe generals were to be believed, Falkenhorst was in despair and already giving up Trondheim as lost. During the day, the trickle of information reaching the Chancellery along the one scrambler-telephone link between Oslo and Berlin was never enough to quench Hitlers thirst for detail. He sent one officer after another by special plane to Norway to report to him on the progress of his two divisions of infantry struggling to bridge the three hundred miles between Oslo and Trondheim.
On April 22, he sent his own adjutant, Schmundt, by plane to Oslo with Jodls army staff officer, Colonel von Lossberg. Lossberga towering figure with a game leg and a fearless naturereported back to Hitler the next evening after a hazardous flight. So struck was he by the contrast between the confident resolution he had found at Falkenhorsts Oslo headquarters and the air of dejection in the Chancellery, that he apparently forgot himself ; when the downcast F¸hrer asked in what strength the British had now landed at Namsos and Aandalsnes, he exclaimed, Five thousand men at most, mein F¸hrer ! This, to Hitler, was a disaster, but the colonel briskly interrupted him : Jawohl, mein F¸hrer, only five thousand men. Falkenhorst controls all the key points, so he could finish off the enemy even if they were far stronger. We must rejoice over every Englishman sent to Norway rather than to meet us in the west on the Meuse. When Hitler emphasized that the army must move reinforcements to Falkenhorst, Lossberg recommended that he leave matters in Falkenhorsts hands. Germany needed every division it could retain in the west for Yellow. Hitler allowed Lossberg to lecture him no longer on elementary tactics. Perhaps the ill-concealed sarcasm the colonel had voiced over Hitlers panicky and pernickety command methods from the Chancellery had found their mark. Lossberg was curtly dismissed from the conference chamber, and for weeks afterward he was not allowed into the F¸hrers presence.
On the chart table, Lossberg had left behind him a small sheaf of recently captured British military documents which he had brought with him from Oslo. On the following day this little dossier was greatly augmented by additional British documents, which arrived from Oslo with one of Jodls officers. A British infantry brigade fighting south of Aandalsnes had been put to flight by the advancing Germans, and important files captured. The immense political importance of the find sank in overnight : the brigade commander, in private life a London soap manufacturer, had previously been briefed on the plan to capture Stavangerlong before the German invasion of Norway. The British orders were dated April 2, 6, and 7 ! Other British landing operations had been planned at Bergen, Trondheim, and Narvik. The German operation had cut right across the British scheme, and the troop transports, which had actually been sighted by the Luftwaffe on April 9, had been recalled to port to enable the navy to engage the German fleet. These documents, in conjunction with files seized from French and British consulates in Norway, showed the whole history, dating back to January, of the Allied plan to invade Norway. It was equally clear that certain Norwegian leaders were determined the Allied operation should not be resisted.
Hitler was overjoyed. He had taken much booty since his invasion began, including a million tons of shipping in Norwegian ports, but this haul of secret Allied documents was the stroke of real luck he had been waiting for. He personally mapped out the propaganda campaign to exploit them ; until the small hours of the morning, he, Schmundt, and Jodl checked over the White Book the foreign ministry was preparing. The hasty publication contained document facsimiles, translations, and statements of British officers as to the documents authenticity. Hitler himself met and talked to the British prisoners brought to Berlin from Norway.(4) At midday on the twenty-seventh, Ribbentrop distributed the damning publication to the assembled foreign diplomats in the main Chancellery building. That afternoon, he broadcast a lengthy tirade that was heard worldwide, from North America to the Russias ; in it he emphasized the cant and humbug of British assurances to the little neutrals.
The speech was due to begin at 2:30 P.M., and Hitler made it one of the rare occasions when he himself listened to the radio. Ribbentrop as usual kept his huge audience waiting several minutes before he began, and Rosenberg, the ministers archenemy, slyly observed to Hitler : Not a very punctual start ! Hitler waved his hand in a characteristic gesture and laughed. The foreign minister is always too late. (Once Ribbentrop had kept him waiting for several minutes before deigning to come to the telephone ; Hitler had recommended that he not repeat this threadbare tactic with him again.)
There was no denying the effect Ribbentrops White Book on the Norwegian documents had on world opinion. Well might Hitler ask, Who now dares condemn me for assailing Belgium and Holland if the Allies care so little for small states neutrality themselves ? At all events, on the very day the captured documents were released to the world, April 27, 1940, Hitler secretly announced to his staff the decision over which he had wavered these many months. He would launch Yellow in the first week of May.
To open the assault in the west, Hitler had marshaled 137 divisions, with over 2,400 tanks and 3,800 aircraft at their command ; yet even so he was facing a numerically superior enemy. His Intelligence agencies had pinpointed the position of 100 French divisions and 11 more divisions from the British Expeditionary Force ; the Belgians had raised 23 divisions, and the Dutch 13. Added to this total of 147 divisions were 20 more holding the fortifications. The French had committed only 7 divisions, plus 3 fortification divisionsimmobile units capable only of defenseto their frontier with Italy. In short, instead of launching his offensive with the traditional superiority of numbers, Hitlers army had the odds against it. Superior morale, tactics, and weaponry would have to make up for this deficiency. The weather for the Luftwaffe must be perfect from the first moment.
Hitler did not doubt the outcome of the forthcoming passage of arms. He would command this campaign himself, and by rapid initiative and superior strategy he would annihilate the enemy, whose bureaucracy and hidebound tactics had already proven their undoing in Norway. Jodl was years later to write : Only the F¸hrer could sweep aside the hackneyed military notions of the General Staff and conceive a grand plan in all its elementsa peoples inner willingness to fight, the uses of propaganda, and the like. It was this that revealed not the analytic mind of the staff officer or military expert in Hitler, but the grand strategist. On the eve of the assault on France and the Low Countries, Hitler was to proclaim to his assembled staff, Gentlemen : you are about to witness the most famous victory in history ! Few viewed the immediate future as sanguinely as he.
Now the real pressure was on. On April 29, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to stand by to open Yellow on May 5 ; on April 3o, he ordered the entire Wehrmacht to be ready to launch Yellow at twenty-four hours notice from the fifth. That day, General Jodl had confirmed to him that in Norway the German forces that had set out weeks before from Trondheim and Oslo had now linked ; the F¸hrer was delirious with joy. That is more than a battle won, it is an entire campaign ! he exclaimed. Before his eyes he could already see the autobahn he would build to Trondheim. The Norwegian people deserved it. How utterly they differed from the Poles ! Norwegian doctors and nurses had tended the injured until they dropped with exhaustion ; the Polish subhumans had jabbed their eyes out. Moved by this comparison, on May 9, Hitler was to give his military commander in Norway an order which began as follows :
... In the course of the campaign in the east German soldiers who had the misfortune to fall injured or uninjured into Polish hands were usually brutally ill-treated or massacred. By way of contrast, it must be said of the Norwegian army that not one single such incident of the debasement of warfare has occurred.
The Norwegian soldier spurned all the cowardly and deceitful methods common to the Poles. He fought with open visor and honorably, and he tended our prisoners and injured properly and to the best of his ability. The civilian population acted similarly. Nowhere did they join in the fighting, and they did all they could for the welfare of our casualties.
I have therefore decided in appreciation for this to authorize the liberation of the Norwegian soldiers we took prisoner. Only the professional soldiers will have to remain in captivity until such time as the former Norwegian government withdraws its call to arms against Germany, or individual officers and men give their formal word not to take part under any circumstances in further hostilities against Germany.
The Allies had evacuated their forces from Namsos and Aandalsnes at the beginning of May, leaving only the twelve thousand troops landed at Narvik to continue the fight. The British press admitted frankly that the defeat in Norway was having a disastrous effect on public opinion. When the British submarine Seal showed the white flag and surrendered to a German naval aircraft on May 5, the naval staff saw it as a sad sign of Britains lack of resolution and readiness.
Hitler assembled his staff for a last run of secret conferences on the details of Yellow: everybody was now standing bythe glider and parachute troops who were to seize bridges, forts, and key points in Holland and Belgium ; the disguised Dutch policemen; the emissary who was to present to the queen of Holland a demand that the Dutch proffer no resistance ; the little scout force of radio vehicles detailed by Jodl to report directly to him on the operation against the bridges and Fort Eben Emael ; and two million men. The weather forecasts were of crucial importance ; the Luftwaffes chief meteorologist sweated blood over the burden of responsibility he alone now carried. On May 3, Hitler postponed Yellow on his advice by one day, to Monday. On the fourth he again postponed it, to Tuesday. On Sunday the fifth the forecast was still uncertain, so Yellow was set down for Wednesday the eighth. On this deadline Hitler was determined : he ordered a special timetable printed for his headquarters staff as part of the elaborate camouflage of his real intentions. The timetable showed his train departing from a little station near Berlin late on May 7 and arriving next day in Hamburg en route for an official visit to Oslo.
Hitler would not brook weather delays any longer. At the end of April the SS obtained the transcript of a telephone conversation between the prime ministers of Britain and France, indicating that they were planning an operation themselves. Hitler later mentioned this as his reason for fearing that at any moment the Allies might march into Holland and Belgium (in fact the two prime ministers were discussing a French air attack on Russias oil fields). But the Luftwaffes meteorologist was adamant, in conference with Hitler on May 7, that there was still a strong risk of morning fog ; so Hitler again postponed Yellow by one day.
Hitler was even more alarmed by what the Allies might now learn of his plans. On May 7, the Forschungsamt showed him two coded telegrams the Belgian ambassador to the Vatican had just sent to his government : a German citizen who had arrived in Rome on April 29 had warned that Hitler was about to attack Belgium and Holland. The Abwehr was ordered to search out the informanta supreme irony as the SS was to realize four years later, for the culprit was a minor member of Canariss Abwehr network.(5) In any case, the fat was in the fire. At 5 P.M. Dutch radio announced that all leave was canceled, and by early on the eighth Holland was in a state of siege. Telephone links with foreign countries were cut, members of Anton Musserts pro-Nazi movement in the Dutch forces were arrested, cities began evacuation measures, the government district of The Hague was cordoned off, andmost irritating of all for Hitlerthe guard on important bridges was increased. Hitler wanted to wait no longer, but G–ring kept his nerve and promised that although there was still fog in the morning, the weather was improving daily : May 10 would be ideal. Hitler was torn between the counsels of his experts and the whispering voice of his intuition. Against all his instincts he reluctantly agreed to postpone Yellow to May 10, but not one day after that.
Early on the ninth Puttkamer, the duty adjutant, telephoned one of the westernmost corps headquarters, at Aachen ; the Chief of Staff there told him there was some mist, but the sun was already breaking through and tomorrow would probably be as fine. When the naval adjutant repeated this to Hitler, he announced, Good. Then we can begin. The service commands were informed that the final orders to attack or postpone (code words Danzig and Augsburg, respectively) would be issued by 9:30 P.M. at the latest.
Extraordinary security precautions were taken, even within Hitlers own staff. Martin Bormann was left in the belief that they were to visit Oslo, and the Party authorities there made great plans to welcome the F¸hrer. Hitler instructed his female secretaries to pack their bags for a long journey, and when these innocents asked Julius Schaub How long ? he replied with an air of mystery, It might be a week, it might be two. It could be a month or even years ! In fact, even Schaub, Hitlers long-time intimate, did not know. During the afternoon Hitler and his staff drove out of Berlin, heading north toward Staaken airfield. But the column of cars bypassed Staaken and went to the small railroad station at Finkenkrug, a popular excursion spot. Here Hitlers special train was waiting for them. It left at 4:38 P.M., heading north toward Hamburg ; but after dusk fell, it pulled into the little country station of Hagenow. When it set off again, even the uninitiated could tell it was no longer heading north. At about nine oclock it halted outside Hanover ; the telephones were linked up, and the latest weather forecast was obtained from Luftwaffe headquarters near Potsdam. It was still good. Hitler ordered the code word Danzig issued to the commands.
Still the secret was closely kept. Over dinner Schmundt asked the secretaries nonchalantly, Have you got your Sick-Sick tablets ? After a while Hitler joked, If you behave yourselves, you can all take home sealskins as souvenirs. He retired early to his sleeping quarters, but the movement of the train and his apprehensions kept him from sleeping. Hour after hour he gazed out of the carriage window, watching for the first telltale signs of fog shrouds forming. The initial success of Yellow depended on the Luftwaffes striking force, and fog was G–rings worst enemy.
An hour before dawn, at 4:25 A.M., the train glided into a small station from which all the name indications had been removedit was Euskirchen, thirty miles from the Allied lines. A column of the three-axled field limousines that had served Hitler so well in Poland was awaiting him in the semidarkness. For half an hour he and his entourage drove through the little Eiffel villages, in which the signposts had been replaced by stark yellow plates with various military symbols on them. Hitler broke the silence only once. Turning to Major von Below, the Luftwaffe adjutant sitting with Schaub on the jump seats of his car, he asked, Has the Luftwaffe taken into account that here in the west the sun rises several minutes later than in Berlin ? Below set his mind at rest.
After a while the country lanes began to climb a hill through scattered woods. When his limousine stopped, Hitler clambered stiffly out. A former antiaircraft position on the side of a hill had been converted and strengthened to serve as his field headquarters. The nearest village had been completely evacuated, and would serve for his lesser staff. It was already daylight. The air was filled with the sound of birds heralding the arrival of another dawn. Hitler stood outside his bunker, watching the sun slowly bring color to the countryside. This was to be the first real day of spring weather. From the two main roads in the valleys on each side of this hill they could hear the heavy rumble of convoys of trucks heading westward. An adjutant pointed wordlessly to his watch : it was 5:35 A.M. Far away they could hear the growing clamor of heavy artillery begin, and from behind them swelled a thunder of aircraft engines as the Luftwaffe fighter and bomber squadrons approached.
1 Ambassador Hewel recorded Hitlers dinner-table reminiscences on July 5, 1941, thus in his diary : For instance, if we had formally declared war against Norway, we would have lost it ; yet Norway is absolutely vital to the future of Germany. And vice versa, if Churchill and Reynaud had kept a still tongue in their heads, I might well not have tackled Norway. A week earlier Churchill sent his nephew [Giles Romilly] to Narvik, just typical of his American-Jewish journalistic character. Treason.
2 The Abwehr office of the OKW had been involved in some of the dealings with Major Quislings men and was thus apprised of the coming Norwegian invasion. Admiral Canariss Chief of Staff, Colonel Hans Oster, warned the Dutch military attachÈ Major Sas of thispresumably to restore his own credibility after the many false alarms he had given in the winter. Sas passed the information on to the Danish and Norwegian legations, though neither was greatly impressed by it.
3 The German destroyer commodore at Narvik was killed in the action on the tenth. His successor notified the German admiralty that during the second raid, on April 13, the British destroyers caused additional casualties by machine-gunning the German sailors thrown into the sea. Whatever the substance of such wholly uninvestigated allegations, they will have contributed to the atmosphere at the Reich Chancellery.
4 One of Halders staff wrote at this time about the British armys problems : And what military dilettantes they are is clear from the volumes of written material found on a British brigade commander in Norway. It is very valuable to us.... The first British prisoners were flown to Berlin, shown to the F¸hrer, wined and dined, and driven around Berlin for four hours. They just could not understand how things can look so normal here and that the public is not being fed from soup kitchens. They are staggered to see the shops open and people in the streets. Above all they were in perpetual fear of being shot : thats what they had been tricked into believing. Hearing a few days later that Polish prisoners had attacked the new British arrivals, Hitler asked that next time photographers should be present to capture the scene of supposed allies at one anothers throats.
5 This was Dr. Joseph M¸ller, a Catholic lawyer, who later became the postwar Bavarian minister of justice. Colonel Oster also repeated his earlier acts of subversion by giving the Dutch military attachÈ a running commentary on each postponement of Yellow and the final definitive warning at 9 P.M. on the very eve of the offensive. His complicated motives can be summarized thus : recognizing Hitlers immense popular support by 1940, Oster desired to inflict on him such a military defeat that a coup against him would stand a better chance ; he also desired the Allies to take him seriously as a negotiating partner. The Dutch military commander considered him a pitiful specimen.
p. 93 Hitler frequently referred to the incautious utterances of Churchill and Reynaud afterward, e.g., in conversation with the Norwegian envoy Arne Scheel and the Swedish admiral Fabian Tamm on April 13 and 16 ; in a letter to Mussolini on the 26th ; and in his famous Reichstag speech of July 19, 1940 ; see also his remarks in Table Talk, July 1, 1942, evening.
p. 95 The FA intercept is reported in the naval staff war diary, April 7, 1940. I also read the testimony of Major Sas (ZS-1626).
p. 99 The naval attachÈ in Oslo lectured the naval staff in Berlin on April 21 that in his view Norway would return to normal only if Hitler directed the troops to adopt the slogan We come as your friends to protect Norway and did not attempt to repeat the Poland method there. For the very complicated situation in Norway created by the kings defection, see Weizs”ckers and Hassells diaries, and particularly the long report submitted by one of Rosenbergs staff to Colonel SchmundtHitlers adjutanton April 17, 1940 (NS-43/25) and Hitlers talk with Quisling on August 18 (NG-2948).
p. 100 Jodls deputyWarlimontordered Lossberg to write down an account of Hitlers nervous actions for the OKW war diary kept by Greiner. A copy survived among Greiners papers. Schmundt was aghast ; as Lossberg later wrote (in an unpublished manuscript) : He felt it was sacrilege to write down one of the ostensibly infallible F¸hrers weak moments in black and white. The page was stricken from the official diary text. To get behind the OKW scenes, I used not only Jodls diary and Deyhles notes of April 24 (1781-PS) but also manuscripts by Lossberg and by the navy captains Wolf Junge and Heinz Assmann on Jodls staff, and interviews of Baron Sigismund von Falkenstein (his Luftwaffe staff officer) and General Ottomar Hansen (Keitels adjutant).
p. 103 Details of the extraordinary British documents captured in Norway can be reconstructed from Jodls diary, April 23-27 ; from the naval staff diary, April 27 ; from Hitlers letter to Mussolini on the 26thpontificating about the perfidious mendacity of the Englishmanand from Goebbelss confidential remarks at his ministerial conference the same day and on May 3 and 19 ; from Colonel Wagners private letter of May 7 ; and from the AAs White Book publishing the most important of the documents on April 27, 1940.
p. 106 From the text of Reynauds telephone conversation with Chamberlain at 10:10 P.M. on April 30, published in V–lkischer Beobachter, May 7, 1940, they appear in fact to have been discussing French plans to bomb the Caucasus oil fields of Baku and Batum (a plan of which the Germans learned in detail only when numbers of Allied planning documents fell into their hands during Yellow). Reynaud assured Chamberlain that General Weygand, the French Commander in Chief Middle East, had promised to be ready by May 15, at which Chamberlain retorted that his impression was that people down there were taking their time. Reynaud explained that Turkey was raising steeper demands each day for overflight permission ; he talked of certain difficultÈs mentales. For the French documents later captured relating to the bombing plan, see Weizs”ckers AA files (Serial 121). My researches establish prima facie the authenticity of the transcript of the conversation : it was obtained by the SS agent Fritz Lorenz, a language expert who had been on Ribbentrops staff since 1935 and transferred to the RSHA in January 1940. From his personnel records I established that he traveled with forged documents through Switzerland and Italy to Paris on April 23, with the delectable job of seducing the telephone operator Marguerite T__; at their last rendezvous on May 1 she handed him the transcript, which she herself had made. See his amusing correspondence in Himmlers files, T175/124/9424 et seq., and in his personnel file in the BDC ; his insistent demand for a decoration went up to Hitler himself (see Hewel Ledger, January 15, 1942) but was vetoed because of his uncouth behavior in Italyhe had fired a revolver in a hotel when in an alcoholic stupor.
p. 106 On the FA intercepts, see Jodls diary, the testimony of Sas, and Hermann Gramls study of the Oster affair in VfZ, 1966, pages 26 et seq. On May 8, 1940, there is also a cryptic reference in Tippelskirchs diary to alerts proclaimed in the Low Countries : Luxembourg : Telephone conversation [overheard on] May 6 : Are they coming or arent they ? Its in the air. In the AA files of Ambassador von Mackensen (Rome) is extensive correspondence from May 17, 1940, to July 28, 1941, relating to the SDs attempts to identify the German citizen in Rome who had tipped off the Vaticans Father Robert Leiber, S.J., about Yellow deadlines. | <urn:uuid:efdf70f8-5804-4082-a280-84b2c801f8d2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fpp.co.uk/books/Hitler/1977/html_chapter/06.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00141-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979746 | 11,611 | 3 | 3 |
For the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of talk about planking. Famous names from LeToya Luckett, Dwight Howard and Rosario Dawson to Evelyn Lozada, Amber Rose, and Flava Flav have been captured in the act in which you lie face down on an unusual location and balance yourself in a completely flat, zero-degree angle with your palms to your thighs, feet pointed to the floor and face faced down. (Related: Planking photo gallery)
Though it’s gained a lot of popularity, many are complaining that planking is very offensive. Why? Because some claim that it has ties to slavery. They say that it is too similar to the position in which African slaves had to lie on wooden boards for months during the 16th century “Middle Passage.”
The trick was allegedly started by two Australian men 14 years ago. Gary Clarkson and Christian Langdon performed in public places. With the amusement of onlookers catching on, in 2007 a Facebook group was created and, years later, planking has become a phenomenon.
Needless to say, the amateur stunt, popularized by social media sites and mainly on Twitter, has become an Internet craze, but should people continue to plank if it really does have ties to slavery?
According to USHistory.org planks were used as beds for slaves. Placed two-by-two, men and women were forced beneath the ship deck of slave ships. The more slaves a boat could hold, the greater a profit the captain would make. When the planks were lifted, it provided holding collars for five slaves, and then the plank was chained down.
“The captives lay down on unfinished planking with virtually no room to move or breathe. Elbows and wrists will be scraped to the bone by the motion of the rough seas,” the history website reads.
Even if some don’t want to go as far as comparing planking to slavery, there’s no denying that some pictures are atrocious. In one picture, a girl is planking with her head in a toilet bowl with her body outstretched. In another instance, rapper Diamond is planking with her body at a ninety degree angle to the floor on a stripper-style pole. And if that isn’t bad enough, a 20-year-old’s death was the result of trying to take a picture while planking off a balcony.
Fads are fads, and it is understood that they will pass over time, but for the sake of possibly respecting history, our pride and, in some cases, our lives, the fad expiration date for planking may need to come sooner rather than later.
To share story ideas with BET.com national reporter Danielle Wright, tweet her on Twitter at @DaniWrightTV
(Photo: Chaiwat Subprasom/Landov) | <urn:uuid:dce076b3-e987-4649-ac28-34dbd037d2b4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bet.com/news/national/2011/07/06/planking-what-s-all-the-controversy-about-.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971343 | 601 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Anti-Polish bias on display in Northern Ireland before Orange Order marches
July 19, 2012
Polish flags were burned in bonfires in Belfast on July 11, on the eve of the annual marches by members of the Orange Order.
The July 12 marches—commemorating the he victory of King William of Orange in the Battle of Boyne in 1690, extending British rule to Northern Ireland--have been historically associated with clashes between unionists and Irish nationalists. But the signs of contempt for Polish immigrants points toward a religious dimension to the conflict.
The Polish Association of Northern Ireland called for political leaders to take action against what they saw as an “appalling and offensive” display of prejudice. Immigration from Poland has become a contentious issue in Northern Ireland.
- Poland flags burned on bonfires across Belfast on 11 July (BBC)
- Annual Orange Order marches spark confrontations in Northern Ireland (CWN, 7/12)
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
Posted by: samuel.doucette1787 -
Jul. 20, 2012 8:23 AM ET USA
It's bad enough that the Orange order is anti-Irish Catholic, but now they are ecumenical in their hate. If it weren't for the Poles at the Battle of Vienna in 1683, they would be bowing to Mecca five times a day.
Posted by: Father Fetus -
Jul. 19, 2012 11:54 PM ET USA
If any country needs Hate Crimes legislation, it's Northern Ireland. | <urn:uuid:17488efe-459f-4992-9883-5cb92b3ccb5d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=14982 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954036 | 354 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Software architecture is the set of decisions about the organization of a software system that software architect makes.
What decisions does the software architect make?
Architects create architectures and defines their responsibilities which involved in doing so. Conceptualizing and experimenting the alternative architectural approaches.Creating models, components and interface documents which validates the architecture against the requirements and assumptions.
Experienced architect role involves not just technical activities but others that are more strategic in nature. A sense of business and technical strategy is required to envision the right architectural approach to customer problem.
Software Architect Activities include
- Listening to stakeholders values, concerns and goals.
- Creating technology road maps and making assertions about technology directions.
- The architect needs to partner well with a variety of different stakeholder groups,business analysts and developers.
- Preparing the tech tutorials to help developers in understanding the architecture and rationale behind the architecture.
- The architect also act as mentor and coach, working with developers to address the challenges that arise.
- Lastly, the architect must lead – the architecture team, developer community and in technical direction, the organization. | <urn:uuid:6b68a7d6-00e5-4ca7-a70a-b1e2ee545598> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.techbubbles.com/softwarearchitecture/software-architecture/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942044 | 226 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Olive Oil vs. Breast Cancer
Extra Virgin Olive Oil Compounds Fight Breast Cancer
Dec. 18, 2008 - Can EVOO -- extra-virgin olive oil --- cut the risk of breast cancer?
Yes -- but only the 20% to 30% of breast cancers that express the HER2 molecules, suggest studies by Javier A. Menendez, PhD, at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Girona, Spain, and colleagues.
The Spanish researchers wondered why some studies show that the olive-oil-rich Mediterranean diet cuts breast cancer risk while other studies do not. They theorized that the active compounds in olive oil only affect certain cancers.
The breast cancer drug Herceptin targets the HER2 molecule on tumor cells. Could olive oil compounds have the same target?
Menendez's team first isolated various compounds from EVOO -- which, because it is made without heat, keeps most of the olive compounds that are lost in more processed, lower quality olive oils.
They found that two types of these compounds, secoiridoids and lignans, killed off HER2-positive human breast cancer cells but had little effect on HER2-negative cells.
They also found that when they fed large amounts of EVOO to rats with carcinogen-induced breast cancers, the animals' tumors became less malignant.
But this does not mean that eating a lot of EVOO will prevent or treat breast cancer.
"Extreme caution must be applied" in interpreting their findings, Menendez and colleagues warn.
One class of EVOO anticancer compounds, the secoiridoids, "rapidly split into inactive compounds" when eaten. These compounds likely won't help if eaten, but could be a starting point for development of new breast cancer drugs.
On the other hand, the lignan compounds "may represent a different molecular scenario," Menendez and colleagues suggest. In mouse-feeding studies, tumor tissues accumulate lignans, "thus suggesting that the anti-cancer activity of lignans may be due to their direct local effects on the breast cancer tissues."
A recent study suggested that eating flaxseed is beneficial to women with newly diagnosed breast cancer. Flaxseed has high lignan concentrations.
Even so, Menendez and colleagues note that much more study will be needed before doctors can recommend EVOO for breast cancer prevention or treatment.
The Menendez study appears in the open-access journal BMC Cancer. | <urn:uuid:2a3f6809-6a6b-4d18-a9f9-c55da01d0277> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20081218/extra-virgin-olive-oil-evoo-vs-breast-cancer | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00199-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931449 | 502 | 2.625 | 3 |
Dublin classes resumed at 3:30 p.m., following a power outage. More
Physics is Phenomenal
THE SIMPLE PENDULUM AND TIME For centuries, humans have used pendulums to tell time. How does it work?
OPTICS AND LENSES A great activity to supplement THE EYES HAVE IT and SPECIAL SPECIAL SENSES. Explore the physics of lenses.
SHOCKING SCIENCE: INVESTIGATING ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS
In this activity, younger students can explore many different ways to construct a circuit. Older students can add switches and create games. | <urn:uuid:4718746b-6ff8-4a40-9133-6e635626e690> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://cscc.edu/academics/departments/science/fantastic-fridays/physics.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00130-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.782459 | 128 | 2.75 | 3 |
Since this is the week before Purim, there is a special maftir from Deuteronomy, one that is highly relevant to our situation today:
“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.” – Deut. 25, 17-19
Amalek appears throughout the Tanach, always the bitterest enemy of the Jewish people. Amalek fought against Moses, Saul and David, often apparently destroyed, but always coming back to fight again. Haman was said to be a descendent of Amalek, and more recently so have Hitler and Ahmadinejad.
Historically there may have been Amalekites, but it’s not clear that the various biblical references relate to a single people. Probably not. But the concept of an Enemy is a natural one, an antithesis to the concept of a People.
Perhaps you can’t really define a people without also defining its enemies. Certainly many believe that if the Jews could get rid of the idea of peoplehood, then they wouldn’t have enemies. Shimon Peres likes to refer approvingly to “world citizenship,” as though it is an antidote to endless war with Amalek. In his 1993 book “The New Middle East,” he wrote that “In Western Europe, particularist nationalism is fading and the idea of ‘citizen of the world’ is taking hold,” and “The entire idea of the small national state – the Jewish state included – has collapsed …”
The experience of the 19th century assimilationists and post-Oslo Israel tells us that this strategy doesn’t work in the real world. Even if we refuse to remember Amalek, he remembers us. And if we don’t have the support of self-conscious peoplehood (and its concrete representation, the Jewish state), how can we fight him?
The Book of Commandments (ספר המצוות) lists three commandments related to Amalek:
- To remember Amalek (a positive commandment)
- Not to forget Amalek (a negative one)
- To destroy Amalek completely (the commandment Saul violated when he allowed Agag to live)
There are various explanations for the difference between 1 and 2 above. I like this one: 1 says that we must remember that we have enemies today who wish to destroy us. And 2 tells us not to drop our guard tomorrow – this situation is not going to change. As the quotation from Deuteronomy indicates, we must not forget Amalek, even when the Jewish people are sovereign in the land of Israel (this seems to be the part Shimon Peres doesn’t get).
What does it mean that we are required to “blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven?” It cannot mean that we are required, like Saul, to exterminate a tribe. Even if there was at some time a distinct tribe of Amalek, it has long since disappeared as a distinct population. For this reason the rabbis warned us not to take this commandment literally.
I think – and it is appropriate that we are reading this parsha during Israel Apartheid Week – that what we are required to “blot out” are the false narratives of our enemies: the stories that they tell about the ‘crimes‘ of the Jewish people and Israel, including but not limited to
- Causing the Plague
- Making matza from human blood
- Controlling international finance and media
- Dispossessing Arabs and stealing their land
- Killing Mohammad Dura
- Committing war crimes in Gaza
- Imposing an apartheid regime
Our enemies today attack the Jewish people violently when they can, but they are not strong enough by themselves to damage us severely. Today’s Amalekite strategy is to bit by bit assassinate the truth about us, to create an image of an evil people in illegitimate possession of the land, in order to create a coalition that at best will stand by when we are assaulted and at worst actively prevent us from defending ourselves.
To summarize, here is how I would interpret the commandments relating to Amalek today:
- Always be vigilant and prepared
- Don’t be fooled by visions of peace through surrender
- Tell our story loudly and fight the false narratives
Originally published at http://fresnozionism.org/Vic Rosenthal
About the Author: Vic Rosenthal created FresnoZionism.org to provide a forum for publishing and discussing issues about Israel and the Mideast conflict, especially where there is a local connection. Rosenthal believes that America’s interests are best served by supporting the democratic state of Israel, the front line in the struggle between Western civilization and radical Islam. The viewpoint is not intended to be liberal or conservative — just pro-Israel.
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Our comments section is intended for meaningful responses and debates in a civilized manner. We ask that you respect the fact that we are a religious Jewish website and avoid inappropriate language at all cost.
If you promote any foreign religions, gods or messiahs, lies about Israel, anti-Semitism, or advocate violence (except against terrorists), your permission to comment may be revoked. | <urn:uuid:30c2f8ed-a2f2-4fb9-8cb7-459239c19178> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jewishpress.com/judaism/parsha/how-to-blot-out-amalek/2012/03/04/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955623 | 1,214 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Visceral steatosis: Introduction
Visceral steatosis: An inherited condition characterized by the deposition of small papules composing of granulomas in organs of the body.
More detailed information about the symptoms,
causes, and treatments of Visceral steatosis is available below.
Symptoms of Visceral steatosis
See full list of 12
symptoms of Visceral steatosis
Home Diagnostic Testing
Home medical testing related to Visceral steatosis:
- Food Allergies & Intolerances: Home Testing:
Wrongly Diagnosed with Visceral steatosis?
Visceral steatosis: Complications
Review possible medical complications related to Visceral steatosis:
Causes of Visceral steatosis
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Disease Topics Related To Visceral steatosis
Research the causes of these diseases that are similar to, or related to, Visceral steatosis:
Visceral steatosis: Undiagnosed Conditions
Commonly undiagnosed diseases in related medical categories:
Misdiagnosis and Visceral steatosis
Chronic digestive conditions often misdiagnosed: When diagnosing chronic symptoms
of the digestive tract, there are a variety of conditions that may be misdiagnosed.
The best known, irritable bowel syndrome, is over-diagnosed,...read more »
Intestinal bacteria disorder may be hidden cause: One of the lesser known causes of diarrhea
is an imbalance of bacterial in the gut, sometimes called intestinal imbalance.
The digestive system...read more »
Antibiotics often causes diarrhea: The use of antibiotics are very likely
to cause some level of diarrhea in patients.
The reason is that antibiotics kill off not...read more »
Food poisoning may actually be an infectious disease: Many people who come down
with "stomach symptoms" like diarrhea assume that it's "something I ate" (i.e. food poisoning).
In...read more »
Mesenteric adenitis misdiagnosed as appendicitis in children: Because appendicitis is one of the
more feared conditions for a child with...read more »
Celiac disease often fails to be diagnosed cause of chronic digestive symptoms: One of the most common chronic digestive
conditions is celiac disease, a...read more »
Chronic digestive diseases hard to diagnose: There is an inherent
difficulty in diagnosing the various types of chronic digestive diseases.
Some of the better known possibilities are peptic ulcer, colon cancer, ...read more »
Read more about Misdiagnosis and Visceral steatosis
Visceral steatosis: Research Doctors & Specialists
Research related physicians and medical specialists:
Other doctor, physician and specialist research services:
Hospitals & Clinics: Visceral steatosis
Research quality ratings and patient safety measures
for medical facilities in specialties related to Visceral steatosis:
Hospital & Clinic quality ratings »
Choosing the Best Hospital:
More general information, not necessarily in relation to Visceral steatosis,
on hospital performance and surgical care quality:
Visceral steatosis: Rare Types
Rare types of diseases and disorders in related medical categories:
Visceral steatosis: Animations
More Visceral steatosis animations & videos
Prognosis for Visceral steatosis
Prognosis for Visceral steatosis:
Death usually results within months of birth - some die in a matter of days. Some patients may survive into childhood and longer.
More about prognosis of Visceral steatosis
Statistics for Visceral steatosis
Visceral steatosis: Broader Related Topics
Types of Visceral steatosis
User Interactive Forums
Read about other experiences, ask a question about Visceral steatosis, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:
Definitions of Visceral steatosis:
Visceral steatosis is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of
Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). This means that Visceral steatosis, or a subtype of Visceral steatosis,
affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Contents for Visceral steatosis:
» Next page: What is Visceral steatosis?
Medical Tools & Articles:
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Forums & Message Boards
- Ask or answer a question at the Boards: | <urn:uuid:0b33ba14-0adf-4865-b36c-69dd4eb5e2d4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/v/visceral_steatosis/intro.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00023-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.851904 | 998 | 2.734375 | 3 |
|5th Governor of Texas|
December 31, 1859 – March 28, 1861
|Preceded by||Hardin Richard Runnels|
|Succeeded by||Edward Clark|
|United States Senator
February 26, 1846 – March 5, 1859
|Succeeded by||John Hemphill|
|1st and 3rd President of the Republic of Texas|
December 21, 1841 – December 9, 1844
|Vice President||Edward Burleson|
|Preceded by||Mirabeau B. Lamar|
|Succeeded by||Anson Jones|
October 22, 1836 – December 10, 1838
|Vice President||Mirabeau B. Lamar|
|Preceded by||David G. Burnet (ad interim)|
|Succeeded by||Mirabeau B. Lamar|
|6th Governor of Tennessee|
October 1, 1827 – April 16, 1829
|Preceded by||William Carroll|
|Succeeded by||William Hall|
|Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 7th district
March 4, 1823 – March 4, 1827
|Preceded by||None (district created)|
|Succeeded by||John Bell|
March 2, 1793
Rockbridge County, Virginia
|Died||July 26, 1863
Samuel "Sam" Houston (March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American statesman, politician, and soldier. He is best known for his leading role in bringing Texas into the United States. Houston, Texas and Sam Houston State University was named after him.
Shortly afterwards, he relocated to Coahuila y Tejas, then a Mexican state, and became a leader of the Texas Revolution. Sam Houston supported annexation by the United States. When he assumed the governorship of Texas in 1859, Houston became the only person to have become the governor of two different U.S. states through direct, popular election, as well as the only state governor to have been a foreign head of state.
Houston was born on March 2, 1793 in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He was of an Irish-Scottish descent. Houston was married to Eliza Allen from 1829 until they divorced in 1837. Then he was married to Diana Rogers Gentry until they divorced. Then he was married to Margaret Moffette Lee from 1840 until his death in 1863. Houston had seven children. Houston died on July 26, 1863 in Huntsville, Texas from pneumonia, aged 70.
References[change | change source]
Other websites[change | change source]
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sam Houston|
|Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sam Houston|
- Life of General Houston, 1793–1863 published 1891, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
- Sam Houston ; David Crockett. published 1901, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
- Samuel Houston from the Handbook of Texas Online
- Sam Houston Memorial Museum
- Sam Houston Memorial Museum Antiquities Collection From Texas Tides
- Sam Houston's Obituary – The Tri Weekly Telegraph, Houston, Texas July 29, 1863 – TexasBob.com
- Sam Houston Historic Schoolhouse in Maryville, TN USA
- Documentary film on life of Sam Houston. Massive web site with many pictures, links, and educational tools.
- Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture entry
- Tennessee State Library & Archives, Papers of Governor Sam Houston, 1827–1829
- Sam Houston Rode a Gray Horse
- Houston Family Papers, 1836–1869 and undated, in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University
- Booknotes interview with Marshall DeBruhl on Sword of San Jacinto: The Life of Sam Houston, May 2, 1993. | <urn:uuid:e264213e-e231-411e-9ced-1da2b2aa2d8e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00183-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928303 | 827 | 2.875 | 3 |
Given the growing amount of gluten-free foods available at the grocery store, it seems a number of people have trouble digesting the stuff. But are they truly gluten-intolerant, and is there a clear diagnosis for that?
Gluten sensitivity is the topic of a paper published recently in the Annals of Internal Medicine in which researchers acknowledged the seriousness of celiac disease, but also said part of the population could have nonceliac gluten sensitivity. That’s characterized by having distinct symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, gas, bloating or headaches after eating foods containing gluten.
Celiac disease, also triggered by eating foods with gluten, can cause damage to the lining of the small intestine. Among gastrointestinal symptoms are nausea, diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, and sufferers can also be lactose intolerant. Vitamin and nutrient absorption can also be an issue. A blood test can determine if someone has the disease.
The authors sited a 1981 study in the journal Gastroenterology that found six out of eight people with chronic diarrhea and abdominal pain had a gluten sensitivity but did not have celiac disease. But since then, they added, not much more has been done because testing for nonceliac gluten sensitivity is difficult. | <urn:uuid:42a0c4b9-daca-42ba-8dd1-a9d52bd9b433> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/21/news/la-heb-gluten-sensitivity-20120221 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398075.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00153-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963908 | 254 | 3.109375 | 3 |
“Is it flu season yet?” might be a common question as coworkers rack up their post-holiday sick days. The scary graph above shows that indeed, we’re hitting the peak of a terrible flu season; in fact, it’s the worst we’ve had in 6 years, according to Google Trends Data, which tends to be about two weeks ahead of official CDC flu season info.
But even the CDC basically concurs; their graph shows similarly frightening trends in the number of outpatient visits for influenza-like illness:
The statistics look scary, but according to the CDC’s most recent influenza report, pneumonia and influenza-related deaths still haven’t hit epidemic levels. So what do you need to know about flu season 2013 to keep it that way? Read up on the
This is a good year to get vaccinated. The CDC recommends that everyone over six months of age get vaccinated to help protect against the spread of influenza virus. If you got vaccinated in years past, sorry: That isn’t going to help against the 2012-2013 flu. If you’re pregnant, over 65, or suffer asthma, diabetes, or lung disease, you’re at a heightened risk for developing flu-related pneumonia; you should get vaccinated. And if you work with, live, or care for other people, you are at heightened risk of exposure. (Teachers, nurses, restaurant workers, shopkeepers…we’re looking at you.) Go get a shot.
Flu Symptoms 2013
The flu isn’t the same as a cold; it usually comes on quickly, and is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms include:
- Fever* or feeling feverish/chills
- Sore throat
- Runny or stuffy nose
- Muscle or body aches
- Fatigue (very tired)
Some people also experience vomiting and diarrhea; it’s more common for children than adults.
UPDATE: The CDC has released further information about the 2013 flu season, and effectiveness of flu shots against influenza. | <urn:uuid:0238a030-9b59-42fa-b532-b71a12720569> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.blisstree.com/2013/01/10/sex-relationships/flu-season-2013/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00170-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938046 | 432 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Thank you for your question and welcome to Just Answer.
From the website:
"Levaquin is a "broad spectrum" antibiotic, which means it is effective against a wide variety of different types of bacteria. It is often used to treat an infection while tests are being done to see which antibiotics are effective for treating a specific infection. If the results of such tests show that an antibiotic with a narrower spectrum of activity will be effective, your healthcare provider may choose to switch you to such an antibiotic. Doing so may help limit antibacterial resistance, since overuse of broad spectrum antibiotics may increase the risk of developing bacteria that are resistant to medications."
This means that it might work, but is not as specific as the traditional antibiotics we normally prescribe for tooth infections, which are Amoxicillin or Clindamycin.
However, a toothache is not necessarily a sign that you have an infection. In the absence of swelling or an elevated temperature, you may not have one.
However, to answer your question about what to do at home before you can see your dentist.
1. A raw onion will do nothing to help your toothache.
2. A very good way to control dental pain using over the counter medications is to switch between taking 400 milligrams of ibuprofen (e.g., 2 tablets of Advil), and 1000 milligrams of acetaminophen (e.g., 2 tablets of extra-strength Tylenol) every 3 hours. Be careful not to use these medications if you have had previous adverse reactions to either, or if you have had gastritis or peptic ulcer disease in the past, or if you have liver disease. Anything stronger and you will need a prescription which will necessitate you talking to your dentist, physician or a visit to the ER.
3. In addition, you can try "Toothache Drops" available at your pharmacy. This is clove oil (eugenol) which is very soothing to an exposed tooth. Place a drop or two on a cotton pellet and place on the tooth or on the hole of the tooth.
4. In some instances, rinsing the tooth with cold or hot water will bring immediate but short lived relief.
Any home treatment will just be treating the symptoms and will only work as long as you apply the treatments. To be rid of your toothache permanently, you will have to see your dentist and have the tooth treated.
I hope this answers your question. If you would like to discuss this further or have any additional questions, please reply to my answer and I will get right back to you.
Sincerely, XXXXX XXXXX DDS | <urn:uuid:b55331f8-6ed4-4210-a5ed-93e137b55892> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.justanswer.com/dental/1mug8-severe-toothache-antibiotic-levaquinn.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94907 | 547 | 2.578125 | 3 |
What A Plug-In Hybrid Does
If hybrids are an almost common sight on our roads today, plug-in hybrids are barely hitting the market. A logical continuation of hybrids, a plug-in hybrid, as its names implies allows you to recharge the electric battery pack and drive on electricity only. But not all plug-in hybrids are made the same.
The EREV vs PHEV Debate. History will probably look back on the silly marketing stunt redefining a plug-in hybrid as an “extended range electric vehicle”, or in Fisker’s case, “Electric Vehicle Extended Range”, EVER and the copious amount of confusion it has created in the minds of potential buyers. But plug-in hybrid, the technical term designed to encompass two sources of energy using a rechargeable battery pack come in different drivetrains.
Series and Parallel Plug-In Hybrids. In the end, it all boils down to if the gasoline internal combustion engine drives the wheels or not. If a hybrid is defined as “a car with a gasoline engine and an electric motor, each of which can propel it”, according to the New Oxford American Dictionary, a plug-in hybrid can have the gasoline engine drive the wheels, or not. The difference becomes a series-plug-in hybrid, where only the electric motor propels the wheel, relegating the gasoline engine to the role of a generator hooked to an alternator, pumping electricity stored in a battery pack. A parallel plug-in hybrid will use both the gasoline engine and electric motors to propel the wheels. Series has the engine behind the battery pack and electric motor, parallel has both electric and gasoline work in parallel. | <urn:uuid:29254b75-8166-4647-ac75-2dc8381444f4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.torquenews.com/1079/what-plug-hybrid-does | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00065-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925162 | 349 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Great Canadian Flies
By Arthur James Lingren
Caddisflies are one of the world's most abundant aquatic insects.
In the western USA and British Columbia, there are over 300 species
and they outnumber western mayflies and stoneflies combined. Every
fisherman has encountered some of these case-builders which, incidentally,
make their homes from a variety of materials - stone, twigs, or
evergreen needles. For many species of caddisflies, these homes
are "mobile" - that is they are dragged around by the insects
which make them; and, when they are dragged across the mud of
still or slow-moving water, they leave tell-tail trails behind
them. Trout will eat homes and all. But not all caddis build
homes and, anyway, it is the pupa and free-living forms that
are more sought after by Mr. Trout.
Some popular caddis - called sedges in Britain - imitations
were developed well before Haig-Brown wrote The Western
Anglers (1939), by British immigrants, Bryan Williams
and Tom Brayshaw. William's Dark-Bodied, Grey-Bodied, Green-Bodied,
and Yellow-Bodied sedges are Brayshaw's Travelling and Olive sedges
are detailed elsewhere in this book. All are dry flies. A. Bryan
Williams' sedges were the first dry flies developed for British
Columbia's lakes and streams, and Haig-Brown rates Williams'
Gray-Bodied Sedge as "the deadliest dry fly, and the deadliest fly
of any sort, wet or dry, in the mountain streams..." (Vol. I, p. 194).
Because the coastal streams of his adopted land offered rare
opportunites for dry-fly fishing, Haig-Brown, schooled in
Britain during his youth in the wet-fly technique, realized
the potential of a good wet-fly caddis imitation and devised
his Dark Caddis.
About his Dark Caddis, he says his pattern is quite similar
to the famous British trout fly, Greenwell's Glory, and is
"a good summer fly in many cutthroat streams" (Vol. II, page 174).
Credits: From Fly Patterns of British Columbia
by Arthur James Lingren. We thank
Frank Amato Publications, Inc. for use permission!
Hook: Number 6.
Tail: Dark mallard wing quill sections.
Body: Very dark green seal's fur.
Rib: Oval, gold tinsel.
Throat: Furnace or dark olive hackle.
Wing: Dark mallard wing quill sections.
Originator: Roderick Haig-Brown.
Intended Use: Wet fly for cutthroat trout.
Location: Campbell River, B.C. Canada.
~ Arthur James Lingren
Our Man In Canada Archives | <urn:uuid:acf2eacf-082f-4459-94c9-f98c065840b5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/canada/can268.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398873.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899573 | 617 | 3.046875 | 3 |
The last common ancestor of flies and humans lived more than 500 million years ago. But scientists say as both organisms evolved they developed similar strategies to sense movement around them. So - scientists at Stanford University are using flies - in an effort to better understand how the human brain works.
A human brain contains more than 100 billion neurons while the fly’s brain has just 100,000. So it is much easier for scientists to study how a fly reacts to a perceived motion.
To do this, scientists designed a tiny treadmill in the shape of a ball, which a fly attached to a pole can move with its feet in any direction.
A small panoramic screen in front of it displays moving objects, causing the fly to avoid them by moving its feet.
Thomas Clandinin is Associate Professor of Neurobiology at Stanford University:
“By moving the treadmill they tell us what they saw and we can measure the relationship between what they see and what they do by this kind of automatic report," said Clandinin.
In another part of the lab a volunteer is watching the same images while his brain activity is being recorded. Scientists say they were surprised to find that human brains and fly brains both follow the same patterns.
“The basic algorithms that the brain uses to do very fundamental things in vision seem to be very similar," said Clandinin.
Scientists say they are now trying to identify which neurons the flies use to react to perceived motion - looking for a clue to how the human brain processes the same information.
Their ultimate goal is to develop better strategies for helping people with psychiatric and neurological diseases. | <urn:uuid:1e751d31-ed3c-432b-a29f-781b7edaa021> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.voanews.com/content/flies-help-understand-how-human-brains-work/1863365.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965203 | 333 | 3.90625 | 4 |
Millions came to say farewell to Stalin
Fifty years ago, on 5 March 1953, the Soviet leader Josef Stalin died.
His political life as a dictator who dominated millions has been minutely dissected over the decades.
But his last days continue to provoke speculation and argument.
Did he die of natural causes following a brain haemorrhage or was Stalin killed because he was about to plunge the Soviet Union into a war its people were in no position to fight?
The night of 28 February began in the usual manner for Stalin and his closest political circle, Lavrenty Beria, Nikita Khrushchev, Nikolai Bulganin and Georgi Malenkov.
They watched a film in the Kremlin then retired to Stalin's country home, 10 minutes outside Moscow, for yet another night of feasting.
We were glad when we got this order, and went off to bed without thinking twice
guard on duty
By the early hours of 1 March, Stalin's guests had gone back to their homes in Moscow.
What happened next was out of the ordinary for a man as obsessed with security as Stalin. He gave an order for his guards to retire for the night - he was not to be disturbed.
This change to Stalin's normal behaviour intrigued Russian historian Edvard Radzinski, and a few years ago he tracked down one of the guards on duty that night, Pyotr Lozgachev.
It was Lozgachev's testimony of that night that led Radzinski to speculate about what might really have happened.
The guard confirmed that it was not Stalin who gave the guards the order to go to bed, rather the order was conveyed by the main guard Khrustalev.
The guards slept late the following morning, and so, it seemed, did Stalin -
12 o'clock, one, two o'clock came and no Stalin
"Stalin would taunt the guards by saying 'Want to go to bed?' and stare into our eyes," Lozgachev said. "As if we'd dare! So of course we were glad when we got this order, and went off to bed without thinking twice."
The guards slept late the following morning, and so, it seemed, did Stalin.
Twelve o'clock, one, two o'clock came and no Stalin.
The guards began to get worried, but no one dared to go into his rooms. They had no right to disturb Stalin unless invited into his presence personally.
At 6.30 a light came on in Stalin's rooms, and the guards relaxed a little. But by the time 10 o'clock had chimed they were petrified. Lozgachev was finally sent in to check on Stalin.
"I hurried up to him and said 'Comrade Stalin, what's wrong?' He'd, you know, wet himself while he was lying there. He made some incoherent noise, like "Dz dz". His pocketwatch and copy of Pravda were lying on the floor. The watch showed 6.30. That's when it must have happened to him."
'World War III'
The guards rushed to call Stalin's drinking companions, the Politburo. It was their tardiness in responding and calling for medical help that put questions of doubt in Radzinski's mind.
Did they already know too much and so did not need to hurry to the "old man's" side?
Beria may have been behind Stalin's death
Mr Radzinski says Yes. He asserts that Stalin was injected with poison by the guard Khrustalev, under the orders of his master, KGB chief Lavrenty Beria. And what was the reason Stalin was killed?
"All the people who surrounded Stalin understood that Stalin wanted war - the future World War III - and he decided to prepare the country for this war," Mr Radzinski says.
"He said: we have the opportunity to create a communist Europe but we have to hurry. But Beria, Khrushchev, Malenkov and every normal person understood it was terrible to begin a war against America because the country [Russia] had no economy.
"It wasn't a poor but a super-poor country which was destroyed by the German invasion, a country which had no resources but only nuclear weapons.
"It was the reason for his anti-Semitic campaign, it was a provocation. He wanted an answer from America. And Beria knew Stalin had planned on 5 March to begin the deportation of Jewish people from Moscow."
Those close to Stalin thought he wanted war
As always in Russia, conspiracy piles on conspiracy. Some saw buses parked all round Moscow to take away the Jews. Others glimpsed special barns erected for the deportees in Kazakhstan.
But while the drama unfolded over the next few days in Stalin's country house, the citizens of the Soviet Union were split in their reaction to the imminent death of their leader.
Many openly wept for the man they called '"Father", "Teacher", "God". Others in prison camps across the land allowed themselves to exchange secret smiles and hope that things would be different now.
At 9.50pm on 5 March Stalin died. By the next day his body was lying in state in the Hall of Columns, a few streets from Red Square. It is estimated that several millions came to see him one final time. Several hundred were rumoured to have died in the crush.
Fifty years on, the rumours of intrigues and conspiracies continue. For a tyrant like Josef Stalin, a simple death would be just too mundane.
The documentary The Last Mystery of Stalin - BBC Radio 4 on Monday, 24 February, 2000 GMT - charts the politics and emotions of a turbulent and truly significant week in Soviet history, through personal recollections and dramatic re-creations.
Presenter: Tim Whewell
Producer: Leonida Krushelnycky | <urn:uuid:2a833e54-d3e1-4d16-9dd1-762ebe222b44> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2793501.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00049-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980938 | 1,222 | 2.546875 | 3 |
The holidays can be a fun time for children and adults to play games, and many kids receive new toys as gifts. Safe Kids provides some helpful reminders and tips for toy safety. Whether your kids are working on a puzzle, playing with building blocks or even inventing their own games, here are a few things to think about to help them stay safer and have a blast.
Find the Perfect Toy for the Right Age
Consider your child’s age when purchasing a toy or game. It’s worth a second to read the instructions and warning labels to make sure it’s just right for your child.
Before you’ve settled on the perfect toy, check to make sure there aren’t any small parts or other potential choking hazards.
Don’t Forget a Helmet for Riding Toys
If your children have their hearts set on a new bike, skateboard, scooter or other riding equipment, be sure to include a helmet to keep them safe while they’re having fun.
Learn more bike safety tips and watch our helmet safety video.
Store Toys After Play
After play time is over, use a bin or container to store toys for next time. Make sure there are no holes or hinges that could catch little fingers.
Sign Up to Receive Product Recalls
Safe Kids compiles product recalls specific to children and sends twice-monthly e-mail alerts for recent recalls. Sign-up for the latest recall information.
Go to ReCalls.gov for additional information about product recalls related to kids.
In 2010, an estimated 181,500 children were treated in an emergency room for a toy-related injury. That’s 500 kids every day. Nearly half of those injured were children 4 and under. | <urn:uuid:ab4ccf1c-4776-4a4f-9f18-4f7097581826> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wakemed.org/landing.cfm?id=2559 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948188 | 362 | 2.796875 | 3 |
noun (rfc-level, Noun at L4+ not in L3 POS section)
- An interception of a radio broadcast or a telephone call.
- An interception of a missile.
- (alggeom) The coordinate of the point at which a curve intersects an axis.
- (transitive) To stop, deflect or divert (something in progress or motion).
- (context, transitive, sports) To gain possession of (the ball) in a ball game.
- Dutch: onderscheppen
- Spanish: interceptar, interrumpir
- From Latin interceptum, past participle of intercipere.
Supplemental Details:Sponsor an extended definition for intercept for as little as $10 per month. Click here to contact us. | <urn:uuid:ef23631d-1c7d-465c-bf05-5183e325a21b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.allwords.com/word-intercept.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402699.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.82471 | 169 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Lakota Waldorf School History
How it all came together
The Lakota Waldorf School was founded in 1993 by a group of Lakota parents committed to an alternative vision for their children's education - one that includes traditional Lakota values. The founders of the Lakota Waldorf School recognized that for a school to succeed on the reservation it must help the Lakota children to connect with their roots and to develop skills necessary to lead healthful, fulfilling lives in the future. The founders were John Around Him, Robert and Isabel Stadnick, John Haas, Richard Moves Camp, Saunie Wilson and Norman Under Baggage.
The school is located near Kyle, South Dakota, a community in the middle of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in the Pejuta Haka (Medicine Root) District. This is one of nine districts that comprise the Pine Ridge Reservation.
The Lakota Waldorf School is a pilot initiative; it is the only Waldorf School on a Native American reservation. The curriculum will offer to our children assimilation of traditional Lakota language and culture through the Waldorf curriculum and teaching approach.
The LWS is governed by a board of directors of Lakota who work towards creating a better future for the children. | <urn:uuid:accab1fe-9841-449d-830b-bdecd45b2c74> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lakotawaldorfschool.org/en/aboutus/history.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00015-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955128 | 255 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Epigenetics: AKA Why identical twins are not really identical
|June 19, 2012||Posted by News under Genetics, News|
In “Identical twins show the malleability of our genes” (New Scientist, 19 June 2012), Claire Ainsworth reports,
… for all their uncanny similarities, identical twins are not simply two uniform halves of a single whole. As Tim Spector explains in this fascinating and provocative book, despite sharing the same sets of genes, such twins differ in many important ways. These differences are giving new insights into how our genes and environments interact – and raise the question of whether we have more control over our genetic destinies than we might think.
Spector is a genetic epidemiologist who heads the Department of Twin Research at King’s College London. He draws on his extensive experience to explore epigenetics: the study of chemical marks on or around DNA that can respond to changes in a cell’s environment. Alterations to these marks can increase or decrease the activity of genes. Unlike genes themselves, which are largely fixed, epigenetic marks are plastic and can change in response to factors such as diet and stress. What’s more, some studies suggest that epigenetic changes can be passed down from one generation to the next.
See also: Identical twins are not really identical
Follow UD News at Twitter! | <urn:uuid:8105bee9-9173-4407-a924-c59c8cbaa6ff> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.uncommondescent.com/genetics/epigenetics-aka-why-identical-twins-are-not-really-identical/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00158-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926317 | 282 | 3.234375 | 3 |
|Sir Edmund Hillary|
Hillary in 2006
|Born||July 20, 1919
Auckland, New Zealand
|Died||January 11, 2008
Auckland, New Zealand
|Spouse(s)||Louise Mary Rose (1953-1975)
June Mulgrew (1989-2008)
|Children||Peter (1954 -)
Sarah (1955 -)
|Parents||Percival Augustus Hillary
Gertrude Hillary, née Clark
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, Order of the Garter (KG), Order of New Zealand (ONZ), Order of the British Empire (KBE) (July 20, 1919 – January 11, 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. On May 29, 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt.
Hillary became interested in mountaineering while in high school, making his first major climb in 1939, reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier. He served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) as a navigator during World War II. Before the successful expedition in 1953 to Everest, he had been part of a reconnaissance expedition to the mountain in 1951 and an unsuccessful attempt to climb Cho Oyu in 1952. As part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition he reached the South Pole overland in 1958. He would later also travel to the North Pole.
Following his ascent of Everest he devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he founded. Through his efforts many schools and hospitals were built in this remote region of the Himalayas. The real value of his legacy lies in its inspirational aspects; even as humanity was reaching for the stars some of its highest mountains, deepest oceans and most remote regions remained largely unexplored. Only when humanity fully understands the planet can it rise to the challenge of preserving the earth as a sustainable habitat for all its occupants.
Hillary was born to Percival Augustus Hillary and Gertrude Hillary, née Clark, in Auckland, New Zealand, on July 20, 1919. His family moved to Tuakau (south of Auckland) in 1920, after his father (who served at Gallipoli) was allocated land there. His grandparents were early settlers in northern Wairoa in the mid[nineteenth century after emigrating from Yorkshire, England.
Hillary was educated at Tuakau Primary School and then Auckland Grammar School. He finished primary school two years early, but struggled at high school, achieving only average marks. He was initially smaller than his peers there and very shy so he took refuge in his books and daydreams of a life filled with adventure. His daily train journey to and from high school was over two hours each way, during which he regularly used the time to read. He gained confidence after he learnt to box. At 16 his interest in climbing was sparked during a school trip to Mount Ruapehu. Though gangly at 6 ft 5 in (195cm) and uncoordinated, he found that he was physically strong and had greater endurance than many of his tramping companions. He studied mathematics and science at The University of Auckland, and in 1939 completed his first major climb, reaching the summit of Mount Ollivier, near Mount Cook in the Southern Alps. With his brother Rex, Hillary became a beekeeper, a summer occupation that allowed him to pursue climbing in the winter.
Upon the outbreak of World War II Hillary applied to join the air force, but withdrew the application before it was considered because he was "harassed by my religious conscience." Following the introduction of conscription on the outbreak of war in the Pacific, in 1943 Hillary joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) as a navigator and served on Catalina flying boats. In 1945 he was sent to Fiji and to the Solomon Islands where he was badly burned in a boating accident, after which he was repatriated to New Zealand.
In 1952 Hillary and George Lowe were part of the British team led by Eric Shipton that attempted Cho Oyu. After that attempt failed due to the lack of route from the Nepal side, Hillary and Lowe crossed the Lho-La into Tibet and reached the old Camp II, on the northern side, where all the pre-war expeditions had camped.
The route to Everest was closed by Chinese-controlled Tibet, and Nepal only allowed one expedition per year. A Swiss expedition (in which Tenzing took part) had attempted to reach the summit in 1952, but was turned back by bad weather 800 feet (240 m) from the summit. During a 1952 trip in the Alps Hillary discovered he and his friend George Lowe had been invited by the Joint Himalayan Committee for the approved British 1953 attempt and immediately accepted.
Shipton was named as leader but was replaced by Hunt. Hillary considered pulling out, but both Hunt and Shipton talked him into remaining. Hillary was intending to climb with Lowe but Hunt named two teams for the assault: Tom Bourdillon and Charles Evans; and Hillary and Tenzing. Hillary therefore made a concerted effort to forge a working friendship with Tenzing.
The Hunt expedition totaled over 400 people, including 362 porters, 20 Sherpa guides and 10,000 lbs of baggage, and like many such expeditions, was a team effort. Lowe supervised the preparation of the Lhotse Face, a huge and steep ice face, for climbing. Hillary forged a route through the treacherous Khumbu Icefall.
The expedition set up base camp in March 1953. Working slowly it set up its final camp at the South Col at 25,900 feet (7,890 m). On May 26 Bourdillon and Evans attempted the climb but turned back when Evans' oxygen system failed. The pair had reached the South Summit, coming within 300 vertical feet (91 m) of the summit. Hunt then directed Hillary and Tenzing to go for the summit.
Snow and wind held the pair up at the South Col for two days. They set out on May 28 with a support trio of Lowe, Alfred Gregory and Ang Nyima. The two pitched a tent at 27,900 feet (8,500 m) on May 28 while their support group returned down the mountain. On the following morning Hillary discovered that his boots had frozen solid outside the tent. He spent two hours warming them before he and Tenzing attempted the final ascent wearing 30-pound (14 kg) packs. The crucial move of the last part of the ascent was the 40-foot (12 m) rock face later named the "Hillary Step." Hillary saw a means to wedge his way up a crack in the face between the rock wall and the ice and Tenzing followed. From there the following effort was relatively simple. They reached Everest's 29,028 ft (8,848 m) summit, the highest point on earth, at 11:30 am. As Hillary put it, "A few more whacks of the ice axe in the firm snow, and we stood on top."
They spent only about 15 minutes at the summit. They looked for evidence of the 1924 Mallory expedition, but found none. Hillary took Tenzing's photo, Tenzing left [[chocolate[[s in the snow as an offering, and Hillary left a cross that he had been given. Because Tenzing did not know how to use a camera, there are no pictures of Hillary there. The two had to take care on the descent after discovering that drifting snow had covered their tracks, complicating the task of retracing their steps. The first person they met was Lowe, who had climbed up to meet them with hot soup.
|“||Well, George, we knocked the bastard off.||”|
News of the successful expedition reached Britain on the day of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The group was surprised by the international acclaim that they received upon arriving in Kathmandu. Hillary and Hunt were knighted by the young queen, while Tenzing received either the British Empire Medal, or the George Medal from the British Government for his efforts with the expedition. It has been suggested that Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru refused permission for Tenzing to be knighted.
Hillary climbed ten other peaks in the Himalayas on further visits in 1956, 1960–1961, and 1963–1965. He also reached the South Pole as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, for which he led the New Zealand section, on January 4, 1958. His party was the first to reach the Pole overland since Amundsen in 1911 and Robert F. Scott in 1912, and the first ever to do so using motor vehicles. In 1977, he led a jetboat expedition, titled "Ocean to Sky," from the mouth of the Ganges River to its source.
|“||True, why make a fuss over something that's done anyway? I was never one to obsess about the past. Too much to do in the future!||”|
—Hillary about his reaction to the destruction of one of the jetboats by his friend Jim Wilson
In 1979, as he had done previously, Hillary was scheduled to act as a commentator on the ill-fated Air New Zealand Flight 901, an Antarctic sightseeing flight, but had to pull out due to work commitments elsewhere. He was replaced by his close friend Peter Mulgrew, who perished as the aircraft crashed on Mount Erebus, killing all 257 on board. A decade later married Mulgrew's widow.
Hillary took part in the 1975 general election, as a member of the "Citizens for Rowling" campaign. His involvement in this campaign was seen as precluding his nomination as Governor-General, with the position instead being offered to Keith Holyoake in 1977. However, in 1985 he was appointed New Zealand High Commissioner to India (concurrently High Commissioner to Bangladesh and Ambassador to Nepal) and spent four and a half years based in New Delhi. In 1985 he accompanied Neil Armstrong in a small twin-engined ski plane over the Arctic Ocean and landed at the North Pole. He thus became the first man to stand at both poles and on the summit of Everest.
In January 2007, Hillary traveled to Antarctica to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of Scott Base. He flew to the station on January 18, 2007 with a delegation including the Prime Minister. While there he called for the British government to contribute to the upkeep of Scott's and Shackleton's huts. On April 22, 2007 while on a trip to Kathmandu he is reported to have suffered a fall. There was no comment on the nature of his illness and he did not immediately seek treatment. He was hospitalized after returning to New Zealand.
Hillary was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) on June 6, 1953; a member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ) in 1987; and a Knight of the Order of the Garter (KG) on April 22, 1995. He was also awarded the Polar Medal for his part in the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. His favored New Zealand charity was the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre of New Zealand of which he was Patron for 35 years. Hillary was particularly keen on the work this organization did in introducing young New Zealanders to the outdoors in a very similar way to his first experience of a school trip to Mount Ruapehu at the age of 16. Various streets, schools and organizations around New Zealand and abroad are named after him. A few examples are Hillary College (Otara), Edmund Hillary Primary School (Papakura) and the Hillary Commission (now SPARC).
In 1992 Hillary appeared on the updated New Zealand $5 note, thus making him the only New Zealander to appear on a banknote during his or her lifetime, in defiance of the established convention for banknotes of using only depictions of deceased individuals, and current heads of state. The Reserve Bank governor at the time, Don Brash, had originally intended to use a deceased sportsperson on the $5 note but could not find a suitable candidate. Instead he broke with convention by requesting and receiving Hillary's permission — along with an insistence from Hillary to use Aoraki/Mount Cook rather than Mount Everest in the backdrop. The image also features a Ferguson TE20 tractor like the one Hillary used to reach the South Pole on the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.
To mark the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Everest the Nepalese Government conferred honorary citizenship upon Hillary at a special Golden Jubilee celebration in Kathmandu. He was the first foreign national to receive such an honor from the Nepalese government.
In 2008, the same year he died, the Indian Government conferred him with Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honor of the country.
A 2.3-meter (7.5 ft) bronze statue of "Sir Ed" was installed outside The Hermitage hotel at Mt Cook village, New Zealand, in 2003.
Two Antarctic features are named after Hillary. The Hillary Coast is a section of coastline south of Ross Island and north of the Shackleton Coast. It is formally recognized by New Zealand, the United States of America and Russia. The Hillary Canyon, an undersea feature in the Ross Sea appears on the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans, which is published by the International Hydrographic Organization.
Hillary married Louise Mary Rose on September 3, 1953, soon after the ascent of Everest. A shy man, he relied on his future mother-in-law to propose on his behalf. They had three children: Peter (1954), Sarah (1955) and Belinda (1959). His wife died in (1975). In 1975 while en route to join Hillary in the village of Phaphlu, where he was helping to build a hospital, Louise and Belinda were killed in a plane crash near Kathmandu airport shortly after take-off. Hillary married June Mulgrew, the widow of his close friend Peter Mulgrew, on December 21, 1989. His son Peter Hillary has also become a climber, conquering Everest in 1990. In April 2003 Peter and Jamling Tenzing Norgay (son of Tenzing) climbed Everest as part of a 50th anniversary celebration. Hillary had six grandchildren, altogether.
Following his ascent of Everest he devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust, which he founded. Through his efforts many schools and hospitals were built in this remote region of the Himalayas. He was the Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundation, a United States non-profit body that helps improve the ecology and living conditions in the Himalayas.
Hillary spoke of his disdain for the attitudes displayed by many modern mountaineers. In particular he publicly criticized New Zealander Mark Inglis and 40 other climbers who, in various groups, left British climber David Sharp to die in May 2006. He said:
I think the whole attitude towards climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top. They don't give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn't impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die.
On January 11, 2008, Hillary died of heart failure at the Auckland City Hospital at around 9A.M. NZDT (January 10 at 20:00 UTC) at the age of 88. Hillary's death was announced by New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark at around 11:20A.M. She stated that his passing was a "profound loss to New Zealand." His death was recognized by the lowering of flags to half-mast on all Government and public buildings and at Scott Base in Antarctica. Actor and adventurer Brian Blessed, who attempted to climb Everest three times, described Sir Edmund as a "kind of titan." He was in hospital at the time of his death but was expected to come home that day according to his family. The local press emphasized Hillary's humble and congenial personality and his life of hard work.
In tribute Claire Harvey wrote in the January 12, 2008 New Zealand Herald "and for New Zealanders, Sir Ed was everything a good bastard ought to be - modest and humorous, brave and compassionate, and just grouchy enough to remind us he never sought, nor particularly enjoyed, adulation."
After Hillary's death the Green Party proposed a new public holiday for July 20 or the Monday nearest to it. Renaming mountains after Hillary was also proposed. The Mt Cook Village's Hermitage Hotel, the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre and Alpine Guides, proposed a renaming of Mount Ollivier, the first mountain climbed by Hillary. The family of Arthur Ollivier, for whom the mountain is named, are against such a renaming.
A state funeral was held for Hillary on January 22, 2008, after which his body was cremated. The first part of this funeral was on January 21, when Hillary's casket was taken into Holy Trinity Cathedral to lie in state. On February 29, 2008, in a private ceremony, Hillary's ashes were scattered in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf as he had desired.
On April 2, 2008, a service of thanksgiving was held in his honor at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. It was attended by the Queen (but not the Duke of Edinburgh owing to a chest infection) and New Zealand dignitaries including Prime Minister Helen Clark. Sir Edmund's family and family members of Tenzing Norgay attended as well, many of whom spoke about their memories of the great mountaineer. Gurkha soldiers from Nepal, a country Sir Edmund Hillary held much affection for, stood guard outside the ceremony.
There have been many calls for lasting tributes to Sir Edmund Hillary. The first major public tribute has been by way of the "Summits for Ed" tribute tour organized by the Sir Edmund Hillary foundation This tribute tour went from Bluff at the bottom of the South Island to Cape Reinga at the tip of the North Island, visiting 39 towns and cities along the way. In each venue school children and members of the public were invited to join together to climb a significant hill or site in their area to show their respect for Hillary. Public were also invited to bring small rocks or pebbles that had special significance to them, that would be collected and included in a memorial to Hillary at the base of Mount Ruepehu in the grounds of the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre. Any funds donated during the tour are to be used by the foundation to sponsor young New Zealanders on outdoor courses to continue the values that Hillary espoused. Over 10,000 members of the public attended these "Summit" climbs.
Hillary was a revolutionary explorer whose travels helped to bring about a better understanding of the global community as a whole. His travels aided in creating a more holistic picture of world geography. Hillary, along with Tenzing Norgay, was one of the first to reach the majestic heights of Mount Everest. This expedition alone propelled him to a status of renowned fame. Hillary partook in several other expeditions during his lifetime, one of which was a trek to the far reaches of the South Pole. Hillary would also make his way to the opposite end of the globe and reach the distant North Pole before his death. Hillary aided communities of indigenous Himalayan peoples and provided numerous facilities for their greater well-being. He was successful in persuading the Nepalese government to institute important reforms for these peoples. For one man, Hillary's travels are remarkable. His dedication to environmental and humanitarian concerns and efforts also deserve to be recognized.
Books written by Hillary include:
All links retrieved February 24, 2014.
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Home safety; Safety in the home; Fall prevention
What to expect at home
People with medical problems are at risk of falling or tripping. This can result in broken bones or more serious injuries. Making changes in your home helps lower your risk of falling.
Have a bed that is low, so that your feet touch the floor when you sit on the edge of the bed.
Keep tripping hazards out of your home.
Have good lighting.
Re-organize the home so things are easier to reach. Keep a portable phone with you so you have it when you need to make or receive calls.
Set up your home so that you do not have to climb steps.
If you do not have a caregiver, ask your health care provider or nurse about having someone come to your home to check for safety problems.
Weak muscles that make it more difficult to stand up or keep your balance are a common cause of falls. Balance problems can also cause falls.
When you walk, avoid sudden movements or changes in position. Wear shoes with low heels that fit well. Rubber soles can help keep you from slipping. Stay away from water or ice on sidewalks.
Do not stand on step ladders or chairs to reach things.
Ask your health care provider about medicines you may be taking that can make you dizzy. Your doctor may be able to make some medication changes that could reduce falls.
Ask your health care provider about a cane or walker. If you use a walker, attach a small basket to it to keep your phone and other important items in.
Exercise to help build your strength
When you stand up from a sitting position, go slowly. Hold on to something. If you are having problems getting up, ask your health care provider about seeing a physical therapist. The therapist can show you how to build your strength to make getting up easier.
When to call the doctor
Call your health care provider if you have fallen, or if you almost fall. Also call your health care provider if your eyesight has worsened. Improving your vision will help reduce falls.
Gillespie LD, Robertson MC, Gillespie WJ, Lamb SE, Gates S, Cumming RG, Rowe BH. Interventions for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD007146. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007146.pub2.
Stiles M, Walsh K. Care of the elderly patient. In: Rakel RE, ed. Textbook of Family Medicine. 8th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2011:chap 4.
Review Date: 5/28/2014
Reviewed By: Joseph V. Campellone, MD, Division of Neurology, Cooper University Hospital, Camden, NJ. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. 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- A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. | <urn:uuid:f38393fc-5201-494d-8539-b0da76ed0a9b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://pennstatehershey.adam.com/content.aspx?productId=117&pid=60&gid=000052 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89829 | 730 | 3 | 3 |
Seeing Beyond the Melt Lens Into Crustal Accretion Processes at Mid-Ocean Ridges
ORI Funded Research: 2011
Ocean crust is generally thought to form from crystallization of melts as they ascend from the mantle, cool, and crystallize, however, the details and depths over which this process occurs is not well understood. Constraints on crustal accretion have been derived from textural and petrologic observations in ophiolites, models of hydrothermal cooling, and geophysical studies at the ridge axes. However, due to mixing and homogenization in axial magma chambers, very few geochemical studies of lavas erupted on-axis can provide insights into processes occurring beneath the melt lens on fast- and intermediate-spreading centers. Here, we propose to use melt inclusions trapped in olivine phenocrysts from the East Pacific Rise and Juan de Fuca ridge to see beyond the melt lens into the lower ocean crust on fast- and intermediate-spreading centers. Volatile analyses of melt inclusions will be used to calculate the pressure (or depth) of crystallization, which will provide constraints on where crustal accretion takes place. These results will be combined with major and trace element analyses of the melt inclusions to determine how melt evolves during ascent through the oceanic crust. This study will provide a different perspective on outstanding questions on magma differentiation during ascent from the mantle, melt-rock reaction in the lower crust, the depth of crystallization, and the creation of oceanic crust at mid-ocean ridges. Furthermore, the results of the proposed study will ultimately lead to a better understanding of processes occurring in the lower oceanic crust that can be applied to more complicated ridge settings in future studies.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is dedicated to research and education to advance understanding of the ocean and its interaction with the Earth system, and to communicating this understanding for the benefit of society. Learn more » | <urn:uuid:bb646b48-0b3a-4c0a-9bcf-06bc32af1e25> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=99296&tid=3622&cid=115949 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00147-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923226 | 399 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Extremely low-flow toilets reduce water use.
- Toilets use only two tablespoons of water mixed with biodegradable soap to foam the bowl.
- Toilets and urinals return air to the aerobic composters.
The Bullitt Center is the tallest building ever to implement a composting system. These aerobic systems have become very popular in one-story buildings and in places that don’t have access to sewer lines. The challenge was to develop a delivery system from the higher floors that would safely bring the waste down to the composters, while not overwhelming the composters with liquids.
When the toilets sense a user, they begin to emit foam. This foam, consisting of a biodegradable soap-like substance and about 3 tablespoons of water, slides down the vertical tubes, creating a low-friction lining to ensure all the waste makes the journey down to the composters.
In a standard toilet, sink, or urinal, the water in the trap (the “S” curve in the drain pipe) not only ensures that you get your wedding ring back should you accidentally drop it, but more importantly prevents methane gas from escaping through the drains. Since the Bullitt Center runs on composters and is not hooked up to the methane producing sewer system, it is safe to use just a standard pipe that goes straight down to the composters. This allows for the toilets to act as fresh air intakes, as air is drawn down into the composters themselves. One side effect of this system is that any dropped iPhones cannot be retrieved, so be careful!
Now that the Bullitt Center has applied a composting system to a multi-story building, the way has been paved for other office buildings to follow suit.
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Governor Thomas E. Dewey
Thomas E. Dewey was an American politician,
three-term Republican governor of New York (1943-55),
and unsuccessful Republican candidate for president
in 1944 and 1948.
Biographical fast facts
Full or original name at birth: Thomas Edmund Dewey
Date, time and place of birth: March 24, 1902, at approximately 7:45 p.m.*,
at 323 West Main Street, Owosso, Michigan, U.S.A.
Date, time, place and cause of death: March 16, 1971,
at 3:15 p.m., Sea View Hotel, suite 711-12, Bal Harbour,
Florida, U.S.A. (Heart attack)
Wife: Frances E. Hutt (m. June 1928 - July 17, 1970) (her death)
Wedding took place at St. Thomas Episcopal Church,
Fifth Avenue, New York City, New York, U.S.A.
Sons: Thomas Edmund Dewey, Jr. (b. October 2, 1932, New York City, New York)
John Martin Dewey (b. October 1935)
Father: George Martin Dewey, Jr. (a newspaper publisher) (d. June 19, 1927,
of a heart attack)
Mother: Annie Louise (Thomas) Dewey (a homemaker)
(d. November 23, 1954, Owosso, Michigan, of a heart attack)
Burial site: Pawling Cemetery, Pawling, New York, U.S.A.
Error corrections or clarifications
* Governor Thomas E. Dewey was born in the
apartment above his grandfather's general store
on Main Street, in Owosso, Michigan, between
7 and 8 p.m. on March 24th, 1902. One source
reports 7:49 p.m. as his precise time of birth,
while others insist he was born at precisely
7 p.m. that March evening. 7:45 p.m. was the time
of birth reported by Dewey's secretary in response
to a 1938 inquiry.
Thomas E. Dewey was the only child of George and Annie
Dewey. Tom's childhood nickname was Ted, due to his
initials, as well as his rabid support of Teddy Roosevelt.
His family, and the town into which he was born, were
After being admitted to the New York bar in the 1920s,
Dewey joined the law firm of Larkin, Rathbone & Perry.
He found the endless paperwork he was assigned to do,
dull and monotonous. In 1927, he was let go, but was
quickly hired as an associate at the McNamara and
Seymour law firm. He found his new position, and the
work he was doing on the side for various New York
Republicans, much more to his liking.
Thomas Dewey served as chief assistant to the
U.S. Attorney for the southern district of New York
(1931-33). He came to national prominence as a
special prosecutor in charge of investigating
organized crime (1935-37) in New York City. Dewey
was elected District Attorney of New York City
in 1937, thanks in part to his popularity stemming
from his vigorous crusade against crime and his
phenomenal conviction rate. He was credited with
the convictions of numerous mobsters, including
Based on his strong record as a criminal prosecutor,
Dewey ran for governor of New York in 1938, but
lost the election. He was successful in his second
bid for the office in 1942 and was reelected by a
landslide in 1946. A third term followed his
reelection in 1950. Dewey's three terms as governor
of New York were notable for his honest, efficient
administration, that cut taxes, increased state aid
to education, and reduced the state's debt. It was
Governor Dewey who recommended that New York create
its own State University, and later, personally
signed the legislation that created the State
University of New York.
Dewey won the Republican nomination for president
in 1944, but lost the election to President Franklin
D. Roosevelt. Four years later he ran against
incumbent President Harry Truman. The polls, the
press and nearly every political expert agreed
Governor Dewey would easily win the election.
Defying all odds, Truman won an upset victory in
1948. In one of the most famous erroneous headlines
in American newspaper history, the Chicago Daily
Tribune front page proclaimed "Dewey Defeats Truman."
An iconic photograph of a jubilant President Truman
displaying a copy of the "Dewey Defeats Truman"
newspaper following Truman's upset victory, earned
Dewey a permanent place in American political folklore.
Governor Dewey was one of the more prominent
figures who repeatedly tried to convince a reluctant
General Dwight D. Eisenhower to seek the
U.S. Presidency. He was also instrumental in helping
Ike secure the Republican Party's presidential
nomination in 1952, and was one of the key supporters
who helped ensure Eisenhower's subsequent election.
Thomas Dewey retired from politics after serving his
third term as governor of New York and returned to
his law practice.
The most in-depth of more than three dozen sources
consulted in preparing this profile, was the
1982 biography, Thomas E. Dewey and His Times,
by Richard Norton Smith.
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If you or a loved one has heart failure, you probably know how important good daily habits are to treatment. A healthy weight, active lifestyle, and proper medication are all key ways to take charge of the disease.
But even you’ve been carefully following doctor’s orders, it’s crucial to keep an eye out for the return of symptoms. That’s because heart failure can be under control for a time and then become an issue again.
Doctors diagnose heart failure by taking a medical history and conducting a physical exam and tests.
During the medical history your doctor will want to know if:
You have any other health problems such as diabetes, kidney disease, angina (chest pain), high blood pressure, or other heart problems
You drink alcohol, and if so, how much
You are taking medications.
During the physical, the doctor will check your blood pressure, use a stethoscope to hear sounds associated with...
Keep up with your regular checkups, and know which symptoms may mean your treatment needs to be tweaked.
1. Trouble breathing or shortness of breath
When your heart can’t properly fill and empty, blood backs up in your veins. This causes fluid to leak into your lungs. Your doctor may call it pulmonary edema. This can make it hard to breathe during activities, rest, or even sleep. You may be woken up by sudden breathlessness. Maybe you’ll need to prop yourself up with extra pillows to breathe easier. This constant search for air can leave you tired and anxious.
When your heart isn’t pumping right, the body starts to move blood from less vital parts like your arms and legs to the centers for survival -- the heart and brain. This can leave you feeling exhausted after everyday activities.
3. Persistent cough
An ongoing wheeze or cough that brings up white or slightly blood-colored mucus can be another symptom of fluid building up in your lungs. Call the doctor if you notice it.
4. Weight gain or swelling
Just as fluid can build up in your lungs when the heart fails to properly pump blood, fluid can also increase in your tissues. This can be made worse by the fact that your kidneys get rid of sodium and water. As a result, your feet, ankles, legs, or belly may swell. This can cause shoes and socks to feel tight. It may also cause a seemingly sudden change in weight.
5. Lack of appetite or nausea
Because blood is being moved away from your digestive system, your appetite may not be as big as it usually is. You might also feel a bit nauseous. | <urn:uuid:ae169e17-e4f1-4be0-bde9-e067fdd47f74> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/heart-failure/features/heart-failure-8-signs-your-treatment-is-not-working | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00134-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.925263 | 545 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Taxonomic name: Plasmodium relictum (Grassi and Feletti 1891)
Synonyms: Haemamoeba relicta Grassi and Feletti 1891, Plasmodium capistrani Russell 1932, Plasmodium inconsta Hartman 1927
Common names: avian malaria (English), paludisme des oiseaux (French), Vogelmalaria (German)
Organism type: micro-organism
The protozoa, Plasmodium relictum, is one of the causative parasites of avian malaria and may be lethal to species which have not evolved resistance to the disease (e.g. penguins). It may be devastating to highly susceptible avifauna that has evolved in the absence of this organism, such as native Hawaiian birds. The parasite cannot be transmitted directly from one bird to another, but requires a mosquito to move from one bird to another. In Hawaii, the mosquito that transmits Plasmodium relictum is the common house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus. Passerine birds are the most common victims of avian malaria.
Histopathological examination may reveal numerous intraendothelial schizonts in spleen, lung, liver, heart and kidney (Fix et al. 1988). Schizonts may be 16 to 28 micron by 11 to 16 micron large and contain merozoites of two distinct sizes (macromerozoites, nuclei 1.0 micron; micromerozoites, nuclei 0.5 micron) (Fix et al. 1988).
The clinical signs of disease are caused by the tissue phase, causing tissue damage (Cranfield et al. Undated). There may not be enough destruction within the red blood cells to cause clinical anemia. The clinical signs in penguins are paleness, anoxia, dyspnea, inappetence, regurgitation, and death. The gross pathology reveals a very enlarged spleen, swollen liver, and congested and extremely edematous lungs. Impression smears from these tissues often reveals schizonts. Schizonts are present in several tissues throughout the body. Histologically, the lungs have acute severe interstitial pneumonia with schizonts present. Post mortem blood samples from major vessels or the heart can be extremely useful in the diagnosis, even up to 48 hours after death (Cranfield et al. Undated).
Plasmodium pathology observed in native Hawaiian honeycreepers includes: extremely high blood parasitemias (infection in up to 50% of circulating red blood cells), extensive damage to the liver and spleen, weight loss and inappetance and high mortality rates (Trouble in Paradise Undated).
Presence of the disease is linked with the presence of a suitable vector species. In the case of Hawaii this is the range of the house mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus (USDI and USGS 2005), a primary carrier of the disease causing agent. Studies by researchers at the Pacific Islands Ecosystem Science Center have revealed a lot about the ecology of the bird malaria in Hawaii including the link between the vector range and disease prevalence. Because this species of mosquito is more numerous at lower elevations, avian malaria is found mainly in birds of the lowland forests (USDI and USGS 2005), however, recent evidence suggests the range of the vector and thus disease could be moving into high land areas.
Several species of the filarial parasite Plasmodium are the causal organism for avian malaria. Plasmodium relictum capistranoae Russell is the parasite found in infected Hawaiian birds (USDI and USGS 2005). In birds, P. relictum reproduces in red blood cells. If the parasite load is sufficiently high, the bird begins losing red blood cells causing anemia (USDI and USGS 2005). Because red blood cells are critical for moving oxygen about the body, loss of these cells can lead to progressive weakness and, eventually, death (USDI and USGS 2005). Malaria mainly affects birds in the order Passeriformes (perching birds). In Hawaii, this includes most of the native honeycreepers and the Hawaiian crow. Susceptibility to the disease varies between species, for example, the iiwi is very susceptible to malaria while the apapane less so (USDI and USGS 2005). Native Hawaiian birds are more susceptible than introduced birds to the disease and exhibit a higher mortality rate (Van Riper et al. 1982; Atkinson et al. 1995). This has serious implications for native bird faunas (SPREP) with P. relictum being blamed for the range restriction and extinctions of a number of bird species in Hawaii, primarily forest birds of low-land forests habitats where the mosquito vector is most common (Warner 1968; Van Riper 1991; USDI and USGS 2005).
Recent evidence indicates that some native Hawaiian lowland forest birds have developed some tolerance to P. relictum. For example, the Amakihi are once again breeding in remaining lowland forest habitat although they show a incidence of malaria (60-70%) (Trouble in Paradise Undated). Although this appears encouraging Freed and colleagues (2005) point out that as more of the common species evolve tolerance they increase reservoirs of the disease, which in turn increases the risk of transmission to rarer species that are vulnerable to avian malaria. Most honeycreepers, especially endangered species, now persist only in forests above 1500m elevation, where cool temperatures prevent effective malaria development in mosquitoes (Freed et al. 2005). The prevalence of malaria in Hawaiian forest birds at 1900m on the island of Hawaii has more than doubled over a decade. This increase is associated with breeding of mosquitoes and warmer summertime air temperatures. Tolerance to malaria in native birds is adding to a reservoir of malaria at upper elevations even while vectors are rare and air temperatures are too low for complete development of the parasite in the vector. Freed and colleagues argue that malaria is becoming an emergent infectious disease at upper elevations and that the spread of avian malaria can be partly attributed to climate change and increasing temperatures.
The parasite does not appear to be pathogenic in birds that have evolved with the parasite, often causing no signs. However, it causes varying degrees of pathology and can cause high mortalities in species of birds that have not evolved with the parasite. These susceptible species may come from areas without the vector, such as very cold, dry, or windy environments. This is why avian malaria is so lethal to penguins (in which it is caused by Plasmodium relictum and P. Elongatum), as illustrated by the 1986 outbreak of the disease in wild-caught Magellanic penguins (see Spheniscus magellanicus in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) at the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa, USA (Fix et al. 1988). It is the highest cause of mortality in outdoor penguin exhibits and causes 50% or greater mortality in untreated juvenile and adult penguins when first exposed to the vector (Cranfield et al. Undated). For more detailed information of the impacts of P. relictum, click here
Native Range: A survey in American Samoa by Jarvi et al (2003) of native and introduced birds detected the presence of Plasmodium relictum. The authors report that "high prevalence of apparently chronic infections, the relative stability of the native land bird communities, and the presence of mosquito vectors which are considered endemic and capable of transmitting avian Plasmodia, suggest that these parasites are indigenous to Samoa and have a long coevolutionary history with their hosts.
Introduced Range:P. relictum is now widespread among introduced and native birds in Hawaii where it has played a key role in the extinction of approximately half of the endemic bird species (Atkinson & van Riper 1991 in Jarvi et al. 2003). P. relictum has also been reported from England, France and parts of the United States including Maryland, Florida and New York. Recent surveys show that P. relictum is widespread and established in New Zealand, although it is yet to be determined whether it is native or introduced (Tompkins and Gleeson 2006). Surveys for avian malaria in the Pacific have been in Guam (Savidge 1985) and the Cook Islands (Steadman et al. 1990) and results were negative (SPREP).
Introduction pathways to new locations
Acclimatisation societies: Introduction by bird clubs (Hui Manu in Hawaii). Infective birds not detected by standard diagnostics.
Landscape/fauna "improvement": Introduction of game species. Infective birds not detected by standard diagnostics.
Taken to botanical garden/zoo: Infective birds not detected by standard diagnostics.
Local dispersal methods
On animals (local): Dispersal of infective mosquitoes may be enhanced by wind.
This organism is an intracellular parasite that acquires most of its essential nutrients directly from the host cells.
Undergoes sexual and asexual reproduction at different stages in both the vertebrate (bird) and invertebrate (mosquito) hosts.
Sporozoites are the infectious stage of the Plasmodium protozoan parasite and are transmitted to a vertebrate host through blood feeding by a mosquito. The disease to the host is caused by the parasite protozoan attacking red blood cells to continue its development. Fully developed erythrocytic schizonts cause rupturing of the red blood cells to release merozoites (to continue the blood cycle in the host) and gametocytes (capable of initiating sexual development if ingested by a mosquito). It is the merozoites with accompanying toxins that cause the chills and fever of malaria (SPREP, 2000).
Exponential growth every 36 hours while in circulating blood cells.
This disease causing agent is carried and transmitted by a mosquito vector. The mosquito takes a blood meal from the reservoir host and ingests micro and macro gametocytes. These develop into oocysts in the gut of the mosquito. The oocysts then produce numerous sporozoites, which migrate to the salivary gland of the mosquito. These are infectious agents of malaria and are injected into the blood stream of the bird when the mosquito is taking its next blood meal. The cycle through the mosquito takes approximately 13 days (Cranfield et al. Undated).
The sporozoites, on entering the blood stream of the bird, are picked up by macrophages and reticuloendothelial cells where they develop into merozoites and then further on to schizonts (Cranfield et al. Undated). It is the merozoites with accompanying toxins that cause the chills and fever of malaria (SPREP Undated).The schizonts break apart shedding several more merozoites, which sets up the asexual tissue phase of the infection (Cranfield et al. Undated). After several cycles through the tissue, the merozoites are picked up by the red blood cells and develop into trophozoites and then on to either the sexual stage of the gametocytes or the asexual stage of schizonts (Cranfield et al. Undated). Therefore avians have two cycles going - a tissue phase and a blood phase. Within the blood phase, there is a sexual cycle and an asexual cycle (Cranfield et al. Undated). Fully developed erythrocytic schizonts cause rupturing of the red blood cells to release merozoites (to continue the blood cycle in the host) and gametocytes (capable of initiating sexual development if ingested by a mosquito) (SPREP Undated).
It is the merozoites with accompanying toxins that cause the chills and fever of malaria (SPREP Undated). Exponential growth every 36 hours while in circulating blood cells (SPREP Undated).
This species has been nominated as among 100 of the "World's Worst" invaders
Reviewed by: Carter T. Atkinson, Ph.D. and Dennis A. LaPointe, Ph.D., USGS-BRD Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, Volcano, Hawaii
Compiled by: Carter T. Atkinson, Ph.D. and Dennis A. LaPointe, Ph.D., USGS-BRD Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, Volcano, Hawaii & IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
Last Modified: Thursday, 14 July 2005 | <urn:uuid:f7c40832-bb43-4a50-a1f7-fc065cff1ebe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=39&fr=1&sts=sss&lang=EN | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00021-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89215 | 2,622 | 3.421875 | 3 |
by Staff Writers
Tucson AZ (SPX) Sep 13, 2013
The varied influence of climate change on temperature and precipitation may have an equally wide-ranging effect on the spread of West Nile virus, suggesting that public health efforts to control the virus will need to take a local rather than global perspective, according to a study published this week in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
University of Arizona researchers Cory Morin and Andrew Comrie developed a climate-driven mosquito population model to simulate the abundance across the southern United States of one type of mosquito known to carry and spread West Nile virus to humans.
They found that, under the future climate conditions predicted by climate change models, many locations will see a lengthening of the mosquito season but shrinking summer mosquito populations due to hotter and dryer conditions allowing fewer larvae to survive.
However, these changes vary significantly depending on temperature and precipitation. For example, drops in summer mosquito populations are expected to be significant in the South, but not further north where there will still be enough rain to maintain summer breeding habitats and extreme temperatures are less common.
These findings suggest that disease transmission studies and programs designed to control populations of disease-carrying mosquitos must be targeted locally to maximize their effectiveness, the authors argue.
"It used to be an open question whether climate change is going to make disease-carrying mosquitoes more abundant, and the answer is it will depend on the time and the location," said Morin, who did the study as part of his doctoral dissertation in the lab of Andrew Comrie, UA Provost and professor in the UA's School of Geography and Development. Morin is now a postdoctoral researcher in Comrie's team.
"One assumption was that with rising temperatures, mosquitoes would thrive across the board," Morin said. "Our study shows this is unlikely. Rather, the effects of climate change are different depending on the region and because of that, the response of West Nile virus transmitting mosquito populations will be different as well."
"The mosquito species we study is subtropical, and at warmer temperatures the larvae develop faster," Morin explained. "However, there is a limit - if temperatures climb over that limit, mortality increases. Temperature, precipitation or both can limit the populations, depending on local conditions."
In the southwestern US for example, hotter and drier summers are expected to delay the onset of mosquito season; however, late summer and fall rains are expected to result in a longer season. Conversely, the south-central US will see fewer mosquito days due to less rain during summer and early fall. Higher temperatures projected for the shoulder seasons - spring and fall - will likely make for a longer mosquito season across much of the US, except in the Southwest during spring where severe drying inhibits population development.
Morin pointed out that while the study focused on one important part in West Nile virus' infectious cycle - mosquitoes of the species Culex quinquefasciatus - there are other mosquito species that transmit the virus. Furthermore, the virus also infects birds, another part in the cycle that was not included in the model simulations.
A so-called container breeder, Culex quinquefasciatus lays its eggs in small volumes of standing water. The larvae therefore depend heavily on precipitation, unlike species that prefer larger bodies of water such as lakes.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 70 to 80 percent of people infected with West Nile virus do not develop symptoms. The remaining 20 percent will have flu-like symptoms for a week or two, while severe effects are limited to less than 1 percent of infected individuals. They include encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) or meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord) and mostly affect the elderly and individuals with compromised immune response.
First detected in North America in 1999, West Nile virus has since spread across the continental United States and Canada. Cases of humans infected with West Nile virus have been documented in every state in the contiguous United States. The areas of major epidemics vary from year to year. The largest most recent outbreak occurred in Texas in 2012, with 1,868 disease cases reported to the CDC.
"'Which locations are likely to experience epidemics in the future?' - those are the kinds of questions studies like ours may help prepare for," said Morin. "We don't model the actual virus, we only look at the vector, but our study informs at least one part of the ecology of the virus. It is unique in projecting the impacts of climate change on a West Nile vector."
Morin said the study could help managers and decision makers better anticipate how mosquito populations will respond to changes in climate and prepare accordingly.
"For example, if projected precipitation and temperature changes for a given area are indicating a longer mosquito season, public health officials can plan to adapt to that possibility through abatement and awareness campaigns."
University of Arizona
Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola
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Our location is relentlessly tracked by our mobile devices. Our online transactions – both business and social – are recorded and stored in the cloud. And reams of biometric data will soon be collected by wearables. Mining this contextual data offers a significant opportunity to enhance the state of human computer interaction. But this begs the question: what exactly is ‘context’ ?
Consider the following sentence:
“As Michael was walking, he observed a bat lying on the ground.”
Now take a moment and imagine this scene in your mind.
Got it? Good.
Now a few questions. First, does the nearby image influence your interpretation of this sentence? Suppose I told you that Michael was a biologist hiking through the Amazonian rain forest. Does this additional information confirm your assumptions?
Now, suppose I told you that the image has nothing to do with the sentence, but instead it’s just a photograph I took in my own backyard and inserted into this post because I have a thing for flying mammals. Furthermore, what if I told you that Michael actually works as a ball boy at Yankee stadium? Do these additional facts alter your interpretation of the sentence? Finally, what if I confessed that I have been lying to you all along, that Michael is actually in Australia, his last name is Clarke, and that he was carrying a ball gauge? Has your idea of what I meant by ‘bat’ changed yet again? (Hint – Michael Clarke is a star cricket player.)
The point here is that contextual information – the who, what, where, and when of a situation – provides critical insights into how we interpret data. In pondering the sentence above, providing you with context – either as additional background statements or through presumed associations with nearby content – significantly altered how you interpreted that simple sentence.
At its essence, context allows us to resolve ambiguities. What do I mean by this? Think of the first name of someone you work with. Chances are good that there are many other people in the world (or at your company if your company is as big as Oracle) with that same first name. But if I know who you are (and ideally where you are) and what you are working on, and I have similar information about your colleagues, then I can make a reasonably accurate guess as to the identity of the person you are thinking of without you having to explicitly tell me anything other than their first name. Furthermore, if I am wrong, my error is understandable to you, precisely because my selection was the logical choice. Were you thinking of your colleague Madhuri in Mumbai that you worked with remotely on a project six months ago? But I guessed the Madhuri that has an office down the hall from you in Redwood City and with whom you are currently collaborating? Ok, I was wrong, but my error makes sense, doesn’t it? (In intelligent human computer interactions, the machine doesn’t always need be right as long as any errors are understandable. In fact, Chris Welty of IBM’s Watson team has argued that intelligent machines will do very well to be right 80% of the time – which of course was more than enough to beat human Jeopardy champions.)
So why is the ability to use context to resolve ambiguities important? Because – using our example – I can now take the information derived from context and provide you with a streamlined, personalized user experience that does not require you to explicitly specify the full name of your colleague – in fact, you might not need to enter any name at all if I have enough contextual background about you and what you are trying to do.
When it comes to UX, context is actually a two-way street. Traditionally, context has flowed from the machine to the user, where layout and workflow – the consequence of both visual and interaction design – has been used to inform the user as to what something means and what to do next. But as the availability of data and the complexity of systems have grown to the point of overwhelming the user, visualizations and interactions alone are not sufficient to stem the tide. Rather, context – this time emanating from the user to the machine – is the key for achieving a more simplified, personalized user experience.
Context allows us to ask the right questions and infer the correct intentions. But the retrieval of the actual answers – or the execution of the desired task – is not part of context per se. For example, using context based on user identity and past history (demographic category, movies watched in the past) can help a recommendation engine provide a more targeted search result. But context is simply used to identify the appropriate user persona – the retrieval of recommendations is done separately. Another way to express this is that context is used to decide which view to put on the data, but it is not the data itself.
Finally, how contextual information is mapped to appropriate system responses can be divided into two (not mutually exclusive) approaches, one empirical, the other deductive. First, access to Big Data allows the use of machine learning and predictive analytics to discern patterns of behavior across many people, mapping those patterns back to individual personas and transaction histories. For example, if you are browsing Amazon.com for a banana slicer and Amazon’s analytics show that people who spend a lot of time on the banana slicer page also tend to buy bread slicers, then you can be sure you will see images of bread slicers.
But while Big Data can certainly be useful, it is not required for context to be effective. This is particularly true in enterprise, where reasonable assumptions can be made from a semantic understanding of the underlying business model, and where information-rich employee data can be mined directly by the company. Are you a salesperson in territory A with customers X, Y, and Z? Well then it is safe to assume that you are interested in the economic climate in A as well as news about X, Y, and Z without you ever having to explicitly say so.
So in closing, the use of context is essential for creating simple yet powerful user experiences – and like the term ‘user experience’ itself, there is no one single implementation of context – rather, it is a concept that should pervade all aspects of human computer interaction in its myriad of forms. | <urn:uuid:9a8285d5-784f-492e-b7ab-9e3c5e3434e6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://theappslab.com/2014/09/01/context-in-ux-what-it-is-what-it-isnt-and-why-its-important-2/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00141-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957781 | 1,291 | 2.9375 | 3 |
How Does a Data Warehouse Differ From a Database
There are a number of fundamental differences which separate a data warehouse from a database. The biggest difference between the two is that most databases place an emphasis on a single application, and this application will generally be one that is based on transactions. If the data is analyzed, it will be done within a single domain, but multiple domains are not uncommon.
Some of the separate units that may be comprised within a database include payroll or inventory. Each system will place an emphasis on one subject, and it will not deal with other areas. In contrast, data warehouses deal with multiple domains simultaneously.
Because it deals with multiple subject areas, the data warehouse finds connections between them. This allows the data warehouse to show how the company is performing as a whole, rather than in individual areas. Another powerful aspect of data warehouses is their ability to support the analysis of trends. They are not volatile, and the information stored in them doesn’t change as much as it would in a common database. The two types of data that you will want to become familiar with is operational data and decision support data. The purpose, format, and structure of these two data types are quite different. In most cases, the operational data will be placed in a relational database.
In the relational database, tables are frequently used, and they may be normalized. The operational data will be calibrated in a way that allows it to deal with transactions that are made on a daily basis. Every time an item is sold to a customer by the company, a record must be made of it. As can be expected, this data will be updated on a frequent basis. To ensure the efficiency of the system, the data must be placed in a certain number of tables, and the tables must have fields. Because of this, a single transaction may be comprised of at least five fields. While this system may be highly efficient in an operational database, it is not conducive to queries. In this situation, decision support data is often useful, and it offers support for things that are not readily used by operational data.
If you wish to take out a single invoice, you will often be required to join multiple tables. While operational data will deal mostly with transactions that are made daily, decision support data will give meaning to the data that is operational. The differences between decision support data and operational data can be split into three categories, and these are dimensionality, timespan, and granularity. Dimensionality is a concept which shows that the data is connected in various ways. The data that is stored in a data warehouse will often be multidimensional, and it is much different than the simple view that is often seen with operational data. Many data analysts are concerned with the many dimensional aspects of data.
The timespan deals with transactions that are atomic, or current. These transactions will deal with things such as the inventory movement, or the purchase of an order. Generally, operational data will deal with a short time frame. However, decision support data tends to deal with long time frames. Many company managers are interested in transactions that occured over a certain time period. Instead of dealing with the purchase of one customer, managers are often more interested in the buying patterns of a group of customers. If a sale has just been made, it will not be found in a decision support data warehouse.
Granularity is the third concept that separates operational data from decision support data. Operational data will deal with transactions that have occured within a certain period of time. However, the decision support data must be broken down into different parts of aggregation. While it may be summarized, it may also be more current. The managers within an organization will need information that is summarized at various degrees. Data warehouses have become more important in the Information Age, and they are a necessity for many large corporations, as well as some medium sized businesses. They are much more elaborate than a mere database, and they can find connections in data that cannot be readily found within most databases. | <urn:uuid:621deed3-ecab-460b-8d26-fbf2a3b624a9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.exforsys.com/tutorials/data-warehousing/how-does-a-data-warehouse-differ-from-a-database.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00057-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960882 | 817 | 2.5625 | 3 |
A paper in Nature Scientific Reports documents that dogs displaced by the Fukushima disaster (March 11 2011) show persistent signs of stress and symptoms of PTSD.
The authors compared dogs displaced by the disaster in Fukushima to abandoned dogs in Kanagawa, a region not affected by the earthquake.
Compared to the Kanagawan dogs, the Fukushima group had a persistent state of elevated cortisol levels. Ten weeks after being admitted the Fukushima dogs had cortisol levels 5-10 times higher.
They also showed reduced trainability, attachment and separation anxiety. The authors also highlight the fact that Fukushima dogs had lowered trainability and attachment which is also observed in people with PTSD.
Finally it is interesting to note that the Fukushima dogs had lower aggression when compared to the other dogs. This is specially noteworthy considering that shelter associated stress typically manifests itself in increased aggression.
Unfortunately the authors did not explore this difference this apparent paradox. Did the high stress repress this typical response? Is this why some seemingly unaggressive dogs become aggressive once they feel safe in their adopted homes? I think it’s worth investigating.
The paper does point to the persistent negative effects experienced by the Fukushima dogs and the possible need for long-term care and intervention.
Nagasawa M, Mogi K, Kikusui T. (2012) Continued Distress among Abandoned Dogs in Fukushima. Sci Rep. 2012;2:724. doi: 10.1038/srep00724. Epub 2012 Oct 11. OPEN ACCESS | <urn:uuid:4654d609-13df-4489-8e19-3358ebea7ab5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://dogbehaviorscience.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/fukushima-dogs-experience-persistent-distress/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946863 | 306 | 2.625 | 3 |
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2006 August 23
Explanation: What's causing seasonal dark spots on Mars? Every spring, strange dark spots appear near the Martian poles, and then vanish a few months later. These spots typically span 50 meters across and appear fan shaped. Recent observations made with THEMIS instrument onboard NASA's Mars Odyssey, currently orbiting Mars, found the spots to be as cold as the carbon dioxide (CO2) ice beneath them. Based on this evidence, a new hypothesis has been suggested where the spots are caused by explosive jets of sand-laden CO2. As a pole warms up in the spring, frozen CO2 on the surface thins, perforates, and begins to vent gaseous CO2 held underneath. Within this hypothesis, interspersed dark sand would explain the color of the spots, while the underlying frozen CO2 would explain the coolness of the spots. Pictured above, an artist depicts what it might be like to stand on Mars and witness the venting of these tremendous gas and dust jets.
Authors & editors:
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: EUD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U. | <urn:uuid:9a087476-f5f9-4b12-b485-1a9d9a5d0e9f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060823.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00125-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91535 | 286 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Hurricane forecasters are predicting less storms than previously expected. Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University is lowering the forecast from nine to eight hurricanes for 2007.
Among those hurricanes, now only four are expected to be intense, down from five.
Researchers say the lower numbers are a reflection on slightly less favorable conditions for storms in the Atlantic. On average, six hurricanes usually form annually.
In 2005, 15 hurricanes formed in the Atlantic, none reaching the U.S.
The Atlantic storm season runs until November 30. | <urn:uuid:ace19cfa-8b4c-4981-9d2c-550b1cd12f08> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wctv.tv/weather/headlines/8921787.html?site=mobile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00112-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931383 | 107 | 2.828125 | 3 |
With Pottermore, the new online community based on the world of Harry Potter, preparing to go into beta, The Guardian looks at how children’s books can often lend themselves to leaching into the real world:
Pottermore may be the most ambitious attempt to extend the legacy of a children's book, but it's just the logical technological extension of a process that began when print ceased to be the sole means of mass communication. Kids' books have become radio and TV serials, feature films, cartoons, audiobooks – and now they are becoming apps, websites and more.The full piece is here. You can’t register for Pottermore yet, but when you can, you’ll do so here.
But isn't there a risk that all the bells and whistles take away from the original book, restricting the limits of the young reader's imagination – especially with films? "There can be the danger that the visual impact takes over," says Elv Moody, the editorial director of Classic Puffin. "But sometimes it can work the other way. Film can be a great way into a book that might have seemed too grown-up to read." She thinks this autumn's films of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Three Musketeers will attract a new audience to those books, and points out that Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland prompted a massive uplift in sales of Lewis Carroll's original book – even the Puffin edition, which had no film tie-in. | <urn:uuid:c973b8d5-951e-492b-9ce6-88e78bc4a885> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://januarymagazine.blogspot.com/2011/10/childrens-books-move-successfully-into.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00145-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953723 | 311 | 2.59375 | 3 |
President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale.
-- Alberto Gonzales, testifying in a Senate Committee Hearing, February 6, 2006 (video here).
I'm sure they did, Mr. Gonzales. History Lessons:
1752 Benjamin Franklin does experiment with kite and lightning.
1775 George Washington named Commander in Chief of Revolutionary War.
1781 Revolutionary War ends when British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia.
1789 George Washington takes office as President of the United States.
1791 Bill of Rights ratified.
1797 John Adams takes office as the second President of the United States.
1798 Alien and Sedition Acts adopted.
1801 Thomas Jefferson takes office as the third President of the United States.
1801 Benjamin Franklin's grandson and others convicted under the Alien and Sedition Acts were pardoned, and the fines paid were reimbursed with interest.
1844 Telegraph invented.
1858 First transatlantic telegraph line completed.
1861 Civil War begins; First transcontinental telegraph lines opens.
1865 Abraham Lincoln Assassinated; Civil War ends.
1866 Lincoln's enemy combatant policy held unconstitutional in Ex Parte Milligan.
1867 Telegraph messages send during year nationwide approximately 5.8 million.
1869 First transcontinental railroad completed.
1876 Telephone invented.
1879 Electric light and radio invented.
1880 47,900 telephones in the United States.
1891 First automatic telephone exchange invented.
1901 Theodore Roosevelt takes office as President.
1913 Woodrow Wilson takes office as successor to Theodore Roosevelt as President.
1914 Fourth Amendment Exclusionary Rule adopted in Weeks v. United States.
1917 United States joins World War I.
1919 World War I ends.
1921 Woodrow Wilson leaves the Presidency.
1922 First radio station opened.
1927 First talking motion picture; first prototype television built.
1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt takes office as President.
1941 United States joins World War II.
1945 Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies in office; World War II ends.
1972 U.S. Supreme Court holds President is not above the law. U.S. v. Nixon.
1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) passed by Congress.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveilence Act was passed, at the request of President Ford's Administration, more than thirty years after the second President Roosevelt died in office (I presume that Mr. Gonzales meant Franklin and not Teddy). Some of Lincoln's wartime tactics were held unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court even then. President Washington's wartime years preceded not only any communications use of electricity, but also the Bill of Rights.
We now know why he wasn't placed under oath. I wonder if Ken Salazar is still glad that he broke with his party to support this man's confirmation now? | <urn:uuid:65ac335a-a981-4384-918f-7012343573d4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://washparkprophet.blogspot.com/2006/02/yes-this-man-is-our-attorney-general.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00132-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923167 | 606 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Heart Rhythm Disorders
Atrial fibrillation and other heart rhythm disorders of the heart affect millions of people nationwide, including many patients who come to Sacred Heart Regional Heart & Vascular Institute in Pensacola for treatment that often enables them to resume normal lives.
The most common heart rhythm disorder is atrial fibrillation, often called AFIB, which produces a disorganized, abnormal heartbeat. It becomes more prevalent as people age.
At Sacred Heart, AFIB patients are treated by skilled cardiologists who specialize in electrophysiology -- the wiring of the heart. They prescribe medication to control the symptoms and prevent strokes, which can be deadly.Sacred Heart and its cardiologists also have expertise in performing catheter ablation procedures to interrupt abnormal electrical pathways in the heart. Using a catheter that delivers high-intensity energy to the inside of the heart, our electrophysiologists can cure or significantly improve certain disabling and life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias.
For patients who cannot be helped by medication or a catheter ablation procedure, Sacred Heart also offers a surgical option to treat atrial fibrilation, a common but potentially deadly heart rhythm disorder. The new surgical approach uses a high intensity ultrasound device to safely treat irregular heartbeat without having to place the patient on a heart-lung bypass machine. The procedure destroys specific heart muscle cells that transmit erratic heart rhythms.
For patients at high risk of cardiac arrest and sudden death, Sacred Heart also can implant cardioverter-defibrillator devices including smaller investigational devices that no longer require opening the chest cavity.
For more information, call our Cardiac Nurse Navigators at 850-416-BEAT (2328). | <urn:uuid:f6367736-2c4d-4d95-8aa6-b653c8b8bd60> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sacred-heart.org/heart/services/?754 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00055-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.896601 | 348 | 2.796875 | 3 |
While this may be the first that you've heard of bird poop facials, as we've mentioned already, they've been around for quite a while in Japan. Uguisu no fun is a traditional part of a geisha's beauty regimen. Shops in towns with geisha houses (called hanamachi) sell traditional products catering specifically to them, including their distinctive clothing, shoes, wigs, instruments and cosmetics. Uguisu no fun is just another available product, although that doesn't mean that all geisha use it.
The practice of using nightingale poop didn't actually originate in Japan; it was first introduced to the Japanese by Koreans during the Heian period, which ran from 794 to 1185. This era is considered important for several reasons, including peaks in culture and art. The Koreans used the poop to strip dye from fabric and create beautiful, intricate patterns on clothing. This remained its primary use in Japan until the Edo period, which ran from 1603 to 1868. Although female entertainers existed in Japan prior to this time, the modern geisha is thought to have originated in the 1700s. Kabuki, a style of theatre involving elaborate makeup, also became popular.
Both geisha and Kabuki actors have traditionally worn heavy white makeup. Originally, it was made with ingredients like zinc and lead, which proved to cause serious skin disease and other problems. Then it was discovered that using uguisu no fun completely removed the makeup as well as served to condition and soothe the skin. Although the makeup is no longer made with these ingredients, uguisu no fun had secured its place. Buddhist monks also began using it to clean and polish their bald scalps.
Want to read more about some unusual beauty treatments? See the next page for more articles. | <urn:uuid:8fb097c9-a8b2-4a15-b571-0d40096db8fe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/beauty/skin-treatments/geisha-facial3.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00150-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979412 | 368 | 2.59375 | 3 |
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Population statistics are measures of the size, change, composition and distribution of the population as well as the components that shape population change. Although population statistics are not in themselves indicators of well-being, they underpin the discussion of a wide range of issues relating to the population, including migration, immigration, multiculturalism, ageing and population sustainability.
POPULATION SUMMARY, Tasmania - As at 30 June
(a) Change from previous year.
(b) The difference between births and deaths figures based on year of occurrence.
(c) Figures have been adjusted for changes in traveller intention and multiple movement.
(d) Experimental estimated resident Indigenous population, Low series.
(e) The age at which half the population is older and half is younger.
(f) The number of males per 100 females in a given population.
(g) Figures based on year of registration of usual residence and may differ from data based on year of occurrence.
(h) The number of children a woman would bear during her lifetime if she experienced current age-specific fertility rates at each age of her reproductive life.
(i) Allows a comparison of death rates between populations with different age structures by relating them to a standard population (in this instance all persons in the 2001 Australian population). It is the overall death rate that would have prevailed in the standard population if it had experienced at each age the death rates of the population under study.
(j) The number of deaths of children aged less than one year in a financial year per 1,000 live births in the same year.
(k) Number per 1,000 of the mid year estimated resident population.
Source: Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0); Population by Age and Sex (cat. no. 3201.0); Australian Historical Population Statistics (cat. no. 3105.0.65.001), Marriages, Australia (cat. no. 3306.0.55.001) and Divorces, Australia (cat. no. 3307.0.55.001). | <urn:uuid:0dedbb85-fce4-47dc-9496-eca8d9dcac42> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/513240D577E3A236CA257258000C7E12?opendocument | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00041-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931676 | 442 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Resolutions and Recommendations
Meetings CJ-S-NAT (2008)
Meetings CJ-NA (up to 2005)
Bilateral co-operation activities
European Union Democracy Observatory on Citizenship (EUDO)
Enacting European Citizenship (ENACT)
Constitution of the Principality of Andorra
Chapter I.General principles
Chapter II. Andorran nationality
Chapter III.The fundamental rights of the person and public freedoms
Chapter IV.Political rights of Andorran nationals
Chapter V.Rights, and economic, social and cultural principles.
Chapter VI- Duties of Andorran nationals and of aliens
Chapter VII.Guarantees of rights and freedoms
The Andorran People, with full liberty and independence, and in the exercise of their own sovereignty,
Conscious of the need to conform the institutional structure of Andorra to the new circumstances brought about by the evolution of the geographical, historical and socio-cultural environment in which it is situated, as well as of the need to regulate the relations which the institutions dating back to the Pareatges1 shall have within this new legal framework,
Resolved of the need to be endowed with all the mechanisms leading to juridical security in the exercise of the fundamental rights of the individual, which, although always present and respected in the nature of Andorran society, have not received the protection of any kind of general laws,
Eager to use every endeavour to promote values such as liberty, justice, democracy and social progress, and to keep and strengthen the harmonious relations of Andorra with the rest of the world, and especially with the neighbouring countries, on the basis of mutual respect, co-existence and peace,
Willing to bring their collaboration and effort to all the common causes of mankind, and especially to those of preserving the integrity of the Earth and guaranteeing an environment fit for life for the coming generations,
Desiring that the motto “virtus, unita, fortior” which has presided over the peaceful journey of Andorra over its more than seven hundred years of history, may continue to be a completely valid principle and may always guide the conduct of Andorrans,
Approve the present Constitution, in the exercise of their sovereignty.
1.Andorra is a Democratic and Social independent State abiding by the Rule of Law. Its official name is Principat d’Andorra2.
2.The Constitution proclaims that the action of the Andorran State is inspired by the principles of respect and promotion of liberty, equality, justice, tolerance, defence of human rights and dignity of the person.
3.Sovereignty is vested in the Andorran People, who exercise it through the different means of participation and by way of the institutions established in this Constitution.
4.The political system of Andorra is a parliamentary Coprincipat3.
5.Andorra is composed of the Parròquies4 of Canillo, Encamp, Ordino, La Massana, Andorra la Vella, Sant Julià de Lòria and Escaldes-Engordany.
1.Catalan is the official language of the State.
2.The national anthem, the State flag and the coat of arms of Andorra are the traditional ones.
3.Andorra la Vella is the capital of the State.
1.The present Constitution, which is the highest rule of the legal system, binds all the public institution as well as the individuals.
2.The Constitution recognizes the principles of equality, hierarchy, publicity of the judicial rules, non-retroactivity of the rules restricting individual rights or those that are unfavorable in their effect or sanction, juridical security, accountability of public institutions and prohibition of any kind of arbitrariness.
3.The universally recognized principles of international public law are incorporated into the legal system Andorra.
4.The treaties and international agreements take effect in the legal system from the moment of their publication in the Butlletí Oficial del Principat d’Andorra5 and cannot be amended or repealed by law.
The Constitution recognises human dignity to be inalienable and therefore guarantees the inviolable and imprescriptible rights of the individual, which constitute the foundation of political order, social peace and justice.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is binding in Andorra.
1.All persons are equal before the law. No one may be discriminated against on grounds of birth, race, sex, origin, religion, opinions or any other personal or social condition.
2.Public authorities shall create the conditions such that the equality and the liberty of the individuals may be real and effective.
1.The status of Andorran national, as well as its legal effects, is acquired, kept and lost in accordance with the regulations of a Llei Qualificada.6
2.The acquisition or retention of a nationality other than Andorran shall entail the loss of the latter, subject to the terms and periods established by law.
1.The Constitution recognises the right to life and fully protects it in its different phases.
2.All persons have the right to physical and moral integrity. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
3.The death penalty is prohibited.
1.All persons have the right to liberty and security and shall only be deprived of them
on such grounds and in accordance with such procedures as are established in the Constitution and the laws.
2.Executive detention shall take no longer than the time needed to carry out the enquiries in relation to the clarification of the case, and in all cases the detained shall be brought before the judge within 48 hours.
3.The law shall establish a procedure so that the detained may request the court to decide about the lawfulness of the detention. Likewise the law shall establish the procedure to restore the impaired fundamental rights of any person under detention.
4.No one shall be held criminally or administratively liable on account of any acts or omissions which were lawful at the time when they were committed.
1.All persons shall have the right to jurisdiction and to have a ruling founded in the law, and to a due trial before an impartial tribunal established by law.
2.All persons shall have the right to counsel and the technical assistance of a competent lawyer, to trial within a reasonable time, to the presumption of innocence, to be informed of the charges against them, not to declare themselves guilty, not to testify against themselves and to appeal in criminal causes.
3.In order to guarantee the principle of equality, the law shall regulate the cases when justice shall be free of cost.
1.The Constitution guarantees the freedom of ideas, religion and cult, and no one is bound to state or disclose his or her ideology, religion or beliefs.
2.Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.
3.The Constitution guarantees the Roman Catholic Church free and public exercise of its activities and the preservation of the relations of special co-operation with the State in accordance with the Andorran tradition.
The Constitution recognises the full legal capacity of the bodies of the Roman Catholic Church which have legal status in accordance with their own rules.
Freedoms of expression, of communication and of information are guaranteed. The law shall regulate the right of reply, the right of correction and professional secrecy. Preliminary censorship or any other means of ideological control on the part of the public authorities shall be prohibited.
1.The civil status of persons and forms of marriage shall be regulated by law. The civil effects of Canon Law marriage shall be recognised.
2.The public authorities shall promote a policy of protection of the family, which is the basic foundation of society.
3.Both spouses have the same rights and duties. All children are equal before the law, regardless of their parentage.
The right to privacy, honour and reputation shall be guaranteed. All shall be protected by law against unlawful interference in their family and private life.
Inviolability of the dwelling shall be guaranteed. No one shall enter a dwelling or any other premises against the will of the owner or without a warrant, except in case of flagrant delicto. The privacy of communication shall also be guaranteed, except upon a reasoned court order.
The right to meet and assemble for any lawful purpose shall be respected. The exercise of the right of assembly requires that the authorities be notified in advance, and shall not prevent the free movement of goods and people.
The right to associate for a lawful purpose shall be recognised. A law shall establish a Registry of the associations which may be constituted.
The right to form and maintain managerial, professional and trade-union associations shall be recognised. Without prejudice to their links with international institutions, these organizations shall operate within the limits of Andorra, shall have their own autonomy without any organic dependence on foreign bodies and shall function democratically
Workers and employers have the right to defend their own economic and social interests. A Law shall regulate the conditions to exercise this right in order to guarantee the functioning of the services essential to the community.
1.All persons have the right to education, which shall be oriented towards the dignity and full development of the human personality, thus strengthening the respect for freedom and the fundamental rights.
2.Freedom of teaching and of establishing teaching centres shall be recognised.
3.Parents have the right to decide the type of education for their children. They also have the right to moral or religious instruction for their children in accordance with their own convictions.
1.Everyone has the right to move freely throughout the national territory and to enter and leave the country in accordance with the laws.
2.Andorran nationals and lawful resident aliens have the right freely to choose their residence in Andorra.
The non-renewal of the residence permit or the expulsion of a lawful resident shall only be decided pursuant to the cause and terms determined by law, after a non-appealable court decision, if the interested person exercises his or her right to jurisdiction.
Everyone with a direct interest has the right to petition the public authorities in the form and with the effects provided by law.
All Andorrans of age, in full use of their rights, enjoy the right of suffrage.
All Andorran nationals have the right of accession to public service and office under the same conditions and in accordance with the requirements determined by law. The exercise of institutional posts is reserved to Andorrans, with the exceptions that may be provided for in this Constitution or in international treaties.
Andorrans have the right freely to create political parties. Their functioning and organization must be democratic and their activities lawful. The suspension of their activities and their dissolution is the responsibility of the judicial organs.
1.Private property and the rights of inheritance are recognised without other limits than those derived from the social function of property.
2.No one shall be deprived of his or her goods or rights, unless upon justified consideration of the public interest, with just compensation by or pursuant to a law.
The right of enterprise shall be recognised within the framework of the market economy and in accordance with the law
All persons have the right to work, to their promotion through work, and to just income which shall guarantee a living befitting human dignity for themselves and their families, as well as to the reasonable limitation of the working day, weekly rest and paid vacation.
The right to health protection and to receive services to look after personal needs shall be respected.
With that intent the State shall guarantee a system of Social Security.
The State has the task of ensuring the rational use of the soil and of all the natural resources, so as to guarantee a befitting quality of life for all and, for the sake of the coming generations, to restore and maintain a reasonable ecological balance in the atmosphere, water and land, as well as to protect the autochthonous flora and fauna.
The State may intervene in the ordering of the economic, commercial, labour and financial system to make possible, within the frame of a market economy system, the balanced development of the society and general welfare.
The public authorities shall promote the necessary conditions to implement the right for everyone to enjoy decent housing.
The State shall the guarantee the conservation, promotion and diffusion of the historical, cultural and artistic heritage of Andorra.
The rights of consumers and users shall be guaranteed by law and protected by the public authorities.
The State may create media of social communication. In accordance with the principles of participation and pluralism, a law will regulate their organization and control by the Consell General.7
All individuals and juridical persons shall contribute to the public expenditure depending on their economic capacity, by means of a just taxing system, pursuant to a law and founded upon the principles of generality and equitative distribution of tax burdens.
The Sate may create by law types of community service to pursue tasks of general interest.
1.The rights and freedoms recognised in chapters III and IV of this Title bind immediately all public authorities as directly enforceable law. Their contents cannot be limited by law and are protected by the Courts.
2.Aliens legally resident in Andorra can freely exercise the rights and freedoms of chapter II of this Title.
3.The rights of chapter V form the basis of the legislation and the actions of the public authorities, but they may only be invoked within the conditions determined by the laws.
The exercise of the rights recognised in this Title may only be regulated by law. The rights of chapters III and IV shall be regulated by means of lleis qualificades.
1.The rights and freedoms recognised in chapters III and IV are protected by regular courts through urgent and preferent proceedings regulated by law, which in any case shall be transacted in two instances.
2.A law shall create an exceptional Procedure of Appeal before the Tribunal Constitucional8 against the acts of the public authorities which may violate the essential contents of the rights mentioned in the paragraph above, with the exception of the case provided for in article 22.
1.A Llei Qualificada shall regulate the states of alarm and emergency. The former may be declared by the Govern9 in case of natural catastrophes, for a term of fifteen days, notifying the Consell General. The latter shall also be declared by the Govern for a term of their days in the case of interruption of the normal functioning of democratic life and this shall require the previous authorisation of the Consell General. Any extension of these states requires the necessary approval of the Consell General.
2.Under the state of alarm the exercise of the rights recognised in articles 21 and 27 may be limited. Under the state of emergency the rights covered by articles 9.2, 12, 15, 16, 19 and 21 may be suspended. The application of this suspension to the rights covered in articles 9.2 and 15 must apply under the control of the judiciary notwithstanding the procedure of protection established in article 9.3.
TITLE III -The Coprínceps 10
1.In accordance with the institutional tradition of Andorra, the Coprínceps are, jointly and indivisibly, the Cap de l’Estat,11 and they assume its highest representation.
2.The Coprínceps, an institution which dates from the Pareatges and their historical evolution, are in their personal and exclusive right, the Bishop of Urgell and the President of the French Republic. Their powers are equal and derive from the present Constitution. Each of them swears or affirms to exercise their functions in accordance with the present Constitution.
1.The Coprínceps are the symbol and guarantee of the permanence and continuity of Andorra as well as of its independence and the maintenance of the spirit of parity in the traditional balanced relation with the neighbouring States. They proclaim the consent of the Andorran State to honour its international obligations in accordance with the Constitution.
2.The Coprínceps arbitrate and moderate the functioning of the public authorities and of the institutions, and are regularly informed of the affairs of the State by their own initiative, or that of the Síndic General12 or the Cap de Govern13.
3.Except for the cases provided for in this constitution, the Coprínceps are immune from suit. The acts of the Coprínceps are under the responsibility of those who countersign them.
1.The Coprínceps, with the countersignature of the Cap de Govern, or when appropriate, of the Síndic General, as politically responsible:
a)Call for general elections in accordance with the Constitution.
b)Call for a referendum in accordance with articles 76 and 106 of the Constitution.
c)Appoint the Cap de Govern following the procedure provided for in the Constitution.
d)Sign the decree of dissolution of the Consell General following the procedure of article 71 of the Constitution,
e)Accredit diplomatic representatives of Andorra to foreign States. Foreign envoys present credentials to each of the two.
f)Appoint the holders of office of the other institutions of the State in accordance with the Constitution and the laws.
g)Sanction and enact the laws in accordance with article 63 of this Constitution,
h)Express the consent of the State to honour its international treaties under the provisions of chapter III of Title IV of the Constitution.
i)Perform such other functions as may specifically be conferred to them by the Constitution.
2.The dispositions provided for in letters g) and h) of this article shall be simultaneously brought to the attention of each Copríncep, who shall sanction and enact them or express the consent of the State, as may fit the case, and the Coprínceps shall ordain their publication within the period between the eighth and the fifteenth days thereafter.
In that period the Coprínceps, individually or jointly, may send a reasoned message to the Tribunal Constitucional, so that this institution may render judgment on their constitutionality. If the resolution is positive the act may be sanctioned with the signature of at least one of the Coprínceps.
3.When there may be circumstances impairing one of the Coprínceps from formalising the acts listed in part 1 of this article within the periods constitutionally provided for, his representative shall make it known to the Síndic General, or when appropriate, to the Cap de Govern. In that case, the acts, norms or decisions in question shall take effect once the aforementioned days have elapsed with the signature of the other Copríncep and the countersignature of the Cap de Govern, or, when appropriate, the Síndic General.
1.The Coprínceps may perform the following acts of their free will:
a)The combined exercise o the prerogative of grace.
b)The creation and structuring of the services considered to be necessary for the performing of their institutional functions, the appointment of the holders of these services and their accreditation to all effects.
c)The appointment of the members of the Consell Superior de la Justícia14, in accordance with article 89.2 of the Constitution.
d)The appointment of the members of the Tribunal Constitucional, in accordance with article 96.1 of the Constitution.
e)The requirement of a preliminary judgment of unconstitutionality of the laws.
f)The requirement of a judgment about the unconstitutionality of international treaties, prior to their ratification.
g)The lodging of conflict before the Tribunal Constitucional in relation to their constitutional functions, under the provisions of articles 98 and 103 of the Constitution.
h)The granting of the agreement for the adoption of the text of an international treaty, in accordance with the provisions of article 66, before its parliamentary approval.
2.The acts derived from articles 45 and 46 are exercised by the Coprínceps personally, except for the faculties provided for in letters e), f), g), and h) of this article, which may be performed by delegation.
The General Budget of the Principality shall assign an equal amount to each Copríncep, for the functioning of their services, which amount they may freely dispose of.
Each Copríncep appoints a personal representative in Andorra.
In case of vacancy of one of the Coprínceps the present Constitution recognises the validity of the mechanisms of substitution provided for in their respective legal systems, so as not to interrupt the normal functioning of the Andorran institutions.
The Consell General, which expresses the mixed and apportioned representation of the national population and of the seven Parròques, represents the Andorran people, exercises legislative powers, approves the budget of the State and prompts and controls the political action of Govern.
1.The Consellers15 are elected by universal, free, equal and direct suffrage for a four-year term. Their mandate shall cease four years after their election or on the day that the Consell General is dissolved.
2.Elections shall be held between the thirtieth and fortieth days following the dissolution of the Consell General.
3.All Andorran nationals fully enjoying their political rights are entitled to vote and to be eligible for election.
4.A Llei qualificada shall regulate the electoral system and shall envision the causes for ineligibility or incompatibility of Consellers.
The Consell General consists of a minimum of twenty-eight and a maximum of forty-two Consellers Generals, half of whom shall be elected in and equal number by each of the seven Parròquies and the other half elected on the basis of a national single constituency.
1.The members of the Consell General have the same representativity, are equal in therms of rights and duties and are not subject to any form of imperative mandate, their vote is personal and may not be delegates.
2.The Consellers may not be called to account for votes cast or any utterances made in the exercise of their functions.
3.Throughout their term the Consellers may not be arrested or detained, except in the cases of flagrant delicto. But for that case, their detention and prosecution shall be decided by the plenary session of the Tribunal de Corts16 and the trial shall be held by the Tribunal Superior17.
The Consell General draws up and modifies its own Rules of Procedure, with a majority vote of the Chamber, it fixes its budget and regulates the statute of the staff at its service.
1.The Sindicatura18 is the ruling organ of the Consell General.
2.The Consell General assembles in its inaugurating session fifteen days after the proclamation of the electoral results. The Sìndic General, the Subsíndic General19 and, should this be the case, the other members who may statutorily be part of the Sindicatura, shall be elected in that same session.
3.The Sìndic General and the Subsìndic General may not exercise their office for more than two consecutive full terms.
1.The Consell General meets in traditional ordinary and extraordinary sessions, convened in the form prescribed in the Rules of Procedure. There shall be two ordinary periods of session throughout the year, as prescribed in the Rules of Procedure. The sessions of the Consell General are public, unless otherwise decided by the absolute majority of its members.
2.The Consell General functions as a Plenum or in committees. The Rules of Procedure shall provide for the formation of legislative committees such that they represent the composition of the Chamber.
3.The Consell General appoints a Comissió Permanent20 to safeguard the powers of the Chamber while it is dissolved or in the period of recession. The Comissió Permanent, under the presidency of the Síndic General, shall be formed in a way that will represent the apportioned composition of the Chamber.
4.The Consellers may form grups parlamentaris21. The Rules of Procedure shall provide for the rights and duties of the Consellers and of the grups parlamentaris, as well as for the statute of those Consellers not attached to a group.
1.The resolutions of the Consell General shall only take effect when it meets with the minimum attendance of half of the Consellers.
2.The resolutions take effect when approved by the simple majority of the Consellers present, notwithstanding the special majorities prescribed in the Constitution.
3.The approval of the lleis qualificades prescribed by the Constitution requires the final favourable vote of the absolute majority of the members of the Consell General, except for the Lleis Qualificades of elections and referendums, as well as for those of communal competence, and of transference to the Comuns22, the approval of which requires the final favourable vote of the absolute majority of Consellers elected in parish constituencies and the absolute majority of Consellers elected in the national constituency.
1.The legislative initiative corresponds to the Consell General and to the Govern.
2.Three Comuns jointly or a tenth part electoral roll may put forward Private Members’ Bills to the Consell General.
3.Govern Bills and Private Members’ Bills shall be examined by the Plenum of the Chamber and by the committees in the form prescribed by the Rules of Procedure.
The Consell General may delegate the exercise of the legislative function to the Govern, by means of a law. This function may not be sub-delegated. The law of delegation determines the matter delegated, the principles and directives under which the corresponding legislative decree of the Govern shall be issued, as well as the term of its exercise. The authorization will provide for the parliamentary forms of control of the delegated legislation.
1.In cases of extreme urgency and need, the Govern may present the Consell General with an articled text for approval as a law, in a vote on the whole text, within the period of forty-eight hours.
2.The matters reserved to a Llei Qualificada may not be subject to legislative delegation or to the procedure provided for in part 1 of this article.
1.The initiative of the Bill of the General Budget corresponds exclusively to the Govern, which has to submit it for parliamentary approval at least two months prior to the expiration of the previous budget.
2.The Bill of the General Budget shall be given priority over other matters and it will be carried out in accordance with a specific procedure, as prescribed in the Rules of Procedure.
3.If the Bill of the General Budget has not yet been approved on the first day of the corresponding fiscal year, the Budget of the previous year shall automatically be extended until the new one may be approved.
4.The Bill of the General Budget may not impose taxes.
5.The Finance Committee of the Consell General shall make an annual revision of the execution of the Budget.
1.The Consellers and the grups parlamentaris have the right to amend Govern and Private Members' Bills.
2.The Govern may request the Consell General not to debate those amendments implying an increase of expenditure or a decrease of revenue in relation to the amounts provided for in the Law of the General Budget. The Consell General, by as absolute majority vote of the Chamber, may challenge that request by means of a reasoned motion.
Once a bill has been passed by the Consell General, the Síndic General will present it to the Coprínceps so that they may sanction it, enact it and order its publication in the Butlletí Oficial del Principat d’Andorra.
Chapter III.International treaties
1.The international treaties shall be approved by the Consell General by absolute majority of the Chamber in the following cases:
a)Treaties linking the State to an international organization.
b)Treaties related to internal security and to defence.
c)Treaties related to the territory of Andorra.
d)Treaties affecting the fundamental rights regulated in Title II.
e)Treaties implying the creation of new burdens for the Public Finances.
f)Treaties creating or modifying dispositions of a legislative nature or requiring legislative measures for their implementation.
g)Treaties dealing with diplomatic representation or consular functions, about judiciary or penitentiary cooperation.
2.The Govern shall inform the Consell General and the Copríceps of the conclusion of the other international agreements.
3.The previous agreement of the absolute majority of the Chamber shall be required for the repeal of the international treaties affecting the matters enumerated in epigraph 1.
For the purpose of furthering the interests of the Andorran people, of international progress and peace, legislative, judicial and executive functions may be relinquished only to international organizations and by means of a treaty which shall be passed by a majority of two-thirds of the members of the Consell General.
1.The Coprínceps participate in the negotiation of the treaties affecting the relations with the neighboring States when dealing with the matters enumerated in letters b), c) and g) of article 64.1.
2.The Andorran delegation with the task of negotiating the treaties mentioned in the previous paragraph, shall be composed of the members appointed by the Govern and by a member appointed by each Copríncep.
3.The adoption of the text of treaties shall require the agreement of the members appointed by the Govern and of the members appointed by the Coprínceps.
The Coprínceps are informed of the other drafts of international treaties and agreements, and by request of the Govern, they may be associated to the negotiation before their parliamentary approval, if the national interest of Andorra so requires.
Chapter IV.Relations of the Consell General with the Govern/
1.After each renewal of the Consell General, its first session, which will be held in the next eight days following the inaugurating session, shall deal with the election of the Cap de Govern.
2.The candidates shall be put up for nomination by a fifth of the members of the Consell General. Each Conseller may only endorse one candidacy.
3.The candidates shall present their programme and after a debate, the Consell General shall elect the one that obtains the absolute majority of votes, in the first public ballot after debate.
4.Should second ballot be needed, only the two contenders with the best results in the first ballot may maintain their candidacy. The candidate with more votes shall be proclaimed Cap de Govern.
5.The Síndic General shall present the result of the ballot to the Coprínceps so that the elected candidate may be appointed as the Cap de Govern, and the Síndic General shall countersign the appointment.
6.The same procedure shall be followed in the other cases of vacancy of the office of Cap de Govern.
1.The Govern as a whole is politically answerable to the Consell General.
2.A fifth of members of the Consellers may sign a reasoned motion of censure in writing against the Cap de Govern.
3.After the debate held within the third and fifth days after the presentation of the motion, there shall be a public and oral vote, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure. The motion shall be carried only if it receives the votes of the absolute majority of the Consell General.
4.If the motion of censure is approved, the Cap de Govern shall be dismissed. Immediately after, the Council shall proceed as provided for in the article above.
5.No motion of censure may be proposed within the six months following the most recent election of the Cap de Govern.
6.The signatories of a motion of censure may not propose a further one until a year has elapsed.
1.The Cap de Govern may lodge a motion of confidence before the Consell General about his programme, about a declaration of general policy or about a decision of special significance.
2.Confidence shall be considered as granted if it receives the simple majority of votes in a public, oral vote. If the Cap de Govern who does not attain this majority he or she shall tender his or her resignation.
1.The Cap de Govern, after consulting the Govern, and under his or her own responsibility, may request the Coprínceps to the dissolve the Consell General prematurely. The decree of dissolution shall call new elections in accordance with article 51.2 of the Constitution.
2.No dissolution shall be carried out after the presentation of a motion of censure or under the state of emergency.
3.No dissolution shall be carried out before one year has elapsed after the most recent elections.
1.The Govern consists of the Cap de Govern and the Ministers, their number being determined by law.
2.Under the direction of its Head, the Govern conducts the national and international policy of Andorra. It conducts the State administration and is vested with statutory powers.
3.The Public Administration serves the general interest with objectivity and works in accordance with the principles of hierarchy, efficiency, transparency and full submission to the Constitution, the laws and the general principles of the legal system defined in Title I. All their acts and provisions are subject to jurisdictional control.
The Cap de Govern is appointed by the Coprínceps, after his or her election under the terms provided for in the Constitution.
The Cap de Govern and the Ministers are subject to the same jurisdictional status as the Consellers Generals.
The Cap de Govern or, when appropriate, the competent Minister, countersigns the acts of the Coprínceps provided for in article 45.
The Cap de Govern, with the approval of the majority of the Consell General, may request the Coprínceps to call a referendum about political matters.
The Govern ceases with the dissolution of the legislature, with the resignation, death or permanent disability of the Cap de Govern, with the approval of a motion of censure or the lack of assent in a motion of confidence. In all such cases the Govern shall continue its functions until the time a new Govern is formed.
1.The Cap de Govern may not hold office for more than two consecutive complete terms.
2.Membership of the Govern is incompatible with membership of the Consell General, or with the exercise of any public office not derived from the said membership of the Govern.
1.The Comuns, as organs of representation and administration of the Parròquies, are public corporations with legal status and with local regulatory powers subject to law by means of ordinacions23, regulations and decrees. Within the area of their jurisdiction subject to the Constitution, the laws and tradition, the Comuns function under the principle of self-government, recognised and guaranteed by the Constitution.
2.The Comuns represent the interests of the Parròquies, approve and carry out the communal budget, fix and develop their public policies within the bounds of their territory and manage and administer all parish property, whether in the communal, public, patrimonial or private domain.
3.Their ruling organs are elected democratically.
1.Within the framework of their administrative and financial autonomy, the Comuns have their powers delimited by a Llei Qualificada, at least in the following matters:
b)Electoral roll. Participation in the management of the electoral procedure and administration under the terms provided for by the law.
d)Commerce, industry and professional activities.
e)Delimitation of the communal territory.
f)Property of their own, and of the communal public domain.
k)Culture, sports and social activities.
l)Communal public services.
2.Within the framework of the State’s power to impose taxes, the aforementioned Llei Qualificada determines the economic and fiscal faculties of the Comuns needed for the exercise of their jurisdiction. These faculties shall deal at least, with the use and exploitation of natural resources, traditional tributes, and with the taxes for communal services, administrative licences, establishment of commercial, industrial and professional activities and real estate.
3.Matters under the jurisdiction of the State may be delegated to the Parròquies by law.
In order to ensure the economic capacity of the Comuns, a Llei Qualificada shall determine the transfer of funds from the General Budget to the Comuns, and guarantee that one part of these funds be apportioned in equal quantities to each of the Parròquies, and the other part to be shared proportionally on grounds of population, extension of their territory and other indicators.
1.Conflicts arising from the interpretation or exercise of jurisdiction between the general organs of the State and the Comuns shall be settled by the Tribunal Constitucional.
2.The acts of the Comuns shall be directly enforced through the means established by law. Against such acts administrative and jurisdictional appeals may be lodged with the purpose of controlling their conformity with the legal system.
The Comuns have legislative initiative and are entitled to lodge appeals of unconstitutionality under the terms provided for in the Constitution.
The laws shall take into account custom and usage in order to determine the jurisdiction of Quarts and Veïnats24,as well as their relationship with the Comuns.
1.In the name of the Andorran people, justice is solely administered by independent judges, with security of tenure, and while in the performance of their judicial functions, bound only to the Constitution and the laws.
2.The whole judicial power is vested in a uniform organization of Justice. Its structure, functioning and the legal status of its members shall be regulated by a Llei Qualificada. No special jurisdiction shall be established.
1.The rules of jurisdiction and procedure applying to the Administration of Justice are reserved to the law.
2.In all cases, judgments shall be justified, founded in the legal system and publicly declared.
3.Criminal trials are public, notwithstanding the limitations provided for by the law. Its procedure is preferently oral. The judgment which ends the first instance shall be rendered by a judicial organ different from the one in charge of the proceedings, and this judgment may always be subject to appeal.
4.The jurisdictional defence of the general interest may be carried out by means of popular action in the cases regulated by the laws of procedure.
The judicial power is held by the Batlles25, the Tribunal de Batlles26, the Tribunal de Corts, and the Tribunal Superior de la Justícia d’Andorra27, as well as by the respective presidents of those courts, in accordance with the laws.
Judgments, once final, have the value of res judicata and may not be modified or quashed except in the cases provided for by the law or when, in exceptional cases, the Tribunal Constitucional, after the corresponding process of Constitutional appeal, decides that they were rendered in violation of certain fundamental rights.
1.The Consell Superior de la Justícia, as the organ of representation, direction and administration of the organization of Justice, watches over the independence and proper functioning of the Justice. All its members shall be Andorran nationals.
2.The Consell Superior de la Justícia consists of five members appointed among Andorrans over twenty-five years of age, conversant with the Administration of Justice. One shall be appointed by each Copríncep, one by the Síndic General, one by the Cap de Govern and one by Magistrates and Batlles. They hold office for a six-year term and may not be elected twice consecutively. The Consell Superior de la Justícia is presided over by the member appointed by the Síndic General.
3.The Consell Superior de la Justícia appoints Batlles and Magistrates, exercises disciplinary authority over them and promotes the conditions for the Administration of Justice to carry out its duties with the means available. In order to fulfil this aim it may render its opinion in relation to the drafting of bills affecting the Judiciary or to report on the situation of latter.
4.The Llei Qualificada concerning the Judiciary shall regulate the functions and jurisdiction of this Consell Superior.
1.All Judges, whatever their rank, shall be appointed for a renewable six year term, by academically qualified lawyers and with technical capacity for the performance of the judicial office.
2.The Presidents of the Tribunal de Batlles, the Tribunal de Corts, and the Tribunal Superior de la Justícia are appointed by the Consell Superior de la Justícia. The length of their term of office and the conditions for their eligibility shall be determined by the Llei Qualificada mentioned in article 89.4 of the Constitution.
1.The office of Judge is not compatible with any other public post or with the exercise of commercial, industrial or professional activities. Remuneration of Judges is in the sole responsibility of the State Budget.
2.While Judges hold office they may not be reproved, displaced, suspended, or removed from their post, unless pursuant to a sanction imposed on grounds of disciplinary or criminal liability, by means of a procedure regulated by the Llei Qualificada and with the rights of hearing and defence fully guaranteed. The same law shall also regulate the cases of civil liability of Judges.
In accordance with the laws and notwithstanding the personal liability of those who caused them, the State shall cover the damages for the problems caused by the miscarriage of justice or the abnormal functioning of the Administration of Justice.
1.The Public Prosecution has the task of watching over the defence and enforcement of the legal system, and the independence of courts, as well as the task of promoting before them the enforcement of the law, in order to safeguard the rights of the citizens and the protection of the general interest.
2.The Public Prosecution is composed of members appointed by the Consell Superior de la Justícia, upon the advice of the Govern, for renewable six-year terms, by persons qualifying to be appointed as Judge. Their legal status shall be regulated by law.
3.The Public Prosecution, presided over by the Fiscal General de l’Estat, functions in accordance with the principles of legality, unity and internal hierarchy.
The Judges and the Public Prosecution are in charge of police activities related to judicial matters as provided for the law.
1.The Tribunal Constitucional is the supreme interpreter of the Constitution, functions jurisdictionally, and its decisions bind public authorities and individuals alike.
2.The Tribunal Constitucional decides on its own rules of procedure and carries out its functions subject only to the Constitution and the corresponding Llei Qualificada regulating it.
1.The Tribunal Constitucional is composed of four Constitutional magistrates, appointed among persons of known juridical or institutional experience, one by each of the Copríceps and two by the Consell General. They may not hold office for more than two consecutive eight-year terms. The renewal of the Tribunal Constitucional will be partial. The system of incompatibility shall be regulated by the Llei Qualificada mentioned in the preceding article.
2.The Tribunal Contitucional is presided over by the Magistrate to whom the post corresponds, on the basis of a two-year rotation system.
1.The Tribunal Constitucional takes its decisions by a majority vote. Its votes and its debates are secret. The chairman, always chosen by drawing lots, has the deciding vote in case of a tie.
2.The judgments which partially or wholly uphold the appeal have to determine the scope and extension of its consequences.
a)Appeals of unconstitutionality against laws, executive regulations and the Rules of Procedure of the Consell General.
b)Requests of preliminary opinion of unconstitutionality about international laws and treaties.
c)Processes of constitutional appeal.
d)Conflicts of jurisdiction between constitutional organs. To this effect the Coprínceps, the Consell General, the Govern, the Consell Superior de la Justícia and the Comuns are considered as constitutional organs.
1.Appeals of unconstitutionality against laws or statutory rules may be lodged by one fifth of the Consell General, the Cap de Govern and three Comuns. One fifth of the Consell General may lodge and appeal of unconstitutionality against the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber. The appeal shall be lodged within the thirty days following the publication of the rule.
2.The lodging of the appeal does not suspend the enforcement of the rule under appeal. The Court shall pass judgment within the maximum period of two months.
1.If, in the course of litigation, a court has reasoned and founded doubts about the constitutionality of a law or a legislative decree, the application of which is relevant to its decision, it shall request in writing the decision of the Tribunal Constitucional about the validity of the rule affected.
2.The Tribunal Constitucional may not admit the transaction of the request without further appeal. If the request is admitted judgment shall be passed within the maximum period of two months.
1.The Coprínceps, under the provisions of article 46.1.f), the Cap de Govern or a fifth of the Consell General, may request an opinion about the constitutionality of international treaties prior to their ratification. The proceedings with that intent shall take priority.
2.The judgment admitting the unconstitutionality of the treaty shall prevent its ratification. In all cases the conclusion of an international treaty including stipulations contrary to the Constitution shall require the previous revision of the latter.
A constitutional appeal against the acts of public authorities impairing fundamental rights may be lodged by:
a)Those having been part or accessory to the previous legal proceedings referred to in article 41.2 of this Constitution.
b)Those having a legal interest related to non-enforceable provisions or acts of the Consell General.
c)The Public Prosecution in case of violation of the fundamental right to jurisdiction.
1.Conflicts between the constitutional organs shall arise when one of them alleges that another is illegitimately carrying out the tasks which are constitutionally under the jurisdiction of the first.
2.The Tribunal Constitucional may provisorily stay the enforcement of the rules or acts under appeal, and when appropriate, give orders for the acts which originated the conflict to be stopped.
3.The judgment shall determine and confer jurisdiction to one of the disputing parties.
4.The lodging of a conflict of jurisdiction prevents the matter from coming before the Administration of Justice.
5.The law shall regulate the cases in which a conflict of jurisdiction may arise on grounds of the non-exercise by constitutional organs of the jurisdiction to which they are entitled.
A Llei Qualificada shall regulate the legal status of the members of the Tribunal Constitucional, the constitutional proceedings and the functioning of the institution.
The right to initiate the revision of the Constitution shall lie with the Coprínceps jointly or a third part of the members of the Consell General.
The revision of the Constitution shall require the approval of the Consell General by a majority of two-thirds of the members of the Chamber. Immediately after its approval the proposal shall be submitted to ratification in a referendum.
Once the procedure established in article 106 has been carried out, the Coprínceps shall sanction the new constitutional text for its promulgation and coming into force.
The Consell General and the Govern have the mandate of the Constitution so that, jointly with the Coprínceps, they may start negotiations with the governments of France and Spain with the purpose of signing an international three-party treaty which shall establish the framework of relations with the neighbouring States, on the basis of respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Andorra.
The post of diplomatic representation of a State in Andorra is not compatible with the holding of any other public office.
1.The same Consell General which has approved this Constitution shall convene and extraordinary period of sessions to approve at least the Rules of Procedure of the Consell General and the lleis qualificades related to the electoral system, the jurisdiction and financing system of the Comuns, the Judiciary and the Tribunal Constitucional. This period of sessions shall end on the thirty-first day of December of 1993.
2.In that period, starting on the first working day following the publication of the Constitution, the Consell General may not be dissolved and shall carry out all the functions conferred to it by the Constitution.
3.On the eighth day of September of 1993, the feast day of Our Lady of Meritxell, the Síndic General shall call general elections, which shall be held in the first half of December of this year.
4.The end of this period of sessions shall imply the dissolution of the Consell General and the dismissal of the Govern, which shall function ad interim until the forming of the new one, in accordance with the Constitution.
1.The Llei qualificada concerning the Judiciary shall envisage, on a balanced basis, the appointment of Judges and Public Prosecutors from the neighbouring States while it is not possible to do otherwise.
This law, as well as the law concerning the Tribunal Consitucional shall regulate the status of nationality of Judges and Magistrates who are not Andorran.
2.The Llei Qualificada concerning the Judiciary shall establish the transitional system for the continuity in office of those judges who, at the moment of its promulgation, are not holders of the academic qualifications provided for in the Constitution.
3.The aforementioned Llei qualificada concerning the Judiciary shall envisage the systems of conformity of the pending proceedings and causes to the judicial and procedural system provided for in this Constitution, so as to guarantee the right to jurisdiction.
4.The laws rules valid at the moment the Tribunal Constitucional is established, may be subject to a direct constitutional appeal within a period of three months, following the taking up of office of the constitutional Magistrates. The organs entitled to lodge such an appeal shall be the ones provided for in article 99 of the Constitution.
5.In the period of the first term following the coming into effect of the Constitution, the representatives of the Coprínceps in the Consell Superior de la Justícia may not of necessity be Andorran nationals.
1.The institutional agencies of the Coprínceps, the functions and jurisdiction of which have been conferred by this Constitution to other State organs, shall be transferred to the mentioned organs. With that purpose, a technical commission shall be set up. It shall be composed of a representative of each Copríncep, two of the Consell General, and two of the Govern and shall prepare and address a report to the Consell General for it to take the necessary steps in order to make the transfers effective within the period of time mentioned in the First Transitional Provision.
2.The same commission shall carry out the necessary arrangements to put the police services under the exclusive control of the Govern within the period of two months following the coming into effect of the Constitution.
With the coming into effect of this Constitution all previous rules contrary to it are hereby revoked.
The Constitution shall come into effect immediately upon its publication in the Butlletí Oficial del Principat d’Andorra.
And we the Coprínceps, after the adoption of the Constitution by the Consell in a solemn session on the second day of February of 1993, and after its approval by the Andorran People in the referendum held on the fourteenth day of March of 1993, make it ours, ratify, sanction and enact it, and, for general cognizance, we do order its publication.
Casa de la Vall, the twenty-eighth day of April of 1993
President of the French Republic Copríncep of Andorra
Jordi Farràs Forné
Joan Martí Alanís
Bishop of Urgell Copríncep of Andorra
1 Two thirteenth century sentences which decide on various points of dispute between the Count of Foix and the Bishop of Urgell, about the exercise of their feudal powers over the Valleys of Andorra.
2 Principality of Andorra.
4 Traditional division of the territory in Andorra.
5 Official bulletin of the Principality of Andorra.
6 A law Which, to be passed, requires a higher majority than other laws.
7 General Council: one-chamber parliament, elected by universal suffrage and majority system in two rounds of votes in the respective parròquies.
8 Constitutional Tribunal.
11 Head of State.
12 Syndic General, or Speaker. President of the Consell General and the Sindicatura.
13 Head of Government.
14 Higher Council of Justice.
15 Councillors, members of the Consell General.
16 Criminal Law Court, which judges crimes in first and sole instance, and rules on appeals from the lesser courts.
17 Higher Court.
18 Office of the Speaker.
19 Subsyndic General
20 Permanent Commission.
21 Parliamentary groups.
22 Communes, or Local Councils. Organs of self-government, representation and administration of the parròquies.
24 Household districts and neighbourhoods
25 Approximately, magistrates.
26 Jurisdictional organ of collegiate nature which constitutes the basis of jurisdictional organization in Andorra.
27 Higher Court of Justice of Andorra. | <urn:uuid:9607670b-18d5-4c00-885b-66d5b84f560e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/standardsetting/nationality/National%20legislation/Andorra-Constitution-EN.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00029-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912613 | 11,255 | 2.65625 | 3 |
|Name: _________________________||Period: ___________________|
This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. How long is Max in hiding before being moved to Hans Hubermann's house?
(a) Six days.
(b) Six months.
(c) Six weeks.
(d) Six years.
2. Which of the following school subjects does Liesel practice regularly with Max?
3. How does Liesel feel about the scheduled book burning?
(a) She is confused.
(b) She is nervous.
(c) She is excited.
(d) She is outraged.
4. What does Hans Hubermann do for a living?
(a) He is a musician.
(b) He is a teacher.
(c) He is a painter.
(d) He is a mechanic.
5. To which of the following institutions is the Fuehrer most closely tied?
6. How does Liesel react when Frau Hermann offers a book to her as a gift?
(a) She is confused by the offer.
(b) She ignores the offer completely.
(c) She refuses it.
(d) She graciously accepts it.
7. Where was Hans Hubermann stationed when he fought in WWI?
8. Which of Frau Hermann's relatives dies, leaving her deeply depressed?
(a) Her mother.
(b) Her sister.
(c) Her son.
(d) Her grandfather.
9. Which of the following activities do Rudy and Liesel spend the summer doing?
10. Which of the following customers is Liesel so afraid of that she skips over her house whenever possible?
(a) Frau Hermann.
(b) Frau Hansel.
(c) Frau Hubermann.
(d) Frau Hollapfel.
11. What does Rudy use to darken his body in the hopes of emulating Jesse Owens?
(c) Magic Marker.
12. To which German city is Liesel being relocated by the foster care system?
13. Which of the following mysterious characters is described as living in the dark shadows of Stuttgart?
(a) An old woman.
(b) An old man.
(c) A young man.
(d) A young woman.
14. Where did Max Vandenberg grow up?
15. What is the name of the street where Liesel lives with the Hubermann family?
(a) Gimmel Street.
(b) Fimmel Street.
(c) Himmel Street.
(d) Mimmel Street.
Short Answer Questions
1. Which of the following characters teaches Liesel how to read?
2. Which body part does Liesel's school friend break while attending the book burning?
3. Where does Liesel sit and wait for Hans to come and pick her up from the book burning?
4. How does the reader know Liesel's brother is sick?
5. Which of the following political parties does Liesel think her mother belonged to?
This section contains 406 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) | <urn:uuid:9f958408-a725-4f1c-b6f8-0de350ac00ba> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/the-book-thief/test1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00119-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.898527 | 700 | 2.703125 | 3 |
From press release
Dangerous or toxic toys can still be found on America’s store shelves, Illinois PIRG announced in its 25th annual Trouble in Toyland report.
Illinois PIRG released its report, which reveals the results of laboratory testing for toxic chemicals and identifies toys that pose choking hazards, Nov. 23, while announcing a new campaign calling on the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to better protect children from choking dangers.
“Choking on small parts is a leading cause of toy-related injury, causing 15 deaths in the last three years,” said Celeste Meiffren, Illinois PIRG field director. “We are concerned that the 30-year-old small parts standard is not protective enough. Children can and have choked on parts that are larger than the standard.”
Meiffren noted that progress has been made on toy safety in the past two years, thanks to a 2008 PIRG-backed law overhauling the CPSC, as well as new leadership at the agency.
“The CPSC is doing as good job under its expanded authority, but that authority does not extend far enough when it comes to toxic chemicals,” said Meiffren. “We urge Congress and the Obama administration to reform chemicals policy to address the tens of thousands of chemicals that are in the products our children come in contact with every day.”
About Illinois PIRG
For 24 years, the Illinois PIRG’s Trouble in Toyland report has offered safety guidelines for purchasing toys for small children and provides examples of toys currently on store shelves that pose potential safety hazards. The group also provides an interactive website with tips for safe toy shopping that consumers can access on their smartphones at toysafety.mobji.
Key findings from the report include:
→ In 2009, many toys and other children’s products containing more than 0.1 percent of phthalates were banned. Still, Illinois PIRG found children’s products that contained concentrations of phthalates up 30 percent.
→ Despite a ban on small parts in toys for children younger than 3, there are still toys available that pose serious choking hazards. In the past three years, 15 children have died after choking or asphyxiating on a toy or toy part; two died in 2009 alone.
→ Lead and other metals have been severely restricted in toys in the past two years, but Illinois PIRG researchers found toys containing toxic lead and antimony on store shelves. Lead has negative health effects on almost every organ and system in the human body, and antimony is classified as a human carcinogen. Laboratory testing revealed one preschool book with antimony far above the limits, and Illinois PIRG has notified the CPSC.
According to the most recent data from the CPSC, toy-related injuries sent more than 250,000 children—90,000 under the age of 5—to emergency rooms in 2009. Twelve children died from toy-related injuries that year.
From the Dec. 8-14, 2010 issue | <urn:uuid:8f15c5c6-32a5-4db5-af30-85c5ddecac7b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://rockrivertimes.com/2010/12/08/parents-beware-many-toys-still-toxic-hazardous/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00077-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964619 | 634 | 2.6875 | 3 |
El Nino Possible But Normal Conditions More Likely: Japanese Agency
Author: Risa Maeda
Japan's weather bureau said on Monday its climate models indicate the possible emergence of the El Nino weather pattern, often linked to heavy rainfall and droughts, in the second half of this year but normal conditions are more likely.
The Japan Meteorological Agency used the same language in its monthly assessment of the outlook to December for El Nino that it used in May, when it said it was highly likely that normal weather patterns would prevail in Asia through to November this year.
The last severe El Nino was in 1998, when it caused more than 2,000 deaths and wrought billions of dollars in damage to crops, infrastructure and mines in Australia and other parts of Asia.
The U.S. Climate Prediction Center said on June 7 that there is a 50 percent chance the El Nino weather pattern may strike later this year.
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said last month that models it tracks indicate a possible return of El Nino in the second half of the year.
The chief of India's state-run weather office has said El Nino conditions are likely to emerge over the Pacific Ocean by mid-August.
The last El Nino was recorded in 2009/10, though it was classified as weak to moderate.
El Nino is linked to extreme weather that can curtail production of crops and other commodities on a global scale.
Analysts have highlighted soybeans, palm oil and sugar as crops that could be drastically hit by a return of El Nino, affecting many Asian-Pacific economies.
Malaysia, the world's second-largest palm oil producer, could see lower output in 2013 if the El Nino results in poor rainfall. China, a key buyer of overseas corn in recent years, could be forced to step up imports.
Australian wheat production could also be hit if the country experiences lower-than-average rainfall.
(Editing by Aaron Sheldrick and Michael Watson) | <urn:uuid:f6231825-f1b9-40ed-aa41-ed9f452ad122> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/65622 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00003-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948675 | 411 | 2.765625 | 3 |
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