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One day Fox was out walking along. He'd been hunting but had no luck. It was a long time since he'd eaten. His stomach was growling so loudly he could hardly hear anything else. Suddenly he realized someone was coming singing a song. Quicker than the flick of a wren's tail Fox leaped off the path and crouched down on his belly in the bushes. Louder and louder grew the song. Then Fox saw something begin to appear over the crest of the hill. It was a single heron feather. Fox moved his front paws, getting ready to leap out at the bird he thought the feather was attached to. But as the feather lifted higher and higher, he realized it was no bird at all. It was the feather attached to the top of a gustoweh, the head-dress of an Iroquois man whose face now bobbed into sight as he came over the hill on horseback.
If he sees me, Fox thought, I can forget about my hunger forever! It was well known that fox skins were prized by the Iroquois. Fox tried to make himself smaller than a mouse, hoping he wouldn't be seen.
Closer and closer the man came. He was wearing fine clothes and Fox could hear the words of man's song very clearly now. It was a boasting song.
"No one is braver than Heron Feather," sang the young man.
"And I should know that for I am he. No one wears finer clothing. No one is a better fisherman. If you doubt this, look and see."
He was on his way to the lodge of a young woman he had been watching for some time. He was going to try to impress her and her mother so that the girl would ask him to marry her. His song and his fine clothing were part of the plan.
But Fox was no longer listening to Heron Feather's song. He was not seeing those fine clothes. All of Fox's attention was on what he was smelling. Fish. That large bag hanging from the young man's blanketroll was full of fish! Fox's mouth watered and his tongue hung out. It had been such a long time since he had eaten fish. His fears left him. The young man on the horse passed him by, but Fox's thoughts were far ahead.
Yes, Fox said to himself. I think there is a way. As quickly as he could, he ran along through the woods keeping out of sight of the road. Soon he was ahead of the Iroquois man. Just around a bend, Fox laid himself down by the edge of the path. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth so that his tongue hung out in the dirt. Not moving a muscle, he waited. Soon he began to near Heron Feather's boasting song.
Heron Feather was so intent on his singing, trying to find a few more words to describe just how fine he looked in his new white buckskin breechclout that he almost rode right past Fox. When he saw Fox out of the corner of his eye, he stopped. "Enh," he said, "what is this?" He climbed down from his horse.
"Kweh, a dead fox?" Picking up a long stick he carefully prodded the side of the animal. It did not move. "Nyoh," he said, "it is surely dead." He bent down and looked at it closely. It was skinny, but the pelt was in fine condition. He picked it up by the tail. "Hmm, it has not been dead for long. It only stinks a little bit." When he said that, Fox's mouth opened a little and his lips curled back from his teeth, but Heron Feather did not notice.
"Hmm," Heron Feather said, "maybe I should skin it out now." When he said that one of Fox's eyes twitched a little, but Heron Feather did not notice. "Neh," he went on, "I should not skin him out now. If I do I may dirty my fine new clothes. I will just take him with me." He walked back to his horse and began to unlace the bag. "Weh-yoh," he smiled, "when Swaying Reed's mother sees this fox I caught she will know I am a great hunter. Then she will surely allow her daughter to bring me marriage bread." He dropped the fox in with his fish, laced the bag shut and climbed back on his horse. Soon he was singing again. This time it was a song about how great a hunter Heron Feather was.
Inside the bag Fox lay still for a few minutes. Then he began to gnaw at the side. When he had made a hole large enough, he began to drop the fish out, one by one. Finally, when all the fish were gone, he made the hole larger and jumped out to freedom and his best meal in many days.
Too busy with his singing, Heron Feather did not even notice. He rode all the way to the village where Swaying Reed lived. He stopped in front of her mother's lodge and sat there on his horse, singing til many people had gathered around. He sang of his beautiful clothes, of the many fish he caught (he actually had traded his mother's beaded moccasins for them), of all the animals he hunted and trapped. Swaying Reed and her mother came out of the lodge and watched as he reached back for his bag. Now he would show them what a good provider he was!
When he held up the bag and saw that it was empty with a hole in the bottom he stopped singing. Turning around, he rode silently away. He learned that day that boasting songs do not make a person great. It is one thing to find a fox and another skin it. | <urn:uuid:2dffc183-d013-4342-9f60-e1134299639e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kahonwes.com/iroquois/hungryfx.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.995256 | 1,208 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Fish and Shellfish Advisories
Alerto de Cangrejos de Tenazas Azules en la
Region de la Bahia de Newark
Exposure to low levels of some contaminants
in the environment may have long lasting health
effects on people. Mercury, PCBs and dioxins are
among the major contaminants found in some New
Jersey fish in portions of the state. These
contaminants can be especially harmful to women
of childbearing age, pregnant women and nursing
mothers. Children are also at risk of
developmental and neurological problems if
exposed to these chemicals..
The New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection (NJDEP) and Department of Health and
Senior Services (NJDHSS) provide advice on
consuming those species of fish in which high
levels of dioxin, PCBs and mercury have been
Click here for the NJDHSS Woman's Guide to
Eating Fish and Seafood.
Why we are here...
Record of Decision for the Lower 8.3 Miles of the Lower Passaic River [March 2016]
EPA has finalized its decision on a cleanup plan for the sediments of the lower 8.3 miles of the Lower Passaic River. The cleanup plan,
called a Record of Decision, includes dredging approximately 3.5 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment bank to bank from Newark Bay to
the Belleville/Newark border. After dredging, an engineered cap will be placed over the entire lower eight miles of the river.
The cap will prevent contamination in the sediment from entering the food chain, thereby decreasing health risks to people who eat
fish and crab from the lower Passaic. The dredging will prevent the cap from exacerbating flooding and will allow for current commercial
navigation to continue in the 1.7 miles of the river closest to Newark Bay. Dredged sediment will be dewatered locally and transported
off-site for disposal. The estimated cost of the remedy is $1.38 billion. The main text of the Record of Decision is available
The rest of the Record of Decision, including a Responsiveness Summary containing all of EPA’s responses to public comments on the cleanup
proposal is available here. The Final Plan Fact Sheet is available
here. The Final
Plan Fact Sheet is available in Spanish and Portuguese in the Digital Library, under Public Outreach\Fact Sheets.
EPA Reviews Cleanup at Diamond Alkali Superfund Site [September 2015]
EPA is conducting its 4th Five-Year Review of the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site located at 80 and 120 Lister Ave in Newark, NJ. This review seeks to
confirm that the cleanup conducted at the site, which included construction of flood and slurry walls, placement of an engineered cap, and pumping
and treating of groundwater, protects public health and the environment and functions as intended by the site decision documents. EPA will review
site operation, maintenance and monitoring information as well as the status of land use controls.
EPA welcomes community input about this site, especially any concerns about the implemented cleanup. Written correspondence should be emailed before
November 13, 2015 to the EPA Project Manager for the site listed below. Once the five-year review is completed, the results will be made available
on this website.
What is an EPA Five-Year Review? EPA inspects Superfund sites every five years to ensure that cleanups conducted remain fully protective of human
health and the environment. These regular reviews, which are required by federal law when contaminants remain at a site, include:
- Inspection of the site and cleanup technologies;
- Review of monitoring data, operating data, and maintenance records, and
- Determination if any new regulatory requirements have been established since EPA’s original cleanup decision was finalized.
When will EPA’s Five-Year Review Report be available? A summary of activities and evaluation of the long-term protectiveness of the remedy will
be included in the upcoming Five-Year Review report. It is anticipated that the Five-Year Review report will be available by June 2016 at
For More Information: See the folder named “80-120 Lister Ave (OU1) 5-Year Review” in the
Digital Library, which includes the data tables.
If you have any questions about the 5-Year Review, please contact Elizabeth Butler, EPA Project Manager, at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Proposed Plan for the Lower 8 Miles of the Lower Passaic River Released for Public Comment [April 2014]
This Proposed Plan (document,
describes options for cleaning up the highly contaminated sediments
of the lower 8 miles of the Lower Passaic River and identifies the preferred cleanup option. It was developed by
EPA in partnership with NJDEP, USACE, NOAA and USFWS.
The Proposed Plan was developed based on information contained in a Remedial
Investigation Report and Focused Feasibility Study, which are available for
review under the Lower 8 Mile Action page.
These and other documents are also part of the publicly-available administrative record file located
in the Newark and Elizabeth Public Libraries and at the EPA Region 2 office (addresses listed in the Proposed Plan).
EPA encourages the public to review these documents to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the river and the
Superfund activities that have been conducted on the river.
The public comment period on the cleanup options presented in the Proposed Plan closed on August 20, 2014. EPA is considering
the comments received and will address them in the Responsiveness Summary section of the Record of Decision, which will document
the final cleanup decision for the lower 8 miles. A link to the comments received is provided on the Lower 8 Mile Action page.
Final Design for removal of contaminated sediment from a mudflat in the Lyndhurst section of the Passaic River [November 2013]
Dredging of the removal area began on
August 3, 2013 and was completed on October 4, 2013. Processing of the dredged material at the Clean Earth Dredge
Technologies facility in Kearny, New Jersey was completed on October 18, and all dredged sediment and associated
water was sent to approved out-of-state facilities for disposal. Mobilization for capping of the removal area began
on November 5, and all site activities are expected to be complete by early 2014. All work is being overseen by
EPA and its contractor. Below are links to the complete final design for the removal action, which is dated July 31, 2013.
Note that this design has been approved by EPA except for Appendix J, which relates to the long-term operations and
maintenance of the cap after it is in place. Appendix J will be posted when it is approved.
If you have any questions about this portion of the work, please contact Stephanie Vaughn, EPA project manager, at email@example.com
. In addition, please see the previous Project
News update on this subject for more details of the work.
Removal Action Draft Final Design Report, Lower Passaic River Study Area
Appendix A Concentration Data
Appendix B Geotech Data
Appendix C Calculations
Appendix D Design Drawings
Appendix E Specs
Appendix F Project HASP
Appendix G Community HSP
Appendix H Bench-Scale Report
Appendix I Construction QC
K Project Schedule
...Previous Project News... | <urn:uuid:82f88a2e-3040-4244-9dac-7d6ff21ed458> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ourpassaic.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917133 | 1,545 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The wolverine is a mid-sized carnivore with a legendary reputation for being a fearless predator and a crafty thief of trap lines. The wolverine's home range is remote, rugged and snow covered for most of the year-the kind of places humans rarely go.
Mothers-to-be have been known to dig through as much as 15 feet of snow to reach natural cavities under boulders or downed trees to create a den for 2 to 3 babies or "kits." Males tend to spend their life within a 500 square mile area, along with 2-3 females. Because of their fairly low birthrate and their need for large areas, there are not many wolverines-perhaps about only 15-20 across the entire Payette National Forest, located in Idaho.
Why the sudden interest in wolverines? Increasing interest in winter recreation has brought humans into the isolated regions that once were sanctuaries for wolverines. While state and federal natural resource managers have expressed concerns about the potential impact of winter recreation on wolverines since the 1980s, there have been few studies that show how recreation may influence wolverine reproduction or habitat use.
Females are known to be sensitive to disturbance around their dens. If disturbed, mothers may abandon the den and move their kits, potentially exposing them to cold, predators or other hazards. As a result, these rare animals are in danger of becoming even rarer.
The Payette National Forest is part of a large research effort led by the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) that spans three forests to find out more about how wolverines react to human presence. Jeff Copeland from the RMRS and nationally recognized expert on wolverines is leading the effort. Kim Heinemeyer, of Round River Conservation Studies is the co-lead. Phase one of this effort was undertaken in 2008 with winter aerial surveys that provided information on the distribution of wolverines and winter recreation use across the Payette, Sawtooth and Boise National Forests. Phase two of the research will focus on collaring wolverines and tracking recreation more specifically so areas of overlap can be studied.
While the U.S. Forest Service is providing most of the funding for the study, Copeland & Heinemeyer received a Southwest Idaho Resource Advisory Committee grant with the help of the Idaho State Snowmobile Association and are being aided by the Central Idaho Recreation Coalition, The University of Montana and the Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game in their efforts.
These diverse partners are asking McCall area residents and visitors to help with phase two of this extremely important research to increase understanding of the relationship between wolverines and recreation. Copeland describes the study as "an opportunity for all stakeholders to work together to increase our mutual understanding of an important issue."
The Idaho State Snowmobile Association (ISSA) is one of the original instigators of the project. The ISSA and the other partners are working with land managers so that recreation decisions can be based upon the best available scientific information and to enable land managers and recreationists to work together to insure the future of both wolverines and recreational opportunities. The researchers are asking recreationists to carry small data loggers when they recreate this winter. "Absolutely no personal information is required or recorded when checking out the devices," Sandra Mitchell, of the ISSA, said. "The whole enterprise operates on the honor system."
Local merchants have volunteered to provide information and drop off locations for the units. Most are also offering discounts and even a free drink to people who turn in a data logging device. Brochures and the units will also be handed out and can be dropped off at popular parking lots and trailheads on the forest.
Participating merchants are Hinson Power Sports, Gravity Sports, McCall Brewery, Salmon River Brewery and Carl's Cycle in Boise. Drop boxes for the data logging devices will also be located at the McCall Ranger District and Idaho Fish & Game.
For more information, contact email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:f56d7060-83f0-4e57-9c20-1fd933395d92> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.snowest.com/2010/01/help-needed-for-forest-service-wolverine-study?tpid=139 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00158-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947533 | 826 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Without proper instructions, a traffic-calming device can become more like a traffic hazard.
City officials call the obstruction that has been placed in the intersection of Harvard Road and Goldfield Drive a "traffic-calming device."
The makeshift traffic circle may slow traffic at that intersection, but the confusion it is causing isn't likely to have a "calming" effect on drivers.
The circle looks something like a temporary roundabout, a lesser version of the structure at Harvard Road and Monterey Way. And the signs drivers see as they approach the circle from east or west on Harvard are the same ones that mark a roundabout. But once drivers reach the circle, things get confusing.
The structure at Harvard and Goldfield includes none of the directional signs that instruct drivers which way to proceed around the circle or that they should yield to drivers in the circle. To add to the confusion, the stop signs on Goldfield have been left in place. That means those drivers are supposed to yield to traffic on Harvard, thus conflicting with the normal flow of traffic in and out of a roundabout.
It's also not clear whether turning traffic should travel around the temporary circle. Should someone making a left turn travel to the right around the circle or simply swing left in front of the obstruction? At least one driver who asked a city official about the traffic patterns was told that a left-turn in front of the circle was entirely permissible and that additional signage wasn't necessary because the ordinary rules of the road apply.
A similar circle also is planned on Harvard at its intersection with Grove and Mulberry drives. These temporary structures were requested by people who were concerned about the speed of vehicles traveling on Harvard Road which carries considerable through traffic from Monterey Way to Wakarusa Drive. If this temporary structure is effective, traffic officials say, it may be replaced with a permanent roundabout.
It's almost certain that, out of confusion, any driver approaching these obstacles will slow down, which is the main goal traffic engineers were trying to accomplish. But there doesn't seem to be any reason to cause so much uncertainty for drivers. The first temporary "traffic-calming" device is little more than an obstacle and a potential hazard. If officials really want to see how roundabouts will function at these intersections they should take out the stop signs and give drivers the proper directions to enable them to use these temporary roundabouts as the permanent structures would be used. | <urn:uuid:442b54c9-8e74-4678-b5e5-7b44fb584f8a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2001/nov/12/a_calming_device/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00201-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964816 | 495 | 3.03125 | 3 |
On Jan. 28, 1986 just moments after takeoff the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. All seven crew members aboard were killed. Among them were Ronald McNair, 35, who was to be the second African American to go into space, and school teacher Christa McAuliffe, 37, who was selected from thousands of applicants for the teacher in space program. Both have schools in Stockton named after them as well as other schools across the nation.
“Obviously a major malfunction,” the announcer said as those in attendance at the launch and television viewers watched stunned.
It was later learned that the failure of an O-ring ultimately led to the disaster. | <urn:uuid:b8aeaca0-a80a-4997-8e19-850b0f550e4a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.esanjoaquin.com/record-editor/2013/01/28/space-shuttle-challenger/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00021-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.992121 | 132 | 2.671875 | 3 |
||Life in Ancient Egypt
Gods & Religion: Fragment from a Woman's Coffin
god wearing a solar disk crown and seated upon a throne forms the primary
decorative device on this painted coffin fragment. The inscription
in front of the deity identifies him as Re-Horakhty-Atum, the god central
in creation myths. To the ancient Egyptians, before the world appeared,
only a dark, watery, void defined by eight gods and goddesses existed.
Then Re, the sun god, rose out of this primordial water and established
land. He gave birth to the god Shu and the goddesses Tefnet and Maat,
and in some versions his tears became mankind. Thus divine cosmic order
came into being.
Re had several aspects: Khepri, the morning; Horakhty,
the midday; and Atum, the afternoon. Although Re-Horakhty-Atum was not a funerary god, during Dynasty XXI
(ca. 1070-945 B.C.) with increasing frequency he replaced Osiris in the traditional offering formula. This
shift accounts for his presence on this piece.
Although many ancient
Egyptian coffins were decorated, the brightly colored and elaborately
embellished Third Intermediate Period coffins seem to have been particular
favorites of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century art collectors.
Of the many hundreds of coffin fragments of this type, most show complete
scenes or figures of gods; rarely do we see, for example, incomplete portions
of two scenes. This observation suggests that during the early days of
collecting, when someone located a coffin outside of an archaeological
excavation he carefully chopped it up into vignettes. The finder knew
he could realize a greater profit from several pieces than from one whole
object. This fragment of an anthropoid coffin, intended for a woman, is
such a piece.
Fragment from a Woman's
(gessoed wood, paint)
(ca. 1070-945 B.C.)
Length 46 cm; width 22.5 cm
Excerpted from Reflections of Greatness:
Ancient Egypt at The Carnegie Museum of Natural History by Diana Craig Patch.
© 1990 The Board of Trustees, Carnegie Institute. | <urn:uuid:d6a560bd-fefd-4227-9583-5dd766fb58a3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.carnegiemnh.org/online/egypt/coffinfragment.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396455.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907951 | 477 | 3.109375 | 3 |
- listen to a radio debate on teenagers and technology
- discuss the dangers and benefits of new technologies
- do a sentence matching exercise
- prepare and write an IELTS style question on the subject
- Should teenagers be prevented from using new technologies or should they be trusted to develop their self-awareness of the dangers of modern gadgets?
- How can teenagers be protected or protect themselves?
Mariella Fostrup is joined by a panel of child protection experts and commentators to debate
the dangers and benefits of raising ‘digital kids’. Sexting, using a smartphone to send indecent images to others, is a particular worry to parents of teenagers. Mariella asks whether teenagers should be prevented from using these technologies or whether they should be trusted to develop their self-awareness of the dangers of modern gadgets.
In the first episode of the new series of Bringing Up Britain, Mariella is joined by Professor Tanya Byron, Professor Lydia Plowman, Julie Johnson, Helen King (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) and Professor Sonia Livingstone.
Listen to the clip
- What ideas are suggested to protect teenagers from danger?
Also on audioboo http://audioboo.fm/boos/969034-sexting-is-technology-endangering-teenagers
3) Match the sentences
Look at the exercise below
Match the beginnings and ends of the sentences. Listen again if you need to.
Printable worksheet here
- Which of the above ideas do you agree / disagree with?
1) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? "New advances in technology are doing more harm than good to teenagers". Use specific reasons and examples to support your position. (IELTS - 250 words)
2) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? "The internet is a danger to teenagers and acces to it should be strictly controlled". Use specific reasons and examples to support your position. (IELTS - 250 words)
Staying Safe Online - Exposed video
Should parents follow their children on facebook?
Does more technology mean more ommunication? | <urn:uuid:c1a5288d-20b4-4433-a36c-daf9d6a2ed33> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://efllecturer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/sexting-is-technology-endangering.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403825.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00069-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.845241 | 441 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Last week a researcher revealed what he claimed to be a vulnerability in Microsoft Excel to a public security mailing list. The report took the form of a Perl script that generates an Excel document with a hyperlink in it which, when clicked by the user, invoked the flaw. It appears he did find a vulnerability, but it wasn't what he thought.
Microsoft's initial analysis of the report indicates that it's not actually a vulnerability in Excel, but in HLINK.DLL, a Windows component that processes hyperlinks. Microsoft's Christopher Budd says that they "...have not found any way to attempt to exploit this vulnerability that involves simply opening a document: a user must locate and click a hyperlink in the document."
When Microsoft comes out with an actual advisory on this vulnerability, they will probably not call it critical. It's also the type which lends itself to detection by anti-virus software, although we aren't aware that any AV software detected it as yet. | <urn:uuid:bbd103c5-2f9c-4b5a-8f7c-99687c27e8d9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1981802,00.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00174-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948667 | 196 | 2.625 | 3 |
Architecture: 19th Century
19th-century architecture was greatly influenced by earlier architectural movements and foreign, exotic styles, which were adapted to the new technologies of the early modern age. The revivals of Greek, Gothic, and Renaissance designs were fused with contemporary engineering methods and materials. In the Western world, Historicism idealized past empires and cultures, and used motifs inspired by them to stimulate national nostalgia. The main types of nineteenth century architectural styles included: Greek Revival (1800-1900); Gothic Revival (1810-1900) - see English Gothic architecture - Neo-Renaissance and Richardson Romanesque (1840-1880); Second Empire (1850-1880); Exoticism (1800-1900); Industrial architecture (1850-1900); Skyscraper design (1885-1900). See: Design (1850-1970).
EVOLUTION OF VISUAL
VISUAL ART DEFINED
Two principal characteristics distinguish 19th-century architecture; the use of a variety of historical styles and the development of new materials and structural methods.
The first arose from the 19th century architect's perception that he had to continue in the traditional styles of their predecessors. Elements of these earlier styles were put together to give an air of authority to town halls (Birmingham), railway stations (Euston, London), opera houses (Paris Opera) and legislatures (Houses of Parliament, London). Restraints of taste and careful application of Classical standards, which had characterised the 18th century, gave way to a variety of styles which could be either quaint, bombastic or severe and generally, to modern eyes, of great curiosity.
The second characteristic emerged from the development of new materials as a result of the new industrial needs. In building, new forms - factories, warehouses, railway terminals, administrative centres, hospitals - were demanded. In the mid years of the century, cast iron was used structurally in large buildings such as warehouses and libraries. The Crystal Palace, designed by Joseph Paxton for the 1851 International Exhibition in London, provided a spectacular example of the possibilities of cast iron and glass that had worldwide publicity. The new ferrous building materials were made to conform to the taste for Classical, medieval or other exotic styles (Brighton Pavilion); for example the glass and iron vault for Paddington Station by Brunel and Wyatt was supported on 'Gothic' columns. In 1889 Gustav Eiffel designed the exhibition tower for Paris which bears his name and provided the same form of publicity for the new material - steel.
In America, late 18th century architecture and early 19th century building designs were typically based on Roman or Greek architecture - known as 'Federal style' or 'Greek Revival'. Exponents included Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), William Thornton (1759-1828), James Hoban (1762-1831), Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844) and Benjamin Latrobe (1764-1820). Later came a revival of Gothic architecture, led by designers such as Richard Upjohn (1802-78), Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-52) and James Renwick (1818-95). Romanesque was represented by Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-86), and Renaissance by Richard Morris Hunt (1827-95), while the versatile Charles Follen McKim (1847-1909) produced a range of different designs.
Whilst the architect, mainly employed by cultured clients with Classical tastes, had no doubt that 'Classical' was the right form of architecture, the architects of the 19th century had no such certainty - nor the clients with the same formed tastes. They were also designing for an aggressively changing society which was often deplored by sensitive and influential critics like John Ruskin (1819-1900). Two main possibilities confronted them; the old and tested Classical style of Greek art or the medieval Christian style - virtuous, worthy and romantic. Both had powerful propagandists.
Augustus Welby Pugin, for instance, having concluded that the medieval was the last 'moral' style and architecture was either good or bad, wrote for and designed in 'Gothic' forms (his book Contrasts is a comparison of Classical and medieval buildings always to the detriment of the Classical). The Classical view was that the only true forms for a modern society were the worldly and civilised Classical columns and pediments.
Battle was joined between the two factions and the early era of Victorian architecture was filled with triumphs for one or the other. In Britain, Pugin scored a great victory with the Houses of Parliament, in France, Viollet le Duc patched, restored and wrote with great medievalist vigour. In France, Garnier designed the Paris Opera (1861-9) and George Gilbert Scott in London designed Classical buildings like the Foreign Office (1861). There never was a result to the battle - indeed it still continues as an opposition of taste.
While the battle of styles was engaging the energies of the architects, great changes were being introduced in industry. Mass production became possible in glass, iron and later steel. The machine tool industry introduced a precision in manufacture which, when applied to building, enabled the erection of large and safe structures built from uniform components. The demands for factories, storage and transport led to new types of utility buildings in manufacturing cities and ports. The railways needed stations, great bridges and viaducts. The architects were hardly by training equipped to supply the design demand - except perhaps to suggest a style - and the engineer-builder appeared to answer the need. Telford's Katherine Dock warehouses in London, and the Marshall Field Warehouse in Chicago, by Richardson are early and late examples of storage design whilst the London rail termini provide a range of solutions from the Doric portico of Euston (1838) designed by the architect Philip Hardwick to the plain brick arch frontage of Kings Cross station by Thomas Cubit.
For the same exhibition in Paris for which Eiffel built his tower, in 1889, two engineers designed the Galeries des Machines, the largest free span then attempted, and rested it on rocker pads which gives the appearance of lightness to the large and heavy structure - a purely engineering solution. Near Milan Cathedral, the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele was built to rival in height the Cathedral's nave in glass and cast iron. At the end of the century the Amsterdam Bourse (Stock Exchange) was built by Berlage in brick, steel and glass in an undecorated bare functional style which heralds the new architecture of the 20th century perhaps more than any of the Classical or medieval examples resulting from the battle of styles.
During the second half of the 19th century in the United States, it was the possibilities of cast iron and steel in the building of multi-storey unit constructions that were most effectively exploited. After the installation of the first safety elevator by Otis, it became possible to use as well as build tall buildings. Skyscraper architecture was first seen in New York, but the genre was mastered by the Chicago School of architecture during the late 1880s and 1890s, thanks to pioneer architects such as William Le Baron Jenney (1832-1907), Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846-1912), Dankmar Adler (1844-1900), Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), Cass Gilbert (1859-1934). For more US designers, see: American Architects (1700-2000).
Richard Upjohn's Trinity Church (1841-6), now dwarfed by the skyscrapers of New York's Wall Street, soared above its surroundings when it was built and symbolises the defeat of the styles by the growth of vertical architecture, which came to dominate the American urban environment. The name "skyscraper" was first applied in the late 19th century to buildings of steel framed construction that were at least 10 storeys high. Later, the Emporis Standards Committee defined a high-rise building as a multi-storey structure (100-300 feet high), or a building of 12-39 floors; it defined a skyscraper as a multi-storey building with an architectural height of at least 330 ft. See also: American Architecture (1600-present).
Chicago's Home Insurance Building (designed by William Le Baron Jenney) was the first steel-frame skyscraper in 1885, with a height of 138 feet, though some claim New York's seven-storey Equitable Life Assurance Building, erected in 1870 takes the title due to its innovative use of a skeletal frame. Another early skyscraper was Burnham and Root's Rand McNally Building (1889), the first all-steel framed high-rise, as was Louis Sullivan's Carson Pirie Scott Store (1899). New materials, concentration of population in new fast growing urban areas, particularly Chicago and New York in the mid-19th century, solid rock foundations, available capital and such inventions as the elevator resulted in the growth upwards of American city buildings. The engineers provided the means and the architects, taking over, exploited them. The first design, not executed, for a real skyscraper of 28 storeys in Chicago by L. S. Buffington in 1887 preceded Louis Sullivan's Wainwright (1890) and Guaranty (1896) buildings by only a few years. Sullivan's buildings were however much ahead of Buffington's and indeed later scrapers such as Cass Gilbert's Woolworth Building (1934) in showing the way in which scraper architecture design was to go. Sullivan's vertical emphasis through the load-bearing columns became the later theme rather than the attempt to extend vertically an historically based design - for example a vertical Italian palazzo.
By the end of the century, the American Surety Building, designed by Bruce Price and completed in 1896, gave New York the title of tallest building for many years. For a wider perspective on the arts and culture of America, see also: American Art (1750-present).
During the century great changes occurred in the provision of dwellings. Housing for workers had been previously of the cottage type designed locally by masons and carpenters without architects or plans. The newly rising middle classes, merchants and manufacturers, business and professional men had only the great houses of the landed gentry to copy or envy. There was no housing for industrial city workers - a new breed. In the cities too, the merchant's clerks and other than manual workers came to live to be with their work. A complex class structure, particularly in Britain, developed. In the United States the same effect came out of money-conscious and race-conscious distinctions. The outcome was a new variety and quality in domestic building. All ranges of taste, cost, social level and convenience of location were variously catered for. Before the 19th century, architecture was for the better off, building for the workers - with successful and satisfying solutions in each category: during the 19th century the two were fused into a new great industry - building homes. (See also Biedermeier Style c.1810-60.)
At the most deplorable end were the jerry-built slums of the world's great cities. The pretentiousness of much of the middle-class housing is reflected in the proliferations of styles on pompous facades but during the century there was much serious consideration of the needs of housing, especially through the Arts and Crafts movement and the social revolutions that were heralded during the middle years of the century. Before the end of the century Philip Webb, Norman Shaw and C. F. W. Voysey had produced a new domestic architecture in England, while in America H. H. Richardson was introducing a style that Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) exploited in Oak Park, Chicago. For more about the European avant-garde designers, see: Bauhaus Design School (1919-33) and the Dutch De Stijl group organized by Theo van Doesburg.
Here is a short selection of some of the most innovative architectural designs of the nineteenth century, not mentioned above, along with the architects who created them.
Nassau Hall, Princeton (1802)
Baltimore Basilica (1806-21)
Downing College, Cambridge (1807-20)
Royal Pavilion, Brighton (1815-23)
Tegel Palace, Berlin (1821-24)
Rotunda, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Altes Museum, Berlin (1823-30)
British Museum, London (1823-57)
National Gallery, London (1832-38)
Houses of Parliament, London (1839-52)
Bibliotheque Sainte 'Genevieve, Paris
Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC
Crystal Palace, London (1851)
Urban Reconstruction of Paris (1852-70)
Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris
St Patrick's Cathedral, New York
Chateau de Pierrefonds, Oise, France
Paris Opera, Exterior and Interior
Prince Albert Memorial, Hyde Park, London
St Pancras Station, London (1868-74)
Semper Opera House, Dresden (1869-78)
Philadelphia City Hall (1871-1880)
Executive Office Building, Washington
Trinity Church, Boston (1872-77)
Monte Carlo Casino (1880-85)
Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor
Palais Wagner, Vienna (1889-91)
Palacio Episcopal, Leon, Spain (1889-93)
The Galerie des Machines, Paris
Carson Pirie Scott Department Store,
Wainwright Building, St Louis (1890-91)
Second Leiter Building, Chicago
Reliance Building, Chicago (1890-95)
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Guaranty Building, Buffalo, New York
Hotel van Eetvelde, Brussels (1895-98)
Majolika House, Vienna (1898)
Metro Station at Porte Dauphine, Paris
Flatiron Building (Fuller Building)
New York (1901-03)
See also: Nineteenth Century Sculptors.
20th Century Building Design
For details, see: 20th-Century Architecture (1900-2000). For an influential group of modernist architects, see: Second Chicago School of Architecture (c.1940-75), led by ex-Bauhaus director Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969).
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(Greek zoe; Latin vita; French La vie, German Das Leben; vital principle; Greek psyche; Latin anima, vis vitalis, German leberzskraft).
The enigma of life is still one of the two or three most difficult problems that face both scientist and philosopher, and notwithstanding the progress of knowledge during the past twenty-three hundred years we do not seem to have advanced appreciably beyond the position of Aristotle in regard to the main issue. What are its characteristic manifestations? What are its chief forms? What is the inner nature of the source of vital activity? How has life arisen? Such are among the chief questions which present themselves with regard to this subject.
The early Greek philosophers for the most part looked on movement as the most essential characteristic of life, different schools advocating different material elements as the ultimate principle of life. For Democritus and most of the Atomists it was a sort of subtle fire. For Diogenes it was a form of air. Hippo derives it from water. Others compound it of all the elements, whilst some of the Pythagoreans explain it as a harmony foreshadowing modern mechanical theories. Aristotle caustically remarks that all the elements except earth had obtained a vote. With him genuine scientific and philosophic treatment of the subject begins, and the position to which he advanced it is among the finest evidences of both his encyclopedic knowledge and his metaphysical genius. His chief discussions of the topic are to be found in his peri psyches and peri zoön geneseos.
For Aristotle the chief universal phenomena of life are nutrition, growth, and decay. Movement or change in the widest sense is characteristic of all life but plants are incapable of local movement. This follows on desire, which is the outcome of sensation. Sentiency is the differentia which constitutes the second grade of life that of the animal kingdom. The highest kind of life is mind or reason, exerting itself in thought or rational activity. This last properly belongs to man. There are not in man three really distinct souls, as Plato taught. Instead, the highest or rational soul contains eminently or virtually in itself the lower animal or vegetative faculties. But what is the nature of the inner reality from which vital activity issues? Is it one of the material elements? Or is it a harmony the resultant of the balance of bodily forces and tendencies? No. The solution for Aristotle is to be found in his fundamental philosophical analysis of all sensible being into the two ultimate principles, matter and form. Prime Matter (materia prima) is the common passive potential element in all sensible substances; form is the determining factor. It actualizes and perfects the potential element. Neither prime matter nor any corporeal form can exist apart from each other. They are called substantial principles because combined they result in a being; but they are incomplete beings in themselves, incapable of existing alone. To the form is due the specific nature of the being with its activities and properties. It is the principle also of unity. (See FORM; MATTER.) For Aristotle, in the case of living natural bodies the vital principle, psyche is the form. His doctrine is embodied in his famous definition: psyche estin entekexeia e prote somatos fysikou dynamei zoen exontos. (De Anima, II, i), i.e. the soul is therefore the first entelechy (substantial form or perfect actualization) of a natural or organized body potentially possessing life. The definition applies to plants, animals, and man. The human soul, however, endowed with rationality is of a higher grade. It is form of the body which it animates, not in virtue of its rationality but through the vegetative and sentient faculties which it also possesses. The union of these two principles is of the most intimate character, resulting in one individual being. The form or entelechy, is therefore not a substance possessed of a distinct being from that of the body; nor in the case of animals and plants is it a reality separable from the body. The human soul, however, seems to be of a different kind (genos etepron), and separable as the eternal from the perishable. Aristotle's conception of the soul differs fundamentally from that of Plato for whom the vital principle is related to the body only as the pilot to the ship; who moreover distinguishes three numerically different souls in the individual man.
The Aristotelian theory in its essential features was adopted by Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas, and the doctrine of the vital principle as form of the body prevailed supreme throughout the Middle Ages. The differences separating the rational soul from the vital principle of the plant or animal, and the relations between intellectual activity and sensory cognition became more clearly defined. The human soul was conceived as a spiritual substantial principle containing virtually the lower faculties of sensory and vegetative life. It is through this lower organic capacity that it is enabled to inform and animate the matter of the body. But the human soul always remains a substance capable of subsisting of itself apart from the body, although the operations of its lower faculties would then necessarily be suspended. Because of its intrinsic substantial union with the material of the organism, the two principles result in one substantial being. But since it is a spiritual being retaining spiritual activities, intrinsically independent of the body, it is, as St. Thomas says, non totaliter immersa, not entirely submerged in matter, as are the actuating forms of the animal and the plant.
Moreover, the vital principle is the only substantial form of the individual being. It determines the specific nature of the living being, and by the same act constitutes the prime matter with which it is immediately and intrinsically united a living organized body. The Scotist School differed somewhat from this, teaching that antecedently to its union with the vital principle the organism is actuated by a certain subordinate forma corporeitatis. They conceived this form or collection of forms, however, as incomplete and requiring completion by the principle of life. This conception of inferior forms, though not easy to reconcile with the substantial unity of the human being, has never been theologically condemned, and has found favour with some modern Scholastic writers, as being helpful to explain certain biological phenomena.
With respect to the question of the origin of life Aristotle, followed by Albertus Magnus, St. Thomas, and the Schoolmen generally, believed in the spontaneous generation even of organisms comparatively high in the animal kingdom (see BIOGENESIS). The corruption of animal and vegetable matter seemed to result in the spontaneous generation of worms and insects, and it was universally assumed that the earth under the influence of moisture and the sun's heat could produce many forms of plant and animal life. St. Augustine taught in the fifth century that many minute animals were not formally created on the sixth day, but only potentially in a seminal condition in certain Portions of matter and subsequently several Catholic philosophers and theologians admitted this view as a probable theory (cf. Summa I:59:2; I:71:1). However, the concurrent agency of a higher cause working in nature was assumed as a necessary factor by all Christian thinkers.
In respect to the nature of life as in regard to so many other questions, Descartes (1596-1650) inaugurated a movement against the teaching of Aristotle and the Scholastics which, reinforced by the progress of science and other influences, has during the past two centuries and a half commanded at times considerable support among both philosophers and scientists. For Descartes there are but two agents in the universe matter and mind. Matter is extension; mind is thought. There is no possibility of interaction between them. All changes in bodies have to be explained mechanically. Vital processes such as "digestion of food, pulsations of heart, nutrition, and growth, follow as naturally from dispositions of the organism as the movements of a watch." Plants and animals are merely ingeniously constructed machines. Animals, in fact are merely automata. In the "Traité de l'homme" (1664), he applied the language of cogs and pulleys also to human physiology. Thus muscular movement was explained as due to the discharge of "animal spirits" from the brain ventricles through the nerves into the muscles, the latter being thereby filled out as a glove when one blows into it. This tendency to regard the organism as a machine was also fostered by the rapid advances made in physics and chemistry during the eighteenth century and the earlier part of the nineteenth, as well as by the progress in anatomical research of the Italian schools, and even by the discoveries of such men as Harvey, Malpighi, and Bishop Stensen. The earlier crude mechanical conceptions were, however, constantly met by criticism from men like Stahl. If the advance of science seemed to explain some problems, it also showed that life-phenomena were not so simple as had been supposed. Thus Lyonet's work on the goat-moth revealed such a microscopic complexity that it was at first received with incredulity.
Stahl (1660-1734) himself advocated an exaggerated form of vitalism. Rejecting the mechanical theories of the Cartesian School, he taught that life has its source in a vital force which is identical with the rational soul in man. It is conceived as constructor of the body, exerting and directing the vital processes in a subconscious but instinctively intelligent manner by what he calls logos in contrast with logismos, whilst it rather inhabits than informs the body. Others separated the vital force from the sentient soul and adopted "didynamism". Notwithstanding the growth of materialism, vitalism achieved considerable success during the second half of the eighteenth century. It was, however, mostly of a vague and inconsistent character tinged with Cartesian dualism. The entity by which the organic processes were regulated was generally conceived as a tertium quid between soul and body, or as an ensemble of the vital forces in antagonism and conflict with those of inanimate matter. This was substantially the view held by the Montpellier school (e.g. Barthez, Bérard, Lordat) and by Bichat. Even to men like Cuvier life was simply a tourbillon, a vortex, a peculiar kind of chemical gyroscope. The Bildungstrieb or nisus formativus of Blumenbach (1752-1840), who judiciously profited by the work of his predecessors, exhibits an improvement but succeeding vitalists still showed the same want of philosophic grasp and scientific precision. Even a physiologist of the rank of Claude Bernard was constantly wavering between une idée créatrice whatever that may mean and une sorte de force législative mais nullement exécutive, and the mechanical organism of Descartes. Von Baer, Treviranus, and J. Muller favoured a mild kind of vitalism. Lotze here, as in his general philosophy, manifests a twofold tendency to teleological idealism and to mechanical realism. The latter, however, seems to prevail in his view as to the nature of vegetative life. The second and third quarters of the nineteenth century witnessed a strong anti-vitalist reaction: a materialistic metaphysic succeeded the idealistic Identitätsphilosophie. Even the crude matter-and-motion theories of Moleschott, Vogt, and Buchner gained a wide vogue in Germany, whilst Tyndall and Huxley represented popular science philosophy in England and enjoyed considerable success in America.
The advent of Darwinism too, turned men's minds to "phylogeny", and biologists were busy establishing genetic relationships and tracing back the infinite variety of living types to the lowly root of the genealogical tree. To such men life was little better than the movements of a complicated congeries of atoms evolved from some sort of primitive protoplasmic nebula. The continuous rapid advance both of physics and chemistry flattered the hope that a complete "explanation" of vital processes was at hand. The successful syntheses of organic chemistry and the establishment of the law of the conservation of energy in the first half of the nineteenth century were proclaimed as the final triumph of mechanism. Ludwig, Helmholtz, Huxley, Häckel, and others brought out new and improved editions of the seventeenth-century machine view of life. All physiology was reduced to processes of filtration, osmosis, and diffusion, plus chemical reactions. But with the further advance of biological research, especially from about the third quarter of the last century, there began to find expression among many investigators an increasing conviction that though physico-chemistry might shed light on sundry stages and operations of vital processes, it always left an irreducible factor unexplained. Phenomena like the healing of a wound and even regular functions like the behaviour of a secreting cell, or the ventilating of the lungs, when closely studied, did not after all prove so completely amenable to physical treatment. But the insufficiency of physico-chemistry became especially apparent in a new and most promising branch of biological research experimental morphology, or as one of its most distinguished founders, W. Roux, has called it, Entwicklungsmechanik. The embryological problem of individualistic development had not been adequately studied by the older vitalists the microscope had not reached anything like its present perfection and this was one main cause of their failure. The premature success of the evolution theory too, had led to a blind, unquestioning faith in "heredity", "variation", and ' natural selection" as the final solvents of all difficulties, and the full significance had not yet been realized of what Wilson styles "the key to all ultimate biological problems" the lesson of the cell. Recent investigation in this field and better knowledge of morphogenesis have revealed new features of life which have conduced much towards a widespread neovitalistic reaction.
Among the chief of these has been the increased proof of the doctrine of epigenesis. Already in the eighteenth century embryologists were sharply divided as to the development of the individual organism. According to the advocates of preformation or predelineation, the growth of the embryo was merely the expansion or evolution of a miniature organism. This theory was held by ovulists like Swammerdam, Malpighi, Bonnet, and Spallanzani, and by animalculists like Leeuwenhoek, Hartsoeker, and Leibniz. In this view the future organism pre-existed in the primitive germ-ovum or spermatazoon, as the flower in the bud. Development is a mere "unfolding", analogous to the unrolling of a compressed pocket-handkerchief. Though not quite so crude as these early notions, the views of men like Weismann are really reducible to preformation. Indeed the logical outcome of all such theories is the "encasement" of all succeeding generations within the first germ-cell of the race. The opposite doctrine of "epigenesis", viz., that the development of the embryo is real successive production of visible manifoldness, real construction of new parts, goes back to Aristotle. It was upheld by Harvey, Stahl, Buffon, and Blumenbach. It was also advocated by the distinguished Douai priest, J. Turberville Needham (171-1781), who achieved distinction in so many branches of science. In its modern form O. Hertwig and Driesch have been amongst its most distinguished defenders. With some limitations J. Reinke may also be classed with the same school, though his system of "dominants" is not easy to reconcile with unity of form in the living being and leaves him what Driesch styles a "problematic vitalist". The modern theory of epigenesis, however, in the form defended, e.g. by Driesch, is probably not incompatible with the hypothesis of prelocalized areas of specific cytoplasmic stuffs in the body of the germ-cells, as advocated by Conklin and Wilson. But anyhow the modern theory of pre-delineation demands a regulating formative power in the embryo just as necessarily as the epigenetic doctrine. Moreover, in addition to the difficulty of epigenesis, the inadequacy of mechanistic theories to account for the regeneration of damaged parts of the embryo is becoming more clearly recognized every day. The trend of the best scientific thought is clearly evident in current biological literature. Thus Professor Wilson of Columbia University in 1906 closes his admirable exposition of the course of research over the whole field with the conclusion that "the study of the cell has on the whole seemed to widen rather than to narrow the enormous gap that separates even the lowest form of life from the inorganic world" (The Cell, 434). In these words, however, he is only affirming a fact to which the distinguished Oxford biologist Dr. Haldane also testifies:
To any physiologist who candidly reviews the progress of the last fifty years, it must be perfectly evident that, so far from having advanced towards a physico-chemical explanation of life, we are in appearance very much farther from one than we were fifty years ago. We are now more definitely aware of the obstacles to any advance in this direction, and there is not the slightest indication that they will be removed, but rather that with further increase of knowledge and more refined methods of physical and chemical investigation they will only appear more and more difficult to surmount. (Nineteenth Century 1898, p. 403).
Later in Germany, Hans Driesch of Heidelberg became, perhaps, the most candid and courageous advocate of vitalism among German biologists of the first rank. From 1899 he proclaimed his belief in the "autonomy" and "dynamical teleology" of the organism as a whole. The vital factor he boldly designates "entelechy", or "psychoid", and advocated a return to Aristotle for the most helpful conception of the principle of life. His views on some points were unfortunately and quite unnecessarily, as it seems to us, encumbered by Kantian metaphysics and he appeared not to have adequately grasped the Aristotelian notion of entelechy as a constitutive principle of the living being. Still he has furnished valuable contributions both to science and the philosophy of life.
Side by side with this vitalistic movement there continued an energetic section of representatives of the old mechanical school in men like Hackel, Loeb, Le Dantec, and Verworn, who have attempted physico-chemical explanations; but no new arguments have been adduced to justify their claims. Many others, more cautious, adopt the attitude of agnosticism. This position, as Reinke justly observes, has at least the merit of dispensing from the labour of thinking. The present neo-vitalistic reaction, however, as the outcome of very extensive and thorough-going research, is, we venture to think, the harbinger of a widespread return to more accurate science and a sounder philosophy in respect to this great problem. With regard to the question of the origin of life, the whole weight of scientific evidence and authority during the past half century has gone to demonstrate with increasing cogency Harvey's axiom Omne vivens ex vivo, that life never arises in this world save from a previous living being. It claims even to have established Virchow's generalization (1858) Omnis cellula ex cellula, and even Flemming's further advance (1882), Omnis nucleus e nucleo.
The history of vitalism, which we have thus briefly outlined, shows how the advance of biological research and the trend of the best modern scientific thought is moving steadily back in the direction of that conception of life to be found in the scholastic philosophy, itself based on the teaching of Aristotle. We shall now attempt a fuller positive treatment of the doctrine adopted by the great body of Catholic philosophers.
Life is that perfection in a living being in virtue of which it is capable of self-movement or immanent action. Motion, thus understood includes, besides change of locality, all alterations in quality or quantity, and all transition from potentiality to actuality. The term is applied only analogically to God, who is exempt from even accidental modification. Self-movement of a being is that effected by a principle intrinsic to the nature of the being, though it may be excited or stimulated from without. Immanent action is action of which the terminus remains within the agent itself, e.g. thought, sensation, nutrition. It is contrasted with transient action, of which the effect passes to a being distinct from the agent, e.g. pushing, pulling, warming, etc. Immanent activity can be the property only of a principle which is an intrinsic constituent of the agent. In contrast with the power of self-movement, inertia is a fundamental attribute of inanimate matter. This can only be moved from without.
There are three grades of life essentially distinct: vegetative, sentient or animal, and intellectual or spiritual life; for the capacity for immanent action is of three kinds. Vegetative operations result in the assimilation of material elements into the substance of the living being. In animal conscious life the vital act is a modification of the sentient organic faculty, whilst in rational life the intellect expresses the object by a purely spiritual modification of itself. Life as we know it in this world is always bound up with organized matter, that is, with a material structure consisting of organs, or heterogeneous parts, specialized for different functions and combined into a whole.
The ultimate units of which all organisms, whether plant or animal are composed, are minute particles of protoplasm, called cells. But even in the cell there is differentiation in structural parts and in function. In other words, the cell itself living apart is an organism. The complexity of living structures varies from that of the single cell amoeba up to the elephant or man. All higher organisms start from the fusion of two germ cells, or gametes. When these are unequal the smaller one the spermatozoon is so minute in relation to the larger, or ovum, that their fusion is commonly spoken of as the fertilization of the ovum by the spermatozoon. The ovum thus fertilized is endowed with the power, when placed in its appropriate nutrient medium, of building itself up into the full-sized living being of the specific type to which it belongs. Growth throughout is effected by a continuous process of cell cleavage and multiplication. The fertilized ovum undergoes certain internal changes and then divides into two cells juxtaposed. Each of the pair passes through similar changes and subdivides in the same way, forming a cluster of four like cells, then of eight, then of sixteen and so on. The specific shape and different organs of the future animal only gradually manifest themselves. At first the cells present the appearance of a bunch of grapes or the grains of a mulberry, the morula stage; the growth proceeds rapidly, a cavity forms itself inside and the blastosphere stage is reached. Next, in the case of invertebrates, one part of the sphere invaginates or collapses inwards and the embryo now takes the shape of a small sac, the gastrula stage. In vertebrates instead of invagination there is unequal growth of parts and the development continuing, the outlines of the nervous system, digestive cavity, viscera, heart, sense-organs, etc. appear, and the specific type becomes more and more distinct, until there can be recognized the structure of the particular animal the fish, bird, or mammal. The entire organism, skin, bone, nerve, muscle, etc. is thus built up of cells, all derived by similar processes ultimately from the original germ cell. All the characteristic features of life and the formative power which constructs the whole edifice is thus possessed by this germ-cell, and the whole problem of life meets us here.
The chief phenomena of life can be seen in their simplest form in a unicellular organism, such as the amoeba. This is visible under the microscope as a minute speck of transparent jelly-like protoplasm, with a nucleus, or a darker spot, in the interior. This latter, as Wilson says, may be regarded as "a controlling centre of cell activity." It plays a most important part in reproduction, and is probably a constituent part of all normal cells, though this point is not yet strictly proved. The amoeba exhibits irritability or movement in response to stimulation. It spreads itself around small particles of food, dissolves them, and absorbs the nutritive elements by a process of intussusception, and distributes the new material throughout its substance as a whole, to make good the loss which it is constantly undergoing by decomposition. The operation of nutrition is an essentially immanent activity, and it is part of the metabolism, or waste and repair, which is characteristic of living organisms. The material thus assimilated into the living organism is raised to a condition of chemically unstable equilibrium, and sustained in this state while it remains part of the living being. When the assimilation exceeds disintegration the animal grows. From time to time certain changes take place in the nucleus and body of the cell, which divides into two, part of the nucleus, reconstituted into a new nucleus, remaining with one section of the cell, and part with the other. The separated parts then complete their development, and grow up into two distinct cells like the original parent cell. Here we have the phenomenon of reproduction. Finally, the cell may be destroyed by physical or chemical action, when all these vital activities cease. To sum up the account of life in its simplest form, in the words of Professor Windle:
The amoeba moves, it responds to stimuli, it breathes and it feeds, it carries on complicated chemical processes in its interior. It increases and multiplies and it may die. (What is Life?, p. 36.)
These various phenomena constituting the cycle of life cannot, according to the Schoolmen, be rationally conceived as the outcome of any collection of material particles. They are inexplicable by mere complexity of machinery, or as a resultant of the physical and chemical properties of matter. They establish, it is maintained, the existence of an intrinsic agency, energy, or power, which unifies the multiplicity of material parts, guides the several vital processes, dominates in some manner the physical and chemical operations, controls the tendency of the constituents of living substance to decompose and pass into conditions of more stable equilibrium, and regulates and directs the whole series of changes involved in the growth and the building-up of the living being after the plan of its specific type. This agency is the vital principle; and according to the Scholastic philosophers it is best conceived as the substantial form of the body. In the Peripatetic theory, the form or entelechy gives unity to the living being, determines its essential nature, and is the ultimate source of its specific activities. The evidence for this doctrine can be stated only in the briefest outline.
(1) Argument from physiological unity
The physiological unity and regulative power of the organism as a whole necessitate the admission of an internal, formal, constituent principle as the source of vital activity. The living being protozoon or vertebrate, notwithstanding its differentiation of material parts and manifoldness of structure, is truly one. It exercises immanent activity. Its organs for digestion, secretion, respiration, sensation, etc., are organs of one being. They function not for their own sakes but for the service of the whole. The well-being or ill-being of each part is bound up in intimate sympathy with every other. Amid wide variations of surroundings the living organism exhibits remarkable skill in selecting suitable nutriment; it regulates its temperature and the rate of combustion uniformly within very narrow limits, it similarly controls respiration and circulation the composition of the blood is also kept unchanged with remarkable exactness throughout the species. In fact, life selects, absorbs, distributes, stores various materials of its environment for the good of the whole organism, and rejects waste products, spending its energy with wonderful wisdom.
This would not be possible were the living being merely an aggregate of atoms or particles of matter in local contact. Each wheel of a watch or engine nay each part of a wheel is a being quite distinct from, and in its existence intrinsically independent of every other. No spoke or rivet sickens or thrives in sympathy with a bar in another part of the machine, nor does it contribute out of its actual or potential substance to make good the disintegration of other parts. The combination is artificial; the union accidental, not natural. All the actions between the parts are transient, not immanent. The phenomena of life thus establish the reality of a unifying and regulating principle, energy, or force, intimately present to every portion of the living creature, making its manifold parts one substantial nature and regulating its activities.
(2) Morpho-genetic argument: Growth
The tiny fertilized ovum placed in a suitable medium grows rapidly by division and multiplication, and builds up an infinitely complex structure, after the type of the species to which it belongs. But for this something more than the chemical and physical properties of the material elements engaged is required. There must be from the beginning some intrinsic formative power in the germ to direct the course of the vast series of changes involved. Machines may, when once set up be constructed to perform very ingenious operations. But no machine constructs itself, still less can it endow a part of its structure with the power of building itself up into a similar machine. The establishment of the doctrine of epigenesis has obviously increased indefinitely the hopelessness of a mechanical explanation. When it is said that life is due to the organization of matter, the question at once arises: What is the cause of the organization? What but the formative power the vital principle of the germ cell? Again the growing organism has been compared to the building up of the crystal. But the two are totally different. The crystal grows by mere aggregation of external surface layers which do not affect the interior. The organism grows by intussusception, the absorption of nutriment and the distribution of it throughout its own substance. A crystal liberates energy in its formation and growth. A living body accumulates potential energy in its growth. A piece of crystal too is not a unity. A part of a crystal is still a crystal. Not so, a part of a cow. A still more marvellous characteristic of life is the faculty of restoring damaged parts. If any part is wounded, the whole organism exhibits its sympathy; the normal course of nutrition is altered the vital energy economizes its supplies elsewhere and concentrates its resources in healing the injured part. This indeed is only a particular exercise of the faculty of adaptation and of circumventing obstacles that interfere with normal activity, which marks the flexibility of the universal working of life, as contrasted with the rigidity of the machine and the immutability of physical and chemical modes of action.
The argument in favour of a vital principle from growth was reinforced by the introduction of experiment into embryology. Roux, Driesch, Wilson, and others, showed that in the case of the sea-urchin, amphioxus, and other animals, if the embryo in its earliest stages, when consisting of two cells, four cells, and in some cases of eight cells, be carefully divided up into the separate single cells, each of these may develop into a complete animal, though of proportionately smaller size. That is, the fertilized ovum which was naturally destined to become one normal animal, though prevented by artificial interference from achieving that end, has yet attained its purpose by producing several smaller animals; and in doing so has employed the cells which it produced to form quite other parts of the organism than those for which they were normally designed. This proves that there must be in the original cell a flexible formative power capable of directing the vital processes of the embryo along the most devious paths and of adapting much of its constituent material to the most diverse uses.
(3) Psychical Argument
Finally, we have immediate and intimate knowledge of our own living conscious unity. I am assured that it is the same ultimate principle within me which thinks and feels, which originates and directs my movements. It is this same principle which has governed the growth of all my sense-organs and members, and animates the whole of my body. It is this which constitutes me one rational, sentient, living being.
All these various classes of facts prove that life is not explicable by the mechanical, physical, and chemical properties of matter. To account for the phenomena there is required within the living being a principle which has built up the organism after a definite plan; which constitutes the manifold material a single being; which is intimately present in every part of it; which is the source of its essential activities; and which determines its specific nature. Such is the vital principle. It is therefore in the Scholastic terminology at once the final, the formal, and even the efficient cause of the living being.
In each animal or plant there is only one vital principle, one substantial form. This is obvious from the manner in which the various vital functions are controlled and directed to one end the good of the whole being. Were there more than one vital principle, then we should have not one being but a collection of beings. The practice of abstraction in scientific descriptions and discussions of the structure and functions of the cell has sometimes occasioned exaggerated notions as to the independence and separateness of existence of the individual cell, in the organism. It is true that certain definite activities and functions are exercised by the individual cell as by the eye or the liver; and we may for convenience consider these in isolation: but in concrete reality the cell, as well as the eye or the liver exerts its activity by and through the living energy of the whole being. In some lowly organisms it is not easy to determine whether we are in presence of an individual being or a colony; but this does not affect the truth of the proposition that the vital principle being the substantial form, there can only be one such principle animating the living being. With respect to the nature of this unity of form there has been much dispute among the adherents of the Scholastic philosophy down to the present day. It is agreed that in the case of man the unity, which is of the most perfect kind, is founded on the simplicity of the rational or spiritual soul. In the case of the higher animals also it has been generally, though not universally held that the vital principle is indivisible. With respect to plants and lower forms of animal life in which the parts live after division, the disagreement is considerable. According to some writers the vital principle here is not simple but extended, and the unity is due merely to its continuity. According to others it is actually simple, potentially manifold, or divisible in virtue of the nature of the extended organism which it animates. There does not seem to be much prospect of a final settlement of the point.
The whole weight of the evidence from biological investigation, as we have already observed, goes to prove with constantly increasing force that life never appears on the earth except as originating from a previous living being. On the other hand science also proves that there was a time in the past when no life could have possibly existed on this planet. How then did it begin? For the Christian and the Theist the answer is easy and obvious. Life must in the first instance have been due to the intervention of a living First Cause. When Weismann says that for him the assumption of spontaneous generation is a "logical necessity" (Evolution Theory, II, 366), or Karl Pearson, that the demand for "special creation or an ultrascientific cause" must be rejected because "it would not bring unity into the phenomena of life nor enable us to economize thought" (Grammar of Science, 353) we have merely a psychological illustration of the force of prejudice even in the scientific mind. A better sample of the genuine scientific spirit and a view more consonant with actual evidence are presented to us by the eminent biologist, Alfred Russel Wallace who, in concluding his discussion of the Darwinian theory, points out that
there are at least three stages in the development of the organic world when some new cause or power must necessarily have come into action. The first stage is the change from inorganic to organic, when the earliest vegetable cell, or the living protoplasm out of which it arose, first appeared. This is often imputed to a mere increase of complexity of chemical compounds; but increase of complexity with consequent instability, even if we admit that it may have produced protoplasm as a chemical compound, could certainly not have produced living protoplasm protoplasm which has the power of growth and of reproduction, and of that continuous process of development which has resulted in the marvellous variety and complex organization of the whole vegetable kingdom. There is in all this something quite beyond and apart from chemical changes, however complex; and it has been well said that the first vegetable cell was a new thing in the world, possessing altogether new powers that of extracting and fixing carbon from the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere that of indefinite reproduction, and still more marvellous, the power of variation and of reproducing those variations till endless complications of structure and varieties of form have been the result. Here, then, we have indications of a new power at work, which we may term vitality, since it gives to certain forms of matter all those characters and properties which constitute Life ("Darwinism", London, 1889, 474 5).
For a discussion of the relation of life to the law of the conservation of energy, see ENERGY, where the question is treated at length.
Having thus expounded what we believe to be the teaching of the best science and philosophy respecting the nature and immediate origin of life, it seems to us most important to bear constantly in mind that the Catholic Church is committed to extremely little in the way of positive definite teaching on the subject. Thus it is well to recall at the present time that three of the most eminent Italian Jesuits, in philosophy and science, during the nineteenth century Fathers Tongiorgi, Secchi, and Palmieri, recognized as most competent theologians and all professors in the Gregorian University, all held the mechanical theory in regard to vegetative life, whilst St. Thomas and the entire body of theologians of the Middle Ages, like everybody else of their time, believed implicitly in spontaneous generation as an everyday occurrence. If therefore these decayed scientific hypotheses should ever be rehabilitated or which does not seem likely be even established, there would be no insuperable difficulty from a theological standpoint as to their acceptance.
APA citation. (1910). Life. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09238c.htm
MLA citation. "Life." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09238c.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Tomas Hancil.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. | <urn:uuid:133a1433-839e-44e7-8a41-6d47898eebea> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09238c.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00081-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955396 | 8,260 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Many public utilities, including those that supply drinking water to residents, are using a technology known as “smart meters,” which use radio signals to determine meter readings through mobile telecommunications. Questions have come up about potential health effects associated with radio frequency radiation (RFR), the signals used in this technology. RFR comes from many sources, including radio and television broadcasting, microwave ovens, radar, and mobile telephones with the latter now being the most common source.
A number of states and organizations have examined the issue and produced reports that may answer these questions:
- Vermont Department of Health – Radio Frequency Radiation and Health: Smart Meters
- World Health Organization - Electromagnetic Fields and Public Health
- Federal Communications Commission – Radio Frequency Safety
- Health Physics Society – Mobile Telephones | <urn:uuid:b790a34f-6dde-4500-a1ac-7843b7040094> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/water/factsheet/rfr.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947512 | 162 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Orange juice is one of the most important juices and is used as a key ingredient in making cocktails. Other alkaline fruits include citrus fruits, tropical fruits and berries. To squeeze most juice out of your fruits, bring them to room temperature. Before squeezing, rub the fruits against your palm or on a hard surface. These fruits can also be put in a microwave for about 30 seconds before squeezing them to get the juice. By doing this, you are sure to get most juices out of fresh orange fruits.
Though it is not advisable to consume lots of alkaline foods, their nutritional value is essential. The human pH is influenced by different things such as temperature and diet. Recent research also showed that people who take lots of water or eat foods that have high alkaline content are at risk of low immunity and diseases. They are advised to purchase a pH paper to test the levels of their pH based on the saliva and urine.
Lemon and orange juice turn alkaline after being metabolized in the body though they are acid in their natural state.
The nutrition value of orange juice
The orange is mostly known for their high concentration of vitamin C. This is made without fermentation. By drinking a single glass of orange juice, you fulfill your daily value of vitamin C. Orange juice also contains useful nutrients and minerals such as Magnesium and Potassium. Another benefit of fruits such as the orange is that it has no cholesterol as it contains no fat. Relying on packaged orange juices is not healthy as it is difficult to store orange juice. Packaged juices contain preservatives, and this comes with calories, unlike homemade orange juice.
Orange Juice Alkaline Fact Sheet:
- The vitamin C in oranges helps in boosting immunity in the body. It as a high concentration of antioxidants that are essential in the building and repair of cells. It also protects body cells from damage.
Vitamin C helps our bodies fight diseases and infections. Scientists have also established that it has great cancer fighting properties that neutralize free radicals. Consuming sufficient amounts of vitamin C provides our bodies with good health in general.
- Potassium and Magnesium are minerals found in oranges. Those suffering from High blood pressure are mostly recommended taking lots of orange juice as these minerals help to lower the increased blood pressure.
- Fatal diseases such as heart disease and stroke are also reduced by taking orange juice.
- For healthy development of the foetus, pregnant ladies are advised to take lots of orange juice too; due to the high concentration of calcium in orange juice, a baby develops strong bones and teeth.
- As a result, an orange’s anti-inflammatory properties, drinking orange juice helps to prevent and also treat arthritis.
- Orange juice is also believed to increase the metabolic rate of the body.
As we all know, too much of something is poisonous; therefore, orange juice should be consumed in moderation as it is highly concentrated with sugars. It is also recommended that you only take one or two glasses in a day as the acid level in the orange is not healthy especially if you’re having a stomach upset – remember, it becomes alkaline only after being metabolized. | <urn:uuid:000a3ff1-5283-4fe1-beb9-63c74efcc185> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.adventuresinveg.com/orangejuicealkaline/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958645 | 641 | 2.75 | 3 |
No, these aren't photos from the Hollywood studio where Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landing. These are real training simulations in Houston just three months before these men would actually set foot on the moon.
Amazingly, there are some people who still don't believe that humans actually landed on the moon—these folks are commonly referred to as "moon hoaxers," "moon truthers," and "blathering dunderheads."
Blathering dunderheads sometimes point to these training mock-up photos as evidence that the moon landing was faked. Because if you're trying to simulate the conditions of the moon to prepare for your historic mission, why not just give up and fake the thing on Earth. Or something like that? The blathering dunderheads haven't really thought this one through. Especially when it comes to the film and video technology of the late 1960s—relatively primitive tech which would have been harder to rapidly develop than actually just blasting humans to the moon.
Within the context of the moon hoaxer's drivel, these are kind of hilarious to look at and imagine how you'd fake a moon landing. Feel free to utilize the photos below for maximum moon hoaxer trolling.
Neil Armstrong, standing in front of a Lunar Module mock-up and holding a camera during a simulation in Houston on April 22, 1969.
Neil Armstrong practices scooping up a lunar sample in this photo from the Manned Spacecraft Center (now the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center) in Houston on April 18, 1969.
Buzz Aldrin (left) and Neil Armstrong (right) participate in a training exercise using scoops and tongs to pick up lunar samples on April 22, 1969.
Neil Armstrong opens a sample return container next to the Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly and the Lunar Module mock-up on April 18, 1969.
Neil Armstrong practices using a video camera during a lunar surface simulation at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. | <urn:uuid:f2a91be5-7406-4e83-9464-18c8f3c7b4c1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/and-why-do-they-suddenly-appear-whenever-you-are-nea-1555428364 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00169-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948848 | 398 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Through a fast-paced game of matching and sequencing, players discover fascinating facts about and reinforce their understanding of star life cycles.
Before you start: Enlarge 130% (on 11x17 paper) and copy the Star Stage and Stage Descriptions cards on two different colors of card stock for each group and cut out the cards. Based on the SkyTellers science story and discussion, players should have a basic understanding of star life cycles. Alternatively, children can research and create their own Stage Description cards.
Divide players into groups of three to five.
Distribute one set of Star Scramble cards to each group. Place the Star Stage cards in random order, face down in a stack and the Stage Description cards face down, scattered in front of the players.
Each player, in turn, selects a Star Stage card and then selects a card from the Stage Description cards to read aloud. If the Star Stage and Stage Description are a match, the player calls out “star match.” If the others agree, the card and its match are set aside and the player waits his or her turn to draw another Star Stage card. If the Star Stage and the Stage Description do not match, the Stage Description card is returned to its original position, face down, and the player waits of his or her turn to try again, Players should continue until all matches are made. If a match is found later to be incorrect, both cards are returned to the game. Players can discuss the descriptions and help each other verify matches, but they should not help each other find cards.
The facilitator should circulate and assist in clarifying terms if needed. Refer to “About Stars” for a discussion of star lives. Remind children of the SkyTellers science story.
The first group to find all the card matches and order them correctly, wins.
Have older children research the terms and create their own definition cards. Invite them to illustrate each stage of star evolution, based on what they have learned.
Connections to the National Science Standard(s)
Standard D (grades K–4): The sun and stars have properties that can be observed and described.
Standard D (grades 9–12) Stars produce energy from nuclear reactions, primarily the fusion of hydrogen to form helium. | <urn:uuid:2682b25b-bbe8-4241-92ef-eb73019a98e4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/skytellers/stars/activities/scramble.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00176-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942517 | 469 | 3.828125 | 4 |
Normally when the subject of autonomous vehicles comes up, the conversation jumps to passenger cars. That is a bit odd when you consider what vehicles actually spend the most time on highways: trucks. But Mercedes-Benz is already working on that, and have recently begun testing an autonomous truck.
The “Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025” just completed its first driverless tests on the A14 Autobahn outside of Magdeburg, reaching the blistering speed of 53 mph (85 kph). Despite badly needing a more exciting name, the autonomous truck is an impressive feat.
The technology of the Future Truck comes primarily from Mercedes road car division and includes radar, optical and GPS systems that are able to control the truck in realistic highway driving. Mercedes is as excited as Germans ever get outside of a futbol match.
“The truck of the future is a Mercedes-Benz that drives itself,” said Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, member of Daimler’s board and dictionary illustration of a German executive. “The Future Truck 2025 is our response to the major challenges and opportunities associated with road freight transport in the future.”
According to Mercedes cargo transport on Germany’s autobahns will expand by more than half over the next forty years without a commensurate growth of the transport network. This means that transport has to grow more efficient.
Mercedes hopes that driverless trucks can be part of a more efficient and safer transport scheme, that can deal with a crowded future. An automated truck should be able to use space more efficiently, and manage fuel better than human drivers. Better still, the possibility of networked trucks would allow efficient convoying and closer following distances.
This efficiency also has benefits for the environment, especially in the form of reduced fuel consumption.
The main loser in this would be truck drivers. However, Mercedes does not envision the death of this profession, but rather changing into something a bit different.
Truckers would still be needed, at least in the foreseeable future, to take over in cities or if something went wrong with the automated programming. But what to do with all that freetime on the highway? Well Mercedes envisions trucks becoming mobile offices, and truck drivers taking on rolls traditionally held by office workers in the shipping industry.
It’s an interesting idea, and probably a good one. But as with all automation, efficiency usually means fewer humans needed.
But regardless of petty human concerns automated trucks are already on their way. The U.S. military is working on using them in dangerous convoy situations, and the Dutch are already working on updating the law to allow autonomous trucks for use in around port facilities. The Future Truck could be here much sooner than even Mercedes is willing to predict. | <urn:uuid:b5d88215-dc7c-4143-8ffa-05240129958c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/mercedes-wants-automated-trucks-2025/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00125-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953954 | 565 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Consuming dairy products at least once per day was associated with a significant improvement in a range of mental functions, including abstract reasoning, visual-spatial memory, organization, and working memory.
Writing in the International Dairy Journal, researchers from the University of South Australia and the University of Maine suggest that the benefits may be linked to the nutrient content of dairy foods, such as vitamin D, phosphorus, and magnesium.
Dairy consumption is linked to range of other lifestyle factors, and the authors note that over the past two decades dairy consumption has declined significantly around the world. In the US, declining dairy consumption has coincided with an increase in the consumption of soft drinks.
“This shift in dietary patterns is alarming with regard to the quantity of energy consumed, risk for excess weight gain and obesity, and inadequate nutrient intake,” wrote the researchers, led by Georgina Crichton.
“Consistent with this dietary pattern in children, our data in an adult population suggests that low dairy food consumers may engage in other less healthy lifestyle and dietary habits, and that this is one possible explanation of their poorer performance aside from missing the positive aspects of dairy food consumption.”
Crichton and her co-workers analysed data from 972 people participating in the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study.
Diet habits were assessed using the Nutrition and Health Questionnaire, a 41-question document originally developed for the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC).
Mental function was assessed using a battery of tests for visual-spatial memory and organization, scanning and tracking, verbal episodic memory, working memory, executive function, and similarities (a measure of abstract reasoning).
Results showed that consumption of dairy products at least once a day was associated with “significantly higher scores on multiple domains of cognitive function compared with those who never or rarely consumed dairy foods”.
“Frequent dairy food intake is associated with better cognitive performance but underlying causal mechanisms are still to be determined,” they added.
Source: International Dairy Journal
Published online ahead of print, doi:10.1016/j.idairyj.2011.08.001
“Relation between dairy food intake and cognitive function: the Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study”
Authors: G.E. Crichton, M.F. Elias, G.A. Dore, M.A. Robbins | <urn:uuid:764aa650-c67b-459c-850a-040d92e771c6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dairyreporter.com/R-D/Dairy-foods-linked-to-better-brain-function-Study | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924862 | 499 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Simple Definition of uncommon
: not often found, seen, or experienced
: not ordinary : remarkable or exceptional
Examples of uncommon in a sentence
It is not uncommon for people to become depressed after they retire.
an athlete with uncommon ability
a soldier of uncommon courage
She is an uncommon woman.
First Known Use of uncommon
Synonym Discussion of uncommon
UNCOMMON Defined for Kids
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up uncommon? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible). | <urn:uuid:0b3016f4-5dc3-4d6f-9114-78083bca0b50> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uncommonness | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00052-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913717 | 114 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Unlike the severe reproductive losses associated with the first case of PRRS (porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome), and the very high grow-finish mortality seen with porcine circovirus Type 2, sow mortality can be a slow, insidious problem.
As the swine industry evolved, sow mortality rates gradually increased. Concern with increasing sow deaths heightened in the mid- to late-1990s. Sow loss in several herds climbed from target levels of 3-5% to 10-20%.
Investigations found problems often to be multi-factorial and frustrating to try and isolate a primary cause.
Following are three case studies of herds with high sow mortality.
Case Study No. 1
A 750-sow, farrow-to-finish, one-site herd in Indiana flows pigs all-in, all-out through rooms. This PRRS-positive herd has had only one period with a slight increase in abortions in the past six years. The herd consists of York-Landrace females produced internally. Gestation facilities include a combination of stalls and pens, with most sows gestated in stalls.
In 2001, sow mortality was 9.7%. The death rate decreased in 2002 to 6% with no specific changes. However, in 2003, 11.1% of the sows died. Because of the work reported with antibiotics in lactation diets decreasing sow mortality, chlortetracycline was added to those diets. Several sows and gilts died during or after difficulty farrowing.
A genetic change was made and more effort placed on maternal traits in the selection of replacement animals. An improved gilt development program ensured a high percentage of gilts had heat-no-serve dates assuring better size at the time of farrowing.
Sow mortality for 2005, 2006 and 2007 has been much improved at 3.7%, 4.9% and 3.1%, respectively. It's likely this herd's high sow mortality was related to several factors linked to genetics and gilt development.
In addition, personnel changes contributed to the improvement. We are considering removing the lactation antibiotic and monitoring for any subsequent change in sow mortality.
Case Study No. 2
A 600-sow, breed-to-wean herd decided to change genetic sources. The sow herd is positive to PRRS virus and Mycoplasmal pneumonia. High-health gilts were purchased. They were isolated off-site and unsuccessfully inoculated with the farm's PRRS virus; therefore, gilts and sows were vaccinated with modified-live PRRS virus vaccine. Gilts were bred off-site and moved to the sow farm at farrowing. Several gilts went off feed at farrowing. In addition, the progeny of affected gilts showed respiratory signs and performed poorly. Nasal swabs collected from the gilts and their offspring were positive for H3N2 swine influenza virus. Some gilts died.
It was recommended that remaining gilts be vaccinated for swine influenza virus. Problems and gilt mortality continued; a gilt was submitted to the diagnostic lab. Several infectious organisms were identified. It became clear that gilts had not developed adequate immunity to the bacteria and viruses they were being exposed to in the sow herd. Nearly 10% gilt mortality occurred over a two-month period. Additional vaccination and antibiotic therapy finally reduced death loss.
An extensive gilt development plan was recommended. In addition, gilts will be moved to the sow herd once space is available.
In this situation, pathogens caused considerable mortality. Gilts were likely more susceptible because of the exposure at farrowing. Introducing gilts from high-health herds into more conventional sow herds can cause reproductive problems, although acute loss like this case usually doesn't occur.
Case Study No. 3
A breed-to-wean sow herd expanded and converted a wide grower barn to stall gestation. A center inlet from a duct built to the roof was one of the fresh air sources for the barn. The first summer the barn was in use, very high outside temperatures occurred early in the season. A fogger cooling system was not entirely functional at that time. Because the duct was not insulated and tightly sealed, and had a large surface area, incoming air actually increased the room temperature.
Late-term pregnant sows were in the center rows of the wide gestation barn, and high losses occurred due to heat stress. The ventilation system was modified to tunnel with cool cells and heat-stress mortalities stopped.
Many factors can be involved in increased sow mortality including management, nutrition, genetics, environment and disease. Often, multiple factors will be involved. It is always essential that daily individual animal observation be practiced. Being proactive can reduce sow mortality. Providing the best care possible for the sow is a welfare obligation, in addition to an economic necessity. | <urn:uuid:14619c93-7d13-48fc-83bc-ceb0551ef03c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://nationalhogfarmer.com/print/health-diseases/sow-mortality-challenges-persist-0515 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393533.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966771 | 998 | 2.703125 | 3 |
I think you're underestimating the potential value of this-- I'm guessing you know some circuits and comp arch as well, but I'm going to break it down a bit more than you need for the benefit of others.
You're obviously right that something like this has little or no value for local interconnect, but global interconnect is a major pain in the ass that does not scale or improve with process technology, and this could be a big help in that context. Pipelining global interconnect is most certainly not a panacea-- basically, by adding in more stages, you increase the number of cycles that pass before it's possible to determine whether or not a branch instruction was predicted correctly. When you guess wrong, therefore, you've wasted more time following a bad path, which brings down the average number of instructions that get completed per cycle. Intel tried this strategy with P4-- their thought was that they would use techniques like wire pipelining to reduce the cycle time so far that the drop in efficiency would be outweighed by blazing speed. It didn't really work. By slashing global interconnect latency in half, you could potentially have much larger cores without resorting to these shenanigans (allowing larger branch predictors for example, and possibly helping with sequential execution speed), or you could facilitate communication between cores.
For global interconnect, optical communication has a lot of attractive features even beyond the roughly 2x reduction in latency. In a traditional bus, you have multiple long wires in parallel. The metal layers used for global interconnect tend to be relatively tall and thin-- the thinness is to get density, and the tallness is to compensate for the effects of that thinness on resistence. As a result, you have large plates close to one another, and you develop significant capacitance, which means that the relative voltage of the neighboring lines will tend to stay the same. So, if one line moves from high to low voltage, it will push its neighbor down as well. This is called cross-coupling, and it can do some very nasty things. Suppose that one line is driven at constant low voltage (we'll call this the victim). The other line starts off at high voltage, and transitions low (this is the attacker). The attacker pushes the victim down below 0 volts. Suppose that the victim is driving to a latch (memory element) which is not enabled. In a typical latch, there are cross coupled inverters, and an nmos transistor acting as a gate, with the input at the drain and the output at the source. When there is a positive voltage difference between the gate and the source, electrons flow from the source to the drain. Normally, when you have 0 volts on the gate, then, you expect nothing to flow through the device, and your state will not be written. But, if the victim gets dragged below 0, you potentially have enough of a voltage difference between the source and the gate to turn the transistor on, allowing a write to your memory when the latch is supposed to be disabled. This is a serious ugly, it's transient, and it's very difficult to catch.
Circuit designers sometimes use techniques called shielding and half shielding to reduce these problems. Shielding involves inserting lines tied to ground, either every other wire, or every two wires (half shielding) in a bus. As you can imagine, this uses up a lot of area. There are other issues from cross coupling as well (burning more power for example if neighbors transition in opposite directions)-- the hard core analog side of things is not really my cup of tea-- but pretty much all of this crap should go away with optical interconnect.
Also, with all the capacitance in global interconnect, you can blow a lot of power charging and discharging the lines, and to get it to go fast, you need large, power hungry transistors, and probably repeaters every so often which burn still more power and add extra latency (now you have gate delays on top of your wire delay).
In short, if it's fast enough to convert between the electrical and optical domains, and the pitch of optical interconnects is fine enough, and the interconnects can be forked (one driver multiple receivers), this could be a big winner (faster, lower power, more reliable, what's not to like?). I do agree with you that they've been talking about this kind of thing for years and nothing's come out of it yet, but that's not to say the hurdles will never be circumvented, and there are obviously some fine minds working on this stuff, so I feel it's a bad idea to dismiss the possibilities out of hand. | <urn:uuid:6cb4786b-b930-4b29-afd5-6bb2fb93e83a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2010/03/03/ibm_apd_demonstration/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00181-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963813 | 954 | 2.578125 | 3 |
A C Programming Language programmer has to tell the system the type of numbers or characters he is using in his program. these are data types. There are many data types in C Programming Language. Data types are used to store various types of data.
C has a concept of 'data types' which are used to define a variable before its use. A C programmer use appropriate data type as per his requirement.
C supports various data types such as character, integer and floating-point types. Please note that there is not a Boolean data type.
All the data types are made up of units of memory called bytes.
n order of size, starting with the smallest, the integer types are char, short, int, long. The smaller types take less memory, the larger types takes more space in memory.
C has different data types for different types of data and they are classified as:
Keywords are the words whose meaning has already been explained to the C compiler. The keyword can't be used as variable names because if we do so, we are trying to assign a new meaning to the keyword, which is not allowed by the computer. The keywords are also called the Reserved Keywords. There are only 32 keywords available in C.
Some Important Keywords in C Programming Language int, char, double, float, switch, case, if, else, for, while, long, short etc.
Note: Compiler vendors provide their own keywords apart from mentioned above. These include Extended keywords like near, far, asm, etc. Such compiler specific keywords should be preceded by two underscore sign AS __far.
short, long: Used only for int (integers), to change size of the data type for save memory space. The short modifier reduces the size of the data type to half itís regular storage capabilities.
unsigned, signed: Also used only for int. Unsigned modifies int to positive number range. Signed is the default modifier for all of the data types. unsigned restricts the data type so that it can only store positive values. By default all data types are signed. Signed means that the data type is capable of storing both positive and negative values.
long long: The size of long long modifier is at least 64 bits. Again was with both the short and long we have two types of the long long, signed and unsigned. | <urn:uuid:c681d3b0-85f7-46eb-a011-8540ca888f62> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://r4r.co.in/c/basic_tutorials/05/data_types_in_c_language.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00147-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92143 | 481 | 4.15625 | 4 |
Zinc supplements are crucial for the body
Posted Monday, September 1 2014 at 01:00
Lean meat, peanuts and pumpkin seeds are common foods that we consume every day. But are you aware that these foods are rich in zinc, a mineral that is crucial for the body’s immune system?
Zinc is not made in the body, which means a person has to get it through supplements or food. It has several benefits, one of which is that it can be used in combination with Oral Rehydration Salts, to treat diarrhoea. It works by reducing the frequency, volume and duration by which a person with diarrhoea passes stool.
Although the World Health Organisation recommends its use, zinc should only be taken when there are signs that a person is deficient in the mineral.
Symptoms of zinc deficiency
Having a poor sense of smell, stunted growth, passing diarrhoea-like stool, white spots on the nails, poor appetite, dry skin, hair loss, eye and skin lesions are some of the signs that a person lacks zinc in their body.
This deficiency usually occurs if a person is not consuming enough Zinc in their diet or has a poor absorption of food. People who have wounds are also likely to suffer from zinc deficiency.
The absorption of the mineral can also be compromised by concurrent consumption of calcium or iron, oral contraceptives, caffeine, alcohol or when a person is stressed.
Zinc is required to keep the immune system functioning properly, which in turn protects people against germs. It helps to trigger enzymes, especially those involved in bone formation, and is useful in the manufacture of hormones that are required for the normal functioning of the thyroid glands.
Inadequate amount of zinc in the body is said to lower the levels of male hormone testosterone and also reduces sperm count, which consequently, is associated with impotence. This explains why men are encouraged to consume a lot of pumpkin seeds, which are high in zinc mineral.
When taken as a supplement, zinc is associated with side effects such as nausea, stomach pain, diarrhoea, vomiting and headache. People who suffer from kidney-related problems are also cautioned against taking zinc supplements without prescription.
The writer is a pharmacist | <urn:uuid:f67fa283-d3f7-4a17-9c46-2e3b2f4d1803> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Health---Living/Zinc-supplements-are-crucial-for-the-body/-/689846/2436484/-/f3m0sqz/-/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00002-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967999 | 457 | 2.921875 | 3 |
THIS WEEK; Fall Planting
By PATRICIA JONAS
Published: September 17, 2000
Fall is ideal for planting: root systems have time to settle in still-warm soil before hard freeze. Evergreens are best planted before the end of September; most deciduous trees and shrubs can be planted through early November.
When considering new trees and shrubs, keep birds in mind. Native trees like Washington hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum) and serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) and native shrubs like gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa) or red osier dogwood (C. stolonifera), common spicebush (Lindera benzoin) and coralberry (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus) or snowberry (S. albus) provide late season fruit and winter shelter for as many as 50 species of birds. PATRICIA JONAS | <urn:uuid:1866f53a-04ea-46e5-bc27-773e9a7ef398> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/17/style/this-week-fall-planting.html?src=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.892955 | 200 | 3.109375 | 3 |
East European Jewish tombstones follow the Ashkenazic pattern that was developed in Central Europe from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. Their most typical traits include vertical position (as opposed to Sephardic tombstones, which usually lie horizontally), rectangular shape, and the prominence of inscription fields. In addition to simple vertical slabs, pseudosarcophagi were popular in some localities in the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. Beginning in the eighteenth century, some tombs of exceptional scholars, rabbis, or holy men were built with an ohel (lit., tent), a simple structure covering the grave (see image at right). Until the nineteenth century, all tomb inscriptions were written in Hebrew (with some Aramaic barbarisms in the epitaphs of learned elites), although many betray poor knowledge of the language. Hebrew inscriptions were written in square script. Cursive and semicursive script began to appear sporadically only in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and were used for the closing formula (or some part thereof) of the epitaph.
Throughout this entire period, and most notably until the nineteenth century, the most common material for tombstones was undoubtedly wood. Grave markers were simple planks with painted inscriptions or images of full-size gravestones carved into the wood. Given the material’s lack of permanence, very few of these have survived (a few are in Belarus; others are preserved in museums in, for example, Bucharest and Helsinki). Of the tombstones that have survived, the overwhelming majority are carved in stone, although a few nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century examples made of cast iron have also endured, as well as some twentieth-century ones composed of artificial stone (terrazzo, concrete). The most commonly preserved tombstones are thus not representative of East European Jewish sepulchral art in its entirety; rather, they are more typical of the sepulchral art of the wealthier classes, as stonework was expensive until the nineteenth century. Traditional tombstones were often covered with paintings, scarcely preserved to this day.
The oldest Jewish tombstones from the lands later known as Eastern Europe are from third- and fourth-century Roman Pannonia, from the settlements of Solva (today’s Esztergom, Hungary), Aquincum (Buda, Hungary), Intercisa (Dunaújváros, Hungary), Siklós (Hungary), Mursa (Osijek, Croatia), Ciglana (Čelarevo near Novi Sad, Yugoslavia), and Oescus (Gigen, Bulgaria). Ten tombstones survive from these localities, assuming that all have been correctly identified as Jewish. These had typical Roman epitaphs, written in Latin and Greek (the tombstone at Ciglana contains one word in Hebrew); some include images of a menorah.
Medieval tombstone, Wrocław, Poland, dating from 1345. Photograph by Marcin Wodziński. (Courtesy of the photographer)
The earliest group of Jewish tombstones had no influence upon the subsequent development of Jewish sepulchral traditions in Eastern Europe, which did not truly begin to develop until the thirteenth century. The oldest preserved tombstones in Poland (1203), Moravia (1269), and Hungary (1278) date from that century. Stelae dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are more numerous. From the period before the year 1500, these include more than 20 samples from Bohemia (Prague, from 1439; Cheb [Eger], 1242–1385; also Kolín, though the documentation there is lacking), 61 from Moravia (Olomouc, 1269–1338/39; Znojmo, 1306–1430; Brno, 1349–1443), 29 from Silesia (Wrocław, 1203–1345; Świdnica 1289–1383; Brzeg 1348; Nysa 1350), and 30 from Hungary (Buda, 1278–1431, 1492?; Trnava, 1340–1396; Skalica, 1398; Sopron, 1411/12; the oldest tombstone from Great Hungary dates from 1130 and comes from Völkermarkt in Carinthia). Only in Prague and Kolín, however, have the tombstones survived in situ.
In Poland—aside from Silesia, which Poland lost to the Czechs in the mid-fourteenth century—the oldest surviving Jewish tombstones date from the sixteenth century. Those known in the older historical literature as being from the fourteenth or fifteenth century, like alleged medieval tombstones from Chełm, are in fact of much later origin. It is possible that earlier ones have not been preserved. The oldest tombstone in Wrocław (Breslau), from 1203, contains archaic traits reminiscent of eleventh- and twelfth-century Jewish tombstones from the Rhineland (though its epitaph displays oriental influences and its lettering bears archaic reminiscences of oriental types of lettering). Remaining tombstones are rendered in the style already typical of late-medieval Ashkenazic sepulchral forms: they are upright, level rectangular slabs, the only decorative elements of which are flat fascia bordering the inscription field.
Epitaphs from this period contain the basic elements of the formulas that characterized later inscriptions, although individual elements of the epitaph (opening formula, closing formula, information block) had at this point not yet been entirely differentiated. The lettering recalls versions of the bookhand-style lettering with a significant difference in thickness between horizontal and vertical lines; the inscription is always engraved (see image above, left). These tombstones possess no essential characteristics that would differentiate them from Central or West European models.
Tombstone with images of lions, Jewish cemetery, Prague, dating from 1628. Grave of Hendl, the wife of wealthy financier and merchant Ya‘akov Bassevi of Treuenberg (1570–1634). Photograph by Vladimir Uher. (Courtesy of the photographer)
This type of tombstone predominated in all of Eastern Europe until the second half of the sixteenth century, and in more remote localities until the beginning of the seventeenth. The most interesting and largest groups of gravestones of this type, dating from the second half of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth centuries, are preserved in Busk near Lwów (from 1520), Lublin (1541), Szczebrzeszyn (1545), Lesko (1548), and Buczacz (1587).
A new type of gravestone appeared in the mid-sixteenth century in cemeteries of the large Jewish communities of Kraków (where the oldest known tombstone dates from about 1549), Przemyśl (1574), and above all Prague, where the sixteenth century saw the development of a school of sepulchral stonemasonry of high artistic value and very particular local traits. For instance, Prague’s tombstones used figurative motifs and the shield of David, rarely encountered elsewhere (see image at right). The Prague cemetery is also the only Jewish necropolis in Eastern Europe in which one can find a continuous sequence of tombstones from the second half of the fifteenth to the first half of the seventeenth centuries. Sixteenth-century tombstones from Prague—as is the case with those found in large Jewish communities in Poland or even in provincial centers such as Chęciny or Pińczów that had a highly developed artistic culture—embodied a Renaissance (and later Baroque) aesthetic, incorporating classical architectural motifs to enrich the composition of the face of the tombstone.
An example of a tombstone in the folk art style, Sienawa, Poland, dating from 1855. Photograph by Marcin Wodziński. (Courtesy of the photographer)
In the mid-seventeenth century, this type of tombstone spread throughout the region, at the same time undergoing “primitivization” and a rapid evolution toward folk art forms. The folk version of this type of gravestone, sometimes referred to as Jewish Baroque, became the best-known type among East European Jewish communities; it predominated until the mid-nineteenth century and—in many localities in Ukraine, eastern Poland, and Belorussia—as late as the Holocaust. The inscription field continued to be the most prominent element in a tombstone of this style, but the composition of the front of the stela changed under the influence of contemporary architectural models—as seen, for instance, in the motif of the arcade, the aedicula and, from the early seventeenth century, a notable tendency toward dividing the front of the stela into clearly differentiated parts: a pediment, a framed inscription field, and a base. Initially the pediment contained the opening formula of the inscription (or at least part of it), but from the late seventeenth century on it was more and more often filled with ornamental and symbolic images; at the same time, the pediment itself grew larger. An extreme example of this tendency can be seen in the gravestones of eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century southeastern Poland, Ukraine, and Moldavia, where the pediment, richly ornamented and filled with symbolic motifs, constituted almost half of the tombstone, and the main principle of its composition seems to have been horror vacui (see image at left).
The repertoire of motifs employed to decorate tombstones included ornamental architectural elements as well as perhaps 100 symbolic, figurative motifs, often tied together in stylized, complex, and very specialized compositions (see image below, right). Examples of these specialized hieratic schemes include crowns flanked by heraldic lions or deer, the pitcher and bowl of Levite tombstones, professional symbols (such as the caduceus often seen on physicians’ graves), and family symbols (for instance, the flag of the Maccabees on the gravestones of the Tischler family of Silesia and Great Poland).
Tombstones in the “new” cemetery, displaying a variety of figurative motifs, Szydłowiec, Poland, early twentieth century. (YIVO)
The inscription field was often filled with ornamented epitaphs done in relief script, with much variation in the height and style of the letters, and flanked by various sorts of ornamental fringe, pilaster strips (lisene), pilasters, or demicolumns. The epitaph formula was also elaborated, with laudatory and elegaic sections enriched by poetic elements, frequently with rhyming verse (initially monorhymes, then geminate, cruciform, and encircling in form), acrostics, or chronograms. Stylistically, folk literature with its bead-string structure predominated as a model, in the elite version suggestive of biblical figures of speech and employing citations from and allusions to the Bible. More commonly, however, the epitaphs were quite simple, often with spelling and grammar mistakes, using very simple forms and a limited repertoire of formulas. The largest and most remarkable collections of tombstones of this sort are preserved in Satanów, Międzyboż, Sienawa, and Lesko.
Jewish tombstone with German inscription and three-dimensional statuary, Wrocław, dating from 1917. Photograph by Marcin Wodziński. (Courtesy of the photographer)
The development of this style of tombstones in eastern Poland, Ukraine, Moldavia, and Belorussia in the eighteenth century resulted in a growing divergence between the eastern and western parts of East Central Europe. In western Poland, Silesia, and Bohemia, tombstones began to resemble Christian sepulchral art, and in some areas (including small provincial towns such as Lesko, Krotoszyn, Wielowieś, Dobruška, and Rychnov nad Kněžnou) the influence of high-art styles—Baroque, rococo, and, later, classicism—was notable.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries sepulchral art underwent a further evolution, moving even closer to Christian artistic traditions. In western regions (Bohemia, Silesia, Pomerania, and Great Poland) historical styles came into widespread use, with obelisks, columns, fully three-dimensional statuary, and larger architectural structures becoming popular, while traditional Jewish symbolism all but disappeared (see image at left). At the same time, German or bilingual (German and Hebrew) inscriptions became widespread, initially written in Hebrew letters, later also in the Latin alphabet, as in Breslau from 1831. In the twentieth century, German inscriptions became prevalent, while some tombstones had the date of birth indicated by an asterisk (that is, the Christian symbol of the star of Bethlehem), and the date of death, by a cross. Similar, though not quite so radical, tendencies were visible throughout nineteenth- and twentieth-century Eastern Europe, above all in large urban areas such as Warsaw, Łódź, or Lwów, where various sepulchral art traditions commingled. The first Polish epitaph is found in Warsaw, inscribed on the grave of Antoni Eisenbaum in 1855.
Prefabricated tombstone, an example of mechanical stoneworking, Czeladź, Poland dating from 1926. This cemetery contains many nearly identical tombstones. Photograph by Marcin Wodziński. (Courtesy of the photographer)
In the nineteenth century, the style of more traditional East European sepulchral art also evolved. From the beginning of the nineteenth century, vanitative symbolic elements of non-Jewish origin (e.g., hourglasses, butterflies, pommels, or poppies) became increasingly common. Inscriptions grew increasingly formulaic, stiff, and segmented. The number of available symbolic motifs gradually decreased; at the same time, however, there was a loosening of hieratic symbolic compositions, as a result of which symbols were composed more freely and new compositions of a narrative character began to appear. With the spread of mechanical stoneworking, ornamental plane lettering was replaced by typographic styles, while relief inscriptions gave way to sunken lettering (see image at right).
During the interwar period even the most traditional Jewish communities in Eastern Europe were inundated by prefabricated tombstones, resulting in a marked deterioration in Jewish sepulchral art. Nor was this art reborn after the Holocaust. Jewish tombstones in Eastern Europe are currently made according to generic stoneworking models, with Jewish symbolism principally restricted to a Star of David, while Hebrew is generally used only for the closing formula of the epitaph.
In Eastern Europe today there are several million extant Jewish tombstones, often removed from their original locations and often severely damaged. Despite increasing interest, the subject is still very poorly researched; only a handful of individual cemeteries have been inventoried or systematically documented and studied. Professional documentation of Jewish tombstones in Eastern Europe is a singularly urgent task, given the rapidly progressing devastation of these tombstones due to both vandalism and atmospheric pollution.
Restored polychromatic tombstone of Ya'akov Yitsḥak Horowitz, the Seer of Lublin, dating from 1815. He died on the Ninth of Av, the fast day that commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temple. Photograph by Andrzej Trzciłski. (Courtesy of the photographer)
Petr Ehl, Arno Pařík, and Jiří Fiedler, Old Bohemian and Moravian Jewish Cemeteries (Prague, 1991); David N. Goberman, Jewish Tombstones in Ukraine and Moldova (Moscow, 1993); Monika Krajewska, A Tribe of Stones: Jewish Cemeteries in Poland (Warsaw, 1993); Otto Muneles and Milada Vilímková, Starý židovský hřbitov v Praze (Prague, 1955); Alexander Scheiber, Jewish Inscriptions in Hungary from the Third Century to 1686 (Budapest and Leiden, 1983); Andrzej Trzciński, Symbole i obrazy: Treści symboliczne przedstawień na nagrobkach żydowskich w Polsce (Lublin, Pol., 1997); Marcin Wodziński, Hebrajskie inskrypcje na Śląsku XIII–XVIII wieku (Wrocław, Pol., 1996). | <urn:uuid:69d46518-2dfd-4cd5-9e3e-19b706887a7b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Tombstones | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00029-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931494 | 3,549 | 3.734375 | 4 |
CDC’s Work With Refugees Makes the World Safer
For the past five years, approximately 68,000 refugees and 500,000 immigrants per year come to the United States from around the world. These diverse groups hail from places where standards of care, access to health care and treatment, and exposure to infectious diseases differ greatly. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Emergency Response and Recovery Branch (ERRB) and Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ) work to keep infectious diseases and other diseases of public health significance from coming into and spreading in the United States. To accomplish this goal, CDC focuses on promoting and improving the health of immigrants, U.S. bound refugees, and migrants through domestic and overseas programs.
Since 2000, the United Nations (UN) has recognized June 20 as World Refugee Day to call attention to the millions of displaced people around the world. This includes refugees, which according to the 1951 Refugee Convention are persons who "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, are outside the country of his nationality, and are unable to, or owing to such fear, are unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country." It also includes internally displaced persons or IDPs, who like refugees, are displaced from their homes but have not crossed an international border and remain in their home countries.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is mandated to lead and coordinate international action to protect refugees and ensure their safety and well-being. According to UNHCR, there were over 45 million refugees and internally displaced people in 2013, which was the highest level in nearly 20 years. This includes over 1 million people who fled the ongoing crisis in Syria to neighboring countries, and over 2 million who were internally displaced in Syria.
CDC’s Emergency Response and Recovery Branch (ERRB) within the Center for Global Health’s Division of Global Health Protection coordinates, supervises, and monitors CDC’s international emergency work with refugee or displaced populations. The mission of ERRB is to apply public health science to mitigate the impact of disasters, complex humanitarian and other emergencies among refugees and other populations, and to support the recovery of health systems in these settings. This work is conducted in partnership with other U.S. government agencies, UN agencies (including UNHCR), and non-governmental organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, iMMAP (Information Management and Mine Action Programs), International Committee of the Red Cross, International Rescue Committee and Save the Children.
CDC also supports non-emergency programs supporting refugee health, both internationally and in the United States. DGMQ provides guidelines for infectious disease screening and treatment tracking and reporting disease in refugee populations so that appropriate preventions measures or treatment can be provided; responding to disease outbreaks overseas; advising non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other partners on health care for refugee groups; and educating and communicating with immigrant and refugee groups and partners.
One such example of CDC’s efforts is evident in Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwest Kenya. Through partnership and program implementation, CDC provides substantial support to these displaced persons through disease surveillance, capacity building, medical screening and treatment for infectious disease. Although the work is substantial and challenges are many, CDC has been successful in partnering with non- governmental organizations and other entities to improve health outcomes in significant, tangible ways. DGMQ also partners with CDC’s Division of Global HIV/AIDS to provide HIV/AIDS-related health services, care, and treatment to refugee groups. This prevention and treatment program is the sole HIV/AIDS program in this camp of more than 120,000 refugees.
Refugee groups are extremely vulnerable populations that often require life-saving aid in the form of healthcare, shelter, water, food, education, and other critical needs. Many will spend more than a decade living in difficult or uncertain conditions before receiving the opportunity to resettle in another country or return to their homeland. While the challenges these populations face are many, hope for a better life is ever-present. For this reason, on this day we honor the courage, resolve, and determination of those who are forced to flee their homes under threat of violence, persecution, and further destruction.
For more information about DGMQ and their work with refugee and immigrant populations, please see the CDC Immigrant and Refugee Health website.
For more information about ERRB and their emergency aid programs, please see the CDC ERRB website.
- Page last reviewed: January 5, 2015
- Page last updated: January 5, 2015
- Content source:
Notice: Linking to a non-federal site does not constitute an endorsement by HHS, CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the site. | <urn:uuid:7ecf457a-6b2f-40d1-bb68-dc3cdae1b79c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/stories/CDC_work_with_refugees.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00160-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95063 | 993 | 3.296875 | 3 |
1. Reproducibility is key to science – if it can’t be reproduced then it can not be verified (that is, the experiment can’t be tried again to determine if the same result was produced then no-one can verify your work, and no-one can falsify it if it was incorrect), and therefore (according to various scientific philosophers such as Popper) it isn’t science.
2. It’s actually really useful for me as a researcher. Have you ever come back to a project six months after stopping work on it (possibly because you’d submitted a paper on it, and had to wait ages for the reviewers comments) and found it almost impossible to work out how to produce a certain graph or table, or which data was used to produce a certain result? Making your work reproducible by other scientists also means it will be reproducible by you when you’ve forgotten all about how it worked!
Basically reproducibility in scientific research these days means code. You could write a long Word document saying exactly how you processed all of your data (good luck keeping it up-to-date) and then run through all of that again, but in most of my work I use code in a variety of languages (Python, R and IDL mostly) to do the processing for me.
The beauty of this (aside from not spending ages clicking around in frustrating dialog boxes) is that doing your research through code gets it a long way to being reproducible without any other work on your part. You created your original outputs through code, so you can reproduce them just by running the code again! Simple isn’t it?
Well, unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple. Do you know which exact bit of data you used to create that code? Did you pre-process the data before using it in your code? Did you some processing on the data that the code produced before putting into a table/graph in your paper? Will you remember these things in six months/six years if you need to reproduce that bit of work yourself (or, more scarily, if someone emails you to tell you that they think your results were wrong…)? Unfortunately, I think that’s unlikely.
Anyway, to get to the point of this post: I have recently been using a R package called ProjectTemplate which has really helped me make my research properly reproducible. This package generates a standard folder structure for your R code, and provides a range of useful functionality for automatically loading data and caching the results of computations. I’ve been using this for a report that I wrote recently for my PhD supervisors (something which may turn into a paper sometime – hopefully), and it’s been great.
I’m not going to give a full overview of all of the functionality of ProjectTemplate here, but I’ll show you a bit about how I use it. Firstly, here is my folder structure for this project:
As you can see there are quite a few folders here with code in:
- data: scripts for loading in data (or data files themselves, which will be loaded automatically if they are of certain file types)
- lib: functions that will be used throughout the project
- munge: scripts to manipulate or ‘munge’ before use in the rest of the project (ie. pre-processing)
- src: scripts used to actually do the processing and analysis of the data
There are also quite a few folders that I use that I haven’t shown expanded above:
- cache: stores cached R objects (eg. results from time-consuming processing steps)
- graph: stores graphical outputs from the analysis
So, what we’ve got here is a place to put re-usable functions (basically functions that could eventually go into a separate R package – eg. for reading specific format data files etc), a place to put pre-processing code, and a place to put actually scientific analysis code. You’ll see there are loads of other folders that I haven’t mentioned that I don’t really use, but I suspect I will probably use them in new projects in the future.
The beauty of this folder structure is that the folder that contains the structure above can be simply zipped up, given to someone else and then they can run it themselves. How do they do that? Simple, change the working directory to the folder and run:
That will load all of the library needed, load the data (from files or cache), pre-process it (or load the results from the cache) and get it to the stage where you can run any of the files in src. Great!
The brilliant thing is that each of my scripts in the src folder will produce one or two outputs for my report. All of my graphs are saved as PDFs into the graphs folder, ready to be included directly into a LaTeX document, and my tables are produced as R data frames and then converted to LaTeX tables using the xtable package.
So, what’s the practical upshot of this? Well, if I come back to this in six months I can run any analysis that I use for my report by typing a couple of lines of code and then running the relevant file. It also meant that when I realised half-way through my writing up that I had accidentally done all of my results (about 5 graphs, and 4 big tables) based on some incorrect input data (basically I had data for half of Europe rather than just the UK, which makes a big difference to the ranges of atmospheric data!) it took me about 30 minutes to generate all of the new results by simply changing a line of code where the data was imported, running the pre-processing again (which took about 20 minutes of the 30 minutes time!) and then running each file to generate the required graph PDF files or xtable LaTeX code.
Hopefully this will have made sense to you all – stay tuned for some more reproducible research posts in the near future. | <urn:uuid:307b91c8-f6f3-4674-aab9-abbcf58edca6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.r-bloggers.com/in-praise-of-projecttemplate-for-reproducible-research/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00066-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94493 | 1,257 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Family trees, with all the dates carefully researched and neatly recorded, tell you that your ancestors existed. But to get to know them as people–the lives they lived, their hardships and triumphs–you need to know their stories. For that kind of information, nothing beats an archive of historical newspapers, as the following story illustrates.
Tom Kemp, our Director of Genealogy Products, was doing research on the Ayres family, who lived in Westchester County, New York, in the mid-nineteenth century.
He found James Ayres (born in 1817) and his wife Ann (also born in 1817) listed in the 1850 Census for Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York. The Census also listed their three children: James H. (born in 1842), Sarah (born in 1844), and Frederica (born in 1849).
Looking at this family closely, we see that there is a suspicious five-year gap in the ages of the two youngest children: Sarah is 6 and Frederica 1. Tom, who has been doing genealogy for 45 years, knows that these gaps are often the most difficult to research–and yet often turn up the most interesting and poignant family history. He also knows that you can't rely on census records to find every member of a family–newspapers provide family history details not found anywhere else.
Death was something people in 1850 were all too familiar with. The life expectancy was only around 39 years. Infant mortality was shockingly high–roughly 22 out of every 100 live births died as infants. Is there an Ayres family tragedy that the above record does not reveal–was there a child born that had died before the 1850 Census? Tom turned to GenealogyBank's extensive newspaper archive to find the answer.
It didn't take Tom long to find what he was looking for, and a painful part of the Ayres' family history came to light. In the Dec. 12, 1848, issue of the Hudson River Chronicle (Sing Sing, New York), he found an obituary notice for the daughter of James and Ann Ayres: Lovina Ayres, who was born Aug. 7, 1846, and died Nov. 26, 1848.
And there is more. Accompanying the obituary, the family inserted this notice–and suddenly the personal connection is made, and we can feel the Ayres' sorrow:
Newspapers not only fill in gaps in census records, they provide intimate family details that humanize genealogy research. Imagine if the Ayres were part of your family tree and you found this newspaper notice. Suddenly, you've come to know something about their lives; you've shared their grief, holding onto the image of the smile on Lovina's lips as their darling two-year-old girl passed away. They've become part of your family.
"GenealogyBank's newspaper archive gives us important details about Lovina: her brief life, exact age, dates of birth/death, and even the actual poem that her parents chose to remember her by. For a brief moment we are standing there in the home–feeling the grief of our ancestors as they lived it," Tom commented. "These are details you just won't find in the census or anywhere else. Family trees are just not complete without the details available in newspapers." | <urn:uuid:20a2d134-4b58-4d0d-af59-6d63be779201> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://m14genealogy.blogspot.com/2011/01/familys-sorrow-revealed-in-1848.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00031-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.986257 | 689 | 2.859375 | 3 |
1. What is the history of your state's presidential selection system since 1968 for both major parties?
Construct a table with the following information:
Type of Presidential Selection System (Caucus, Primary)
Date of event
Results of event
You must report the results of both major parties. You may decide to construct separate charts for the Democrats and Republicans. Or, you could simply put two rows in your chart for each year (e.g. Democrats 1960; Republicans 1960). It would depend entirely on what you find in your research. If both parties are very similar, it might make sense to do one table for instance.
State Secretaries of State usually are in charge of running all state-wide elections. The National Association of State Secretaries (NASS) has a table of links to state Secretaries of State where you can usually find details about how current elections are to be run. NASS 2012 Presidential Primaries Guide is a pdf document that has state-by-state details of how primaries are conducted in the states that have them.
There is a table for State Methods for Choosing National Convention Delegates, 1968–2008 in CQ's Vital Statistics on American Politics. Look at the footnotes for an explanation of the abbreviations.
Use the State Methods table above to identify any years where the process changed. The most detailed explanation of how primaries were to be conducted and delegates divided in specific years by state is in the print government document published each presidential election year from 1960 to 1994: Nomination and election of the President and Vice President of the United States, including the manner of selecting delegates to national political convention. Follow the instructions in the link for searching congressional documents by congress. The 2000 pdf version and the 2008. For these two years, use the binocular icon on the left of the page and search the state name and the word delegates, for example, "Texas delegates", to get to the section that explains how delegates are selected.
Guide to U.S. Elections has historical tables of primary and election results by state. It also has a chapter on "Nominating Conventions" that explains how the number of delegates from a state are determined by the Democratic and Republican parties.
CQ's Vital Statistics on American Politics. has historical tables of primary and election results.
The Green Papers has details on the 2008 elections as well as an archive on elections going back to the 2000 election.
States that hold caucuses do not always (or sometimes ever) report results of a caucus because of the role it plays only at the beginning of a state party process of delegate selection.
Statistics for presidential primaries by state can be found in the print reference book America Votes in both Paley Library and Ambler Library Reference Departments at call number JK1967.A8
America at the polls : a handbook of American presidential election statistics Paley Reference JK524.A73 and Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. elections JK1967.C662 1994 go back to 1956.
CQ Weekly (aka Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report) reports on primaries and caucuses and has been doing so since 1956. The print is kept in Government Documents in the compact shelving at the end of the Government Documents. Each year has an index to articles. 1983 to the present is online.
The book National party conventions, 1831-2004 in the Reference Department at call number JK2255 .N373 2005 lists the number of delegates to the party conventions and their votes for candidates there.
2. What has been the influence of your state in the presidential nominating system?
Does your state have a bigger say in the fortunes of one party over the other? (For this, you should calculate the percentage of delegates your state sends to each party's convention for each year).
What does your state's size have to do with its influence?
What does the timing of your state's nominating event have to do with its importance?
Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. elections JK1967.C662 1994 in Paley Reference and the online Guide to U.S. Elections has tables of delegate votes (hence, number of delegates) by state for the convention years.
CQ Weekly (aka Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report) reports on Democratic and Republican conventions and has been doing so since 1956. The print is kept in Government Documents in the compact shelving at the end of the Government Documents. Each year has an index to articles. 1983 to the present is online. Look around the dates of the conventions for special issues. 1996 and onwards have profiles of each state and the the number of delegate votes assigned to the state.
The New York Times Election Guide has a running tally of delegates by state. State result pages explain how delegates are divided (Iowa, for example.) It's not an exact science and other news organizations count delegates differently.
A Google search on the terms "primary importance [name of state]" is not a bad way to drop into the topic, but look at the source of information carefully. You will run into all sorts of blogs here.
3. What sort of campaigning takes place in your state for the presidential nomination?
How much time do the candidates tend to spend there?
Do any candidates ignore the state entirely?
Is the campaign "retail" or "mass media"?
Politico 2012 Live has a page called Candidate Tracker which has analysis of campaign stops and swings and allows you to track candidates.
Proquest Newsstand- searches for newspaper articles from around the world. You can limit the search to sources from or about a particular country, state or city. The daily and archives of articles from the Philadelphia Inquirer (1983-present) and Philadelphia Daily News both come through Proquest Newsstand.
A Google search on the terms "primary presidential campaigning [name of state]" is not a bad way to drop into the topic, but you have to look at and think about the quality of the source of the information and/or opinion.
4. Does your state have any special demographic characteristics for either party that garners it special attention now or in the past?
The National Journal has a biannual publication called the Almanac of American Politics that profiles states and their demographic and political climate back to 1998 online (click on National Journal, then click on the tab "Almanac.") Past Almanacs are online back to 1998. It is also in book-form in Paley Library in the Stacks back to 1972 at call number JK1012.A44
Political Maps has some interesting graphics for primary results that might go well with the Almanac profiles. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections also has primary results in maps back to 2000.
There is a blog that identifies and keeps a watch on Democratic Superdelegates by state who have and have and have not committed to a candidate.
State Secretaries of State usually are in charge of running all state-wide elections. The National Association of State Secretaries (NASS) has a nice pdf table calendar of presidential primaries and delegate allocation. | <urn:uuid:63505cac-eba7-4bb7-9d64-fa706a1825af> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://guides.temple.edu/presidential_primaries | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00163-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940856 | 1,449 | 3.46875 | 3 |
On the 10th of August, 1932, the residents of Brickbend awoke to find steam rising from a kilometre long fissure in the earth’s crust. It hadn’t been there the night before.
Three days later Carl Anderson drove his Chrysler Plymouth from a nearby city to the site of the crevice. He took one look at the all the steam and declared that he was going to build the world’s largest geothermal power plant.
When it was finished the art-deco building was long, narrow and sleek. A glass operations room protruded from the front wall and a row of five white cooling towers ran along its length.
During the day the power plant looked like a ship steaming toward new worlds but at night only the five giant cooling towers were visible. The local children called the towers ‘alien fingers’.
The town of Brickbend began using power from the plant soon after it was commissioned. This worked well for a few months but then a string of power cuts had everyone up-in-arms.
A residents meeting decided unanimously to picket the plant until the situation was resolved.
The start of the picket happened to fall on the 10th of August, 1935. That morning Carl Anderson drove past the line of protestors and into the grounds of the Brickbend Geothermal Power Company. He got out of his new Chrysler Streamline and made his way up to the control centre. From the ground the crowd could see his hands moving rapidly over a panel of knobs and levers. After a few minutes he flicked on the outside intercom and addressed those assembled below.
“Three years ago today I crash landed here in Brickbend. Fortunately for me the accident that destroyed my old ship provided access to an energy source that will launch a new and better craft.
“Good-bye and thank-you.”
And with that Carl Anderson pulled one last lever and the power plant was gone – alien fingers and all. | <urn:uuid:f9404a43-0432-4760-94ce-a6e0ba20c027> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.redbubble.com/people/jahnah/writing/1814588-the-brickbend-geothermal-power-company | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00020-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970992 | 413 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Trading forests: land-use change and carbon emissions embodied in production and exports of forest-risk commodities
Article written by Focali members Sabine Henders and Martin Persson together with Thomas Kastner. Published in Environmental Research Letters. Also read the Focali brief and watch Focali video based on the same study.
Production of commercial agricultural commodities for domestic and foreign markets is increasingly driving land clearing in tropical regions, creating links and feedback effects between geographically separated consumption and production locations. Such teleconnections are commonly studied through calculating consumption footprints and quantifying environmental impacts embodied in trade flows, e.g., virtual water and land, biomass, or greenhouse gas emissions. The extent to which land-use change (LUC) and associated carbon emissions are embodied in the production and export of agricultural commodities has been less studied. Here we quantify tropical deforestation area and carbon emissions from LUC induced by the production and the export of four commodities (beef, soybeans, palm oil, and wood products) in seven countries with high deforestation rates (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea). We show that in the period 2000–2011, the production of the four analyzed commodities in our seven case countries was responsible for 40% of total tropical deforestation and resulting carbon losses. Over a third of these impacts was embodied in exports in 2011, up from a fifth in 2000. This trend highlights the growing influence of global markets in deforestation dynamics. Main flows of embodied LUC are Latin American beef and soybean exports to markets in Europe, China, the former Soviet bloc, the Middle East and Northern Africa, whereas embodied emission flows are dominated by Southeast Asian exports of palm oil and wood products to consumers in China, India and the rest of Asia, as well as to the European Union. Our findings illustrate the growing role that global consumers play in tropical LUC trajectories and highlight the need for demand-side policies covering whole supply chains. We also discuss the limitations of such demand-side measures and call for a combination of supply- and demand-side policies to effectively limit tropical deforestation, along with research into the interactions of different types of policy interventions.
Focali brief based on this article:
The Focali brief "Agricultural commodity consumption and trade responsible for over 40% of tropical deforestation" is based on this article. It was published ahead of COP21 in Paris.
Video about article:
Watch this Focali video with Martin Persson about the key findings in their article. | <urn:uuid:22ff55b1-4af0-4755-a9df-dc9f2ce7be90> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.focali.se/en/articles/artikelarkiv/trading-forests-land-use-change-and-carbon-emissions-embodied-in-production-and-exports-of-forest-risk-commodities | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00171-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943422 | 518 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Definition of Genus doodia
1. Noun. In some classification systems placed in family Polypodiaceae; small terrestrial colony-forming ferns of Australasia.
Generic synonyms: Fern Genus
Group relationships: Blechnaceae, Family Blechnaceae
Member holonyms: Doodia, Rasp Fern
Genus Doodia Pictures
Click the following link to bring up a new window with an automated collection of images related to the term: Genus Doodia Images
Lexicographical Neighbors of Genus Doodia
Literary usage of Genus doodia
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Exotic Flora: Containing Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare Or Otherwise by Sir William Jackson Hooker (1823)
"The genus Doodia is peculiar to New Holland, and was named by our learned countryman Mr BROWN, in honour of SAMUEL DOODY, one of our earliest investigators ..."
2. A Contribution to the Flora of Australia by William Woolls (1867)
"The genus Doodia, which derives its name from Samuel Doody, a London apothecary, who was almost the first investigator of British Cryptogamic Botany, ..."
3. The Flora of Berkshire: Being a Topographical and Historical Account of the by George Claridge Druce (1897)
"His manuscript notes on the Mosses are in the Sloane Collection, and are numbered 2315. Robert Brown named the genus Doodia after him, as Roxburgh's genus ..." | <urn:uuid:18b5fb02-becb-44dc-af1a-b721e3493a2a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lexic.us/definition-of/genus_doodia | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00153-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.884746 | 344 | 2.734375 | 3 |
A New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) analysis of the New York City Police Department‘s (NYPD) arrest data reveals that 87 percent of the people who were stopped and frisked in 2011 were African-American and Latino compared to a mere 9 percent of whites.
Latinos and blacks make up 59 percent of the city’s population.
Since controversial New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office in 2002, there has been a near-600 percent increase in systemic racial profiling, according to theNew York Daily News.
New York’s finest have been under the microscope for decades regarding their aggressive police tactics towards the city’s minority population. NYCLU statistics reveal that a record-setting 684,330 New Yorkers were detained and questioned as a result of stop-and-frisk. Of this number, 92 percent of those stopped were males. Of those who were randomly selected and detained by police, twelve percent were not guilty of any wrongdoing.
Many critics say that stop-and-frisk makes it almost illegal to walk down a New York City street, if you are a minority. And many feel under siege and harassed by police. The Center for Constitutional Rights, an attorney’s group dedicated to advancing and protecting civil rights, says stop-and-frisk not only is against the law; it doesn’t help minimize crime, either:
“Most stops occur in Black and Latino neighborhoods and, in all neighborhoods, Blacks and Hispanics are significantly more likely to be stopped than Whites. Also disconcerting, stop-and-frisk data has repeatedly shown that NYPD officers use physical force at a significantly higher rate during stops of Blacks and Latinos.
Despite insistence by the NYPD that stop-and-frisk has helped reduce crime, the practice has never been shown to yield a statistically-relevant reduction in crime. In fact, the weapons and contraband yield from stop-and-frisk is the same as that from random check points, despite the NYPDs attempts to justify the program as key to confiscating illegal weapons.
Police stops-and-frisks without reasonable suspicion violate the Fourth Amendment, and racial profiling is a violation of fundamental rights and protections of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Further, this kind of heavy-handed policing promotes mistrust and fear of police officers in communities of color—rather than serving those communities, police end up occupying them.”
Meanwhile, the NYPD claims it merely stops people based on descriptions given by crime victims. The city’s Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne defends his department by bringing to light some favorable statistics which have greatly improved since Bloomberg became mayor. He touts that murder rates have dropped by nearly half and that law enforcement has recovered 819 guns during the stops. Before Bloomberg was elected, there were 11,058 murders in Tinsel Town compared to 5,430 in the decade since he took office. “That’s a remarkable achievement — 5,628 lives saved — attributable to proactive policing strategies that included stops,” Browne tells the Daily News.
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who is white, told the Daily News that problems surrounding stop-and-frisk don’t resonate with white New Yorkers, but it should be of concern to all races nonetheless. | <urn:uuid:5e701df7-3191-40bc-8243-372fbdf727b8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://newsone.com/1876305/stop-and-frisk-tactics-towards-blacks-and-latinos-worsen/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965773 | 683 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Now that the libraries have yielded up so much of the buried treasures of Irish literature and that so much more which has not yet seen the light of day has been surveyed and appraised by competent authorities, one is better able than one was even so recently as ten years ago to fix a value and attach a definition to Ireland's contribution to the world's vision of beauty. One is able to form some idea of what distant horizons have been scanned by Irish-speaking men, what heights scaled, what depths sounded. And when our knowledge is just a little wider and deeper than it is at present it will be found that an amazing thing has happened. It will be found that the literary history of the world, what is commonly accepted as literary history, has left out of account one of the great literary peoples. Just as the rediscovery of the buried
p.132cities of the East has made it necessary for us to re-write social and political history, so will the rediscovery of this buried literature of the West make it necessary for us to re-write literary history. And it will mean not only a re-writing of literary history, but a general readjustment of literary values, a general raising of literary standards. The world has had a richer dream of beauty than we had dreamed it had. Men here saw certain gracious things more clearly and felt certain mystic things more acutely and heard certain deep music more perfectly than did men in ancient Greece. And it is from Greece that we have received our standards.
How curiously might one speculate if one were to imagine that when the delvers of the fifteenth century unearthed the buried literatures of Greece and Rome they had stumbled instead upon that other buried literature which was to remain in the dust of the libraries for four centuries longer! Then instead of the classic revival we should have had the Celtic revival; or rather the Celtic would have become the classic and the Gael would have given laws to Europe. I do not say positively that literature would have gained, but I am
p.133not sure that it would have lost. Something it would have lost: the Greek ideal of perfection in form, the wise calm Greek scrutiny. Yet something it would have gained: a more piercing vision, a nobler, because a more humane, inspiration, above all a deeper spirituality. One other result would have followed: the goodly culture and the fine mysticism of the Middle Ages would not have so utterly been lost. And, thinking of the effect of literature upon men's lives and conduct, one may add that the world might not have proved so untrue to so many of its righteous causes.
Now I claim for Irish literature, at its best, these excellences: a clearer than Greek vision, a more generous than Greek humanity, a deeper than Greek spirituality. And I claim that Irish literature has never lost those excellences: that they are of the essence of Irish nature and are characteristic of modern Irish folk poetry even as they are of ancient Irish epic and of mediaeval Irish hymns. This continuity of tradition amid all its changing moods (and the moods of Irish literature are as various as the moods of Irish climate) is one of the striking things about it; the old man who croons above a Connacht hearthplace the
p.134songs he made in his youth is as definitely a descendant of the elder bards as a Tennyson is of a Chaucer. I propose to illustrate what I mean, and to show how an attitude characteristic of Irish-speaking men in the days when they shaped the Táin is reproduced in the song in which an Irish peasant woman of to-day reproaches her lover or keens over her dead child.
What I have called here clearness of vision is part of a great sincerity, a great feeling for ultimate reality, which the supreme poets always have. The clear sheer detection and statement of some naked truth, the touching of some deep bedrock foundation, the swift sure stroke at the very heart of a thing: that is what I mean. There is sometimes a harshness in the relentlessness of this truth-telling, a pain in the pleasure of this revelation. The heart shakes, because for a moment one sees with the awful clearness with which God sees.
The passage in the tale of The Sickbed of Cuchulainn and the only Jealousy of Emer in which Fand and Emer both beg to be rejected by Cuchulainn, whom they love, because neither will have half his love, shows this understanding and this sounding of the
p.135depths. If thou followest this woman, said Emer, I shall not refuse thee to her. For indeed everything red is beautiful, everything new is bright, everything high is lovely, everything common is bitter, everything we are without is prized, everything known is neglected, till all knowledge is known. O youth, she said, I was at one time happy with thee, and we should be so again if I were pleasing to thee. Thou art pleasing to me, said Cuchulainn, and thou shalt always be pleasing to me. Then said Fand: Let me be rejected. Nay, it were fitter to reject me, said Emer. Not so, said Fand, it is I who shall be rejected, and long have I been in peril of it. And Fand bade farewell to Cuchulainn, and went back to her own country.
This seems to me to be the authentic note of great imaginative psychology. And I find equally authentic, albeit startling in the audacity of its sincerity, the psychology and the imagination which in the tale of the Tragic Fate of Cuchulainn, when the hero is being drawn forth to his doom by the din of phantasmagoric battles, make Emer, in the last forlorn hope of saving him, send to him that
p.136very Fandthe woman whose power over him she had such good reason to know. How differently inferior artists would have imagined either of these episodes! How a conventional sentimentality would have baulked at making Emer capable of that great sacrifice!
Sheer clear naked truth, the great reality of love and sacrifice, the miracle of the sacrifice by love of itself, the breaking down of strong barriers in the presence of some awful issue again and again through the centuries have Irish-speaking men seen and described these things. I will show you what I mean again in a mediaeval poemthe Parting of Goll and his Wife. I quote it in Miss Hull's verse translation in her recently-published Poem-Book of the Gael, though Mr. MacNeill's more literal prose-translation in his Duanaine Finn, where the poem was first printed, is equally excellent. Goll and his wife are hemmed in by Fionn on a sea-girt rock without chance of escape.
- 1] The end is come; upon this narrow rock
2] To-morrow I must die;
3] Wife of the ruddy cheeks and hair of flame,
4] Leave me to-night and fly.
- 5] Seek out the camp of Fionn and of his men
6] Upon the westward side;
7] Take there, in time to come, another mate:
8] Here I abide.
Goll's wife replies:
- 9] Which way, O Goll, is my way, and thou perished?
10] Alas! few friends have I!
11] Small praise that woman hath whose lord is gone,
12] And no protector nigh!
- 13] What man should I wed? I whom great Goll cherished
14] And made his wife?
15] Where in the East or West should one be sought
16] To mend my broken life?
- 17] Shall I take Oisin, son of Fionn the Wise,
18] Or Carroll of the blood-stained hand?
19] Shall I make Angus, son of Hugh, my prize?
20] Or swift-foot Corr, chief of the fighting band?
- 21] I am as good as they; aye, good and better,
22] Daughter of Conall, Monarch of the West,
23] Fostered was I with Conn the Hundred-Fighter,
24] Best among all the best.
- 25] Thee out of all I loved, thee my first master,
26] Gentlest and bravest thou;
27] Seven years we lived and loved, through calm and tumult,
28] And shall I leave thee now?
- 29] From that night till to-night I found thee never
30] Of harsh or churlish mind;
31] And here I vow, no other man shall touch me,
32] Kind or unkind.
- 33] Here on this narrow crag, foodless and sleepless,
34] Thou takest thy last stand;
35] A hundred heroes, Goll, lie rotten round thee,
36] Slain by thy dauntless hand.
- 37] In the wide ocean near us, life is teeming;
38] Yet on this barren rock
39] I sink from hunger, and the wild briny waters
40] My thirst-pangs mock.
- 41] Fierce is our hunger, fierce the five battalions
42] Sent here to conquer thee;
43] But fiercer yet the drought that steals my beauty
44] Midst this surrounding sea.
- 45] Though all my dear loved brothers by one caitiff
46] Lay slaughtered in my sight,
47] That man I'd call my friend, yea, I would love him
48] Could thy thirst ease to-night.
- 49] Eat, son of Morna, batten on these dead bodies,
50] This is my last behest;
51] Feast well, gaunt Goll, then quench thy awful craving
52] Here at my breast.
- 53] Nought is there more to fear, nought to be hoped for,
54] Of life and all bereft
55] High on this crag, abandoned and forsaken,
56] Nor hope nor shame is left.
- 57] Oh! pitiful how this thing hath befallen,
58] Little red mouth!
59] Lips that of old made speech and happy music,
60] Now dry and harsh with drought.
- 61] Ever I feared this end; my haunting terror
62] By wave and land
63] Was to be caught by Fionn and his battalions,
64] On some stark, foodless strand.
- 65] Depart not yet; upon this barren islet,
66] Beneath this brazen sky,
67] Sweet lips and gentle heart, we sit together
68] Until we die.
And now I ask you to observe the same utter sincerity, the same stripping bare of the reality from the surrounding conventions, in a modern poem of the people. A peasant girl, betrayed by a lover whom she had trusted, speaks to her mother:
- O little mother, give myself to him,
Give all that you have in the world to him,
Go yourself asking for alms,
And do not come east or west to seek me.
She would abandon herself altogether to her betrayer; and she would do it now with her eyes open, for she says to him:
- You have taken east, and you have taken west from me,
You have taken from me the path before and the path behind me,
You have taken moon, and you have taken sun from me,
And great is my fear that you've taken God from me!
The Irish strength and truth where the artists of a more sentimental people like the
p.142English would have carefully provided a lachrymose ending stand out conspicuously in the conclusion of that surpassing tale, The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne. This was pointed out in a fine study contributed by the late Father O'Carroll to the Irish Ecclesiastical Record a good many years ago. The unknown novelist (for Diarmuid and Grainne is in all essentials what we now call a novel) did not make Grainne die of grief for Diarmuid. She had wooed Diarmuid and may have loved him, and his death had come from that wooing. But love was not the greatest thing in Grainne, if indeed there was love in her at all. Irish literature had given memorable types of woman's love, Deirdre and Emer and Fand and Leadan and Crede, enduring types of the love that is faithful even unto death. But Grainne was no Deirdre or Emer. She is the Hedda Gabler of Irish literature, the woman who craved to have her destinies interwoven with those of a strong splendid man: when Diarmuid's red cheek was white in death and his clustering hair had mingled with the dust Grainne turned to Fionn, the strong subtle man who had slain him. It is entirely in keeping with her character as
p.143conceived by the novelist that after Diarmuid's death she should purchase power and splendour by wedding Fionn. I trow, O Fionn, quoth Oisín, that henceforth thou wilt keep Grainne safely. Whereat, concludes the storyteller, Grainne bowed her head in shame. This grimly ironic note is not struck in European literature again until the last half of the nineteenth century.
No great literature has shown a subtler understanding of women than Irish literature. Alike in the Táin and in the fugitive love songs of the manuscripts and of the countrysides we come upon profound intuitions or flashes of imagination which reveal more than many modern novels and much modern poetry. Some of the passages I have quoted will stand as illustrations. And take the couplet of a peasant cradle song which Mr. Yeats has elaborated into a charming little lullaby. A mother says to her child:
- Cad déanfaidh mé gan mo ghiolla beag,
Nuair bheidh tu mór is críonna?
What shall I do without my little lad when
p.144you will be big and grown? Or, as Mr. Yeats has it:
- I kiss you and kiss you,
My pigeon, my own;
Ah! how I shall miss you,
When you have grown!
There is a real poignancy there which one does not often meet with in poems of motherhood and childhood. Many mothers must have thought just that: only a great poet could have imagined it. One finds the same yearning of motherhood but in a note of high tragedy in the mediaeval Lament of the Mothers for the Slaughtered Innocents. Think of what obvious things you and I should have made the mothers say, and then note that the Irish poet makes them say the things that were not obvious, but which when we hear them we yet recognise to be the inevitable things. The second woman cries (I give Mr. Graves' translation):
- 'Tis my own son that from me you wring,
I deceived not the King.
But slay me, even me,
And let my boy be.
p.145A mother most hapless.
My bosom is sapless,
My eyes one tearful river,
My frame one fearful shiver,
My husband sonless ever,
And I a sonless wife
To live a death in life.
- O my son! O God of Truth!
O my unrewarded youth,
O my birthless sicknesses
Until doom without redress.
O my bosom's silent nest,
O the heart broke in my breast.
In an article on The Personal in the New Poetry contributed to An Macaomh my friend Mr. MacDonagh recently pointed out that the dramatic lyric is almost as old in Irish as poetry itself, and that poetry had to revolve through a whole cycle before the form came back to Ireland again in modern Anglo-Irish poetry. He quotes the monologue of Eve published by Dr. Kuno Meyer in Eriu as a good example of the early Irish dramatic lyric, telling in those vivid nervous lines of the dán díreach clear and simple thoughts of passion or emotionpoems that translate
p.146so literally into all languages that in translation they appear almost too simple. Mr. MacDonagh translates this poem almost word for word:
- 1] I am Eve, great Adam's wife,
2] I that wrought my children's loss,
3] I that wronged Jesus of life,
4] By right 'tis I had borne the cross.
- 5] I a kingly house forsook,
6] Ill my choice and my disgrace,
7] Ill the counsel that I took,
8] Withering me and all my race.
- 9] I that brought the winter in
10] And the windy glistening sky,
11] I that brought terror and sin,
12] Hell and pain and sorrow, I.
I quote the poem as an example of the Irish power of clear vivid unadorned statement. Mr. MacDonagh regards it as typical of the early Irish dramatic lyriconly modernly, he thinks, has the dramatic lyric had the intense human thrill of individual subtle character. Yet surely that greatest of Irish dramatic lyrics (and it is as old as the tenth century) has
p.147that thrill: I mean The Old Woman of Beare. No doubt that old woman speaks the universal language of old age; no doubt she might say to any old sad woman with memories of a splendid youth what every poet can in a sense say to every reader: Unless these words are as much to you as they are to me they are nothing and less than nothing. And yet she is not a mere type. There is an individuality there, a subtle self-characterisation. We know her; her sorrow is unforgettable, and the phrases in which she expresses her sorrow linger in the mind as do the phrases of Shelley's Flight of Love or the phrases of Ronsard's Quand vous serez bien vieille. I would place this dramatic lyric among the greatest dramatic lyrics of all literature. Like Deirdre, the Old Woman of Beare will pass into many literatures, and poets in many tongues will vie with one another in giving new breath to her sorrow.
I have spoken of the Irish power of clear vivid unadorned statement. Some of you, remembering the rich and royal redundance of a good deal of later Irish verse, will ask whether clear vivid unadorned statement is really an Irish characteristic. It is. It was
p.148an Irish characteristic from the beginning and remained an Irish characteristic as long as Dán Díreach verse ruled, and longer; for it remains a characteristic of the best of the peasant poetry. The reserve and severity of the early Irish I am Eve, great Adam's wife are as apparent in the seventeenth-century poem of Keating, A bhean lán de stuaim :
- O woman full of subtlety,
Keep from me thy hand.
The strength and brevity of the language here are as striking as the candour and energy of the thought. Yet Keating was one of those who ushered in the new school in poetry.
There is no such thing as sentimentality in Irish literature. One finds in the later literature, especially in the later poetry, bad taste of various kinds, but never that particular kind of bad taste. The characteristic faults of the later poetry spring from various causes. First, the metres which had been elaborated became a snare. And secondly, Irish poets, most conservative of races, retained an obsolete machinery and an outworn set of symbols
p.149long after the machinery had become unnecessary and the symbols had ceased to be convincing. There is a place for symbols in literature, but there can be no excuse for using symbols in which you do not yourself believe. That way lies insincerity, and without sincerity there can be no literature. Let me illustrate what I mean by a parallel thing which has taken place in recent Anglo-Irish poetry. Either Mr. Russell or Mr. Yeats discovered a certain symbolism in certain white birds spoken of in connection with Angus in one particular passage of early Irish literature. They straightway let loose those birds upon Anglo-Irish poetry, and for many of us since the music of Anglo-Irish poetry has almost been drowned by the needless flapping of those white wings. You never open a new book of Anglo-Irish verse but the birds of Angus fly out. It almost reminds one of the nursery rhyme: When the pie was opened the birds began to sing. When the book is opened the birds begin to fly. And the curious thing to us who know Irish literature is that the birds of Angus never trouble us there at all. They are the most unobtrusive fowl imaginable.
Irish poetry has of course its symbols, and much of the later Irish verse is fully symbolic Eamonn an Chnuic, for instance, and An Druimfhionn Donn Dilis, and An Draighnean Donn, and, as I believe, An Bunán Buidhe. But here I am concerned with the employment of outworn symbols and the retention of obsolete conventions. So many of the elegies of the eighteenth-century poets are insincere and unconvincing on this account. But there were always poets individual enough to stand apart from this tendency: Seán O Neachtain, for instance, who used the rich and elaborate metres without allowing himself to be caught in their snare, and who went back from artificiality to the joyous artlessness of the first notes of Irish poetry. And my contention here is this: that alike in early Irish literature and in the finest songs of the later peasant poets there is absolutely nothing of this make-believe, but always the clear strong expression of a genuine emotion. The make-believe phase was merely a phase that affected only two or three generations, and not all the poets even of those generations. The style of the eighteenth-century school has no more right
p.151to be regarded as nationally characteristic than the costume of the eighteenth century to be regarded as a national costume. Both were phases, and in both Ireland shared to a certain extent with the Continent.
The aisling and the caoineadhthe vision and the elegyare the forms in which the dead conventions are most persistent and most wearisome. But what noble vision poetry early Irish literature had produced! And how reserved, how sincere, how true and right, how free from false sentiment are such early elegies asI will not take the supreme ones, those of Deirdre and Credebut the Dirge of Congall Claen in the Book of the Dean of Lismore, or that of Gormley for Niall Glundubh, or those of Mac Liag and Mac Giolla Caoimh for Brian Bóroimhe, or the later elegy on the Irish princes dead at Rome. In these poems there is no conventional machinery, no repetition of outworn symbols. And one finds the same characteristics, the same rightness and sincerity, in elegies made by peasant men and women for their dead lovers or their dead children. Let me quote one at length, a very recent one, made in America by a poet still living for a child of his that was drowned.
p.152He sent it to me several years ago and I published it in An Claidheamh Soluis, recently I republished it, with a prose translation, in the Irish Review. In the Irish original there is a deep melody and an exquisite delicacy of phrase, to render which English prose is wholly inadequate:
- 1] Ochón, O Donough! my thousand whispers stretched under this sod,
2] The sod of sorrow on your little body, my utter anguish!
3] If this sleep were on you in Cill na Dromad, or some grave in the West,
4] 'Twould soften my suffering, though great my hurt, and I would not repine for you!
- 5] Withered and wasted are the flowers they scattered on your narrow bed,
6] They were lovely for a little time, but their radiance is gone, they have no comeliness or life;
7] And the flower I held brightest of all that grew in soil or shall ever grow
8] Is rotting in the ground, and will spring no more to lift up my heart.
- 9] Alas, beloved! was it not a great pity, the water rocking you,
10] With no strength in your pulses nor anyone near you that might save:
11] No news was brought to me of the peril of my child or the extremity of his need
12] Ah, though I'd gladly go to Hell's deep flag to rescue you!
- 13] The moon is dark, I cannot sleep, all joy has left me:
14] Rough and rude to me the open Gaelic ('tis an ill sign);
15] I hate a while in the company of friends, their merriment tortures me;
16] From the day I saw you dead on the sand, the sun has not shone for me.
- 17] Alas, my grief! what shall I do henceforth, the world wearing me.
18] Without your chalk-white little hand like a breath through trees on my sombre brow,
19] Your little mouth of honey like angels' music in my ears
20] Saying to me gently, dear heart, poor father, be not troubled I!
- 21] Ah, desolate! I little thought in the time of my hope
22] That this child would not be a swift valiant hero in the midst of the band,
23] Doing deeds of daring and planning wisely for the sake of Fódla,
24] But He who fashioned us of clay on earth not so has ordered!
That elegy is in line with the great elegies of the early Irish literature; and I would place it with a poem in Roden Noel's Little Child's Monument, and with Bridges' Lines on a Dead Child as the three modern poems of my acquaintance which most exquisitely associate the pity of death with the beauty of childhood.
When I said in the beginning that had Irish literature been rediscovered four centuries ago instead of Greek and Latin literature, modern letters might have received a nobler, because a more humane, inspiration than they did actually receive, what I meant to suggest was this: that the Irish chivalry and the Irish spirituality which would then have commenced to percolate the literatures of Europe was a finer thing than the spirit of the old classic
p.155literatures, more heroic, more gentle, more delicate and mystical. And it is remarkable that the most chivalrous inspiration in modern literature does in fact come from a Celtic source: that King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table have meant more to modern men than the heroes who warred at Troy or than Charlemagne and his Paladins. But how much richer might European literature have been had the story of Cuchulainn become a European possession! For the story of Cuchulainn I take to be the finest epic stuff in the world: as we have it, it is not the most finely-finished epic, but it is, I repeat, the finest epic stuff. I mean not merely that Conor and Fergus and Conall and Cuchulainn are nobler figures, humaner figures, than Agammemnon and Hector and Ulysses and Achilles; not merely that Macha and Meadhbh and Deirdre and Emer are more gracious figures, more appealing figures, than Hecuba and Helen; I mean also that the story itself is greater than any Greek story, the tragedy as pitiful as any Greek tragedy, yet at the same time more joyous, more exultant. The theme is as great as Milton's in Paradise Lost: Milton's theme is a fall, but the Irish theme
p.156is a redemption. For the story of Cuchulainn symbolises the redemption of man by a sinless God. The curse of primal sin lies upon a people; new and personal sin brings doom to their doors; they are powerless to save themselves; a youth, free from the curse, akin with them through his mother but through his father divine, redeems them by his valour; and his own death comes from it. I do not mean that the Tain is a conscious allegory: but there is the story in its essence, and it is like a retelling (or is it a fore-telling?) of the story of Calvary. Whether you agree with me or not, you will agree as to the greatness of the theme, stated thus in its essentials; and you will no longer, I hope, think of the Tain as the tale of an ancient Cattle Drive.
In that glorious Anthology The Bards of the Gael and Gall Dr. Sigerson long ago pointed out that the story of Deirdre fell naturally into the five acts of a great tragic drama. Since then four dramatic poets, three in English, and one in Irish, have given us tragedies on the Deirdre story. But the whole Ulster epic falls just as naturally into a great trilogy of tragedies, with a prologue and an epilogue. The Prologue tells of the primal
p.157sin and the Curse of Macha; the three great tragedies are, in order, Deirdre, the Tain, and the Death of Cuchulainn; the Epilogue is the Death of Conor. Each of the great tragedies is complete in itself, yet through the whole cycle unrolls in inevitable sequence the doom of Ulster.
It may be said of the Homeric gods that they are too nearly akin to men, but of the Irish heroes that they have in them always something of the divine. The unseen powers have always been very close to Irish-speaking men. I have known old people who lived in familiar converse with the unseen; who knew as it were by sight and by the sound of their voices Christ and Mary and many familiar saints. Now that intimacy with spiritual things is very characteristic of Irish literature. One finds it in the mystical hymns of the Middle Ages; one finds it in the folk-tales of the Western countrysides; one finds it in many exquisite folk-songs. As Mr. Colum has pointed out, Christ and Mary have been incorporated into the Gaelic clan; and Irish peasant women can keen Christ dead with as real a grief as they keen their own dead. I have many times seen women sob as they
p.158repeated or listened to The Keening of Mary. The strange intimacy that connects certain places in Ireland with the scenes of Christ's birth and life and death, and links certain Irish saints and heroes with the joy of the Nativity and the tragedy of the Passion this is the true Irish mysticism, the mysticism which recognises no real dividing line between the seen and the unseen, and to which the imagined experience is often more vivid than the real experience. A people so gifted must bring in their turn a very precious gift to literature; for is it not the function of literature by making known the real and imagined experiences of gifted souls to reveal to common men all the hidden splendours of the world and to make vocal its silent music? | <urn:uuid:4507abaf-84a2-4cb1-9bcd-6c164f448ebf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://celt.ucc.ie/published/E900007-014/text001.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00129-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961764 | 6,618 | 3.09375 | 3 |
by Barbara J. Little
Why are there two different spellings: archaeology and archeology? Both spellings are correct, but there are some twists and turns to the answer! If you look up the word in a dictionary, you’ll find it under “archaeology” with the variant “e” spelling also listed, but you probably won’t find it under “archeology.”
The “ae” is a diphthong, which is a gliding vowel sound normally represented by two adjacent vowels. However, typographically, some diphthongs are represented as single ligature characters (that is, joined letters), so “ae” becomes æ.If you have occasion, take a look at actual pieces of printers type -- those small lead alloy sticks with letters that are composed one-by-one into forms and then printed on a printing press (before linotype and way before digital). You’ll find not only a’s and e’s but also æ’s. Think
Benjamin Franklin! You also can see such printing re-enacted at Colonial Williamsburg if you want to watch the painstaking process of publishing newspapers and books one letter at a time. I can imagine printers thinking that ligature characters were a terrific idea because they’d save a step: pick up one piece of type to place in your composing stick instead of two.
Here’s the particularly odd part: in 1890 or 1891, the US Government Printing Office (GPO), decided to economize by eliminating the ligatured ae. This decision was probably also helped along by the trend in American English to simplify, so that the “ae” diphthong was replaced by an “e” in pronunciation and spelling. The decision also came soon after the introduction of the linotype machine when the technology and practice of printing was changing: always a likely time for more changes to occur. The GPO adopted new spelling rules that called for a simple substitution of e for the ligatured ae in all cases in which its earlier rules had required the ligature. No allowances were made for the history of individual words or for common usage, hence the new spelling "archeology”.
The history of the word as it was derived from Latin would have argued for the “ae”. In 1685 Jacob Spon of Lyon first used “archaeologia” to designate a discipline concerned with the study of ancient monuments in his Miscellanea eruditae antiquitatis. The British Archaeological Association began publication of The Archaeological Journal in 1844. Archaeology as a new word was by then fully established in English. In both these cases the word was spelled with the “ae”.
Regardless of that long history, the GPO style influenced university presses and boards of editors, notably at Chicago, Columbia and Yale. In turn, their spelling styles influenced the archaeologists who published with them, some of whom began to teach their students that the “e” spelling was preferable to the “ae” one. And there have been rumors about what the different spellings mean! For some archaeologists, the two spellings symbolize competing aspects of the field. The supposedly antiquated spelling with the “ae” is supposed to connote classical or a humanist-oriented archaeology, while the supposedly modern “e” is thought to suggest anthropological or a social science-oriented practice. There logically is no such significance to the spelling.
You can see the spelling used by The Society for American Archaeology. Not surprisingly, the U.S. National Park Service has archeology programs. But, oddly enough, one of the most important national laws protecting our archaeological heritage is indeed the “Archaeological Resources Protection Act” passed by the U.S. Congress in 1979. Go figure.
Barbara J. Little 2006
This explanation owes a lot to John Howland Rowe, intrepid historian of anthropology: specifically to some of his research found in a column by Patty Jo Watson in the American Anthropological Association’s ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER from June 1975, 16(6): 11-12. | <urn:uuid:a15a8472-0ca9-4a8a-a21d-dc9bf1bb85e9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.saa.org/ForthePublic/Resources/OtherUsefulResources/Whyaretheretwodifferentspellingsarchaeology/tabid/1078/Default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00110-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955754 | 890 | 3.1875 | 3 |
EPA releases report on Yallourn mine discharge
The Environmental Protection Authority has released the results of testing of the water pumped from the flooded Yallourn mine into the Morwell River. A risk assessment of the results has found that the releases present a low risk of environmental and ecological harm.
In June this year the Morwell River, swollen from heavy rainfall, burst its banks and flooded the Yallourn open cut mine.
The EPA granted an emergency discharge of water from the mine under a strict monitoring and testing regime.
TRUenergy, operators of the Yallourn mine, engaged independent laboratories to test the water.
Results of testing show the main impact to the Morwell River in the short term is that of turbidity or the muddiness of the water.
"It affects light penetration. It will have a moderate affect in the short term, only when the discharge occurs...Scientists believe that aquatic life will recover quite rapidly once that discharge ceases," says Deiter Melzer, EPA Gippsland Manager.
Testing showed that levels of some metals were slightly elevated, but as the discharge dissipated into the river those levels came in well under the safe limit, says Mr Melzer.
Monitoring occurs three times a week in some areas and once a week in others.
Testing of water is taking place in the Morwell River, upstream of the Yallourn mine, in the flood water in the mine itself, in the discharge pumped into the Latrobe River and at two locations downstream of the mine- at Toms Bridge and two kilometres further downstream.
"It's pretty well covered in locations and there's certainly been a vast amount of sampling data that's now available," says Mr Melzer.
The releases from the mine are still considered an emergency discharge, as heavy rainfall could still overwhelm the temporary measures put in place.
"The concern is that if we get further flooding that it will continue to flood into the mine. It's still fairly fragile, there's still not a permanent fix in place yet and so we are watching this closely," says Mr Melzer.
- ABC Gippsland news journalist Simon Galletta reports from an Engie community consultation meeting in Morwell
- Rural Reporter: Val and Leslie take a bow
- Ronnie Hibma says he is relieved about Bega Cheese opening milk price
- Step inside an English class in Sale to hear from migrant women about the challenges and opportunities ahead
- Step inside Gippsland'sRadiation Oncology facility at the Latrobe Regional Hospital | <urn:uuid:ecff42ea-4ef8-4016-b6b0-ee4fa3c9b9a7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/10/02/3601867.htm?source=rss&desktop=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00087-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953617 | 519 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The Belle Époque
The twentieth century came to a close in an atmosphere astonishingly reminiscent of that which had presided over its birth—the “belle époque” (and it was beautiful, at least for capital). The bourgeois choir of the European powers, the United States, and Japan (which I will call here “the triad” and which, by 1910, constituted a distinct group) were singing hymns to the glory of their definitive triumph. The working classes of the center were no longer the “dangerous classes” they had been during the nineteenth century and the other peoples of the world were called upon to accept the “civilizing mission” of the West.
The belle époque crowned a century of radical global transformations, marked by the emergence of the first industrial revolution and the formation of the modern bourgeois nation-state. The process spread from the northwestern quarter of Europe and conquered the rest of the continent, the United States, and Japan. The old peripheries of the mercantilist age (Latin America and the British and Dutch East Indies) were excluded from the dual revolution, while the old states of Asia (China, the Ottoman sultanate, and Persia) were being integrated as peripheries within the new globalization. The triumph of the centers of globalized capital asserted itself in a demographic explosion, which swelled the European population from 23 percent of the world’s total in 1800 to 36 percent in 1900. At the same time, the concentration of industrial wealth in the triad created a polarization of wealth on a scale humanity had not witnessed during the entirety of its history. On the eve of the industrial revolution, the disproportion in the social productivity of work between the most productive fifth of humanity and the remainder had never exceeded a ratio of two to one. By 1900, this ratio was twenty to one.
The globalization celebrated in 1900, even then called “the end of history,” was nevertheless a recent fact, emerging during the second half of the nineteenth century. The opening of China and of the Ottoman Empire in 1840, the repression of the Sepoys in India in 1857, and the division of Africa that started in 1885 marked successive steps in the process. Globalization, far from accelerating the process of capital accumulation (a distinct process to which it cannot be reduced), in fact brought on a structural crisis between 1873 and 1896; almost exactly a century later, it did so again. The first crisis, however, was accompanied by a new industrial revolution (electricity, petroleum, automobiles, the airplane), which was expected to transform the human species; much the same is said today about electronics. In parallel, the first industrial and financial oligopolies were created—the transnational corporations (TNCs) of the time. Financial globalization seemed to be establishing itself in a stable fashion (and being thought of as eternal, a familiar contemporary belief) in the form of the gold-sterling standard. There was even talk of the internationalization of the transactions made possible by the new stock exchanges, with as much enthusiasm as accompanies talk of financial globalization today. Jules Verne was sending his hero (English, of course) around the world in eighty days—for him, the “global village” was already a reality.
The political economy of the nineteenth century was dominated by the figures of the great classics—Adam Smith, Ricardo, then Marx and his devastating critique. The triumph of fin-de-siécle globalization brought to the foreground a new “liberal” generation, driven by the desire to prove that capitalism was “unsurpassable” because it expressed the demands of an eternal, transhistorical rationality. Walras, a central figure in this new generation (whose discovery by contemporary economists is no coincidence), did everything he could to prove that markets were self-regulating. He had as little success proving it then as neoclassical economists have today.
The ideology of triumphant liberalism reduced society to a mere multiplication of individuals. Then, following this reduction, it was asserted that the equilibrium produced by the market both constitutes the social optimum and guarantees stability and democracy. Everything was in place to substitute a theory of imaginary capitalism for an analysis of the contradictions in real capitalism. The vulgar version of this economistic social thought would find its expression in the manuals of the Briton Alfred Marshall, the bibles of economics at the time.
The promises of globalized liberalism, as they were then vaunted, seemed to be coming true for a while during the belle époque. After 1896, growth started again on the new bases of the second industrial revolution, oligopolies, and financial globalization. This “emergence from the crisis” sufficed not only to convince organic ideologues of capitalism—the new economists—but also to shake the bewildered workers’ movement. Socialist parties began to slide from their reformist positions to more modest ambitions: to be simple associates in managing the system. The shift was very similar to that found today in the discourse of Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder. The modernist elites of the periphery also believed that nothing could be imagined outside the dominant logic of capitalism.
The triumph of the belle époque lasted less than two decades. A few dinosaurs, still young at the time (Lenin, for instance!), predicted its downfall but no one heard them. Liberalism, or the attempt to put into practice the individualist “free market” utopia—what is, in fact, the unilateral domination of capital—could not reduce the intensity of the contradictions of every sort that the system carried within itself. On the contrary, it sharpened them. Behind the cheerful hymns sung by the workers’ parties and trade unions as they mobilized for the cause of capitalist-utopian nonsense, one could hear the muted rumble of a fragmented social movement, confused, always on the verge of exploding, and crystallizing around the invention of new alternatives. A few Bolshevik intellectuals used their gift for sarcasm with regard to the narcotized discourse of the “rentier political economy,” as they described the “pensée unique” of the time—the hegemonic rules of “free market” thought. Liberal globalization could only engender the system’s militarization in relations among the imperialist powers of the era, could only bring about a war which, on its cold and warm forms, lasted for just over thirty years—from 1914 to 1945. Behind the apparent calm of the belle époque it was possible to discern the rise of social struggles and violent domestic and international conflicts. In China, the first generation of critics of the bourgeois modernization project were clearing a path; their critique—still in its babbling stage in India, the Ottoman and Arab world, and Latin America—would finally conquer the three continents and dominate three-quarters of the twentieth century.
Between 1914 and 1945, the stage was held simultaneously by the thirty years’ war between the United States and Germany, over who would inherit Britain’s defunct hegemony, and by the attempts to contest, contain, and control—by any available means—the alternative hegemony described as the construction of socialism in the Soviet Union.
In the capitalist centers, both victors and vanquished in the war of 1914–1918 attempted persistently—against all the odds—to restore the utopia of globalized liberalism. We therefore witness a return to the gold standard; a colonial order maintained through violence; and economic management, regulated during the war years, once again liberalized. The results seemed positive for a brief time, and the 1920s saw renewed growth, pulled by the dynamism of the new mass automotive economy in the United States and the establishment of new forms of assembly line labor (parodied so brilliantly by Charlie Chaplin in “Modern Times”). But these developments would find ready ground for generalization, even within the core capitalist countries, only after the Second World War. The 1920s restoration was fragile and, as early as 1929, the financial underpinnings—the most globalized segment of the system—collapsed. The following decade, leading up to the war, was a nightmare. The great powers reacted to recession as they would again in the 1980s and 1990s, with systematically deflationist policies that served only to aggravate the crisis, creating a downward spiral characterized by massive unemployment—all the more tragic for its victims because the safety nets invented by the welfare state did not yet exist. Liberal globalization could not withstand the crisis; the monetary system based on gold was abandoned. The imperialist powers regrouped in the framework of colonial empires and protected zones of influence—the sources of the conflict that would lead to the Second World War.
Western societies reacted differently to the catastrophe. Some sank into fascism, choosing war as a means of reshuffling the deck on a global scale (Germany, Italy, Japan). The United States and France were the exceptions and, through Roosevelt’s New Deal and the Front Populaire in France, launched another option: that of market management (“regulation”) through active state intervention, backed by the working classes. These formulas remained timid and tentative in practice, however, and were expressed fully only after 1945.
In the peripheries, the collapse of the belle époque myths triggered an anti-imperialist radicalization. Some countries in Latin America, taking advantage of their independence, invented populist nationalism in a variety of forms: in Mexico, during the peasant revolution of the 1910s and 1920s; in Argentina, during Perónism in the 1940s. In the East, Turkish Kemalism was their counterpart. Following the 1911 revolution, China was torn by a long civil war between bourgeois modernists—the Kuo Min Tang—and communists. Elsewhere, the yoke of colonial rule imposed a delay several decades long on the crystallization of similar national-populist projects.
Isolated, the Soviet Union sought to invent a new trajectory. During the 1920s , it had hoped in vain that the revolution would become global. Forced to fall back on its own forces, it followed Stalin into a series of Five-Year Plans meant to allow it to make up for lost time. Lenin had already defined this course as “Soviet power plus electrification.” The reference here is to the new industrial revolution—electricity, not coal and steel. But “electrification” (in fact, mainly coal and steel) would gain the upper hand over the power of the Soviets, emptied of meaning.
This centrally planned accumulation was, of course, managed by a despotic state, regardless of the social populism that characterized its policies. But then, neither German unity nor Japanese modernization had been the work of democrats. The Soviet system was efficient as long as the goals remained simple: to accelerate extensive accumulation (the country’s industrialization) and to build up a military force that would be the first one capable of facing the challenge of the capitalist adversary, by beating Nazi Germany and then ending the American monopoly on atomic weapons and ballistic missiles during the 1960s.
to Crisis (1970–present)
The Second World War inaugurated a new phase in the world system. The takeoff of the postwar period (1945–1975) was based on the three social projects of the age, projects that stabilized and complemented each other. These three social projects were: a) in the West, the welfare state project of national social democracy, based on the efficiency of productive interdependent national systems; b) the “Bandung project” of bourgeois national construction on the system’s periphery (development ideology); and c) the Soviet-style project of “capitalism without capitalists,” existing in relative autonomy from the dominant world system. The double defeat of fascism and old colonialism had indeed created a conjuncture that allowed the popular classes, victims of capitalist accumulation, to impose variously limited or contested but stable forms of capital regulation and formation, to which capital itself was forced to adjust, and which were at the roots of this period of high growth and accelerated accumulation.
The crisis that followed (which started between 1968 and 1975) is one of the erosion, then the collapse, of the systems on which the previous takeoff had rested. This period, which has not yet come to a close, is therefore not that of the establishment of a new world order, as is too often claimed. Rather, this period is characterized by chaos that has not been overcome—far from it. The policies implemented under these conditions do not constitute a positive strategy of capital expansion but simply seek to manage the crisis of capital. They have not succeeded because the “spontaneous” project produced by the unmediated, active domination of capital, in the absence of any framework imposed by social forces through coherent and efficient reaction, is still a utopia: that of world management through what is referred to as “the market”—that is, the short-term interests of capital’s dominant forces.
In modern history, phases of reproduction based on stable accumulation systems are succeeded by periods of chaos. In the first of these phases, as in the postwar takeoff, the succession of events gives the impression of a certain monotony, because the social and international relations that make up its architecture are stabilized. These relations are therefore reproduced through the functioning of the dynamics of the system. In these phases— and to the complete confusion of all “methodological individualists”—active, defined, and precise sociohistorical subjects are clearly visible (active social classes, states, political parties, and dominant social organizations). Their practices appear to form a clear pattern and their reactions are predictable in most circumstances; the ideologies that motivate them benefit from a seemingly uncontested legitimacy. At these moments, conjunctures may change, but the structures remain stable. Prediction is then possible, even easy. The danger arises when we extrapolate too much from these predictions, as if the structures in question were eternal and marked “the end of history.” Analysis of the contradictions that riddle these structures is then replaced by what the postmodernists rightly call “grand narratives,” “the laws of history.” The subjects of history disappear, making room for supposedly objective structural logics.
But the contradictions of which we are speaking do their work quietly, and one day the “stable” structures collapse. History then enters a phase that may be described later as transitional, but which is lived as a transition toward the unknown, during which new historical subjects crystallize slowly. These subjects inaugurate new practices, proceeding by trial and error, and legitimize them through new ideological discourses, often confused at the outset. Only when the processes of qualitative change have matured sufficiently do new social relations appear, defining post-transitional systems that are capable of sustained self-reproduction.
The postwar takeoff allowed for massive economic, political, and social transformations in all regions of the world. These transformations were the product of social regulations imposed on capital by the working and popular classes. They were not the product (and here liberal ideology is demonstrably false) of a logic of market expansion. But these transformations were so great that, despite the disintegrating process to which we are currently subject, they have defined a new framework for the challenges that confront the world’s peoples now, on the threshold of the twenty-first century. For a long time—from the industrial revolution at the beginning of the nineteenth century to the 1930s (in the Soviet Union) or the 1950s (in the third world)—the contrast between the center and the peripheries of the modern world system was almost identical to the opposition between industrialized and non-industrialized countries. The rebellions in the peripheries—and in this respect the socialist revolutions in Russia and China and national liberation movements were alike—revised this schema by engaging their societies in the modernization process. Industrialized peripheries appeared; the old polarization was revised. But then a new form of polarization came into clear view. Gradually, the axis around which the world capitalist system was reorganizing itself, and which would define the future forms of polarization, constituted itself on the basis of the “five new monopolies” that benefitted the countries of the dominant triad: the control of technology; global financial flows (through the banks, insurance cartels, and pension funds of the center); access to the planet’s natural resources; media and communications; and weapons of mass destruction.
Taken together, these five monopolies define the framework within which the law of globalized value expresses itself. The law of value is hardly the expression of a “pure” economic rationality that can be detached from its social and political frame; rather, it is the condensed expression of the totality of these circumstances. It is these circumstances—rather than a calculus of “rational,” mythical individual choices made by the market—that cancel out the extent of industrialization of the peripheries, devalue the productive work incorporated in these products, and overvalue the supposed added value attached to the activities through which the new monopolies operate, to the benefit of the centers. They therefore produce a new hierarchy in the distribution of income on a world scale, more unequal than ever, while making subalterns of the peripheries’ industries. Polarization finds its new basis here, a basis which will dictate its future form.
The industrialization that social forces, energized by the victories of national liberation, imposed on dominant capital produced unequal results. Today, we can differentiate the frontline peripheries, which have been capable of building productive national systems with potentially competitive industries within the framework of globalized capitalism, and the marginalized peripheries, which have not been as successful. The criteria that separates the active peripheries from the marginalized is not only seen in the presence of potentially competitive industries: it is also political.
The political authorities in the active peripheries—and, behind them, all of society (including the contradictions within society itself)—have a project and a strategy for its implementation. This is clearly the case for China, Korea, and to a lesser degree, for certain countries in Southeast Asia, India, and some countries in Latin America. These national projects are confronted with globally dominant imperialism; the outcome of this confrontation will contribute to the shape of tomorrow’s world.
On the other hand, the marginalized peripheries have neither a project (even when rhetoric like that of political Islam claims the opposite) nor their own strategy. In this case, imperialist circles “think for them” and take the initiative alone in elaborating “projects” concerning these regions (like the European Community’s African associations, the “Middle Eastern” project of the United States and Israel, or Europe’s vague Mediterranean schemes). No local forces offer any opposition; these countries are therefore the passive subjects of globalization.
This brief overview of the political economy of the transformation of the global capitalist system in the twentieth century must include a reminder about the stunning demographic revolution that has taken place on the periphery. The proportion of the global population formed by the populations of Asia (excluding Japan and the USSR), Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean was 68 percent in 1900; it is 81 percent today.
The third partner in the postwar world system, comprised of the countries where “actually existing socialism” prevailed, has left the historical scene. The very existence of the Soviet system, with its successes in extensive industrialization and military accomplishments, was one of the principal motors of all the grand transformations of the twentieth century. Without the “danger” that the communist model represented, Western social democracy would never have been able to impose the welfare state. The existence of the Soviet system, and the coexistence it imposed on the United States, reinforced the margin of autonomy available to the bourgeoisie of the South.
The Soviet system, however, did not manage to pass to a new stage of intensive accumulation; it therefore missed out on the new (computer-driven) industrial revolution with which the twentieth century ended. The reasons for this failure are complex; still, this failure forces us to place at the center of our analysis the antidemocratic drift of Soviet power, which was ultimately unable to internalize the fundamental urgency of progress toward socialism demanded by the conditions that confronted it. I refer here to progress toward socialism as represented by the intensification of exactly that democratization of economy and society that would be capable of transcending the conditions defined and limited by the framework of historical capitalism. Socialism will be democratic or it cannot exist: this is the lesson of this first experience of the break with capitalism.
Social thought and the dominant economic, sociological, and political theories that legitimized the practices of autocentric, national-welfare-state development in the West, of the Soviet system in the East, and of populism in the South were largely inspired by Marx and Keynes. The new social relations of the postwar period, more favorable to labor, would inspire the practices of the welfare state, relegating the liberals to a position of insignificance. Marx’s figure, of course, dominated the discourse of “actually existing socialism.” But the two preponderant figures of the twentieth century gradually lost their quality as originators of fundamental critiques, becoming the mentors of the legitimation of the practices of state power. In both cases, there was a shift toward simplification and dogmatism.
Critical social thought moved, then, during the 1960s and 1970s, toward the periphery of the system. Here the practices of national populism—a poor version of Sovietism—triggered a brilliant explosion in the critique of “actually existing socialism.” At the center of this critique was a new awareness of the polarization created by capital’s global expansion, which had been underestimated, if not purely and simply ignored, for over a century and a half. This critique—of actually existing capitalism, of the social thought that legitimated its expansion, and of the theoretical and practical socialist critique of both—was at the origin of the periphery’s dazzling entry into modern thought. Here was a rich and variegated critique—which it would be a mistake to reduce to “dependency theory,” since this social thought reopened fundamental debates on socialism and the transition toward it. Furthermore, this critique revived the debate on Marxism and historical materialism, understanding from the start the necessity of transcending the limits of the Eurocentrism that dominated modern thought. Undeniably inspired for a moment by the Maoist eruption, it also initiated the critique of both Sovietism and the new globalism glimmering on the horizon.
Starting between 1968 and 1971, the collapse of the three postwar models of regulated accumulation opened up a structural crisis of the system reminiscent of that of the end of the nineteenth century. Growth and investment rates fell precipitously (to half of their previous levels); unemployment soared; pauperization intensified. The percentages used to measure inequality in the capitalist world increased sharply; the wealthiest 20 percent of humanity increased their share of the global product from 60 to 80 percent in the last two decades of this century. Globalization has been fortunate for some. For the vast majority, however—especially for the peoples of the South subjected to unilateral structural adjustment policies, and those of the East locked into a dramatic social demolition—it has been a disaster.
But this structural crisis, like its predecessor, is accompanied by a third technological revolution, which profoundly alters modes of labor organization, and (in the face of a fierce attack by global capital) divests the old forms of worker and popular organization and struggle of their efficiency and therefore of their legitimacy. The fragmented social movement has not yet found a formula strong enough to meet the challenges posed. But it has made remarkable breakthroughs in directions that enrich its impact: principally, women’s powerful entry into social life, as well as a new awareness of environmental destruction on a scale which, for the first time in history, threatens all highly organized forms of life on this planet. Thus as the capitalist center’s “five new monopolies” came gradually into view, an emerging multipolar global social movement (that is its potential counterweight, alternative, and successor) had elements already visible in outline.
The management of the crisis, based on a brutal reversal of relations of power in capital’s favor, has made it possible for liberal “free market” recipes to impose themselves anew. Marx and Keynes have been erased from social thought and the “theoreticians” of “pure economics” have replaced analysis of the real world with that of an imaginary capitalism. But the temporary success of this highly reactionary utopian thought is simply the symptom of a decline—witchcraft taking the place of rationality—that testifies to the fact that capitalism is objectively ready to be transcended.
Crisis management has already entered the phase of collapse. The crises in Southeast Asia and Korea were predictable. During the 1980s, these countries (and China as well), managed to benefit from the world crisis through greater involvement in world exchanges (based on their “comparative advantage” of cheap labor), attracting foreign investment but remaining on the sidelines of financial globalization, and (in the cases of China and Korea) inscribing their development projects in a nationally controlled strategy. In the 1990s, Korea and Southeast Asia opened up to financial globalization, while China and India began to shift in the same direction.
Attracted by the region’s high growth levels, the surplus of floating foreign capital flowed in, producing not accelerated growth but asset inflation in stocks and real estate. As had been predicted, the financial bubble burst only a few years later. Political reaction to this massive crisis has been new in several respects—different from that provoked by the Mexican crisis, for instance. The United States, with Japan following closely, attempted to take advantage of the Korean crisis to dismantle the country’s productive system (under the fallacious pretext that it was controlled oligopolistically!) and to subordinate it to the strategies of U.S. and Japanese oligopolies. Regional powers attempted to resist by challenging the question of their insertion into financial globalization through reestablishing exchange controls in Malaysia or by removing immediate participation from their list of priorities in China and India.
This collapse of the financial dimension of globalization forced the G7 countries (the group of seven most advanced capitalist countries) to envisage a new strategy, provoking a crisis in liberal thought. It is in light of this crisis that we must examine the outline of the counterattack launched by the G7. Overnight, they changed their tune: the term “regulation,” forbidden until then, reappeared in the group’s resolutions. It became necessary to “regulate international financial flows.” Joseph Stiglitz, chief economist of the World Bank at the time, suggested a debate on defining a new “post-Washington consensus.” But this was too much for the current mouthpiece of U.S. hegemony, Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, who saw to Stiglitz’s removal.
Will Not Be American
In this chaotic conjuncture, the United States took the offensive once more, in order to reestablish its global hegemony and accordingly to organize the world system in its economic, political, and military dimensions. Has U.S. hegemony entered its decline? Or has it begun a renewal that will make the twenty-first century America’s?
If we examine the economic dimension in the narrow sense of the term, measured roughly in terms of per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the structural tendencies of the balance of trade, we might conclude that American hegemony, so crushing in 1945, receded as early as the 1960s and 1970s, with the brilliant resurgence of Europe and Japan. The Europeans bring it up continuously, in familiar terms: the European Union is the first economic and commercial force on a world scale. The statement is hasty, however. For, if it is true that a single European market does exist, and even that a single currency is perhaps emerging, the same cannot be said of a European economy (at least not yet). There is no such thing as a “European productive system;” such a productive system, on the contrary, can be spoken of in the United States. The economies set up in Europe through the constitution of the historical bourgeoisie in the relevant states, and the shaping within this framework of autocentric national productive systems (even if these are open, even aggressively so), have stayed more or less the same. There are still no European TNCs: only British, German, or French TNCs. Capital interpenetration is no denser in inter-European relations than in the bilateral relations between each European nation and the United States or Japan. If Europe’s productive systems have indeed been eroded, and if “globalized interdependence” has weakened them to such an extent that national policies lose a good deal of their efficiency, this is precisely to the advantage of globalization and the (U.S.) forces that dominate it, not to that of “European integration,” which does not yet exist.
The hegemony of the United States rests on a second pillar, however: that of military power. Built up systematically since 1945, it now covers the whole of the planet, which is parceled out into regions—each under the requisite U.S. military command. This hegemony had been forced to accept the peaceful coexistence imposed by Soviet military might. Now that page has turned and the United States has gone on the offensive to reinforce its global domination. Henry Kissinger summed it up in a memorably arrogant phrase: “Globalization is only another word for U.S. domination.” This American global strategy has five aims: to neutralize and subjugate the other partners in the triad (Europe and Japan), while minimizing their ability to act outside the orbit of the United States; to establish military control over NATO while “Latin-Americanizing” the fragments of the former Soviet world; to exert uncontested influence in the Middle East and Central Asia, especially over their petroleum resources; to dismantle China, ensure the subordination of the other great nations (India and Brazil), and prevent the constitution of regional blocs potentially capable of negotiating the terms of globalization; and to marginalize the regions of the South that represent no strategic interest.
The favored instrument of this hegemony is therefore military, as the highest-ranking representatives of the United States never tire of repeating. This hegemony, which guarantees the superiority of the triad over the world system, therefore demands that America’s allies agree to follow in its wake. Great Britain, Germany, and Japan make no bones (not even cultural ones) about this imperative. But this means that the speeches about Europe’s economic power (with which European politicians shower their audiences) have no real significance. By positioning itself exclusively on the terrain of mercantile squabbles, Europe (which has no political or social project of its own) has lost before the race has even started. Washington knows this well.
The principal body that implements Washington’s chosen strategy is NATO, which explains why it has survived the collapse of the adversary that constituted the organization’s raison d’être. NATO still speaks today in the name of the “international community,” expressing its contempt for the democratic principle that governs this community through the UN. Yet NATO acts only to serve Washington’s aims—no more and no less—as the history of the past decade, from the Gulf War to Kosovo, illustrates.
The strategy employed by the triad, under U.S. direction, takes as its aim the construction of a unipolar world organized along two complementary principles: the unilateral dictatorship of dominant TNC capital and the unfurling of a U.S. military empire, to which all nations must be compelled to submit. No other project may be tolerated within this perspective, not even the European project of subaltern NATO allies, and especially not a project entailing some degree of autonomy, like China’s, which must be broken by force if necessary.
This vision of a unipolar world is being increasingly opposed by that of a multipolar globalization, the only strategy that would allow the different regions of the world to achieve acceptable social development, and would thereby foster social democratization and the reduction of the motives for conflict. The hegemonic strategy of the United States and its NATO allies is today the main enemy of social progress, democracy, and peace.
The twenty-first century will not be America’s century. It will be one of vast conflicts, and the rise of social struggles that question the ambitions of Washington and of capital. The crisis is exacerbating contradictions within the dominant classes. These conflicts must take on increasingly acute international dimensions, and therefore pit states and groups of states against each other. One can already discern the first hints of a conflict between the United States, Japan, and their faithful Australian ally on the one hand, and China and other Asian countries on the other. Nor is it difficult to envisage the rebirth of a conflict between the United States and Russia, if the latter manages to extricate itself from the nightmarish spiral of death and disintegration into which Boris Yeltsin and his U.S. “advisors” have plunged it. And if the European Left could free itself from submission to the double dictates of capital and Washington, it would be possible to imagine that the new European strategy could be intertwined with those of Russia, China, India, and the third world in general, in a necessary, multipolar construction effort. If this does not come about, the European project itself will fade away.
The central question, therefore, is how conflicts and social struggles (it is important to differentiate between the two) will be articulated. Which will triumph? Will social struggles be subordinated, framed by conflicts, and therefore mastered by the dominant powers, even made instruments to the benefit of those powers? Or will social struggles surmount their autonomy and force the major powers to respond to their urgent demands?
Of course, I do not imagine that the conflicts and struggles of the twenty-first century will produce a remake of the previous century. History does not repeat itself according to a cyclical model. Today’s societies are confronted by new challenges at all levels. But precisely because the immanent contradictions of capitalism are sharper at the end of the century than they were at its beginning, and because the means of destruction are also far greater than they were, the alternatives for the twenty-first century are (more than ever before) “socialism or barbarism.” | <urn:uuid:61973f08-2d9d-4e33-9a29-37688236b53e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://monthlyreview.org/2000/06/01/the-political-economy-of-the-twentieth-century/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953673 | 7,161 | 2.78125 | 3 |
- Access Number -- The
telephone number your computer uses to connect to the Internet or
online service provider such as AOL or Prodigy.
- Address -- The unique code
assigned to the location of a file in storage on the Internet (or any
network) such as 1999227.247.33 which is an IP address (Internet Protocol
Address). or www.uscomputer.net/index.html which is the Dynamic Name Server
(DNS) text based internet "address" of our home page
commonly called a URL.
- Alt -- Type of newsgroup that
discusses alternative-type topics.
- Anonymous FTP -- Method for
using FTP to log on to another computer and copy files where instead of
using your real name you use the name anonymous and a password which can be
your Email address or something else that is permitted by the computer you
are connecting to.
- Archie -- A system that
assists you in finding individual files located elsewhere on the Internet.
Archie finds the file, then the user must FTP or Telnet to retrieve the
- ARPANET -- (Advanced Research
Projects Administration Network) -- The precursor to the Internet. Developed
in 1969 by the US Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area
networking that would survive a nuclear war or other major catastrophe..
- ASCII (American Standard Code
for Information Interchange) -- The world-wide standard for the code numbers
used by computers to represent all the upper and lower-case Latin letters,
numbers, punctuation, etc. There are 128 standard ASCII codes each of which
can be represented by a 7 digit binary number: 0000000 through 1111111.
- Backbone -- A high-speed
electronic communications route or series of connections that form a major
pathway within a network.
- Bandwidth -- How much
"data" you can send through a connection with in a given time
period. Usually measured in bits-per-second or bytes per second. A full page
of English text is about 4000 bytes each made up of 7 or 8 or more
- Baud -- In common usage the
"baud rate" of a modem is how many bits it can send or receive per
second. Technically "baud" is the number of times per second that
the carrier signal shifts value.
- Binary File -- A file that
contains information which is packed as 8 or more bits of information
instead of 7 bit (ASCII) information. Examples would include a
graphics file or a program (exe) file..
- Bit (Binary DigIT) -- A
single digit 0 or 1 representing number. This is the smallest unit of
computerized data and forms the basis for binary arithmetic and boolean
- Bitmap -- A picture comprised
of lots of tiny dots, each of which can be turned off. These tiny bits are
combined to create graphics. Bitmap is also a standard graphics file
encoding method (.bmp), other standards include .gif, .jpg, tif and many
- bps -- Bits per second. A
measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A
"28.8 modem" can move 28,800 bits per second. Confusion
arises as sometimes used to refer to Bytes Per Second BPS or BPS. Bits per
second normally is all lower case: bps.
- Bps-- Bytes per second. See
bps and Byte above. Bps normally refers to 10 or 11 bit Bytes.
- Boolean Algebra -- an
algebra based on binary numbers and rules of binary logic operations such as
AND OR and NAND (not and) NOR (not or). Boolean Algebra forms the
mathematical basis for all digital computers and digital devices.
Invented by George Boole in the 1800's..
- Browser -- A client program
(software) that is used to view various kinds of information on the Internet
and World Wide Web or on a local network or Intranet.
- Byte -- A series of bits that
represent a single character. Usually there are 8 bits in a Byte. Personal
Computer storage is often measured in bytes or millions of bytes (mega
- Cable Modem -- A special
modem that connects you to the internet via your cable company at speeds up
to 100 times faster than a conventional modem. Offered as an option by many
- Chat -- To talk in real-time
to other network users who are at different locations and on separate
computers. Using the internet you can chat to people from any part of
- Client -- A software program
that is located on the user's computer. The client software interacts with
Server software programs on other computers to share information.
- Cyberspace -- Term originated
by author William Gibson in his novel "Neuromancer", the word
Cyberspace is currently used to describe the "electronic space"
shared by all interconnected computers. So when you connect to the internet,
you're in "cyberspace".
- Directory -- An index
structure on a computer storage device, often called a file folder which is
used to organize files. An analogy would be a paper file folder in a filing
cabinet which had an index listing the documents.
- Disk Space -- The total
amount of space on a disk which can be used to store programs and
information. Free disk space is the amount that is not being presently used.
- Domain Name -- The unique
name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more
parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the
part on the right is the most general. (uscomputer.net is a domain
- Download -- The acquisition
of programs or data from a remote computer to another - usually from a
server to a personal computer. When you download a file, you receive the
file on your computer after instructing another computer to send it to you.
- Drag and Drop -- A graphic
interface that allows an object on the screen to be physically moved by the
user by clicking a mouse or other pointing device on the item and 'dragging'
it then 'dropping' it where desired..
- E-mail -- Electronic mail
messages that can be sent from one person to another via the Internet.
Some E-mail programs can send
and receive full color graphics within the E-mail. Most E- mail programs can
also send graphics or other files as 'file attachments'.
- Emoticon -- Also known as a
'smiley'. A combination of ASCII characters that suggests an emotion when
read sideways; usually used within E- mial to convey emotions.
- FAQ -- Frequently Asked
Questions - FAQs are documents that list and answer the most common
questions on a particular subject.
- Flame -- A violent,
sarcastic, or unnecessary expression of disapproval usually expressed in E
- FTP -- File Transfer Protocol
- A protocol or method of moving files between two Internet sites. FTP
is a special way to login to another Internet site for the purposes of
retrieving and/or sending files.
- Finger -- An Internet
software tool for locating people on other Internet sites. Finger is also
sometimes used to give access to non-personal information, but the most
common use is to see if a person has an account at a particular Internet
- Firewall -- A security system
for Network and Internet sites that protects the site from unwanted
intrusions or only allows certain types of communications.
- Gateway -- This is a hardware
or software set-up that translates between two or more dissimilar
communications standards or protocols and allows them to communicate with
- Gopher -- A method of making
items and indexes available over the Internet. Gopher is a text based
Client and Server style program.
- Hardware -- The physical and
electronic components of a computer or computer accessories. Without
instructions, commonly called Software, computers cannot do anything.
- Home Satellite Interface --
Hughes and other companies offer a product permitting you to connect to the
internet at extremely high speeds via a home satellite device.
- Home Page -- The central,
primary Web page for an organization, person, etc. from which other
pertinent pages are linked. www.uscomputer.net is our home page.
- Host -- Any computer on a
network such as the internet, that is a repository for services available to
other computers on a network. The HOST "serves" (sends) documents
and files to you and your computer.
- HTML (HyperText Markup
Language) -- The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use
on the World Wide Web. With HTML you can specify that a block of text, or a
word, is "linked" to (hypertexed to) another file on the Internet.
HTML files are meant to be viewed using a World Wide Web Browser or Client
program, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Netscape's Browser
- HTTP (HyperText Transport
Protocol) -- The method by which documents are transferred from the host
computer or server to browses.
- Hypertext -- Text that
contains "links" to other documents on the network including the
- Icon -- A small picture used
to represent a program, object, or action.
- Internet -- The vast
collection of inter-connected computers and networks that are interconnected
and use TCP/IP and related protocols and that evolved from ARPANET. When you
connect to your Internet Service Provider, the provider then connects you to
the internet. At that point you are part of the huge network commonly called
- Internet Explorer --
Microsoft's Web browser or client program. Used for accessing the
internet by nearly half the people accessing the internet.
- Internet Service Provider
(ISP) -- An organization such as Cybergate that provides access to the Internet.
- IP Address -- The Internet
protocol (IP) address is the address assigned to a server or host. This is a
unique number consisting of 4 parts separated by dots, e.g. 126.96.36.199.
Every machine that is on the Internet has a unique IP address.
- ISDN (Integrated Services
Digital Network) -- A digital method or protocol to move data at faster
rates over existing conventional phone lines. You can subscribe to ISDN at
your telephone company but then you must use an Internet Service Provider
who supports ISDN (allows you to connect with ISDN protocol). There is often
an extra charge for ISDN.
- Kilobyte -- Approximately a
thousand bytes or actually 1024 (2^10) bytes.
- LAN -- Local Area Network - A
computer network limited to the immediate area, usually the same building or
area of the building.
- Link -- A connection; in
internet terms a link usually refers to a hypertext link in a Web page that
connects one page to another when you click on the link..
- Internet Mail List (or
Internet Mailing List) -- An automated system that allows people to send
e-mail to one address, whereupon their message is copied and sent to all of
the other subscribers to the mail list.
- Memory (RAM) --Random Access
Memory. The computer's temporary memory. This is usually erased when
the computer is shut down.
- Message -- Text or graphics
based mail sent electronically by e-mail or a posting to a newsgroup.
- Modem (MOdulator,
-- a device that you connect to your computer and to a phone line, that
allows the computer to talk to other computers through the phone system.
- Netscape -- The internet web
browser (client) provided by Netscape Corporation. Netscape is used by more
than 50% of the people accessing the world wide web.
- Network -- Two or more
computers that are linked together so that they can share resources.
- Newsgroups -- The name for
discussion groups located on Usenet, or, a distributed bulletin-board system
about a specific subject.
- Newsreader -- An
application that lets you read the messages in Usenet newsgroups and respond
(post) by placing your own reply or message in the newsgroup.
- Node -- Any single computer
or computer device connected to a network such that it can communicate with
the network or the network can communicate with it. .
- Page -- A document available
via the Web. Information on the web is often organized organized by pages.
The document you are viewing right now is a web page (html page).
- Parity -- A method where
additional bits are added to a byte to make the total number of bits odd, or
even, or other encoding. An 8 bit byte might have 2 or 3 additional bits
added which reflect the parity value.
- Password -- A secret code
used to gain access to a locked system. Good passwords contain letters and
non-letters and should not be simple combinations such as "suzyque".
A better (more secure) password might be 2s3Vjj.
- POP Point of Presence -- A
'POP' is an Internet service provider's dial-up connection. You
connect to a POP if you log onto the internet via your telephone.
- Port -- First and most
generally, a place where information goes into or out of a computer, or
both. E.g. the "serial port" on a personal computer is where data
is sent sequentially such as a modem. Other products send data
simultaneously over many wires. An example would be your printer which is
connected to a Printer 'Port'.
"port" refers to a code number that is defined part of
a URL, appearing after a colon (:) right after the domain name. Every
service on an Internet server "listens" on a particular port
number on that server. Most services have standard port number;. Web servers
normally listen on port 80 or more infrequently 8080.
- PPP -- Point to Point
Protocol - a Dial-up Internet connection speaking in TCP/IP protocol, or a
scheme for connecting computers over a phone line or network. A
protocol is a language for machines. If both machines speak the same
language such as PPP then they understand each other.
- Search Engine -- An
application used to find information on a computer, a server or the entire
- Serial Port -- The outlet on
your computer into which you can plug a device that communicates over 2 or 3
wires where the information is sent sequentially or serially one bit after
- Server (see Client) -- A
computer, or a software package, that provides a specific kind of service to
client software running on other computers.
- Shareware -- Computer
programs that can be easily downloaded that are available for you to use on
a free trial basis. After the trial period, you can choose to pay for the
services or the software may or may not continue functioning (expire).
- SLIP -- Serial Line Internet
Protocol - A software scheme for connecting a computer to the Internet via a
serial line. -
- Software --The individual
steps or instructions which tell a computer what to do. When you buy a
software package, you are purchasing a set of instructions that accomplish
such task such as a game or accounting.
- Spam -- An unsolicited
and inappropriate message that you send to multiple newsgroups or
- TCP/IP -- Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol - The standard network communications
protocol used to connect computers across the Internet.
- Telnet -- A specific
Protocol used to login in a text based mode from one Computer or
Internet site to another.
- URL -- Uniform Resource
Locator - The standard way to give the address of any resource on the
Internet that is part of the World Wide Web (WWW). A URL looks like this: | <urn:uuid:46f47ab9-2be0-4363-8c94-8d54904a429f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://uscx.net/glossary.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00179-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.84129 | 3,407 | 3.703125 | 4 |
Conforming to Table Design Rules
Designing tables for relational databases follows a formalized procedure called normalization. Dr. Codd described the complete normalization process in his 1972 paper "Further Normalization of the Data Base Relational Model." This paper isn't an easy read; it's steeped in the language of set theory and relational algebra. The sections that follow explain in common English the application of the normalization process to Access's Northwind database.
You normalize tables in a series of steps called normal forms. Applying the normalization process is necessary to move spreadsheet-style data to relational tables. You also employ the normalization rules when designing a new database or analyzing existing databases. In specific cases, however, you might need to depart from strict adherence to normalization rules to retain a history of data values that change over time or to improve performance of a large database.
First Normal Form
First normal form requires tables to be flat and have no repeating or potentially repeating fields or groups of fields. A flat table is one in which every record has the same number of fields. In addition, a single field cannot contain multiple data values. Repeating fields must be moved to a related table. The first normal form is the most important of the normalization steps. If all your tables don't meet the rules of first normal form, you are in big trouble.
Northwind's Customers and Suppliers tables violate the no repeating fields rule. If a customer or supplier has more than one person involved in the ordering process, which is likely, the table would need repeating pairs of fields with different names, such as ContactName2 and ContactTitle2 or the like. To conform the Customers and Suppliers tables to first normal form, you must create two new tablesCustPers(sonel) and SuppPers(sonel), for exampleto hold contact records. Including contact names in the Customers and Suppliers tables also violates third normal form, which is the subject of the later "Third
Normal Form" section.
The ContactName field also violates the rule against multiple data values in a single field by combining given and family names. This isn't a serious violation of first normal form, but it's a good database design practice always to identify persons by given and family names in separate fields. When you create the new CustPers and SuppPers tables, separate the ContactName field into two fields, such as LastName and GivenName, which can include initials. You can then use a code similar to that for CustomerID for the ContactID field. For this example, the ContactID code is the first character of GivenName and the first four characters of LastName. Alternatively, you could assign an AutoNumber value to ContactID.
Figure 4.5 shows the first 19 of the 91 records of the CustPers table generated from the Customers table. The CustomerID field is required for a many-to-one relationship with the Customers table. Additional fields, such as Suffix, TitleOfCourtesy, Email(Address), Phone, and Fax, make the individual contact records more useful for creating mailing lists and integration with other applications, such as Microsoft Outlook.
You extract data for records of the CustPers table from the ContactName and ContactTitle fields of the Customers table. Separating given and last names simplifies generating a ContactID code to identify each record.
You don't need to retype the data to populate the CustPers and SuppPers tables. You can use Access to import the data from an Excel worksheet or text file, or use Access action queries (append and update) to handle this chore.
→ For more information on importing from Excel, see "Importing and Linking Spreadsheet Files."
→ To learn how to use Access action queries, see "Creating Action Queries to Append Records to a Table."
Figure 4.6 shows the Relationships window with the CustPers and SuppPers tables added to the Northwind database and their many-to-one relationships with the Customers and Suppliers tables, respectively.
The Relationships window displays the many-to-one relationships between the Customers and CustPers tables and the Suppliers and SuppPers tables.
Second Normal Form
Second normal form requires that data in all nonkey fields be fully dependent on the value of a primary key. The objective of second normal form is to avoid data redundancy in your tables.
Only Northwind's Order Details linking table (see Figure
4.7) has a composite primary key (OrderID + ProductID). The UnitPrice field appears to violate the second normal form, because UnitPrice is a field of the Products table. UnitPrice values added to the Order Details table are dependent on the ProductID component of the composite primary key and not the OrderID component, so UnitPrice data is not fully dependent on the primary key. On first glance, the UnitPrice field appears to be redundant data. If you change the unit price of a product, it would appear that you would need to alter the UnitPrice value in every Order Details record for the product.
The Order Details linking table has a composite primary key consisting of the OrderID and ProductID fields.
The Order Details table is an example of a situation in which you must retain what appears to be redundant information to maintain the integrity of historical data. Prices of products vary over time, so the price of a particular product is likely to change for orders placed on different dates. If the price of a product changes between the order and shipping (invoice) dates, the invoice reflects a different amount than the order. Despite the "Prices are subject to change without notice" boilerplate, customers become incensed if the invoice price is greater than the order price.
Eliminating the UnitPrice field from the Order Details table and looking up its value from the current price in the Products table also can cause accounting errors and distortion of historical reports based on bookings and sales data. Removing the UnitPrice data also violates the rules for the fifth normal form, explained later in this chapter.
Third Normal Form
Third normal form requires that data in all nonkey fields of the table be fully dependent on the value of the primary key and describe only the object that the table represents. In other words, make sure that the table doesn't include nonkey fields that relate to some other object or process and includes nonkey fields for descriptive data that isn't contained in another related table.
As mentioned in the "First Normal Form" section, including contact information in the Customers and Products table violates third normal form rules. Contacts are persons, not customer or supplier organizations, and deserve their own related table that has attributes related to individuals.
Other examples of a common third normal form violation are the UnitsInStock and UnitsOnOrder fields of the Products table (see Figure
4.8). These fields aren't fully dependent on the primary key value, nor do they describe the object; they describe how many of the product you have now and how many you might have if the supplier decides to ship your latest order. In a production order entry database, these values vary over time and must be updated for each sale of the product, each purchase order issued to the product's supplier, and each receipt of the product. Purchases, receipts, and invoices tables are the most common source of the data on which the calculations are based.
The Products table's UnitsInStock and UnitsOnOrder values must be calculated from data in tables that record purchases, receipts, and shipments of products.
Including UnitsInStock and UnitsOnOrder fields isn't a serious violation of the normalization rules, and it's not uncommon for product-based tables of order entry databases to include calculated values. The problem with calculated inventory values is the need to process a potentially large number of records in other tables to obtain an accurate current value.
Tip - If you're designing an order entry database, make sure to take into account committed inventory. Committed inventory consists of products in stock or en route from suppliers for which you have unfulfilled orders. If you decide to include inventory information in a products table, add a UnitsCommitted field.
Fourth Normal Form
Fourth normal form requires that tables not contain fields for two or more independent, multivalued facts. Loosely translated, this rule requires splitting tables that consist of lists of independent attributes. The Northwind and Oakmont databases don't have an example of a fourth normal form violation, so the following is a fabricated example.
One of the objectives of Human Resources departments is to match employee job skills with job openings. A multinational organization is likely to require a combination of specific job skills and language fluency for a particular assignment. A table of job skill types and levels exists with entries such as JP3 for Java ProgrammerIntermediate, as well as language/ fluency with entries such as TE5 for TeluguVery Fluent. Therefore, the HR department constructs an EmplSkillLang linking table with the following foreign key fields: EmployeeID, SkillID, and LanguageID.
The problem with the linking table is that job skills and language fluency are independent facts about an employee. The ability to speak French has nothing to do with an employee's ability to write Java code. Therefore, the HR department must split (decompose) the three-field table into two two-field linking tables: EmplSkills and EmplLangs.
Fifth Normal Form
Fifth normal form involves further reducing redundancy by creating multiple two-field tables from tables that have more than two foreign keys. The classic example is identifying independent sales agents who sell multiple products or categories of products for different companies. In this case, you have a table with AgentID, CompanyID, and ProductID or CategoryID. You can reduce redundancyat the risk of making the database design overly complexby creating three two-field tables: AgentCompany, CompanyProduct (or CompanyCategory), and AgentProduct (or AgentCategory). Database developers seldom attempt to normalize designs to fifth normal form because doing so requires adding many additional small tables to the database. | <urn:uuid:ea96a488-4c7d-4f92-b4ca-467f2163169b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.databasejournal.com/features/msaccess/article.php/10895_3684441_3/Chapter-4-Exploring-Relational-Database-Theory-and-Practice.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00053-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906937 | 2,071 | 3.109375 | 3 |
There are so many kinds of penstemons that the American Penstemon Society publishes a newsletter and illustrated guides for choosing these plants. Except for one species from Asia, all the rest are native to North America, with most coming from the West Coast. The genus name refers to the presence of a fifth stamen.
Description of beard tongue: Basal foliage is evergreen in warmer climates. The leaves are sometimes whorled. Flowers are tubular in airy, terminal clusters atop strong stems, blooming from spring into summer.
Growing beard tongue: Penstemons come from areas with rough growing conditions and should never be exposed to wet or damp earth. A thin, rocky soil in full sun is best. Of all the species, P. barbatus seems to do the best in the East. Ease of care: Moderately easy.
Propagating beard tongue: By division in spring or by seed.
Uses for beard tongue: Penstemons are exceedingly attractive in the garden and have a long season of bloom. Plants are best set out in groups so that a mass of flowers is in view. For those who succumb to their beauty, entire specialty gardens can be made of only this genus. They are excellent as cut flowers.
Beard tongue related species: Penstemon digitalis, or foxglove, grows in moist soil and bears open clusters of somewhat inflated white flowers. Husker Red has deep ruby-red foliage and stems and pink flowers. P. hirsutus is an eastern native with purple-to-violet, narrow flowers. Pygmaeus has reddish foliage and lilac flowers on 8-inch stems. P. pinifolius has multi-branched stems clothed in small, needle-like leaves and scarlet flowers. P. smallii is clothed top to bottom in rose purple flowers for several weeks in early spring.
Beard tongue related varieties: Alba has white flowers. Elfin Pink has clear pink flowers on 1-foot high branches, making it perfect for the front of the border. Prairie Fire is a vivid orange-red on 22-inch stems. Prairie Dusk has purple flowers on 20-inch stems. Blue Midnight is deep blue-violet. Firebird has scarlet flowers in summer on 2-inch stems. Garnet is deep red with a pale throat. Mesa has deep violet flowers on 20-inch stems. Red Rocks tolerates heat and humidity better than others. It has rosy-pink flowers. Sour Grapes has inflated red-violet flowers.
Scientific name of beard tongue: Penstemon barbatus
Want more information? Try these links:
- Perennial Flowers. Complement your annuals with these delightful perennial flowers. They are also organized by heigh, soil type, sunlight, and color.
- Perennials. There's more to an perennials garden than flowers. Learn about all of the perennials that enhance your garden.
- Annual Flowers. Discover your favorite annual flowers. We've organized them by color, sunlight, soil type, and height to make it easy to plan your garden. | <urn:uuid:4d5f0675-7865-40b7-8f6f-3527e1343551> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://home.howstuffworks.com/perennial-beard-tongue.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00085-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931552 | 644 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Ozone (O3) is a relatively unstable molecule made up of three atoms of oxygen (O). Although it represents only a tiny fraction of the atmosphere, ozone is crucial for life on Earth.
Depending on where ozone resides, it can protect or harm life on Earth. Most ozone resides in the stratosphere (a layer of the atmosphere between 10 and 40 km above us), where it acts as a shield to protect Earth's surface from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation. With a weakening of this shield, we would be more susceptible to skin cancer, cataracts, and impaired immune systems. Closer to Earth in the troposphere (the atmospheric layer from the surface up to about 10 km), ozone is a harmful pollutant that causes damage to lung tissue and plants.
The amounts of "good" stratospheric and "bad" tropospheric ozone in the atmosphere depend on a balance between processes that create ozone and those that destroy it. An upset in the ozone balance can have serious consequences for life on Earth, as scientists are finding evidence that changes are occurring in ozone levelsthe "bad" tropospheric ozone is increasing in the air we breathe, and the "good" stratospheric ozone is decreasing in our protective ozone layer. This article describes processes that regulate "good" ozone levels. | <urn:uuid:2f5c84de-1d42-408a-8c06-65553e21e189> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Ozone/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916759 | 266 | 4.0625 | 4 |
As a result of the shortage of land, its largest cities ring the coastline. The mammoth metropolis of Tokyo, and the other major cities along the Pacific Ocean are home to most of its people.
The first ever recorded mention of Japan was made in the first century AD. By 710 AD its first permanent capital was founded.
At the turn of the 8th century, the Nara period developed, pushing Japan into a golden age, and inspiring a wave of Buddhist art and architecture.
Unfortunately for the Naras, a smallpox epidemic between the years of 735-737 killed nearly one-third of the country's population, and by 784 the Heian period had taken over.
From the Heian era a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture was produced, one that was known for its art, poetry and prose; including the national anthem of Japan.
As the Heian period came to an end in the mid-1100s, various military clans rose to power, and the feudal Kamakura period was born.
For the next 700 years, Japan was controlled by powerful regional families (daimyo) and territorial warlords (shogun), while the emperor and traditional central government were merely confined to ceremonial affairs.
The Kamakuras found themselves fighting off repeated invasions by the Mongols, whose naval technology and weaponry were far superior. Their lucky break came in the form of a typhoon that completely ravaged the invading Mongol forces, and ultimately saved Japan from being seized.
Despite the Mongol's failed attempt at gaining control of Japan, the Japanese remained fearful of further attacks, and ultimately exhausted the country's finances on an extravagant army in order to keep up a constant state of readiness.
As a consequence, the economy faltered, and so did the Kamakuran era.
After the Kamakura shogunate was overthrown, a period of restoration occurred, known as the Kemmu Restoration, headed by Emperor Go-Daigo. | <urn:uuid:b462dec3-c930-4861-88b6-0119090dbe07> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/jp.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00025-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973596 | 398 | 3.78125 | 4 |
German scientists dug 50 metres underground and discovered small pieces of copper. After studying these pieces for a long time, Germany announced that the ancient Germans 25,000 years ago had a nationwide telephone network.
Naturally, the British government was not that easily impressed. They ordered their own scientists to dig even deeper. 100 metres down, they found small pieces of glass, and they soon announced that the ancient Brits 35,000 years ago already had a nationwide fibre net.
Israeli scientists were outraged. They dug 50, 100 and 200 metres underground, but found absolutely nothing......They concluded that the ancient Hebrews 55,000 years ago had cellular telephones. | <urn:uuid:81ddec91-44a2-4f55-8d01-102e706917ab> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jokeswarehouse.com/cgi-bin/viewjoke.cgi?id=20011202 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00175-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984261 | 131 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Wang Lung and his family walk into town on their hundred-mile journey south. Passing through the town they join a crowd of other people who are waiting for the steam locomotive that will take them to their destination. Wang Lung has never seen one of these "firewagons" before, but he pays the fare of two pieces of silver, and the family travels south by train. A man on the train explains to Wang Lung that the first thing he must do in the south is make a hut out of mats, and then go out begging.
When he arrives in the city, which is named Kiangsu, Wang Lung purchases six mats, and builds a hut against the wall of a house on the outskirts of the city, alongside a group of other huts. He and his family then go to the public kitchens and for a few pence buy some cooked rice, along with many other hungry people.
The next morning, O-lan, the children, and Wang Lung's father go out on the streets to beg, while Wang Lung hires a rickshaw and tries to get some business conveying people around the town. An old man asks to be taken to the Confucian temple. The work is hard, since Wang Lung is not used to pulling a wagon behind him carrying the weight of a man. The man pays him with a silver piece, and Wang Lung is pleased with what he has earned until another rickshaw puller tells him that the man gave him only half the correct fare. He mocks Wang Lung's inexperience, calling him a country lout.
During the rest of the day, Wang Lung gets three more passengers, but when he adds up his money at the end of the day, he has earned only a penny more than the cost of hiring the rickshaw. He is filled with bitterness, and only the thought of the land that he still owns gives him comfort. When he goes home he finds that between them, O-lan and the boys have received enough from begging to pay for the following morning's rice. Wang Lung's father acquired nothing, however, since he refused to beg.
As the days go by, Wang Lung gets to know the city, but he and his family feel like foreigners there. The city people speak in different accents, and eat elaborate foods. Wang Lung listens to some young men who stand at corners and speak about the coming revolution, in which the Chinese will rise up against the foreigners. Wang Lung has never encountered a foreigner until one day an American woman rides in his rickshaw. She pays him twice the usual fare.
Although food in the city is abundant, Wang Lung and his family still find it hard to earn enough to buy food. The younger son becomes adept at petty thieving. One day, he steals some pork from a butcher, and O-lan cooks it along with some cabbage. Wang Lung is angry at the boy's thievery, and refuses to eat the meal. After the meal is over, Wang Lung takes the boy into the street and beats him.
In the city, there is a great gap between the rich and the poor. The older poor people accept that this is the way things are, but the young men are filled with anger and ready to revolt.
By late winter, Wang Lung has a strong desire to return to his land, but O-lan reminds him that he has nothing to sell except his daughter, and he refuses to even contemplate selling her into slavery.
That night one of Wang Lung's neighbors comes to talk to him. He tells Wang Lung that many poor people sell their daughters into slavery, as sometimes it is the only way to survive. He also tells Wang Lung about the luxurious lives of the people who live in the house the other side of the wall that supports their huts. He hints that there comes a time when the rich are too rich, and then there are ways for the poor to survive. Wang Lung does not understand what the man means; all he knows is that he desperately wants to return to the land, but that he cannot afford to do so.
Wang Lung soon learns how different life is in the big city from the life he is used to in his village. However, he understands little of the violent undercurrents that arise because of the great disparity in the city between the rich and the poor. It is clear to the reader that social revolution is in the air. Young men harangue crowds at street corners, and Wang Lung's neighbor speaks cryptically of times when "the rich are too rich." Just as the peasants on the land are subject to changing fortunes caused by the weather, so the rich city dwellers, although they do not yet realize it, are subject to tidal waves of change arising from social unrest. Nothing is as stable or permanent as it looks. Values are permanent, however, or so it seems. Wang Lung is an honest man who earns his meager living in the city by honest means. He cannot bring himself to beg. He is also a man of deep feeling who cannot bear to sell his daughter into slavery, even though others do it. He is also horrified at what is happening to his sons, who appear to be turning into thieves. (Later, this incident, in which Wang Lung berates his son for stealing, will acquire ironic significance.) Wang Lung instinctively realizes that city life is harming his family and his values, and he knows that he must get back to the land, and the type of life with which he will be comfortable. | <urn:uuid:d110d51a-1f27-4670-85b4-c0a6df7402c5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.studyworld.com/studyworld_studynotes/novelguide/thegoodearth/summaries/Chapter10-13.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395621.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00153-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984546 | 1,128 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Global health gains offset by HIV/AIDS epidemic and mortality in Eastern Europe
EMBARGO: 00:01H (London time) Friday May 26, 2006. In North America the embargo lifts at 18:30H ET Thursday May 25, 2006.Substantial gains in health have been made by most populations between 1990 and 2001, reveals a study on the global burden of disease published in this week's issue of The Lancet. However, the period has been one of mixed progress state the authors, due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa and setbacks in adult mortality in countries of the former Soviet Union.
The last Global Disease Burden study was done in 1990. In the latest study Alan Lopez (University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) and colleagues analysed mortality, incidence, and prevalence for 136 diseases and injuries in seven geographical areas/economic groupings in 2001. They found that worldwide there was a 20% reduction in global disease burden per head between 1990 and 2001, primarily due to progress in tackling infectious, nutritional, maternal, and perinatal* conditions. Worldwide over 56 million people died in 2001. Nearly 20% of these deaths were among children younger than 5 years. HIV/AIDS accounted for 2% of deaths in 1990, but for 14% in 2001. Malaria mortality also seems to have increased in the 1990s, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. Heart disease and stroke were the leading causes of deaths in low-and-middle, and high income countries, together responsible for more than a fifth of all deaths worldwide. Lung cancer was the third leading cause of death in high-income countries but was not yet among the leading causes in low-and-middle income countries, where five of the ten causes of death remain infectious diseases.
Professor Lopez states: "Worldwide, HIV/AIDS and malaria are large growing causes of death and disease burden, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where they have negated gains in reducing child mortality in Africa from measles, acute respiratory infections, and diarrhoea."
The authors also note a 'striking reversal' in the falling rates of adult mortality in Eastern Europe during the 1990s in the absence of effective health monitoring and policies.
Contact: Professor Alan Lopez, Head, School of Population Health, Professor of Medical Statistics and Population Health, The University of Queensland, Herston Road, Herston Qld 4006. T) +61 7 3365 5590/ 0400 115231(mobile) [email protected] or Dr Majid Ezzati [email protected]
Note to editors
*The perinatal period is a few weeks before birth, the birth itself, and the week or two following it.
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Apr 2016
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:9d67ffeb-2edc-4ec2-9e65-27ab8a7d318b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychcentral.com/news/archives/2006-05/l-ghg052406.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95015 | 579 | 2.734375 | 3 |
This image shows a great white expanse on the surface of Earth, but it's not snow or super-fine sand: in fact, it's a dried up salt lake in Turkey called Lake Tersakan—and satellites even use it as a calibration tool.
The second biggest lake in Turkey and one of the largest saline lakes in the world, Lake Tersakan dries up completely in the summer months to reveal a thick layer of salt. The resulting surface is so bright and white that Earth-observing satellites use it to calibrate their sensors for the color white, in much the same way you adjust the white balance on your camera. The image, provided by the European Space Agency, was captured by Japan’s Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) using its Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type-2 instrument. [ESA] | <urn:uuid:ff1289de-ea6f-42f6-86df-f6b6d0dc259c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://gizmodo.com/this-dried-up-salt-lake-lets-satellites-set-their-white-1238928498 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91633 | 179 | 3.328125 | 3 |
National Geographic News
Frogs with extra legs or missing legs have been showing up with greater frequency over the past decade, and scientists have been baffled by the cause.
Some researchers have concluded that pesticide runoff from farms is to blame; others say a common parasite is the culprit. Now, a new study suggests that both these factors in combination have disturbed normal development in many frogs, leading to the abnormalities.
The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was based on tests in both the laboratory and the field that were designed to examine the interaction of parasites and pesticides. The research team, led by Joseph Kiesecker, found that only frogs infected by the larvae of a parasite, the trematode worm, developed deformities, but infected frogs exposed to pesticide runoff experienced much higher levels of deformities.
"It is not uncommon now for 20 to 30 percent of the frogs at many locations to have limb deformities," said Kiesecker, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State University.
Abnormalities have been documented in 52 species of amphibians, mainly frogs, in 46 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Reports of deformed frogs have been particularly common in New England and the Upper Midwest and on the Pacific coast.
Although there is some disagreement about what levels of deformities occur naturally in frog populations, most researchers agree that current levels are above normal.
Kiesecker and other researchers have warned that the physiological problems seen in frogs may foreshadow similar effects on humans.
Infected by Trematodes
During its life cycle, the parasitic trematode depends on several hosts, including pond snails. Tadpoles in ponds with snails pick up trematode larvae, called cercariae. In some cases the cercariae develop into hard cysts, which interfere with the tadpole's metamorphosis into a frog. When the cysts occur in tissue that later develops into legs, the cysts disrupt the animal's normal development and cause duplicate or missing legs.
The trematode also affects peoplealthough not so dramatically as in developing frogs. It's the same parasite that causes "swimmer's itch," a common ailment in people who swim in ponds and lakes. Eventually, the human immune system defeats the cercariae, leaving the victim with just a rash.
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES | <urn:uuid:c48f7abf-399a-4355-ae4f-ff336d827c7c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0709_020709_deformedfrogs.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00108-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968672 | 508 | 3.59375 | 4 |
They are already fighting in Kansas and Nebraska territories. Slaveowners and abolitionists have attempted to live together, but it isn't working. As early as 1856 the territory has two governmentsone for slavery and one against. Then a posse of about 800 pro-slavery men head for the free town of Lawrence, Kansas, and destroy it. It is guerrilla warfare. One of the soldiers in that war in bloody Kansas is a fierce-eyed white abolitionist named John Brown. He says things like this: "We must fight fire with fire and strike terror in their hearts."
Brown and his followers use axes to murder five pro-slavery settlers. That starts things. Brown burns with religious fire. He believes he is acting for God. He decides to lead a revolution. He thinks blacks will rise up and follow him. On a dark night in 1859, he and a few followers capture a government arsenal and armory in the pretty little West Virginia town of Harper's Ferry , where two rivers come together, slash the hills, and create spectacular scenery. But Brown isn't interested in the scenery. He needs help and it never comes . He is soon capturedby a military officer named Robert E. Leeand given a trial that all the nation follows. He puts on a performance few will forget, and his words inflame the North: "I deny everything but a design on my part to free slaves. I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with blood ."
He is right. John Brown stuck his head in a noose made of South Carolina cotton. His words will soon haunt both North and South . | <urn:uuid:8177e5dc-1f54-46d3-adee-1edca2533ba8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web05/segment7b.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00068-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964599 | 345 | 3.078125 | 3 |
The sight of Nelson Mandela walking proudly out of prison after 27 years, grayer and thinner but unbroken and unbowed, was an appropriate endpiece for a week that also saw the Communist Party give up its monopoly in the Soviet Union. Each is an important victory for the indomitable spirit that makes all people yearn to be free of oppression.
But the long-overdue release of black South Africa`s living hero marks only an important milestone, far from the end of the journey toward a peaceful, post-apartheid nation.
What should have been a day of joy and hope was spoiled by violent clashes between civilians and law enforcement officers. Looters smashed store windows, youths hurled bottles at police and-a haunting reminder of bloody days past-police responded by firing buckshot into the crowds. It was reminiscent, too, of the violence that accompanied our own stumbling emergence from the dark days of Jim Crow. Hunger for freedom of a people long suppressed usually is most fierce when the goal finally seems attainable. The freedom movement in Eastern Europe, for the most part, has escaped that raw fury, one of its remarkable aspects. It would be miraculous if South Africa also could undergo a peaceful transformation to shared power in a multiracial society. As Nelson Mandela once wrote, there is ``no easy walk to freedom.``
He himself was a mixture of defiance and conciliation in his first hours of freedom, endorsing violence as a necessary ``defensive act`` against apartheid at the same time he appealed for peace and harmony.
Probably Mandela`s most significant words after his release were quotes from his speech during his 1964 trial, words he said are still his credo: ``I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a . . . free society, in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunity.``
That, surely, is a formula that must be accepted by both races. And it is a sentiment very much like that voiced by South Africa`s President F.W. de Klerk as he lifted the ban against Mandela, his African National Congress and other anti-apartheid organizations.
Mandela`s failure to renounce violence may have sounded discordant, but it was too soon for him to give away an important concession that should be part of future negotiations. Besides, a new generation of angry young
``comrades`` has come of age since he went to jail. He must quickly establish leadership over them as well as his black rivals on his left and right.
The beginnings of reform in South Africa pose a delicate question for the United States and other nations: Is it time to lift the economic sanctions that helped force the changes?
Not yet, based both on practical politics and on the 1986 sanctions law enacted over President Reagan`s veto. Some of the conditions for ending sanctions have been met, but key ones remain-including lifting the state of emergency, freeing other political prisoners and agreeing to negotiate power- sharing with blacks. | <urn:uuid:d432ce25-a635-4f82-b9ac-272df1717df2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-02-13/news/9001130069_1_nelson-mandela-post-apartheid-multiracial-society | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00064-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97378 | 619 | 2.625 | 3 |
Ursinus Summer Fellow Charlie Lee 2014 is in the trenches of a national focus on the long-term impact of concussions on athletes. He is spending his summer exploring the changes that occur in the brain after an athlete suffers a concussion.
Lee, from Cerritos, Calif., is collecting and analyzing data from Ursinus athletes and students to research, The Effect of Concussions on Cognitive Ability within Athletes. He will examine how concussions, the result of blunt force or blow to the head, may cause changes in the chemical balance within the brain. This can affect the behavior and cognitive ability of affected individuals, says Lee. “The concept that a minor injury could snowball into permanent detrimental effects drew me in,” says Lee, who is
working with Joel Bish, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, Chair Neuroscience Coordinator.
“Charlie’s research looking at the appropriateness of the ImPACT test at assessing cognitive deficits following concussions relates to a test used nationwide at many high schools and colleges for assessing concussions,” says Bish. “He’s working to determine whether there are specific cognitive skills that are susceptible to damage following
concussions. Specifically, we are interested in whether impulse control,
or the ability to control ones actions, is one of the critical cognitive functions that may have a lasting deficit. Since control underlies virtually all behavior, deficits in impulse control are extremely damaging, although difficult to measure.”
Many healthcare professionals use ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing), a computerized neurocognitive assessment tool, to evaluate an athlete’s ability to return for play, he says. Current research seeks to compare ImPACT testing results and a composed battery of cognitive tests including the Stroop Test,
Erickson-Flanker, Splotch Memory, Go – no go, Number Stroop, and Shape-Color
Memory, Lee says. “During Fellows, I will be collecting more data by performing EEG (electroencephalogram, a test used to record electrical activity of the brain) on concussed students and unconcussed students. Using the data, I should be able to understand the differences in cognitive ability between concussed and unconcussed individuals. This study seeks to perform statistical analysis on the compiled data in order to compare the accuracy of ImPACT and the validity of the test in a long term scale.” | <urn:uuid:8cb89ac1-c7a0-436a-9af7-49d12f5762ff> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.ursinus.edu/2013/academics/sciences/concussions-athletes-the-focus-of-summer-fellow-research/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00000-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926429 | 509 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Coe, R. (2004) 'Issues arising from the use of effect sizes in analysing and reporting research.', in But what does it mean ? the use of effect sizes in educational research. Slough: National Foundation for Educational Research.
Effect sizes may be seen as an alternative - or supplement - to the use of statistical significance tests. A number of arguments for their use in this way are put forward. These include the potential of effect sizes to emphasise amounts, not just directions, to avoid inappropriate dichotomies, to reduce confusion over the meaning of 'significance', to draw attention to issues of statistical power, to lessen the 'file drawer' problem, to promote synthesis rather than disagreement and to allow the accumulation of knowledge through the combination and comparison of the results of different studies. However, the use and interpretation of effect sizes are not without problems, including questions of which type of measure to use, sensitivity to violations of assumptions and interpretations in cases of restricted range or variance, non-normality or unreliable measures.
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In her poem, "In an Artist's studio," Christina Rossetti responds to the tendency of Victorian poets to objectify women in their experiment with aestheticism. Her poem recalls Robert Browning's "Andrea del Sarto" in which a male artist pretends to possess his estranged wife by having her pose as his model. This poem also recalls Pygmalian of Ovid's Metamorphoses, a misogynist sculptor who chisels the perfect female and becomes so enamored with his own creation that he asks the gods to bring her to life. Like the artist of Rossetti's poem, Pygmalian essentially falls in love with himself and his own projections and ideas about women. In Rossetti's poem, the artist conceives of his female subject as a passive, emotionless object which he can mold to fit his own fantasies and projections. The description of the female subject is consistent with the stereotypical Victorian view of female patience, passivity and selflessness. The image of the artist "feeding" upon his subject's face refers to the male desire to possess women as wholly aesthetic objects.
One face looks out from all his canvases,
One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans:
We found her hidden just behind those screens,
That mirror gave back all her loveliness.
A queen in opal or in ruby dress,
A nameless girl in freshest summer-greens,
A saint, an angel — every canvas means
The same one meaning, neither more or less.
He feeds upon her face by day and night,
And she with true kind eyes looks back on him,
Fair as the moon and joyful as the light:
Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim;
Not as she is, but was when hope shone bright;
Not as she is, but as she fills his dream.
What is the effect of the emphasis on "one" in the lines beginning with "One face", "One selfsame figure"?
Who is the "we" speaking in this poem?
Are the categories of subject matter which the artist portrays meant to represent categories to which women are typically assigned in Victorian society? What is the "same one meaning" the speaker refers to?
How is the depiction of the woman in the painting recall Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess"?
Interpret the significance of the sight lines in the poem: "One face looks out," "She with true kind eyes looks back on him."
Notice how the male artist never actually looks at his subject. He only devours and "feeds upon her face." What is the effect of the verb "fills" in the context of "she fills his dream"?
Last modified 19 October 2003 | <urn:uuid:942abb32-de22-422f-9c08-609f23bc57f7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/crossetti/byecroft7.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00162-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978078 | 564 | 2.84375 | 3 |
by Rebecca Pope-Ruark
For the last five years, I have been researching and adapting Agile management philosophies and one specific framework, Scrum, to (1) better teach students to collaborate and manage their project work and (2) visually manage my own research projects studying student collaboration.
Agile is an umbrella term for a set of principles and practices that promote planned incremental progress toward larger goals by highly reflective cross-functional teams who self-organize their work. Agile frameworks are grounded in and call for respect for individuals, a team mentality, and accountability to each other and their collective goals.
Because Scrum values careful task articulation and visualization of work, it offers not only a way to improve student learning but also to collect data about that learning in action. In this post, I’ll quickly review the Scrum process and then provide specific strategies for using Scrum strategies to collect valuable data about student learning in dynamic, engaged learning environments.
What is Scrum exactly?
Agile coach trainer Lyssa Adkins does an excellent job of explaining the Scrum framework in this 10-minute video:
Here’s a quick summary of some of the highlights: Teams of people with different skills work together iteratively toward a common large goal (the release or product) by choosing the most important items (from a list of all the features that the business or customer wants the product to have called the backlog) that they can complete, start to finish, in a two-four week time-box (the sprint). The items are called stories, and each story is composed of specific tasks to be done by team members. Teams hold a meeting to decide what to work on for the sprint and how the team will organize their activities to complete their shorter term goals (sprint planning).
Before the sprint officially starts, the team visualizes the stories they will work by writing each story name and associated task on a card or sticky note and placing it on a large board with at least three columns – Backlog, In Progress, and Done. Throughout the sprint, they work toward achieving their commitments, using the board to visualize progress. As the team collaborates to move the work forward, they meet once a day for 15 minutes, often at the Scrum board, to check in on progress, hold each other accountable, and offer help where it is needed (the daily Scrum or stand-up meeting).
Once the sprint ends and the team has (hopefully) completed their sprint goals, they have two meetings: (1) the review or demo where the team demonstrates the work they have accomplished to stakeholders, and (2) the retrospective during which the team, and only the team, discuss their process during the last sprint – what went well, how could they have worked together or supported each other better, and what specific things will they do next sprint to improve their team?
And then they start planning the next sprint.
How can Scrum be used in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research?
The Scrum process can be easily adapted to facilitate incremental progress on any research project, personal or collaborative. Because the framework encourages careful articulation of process tasks and the visualization of that work over time, Scrum can be used to track students’ thinking and process as they work through activities and projects. To use aspects of Scrum to collect meaningful data in the classroom, consider having students
- Create and prioritize a learning or project backlog – when students create backlogs for projects, they must articulate and prioritize the steps they think they need to accomplish to complete the project successfully. As the project develops, students can add and remove tasks from the backlog to show how they are responding to change, opportunity, and learning. The decisions they make about prioritizing stories and tasks can also reveal their understanding of a process or what they value about the work. Capturing students’ backlogs throughout the process can clearly show their thought processes at any stage for valuable comparative data and developmental insight.
- Visualize their work – while a simple backlog might take the form of a To Do list, an Agile backlog is visualized on a Scrum board, allowing students to see their tasks, their progress, and their commitments. If space is an issue, the inside of a manila folder divided into three columns – Backlog, Work in Progress, and Done – along with some small sticky notes works effectively. Photos of the backlogs at different points in the project can be analyzed for data or used as starting points for interviews. If you teach online, software like Lean Kit is available free for higher education courses and can be used the same way as physical boards, with screen captures replacing photos to capture the data.
- Use the Scrum meetings – for group projects, sprint planning, daily Scrum, and retrospectives allow students to self-organize their work, regularly reinforce commitments, remain accountable, and improve their learning processes by active reflection. Observing meetings illuminates how student conceive of and approach their work. If multiple teams are involved, note takers can capture the content of the meetings in minutes which can be used later as data points to reveal student communication and collaboration strategies.
I integrate these strategies into my own courses as both effective learning strategies and as means to collect SoTL data. As with any SoTL work, it’s important not to implement strategies for the sake of data collection but those that can also improve student learning, as Scrum can. I usually take teaching notes about students’ process meetings and collect images of their Scrum boards throughout the semester, to be examined as ways to discuss their learning in class and as data only after the semester has ended. Another option is to have a co-researcher collect and analyze the data throughout the semester, perhaps holding interviews with the students during the semester.
Capturing learning in engaged classroom is a challenge, but implementing aspects of Scrum can improve both student learning and empirical data collection for SoTL research which is ultimately a win-win.
Rebecca Pope-Ruark is an Associate Professor of Professional Writing & Rhetoric at Elon University. | <urn:uuid:6eec16e7-6aba-4a8b-ac8a-976cfb03fa66> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.elon.edu/cel/applying-scrum-project-management-to-sotl-research/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952947 | 1,254 | 3.09375 | 3 |
República de Bolivia
Republic of Bolivia
Fast links: Geography of Bolivia, Map of Bolivia, Flag of Bolivia, Music of Bolivia, Cities of Bolivia, Bolivia bug, Photography of Bolivia
National name: República de Bolivia
President: Juan Evo Morales Ayma (as of Jan. 22, 2006)
Area: 424,162 sq mi (1,098,580 sq km)
Population (2005 est.): 8,857,870 (growth rate: 1.5%); birth rate: 23.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 53.1/1000; life expectancy: 65.5; density per sq mi: 21
Historic and judicial capital (2003 est.): Sucre, 204,200;
Administrative capital: La Paz, 1,576,100 (metro. area), 830,500 (city proper)
Other large cities: Santa Cruz, 1,168,700; Cochabamba, 815,800; El Alto, 728,500; Oruro, 211,700
Monetary unit: Boliviano
Languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara (all official)
Ethnicity/race: Quechua 30%, mestizo 30%, Aymara 25%, white 15%
Religion: Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant (Evangelical Methodist) 5%
Literacy rate: 87% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2004 est.): $22.33 billion; per capita $2,600. Real growth rate: 3.7%. Inflation: 4.9%. Unemployment: 9.2% in urban areas with widespread underemployment (2003 est.). Arable land: 3%. Agriculture: soybeans, coffee, coca, cotton, corn, sugarcane, rice, potatoes; timber.
Labor force: 3.8 million; agriculture n.a., industry n.a., services n.a. Industries: mining, smelting, petroleum, food and beverages, tobacco, handicrafts, clothing. Natural resources: tin, natural gas, petroleum, zinc, tungsten, antimony, silver, iron, lead, gold, timber, hydropower. Exports: $1.986 billion (f.o.b., 2004 est.): natural gas, soybeans and soy products, crude petroleum, zinc ore, tin. Imports: $1.595 billion (f.o.b., 2004 est.): petroleum products, plastics, paper, aircraft and aircraft parts, prepared foods, automobiles, insecticides, soybeans.
Major trading partners: Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, U.S., Peru, Argentina, Chile (2003).
Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 600,100 (2003); mobile cellular: 1,401,500 (2003). Radio broadcast stations: AM 171, FM 73, shortwave 77 (1999). Television broadcast stations: 48 (1997). Internet hosts: 7,080 (2003). Internet users: 270,000 (2002).
Transportation: Railways: total: 3,519 km (2004). Highways: total: 60,282 km; paved: 3,979 km; unpaved: 56,303 km (2002). Waterways: 10,000 km (commercially navigable) (2004). Ports and harbors:Puerto Aguirre (on the Paraguay/Parana waterway, at the Bolivia/Brazil border); also, Bolivia has free port privileges in maritime ports in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Paraguay. Airports: 1,065 (2004 est.).
International disputes: Chile rebuffs Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, offering instead unrestricted but not sovereign maritime access through Chile for Bolivian natural gas and other commodities.
The Andean region probably has been inhabited for some 20,000 years. Beginning about the 2nd century B.C., the Tiwanaku culture developed at the southern end of Lake Titicaca. This culture, centered around and named for the great city of Tiwanaku, developed advanced architectural and agricultural techniques before it disappeared around 1200 A.D., probably because of extended drought (some legends of the Aymará, who claim descendance from the inhabitants of Tiwanaku, indicate that Lake Titikaka rose and flooded the city, causing dispersal of the survivors). Roughly contemporaneous with the Tiwanakan culture, the Moxos in the eastern lowlands and the Mollos north of present-day La Paz also developed advanced agricultural societies that had dissipated by the 13th century A.D. In about 1450, the Quechua-speaking Incas entered the area of modern highland Bolivia and added it to their empire. They controlled the area until the Spanish conquest in 1525.
During most of the Spanish colonial period, this territory was called "Upper Peru" or "Charcas" and was under the authority of the Viceroy of Lima. Local government came from the Audiencia de Charcas located in Chuquisaca (La Plata - modern Sucre). Bolivian silver mines produced much of the Spanish empire's wealth, and Potosí, site of the famed Cerro Rico - "Rich Hill" - was, for many years, the largest city in the Western Hemisphere. A steady stream of enslaved Indians served as labor force. As Spanish royal authority weakened during the Napoleonic wars, sentiment against colonial rule grew.
Bolivian culture has many Inca and other Indian influences in religion, music and clothing, such as the well known bowler hats. The best known fiesta is the UNESCO heritage "El carnaval de Oruro". Entertainment includes football, which is the national sport, played in many street corners. Also, zoos are a popular attraction with a diverse population of interesting creatures. Also, Bolivia is full of a variety of festivals, including special dance celebrations, such as the Carnaval de Oruro.
Read more about bolivian culture.
Public holidays in Bolivia
January 1 - Nuevo Año (New Year's Day)
February 2 - Fiesta de la Virgen de Candelaria
May 1 - Dia del trabajo (Labour Day)
August 6 - Dia de la Patria (Independence Day)
November 1 - Todos Santos (All Saints Day)
December 25 - Navidad (Christmas Day)
floating - Good Friday
floating - Corpus Christi
Geography - Map of Bolivia
The geography of Bolivia is unique among the nations of South America. Bolivia is one of two landlocked countries on the continent and also has the highest altitudes. The main features of Bolivia's geography include the Altiplano, a highland plateau of the Andes, and Lake Titicaca (Lago Titicaca), the largest lake in South America and the highest commercially navigable lake on Earth.
Area and location
Bolivia is comprised of 1,098,580km² of territory, of which 14,190km² is water. This makes the nation's size roughly comparable to the size of Texas and California combined, slightly less than three times the size of Montana, or twice the size of Spain. Bolivia is located in the west-central part of South America. It borders five nations with a total of 6,743km of borders; of these, the longest is the 3,400km northeastern border with Brazil. Bolivia also neighbors Peru, with a 900km border to the northwest and shared control of Lake Titicaca. Smaller borders include Chile (southwest; 861km), Argentina (south; 832km) and Paraguay (southeast; 750km).
Stretching in a broad arc across western Bolivia, the Andes define the country's three geographic zones: the mountains and Altiplano in the west, the subtropical Yungas and temperate valleys of the eastern mountain slopes (the western part of the Amazon Rainforest), and the tropical lowlands or plains (llanos) of the eastern lowlands, or Oriente. The Andes run in two great parallel ranges (cordilleras). The western range (Cordillera Occidental) runs along the Peruvian and Chilean borders. The eastern range (Cordillera Oriental) is a broad and towering system of mountains stretching from Peru to Argentina. Between the two ranges lies the Altiplano, a lofty plateau 805km long and 129km wide.
Although Bolivia lies entirely within tropical latitudes, climatic conditions vary widely from tropical in the lowlands to polar in the highest parts of the Andes. Temperatures depend primarily on elevation and show little seasonal variation. In most locations, rainfall is heaviest during the Southern Hemisphere summer, and yearly amounts tend to decrease from north to south.
Northern lowland areas have a tropical wet climate with year-round high temperatures, high humidity, and heavy rainfall. Daytime highs average more than 30° C all year in most locations. The rain-bearing northeast trade winds, blowing across the Amazon Basin, bring significant rainfall amounts. Rain often falls in brief thunderstorms, sometimes accompanied by strong winds and hail.
Central lowland areas have a tropical wet and dry climate. From October through April, northeast trade winds predominate, and the weather is hot, humid, and rainy. From May through September, however, dry southeast trade winds take control, and precipitation is minimal. During this season, clear days and cloudless nights allow for higher daily maximums and lower nightly minimums than occur during the rainy season. Occasional incursions of strong winds from the south, called surazos, can reach this region during winter and bring cool temperatures for several days.
The Chaco has a semitropical, semiarid climate. The northeast trade winds bring rain and hot humid conditions only from January through March; the other months are dry with hot days and cool nights. Bolivia's highest maximum temperature, 47° C, was recorded here. Surazos also affect the Chaco; their approach is usually signaled by a squall line.
Temperatures and rainfall amounts in mountain areas vary considerably. The Yungas, where the moist northeast trade winds are pushed up by the mountains, is the cloudiest, most humid, and rainiest area, receiving up to 152 centimeters annually. Sheltered valleys and basins throughout the Cordillera Oriental have mild temperatures and moderate rainfall amounts, averaging from 64 to 76 centimeters annually. Temperatures drop with increasing elevation, however. Snowfall is possible at elevations above 2,000 meters, and the permanent snow line is at 4,600 meters. Areas over 5,500 meters have a polar climate, with glaciated zones. The Cordillera Occidental is a high desert with cold, windswept peaks.
The Altiplano, which also is swept by strong, cold winds, has an arid, chilly climate, with sharp differences in daily temperature and decreasing amounts of rainfall from north to south. Average highs during the day range from 15°C to 20°C, but in the summer tropical sun, temperatures may exceed 27° C. After nightfall, however, the thin air retains little heat, and temperatures rapidly drop to just above freezing. Lake Titicaca exerts a moderating influence, but even on its shores, frosts occur in almost every month, and snow is not uncommon.
The most prominent feature of the Altiplano is the large lake at its northern end, Lake Titicaca. At 3,810m above sea level, it is the highest commercially navigable body of water in the world. With a surface area of 9,064km, it is larger than Puerto Rico and is South America's largest lake. Lake Titicaca is also deep, about 370m at its maximum, but with an average depth of 215m; its volume of water is large enough to maintain a constant temperature of 10°C. The lake actually moderates the climate for a considerable distance around it, making crops of maize and wheat possible in sheltered areas.
Lake Titicaca drains southward through the slow-moving, reed-filled Desaguadero River to Lake Poopó. In contrast to the freshwater Lake Titicaca, Lake Poopó is salty and shallow, with depths seldom more than four meters. Because it is totally dependent on seasonal rainfall and the overflow from Lake Titicaca, Lake Poopó's size varies considerably. Several times in the twentieth century, it nearly dried up when rainfall was low or the Desaguadero River silted. In years of heavy rainfall, however, Lake Poopó has overflowed to the west, filling the Coipasa Saltpan with shallow water.
Flag of Bolivia
The current flag of Bolivia was originally adopted by Bolivia in 1851. The state (and war) flag consists of red, yellow and green stripes with the Bolivian coat of arms in the center. The civil flag (and ensign) of Bolivia omits the coat of arms.
According to one source, the red stands for Bolivia's animals and its liberating army, while the green symbolizes fertility and yellow the nation's mineral deposits.
Coat of Arms
The Coat of Arms of Bolivia has a central crest surrounded by Bolivian flag, muskets, olive branches, and has an Andean condor on top.
The central crest has a border with ten stars in the bottom, and the name of Bolivia in the top section. Within the border a mountain is depicted, with a sun rising above it, and with an llama standing next to a tree and some wheat. The llama stands on a plain that contrasts with the mountain. The mountain and its contrast with the plains is indicative of the geography of Bolivia. The llama is the national animal, and the items next to it are symbolic of the resources of the nation.
Around the shield there are three Bolivian flags on each side. Behind these are two pairs of crossed muskets that symbolize the struggle for independence. The olive branches are symbolic of peace, and the condor perched upon the shield is symbolic of a willingness to defend the nation and its liberty.
In some depictions of these coat of arms, the two pairs of muskets are replaced by two cannons. Other depictions also have more realistic symbols in the shield.
Music of Bolivia
Out of all the Andean countries, Bolivia remains perhaps the most culturally linked to the indigenous peoples. Like most of its neighbors, Bolivia was long-dominated by Spain and its attendant culture. Even after independence, Bolivian music was largely based on European forms.
In 1952, a revolution established nationalistic reforms granting increased social, cultural and political awareness for the Aymara and Quechua natives. Intellectuals in the country began wearing ponchos and otherwise associating themselves with native cultures, and the new government promoted native folklore by, among other methods, establishing a folklore department in the Ministry of Education.
The trend towards increased cultural awareness of native music, spirituality and art continued into the 1960s. In 1965, Edgar 'Yayo' Jofré formed a quartet called Los Jairas in La Paz. With Bolivian folk music gained popularity throughout the country, Jofré, along with Alfredo Dominguez, Ernesto Cavour, Julio Godoy and Gilbert Favre used traditional music in modified forms to appeal to urban-dwellers and Europeans.
Later groups like Wara, Khanata, Paja Brava. Savia Andina and, most especially, Los K'jarkas (of Cochabamba), helped further refine this fusion. Following a close but different path, groups and singers like Luzmila Carpio, Ruphay, Grupo Aymara started touring abroad and gained international praise for their compositions, tunes that have brought indigenous Bolivian culture and history to the world's attention.
Los K'jarkas consists of three brothers, the Hermosas, who play primarily huayno or, more rarely, sayas. These are both dance musics influenced both by native forms as well as African musics imported to Bolivia with slavery. Los K'jarkas are known internationally for their saya classic "Llorando se fué", which was the popular beginning of the lambada dance craze of the 1980s, along with forro and carimbo in northern Brazil.
The song was popularized by a French group, resulting in a victorious lawsuit from the Hermosa brothers.
In the 1980s, Chilean nueva cancion (which had arisen from Bolivian fusion music) was imported to Bolivia and changed into canto nuevo, which was popularized by performers like Emma Junaro.
The most common musical instruments are:
Read more about bolivian music.
- sicu or zampoña
- tarka or tarqa
- skin drums
- bronze gongs
- copper bells
- charango: Has five pairs of strings and looks like a small guitar. Traditionally it was made from the shells of armadillos, but today it is mostly made of wood.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, commonly known as simply Santa Cruz, is, with a population of roughly 1.3 million residents, the capital city of the Department of Santa Cruz in Bolivia. Located in the eastern part of the country at 416 m above sea level, the city, though usually warm, experiences chill winds that blow from the Argentine pampas called surazos.
Santa Cruz de la Sierra was first founded on February 26, 1560 by Ñuflo de Chávez who gave the new settlement its name, which means "Holy Cross of the Hills," in honor of his beloved native city in Extremadura, Spain. The original settlement was actually 220 km east of its current location, only a few kilometers south of today's San José de Chiquitos. After conflicts with natives the town was moved to its present position on the banks of the Piraí River in 1592. Some remains of the original settlement can be visited in the Santa Cruz la Vieja ("Old Santa Cruz") archeological site south of San José de Chiquitos (which was founded as a Jesuit mission in 1792).
Santa Cruz is connected by railway to Argentina and Brazil, and connected by a road built in the 1950s to Trinidad, Cochabamba and also has newly constructed paved roads to Camiri-Yacuiba-Argentina and another to Cochabamba. It is also the home of Viru Viru International Airport, one of the largest airports in Bolivia.
As the city was fairly isolated until the early 20th century, Santa Cruz has much colonial architecture, including a 16th century cathedral and numerous Jesuit missions.
La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of La Paz Department. As of the 2001 census, the city of La Paz had a population of about one million. La Paz is situated in a chasm below a plateau at an altitude of 3600 meters alongside the La Paz river. Atop the plateau is the city of El Alto, where the international airport is located. The city is located at 16°30' South, 68°8' West (-16.5, -68.1333).
Founded in 1548 by Alonso de Mendoza at the site of the Native American settlement called Chuquiago, the full name of the city was originally Nuestra Señora de La Paz (meaning Our Lady of Peace). The name commemorated the restoration of peace following the insurrection of Gonzalo Pizarro and fellow conquistadors two years earlier against Blasco Núñez Vela, the first viceroy of Peru. In 1825, after the decisive victory of the republicans at Ayacucho over the Spanish army in the course of the South American Wars of Independence, the city's full name was changed to La Paz de Ayacucho (meaning The Peace of Ayacucho).
In 1898, La Paz was made the de facto seat of the national government, with Sucre remaining the nominal capital only. This change reflected the shift of the Bolivian economy away from the largely exhausted silver mines of Potosí to the exploitation of tin near Oruro, and resulting shifts in the distribution of economic and political power among various national elites.
Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the third-largest city in Bolivia with a metropolitan population of more than 800,000 people. The name derives from a compound of the Quechua words qhocha, or lake, and pampa, or open plain.
The city was founded on August 2, 1571 by orders of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo. It was to be an agricultural production center to provide food for the mining towns of the relatively nearby Altiplano region, particularly the city of Potosí. With the silver mining industry at its height, Cochabamba thrived during its first centuries of existence. The city entered a period of decline during the 18th century as mining began to wane. However, since the late 19th century is has again been generally successful as an agricultural center for Bolivia.
Currently, Cochabamba is an economically active city and tends to be one of the more socially liberal locations in the nation. Like other large cities in the Andes, Cochabamba is a city of contrasts. Its downtown core, around areas such as Plaza Colón or Plaza 14 de Septiembre, is generally quite modern. There are bright lights, bustling streets, and countless automobiles and internet cafes. It is in these locations where the majority of the city's business and commercial industries are found. An active nightlife is centered around Calle España (Spain Street) and also along a broad tree-lined boulevard called El Prado. As one moves further out from the city-center, however, the communities become less technologically advanced. Cochabamba's outlying neighborhoods often find themselves with higher crime rates and lacking electricity, indoor plumbing, and paved streets.
South America's biggest open-air market, called La Cancha, is open seven days a week in Cochabamba, though the busy market days are Wednesdays and Saturdays. The city is also the home of the Universidad Mayor de San Simón, one of the largest and most prominent public universities in Bolivia, as well as several smaller colleges. Residents of the city and surrounding areas are commonly referred to as Cochabambinos.
Cochabamba is served by Jorge Wilstermann International Airport (IATA code CBB), which handles domestic and international flights. It also houses the headquarters of Lloyd Aereo Boliviano, Bolivia's national airline.
Bolivia bug is a hot topic now a days. After some videos, people started to search for Bolivia bug. In YouTube you could see video (watch here), where is very interesting caterpillar. In fact, it's not a bug but caterpillar of any moth species.
To make it more mystery, someone made a mix of 2 videos (watch here). One video is original video of bolivia bug (the caterpillar) and other is a surgery, where doctor take off larva of wasp from head. The kind of wasp is called "tarantula hawk - pepsis" and they sting people rarely.
The real identification of this caterpillar is family Megalopygidae, genus Megalopyge, species (maybe) Megalopyge opercularis
· South America Travel
· chov brouků
· entomology - entomologie
· Tarantula, tarantulas | <urn:uuid:551dcb49-2c27-436d-983f-83a49898761b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://photo.goliathus.com/bolivia/bolivia.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00194-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928797 | 4,985 | 2.75 | 3 |
Background informationCapital: Dakar
Official language: French
Area: 196,192 km2
Population (2007): 12,400,000 (Population Reference Bureau)
Population density: 63 inhabitants per km2
Population growth (2005): +2.4% (UNFPA)
Labour force participation rate (2005): 70.9% (Senegal, ANSD) to 75.1% (UNFPA)
Foreign population as a percentage of total (2006): 2.8% (UNFPA)
Foreign workers as a percentage of total labour force: Not known
Unemployment rate (2001/02): 5.6% (Senegal, ANSD)1
Religions: 94%Muslim (Sufis), 5% Roman Catholic, 1% indigenous religions (CIA)
In Europe and elsewhere, there is a widespread image of Africa as a continent in crisis, whose population seeks en masse to find a route to Europe. The example of Senegal, however, illustrates that African migration is far more complex a phenomenon. To begin with, migration to and from Senegal has, until recently, primarily been in connection with other African states. Historically, Senegal was not a country of origin, but rather the destination of migrants. There is, however, evidence of a turnaround since the 1990s, with Senegal becoming more and more a country of emigration and new target regions emerging for Senegalese migrants. As a result, Senegal is facing a range of new challenges.2
Factors Influencing Migration
Migration from Senegal has increased in the last decade. This development has taken place against a background of economic and demographic revolution, which has to be recognised in order to understand the problems associated with this migration. Since the mid-1970s, Senegal has been in a state of economic crisis, which intensified in the 1990s. Between 1990 and 1999 the gross domestic product per head sank by 28.1%.3 The crisis had a negative impact on private-sector and political integration capacities alike. The chances of employment within the civil service have dwindled markedly, while development in the private sector is too weak to bring any significant relief to the labour market. There is, in addition, high population growth, leading to the near-quadrupling of the population of Senegal since the country achieved independence in 1960; the population is also a great deal younger now compared to then, with roughly half the population currently under the age of 18. As a result, a larger number of young people with poor professional prospects stream onto the labour market each year.
International migration was initially a reaction to this crisis situation and has meanwhile become the standard model of social advancement. Whereas formerly the state functionary symbolised individual success, now it is the international migrant. This is demonstrated, among other things, by Senegalese pop songs, in which the migrant is celebrated as a modern hero.45
Historical Trends in Immigration and Emigration
Migration within Africa
6 Guinea-Bissau is also another important country of origin: as a consequence of the Guinea-Bissau war of independence (1963-74), 75,000 persons came from that country to Senegal at the beginning of the 1970s.7 As early as colonial times, about 100,000 persons migrated from Mauritania to Senegal. In line with the development of the trade in imported goods, Mauritanians obtained an excellent position in the retail trade, especially in the hinterland, and their number later grew to 250,000.8 Due in particular to the railway line constructed during colonial times between the capitals of Mali and Senegal, vigorous trading took place between both countries, in the context of which migrants from Mali settled in Senegal. A comparatively large number of Gambians also live in Senegal. Almost completely enclosed geographically by Senegal, this small state maintains close commercial and cultural ties with its neighbour.
Senegalese emigration within Africa was, until the 1960s, directed in particular to Mauritania, Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. From the end of the 1960s, the Ivory Coast and Gabon became important destination countries due to their high demand for workers. At the beginning of the 1970s, as a consequence of the trade in diamonds and precious stones, migration outflows expanded through to Central Africa, in particular to the Congo (Brazzaville), Zaire and Cameroon. A general economic collapse in these countries from the late 1970s and the wars in the Congo and Zaire in the 1990s caused these migratory movements largely to dry up. The Senegalese population in Mauritania was driven out in 1989 (see Refuge and Asylum) and fishing rights for Senegalese in Mauritania were then severely restricted.9 Since the end of the 1990s, increasing xenophobic tendencies in the Ivory Coast and Gabon have reduced the attractiveness of these countries for Senegalese migrants. In the context of the war in the Ivory Coast, which started in 2002, violence was also directed against Senegalese.1011 and Mauritania have become increasingly popular destinations for Senegalese migrants.
From early colonial times Senegal has been a destination country for Lebanese and French emigrants. The French were generally employees of the colonial administration or commercial firms, and most left the country after independence, although a significant number have stayed or emigrated there. The first Lebanese arrived at the end of the 19th century, at a time when successive waves of emigrants were leaving Lebanon. They were able to integrate successfully in the colonial economy, often as middlemen in the peanut trade, and later encouraged other migrants from their regions of origin to follow their lead. Due to the lobbying activities of Senegalese traders, a ban was imposed on Lebanese settlers in 1970, although the number of Lebanese in the country continued to increase slightly nonetheless.12 Lebanese obtained excellent positions in trade, and today they still control a significant share of commercial activities.
The first Senegalese reached Europe by way of joining the French colonial army. After leaving the army, many soldiers found employment in Marseille harbour, which became a centre for the Senegalese community in Europe. In view of the close relationship between Senegal and the former colonial power, France long remained the most important country of destination in Europe for Senegalese migrants by far; they were involved in particular in trade between Europe and Africa. In 1985 France introduced a compulsory visa for Senegal. As a result, Senegalese increasingly began seeking other destinations. Italy became the most important destination for Senegalese migrants in the 1990s, after laws legalising irregular migrants were passed in 1990 and 1994. Here the new immigrants were able to find work in tourism and in industry in northern Italy. Since the end of the 1990s, Spain has also become a popular destination, with its strong construction and agricultural sectors attracting Senegalese workers.
The United States, too, has become increasingly popular as a country of destination in the last decade, especially for the younger members of the middle classes. Migration to the USA developed as a result of business trips made by traders importing electronic devices to Senegal and exporting African goods to the USA. New York in particular has a strong Senegalese community. The younger generation of migrants is primarily engaged in the low-paid service sector.13
Political and Legal Developments
Matters of immigration have been of subordinate importance in Senegalese politics, and political interventions have generally taken place in the context of international agreements. Historically, and for primarily ideological reasons, immigration has been perceived as a positive affair. In the Senegalese national consciousness, the value of hospitality (teranga14
15 Of all of the clauses contained in the Protocol, only visa-free entry for citizens of the Community has been implemented to date. The Senegalese, however, are not particularly restrictive with regard to the right of residence. When required by an employer, work permits can be granted to foreigners, although priority for jobs is given to the indigenous people (Law No. 71-10 dated 25 January 1971). African migrants mostly work in the informal sector, for which the legal situation is of secondary importance.
In addition to this, Senegal has signed a series of international legal initiatives for the protection of refugees, including the Refugee Convention of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) from 1969.16 The country has also ratified the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (1990).
The most significant domestic policy efforts in this are have been devoted to the use of emigrant potential for development. To this end the Ministry of Senegalese Abroad () was established. Political efforts have concentrated on convincing Senegalese abroad to make productive investments in the country. On the basis of a bilateral agreement, France financed for the first time in 1983 a programme of vocational training for, and lending to, migrants abroad who wanted to return.17 In 1987, France and Senegal established the Bureau of Reception, Orientation and Follow-up of Actions for the Reinsertion of Emigrants (Agence pour la Promotion des Investissements et des Grands Travaux, APIX) was founded. APIX coordinates all of the administrative procedures necessary for founding a company, including import formalities, and also carries out feasibility studies. Furthermore, it assumes responsibility for managing projects in which loans are used to assist the return of emigrants from France and Germany. In contrast to the BAOS, APIX focuses not only on migrants, but also on investors in general. It also attends to more financially complex projects. Overall, the success of both state agencies appears to have been limited, due to general deficiencies in the Senegalese administration.18
Given the increase in migrant remittances19 and their growing significance for the national economy, the topic of migration has gradually found its way into political discourse. The Senegalese government has an essentially positive attitude to migration.20 Internationally it supports an increase in legal opportunities for migration to Europe. In negotiations with European states, it has emphasised the necessity of supporting development projects rather than turning to repression to reduce migration. It has, moreover, voiced support for improved protection for migrants in Africa and Europe.21 Certainly, international pressure following the drastic increase in the number of migrants attempting to reach the Canary Islands since 2006 and national outrage over the high numbers of deaths caused by these perilous crossings have led to the strengthening of border security. The coast is guarded relatively closely by the state. In addition, in 2006/2007 the European border security agency, Frontex, patrolled Senegalese and Mauritanian waters to prevent potential migrants from making the crossing.
In response to the large number of migrants attempting to reach the Canary Islands, Senegal has entered into talks with various European countries and the EU. In October 2006, Senegal and France signed an agreement that provided for the faster deportation of irregular migrants and made it easier for professionals, students and artists to enter France through legal channels. Several agreements were also concluded with Spain during 2006. Amongst other things, the deportation of irregular migrants was made easier and an increase in development aid was agreed to. On this basis more than 3,000 Senegalese were deported in 2006. At the end of 2006, both countries signed a forward-looking agreement which provides for the granting of 4,000 short-term work visas to Senegalese migrants over a period of two years (2007/08). As the result of an Afro-European conference in July 2006, the European Commission has been financing a project to the tune of EUR 1,016,945 to help the Senegalese authorities tighten control of irregular migration. There is also a six billion dollar project extending from 2007 to 2011 and financed by industrial countries and the African Development Bank to help fund agricultural and rural development in eight West African countries, among them Senegal. This too is influenced by the desire to curb migration.
The Emigrant Population
According to the World Bank, about 463,000 Senegalese (or 4% of the population) were living abroad in 2005.23 The results of a household survey carried out by the Senegalese Ministry of Economy and Finance show that 76% of urban households and 70% of households nationwide have at least one family member abroad.2425 The majority of these have returned to Senegal since the war started in 2002. The number of Senegalese in Mauritania is estimated at 50,000 to 60,000, while Mali accommodates about 30,000. The Senegalese population in Guinea-Bissau consists of between 10,000 and 20,000 persons.26
There is a tendency for Senegalese migrants to remain in the destination country for long periods, even though a significant proportion of irregular migrants in industrial countries are deported within a short time. In general, however, Senegalese migrants plan their stays abroad as short-term experiences. A study based on a sample of migrants residing in Germany shows that their wish for early repatriation has not been realised for a large number of reasons:27 28
According to the household survey referred to above, 46% of migrants were employed or self-employed before they emigrated, including occupation in the informal sector and subsistence farming. Some 29% were unemployed, 14% school children or students and 7% housewives. According to the survey, approximately 84% of migrants are men,29 of which 68% are between 15 and 34 years old.
Senegalese migrants who move to industrialised countries also demonstrate relatively high levels of education. Within a sample of 51 Senegalese in Germany, 22 hold qualifications from an institute of higher education.30 Among the Senegalese in the USA, just 9% have attended school for four years or less, whereas 25% possess at least four years of tertiary education.31 According to the World Bank, the proportion of Senegalese with tertiary education who emigrate is 24.1%. Approximately 51.4% of doctors trained in the country and 26.9% of nursing staff have left Senegal.32
In many senses migration is not an individual but a collective matter. This concerns financing, the financial benefits of migration and often, too, the very decision to migrate. In total just 58% of Senegalese emigrants make the decision to emigrate essentially for themselves, and only 46% finance their move abroad themselves.
On average, Senegalese living in Germany transfer between EUR 125 and 250 a month to their families.3334 The effects of remittances on the standard of living appear to be inconsistent. In the urban setting they have a readily apparent positive impact. In Dakar, for example, 85.2% of households with one or more members living abroad have an annual income per head of at least EUR 343, whereas this is only true of 69.2% of households with no migrants in the family. Rural areas show no clear improvements in income. This common phenomenon is explained by the fact that the rural population shifts its attention away from productive activities once they begin receiving external financial support.35
For a long time Senegal did not recognise dual citizenship, although in official practice this is no longer the case.37 Difficulties occur particularly when the second state does not tolerate dual citizenship. For migrants of Senegalese origin with German citizenship, for example, this means that there are increased problems in building an economic existence in Senegal.
As a result of these expenses, various other migration routes have developed. Migrants who use the overland route often earn the money to fund the trip by working along the way. Two important routes run straight across the Sahara. In the early 2000s, about 80% of the then- 65,000 to 80,000 trans-Saharan migrants used the east route via Agadez (Niger) on the Libyan Mediterranean coast. From here, small fishing boats (pateras) made the crossing to Italy, particularly to the island of Lampedusa. The alternative west route runs from Agadez via northwestern Algeria to northern Morocco. Since about 2000, reinforced border controls have made the sea route from there to Spain less viable. Accordingly, the number of (attempted) border crossings into the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla increased. In September 2005, several thousand migrants attempted to get over the border fences, resulting in 14 deaths. Migration routes then shifted to the Moroccan Atlantic coast, with migrants being ferried over to the Canary Islands from there. As a result of more intensive border controls, boats increasingly set off from places further south. First the Mauritanian coast and then that of Senegal became an important point of departure for migration to Europe. Some journeys now start as far south as Guinea-Bissau.
In 2006 tens of thousands of migrants attempted to reach the Canary Islands; a large number of the crossings were carried out by Senegalese fishermen. In the course of the year approximately 32,000 migrants reached the group of islands, compared to only 4,800 the year before.39 A crossing on this highly perilous route costs on average EUR 620.40 In 2006, the bodies of 1,167 drowned migrants were taken from the sea,41 and several thousand others were deemed missing. Approximately 50% of the migrants using this route were believed to be Senegalese.42
Refuge and Asylum
Parti Socialiste, PS), which dominated politics until 2000.44
Since the early 1980s a conflict in the extreme southwest between the government and the rebel secessionist movement Refugees in Senegal
45 In June 2007 the Mauritanian government declared that it was ready to accept the return of the refugees.
Current Developments and Future Challenges
Until now, Senegalese emigration has consisted primarily of migration within Africa. The development of remittance flows, the diminished attractiveness of the Ivory Coast and Gabon as destination countries, as well as the sharp fall in prices for a trip to Europe via the Canaries, however, have led to a turnaround in this area in recent years.46Increasing remittances
Remittances to Senegal will likely continue to increase in the near future, which can have both positive and negative effects.47 The construction sector, which has demonstrated high growth rates for some years, profits in particular from remittances, as they are often used to build private housing. This not only relieves the labour market by providing employment; it also leads to more investments in construction companies, and thus to a greater accumulation of capital in this sector. It would nevertheless be advantageous if more remittances were directed into productive sectors. Nearly all migrants are interested in investing the funds they have earned profitably in their country of origin. However, the majority of migrants have experienced the failure of their own business projects in Senegal.48Development of dangerous migration routes
European policies to prevent irregular migration by making access to the continent more restrictive have led to the emergence of highly dangerous alternative migration routes. At least 10% of migrants (or 40%, according to some estimates) who attempt the sea crossing between the West African coast and the Canary Islands die en routeManaging immigration
- Another form of migration, the traditional migration of nomadic groups, is not entered into any further here as it represents a specific and highly complex subject area which is, however, of secondary importance for Senegal.
- See Lahlou (2004). Economic growth has accelerated since then. After a crisis, such developments often lead to a temporary increase in emigration as expectations are abnormally exaggerated and increased means are available for financing a journey.
- See Riccio (2005).
- See Marfaing (2003).
- By the end of the 1990s their numbers had declined to 7,100.
- As a consequence of the events of 1989 (see the section on Refuge and Asylum), a large proportion of Mauritanians left the country. See Fall (2003).
- See Marfaing (2005). In recent years Mauritania has neglected the fishing sector in favour of the recently-commenced oil production, causing further deterioration in the opportunities to catch fish.
- The war was preceded by a struggle for power between the elite in the north and south. The north has a Muslim majority, and since late colonial times many migrant workers have settled there, originating primarily from Burkina Faso. As the political crisis intensified a mood developed in the south that was strongly directed against Muslims and immigrants in general.
- The commercial success of Lebanese is frequently met with hostility. Reasons for this are their direct competition with the indigenous population in wholesale and retailing and the relatively severe isolation of the endogamous Lebanese community from Senegalese society. Unlike the Mauritanians, moreover, Lebanese did not come under the protection of the official pan-African ideology, and by contrast with the French they were not protected by close political relations between Senegal and their country of origin. The mentioned settlement ban appears to originate from a verbal instruction given by the president and is not fixed in any legal form. See Behrendt (2004).
- Nonetheless in Senegal, too, there are prejudices against immigrants (Fall 2003).
- Members of the Community at the time, in addition to Senegal, were Benin, Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo. Mauritania left ECOWAS in 2002.
- See Ratha and Zhimei Xu (2007).
- According to the Senegalese foreign office there were about 150,000 Senegalese living in the Ivory Coast (Diatta and Mbow 1999). Another study, however, assumes a figure of 100,000 (Fall 2003).
- Data from Diatta and Mbow (1999) and Fall (2003).
- One study that is relatively unreliable on account of the data and the manner of acquisition assumes that a large proportion of migrants return home after a stay of 20-25 years abroad (cf. Diatta and Mbow 1999).
- See Marfaing (2003).
- An earlier study, by contrast, cited a male proportion of 70% in the year 1993 (CERPOD, quoted in Marfaing 2003).
- See Marfaing (2003).
- See Black (2004).
- Migration and Recruitment of Healthcare Professionals: Causes, Consequences and Policy Responses.
- See Marfaing (2003).
- Remittances: A Bridge between Migration and Development?
- See Fall (2003).
- Details of a corresponding change in the law could not be ascertained. According to information provided by telephone by the Senegalese embassy in Berlin on 25.06.2007, dual citizenships are recognised in Senegal. Cf. Marfaing (2003).
- See BBC (2007).
- See Jahnson (2006).
- For further information regarding the situation of these refugees see Fresia (2006).
- See Hertlein and Vadean (2006).
- See Marfaing (2003).
About the author:
Felix Gerdes studied political science and sociology in Hamburg und Dakar. Since 2005 he has been pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Hamburg, where he works for the Research Centre on War, Armament and Development at the Institute of Political Studies.
References and Further Reading
- Spain Begins Anti-Migration Ads.
- Bertelsmann Stiftung (2003): . Bertelsmann Transformation Index.
- Black, R. (2004): Migration and Pro-poor Policy in Africa. Sussex Centre for Migration Research, Working Paper C6. Sussex.
- Fall, P. D. (2003): . UNESCO.
- Fresia, M. (2006): . New Issues in Refugee Research, Research Paper No. 135, UNHCR.
- Migration and Remittances in Senegal.
- Migration and Recruitment of Healthcare Professionals: Causes, Consequences and Policy Responses. | <urn:uuid:04ce3145-b5d5-4dc4-924c-42c113b866f1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://focus-migration.hwwi.de/Senegal.2636.0.html?L=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397111.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00119-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950704 | 4,928 | 2.828125 | 3 |
|Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church*|
|UNESCO World Heritage Site|
|State Party||United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|
|Criteria||i, ii, iv|
|Region**||Europe and North America|
|Inscription||1987 (11th Session)|
|* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
** Region as classified by UNESCO.
The Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster, normally called Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. Neither a cathedral nor a parish church, Westminster Abbey is a church owned directly by the British royal family.
Since the Christmas Day coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, nearly all English monarchs have been crowned in the abbey. St. Edward's Chair, the throne on which British sovereigns are seated at the moment of coronation, is housed within the abbey.
Due its connections to royalty, it was spared King Henry VIII's attack on monastic buildings during the Reformation. Many British kings and queens are buried within Westminster, along with other notable figures. For example, the tombs of both the Protestant Elizabeth I and Catholic "Bloody" Mary, along with the tombs of Geoffrey Chaucer, David Livingstone and Charles Darwin, are found within the abbey.
Located next to the Houses of Parliament in the Westminster neighborhood of London, Westminster Abbey is a popular London tourist destination. With its oldest parts dating to the year 1050, the Abbey contains some of the most glorious medieval architecture in London.
Tradition claims that a shrine was first built where the Abbey is now located in 616 on a site then known as Thorney Island, which became a place of pilgrimage after a fisherman on the River Thames saw a vision of Saint Peter there. The early shrine's existence, however, is not certain. The historic abbey was first built by Edward the Confessor between 1045-1050 and consecrated on December 28, 1065. Ironically, its construction resulted from the pious Edward's breaking a vow to go on a pilgrimage; the Pope suggested that he redeem himself by building an abbey.
The original abbey, in the Romanesque style that is called "Norman" in England, was built to house Benedictine monks. It was rebuilt in the English Gothic style with Benedictine planning in stages between 1245-1517. The initial phase of the rebuilding was organized by Henry III as a shrine to honor Edward the Confessor and as a suitably regal setting for Henry's own tomb, under what would be the highest Gothic nave in England.
Since the coronations in 1066 of both King Harold and William the Conqueror, nearly all English and British monarchs have been crowned in the abbey. St. Edward's Chair, the throne on which British sovereigns are seated at the moment of coronation, is housed within the west front of the abbey.
Westminster School and Westminster Abbey Choir School are also in the precincts of the Abbey. Benedictine monks were required by the Pope to maintain a charity school in 1179. Westminster School may have been founded even earlier for children or novices, and the legendary Croyland Chronicle relates a story of Edward the Confessor's Queen Editha chatting to a schoolboy in the cloisters, and sending him off to the Palace larder for a treat.
Henry VII added a perpendicular style chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary in 1503 (known as the Henry VII Lady Chapel). The Archbishop of Canterbury is the traditional cleric in the coronation ceremony.
Unlike most other English abbeys, the abbey was saved from destruction due to its royal connections, when it was claimed by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1534. The expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul" may have come from this period when funds intended for the abbey, which was dedicated to St. Peter, were diverted to the treasury of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Queen Mary restored the abbey to the Benedictines, but they were again ejected under Queen Elizabeth I in 1559. In 1579, Elizabeth re-established Westminster as a "royal peculiar"—a church responsible directly to the sovereign, rather than to a diocesan bishop—and made it the Collegiate Church of St. Peter (i.e. a church with an attached chapter of canons, headed by a dean).
During the turbulent 1640s, the abbey suffered damage when it was attacked by Puritan iconoclasts, but was again protected by its close ties to the state during the Commonwealth period. Oliver Cromwell was given an elaborate funeral there in 1658, only to be disinterred in January 1661 after the restoration of the monarchy and posthumously hanged and quartered. His empty tomb, however, is still visible inside.
Under the guidance of architects Sir Christopher Wren and [[Nicholas Hawksmoor], the abbey's two western towers were built between 1722 and 1745, constructed from Portland stone to an early example of a Gothic Revival design. Further rebuilding and restoration occurred in the nineteenth century under Sir George Gilbert Scott.
Until the nineteenth century, Westminster was the third seat of learning in England, after Oxford and Cambridge universities. It was here that the first third of the King James Bible Old Testament and the last half of the New Testament were translated. In the twentieth century, the New English Bible was compiled at the abbey.
As indicated above, since the coronations in 1066 of both King Harold and William the Conqueror, coronations of English and British monarchs were held in the Abbey. Henry III was unable to be crowned in London when he first came to the throne because the French prince Louis had taken control of the city, and so the king was crowned in Gloucester Cathedral. However, this coronation was deemed by the Pope to be improper, and a further coronation was held in the Abbey on May 17, 1220. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the traditional cleric in the coronation ceremony.
King Edward's Chair (or St Edward's Chair), the throne on which English and British sovereigns have been seated at the moment of coronation, is housed within the Abbey and has been used at every coronation since 1308. From 1301 to 1996 (except for a short time in 1950 when it was temporarily stolen by Scottish nationalists), the chair also housed the Stone of Scone upon which the kings of Scots are crowned. Although the Stone is now kept in Scotland, in Edinburgh Castle, at future coronations it is intended that the Stone will be returned to St Edward's Chair for use during the coronation ceremony.
The Abbey has been the location of many royal weddings:
Westminster is the site of some of England's most notable tombs. Edward the Confessor's relics were placed in a shrine in the sanctuary after Henry III rebuilt the abbey in the thirteenth century. Henry III himself was interred nearby in a superb chest tomb with effigial monument, as were many of the Plantagenet kings of England, their wives, and other relatives. Subsequently, most Kings and Queens of England were buried here, although Henry VIII and Charles I are buried at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, as are all monarchs and royals after George II.
In 2005, the original ancient burial vault of Edward the Confessor was discovered, beneath the 1268 Cosmati mosaic pavement, in front of the high altar. A series of royal vaults dating back to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was also discovered using ground-penetrating radar.
Aristocrats were buried inside chapels and monks and people associated with the abbey were buried in the cloisters and other areas. One of these was Geoffrey Chaucer, who had apartments in the abbey, where he was employed as master of the Kings Works. Other poets were later buried around Chaucer in what became known as Poets' Corner, as well as memorials to William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and other giants of literature.
Abbey musicians such as Henry Purcell were also buried in their place of work. Subsequently, it became an honor to be buried or memorialized here. The practice spread from aristocrats and poets to [general]]s, admirals, politicians, scientists, doctors, etc.
The abbey organ was built by Harrison & Harrison in 1937, with four manuals and 84 speaking stops, and was used for the first time at the Coronation of King George VI. Some pipework from the previous five-manual Hill organ was revoiced and incorporated in the new scheme. The two organ cases, designed in the late-nineteenth century by John Loughborough Pearson, were re-instated and colored in 1959.
The abbey is a collegiate church organized into the College of St. Peter, which comprises the Dean and four resident Canons (one of whom is also Rector of St Margaret's Church, Westminster, and Speaker's Chaplain), and 17 other persons who are members ex officio, as well as 12 lay vicars and ten choristers.
The 17 are the Receiver-General and Chapter Clerk, the Registrar, the Auditor, the Legal Secretary, and the Clerk of the Works (the administrative officers). Those more directly concerned with liturgical and ceremonial operations include the Precentor, the Chaplain and Sacrist, the Organist, and the (honorary) High Steward and High Bailiff. Lastly, the educational role of the abbey is reflected in the presence of the Headmaster of the Choir School, the Headmaster and Under Master of Westminster School, and the Master of The Queen's Scholars. The abbey is governed by the Dean and Chapter established under the Elizabethan statute of 1560.
Quicktime Virtual Reality Panorama of Westminster Abbey Daytime Quicktime Virtual Reality Panorama of Westminster Abbey.
All links retrieved June 28, 2013.
|World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom|
Blenheim Palace · Canterbury Cathedral – St. Augustine's Abbey – St. Martin's Church · Bath · Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape · Derwent Valley Mills · Durham Castle and Cathedral · Ironbridge Gorge · Jurassic Coast · Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Hadrian's Wall) · Kew Gardens · Liverpool · Maritime Greenwich · Westminster Palace – Westminster Abbey – St. Margaret's Church · Saltaire · Stonehenge and Avebury · Studley Royal Park and Fountains Abbey · Tower of London
Edinburgh Old Town and New Town · Heart of Neolithic Orkney (Maeshowe • Ring of Brodgar • Skara Brae • Standing Stones of Stenness) · New Lanark · St. Kilda
Castles and Town Walls of King Edward I in Gwynedd (Beaumaris Castle • Caernarfon Castle • Conwy Castle • Harlech Castle) · Blaenavon
|Northern Ireland||Giant's Causeway|
Henderson Island · Gough Island and Inaccessible Island · St. George's Town
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Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed. | <urn:uuid:a0a362b3-48b9-4192-b0f0-e331fa9464a3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Westminster_Abbey | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00023-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960134 | 2,444 | 3.546875 | 4 |
A waveform is a representation of how alternating current (AC) varies with time. The most familiar AC waveform is the sine wave, which derives its name from the fact that the current or voltage varies with the sine of the elapsed time. Other common AC waveforms are the square wave, the ramp, the sawtooth wave, and the triangular wave. Their general shapes are shown below.
Some AC waveforms are irregular or complicated. Square or sawtooth waves are produced by certain types of electronic oscillators, and by a low-end UPS (uninterruptible power supply) when it is operating from its battery. Irregular AC waves are produced by audio amplifiers that deal with analog voice signals and/or music.
The sine wave is unique in that it represents energy entirely concentrated at a single frequency. An ideal, unmodulated wireless signal has a sine waveform, with a frequency usually measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). Household utility current has a sine waveform with a frequency of 60 Hz in most countries including the United States, although in some countries it is 50 Hz. | <urn:uuid:40bdc069-2008-483f-9014-02c1c443fd54> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/waveform | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00019-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949419 | 238 | 4.09375 | 4 |
This rodent from South America is the largest in the world.
A capybara can get close to 80 kg (175 pounds) but as intimidating as it might look, they are mostly shy and tame creatures.
Capybaras are also known as water hogs. As the name suggests, they are usually found near swamps and water holes. The water provides a refuge from the midday heat.
Capybaras are excellent swimmers. Their eyes and ears are positioned high on the head, so they can see and hear easily while swimming.
Capybaras also have webbing between their fingers and toes, which helps them paddle. When frightened, they can remain underwater for several minutes.
During the dry season—when water holes are few and far between—as many as 30 to 50 capybaras may gather around a single mud puddle.When the rains arrive, the animals break off into smaller groups.
Typically, each family group includes one adult male and one or more females, with their young. Bachelor males often band together in separate groups. Each day the capybara troops must travel long distances in search of food. Yet they nearly always return to the same spot at night.
In some places, ranchers kill the creature just because it competes with cows and sheep for grass. As a result of overhunting, capybaras have nearly disappeared in parts of their range. Some countries, like Venezuela, have begun protecting the animal, as well as breeding it in captivity. | <urn:uuid:289e6acd-f076-4c17-8edd-7bde9448b3b1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://capybarafacts.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00101-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973275 | 311 | 3.1875 | 3 |
There are different ways to do it.
Cartesian method (y = f(x))
You will need two functions because of the limitations of the cartesian coordinate system, obtained by rearranging the circle equation in terms of x:
This one is simple.. , since the radius of a circle is constant.
Use the trigonometric functions and .
You can change the type of graphing method in the setup menu of your TI. | <urn:uuid:e4ff1d86-010d-445d-9397-afe4f39ae606> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mathhelpforum.com/calculators/185783-how-do-you-graph-circle-ti-83-plus-calculator.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396455.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.842092 | 91 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Ferdows Naficy and her two daughters, Mahnaz and Farah became independent women in America. When Ferdows decided to emigrate to the U.S., she opened the door for her daughters to later join her in California. Both would later return to Iran as adults, where they would be torn apart by Iranian politics during the reign of the shah. Mahnaz became a minister in the shah's government and advocated for women's rights, while Farah and her husband joined the cause of the revolution. Ultimately, Mahnaz and Farah had to flee Iran in fear for their lives. This is the lastest update from Mahnaz and Farah.
1. If the political climate in Iran changed and became more accepting toward women in the public sphere, would you return to continue the work you began in the 1970s?
Mahnaz: If Iran's political system changed from a theocracy to a pluralistic one where there would be a possibility of diverse groups participating in the political and civic life of their society, I would return to help rebuild the country and to reinstate the rights that Iranian women had worked for over a century to achieve. I would work to mobilize women of different background and experience to come together toward the goal of creating a democratic society that respects the rights of all citizens regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity. I would apply my experience working with women in Muslim majority societies and the experience of living in a democratic system to creating a process that would lead us to that goal.
2. After so many years in the United States does it finally feel like home or will that designation always belong to Iran, the country of your birth and childhood?
Farah: As a teenager growing up in the United States in the early 1960s, I felt an outsider and longed for a sense of belonging. My brother, on the other hand, felt immediately at home when he came here and has always taken great pride in being an Iranian-American. When I returned to Iran for a visit in 1968, I quickly felt at home, and the visit had an enormous influence on my later decision to return to Iran to live. When I returned to the US in 1982, this time as a political exile, I gained new respect for the democratic institutions of this country and in time I felt more at home. But the call of my birthplace is always there.
3. Do you feel more like an immigrant or an exile in America?
Farah: I have lived my life in the US in two parts. Growing up, I lived the life of an immigrant, my mother having brought us here so many years before. She took enormous pride in being an Iranian-American and took her citizenship very seriously. She instilled this pride in us as well, but I always felt somewhat apart from my peers. I longed for a place that felt more like home. I followed that call and returned to Iran on the eve of the Revolution. After almost four years living there, I returned, this time as a political exile. Though I feel more at home now than when I first came, there is a part of me that will always feel in exile, whether in the US or in Iran.
4. Even though you've spent the majority of your lives in the United States, have you, as Iranian-Americans, experienced any hostility from the American public since Bush declared Iran part of the "Axis of Evil"?
Mahnaz: I personally have not experienced hostility, but then I have lived and worked in a major cosmopolitan area on the East coast of the United States. I have heard of others living in parts of the country where there is less international exposure who have experienced various types of hostility and whose children have endured exclusion, derision, and name calling in schools.
Farah: Like my sister, I have not personally experienced discrimination or prejudice, but then I live in an international city and I work in an international organization, where the majority of staff are foreign born. But my son, who went to college in the mid-West from 2000-04, told me that he felt some hostility and even discrimination in hiring when he sought jobs outside of the college.
5. Do you foresee the granting of greater freedoms and rights to Iranian women anytime in the near future?
Mahnaz: Iranian women have been courageous and steadfast in their struggle to regain their rights and to achieve full equality. Achievement of rights for them would require fundamental changes in the legal infrastructure of the country, including the constitution of the Islamic Republic. They are struggling to achieve these changes peacefully. I am confident that they will succeed. | <urn:uuid:07f1b1b2-9976-4180-a67f-99fbd6fdc677> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pbs.org/destinationamerica/ps_ctn_02.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00098-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97704 | 948 | 2.5625 | 3 |
A parathyroid hormone (PTH) blood test measures the level of parathyroid hormone in the blood. This test is used to help identify hyperparathyroidism, to find the cause of abnormal calcium levels, or to check the status of chronic kidney disease. PTH controls calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood.
PTH is made by the parathyroid glands , which are four pea-sized glands that lie behind the thyroid gland . If the blood calcium level is too low, the parathyroid glands release more PTH. This causes the bones to release more calcium into the blood and reduces the amount of calcium released by the kidneys into the urine. Also, vitamin D is converted to a more active form, causing the intestines to absorb more calcium and phosphorus. If the calcium level is too high, the parathyroid glands release less PTH, and the whole process is reversed.
PTH levels that are too high or too low can cause problems with the kidneys and bones and cause changes in calcium and vitamin D levels.
Tests for calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood may be done at the same time as a PTH test.
Why It Is Done
A test for parathyroid hormone (PTH) is done to:
- Help identify hyperparathyroidism.
- Find the cause of an abnormal blood calcium level.
- Check to see whether a problem with the parathyroid glands is causing the abnormal calcium level.
- Watch for problems in people who have chronic kidney disease.
How To Prepare
Talk to your doctor about any concerns you have regarding the need for the test, its risks, how it will be done, or what the results may mean. To help you understand the importance of this test, fill out the medical test information form(What is a PDF document?).
How It Is Done
The health professional drawing blood will:
- Wrap an elastic band around your upper arm to stop the flow of blood. This makes the veins below the band larger so it is easier to put a needle into the vein.
- Clean the needle site with alcohol.
- Put the needle into the vein. More than one needle stick may be needed.
- Attach a tube to the needle to fill it with blood.
- Remove the band from your arm when enough blood is collected.
- Put a gauze pad or cotton ball over the needle site as the needle is removed.
- Put pressure to the site and then put on a bandage. | <urn:uuid:f12abe5f-5790-4663-acfb-4ee306b65f31> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/parathyroid-hormone | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.87959 | 517 | 3.796875 | 4 |
Giving 'fiqh' to the world
Published 7:28 pm, Friday, July 25, 2014
I opened my email and a video popped up of a young man wearing traditional religious dress who claimed to be speaking about Islam. What he had to say shocked me.
"It is permissible to kill all disbelievers, even if they are women and children," he said in Arabic.
I knew what he said was ignorant and false. It also flew in the face of the Quran, which states, "Whoever kills a soul for other than murder, or spreading corruption in the earth, it is as if he killed all of mankind."
Yet he supported his argument quoting a hadith, a prophetic saying:
"The Prophet said about an enemy's women and children (that) 'They are from them.'" The young man claimed this meant that all people are the same in wartime, combatants and civilians. In his mind, the brutality of war spared no one.
However, his diatribe was based on a blatant distortion of the religious texts. What this man lacked is fiqh
Fiqh is an Arabic word for comprehension and deep understanding as well as the ability to arrive at the intended meaning of things.
Religiously, it means a scholarly and expert understanding of religious law. One principle in fiqh is that one should never draw a ruling from a single text; rather all available texts on a given subject must be analyzed. Another is that patience and moderation are required in all religious acts.
Without fiqh, information and religious texts can be distorted in order to fit anyone's whims.
As a religious teacher who spent years in a transformation from layperson to imam by studying fiqh, I believe our interconnected world requires institutions that educate scholars who can sort through the massive influx of information on the Web and clarify the truth to the public.
In the video, the young man grossly took the words of the Prophet out of context. A quick glance at a scholarly commentary on the quoted hadith by the classical sage Ibn Hajr states, "It is not permissible to deliberately target non-combatants, including women and children. ... If the direction of the war hinges on such a situation, and innocent lives are at risk, then it would be permissible to engage the enemy while not intending to harm the innocent and taking every precaution to avoid it."
Today's world requires scholarship that can counter the ignorant voices of belligerence and strife. That is why I helped found the Fiqh Institute, a nonprofit educational academy in Albany, dedicated to understanding, enlightenment and moderation, and producing the true Islamic scholars of the future. At this critical stage, we need to support and empower true Islamic scholarship and help institutions dedicated to restoring leadership and authority to those who truly deserve it, the scholars.
Faisal Ahmad grew up in Albany, graduated from RPI, studied at Abunur University in Damascus, Syria, and led congregations in Texas and Connecticut before returning to his hometown. For information about the new Fiqh Institute, go at www.FiqhInstitute.org. | <urn:uuid:a3233554-00cb-4fa3-aa64-97c32041b9ee> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Giving-fiqh-to-the-world-5647819.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00189-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960515 | 637 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Action for Animals
Print, share, distribute this concise, compelling PDF
What's Wrong with Leather?
Animals whose skins are turned into leather are killed either directly for their hides or for their hides, flesh, and other parts. While taking a sentient animal’s life is in itself wrong, the abuses and cruelties the animals suffer offer more reason to shun leather. After pigs and cows have suffered from the crowding, confinement, mutilations, stressful transport, and frightening slaughter at the hands of the meat and dairy industries, their skins are made into shoes, boots, belts, gloves, and furniture covers. Skin accounts for more than 55 percent of the total byproduct value of cattle. Horses, sheep, lambs, and goats are also slaughtered for their meat, as well as for their hides. Many people believe that leather is just a byproduct of the meat industry and that animals are not killed solely for their skin, but this is not always the case. Some of the leather in athletic shoes, for example, comes from kangaroos who are killed for nothing more than their skin.
Animals in other countries also suffer for leather sold in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Europe. India is a major leather supplier to the world market. Because cow slaughter is only legal in certain parts of India, the animals must be marched to those areas for slaughter, often a journey of hundreds of miles. Hot chili peppers and tobacco are often rubbed into their eyes, and their tail bones are painfully twisted and broken in order to make these exhausted animals stand up and keep moving. Many of the Indian cows used for leather are so sick and injured by the time they arrive at the slaughterhouse that they must be dragged inside.
Leather production is hazardous to the environment. Toxins that are emitted from leather tanneries endanger human and ecological health by polluting regional waterways with mineral salts, formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, oils, dyes, salt, lime sludge, sulfides, and acids. Residents of tannery towns have a greater-than-average chance of developing leukemia, and more than half of all tannery workers develop testicular cancer.
The leather industry uses an enormous amount of energy. Huge amounts of fossil fuels are consumed in raising, transporting, and killing the animals who are skinned for leather. Synthetics such as fleece and vinyl actually require fewer petroleum products to produce.
Alternatives to Leather…
Most leather items have obvious and readily available alternatives. Most cars are available without leather interiors, though BMW and Mercedes are the only luxury cars to offer non-leather interiors on all of their models. Pleather (fake leather) jackets are available, or go with cotton hoodies, or Gore-Tex or fleece jackets. Nylon, canvas, vinyl, or pleather can replace leather in bags and briefcases. Most running shoes and many cross-trainers are all-synthetic.
Look for “all man-made materials” on the tag. Most shoes come with either a stitched-in tag or a sticker on the insole with symbols denoting what the shoe is made from. Diamonds and checkerboard shapes mean plastic and cloth, respectively. If you see a drawing that looks like a stretched animal hide, the shoes contain leather. Many stores remove the sticker from display shoes, so ask them to find one in the back room that still contains the tag.
Brands such as Merrell, Vasque, and New Balance, to name a few, make non-leather athletic and hiking shoes – available at stores such as REI and other outdoor clothing stores. Circa, ES, Etnies, Vans, Osiris, Fallen, and Ipath all make non-leather skate shoes, though they are not always available. Check Journeys, Zumiez, and other skate shops. Macbeth makes a line of all vegan shoes; they even say vegan on the insole. Look for the green “V” shape on the Macbeth tag. Non-leather dress shoes can often be found at PayLess Shoes and Baker’s, or on the web. Birkenstock, Teva, and others make non-leather sandals. Most flip flops are vegan and provide inexpensive summer footwear. Converse, Vans, and others make non-leather canvas shoes as well. Find a list of non-leather products here.
What about Down?
Down is the soft feathers of ducks and geese. Most birds used for down live on factory farms and must endure rough handling throughout their lives, especially when they have their feathers ripped from their chests during pluckings. A goose may live through four or five pluckings before he or she is slaughtered. When it becomes more expensive to keep the animals than their feathers are worth, the animals are killed.
Synthetic alternatives to down are cheaper and perform better at blocking the cold than feathers. When wet, down becomes waterlogged and fails to insulate and remain comfortable. Make sure to avoid down when buying jackets, comforters, sleeping bags, and pillows. Alternatives are readily available.
What about Silk?
Silkworms make their cocoons from a shiny fiber that they produce. To obtain silk, the worms are boiled or steamed alive by the thousands. Alternatives include rayon and nylon.
What’s Wrong with Wool?
U.S. textile mills use nearly four times more imported than domestically-produced wool. Much of it comes from Australia. With 118 million sheep, Australia is the world’s top wool producer and exporter.
Within weeks of birth, lambs’ ears are hole-punched, and the males are castrated without anesthetics. Extremely high rates of mortality are considered normal on Australian wool farms. 20 to 40 percent of lambs die before the age of 8 weeks, and 8 million mature sheep die every year from disease, exposure, or neglect.
Australian ranchers mainly raise Merino sheep, who are not native to Australia and therefore do not fare well in the harsh conditions. Merinos are bred to have extremely wrinkly skin (which allows for more wool). This unnatural overload of wool causes animals to die of heat exhaustion during summers. The wrinkles collect moisture, which attracts flies and results in maggot infestation known as flystrike. Maggots can literally eat sheep alive, so in order to reduce flystrike, ranchers perform a crude operation known as mulesing. Mulesing involves carving wide strips of skin from around the lambs’ tails to produce smooth scars that won’t harbor fly larvae. Tail docking (cutting off the sheep’s’ tails) is often done in conjunction with mulesing to reduce feces and urine stains on the wool. Both mutilations are currently performed without the use of anesthesia; however, a new drug called Tri-Solfen is being introduced and used by some farmers to reduce pain during mulesing. Unfortunately, the maker of the drug, Bayer, tests the product and many of its other products on animals. Ironically, because of the large bloody wounds caused by mulesing and tail docking, sheep often get flystrike before they heal.
According to Australian Law Reform chairperson M.D. Kirby, each year Australian sheep endure more than 50 million operations, such as mulesing and tooth-grinding, that would constitute animal cruelty if performed on dogs or cats. Many people believe that shearing brings relief to animals that would otherwise be too hot. This is true if done in the summer, but in order to avoid losing any wool, ranchers shear sheep before they would naturally shed their winter coats, resulting in many sheep dying from exposure to the cold.
When sheep are no longer profitable for wool production, they are exported in 14-tiered ships from Australia to the Middle East, a three- to six-week trip during which up to 18 percent of the animals die from the cramped and filthy conditions. Millions of sheep endure this transport every year, after which they are ritually slaughtered while fully conscious.
Sheep exploited for wool in the U.S. also suffer from inhumane handling and transportation, and they too often face cruel ritual slaughter when they are no longer profitable to the wool industry. Sheep raised in the U.S. do not suffer the agony of live export to the Middle East, but they do suffer the same cruelties of wool production, including painful mutilations that are often done with little or no anesthesia.
Most U.S.-raised sheep and lambs are either raised on factory farms, where they spend their entire lives in filthy manurefilled warehouses, or they are raised “on the range” without any shelter from extreme weather conditions. Thousands of lambs and sheep die every year from harsh conditions. Thousands more die in transport, during which sheep are severely overcrowded onto trucks. The non-profit organization Farm Sanctuary has documented dozens of cases of “downed” sheep at auctions and stockyards. Sheep and lambs too weak to even stand are often abandoned on dead piles and left to die slowly from neglect. After a lifetime of producing wool, sheep are sent to slaughter. The U.S. slaughters 3 million sheep every year.
Alternatives to Wool…
There are many great alternatives to wool. Warm and fashionable sweaters made from cotton, fleece, acrylic, and ramie are readily available. For hiking or cold weather, try Patagonia Capaline or other similar synthetic long underwear, gloves, socks, blankets, etc. Knit polyester, acrylic, or fleece can easily replace wool in hats and beanies. Gore-Tex or other water-resistant synthetics work well in place of wool pants. Polyester, rayon, linen, microfiber, and other synthetics can replace wool suits, sport coats, and blazers.
“To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than
that of a human being.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
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Places, whether communities, cities, counties, countries, or virtual spaces in which people interact, are both complex and intertwined. The ways in which places impact population health are equally complex, reaching far beyond the ZIP code as a determinant of health. We live in a world in which technology, from communication to travel, has given rise to an interconnectedness that effectively compresses both space and time. As a reservoir of health and disease, place has become at once more granular and expansive—incorporating the minute differences of where you call home to the broad global networks facilitated by modern communication.
In the upcoming months, the2x2project will explore these issues in a new series, PopPlaces. We will address population health issues in distinct places—India, Haiti, West Virginia, Loma Linda, Boston—highlighting public health successes and failures, unique research, and the contours of policy. We will also delve into the population health implications of time and space compression in the information age through a multifaceted view of population flows via travel, migration, and social media.
We invite you to elevate the conversation.
Edited by Josh Brooks | <urn:uuid:025e5450-ad0d-443b-b0a9-2be46fbe12ac> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://the2x2project.org/popplaces/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00142-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933592 | 236 | 3 | 3 |
In his Convention address in 1861, the Bishop of Mississippi thus sets forth his conception of the relationship between Churchmen North and South, and the brotherly spirit which they would preserve, even amid civil and political dissensions: "But whilst the State is thus passing through the fires of a painful revolution, how thankful should we be that the Church is at peace, and that though our political relations toward our brethren, with whom we have hitherto so lovingly associated, have been severed, no change of name, of government, or national interest, will be able to lessen our affection for them as fellow members of the One Holy and Apostolic Communion which is in Christ our Lord. If a separate and independent ecclesiastical organization shall be demanded by the change in our political relations, it will exhibit to the world a division without dissension, a separation without injury to the respective parts, a parting of brothers amid tears of affection, and with mutual commending of each other to God. In what a beautiful light will such action exhibit the Catholic spirit of the Church! Unmoved by the changes and chances of the political world, she pursues the even tenor of her way, holding forth to every age and nation the bread of God, untainted by the leaven of party strife, and rich in all the blessings of a purchased salvation."
Similar expressions may be found in the recorded utterances of other Bishops, and of Diocesan Conventions in the South) in the opening days of the struggle. So satisfied were both clergy and people of the permanent character of the political separation between the sections, and of the necessity of a separate organization for the Church, as a consequence of political independence, that it did not occur to them that others could take a different view; and they seem to have felt quite sure that amid all civil and political trials the Church would manifest only the benign spirit of the Gospel, and the unbroken charity of Christian brethren.
These pleasing anticipations were not fulfilled in the experience of the years immediately following. And yet they had some justification in the real character and heart of our Churchmen, North and South, and in the true principles of the Church; and when the clouds of war began to lighten and roll away, and the blinding influences of the contest, with its heat and passion, began to abate, the Church of our love, first of all the great institutions of the reunited country, showed forth the spirit of Christian forbearance, mutual compliance, and godly union and concord.
And in order that we may have some faint conception of the difficulties of the situation, and of the wonderful development of self-conquest, patience, and magnanimity involved in the prompt reunion of the separated parts so soon after the close of war, it is necessary to refer briefly to some of the painful occurrences of the preceding years, and to some of the difficult questions raised by the events of that time.
The fact that in our prescribed formularies of public worship there is distinct mention made of both the executive and the legislative departments of the government, exposed the clergy of the Church to peculiar embarrassment, whenever any part of the territory of the Confederate States was occupied by the Federal forces. So far as appears, other Christian ministers were, as a rule, not interfered with, unless by some intemperate word or action they specially invited the attention of the Federal authorities. But the most cautious and prudent conduct did not secure the clergy of the Church from hostile animadversion; and in many cases they were treated with great injustice, cruelty, and outrage. For in their Sunday ministrations their sense of allegiance to their Diocese and Bishop, as well as to the Church in the Confederate States, laid upon them the duty of praying for the President of the Confederate States. In some cases they felt justified in omitting altogether the prayer for those in civil authority. In very few cases did they feel that they could use the prayer for the President or the Congress of the United States. To the credit of many of the officers of the United States army, occupying Southern towns and cities, they seemed anxious to avoid, as far as possible, any interference with the religious worship of the people; and where these prayers were passed over they did not concern themselves with the matter. Indeed there are instances in which they seem to have been anxious that the clergy should not be disturbed in their work, and to that end gave assurance that they should not be molested, or any way hindered, so long as all political questions were avoided. When in the spring of 1862 Newbern was occupied by the United States forces, the Rev. Wm. R. Wetmore, assistant to the Rev. Dr. Watson, was in charge of the church, the rector having become a chaplain in the Confederate army. In the address of Bishop Atkinson to the Convention of 1862, and in the report of the Rev. Dr. Watson to the same Convention, it is stated that the Rev. Mr. Wetmore had not been allowed to continue his ministrations, because he would not promise to use the prayer for the President of the United States. This, however, proved to be erroneous. When Mr. Wetmore was able to leave Newbern, and to come within the Confederate lines, he published a statement to the effect that the Bishop and Dr. Watson had been misinformed, and that the Federal authorities had proposed to him that he should continue his ministrations in the church, and simply omit the prayer for those in civil authority. A letter from New Orleans in February, 1863, mentions that St. Luke's Church had been reopened, and that the clergyman omitted the prayer for the President. In June, 1864, Bishop Green made a visitation to "Vicksburg, then in possession of the Federal authorities." He remained five days, and visited all the Church families remaining in the place, and preached Sunday, June 5. He says, "I feel bound to acknowledge here the courtesy with which I was treated during my stay, by the commanding General and his officers." In October following he writes in his journal, under the date Thursday, the 13th: "On the same day I entered Natchez, then garrisoned by a considerable force of the enemy. It was with difficulty that I gained admittance, but I must acknowledge the kind treatment which I received from the commanding General, after getting in. During the five days which I spent in the city, every facility was allowed me for the prosecution of my work." He preached there Sunday, October 16. Knowing what we do of Bishop Green, and of his conception of his duty, we cannot believe that in those services in Vicksburg and Natchez he used the prayer for the President of the United States; and it is equally impossible to believe that he thus thrust himself into the midst of the garrisoned posts of the enemy to pray for the President of the Confederate States; or that he could have done so without arousing feelings, and subjecting himself to treatment, very different from what is implied in his grateful acknowledgment of the courtesies and consideration which he had received in both cases from the Federal officers. We must conclude that there was mutual concession in omitting those parts of the service involving matters of difference, which, to a moderate and judicious mind, would seem most creditable to all parties. Many other instances of a like spirit of mutual compliance and accommodation might be given.
Unfortunately all the Federal authorities were not thus tolerant. In many cases the military officer, who found himself temporarily in command in a Southern town, somehow managed to persuade himself that he was vested with Episcopal, or even Papal, authority, and that it was his duty to regulate the worship of the Church, and to exact of the local clergyman obedience to his idea of what the canons of the Church and the rubrics of the Prayer Book require. "At Pine Bluff [Ark.], as the Rev. Mr. Trimble was reading the service on Tuesday, as he passed from the Collect for Grace to the Litany, omitting the Prayer for the President, Col. Clayton, the Federal commander, cried out in a loud voice, 'Stop, sir!' and marched into the desk by Mr. Trimble's side, and read the Prayer for the President of the United States, and then resumed his place in the congregation. At the close of the service, Mr. Trimble gave notice that he should not officiate again for the present." It was reported in the Church papers that at Nashville, Tenn., after that city had been occupied by the Federals, General McCook told the Rev. Mr. Harris to "use the prayers just as they are printed in the Prayer Book, or be punished."
One of the most violent outrages committed upon a clergyman of the Church took place in St. Paul's Church, Alexandria, Va., February 9, 1862, when the Rev. Dr. Stewart, rector of the church, during the Litany, was ordered by an agent of the government to say the Prayer for the President of the United States. Dr. Stewart proceeded without paying any attention to the scandalous interruption; but a captain and his soldiers, who were present in the congregation for the purpose, drew their swords and pistols, intruded into the chancel, seized the clergyman as he knelt and was about to begin the petition to be delivered from all evil and mischief, etc., held pistols to his head, and forced him out of the church, and through the streets, just as he was, in his surplice and stole, and committed him to the guard-house of the 8th Illinois Cavalry. He was soon released, but was not allowed to continue to officiate; and by the same requirement, that prayers should be said for the President of the United States, all the clergy of Alexandria were forced to cease officiating, and their churches were closed.
Upon the occupation of New Orleans by the Federals, the clergy of the Church endeavored to meet the difficulty, and to avoid giving offence to the United States authorities, by omitting Morning and Evening Prayer, using only the Litany and the Office of the Holy Communion. This served for some months, but in September, 1862, the military governor issued an order that "the omission, in the service of the Protestant Episcopal Church in New Orleans, of the prayer for the President of the United States, would be regarded as evidence of hostility to the government of the United States." To this the clergy replied, that in omitting the prayer for those in civil authority they had endeavored to avoid all occasion of offence, and they denied the right of the civil or military authorities to prescribe in matters ecclesiastical, or to demand of them more than that care to avoid occasion of offence which they had already been diligent in observing. Dr. Fulton says that "Shepley, the military governor, who was a Churchman, admitted that he could not punish men who were acting on such principles, and the matter dropped for a few weeks, until the return of the commanding general, Butler. Then, without previous notice, the service at St. Paul's Church was interrupted by the entrance of an officer, followed by a squad of soldiers with fixed bayonets. The rector Dr. Goodrich, was ordered to desist, and he at once quietly dismissed his congregation with the blessing of peace. The rectors of Calvary Church and Christ Church were also arrested, and a week later the three were sent as prisoners to New York." There they were released on parole, but not allowed to return.
Still more inexcusable was the treatment of the Rev. John H. D. Wingfield, of Trinity Church, Portsmouth, Va., afterwards Missionary Bishop of Northern California. In spite of the most prudent, judicious and inoffensive conduct, in which malice itself can point to no flaw, when he had quietly submitted to the military order forbidding him to officiate in public or in private, and was habitually worshipping in a church whose rector had taken the oath of allegiance, and was using the prayer for the President of the United States, upon the charge that within the screened choir-gallery, where he worshipped, he had raised his head during the Prayer for the President, Dr. Wing-field was arrested, taken to prison, required to assume the uniform of a criminal, and sentenced to the work of cleaning the streets of Norfolk, "to atone for his disloyalty and treason." So much of the sentence as related to working upon the public streets was remitted, upon a petition numerously signed by the people of Norfolk and Portsmouth, but the order published by General Butler, in granting this partial remission of the sentence, was so grossly false and malicious in the terms applied to the prisoner, that it only added to the infamy of its author and of the whole transaction.
Even the Bishops did not wholly escape. May 2, 1862, Bishop Lay, being for the time at his old home in Huntsville, Alabama, was, with eleven citizens of that community, arrested by General Mitchell, the Federal commander, and imprisoned under guard in one of the rooms of the Court House. No charge whatever was made against them; and upon being brought before General Mitchell the next day, Bishop Lay and two others, chosen to represent the prisoners, were informed by that officer that "against them personally he had no charges. He had arrested them in a time of some excitement, in order to show that no one in the community was beyond arrest, that the innocent must often suffer with the guilty," etc. He then required them, as the condition of being released, to sign a paper denouncing certain acts of guerrilla warfare, and attacks upon Federal soldiers, which he said had been committed, and to declare that the perpetrators "deserve, and should receive, the punishment of death." These gentlemen naturally objected to being required to denounce, in such terms, persons of whom and of whose deeds they were wholly ignorant, and with whom they were not even charged with having any kind of connection or sympathy. The Bishop and his fellow prisoners were much more than a match for the General in the discussions which followed, maintaining, by citations from Vattel, Kent, and other authorities on international law, their right to refuse to sign the papers submitted to them by General Mitchell. But it is an old saying, Inter arma leges silent, and, after an imprisonment of twelve days, they consented to purchase their release, by signing a paper condemning all acts of irregular warfare by citizens not enlisted in the army. May 14, they were released on parole.
These are only a few of the many cases which might be cited. Bishop Lay was again arrested and imprisoned at the end of the war; and Bishop Atkinson was robbed by Sherman's soldiers, and a cocked pistol held to his head, in vain attempt to compel him to comply with their base demands. [It is worth noting that the two Southern Bishops, Atkinson and Lay, who seem to have suffered the greatest personal outrage and indignity at the hands of the Federal forces, were the two who alone attended the General Convention of 1865, and were thus chiefly instrumental in securing the prompt reunion of the separated Dioceses.] These things are not here remembered for the purpose of recalling the bitter anger and resentment which at that time they could not fail to arouse in the breasts of Southern Churchmen. They are mentioned simply because they are part of the history of the time, and because, without taking them into account, no just estimate can be formed of the men who endured such treatment, and yet could possess their souls in patience.
It can easily be imagined how difficult was the position of a clergyman who found himself the rector of a parish within the lines of the Federal occupation. Loyalty to his Bishop, and to his convictions of patriotic duty, required him to pray for the President of the Confederate States. If he should omit to do so, in order that he might not seem to offer an open affront to the military authority, he was still liable to the incalculable annoyances of an irresponsible authority, unless he would consent to use the public prayers for the President of the United States. It was, of course, no question of praying for the President as an act of Christian charity. It was enforced as an open act of penitence and submission to the Federal government, and repudiation of allegiance to the Southern cause. [In Bishop Lay's MS. journal of his experience within the Federal lines, in the fall of 1864, is the following passage, giving a conversation between the Bishop and General Sherman: "He [General Sherman] branched off here to say that he was for letting people pray as they chose, but could not see why people could not pray for Lincoln, or 'even for me.' I replied that there was no objection to praying for any individual, but the use of the prayer in question was the acknowledgment of a political fact."]
Understood in that way no honorable man attached to the Southern cause could consent to use the prayer. And underlying all other considerations was the fundamental one, that it was one of the accepted principles of government, both North and South, that the civil authority should not interfere with the freedom of religious worship. A military or civil officer might, perhaps, prohibit the use of a prayer which would be commonly understood as defying the authority of government, and appealing in aid of the public enemy. Freedom of worship might well be understood as limited by the duty of submission to the powers that be. But certainly the powers that be have no authority to command men to pray for them. And the civil authority has nothing to do with enforcing the canons or rubrics of the Church.
This subject very early attracted the attention of the Southern clergy and Bishops. In 1862 the Bishop of Alabama advised his clergy, in case their parishes should at any time lie within the Federal lines, to apply to the officer in command, to know if the clergy would be required to use the prayer for the President of the United States, or forbidden to use the prayer for the President of the Confederate States; and upon his reply that he should require the one or forbid the other, the Bishop says, "I counsel that the church should be closed." This was an extreme position, and Bishop Wilmer's instructions in this case gave rise to much controversy. It was urged against him that, while the secular power has no authority to prescribe in spiritual matters, the Church, rather than abandon her proper function and public ministrations, may well submit so far as to refrain from public prayers in open defiance and contempt of the powers that be; that de facto governments may demand at least this measure of respect; and that where the clergyman, by omitting the prayers for civil rulers altogether, could secure the liberty of serving his people, and maintaining the public offices of the Church, he should do so, and not sacrifice his work, and deprive his people of his ministrations;--that he should to that extent submit to the power of the existing government, civil or military, since he could gain nothing by resisting it. Another difficulty of somewhat the same nature was encountered by those who found themselves within the Federal lines. The oath of allegiance was tendered to the people, and enforced by various forms of penalty, disability, and threatening. In some cases doubtless it was taken honestly and with a sincere purpose of keeping it. In too many cases, however, it is to be feared that it was taken merely for purposes of advantage, or under the influence of fear, with no honest purpose or desire to observe its terms, any longer than it might be profitable or convenient to do so. (The growing temptation to disregard the solemn sanctions of an oath called forth a strong and just rebuke from the Bishop of Alabama: "It is not for me," he says, "in this presence, and acting in my official capacity, to touch upon any question of a purely political nature. It is not for me to say to which of two warring governments a man should give his adhesion, nor to indicate under what circumstances he may properly transfer his allegiance. It is, however, incumbent upon me to premonish the clergy and laity upon a great question of morals, and to urge them to take heed unto themselves, lest through an unworthy timidity, or an unholy greediness of gain, they make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, and do dishonor to the name of the great God.')
The churches, left vacant by the enforcement of regulations to which the local clergy could not conform, were in many cases supplied with services by Federal chaplains, or other clergymen from the North. The circumstances of the particular case sometimes justified the feeling that such services were an unwarranted intrusion, an outrage upon the rights of both the rector and the parish. In other instances they seem to have been rendered to the mutual credit and edification of all parties concerned. We read, in a communication from Arkansas in The Church Intelligencer of March 4, 1864: "The church at Little Rock, I understand, is occupied by the Rev. Mr. Peake, a chaplain in the Federal army, a graduate of Nashota, and formerly Missionary at Crow Wing, Minnesota. He is said to be a kind gentleman, and a good reader and preacher." It seems that he had been recommended to the vestry by the Federal commander, and was officiating with their approval. The writer continues: "A lady who came out soon after the occupation, told me that one Sunday the officiating clergyman gave notice that Bishop Lay had been heard from (I presume from some letter written before the occupation), and that he expected to make a visitation of the parish early in the spring."
It is perhaps strange that there was not more trouble than there seems to have been, from cases of intrusion, and we may believe that it does indicate a substratum of brotherly feeling in the hearts of Churchmen on both sides, when they were brought into personal contact. Bishop McIlvaine and Bishop Bedell both officiated in Virginia, on the southern bank of the Ohio river, during 1863, upon request of the local clergyman; and young Virginia students, graduating during the war at Gambier, seem to have been ordained and put to work in the same section by the Bishop of Ohio. In 1864 the Rev. Dr. Addison, of Wheeling, sent to Bishop Johns a request to be allowed to invite some neighboring Bishop to administer Confirmation in his parish, promising in the selection "to conform as closely as practicable to his known wishes on the subject." Bishop Johns declined to give the permission asked for, but offered "to go himself, on his parole of honor, to perform the service, if the Federal authorities would give him a safe-conduct. The 'safe-conduct' was never given."
And so at last the end came! Lee surrendered his handful of worn and wearied, but undaunted, followers; Johnston and Kirby-Smith followed the same inevitable necessity; and the dream of the Southern Confederacy was over. But how did this affect the ecclesiastical organization which had taken for its name, "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Confederate States of America?"
The name was certainly gone. According to the theory, "The Church must follow nationality," the whole question was settled. And one Diocese in the South, and, so far as appears, one only, accepted promptly and courageously the logical consequences of that principle first advanced by Bishop Polk. Though Bishop Gregg in 1861 seemed to take a different view of the effect of the secession of the State, and spoke of the Church going on with its unity unbroken, and the communion of saints undisturbed, by all the strifes and mutations of the world, yet, apparently under the spell of Bishop Polk's strong character, or else infected by the contagion of national feeling around him, he and his Diocese in 1862 had declared it to be a principle, essential in the external order of the Church, that the Church must be organized so as to be conterminous with the nation. And in the Convention of the Diocese held June 15, 1865, the Bishop of Texas manfully and consistently stood to the principles which he had professed in 1862.
There was no truer man nor a more godly, and no more loyal Churchman, than Alexander Gregg. He said to his Convention, when the war in the trans-Mississippi had hardly well closed: "Our civil and spiritual work and relations, as I have heretofore urged upon you, are closely and inseparably blended, and there is a Unity pervading the whole, which cannot be ignored or disturbed, without endangering that harmony in both, which it is one of the cherished objects of Christianity to foster and perpetuate. I suggest therefore, for your consideration, in order to the further promotion of objects so important, and in accordance with the principles upon which we have hitherto acted, the propriety of taking such steps as may bring about, in due time, a return to our former ecclesiastical relations."
Thereupon the Diocesan Convention at once adopted a preamble and resolutions, setting forth in substance that, whereas they had acted in 1862 "in accordance with the practice of the Church in all ages, in yielding allegiance to the government of the Nation, in which the Providence of God had placed her," so now it was resolved, that the action of 1862 be rescinded; and the Constitution of the Church in the United States was acceded to and recognized, and its authority acknowledged. Deputies were elected to the General Convention, and the Bishop was urged to use his efforts to have the General Council of the Church in the Confederate States take similar action. One can but admire the brave simplicity and logical consistency of the course taken by the Bishop of Texas and his Convention.
While the minds of the Southern Bishops were thus turning towards a reunion of the separated Dioceses, an unfortunate complication arose in Alabama, which greatly exasperated the Churchmen of that Diocese, and threatened to interrupt the growing harmony between Northern and Southern brethren. Bishop Wilmer had been much exercised in mind over the question of the prayers for those in civil authority, and in his Diocesan Convention of 1864 had proposed to memorialize the General Council of the Church in the Confederate States, with a view of having the phraseology of those prayers so altered that they might not be a trap to catch the officiating clergyman, upon every change in the political world. He thought that the terms employed should be so framed as to apply to the existing civil authority, without a too specific determination of the particular officers or government. It is but fair to the Bishop of Alabama, that we should remember that he had urged such alterations in these prayers, during the existence of the Church in the Confederate States.
Upon the collapse of the Confederate government, and the occupation of the entire South by the Federal armies, Bishop Wilmer, May 30, 1865, issued a brief Pastoral to his Diocese, and June 20 followed it with a more elaborate exposition of his judgment upon the situation, as affecting the duty of the clergy and people of his Diocese. He urged entire submission and obedience to the authority of the United States, and loyal compliance with such tests of civil obedience--taking the oath of allegiance when required, and the like--as should be prescribed by the authority of the government. He himself set the example by taking the oath of allegiance to the United States. As there was no longer any Confederate States, prayers for the President and Congress of the Confederate States must cease. But the Church, as organized within the States of the late Confederacy, had not, in his judgment, been essentially affected, and was still the ecclesiastical organization to which they owed their allegiance. That Church had prescribed a prayer for those in Civil Authority: "The language of that prayer was selected with careful reference to the subject of the prayer--'All in Civil Authority'; and she desires for that authority prosperity and long continuance. No one can reasonably be expected to desire a long continuance of military rule. Therefore, the prayer is altogether inappropriate and inapplicable to the present condition of things, when no civil authority exists in the exercise of its functions. We may yield a true allegiance to, and sincerely pray for grace, wisdom and understanding in behalf of, a government founded upon force, while at the same time we could not in good conscience ask for its continuance, prosperity," etc.
"When the civil authority shall be restored, it will be eminently proper for the Church to resume the use of that prayer," etc. He adds, at the end of his next paragraph: "It is not for me, in my individual capacity, to introduce into the Liturgy any other form of words than that which the Church, in her collective and legislative capacity, has already, established."
"My conclusion is, therefore, and my direction, which I hereby give, that when Civil Authority shall be restored in the State of Alabama, the Clergy shall use the form entitled 'A Prayer for the President of the United States, and all in Civil Authority,' as it stands I in the Book of Common Prayer."
'Dr. Fulton says that in a private conversation with a United States officer, seeming to imply that he was an officer in high command in Alabama, Bishop Wilmer so justified the position taken in his Pastoral, that the officer was satisfied, and that thus present trouble was averted. But towards the latter part of September, General Thomas, who commanded in that Military Department, had an order issued through his subordinate, General Woods, charging the Bishop with having a heart filled with malice, hatred, and uncharitableness, with violating the canons of the Church, and exhibiting a factious and disloyal spirit. He pronounced the Bishop to be an unsafe public teacher, and therefore ordered that "the said Richard Wilmer, Bishop of the Diocese of Alabama, and the Protestant Episcopal Clergy of the said Diocese, be, and they are hereby, suspended from their functions, and forbidden to preach or perform divine service, and that their places of worship be closed, until such time as said Bishop and Clergy show a sincere return to their allegiance, and give evidence of a loyal and patriotic spirit, by offering to resume the use of the Prayer for the President and all in civil authority, and by taking that amnesty oath." Upon such return to "a loyal spirit, the order further required, that "application for permission to preach and perform divine service" must be made "through the military channels to these headquarters," etc.
Even at this late day it is difficult to restrain one's indignation at the insolence and utter lawlessness of such an order. [A secular paper, the New York Daily News, gave editorial expression to the feelings excited by this order, in the following words: "Could arrogance or assumption go further? We await with anxiety the action which the President shall take upon this most grave assault upon the holiest and dearest of our Constitutional rights. We cannot believe that he will fail to rebuke it with all the energy he can command. Unless he do this, the praises which good people have been showering upon him will no longer gladden his heart or strengthen his hands." Yet it was three months and more before anything was done to relieve the Church in Alabama, and nothing was ever done to rebuke this arrogance of tyranny and lawlessness. The Bishops in Philadelphia expressed their "fraternal regrets" for Bishop Wilmer's manly and unanswerable Protest, but no one dared to criticise the "General in Command."] Bishop Wilmer read this military order in the public newspapers, and immediately addressed a courteous note to General Woods, protesting against the order, as in violation of the Constitution of the United States, and of the rights of the Church, and inquiring if it was his purpose to suppress by force the services of the Church. "In reply the General Commanding stated that he would, if necessary, use military force in closing the churches."
Upon receipt of this reply the Bishop issued his Pastoral Letter of September 28, 1865, reiterating his former arguments, and declaring his determination to maintain the authority of the Church in the ordering of its services. He thus ably and effectively sums up the case:
"In the exercise of my Episcopal discretion, to which I am left by the absence of any authoritative church legislation, I have decided that 'The Prayer' is inapplicable to the existing condition of things. On the other hand, the Military Authorities issue 'Orders' that it shall be used at once, and that all the churches shall be closed until we accede to the demand. Thus the real issue before us is this:--Shall the secular or the Ecclesiastical power regulate the worship of the Church? In this conflict of powers--both 'ordained of God' in their respective spheres--the Church labors, for the moment, under serious disadvantages; for we have neither the wish nor the power to oppose force by force. But we must be careful to make it evident that, whilst we yield to military force, in the matter of closing our houses of worship, we concede nothing of Church Prerogative to Secular Authority, Civil or Military. . . .
"I counsel you, beloved brethren of the Clergy and Laity, in the name of God, and for the Honor of His Church, to stand up for and to maintain, at whatever cost, the real issue now before us. Be assured that man has no nobler mission than to defend, and if need be to suffer for, the right. Remember that the communications with God's mercy-seat cannot be obstructed by any created power, and that the compensations of Divine Goodness will supply all our needs, through the riches of His Grace in Christ Jesus, our only Lord and Master."
Within a month of the date of this letter the Provisional Governor, appointed by the President, assumed office, and issued a proclamation declaring the re-establishment of the civil authority. Thereupon the Bishop of Alabama addressed to him a letter, calling his attention to the fact that he and his clergy, in plain violation of the Constitution of the United States, and of a fundamental principle of all our American institutions, were prevented by military force from the performance of their religious function. The very limited character of the civil authority represented by the Governor only allowed of his sending to the Bishop a courteous response, and promising to lay the matter before the President. In due course? Bishop Wilmer was informed that the matter had been laid before President Johnson, "and that there was no prospect of the order being rescinded."--
Thinking that the whole Church must needs be interested in so flagrant a violation of the principles of religious liberty, and that it would become the National Council of the Church, the General Convention which met in Philadelphia the first week in October, 1865, to interpose at least a protest against this arbitrary act of a military officer in time of peace, the Bishop of Alabama, in a brief letter to several of the Northern Bishops, informed them of the situation of the Church in his Diocese. He did not ask or expect aid in his own behalf. He writes: "Not that I personally solicit your help. By God's grace I trust to maintain my stand. But the time is propitious, and the opportunity offers, to affirm and maintain a great principle."
This appeal met with no adequate response. It is said that some of the Bishops were disposed to enter a protest against the wrong done to the Bishop and Diocese of Alabama, but, if so, nothing came of it more than a futile visit of one or two of the Bishops to Washington. Military power still defied the Constitution and laws of the country, and suppressed the worship of the Church.
November 27, Bishop Wilmer addressed a letter to the President, saying that, being informed that the order complained of had been communicated to the President of the United States, he could no longer consider it the mere act of a subordinate, but, not being rescinded, "it is virtually sustained by the President." He therefore feels justified in calling the attention of the President to the true nature of the act as a violation of the Constitution, and an interference with the rights of the Church, and with his rights as an individual citizen accused of no violation of the law of the land:
"For all which reasons, and chiefly for the high reason that the secular power has no authority in the Church of God, either in framing her creed, or in prescribing her worship, or in any way interfering with her functions, the undersigned, in behalf as aforesaid, makes his solemn protest to your Excellency against said 'General Orders,' acknowledges no authority in them, and claims in equity and Constitutional law that they be rescinded."
Dr. Fulton seems to imply that the letter to the President eventually produced the revocation of the "Order." But it was not until January 1, 1866, that the Bishop had received assurance that the order would be revoked, and a few days later he received notice of its actual revocation. [Dr. McConnell, in his "History of the Church" (page 373), makes this curious misstatement: "A letter from the Bishop to President Lincoln [sic] produced an immediate revocation of the Order."] He thereupon, January 13, notified his clergy to use the prayer for the President of the United States. But for the unjustifiable interference of the military power he would have given that direction two months earlier, as soon as he had been able to confer with his brethren at the final Council of the Church in the Confederate States, held in Augusta, November 8-10, 1865. Thus Bishop Wilmer had faithfully maintained his position, and "the Diocese of Alabama had not been frightened from her propriety by the dictate or menace of any secular power, civil or military."
In his final statement of this whole affair to the Diocesan Convention of January 17, 1866, Bishop Wilmer said: "Some day, when the present excitement of feeling has passed away, the point which I have taken, and the issue which I have made, will be vindicated before men, as it is now, I verily believe, before God."
Unquestionably he was right in the position which he took, and in the issue which he made, as to the right of the Church and of the individual to resist the attempt of the secular power to interfere in a matter of religious worship. Bishop Wilmer, shut out of his churches, and all his clergy silenced, and yet manfully contending for his rights under the Constitution and laws of the country, and for the proper liberties of the Church of God, contrasts most favorably with the House of Bishops in Philadelphia, expressing their "fraternal regrets" that he should have asserted and maintained those rights and liberties. But it is not at all clear that his original position as to the impropriety of using the prayer for the civil authority was well taken. Indeed, it seems to have been a most mistaken conclusion, into which he was betrayed by the excitement of those trying times. No other Bishop in the South felt the same way about it, which of itself raises a strong presumption against its correctness; and a calm consideration of the principles involved seems to sustain the course approved by all but the Bishop of Alabama.
Bishop Wilmer was an able man and a godly man; he was also a man of very strong feelings. Under the difficulties of his situation he was led to approach the subject more as an advocate than as a judge. To his Diocesan Convention of 1864 he had complained, that the phraseology of the prayer for those in civil authority was unsatisfactory, and not properly expressive of what we should ask for in behalf of our rulers. And this criticism was fully justified. The words of that prayer, as they stand, and as use has made them familiar to us, and has made them sound appropriate in our ears, have really no proper application to the civil authorities under our system of government. In fact, the prayer is taken from the English Prayer Book. Several clauses of the English prayer are omitted, and the language of so much as is retained has been slightly altered to amend certain archaisms of the original, but the essential character of the prayer has not been destroyed or changed. Its whole thought and spirit have relation to loyalty to a personal ruler whose authority is inherent and life-long. It breathes the love and allegiance of the subject to the person of the sovereign. It is not impossible to believe that the personal character of our first President, Washington, may unconsciously have influenced the minds of those who, during his presidency, were settling the forms of our public services, and may have caused them to retain so much of this purely personal element in the prayers for those in civil authority, by naming only the President of the United States specifically, and including all others in one brief phrase. The "Proposed Book" of 1785, by simply referring to "all in authority, legislative, judicial, and executive in these United States," gives a turn to the meaning much more impersonal, and really more in accordance with the altered conditions of modern, and especially of republican, government. However that may be, in our use of the prayer, as it stands in our Prayer Book, we employ the words out of their true literal meaning, and adapt them to our purpose as best we can, largely eliminating their personal element, and making them expressive of quite different thoughts and feelings from those naturally and primarily belonging to them. So we cannot allow the correctness of Bishop Wilmer's premise, that "the words of that prayer were selected with careful reference to the subject of the prayer--'All in Civil Authority.'" The words were taken, practically as they stand, from an English prayer framed upon theories of government, and expressing feelings and ideas, quite different from what our situation in America calls for; and they could never have been used in the United States, except by such an accommodation of the language as has been above suggested. Bishop Wilmer himself felt this when in the very Pastoral under consideration he says: "The Church uses the 'Prayer for the President' not so much as a person, as an impersonation of the Civil Authority."
But the fallacy in the argument does not lie in the exact or inexact meaning or use of words. The question is: Shall the Church refuse to pray for the Civil Authority because that particular territory in which the Church is situated is held under military rule? In June and September, 1865, Alabama had again become a part of the United States. In recognition of this fact Bishop Wilmer had himself taken the oath of allegiance, and in this very Pastoral advises his people to do the same. The United States was a country under civil government; "the President of the United States and all others in authority" were exercising the functions of civil government. Grant that a particular part of its territory, Alabama, for instance, was, under some abnormal conditions, denied the benefits of civil government; grant that it was wrongfully and unconstitutionally denied those benefits. But, because of this, shall the Church in Alabama, the Bishop and clergy, retaliate and say: "We will not pray for the civil authority until the civil authority is reestablished here"? The President of the United States was the head of a civil government, though at that particular time he was governing Alabama by his military authority. There was all the more need that the Church everywhere should pray for the civil authority, that it might be strengthened and restored to its proper exercise in all parts of the land. As in every other Southern Diocese, so in Alabama, the Church, upon its own principles, should have prayed for the powers that be. Much as the Bishop of Alabama is to be revered and loved for his noble qualities of mind and of heart, much as he is to be respected for his brave and determined assertion and maintenance of the proper liberties of the Church, we cannot say that all the other Southern Bishops were wrong, and that he was right, in this point on which he and they differed.
And in conclusion, as to this painful but, in some respects, interesting, question, Bishop Wilmer, in saying that it was not for him in his "individual capacity to introduce into the Liturgy any other form of words than that which the Church, in her collective and legislative capacity, has already established," seems to have forgotten that in his Episcopal capacity it was quite within his power to provide a prayer to be used in any emergency for which provision is not made in the Prayer Book. He had put out special prayers to be used during the War. If he now found the prayers for all in Civil Authority unsuitable, he might have put out prayers to be used in the churches of his Diocese, for the President of the United States, in such form as seemed to him most fit. Even if such prayers had not satisfied the ecclesiastico-military potentates of the Military District of Alabama, they would at least have been more consistent with Bishop Wilmer's declared position, than to have omitted all public prayers for those in authority at a time when they had special need of the prayers of all good people.
It has been asserted by some that the course of the Bishop of Alabama was strictly in accordance with his understanding of the canons and rubrics of the Church, which he felt bound to obey; and that, while he might have issued special prayers for the authorities of the United States, he was under no obligation to do so. To sustain this position it is pointed out that, though the Confederate States no longer existed, the Church in the Confederate States retained its organization, and in the summer of 1865 no one could certainly know that it would not continue as a separate and independent Church. That Church had imposed a prayer for the President of the Confederate States and had not provided for any other; and, until that Church should authorize another prayer, the Bishop of Alabama might well feel that he could not allow the President of the United States to be prayed for by his clergy.
This argument will not bear examination when it is alleged in behalf of Bishop Wilmer; and for this reason: In March, 1862, when the Rev. Richard H. Wilmer was consecrated Bishop of Alabama, he had been, up to his Consecration, a Priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia. The State of Virginia, in May, 1861, had seceded from the Federal Union. But the Diocese of Virginia took no action to withdraw from the Church in the United States until May, 1862. Her delegates, appointed to confer with other Southern Dioceses, had agreed that a separate organization was necessary, and had agreed upon a new organization; but the proposed Constitution had not been adopted by the Diocese of Virginia, nor by any Southern Diocese, and no change had been made in the Prayer Book, nor was any change made until November, 1862. Yet from the spring of 1861 the Rev. Dr. Wilmer had not only ceased using the prayer for the President of the United States, but, from the time of the accession of the State of Virginia to the Confederate States, he and all the clergy of the Diocese of Virginia had used the prayer for the President of the Confederate States, upon the ground that it was their duty to pray for "the powers that be." Bishop Meade had authorized the use of the Prayer for the President of the Confederate States upon this principle, as had all the other Southern Bishops; and We do not understand that Dr. Wilmer had objected to it. Therefore, when in the summer of 1865 the Bishop of Alabama, by taking the oath of allegiance to the United States, and by recommending his people to do the same, had recognized the restored authority of the United States government, there was exactly the same reason for using the prayer for the President of the United States that there had been for praying for the President of the Confederate States in 1861. He did not think it necessary in 1861 to wait until the Church had legislated for the change of the Prayer Book; there can be no valid reason assigned why in 1865 it was necessary to wait for such change. In the first case the authority of the Bishop, acting under the necessity of the situation, had been sufficient; the same authority was quite sufficient in 1865. It was found to be so in all the other Southern Dioceses; there is no reason why it was not the same in Alabama. In most of the Southern Dioceses the prayer for the President of the United States was resumed without any special action, so soon as it was realized that all hope of Southern independence had departed. But the Bishop of Virginia has, in his Address to his Council, September 20, 1865, recorded his action in the case with his reasons for same. He says: "As soon as I received reliable intelligence of the entire failure of the painful and protracted struggle for the independence of the Confederate States, and the reestablishment of the Federal authority, I felt it incumbent upon me to prepare a brief circular, addressed to the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of Virginia, recognizing the duty of prompt and honest obedience to the existing government, and the obligation to pray for 'those in authority.' For this purpose, I had no hesitation in recommending the use of that form to which we had long been accustomed, and from which any deviation now might be liable to the suspicion of unbecoming subterfuge.
"Whatever be the character of the military agencies appointed in certain localities, there can be no doubt in reference to the President of the United States and other Civil officers of the General Government. They are unquestionably 'in authority.' To them the prayer is strictly applicable, and for them it should be offered, even by those who scruple to use it on behalf of others.
"It has been gravely asserted, that the order prohibiting the omission of that prayer in our public worship is an invasion of our religious liberty, and as such should not be regarded. I am happy to say that my own action, though delayed in its transmission to many of the parishes, by the interruption of all mail communication, antedated any extra-ecclesiastical order concerning the prayer. I was, therefore, at the time under no apprehension of even seeming to surrender religious liberty to what has been pronounced unlawful dictation. Truth and justice, however, require me now to say, that whether that requisition was advisable or not, I cannot see that it is justly liable to any such odious charge. The prayer, which includes nothing to which an enlightened conscience need take exception, is not a new form prepared and enjoined upon us by 'the powers that be,' but our own adopted form, which has been used by the Church for three quarters of a century. Its discontinuance at this particular juncture would inevitably be regarded as a public reflection on the civil authority. That it should insist, as it has done, that no such offensive change in the service of the Church shall now be made, but that those services shall in this respect and for this reason be conducted as heretofore, avoiding any omission which would be considered a formal slight and indignity offered to the government, appears to me rather an act of self-protection than officious and unlawful dictation.
"Even if the requisition were an unlawful interference, I see not how this could absolve us from that which is in itself, and independently of the action of others, a clear duty expressly enjoined in Scripture. It may be humiliating and painful in practice, but not more so than other mortifications of flesh and spirit, which are not, therefore, less obligatory--less salutary or less acceptable in the sight of God. I trust, then, we will not be disturbed by other opinions, which, however plausibly presented, I must disapprove as fallacious, or suffer ourselves to be deterred from a clear duty by the imputation of surrendering to military authority our precious heritage of religious liberty."
Such is the argument of Bishop Johns. To the present writer it seems most fallacious. If the civil or military authority can rightfully order a prayer to be used, it can enforce the order; and then General Thomas's action was justifiable in closing all the churches of the Diocese of Alabama, and suspending the Bishop and his clergy from the exercise of their function, and requiring them to apply at military headquarters, through the ordinary military channels, for permission to minister the Word and Sacraments of God! Bishop Wilmer was wrong in refusing to pray for "the powers that be," but he was right when he refused to regulate the services of his Diocese in accordance with a military order. Bishop Johns was right in requiring his clergy to pray for the President of the United States, just as soon as he felt certain of the permanent establishment of the authority of the Federal government; but he is clearly wrong when he reasons from the fact of his duty to the right of either the military or the civil authority to prescribe the performance of a purely spiritual act. Such an attempted prescription is in violation of a fundamental principle of our civil Constitution, and should not be tolerated by the Church. | <urn:uuid:9b559258-380c-4dbf-94de-daf7a57899f6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jbcheshire/confederate1912/06.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00026-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.983869 | 10,940 | 2.53125 | 3 |
von Hofmann, August Wilhelm (1818–1892)
In 1845, Hofmann was persuaded to leave his native Germany and organize teaching and research at the newly established Royal College of Chemistry in London. It was partly because of Liebig's example that a group of distinguished men including Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria, cooperated to set up a college specializing in chemistry in London. Hofmann's teaching inspired many students who were to be instrumental in establishing the synthetic dyestuffs industry in Britain. Among these students was William Perkin who, in 1856, prepared the first synthetic dye.
Hofmann returned to Germany and synthesized many new dyes, and for some 50 years thereafter Germany had the world's largest dye industry. Hofmann also discovered the Hofmann degradation process, or Hofmann reaction, for converting amides into amines. He also discovered methanal (formaldehyde).
Related category CHEMISTS
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Will People Go to Canada to Die?
Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously found a “right to die” in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Canadian Bill of Rights). Under the ruling, the Canadian government now has 12 months to create a legal regime that allows patients suffering from grievous and irremediable medical conditions the right to end their lives with a doctor’s assistance.
It is arguably one of the most important decisions in the history of Canadian jurisprudence – but its impact in the United States is likely to be limited.
As in most “right to die” cases, the facts in Carter v. Canada are grim. The initial plaintiffs were Gloria Taylor, who suffered from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) and Kay Carter, who suffered from degenerative spinal stenosis. Both are now deceased.
ALS is extremely rare, affecting only about 1 out of every 50,000 people per year. (To put this figure in perspective: That would equate roughly to one ALS sufferer out of the entire Yankee Stadium audience that watched Gehrig declare, on July 4, 1939, that he was “the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”) But sufferers of the disease have played an outsized role in Canadian right-to-die jurisprudence: In the early 1990s, an ALS-afflicted British Columbia woman named Sue Rodriguez launched a constitutional challenge against the ban on physician-assisted suicide. That litigation ended with a 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision upholding the prohibition.
The Rodriguez decision had been the law of the land in Canada for more than 20 years — until last week.
The slow, steady, agonizing manner by which ALS kills its victims helps explain why sufferers of this disease have been disproportionately prominent in the struggle for access to physician-assisted suicide.
As muscles degenerate during the initial stages of ALS, patients gradually lose the ability to initiate voluntary movement. After three or four years, bowel functions, eye movement and lung operation typically begin to fail, too — until such time as the patient dies by suffocation. During all this, brain and sensory function typically is unimpeded, so the patient experiences all of these horrors helplessly, but lucidly. It is not surprising that some ALS patients want to be spared these creeping horrors, and seek a way to die with dignity at a time of their own choosing.
It is this combination of mental competency with complete physical helplessness that makes ALS a grimly ideal case study for assisted-suicide proponents: Such patients can provide informed consent to their own death, but lack the means to accomplish the task on their own.
Taylor died peacefully from an acute bacterial infection in 2012 before her ALS proceeded to its final deadly phase. She was, in a morbid sense, “lucky.” As I have written elsewhere, her story shows how laws against physician-assisted suicide turn the act of dying into a bioethical lottery: Patients in the advanced stages of terrible diseases have to rely on some random pathogen to perform the mercy that a well-regulated medical corps should make available to us, if we wish it.
Last week’s Supreme Court of Canada ruling is persuasive precisely because it poignantly captures the wrenching dilemma faced by people who suffer from degenerative conditions such as ALS. The Court wrote that Taylor was left with the cruel choice “between killing herself while she was still physically capable of doing so, or giving up the ability to exercise any control over the manner and timing of her death.”
The Court continued, “[Other] witnesses described the progression of degenerative illnesses like motor neuron diseases or Huntington’s disease, while others described the agony of treatment and the fear of a gruesome death from advanced-stage cancer. Yet running through the evidence of all the witnesses is a constant theme — that they suffer from the knowledge that they lack the ability to bring a peaceful end to their lives at a time and in a manner of their own choosing.”
“Some [witnesses] describe how they had considered seeking out the traditional modes of suicide but found that choice, too, repugnant,” the Justices added.
By way of example, they quote one witness to the effect that “I was going to blow my head off. I have a gun and I seriously considered doing it. I decided that I could not do that to my family. It would be horrible to put them through something like that. I want a better choice than that.”
Legal developments in the United States contributed indirectly to this important moment in Canadian constitutional law. For many years, opponents of physician-assisted suicide have warned that patients may request to die at a moment of psychological weakness; or that they will overlook the possibility that their remaining time on earth will have meaning beyond that which they presently can imagine. (One example they might cite in this regard is Stephen Hawking, who suffers from a slow-progressing form of ALS.)
Perhaps most persuasively, assisted-suicide opponents have used the slippery-slope argument, claiming that any liberalizing in this area will lead to a nightmare society in which the old and infirm will be pressured by greedy, uncaring relatives to sign away their lives prematurely.
But the Supreme Court of Canada specifically cited Oregon, where physician-assisted suicide has been legal since 1997, to the effect that “a [regulatory] system can be designed to protect the socially vulnerable. Expert evidence established that the ‘predicted abuse and disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations has not materialized.’”
Will this Canadian Supreme Court decision help further the cause in the 46 states (all but Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Washington) where physician-assisted suicide is illegal?
In the short term, probably not.
First, Carter v. Canada was decided largely on the basis of Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees the right to “security of the person.” There is no direct equivalent to that language in the U.S. Constitution (even if the due process clause of the 14th Amendment often has been stretched to cover this sort of bioethical terrain).
Second, in 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court stated clearly that assisted suicide is an issue for legislatures to resolve at the state level. And third, conservative U.S. judges generally are reluctant to give weight to foreign jurisprudence.
But in the long run, this month’s legal development in Canada can only help the cause. Opponents of physician-assisted suicide always have decried legalization as a reckless step into uncharted moral territory. But as more and more developed nations (Canada joins Switzerland, Netherlands and Belgium in legalizing the practice) permit the practice, that argument will lose its force.
In this way, a legal campaign started by two dying Canadians may have historic repercussions in legislatures, and hospital beds, all around the United States. | <urn:uuid:3c61824e-32a1-41c8-9a8e-c6d8a29e2dc4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/15/will-people-go-to-canada-to-die.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963852 | 1,451 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Individual differences |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
In medicine, tertiary healthcare is specialized consultative care, usually on referral from primary or secondary medical care personnel, by specialists working in a center that has personnel and facilities for special investigation and treatment.
Specialist cancer care, neurosurgery (brain surgery), burns care and plastic surgery are examples of tertiary care services.
In comparison, secondary medical care is the medical care provided by a physician who acts as a consultant at the request of the primary physician.
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).| | <urn:uuid:f0e2099b-1751-4483-8253-9637182b31fa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Tertiary_care | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895127 | 131 | 2.734375 | 3 |
A digital library is a special library with a focused collection of digital objects that
can include text, visual material, audio material, video material, stored as ...
Digital libraries, once project based and largely autonomous efforts, are ma-
turing. .... Origins. The circumstances surrounding the launch of a digital library
Digital libraries will be critical to future humanities scholarship. ..... that refer to the
initial object of origin (the sheep), and adapting Leazer's idea of Bibliographic ...
Whether you are a student or a researcher, our goal is to offer you digital ... of the
Charles Darwin Papers in Cambridge University Library, as Darwin himself left ...
May 11, 2016 ... ... bibliotheca, is the origin of the word for library in German, Russian, ... The
terms digital library and virtual library have begun to be used to ...
dawnz.yolasite.com/resources/What are digital Libraries.pdf
on Social Aspects of Digital Libraries (Borgman et al., 1996) that we conducted at
UCLA. 2. Perspectives .... First we explore the origin and evolution of research-.
"An informal definition of a digital library is a managed collection of information,
with associated services, where the information is stored in digital formats and ...
Jul 11, 2013 ... Sony is allowing PlayStation 4 users to access their digital library of purchased
games on any console.
Aug 17, 2004 ... A graduate student supported by an NSF digital library project at Stanford
University uncovered the missing links in Web page ranking.
Cambridge Digital Library. Department A-Z. Menu. Home · Browse · Search. Back
to section home; Search · Simple Search · Advanced Search · My Library ... | <urn:uuid:320c28e4-5b35-4b8d-a362-df2a5d25b3c3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ask.com/web?q=Origin+Digital+Library&o=2603&l=dir&qsrc=3139&gc=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00040-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.805115 | 356 | 3.125 | 3 |
The Correct spelling is: position
Common misspellings of the word position are:
How do you spell position?. It is not possition or even postion for that matter!
tr.v., -tioned, -tion·ing, -tions.
- A place or location.
- The right or appropriate place: The bands are in position for the parade's start.
- A strategic area occupied by members of a force: The troops took up positions along the river.
- The way in which something is placed: the position of the clock's hands.
- The arrangement of body parts; posture: a standing position.
- An advantageous place or location: jockeys maneuvering for position.
- A situation as it relates to the surrounding circumstances: in a position to bargain.
- A point of view or attitude on a certain question: the mayor's position on taxes.
- Social standing or status; rank.
- A post of employment; a job.
- Sports. The area for which a particular player is responsible.
- The arrangement of the pieces or cards at any particular time in a game such as chess, checkers, or bridge.
- The act or process of positing.
- A principle or proposition posited.
- A commitment to buy or sell a given amount of securities or commodities.
- The amount of securities or commodities held by a person, firm, or institution.
- The ownership status of a person's or institution's investments.
- To put in place or position.
- To determine the position of; locate.
[Middle English posicioun, from Old French posicion, from Latin positiÅ, positiÅn-, from positus, past participle of pÅnere, to place.]positional po·si'tion·al adj.
positionally po·si'tion·al·ly adv.
positioner po·si'tion·er n. | <urn:uuid:e6be7721-7aaf-49d1-9476-732324ed617a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.how-do-you-spell.com/possition | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00071-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.822342 | 422 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Despite what pro-oil sands (also called tar sands) supporters have said, the problem of higher than usual carcinogen levels is what many scientists already suspected following a Canadian study. In addition, the carcinogen levels are more widely disbursed than previously suspected.
To the surprise of no one, some oil sands supporters have even suggested that the environmental issues related to tar sands excavation are natural. It’s not unlike the GOP’s favorite Rush Limbaugh who said the oil from the BP spill was “as natural as the ocean water is” back in May 2010. Yeah, cyanide is natural too.
The pollution even reached a remote lake 50 miles away from the oil sands site, which was the limit of the testing.
The development of Alberta’s oil sands has increased levels of cancer-causing compounds in surrounding lakes well beyond natural levels, Canadian researchers reported in a study released on Monday. And they said the contamination covered a wider area than had previously been believed….
“Now we have the smoking gun,” Professor Smol said.
He said he was not surprised that the analysis found a rise in PAH deposits after the industrial development of the oil sands, “but we needed the data.” He said he had not entirely expected, however, to observe the effect at the most remote test site, a lake that is about 50 miles to the north.
It looks like the European governments who claimed that this project was an environmental risk just might have been proven right:
Canada has threatened a trade war with European Union over the bloc’s plan to label oil from Alberta’s vast tar sands as highly polluting, the Guardian can reveal, before a key vote in Brussels on 23 February. “Canada will not hesitate to defend its interests, including at the World Trade Organisation,” state letters sent to European commissioners by Canada’s ambassador to the EU and its oil minister, released under freedom of information laws. The move is a significant escalation of the row over the EU’s plans, which Canada fears would set a global precedent and derail its ability to exploit its tar sands, which are the biggest fossil fuel reserve in the world after Saudi Arabia. Environmental groups argue that exploitation of the tar sands, also called oil sands, is catastrophic for the global climate, as well as causing serious air and water pollution in Alberta.
This will also provide more fodder to those opposing the tar sands pipeline for allegedly being toxic.
And you can read our tar sands archive here. | <urn:uuid:a92fcdd6-f91b-446b-b360-d750973bd597> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://americablog.com/2013/01/carcinogens-lakes-canadian-oil-sands.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00063-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97354 | 520 | 2.65625 | 3 |
THE SIKH TIMES
Noteworthy News and Analysis from Around the World
In-Depth Coverage of Issues Concerning the Global Sikh Community Including Self-Determination, Democracy, Human Rights, Civil Liberties, Antiracism, Religion, and South Asian Geopolitics
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Time, Mar. 9, 1925
One of the most remarkable religious wars of history apparently came to an end last week with the pronouncement of sentence by the Imperial British Court in Lahore, India, upon 54 Sikhs - for 4, death; for 9, life imprisonment; for 41, a term of three to seven years hard labor.
The story of this war is a coat of many colors, of which the patches must be plucked from the incidents of four centuries.
Sikhism is the world's newest great religion; is, in many respects, the world's purest. Its locale is Northwestern India (Punjab, etc.) and its personnel, about 2,000,000 - a sturdy, rugged, effectual type not found elsewhere in the Indian Empire.
About the time of Martin Luther (1483 to 1546), there arose among these people a prophet protesting against Hinduism on the one hand and Muhammadanism on the other. His name was Nanak. He taught that God was neither Allah nor Ram, but simply God. He rejected the Hindu idols, caste-system, concremation of widows (suttee), pilgrimages to sacred rivers (TIME, Feb. 9). He forbade wine, tobacco, infanticide. His essential difference from Christianity was a belief in transmigration and fatalism.
The new religion of high morality grew and waxed great in the border country. But, as the years passed, the independence of the Sikhs aroused the jealousy of Akbar the Great and his Imperial Muhammadan successors, until finally a Sikh ruler, in self-protection, was forced to add militarism to the Sikh code. His name was Govind Singh. He instituted the ceremonial of baptism. When a mature Sikh youth became baptized, he added Singh (Lion) to his name - 'John Jones' became 'John Jones, Lion.' From baptism, the youth must wear the five 'K's: 1) kes - uncut hair of the whole body; 2) kachh - short drawers, for convenience in fighting; 3) kara - iron bangle; 4) khanda - steel dagger; 5) khanga - comb (his kit for cleanliness).
It was Emperor Aurangzeb, grandson of Akbar, builder of Taj-Mahal, who first captured a Sikh ruler and executed him in 1375. During his imprisonment, the Emperor accused him of looking toward the west in the direction of the imperial zenana (women's quarters). Replied the Sikh Singh: 'I was not looking at thy private apartments, O Emperor, or at thy Queen's. I was looking in the direction of the Europeans who are coming from beyond the seas to tear down thy purdahs (curtain which screened off women's apartments) and destroy thine empire.' This prophecy became the battle-cry of the Sikhs when they routed the British in Delhi in 1857.
This new doctrine did not appeal to women, who preferred the picturesque material brightness of Hinduism, but it developed the fighting man. Hardy, victory-or-die, well-disciplined sort of fellow, the Sikh has become without peer the greatest soldier in Asia. Him the British found hardest to conquer. Having conquered him, they found him their great military asset overseas. In Shanghai and other treaty ports of China, the only constabulary are the long-haired, short-drawered Sikhs. (It is required of them that they stand 6 ft. in their stockings.) And, in India, it is the Sikhs who keep the peace.
But, after their final surrender to the British, 60 years ago, the Sikhs allowed their religious customs to fall into decay and corruption. Their moral code became slack. Their shrines were placed in charge of a 'manager' appointed by the British Raj.
Five years ago, the reforming zeal of Nanak and Govind Singh broke out once more. 'Sikhism,' cried the new zealots, 'must be kept pure. The shrines must be redeemed from the 'manager' and placed once again under the stern rule of a guru [chief Lion].'
In February, 1921, many Sikh Singhs were killed by the hired soldiers of a decadent Abbot whose monastery they had attacked. Later in the same year, the Government of the Punjab endeavored to satisfy the reformers but were balked by the die-hard attitude of the Shroniani Gurdwara Prabanak (Sacred Shrines) Committee, which represented the reformers. In 1922 and 1923, this Committee exercised a reign of terror over the Punjab; and in October, 1923, the British Raj practically outlawed the Committee. In 1924, there was a pitched battle in which 21 reforming Sikhs were killed and 34 wounded. Casualties in informal raids were innumerable. Finally, last year, 54 members of the committee were arrested. Last week, they were found guilty of treasonable conspiracy and condemned to death or prison. This reformation is dead. | <urn:uuid:63edac8e-a801-491f-959f-e12d571ff4a8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sikhtimes.com/news_030925a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00179-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961016 | 1,118 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Managing Stress: How to Cope With Change
Whenever we experience change in our lives, we experience physical and psychological responses that we know collectively as stress. Sometimes the changes we experience affect our physical lives. Other changes may be primarily psychological and require a paradigm shift.
We experience change all the time. We grow older, we change jobs, we gain experience. We enjoy gains, we suffer losses. Change is all around us - sometimes threatening, sometimes exciting, always present. If you try to ignore change, you will likely be knocked off balance. If you get angry at change, you could make things worse. Thinking about "the good old days" won't make them return. Strangely enough, these are the "good old days" that many of us will look back on.
Change creates stress. It affects the way we think and behave. While we cannot always prevent or control the changes we experience, we can control how we respond to those changes. We can learn to manage stress and change. We can control what is controllable.
A paradigm is a model. It's a way of looking at the world and trying to make sense of it. It's our own individual way to explain "the way things are." Paradigms tend to get entrenched. Once we establish a paradigm, we tend to hold onto it as long as possible. After a while, the explanation for "the way things are" becomes a moral imperative for "how things ought to be." Some paradigms are very individualized. A great many are shared by members of a family, workgroups, ethnic groups, and society as a whole. What are some of your personal paradigms?
Most of us won't admit it openly, but nearly everyone, at some time, assumes that the way things are is the way they'll always be.
- When your kids are in diapers, it's hard to imagine a time when they'll use the bathroom on their own.
- When you get a new car, you don't often think about when you plan to trade it in.
- When you've been in a job for a while, it's easy to think you'll always be there.
Think about some of the changes that we've all experienced over the past ten years:
- More than half of all U.S companies were merged, acquired, or otherwise restructured.
- Nearly a million organizations filed for bankruptcy.
- The World Trade Towers were destroyed.
- The Blackberry and other communications/computing devices have extended the boundaries of the workplace.
Remember what it was like before computers, PDAs, the Internet, etc.? Now put yourself in the place of a 14 year old, who has always known about computers, Game-Boys, X-Boxes and other electronic toys. How are your paradigms different?
Your father may have given you some advice when you were growing up regarding how to act on a job, and what you could expect from your employer. Would his advice be valid today?
Paradigms help us to know who are the good guys and the bad guys, and how to tell them apart. Many of the bad guys of 20 years ago are now good guys - and vice versa. Some of today's good guys and bad guys are people we might not even have heard of a few years ago.
- Millions of Americans now earn their living in occupations that did not exist 30 years ago.
- More millions of jobs have disappeared as a result of technology shifts.
These days, it's not enough to be trained or skilled in a specific area. With the pace of change as fast as it is, what you know may be obsolete in five years or less. What's as important as learning is - learning how to learn. What jobs will be created in the next 10-20 years? Will you be ready to do any of them?
Creating new paradigms is hard work and most people tend to resist doing it. Even people who are in the "idea business" often find it hard to do. Scientist and writer Arthur C. Clarke said two things that explain the difficulty of paradigm shifts:
- "Technology, when sufficiently advanced beyond the experience of the observer, is indistinguishable from magic."
- "The universe is not stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine."
Which all beings us back to the issue of stress. Stress is what we feel physically and mentally when we undergo any kind of change in our lives. The more change, the more stress we feel. The more rapid the change, the more stress we experience. Stress is necessary. In small amounts, it's what keeps us going. If you have no stress at all, you're probably dead, but persistently high levels of stress can weaken the body.
- Stress affects how we think, feel, and behave.
- The chemical changes in the body which are a result of stress create what is called the "Fight-Flight" syndrome.
- Everyone has a characteristic response to stress that will fall under one of the categories of "Fight" or "Flight." We are all capable of either, but we will tend to choose one over the other most of the time.
- The General Adaptation Syndrome is a description of how our bodies react to stress under different conditions.
- When we perceive what we consider to be a dangerous or stressful situation, we set off a chemical cascade inside, which causes our bodies to get ready for action. This is known as the Alarm Phase.
- Once the danger has passed, the stress response subsides, and we go back to normal. This is called the Recovery Phase.
- If we are confronted by many dangers in close succession, we don't go into recovery. Instead, we go into a Resistance Phase, which is less intense than the Alarm Phase, and allows us to stay in action for as long as necessary.
- But we all have limits. If the stressors continue long enough, we eventually run out of energy to maintain our level of action. When this happens, we experience Exhaustion.
- Once we become exhausted, it takes much longer to return to "baseline." We may be out of commission for several hours, days, or even weeks.
- The body's stress response leads to increased heart rate and respiration. Blood pressure increases. Skin temperature at the extremities decreases. Perspiration increases. Our bodies go into "Action Mode."
So where does stress come from? Stress comes from things we do, as well as the things that go on around us. We control some of these things, but others "just happen." Even things we consider "good" for us cause stress, such as getting married or going on vacation.
The sum total of life events over a defined period can give you a pretty accurate measure of whether your stress can threaten your health. One measure that has been around for awhile is the Holmes-Rahe Stress Scale. You can get a copy of it and measure your risk. If you like, I'll be glad to send you a link to the instrument. Just send me an email at firstname.lastname@example.org, and I'll get it right out to you.
There is a school of thought that says that some of us just cause our own stresses. People who have a so-called Type A Personality have certain characteristics that are believed to make them more vulnerable to stress. What does a Type A personality look like? It's a temperament marked by excessive competitiveness and ambition, an obsession with accomplishing tasks quickly, and a strong need for personal control in nearly every aspect of life.
If you think you might be hard-wired to bring stress on yourself, you might be able to tell by taking a Type A Personality Test. There are several you can find on the Internet, and if you like, I can send you a link to one I think is a good one. Just request it from me by email.
When a company undergoes changes, such as new machinery and processes, reorganization, new hires, merger or downsizing, it gets people's attention. It's unsettling, but not always a thoroughly bad thing. It can lead to self-examination and motivation to stretch beyond the usual boundaries.
You can use such changes to create a "starting over" point for yourself, as a motivating event to help you grow. You can begin by setting some goals for yourself - specific, measurable, and attainable. Don't spread yourself too thin or try to go in too many directions at once. Just be sure you have a sense of purpose in both your professional and your personal life.
Here are some other stress management tips you might be able to use:
- Your attitude is one of the few things in this world that is totally under your control. While you may not have a lot of control over what happens around you, you are totally in charge of how you respond to it.
- You can choose to brood over what you've lost or over what might go wrong. You can worry yourself sick. Or you can search out opportunities, embrace the challenge, and live with optimism.
- You don't need The Reader's Digest to tell you that laughter is the best medicine. You've known it instinctively all along. A sense of humor keeps things in perspective. It's a sign of maturity to be able to poke fun at yourself or the situation you're in. It's also therapeutic. A good cry is OK every now and then, but a good laugh is a superior emotional release and more fun than shedding tears. Overall, your life and work will be more pleasurable and fulfilling to you when you can laugh.
Join the crowd. You are not the only one going through changes. Change happens in business and nearly every aspect of your life, and it's been going on for years. It happens to millions of people all the time.
One way of coping with stress is to focus your attention away from the areas of your life that are undergoing rapid and uncontrollable change to those which are more stable and under your control. You can learn to create or enlarge your stability zones.
Stability zones are those areas of your life that can be depended upon to remain fairly constant, or which undergo only gradual changes over time. These stability zones include:
- Possessions, such as heirlooms, collections, or desktop objects. In others words - your stuff.
- Habitat - your living/working space.
- People - the relationships in your life.
- Behavior, which includes rituals, habits and routines that remain fairly stable over time.
Organizational changes threaten to destabilize many areas of life. We change familiar routines, we separate from familiar coworkers and meet new ones, we lose touch with a familiar work environment and have to get used to a new one, and we even have to adjust to new technology in such fundamental areas as keeping a schedule, taking phone messages, etc.
It's very common for the changes you experience to affect your personal and professional goals. Changes in your life and work will usually cause you to question, or perhaps change, your assumptions about fundamental aspects of your life.
And that brings us back to the issue of paradigm shifts. In order to change your behavior, you have to first change your assumptions about the way things are, and figure out how those changed assumptions will impact reality. Every paradigm - or model - has certain underlying assumptions.
Here's an example: Suppose your goal is to own your own home. Your assumptions might include that you and your spouse will continue to be a two-income household and that interest rates will stay low. There are uncontrollable events that could make your assumptions invalid - you could get laid off, or interest rates could go up. These events would necessarily affect your ability to achieve your goal.
Managing stress is a personal journey. Think about this: A great many people, even Type A people, don't get sick from their stresses because they are taking steps to manage the stress in their lives, and not letting stress affect them negatively. Perhaps they exercise regularly, watch their weight, listen to classical music . . . There are a great many techniques for lowering or managing stress. Here are just a few examples:
- Transcendental Meditation (or its generic equivalent) has been shown to be effective in reducing blood pressure, increasing energy, and inducing an overall feeling of well-being in its practitioners.
- Progressive relaxation isolates different muscle groups and alternately tenses and relaxes them. After practice for several weeks, you can learn how to control these different muscle groups at will.
- Autogenic training is a form of self-hypnosis that enables you to control some of the autonomic processes in your body and put them into their relaxation mode, rather than the stress mode.
- Massage. What can you say about massage? It just makes you feel good all over, and releases a lot of the muscle tension we build up over time.
- Cardio exercise has been demonstrated to help people increase the strength of their heart, lower blood pressure and resting pulse rate, and lose weight. You can't go wrong with that!
Pick one you like and use it!
Stress affects us physically and psychologically, and is generally a result of changes we experience in our lives. We can't control everything in our environment, but we can control how we respond to those experiences. Learning how to manage our paradigms and assumptions, taking care of ourselves physically, practicing one or more stress relieving techniques, and developing a personal support system with people we love and trust can all help with making sure that stress doesn't bring us down. | <urn:uuid:d5913365-79d5-4e39-b15f-29e0990839b8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.stlcc.edu/Podcasts/business-training/Managing-Stress-Cope-With-Change.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962969 | 2,816 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Today marks the anniversary of an event little remembered but well worth noting.
On 15 November 1806, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike paused on the high plains in what is now Colorado, peered through his spyglass, and saw the mountain that would later bear his name, Pikes Peak.
A contemporary of Lewis and Clark, Pike commanded a US military expedition that was exploring the southwestern reaches of the Louisiana Purchase. Believing a view from the summit would disclose the geography of the surrounding region, he decided to climb it.
On the 17th, Pike wrote that the party “pushed with an idea of arriving at the mountains, but found at night, no visible difference in their appearance.” The men marched for a week, and then on the 24th, he departed with three men “with an idea of arriving at the foot of the mountain.” They camped that night on the prairie, still miles from its base.
Distance had fooled him. American geographers had never seen the Rocky Mountains but most believed them to be about the size of more familiar eastern ranges. On first seeing them rise over the horizon, Pike compared them to the Alleghenies.
Supposing them to be much smaller than they were, he also assumed they were closer. The possibility of seeing a mountain more than a hundred miles away was not something he could wrap his eastern mind around.
On the 26th, once again expecting to ascend the peak that day, he cached his food and blankets. For all of the ten hours of daylight the sun gave them, he and his comrades labored.
They hiked up drainages and contoured hillsides. Sometimes, Pike wrote, the rocks were “almost perpendicular.” By late afternoon, as the last rays of sun melted behind the mountains, the party came to a steep incline.
The peak had remained hidden from view all day, blocked by intervening lesser summits. Perhaps to get a look at the terrain that separated them from their objective, they started up the slope, toward a pinnacle that appeared to be the highest in the vicinity.
For thirty or forty minutes they battled the mountain, clawing up a sheer face by grasping with weary limbs the jagged edges of boulders and the branches of fallen trees.
Finally, they found a cave, a crevice really, just big enough for four tired, hungry men without blankets. With daylight waning and the temperature falling, they crowded into this rocky hostel and shared body heat while they tossed and wriggled all night, seeking a comfortable surface to permit sleep.
They awoke the next morning, Thanksgiving Day, to a sublime view. Clouds overhung the endless prairies stretching out to the east, while the sky above was clear and blue.
They hiked more easily at first, reaching the shoulder of the mountain in a few minutes and then walking a half-hour along the ridgeline toward the cone of the peak. Then it was back to boulder scrambling and hoisting themselves by crags and branches, soon in waist-deep snow.
Another half hour brought them to the top and a 360-degree view that revealed a sight both awesome and dispiriting.
“The Grand Peak,” Pike recorded, “now appeared at the distance of 15 or 16 miles from us, and as high again as what we had ascended, and would have taken a whole day’s march to have arrived at its base, when I believe no human being could have ascended to its pinical.”
Coloradans delight in claiming that Pike thought the peak would never be climbed. Well-fed modern hikers enjoying the benefits of plastic, nylon, Thinsulate, and Gortex have had little difficulty accomplishing what Pike could not.
But Pike meant only that the summit could not be reached under the circumstances. That is, men who had not eaten in thirty-some hours and who lacked the provisions to bear another day in the wilderness could not climb it.
He made this context clear by adding, “The condition of my soldiers who had only light overalls on, and no stockings…, the bad prospect of killing any thing to subsist on, with the further detention of two or three days, which it must occasion, determined us to return.”
Although the Grand Peak defeated him, he and his expedition continued. Pike’s maps and journals would one day guide Santa Fe Trail traders and Rocky Mountain fur trappers. First, however, he regathered his men and led them into the mountains by another route. It was “snowing very fast.” “The hardships…had now began.” | <urn:uuid:540dab89-b110-4362-a380-b27e6e28ab5e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.oup.com/2013/11/climbing-pikes-peak-15-november-1806/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980338 | 963 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Malnutrition, so common in third world countries, may be more common than suspected in modern countries. The two classic forms include kwashiorkor and marasmus. The term protein-energy malnutrition is now generally used.
Disease Edema Other Kwashiorkor Yes Total protein deprivation Marasmus No Total caloric deprivation
Epidemiology Disease Associations Pathogenesis Laboratory/Radiologic/Other Diagnostic Testing Gross Appearance and Clinical Variants Histopathological Features and Variants Special Stains/Immunohistochemistry/Electron Microscopy Differential Diagnosis Prognosis Treatment Commonly Used Terms Internet Links
EPIDEMIOLOGIC ASSOCIATIONS CHARACTERIZATION
Kwashiorkor in the United States Fad Diets, Perceived and True Milk Allergy, and Nutritional Ignorance
Theodore Liu, etal.
Arch Dermatol. 2001;137:630-636 Abstract quote
Kwashiorkor is the edematous form of protein-energy malnutrition. It is associated with extreme poverty in developing countries and with chronic malabsorptive conditions such as cystic fibrosis in developed countries. Rare cases of kwashiorkor in affluent countries unrelated to chronic illness have been reported. We present 12 cases of kwashiorkor unrelated to chronic illness seen over 9 years by pediatric dermatologists throughout the United States, and discuss common causative themes in this easily preventable condition.
Twelve children were diagnosed as having kwashiorkor in 7 tertiary referral centers throughout the United States. The diagnoses were based on the characteristic rash and the overall clinical presentation. The rash consisted of an erosive, crusting, desquamating dermatitis sometimes with classic "pasted-on" scalethe so-called flaky paint sign. Most cases were due to nutritional ignorance, perceived milk intolerance, or food faddism. Half of the cases were the result of a deliberate deviation to a protein-deficient diet because of a perceived intolerance of formula or milk. Financial and social stresses were a factor in only 2 cases, and in both cases social chaos was more of a factor than an absolute lack of financial resources. Misleading dietary histories and the presence of edema masking growth failure obscured the clinical picture in some cases.
Physicians should consider the diagnosis of kwashiorkor in children with perceived milk allergies resulting in frequent dietary manipulations, in children following fad or unorthodox diets, or in children living in homes with significant social chaos. The presence of edema and "flaky paint" dermatitis should prompt a careful dietary investigation.
DISEASE ASSOCIATIONS CHARACTERIZATION CYSTIC FIBROSIS
Cystic fibrosis presenting as kwashiorkor in a Sri Lankan infant.
Mei-Zahav M, Solomon M, Kawamura A, Coates A, Durie P.
Division of Respiratory Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Arch Dis Child. 2003 Aug;88(8):724-5 Abstract quote.
Growth failure is a common presentation of patients with pancreatic insufficient cystic fibrosis. However, full blown kwashiorkor is extremely rare.
Cystic fibrosis is also considered to be rare in the South Asian population. This report describes a Sri Lankan infant with cystic fibrosis who presented with clinical features of severe kwashiorkor.
Pro-inflammatory cytokines in Turkish children with protein-energy malnutrition.
Dulger H, Arik M, Sekeroglu MR, Tarakcioglu M, Noyan T, Cesur Y, Balahoroglu R.
Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of Yuzuncu Yil, Tip Fakultesi, Biyokimya Anabilim Dali, Maras Caddesi, 65300 Van, Turkey.
Mediators Inflamm. 2002 Dec;11(6):363-5 Abstract quote.
BACKGROUND: Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) results from food insufficiency as well as from poor social and economic conditions. Development of PEM is due to insufficient nutrition. Children with PEM lose their resistance to infections because of a disordered immune system. It has been reported that the changes occurring in mediators referred to as cytokines in the immune system may be indicators of the disorders associated with PEM. AIMS: To determine the concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines in children with PEM, and to find out whether there was an association with the clinical presentation of PEM.
METHODS: The levels of serum total protein, albumin, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, and interleukin-6 were measured in 25 patients with PEM and in 18 healthy children as a control group. PEM was divided into two groups as kwashiorkor and marasmus. The kwashiorkor group consisted of 15 children and the marasmus group consisted of 10 children.
RESULTS: Levels of serum total protein and albumin of the kwashiorkor group were significantly lower than both the marasmus group and controls (p < 0.05). In view of tumour necrosis factor-alpha levels, there was no difference between groups (p > 0.05). While levels of interleukin-6 in both the marasmus group and the kwashiorkor group were significantly higher compared with controls (p < 0.05), there was no significant difference between the groups of marasmus and kwashiorkor (p > 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: It was observed that the inflammatory response had increased in children with malnutrition.
Plasma electrolytes, total cholesterol, liver enzymes, and selected antioxidant status in protein energy malnutrition.
Etukudo MH, Agbedana EO, Akinyinka OO, Osifo BO.
Department of Chemical Pathology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Afr J Med Med Sci. 1999 Mar-Jun;28(1-2):81-5. Abstract quote
Golden and Ramdath proposed the free radical theory of kwashiorkor, suggesting that the changes seen in kwashiorkor may be the result of an imbalance between the production and safe disposal of free radicals.
In malnourished children, mineral metabolism and antioxidant status need renewed attention especially in relation to cause and functional significance of the changes in concentration of these substances.
In the present study, the modified Wellcome classification was used to classify the protein energy malnourished children into kwashiorkor marasmic-kwashiorkor, marasmus and underweight. Twenty-six healthy and normal children were used as controls. Standard procedures were used for the analyses of the biochemical parameters. Our results showed that plasma total cholesterol, sodium, potassium and bicarbonate, beta-carotene, retinol and uric acid were significantly lower in the malnourished group than the control group (P < 0.05), while transaminases were significantly increased in the malnourished group (P < 0.05).
These findings suggest an altered electrolyte and antioxidant status in protein energy malnutrition.
Prediction of nutritional status by chemical analysis of urine and anthropometric methods.
Adewusi SR, Torimiro SE, Akindahunsi AA.
Department of Chemistry, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Nutr Health. 2002;16(3):195-202 Abstract quote.
A combination of anthropometric and chemical indices was used to investigate the nutritional status of 26 healthy (H) and kwashiorkor (K) children aged 2-5 years and possibly predict the onset of malnutrition. The healthy children had significantly (p>0.05) higher values for weight, height, middle upper arm circumference and weight/height ratio than kwashiorkor children.
The healthy children had significantly higher urinary concentrations of urea, inorganic sulphate and sulphate relative to creatinine, but significantly lower thiocyanate and thiocyanate relative to creatinine than the kwashiorkor children. The results of the present study would tend to indicate that a chemical analysis especially of urea, inorganic sulphate or thiocyanate alone or the urea/creatinine, inorganic sulphate/creatinine or thiocynate/creatinine ratio could be used to predict malnutrition after the initial anthropometric measurements.
This study should however be repeated with a large population of volunteers to determine the specific cut-off points for each anthropometric and chemical analysis.
Sweat test results in children with primary protein energy malnutrition.
Yigit H, Selimoglu MA, Altinkaynak S.
Ataturk University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Erzurum, Turkey.
J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2003 Sep;37(3):242-5 Abstract quote.
OBJECTIVES: In underdeveloped and developing countries where protein energy malnutrition (PEM) is common, it is sometimes difficult to exclude the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (CF) in malnourished children because both primary PEM and CF share similar symptoms, signs, and laboratory findings, such as elevated sweat chloride value. This study was performed to investigate sweat test results and determine percentile values in children with primary PEM.
METHODS: A total of 90 children with PEM and 30 healthy children were included. PEM was classified according to criteria defined by Gomez, Waterlow, and McLaren. Sweat tests were performed using the Macroduct conductivity system.
RESULTS: Patient age and gender did not affect the test results (P > 0.05). The mean sweat conductivity (equivalent NaCl mMol/L) of patients with PEM was higher than that of controls (P < 0.001) and increased with the degree of malnutrition (P < 0.001). Inverse correlations between sweat conductivity and weight for age, height for age, and weight for height were detected (P < 0.001). The highest value was found in children with wasting and stunting, followed by those with stunting (P < 0.05) and those with marasmic kwashiorkor (P < 0.01). Of all children with PEM, 6.7% had elevated sweat test results that normalized after nutritional management; of children with third degree PEM, the figure was 20%. Ninety-fifth percentile values of first, second, and third degree malnutrition were 47 mMol/L, 49 mMol/L, and 69 mMol/L, respectively.
CONCLUSION: Elevated sweat test result is not an important problem, especially in first and second degree PEM, but borderline values can be detected in as many as 20% of cases of third degree malnutrition. Sweat conductivity may increase to 69 mMol/L in children with stunting, those with wasting and stunting, and in those with third degree PEM.
HISTOLOGICAL TYPES CHARACTERIZATION General VARIANTS Kwashiorkor
Superficial perivascular infiltrate of lymphocytes, pallor of keratinocytes in a band across the upper part of the epidermis, and confluent parakeratosis
Pallor, ballooning, and necrosis of keratinocytes in a band across the upper part of the epidermis and is considered nearly pathognomonic for a dermatitis due to a nutritional deficiency
Alternative pattern lacks the epidermal pallor and has only psoriasiform epidermal hyperplasia
Not pathognomonic for kwashiorkor and may also be found in other uncommon conditions that seem to have a nutritional deficiency
DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS KEY DIFFERENTIATING FEATURES Other nutritional disorders Acrodermatitis enteropathica
Necrolytic migratory erythema
Essential fatty acid deficiency
Multiple carboxylase deficiency
PROGNOSIS AND TREATMENT CHARACTERIZATION
Outpatient care for severely malnourished children in emergency relief programmes: a retrospective cohort study.
Collins S, Sadler K.
Valid International, Stockwell, London, UK.
Lancet. 2002 Dec 7;360(9348):1824-30 Abstract quote.
BACKGROUND: In emergency nutritional relief programmes, therapeutic feeding centres are the accepted intervention for the treatment of severely malnourished people. These centres often cannot treat all the people requiring care. Consequently, coverage of therapeutic feeding centre programmes can be low, reducing their effectiveness. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of outpatient treatment for severe malnutrition in an emergency relief programme.
METHODS: We did a retrospective cohort study in an outpatient therapeutic feeding programme in Ethiopia from September, 2000, to January, 2001. We assessed clinical records for 170 children aged 6-120 months. The children had either marasmus, kwashiorkor, or marasmic kwashiorkor. Outcomes were mortality, default from programme, discharge from programme, rate of weight gain, and length of stay in programme.
FINDINGS: 144 (85%) patients recovered, seven (4%) died, 11 (6%) were transferred, and eight (5%) defaulted. Median time to discharge was 42 days (IQR 28-56), days to death 14 (7-26), and days to default 14 (7-28). Median rate of weight gain was 3.16 g kg(-1) x day(-1) (1.86-5.60). In patients who recovered, median rates of weight gain were 4.80 g kg(-1) day(-1) (2.95-8.07) for marasmic patients, 4.03 g x kg(-1) x day(-1) (2.68-4.29) for marasmic kwashiorkor patients, and 2.70 g x kg(-1) x day(-1) (0.00-4.76) for kwashiorkor patients.
INTERPRETATION: Outpatient treatment exceeded internationally accepted minimum standards for recovery, default, and mortality rates. Time spent in the programme and rates of weight gain did not meet these standards. Outpatient care could provide a complementary treatment strategy to therapeutic feeding centres. Further research should compare the effectiveness of outpatient and centre-based treatment of severe malnutrition in emergency nutritional interventions.
Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease. Sixth Edition. WB Saunders 1999.
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This is a glossary of terms often found in a pathology report.
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Examine an actual biopsy report to understand what each section means
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Monarch Migration Update: May 3, 2000
Today's Report Includes:
Highlights From the Migration Trail
No sooner had we made this week's migration map, than this exciting news arrived:
How Far North Do Mexican Monarchs Travel?
Your map probably now shows how far the monarchs from Mexico will travel this year. (Notice that the leading edge of the migration has reached about 41 N, all across the monarch's range.) As this generation dies, we expect to see a drop in sightings over the next weeks. After all, these butterflies have been alive for a long, long time! That's why we asked last week...
How Long Have These Monarchs Been Alive?
Discussion of Challenge Question #36
"Assume a butterfly emerged as an adult last August 26 in Maine. For how many days has the butterfly been alive as of April 26, 2000? For how many weeks?"
"Our class answer is that the monarch has been alive for 245 days, or 35 weeks," wrote Miss Bailey from Citrus Elementary School Vero Beach, FL. That's 8 months!
"We had fun with this one," she said. "Our second and third graders tried to add the number of days in each month to figure out how long the monarch had been alive. Then they tried to divide their answer by seven to get the number of weeks (that was more difficult, since they're still learning how to divide). They worked independently in their journals. Then they turned in their work. After that we worked it out together on the board. I told the kids we would submit the answers closest to what we worked out together. All the kids did a great job!"
Story of a Life's Journey
If a monarch butterfly could talk, just think of the stories it could tell! Imagine a butterfly whose life began 8 months ago in the north, and write its life story:
(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)
Next Generation Soon on Its Way!
A New Way to Look at Your Migration Map
Last week we suggested a new way to view your map. If you assume that:
On the right is the new map! It shows when and where we can expect the next generation of monarchs to emerge. Note how the dates of the legends changed:
Discussion of Challenge Question #35
Using the same assumptions, Challenge Question #35 asked, "When might we expect monarchs to emerge in Arkansas?"
Mrs. Dempsey's second grade class in Framingham, MA considered this question and decided they, "expect the monarchs in Arkansas to emerge on April 21." (firstname.lastname@example.org)
What a good estimate! If you look at Arkansas on the migration map, you'll see many light yellow dots. The legend says this means the first monarchs arrived there between Mar 15 and Mar 28. According to the new legend above, the first NEW monarchs to emerge should be between Apr. 16 and Apr. 29. So the April 21st estimate is right on.
And here's proof from Arkansas! Jim Edson's first monarch emerged on April 27th. "I released my first monarch that came from an egg that was laid March 27th," he said. "She was raised in a screened box that was kept outside." (email@example.com) It took this monarch 31 days to develop.
Are the Monarchs Ahead of Their Milkweed?
Discussion of Challenge Question #33
Mrs. Dempsey's class also did a great job summarizing the milkweed observations reported from each state in our April 26th update. They noted:
As the students point out, many people have been seeing their first monarchs JUST as the milkweed is emerging.
Now remember: When milkweed emerges it's only a tiny plant. It takes time for the plant to grow and for its first
leaves to unfold. And when the eggs hatch only 3-5 days after they are laid, very hunger caterpillars will emerge--ready
to eat the leaves. If you've ever raised a monarch, you know how much milkweed one larva can eat!
Which Grows Faster, a Monarch or a Milkweed Plant?
Here's an experiment you can try to get a better idea of how much milkweed an early monarch might need in the spring:
1) Watch for a milkweed plant to emerge this spring.
2) When its first leaves appear, measure the surface area of each leaf. (To do this, make a grid by photocopying graph paper onto a clear transparency. You'll be able to see through the grid and count the surface area on the leaf.)
3) On a sheet of paper, make two columns like this:
4) As the plant grows, record the amount of milkweed that's available each day.
5) Next capture a monarch larva, and measure how much milkweed the larva eats in the 9-14 days it takes to go from egg to chrysalis.
6) Then summarize your results:
Monarch Larval Monitoring Project
In order to monitor monarch populations, Dr. Karen Oberhauser and Michelle Prysby are looking for volunteers to collect long-term data on larval populations and milkweed habitat. Their overall goal is to learn how population densities fluctuate throughout the monarch breeding season in North America.
This is important information, because when conservation issues arise (such as the impact of Bt corn on monarchs), we see how little is really known about healthy monarch populations. If you'd like to help with this study, please see the Monarch Lab website for details.
Please Note: We will continue to track the monarch migration until the butterflies
reach the end of the road in late June. However, we're asking for your evaluation of our program now, before the
end-of-the-school-year rush. Thank you!
The Next Monarch Migration Update Will Be Posted on May 10, 2000.
Copyright 2000 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form | <urn:uuid:7763e87a-48f1-4aa6-a360-352fea7a51f4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.learner.org/jnorth/spring2000/species/monarch/Update050300.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956315 | 1,261 | 3.390625 | 3 |
Do we become our name or does our name become us? Dissecting names to discover hidden meanings.
Ancient religions believe that we choose our own names, which would explain why they have an immense affect on our lives. This is illustrated in the Bible when one of the first things God did was to change Sarai’s name to Sarah, and Abram’s name to Abraham.
Interestingly, both new names now have an ‘AH’ in them which they did not have previously. According to Neimology® Science, the eighteen year study on how the placement of the letters in your name indicate how you think, feel and act, the ‘AH’ means ‘gift from God’ or ‘working on God’s behalf’. Both Abraham and Sarah indeed changed at that time and focused their work on behalf of God.
Later Jacobs name became Israel and Saul became Paul, and the list continues. So, why do names carry that much importance? According to the science of Cymatics, the study of the physical impacts of sound, has shown that cell structures, neurological systems, and the body all respond to sounds. The response can be positive or negative. Considering how often we hear our name, connecting behaviors to these sounds is a tenable leap.
Our names release a resonance within the sound that impacts us. Thus, names have an unconscious influence on us. Ancient cultures took naming a child seriously as they understood that a name “says it all” to quote the book, “Know the Name; Know the Person.”
Recent research has shown that there are a disproportionately large numbers of dentists named Dennis and lawyers named Lauren.
Is this because those names sound similar to the career field? Sigmund Freud indicated that this might be the case as all people are basically egotistic and thus drawn to careers that sound like them. However, Neimology® Science indicates that the letters in our name indicate traits that are associated with different careers. Thus, all Dennis’ would have similar traits thus leading to similar career choices. The same could be said for any name.
Perhaps that is why, when putting a name into an Internet search engine, one will find people with the same name often in similar career fields and/or have similar hobbies. Take for example the name Wes Wilson. They may have different professions yet all seem to be interested in either their hobby of photography or in being an artist, which is a different form of preserving what is there.
Even my own name, Sharón Wyeth, has a double and both of us are authors. Thus, we both use our middle name to distinguish ourselves, with Lynn being my middle name and the other author’s middle name is Dennis. Sharon Dennis Wyeth writes children’s books. It is amazing how many similarities people have who have the same names. Again, the same basic characteristics, as indicated in the letter placement, lead to similar results.
Do we become our names or do they our names become us? Both. Each name carries a gift and each a challenge. We don’t get one without the other. Thus, our names have great influence over whom we will become, yet doesn’t dictate the outcome as we constantly are choosing which side of the various characteristics we wish to display. The first letter in the first name indicates our first impressions of someone while our lasting impression is that which we acquire from the last letter in the first name.
The next time you are asked who are you, and you respond with your name, think about how your name and you are synonymous. | <urn:uuid:5e624c38-baf2-4146-a9bb-b7154564fbe8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.yourtango.com/experts/sharon-lynn-wyeth/how-our-names-shape-us | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00091-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967693 | 748 | 2.828125 | 3 |
The exhibit has closed, but many of the resources have been archived on this site. Visit the writers page to learn more.
Curator Teresa Miller concludes the Oklahoma Writers: A Literary Tableau with the following paragraphs: In the musical Oklahoma! (1943) Rodgers and Hammerstein idealize the state, depicting it as a land of opportunity, “where corn grows as high as an elephant’s eye.” But in his novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), John Steinbeck provides a very different perspective, portraying an Oklahoma so ravaged by the dustbowl that “Okies” abandon their heritage in order to seek refuge in unfamiliar territory.
These powerful word images, reinforced by classic movie adaptations, have encharged Oklahoma writers with a unique responsibility—re-envisioning Oklahoma beyond any lingering stereotypes. It’s a calling they have embraced from a number of genres, as varied as the Oklahoma landscape itself. And ultimately they have provided us with the beginnings of a literary topography, extending from the dark reaches of mystery to the brighter realms of poetry and song. | <urn:uuid:aa34e033-65c4-4811-86ee-51ddcf2d1cac> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.okhistory.org/writers/exhibit.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00023-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948028 | 225 | 3.34375 | 3 |
A new study confirms the less than elusive phenomena that men stare at women’s breasts in ways that are best described as an “ogle” or objectifying gaze as a way of evaluating the person before them. What this means is that upon encountering a woman for the first time, men tend to look first at her body and spend less time looking at her face. Specific areas of interest are, of course, the breasts, waist and hips.
To most women, these findings are not novel. It is true that psychological research devotes a lot of its time to proving if things that occur are actually happening the way we as humans perceive them. This study is no exception. However, part of the purpose of studies like these is to discover the in-depth nuances of behavior. What cues are prompting this behavior, and what are the sources of these cues? Are they biological, societal or messages imparted by media?
Other important questions addressed by these types of studies include, what does this behavior mean? How does this behavior translate to other behaviors?
More importantly, are the incidents actually related. For example, say there is a strong correlation between drownings and ice cream sales. One could conclude that ice cream makes people drown. Or, with objective research, one would find that both ice cream sales and drowning rates go up during the summer months, and that the two have no relation to each other. A common phrase in research is, “correlation does not equal causation.”
That is why examining men’s habits when looking at women, even though those habits are well established in common knowledge, is so necessary. Examining the relationships between where men look and how they evaluate women based upon their observations tells us a lot about how perceptions of another person, namely women in this case, tend be formed and what kind of consequences are felt as a result of these perceptions.
What the study confirms is this, men tend to stare at women’s breasts, hips and waist before evaluating them. This was especially true when asked to evaluate their appearances over personality. This type of evaluation is referred to as “objectifying” in the literature produced by the study and was found to yield patterns of evaluation based on body type.
Using technology that tracked the eye movements of the participants, researchers were able to record where gazes fell in on images presented to participants during the experimental process. The study included 36 men and 29 women from a Midwestern University of respectable size. The participants were presented images of women with varying body types and asked to rate them based on the criteria of personality or appearance.
The body types were reflective of social ideals to differing degrees. The high ideal body type was a woman with an “hourglass figure,” meaning she had large breasts and a small waist to hip ratio. Body types then varied all the way to the other extreme, the low ideal figure, which features a woman with small breasts and a bigger hip/waist relation. Men consistently looked to the figure before rating and rated women with the high ideal body type more favorably. They looked to the figure before the face and spent longer on the figure than the face. This was true of those asked to rate based on personality as well. Women with more highly favored body type were still rated higher and this rating was still based disproportionately on their body type than areas such as their face that would hold more indication of personality type.
Men were not the only group to yield this result. The female participants were also recorded as focusing on body type to determine women’s favorability. The effect was less pronounced than men but leads to the discussion that makes the study more meaty than it initially appears.
What does the objectifying male gaze mean to women? Research indicates that it signifies a lot. According to a different study, there are two possible sources for women to learn to self-objectify. The first is from external sources, such as social and media cues, that inform the woman of her tendency to be objectified and normalize the behavior causing it to become an internal process. The second is a self-image issue that drives the woman to seek out social and media cues that reinforce an already preexisting perception of the self as sexual object. The study concluded that external sources informed internal perceptions and that this effect was exacerbated by low self-image. Thus, women are taught to objectify themselves and this lesson is received far better if the woman already does not like herself very much.
This interplay of objectification, internalization and perpetuation permeates society. Evidence of it can be seen far and wide. Even those who are reporting on the outcome of this study have referred to women being evaluated by their “sexual body parts,” intrinsically objectifying women. A more objective and humanizing approach to the discussion would be to refer to those areas as being “sexualized,” because the hips, waist and breasts are not sex organs.
This is not to criticize any reporter, however, as all are imperfect and these tendencies are heavily indoctrinated into our society. It is merely to demonstrate that there is a much deeper meaning to the notion of men “checking out” women. This study clearly confirms that not only do men stare at women’s breasts in order to evaluate them but it also demonstrates women’s tendency to pick up on the cues and objectify themselves and other women.
Written by: Vanessa Blanchard | <urn:uuid:383dfcfa-3e43-41ac-ae53-a2b8cbc56782> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://guardianlv.com/2013/10/study-confirms-that-men-stare-at-womens-breasts/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00193-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979402 | 1,116 | 2.671875 | 3 |
This new report from MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy provides a demographic profile of students in grades 6-12 who are English Language Learners (ELLs). Authors Jeanne Batalova, Michael Fix, and Julie Murray also focus on how adolescent ELL students are faring on standardized tests at the national level and in four states: California, Colorado, Illinois, and North Carolina. The report concentrates on 8th grade, a critical year in determining whether students will eventually drop out of school. The authors find wide achievement gaps between ELL and other students at both national and state levels -- a finding with worrying implications for schools trying to meet requirements set out in the No Child Left Behind Act that all students be proficient in reading and math by 2014.
For more information, visit MPI's National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. | <urn:uuid:06c1f802-34a4-41c2-8cc1-1849fdf9fd08> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://secure.migrationpolicy.org/t/7537/shop/item.jsp?storefront_KEY=219&t=&store_item_KEY=887 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00191-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907076 | 173 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Green-News: Thursday 9.4.08
- Dr. Fuhrman suggests limiting fish, but The Chicago Tribune has just uncovered that pregnant mothers on the east coast eat so much fish that they risk passing deadly mercury onto their babies.
- Back in June a raft made out of recycled garbage affectionately named “Junk” left California and set sail for Hawaii. Three months at sea and 2,600 miles later Junk just dropped anchor at Ala Wai Boat Harbor in Hawaii.
- After studying things like coral reefs and stalagmites, new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has revealed that the earth is hotter now than it was during the previous 2,000 years.
- Wow, here’s a STRANGE upside to the heat wave. Scientists in Norway, the United States and Sweden believe that a hot climate will reduce the number of PLAGUE outbreaks in the United States.
- In related news, one of America’s top military analysts insists that governments in the US and the UK are already planning for “climate wars”. The resulting strife over mass famine, flood refugees or worse, nuclear conflict—via ENN.
- TreeHugger believes that meat-eating should receive the same level of environmental scrutiny as driving and flying. A valid point, because mass meat production does wallop the planet and consume huge amounts of resources.
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4 Walter E. Foran Blvd.Flemington, NJ 08822 | <urn:uuid:4b023778-7024-4390-ae34-ab8e7e2b6aa1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/green-living-greennews-thursday-9408-print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00186-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923555 | 331 | 2.578125 | 3 |
THE MONEY MULTIPLIERS
The simple money multiplier, m, assumes that only one asset serves as
a perfectly liquid medium of exchange: DD's. Our definition of the money
supply, Ms, is correspondingly simple:
Our formula for the simple multiplier is as follows:
The complex money multiplier, mm, assumes there are two assets that serve
as a perfectly liquid medium of exchange: DD's and C. Our money supply
is now defined as:
The required reserve ratio, r, can be defined as follows:
The cash-deposit ratio, c, can be defined as follows:
The monetary base, MB, can be defined as follows:
The money supply can now be rewritten as:
Our complex money multiplier is the ratio of the money supply to the monetary
MB = RR + C
MB = rDD + cDD = DD(r+c)
mm = MS/MB = DD(1+c)/DD(r+c)
This complex multiplier will allow us to see the effects of a change in
the cash-deposit ratio, c, on the multiplier, mm. For example, assume r
= 10% and c = 20%. Our mm for these values is 4 (verify by doing the calculation).
Assume that people prefer to hold more of their money as cash so that c'
= 40%. Our new mm is now 2.8 (verify by doing the calculation).
mm = (1+c)/(r+c) | <urn:uuid:0338e920-738d-4bb7-ac97-53c0a4a8f0eb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pitt.edu/~upjecon/BERGER/0115002_ho3.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895147 | 318 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Carl David Anderson
Carl David Anderson (September 3, 1905 – January 11, 1991) was an American physicist. He is best known for his discovery of the positron in 1932, an achievement for which he received the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physics, and of the muon in 1936.
|This article about a physicist is a stub. You can help Wikiquote by expanding it.|
- The atom can't be seen, yet its existence can be proved. And it is simple to prove that it can't ever be seen. It has to be studied by indirect evidence — and the technical difficulty has been compared to asking a man who has never seen a piano to describe a piano from the sound it would make falling downstairs in the dark.
- As quoted in Carl Anderson. Some notes about his life and work at Caltech. The first of a series of biographical sketches of Caltech faculty members. Engineering and Science, Vol. 15:1 (October 1951)
Quotes about AndersonEdit
- ... Carl Anderson told me what life was like after he got his Ph.D. under Millikan in 1930. Dirac had proposed the existence of a partner to the electron, its antiparticle, and Carl wanted to find it by converting γ-rays found in the debris of cosmic rays into what we now call electron-positron pairs. He needs to get a big magnet, and build a cloud chamber with a lead plate and camera. When he asks Millikan for money, Millikan reaches into his pocket and gives him some. Carl goes to a couple of junk shops for supplies and gets to work. When the magnet, cloud chamber, and camera are finished, Carl puts them, together with food and a sleeping bag, into his old Model T Ford, and drives up the unpaved Mount Wilson Observatory road into the San Gabriel Mountains behind Pasadena. Carl is on his way to discovering the positron. | <urn:uuid:4444c8bb-b8e4-4bc9-9e08-50ca0e2273cf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_David_Anderson | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00106-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971648 | 391 | 3.125 | 3 |
The Great Famine is an event seared into Irish national memory. Although the victims of the Great Hunger are rightfully remembered and commemorated, as is the physical fact that vast numbers of people were forced to leave, Ireland today largely leaves the memory of these emigrants at the dock, as they boarded ships to a new life far from home. Preserving the memory and experiences of emigrants once they arrived in their new countries has for the most part been left to their own descendants, despite the broader pride that Ireland takes in her global diaspora.
Perhaps the most stark example of this is the way Ireland views the American Civil War. At the commencement of that conflict 1.6 million Irish-born people lived in the United States, the vast majority having arrived as a direct consequence of the Famine. In New York City, which in 1860 had a population of 793,186, a little over one in four people were born in Ireland. In the region of 170,000 Irish-born men fought during the conflict, and tens of thousands most certainly died. Irish communities in cities such as New Orleans and Memphis experienced the war up close, as did those who bore witness to the New York Draft Riots in 1863. The effects of the conflict on the families of those lost or severely injured often lasted well into the twentieth century. The Irish experience of the American Civil War is a popular theme in the United States, where a large number of historians and enthusiasts study, commemorate and remember the huge influence the war had on the Irish community. (1)
This is in stark contrast to the way the conflict is viewed in Ireland. Despite the sheer scale of Irish involvement, the American Civil War is largely viewed as just another foreign war in which the Irish fought, often regarded alongside Irish soldiers who fought in the service of France and Spain. There is little idea of the sheer scale of that involvement, or of what it meant to the hundreds of thousands of Irish people, survivors of the Great Famine, who with the Civil War had to endure the second great trauma of their lives. Many had survived the failure of the potato and the coffin ships only to fall on battlefields in Virginia or Tennessee. Few publications appear in Ireland on the Irish experience of the Civil War, there are few memorials, and its impact is little discussed. Although some of the more famous Irishmen involved do receive a level of recognition (a particularly impressive example being Thomas Francis Meagher in Waterford), those who had a connection with Fenianism or Irish nationalism are far more likely to be remembered than those who did not (for instance Patrick Cleburne remains virtually unknown in the land of his birth). This is particularly noticeable in the extremely low-level of interest generated thus far within the country on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the conflict.
An interesting comparison can be seen in relation to those Irish who fought in World War One. For decades the memory of these men was disgracefully set aside as a result of later political developments. However, in the last fifteen years a welcome rehabilitation has occurred and the Irish experience of World War One is once more discussed and debated. Indeed it has now become a dominant theme, with a proliferation of books on the Irish in the conflict, a renewal of interest in regimental associations and increasing focus on the war in the regional and national media. It seems certain that between 2014 and 2018 a major series of events will occur in Ireland around the centennial of that war. In the region of 200,000 Irishmen fought in that war, and somewhere in the vicinity of 30,000 lost their lives. As David Fitzpatrick has stated, it represented ‘proportionately the greatest deployment of armed manpower in the history of Irish militarism.’ There is only one conflict that comes close to this in the Irish military experience- the American Civil War- where Irish involvement almost mirrors the figures seen in the Great War. Yet the respective attention and neglect could not be more stark. (2)
What is the reason for the difference in attention these two conflicts receive? Firstly, World War One is more recent, and has become a major focus of commemoration across Europe, as the last veterans have recently passed away and the centennial quickly approaches. Irish veterans of that war left from Ireland and came back to Ireland, where as Irish veterans of the American Civil War did not. But perhaps the main reason is that families in Ireland today can directly associate with World War One, as many of their antecedents fought in it. Interest in an event such as the Great War naturally grows when one can view the conflict through the prism of a direct ancestor. The Irish who were caught up in the American Civil War do not have this advantage, because they do not have any direct descendants here. The finality of their departure from Ireland in the 19th century is thus accentuated; the 1.6 million Irish in the United States in 1860 became divorced from their homeland, and ultimately interest in their experiences faded in the land of their birth. It was for their Irish-American descendants to remember them, a role which they continue to do admirably.
It is saddening that what these emigrants endured after they left Ireland is not of more relevance for Irish people and the Irish State today. Our failure to appropriately recognise their continued Irishness after their emigration perpetuates the tragedy caused by events such as the Famine. Although Ireland is and always will be proud of her global diaspora, surely the time has now come for us to reclaim an interest in the experiences of those first Irish emigrants who created it.
(1) Ural Bruce 2006:13; (2) Fitzpatrick 1997: 388;
Bruce, Susannah Ural 2006. The Harp and the Eagle: Irish-American Volunteers and the Union Army, 1861- 1865
Fitzpatrick, David 1997. ‘Militarism in Ireland 1900-1922′ in Bartlett Thomas and Jeffery Keith (eds.) A Military History of Ireland | <urn:uuid:886fea8a-98b5-43a8-ae6a-f423bfe8b83a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://irishamericancivilwar.com/2012/09/08/irelands-forgotten-famine-generation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00135-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975125 | 1,219 | 3.890625 | 4 |
BU Researchers Suggest Answer to Universal Question: Why Aren’t There More Stars?
Embargo expired: 20-Aug-2012 9:00 AM EDT
Source Newsroom: Boston University College of Arts and Sciences
Newswise — Boston—Boston University undergraduate researcher Rob Marchwinski and his colleagues in BU’s Astronomy Department may have found the answer to a universal question: Why aren’t there more stars?
A possible answer to that question presented itself to Marchwinski while he, graduate student Michael Pavel and Professor of Astronomy Dan Clemens used new data from the Galactic Plane Infrared Polarization Survey (GPIPS) to create the first complete map of magnetic field strength in a large, interstellar gas cloud. (The GPIPS is being conducted by BU astronomers on the 1.8-meter Perkins telescope, which is shared by Boston University and Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.)
Stars form when large clouds of interstellar gas and dust nucleate or form centers, eventually consolidating into dense cores, which in tum collapse under the force of gravity. While the steps in the star formation process have become better understood in recent years, the rate at which new stars form has remained something of a mystery. Indeed, most models predict there should be up to ten times more stars forming than are observed. What is preventing stars from forming at faster rates?
Working with more than 3000 infrared polarization measurements—out of the roughly one million gathered by the GPIPS—Marchwinski was able to identify the very weak magnetic field present in a gas cloud located about 6000 light-years away in the constellation Aquila. The huge cloud, spanning an area of 30 by 120 light-years, contains more than 17,000 times the mass of the Sun in diffuse gas and dust. However, despite its enormous size, the BU researchers have measured an average magnetic field strength of just over five micro-Gauss—about one hundred thousand times weaker than the magnetic field on Earth.
They also found seven dense cores within the cloud, with average masses of one hundred times that of the Sun. These cores, which eventually will develop into new stars, are also sites of somewhat stronger magnetic field strengths that are just strong enough to prevent gravitational collapse. "It is surprising that magnetic fields as weak as these can disrupt star formation, but it seems to be the case in this cloud," said Marchwinski.
The BU findings, representing the first complete and detailed map of the magnetic field strength in an interstellar cloud, was published today [Aug 20] in The Astrophysical Journal [The Astrophysical Journal, 755:130 (10pp), 2012 August 20; doi:10.1088/0004-637X/755/2/130]. This study and the GPIPS project were made possible by support from the National Science Foundation and Boston University’s partnership with the Lowell Observatory.
About Boston University—Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized private research university with more than 30,000 students participating in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. As Boston University’s largest academic division, the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences is the heart of the BU experience with a global reach that enhances the University’s reputation for teaching and research. | <urn:uuid:07abf081-e6b1-4786-b52b-1520a1c1a2fb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.newswise.com/articles/bu-researchers-suggest-answer-to-universal-question-why-aren-t-there-more-stars | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00099-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939383 | 675 | 3.515625 | 4 |
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Would you still watch your favorite television program if you had to cycle for an hour before you could view it?
A computer-generated image of Club Watt, Rotterdam's human-powered club.
Couch potatoes will be horrified, but fresh advances in human-powered technology -- where users power appliances through their own motion -- could one day see a 'workout-to-watch' scenario become reality.
Human power is rapidly gaining in popularity worldwide as businesses seek 'greener' methods of operating.
The profile of the technology is set to receive a further boost this month when a human-powered gym opens in Portland, Oregon, and again in September when the human-powered 'sustainable dance club', Club Watt, opens its doors in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Human power is already being used to run the 'California Fitness' gym in Hong Kong, and to power the recently opened 'Club Surya' in London.
iReport.com: Can you predict what the future will be like?
Beyond all of this, further concepts have been developed for human-powered 'river gyms' for the waterways of New York.
But, how does your sweat and strain turn into power for lights, music and machines?
The general concept is known as energy harvesting, which simply refers to the gathering of energy from one source and applying it to power an object.
Italian inventor Lucien Gambarota, who designed California Fitness's method of storing energy and using it to power lights and music in the gym, told CNN the concept is straightforward.
"One of the oldest types of energy used by people is muscular energy -- so this is nothing new."
Gambarota said machines such as exercycles created a load, used as a counter-force by means of a resistor.
"I disconnected the resistor and started storing the energy into a battery... that is then used as power. It was a way to show there can be very simple solutions. It doesn't always have to be high-tech," he said.
Portland's 'green' gym will have spinning bikes connected to wind-generator motors. The users should generate enough electricity to power the gym's music system or run personal DVD players on the machines, the gym's manager Adam Boesel predicts.
While harnessing the energy from people working out at a gym seems logical, utilising the movement of clubbers at dance clubs is a little more complex.
Two methods have developed -- the first of which is piezoelectricity, used by Club Surya, where crystals in blocks under the dance-floor rub together with the assistance of dancers on the floor. This generates an electrical charge which is then fed into batteries.
A second method using wheels to generate energy under a slightly moving floor will be used at the soon-to-be-opened Club Watt. This model involves coils and magnets which move under the dance-floor to create a charge.
Vera Verkooijen, spokeswoman for Sustainable Dance Club, the company which is behind the floor for Club Watt and produces smaller, portable floors, said the human power would be enough to power about 30 percent of the club's requirements.
Verkooijen admitted the first floors were not very efficient, and said the designers were already working on new models to improve the amount of energy captured.
"This is just the first version. We are willing to take it further," she said.
At Club Surya the power shortfall is made up by solar panels and a wind turbine.
Putting the current buzz aside, how far could this human-powered technology develop? And how widely can it be applied?
Verkooijen told CNN she already had some indications of where the technology was heading.
"We receive a lot of requests from other companies for people who want to use the floors. We get many of these for bus and train stations -- places where there are lots of people."
Lights and display boards at those spaces could be powered applying the same concept as that being used in Club Watt, she said.
Evert Raaijen, technical director of energy conversion company Exendis, felt the technology could have a number of different applications. From pedal-powered computers on bicycles, to self-powered soldiers in militaries, Raaijen predicted human power would be developed widely in coming years.
"I think it's a science field which will be one of the future," he said.
Gambarota believed there were ways human power could be brought into practical use in the home.
He had generated an idea of using human-powered batteries for television or portable video game consoles.
"With so many kids not exercising enough, a battery could be created for these devices so they had to create the energy to use them. The same could be done for television sets.
"We could get the situation where people have to cycle so they can use it," Gambarota said.
Despite these potential developments, human-power is attracting its share of criticism.
Although he shows enthusiasm for the battery project, Gambarota, who now spends much of his time developing micro wind turbines, is sceptical about the future of human-power on a mass-scale.
He raises doubts about the efficiency of human power and questioned its economic viability.
The average amount of power one person could produce going about normal activities on any given day was about one kilowatt-hour (kWh), which only amounted to about € 0.10 worth of electricity, Gambarota said.
"It's a very good marketing tool for businesses, but in terms of economics it does not make sense at all."
The main reason it was being used was because companies wanted to "look green, taste green and smell green", he said.
Raaijen, who was consulted on the Sustainable Dance Floor project, agreed that opting for human-powered technology at present was not a financially-based decision.
"The project (dance floor) in itself doesn't save a lot of energy. It's more of a statement than anything."
Observing recent trends, the sustained drive for 'green energy' should continue to push human-powered technology forward, and despite the limitations to development, human-powered gyms, dance clubs, and maybe even video game consoles are likely to feature strongly in our immediate future. | <urn:uuid:b1feee9e-9be3-4a8a-8dc0-95d54b7d638e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/01/Human.power/index.html?iref=nextin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00006-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969 | 1,321 | 2.546875 | 3 |
When we're sick, we need to feel that others care and are ready to give of their time to us. Bikur cholim, visiting the sick, is the mitzvah that requires we do this.
It is considered such an important mitzvah that the rabbis say that through doing it we are imitating God, who came to visit Abraham when he was recovering from his circumcision (Talmud Sotah 14a).
Maimonides gives precise instructions as to how to fulfil the mitzvah, for example, not to visit during the first and last three hours of the day - as that is when the invalid receives treatment - or sit so that you are looking down on the invalid.
When Rabbi Akiva was leaving the home of a sick student, the frail boy called out "You just saved my life". At which Rabbi Akiva declared, "Anyone who does not visit the sick is like a murderer" (Talmud Nedarim 40a).
Holistic understandings of health shed light on the story. Boosting people's morale and raising their spirits when they are sick can help them to get better | <urn:uuid:4b19771d-1c77-4e0f-a1ef-90586e8a39d9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.thejc.com/print/67474 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00086-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976134 | 236 | 2.703125 | 3 |
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Hyperbole, apostrophe, ambiguous are explored here.
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Start Your Free Trial | <urn:uuid:99085b56-ca5b-4ddd-bdf2-cf33c92de77b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.teachervision.com/literary-techniques/printable/2664.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00147-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.869925 | 112 | 4.3125 | 4 |
How warm is that bologna sandwich and yogurt you pack for your preschooler every morning?
More than 90 percent of foods packed in lunches for children ages 3 to 5 years probably are kept at unsafe temperatures and pose serious health risks, according to a recent study published in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers looked at food stored at Texas preschools and child-care centers and found that the typical lunch temperature was 62 degrees.
Perishable foods that are stored between 40 degrees and 140 degrees for more than two hours are unsafe, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.“Bacteria grow very rapidly in that danger zone,” said Linnette Goard, a food-safety specialist at Ohio State University. “With preschool-age children, there’s an even higher risk of food-borne-illness outbreaks because their immune systems aren’t fully developed.”< /p>
Parents should take precautions to keep foods safe, said Michael Thiel, an inspector with Columbus Public Health who visits schools and child-care centers.
Thiel recommends using an insulated lunch box that contains at least one large ice pack. In the Texas study, 40 percent of lunches included no ice.“Or, to play it safe, you could seek out ready-to-eat foods that don’t need to stay cold and still create a balanced meal for your child,” Thiel said.
All lunches served in pre-kindergarten programs must meet federal guidelines for nutritional content, even if they’re brought from home. There are no guidelines, however, for storing packed lunches.
Children’s Castle EduCare in Hilliard doesn’t have a kitchen, so all students bring food from home. However, parents must use insulated lunch boxes that contain at least one large ice pack.
“We’ve had this policy since day one, and it’s very important,” said Sheri Lee, the school’s director. “A brown bag isn’t going to keep anything cold, and we don’t have enough fridge space for everyone.”
Some schools say they have room in refrigerators for packed food. Others, such as Gardner School in Dublin, don’t allow students to bring sack lunches because of allergy risks.“But I’m sure in other schools without a kitchen, where most students have to pack, the heat can make safely storing lunches a nightmare,” said Trish Edwards, the school’s director.The University of Texas researchers have expanded their study to test how well lunch boxes maintain adequately low temperatures. Researcher Margaret Briley, a nutritional scientist, said she and others are analyzing the findings and hope to publish soon.
“We are in hopes we can tell parents not only the problem but the best solution we could find in the marketplace,” Briley said in an email. | <urn:uuid:d8640f65-cf49-4e72-b8b6-35457b19377b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/07/29/health/keep-your-kids-bologna-cool.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00066-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955957 | 611 | 2.953125 | 3 |
LINGUIST List 24.3294|
Fri Aug 16 2013
Review: Phonetics; Phonology: Zsiga (2013)
Editor for this issue: Rajiv Rao
From: Avizia Long <aylongindiana.edu>
Subject: The Sounds of Language
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/24/24-347.html
AUTHOR: Elizabeth C. Zsiga
TITLE: The Sounds of Language
SUBTITLE: An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology
SERIES TITLE: LAWZ - Linguistics in the World
REVIEWER: Avizia Long, Indiana University Bloomington
The primary purpose of this book is to provide an introduction to the linguistic study of phonetics and phonology. As it is an introductory text, it is intended for undergraduate and beginning graduate students of linguistics, regardless of their particular language(s) of study. A secondary (but equal) purpose of this book is to serve as a pedagogical resource for instructors.
This book is comprehensive in terms of content, covering nearly all topics related to phonetics and phonology over 20 chapters. It also contains exercises and problem sets at the end of each chapter, along with references for further reading and ancillary materials online (http://www.wiley.com/go/zsiga). In the following paragraphs, I provide very brief summaries of each chapter.
Chapter 1, “The Vocal Tract,” covers in detail all parts of the vocal tract as well as the tools and methods researchers have used to see it. This material is presented primarily in prose, with accompanying figures containing diagrams of the different parts of the vocal tract discussed. Tools and methods discussed include x-rays, ultrasound, and MRI, and photos resulting from the use of each of these tools are included in figures.
Chapter 2, “Basics of Articulation: Manner and Place in English,” describes how speech sounds are made and introduces phonetic transcription, with a focus on English. Consonant sounds are covered first, followed by vowels. With regard to the discussion of consonant sounds, the presentation of information is divided by place and manner of articulation, following the arrangement of the IPA chart. For both consonants and vowels, charts are included that provide several examples of each English sound organized by phonetic symbol, and additionally, by distribution (i.e. word initial, medial, or final position) for consonants.
Chapter 3, “A Tour of the Consonants,” covers pulmonic and non-pulmonic consonants cross-linguistically, and concludes with English positional variation. The discussion of pulmonic consonants is divided into three sections: (1) stops, nasals, and fricatives; (2) laterals, trills, taps, and other approximants; and (3) contour and complex segments. Non-pulmonic consonants are organized by implosives, ejectives, and clicks. Throughout this chapter, several examples are provided, as well as photos demonstrating pulmonic consonant sounds.
Chapter 4, “A Map of the Vowels,” first discusses how vowels and consonants are related, and then covers how vowel systems are described across languages. The text covers key dimensions of vowel quality, including height and backness, rounding, and the tense/lax distinction. A discussion of nasality, length, and tone are also included. Several examples are provided in several languages, including French, Turkish, Vietnamese, and European Portuguese, as well as an oral diagram and MRI image to exemplify tongue root position and orality versus nasality, respectively.
Chapter 5, “Anatomy, Physiology, and Gestural Coordination,” covers the anatomy and physiology of respiration and the vocal tract, introduces and describes gestural coordination, and concludes with the purpose of and steps for palatography. The author clearly guides the reader through anatomy and physiology using a combination of images and instructions for the reader to follow in order to better understand the process of respiration and the functioning of the larynx and tongue. Coverage of gestural coordination is brief, and mainly serves to demonstrate how the parts work as a whole. The steps for palatography are detailed and accompanied by images so that the reader may also try this on his/her own.
Chapter 6, “The Physics of Sound: Pendulums, Pebbles, and Waves,” defines sound and covers the specifics of sound propagation, intensity, and resonance. Key concepts covered include harmonic motion, complex waves, decibels, and resonance. The chapter concludes with an introduction to Source-Filter Theory, where the vocal tract is likened to a resonating system, so that the text may transition to speech analysis (Chapter 7).
Chapter 7, “Looking at Speech: Waveforms, Spectra, and Spectrograms,” first provides an overview of the tools and methods for conducting speech analysis, both historically and currently. Tools include the kymograph (famously used by Daniel Jones), sound spectrographs, and contemporary tools that digitize speech. The second half of the chapter is dedicated to explaining the composition of waveforms, spectra, and spectrograms. Several figures of spectrograms are included throughout in order to exemplify English words containing a diverse range of consonant sounds.
Chapter 8, “Speech Analysis: Under the Hood,” covers the “mathematics” of sounds (including a discussion of sinusoid waves, harmonics, and basic formulas for wavelength and frequency), as well as the “behind the scenes” of speech analysis using a computer, including RMS amplitude and autocorrelation pitch analysis.
Chapter 9, “Hearing and Speech Perception,” covers the anatomy and physiology of the ear, neuro-anatomy, and relevant issues related to speech perception. Presentation of material for the anatomy and physiology of the ear is very detailed and includes several diagrams to present the same information visually. Regarding neuro-anatomy, the author includes information on how the brain has been studied, followed by parts of the brain that are fundamental to speech perception (e.g. auditory nerve, cochlear nuclei, etc.). Issues related to speech perception discussed in this chapter include non-linearity (i.e. non-linear mapping from acoustics to perception), inherent variability in speech production, and cue integration.
Chapter 10, “Phonology 1: Abstraction, Contrast, Predictability,” discusses why abstraction is necessary for the study of sound patterns, as well as historical and current methods for phonemic analysis, including Structuralism and Behaviorism.
Chapter 11, “Phonotactics and Alternations,” covers phonotactic constraints as well as the types of alternations present across languages at the segmental level. The discussion of phonotactic constraints is tied into theoretical perspectives (generative and psycholinguistic) of what it means to know a language, and also covers borrowings. Alternations discussed include assimilation, dissimilation, lenition, debuccalization, fortition, and several others (see p. 233 for a complete list with definitions and examples, cross-linguistically). Several examples are provided throughout in several different languages.
Chapter 12, “What is a Possible Language? Distinctive Features,” provides a detailed overview and background of formalism, highlighting how distinctive features (i.e. discrete characteristics that distinguish classes of sounds) fit into respective analyses. These features are organized by manner, laryngeal, and place distinctions for consonants, and by tongue and lip articulation for vowels. Several examples are provided throughout, as well as several charts to visually represent different combinations of distinctive features covered in the text.
Chapter 13, “Rules and Derivations in Generative Grammar,” introduces generative grammars and the notion of underlying and surface representations. It also provides several examples of how to write rules using the notation found in ‘The Sound Pattern of English’ (i.e. SPE notation, Chomsky & Halle, 1968). This chapter also introduces autosegmental representations and Feature Geometry. Several example analyses are presented and explained, which are helpful for viewing how to use the associated notation.
Chapter 14, “Constraint-based phonology,” introduces Optimality Theory (OT) (Prince & Smolensky, 1993/2004) and walks the reader through several exercises employing OT analysis at the segmental level. The exercises are presented visually and explained thoroughly, and reflect a wide range of languages.
Chapter 15, “Syllables and Prosodic Domains,” introduces suprasegmental aspects of speech, focusing on the syllable, word, and phrase levels. All information is accompanied by several diagrams and examples in a variety of languages.
Chapter 16, “Stress,” introduces the notion of linguistic stress and discusses respective correlates cross-linguistically, including length, pitch, loudness, and clarity of articulation. The last half of this chapter focuses on stress in English, dividing the discussion by nouns, verbs and adjectives, and words with affixes.
Chapter 17, “Tone and Intonation,” is the last chapter dedicated to suprasegmental phonology, and provides an overview of tonal and intonational representations and tonal alternations across languages. The discussion of tonal alternations is organized geographically (the Americas, Africa, and Asia), and several examples and figures are included to exemplify key concepts discussed. The chapter concludes by defining intonation and introducing the notation used to describe intonational contours.
Chapter 18, “Diachronic Change,” discusses language change and uses the example of Proto-Indo-European to cover historical reconstruction. The discussion of language change includes causes and effects of change, as well as types of change evidenced in English (e.g. lenition, fortition, epenthesis, etc.). The changes evidenced in English are exemplified through four versions of a biblical text.
Chapter 19, “Variation,” primarily covers variation in the English language by geographic location (North America, England, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa) and introduces frameworks that examine linguistic variation (e.g. variable rules from sociolinguistics and Stochastic OT). Key concepts relevant to variation presented in this chapter include dialect, register, socioeconomic class, ethnicity, gender, and identity.
Chapter 20, “Acquisition and Learning,” covers first language and second language acquisition, exploring topics related to the context of learning, production, perception, and current theoretical frameworks. Tools and methods for analysis are included and discussed, including contemporary psycholinguistic methods, such as event-related potentials (ERPs). Second language perception and production are covered using studies examining the learning of a wide variety of languages.
This book provides an updated introduction to the linguistic study of phonetics and phonology. The author indicates in the preface to the book that it is intended to serve as an introductory text for undergraduate and/or beginning graduate phonetics and/or phonology classes. To that end, this book meets the goal of serving as an introductory text on several counts. First, the presentation of all content is very approachable, with language that is suitable for a true beginner to phonetics and phonology. This is a particularly strong point of this book, given that original sources covering theory (e.g. Chomsky & Halle, 1968; Prince & Smolensky, 1993/2004) are not necessarily approachable for a beginning student. This book also meets the goal of serving as an introductory text by offering several ancillary resources both inside and outside of the text. As indicated in the summary above, at the end of each chapter are references for further reading and several exercises that do not appear in other texts. Additionally, more exercises are provided for each chapter on the companion site available through the publisher. Lastly, regarding the goal of this book, examples are offered for all content in several languages. This is another strong point of the book, and further allows readers to observe firsthand how the theoretical frameworks covered are applied across typologically distinct languages. Overall, this book accomplishes the goal of serving as an introductory text, and would serve as an excellent companion to other texts that focus on specific languages (e.g. ‘The Sounds of Spanish,’ Hualde, 2005 and books within that series). Although it is directed toward instructors of phonetics and phonology, it may also serve as a resource for instructors of introductory linguistics courses who often incorporate a phonetics and/or phonology component into their program of studies.
Another strength of this book is the coherent presentation of theory (once presented) throughout. This is first evident in the preface to the book, where the author presents student readers with several questions to consider while reading the text. These questions challenge student readers to think not only about what sounds are, but also how sounds fit together more broadly into the act of communication, and more generally “what phonetics and phonology is all about.” Phonetics and phonology are treated separately throughout the text, while areas of overlap are discussed. Once relevant frameworks are introduced, they are continually referenced where applicable throughout the text. For example, the chapters covering rule-based (Chapter 13) and constraint-based phonology (Chapter 14) are not only applied to segmental phonology, but also suprasegmental phonology. Similarly, areas of overlap between constraint-based phonology and variation are covered in the chapter on variation (Chapter 19). These are only a couple of examples of how the content of the text -- particularly, relevant theoretical frameworks -- is coherently interrelated throughout.
Although the text has a primarily introductory purpose, the author provides a clear sense of remaining challenges related to the study of phonetics and phonology and often indicates “where we stand” theoretically and empirically. This is another aspect of this book that makes it a strong introductory text - it aids the beginning reader in making connections and understanding where theoretical perspectives converge and diverge. It also shows how the study of phonetics and phonology has been applied to other fields of linguistics, including language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and historical linguistics. These connections and applications are evident throughout each chapter of the second half of the book, and are useful for beginning readers.
A final note related to the intended use of the text is the author’s explanation of how to use the text for instruction. I found this information particularly useful in that it can guide instructors on the core readings for a one-semester or two-semester phonetics and/or phonology course.
Overall, this book represents a strong introductory text to the study of phonetics and phonology in a classroom setting. I believe the most compelling aspect of the text is the quantity and quality of information included -- there is as little or as much content as an instructor may need in order to provide a resource for beginning or advanced students, and all information is presented in a coherent, approachable manner. This is particularly the case for the first four chapters and those chapters covering theory. I believe this text can stand on its own in a course dedicated to the study of phonetics and/or phonology or certain chapters can be easily adopted in courses that may only touch on phonetics and/or phonology (or aspects of this field of study) for a few weeks.
Chomsky, Noam and Halle, Morris. 1968. The Sound Pattern of English. New York: Harper and Row.
Prince, Alan and Smolensky, Paul. 2004. Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Hualde, José Ignacio. 2005. The Sounds of Spanish. New York: Cambridge University Press.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Avizia Yim Long is a PhD student of Hispanic Linguistics at Indiana University. Her research interests include second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and phonetics and phonology.
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Restoration in progress at Kinmont Buck Barrow. Cumbria Wildlife Trust
Cumbria Wildlife Trust is helping landowners protect wetlands on farms across Cumbria, demonstrating new restoration techniques and building partnerships to start to protect Cumbria's peatlands. The project is working on a wide range of important wetland habitats in Cumbria including fens, blanket bog and lowland raised mire. The majority of these habitats occur on relatively deep peat soils which are collectively known as peatlands.
Peatland restoration in action
Watch this short film to find out why this project is so important.
Want to know more?
This next film explain how Cumbria Wildlife Trust is working with farmers to restore peatlands.
Read more about peatland restoration below and find out how you can help
What are peatlands?
Peatlands are wetlands with a thick, waterlogged layer of soil (peat), made up of decaying plant material. In waterlogged soil without oxygen dead plants cannot rot so they slowly build up as thick layers of peat, taking about 1,000 years per metre depth.
Bog moss (Sphagnum) is the main peat-forming plant. It doesn't grow on peatlands - it is the peatland. Squeeze a handful; the plant holds up to 20 times its own weight in water! By holding rainwater, moss keeps the surface damp. It dies below, forming peat that builds above the original water table, holding water tightly. Though solid, peat is full of water; soft and easily damaged
What's the problem?
Peatlands urgently need careful management. If the Sphagnum moss is damaged, the surface dries, crumbles and cracks in summer; later rapidly eroding during severe weather. Peat locks up carbon dioxide ( a greenhouse gas) which plants collect from the atmosphere, but our damaged peatlands are decomposing, releasing carbon back again.
At least 70 per cent of English peatlands are damaged by drainage, heavy grazing, regular burning, cultivation, forestry or other management. Scotland and Wales appear similar. Cumbria Wildlife Trust's survey of bogs in the Lake District also confirmed that most have been damaged, prompting us to take action.
Why restore peatlands?
Restoring the balance of nature benefits people and wildlife. UK governments have recognised the value for money in paying landowners for peatland ecosystem services to buffer society from potentially huge costs of climate change and pollution.
Peatlands are the UK's largest carbon store - with 28.5 million tonnes in the Lake district alone. A five per cent loss of UK peat soils would be equal to the entire annual man-made carbon emission.
Water quality and drinking water.
70 per cent of UK drinking water is from upland (generally peat dominated) catchments.
Blocking drains slows run-off and wetlands in valleys store floodwater.
Peat has preserved remarkable ancient graves and wooden artefacts that haven't survived elsewhere.
Fascinating specialist species including carnivorous plants have adapted to the harsh peatland environment. Many have population strongholds in Cumbria. The most threatened species depend on the wettest bogs or need large areas of continuous habitat.
Credit:Cumbria Wildlife Trust
Credit: Margaret Holland
Small pearl bordered fritillary
How you can help
If you have an area of wetland you might be interested in restoring or want to find out more about volunteering with the project then contact either Brendan (Brendanb@cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk) or Simon (SimonT@cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk) or phone 01539 816300
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The shoulder refers both to the joint that connects the arm to the upper body, but also to the whole area of the body, front and back, between the neck and the upper arm. When referring to “the shoulders,” the area from shoulder to shoulder across the back may be included as well. Thus shoulder pain can involve only one side or the whole upper torso, and the most common causes of shoulder pain maybe due to a discrete problem in the shoulder or an issue originating in a different location.
Many people know that pain or pressure felt in the middle of the chest or pain in the left arm is an indication that immediate medical attention should be sought, as it may indicate a heart attack. Fewer people realize that the pain may manifest in the left neck or the left shoulder. In any case, a call to 911 and immediate transport to an emergency room is in order.
Helicobacter pylori infections can have some similarities to the symptoms of a heart attack. In this case, however, pain tends to be between the shoulder blades. Be advised that this is a type of infection that is not always recommended to treat, as there can be undesirable outcomes from eradicating it.
Bursitis, a painful inflammation of the bursae, small fluid-filled sacs that pad the muscles, bones, and tendons at the joints, frequently occurs at the shoulders. Symptoms include aching, stiffness, or pain, which may be accompanied by swelling and redness. It is often brought on by repetitive motion, and may be eased by rest or require further treatment. Once experienced, it has a tendency to recur.
Trauma to the shoulder can result in fractures to its three bones — the scapula or shoulder blade, the clavicle or collar bone, and the humerus or arm bone — or other injuries, any of which may cause shoulder pain. The other injuries can be of two main types. One type includes dislocations and the other is damage to the soft tissue of the shoulder — the joint capsule, ligaments, muscles, rotator cuff, and tendons. These are treated without or with surgery, depending on the severity and type, and both a period of immobilization and rehabilitation are generally needed.
Polymyalgia rheumatica is a rheumatic disease that involves the whole range of elements around the joint: ligaments, muscles, and tendons. Its symptoms include both pain and stiffness at the joints, particularly in the neck and shoulders, and especially in the morning, but may extend to systemic symptoms such as fatigue and fever. It is treated primarily with over-the-counter (OTC) pain medications and steroids.
Other conditions that may cause shoulder pain commonly include shingles and cancer. Shingles is a rash that is caused by the same virus responsible for chickenpox. Certain types of cancer can cause pain in the shoulder. This includes lung cancer and breast cancer.
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Confucianism and Its Rivals, by Herbert A. Giles, , at sacred-texts.com
The eleventh century was not favourable to the growth either of Buddhism or of Taoism. In 1033 the Emperor, who at the age of twenty had just taken over the reins of government, gave orders to stop building or repairing any more temples; and from this date it is noticeable that the two religions no longer wielded quite the same influence at Court as under the Tang dynasty, neither were the people so often confused by those sudden transitions from one faith to the other. A reason for this may be found in the number of remarkable men, ardent supporters of Confucianism, who were the product of this age. There was Chêng Hao, a profound scholar, who soon made his reputation as an official by the suppression of a stone image of Buddha, which had been acquired by some Buddhist monastery, and which was said to emit bright rays, once a year, from its head. Large crowds of men and women were attracted to witness the miracle, and disorderly scenes ensued. Chêng Hao invited the abbot to forward the image to his official residence, alleging that he had been unable to inspect it in
public, the result being that the spiritual manifestation was no longer continued.
There was Wang An-shih, the socialist reformer, who based his economic innovations upon new interpretations of the Confucian Canon, and whose tablet was placed in the Confucian temple, only to be removed a hundred and forty years later, when it was discovered that he had neither written nor done anything to advance the cause for which the temple had been established. As before stated, the Chinese, like other nations, have often been too hasty in their canonizations; but, unlike many other nations who preserve memorials of persons scarcely entitled to national remembrance, the Chinese, sooner or later, admit their mistake, and cancel the injudiciously granted diploma. One striking example belongs to this very time. A statesman, poet, and essayist, whose name, Su Tung-po, is still a household word, and whose writings fascinate all students, died in the year 1101. In 1235, one hundred and thirty-four years afterwards, his tablet was placed in the Confucian temple. It was wrongly so placed; for although his writings may be styled imperishable, they in no way help to demonstrate the truth and value of Confucianism. Yet that tablet remained in its place of honour for over six hundred years, to be removed only so recently as 1845. His views with regard to the old Confucian concept of God may be gathered from a well-known short essay, entitled "The Arbour to Joyful Rain." On his appointment as Governor at a new post, he put his
garden in order and built himself a kiosque near some running water, "intending," as he says, "to use it as a refuge from the business of life. In that very year," he continues, "it rained wheat (see p. 55); and the soothsayers predicted in consequence that the ensuing year would be most prosperous. However, for a whole month no rain fell, and the people became alarmed at the prospect. Then rain fell at intervals, but not in sufficient quantities. At length it poured incessantly for three days. Thereupon, great congratulations were exchanged between officials; tradesmen and traders sang songs of glee in the market-place, while farmers wished each other joy across the furrowed fields. The sorrowful were gladdened; the sick were made whole. And precisely at that moment my kiosque was completed. So I spread a feast there, and invited a number of guests, of whom I inquired, What would have happened if the rain had held off five days longer? There would have been no wheat, was the answer. And what if it had been ten days? I continued; to which they replied that then there would have been no crops at all. And had there been neither harvest of wheat nor of any other grain, said I, a famine must inevitably have ensued. The law courts would have overflowed with litigation. Brigandage and robbery would have been rife. And you and I would have missed the pleasant meeting of to-day beneath this kiosque. But God did not leave the people to perish. Drought has been followed by rain, and to rain it is due that we are enjoying ourselves
here now. Shall we then let its remembrance fade away? I think not; and therefore I have called this kiosque 'The Arbour to Joyful Rain,' and I have added to the record the following verses:
In a very beautiful elegy on Han Wên-kung (p. 212) there are several lines which seem to show that Su Tung-po's belief in a personal God was a very lively and real one. He claims, in highly poetical language, that Han Wên-kung came straight from heaven at birth, almost "trailing clouds of glory."
[paragraph continues] Then, after sketching his brilliant career, not forgetting his attack upon Buddhism
the poet goes on to say,
[paragraph continues] Su Tung-po died in the first year of the twelfth century, which opened with a brief recrudescence of
[paragraph continues] Taoism, and ultimately proved fatal to the continued existence of the old religious belief in a personal God, which, obscured intermittently by Buddhism and Taoism, had still up to this date exercised considerable sway over the minds of the Chinese people. Already, during the eleventh century, a school of metaphysicians had arisen, the leaders of which sought for some more precise solution of the riddle of the universe than had so far been deduced from the Confucian Canon; but it was reserved for the following century to produce, A.D. 1130, one who carried out the movement to such purpose that his name has ever since stood easily first among Chinese philosophers of that or of any other age. A few words are necessary to introduce this very remarkable man.
Chu Fu Tzŭ, as he is popularly called, distinguished himself as a boy by his aptitude for learning, and took the highest degree when only nineteen years of age. In accordance with the usual routine, he was drafted into government employ, and showed considerable success as an administrator. He had previously been suspected of a strong leaning towards Buddhismsome say that he actually became a Buddhist priest; however, by the year 1154, under the guidance of an able teacher, he had seen the error of his ways, and had given himself up to the study of orthodox doctrines. This study he continued all through his career, especially during intervals of forced retirement, until he was finally driven from office by accusations of sedition, magic, breaches of
loyalty and of filial piety, with other similarly absurd charges. He passed the evening of his days in literary pursuits, soothed by the ministrations of a faithful disciple. At his death, his coffin is said to have taken up a position, suspended in the air, about three feet from the ground; until his son-in-law, falling on his knees beside the bier, reminded the departed spirit of the great principles of which he had been such a brilliant exponent in life,and the coffin descended gently to the ground. He had been a most voluminous writer of history, philosophy, and poetry; and he had succeeded in placing himself first among all the commentators on the Confucian Canon. He introduced interpretations either wholly or partly at variance with those which had been put forth by the scholars of the Han dynasty and up to that date received as infallible, thereby modifying to a certain extent the prevailing standard of political and ethical values. He achieved this by the simple process of consistency. He refused to interpret words in any given passage in one sense, and the same words, occurring elsewhere, in another sense. Thus, it has been said that "Shao Yung tried to explain the Canon of Changes by a numerical key, and (another philosopher) Chêng I by the eternal fitness of things; but Chu Fu Tzŭ alone was able to pierce through the meaning and appropriate the thought of the inspired men who composed it."
Under the hand of Chu Fu Tzŭ, the idea of a personal God, the supreme ruler of the universe, disappeared for ever. That no proof of the existence
of such a Being was forthcoming, was quite enough for his materialistic mind; and being unable, like Cardinal Newman, to dispense with logic and to rely solely upon consciousness, he set to work to frame a cosmogony of his own, in which the God of his fathers was degraded to an abstraction. His universe was developed from a state of Nothing, which somehow became consolidated into Unity, the primeval mother-cell, the bipartition of which produced the Yin and the Yang (p. 4), the female and male principles. The interaction of these gave birth to the five elementsearth, wood, water, fire, and metaland through them to all objects, terrestrial and celestial alike. He postulated (1) chi, which appears to be a formative agent, underlying all matter; not actually itself matter, but rather an all-pervading, subtle, imponderable, vivifying fluid which informs all things and makes them what they are; suggestive of, but not identical with, ether. (2) Li, a governing agent, which, like chi, is omnipresent, and determines the relationship of things to the universe and to each other. No two foreign students are at one as to the correct rendering or even the meaning of the terms chi and li; on the other hand, all native scholars seem to reach the same standpoint of interpretation, as gathered, of course, from the writings of Chu Fu Tzŭ. However this may be, it is with the latter term, li, the eternal principle of right, which I have ventured to call a governing agent, that Chu Fu Tzŭ identifies Tien, the God of the Odes, who, as we have seen, is there arrayed
in terrors and punishes the evil-doers among mankind. It is true that Chu Fu Tzŭ recognizes this difficulty, and sometimes speaks as though the evidence of antiquity was too much for his arguments; but when all is said and done, his antitheistic attitude asserts itself, and leaves the student with a God who is nothing more than what we call abstract right, operating through the laws of nature. Hence the outwardly atheistic attitude of the modern Confucianist, fed upon the teachings of Chu Fu Tzŭ, who, ever since his death in A.D. 1200, has been accepted as the one and only authority upon the interpretation of the Canon.
Another important subject which Chu Fu Tzŭ discussed at length with his disciples and others was the nature of man at birth, with direct reference to the statement and arguments of Mencius, based, as we have seen, upon tradition, that man is born good. In dealing with this question, disposed of by Mencius in a few words, we are led into rambling and sometimes inconsistent speculations as to the identity of nature in man, animals, and plants, Chu Fu Tzŭ being on the side of an absolute uniformity of nature throughout the universe; and also as to the character of the goodness with which man is endowed, its permanence even in the presence of evil, the fact that evil must have been developed coincidently with the recognition of goodness, etc., etc. Chu Fu Tzŭ argued that the goodness of man at his birth was like a clear spring of water, which becomes defiled by mud as it flows down the hillside; in spite of
turbidity, the clear water is still there, and will reappear if the mud is allowed to settle. The foreign student, however, will find considerable turbidity, and not a little inconsistency, in these lucubrations, owing perhaps to the elusiveness of the subject as presented in a difficult language, and not to any want of skill on the part of the great Chinese philosopher.
Chu Fu Tzŭ deals with Taoism and Buddhism on not very statesmanlike lines, and his details are often inexact. Having eliminated God, and the supernatural in general, from the Confucian Canon, which was henceforth to be the undisputed guide of the Chinese people, it was not likely that he would regard with satisfaction, or even with indifference, any other doctrines which conflicted, ever so little, with the results of his own labours. From his time onwards, Confucianism certainly occupied a place by itself, beyond reach of cavil or rivalry. Gradually, it came to be understood that religions of all kinds might flourish or might fade, so long as the Confucian teaching was recognized as supreme. This view was emphasized under the Ming dynasty by an ingenious and not provocative rule. Every temple, Buddhist and Taoist, and every mosque throughout the empire, was compelled to exhibit on the altar, or in some equally conspicuous position, a small tablet inscribed with a formula of allegiance to the Emperor, the head of Confucianism, or as we should phrase it, of the established church.
"Taoism," says Chu Fu Tzŭ, "was at first confined
to purity of life and to inaction. These were associated with long life and immortality, which by and by became the sole objects of the cult. Nowadays, they have thought it advisable to adopt a system of magical incantations, and chiefly occupy themselves with exorcism and prayers for blessings. Thus, two radical changes have been made. The Taoists have the writings of Lao Tzŭ and Chuang Tzŭ. They neglected these, and the Buddhists stole them for their own purposes; whereupon the Taoists went off and imitated the sûtras of Buddhism. This is just as if the scions of some wealthy house should be robbed of all their valuables, and then go off and gather up the old pots and pans belonging to the thieves. Buddhist books are full of what Buddha said, and Taoist books are similarly full of what Tao said. Now Buddha was a man, but how does Tao manage to talk? This belief, however, has prevailed for eight or nine centuries past. Taoism began with Lao Tzŭ. Its Trinity of the Three Pure Ones is copied from the Trinity of the Three Persons as taught by Buddhism. By their Trinity the Buddhists mean (1) the spiritual body (of Buddha), (2) his joyful body (showing Buddha rewarded for his virtues), and (3) his fleshly body, under which Buddha appears on earth as a man. The modern schools of Buddhism have divided their Trinity under three images which are placed side by side, thus completely missing the true signification (which is Trinity in Unity); and the adherents of Taoism, wishing to imitate the Buddhists in this particular, worship Lao Tzŭ under
[paragraph continues] (another version of) the Three Pure Ones (see p. 174), namely, (1) as the original revered God, (2) the supreme ruler Tao, and (3) the supreme ruler Lao Tzŭ (in the flesh). Almighty God (that is, Tien) is ranked below these three, which is nothing short of an outrageous usurpation. Moreover, the first two do not represent the spiritual and joyful bodies of Lao Tzŭ, and the two images set up cannot form a Unity with him; while the introduction of the third is an aggravated copy of the mistake made by the Buddhists. Chuang Tzŭ has told us in plain language of the death of Lao Tzŭ, who must now be a spirit; how then can he usurp the place of Almighty God? The doctrines of Buddha and Lao Tzŭ should be altogether abolished; but if this is not possible, then only the teachings of Lao Tzŭ should be tolerated, all shrines in honour of him, or of his disciples and various magicians, to be placed under the control of the directors of Public Worship."
Considering that Chu Fu Tzŭ himself reduced the God of the Confucian Canon to an abstraction, it is curious to see how solicitous he is that the Supreme Being shall not be displaced by the members of the Taoist Trinity. And so it has always been with the most rigid Confucianists; they openly accept Chu Fu Tzŭ's definition of God, but at the back of their minds there generally remains a bias in favour of a more personal Deity. It does not come to every man to reach such intimate apperception of the Divine, as to Shao Yung, the philosopher of the eleventh century, whose attempt to explain the Canon of
[paragraph continues] Changes by numbers has already been noted. Remembering that Christ said (Luke xvii. 20, 21), "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or Lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you," the following stanza by Shao Yung has a veritable ring of inspiration:
[paragraph continues] It is probable that Chu Fu Tzŭ was familiar with the above verse when he formulated his dogma that God is the eternal principle of right. What had been the popular view up to the time of Chu Fu Tzŭ is exhibited in a stanza by Yang I, a precocious boy, also of the eleventh century. On being taken to the top of a pagoda, as is often done in cases of illness, he uttered the following impromptu:
Chu Fu Tzŭ's attacks on Buddhism are very extensive, and although restrained in language, are decidedly searching, especially where he shows that the Buddhists have appropriated so much from the old Taoist philosophers. With one more quotation we will leave this encyclopædic scholar, who found Confucianism a religion, and left it, but for a vital spark, a mere system of ethics. "The aim and
object of the Taoists is to preserve free from injury the physical body. The Buddhists, on the other hand, consider the physical body as of no account, but say that there is a something else, quite distinct from the body, which does not come into being at birth, and is not extinguished at death. The fact is that with the consolidation of (lei (the vital fluid) we have the phenomenon of life; with its dispersion we have the phenomenon of death: and all we can do is to fall in with this. Buddhists and Taoists are both equally in fault."
Chu Fu Tzŭ died in the year 1200. In 1163 a number of Persian Jews, under the superintendence of a Rabbi, had found their way into China and had built a synagogue at Kai-fêng Fu, in Honan. Their simple monotheism was not of the kind to attract much public attention, especially as they adopted the familiar Tien as their equivalent for God; and they seem to have passed almost unnoticed into the general life of the people. It was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century that the presence of Jews in China became known to the western world, when speculation was soon rife as to their identity with the lost tribes of Israel. The story of an earlier arrival of Jews, shortly after the Babylonish captivity, has no foundation in fact.
Ricci, the learned Jesuit missionary, to be mentioned again, then stationed at Peking, one day received a visit from a Chinese official, who claimed to be a co-religionist. It was discovered in conversation that this statement was not substantially exact;
however, the report given by this man of a Jewish colony in Kai-fêng Fu, from which place he had just arrived, induced Ricci to dispatch one of his native Christians thither, to find out how far the story was true. Ricci's messenger brought back several portions of the Pentateuch in Hebrew, but described the Jewish community as very few in number and in the lowest depths of poverty. Several of the Catholic missionaries subsequently visited Kai-fêng Fu; the account given by the native Christian was verified, and further information collected.
Judaism, which was originally known as the religion of Tien chu, that is, of India, the term India being loosely held to include Persia, came to be called the religion of Tiao chin, removing the sinew, in reference to the Jewish preparation of meat, which is thus made kosher, or fit for food. It is probable that the change of name was made in order to keep clear of any association with Roman Catholicism, which was also the Tien chu religion, the latter, differently written, being the term adopted by the Catholics as their rendering of God.
In 1850 an important expedition was organized by Protestant missionaries and others. Two native Christians were sent to Kai-fêng Fu, and by their efforts the question of "Jews in China" was satisfactorily answered once and for all. Besides bringing back portions of the Old Testament in an antique Hebrew form, with vowel points, they had secured copies of certain inscriptions on stone tablets, one of
which is of the very highest interest, and achieves for our knowledge of Judaism a result similar to that which was achieved for Christianity by the discovery of the Nestorian tablet. The Jewish stone is dated 1489, and was set up to record the rebuilding of the synagogue on the spot where a synagogue had stood since the first arrival of the Jews in 1163. The inscription opens with a eulogy of Abraham, the Patriarch who founded the religion of Israel, and who was the nineteenth descendant in direct line from Adam. Here the writer, presumably thinking that the name "Adam" would have no meaning for Chinese ears, identifies him with Pan Ku, the Chinese "first man," already mentioned (p. 176) as a member of the Taoist Trinity under one of its varying forms. Altogether there is the same tendency, as in the case of the Manichæans and Nestorians, to work into the new faith as many as possible of the old familiar elements of Chinese belief. For instance, the spiritual regeneration of Abraham is thus described: "Reflecting upon the ethereal purity of God on high, the most adorable, without peer, that Divine Power who does not speak, and yet causes the four seasons to revolve and all things to be produced (these very words were spoken by Confucius); gazing upon birth in spring, upon growth in summer, upon harvest in autumn, and storage in winter; upon creatures that fly, and creatures that swim, upon animals that move, and vegetation that stands still;how these all flourish and decay, how they bloom and fade, how naturally they grow, undergo change,
and take on form or colour(reflecting and gazing) the Patriarch awakened, as it were from sleep, to the apprehension of this profound mystery. Seeking the true faith, he glorified the one God, serving Him with his whole heart, and revering Him alone; and thus he established our religion, which has endured to the present day."
Moses is next introduced, as one who "by his piety touched the heart of God, and the Bible, in fifty-three books, came into existence of itself." Then, after a warning that "man in his daily life must never for a moment be forgetful of God, but must praise Him in prayer every morning, noon, and evening," we pass into a eulogy of Tao, by which is obviously meant the Tao of early Taoism, and due recognition of which is adopted as belonging to the worship of the true God. This portion, which has no real significance, is followed by a few historical notes of great value. It is here that the year 1163 is recorded as the date of the first arrival of Jews in China. We are also told that in 1279 the old synagogue was rebuilt, and that in 1386 the first Emperor of the Ming dynasty, in carrying out his policy of pacification, presented the Jewish community at Kai-fêng Fu with a piece of ground on which they might live in peace and practise their religion without molestation. At that time, says the tablet, the vestments, ceremonies, and music had been modernized, but the language and movements were still according to the ancient rule. In 1421 permission was given for the synagogue to be repaired, with orders that the
[paragraph continues] Imperial tablet should be set up in the building, as a proof of allegiance in spite of dissimilarity of religion. Several other dates of minor importance are added, and the inscription winds up with a statement that Judaism differs almost imperceptibly from the religion of the literati, with which it is at one in the inculcation of loyalty to the sovereign, respect for ancestors, obedience to parents, and other accepted virtues. It was, indeed, just this fact which told against the success of Judaism. Because of the striking similarity between the God of the Odes and the God of the Old Testament, Judaism attracted but little attention, and has now to all intents and purposes ceased to exist. Further, this religion reached China at a time when the obscuration of a Supreme Being, coupled with the apotheosis of a man, was proceeding at a rapid rate, and which the efforts of a few humble Rabbis would be hardly likely to hinder.
The thirteenth century, which witnessed the final overthrow of the Sung dynasty and the establishment of a Mongol domination under Kublai Khan, is especially associated with the rapid spread of Mahometanism in certain parts of China. With the Mongol armies there was a great influx of Mussulmans, reinforcing the earlier communities which we have already noticed. The numbers of these last may have been recruited by the arrival from time to time of Mahometan traders and others, who settled down in the country; still, it is from the thirteenth century onwards that Mahometans became a large and important religious body in the empire. Like their predecessors
of the eighth century, they too married native wives, from which it results that their descendants of to-day may really be said to have no trace of Arab blood in their veins. All the same, they are extraordinarily attached to their religion, and will not touch pork, although surrounded by a pig-eating people. During the past three hundred years there have been several serious rebellions, which have taxed all the energies of the Chinese government and of their best generals; but in normal times the Mahometan, allowed to practise his religion in his own way, is a law-abiding citizen, and indistinguishable from the rest of his fellow-countrymen.
Simultaneously with the spread of Islam, we have to note the arrival of what was then universally recognized to be orthodox Christianity. By the year 1289 there was already, in what is now Peking, a Christian bishop, whose chief aim, for a time, was to get rid of the remaining traces of that hateful schism, Nestorian Christianity. Considerable headway seems to have been made, in spite of the political troubles which began to set in during the first half of the fourteenth century; but from the final overthrow of the Mongols and the accession of the House of Ming, very little was heard, for two centuries to come, of any foreign religion, with the exception of Buddhism, which now and again showed signs of renewed Court favour. One statesman, in 1488, caused the Imperial collection of Taoist literature to be burnt; and altogether the period was favourable to the dominance of Confucianism, which a hundred years later was to
be confronted by Roman Catholic Christianity, under the guidance of some of the most able men ever attracted to China from the west.
In 1582 the first two Jesuits landed at Canton; they were followed a year later by Ricci, the most distinguished of all the long line of Catholic fathers who have given their lives for service in China, and said to be the only foreigner whose name has ever been mentioned in the dynastic annals. In addition to a variety of scientific work, the skilled performance of which gained for him the intimate patronage of the Emperor, he succeeded in converting to Christianity Hsü Kuang-chi, an eminent scholar who ultimately rose to be a Minister of State. He particularly directed his attention to an attack upon Buddhism, the severity of which attack called forth numerous replies from the better educated of the priesthood, and evoked a controversy in which it was considered that Ricci had the better of his opponents. The question as to the admission of ancestor-worship among Christian rites for native converts did not become acute during Ricci's lifetime; he failed, however, to grasp the true inwardness of the ceremony, and gave his opinion in favour of toleration. Later on, there was division in the Jesuit body on the subject; and the Dominicans and Franciscans, who took the narrower but strictly correct view, laid the matter before the Pope, just at the time when the Ming dynasty was collapsing and the conquering Manchus were taking possession of the empire. Pope Innocent X. decided against the Jesuits, but this decision was
reversed by his successor, Alexander VII.; then under the next three Popes, efforts were made to settle the point satisfactorily to both parties.
There raged, at the same time, another bitter controversy as to the correct term for "God" in Chinese. The Jesuits favoured the use of Tien and Shang Ti, to both of which the Dominicans and Franciscans strenuously objected, declaring that the former represented nothing more than the material sky, and the latter the spirits of deified Emperors instead of the true God. Their term was Tien Chu, "Lord of the Sky," a term which had been applied, some centuries before Christ, though they did not know it, to the first of Eight Spirits, the other seven of which were the Lords of Earth, War, Darkness, Light, the Moon, the Sun, and the Four Seasons; it was also in use among Buddhists as an equivalent for the Brahmin god, Indra. To stand merely at the head of such a list is hardly in keeping with the majesty of that Tien, the One God of the Odes, who with Shang Ti forms a Duality in Unity; and the wonder is that such a term should ever have been adopted. Both the above controversies were submitted by the Jesuits to the Emperor Kang Hsi, than whom, in point of learning and justice, no more fitting arbiter for the second question could well have been found. He decided (1) that there was nothing in the practice of ancestor-worship which was contrary to the teaching and spirit of Christianity, and (2) that the Chinese word Tien was the right and proper equivalent for God, It is no doubt a sound legal maxim that a
litigant shall not be allowed to approbate and reprobate the same instrument; at the risk, however, of violating in a sense this maxim, I am bound to say that I disagree with his Majesty's decision in the first instance, which he was not qualified to give, and agree with it in the second, which is quite another matter.
The upshot of all this squabbling was, first of all, that the Emperor was much affronted when he found that the final Papal decree was against his own views; and secondly, that from this date restrictions were placed upon the freedom of Catholic missionaries, which under later Emperors developed into persecution and attempts to suppress the propaganda altogether. It is generally believed that the Roman Catholic Church had here a real opportunity for the Christianization of China, and lost it. As scholars, the Dominicans and Franciscans could not for a moment compare with the learned Jesuits, and their rejection of Tien as the proper rendering of "God" was a real misfortune; on the other hand, their refusal to let the end justify the means and to admit of rites which they felt were antagonistic to the spirit of their religion, can only redound to their credit.
It remains now to consider what was the religious attitude of the Manchu rulers of China, from the date of their accession to power in 1644 down to the triumph of the republicans in 1912. Beyond a rather vague acquaintance with Buddhism, they do not seem to have entered upon the government of the empire weighted by any serious religious convictions whatever.
[paragraph continues] The second Emperor, Kang Hsi, was a man of unusual capacity, and held very firmly the Erastian doctrine that religion should be subordinated to politics, coupled with a determined opinion that the two should be kept severely apart. He would have nothing to do with any faith which involved supernatural beliefs; but being wise enough to see that it was absolutely necessary for the masses to have some sort of guidance, he fell back upon Confucianism without God, which, of course, was altogether beyond their reach. The Confucian Canon became more than ever the Bible of educated Chinese, to the authority of which all questions were referred; worship in the various temples of Confucius was earnestly performed, and all forms of classical learning were encouraged. The Emperor himself composed sixteen maxims for everyday life, which were issued in 1691 as a Sacred Edict, the name by which they are now known. It was not a new idea; the first Emperor of the Ming dynasty had issued a similar Edict in six maxims, but the latter never had the same vogue as that of the Emperor Kang Hsi. Each of these sixteen maxims consisted of seven words. Under the next Emperor, sixteen short essays were prepared by leading scholars of the day, to amplify and illustrate the meaning of the maxims; these essays, however, being in a highly polished book style, were not readily intelligible to the unlettered, and a further effort was made to paraphrase the whole into something approximating to the colloquial language. For it had been ordained that
this Edict was to be read publicly on the 1st and 15th of every month in all cities and towns throughout the empire.
We are here concerned with but one of these sixteen maxims, from almost all of which, amplification and paraphrase alike, any suggestion of belief in, or reliance upon, a Supreme Being is markedly absent. We are told, indeed, in the amplification of the first maxim, that "filial piety is the law of God," but this seems to be the sole kind of recognition, unsatisfactory as it is, to be met with in the whole work. There are homely proverbs for the people, such as, "If all your life you yield the path, you will not lose even a hundred yards." The rest is Confucianism, in the modern sense of the term: glorification of Confucius, so far, as an inspired teacher, not yet as a god. The seventh of the sixteen maxims is this: "Get rid of heterodoxy, in order to glorify the true doctrine." In the amplification we read, "When man is born into his place in the universe, he has before him only the five relationships, between sovereign and subject, father and son, husband and wife, brother and brother, and friend and friend. These form a path of duty for all, fools and wise alike, to follow. The inspired men and sages of old would have no prying into mysteries or supernatural practices." Then, after denouncing heterodox books, which eat like worms into the life of the people, the writer continues, "Three forms of doctrine have come down to us from antiquity; for in addition to Confucianism, we have Taoism and Buddhism. The
philosopher Chu Fu Tzŭ says, 'The doctrines of Buddhism take no note of anything within the four quarters of the universe, but are concerned only with, the mind. The doctrines of Taoism aim only at preserving physical vitality.' From these impartial words we can see what was the original intention in each case." The amplification goes on to show how, under the cloak of these two religions, abuses have crept in, and evil-disposed persons have combined to perpetrate crimes contrary to public morals. Now comes a more interesting paragraph: "As to the western doctrine which glorifies Tien Chu, the Lord of the Sky (i.e. Roman Catholicism), that too is heterodox; but because its priests are thoroughly conversant with mathematics, the government makes use of them,a point which you soldiers and people should understand." The amplification proceeds to say that all heresies should be dealt with in the same way that robbers, inundations, and fires are dealt with: they should be exterminated.
In the colloquial paraphrase of the above essay, Taoism and Buddhism are denounced in scathing language and held up to ridicule by turns. The graven images, celibacy, fasting, and spiritual promises of the Buddhists, are classed with the exorcism, alchemy, elixir of life, and magical pretensions of the Taoists, as nothing more than ridiculous impostures; and the opportunity is further taken to warn people against the danger of joining secret political societies. Passing on to the strictures upon Christianity, we read, "As to the doctrine of the Lord of the
[paragraph continues] Sky, with its random and unsubstantial talk, that too is not orthodox; but because its priests know all about astronomy and mathematics, the Court makes use of them to construct our calendar. This does not mean to say that their religion is a good one, and you must on no account believe it. The law is very strict in its dealings with these by-path, side-door sects, just as it is with the men and women who practise devil-dances (a form of exorcism), against whom laws and penalties have been enacted." A little further on we have the familiar dogma of the goodness of man at birth: "These heresies and evil teachings seriously injure the bias of the heart; that heart which was given by God to man at his birth, upright and free from wickedness, but which, through greed, has been led astray into wrong paths. For just as the poor want to become some day rich and great, so do the rich and great want to prolong possession of what they have got; they want old age; they want sons and daughters; and what is beyond everything, they want to secure in this life, happiness in the life to come. . . . If you only knew that in everybody's home there are two living Buddhas to be worshipped, what excuse would there be then for going off to worship mountains and for praying for happiness to clay and wooden images? The proverb well says, Stay at home and reverence your parents; why travel afar to burn incense? If you could but grasp the truth, you would know that a bright and happy mind is heaven, and that a dark and gloomy mind is hell. Thus, you would have
your own God, and would not be deceived by false doctrines."
Printed and published all over the empire, the Sacred Edict proved a serious blow to the immediate spread of Christianity. However, it appears that Roman Catholicism soon rallied from the stroke; and although no longer able to profess the faith quite openly, its priests certainly succeeded in gathering together large numbers of converts over a considerable area. For this statement we have the authority of Lan Lu-chou, one of the most distinguished writers of the eighteenth century. In a paper dated 1732, and entitled "Barbarians in the province of Kuangtung," he makes the following remarks: "The Catholic religion is now spreading over China. In the provinces of Hupeh, Hunan, Honan, Kiangsi, Fuhkien, and Kuangsi, there are very few places which it has not reached. In 1723 the Viceroy of Fuhkien complained that the western foreigners were preaching their religion and tampering with the people, to the great detriment of the localities in question; and he petitioned that the Roman Catholic chapels in the various provinces might be turned into lecture-rooms and schools, and that all western foreigners might be sent to Macao, until an opportunity should present itself for returning them to their own countries. However, the Viceroy, out of mistaken kindness, memorialized the Throne that such of the barbarians as were old or sick, and unwilling to go away, might be permitted to remain, on condition that if they proselytized, or spread their
creed, or chanted their sacred books, they were at once to be punished and sent away. The scheme was an excellent one, but where are the results of it? At present, more than ten thousand men have joined the Catholic chapel at Canton, and there is also a department for women, where they have similarly got together about two thousand. This is a great insult to China, and seriously injures our national traditions; tis enough to make every man of feeling grind his teeth with rage."
During the opening years of the nineteenth century, Protestant missionaries appeared for the first time upon the scene. For a long period their activities were confined to a very narrow area, in the extreme south, and no attempt was made to follow the Catholic fathers into the interior. Thus, they had little opportunity for proselytizing, and turned their energies to translation. Various immature versions of the Bible, in part or entire, were now produced, of which the less said the better. Even at this late date, it cannot be affirmed with truth that the best translation of the Bible into Chinese reproduces with fidelity the sense and spirit of the original. First of all the "term question" intervened, and made anything like a general harmony impossible; for just as the Catholic orders had quarrelled, so did the Protestant missionaries belonging to different sects quarrel over the selection of a fit and proper rendering for "God," but without the advantage of an infallible Pope to settle the point for them. It was not to be supposed, of course, that the Catholic term would be
adopted; and in that there is small cause for regret. The terms ultimately chosen by the opposing sides were Shang Ti and Shên (or Shin). The former of these we have already considered, and have ranked it second to Tien; as to Shên, it generally represents in Chinese literature those invisible intellectual beings whom we call spirits. It is obvious, therefore, that there must be some difficulty in always restricting the latter term to the One Spirit whom we mean by "God"; indeed, this difficulty was so far appreciated that the word chên, "true," was prefixed: Chên Shên, "the True Spirit." Here again there is an objection; the word chên is specially associated with Taoism, and is employed in designations of Taoist saints, priests, and wizards, as well as in the Taoist term Chên Tsai, the First Cause, which has been adopted by Mahometans as their rendering of "God." In 1847 an attempt was made to produce a satisfactory translation of the Bible by the collaboration of delegates from the various missionary bodies. By 1850 the New Testament was completed; but so strong was the feeling on the subject of terms, that two sets of this translation were printed, with different Chinese renderings for "God" and "Spirit." A further attempt to translate the Old Testament was a failure; at the ninth chapter of Deuteronomy there was a split in the camp, and two of the delegates retired, leaving the work to be completed in 1855 by three of their colleagues who were all, as regards terminology, of the same way of thinking.
The next question that arose was that of style,
which has always been such an important feature of Chinese scholarship. The delegates had aimed at a polished classical style, such as would find favour with the literati, and had to some extent succeeded; but the real meaning was often misinterpreted, and style alone failed to recommend a book which, published without a commentary, was largely unintelligible even to educated readers. Other Protestant missionaries, anxious to get the Bible into the hands of the people, now began to make versions, some of which came out as nearly as possible in colloquial, which, of course, would prevent the literati from even condescending to take a look, and did not prove much more intelligible after all. It still remains to produce an accurate translation of the Bible in a good literary style. The translation should not be slavishly literal, for that would obscure the sense; nor the style too low class, for that would give the impression of a low class book. As there is much misconception on the subject of translation into Chinese, a few explanatory words may be allowed. When a foreigner translates a book into Chinese, he does not take his pen and transfer the thought himself; few foreigners are capable of writing even a simple letter by themselves, and certainly no foreigner has yet seen the light who could attempt, unaided, such a work as the Bible, or indeed any portion of it. What the so-called translator does do, is to engage a more or less educated native, and explain to him, as best he can, in colloquial, the text to be rendered into Chinese. If the foreigner is anything of a scholar, and the text
offers no special difficulties, he will be able to verify to some extent the translation made; but all the beauties, or artifices, or blemishes in the style, will be the work of his native friend, upon whose ability the literary value of the work depends.
At the present day we find China provided with some half-dozen forms of religious influence. The Manchus made Confucianism their sheet-anchor, and placed their reliance wholly upon its preserving power. From the point of view of the educated, Confucianism is based, as we have seen, upon direct revelation, witnessed in the delivery to man, by supernatural means, of the Eight Diagrams and the arrangement of the numerals 1 to 9, on which was founded a system of divination, followed by the later speculations of the Sung philosophers. In 1908, when their mandate was already exhausted, the Manchus foolishly elevated Confucius to the rank of a god, an honour which the old sage himself would have been the very first to repudiate. Still, during all their tenancy of the empire, the Manchus kept Buddhism (an importation) and Taoism (an imitation) well in hand, and away from political aspirations. The function of these two religions was thus only to satisfy
and also to stave off or allay
[paragraph continues] Confucianists will not readily avow any faith in either
one or the other; at the same time, it is customary for all families to visit Buddhist or Taoist templesoften both, and to employ the priestsalso of both, to recite masses for their dead. Exceptional treatment has always been shown to Mahometans, who are regarded as a dangerous element in the State; for instance, because they do not eat pig, they are permitted the use of beef in addition to mutton, although this is contrary to the rule against slaughter of the ploughing ox.
Christianity suffered much from persecution during the nineteenth century. The appearance of Protestantism as an uncompromising opponent of Roman Catholicism, though the same God was worshipped and the same leading doctrines were professed, completely mystified the Chinese, who became more suspicious and more hostile than ever. Roman Catholicism, with its fine cathedrals and ornate ritual, so closely identical in many of its characteristics with Buddhism, has always made a much more effective appeal to the masses; it has also gained, since early days, by presenting a united front instead of being split up, like Protestantism, into many sects, differing from one another in details of doctrine almost as much as the Roman Catholic church differs from any one of them. Lord Kinnaird (Times, Dec. 18, 1913) was right when he said, "The weakness of foreign missions has been that we have carried our home divisions into the field where a united foe must be faced. We have deliberately weakened the mission of the church of the living God by our sectarian bias."
[paragraph continues] Time, too, has been on the side of the Catholics, and they have in consequence a very much larger body of converts. On the other hand, Protestantism was less dreaded by the Manchus. Its missionaries interfered less, though often too much, between the authorities and the people who had become converts. They arrogated to themselves no temporal dignities; whereas in 1899 the Catholics succeeded in obtaining from the Chinese government recognition of the Pope as "Emperor of the Faith," and of their bishops as equals in rank with viceroys and governors of provinces.
Speaking now without distinctions of any kind, it may be said without fear of contradiction, that considering the sacrifice, both of blood and of treasure, the growth of Christianity in China has been disappointing to its supporters. Missionaries have had and still have a difficult row to hoe. They found the Chinese people steeped in superstition, but devoid of any real religious sentiment. The Buddhist masses unquestionably believe in a future statea spiritual reproduction of the present state, from which consciousness is not absent. They have authority for this. A high official named Wang Tan-chih, who flourished in the fourth century A.D., agreed with a friendly Buddhist priest that whoever might die first would return and enlighten the survivor. About a year later, the priest suddenly appeared before Wang and said, "I have lately died. The joys and sorrows of the next world are realities. Hasten to repent, that you may pass among the ranks of the blest."
[paragraph continues] Educated Chinese, however, have no faith in such stories; neither will they accept the early chapters of Genesis, especially now that a distinguished Professor of Divinity (Professor Burkitt) has publicly declared that these chapters contain nothing more than Asiatic folklore. They have difficulties over the divinity of Christwhich is indeed a moot point among European scholarsand over His virgin birth and resurrection, both of which events will be found to have parallels in early Chinese literature. The doctrine of the Trinity, already familiar through Buddhism, naturally forms a severe stumbling-block; the more so to those who discover, or are told, that this important dogma is nowhere mentioned in the Bible, but belongs to a later date.
The Chinese in general are impatient of a weekly day of rest; they do not say grace at meals; they do not understand prayer in our western sense; there is certainly no such thing as "family prayers" from one end of the empire to the other. They will pray at temples, and at fixed dates to the spirits of the dead, but only for benefits to follow. "The maker of images," as the saying goes, "will not pray at all to the gods: he knows what stuff they are made of." When, in 1911, the devoted young medical missionary, Arthur Jackson, lost his life in fighting the plague in Manchuria, the Viceroy offered, at the memorial service, a prayer which ended thus:
All such points, however, fade into insignificance before the three real obstacles to the spread of Christianity in China. These are, first of all, the Confucian dogma that man is born good; secondly, the practice of ancestral worship, which, as has already been shown, is incompatible with Christian doctrine; and thirdly, the rules and practice of filial piety, due directly to the patriarchal system which still obtains in China. It has indeed been seriously urged that the unparalleled continuity of the Chinese nation is a reward for their faithful observance of the fifth commandment. In the face of this deeply implanted sentiment of reverence for parents, it is easy to see what a shock it must give to be told, as in Mark x. 7, 29, 30, that a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife; also, that if a man leaves his father and mother for Christ's sake and the gospel's, he will receive an hundredfold now in this time, and in the world to come eternal life.
In 1913 the Chinese government made application to Christian churches throughout the world for intercession by prayer on behalf of the young Republic. This request was received with acclamation on all sides, and great hopes were aroused by such an unprecedented act; but
and in March 1914, the old religious rites performed by the Manchu Emperors almost to their last days, but not by the people, were re-established by the President. It is already announced that on the 23rd December the Head of the State will resume the annual visit to the so-called Temple of Heaven, and, passing alone into the sacred, circular, blue-domed chamber, will report his shortcomings at what is really considered to be an interview with the Most High. 1 The less impressive parts of the ceremony are to consist of genuflexion and burnt
offerings; and there is now a proviso that every citizen shall be free to worship in his own family, so as to secure uniformity. Unfortunately, ever since the days of Chu Fu Tzŭ, the idea of a Supreme Ruler of the universe has been much obscured for the people at large by the glorification of Confucius. It is true that the term is still familiar in such sayings as, "God's eye is upon you!" "You can deceive man but not God!" "Do your duty, and leave the rest to God!"and many others of the kind; still, what the literati have urged for centuries upon the masses is the veneration of Confucius, and not the fear and love of God.
Mr Balfour asserted in his Gifford Lectures that a world without God is a world in which æsthetic and ethical values are greatly diminished, sublimely indifferent to the fact that æsthetic and ethical values have nowhere been so high-pitched as in China and Japan, where for many centuries past God has been almost a negligible quantity. But if it be true in a general sense, as Mr Balfour claims, that a "theistic setting" in human affairs is for the well-being of mankind, then China has now a chance which should not be missed. The Republic is crying out for a State religion. In the words of a famous Chinese poet,
[paragraph continues] Let the Chinese people be encouraged, by the erection of temples and by forms of prayer, to join in the old unitarian worship of four thousand years
ago. Let them transfer to Tien, God, discarding the Duality caused by the later introduction of Shang Ti, all those thoughts of reverence and gratitude which have been centred so long upon the human, to the neglect of the divine. Their stirring battle-cry would then be, "There is no God but God, and Confucius is His Prophet!" 1
263:1 "On Dec. 23 President Yuan Shih-kai, as head of the nation and therefore as direct successor to the Emperor of China, performed the worship of heaven at the Temple of Heaven in accordance with the old-time ceremonial. The old ritual was closely followed, except that there was no burning of a whole bullock, and the kowtow was dispensed with, the President merely bowing to the altar where emperors prostrated themselves. Also, the emperors used to spend the night before the sacrifice in a hall adjoining the altar in meditation and fasting. President Yuan was not absent from his palace for more than an hour all told.
"He wore a gorgeous dressa kind of "mortar-board" hat tied with purple strings beneath the chin, and adorned with one enormous pearl surrounded by twelve smaller ones arranged in the shape of an ear of rice; a flowing silk robe embroidered with mystic symbols in red and gold; a red silk skirt fringed with gold; and a heavy gold girdle. The attendant officials were hardly less resplendent. All the sacrificial utensils, drums, and gongs of former years were used, arranged with scrupulous attention to due order.
"Accompanied by music, the chanting of supplications, the burning of incense, and many obeisances, the President ascended the marble steps of the great altar, beneath a cloudless sky, and offered, with appropriate ritual, a blue paper inscribed with prayers written in vermilion, a tray containing the blood and hair of a bullock slaughtered the day before, silk, soup, wine, grain, and jade. All except the jade were then burnt in the great brazier adjoining the altar" (London and China Telegraph, Feb. 1, 1915).
265:1 "Mr Annand (a missionary) reports, with regard to the condition of affairs in the northern provinces, that there has been no evidence of the anti-foreign or anti-Christian feeling which was so prevalent a few years ago, but that there has been a very distinct revival of pagan worship and customs, which in the heyday of the 'reformation' had fallen into disfavour. Confucianism also has been resuscitated, and is now supported strenuously by scholars and those in authority, but its revival is only a phase of the present state of unrest" (London and China Telegraph, April 19, 1915). | <urn:uuid:c408e240-0c00-49a9-ae72-1a138e297429> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sacred-texts.com/cfu/cair/cair10.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00176-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980807 | 11,976 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Introduction to the Fair Use Checklist
The fair use checklist is a tool to assist you in making a reasoned and balanced application of the four fair use factors in determining whether a given use of a work is a fair use. The checklist outlines various factual circumstances that are important to the evaluation of a contemplated fair use. It derives from the four fair use factors and from judicial decisions interpreting copyright law.
As you use the checklist and apply it to your proposed use, you are likely to check more than one box in each column and even check boxes across columns. Some checked boxes will favor fair use and others will weigh against fair use. The ultimate concern is whether the cumulative weight of the factors weighs in favor of fair use or weighs against fair use. Because you are most familiar with your project, you are probably best positioned to make that decision.
Before using the checklist to conduct a fair use analysis, the following threshold questions should be considered:
- You should first determine whether the work to be used is protected by copyright. If not, a fair use analysis is not necessary. For example, works created by U.S. government employees as part of their official duties are not protected by copyright. Works first published prior to 1923 are no longer protected by copyright. All materials first published after 1978 should be presumed to be protected by copyright, even if no copyright notice is present.
- You do not need to conduct a fair use analysis if you or your institution has a license (or permission) to use the work and your use falls within that license. For example, some materials are distributed with a license that specifically allows for nonprofit educational use. The work may also be available through an electronic database at your institution’s library or legally available on the web. If so, you may be able to direct students to that work or link directly to that work without conducting a fair use analysis.
- A separate exception in federal copyright law specifically allows for performance or display (but not copying and distribution) of a work by instructors or students in the course of “face-to-face” teaching activities. [17 U.S.C. § 110(1)]. If your proposed use falls into this statutory exception, you need not conduct a fair use analysis.
All uses of copyrighted materials, whether a “fair use,” use under a license, or use under other exceptions, should include proper copyright notice and attribution.
A copy of the checklist can be found here. Complete and retain a copy of this checklist for each “fair use” of a copyrighted work in order to establish a “reasonable and good faith” attempt at applying fair use should any dispute regarding such use arise. | <urn:uuid:7667fc42-add9-4033-b547-743fd7ecf9f6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.usg.edu/copyright/introduction_to_the_fair_use_checklist | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911229 | 550 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Following the crucifixion of Peter, Linus, who had served as an assistant to the apostle, continued the leadership of the Church, for once the Christian faith had been firmly established in Rome, Peter and Paul had commended Linus to this responsibility.
However, because the one-man episcopate had not yet emerged in Rome, we have no way of knowing exactly what duties were expected of Linus. In a letter directed to the Oriental churches, Linus told how Peter's body was taken from the cross by Marcellus, bathed in milk and wine, and embalmed with precious spices.
Linus, believed to be the son of Herculanus, was an Italian from the region of Tuscany. He has been identified by the early writer, Eusebius, as the same Linus who is mentioned by St. Paul in his letter of salutation from Rome to Timothy in Ephesus.
His episcopate is said to have been approximately twelve years. A brief respite from persecution for the brethren is said to have existed at this time, for legend has it that Nero, in a frightening vision, was so chastised by Peter that he abandoned the wrath which he had once so fiercely set upon the Christians.
Much is unknown of Linus, to be sure, but it is said that he, at Peter's direction, decreed that all women would now cover their heads when entering a church. In the ancient canon of the Mass, his name is cited after those of Peter and Paul.
According to legend, Linus was martyred and buried on the Vatican Hill alongside his beloved Peter.
Saint Linus (d. ca.76) was the second Bishop of Rome, according to Irenaeus, Jerome, Eusebius, John Chrysostom, the Liberian Catalogue and the Liber Pontificalis; he was succeeded by Anacletus. The Roman Catholic Church considers Saint Linus to be the second Pope, succeeding St. Peter as Bishop of Rome after the latter's martyrdom.
Irenaeus identifies him with the Linus mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:21, an identification that is not certain, saying,
The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric.
The Liberian Catalogue and the Liber Pontificalis both date his Episcopate to 56–67 during the reign of Nero, but Jerome dates it to 67–78, and Eusebius dates the end of his Episcopate to the second year of the reign of Titus (80).
Other sources disagree on Linus's place in the succession of Popes. Tertullian says that Peter appointed Clement I. The Apostolic Constitutions say on the other hand that Linus was the first Bishop of Rome, ordained by Paul, and was succeeded by Clement, who was ordained by Peter.
According to the Liber Pontificalis, Linus was an Italian from Tuscany (though his name is Greek), and his father's name was Herculanus. The Apostolic Constitutions names his mother as Claudia. The Liber Pontificalis also says that he issued a decree that women should cover their heads in church, and that he died a martyr and was buried on the Vatican Hill next to Peter. It gives the date of his death as 23 September, the date on which his feast is still celebrated. His name is included in the Roman Canon of the Mass.
On the statement about a decree requiring women to cover their heads, J.P. Kirsch comments in the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Pope Linus: "Without doubt this decree is apocryphal, and copied by the author of the 'Liber Pontificalis' from the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians (11:5) and arbitrarily attributed to the first successor of the Apostle in Rome. The statement made in the same source, that Linus suffered martyrdom, cannot be proved and is improbable. For between Nero and Domitian there is no mention of any persecution of the Roman Church; and Irenaeus (1. c., III, iv, 3) from among the early Roman bishops designates only Telesphorus as a glorious martyr."
In the Roman Martyrology, Linus is in fact not called a martyr. The entry about him is as follows: "At Rome, commemoration of Saint Linus, Pope, who, according to Irenaeus, was the person to whom the blessed Apostles entrusted the episcopal care of the Church founded in the City and whom blessed Paul the Apostle mentions as associated with him."
A tomb found in St. Peter's Basilica in 1615 by Torrigio was inscribed with the letters LINUS, and was once taken to be Linus's tomb. However a note by Torrigio shows that these were merely the last five letters of a longer name (e.g. Aquilinus or Anullinus). A letter on the martyrdom of Peter and Paul was once attributed to him, but in fact dates to the 6th century.
In what appears to be a relatively recent British Israelite legend, Claudia, identified as the historical Claudia Rufina, is given as Linus's sister, and both are said to have been children of the Iron Age Brythonic chieftain, Caratacus.
Pope St. Linus:
(Reigned about A.D. 64 or 67 to 76 or 79)
All the ancient records of the Roman bishops which have been handed down to us by St. Irenaeus, Julius Africanus, St. Hippolytus, Eusebius, also the Liberian catalogue of 354, place the name of Linus directly after that of the Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter. These records are traced back to a list of the Roman bishops which existed in the time of Pope Eleutherus (about 174-189), when Irenaeus wrote his book "Adversus haereses".
As opposed to this testimony, we cannot accept as more reliable Tertullian's assertion, which unquestionably places St. Clement (De praescriptione, xxii) after the Apostle Peter, as was also done later by other Latin scholars (Jerome, Illustrious Men 15). The Roman list in Irenaeus has undoubtedly greater claims to historical authority. This author claims that Pope Linus is the Linus mentioned by St. Paul in his 2 Timothy 4:21. The passage by Irenaeus (Against Heresies III.3.3) reads:
After the Holy Apostles (Peter and Paul) had founded and set the Church in order (in Rome) they gave over the exercise of the episcopal office to Linus. The same Linus is mentioned by St. Paul in his Epistle to Timothy. His successor was Anacletus.
We cannot be positive whether this identification of the pope as being the Linus mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:21 goes back to an ancient and reliable source, or originated later on account of the similarity of the name.
Linus's term of office, according to the papal lists handed down to us, lasted only twelve years. The Liberian Catalogue shows that it lasted twelve years, four months, and twelve days. The dates given in this catalogue, A.D. 56 until A.D. 67, are incorrect. Perhaps it was on account of these dates that the writers of the fourth century gave their opinion that Linus had held the position of head of the Roman community during the life of the Apostle; e.g., Rufinus in the preface to his translation of the pseudo-Clementine "Recognitiones". But this hypothesis has no historical foundation.
It cannot be doubted that according to the accounts of Irenaeus concerning the Roman Church in the second century, Linus was chosen to be head of the community of Christians in Rome, after the death of the Apostle. For this reason his pontificate dates from the year of the death of the Apostles Peter and Paul, which, however, is not known for certain.
The "Liber Pontificalis" asserts that Linus's home was in Tuscany, and that his father's name was Herculanus; but we cannot discover the origin of this assertion. According to the same work on the popes, Linus is supposed to have issued a decree "in conformity with the ordinance of St. Peter", that women should have their heads covered in church. Without doubt this decree is apocryphal, and copied by the author of the "Liber Pontificalis" from the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians (11:5) and arbitrarily attributed to the first successor of the Apostle in Rome.
The statement made in the same source, that Linus suffered martyrdom, cannot be proved and is improbable. For between Nero and Domitian there is no mention of any persecution of the Roman Church; and Irenaeus (1. c., III, iv, 3) from among the early Roman bishops designates only Telesphorus as a glorious martyr.
Finally this book asserts that Linus after his death, was buried in the Vatican beside St. Peter. We do not know whether the author had any decisive reason for this assertion. As St. Peter was certainly buried at the foot of the Vatican Hill, it is quite possible that the earliest bishops of the Roman Church also were interred there. There was nothing in the liturgical tradition of the fourth-century Roman Church to prove this, because it was only at the end of the second century that any special feast of martyrs was instituted and consequently Linus does not appear in the fourth-century lists of the feasts of the Roman saints.
According to Torrigio ("Le sacre grotte Vaticane", Viterbo, 1618, 53) when the present confession was constructed in St. Peter's (1615), sarcophagi were found, and among them was one which bore the word Linus. The explanation given by Severano of this discovery ("Memorie delle sette chiese di Roma", Rome, 1630, 120) is that probably these sarcophagi contained the remains of the first Roman bishops, and that the one bearing that inscription was Linus's burial place. This assertion was repeated later on by different writers.
But from a manuscript of Torrigio's we see that on the sarcophagus in question there were other letters beside the word Linus, so that they rather belonged to some other name (such as Aquilinus, Anullinus). The place of the discovery of the tomb is a proof that it could not be the tomb of Linus (De Rossi, "Inscriptiones christianae urbis Romae", II, 23-7).
The feast of St. Linus is now celebrated on 23 September. This is also the date given in the "Liber Pontificalis". An epistle on the martyrdom of the Apostles St. Peter and Paul was at a later period attributed to St. Linus, and supposedly was sent by him to the Eastern Churches. It is apocryphal and of later date than the history of the martyrdom of the two Apostles, by some attributed to Marcellus, which is also apocryphal ("Acta Apostolorum apocrypha", ed. Lipsius and Bonnet, I, ed; Leipzig, 1891, XIV sqq., 1 sqq.). | <urn:uuid:74f887a6-e430-4aaa-971c-7a13d42a98ef> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://carlosechevarria.blogspot.com/2009/09/pope-st-linus.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977166 | 2,438 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Nature: Black Mamba
Wednesday, June 26 at 8:00 p.m.
The black mamba is one of Africa’s most dangerous and feared snakes, known for being aggressive when disturbed.
Rearing up with its head four feet above the ground, it strikes with deadly precision, delivering venom that is packed with three different kinds of toxins 10 times more deadly than needed to kill an adult human. Without treatment, the mortality rate is 100 percent.
Until now, little has been known about the black mamba’s natural behavior in the wild because, in Africa, most people kill a black mamba on sight and feel lucky to have done so. But in the tiny country of Swaziland in southern Africa, a team of herpetologists has an entirely different “take” on these creatures and hopes their six-week study will change public perception of what they feel is the world’s most misunderstood snake. | <urn:uuid:77ebce62-14de-459f-b04c-554b947b9870> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wgte.org/wgte/watch/item.asp?item_id=9619 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00139-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948562 | 194 | 3.3125 | 3 |
What Parents Can Do Right Now
You’ve just learned your child is deaf or hard of hearing. You’re overwhelmed, you have a thousand questions, and maybe you don’t even know what to ask. There’s a lot to learn, but take a deep breath and remember that you’re already taking the first step. Know that there are knowledgeable, experienced and caring professionals ready to help you and more resources available than ever before. There are also countless other families who have gone through this same experience and have found the right path to assure their child’s happiness and success.
Here are some suggestions for things you can do immediately to start helping your child. And don’t hesitate to call or e-mail us. Clarke professionals are happy to answer your questions, help you find the information you need, or just talk. Whatever you’re looking for, we are here to help.
“I just learned my child has a hearing loss. What do I do now?”
- Laugh, sing, talk, read to and play with your child. Your child needs more experience with sound – not less. Make a lot of noise. Have fun together. Try not to worry too much, enjoy being together and get to know each other.
- Talk to your pediatrician or audiologist about hearing aids for your child sooner rather than later. Children can be fit comfortably with hearing aids by three months of age, some sooner, but it is a process that takes awhile so get started soon. You will want to find an audiologist who has had a lot of experience with working with infants and their families and that may take a little searching. Newborns are ready to learn about the world through sensory impressions and hearing is important in providing them information about their environment and information about you and the sounds associated with you so begin early.
- Ask a lot of questions. Ask your child’s doctors about their experience with pediatric hearing loss. Ask the audiologist who tests your child’s hearing about options in hearing technologies, and why they recommend a particular solution for your child. When you’re choosing a program for your child, ask about literacy rates, where graduates go, and for references to other families. Answers to these questions will help you make a good choice for your child and family.
- Become an advocate for your child. There are many different approaches to ways to manage a hearing loss and educate children who are deaf and hard of hearing. You’ll want to make choices about the direction that’s right for your child and your family. You may also need to stand firm in your own beliefs about what you want, rather than accepting what’s offered.
- Get educated. There is a lot to know about hearing technologies, schooling options, your rights under the law and more. Fortunately, there are also a lot of organizations ready to help you find the information you need. You can learn a lot on Clarke’s website and also check out our Resources page for more suggestions.
If you want to learn more about auditory oral communication (which means teaching your child to listen and talk), contact us at Clarke. Our professionals have the knowledge and expertise needed to help you navigate your options and move forward in the direction that’s right for your child. | <urn:uuid:abea666f-d76a-406b-8d35-565a044e6795> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.clarkeschools.org/parents-and-families/what-parents-can-do-right-now | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962796 | 686 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Chocolate Science and Technology
It covers cocoa cultivation and production with special attention paid to cocoa bean composition, genotypic variations in the bean, post-harvest pre-treatments, fermentation and drying processes, and the biochemical basis of these operations. The scientific principles behind industrial chocolate manufacture are outlined with detailed explanations of the various stages of chocolate manufacturing including mixing, refining, conching and tempering. Other topics covered include the chemistry of flavour formation and development during cocoa processing and chocolate manufacture; volatile flavour compounds and their characteristics and identification; sensory descriptions and character; and flavour release and perception in chocolate. The nutritional and health benefits of cocoa and chocolate consumption are also addressed.
There is a focus throughout on those factors that influence the flavour and quality characteristics of the finished chocolate and that provide scope for process optimization and improvement. The book is designed to be a desk reference for all those engaged in the business of making and using chocolate worldwide; confectionery and chocolate scientists in industry and academia; students and practising food scientists and technologists; nutritionists and other health professionals; and libraries of institutions where food science is studied and researched.
- an overview of the science behind chocolate manufacture
- covers the whole process from cocoa production, through manufacturing, to the nutrition and health aspects of chocolate consumption
- focuses on factors that influence chocolate flavour and quality, and that provide scope for process optimization and improvement. | <urn:uuid:2d98f697-2ae9-4295-ab46-6af7814bff73> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.candyindustry.com/products/535-chocolate-science-and-technology | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402699.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00160-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94354 | 283 | 3.25 | 3 |
October 31, 2012
Survey Offers Up Data From 100 Galaxies In Local Universe
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online
The intimate details of 100 galaxies in the local universe have been published by the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey (CALIFA).The survey offers up new data, representing the first large-scale effort at "two plus one" mapping of galaxies. For every pixel within each two-dimensional image, scientists could perform a detailed analysis and provide information about dynamics and chemical composition.
This information could allow scientists to reconstruct the structure and dynamics of galaxies, as well as their evolution over time.
Galaxies are the large-scale building blocks of the cosmos, and their ingredients include between millions and hundreds of billions of stars, along with gas and dust clouds.
"Understanding the dynamical processes within and between galaxies that have shaped the way they are today is a key part of understanding our wider cosmic environment," said Dr. Glenn van de Ven, a member of the managing board of the CALIFA survey, said in a prepared statement.
CALIFA survey astronomers selected more than 900 galaxies in the local Universe with a distance between 70 to 400 million light years away from the Milky Way. Their selection included all possible types of galaxies, from round elliptical to spiral galaxies.
Astronomers believe that the data to come from this survey could revolutionize what scientists know about the galactic dynamics.
"Large amounts of gas in these galaxies are being ionized — intense radiation is stripping the gas's atoms of electrons. CALIFA allows us to study these processes in unprecedented detail," said Dr. Knud Jahnke, one of the co-founding members of the CALIFA project.
Dr. Mariya Lyubenova, a postdoctoral research fellow at MPIA, said that even dark matter in these galaxies can no longer go undetected.
Dark matter consists of about 20 percent of the total energy of the Universe, but its exact distribution within distant galaxies is difficult to determine. Dark matter's gravitational attraction influences the motions of a galaxy's stars and gas.
The CALIFA survey will be able to track these motions with great precision, allowing the galaxy's dark matter distribution to be uncovered.
All of the data from the survey will become freely available online to be used by scientists around the world. The data from the initial set of 100 galaxies is now being released. | <urn:uuid:afd25a14-562c-49c1-ad09-c09fa27edbcb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112723395/galaxy-califa-dark-matter-103112/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396455.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00047-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926104 | 497 | 2.828125 | 3 |
|Singapore's Buddha Tooth-Relic Temple|
The Chinese Lunar Calendar is more that two thousand five hundred years older than our Roman Calendar. It never begins on January 1st, nor does it begin on the same date each year. It can begin any time between January 21st and February 18th, depending on the date of the New Moon in Aquarius. Each year is named for an animal and every twelve years this cycle begins again. The Chinese say that the animal ruling the year you were born will influence your life. In 2012, Chinese New Year begins January 23rd and will be the year of the Dragon. As the Dragon is the only mythical animal amongst the twelve, many believe that this will be a grand and magnificent year for everyone.
Here are some photos from my travels with Chinese influences on it. I have included some well-known Chinese Proverbs to go with them. Again, Happy New Year to everyone.
|Baguio City's Bell Church|
"Walking ten thousand miles of the world is better than reading ten thousand scrolls."
|Thailand's Ayutthaya Temple|
A candle illuminates others and exterminates itself.
|Cebu City's Taoist Temple|
New things are good; old friends are intimate.
|Binondo Chinese Temple|
Adversity produces human ability, not necessarily wealth.
|Macau's Prayer Shrine|
Reading enriches a man; conversation makes a man shrewd.
Sources: Apples For The Teacher and China Highlights. | <urn:uuid:ff9694d1-d52d-46b2-9d46-b4ecabebf01a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lawstude.net/2012/01/gong-xi-fa-cai.html?showComment=1327763641041 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.841723 | 318 | 2.5625 | 3 |
(plural fibres) (UK, Canada, New Zealand)
- (countable) A single piece of a given material, elongated and roughly round in cross-section, often twisted with other fibres to form thread.
- The microscope showed several different fibres stuck to the sole of the shoe.
- (uncountable) Material in the form of fibres.
- The cloth was made from strange, somewhat rough fibre.
- Dietary fibre.
- Fresh vegetables are a good source of fibre.
- Moral strength and resolve.
- The ordeal was a test of everyone’s fibre.
- (mathematics) The preimage of a given point in the range of a map.
- Under this map, any two values in the fibre of a given point on the circle differ by 2π
- (computing) A kind of lightweight thread of execution.
From French fibre | <urn:uuid:66508bb1-0fa1-4bec-91ea-4854d34fdca6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.yourdictionary.com/fibre | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.896226 | 192 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Earth's oldest object on display
The 4.4 billion-year-old zircon crystal, barely two human hairs wide, was brought out at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Saturday.
The day's festivities also featured the Rock Concert, which was to include jazz from a band using rocks as percussion.
The zircon, found in Australia in 2001, led to a reappraisal of early Earth.
Analytical work by geophysicist Professor John Valley at the university in Madison, Wisconsin, showed the crystal could only have formed in a low-temperature environment.
That suggested the early Earth was much cooler than previously thought, meaning life-forming elements such as oceans were formed earlier too.
Saturday's accompanying music included jazz composed especially for the day to try to answer the question of what 4.4 billion years old sounds like.
Roy Nathanson, who composes for the performing New York-based Jazz Passengers, said his rock banging, jazz and computer beats would trace the crystal's origins.
"The whole thing is something that captures your imagination," he told the Associated Press news agency.
Professor Valley said: "This is our first glimpse into the earliest history of the Earth. The miraculous thing about the crystal is that we've been able to make such wide-ranging inferences about the early Earth."
The festivities also included a lecture from the man who decided the age of the crystal - Professor Simon Wilde of the Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia. | <urn:uuid:957deba6-3d83-4826-b79d-d6780b53132d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://tuxmachines.org/node/541 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00092-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970953 | 308 | 3.453125 | 3 |
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