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UN Report Shows Dramatic Drop in Maternal Mortality, But Is It Enough?
Written by Suzi Parrasch
Trends in Maternal Mortality 1990-2010, released today by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank, estimates there were 287,000 maternal deaths in 2010, a 47% drop from the 543,000 estimated deaths in 1990.
Good news, yes, but not good enough. A woman dies in pregnancy or or childbirth every two minutes somewhere in the world. That's nearly 1,000 women every day. The four most common causes of death: severe bleeding after childbirth, infections, eclampsia, obstructed labor, and unsafe abortions. Ninety nine percent of these deaths occur in the developing world -- and most are preventable with proven interventions.
“We know exactly what to do to prevent maternal deaths: improve access to voluntary family planning, invest in health workers with midwifery skills, and ensure access to emergency obstetric care when complications arise. These interventions have proven to save lives and accelerate progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal 5," said Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of UNFPA, in a statement.
Substantial progress has been made in most regions of the world due to better contraception, increased use of anti-retroviral drugs for mothers with AIDS, and more births attended by nurses, doctors, and trained midwives, according to the report.
The sad truth however, is that despite this progress, Millennium Development Goal 5, which targets reducing maternal death by 75% from 1990 to 2015, will likely not be met by many countries. The vast majority of countries with the highest maternal mortality rates -- a whoppping 36 out of 40-- are in sub-Saharan Africa. One third of all maternal deaths in 2010 occurred in just two countries: India, which accounted for almost 20%, and Nigeria, which accounted for 14%.
The United States doesn't even rank in the top tier of countries in terms of maternal health, according to the report. The U.S. fell behind Western Europe, Canada and Australia, and ranked on a par with Russia, Central and South America and parts of north Africa.
East Asia, which has made the greatest progress in preventing maternal mortality has a contraceptive prevalence rate of 84% as opposed to only 22% in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of that is attributable to China, which has a one-child policy and a very high rate of contraceptive use.
"Over a quarter of a million women still die in pregnancy and childbirth each year, and more than 215 million women lack access to modern contraceptives. Meeting the need for voluntary family planning for these women would not only fulfill a human right, it would also reduce the number of maternal deaths by a third. This is a highly cost-effective public health strategy,” said Dr. Osotimehin.
This is in no way meant to diminish the remarkable work that's been done. Nearly halving the maternal death rate over the course of 20 years is nothing to sneeze at. And as the report notes "when governments take a strategic approach to the safe motherhood challenge -- by deploying trained midwives, ensuring adequate essential supplies, making family planning accessible and providing timely obstetric care to women with complications, we are getting results. Still, there is more work to be done in delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted and every childbirth is safe."
But this newest report, which comes on the heels of Save the Children's annual State of the World's Mothers last week, points to major development gaps, and the need for wealthy countries to step up to the plate. The G8 countries meeting this week at Camp David have ample opportunity to commit to preventing maternal deaths. The question is, will they? | <urn:uuid:becc0e79-076b-424e-a803-93df5f7678a8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/05/18/un-report-shows-dramatic-drop-maternal-mortality-it-enough | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00144-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945863 | 791 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Family Life: Courtship and Marriage
Family Life: Courtship and Marriage
Changing Morality. In the eighteenth century some 10 percent of American brides arrived at the altar already pregnant with their first child, a level unequaled until the late twentieth century. In rural New England during the 1780s and 1790s as many as one-third of all young women were pregnant at the time they were married. Most people felt that so long as the couple married, there was little shame in premarital pregnancies. During the first quarter of the nineteenth century, however, this attitude underwent a significant change. By 1840 there were fewer than one in five premarital pregnancies in most New England towns, and by 1860 the rate had dropped to one in twenty. With the rise of the sentimental domestic ideal, which held American womanhood as an example of purity, Americans now set much stricter moral and sexual codes.
Courtship. The typical courtship began in church or at a family celebration. While in the past parents often chose their children’s spouses with an eye to increasing the family’s wealth or landholdings, by the mid nineteenth century most young people, and many parents, believed that men and women should marry for love. This romantic idea of love based on mutual attraction was reinforced by sentimental poetry and short stories in magazines such as the Ladies’ Repository and Godey’s Lady’s Book. Permission from parents was still important,
but young people often followed their own inclinations, even in the South, where parents still exercised greater control over their children’s lives. Most young people frowned on flirtations. The notion that someone would “make up to” a person of the opposite sex without serious intentions of marriage was considered “fast,” not to say disreputable. Although this rule applied to both men and women, criticism of the female flirt was sharper.
Engagement and Marriage. Long engagements were common; it was not considered proper for a young couple to marry until the man could support his wife in a decent home and until the bride had collected her bridal clothes and established her trousseau, which included such important items as bedding, linens, curtains, and kitchen-ware. Engagements could be broken off for several reasons, usually misunderstandings, jealousies, or the discovery that one’s partner was not compatible. Before 1860 the typical couple was married at the bride’s home in the presence of immediate family members and a few close friends. During the 1860s and 1870s middle-class weddings became more elaborate. The bride’s family often sent engraved invitations to a wide range of relatives and acquaintances. Church weddings became more common because the typical family parlor could not hold all the guests, and weddings were often followed by lavish receptions. Many middle-class brides who could afford
to do so wore flowing white gowns and veils, a style that originated with wealthy women in the 1830s. American brides and grooms married somewhat later than their European counterparts. By 1860 most Americans were in their early to mid twenties when they married, with the average age somewhat lower in the South. Slave women married in their late teens and began their child-bearing years around the age of nineteen.
Divorce. Although divorce statistics are incomplete, it had become easier to obtain a divorce by the middle of the nineteenth century. By that time most states had passed laws that allowed a couple to obtain a divorce in a court of law, instead of having to petition the state legislature as in the past. Beginning in 1839 some states began passing laws that allowed married women to keep their own property and earnings, making it easier for a woman to support herself after her marriage was dissolved. During the nineteenth century the divorce rate in the United States grew more rapidly than in European countries, but the number of divorces was small in comparison to statistics for the United States in the twentieth century.
Contraception. The nationwide birth rate in the United States declined from seven or eight children per family around 1800 to five or six by the Civil War. (Average family size was somewhat higher among southerners, both black and white.) Although these statistics suggest that Americans were deliberately limiting the size of their families, there is little information available on the methods they employed. The topic was considered taboo, even obscene. Contraception was rarely discussed in diaries or letters, and Americans who wanted to practice birth control found it difficult to learn about the options available to them. The few books and pamphlets that were available became even harder to obtain after the passage of the Comstock Law in 1873. The primary target of this law, which made it illegal to send obscene materials through the U.S. mail, was publications discussing methods of birth control. Presumably, Americans practiced the same contraceptive methods that were prevalent in Europe, including male withdrawal, the rhythm method, abstinence, or various crude and ineffective barrier methods (early versions of condoms and diaphragms). Most women also knew that intensive breastfeeding would often inhibit conception.
Abortion. Abortion was also used as a birth-control method. Around 1840 the abortion rate began to increase dramatically, not only among poor unmarried women, but also among the more affluent married women. Many Americans believed that prior to “quickening,” the first sign of movement or life in an unborn fetus, the removal of an “obstruction” or “stoppage” was not an abortion. In fact, such early-term abortions were legal in nearly all states, and some states had no laws against abortion at any stage of a woman’s pregnancy. Beginning in the mid 1850s there was a nationwide movement to make abortions illegal; these laws were directed mainly at abortionists and motivated largely on the high incidence of deaths from botched instrumental abortions. Between 1860 and 1880 at least forty states and territories passed new abortion laws, most banning abortion at any stage. Many people continued to believe that ending a pregnancy before quickening was not an abortion. Rural women usually resorted to home remedies, including herbal infusions and douches, while young women in cities and towns were more likely to risk their lives by resorting to abortionists.
Childbirth. Beginning around 1820, more and more upper-class and middle-class women, particularly in urban areas, were attended by male physicians during childbirth. Yet midwives continued to deliver most babies. (Even in 1910 midwives attended the births of nearly half the babies born nationwide.) Most babies were born at home. Hospital births occurred only in cases of extreme emergency. A few upper-class women were beginning to try new birthing methods, including the use of drugs such as ether and morphine to make labor easier. Puerperal fever, an infection caused by inadequate sanitation measures during childbirth, took the lives of many women. The death rate from this disease dropped gradually after the 1880s.
Nancy Cott, The Bonds of Womanhood: “Woman’s Sphere” in New England, 1780-1834 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977);
Carl N. Degler, At Odds: Woman and the Family in America from the Revolution to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980);
Daniel E. Sutherland, The Expansion of Everyday Life, 1860-1876 (New York: Harper & Row, 1989).
"Family Life: Courtship and Marriage." American Eras. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (June 28, 2016). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2536601450.html
"Family Life: Courtship and Marriage." American Eras. 1997. Retrieved June 28, 2016 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2536601450.html | <urn:uuid:1db96814-5bf3-4854-9a64-3edc94d10951> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2536601450.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977686 | 1,618 | 3.625 | 4 |
Business entered the computer age in the 1980s. Every department had at least one computer, often more. Laborious tasks such as collecting, tabulating, and representing data were completed in an instant by modern applications such as Lotus 1-2-3 and dBase III. We began to infuse the workplace with more and more computers, dazzled by the productivity gains we were about to realize. But dramatic gains never came from just automating our existing work processes; they materialized when we transformed the way we worked. When real-time information allowed us to virtually eliminate inventory through just-in-time delivery. When we learned to collaborate across time zones and geographies. When we began to become productive in “snippets of time” thanks to e-mail in our pockets. When real-time access to information and communication enabled teams to self-organize and take ownership rather than wait for instructions to flow down the low-bandwidth, noisy and lossy channels of hierarchical communication.
In many ways, education technology is today where business was thirty years ago. Almost no one questions the promise of always-available computing and broadband connections yet we are puzzled when infusing the schoolhouse with more and more computers doesn’t always yield dramatic gains. As with business, education will see the radical impact when we move from automating existing processes to transforming the way we teach and learn. When real-time information on student progress will allow just-in-time delivery of the right lesson. When students become productive in “snippets of time” thanks to on-line learning tools in their pockets. When real-time access to information and communication enable students to collaborate, research, peer review, and mentor each other rather than only waiting for information to flow down the low-bandwidth, noisy, and lossy channel of one-size-fits-all lectures.
The National Education Technology Plan (pdf) gets to the heart of this, calling for “revolutionary transformation rather than evolutionary tinkering.” The plan outlines models and specific recommendations for learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. It offers the U.S. Department of Education a vivid sketch of education powered by technology and shaped by the learning sciences. A careful read reveals a deeply informed picture of teaching and learning that is both aspirational and achievable and that is grounded in the most current capabilities that technology has to offer.
But technology can offer more.
In the last decade, the technology investments we made in computer literacy were largely variations on shared computer labs with desktop computers hard-wired to the Internet. More recently, some schools that can afford it have started providing a wireless laptop for each student (1:1 laptop programs). This learning experience is different in kind, not just degree, from limited hours spent in a computer lab. But it requires a whole different infrastructure — more robust WiFi on campus, for example — and re-architected systems that don’t lose student work when the connection goes down. Consequently, much of the innovative work developed for the computer lab model doesn’t translate to the 1:1 laptop model and needs to be either drastically modified or recreated at great expense and effort.
Today a few schools are beginning to experiment with technologies alluded to in the National Education Technology Plan: cloud-based services accessed by connected devices such as cell phones and laptops with mobile broadband modems. Once again, the learning experience changes in kind, not just degree, and once again the requirements on the infrastructure change, requiring re-architected systems that support devices that move across networks and are sensitive to bandwidth usage. In the business world we went through a two-stage process: first we reinvented our processes as we moved to a wired computer experience, then we transformed again as we went to using always-on, always-connected mobile devices. In education, we have the opportunity to leapfrog that intermediate step.
The plan envisions:
… a model of an infrastructure for learning [that] is always on, available to students, educators, and administrators regardless of their location or the time of day. It supports not just access to information, but access to people and participation in online learning communities. It offers a platform on which developers can build and tailor applications.
The plan also points out that both the learning sciences and technology will continue to evolve. With investments being made now in education that may not be repeated for decades, the challenge presented to technology is one of developing platforms that will not require massive tech do-overs and reinvestment as new technologies come on line.
What will happen if we merely implement current technology as a one-off investment? Will additional networks (such as peer-to-peer, personal area networks, and body area networks) soon require re-architecting the applications and services about to be developed for traditional cloud and mobile device environments? Will breakthroughs in assessment, analytics, and data visualization require re-writing content and curriculum to capture data? Will newly re-developed back-end data systems need to be thrown out and recreated from scratch to support that data capture? Will trends toward using student-owned devices in school quickly require a complete rethinking of privacy and security?
The National EdTech Plan aspires to bring together the best of what we know of teaching and learning with the very best technology has to offer in 2010, yet we can be certain that technology will offer even more in 2012, 2015, and 2020. A literal interpretation of the plan could end up doing no more than codifying the best practices and technologies of 2010. Is it possible, instead, to codify the spirit of the plan and implement the technology infrastructures that will allow education as a platform to drive innovation for decades to come? | <urn:uuid:bbabf69c-d9b7-41ab-8a1c-2243fce20ee6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/06/back-to-the-future-how-not-to.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00111-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950677 | 1,177 | 2.609375 | 3 |
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Articles, documents and multimedia from ABC Science
Wednesday, 1 June 2016
Sky guide This month, catch a faint comet in the morning sky, look towards the centre of our galaxy in the constellation of Sagittarius, and see Saturn at its brightest.
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Black holes Three colliding spiral galaxies 1.8 billion light years from Earth have produced a monster black hole weighing in at 3 billion times the mass of the Sun.
Thursday, 7 April 2016
Big surprise The discovery of a monster black hole 17 billion times more massive than the sun in a modestly-sized galaxy, raises suspicions supermassive black holes may be more common than originally thought.
Friday, 4 March 2016
Far away in time Astronomers have discovered a galaxy that formed just 400 million years after the Big Bang explosion - the most distant galaxy found to date.
Thursday, 25 February 2016
Merging stars A rare burst of energy lasting less than a millisecond that happened around six billion light-years ago in a galaxy far, far away has been tracked to its source by scientists for the first time.
Wednesday, 10 February 2016
Great attractor Hundreds of galaxies hidden from view behind the Milky Way have been unveiled in unprecedented detail for the first time by astronomers using Australia's Parkes Radio Telescope.
Wednesday, 27 January 2016
Star factories Massive groups of stars called globular star clusters may produce new generations of stars by drawing in fresh supplies of gas from their surrounding galaxy, according to a new study.
Friday, 22 January 2016
Mysterious gas clouds Mysterious lumps in gas clouds connecting stars in the Milky Way could comprise a significant amount of the galaxy's missing matter, according to Australian scientists.
Friday, 15 January 2016
Big blast Astronomers have detected the most powerful stellar explosion ever seen - - a massive supernova, twice as powerful as anything previously recorded.
Tuesday, 12 January 2016
Galaxy map Scientists have made a cosmic growth chart of the Milky Way, an innovative blending of data collected by the ongoing Sloan Digital Sky Survey and a new technique to determine the ages of stars.
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
StarStuff Podcast FINAL EPISODE: Bright spots on the dwarf planet Ceres are giant salt pans. Also; climate change slowing the planet's rotation, and searching for the universe's missing matter.
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
StarStuff Podcast Astronomers observe for the first time how the Sun acts as a powerful accelerator. Also: The LISA Pathfinder launches on its mission to test Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, and discovery of another possible dwarf planet out beyond Pluto.
Tuesday, 8 December 2015 2
Great Moments in Science Scientists recently witnessed the birth an exoplanet the size of Jupiter. Dr Karl explains how planets are born from the apparent emptiness of space.
Wednesday, 2 December 2015
StarStuff Podcast A monster black hole rips apart a Sun-like star in a spectacular stellar feeding frenzy. Also; Earth's magnetic field isn't about to flip just yet, and the new model explaining how the Moon got its tilt.
Friday, 27 November 2015
Death of a star Astronomers have witnessed for the first time a star the size of our Sun being completely ripped apart and destroyed by a supermassive black hole over just a few weeks. | <urn:uuid:10a2fa77-1c97-4384-b710-48d19fc5921b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.abc.net.au/science/tag/browse.htm?tag=galaxies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914219 | 681 | 3.296875 | 3 |
On Oct 9, 11:10 pm, Frederick Williams <freddywilli...@btinternet.com> wrote: > Alen wrote: > > > From the discussions on this thread I think > > that perhaps I have not succeeded in conveying > > what I meant by space as an infinity. So I shall > > try to make it clearer by an analogy. > [...] > > > I have not tried to apply this kind of notion of > > an 'infinity as object' to mathematical infinities. > > If you are concerned with the infinities of physics, then disregard my > contribution to this thread. But you did post to sci.math after all...
I am interested in infinity as applied to maths in a basic sense, I suppose I might say, but I am not familiar with, and have not studied, the kind of extended debate about sets and such like that you indicate below
I posted to sci.math in case mathematicians might see someting of interest in a discussion of the concept of infinity :)
> > For example, is there some kind of 'object' such > > that the integers exist as its 'property'? I don't > > know. It would be necessary to try to identify > > what kind of an object it might be. > > Properties are sometimes thought of as subsets of some "universal" set. > (Don't take the word "universal" too seriously, it means something like > "set inclusive enough to contain everything currently under > discussion".) Integers can be construed as sets and therefore subsets > of some other set. A very simple example can be got by considering > natural numbers rather than integers. According to one definition of > natural number they are subsets of a set called omega. Also, according > to that definition, one might say that three (for example) is the > property "being less than three". That probably looks circular hut if > you start with nought = the property "being less than nought" = the > empty set (remember, we are considering the natural numbers only) and > work your way up, it isn't. Look up "von Neumann ordinals". For > integers, it is messy. > > -- > When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by > this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. > Jonathan Swift: Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting | <urn:uuid:03b590b3-e1a7-47ac-b8a6-0821147e31e9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mathforum.org/kb/message.jspa?messageID=7584813 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00142-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957153 | 507 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh – India)
There is probably no other building in Lucknow that exerts such a fascination over the viewer than the Constantia building which is the the central portion of the main building at the La Martiniere Boys College. Built by the 18th century French adventurer Claude Martin, it has withstood the ravages of time and its walls have witnessed death, destruction, earthquakes, floods, love, hope and tears. Through its hallowed portals have passed generations of students and staff who have all contributed to the legend that is ‘the Martiniere.’
Because of immense legal wrangles in the Calcutta High Court, Claude Martin’s will was not finally proved until 1840. Before that the Constantia building was used as a guest house for visiting Europeans. Constantia, was designed and built by Martin himself as his country residence. This building, constructed in an extraordinary mixture of styles, is striking and impressive. The site chosen is a lovely park which may excite the envy of any educational institution in the world. It stands on an artificial terrace over-looking what was once a lake; from the centre of which rises a solid fluted column with a Moorish cupola ‘the Lart’ approximately 125 feet high. Over the years, the Gumpti river has edged closer, necessitating the building of a river bund between the front terrace and ‘the Lart’.
The rooms in Constantia are decorated profusely in arabesques, bas reliefs and other ornamental works in the Italian style, many of them of great beauty. The external architecture is profusely crowned with casts of figures after the antique, and some in more modern fashion. The curved wings were added afterwards in accordance with Martin’s instructions. The famous 18th century potter Josiah Wedgewood was responsible for the plaster of Paris plaques decorating the library and chapel. The plaques depict classical and mythological subjects. Severe earthquakes in 1803 and 1934 caused many statues to tumble from their pedestals. In later years the College has been the setting for a number of films including Kim and Shakespearewallah. The Indian Mutiny of 1857 or India’s First War of Independence saw the making of the Martinian military legend. For the first time in history, Britain called on schoolboys to assist in the military conflict-namely the defence of the Lucknow Residency. The names of eight staff members, sixty seven boys and one ensign (old boy) are inscribed on the ‘Roll of Honour, defence of the Residency 1857’ at La Martiniere Lucknow. The siege began on the 30th June 1857. Early in June, the Chief Commissioner of Oudh, Sir Henry Lawrence ordered the Martiniere be evacuated and for several days the boys travelled from the Residency to the College collecting provisions. The force within the Residency then consisted of British and Indian troops and civilian volunteers including a number of Anglo-Indians. The Martiniere contingent was commanded by the Principal, Mr. George Schilling. The Residency was under siege for eighty-six days, until relieved by Sir Colin Campbell in November 1857.
The role of the boys and masters of La Martiniere has been well documented in Chandan Mitra’s 1987 book titled Constant Glory. The Residency fortifications and defended houses were about a mile in circumference, and the Martiniere contingent along with a detachment of the 32nd Regiment, were garrisoned in a strongly built house containing tykhanas (cellars) and adjoining outhouses. The position became known as The Martiniere Post and was a mere thirty feet distant from Johannes House, held by the rebels, and as a consequence, was exposed to heavy shelling.
Apart from actual fighting, the boys performed a number of useful tasks within the Residency compound. Some ran messages to the hospital, watched over the sick and wounded, ground corn and manned the telegraph connecting the Residency to Alam Bagh; others were seconded to domestic duties in place of native servants who had absconded. The boys proved willing helpers and despite the many dangers, their casualties were surprisingly few. Two died of dysentery and two others were wounded in action. Their diet consisted of mutton and buffalo-head soup. On another occasion, a mine blew down the outer room of The Martiniere Post, but the boys bravely defended the breach and after several days of bitter fighting managed to drive off the enemy housed opposite their camp.
Major Gorman in his Great Exploits-The Siege of Lucknow writes that the Martiniere boys erected an amateur semaphore on the tower of the Residency from instructions given in a number of the Penny Encyclopaedia. The semaphore enabled General Outram to advise the commander of the relieving force Sir Colin Campbell ‘to give the city a wide berth’, avoiding the heavy enemy batteries on the direct road to the Residency. The fiercest fighting of the advance that followed was at the Martiniere College, strongly defended by the mutineers. Sir Colin dislodged them, occupied the college, setting up another semaphore on its roof to communicate with Outram. The Martiniere contingent took part in the secret evacuation of the Residency, and the rambling journey of six weeks across India which followed, until finally arriving by boat at Benares, where the College was temporarily established in bungalows and school routine recommenced.
Principal Schilling’s leadership was well rewarded. He became a Talukdar, or noble of Oudh, with an estate worth 30,000 pounds, thereby ensuring a comfortable retirement in England. The Martiniere contribution was officially recognised in Queen Victoria’s (1858) proclamation. Although the boys were all awarded the Mutiny medal, it was not until 1932 , following a request by the College, that the British Government recognised Martiniere`s role in 1857 by presenting it with Battle Honours – an honour held by no other educational institution in the British Empire. Bishop Cotton, made the following reference to the Martiniere action at St.Paul’s Cathedral, Calcutta on 28 July 1860: Public thanksgiving to Almighty God for deliverance from the sepoy revolt should take expression in the form of schools for the children of the Community that had stood so nobly by England in her hour of need and which shed its blood for kinsmen across the seas. Very little is known about the early years of the College. Existing records show that over 120 boys qualified for admission to the higher department of the Civil Engineering College at Roorkee in 1865. By 1900 the choir was being transported to and from church services at Christ Church Hazratgung in horse driven buses. On Founder’s Day the choir had to don Eton jackets and broad school ties reserved for such occasions. Significantly, in 1913 the four Houses were first given their names: Martin, Cornwallis, Hodson and Lyons. 1947 saw a change made in the curriculum by the dropping of Urdu as a compulsory subject and its replacement by Hindi.
Martinians have left their mark in many spheres of life. One of India’s foremost irrigation engineers in the earlier part of this century was named Joseph Smith. Joseph who passed out of the Lucknow Martiniere in 1894 led a distinguished career in civil engineering. He worked on leading canal projects of the day and his dedication and expertise earned him a knighthood in 1932. Another old Martinian named Hubert Bolst left his mark in a different way. He left the Boys College around 1889 and worked for the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway for many years retiring in 1925 as Assistant Traffic Superintendent. Hubert used to get together with several Old Martinians stationed at Faizabad, to celebrate Founder’s Day. This unofficial gathering was the genesis of the present day Old Martinians’ Association at Lucknow. Hubert died in 1947 and in his will left instructions that a sum of Rs.5,000 be handed over to the OMA as an ‘Endowment Fund’. The annual interest accruing from this investment be used for the purpose of a scholarship to be given to a needy and deserving Anglo-Indian day scholar Boy studying in the Boys’ College. Since then, some 50 recipients of the scholarship have reason to be thankful to Hubert Bolst. In the sporting arena Martinians have forged a proud tradition. George Duncan dela Hoyde was the only student to have won all three (Colts, Juniors and Seniors) athletic Championships during his school career. When the British Raj ended a stream of Anglo – Indian hockey players emigrated to Australia, U.K., New Zealand and Canada. The standard of hockey in these countries was vastly improved by the arrival of these players from the sub-continent. Two Martinians who emigrated to Australia deserve special mention. Fred Browne was Australia’s first (1956) Olympic coach and Merv Adams was appointed Australian National Coach in 1974. Later, Merv coached the Australian men’s and women’s teams at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, at which the men won a silver medal.
In 1960 five boys were selected to represent Uttar Pradesh at the XVIII National Aquatic Championships held at Delhi; namely-C.Doutre, P. Keenan, H.S. Dhillon, C.Ward, and R. Sharpe. All made the finals of their respective events. In the same year the estate experienced devastating flooding by the Gumpti river resulting in the evacuation of staff and boys to higher ground. The National Cadet Core(NCC) dingy, manned by staff and boys, maintained regular contact with the outside world and the College staff did a splendid job holding regular classes and providing meals for the boys. In the First and Second World Wars the names of thirty six and eight Martinians respectively, are enshrined on the Roles of Honour at the College. In succeeding conflicts the exploits of Martinians resonate through the pages of history. A number of soldiers like General Fremantle, General Larkins and airmen like Flt. Lt. Alfred Cooke (Vir Chakra) served with distinction and brought great credit to their alma mater. Who can forget the Keelor brothers who made history in the Indo – Pak wars by shooting down Pakistan’s invincible Sabre jets. In a later conflict, Lt. Arvind Singh was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra for his exceptional devotion to duty and gallantry during the Indian Peace Keeping Force operations in Sri Lanka. Old Martinians overseas have also served their adopted countries in various theatres of war. In 1950 Corporal Mervyn O’ Brien of the King’s own Yorkshire Light Infantry was awarded the Military Medal for gallant and distinguished service in the Malayan conflict. Denzil Simeons and Sydney Lewis served with the Australian Army in Vietnam. Martinians have excelled in many spheres. Alan Sealy who attended the College in the sixties achieved world wide recognition with the publication of his first book titled The Trotter-Nama. The book is the history of the Anglo-Indian Trotter family, and is loosely based on the life of Claude Martin. The Time magazine regards Allan as part of a new wave of exciting Indian writers following in the footsteps of Salman Rushdie. Old Boy Muzzafar Ali is a renowned painter, clothing designer, film producer and aspiring politician. Saeed Naqvi is a leading journalist in Delhi and Mr.K.Raghunath has risen to high office to be appointed India’s Foreign Secretary. On the medical front, Dr.Vijay Mohan Kohli is one of India’s leading heart surgeons who is actively involved in the development of cardiological methods both in India and overseas.
Throughout its history, the College has been served by generations of dedicated and outstanding teachers and servants. A couple of examples were Colonel William Edgar Andrews and Biology teacher Mr.R.D. Vidhiyarti. Colonel Andrews was Principal at the College from 1926-to 1951. He was the ninth Principal in a line of succession from John Newmarch. He came out to India in 1914 as Senior history and geography master in La Martiniere Calcutta. Then in 1921 he was appointed Headmaster of Boys’ High School Allahabad where he proved a great asset. In 1926 he was appointed Principal of Lucknow Martiniere. The Colonel’s period of office saw many changes and improvements to the College, including the construction of the modern well-equipped Spence and Sykes halls. Other milestones were the opening of the Biology department, the introduction of the School song, and the award of Battle Honours. More than 38 years of the Colonel’s life was devoted to educating the young and his career was characterised by dedication, tolerance and understanding. On 14 January 1979 retired Biology master Vidhiyarti passed away at his Lucknow residence. ‘Vidhi’ as he was affectionately known to generations of Martinians, served the College from 9 January, 1945 till his retirement on 31 December, 1973. He started the Biology Department in the College and was House Master of Hodson House for many years. Apart from his long and devoted service to the College, ‘Vidhi’ was a successful author of Biology books, some of which were standard texts in Uttar Pradesh. The torch of learning has been carried on by a number of Old Boys who today are Principals of leading schools in India. Terence Phillips in Wynberg Allen (Mussorie); Cedric Innes in Boys’ High School (Allahabad), Allan Baker in Barnes (Devlali) and Munday Martin in St.Thomas’s (Calcutta ) to name a few. But the College has had its share of misfortune. In March 1997 tragedy struck the college. The Martinian community in India and overseas was shocked and saddened to learn of the murder within the college premises of 30 year old Frederick Gomes, Assistant warden and physical training instructor at the College. This is perhaps the first time since the Great Mutiny of 1857 that the portals of Constantia has been mute witness to such violence which took place on March 7,1997. The murder remains unsolved.
The College has always maintained the highest educational and sporting standards. The curriculum today includes English Language and Literature, Hindi, Sanskrit (upto Class VIII), History and Civics, Geography, Principles of Accounts, Commercial Studies, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Art, Craft, Woodwork, Choral Singing, Physical and Military Training and Computer Studies. Students are prepared for the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education Examination at the end of Class X and for the Indian School Certificate Examination at the end of Class XII. Games and Sports include Cricket, Football, Hockey, Swimming, Athletics and Basket Ball. The College has a gymnasium and two swimming pools. The College also has a Senior Division N.C.C. (Rifles) Troop, and two troops of the junior Division (Naval and Air Wings), representing the three Defence Services. Younger boys belong to the School Scout Troop and Cub Pack. Through its history and traditions the College has carved for itself a unique place in Indian education and can truly claim to have carried out the wishes of Founder both in spirit and in deed. | <urn:uuid:67f39916-981a-4905-8e47-35d059c9e736> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lmbcal.ac.in/la-martiniere-boys-school/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00115-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968284 | 3,184 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Roger Highfield on imaginary time and other theories
Like many scientists before him, including Einstein, Stephen Hawking dreams of discovering a single all-encompassing theory of everything.
Working with Sir Roger Penrose on the laws that govern the cosmos, he showed that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity (a theory of gravity and the very big) implied space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes (superdense objects that have such strong gravity that not even light can escape).
In his effort to unite general relativity with quantum theory (which rules the domain of the very small), he found that black holes should not be completely black but emit radiation - "Hawking radiation" - and eventually evaporate.
Another of his conjectures rests on "imaginary time", a mathematical concept "just as real" as the time we experience. The universe need have no beginning or end in imaginary time. "It wouldn't need anything outside to wind up the clockwork and set it going," he says. "Instead, everything in the universe would be determined by the laws of science."
He once thought it also implies the arrow of time would reverse if the universe began to contract, so people would get younger, shed wrinkles and eventually disappear into the womb. "That was my greatest mistake, or at least my greatest mistake in science."
Now the world's best-known cosmologist, Hawking believes that scientists may even have discovered a candidate theory of everything in the largely unexplored territory of M theory, where M stands for "mystery", "membrane" or the "mother of all strings", depending on which scientist you talk to. | <urn:uuid:683e2ddb-bb69-4022-a344-9e412f1e11d7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3614972/Whats-the-big-idea.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00001-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963444 | 342 | 3.140625 | 3 |
"No man would be a sailor who had contrivance enough to get himself into gaol."
- Of their total male population of military age, during World War I about 80-percent of French and German men served in uniform, as did 75-percent of Austro-Hungarian men, some 50- to 60-percent of that of Britons, Serbs, and Ottoman subjects, and perhaps 40-percent of Russians.
- During the 1960s and 1970s the Swedish Navy operated what was certainly the most unique "warship" in the world, the 250-ton Sigrun, a sea-going laundry that served the needs of isolated bases and forts.
- In 1873, only 227 of 721 lieutenants, 52 of 264 commanders, and 22 of 118 captains in the French Navy were actually serving afloat.
- During the London Blitz in 1940, an average of 40 pedestrians were struck by motor vehicles each night, due to blackout conditions and the movement of emergency vehicles.
- When on campaign most Roman senators took to the field with an entourage of dozens of servants, but while commanding in Spain in 195 B.C. Marcus Porcius Cato – known as “Cato the Elder” – notorious for his aversion to luxury and waste, limited himself to just five.
- Early in twentieth century Argentina and Brazil, deadly rivals, used the same infantry tactics, having translated the current German tactical manual.
- Marshal Vauban (1633-1707), the great French fortification expert, once calculated that any fortress could be taken in one month by 60,000 infantrymen with 2,400 tons of supply, supported by 130 heavy guns provided with 16,000 rounds (132 tons of ball and powder), a force which required 20,000 horses to move, who would need 80,000 tons of fodder.
- When Lt. Luigi Durand De La Penne, Italian Royal Navy, was awarded the Medaglia d’oro de Valor Militare in March of 1945, for leading an intrepid team of “frogmen” who sank two battleships and a tanker in Alexandria harbor on the night of December 18-19, 1941, the decoration was pinned on by Commodore Sir Charles Morgan, who had been captain of one of the ships that was sunk, HMS Valiant.
Portions of "Al
Nofi's CIC" have appeared previously in Military Chronicles,
Copyright © 2415 Military
Chronicles (www.militarychronicles.com), used with permission, all rights | <urn:uuid:8532703c-4eab-4821-96a7-5881ae602618> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.strategypage.com/cic/docs/cic241a.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00053-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969482 | 528 | 2.828125 | 3 |
A. J. Christopher. The Atlas of Changing South Africa. Second edition. London and New York: Routledge, 2001. x + 260 pp. $100.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-415-21178-9; $220.00 (library), ISBN 978-0-415-21177-2.
Reviewed by Siphamandla Zondi (Africa Institute of South Africa, Pretoria)
Published on H-SAfrica (January, 2002)
Apartheid has been a subject of intense scholarship, especially in the last two decades. A lot has been said about the political philosophy behind the policy, its course, and how it went wrong. Its effect, especially on black South Africans, and its manifestations in various areas of life have also been discussed broadly. An important question then is what is new that this textbook on apartheid tells? Clearly, we have not yet arrived at a full understanding of the total impact of apartheid. We are only now beginning to tap into the data sources being opened for scrutiny, while some will remain closed for some time. Also, the legacy of apartheid is still glaringly apparent in South African society, conspicuously so in the living space: architecture, residential settlement, personal relationships across racial lines; what is called spatial apartheid. Just how far apartheid policy caused a reconfiguration of the living space in South Africa, which is what this book is about, is one of the subjects yet to be fully explored by geographical historians. It is, therefore, a welcome addition to knowledge about political policy implications for geography and spatial planning.
In The Atlas of Changing South Africa, A. J. Christopher deploys a mixture of a splendid collection of cartographic illustrations and lucid narrative to 'demonstrate the spatial patterns of the planning and enforcement of the policy [of apartheid] and to examine the spatial heritage it has bequeathed as an indelible legacy to present South Africa' (p. 8). In looking at the geographical planning that was effected in pursuit of complete racial segregation, Christopher succeeds in demonstrating that prudent spatial planning was sacrificed in an obsession with complete separation of population groups along racial lines.
Chapter I reviews the political history of South Africa before apartheid, compressing a history spanning centuries of vital events in a mere 40 pages with great perspicuity. But with his focus on post-1948 periods, Christopher literally rushes through cardinal events of this earlier period, events that demonstrate the resilience of the African and other subordinate peoples to willingly accept white hegemony. The chapter also quickly reviews the history covering the arrival of Dutch immigrants and the dispersal of the Khoisan; state consolidation epitomized by Shaka's reign; Frontier wars and primary resistance to colonial intrusion; agricultural, mining and industrial revolutions; British colonies and Boer Republics; the Union of South Africa; and racial segregation. It will interest readers to find a condensed restatement of an all-too-familiar point that segregation started long before the official policy of Apartheid, that it became pronounced in the reconfiguration of the urban space in the late 19th century and became entrenched in the mushrooming municipalities in the early twentieth century. Yet, interestingly, city life retained to various degrees residues of racial mixing until apartheid ended cordial contact between races.
Chapter II, entitled 'Administering Apartheid,' documents the impact of apartheid on the administrative machinery at all levels of society. Here, Christopher demonstrates that from 1948, the South African state became increasingly complex, bloated and expensive and that federal structures of government did one thing for whites and another to black people. While municipal authorities were geared towards control of the black people, they maximized the delivery of essential services in 'white areas'. Apartheid ideologues saw a difference between black groups, hence the senseless fragmentation of administration of African affairs along ethnic lines leading to the homeland system, while Coloureds and Indians were to receive parliamentary concessions.
In Chapter III, the author explores the essence of the apartheid state, arguing that the fragmentation of government was meant to consolidate rather than devolve white power. This is obvious, but the point that this consolidation happened against the trend on the continent towards fall of white colonial control and the rise of independent states is a very important paradox apartheid added to African post-war history. The author goes on to dissect the philosophical content of the apartheid state: the fears and anxieties behind a rising hegemony, and goes further to delve into the problems this experiment in social engineering scheme confronted and created, from untenable land tenure system, excessively high state expenditure, disproportionate economic growth patterns between 'white' and 'black' areas, economic stagnation and deepening abject poverty. Clearly, the white elite had one ambition in common: how to compensate for whites' numerical inferiority, although Christopher limits this desire to Afrikaner nationalists. Of course, Afrikaner nationalists had their own answer to this: the creation of a prosperous white South Africa while spending minimal resources on black development.
But, as Chapter IV demonstrates, apartheid was by and large about control of the local urban space. The author reckons that this was primarily because apartheid's ultimate test was complete residential and personal segregation rather than philosophical projects like partitioning the state. Legislative instruments such as the Population Registration Act and the Group Areas Act empowered the state to tamper with community relationships that crossed racial lines and represented a delicate re-ordering of the urban space, a trend in global post-war white politics. Forced removals and deepening poverty added to the pain of African victims.
The state and local space separated apartheid planners' move from 'grand apartheid' to what they called 'petty apartheid', seeking to extend racial segregation to daily lives. Chapter V, entitled 'Personal Apartheid,' discusses measures taken to eliminate and prevent personal contact between blacks and whites, not only in marriage and sexual relationships, but also in the use of public facilities, amenities, and transport with devastating effects on the personal security and well-being of the black majority.
In Chapter VI, the author turns to resistance to apartheid. Christopher runs through this long and complex road with amazing speed and some accuracy. From the largely rural resistance of the 1940s to militant mass actions against pass laws, to the inception of armed struggle and diplomatic initiatives in exile in neighbouring states in the 1960s, he details the remarkable feat of expansion of the spatial framework of the apartheid policy beyond the borders, with state operatives following liberation activists across the Southern African region. Importantly, the ruthless intensification of the state security apparatus to suppress African discontent resulted in more bloodshed and intensification of resistance. However, he fails to situate the Soweto Uprising, arguably the most important catalyst for a shift towards militant mass youth and labour mobilization, in the emergence of the militant student movement and the re-emergence of popular labour actions in the early 1970s. The narrative characteristically races with much haste through the era of controlled reforms under P.W. Botha with its 'concessions' for Coloureds and Indians. Even with abounding evidence having emerged post-1990 on the hand of the state in the virulent circle of violence among Africans, Christopher fails to weave this into his narrative.
Partly as a result of this ruthless institutionalization of racism and violence and partly due to diplomatic campaigning by liberation movements, South Africa was fast becoming a pariah state internationally. On this matter, Chapter VII maintains that the South African bungling of the SWA affair, South Africa's military incursions in neighbouring states and South Africa's withdrawal from the Commonwealth and other multilateral actions explain this isolation. Paradoxically, trade relations with some powerful states, economic hegemony and political manoeuvering helped South Africa stay afloat for decades in isolation. What this meant in terms of South Africa's attempts to stay in the global map without ditching apartheid policy could better have been explained.
But the weight of isolation and organized resistance from various fronts made the grandiose apartheid scheme too costly to maintain politically and economically. In this context, in Chapter VIII Christopher goes on to discuss briefly the retreat of the apartheid state from the late 1980s (erroneously put as 1990). He discusses the opening of the political space for other players, the intricate negotiations amid spiraling violence, and the political settlement in only six pages. With a new constitution, the South African map was to be redrawn, most manifestly in the collapse of homelands, desegregation of the apartheid administrative machinery and the end of international isolation. The fall of the apartheid city and dismantling of personal apartheid are discussed in some detail. The implications of the historic all-races 1994 elections also receive some attention, but the fact remains that the congestion of voters in some areas, while others were scarcely patronized, was partly an artifact of a deliberate unequal distribution of population across the land by segregationists.
In Chapter IX, the author then turns to attempts to undo the apartheid imprint on the South African nations, by creating a new sense of nationhood and oneness in diversity, as epitomized by Bishop Tutu's 'Rainbow Nation' concept and the TRC process. However, Christopher maintains that the apartheid legacy remains stubbornly imprinted in many aspects of South African lives, no less so in socio-economic indicators casting blacks, especially Africans, to the margins of a prosperous South Africa. The country's landscape is still littered with strong reminders of the grim past and minority white hegemony over majority black population. But, the author concludes, with abundant political will and substantial investment in eradicating this legacy, gradually the spatial reconfigurations are being altered.
Christopher has succeeded in reviewing the spatial impact of apartheid over a four decades period with all its complex episodes and events in a mere 239 pages with amazing clarity. The narrative is an easy read, although the pace may be too quick for a reader sometimes. So if readers are looking for a nuanced dissection of the development of apartheid and its ramifications for South African society, they better look elsewhere. At any rate, that is not the intention of the author. He does succeed to an extent to write a 'atlas' of apartheid, blending carefully selected maps and demographic illustrations with an easy-going narrative to demonstrate spatial patterns of the apartheid policy. Perhaps, Christopher was unfair to himself in trying to be as complete about the political, as in the spatial, history of apartheid. The book will be an interesting read for university students and those interested in bringing geographical perspectives into the mainstream of South African history. It is a must for those seeking a suitable general textbook for a multi-disciplinary class on apartheid or racial segregation.
If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at: https://networks.h-net.org/h-safrica.
Siphamandla Zondi. Review of Christopher, A. J., The Atlas of Changing South Africa.
H-SAfrica, H-Net Reviews.
Copyright © 2002 by H-Net, all rights reserved. H-Net permits the redistribution and reprinting of this work for nonprofit, educational purposes, with full and accurate attribution to the author, web location, date of publication, originating list, and H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online. For any other proposed use, contact the Reviews editorial staff at firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:f9d472e7-a5fd-4463-ae8b-22adaa8a217c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=5811 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393463.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00085-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933574 | 2,324 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Citizen Kane has many themes. Some of these themes include corruption of
power, corruption of money, greed, materialism, need for love, abandonment, ambiguity
of Kane's self, stolen childhood, and lost innocence. Orson Welles is able to bring out
these themes through use of extreme low angle/high angle shots, transitions from one
scene to the next, lighting techniques, symbolism, such as the snow globe, etc.
Two themes that are important in this movie are corruption of power and lost
childhood. The theme of Kane's corruption of power helps develop another theme, that
is, Kane's lost childhood. Throughout the movie, Thompson, a reporter, is trying to find
out what "rosebud means. "Rosebud is what Kane says right before his death. He
thinks by finding this out, it will reveal the missing piece of Kane's life. Unfortunately,
he is unable to find out and the movie ends without an answer to what "rosebud, the
missing piece in Kane's life, is.
The first theme is developed when young Charles Foster Kane is taken away from
his family by Thatcher, he has no idea the world he is about to enter is a world of
corruption, money, power, and materialism. Charles Foster Kane accepts the fact that he
is going to be living in this world by accepting the sled he gets from Thatcher for
Christmas. The sled symbolizes a new life being handed to him.
When Kane gets older, he takes over the Inquirer, a newspaper company. When
he enters his office for the first time, everyone stands up and surrounds him as if they are
praising him. This is shot at a low angle shot as if to say that the audience is suppose to
praise him or stand up for him like his colleagues. This makes him look like man with
power. He then takes Mr. Carter's office and makes i | <urn:uuid:f18b4316-3f52-466a-9c44-1d867f92146d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/68186.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402699.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00198-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962292 | 405 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva prides himself on his green credentials. From Brasília to Brazzaville he stumps for "clean energy," touting his country's prowess in hydroelectric power and renewable biofuels. He appointed a "special ambassador for climate change" and then challenged world leaders last month at the United Nations General Assembly to gather in Brazil to renew their commitment to lowering greenhouse gases in 2012, when the Kyoto agreement expires. Recently he's even turned up the heat on developing nations, arguing that "developing countries must also help fight climate change." What's allowed him to stand on this green soapbox is his record on the Amazon rain forest: deforestation has plunged on his watch.
But Brazil's own scientists now say that the rate of deforestation has spiked again. After poring over hundreds of precision images beamed from satellites orbiting high over the Amazon, on October 17 scientists at the country's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) reported an eight percent rise in deforestation from June to October 2007 compared with the same period a year ago. The felling reached fever pitch last month, more than doubling the rate for Sept. 2006 for the entire region, and rising a startling 602 percent in the booming cattle and farming state of Rondônia. Most embarrassing, some of the hardest-hit swaths were precisely those the government had set aside as preservation zones to buffer the impact of dams, plantations, ranches and highways. "This is a warning sign," says Dalton Valeriano, head of satellite monitoring for INPE. "If the authorities don't crack down now, we are going to see Amazon deforestation take off."
The worry is not just Brazil's. Every acre of the Amazon forest contains an estimated 74 tons of carbon, which, when the trees fall and burn, goes straight into the atmosphere, fouling the skies with ever greater amounts of the gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, that are overheating the planet. Brazil is already far and away the world's leading source of greenhouse gases due to deforestation, and, by most counts, among the top five overall contributors to global warming. Stemming the destruction would not only help clear the air but also show international skeptics that Brazil can both preserve its God-given wilderness and push its ambitious plans to make over its treasure-laden backcountry. Now the doubts are as thick as the pall of burning season.
In a matter of months, construction is scheduled to begin on a portfolio of giant development projects, including dams, a 340-mile natural-gas pipeline, and a petrochemical plant, that promise to draw and quarter the basin. Brasília hopes these major public works will firm up the fickle economy of the western Amazon, where boom and bust has been the rule for decades. Leading the ticket are the Santo Antônio and Jirau hydroelectric plants on the Madeira river, in Rondônia, a rough-and-tumble state where settlers, ranchers, mining conglomerates and assorted adventurers have been chewing their way through the forest for four decades.
Bidding for the dam contracts is still weeks away, but already the $11 billion project, which will directly generate some 27,000 jobs, has whipped expectations to fever pitch. Local officials are keen to tap into the economic bonanza that is sure to follow the earthmoving machines. The French chain Carrefour is reportedly weighing a supermarket franchise. High-rises and hotels are springing up, and two shopping centers are already under construction. But authorities also fear being overwhelmed by a flood of migrants inevitably drawn to such major public works. And while most of the newcomers will land in cities and towns, the fallout is sure to spread, as roads, farms, and businesses push into the forest.
That's what the buffer zones are for. Brasília has created nature preserves and conservation areas to contain the pioneer onslaught. Yet enforcing the law protecting these "paper parks" has never been the country's forte. A study released on Oct. 17 by Imazon (the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment), an independent think tank, found that some of the most intense forest-cutting this year took place on nature preserves.
One of the hardest-hit regions was the forested land along BR-163, a highway designed to connect the fertile farm belt in central Brazil to world markets by way of the Amazon's rivers and ports. Brasília has held up BR-163 as a showpiece of its Plan to Accelerate Development, a bullish development project that promises to marry prosperity and preservation. Yet the highway is not even paved and already it has touched off a frenzy of forest clearing and land grabbing, cutting deep into the 47 million acres designated as off limits to developers. "Brazil has vastly increased the amount of protected land in the Amazon, which is great news," says Adalberto Veríssimo, an Imazon scientist. "The problem is that they haven't been able to control it. The Brazilian government still can't seem to make its presence felt in the Amazon basin."
Yet even the best policing in the world might not help. "If you look at the environmental safeguards for each of these projects, they seem impressive," says Tim Killeen, a biologist and tropical forest scholar with Conservation International. "But you can't consider them in isolation. The dams generate cheap energy for industry, which draws job seekers, who need to be housed and fed, which means building and farms. It's a perfect environmental storm."
No one expects Brazil or any of the other seven Amazon nations to wall off the rain forest, and sacrificing part of the forest to plumb its cache of minerals and timber, and the energy wealth stored under the 10-story canopy, seems inevitable. But too often neither development nor conservation has been the result of the grandest development drives in the Amazon. Three decades into Brazil's aggressive push into the Western Hemisphere's last frontier, per capita income in the Amazon region is still 40 percent below the national average, and four of five people are relegated to makeshift jobs in the informal economy, according to Imazon.
What has changed in the Amazon is that thanks to the latest satellite technology the government can now see in the minutest detail what goes on in one of the world's unruliest wildernesses. But so can the rest of the world. Unless the authorities can stem the destruction, not even the greenest diplomacy is likely to help. | <urn:uuid:293bd8fe-552f-47ad-a017-1e0361413b71> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.newsweek.com/amazon-tree-cutting-continues-apace-103329 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396455.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00106-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961878 | 1,324 | 2.78125 | 3 |
At school in Pennsylvania when the war broke out, Randolph Shotwell left at once for his native Virginia, determined to join the first Confederate outfit that he found. He served through the whole of the war, until 1864, when he was captured; we shall read later his bitter description of conditions in Federal prisons. After the war he went into journalism in North Carolina, and was active, for a time, in the Ku Klux Klan and in politics. The conditions which he describes so vividly were not characteristic of the whole of the Confederate Army, but were doubtless to be found quite commonly toward the end of the war when the whole economic machinery of the South seemed to be breaking down.
Our Quarter Masters department.., really did a great deal more to break down the army than to keep it up. I mean that their shortcomings, their negligence, improvidence, and lack of energy counterbalanced their services. It is a well-known fact, and a most disgraceful one, that when General Lee crossed the Potomac fully ten thousand of his men were barefooted, blanketless, and hatless! The roads were lined with stragglers limping on swollen and blistered feet, shivering all night, (for despite the heat of the day the nights were chilly), for want of blankets; and utterly devoid of underclothes--if indeed they possessed so much as one shirt!
And the lack of proper equipment gradually made itself felt on the morale of the men. In the earlier stages of the war when our men were well dressed and cleanly--every company having its wagon for extra baggage-- enabling the private soldier to have a change of clothing and necessary toilet articles--the men retained much of their individuality as citizen-soldiers, volunteering to undergo for a time, the privations and perils of army life, but never forgetting that they were citizens and gentlemen, with a good name and reputation for gentlemanliness to maintain. Hence, when in battle array, these gallant fellows, each had a pride in bearing himself bravely; and when the hour of conflict arrived they rushed upon the foe with an impetuosity and fearlessness that amazed the old army officers; and caused foreign military men to declare them the best fighters in the world. After a while the spirit of the men became broken. Constant marching and fighting were sufficient of themselves to gradually wear out the army; but it was more undermined by the continual neglect and ill-provision to which the men were subjected.
Months on months they were without a change of underclothing, or a chance to wash that they had worn so long, hence it became actually coated with grease and dust, moistened with daily perspiration under the broiling sun.
Pestiferous vermin swarmed in every camp, and on the march--an indescribable annoyance to every well-raised man yet seemingly uneradicable. Nothing would destroy the little pests but hours of steady boiling, and of course, we had neither kettles, nor the time to boil them, if we had been provided with ample means.
As to purchasing clothes, the private soldiers did not have an opportunity of so doing once in six months, as their miserable pittance of $12 per month was generally withheld that length of time, or longer-- (I only drew pay three times in four years, and after the first year, I could not have bought a couple of shirts with a whole months pay.) Naturally fastidious in tastes, and habituated to the strictest personal cleanliness and neatness, I chafed from morning till night at the insuperable obstacles to decency by which I was surrounded, and as a consequence there was not one time in the whole four years of the war that I could not have blushed with mortification at meeting with any of my old friends.
It is impossible for such a state of things to continue for years without breaking down ones self-respect, wounding his amour pro pre, stirring his deepest discontent, and very materially impairing his efficiency as a soldier.
Starvation, rags, dirt, and vermin may be borne for a time by the neatest of gentlemen; but when he has become habituated to them, he is no longer a gentleman. The personal pride which made many a man act the hero during the first year of the war was gradually worn out, and undermined by the open, palpable neglect, stupidity, and indifference of the authorities until during the last year of the war, the hero became a "shirker," and finally a "deserter.--
Source: "The Blue and The Gray" by Henry Steele Commanger, Article From Randolf Shotwell's "Three Years in Battle."
This Page last updated 01/17/04 | <urn:uuid:e76388b1-0ec2-46f6-9b95-fe11203916cc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://civilwarhome.com/starveragsdirtvermin.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00036-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980557 | 973 | 2.5625 | 3 |
This excerpt comes from The Journal of John Harrower, a literate man who found himself onboard an indentured servant ship from London bound for Virginia in 1774.
Emigrants have left us fascinating tales about their oceanic voyages. These accounts can provide very useful genealogical information - as well as vivid glimpses of emigration conditions. Historians as well as genealogists use ship's logs, passenger lists, and journals in order to reconstruct some of these passages.
During the colonial period, voyages could last between one to three months, depending upon the weather. After the invention of the steamboat, oceanic passages from Europe to America lasted about a week.
In the earlier years, it was common for several passengers to perish in transit. Mutinies occurred, food rations grew slim, and sickness abounded.
The following entries also come from The Journal of John Harrower. They are presented to show the colorful information contained in these sources.
"At noon the Indented servants was like to mutiny against the Capt. for putting them to Allowance of bread & Mate, But it was soon quelled, Our Mace not Joyning with the rest (p. 20)."
"... there was two servants put in Irons for wanting other than what was served. But they were soon released on there asking pardon and promising to behave better (p. 25)."
"... died one of the servants in a fever & palsie (p. 28)."
"Early this morning died the old German, a man between 60 & 70 years of Age. At night the Capt. carried the old German ashore and Burried him somewhere in the woods (p. 37)."
"Daniel Turner [22 from London] a servant returned on board from Liberty so drunk that he abused the Capt. Cheif Mate & Boatswan to a verry high degree, which made to be horse whipt. put in Irons and thumb screwed. An hourse after he was unthumbscrewed, taken out of the Irons, but then he was hand cuffed, and gagged all night. [next day] Turner ungagged But continoued in handcuffs. [next day] Turner still in handcuffs [next day] Turner still in handcuffs [next day] Turner still handcuff'd [four days later] Turner still continous handcuffed (pp. 38-40)."
The sources for this type of information are deposited in archives and libraries throughout the world. Some of the accounts, such as the one quoted, have been published. A large collection of ship's logs for British vessels destined for India are housed at the British Library in London. For emigration stories of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, refer to the Mormon Immigration Index, which contains many first-hand accounts of the Atlantic crossing. These are fascinating studies!
Mormon Immigration Index, on CD-Rom.
The Journal of John Harrower, by E.M. Riley, ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963.
Other Articles in the Series | <urn:uuid:ebdd83f7-06cd-48e7-8503-55816409f4c0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.genealogytoday.com/articles/reader.mv?ID=531 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963615 | 633 | 3.078125 | 3 |
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To review the pathophysiology, etiology, and treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
MCPHS University, Worcester/Manchester, NH, USA.
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: The Annals of pharmacotherapy
Although attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is highly prevalent in adolescents and often persists into adulthood, most studies about treatment were performed in children. Less is known ab...
The aim of this study was to determine the experimental evidence of treatment/intervention programs for deficits in social skills, attention, and behavioral disorder in children and adolescents with a...
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a chronic neurodevelopmental disorder. Due to lack of response to the medication and significant side effects of the treatment with stimulants, alter...
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with high prevalence in adulthood. There is a recognized need to assess the efficacy of psychotherapy in adult ADHD.
Patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) share impaired inhibitory control. However, it is unknown whether impairments are mediated by shar...
The purpose of this study was to identify genetic, brain morphologic, and environmental biomarkers that contribute to the pathophysiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)...
The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of behavioral treatment, drug treatment, and combined treatment for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD...
This study will determine the advantages and disadvantages of adding one of two different types of drugs to stimulant treatment for reducing aggressive behavior in children with attention ...
The purpose of this study is to develop and implement a treatment that focuses on behaviors to reduce symptom severity and functional impairment in patients with Attention Deficit Hyperact...
The purpose of this study is to find out whether atomoxetine (also called Strattera) helps teenagers (12-19) with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and drug/alcohol problems.
A behavior disorder originating in childhood in which the essential features are signs of developmentally inappropriate inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Although most individuals have symptoms of both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, one or the other pattern may be predominant. The disorder is more frequent in males than females. Onset is in childhood. Symptoms often attenuate during late adolescence although a minority experience the full complement of symptoms into mid-adulthood. (From DSM-IV)
The d-form of AMPHETAMINE. It is a central nervous system stimulant and a sympathomimetic. It has also been used in the treatment of narcolepsy and of attention deficit disorders and hyperactivity in children. Dextroamphetamine has multiple mechanisms of action including blocking uptake of adrenergics and dopamine, stimulating release of monamines, and inhibiting monoamine oxidase. It is also a drug of abuse and a psychotomimetic.
A central nervous system stimulant used most commonly in the treatment of attention-deficit disorders in children and for narcolepsy. Its mechanisms appear to be similar to those of DEXTROAMPHETAMINE.
Review of the medical necessity of hospital or other health facility admissions, upon or within a short time following an admission, and periodic review of services provided during the course of treatment.
Psychiatry is the study of mental disorders and their diagnosis, management and prevention. Conditions include schizophrenia, severe depression and panic disorders among others. There are pharmaceutical treatments as well as other therapies to help...
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a group of behavioural symptoms that include inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. Attention deficit disorder (ADD) is a sub-type of ADHD - symptoms of ADHD include: a short attenti... | <urn:uuid:672aa1d8-f281-45c5-970e-1a0163c94a5b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bioportfolio.com/resources/pmarticle/793212/A-Review-of-the-Pathophysiology-Etiology-and-Treatment-of-Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00062-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920538 | 846 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Justin and his colleagues then showed a lot of technology at the Intel Developers Conference. Several of the technologies have been presented on this site before.
- Emotiv Systems demonstrated their brain reading interfaces.
Covered here in 2007 under cheap brain wave activity sensors
- Claytronic catoms were demonstrated (covered here in 2007).
These large catoms will eventually be miniturized to the size of bits of sand and will be able to create shapes the liquid metal terminator or the Sandman.
- a robot arm with "pretouch" ability to sense the location of an apple and seize hold.
- A silicon photonics demo transmitted data at 3.2 gigabits per second from and to a microprocessor using optical signals.
- wireless transmission of 60 watts of power to illuminate a light bulb; it has 75 percent efficiency.
Jan Rabaey, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley, describes his vision for the future of radio communications. Rabaey said he believes each person will have about 1,000 radios soon, most of them vanishingly small. Radio devices, he said, will become "cognitive," so they can automatically sense where there's uncluttered radio spectrum available and which communication protocols should be used at a given moment. He also believes they'll become more collaborative--able to link together in a mesh network that collectively can transmit data faster, in greater quantity, more efficiently, and more reliably.
Rattner holds a Wisp (Wireless Identification and Sensing Platform), a device with a processor, memory, and radio that passively collects energy until it has enough to send a transmission.
Claytronics at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
Claytronics hardware at CMU
At the current stage of design, claytronics hardware operates from macroscale designs with devices that are much larger than the tiny modular robots that set the goals of this engineering research. Such devices are designed to test concepts for sub-millimeter scale modules and to elucidate crucial effects of the physical and electrical forces that affect nanoscale robots.
* Planar catoms test the concept of motion without moving parts and the design of force effectors that create cooperative motion within ensembles of modular robots.
Planar magnetic rings. Two magnet rings from Planar Catom V7 display the arrangement of their 12 magnets around individual driver boards and the coil design for horseshoe magnets
* Electrostatic latches model a new system of binding and releasing the connection between modular robots, a connection that creates motion and transfers power and data while employing a small factor of a powerful force.
A simple and robust inter-module latch is possibly the most important component of a modular robotic system.
* Stochastic Catoms integrate random motion with global objectives communicated in simple computer language to form predetermined patterns, using a natural force to actuate a simple device, one that cooperates with other small helium catoms to fulfill a set of unique instructions.
* Giant Helium Catoms provide a larger-than-life, lighter-than-air platform to explore the relation of forces when electrostatics has a greater effect than gravity on a robotic device, an effect simulated with a modular robot designed for self-construction of macro-scale structures.
* Cubes employ electrostatic latches to demonstrate the functionality of a device that could be used in a system of lattice-style self-assembly at both the macro and nano-scale.
The Cube above models the primary building block in a hypothetical system for robotic self-assembly that could be used for modular construction and employ Cubes that are larger or smaller in scale than the pictured device. | <urn:uuid:2b747156-59ce-4bc3-936a-7c83f85bcf95> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/08/justin-rattner-cto-of-intel-agrees-that.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00200-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909643 | 753 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Sharks are protected by both state and federal regulations.
State and federal fishery biologists are aware of the many factors complicating the management of shark populations. Since sharks are top-level predators, they tend to have lower population numbers than other fishes. Sharks also have slow growth rates, mature late in life, and produce few offspring. These biological characteristics coupled with overfishing can reduce population levels to a point where recovery can take many years. A number of shark species have been overfished and are now protected by regulations in both state and federal waters.
Regulations on shark fishing in the state of Florida are managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Information on current state regulations, including a listing of protected shark species, can be found in the Saltwater Fishing Regulations section.
Federal regulations on shark fishing are enforced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Fisheries Service.
Information on current federal regulations can be found on the NOAA Fisheries Southeast Region Web site, located at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/. | <urn:uuid:039e5341-594e-4db0-8070-c6bf3e80954d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/sharks-rays/shark-fisheries/regulations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396455.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00119-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945758 | 221 | 3.765625 | 4 |
There’s nothing new about worrying that machines will take our jobs. More than 200 years ago, Luddites started taking sledgehammers to weaving machines.
But tech anxiety got a fresh jolt last month when the White House sent out a Council of Economic Advisers report including a projection that people making less than $20 an hour have an 83 percent chance of eventually losing their jobs to a robot. The odds for those earning up to $40 an hour are more than 30 percent.
Not that most Americans would find that very surprising. According to a Pew Internet Survey released last week, more than two-thirds of Americans think that within 50 years, most jobs will be done by robots or computers—although the vast majority conveniently thought that won’t happen with their own jobs.
No matter how this plays out, it’s pretty clear that machines will be handling more and more work, particularly now that increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence is enabling them to take on mental tasks too. And that is raising a big question: When machines dominate the work world, what are all the people they replace going to do for money?
Checks for everyone
Remarkably, one idea starting to gain traction is known as universal basic income (UBI). It’s a simple, if somewhat radical concept—each citizen of a country would receive a monthly check from the government, no matter how much money you make and without any strings attached. You wouldn’t have to meet any conditions to qualify, you wouldn’t have to show you were looking for a job, you wouldn’t face any restrictions on how you spent the money.
Plenty of people think this is a bad idea, or at least a seriously unbaked one. Critics say all that easy money could result in a nation of game-playing, binge-watching freeloaders. But others counter that if there’s a tech takeover of the job market, society will need a safety blanket, not a net. They also posit that those who don’t have to take just any job to cover basic expenses may be able to do things that are more fulfilling or perhaps more beneficial to society.
The truth is that no one knows how people will respond. But there’s a growing consensus that it’s time to start finding out. Next year, government researchers in Finland will begin a two-year study, in which up to 100,000 Finns will receive as much as 1,000 euros a month, without any conditions. The scientists running the experiment will track how often the subjects use public services, such as health clinics, and attempt to get a sense of how much they really want to work. The researchers will also try to determine if a monthly, strings-free check lets people lead happier lives.
Several Dutch cities are considering their own UBI experiments for this year and a yet unchosen community in the Canadian province of Ontario will follow suit this fall. Plus, in June, Swiss voters will be weighing in on a proposal to pay every adult in the country the equivalent of $2,500 a month.
Dregs or entrepreneurs?
The response to UBI in the U.S. has been mixed at best, with much of the enthusiasm for exploring the concept coming from Silicon Valley. One of its biggest proponents has been Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator, the firm that has helped startups such as Reddit, Airbnb and Dropbox hook up with investors.
In late January, Altman announced that Y Combinator will be doing its own research—specifically a five-year project in which a random group of people “who are driven and talented, but come from poor backgrounds” will be provided with a basic income.
“I’m fairly confident that at some point in the future, as technology continues to eliminate traditional jobs and massive new wealth gets created, we’re going to see some version of this at a national scale,” Altman wrote in his blog on the Y Combinator site.
So, says Altman, why not find out now if a regular paycheck from the government turns people into dregs or makes them more entrepreneurial, whether it boosts their spirits or diminishes them?
And, in the end, will people be happier if they don’t need to get a job to survive?
“Fifty years from now,” wrote Altman, “I think it will seem ridiculous that we used fear of not being able to eat as a way to motivate people.”
Here are six jobs robots could be handling one day:
DRU the Pizza Delivery Robot
Domino's has unveiled its first pizza delivery robot in Australia. Called the Domino's Robotic Unit, or DRU for short, the machine is a military-grade prototype retrofitted for pizza delivery. It uses GPS to find customers' homes and carries pizzas and drinks in locked compartments that are opened by a mobile phone code sent to the customers. DRU also talks. | <urn:uuid:312caac7-b51f-427f-829d-a4c22b46f410> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/when-robots-take-our-jobs-should-everyone-still-get-paycheck-180958483/?no-ist | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00142-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963787 | 1,040 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Prostate Cancer Statistics
Consider the following statistics related to prostate cancer:
- Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, excluding skin cancer.
- American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates for 2012 include 241,740 new cases of prostate cancer in the U.S.
- Year 2012 estimates include 28,170 deaths occurring from prostate cancer in the U.S. alone, making it the second leading cause of cancer death in men.
- All men are at risk for prostate cancer. The risk increases with age, and family history also increases the risk.
- African-American men are more likely to have prostate cancer than Caucasian men and are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than Caucasian men. The reasons for this are not known.
Click here to view the
Online Resources of Prostate Health | <urn:uuid:67b34834-d0d7-47a7-accc-41cc370a337a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nyhq.org/diw/content.asp?pageid=P04365 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00157-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938177 | 170 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Despite its rather austere appearance, the Codex Sinaiticus is a treasure beyond price. Produced in the middle of the fourth century, the Codex is one of the two earliest Christian Bibles. (The other is the Codex Vaticanus in Rome.) Within its beautifully handwritten Greek text are the earliest surviving copy of the complete New Testament and the earliest and best copies of some of the Jewish scriptures, in the form that they were adopted by the Christian Church. As one of the earliest luxury codices to survive in large part, the Codex forms one of the most important landmarks in the history of the book.
Turn the Codex's pages now online
Codex Sinaiticus Project website
The Codex Sinaiticus Project was primarily a conservation, digitisation, transcription and publication project. It did not undertake a new English translation of the New Testament from the manuscript. The English translation included in the Codex Sinaiticus website was taken from H. T. Anderson, The New Testament: translated from the Sinaitic manuscript discovered by Constantine Tischendorf at Mt Sinai (Cincinnati, 1918). It was included only to provide a navigational aid to users of the website.Enlarged image Zoomable high-resolution image
St Luke's Gospel, 'Codex Sinaiticus', c.350
British Library Add. MS 43725, ff.244v-245
Copyright © The British Library Board
What is the Codex Sinaiticus?
The literal meaning of 'Codex Sinaiticus' is the Sinai Book. The word 'Sinaiticus' derives from the fact that the Codex was preserved for many centuries at St Catherine's Monastery near the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt.
The Codex is the remains of a huge hand-written book that contained all the Christian scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, together with two late first-century Christian texts, the Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle of Barnabas. This book was made up of over 1,460 pages, each of which measured approximately 41cm tall and 36cm wide.
Just over half of the original book has survived, now dispersed between four institutions: St Catherine's Monastery, the British Library, Leipzig University Library (Germany), and the National Library of Russia in St Petersburg. At the British Library the largest surviving portion - 347 leaves, or 694 pages - includes the whole of the New Testament.
All the texts written down in the Codex are in Greek. They include the translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint. The Greek text is written using a form of capital or upper case letters known as Biblical majuscule and without word division. The pages of the Codex are of prepared animal skin called parchment. Shown here is part of the Gospel of Luke, containing 22:20-23:14.
Who made the Codex Sinaiticus?
Modern scholars have identified four scribes as responsible for writing the Greek text. Trained to write in very similar ways they, and their contributions to the manuscript, have been distinguished only after painstaking analysis of their handwriting, spelling and method of marking the end of each of the books of the Bible.
As is the case with most manuscripts of this antiquity, we do not know either the names of these scribes or the exact place in which they worked. Successive critics have argued that it was made in one of the great cities of the Greco-Roman world, such as Alexandria, Constantinople, or Caesarea in Palestine.
During the production of the Codex each of the scribes corrected their own work and one of them corrected and rewrote parts by another. These corrections contain many significant alterations and, together with further extensive corrections undertaken probably in the seventh century, are some of the most interesting features of the manuscript.
St Catherine's Monastery, at the foot of Mount Sinai, in Egypt
Why is the Codex so important?
The Codex is critical to our understanding of the history of the Christian Bible and the development of Christianity. It is one of the two earliest surviving manuscripts into which the full 'canon' (collection of accepted texts) of the Christian Bible was copied into one volume. It is thus the antecedent of modern Christian Bibles. Before this date the individual books of the Bible were copied into much smaller volumes, often comprising only one or a handful of texts. The ambition of the Codex to include the entire canon of Christian scriptures coincides with the adoption of Christianity by Emperor Constantine the Great and an attempt to define once and for all, or 'codify', the texts that qualified as sacred scripture.
The Codex also marks a pivotal point in the history of the book. It is arguably the first large bound book to have been produced. For one volume to contain all the Christian scriptures book technology had to make a great technological leap forward. This advance was something akin to the introduction of printing with movable type or the introduction of personal computers. Whereas most previous bound books, as opposed to rolls, were relatively short and small in page size, the Codex was huge in length and large in page size.
How did the Codex come to the British Library?
The 694 pages held by the British Library were purchased for the British nation in 1933. Over half of the price paid, £100,000, was raised by means of a public fund-raising campaign. The seller, the Soviet government of Joseph Stalin, sold the Codex to obtain desperately needed foreign capital.
How can I find out more about the Codex online?
An international project to reassemble the book's four sections made a digital version available to scholars and public all over the world online in July 2009. See the Codex Sinaiticus Project website. | <urn:uuid:4f924ceb-28f6-430e-9df8-c1f48e5ecc5d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/codexsinai.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00158-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947177 | 1,165 | 3.671875 | 4 |
The year was 1820 and in the U.S. James Monroe was president. He would be re-elected later that year, winning 231 electoral votes, to James Quincy Adams one electoral vote.
The country was growing;Â the previous year, Missouri Territory had sought to become a state. With eleven free states and eleven slave states, the prospect drew heated debate. The Missouri Compromise was reached and as part of the agreement, Maine, previously part of Massachusetts would become the 23rd state on 15 March 1820, and Missouri would be admitted as a slave state (21 August 1821), thereby maintaining the balance. In addition a line was drawn through the Louisiana Territory which would make future states north of the line in that territory free states, and future states in the territory south of the line, slave states.
As evidenced by the need for a balance of free and slave states, abolition was already a hot-button issue. In New York, eighty-six free black emigrants set sail from New York City on the ship “Elizabeth†to Freetown in the British colony of Sierra Leone. The British had abolished the slave trade in 1807.
With the ascension of George IV to the British throne in 1820, the period known as the English Regency came to an end. During the period between 1811-1820 Prince George IV ruled as regent through his father’s period of mental illness. It was the romantic period of Byron, Shelley, and Jane Austen.
1820 was a time of unrest in Scotland. That year laborers struck and violence broke out in what is often referred to as the Radical War. An economic depression, crowded urban conditions, and soldiers returning from the Napoleonic wars to unemployment set the stage for demonstrations and turmoil that would last for several years.
For more insights into 1820, see the following websites:
Click on the map above to enlarge it. For a printer-friendly version of this article, click here. | <urn:uuid:3815ae39-cc1f-4ccf-bf89-2db49093ed26> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=699 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976735 | 415 | 3.8125 | 4 |
What is peripheral arterial disease of the legs?
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is narrowing or blockage of arteries that causes poor blood flow to your arms and legs. When you walk or exercise, your leg muscles don't get enough blood and you can get painful cramps.
Peripheral arterial disease is also called peripheral vascular disease. This topic focuses on peripheral arterial disease of the legs, the area where it is most common.
What causes PAD?
The most common cause is the buildup of plaque on the inside of arteries. Plaque is made of extra cholesterol, calcium, and other material in your blood. Over time, plaque builds up in the walls of the arteries, including those that supply blood to your legs. High cholesterol, high blood pressure, and smoking all contribute to plaque buildup.
If plaque builds up in your arteries, there is less room for blood to flow. Every part of your body needs blood that is rich in oxygen. But plaque buildup prevents that blood from flowing freely and starves the muscles and other tissues in the lower body.
What are the symptoms?
Many people who have PAD don't have any symptoms.
But if you do have symptoms, you may have a tight, aching, or squeezing pain in the calf, thigh, or buttock. This pain, called intermittent claudication, usually happens after you have walked a certain distance. For example, your pain may always start after you have walked a block or two or after a few minutes. The pain goes away if you stop walking. As PAD gets worse, you may have pain in your foot or toe when you aren't walking. | <urn:uuid:9ef6ab67-9f2a-40cd-b6f9-d2e07dd77431> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/tc/peripheral-arterial-disease-of-the-legs-overview | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00085-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951619 | 344 | 3.65625 | 4 |
A portrait of a fairy, by Sophie Gengembre Anderson (1869). The title of the painting is Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Things – purportedly from a poem by Charles Ede.
Tuatha Dé Danann
|First reported||In folklore|
A fairy (also fay, fae, fair folk; from faery, faerie, "realm of the fays") is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural.
- 1 Etymology
- 2 Historical development
- 3 Description
- 4 Origin
- 5 Tuatha Dé Danann
- 6 Characteristics
- 7 Classifications
- 8 Changelings
- 9 Protective charms
- 10 Legends
- 11 Literature
- 12 In art
- 13 Cottingley Fairies
- 14 See also
- 15 Bibliography
- 16 References
- 17 External links
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According to Thomas Keightley, the word "fairy" derives from the Latin fata, and is from the Old French form faerie, describing "enchantment". Other forms are the Italian fata, and the Provençal "fada". In old French romance, "fee" was a woman skilled in magic, and who knew the power and virtue of words, of stones, and of herbs.
Faie became Modern English fay. Faierie became fairy, but with that spelling now almost exclusively referring to one of the legendary people, with the same meaning as fay. The word "fairy" was used to in represent an illusion, or enchantment; the land of the Faes; collectively the inhabitants thereof; or an individual such as a fairy knight.
To the word faie was added the suffix -erie (Modern English -(e)ry), used to express either a place where something is found (fishery, nunnery) or a trade or typical activity engaged in (cookery, thievery). In later usage it generally applied to any kind of quality or activity associated with a particular type of person, as in English knavery, roguery, wizardry. In the sense "land where fairies dwell", the distinctive and archaic spellings Faery and Faerie are often used.
Sometimes the term fairy is used to describe any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes: at other times, the term describes only a specific type of more ethereal creature or sprite. The concept of "fairy" in the narrow sense is unique to English folklore, conflating Germanic elves with influences from Celtic and Romance (French) folklores, and later made "diminutive" according to the tastes of Victorian era "fairy tales" for children.
Fairies have their historical origin in the conflation of Celtic (Breton, Welsh) traditions in the Middle French medieval romances. Fairie was in origin used adjectivally, meaning "enchanted" (as in fairie knight, fairie queene), but was used as a name for "enchanted" creatures from as early as the Late Middle English period. In English literature of the Elizabethan era, elves became conflated with the fairies of Romance culture, so that the two terms began to be used interchangeably.
The Victorian and Edwardian eras saw an increase in interest in fairies. The Celtic Revival viewed them as part of Ireland's cultural heritage. Carole Silvers and others suggest that the fascination of English antiquarians arose from a reaction to greater industrialization, and loss of folkways.
Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers. Diminutive fairies of one kind or another have been recorded for centuries, but occur alongside the human-sized beings; these have been depicted as ranging in size from very tiny up to the size of a human child. Even with these small fairies, however, their small size may be magically assumed rather than constant. Some fairies though normally quite small were able to dilate their figures to imitate humans. On Orkney they were described as short in stature, dressed in dark grey, and sometimes seen in armour.
Wings, while common in Victorian and later artwork of fairies, are very rare in the folklore; even very small fairies flew with magic, sometimes flying on ragwort stems or the backs of birds. Nowadays, fairies are often depicted with ordinary insect wings or butterfly wings. In some folklore, fairies have green eyes. Some depictions of fairies either have them wearing some sort of footwear and other depictions of fairies are always barefoot.
The early modern fairies do not have any single origin, representing a conflation of disparate elements of folk belief, influenced by literature and speculation.Their origins are less clear in the folklore, being variously dead, or some form of demon, or a species completely independent of humans or angels. The folkloristic or mythological elements combine Celtic, Germanic and Greco-Roman elements. Folklorists have suggested that their actual origin lies in religious beliefs that lost currency with the advent of Christianity. These explanations are not necessarily incompatible, and they may be traceable to multiple sources.
One Christian belief held that fairies were a class of "demoted" angels. One popular story described how, when the angels revolted, God ordered the gates of heaven shut: those still in heaven remained angels, those in hell became demons, and those caught in between became fairies. Others suggested that the fairies, not being good enough, had been thrown out of heaven, but they were not evil enough for hell. This may explain the tradition that they had to pay a "teind" or tithe to hell: as fallen angels, though not quite devils, they could be seen as subjects of the devil. For a similar concept in Persian mythology, see Peri.
Demoted pagan deities
Another incorrect theory is that the fairies were originally worshiped as minor goddesses, such as nymphs or tree spirits, but with the coming of Christianity, they lived on, in a dwindled state of power, in folk belief. In this particular time, fairies were reputed by the church as being 'evil' beings. Many beings who are described as deities in older tales are described as "fairies" in invented VIctorian writings. Victorian inventions of mythology, which accounted for all gods as metaphors for natural events that had come to be taken literally, explained them as metaphors for the night sky and stars. This entire Victorian view has been debunked and refuted and is now considered by scholars an antiquated and incorrect view.
Yet another belief was that the fairies were demons entirely. This belief became much more popular with the growth of Puritanism. The hobgoblin, once a friendly household spirit, became a wicked goblin. Dealing with fairies was in some cases considered a form of witchcraft and punished as such in this era. Disassociating himself from such evils may be why Oberon, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, carefully observed that neither he nor his court feared the church bells.
Spirits of the dead
One popular belief was that they were the dead. This noted that many common points of belief, such as the same legends being told of ghosts and fairies, the sídhe in actuality being burial mounds, it being dangerous to eat food in both Fairyland and Hades, and both the dead and fairies living underground. Diane Purkiss observes an equating of fairies with the untimely dead who left "unfinished lives". One tale recounted a man caught by the fairies, who found that whenever he looked steadily at one, the fairy was a dead neighbor of his. This was among the most common beliefs expressed by those who believed in fairies, although many of the informants would express the belief with some doubts.
At one time it was a common belief was that fairy folklore evolved from folk memories of a prehistoric race. It was suggested that newcomers drove out the original inhabitants, and the memories of this defeated, hidden people developed into the fairy beliefs we have today. Proponents of this theory claimed to find support in the tradition that of cold iron as a charm against the fairies, which was viewed as a cultural memory of invaders with iron weapons displacing inhabitants had only flint and were therefore easily defeated. Some 19th-century archaeologists thought they had found underground rooms in the Orkney islands resembling the Elfland in Childe Rowland. However the idea of a fallen vanquished race in hiding has fallen out of favour with scholars.
In popular folklore, flint arrowheads from the Stone Age were attributed to the fairies as "elf-shot". Their green clothing and underground homes were credited to their need to hide and camouflage themselves from hostile humans, and their use of magic a necessary skill for combating those with superior weaponry. In Victorian beliefs of evolution, cannibalism among "ogres" was attributed to memories of more savage races, still practicing it alongside "superior" races that had abandoned it.
Another belief is that the fairies were an intelligent species, distinct from humans and angels. In alchemy in particular they were regarded as elementals, such as gnomes and sylphs, as described by Paracelsus. This is uncommon in folklore, but accounts describing the fairies as "spirits of the air" have been found. The belief in their angelic nature was common in Theosophist circles.
Tuatha Dé Danann
The Tuath(a) Dé Danann are a race of supernaturally-gifted people in Irish mythology. They are thought to represent the main deities of pre-Christian Gaelic Ireland. Many of the Irish tales of the Tuatha Dé Danann refer to these beings as fairies, though in more ancient times they were regarded as goddesses and gods. The Tuatha Dé Danann were spoken of as having come from islands in the north of the world or, in other sources, from the sky. After being defeated in a series of battles with other otherworldly beings, and then by the ancestors of the current Irish people, they were said to have withdrawn to the sídhe (fairy mounds), where they lived on in popular imagination as "fairies."
They are associated with several Otherworld realms including Mag Mell (the Pleasant Plain), Emain Ablach (the Fortress of Apples or the Land of Promise or the Isle of Women), and Tir na nÓg (the Land of Youth).
The aos sí is the Irish term for a supernatural race in Irish and Scottish, comparable to the fairies or elves. They are variously said to be ancestors, the spirits of nature, or goddesses and gods. A common theme found among the Celtic nations describes a race of diminutive people who had been driven into hiding by invading humans. In old Celtic fairy lore the Aos Sí (fairy folk) are immortals living in the ancient barrows and cairns. The Irish banshee (Irish Gaelic bean sí or Scottish Gaelic bean shìth, which both mean "woman of the fairy mound") is sometimes described as a ghost.
These Siths or Fairies they call Sleagh Maith or the Good People...are said to be of middle nature between Man and Angel, as were Daemons thought to be of old; of intelligent fluidous Spirits, and light changeable bodies (lyke those called Astral) somewhat of the nature of a condensed cloud, and best seen in twilight. These bodies be so pliable through the sublety of Spirits that agitate them, that they can make them appear or disappear at pleasure
Much of the folklore about fairies revolves around protection from their malice, by such means as cold iron or charms of rowan and herbs, or avoiding offense by shunning locations known to be theirs. Some pranks ascribed to them, such as tangling the hair of sleepers into "Elf-locks", stealing small items or leading a traveler astray, are generally harmless. But far more dangerous behaviors were also attributed to fairies. Any form of sudden death might stem from a fairy kidnapping, with the apparent corpse being a wooden stand-in with the appearance of the kidnapped person. Consumption (tuberculosis) was sometimes blamed on the fairies forcing young men and women to dance at revels every night, causing them to waste away from lack of rest. Rowan trees are considered sacred to the fairies.
In Scottish folklore, fairies are divided into the Seelie Court, the more beneficently inclined (but still dangerous) fairies, and the Unseelie Court, the malicious fairies. While the fairies from the Seelie court enjoyed playing pranks on humans they were usually harmless affairs, compared to the Unseelie court that enjoyed bringing harm to humans as entertainment.
Trooping fairies refer to fairies who appear in groups and might form settlements. In this definition, fairy is usually understood in a wider sense, as the term can also include various kinds of mythical creatures mainly of Celtic origin; however, the term might also be used for similar beings such as dwarves or elves from Germanic folklore. These are opposed to solitary fairies, who do not live or associate with others of their kind.
A considerable amount of lore about fairies revolves around changelings, fairy children left in the place of stolen human babies. In particular, folklore describes how to prevent the fairies from stealing babies and substituting changelings, and abducting older people as well. The theme of the swapped child is common in medieval literature and reflects concern over infants thought to be afflicted with unexplained diseases, disorders, or developmental disabilities. In pre-industrial Europe a peasant family's subsistence frequently depended upon the productive labor of each member, and a person who was a permanent drain on the family's scarce resources could pose a threat to the survival of the entire family.
In terms of protective charms, wearing clothing inside out, church bells, St. John's wort, and four-leaf clovers are regarded as effective. In Newfoundland folklore, the most popular type of fairy protection is bread, varying from stale bread to hard tack or a slice of fresh home-made bread. Bread is associated with the home and the hearth, as well as with industry and the taming of nature, and as such, seems to be disliked by some types of fairies. On the other hand, in much of the Celtic folklore, baked goods are a traditional offering to the folk, as are cream and butter. “The prototype of food, and therefore a symbol of life, bread was one of the commonest protections against fairies. Before going out into a fairy-haunted place, it was customary to put a piece of dry bread in one’s pocket.” In County Wexford, Ireland, in 1882, it was reported that “if an infant is carried out after dark a piece of bread is wrapped in its bib or dress, and this protects it from any witchcraft or evil.”
Bells also have an ambiguous role; while they protect against fairies, the fairies riding on horseback — such as the fairy queen — often have bells on their harness. This may be a distinguishing trait between the Seelie Court from the Unseelie Court, such that fairies use them to protect themselves from more wicked members of their race. Another ambiguous piece of folklore revolves about poultry: a cock's crow drove away fairies, but other tales recount fairies keeping poultry.
While many fairies will confuse travelers on the path, the will o' the wisp can be avoided by not following it. Certain locations, known to be haunts of fairies, are to be avoided; C. S. Lewis reported hearing of a cottage more feared for its reported fairies than its reported ghost. In particular, digging in fairy hills was unwise. Paths that the fairies travel are also wise to avoid. Home-owners have knocked corners from houses because the corner blocked the fairy path, and cottages have been built with the front and back doors in line, so that the owners could, in need, leave them both open and let the fairies troop through all night. Locations such as fairy forts were left undisturbed; even cutting brush on fairy forts was reputed to be the death of those who performed the act. Fairy trees, such as thorn trees, were dangerous to chop down; one such tree was left alone in Scotland, though it prevented a road being widened for seventy years.
Other actions were believed to offend fairies. Brownies were known to be driven off by being given clothing, though some folktales recounted that they were offended by inferior quality of the garments given, and others merely stated it, some even recounting that the brownie was delighted with the gift and left with it. Other brownies left households or farms because they heard a complaint, or a compliment. People who saw the fairies were advised not to look closely, because they resented infringements on their privacy. The need to not offend them could lead to problems: one farmer found that fairies threshed his corn, but the threshing continued after all his corn was gone, and he concluded that they were stealing from his neighbors, leaving him the choice between offending them, dangerous in itself, and profiting by the theft.
Millers were thought by the Scots to be "no canny", owing to their ability to control the forces of nature, such as fire in the kiln, water in the burn, and for being able to set machinery a-whirring. Superstitious communities sometimes believed that the miller must be in league with the fairies. In Scotland fairies were often mischievous and to be feared. No one dared to set foot in the mill or kiln at night as it was known that the fairies brought their corn to be milled after dark. So long as the locals believed this then the miller could sleep secure in the knowledge that his stores were not being robbed. John Fraser, the miller of Whitehill claimed to have hidden and watched the fairies trying unsuccessfully to work the mill. He said he decided to come out of hiding and help them, upon which one of the fairy women gave him a gowpen (double handful of meal) and told him to put it in his empty girnal (store), saying that the store would remain full for a long time, no matter how much he took out.
It is also believed that to know the name of a particular fairy could summon it to you and force it to do your bidding. The name could be used as an insult towards the fairy in question, but it could also rather contradictorily be used to grant powers and gifts to the user.
Before the advent of modern medicine many physiological conditions were untreatable and when children were born with abnormalities it was common to blame the fairies.
Sometimes fairies are described as assuming the guise of an animal. In Scotland it was peculiar to the Fairy women to assume the shape of deer; while witches became mice, hares, cats, gulls, or black sheep. In the "The Legend of Knocksheogowna", in order to frighten a famer who pastured his herd on fairy ground, a Fairy Queen took on the appearance of a great horse, with the wings of an eagle, and a tail like a dragon, hissing loud and spitting fire. Then she would changed into a little man lame of a leg, with a bull's head, and a lambent flame playing round it.
In the 19th-century child ballad "Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight", the elf-knight is a Bluebeard figure, and Isabel must trick and kill him to preserve her life. Child ballad "Tam Lin" reveals that the title character, though living among the fairies and having fairy powers, was in fact an "earthly knight" and though his life was pleasant now, he feared that the fairies would pay him as their teind (tithe) to hell.
"Sir Orfeo" tells how Sir Orfeo's wife was kidnapped by the King of Faerie and only by trickery and excellent harping ability was he able to win her back. "Sir Degare" narrates the tale of a woman overcome by her fairy lover, who in later versions of the story is unmasked as a mortal. "Thomas the Rhymer" shows Thomas escaping with less difficulty, but he spends seven years in Elfland. Oisín is harmed not by his stay in Faerie but by his return; when he dismounts, the three centuries that have passed catch up with him, reducing him to an aged man. King Herla (O.E. "Herla cyning"), originally a guise of Woden but later Christianised as a king in a tale by Walter Map, was said, by Map, to have visited a dwarf's underground mansion and returned three centuries later; although only some of his men crumbled to dust on dismounting, Herla and his men who did not dismount were trapped on horseback, this being one account of the origin of the Wild Hunt of European folklore.
A common feature of the fairies is the use of magic to disguise appearance. Fairy gold is notoriously unreliable, appearing as gold when paid but soon thereafter revealing itself to be leaves, gorse blossoms, gingerbread cakes, or a variety of other comparatively worthless things.
These illusions are also implicit in the tales of fairy ointment. Many tales from Northern Europe tell of a mortal woman summoned to attend a fairy birth — sometimes attending a mortal, kidnapped woman's childbed. Invariably, the woman is given something for the child's eyes, usually an ointment; through mischance, or sometimes curiosity, she uses it on one or both of her own eyes. At that point, she sees where she is; one midwife realizes that she was not attending a great lady in a fine house but her own runaway maid-servant in a wretched cave. She escapes without making her ability known but sooner or later betrays that she can see the fairies. She is invariably blinded in that eye or in both if she used the ointment on both.
There have been claims by people in the past, like William Blake, to have seen fairy funerals. Allan Cunningham in his Lives of Eminent British Painters records that William Blake claimed to have seen a fairy funeral. "'Did you ever see a fairy's funeral, madam?' said Blake to a lady who happened to sit next to him. 'Never, sir!' said the lady. 'I have,' said Blake, 'but not before last night.' And he went on to tell how, in his garden, he had seen 'a procession of creatures of the size and colour of green and grey grasshoppers, bearing a body laid out on a rose-leaf, which they buried with songs, and then disappeared." They are believed to be an omen of death.
The word "fairy" was used to describe an individual inhabitant of Faerie before the time of Chaucer.
Fairies appeared in medieval romances as one of the beings that a knight errant might encounter. A fairy lady appeared to Sir Launfal and demanded his love; like the fairy bride of ordinary folklore, she imposed a prohibition on him that in time he violated. Sir Orfeo's wife was carried off by the King of Faerie. Huon of Bordeaux is aided by King Oberon. These fairy characters dwindled in number as the medieval era progressed; the figures became wizards and enchantresses.
The oldest fairies on record in England were first described by the historian Gervase of Tilbury in the 13th century.
Morgan le Fay, whose connection to the realm of Faerie is implied in her name, in Le Morte d'Arthur is a woman whose magic powers stem from study. While somewhat diminished with time, fairies never completely vanished from the tradition. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late tale, but the Green Knight himself is an otherworldly being. Edmund Spenser featured fairies in The Faerie Queene. In many works of fiction, fairies are freely mixed with the nymphs and satyrs of classical tradition, while in others (e.g., Lamia), they were seen as displacing the Classical beings. 15th-century poet and monk John Lydgate wrote that King Arthur was crowned in "the land of the fairy" and taken in his death by four fairy queens, to Avalon, where he lies under a "fairy hill", until he is needed again.
Fairies appear as significant characters in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream, which is set simultaneously in the woodland and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon and in which a disturbance of nature caused by a fairy dispute creates tension underlying the plot and informing the actions of the characters. According to Maurice Hunt, Chair of the English Department at Baylor University, the blurring of the identities of fantasy and reality makes possible “that pleasing, narcotic dreaminess associated with the fairies of the play”.
Shakespeare's contemporary, Michael Drayton, features fairies in his Nimphidia; from these stem Alexander Pope's sylphs of The Rape of the Lock, and in the mid-17th century, précieuses took up the oral tradition of such tales to write fairy tales; Madame d'Aulnoy invented the term contes de fée ("fairy tale"). While the tales told by the précieuses included many fairies, they were less common in other countries' tales; indeed, the Brothers Grimm included fairies in their first edition but decided this was not authentically German and altered the language in later editions, changing each Fee ("fairy") to an enchantress or wise woman. J. R. R. Tolkien described these tales as taking place in the land of Faerie. Additionally, not all folktales that feature fairies are generally categorized as fairy tales.
The modern depiction of fairies was shaped in the literature of Romanticism during the Victorian era. Writers such as Walter Scott and James Hogg were inspired by folklore which featured fairies, such as the Border ballads. This era saw an increase in the popularity of collecting of fairy folklore and an increase in the creation of original works with fairy characters. In Rudyard Kipling's Puck of Pook's Hill, Puck holds to scorn the moralizing fairies of other Victorian works. The period also saw a revival of older themes in fantasy literature, such as C.S. Lewis's Narnia books, which, while featuring many such classical beings as fauns and dryads, mingles them freely with hags, giants, and other creatures of the folkloric fairy tradition. Victorian flower fairies were popularized in part by Queen Mary’s keen interest in fairy art and by British illustrator and poet Cicely Mary Barker's series of eight books published in 1923 through 1948. Imagery of fairies in literature became prettier and smaller as time progressed. Andrew Lang, complaining of "the fairies of polyanthuses and gardenias and apple blossoms" in the introduction to The Lilac Fairy Book, observed that "These fairies try to be funny, and fail; or they try to preach, and succeed."
A story of the origin of fairies appears in a chapter about Peter Pan in J. M. Barrie's 1902 novel The Little White Bird, and was incorporated into his later works about the character. Barrie wrote, "When the first baby laughed for the first time, his laugh broke into a million pieces, and they all went skipping about. That was the beginning of fairies." Fairies are seen in Neverland, in Peter and Wendy, the novel version of J. M. Barrie's famous Peter Pan stories, published in 1911, and its character Tinker Bell has become a pop culture icon. When Peter Pan is guarding Wendy from pirates, the story says, "After a time he fell asleep, and some unsteady fairies had to climb over him on their way home from an orgy. Any of the other boys obstructing the fairy path at night they would have mischiefed, but they just tweaked Peter's nose and passed on."
Images of fairies have appeared as illustrations, often in books of fairy tales, as well as in photographic-based media and sculpture. Some artists known for their depictions of fairies include Cicely Mary Barker, Arthur Rackham, Brian Froud, Alan Lee, Amy Brown, David Delamare, Meredith Dillman, Jasmine Becket-Griffith, Warwick Goble, Kylie InGold, Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Myrea Pettit, Florence Harrison, Suza Scalora, Nene Thomas, Gustave Doré, Rebecca Guay and Greta James.
The Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor, MI are small doors installed into local buildings. Local children believe these are the front doors of fairy houses, and in some cases, small furniture, dishes, and various other things can be seen beyond the doors.
The Victorian era was particularly noted for fairy paintings. The Victorian painter Richard Dadd created paintings of fairy-folk with a sinister and malign tone. Other Victorian artists who depicted fairies include John Atkinson Grimshaw, Joseph Noel Paton, John Anster Fitzgerald and Daniel Maclise. Interest in fairy-themed art enjoyed a brief renaissance following the publication of the Cottingley Fairies photographs in 1917 and a number of artists turned to painting fairy themes.
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The Cottingley Fairies photographs in 1917 (revealed by the "photographers" in 1981 to have been faked) were originally publicized by Theosophists, many of whom believed them to be real. In the teachings of Theosophy, Devas, the equivalent of angels, are believed to help to guide the operation of the processes of nature such as the process of evolution and the growth of plants. Smaller, less important, evolutionarily undeveloped minor angels are called nature spirits, elementals, and fairies.
E. L. Gardner likened fairies to butterflies, but whose function was to provide an essential link between the energy of the sun and plants in order to stimulate growth. "That growth of a plant which we regard as the customary and inevitable result of associating the three factors of sun, seed, and soil would never take place if the fairy builders were absent." He described them as having "...no clean-cut shape normally, and one can only describe them as small, hazy, and somewhat luminous clouds of colour with a brighter spark-like nucleus."
- Popular culture
- D. L. Ashliman, Fairy Lore: A Handbook (Greenwood, 2006)
- Brian Froud and Alan Lee, Faeries, (Peacock Press/Bantam, New York, 1978)
- Ronan Coghlan Handbook of Fairies (Capall Bann, 2002)
- Lizanne Henderson and Edward J. Cowan, Scottish Fairy Belief: A History (Edinburgh, 2001; 2007)
- C. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature (1964)
- Harmonia Saille "Walking the Faery Pathway", (O Books, London, 2010)
- Patricia Lysaght, The Banshee: the Irish Supernatural Death Messenger (Glendale Press, Dublin, 1986)
- Peter Narvaez, The Good People, New Fairylore Essays (Garland, New York, 1991)
- Eva Pocs, Fairies and Witches at the boundary of south-eastern and central Europe FFC no 243 (Helsinki, 1989)
- Joseph Ritson, Fairy Tales, Now First Collected: To which are prefixed two dissertations: 1. On Pygmies. 2. On Fairies, London, 1831
- Diane Purkiss, Troublesome Things: A History of Fairies and Fairy Stories (Allen Lane, 2000)
- Tomkinson, John L. Haunted Greece: Nymphs, Vampires and other Exotika, (Anagnosis, 2004) ISBN 960-88087-0-7
- Kready, Laura. A Study of Fairy Tales, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1916
- "Online Etymology Dictionary".
- Briggs, Katharine Mary (1976) An Encyclopedia of Fairies. New York, Pantheon Books. "Euphemistic names for fairies" p. 127 ISBN 0-394-73467-X.
- Briggs (1976) – The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature p. xi.
- Silver, Carole B. (1999) Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness. Oxford University Press. p. 47 ISBN 0-19-512199-6.
- Briggs (1976) p. 98.
- Yeats (1988) p. 2.
- William Godwin (1876). "Lives of the Necromancers". p. 20.
- "Orkneyjar – Descriptions of the Fairy Folk".
- Briggs (1976) p. 148.
- Lewis, C. S. (1994 (reprint)) The Discarded File: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. p. 122 ISBN 0-521-47735-2.
- Yeats, W. B. (1988) "Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry", in A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore. Gramercy. p.1 ISBN 0-517-48904-X
- Lewis (1994) pp. 135–6.
- Briggs (1976) p. 319.
- Yeats (1988) pp. 9–10.
- Briggs (1967) p. 9.
- "Trees in Mythology". Mythencyclopedia.com. 2007-02-19. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
- Silver (1999) p. 44.
- Hutton, Ronald. "Triumph of the Moon: The History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft". Amazon.
- Lewis (1994) p. 137.
- Briggs (1976) "Origins of fairies" p. 320.
- Briggs (1976) p. 223.
- Briggs (1976) "Traffic with fairies" and "Trooping fairies" pp. 409–12.
- Lewis (1994) p. 138.
- Lewis (1994) p. 136.
- Silver (1999) pp. 40–1.
- Priest, Hannah. "The king o fairy with his rout", Hortulus
- Briggs (1967) p. 15.
- Briggs (1967) p. 141.
- Yolen, Jane (2000) Touch Magic. p. 49 ISBN 0-87483-591-7.
- "Orkneyjar – The Origin of the Fairy Folk".
- Froud, Brian and Lee, Alan (1978) Faeries. New York, Peacock Press ISBN 0-553-01159-6.
- Silver (1999) p. 45.
- Lewis (1994) p. 134.
- Silver (1999) p. 38.
- Briggs (1967) p. 146.
- Evans-Wentz, W. Y. (1966, 1990) The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. New York, Citadel. pp. 167, 243, 457 ISBN 0-8065-1160-5.
- Evans Wentz, W. Y. (1966, 1990) The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. Gerrards Cross, Colin Smythe Humanities Press ISBN 0-901072-51-6
- Briggs (1976) p. 15.
- Kirk, Robert; Lang, Andrew (28 December 2007). "1. Of the subterranean inhabitants". The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies. Easy Reading Series. Aberfoyle, Scotland: Forgotten Books. p. 39. ISBN 1-60506-185-9. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
- Briggs (1976) pp. 335–6.
- Briggs (1976) p. 25.
- Briggs (1976) p. 80.
- Colum, Padraic. "The Story of the Fairy Rowan-Tree", The King of Ireland's Son, New York, H. Holt and Company, 1916
- Briggs (1976) "Traffic with fairies" and "Trooping fairies" pp. 409-12.
- "Protect your property and yourself – make a Parshell – World Cultures European".
- Briggs (1976) p. 41.
- Opie, Iona and Tatem, Moira (eds) (1989) A Dictionary of Superstitions Oxford University Press. p. 38.
- Briggs (1976) "Bells" p. 20.
- Briggs (1967) p. 74.
- Lewis (1994) p. 125.
- Silver (1999) p. 155.
- Lenihan, Eddie and Green, Carolyn Eve (2004) Meeting The Other Crowd: The Fairy Stories of Hidden Ireland. pp. 146–7 ISBN 1-58542-206-1.
- Lenihan (2004) p. 125.
- Silver (1999) p. 152.
- Briggs (1976) "Brownies" p. 46.
- Briggs (1967) p. 34.
- Briggs (1976) "Infringement of fairy privacy" p. 233.
- Briggs (1976) "Fairy morality" p. 115.
- Gauldie, E. (1981) The Scottish Miller 1700 – 1900. Edinburgh, John McDonald. p. 187.
- Eason, Cassandra. "Fabulous creatures, mythical monsters and animal power symbols". Fabulous creatures, mythical monsters, and animal power symbols: a handbook. pp. 147, 148. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- Briggs, K.M. (1967) The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. p. 71.
- Croker, Thomas Crofton. "The Legend of Knocksheogowna", Fairy Legends and Traditions, 1825
- Child, Francis The English and Scottish Popular Ballads.
- "The Child Ballads: 37. Thomas Rymer". Sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
- Briggs (1967) p. 104.
- Briggs (1967) pp. 50–1.
- De Nugis Curiallium by Walter Map, Edited by F. Tupper & M.B Ogle (Chatto & Windus, London 1924)
- Lenihan (2004) pp. 109–10.
- Northumberland Folk Tales, by Rosalind Kerven (2005) Antony Rowe Ltd, p. 532.
- Narváez, Peter (1997) The Good People: New Fairylore Essays. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 126
- Briggs (1976) "Fairy ointment" p. 156.
- Lewis (1994) pp. 129–30.
- Briggs (1976) "Fairies in medieval romances" p. 132.
- "The Origins and History of Fairies".
- Briggs (1976) "Morgan Le Fay" p. 303.
- Briggs (1976) "Faerie Queen", p. 130.
- Briggs (1967) p. 174.
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Fairies, Anna Franklin, Sterling Publishing Company, 2004, p. 18.
- Shakespeare, William (1979). Harold F. Brooks, ed. The Arden Shakespeare "A Midsummer Nights Dream". Methuen & Co. Ltd. cxxv. ISBN 0-415-02699-7.
- Hunt, Maurice. "Individuation in A Midsummer Night's Dream." South Central Review 3.2 (Summer 1986): 1–13.
- Zipes, Jack (2000) The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm. W. W. Norton. p. 858 ISBN 0-393-97636-X.
- Tatar, Maria (2003) The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales. Princeton University Press. p. 31 ISBN 0-691-06722-8.
- Tolkien, J. R. R. "On Fairy-Stories", The Tolkien Reader, pp. 10–11.
- Briggs, (1967) pp. 165–7.
- Briggs (1967) p. 203.
- Briggs (1967) p. 209.
- "Lewis pp. 129-130".
- Lang, Andrew Preface The Lilac Fairy Book.
- J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens and Peter and Wendy, Oxford Press, 1999, p. 32.
- J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens as well Peter and Wendy, Oxford Press, 1999, p. 132.
- David Gates (November 29, 1999). "Nothing Here But Kid Stuff". Newsweek. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
- Windling, Terri, "Victorian Fairy Paintings".
- Hodson, Geoffrey, Kingdom of the Gods ISBN 0-7661-8134-0 — includes color pictures of what Devas supposedly look like when observed by the third eye — their appearance is reputedly like colored flames about the size of a human being. Paintings of some of the devas claimed to have been seen by Hodson from his book "Kingdom of the Gods":
- Doyle, Arthur Conan. "The Theosophic View of Fairies", The Coming of the Fairies, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1922
|Wikiquote has quotations related to: Fairies|
- The dictionary definition of fairy at Wiktionary
- Media related to Fairies at Wikimedia Commons
- Fairies on In Our Time at the BBC. (listen now)
- Audio recording of a Scandinavian folktale explaining fairy origins (streaming and downloadable formats)
- Audio recording of a traditional fairy story from Newfoundland, Canada (streaming and downloadable formats) | <urn:uuid:947479e5-b5b2-4adb-8561-6d4bfc8cadb3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00073-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951036 | 8,935 | 2.859375 | 3 |
This is incredible: For the first time, ever, astronomers have captured an optical image of a planet orbiting a star like our own.
And that’s not all: we also have a second picture showing TWO planets orbiting a second star!
(Calm down. Breathe, breathe.)
The first picture is from Hubble. Ready? Here it is:
Do you see it? That tiny spark, that wee blip of light? It may not look like much, but it is in fact a normal planet orbiting a normal star, 250 trillion kilometers from Earth.
The picture as a whole needs some splainin’. The star in question is Fomalhaut, a star easily visible to the unaided eye; it’s the brightest star in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the 18th brightest in the sky, and only 25 light years away. It’s literally millions of times brighter than the planet, so the Hubble camera uses an occulting bar, a small piece of metal that blocks the brightest part of the star’s image. The blacked-out area in the center of the picture is where Fomalhaut is (also, the star’s image has been digitally subtracted using an image of another star as a template; that further reduces the amount of unwanted light). The radial lines are not real; they are an optical effect of the very bright star. The ring is real; it’s dust leftover from the formation of the star and the planet. In fact, the thinness of the ring was a big factor in assuming a planet was lurking there; the planet’s gravity sculpts the ring, keeping it narrowly confined. Also, the ring is off-center from the star, and a planet in an elliptical orbit would explain that nicely.
The planet itself is just that small dot, almost lost in the noise from the star and the light from the ring. I’ll be honest; had I been analyzing the image, I might have missed it at first. But it’s there, and it’s real. Images taken almost two years apart show that the planet is moving with the star, and is consistent with it orbiting Fomalhaut at a distance of about 18 billion km (11 billion miles). That’s four times the distance of Neptune from the Sun. It takes 872 years to make one complete orbit. The mass is not easy to determine, and is estimated using its effect on the ring; it’s likely to be about the same size and mass as Jupiter.
The planet is unnamed, and is simply called Fomalhaut b.
I am reeling from this image. Years ago, when I still worked on Hubble, I did some work on planetary debris rings like this, including seeing if we could directly see planets near stars. The amount of work that goes into this type of discovery is phenomenal, and so I’m stunned by the success of it.
This is huge news.
And it gets even huger. Because there’s more:
That image is the first to directly show two planets orbiting another star! It’s a near-infrared image using the giant Gemini North 8 meter telescope. Like in the Hubble image, the star’s light has been blocked, allowing the two planets to be seen (labeled b and c).
The star is called HR 8799. It’s a bit more massive (1.5 times) and more luminous (5x) than the Sun, and lies about 130 light years from Earth. The planets in this picture orbit it at distances of 6 billion km (3.6 billion miles) and 10.5 billion km (6.3 billion miles). A third planet, not seen in this image but discovered later using the Keck 10 meter telescope, orbits the star closer in at a distance of 3.8 billion km (2.3 billion miles).
So there it is. The first ever family portrait of a planetary system.
One thing that makes these particular planets a bit easier to find than usual is that they are young; HR 8799 and its children are only about 60 million years old. That means the planets are still glowing from the leftover heat of their formation, and that adds to their brightness. Eventually (in millions of years), as they cool, they will glow only by reflected light from the star, and be far harder to see. Fomalhaut b, in the Hubble image, is much older (200 million years), and glows only by reflected light from Fomalhaut. If it were much smaller or dimmer (or closer to the blinding light of the star), we wouldn’t have been able to see it at all.
These images were basically science fiction just a few years ago. Now they are fact. We have an optical picture of a planet orbiting another sun-like star, and a picture of two planets orbiting another star.
Wow. Just wow.
OK, now that you have the news, a few caveats. We now know of more than 300 planets orbiting other stars. And a planet has been imaged before, but it was orbiting a brown dwarf, which is different than a normal star like the Sun. Brown dwarfs are so-called "failed stars", much smaller than the Sun. Another possible planet orbiting a sun-like star has been imaged, but has not yet been confirmed. So these images here really are firsts. They are history.
I still can hardly believe it, and I worked on data like this! Yet there they are, proof that our planetary system is not the only one in the Universe. We knew this already; indirect evidence confirms planets and even multiple planetary systems around many nearby stars.
But there’s nothing like a picture. There, with your own eyes, you can see for yourself that other planets exist. They are not Earthlike, not even a little… they are massive, young, hot planets that are probably mostly gaseous and completely inhospitable.
But there they are.
In a few years, we’ll have more pictures like these. And we’ll get better. Our telescopes will get bigger, our equipment more sensitive, our techniques improved as we understand their capabilities. And the pictures of other planets will roll in.
How long before we see the Holy Grail, the first image of a terrestrial planet, orbiting a star like the Sun at just the right distance for liquid water to bathe its surface? It may not be for a decade or two, but mark my words: that day will arrive. And when it does, well, we’ll just have to rewrite the history books again, won’t we?
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- A direct picture of a planet orbiting an alien star confirmed! « Catstronomy | July 1, 2010 | <urn:uuid:59a789e7-1747-45fe-aac0-20dd3d6d7288> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/11/13/huge-exoplanet-news-items-pictures/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00160-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.869807 | 3,132 | 3.859375 | 4 |
In general, the term "direct democracy" usually refers
to citizens making policy and law decisions in person,
without going through representatives and legislatures. The
classic example of this is the New England Town Meeting where anyone
from the town who wants to show up to debate and vote on town policy
can do so. Until recently, this worked for scores of communities,
but low attendance at many modern town meetings has raised questions
about whether they are truly democratic.
More recent direct democracy proposals tend to focus on voting
schemes (usually high tech) that would allow widespread,
virtually continual voting by millions of citizens on whatever
proposals surfaced. While useful in building up a buffet of
voting methodologies for possible use in other contexts, the lack
of organized public deliberation about the issues in question makes
such proposals look more like opinion polls than exercises of citizenship.
Wise solutions to public problems won't likely come off the top
of a hundred million heads.
A third approach to direct democracy -- the "initiative
process" adapted by a number of states -- allows anyone
to propose a law which, if they can get enough of their fellow citizens
to co-sponsor it (usually by signing petitions), can be voted on
by the entire electorate in the next election. While apparently
empowering the grassroots, this process has in many instances been
co-opted by special interest groups, especially monied interests
who put initiatives on the ballot to increase their wealth and power
in the guise of public benefit -- or to confuse voters about competing
initiatives that actually come from the grassroots. Since
the monied interests have more resources to hire petition-signature-gatherers
and to run powerful advertising campaigns based on extensive marketing
surveys and expert PR advice (sometimes very devious, last minute
blitzes that can't be answered before the election), there's a real
question about how democratic existing initiative processes are.
Furthermore, such processes offer no more deliberation than the
unproductive media debates that characterize most political campaigns.
So each of these approaches to direct democracy raises questions
about how wise or democratic they actually are, in practice. Democracy
requires participation by the broad citizenry or at least those
affected by the decision. Wisdom requires thoughtful, informed
consideration of the issues and consequences involved with various
DIRECT DEMOCRACY AND DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY
So where do we get wisdom? One of the most important -- and probably
indispensible -- sources of collective
wisdom in a democracy is informed deliberation
among people whose diversity approximates the diversity of their
community or country. (Such a group can be large or small, as long
as it meets that criteria. See the deliberation
page on this site for democratic innovations that embody this
understanding). Such deliberation produces public judgment, a far
higher form of collective intelligence than mere public opinion.
(See A Call
to Move Beyond Public Opinion to Public Judgment..)
Broadly recognized citizen deliberation and public
judgment bring public wisdom to the public power that is bestowed
by direct democracy. Such a combination of power and
wisdom begins to approach an ideal democratic form. An example of
an effort to actually practice this level of advanced democracy
is British Columbia's experiment with a Citizens
Assembly on Electoral Reform, in which 160 randomly selected
citizens explored different approaches to electoral reform and the
outcome of their deliberations was submitted to British Columbia's
electorate for a direct vote.
councils, of wihich the above Citizens Assembly is one example,
are a particularly potent source of deliberative wisdom.
Useful definition note: "It
would be helpful for us to use "initiatives" for proposals
by citizens, and "referenda" to mean proposals "referred"
for a citizen vote by legislators, instead of using referendum
generically to mean either." -- Evan Ravitz, http://www.vote.org.
For an intelligent proposal for a national initiative process,
see National Initiative for Democracy.
For an international academic site focused on direct democracy
see C2D - Research and Documentation
Centre on Direct Democracy
For a critique that supports having citizens engage in major public
deliberations to advise legislatures -- but not to pass their own
legislation -- see Referenda.
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No other flower says spring like the daffodil. The pleasure of seeing a whole field of bright yellow trumpets, planted en masse, is a heart-warming and exhilarating experience. What better way to celebrate spring and the daffodil season than to visit Filoli in late February and March, to enjoy its flower fields, and learn about its exceptional collection of daffodils—both historic and modern.
Many of Filoli’s daffodils were in existence when Filoli became a property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1975. They had been planted in the early 1900s, during the “Great Daffodil Renaissance,” when it was fashionable for estate owners like the DuPonts, the Rockefellers, and the Bourns, here at Filoli, to plant modern types of daffodils from England, in masses on their English-style estates. Whole hillsides and fields were planted with them. Daffodils, as we know them today, were actually a hot new plant then, and wealthy collectors paid large sums for single bulbs of great rarity.
It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that daffodils were used much as garden plants. The ancient types, like the Tenby daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus subsp. obvallaris), Lent lilies (N. pseudonarcissus subsp. pseudonarcissus), a yellow trumpet (N. pseudonarcissus subsp. hispanicus ‘Maximus’), and the species narcissus that naturalized throughout the English countryside, grew more like wildflowers. William Backhouse, Peter Barrs, and Edward Leeds are all given credit for popularizing daffodils. The hybrid seedlings they developed between 1840 and 1860 eventually became parents of the daffodils we grow in gardens today. These three men were country gentlemen and nurserymen—absolutely passionate about “improving” daffodils. Their early English hybrids were classified in horticultural groupings and listed in catalogs as Narcissus Leedsi, Narcissus Barri, Narcissus inconspicuous, or star daffodils, and were shipped to America for planting in public parks and in private estates like Filoli.
What makes Filoli’s daffodil collection so significant is its diversity and the fact that many of the original bulbs are still growing in the exact spots where they were planted by previous generations of gardeners. Many of Filoli’s daffodils are yet to be identified—waiting, like hidden treasures, to be rediscovered by the world of horticulture, and perhaps reintroduced to fill gardens of the future.
Today, Filoli serves as a repository for preserving this special daffodil germplasm. Recently, Filoli’s tradition of growing and displaying daffodils has expanded to include the testing of new cultivars and to promoting daffodils for use in California gardens.
Origins, Classification, and Names
Daffodils have been appreciated for their beauty, fragrance and medicinal properties for over 2,000 years. Virgil, in his “Empurpled Narcissus,” alluded to Narcissus poeticus, with its white petals, multicolored cup, and a distinctive purple-edged rim. The current theory is that daffodils were probably traded back and forth along the spice routes between Africa and Asia. Today, the American Daffodil Society lists between forty and two hundred species, subspecies, and variants worldwide, along with 25,000 registered cultivars.
Narcissus species originated in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. When in close proximity, they hybridize freely with each other in the wild and in gardens. Favorite daffodils were brought to America by early settlers from the Old World, where the bulbs thrived and multiplied. As America expanded its boundaries, pioneers took their precious bulbs with them on journeys westward.
With such a large and diverse group of plants to track, the Royal Horticultural Society developed a horticultural classification system that split the different types of Narcissus into thirteen recognizable divisions, based on flower characteristics such as the relative size of the petals to the cup, the size of the flowers, and the number of flowers per stem. The divisions are: trumpet type, large-cupped, small-cupped, doubles, triandrus, cyclamineus, jonquilla, tazetta, poeticus, bulbocodium, split-cupped, miscellaneous, and species, wild variants, and wild hybrids. The RHS also developed a coding system for the color of the petals and the cup. The American Daffodil Society (ADS) website (www.daffodilusa.org) is an excellent source of information about the different divisions.
There has always been confusion surrounding the common names used to identify different types of daffodils. The ADS adopted the use of “daffodil” as the common English name to describe all the different Narcissus species, variants, and hybrids in all communications, except in scientific writing. It works well when describing the entire genus in general terms. The ADS uses the word “narcissus,” as both singular and plural, to denote the genus, although the plural form “narcissi” is equally correct. Narcissus hybridizers and growers use “daffodil” as a common name to describe the larger-flowered and intermediate-sized narcissus that have one flower per stalk, including the trumpet, large-cupped, and small-cupped types. They continue to use “narcissus” as the common name to describe the fragrant smaller-flowered polyanthus type or cluster-flowered tazettas (derived from N. tazetta), and the other smaller-flowered fragrant types derived from N. jonquilla and N. poeticus. “Jonquil” is the common name given to hybrids of N. jonquilla. To add to the complexity, “jonquil” is also the common name used in the South to refer to all Narcissus.
Daffodils in Filoli’s Gardens
Daffodils were planted in numerous locations at Filoli and for a variety of purposes. They have always been planted in the formal parterres, combined with winter annuals and other bulbs, like tulips, for achieving Filoli’s famous spring bulb displays. They are also planted annually in containers for placing in the formal gardens when they come into bloom. The daffodil bulbs recycled from spring-blooming pots are then planted in long rows in the upper fruit garden and in other locations on the grounds.
Historic daffodils were planted for use as cut flowers in the lower fruit garden and along the olive walk in the working gardens. A wonderful example of a dry border is the 500-foot-long lilac border, underplanted with regularly repeating clumps of historic daffodils, including very early, early, mid-season, and late daffodils, which bloom with the lilacs (Syringa cultivars) in spring. Three tazettas, the Chinese sacred lily (Narcissus tazetta subsp. chinensis), its double form, and ‘Soleil d’Or’, start the blooming season at Filoli in late December and January, followed by the cyclamineus type ‘February Gold’ and the late white and orange tazetta, ‘Geranium’. This border contains a treasure trove of original historic, unidentified daffodils that are slowly being identified by daffodil experts from the ADS. In other parts of the formal garden daffodils like ‘February Gold’ can be found growing here and there in clumps. Outside the garden walls, original daffodils can be found naturalized along the entry roadsides, in the pasture south of the stone-walled corporation yard, at the picnic grounds, and in clumps below the wall of the bachelor gardeners’ quarters.
New plantings of naturalized daffodils have been added at the entry gate, around the Visitor and Education Center and its parking lot, and along major paths leading to the main residence. A spectacular new daffodil field, containing 75,000 bulbs of one tazetta type called ‘Golden Dawn’, was added over a three-year period from 2009 to 2011, just west of the main residence. The field is in full bloom in March, against a backdrop of the towering Santa Cruz Mountains. A border of early double ‘Erlicheer’, mid-season trumpet type ‘Mount Hood’, and late-blooming tazetta ‘Geranium’ daffodils were planted at the same time in the lower balustrade bed along the lower lawn terrace, as companions to drought tolerant shrubs, vines, and ground covers.
Diversity of the Collection
The Filoli Daffodil Chart lists 118 known species and cultivars planted in the gardens and grounds, and notes Filoli’s historic daffodils and the Wister and Pannill award-winning selections. It is updated on an annual basis and can be found on Filoli’s website (www.filoli.org). In addition to those planted in the ground, Filoli grows approximately sixty different new daffodils each year in pots as part of the spring display; after flowering once in their pots, these daffodils are recycled and planted out on the grounds in the following autumn. All together, Filoli has over 200 different types of known daffodils planted in the ground and in pots; this diversity was one of the reasons that Filoli was accepted as an American Daffodil Society official display garden in 2009.
Among the highlights of the collection are Filoli’s original daffodils, which have survived on the estate since they were planted sometime during the Bourn (1917-1936) and Roth (1937-1975) periods. The ADS considers a daffodil to be historic if it was registered with the Royal Horticultural Society before 1940. Some of Filoli’s most significant historic daffodils have been found outside the garden walls on the grounds. The Lent lily, for instance, was found growing in a former horse pasture south of the corporation yard; this species was immortalized in Wordsworth’s famous poem, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” Close by in the same pasture, are a few clumps of the variable greenish yellow, double ‘Telamonius Plenus’ (syn. ‘Von Scion’), first recorded by the English botanist Parkinson in 1620. It is the most common historic daffodil to be found growing at abandoned home sites all across North America. Three Narcissus species can be found along Filoli’s roadsides, on the bulb slope, and in the daffodil field. They include the double campernelle (N. xodorus ‘Plenus’), the Tenby daffodil, with its chubby, little yellow trumpets, and the late-blooming twin sisters (N. xmedioluteus), which has two small, creamy white, yellow-cupped flowers per stem—hence, its name.
‘Twink’, a showy double yellow and orange daffodil hybridized by the Dutch de Graaff brothers in 1925, is commonly found naturalized in California’s gold-mining country in the foothills of the Sierras. At Filoli, it grows at the gardeners’ picnic grounds, where it blooms early and reliably with absolutely no care, nor summer water. Another Dutch selection is ‘Hollandia’ (1943), developed by Warnaar & Co, Ltd; it is a double daffodil with yellow and orange petals that blooms in early spring along the olive walk west of the fruit garden, where it receives no summer water.
One of the original daffodils found inside the working garden is the ancient ‘Maximus’ (named in 1576), naturalized along the olive walk—an example of a wild hybrid grown by the Roman emperors; classified as a trumpet type, it has a large showy yellow flower. Many of Filoli’s surviving original daffodils are tazettas; the season starts off with the ancient, fragrant, tall white and orange Chinese sacred lily from Northern Africa and its double form, both of which bloom reliably early in the year, in time to celebrate the Chinese New Year. These two bulbs are found along Filoli roadsides, on the bulb slope, and in clumps throughout the estate grounds. ‘Soleil d’Or’ (1731), an ancient French hybrid, is the next one to bloom; it is found in the same places and can be identified by with its clusters of small fragrant yellow and orange flowers in early February. ‘Cragford’ (1930), a tall fragrant white and orange tazetta with larger flowers good for cutting, was originally planted in long rows along the olive walk. It was developed by Percival D Williams, an English country gentleman who developed many of Filoli’s other historic daffodils, such as ‘Halvose’ (1927), a fragrant, soft yellow and orange tazetta that is naturalized on the bulb slope. He also developed the small, late-flowered ‘Trevithian’ (1927), a yellow fragrant jonquil hybrid with narrow grass-like foliage that is naturalized in the daffodil field and planted in the service courtyard bed under wisteria vines.
New cultivars are grown at Filoli in containers, placed throughout the gardens from mid-February through the first week in May. ‘Chromacolor’ (1976), developed by William Pannill, received the John and Gertrude Wister Award in 2007; it lives up to its reputation for excellent garden performance, performs beautifully in containers, and has naturalized at Filoli with no summer water. The new Dutch trumpet ‘4U2’ (2002), by N Kuiper & Son, is a spectacular yellow-flowered daffodil with an orange trumpet that lasts for over five weeks in a pot and has naturalized along the path leading from the Visitor and Education Center.
Brand new fragrant tazetta hybrids, developed by William Welch (“Bill, the Bulb Baron” of Santa Cruz, California) hold great promise for California’s dry gardens. His new Autumn Colors Group offers the earliest to bloom, often opening in early October! This tall seed-grown selection, which comes in a mixture of colors from white to gold in the petals, with cups of yellow to orange red, makes a deliciously fragrant cut flower for naturalizing and requires no summer water. Welch’s fragrant, glowing sulfur yellow ‘Avalanche of Gold’, sure to win an award someday soon, can be found blooming along the path leading from the Visitor and Education Center towards the main house, and in the upper fruit orchard in early February. It is more compact and can also be grown in containers, or naturalized in the fields, with or without summer water.
Through the years, the gardeners at Filoli have learned some specific gardening practices that have helped to make daffodils an important part of Filoli’s spring display. Watch for the next article, appearing in the July 2012 issue of Pacific Horticulture, on selecting and growing daffodils in the garden. They are perfect plants for California’s mediterranean climate, with many uses and thousands of cultivars from which to choose.
If You Should Like to Visit . . .
Filoli’s Annual Daffodil Days festival usually opens on the last weekend of February; there are, however, daffodils in flower throughout spring in the various sections of the gardens and grounds. Filoli is located thirty miles south of San Francisco, at 86 Cañada Road, Woodside, CA 94062. For information about the festival, about visiting Filoli, or about membership and volunteer opportunities, call 650/364-8300 or visit www.filoli.org. | <urn:uuid:66a03aa3-bdfd-4ded-9775-f45f366cfaad> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pacifichorticulture.org/articles/filolis-daffodil-collection/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947975 | 3,516 | 3.109375 | 3 |
July 10, 2013
New Observations Give Peek Into Massive Star Formation
[ Watch the Video: Zooming in on the Birth of a Monster Star ]
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe OnlineAstronomers used ESO's Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter array (ALMA) to gain one of the best views yet of a star in the process of forming.
The embryonic monster star sits inside Spitzer Dark Cloud (SDC) 335.579-0.292 right now, which contains over 500 times the mass of the Sun. Astronomers say the cloud will be giving birth to a very brilliant star with up to 100 times the mass of the Sun. The brightest stars in the galaxy form within cool and dark clouds, but the processes are both shrouded in dust and a mystery.
The team used ALMA to perform a microwave prenatal scan to get a clearer look at the formation of the star. There are two theories on how massive stars like this begin to form. One is that the parental dark cloud fragments create several small cores that collapse on their own and eventually form stars. The other says the entire cloud begins to collapse inwards, with material racing towards the cloud's center to form one or more massive stars.
This new observation supports the theory of global collapse for the formation of massive stars, rather than fragmentation.
"The ALMA observations reveal the spectacular details of the motions of the filamentary network of dust and gas, and show that a huge amount of gas is flowing into a central compact region," said team member, Ana Duarte Cabral from the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux, France.
Scientists first spotted SDC335.579-0.292 as a dramatic environment of dark, dense filaments of gas and dust through observations with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's (ESA) Herschel Space Observatory. The team used ALMA to look at the forming star in detail, observing the amount of dust and the motion of the gas moving around within the dark cloud.
"The remarkable observations from ALMA allowed us to get the first really in-depth look at what was going on within this cloud," says Nicolas Peretto of CEA/AIM Paris-Saclay, France. "We wanted to see how monster stars form and grow, and we certainly achieved our aim! One of the sources we have found is an absolute giant - the largest protostellar core ever spotted in the Milky Way."
The star's core has over 500 times the mass of our Sun swirling around within it, and the ALMA observations show that much more material is still flowing inwards and increasing the mass still further. This material will eventually collapse to form the giant star.
"Even though we already believed that the region was a good candidate for being a massive star-forming cloud, we were not expecting to find such a massive embryonic star at its center," says Peretto. "This object is expected to form a star that is up to 100 times more massive than the Sun. Only about one in ten thousand of all the stars in the Milky Way reach that kind of mass!"
Gary Fuller from the University of Manchester, UK said that not only are these stars rare, but their birth is extremely rapid, so finding such a massive object is a "spectacular result."
This research was presented in a paper entitled "Global collapse of molecular clouds as a formation mechanism for the most massive stars" and is scheduled to appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics. | <urn:uuid:60e956c8-58fd-47ab-b986-77acb8669001> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112894372/star-formation-in-its-infancy-alma-071013/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932933 | 730 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Few people can deny that there is something rather remarkable about the gentle giants of our world, the elephant. With slow and graceful movements, a kind glint in their eye, and a presence that simply oozes intelligence and wisdom, elephants are a very popular character in cultures all over the world. Unfortunately, this does not shield these animals from being abused and even killed by humans. Each day, compassionate animal lovers work tirelessly to help protect Asian elephants that languish in circuses and their African cousins who face poachers. But is there more we can do for elephants? Should such large, far-roaming, intelligent creatures be confined in zoos and parks, or is there a different approach we can take to keep them safe and protected? Here are a few reasons why we should instead consider supporting these beautiful creatures in their natural environments rather than forcing them to languish in captivity.
There Isn’t Enough Space
Elephants are huge creatures, who are adapted for roaming large areas of land each day in search for food and water. They are used to roaming up to 50 miles a day, compared to the average enclosure space that is 500-square-meters per elephant, although these are viewed as guidelines it is not necessarily illegal to be smaller. While some people argue that the elephants are happy with this arrangement because they do not need to travel so far for food and water, the overwhelming evidence suggests that a lack of exercise is not only detrimental to the mental well-being of these animals, but harmful to their health, and even partly to blame for their early mortality in captive settings.
At least 40 percent of captive elephants are considered obese, a phenomenon that is never seen in the wild. Confined to such a small percentage of their natural territory, and often not presented with mentally stimulating challenges, or not enough, elephants have a tendency to do a lot of standing around and not much else. The weight issue is a big one – pardon the pun. The leading cause of death in captive elephants is foot ailments, and standing on concrete or hard ground for long periods of time takes a toll on their bodies enough, without the added stress of extra weight. In the wild, elephants are always on the move, active for up to 20 hours a day. This keeps them lean, keeps their bones strong and their joints supple, keeps them mentally engaged and promotes good blood flow, especially to their feet. They are also encountering a variety of surfaces and textures, all things that help to keep feet healthy.
Image source: Diana Robinson/Flickr
It’s Incredibly Lonely
Elephants in the wild live in large herds, led by the eldest and most experienced female known as the matriarch. This social unit is the very core of life itself – everything they do, they do together, and they learn, teach, and adapt as one. They are so close-knit that the only thing that can tear an elephant away from her family and friends is the event of death, or capture. The more experienced elephants teach the younger ones, allowing them to pick up crucial skills such as how to care for a new baby, how to treat common ailments using plants, and general social skills such as how to behave within the herd, which can number as many as 100 individuals, of all ages and sexes. They communicate through a wide range of vocalizations and visual cues, but by far the most important sense to an elephant is touch. They have very sensitive skin, and delicate trunks, which they use much in the way we use our hands. An elephant will use the power of touch to not only discover the world around her but to bond with her herdmates. She will use her trunk to comfort others, to hug her baby, and even to gently and respectfully brush against the body of elephants who have passed away.
In captivity, over half of all elephants are kept in groups no bigger than four individuals, and some are kept entirely alone. These group sizes are unnaturally small and can result in abnormal behaviors among individuals. Elephants become unstable when forced into isolation, and their frustration reveals itself in a series of repetitive motions never witnessed in the wild, such as swaying from side to side for hours on end. For elephants who live entirely alone their existence is, even more, depressing, never able to seek out the social contact with their own kind that they so desperately seek. Captive elephants are also less experienced in terms of life skills, and one notable example of this is the incidence of first-time mothers killing their babies, often through neglect or inexperience.
Toys and other enrichment can be used to distract the animals and keep them occupied, but stereotypical behavior will still occur even if it is supplied. It seems to be a coping mechanism for captive elephants, a familiar habit, and they will continue to weave from side to side, sometimes being copied by other elephants and thus reinforcing the abnormal behavior. At least 60 percent of elephants show some form of abnormal behavior.
Image source: Vaughan Leiberum/Flickr
Our Weather Can Make Them Sick
All species of elephants come from hot countries, and they are therefore adapted to warm environments. They are unable to sweat, and therefore when the temperature rises they must cool themselves in other ways, such as wallowing in mud or spraying themselves with water. However, this is much easier to achieve than being too cold – they cannot store fat as insulation as a response to the colder temperatures and, therefore, must be kept warm by their handlers, such as through use of extra bedding or rugs. Due to their poor ability to regulate their body temperature, once an elephant is sufficiently chilled it takes a very long time for them to warm up again, especially their extremities, and this means that if not warmed in time damage can occur to their feet, tails, and ears.
To combat this problem, many zoos place their elephants indoors over the winter months in heated paddocks, but this confinement is frustrating to a roaming animal and results in increased stress and abnormal behaviors. Indoors they are unable to forage, to experience fresh air and natural sunlight, and interactions with other elephants are often restricted by placing them in separate stalls or enclosures.
Image source: Jan Arendtsz/Flicker
How You Can Help
While wild elephants can live on average to age 75, the typical life expectancy among captive animals is only 20-30 years. The bottom line is that elephants do not do well in captivity, for all of the reasons mentioned above. If you love elephants, don’t visit them at the zoo. Zoos exist primarily for profit and can only exist with your financial support. Without ticket sales, zoos will no longer have the ability to hold these incredible in captivity. Opt to support sanctuaries that offer lifelong care to former captive elephants, or organizations that work on protecting our wild and captive elephants instead.
Featured image source: Debmonof3/Flickr | <urn:uuid:fb5caffd-2e62-450c-a68c-21418a63f951> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/why-life-in-a-zoo-is-no-life-for-an-elephant/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00017-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966104 | 1,413 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Hypertension is the medical term used to describe the physical condition of high blood pressure. Approximately 50 million people in the United States are afflicted with hypertension, with similar proportions of the populations of other Western countries also at risk. High blood pressure is more commonly found in older adults (defined as persons over the age of 50); persons of African descent in these countries are more seriously affected, due to genetic reasons.
Hypertension is a multidimensional health problem that occurs when the pressure created within the arteries by the usual functioning of the cardiovascular system places excess pressure on the arteries. The causes of high blood pressure are varied. The cardiovascular system delivers blood and its cargos of energy fuels, oxygen, and nutrients through the power of the heart. Each heartbeat creates pressure along the entire arterial system. The flow of blood and the function of all related systems will be optimal at a range of blood pressures. Blood pressure that is too high for the arterial vessels, or less commonly, blood pressure that is too low, create malfunctions within the entire cardiovascular network.
There is often more than one discrete cause of hypertension in any person. Typically, a number of circumstances exist to create the basis for the condition, which can include: genetic structure (there is a significantly greater likelihood of high blood pressure if one or both parents of a person had hypertension; lifestyle factors (eating habits, excess weight, level of physical fitness, particularly the level of aerobic fitness, excessive alcohol consumption, and smoking; one or more of these circumstances will increase the risk of the person developing high blood pressure); medications (certain medications that will contribute to high blood pressure include decongestant nasal sprays and various anti-inflammatory medicines); kidney and various hormonal (endocrine system) disorders.
Hypertension presents difficulties in its detection because it provides few outward physical symptoms. Instead, high blood pressure is the connection to a series of potential fatal events, including stroke, heart attack, heart arrhythmia (irregular heart beat), and kidney failure. The only determinative investigation for the existence of hypertension is the blood pressure test. Using a device attached to the person's arm, at heart level, the pressure generated by the cardiovascular system is measured using two indicators. As the heart beats, the power of blood being
Blood pressure is a variable within all persons; factors such as recent physical exercise, the consumption of a stimulant such as caffeine, emotional state, and medication may all significantly influence the outcome of a blood pressure test. For this reason, blood pressures are often measured a number of times before any definitive conclusion will be reached regarding the likely existence of hypertension. A reading of 120/80 (the figures are as calculated from the blood pressure test equipment scale, measured in mm of mercury, or mmHg) is accepted as a healthy blood pressure standard. When the systolic reading exceeds 140, or when the diastolic measure is greater than 90, or when both indicators are above these limits, the probability of the presence of hypertension is very high.
While hypertension may be difficult to lower significantly, it can be managed effectively through a number of means. Physical fitness and accompanying weight management, with their resulting improved cardiovascular health, are essential components to any treatment of hypertension. Increased weight places stress on the heart and cardiovascular system; the foods typically consumed by adults who are overweight are those high in fat, a substance that tends to lead to the creation of plaque, an artery-clogging substance. When arteries are clogged in this way, the passage through which blood passes becomes smaller, resulting in a correspondingly greater volume of blood being directed against a smaller vessel, increasing pressure on the artery. Physical activity tends to stimulate the production compounds known as high density lipoproteins (HDLs), which have a plaque-resistant effect within the arteries.
Prescription diuretics are sometimes administered to stimulate urine production, with a corresponding reduction in fluid and blood volumes, which tends to ease pressure within the arteries. Other medications, including angiotesin and | <urn:uuid:2afd969c-3194-4792-923f-3041ef4b7263> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.faqs.org/sports-science/Ha-Ja/Hypertension.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00134-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.937027 | 818 | 3.71875 | 4 |
1. The dedication begins with a letter written by which author?
2. To whom was the letter addressed?
3. The letter asked a question about what famous character?
4. Which topic does Shaw claim to have failed when writing a play?
5. Which composer inspired Shaw?
6. Shaw does not believe one of the following is a great writer:
7. Which writer does Shaw refer to as being "a force?"
8. Shaw says that women no longer ask for:
9. Who is uniquely absent from the complicated actions of ordinary men and women?
10. Most writers portray men as:
This section contains 2,455 words
(approx. 9 pages at 300 words per page) | <urn:uuid:8dfa1fad-0c10-439b-bbe7-9cb99a359cb4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/mansuperman/shortanswer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970135 | 150 | 3.09375 | 3 |
IPCC: Plan Now for Climate Disasters
Plan now for climate-related disasters: U.N. report
Reuters, March 28, 2012
(Reuters) - A future on Earth of more extreme weather and rising seas will require better planning for natural disasters to save lives and limit deepening economic losses, the United Nations said on Wednesday in a major report on the effects of climate change.
The U.N. climate panel said all nations will be vulnerable to the expected increase in heat waves, more intense rains and floods and a probable rise in the intensity of droughts.
Aimed largely at policymakers, the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change makes clear nations need to act now, because increasingly extreme weather is already a trend.
The need for action has become more acute as a growing human population puts more people and more assets in the path of disaster, raising economic risk, the report said. The report's title made the point: "Managing the risks of extreme events and disasters to advance climate change adaptation."
Asia was most vulnerable to potential disasters, with East Asia and the Pacific facing the highest adaptation costs.
The 594-page report, with authors from 62 countries, is the world body's most up-to-date assessment of climate change risks. Its general message is that enough is known about these risks for policymakers to start making decisions about how to deal with them.
It follows the release of the report's executive summary in November after an extensive review by scientists and government officials and is based on the work of thousands of scientific studies.
"Few countries appear to have adopted a comprehensive approach - for example, by addressing projected changes in exposure, vulnerability, and extremes," the report said. Building this into national development planning is crucial.
Global reinsurer Munich Re says that since 1980, weather-related disasters worldwide have more than tripled.
Lindene Patton, chief climate product officer for Zurich Financial Services, said the report was particularly useful for insurers who rely on its scientific assessments "to assist our customers to live and work successfully in the natural world."
But the report sidestepped the politically divisive issue of tougher action on curbing greenhouse gas emissions blamed for stoking global warming. U.N. climate talks have become bogged down over who should take most responsibility for action.
Instead, it aimed to push adaptation to a warmer world, offering a range of strategies.
Chris Field, a lead editor of the document, acknowledged this is a change from previous IPCC reports, which largely focused on plans to mitigate climate change by limiting heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions.
In part, Field said in a telephone interview, this is because the world's governments asked the scientists to see what could be done in the next few decades.
"BAKED INTO THE SYSTEM"
"That's a time frame where most of the climate change that will occur is already baked into the system and where even aggressive climate policies in the short term are not going to have their full effects," said Field, director of the Carnegie Institution's department of global ecology.
But the head of the U.N. panel, Rajendra Pachauri, stressed at a briefing that climate-warming emissions must be curbed: "Whatever we do, we have to adapt, of course, but also at a global level, we need to mitigate the emissions of greenhouse gases so that we ensure that these thresholds or tipping points are not exceeded."
The report looks for "low regrets" strategies that not only protect those in the path of natural disasters but also boost sustainable development. These include early warning systems, better drainage, preserving ecosystems such as mangroves, forests and water catchments, plus better building standards and overhauling health systems.
Spreading financial risk of disasters was another tool to limit the already-strained cash reserves of many poorer nations.
Micro-insurance, catastrophe bonds, national and regional risk pools could help to finance rebuilding and recovery. While take-up rates for insurance were increasing in poorer nations, the rate was still low compared with wealthier states.
Remittances, officially estimated at $325 billion in 2010, were another crucial form of finance and risk sharing, but more steps are needed to cut transaction costs.
Insurance groups said the report confirmed their experience of rising costs from climate-related disasters.
"U.S. property and casualty insurers, who are on the front line on this issue, saw catastrophe-related losses double in '11, while their net income was cut in half," Cynthia McHale, insurance program director at Ceres, an investor coalition, said in a statement.
Mark Way, head of sustainability Americas at re-insurer Swiss Re, called the report "yet another reminder of the pressing need to tackle climate risk in both the near and long term."
Nations need to do a better job in assessing people and places vulnerable to climate disasters, such as mega cities expanding further into flood plains or along low-lying coasts. Key was treating the causes, not the symptoms of vulnerability.
Risks also vary widely, from the threat of more droughts and wildfires in Australia and melting permafrost damaging buildings and roads in the Arctic to heat waves in southern Europe.
The report also said some populations are already living on the edge, given the projected increases in the magnitude or frequency of some extreme events in many regions.
"Small increases in climate extremes above thresholds or regional infrastructure ‘tipping points' have the potential to result in large increases in damages to all forms of existing infrastructure nationally and to increase disaster risks," it said.
Most deaths from natural disasters - 95 percent between 1970 and 2008 - still occur in developing countries, the report found.
It said current spending on adaptation projects in developing countries is about $1 billion per year, a fraction of the estimated range of $70 billion to $165 billion per year on technologies to curb greenhouse gas pollution.
Yet losses from disasters were substantially higher for developing nations, with middle-income countries suffering losses of 1 percent of GDP between 2001 and 2006, compared with 0.1 percent for high-income countries.
The report's release dovetailed with an unprecedented March heat wave in the continental United States and a London conference where scientists warned the world was nearing tipping points that would make the planet irreversibly hotter. | <urn:uuid:eaa718f0-55a5-407e-998d-08626fc487ea> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?ID=8226&Method=Full | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00004-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958555 | 1,292 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Krishnamurti, Jiddu (jĭdˈō krĭshˌnəmŏrˈtē) [key], 1895–1986, Indian religious figure whose message centered on the need for maximum self-awareness. In 1909, Annie Besant met him and proclaimed him an incarnation of Maitreya, the messianic Buddha. Krishnamurti repudiated these claims in 1929, following a two-year tour of England and America with Annie Besant, and dissolved the World Order of the Star, a religious organization he had founded in 1911. He retained some connection with the theosophical movement, however, and continued an active career of lecturing and writing. He finally settled in Ojai, Calif., where from 1969 he headed the Krishnamurti Foundation. His writings include Commentaries on Living (1956–60), Freedom from the Known (1969), The First and Last Freedom (1975), Life in Freedom (1986), and Think on These Things (1989).
See biographies by P. Jayakar (1986) and M. Lutyens (1991).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:b421b0aa-cbbb-4fa6-97a0-35ced847cfc7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/society/krishnamurti-jiddu.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00173-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912386 | 257 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Alternate names: Koźmin [Pol], Koschmin [Ger]. 51°49' N, 17°27' E, 46 miles SSE of Poznań (Posen), 8 miles N of Krotoszyn (Krotoschin). Jewish population: 588 (in 1871), 135 (in 1932). Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), IV, pp. 569-570: "Koźmin" #1. Gmina Koźmin Wielkopolski is an urban-rural administrative district in Krotoszyn County, Greater Poland Voivodeship in west-central Poland with its seat in the town of Koźmin Wielkopolski. 2006 total population was 13,820 (town of Koźmin Wielkopolski population was 6,707). Gmina Koźmin Wielkopolski contains the villages and settlements of Biały Dwór, Borzęcice, Borzęciczki, Cegielnia, Czarny Sad, Dębiogóra, Dębówiec, Dymacz, Gałązki, Góreczki, Gościejew, Józefów, Kaniew, Klatka, Lipowiec, Mogiłka, Mokronos, Mycielin, Nowa Obra, Orla, Orlinka, Paniwola, Pogorzałki Małe, Pogorzałki Wielkie, Psie Pole, Sapieżyn, Serafinów, Skałów, Staniew, Stara Obra, Suśnia, Szymanów, Tatary, Walerianów, Wałków, Wrotków and Wyrębin. Jews first appear in Koźmiń documents regarding the Jew Daniel from Poznan, a witness for the sale of land by Bartosz Sokołowa Mościcowi Przepełkowi to Stęszew in 1419. Another transaction in 1469 , the Poznan Jew, Jonah Jukubowi, whose family left Koźmin. In the 17th century, Jews were 6.5% of the population. In the 18th century, Prussian Jews were less than 20% of the population; 68 Jewish families lived at the present Szkolnej and Przyjemskich streets. The largest Jewish population was 722 persons about 1850, who moved to urban areas after 1838. In the first election, Jew Moses Czapski was elected to the town council. [May 2009]
OLD CEMETERY: The first Jewish cemetery was established at the end of the 18th century near the newly built wooden synagogue. Due to the large population increase as well as epidemiological risk, in the 1772 - 1791 the municipality owner Kazimierz Nestor Sapieha created a Jewish new cemetery near Orla village in the forest called "Koszewiec". The final decision to liquid the old cemetery was in 1872 in conjunction with the construction of a new stone synagogue. After exhumation, the remains were buried in mass grave in the new Jewish cemetery.
NEW CEMETERY: The new Jewish cemetery is one of the largest and best-preserved cemeteries in the Jewish Wielkopolski with about 250 matzevot dating from the beginning of the 19th centuryin very good condition with the oldest from 1806. The last and only post-WWII gravestone is that of Nathan Mośkiewicz, one of two Jewish survivors, dated 1969. The fairly regular rectangle site measures about 80x70 m with common matzevot arranged in dense rows. Only in the NW part that contains the graves of children are gravestones set loosely, but in a regular order. Increased density and subsequent tight arrangement happened in the 20th century due probably to the lack of space and in accordance with Jewish tradition that the grave is inviolable and could not be used as the resting place of multiple people. In the next phase, gravestones differ in form and material, carved tombstones similar rectangles, modest and cost-effective with large fields for Hebrew inscription surrounded by a flat, linear ornamentation. Sometimes the only decoration is the crown in a semicircular helix, bows, or triangular form resembling the shape of stylized horns with various ornamentations from simple stripes to rosettes or characteristic Jewish sepulchral art. The most common is broken flowers or trees or broken candles, Levite or Cohan blessing and Torah rolls (for particularly devout persons). With time, inscriptions changed. Gradually, the Latin alphabet joined Hebrew in the 19th century. Very often in German provided information like the name of the deceased and date of birth and death. Sometimes they are accompanied by wishes for eternal rest. Gradually, these inscriptions became rich. more accurate descriptions of a person (Unser Vater, Mutter, etc.). The volume of the inscription in Hebrew alphabet diminished compared to German, some only in German. One tombstone was inscribed in English, that of Nathan Mośkiewicza, the last Jew in Koźmiń. Besides the very popular sandstone matzevot are examples of white marble in the form of oval boxes for inscriptions. In some matzevot empty oval recess without inscription. Black granite was used in a stylized, flat rectangular gravestone or obelisks either with a total lack of ornamentation and simple inscription, modest and very strict with inscriptions in German in the upper part of the tomb with the Hebrew alphabet on the pedestal. Another group of black granite matzevot decorated with linear and convex ornamental inscription and ornamental initials had minimal Hebrew in trace elements like single words or phrases with a total domination of the German language. Among the simple are also exceptions koźmińskim with interesting and unique forms. One is in the shape of a stylized matzevot portico with two simple columns made of black granite based on the tip portion, a semi-circle tympanum. The crown and lug was used in sandstone filled with a blank rectangular box. Gravestones clearly reference the classicist fashion in Christian cemeteries as do tombstone in the form of fractures in the column. The third example is a pair of matzevot worth noting, horizontal form. This stylized sarcophagus is closed on one end, broad and flat with German inscriptions. Existing buildings that previouslyo performed functions associated with burial rites are currently private residential buildings. The Jewish cemetery in Koźmin owes its present excellent state of preservation to Jerzy Fornalikowi, teacher at the Special Szkolno Center - Education in Borzęciczkach, leader of "Antyschematy" in which students organize and volunteer at Jewish cemeteries. The cemetery is located at ul. Wierzbowej. Leaving the city in the direction of Jarocin, turn right into ul. Floriańską. After a few dozen meters, turn left into ul. Wierzbowe and go to the very end - to the parking lot. photos. Map [May 2009]
US Commission No. POCE000467
Located in Kaliskie at 51°49' 17°27', 82 km SE of Poznan. Present town population is 6859 with no Jews.
Michal Witwicki, Dembowskiego 12/53, 02-784 Warsawa, Tel. 6418345. completed this survey. Eleonora Bergman and Michat Witwicki visited site on 10/17/1991. Kazimiera Szaramowicz was interviewed on 10/17/1991.
|Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 18:19| | <urn:uuid:5167a3ca-3393-456a-9857-d856cf517bdc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/poland/kozmin/print.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00168-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908402 | 1,706 | 2.578125 | 3 |
HOUSTON, TX (June 3, 2005) - The dire conditions of the World War II concentration camps would not evoke images of laughter and children playing in most minds, but a new exhibit at Holocaust Museum Houston serves to document the enduring spirit of youngsters who found a way to entertain themselves and strive toward happiness despite the hardships of their conditions.
A 1943 handcrafted children's game inspired by the popular Monopoly (TM) board game will go on display at the Museum on June 15, 2005 along with other artifacts from the Theresienstadt camp (Terezin) in Czechoslovakia, where Adolf Hitler sent many artists and other creative people deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime.
The free exhibit will be the first time the game piece has been displayed outside Israel.
The exhibition is being staged in conjunction with the Houston Grand Opera's production of Brundibár, a children's opera that was first performed in 1943 by children of the same camp. The 35-minute opera was written by Hans Krása, who himself was a prisoner in the camp. It was performed there more than 50 times before Krása was moved to Auschwitz, where he was killed in 1944. Brundibár became a symbol of hope to the Theresienstadt inmates because of its message of friendship and good triumphing over evil in the story of two children who encounter a bully while trying to buy milk for their sick mother.
The opera will be performed Saturday, June 18 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 19 at 2 p.m. at the Heinen Theater on the Houston Community College Campus at 3517 Austin. The 20-member cast is comprised of young singers entering grades 6-12 in fall 2005 and who are participating in the opera's summer camp program.
The children's game was handcrafted in 1943 by artist Oswald Poeck, who worked in the ghetto of the camp and wanted the children there to have some sense of normalcy.
He designed the game from his memory of the Monopoly board game, naming landmarks on the board after landmarks in the camp. After buying a property, an "investor" could increase the value of a building by buying a "kumbal" instead of houses and hotels. A "kumbal" was a covered attic made available to some prisoners in the camps and often served as a secret meeting place for lovers.
The ghetto currency, known as "kronen," was used as money in the game since it was otherwise worthless. The center of the board is a blueprint of the ghetto area, showing rows of barracks where 50,000 Jews were squeezed into living quarters meant to hold only 7,000 people.
Poeck himself was sent from Theresienstadt to Birkenau on Sept. 29, 1944 and was immediately killed in the Nazi gas chambers, but his game was handed down from one prisoner to another as children died or were taken to other camps. It eventually passed down to Micha and Dan Glass, who took it with them when they left the camp in 1945.
Micha arrived at the ghetto with his mother Frantiska and younger brother Dan in the spring of 1942 after their father was killed while fighting with the Czech underground.
"Our friends were constantly changing," Micha once said. "Only after the war did I fully understand why there were always old friends leaving and new ones coming."
The brothers moved to Israel with their mother in 1949 and are now successful businessmen, with Micha living in Jerusalem and Dan in Givatayim.
The game board is on special loan to Holocaust Museum Houston from Beit Terezin, which is located in Israel and incorporates a museum, archives and an educational center in memory of the martyrs of Theresienstadt.
The piece will remain on display in Houston through Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005 along with other artifacts from the camp such as poems written by children there, samples of ghetto currency and worker identification cards for Houstonians who once were held at the camp.
Brundibár is supported by a gift from the Stanford and Joan Alexander Foundation.
For information on the performances and tickets to Brundibár, contact Tanieka Blackmon at 713-546-0230, or e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.org.
Holocaust Museum Houston promotes awareness and educates the public of the dangers of prejudice, hatred and violence against the backdrop of the Holocaust by fostering remembrance, understanding and education. Holocaust Museum Houston is free and open to the public and is located in Houston's Museum District at 5401 Caroline St., Houston, TX 77004.
For more information about Holocaust Museum Houston, call 713-942-8000 or visit www.hmh.org.
Monopoly (TM) is a registered trademark of Hasbro. | <urn:uuid:23134aa6-297f-44b1-ad3d-007024e7bc0a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://hmh.org/ViewPressRelease.aspx?ID=141 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00063-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977795 | 992 | 2.9375 | 3 |
State: North Carolina
Age at Convention: 38
Date of Birth: March 26, 1749
Date of Death: March 21, 1800
Occupation: Politician, Public Security Interests, Planter, Merchant, Real Estate and Land Speculation, Educator
Prior Political Experience: Lower House of North Carolina 1783-1784, Speaker of Lower House 1784, Upper House of North Carolina 1782, 1788-1790, Confederation Congress 1782-1783, 1786-1788
Committee Assignments: None
Convention Contributions: Arrived June 20, and except for taking his seat in the Confederation Congress from July 5-August 7, was present through the signing of the Constitution. William Pierce stated that "Mr. Blount is a character strongly marked for integrity and honor. He is plain, honest, and sincere."
New Government Participation: Attended the ratification convention of North Carolina, and supported the ratification of the Constitution. President Washington appointed him the governor of the Territory South of the River Ohio (1790-1796). He presided over the Constitutional Convention of the State of Tennessee, and was elected as one of its first U.S. Senators (1796 - 1797).
Biography from the National Archives: William Blount was the great-grandson of Thomas Blount, who came from England to Virginia soon after 1660 and settled on a North Carolina plantation. William, the eldest in a large family, was born in 1749 while his mother was visiting his grandfather's Rosefield estate, on the site of present Windsor near Pamlico Sound. The youth apparently received a good education.
Shortly after the War for Independence began, in 1776, Blount enlisted as a paymaster in the North Carolina forces. Two years later, he wed Mary Grainier (Granger); of their six children who reached adulthood, one son also became prominent in Tennessee politics.
Blount spent most of the remainder of his life in public office. He sat in the lower house of the North Carolina legislature (1780-84), including service as speaker, as well as in the upper (1788-90). In addition, he took part in national politics, serving in the Continental Congress in 1782-83 and 1786-87.
Appointed as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention at the age of 38, Blount was absent for more than a month because he chose to attend the Continental Congress on behalf of his state. He said almost nothing in the debates and signed the Constitution reluctantlyonly, he said, to make it "the unanimous act of the States in Convention." Nonetheless, he favored his state's ratification of the completed document.
Blount hoped to be elected to the first U.S. Senate. When he failed to achieve that end, in 1790 he pushed westward beyond the Appalachians, where he held speculative land interests and had represented North Carolina in dealings with the Indians. He settled in what became Tennessee, to which he devoted the rest of his life. He resided first at Rocky Mount, a cabin near present Johnson City and in 1792 built a mansion in Knoxville.
Two years earlier, Washington had appointed Blount as Governor for the Territory South of the River Ohio (which included Tennessee) and also as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southern Department, in which positions he increased his popularity with the frontiersmen. In 1796 he presided over the constitutional convention that transformed part of the territory into the State of Tennessee. He was elected as one of its first U.S. senators (1796-97).
During this period, Blount's affairs took a sharp turn for the worse. In 1797 his speculations in western lands led him into serious financial difficulties. That same year, he also apparently concocted a plan involving use of Indians, frontiersmen, and British naval forces to conquer for Britain the Spanish provinces of Florida and Louisiana. A letter he wrote alluding to the plan fell into the hands of President Adams, who turned it over to the Senate on July 3, 1797. Five days later, that body voted 25 to 1 to expel Blount. The House impeached him, but the Senate dropped the charges in 1799 on the grounds that no further action could be taken beyond his dismissal.
The episode did not hamper Blount's career in Tennessee. In 1798 he was elected to the senate and rose to the speakership. He died 2 years later at Knoxville in his early fifties. He is buried there in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church. | <urn:uuid:b9853118-b550-4e5b-a36d-30dd487ad1e0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://teachingamericanhistory.org/static/convention/delegates/blount.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00038-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979124 | 937 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Colic is one of those emergency crises that horse owners seek to avoid. Based on information from the National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) survey, for every 100 horses, there will be 4.2 colic events every year. 1.2 percent of these events will be surgical, and 11 percent will be fatal. The objective of a conscientious horse owner is to find ways to prevent colic so your horse doesn’t become one of these statistics, while also understanding how to appropriately manage colic if it does occur.
Colic & Vital Signs
A colicky horse might appear depressed or “zoned-out,” or he may display anxious behavior like pawing, looking at his sides, lying down, getting up, rolling, and a general state of distress. A thorough veterinary examination helps determine the cause of these behaviors, and also rules out other medical conditions like tying-up, laminitis, pneumonia or foaling difficulties. When you call your veterinarian to attend your horse, it is greatly helpful to have information about your sick horse’s vital signs so a determination can be made about the seriousness of the horse’s condition, and how quickly the horse needs medical attention.
Learn how to take your horse’s vital signs -- heart rate, temperature, capillary refill time, and whether or not there are audible gut sounds. Normal heart rate is about 32 to 40 beats per minute (bpm). A heart rate over 64 bpm signifies pain and possibly a more serious problem. A stethoscope is the easiest means of obtaining a horse’s heart rate, but if you don’t have one, you can take a pulse from the big vessels behind the fetlock or along the jaw. The digital pulses on a limb are often difficult to feel on a healthy horse that isn’t experiencing any problems, so practice in advance.
Normal rectal temperature in an adult horse is 97 to 101 degrees Fahrenheit, while a foal may normally run up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit. A horse may feel sick, depressed and off his feed for many reasons, including a fever, but a fever may also be a sign of some serious intestinal problem related to colic, like a necrotic, leaking or ruptured bowel.
The gums should be healthy and pink and should return to that color within two seconds of pressing with your finger on the gum line above the teeth and then releasing. This is referred to as capillary refill time. A longer time to return color to the gums indicates that the circulatory system is in distress. Gums that are pale with a purple flush around the edges of the teeth, called injection or margination, denotes endotoxin in the circulation as a result of bacterial overgrowth from gut stagnation.
What and What Not to Do
Historically, horse owners have walked a colicky horse while awaiting arrival of the vet. This as an overrated and old myth; a horse should be kept walking only if he persists in trying to roll or thrash and is a danger to himself or humans. If the horse will lie quietly, you can let him be. When you first discover your horse has colic, it is valuable to try trotting him vigorously on the longe line for about 15 minutes to see if that will ease pain from a gas or spasmodic colic. A trailer ride also jiggles the bowel to achieve similar relief for a simple colic. Under no circumstances should non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), like phenylbutazone or BanamineR, be given without first discussing your case with your veterinarian. These drugs are capable of masking the pain of a surgical condition and thereby may delay appropriate treatment. In addition, a horse with intestinal stasis and poor motility may not absorb oral medications sufficiently to provide a therapeutic advantage when intravenous administration would work better.
Once your vet arrives, your horse will be evaluated with a thorough physical exam. Additionally, your vet may conduct a rectal examination to determine if there is an impaction or a displaced bowel. A nasogastric tube passed into the nostril, down the esophagus and into the stomach is helpful to check for reflux and to administer fluids, electrolytes, and laxatives when indicated. Depending on the horse’s condition, it might be appropriate for your horse to receive pain-relieving drugs and intravenous fluids to improve his comfort and to improve gut motility. The administration of ample IV fluids is highly effective in increasing fluid volume in the bowel; over-hydration of the intestinal tract and its circulation improves blood flow and motility that might relieve an impaction or return a mild displacement to normal.
In the event that a horse does not respond well to medical therapy in a reasonable time, the horse should be shipped to a referral hospital for further diagnostic workup and possible surgery. Abdominal ultrasound, abdominal fluid analysis, and blood analysis are helpful to perform on site at a referral hospital to gain as much information as possible about your horse’s condition. In addition, precautionary steps will be taken to protect against laminitis, which is a possible side effect of severe colic due to circulatory disturbances created by the release of endotoxins associated with gut stagnation.
Preventive Steps: Updates
There are steps a horse owner can take to minimize the risk of colic. Some of these strategies counter what has previously been believed as the “way” of administering horse care. Research and science have proven that what has been done in decades past is counterproductive to the best management practices for equine intestinal health.
Many practical measures rely on altering feeding practices, as for example, limiting the amount of grain fed – too much grain is known to disturb intestinal health. A pound or two a day is not necessarily problematic provided a horse also has access to 15 to 20 pounds of hay per day (for the average 1000 lb. horse), but in general, grain or concentrates should not be the first choice in nutritional options. Optimal digestion occurs in the large intestine, but grain is processed mostly in the small intestine yet is incompletely digested there. This results in passage of a lot of starch into the large intestine where it is not digested effectively. Subsequently, the large intestinal pH is altered to a more acid environment, which then causes the die-off of resident bacterial flora that are essential for efficient processing of fiber. Other bacteria also die in the altered environment, with the potential to release endotoxin into the circulation.
Grain also amplifies acid production in the stomach. Gastric ulcers are known to be more prevalent in grain-fed horses, especially when fasted for long periods between feedings. A horse with ulcers might suffer intermittent bouts of colic, be reluctant to work or is lack-luster in performance, and often has a poor appetite in spite of weight loss. Ulcers occur in as many as 93 percent of high-stressed horses (racehorses, high-level show horses) and 60 percent in the average riding horse or less intense show horse. Risk factors for ulcers include stress of any kind, such as transport, illness or injury, dehydration, confinement or social competition in a herd. NSAIDs (phenylbutazone or BanamineR) are notorious in their propensity to induce gastric ulcers. Not all risk factors can be controlled, but offering free-choice hay and substituting other feeds, like soaked beet pulp or high-fat rice bran or vegetable oil, for grains helps to reduce the risk of developing gastric ulcers. Gastric ulcers are confirmed and visualized with a gastroscope, which is a three meter long, fiberoptic tube with an attached camera that allows a view of the inside of the stomach. A horse must first be fasted for about 12 hours prior to passing the tube and scooping his stomach. Anti-ulcer medications are currently available as a safe means of treating a horse with gastric ulcers.
Feeding practices influence digestive efficiency in other ways: Grain ingestion reduces the fluid content of the bowel by 15 percent, and to compound the problem, in an effort for a horse owner to control a horse’s daily caloric intake, a grain-fed horse is typically offered less hay. Yet, fiber is an essential component of intestinal health, and it also serves as a fluid reservoir in the bowel. The common practices of keeping horses in stalls for a large portion of the day and feeding them large meals only twice a day wreak havoc with their digestive health. Stall confinement increases the risk of colic by at least 50 percent. Intestinal motility is reduced by confinement and by fasting between large meals. With reduced intestinal motility comes the risk of impaction colic or gas distention. The best strategy for minimizing colic is to offer free-choice grass hay so a horse can “graze” intermittently through the day. Also, limit grain fed, while providing daily turnout and regular exercise.
Other causes of colic include sand ingestion, often related to restricted access to hay. Ample fiber in the diet is instrumental in moving dirt and sand through the digestive tract. If fiber is restricted and/or if a bored horse nibbles at remaining particles of hay on the ground, sand may accumulate in the bowel. The best prevention for sand colic is to feed ample hay, and, when possible, use feeders (like large tractor tires) to confine the hay and keep it from being strewn across the ground. Since many horses persist in throwing hay out of many forms of commercial feeders, sand ingestion cannot be prevented entirely – it is recommended to feed psyllium for a week each month to help move through any sand that has collected.
Obesity and parasites also are risk factors for colic, but a conscientious owner can prevent and manage these concerns. Your horse should be fed by weight, not volume since the density of hay varies from bale to bale. Pasture your horses on non-irrigated, dryland pasture when possible. If your only pasture option is a rich, irrigated field, then many problems, including obesity, can be avoided by fitting your horse with a grazing muzzle or by limiting turnout time. This prevents intake of highly fermentable, rich grass that can contribute to gas or spasmodic colic episodes.
Tapeworms have been identified to cause as many as 22 percent of spasmodic colic cases. Parasite control is managed with regular deworming schedules of the appropriate anthelmintics. It also is important to clean up manure at least twice a week to limit the development of other infective parasite larvae in areas where the horse might eat. It also helps to rotate your pastures to prevent overgrazing and to facilitate ultraviolet kill of remaining infective larvae.
The ideal management that prevents colic includes the following recommendations:
- Feed at least 60 percent of the daily ration as forage (hay or pasture)
- When possible, pasture in non-irrigated fields and/or use a grazing muzzle to control weight and intake of rich forage
- Limit grain to as little as possible – none is preferable
- Substitute high-fat feeds and high-fiber feed for grain supplements when more calories are needed
- Provide feeding systems that limit the intake of sand and dirt
- Provide plenty of turnout and exercise each day
- Provide clean, ice-free drinking water
- Implement regular and frequent deworming programs for the herd
- Implement a herd health program of preventive care
- Minimize stress (transport, herd dynamics, housing, illness, injury) as much as possible
Not every one of these suggestions is feasible for every horse owner, but many practical steps can be taken to improve digestive health. Even the smallest details can make a large difference. In the overall picture, a healthy horse is a happy horse and able to perform to his best ability.
For more in-depth information, please refer to Dr. Loving’s book, All Horse Systems Go:The Horse Owner’s Full-Color Veterinary Care and Conditioning Resource for Modern Performance, Sport and Pleasure Horses.
Article reprinted with permission of the American Association of Equine Practitioners | <urn:uuid:b216addb-bc3e-4c72-9b27-ccb714b9327b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.horsetackreview.com/article-display/2123.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00093-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942064 | 2,525 | 2.875 | 3 |
they must exist since 1920, James Chadwick finally found
evidence of the neutron in 1932. His discovery won him
the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics, and helped the world
utilise nuclear energy.
this section to find out about Chadwick's successful
experiment. Click 'Next Page' to continue, or jump directly
to a page using the index on the left. | <urn:uuid:6c7df778-5bfc-4d2c-95fa-fa732c9a3f86> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www-outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/camphy/neutron/neutron_index.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00097-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.84687 | 78 | 3.203125 | 3 |
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Axes goes back into prehistory almost as far as the hammer. The axe, too, started out as a stone, but some clever Stone-Ager then lashed a handle to it. Next a slot was made in the handle and the head of the tool slid through it. Probably the next advance was a copper head.
This evolution didn’t occur overnight, of course, but over the millennia a recognizably modern tool evolved, thanks in large part to tinsmiths of the Bronze Age. They were the ones who figured out that putting a hole in the metal head of the tool, rather than sliding a solid head through an orifice sliced into the wood or bone handle, would substantially increase the tool’s usefulness and durability.
An axe in the workshop, you ask? Maybe not in the workshop, actually, but the axe and its sister tools, the hatchet and the splitting maul, may have more than a few uses in preparing stock for use on the shop floor, or even keeping the place warm.
There are many kinds of axes, old-fashioned and new-fangled. The broad axe has Old World origins. Sometimes called a hewing axe, the sideways mounting of the head suits the squaring required in trimming a tree trunk into a beam.
The felling axe is, however, the most generally useful (and, very likely, the tool you picture in your mind when the word axe is uttered). It’s regarded as an American innovation (the early settlers had a great many trees to chop down, a lot of which they turned into the wooden houses that dominate our landscape). The tool has a wedge-shaped head that aligns with its long handle, which may have a slight, graceful curve at the base. The heads on American axes tend to be thicker than European variations, but in America alone there have been many regional adaptations.
The axe’s cutting edge is beveled and rounded. The blade thickens in a wedge shape: The edge cuts into the wood being struck, but the thickening of the head behind splits the cut open.
These days all of these tools are sold not only with the traditional hickory handles, but with fiberglass shafts. Heads vary in weight, typically from three to six pounds. The length of the handle varies with respect to the weight of the head, with the lightest axes having handles roughly two feet long and the heaviest heads three-footers.
Hatchets. Much as I admire the axe—its combination of grace and power has an atavistic appeal—the hatchet is probably more useful in the average workshop. It’s a splitting and shaping tool, one proportionately smaller than the axe. The head is usually between one and two pounds, the handle fourteen to sixteen inches long. The head is steel, the handle hickory or ash.
A useful variation on the hunter’s hatchet is the so-called half-hatchet, a tool with a hammer face on one end of the head and an axe head on the other. Unlike the traditional hatchet, its blade is not rounded but straight, which makes it handy for getting into corners for certain kinds of architectural work like trimming shingles and lath, as well as for splitting lumber for wedges and some rough shaping.
Mauls. Got a woodstove? A maul will make keeping it full of cordwood a breeze. It’s safer and more efficient than an axe, with a dull blade (that’s right) because the weight does the work, with the broad wedge shape doing most of the actual splitting of the wood. | <urn:uuid:925a358a-1657-40b0-ac23-b92227600237> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bobvila.com/articles/2104-axes-and-hatchets/?bv=ymal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00073-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952084 | 800 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Tick-borne ailments down in 2012, Health Department says
The Minnesota Department of Health announced Monday that cases of tick-borne diseases decreased substantially in 2012, but the risk for illness still remains high this summer.
According to the Department of Health, an unusually warm, dry spring and summer may have contributed to the drop in cases of tick-borne diseases in 2012 in Minnesota. In 2012, there were 911 confirmed cases of Lyme disease, down from 1,201 in 2011 and the lowest number of confirmed cases since 2003. There were 503 cases of human anaplasmosis, down from 782 in 2011, and 40 cases of babesiosis, down from 72 in 2011.
State health officials said the highest risk period for tick-borne diseases will be the next few weeks, and that they are expecting the risk will be high again this year. | <urn:uuid:c78228e8-5523-4690-ae37-705542cb27ba> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/content/tick-borne-ailments-down-2012-health-department-says | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965087 | 173 | 2.78125 | 3 |
In his 1892 book, Specimen Days and Collect, Walt Whitman famously questioned the efficacy of writing a comprehensive account of the Civil War. “Future years,” the poet mused, “will never know the seething hell and the black infernal background of countless minor scenes and interiors….The real war will never get in the books.” To Whitman, who tended to wounded soldiers in Washington-area hospitals, the conflict was at once too epic, too personal—and too horrific—to ever find suitable expression in prose. The best an author could hope to do, Whitman concluded, was offer “a few stray glimpses.”
The country’s bloodiest war has been captured in novels, memoirs, and battle narratives. Here are 10 classics
Yet since Whitman penned those words, the Civil War has become one of the most documented events in American history. Writers working in every genre imaginable (see Seth Grahame-Smith’s Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, in which the Rebels are bloodsuckers) have pored over the conflict for strategy, inspiration, romance, tragedy, or just one hell of a good story.
We surveyed historians and aficionados to identify the foremost Civil War classics. Although the following list is far from definitive—the Great Civil War Read turns out to be as elusive as the Great American Novel—these “stray glimpses,” taken together, provide a striking portrait of a war that continues to court writers.
Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant
By Ulysses S. Grant
When Grant set about writing his account of Union victory, he was in many ways a defeated man. Weakened by cancer and on the brink of financial ruin, he dug into the one reserve that time hadn’t ravaged, his own story, and emerged with a doozy that set the record straight and replenished his family’s fortunes. Grant’s chronicle, completed just before his death in 1885, often bristles with suspense and is leavened by dashes of gallows humor. “Ifs defeated the Confederates at Shiloh,” he writes. “There is little doubt that we would have been disgracefully beaten if all the shells and bullets fired by us had passed harmlessly over the enemy and if all of theirs had taken effect.”
The Civil War: A Narrative
By Shelby Foote
As exhaustive a rendering of the military history of the Civil War as any ever attempted, Foote’s 2,968-page, 1.2-million-word account (published as three books, in 1958, 1963, and 1978) is also the most absorbing. Casting his hawk’s eye on major battles, minor skirmishes, and nearly every musket firing besides, Foote acts as an evenhanded, omnipresent narrator whose voice, warm and fanciful, is that of a Southern raconteur equally versed in Faulkner, Tacitus, and the King James Bible.
Nowhere are his powers more on display than in his evocation of Confederate lieutenant general Nathan Bedford Forrest’s lone-wolf assault at Fallen Timbers in Tennessee. “As he came out of the mass of dark blue uniforms and furious white faces, clearing a path with his saber,” Foote writes, “he reached down and grabbed one of the soldiers by the collar, swung him onto the crupper of the horse, and galloped back to safety, using the Federal as a shield against the bullets fired after him.”
Battle Cry of Freedom
By James McPherson
It is fitting that McPherson’s one-volume 1988 treatment takes its title from a song, since it harmonizes narrative with analysis and polemic. Whereas Shelby Foote is content to let battles speak for themselves, McPherson’s purview is wider, panning the social, economic, and political landscape on both sides of Fort Sumter.
This exercise in contextualization, a truly virtuoso performance, leads to fascinating insights (the role of measles and mumps in early Confederate defeats in the Eastern theater) and provocative verdicts (that Union victory was far from a shoo-in), all of which lend credence to McPherson’s central theme. The Civil War, he suggests, was a landmark fray in the nation’s ingrained struggle for freedom—or, more specifically, its struggle to hammer out what “freedom” actually entails.
The Red Badge of Courage
By Stephen Crane
A generation removed from Antietam, Crane, a journalist, had never seen war, let alone fought in one, yet he had interviewed enough Civil War veterans to know that much of the fiction inspired by it, awash in heroes and tales of undaunted valor, owed more to Greek myth than human experience.
In 1895, with Red Badge of Courage, Crane introduced a new breed of Civil War protagonist in Henry Fleming, a young Union private whose capacity for cowardice, doubt, fear, and self-preservation is bested only by his bondage to circumstance. Crane penned the novella in 10 frantic nights when he was 21 years old, but the prose, which Ernest Hemingway cited as an inspiration, feels neither slapdash nor naive.
Limning the interior life of Fleming, from his battlefield desertion to his flag-bearing redemption at a Confederate rout that strongly resembles Chancellorsville, Crane testifies to that most basic of truths about war: that it is fought by men in the throes of torment.
R. E. Lee
By Douglas Southall Freeman
Hero worship? Maybe. But after reading Freeman’s 1934 four-volume portrait of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, you will be hard-pressed not to bow your knee, or at least tip your cap. Freeman’s Lee is a tactical wizard, an equable commander, a gentleman who makes time for prayer and letter writing, and, despite numerous setbacks, a paragon of resilience.
But his most abundant trait, the one that inspires fidelity among his ranks but arguably costs him the war, is confidence. One soldier, speaking in the summer of 1862, remarked of Lee, “He will take more desperate chances, and take them quicker than any other general in this country, North or South.”
By Stephen Sears
Few clashes in history—think Waterloo or Thermopylae—are as shrouded in mystique as Gettysburg. Stephen Sears’s rip-roaring 2003 study of those three days in July 1863 shows that, whatever role the Fates may have played, the outcome was, at root, a classic case of careful war planning trouncing recklessness. The book, like the battle, crescendoes with “Pickett’s Charge,” a 50-page chapter that moves at a bullet’s pace. “The thunder and crash of the cannonade died away, and seemingly on cue, as if the god of battles were stage-managing the scene, a light breeze sprang up and gradually carried away the clouds of smoke obscuring the battlefield,” it begins. “It was like a curtain rising, and the sheer magnitude of the sight revealed took breaths away. Involuntarily, all along the Yankee line, came the cry, ‘Here they come!’”
Military Memoirs of a Confederate
By Edward Porter Alexander
Like commentary from a reliable sports analyst who’s a former player, Edward Porter Alexander’s 1907 appraisal of Confederate tactical triumphs and travails is made all the richer by the author’s personal experiences as a Rebel officer. A skilled engineer and artillerist, Alexander served under Generals Beauregard, Johnston, Longstreet, and Lee, coordinating the flow of arms and ammunition in such major battles as Second Manassas and Fredericksburg. True to his instincts, Alexander attests to the principal role that cannons, blazing or idle, uproarious or ordered, played in the fracas.
“But no compromise,” he writes of Confederate missteps at Fort Sumter, “is ever possible after the firing of the first gun. There is in it some quality which stirs the human heart as nothing else can do….For blood is thicker than water, and were it not so, the development of nations would often prove painfully slow.”
A Stillness at Appomattox
By Bruce Catton
Catton’s chilling 1953 account of the final year of the Civil War begins warmly. The Union’s II Army Corps, camped on the banks of the Rapidan River in Virginia, is holding a dance in celebration of George Washington’s birthday. Hauled in from nearby Washington, women in “hoop-skirted party gowns” waltz with Union officers in a pine ballroom. The night’s charm seems to spill over into Major General George Meade’s war room, spawning a starry-eyed plan to pass out pamphlets offering amnesty to turncoats in the Confederate capital. By chapter’s end, the maimed and pilfered body of the young Union colonel in charge of the mission is on display in a Richmond train station. A master at creating suspense through dramatic juxtaposition, Catton bears out the war’s bitter deterioration all the way to Appomattox, where as Grant trots past the ashen, surrendered ranks of Rebels, a band plays “Auld Lang Syne.”
Lincoln, the War President
Edited by Gabor S. Boritt
Books about Abraham Lincoln are a genre all their own. A quick Amazon search turns up some 18,000 with Lincoln’s name in the title. Lincoln the writer, the husband, the enigma, the comeback kid—writers have spilled ink on all of them, yet few have surveyed Lincoln the commander in chief. For the best overview on the topic, the essays in Gabor S. Boritt’s 1992 Lincoln, the War President—including offerings from James McPherson, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., and Carl Degler—are a fine place to start.
In these pages, Lincoln emerges as a reluctant hawk who, once converted to the war cause, becomes an ardent student, a keen national strategist, an iron fist in the way of Bismarck, and a man who wagers the integrity of the executive branch and his own blood, sweat, and repute on ensuring nothing less than the unconditional surrender of the Rebels.
Decision in the West:
The Atlanta Campaign of 1864
By Albert E. Castel
The South aimed to win the Civil War by outlasting the North, by fighting until the other side despaired of fighting. In his 1992 Decision in the West, Albert Castel taps Union major general William Tecumseh Sherman’s slow-burning defeat of the Army of Tennessee at Atlanta in 1864 to unmask that plan’s tragic flaws, chief among them a denial of the Federals’ numerical and materiel advantages which, when harnessed by a shrewd and long-suffering tactician such as Sherman, all but ensured defeat. Castel also faults the Southern public and Jefferson Davis for sacrificing soldiers to salvage turf. “To them, as to him, the Confederacy was its land and its cities, which had to be defended to the utmost,” Castel writes. “When it became manifestly impossible to defend them any longer, the Southern will to go on with the war collapsed.”
Suggestions From MHQ Readers
James Winkler, Evanston, Ill.
• Mr. Lincoln’s Army and Glory Road, by Bruce Catton
• Confederates, by Thomas Keneally
• Lee’s Lieutenants, by Douglas Southall Freeman
• The Ordeal of the Union, by Allan Nevins
• Lincoln at Gettysburg, by Garry Wills
• Lincoln’s Sword, by Douglas L. Wilson
• Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, by Carl Sandburg
What’s your favorite Civil War classic? Send an e-mail to MHQeditor@weiderhistory.com. We’ll post reader recommendations online at MHQmag.com. | <urn:uuid:6b576f60-305e-4565-909d-36427f9548a1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.historynet.com/ten-civil-war-classics.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00054-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946206 | 2,583 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Lessons From Ancient Heat Surge
By WILLIAM K. STEVENS
Published: November 23, 1999
What happens when great amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases are injected into the atmosphere in a relatively short span of earth history, as is happening today as a result of the burning of coal, oil and natural gas?
One way to help answer this urgent climatic question of the day is to examine what has happened in similar situations in the remote past. Now, American and Australian scientists are reporting evidence that the biggest global warming in the last 100 million years may have been touched off by a sudden blowout of greenhouse gases from the ocean floor.
The scientists say that for a relatively brief period around 55 million years ago, after the extinction of the dinosaurs but long before the onset of today's pattern of periodic ice ages, the temperature of the earth's surface in northern latitudes, and of the deep ocean, soared by some 9 to 12 degrees Fahrenheit. This is substantially more than the 5 to 9 degrees the world has warmed since the depths of the last ice age 18,000 to 20,000 years ago.
So great was the effect of the warming, experts say, that it wiped out many species of marine life and created climatic conditions that led to an explosive expansion in the number and variety of mammal species. It was at this time that the primates, from which Homo sapiens eventually evolved, first appeared.
The analogy to today's conditions is far from perfect, and many questions remain to be answered, but those who have investigated the ancient warming spike say it reinforces a belief that has lately been growing among climate scientists: that a gradual warming of the climate can abruptly soar to new heights once a certain threshold is reached. That is what scientists believe happened in the case of the warming 55 million years ago -- and perhaps what could happen again, in certain conditions.
The chief greenhouse gas was and is carbon dioxide, and since the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, its atmospheric concentration has gradually increased by nearly 30 percent. The average global surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree or a little more in the last century. Mainstream scientists believe, based on computerized simulations of the climate's workings, that the temperature will rise by about another 3.5 degrees by the year 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate.
A gradual warming of unknown cause preceded the sharp upward spike in temperature 55 million years ago, said Miriam E. Katz, a paleooceanographer at Rutgers University, who is the leading author of a report on the ancient phenomenon in the current issue of the journal Science. But at some point, the warming crossed a threshold that abruptly kicked the temperature up to a new level, said another author of the Science paper, Dr. Gerald R. Dickens of James Cook University in Australia. He compared it to the stretching of a rubber band: ''You gradually pull at both ends and, at some instant, the rubber band suddenly breaks.''
What caused the climate to snap and send the temperature soaring, according to a hypothesis formulated by Dr. Dickens, was a sudden release of methane locked in the ocean floor, touched off by the previous, more gradual warming. Methane is a greenhouse gas in its own right, and when released from ocean sediments it also combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide that eventually percolates to the atmosphere.
Dr. Dorothy K. Pak of the University of California at Santa Barbara and Dr. Kenneth G. Miller of Rutgers are the other authors of the report in Science, which describes chemical and geological evidence of the ancient rush of greenhouse gases and the way it happened. The evidence was contained in corings and ultrasound readings of sediments on a subsea promontory called the Blake Nose, northeast of Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The researchers believe that the original, gradual warming, beginning about 60 million years ago, caused a change in ocean circulation currents that pushed warm surface waters down into the deep sea. This deep-sea warming converted icelike solid methane locked in crystalline structures in the sea-floor sediments into gaseous form. This gas then blasted upward through the sediment, starting mudslides that freed the methane and allowed it to escape into the water and eventually to the atmosphere. On the way, it reacted with oxygen to produce globe-warming carbon dioxide.
One effect of the warming spike, Ms. Katz says, was to transform the environment of the deep ocean, as evidenced by the extinction of more than half of all species of microscopic bottom-dwelling animals. The warming is also believed to have enabled that era's relatively small array of mammals to spread out into formerly frozen regions to colonize other continents, where they proliferated in many evolutionary directions. Among these were the ancestors of horses, apes and humans.
Dr. Dickens has calculated that the sudden influx of carbon associated with the sharp spike of global warming 55 million years ago amounted to at least a billion billion metric tons. At present rates of carbon-dioxide emission from global sources, about two-thirds of that amount would be added to the atmosphere by 2100. Some scientists say it is possible that before then, some threshold could again be surpassed, resulting in an abrupt but unknown change in climate.
Many questions remain. The cause of the gradual warming that preceded the spike 55 million years ago is unknown. Nor do scientists know the magnitude of the atmospheric concentrations before the gradual warming trend and the spike, frustrating comparisons with today. Moreover, it is not clear how much of the ancient warming resulted from the influx of greenhouse gas and how much from accompanying changes in ocean circulation; Dr. Dickens believes both were involved.
A further complication, says Dr. Dickens, is that the influx of greenhouse gases was spewed initially into the ocean 55 million years ago, but is going directly into the atmosphere today. That difference could affect the rate of the consequent warming, since the ocean's inertia might slow the migration of carbon dioxide into the air, making the ancient warming spike less abrupt than otherwise.
The evidence drawn from ocean sediments in the new study was not fine-grained enough to determine just how sharp the ancient warming was, Dr. Pak said, though it took place within a few thousand years at most. Other large, abrupt climatic changes of the more recent past -- during the transition out of the last ice age, for example -- have taken place within a human lifetime or less and sometimes within a decade, according to recent evidence.
All of these complications muddy the possible comparison between what happened in the transformational climatic event 55 million years ago and what is happening today. Nevertheless, says Dr. Dickens, the ancient transformation provides a new and continuing opportunity to explore the possible effects of growing concentrations of greenhouse gases without resorting to computer-assisted simulations of the climate.
And, he says, it teaches that ''the earth can, for natural reasons, suddenly change dramatically.''
Chart: ''An Ancient Warming Spike A significant atmospheric warming 55 million years ago may have been caused by a blast of greenhouse gas from the ocean floor. Scientists believe it happened this way: 1. Gradual warming caused a change in currents, and warm waters from the surface plunged. 2. Solid methane trapped in sea sediments became gaseous. 3. Methane burst from the sediment, and mudslides allowed it to escape into the water and atmosphere. 4. Methane reacted with oxygen to create carbon dioxide, which trapped heat in the atmosphere. | <urn:uuid:8202c948-7f47-4935-8df0-96f928cd757f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/23/science/lessons-from-ancient-heat-surge.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00051-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949058 | 1,525 | 4 | 4 |
- Embassy of Greece in London
- About Greece
- Greece and the United Kingdom
Bank of Greece: Greece's gold reserves totaled 3.76 million ounces
Greece's gold reserves totaled 3.760 million ounces at the end of 2012, worth 4.74 billion euros, the country's central Bank of Greece (BoG) said on Friday.
In a report to Parliament, communicated through Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras responding to a question by parliament deputies over the country's gold reserves, the central bank said that Greece's natural gold reserves at the end of 2012 amounted to 3.760 million ounces, worth 4.74 billion euros, of which half were under the custody of the Bank of Greece and the remaining under the custody of the Federal Bank of New York, the Bank of England and Switzerland.
The central bank noted that gold reserves which had been transferred for custody to the Bank of England during the Second World War were repatriated gradually in 1946-19. | <urn:uuid:4010575e-3db3-44d7-8550-b0a790b28a46> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mfa.gr/uk/en/the-embassy/news/bank-of-greece-greeces-gold-reserves-totaled-376-million-ounces.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961218 | 200 | 2.734375 | 3 |
relation between ampere, voltage and distortion or linearity
In the original zen artikel Nelson mentioned the relation between amperes and distortion, double amperes means half the distortion. Its like a reverse proportionality. In general, increasing voltage and increasing amperes both can increase linearity.
What is the relation between voltage and distortion?
It would be interesting to make some experiments to find out what differences are between, for example 25 volt 3 amps and 37 volt 2 amps, in relation to a given speaker impedance of 4 or 8 ohms. Im not asking for the watts coming out from the amplifier but for the objektive and subjektive differences between the voltage and ampere combinations.
Does someone have ideas or experiences on this question?
I don't remember Nelson's article verbatim, but I would gamble he said one of two things (or maybe both):
- "more amps CAPABILITY" means less distortion, as in doubling the number of output devices increases the current capability (or halves the current per device, which comes out to the same) hence less nonlinearity (distortion) everything else being the same;
- "more quiescent current" (as in Class A) means less distortion.
Are you sure you read his statement correctly (the devil, as always, is in the details)
Cheers, Jan Didden
Relating distortion to current
The distortion will be related to the amount of current change in the output stage of the amplifier to supply the loaudspeaker load. In the case of Zen the output stage is also the gain stage.
To drive a given voltage across a loudspeaker a corresponding current will be drawn depending on the impedance of the speaker so the bias current must be set high enough to supply the maximum expected load current. However, the larger the proportion of the bias current supplied to load then the higher the distortion becasue the gain transistor does not have a linear voltage-in to current-out characteristic. So, if you double, or more, the bias current then signal current excursions around the bias level are proportionately lower and so is distortion.
Nelson Pass takes this argument to the extreme in his description of single-ended amplifiers by comparing class-A biasing to air pressure. Air pressure has a (reasonably) static value and sound waves cause an excursion about that static level. However, the static value of air pressure is ~10^5 N/m^2 and the loudest sound (threshold of pain) is ~30 N/m^2. So, the loudest sound casues an air pressure excursion of 0.003% of the static (bias) value. Translating that into amplifier biasing terms, 10W into 8Ohms is a 0.5A peak excursion so for the analogy to hold the bias current should be 1,666A (I trust Mr. Pass had his tongue somewhat, if not wholly, in his cheek when he wrote this).
13th Duke of Wymbourne
Actually I believe my tongue was extended from my
cheek at the time.
- the higher quiescent current means less distortion,
- the higher MOSFET transconductance means less distortion, too,
- 4 Ohms speaker will have more distortion compared to 8 Ohms one.
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The filebuf_getc function retrieves a character from the current file position and returns the character as an integer. The function then increments the current file position.
Use filebuf_getc to sequentially read characters from a buffered file.
An integer containing the character retrieved, or the constant IO_EOF or IO_ERROR upon an end of file or an error.
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Homocysteine is a sulfur-containing amino acid that is an intermediate in the synthesis of cysteine. A deficiency in the enzyme cystathionine synthetase results in elevated levels in the blood of homocysteine and homocystine (an oxidized form of homocysteine), resulting in elevated urinary levels (homocystinuria). It is becoming increasingly recognized that elevated levels of homocysteine in the blood are a risk factor for vascular disease independent of diabetes, hypertension, elevated levels of cholesterol in the blood, and smoking. Levels are also elevated in vitamin B12 deficiency.
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Precision Medicine in Cancer
Genetic sequencing helps diagnose tumors and tailor effective treatment
Shortly after President Barack Obama announced his Precision Medicine Initiative at the State of the Union Address, Shari Small of NH1 spoke with Chris Amos, PhD, Associate Director of Population Sciences at Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC), about how tailored treatments can be used in the fight against cancer. As the Director of Dartmouth’s Center for Genomic Medicine, Amos and his colleagues, including Gregory Tsongalis, PhD, are experienced in one of the more innovative aspects of precision medicine: genetic sequencing.
In cancer care, precision medicine is used to describe how genetic information about a specific patient's tumor can be used to more accurately diagnose and tailor effective individual treatment strategies. Genetic alterations play a role in the growth of all types of cancer, and researchers also have found that individual cancer tumors each have a unique genetic profile. At NCCC, genetic sequencing is routinely applied to most patients with metastatic colon cancer, lung cancer, glioma, and melanoma, as well as to some patients with metastatic breast cancer. The process helps suggest targeted therapies that are less toxic and more effective for patients. Learn more directly from Chris in this complete interview, consisting of questions submitted by NH1’s Small:
Advances in the analysis of cancer tumors and the technology used for DNA sequencing now allow researchers to create detailed genetic profiles of individual tumors. New drugs have been developed that effectively target genetic differences in chronic myelogenous leukemia, lung cancer, and colon cancers. While only a few tumor types are currently known to respond to these new treatments, as physicians learn more about the “genetic Achilles’ heels” of specific cancer tumors, they will be turning to these targeted therapies to improve patient care.
Several new methods for DNA sequencing have been developed and are known as next generation sequencing (NGS). New instruments use small particles (i.e. nanotechnology) and unique reaction vessels to perform millions of sequencing reactions simultaneously, often on multiple patient samples. Each patient's DNA sample is broken into small pieces, and each piece is labeled with a molecular barcode identifier. As fragments are sequenced, computer software is able to distinguish patients by these barcodes. In the final stage of this process, the sequence of data is compared to sequences from healthy people to identify genetic variants.
By using information from the panel, cancer physicians can select drugs to treat a specific patient based on a higher likelihood of response. These individualized regimens are often called personalized or precision medicine. Some of the mutations are targeted because they make the tumor cells sensitive to therapy, and other mutations are targeted because they are known to make tumors resistant to therapy.
In some cases, combinations of these newer targeted therapies (such as monoclonal antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors added to traditional cytotoxic chemotherapies) are shrinking previously resistant tumors and extending patient survival. In other instances, sequencing is helping to highlight where targeted therapies are needed. For example, a recent publication reported on work at Dartmouth-Hitchcock that described mutations in rare, but often aggressive, tumors of the appendix. This new study found that the types of mutations observed can identify the stages of appendiceal tumors, and these mutational observations can be used to identify targets for new therapies to effectively treat this disease.
In New Hampshire, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center has been performing NGS for routine clinical services since 2012. The first clinical application of this new diagnostic capability has been with cancer: patients with colon cancer, brain tumors, melanoma, and lung cancer have been sequenced with a panel that reports on 50 genes. The panel represents the most commonly altered genes in human cancers and contains those disease-related variants that are potentially treatable with new drugs that have molecular targets.
In addition to genetic sequencing, Amos and his colleagues practice genotyping: the analysis of specific position within the genome. They are the lead site in the Oncology Array project that involves genotyping nearly 500,000 individuals.
Features excerpts from: Emerging Issues Brief: Precision Medicine: How Genetic Sequencing is Changing Cancer Care by Gregory J. Tsongalis, PhD, and Christopher I. Amos.
More on Precision Medicine at Norris Cotton Cancer Center:
January 30, 2015
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The Development of the Printing Press
( Originally Published 1930 )
When the art of printing with movable or separate pieces of type was invented, not much attention was paid to the presses. The earliest printing presses were crude mechanical devices, made of wood and modeled after the cheese and the wine presses which were in use during the Middle Ages. Each of these consisted of a bed upon which the form of type was placed, and of a platen or wooden block. The paper was placed over the form, which consisted of a wooden frame and the type that it held together, and the platen was screwed down over it so that the paper was squeezed against the type, thus printing only one sheet of paper at a time. After one sheet was printed, the platen was unscrewed, the sheet removed, another sheet placed on the form, and the process of pressing repeated.
Since those early days, many changes have been made in the printing press and many new devices have been developed for the purpose of putting on paper the composed matter that has been prepared in the composing-room. The construction of the press out of iron was one of the first. changes that was made, and, along with this development, a number of mechanical devices were introduced which made it easier to operate this machine. Improvements were made from time to time, and new types of presses were invented until, today, we can find few, in the large cities at least, that have any resemblance to those which were used several hundred years ago.
One of the most important changes made was in the use of different kinds of power to operate the presses. Instead of operating the presses by hand power, steam power was introduced to do the work, and today, electricity usually furnishes the motive power. Furthermore, the modern devices are not operated in a pressing or squeezing manner in order to make the impression. The paper is either held up to the form or passed over it, depending upon the type of press used, with sufficient force to receive the impression of the type. A considerable amount of change was made in the form also. Today, both flat and curved forms are used. The flat forms are inclosed in a steel frame and are used on flat-bed presses, while the curved plates, which are produced by the electrotyping or the stereotyping process from flat forms, are used on the other types of presses.
As a result of many experiments, we have in use at present such general types as the platen press, the cylinder press, and the rotary press which are used in the process of relief printing or printing from raised surfaces. The platen press, which is used mainly in job-printing plants for small work, has a flat bed to hold the form of type and a flat plate, or platen, upon which the paper is placed. The impression is made when the platen which holds the paper is forced up against the bed which holds the form. The cylinder press, also, has a flat bed upon which the form is placed, but the impression is received from a cylinder which carries the paper and which turns while the bed moves back and forth under it. A rotary press has two cylinders which run at the same rate of speed. One of these cylinders carries the form which comes in the shape of a curved plate, and the paper passes over the other and thus receives the impression. Various types of each of the presses mentioned have been developed for use in different kinds of work.
Three general processes of printing have been developed in the years since this art was invented. One of these, the relief printing process will be discussed in this chapter. The other two are the planographic and the intaglio processes. In the planographic method the parts to be printed are on the same level as the face of the form, while in intaglio printing they are below the surface of the plate. Posters, labels for all kinds of purposes, wrappers for candy bars, and the like are some of the things printed by the planographic process. The fiat-bed lithographic presses, the rotary planographic presses, and the offset presses are the ones used in printing by this method. Intaglio printing is closely related to engraving. Calling cards, announcements of all sorts, and the picture supplements of newspapers, among other things, are printed by the intaglio process. The plate-printing press, the die press which is used in stamping, and the rotogravure press are the types most generally used in printing from depressed surfaces. The intaglio and the planographic methods of printing will be discussed in other chapters. | <urn:uuid:6dc5c811-2565-4cc8-a131-eb29aeb72457> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oldandsold.com/articles10/trades-6.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00077-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978916 | 943 | 3.828125 | 4 |
Implications and Derivative Conclusions from Presuming Money is a Communication;
...quoting myself: "It is my position that there are multiple ways to "do money." That money in fact is a form of communication by means of symbols and contracts by which the products, commodities, and human intellectual and physical labor of humans may be exchanged. ...a set of methods of rationalizing the distribution and ownership of the things a-fore mentioned."
The very first derivative conclusion is that Hayek was absolutely correct. Not only do we need competition in money system but that competition is implied in a communication theory of money.
Gold and silver coin should be in common usage and encouraged.
The Ithaca Hour is a good example (even if not a perfected system) for the exchange of human intellectual and physical labor time.
The Michael Rivero proposal for "The Electo" has validity: (search yourself - the link is a possible auto-ban)
Generalized that means an energy unit is exchanged that might be represented where the basic unit is a mega-erg unit of energy. But kilowatts of electricity could also work. In Europe engines are not measured in horsepower - they rate them in kilowatts. I have never spent much time on these concepts - and they are not first invented by Michael Rivero either.
Any finished product or commodity can be collateral for a warehouse note where the backing is whatever is in the warehouse. The demurrage principle applies here. Simply expressed the demurrage principle states that the longer you carry the warehouse note the less product you recover upon redemption. A carry cost of one percent per month is not unreasonable. This very simple principle will reduce speculation costs in commodities.
A cereal grain note could be created that consists of a basket of the common grains and beans using an algorithm where the common value is a unit where quantities of such grains as rice, wheat, rye, barley and the popular grains by measurement are the backing for the cereal grain note. Demurrage principles apply.
A public credit note might be created and used within a Richard Cook theory of public credit as a public utility - or an Ellen Brown or Bill Still inspired credit model.
Richard Cook's model: [link to video.google.com
] (part one of six parts)
With these computers and other tools of communication available...
THERE IS NEVER A SHORTAGE OF "MONEY" IN A COMMUNICATION THEORY OF MONEY...
Shortage is implied in Austrian economics. Austrian economics applies to gold and silver coinage and to warehouse receipts for specie money. | <urn:uuid:83a2f453-e635-43c8-b781-475b7934117f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message980789/reply32447115/abusive | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00022-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941694 | 533 | 2.734375 | 3 |
"Among the growing number of recent publications on multicultural education, this book represents one of the more important contributions to our understanding of the movement."
History of Education Quarterly
"Required reading for all those concerned with the scholarly and activist roots of multicultural education."
"Anyone concerned about the dance of diversity in America will find value in this book."
Among other topics, this book discusses: The types of knowledge, the characteristics of transformative knowledge, the historical roots of multicultural education, and its links to transformative teaching The historical development of transformative scholarship, through case studies of individual pioneers such as Carter G. Woodson, Allison Davis, George I. Sánchez, Franz Boas, Mourning Dove, Ella Deloria, and Robert E. Park The work of women scholars and activists who have faced the oppressions of race, gender, and class, such as Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Septima Clark, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Patricia Hill Collins. Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt are the subjects of chapter-long case studies School reforms such as language revitalization and curricular reform. | <urn:uuid:0dbf3761-14d9-4f22-90c4-45c76642b849> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://store.tcpress.com/0807735310.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905349 | 231 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Intolerance towards those who hold different opinions from oneself: the difficulties of combating prejudice and bigotry
More example sentences
- We as a community know what it is to suffer bigotry and intolerance.
- Our hearts must not harbour hate, anger, bigotry, violence or discrimination.
- I have had enough of this whole debate and just hope it can be resolved without huge displays of bigotry and prejudice.
prejudice, bias, partiality, partisanship, sectarianism, discrimination, unfairness, injustice;
intolerance, narrow-mindedness, fanaticism, dogmatism;
racism, racialism, sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, chauvinism, anti-Semitism, jingoism;
US Jim Crowism
Late 17th century: from bigot, reinforced by French bigoterie.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: big|ot¦ry
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. | <urn:uuid:85fed3ca-04cd-4970-b0b8-863b6b74f2b6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/bigotry | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00151-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.88724 | 213 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Territorial A-ZA | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0-9
1 results for Louisville, Kansas Territory: ||Displaying results:1-1|
Authors: Allen, Chestina Bowker
Date: October 17, 1854 - April 22, 1858
Chestina Bowker Allen traveled to Kansas Territory from Roxbury, Massachusetts, with her husband Asahel Gilbert Allen and five children--William, Charles, Henrietta, John, and Abbie. Apparently, they were members of the third company sent by the New England Emigrant Aid Company and began the journey to Kansas Territory in October, 1854. While the title indicated it recorded the journey to the territory, it actually documented their first three years in Kansas Territory. Mrs. Allen described their journey west with stops in Kansas City and Lawrence. They eventually settled near Rock Creek in Pottawatomie County. She wrote about many of her daily activities including assisting neighbors when ill. She mentioned a cholera epidemic in the area in 1855. She wrote about various rumors and encounters with free state supporters (which the Allen family was) and proslavery groups. She provided a great deal of information about living conditions and the price and availability of various goods. She wrote about her husband and older sons going to various communities to work and also about people that visited their home and those who boarded with them. She provided fairly stereotypical descriptions of Native Americans.The document appeared to be recopied from an original diary and included some penciled in corrections and a few annotations from a later time.
Keywords: Allen, Asahel Gilbert; Allen, Charles Bowker; Allen, Chestina Bowker; Allen, William Francis; American Indians (see also Native Americans); Daily life; Diaries; Diseases; Economic conditions; Ferries; Free state supporters; Louisville, Kansas Territory; Manhattan, Kansas Territory; Native Americans; Pottawatomie County, Kansas Territory; Proslavery activities; Riley County, Kansas Territory; Rock Creek, Kansas Territory; Settlement; Steamboats | <urn:uuid:6045d7e0-549d-4c2d-a08f-df4129bfadf5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.territorialkansasonline.org/~imlskto/cgi-bin/index.php?SCREEN=keyword&selected_keyword=Louisville,%20Kansas%20Territory | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00134-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951362 | 462 | 2.59375 | 3 |
IN.gov - Skip Navigation
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Indiana has an extensive network of ambient air monitors measuring air quality across the state. Each region on the map below provides a link to a power point presentation with historical monitoring data trend charts for the six criteria pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act. The six criteria pollutants are particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and lead. Each region does not necessarily monitor for each of the six criteria pollutants but all available data for each region is included in the presentation. These regions were developed to provide information that is more detailed so that readers can focus on the area of the state where they live and work. These regions have no policy or legal implications. Our goal is to present historical air quality data in an easy to read format. | <urn:uuid:48c6c0bb-0ecc-4048-ac33-9e3813d4f79d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.in.gov/idem/airquality/2386.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00064-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899301 | 193 | 2.75 | 3 |
What is Chondrocalcinosis?
Chondrocalcinosis is a rheumatologic condition that is characterized by accumulation of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals or CPPD crystals in connective tissues or the joint cartilages.
The disease is often associated with similar conditions such as osteoarthritis, pseudogout and pseudo-osteoarthritis. It is also considered to be a variant of Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate disease that is known by several of its alternative names, although neither of which is synonymous with Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate disease or CPPD. The condition mostly affects the wrist, the hip, the knee joint and the pubic symphysis and gives rise to painful sensations in these areas.
Chondrocalcinosis is known to affect people from all cultural and ethnic backgrounds. In United States, nearly 50% of people over the age of 85 are estimated to be suffering from the disorder. Women are more prone to be affected by this disorder than men. The approximate occurrence ratio of the condition between women and men is 1.4:1.
Although the exact cause of the disorder is not known, evidence suggests that it might have a hereditary association. Chondrocalcinosis often runs in families and so a genetic link can be suspected. Calcium pyrophosphate crystals accumulate in the joint, firstly in the cartilage and then in the synovial fluid. This makes the joint swollen and inflamed. Episodes of the disease might recur over time and develop into a permanent form of arthritic pain.
Picture 1 – Chondrocalcinosis
Chondrocalcinosis is mostly seen in aged patients as an increased accumulation of CPPD crystals occurs in the joints with advancing age. The disorder has been found to affect patients of both sexes over 50 years of age. Around 3% people develop it around their 60s.
Apart from the deposition of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals of CPPD, the following factors may lead to the development of this ailment:
- Wilson disease
Chondrocalcinosis Risk Factors
According to Arthritis Foundation, certain risk factors predispose some individuals to this disease. These include an injury, dehydration or a joint surgery. Hyperparathyroidism leads to increased circulation of calcium in the bloodstream, which is also a potential risk factor. Patients of Hemochromatosis are also vulnerable to the development of Chondrocalcinosis, due to high levels of iron in their tissues. Three other conditions, which can make one prone to the disorder, include:
However, a patient of Chondrocalcinosis might not display any of the above mentioned conditions.
The various symptoms of this disorder are listed below:
- Joint pain
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
A patient may also experience symptoms similar to that of:
- Wilson's disease
- Renal osteodystrophy
Chondrocalcinosis is diagnosed by various medical processes, such as:
- MRI scans
- CT scans
- Nuclear medicine
MRI scans and CT scans show calcific masses generally within joint capsule or ligamentum flavum. Arthrocentesis, which involves removal of synovial fluid from an affected joint for studying the calcium pyrophosphate crystals present in the fluid, is another important test performed for diagnosing the condition. Blood work is done to check if the count of white blood cells has been raised.
Chondrocalcinosis Differential Diagnosis
The differential diagnosis for this disease include distinguishing its symptoms from those of similar conditions, such as:
Picture 2 – Chondrocalcinosis Image
- Septic arthritis
- Milwaukee Shoulder
- Ankylosing spondylitis
- Paget's disease
Chondrocalcinosis is not treated if it does not causeany pain. This is because any medications that can reduce inflammation related to this disorder also bear with it the risk of causing damage of organs. Acute pseudogout symptoms are treated with:
- Intra-articular corticosteroid injection
- NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs)
- Systemic corticosteroids
- High-dose colchicine (occasionally)
NSAIDs are commonly administered in low amounts to prevent this disorder. If, however, an acute attack of Chondrocalcinosis is occurring already, higher doses of NSAIDs are recommended. When nothing else works, methotrexate or hydroxychloroquine may provide some relief. Research is being currently held on the surgical removal of associated calcifications. This is still at an experimental stage.
As aforesaid, Chondrocalcinosis is often left untreated if there is no pain. In case a patient is experiencing pain, certain medications are used to relieve painful sensations. This may, however, cause damage to organs. The disease often exists along with Osteoarthritis or eventually leads to it.
Chondrocalcinosis is a rheumatologic disorder of the joints that causes considerable pain, even though it is not fatal. Although treatment is not always required, proper medical attention allows keeping a close watch on the symptoms of the disorder. | <urn:uuid:3e5886e5-3059-47c8-8bf8-0e9fb2f42a49> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.hxbenefit.com/chondrocalcinosis.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00031-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928038 | 1,073 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Of all the captains Gen. George Washington ordered to sea in late 1775 and early 1776, one found spectacular success: John Manley (c. 1733-1793).
His schooner, the Lee, captured a string of British cargo ships in the fall of 1775, including the ordnance brig Nancy, as described back here. In February, Washington promoted Manley to commodore, telling all the other captains to follow his orders.
Manley became a national hero even before there was an official American nation. This image of him appeared on a broadside published in Salem above the following song. Join in if you know the tune!
MANLY“Shuldham’ was Adm. Molyneux Shuldham (c. 1717-1798) of the Royal Navy. He was the top-ranking British naval officer in America in the first half of 1776, between Admirals Samuel Graves and Richard Howe, which suggests this verse was written in those months, before Massachusetts had legally become “an INDEPENDENT STATE.”
A FAVORITE NEW
In the AMERICAN FLEET.
Most humbly Addressed to all the JOLLY TARS who are fighting
for the RIGHTS and LIBERTIES of AMERICA.
By a SAILOR.—It may be sung to the Tune of WASHINGTON
BRAVE MANLY he is stout, and his Men have proved true,
By taking of those English ships, he makes their Jacks to rue;
To our Ports he sends their Ships and Men, let’s give a hearty Cheer
To Him and all those valiant Souls who go in Privateers.And a Privateering we will go, my boys, my Boys,O all ye gallant Sailor Lads, do’nt never be dismay’d,
And a Privateering we will go.
Nor let your Foes in Battle ne’er think you are afraid,
Those dastard Sons shall tremble when our Cannon they do roar,
We’ll take, or sink, or burn them all, or them we’ll drive on Shore.And a Privateering we will go, &c.Our Heroes they're not daunted when Cannon Balls do fly,
For we’re resolv’d to conquer, or bravely we will die;
Then rouse all you NEW-ENGLAND Oaks, give MANLY now a Cheer,
Likewise those Sons of Thunder who go in Privateers.And a Privateering we will go, &c.Their little petty Pirates our Coast shall ne’er infest,
We’ll catch their sturdy Ships, Boys, for those we do like best;
Then enter now my hearty Lads, the War is just begun,
To make our Fortunes at their Cost, we’ll take them as they run.And a Privateering we will go, &c.While Shuldham he is flying from WASHINGTON’s strong Lines,
Their Troops and Sailors run for fear, and leave their Stores behind
Then rouse up, all our Heroes, give MANLY now a Cheer,
Here’s a Health to hardy Sons of Mars who go in Privateers.And a Privateering we will go, &c.They talk of Sixty Ships, Lads, to scourge our free-born Land,
If they send out Six Hundred we’ll bravely them withstand;
Resolve we thus to conquer, Boys, or bravely we will die,
In fighting for our Wives and Babes, as well as LIBERTY.And a Privateering we will go, &c.While HOPKINS he is triming them upon the Southern Shore,
We’ll scour our Northern Coast, Boys, as soon as they come o’er;
Then rouse up, all my Hearties, give Sailor Lads a Cheer,
Brave MANLY, HOPKINS, and those Tars who go in Privateers.And a Privateering we will go, &c.I pray you Landsmen enter, you’ll find such charming Fun,
When to our Ports by Dozens their largest Ships they come;
Then make your Fortunes now, my Lads, before it is too late
Defend, defend, I say defend an INDEPENDENT STATE.And a Privateering we will go, &c.While the Surf it is tossing and Cannon Balls do fly,
We surely will our Foes subdue, or cheerfully will die,
Then rouse, all you bold Seamen, brave MANLY’s COMMODORE
Should we meet with our desp’rate Foes, bless us, they will be tore,And a Privateering we will go, &c.Then cheer up, all my hearty Souls, to Glory let us run,
Where Cannon Balls do rattle, with sounding of the Drum;
For who would Cowards prove, or even stoop to Fear,
When MANLY he commands us in our bold PRIVATEER.And a Privateering we will go, &c.
“Hopkins” was Esek Hopkins (1718-1802) of Rhode Island, commander of the small Continental navy from February 1776 to January 1778. Legally, neither Manley nor Hopkins commanded privateers at this point in the war; Manley had an army commission from Washington, and Hopkins a naval commission from the Continental Congress. But everyone, even Washington himself, was casual about the line between privateers and publicly-funded warships.
More about that line, and Comm. John Manley, in my talk at Longfellow House on Saturday afternoon: “Cambridge: Birthplace of the American Navy?” | <urn:uuid:4f11fc67-b59f-4647-acda-4071a9d20183> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2010/02/brave-manlys-commodore.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398873.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00129-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915587 | 1,231 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Lesson 1 (from Chapter 1 | Chapter 2)
SETTING - In this opening chapter, the woods are established as the setting of the story. Not only does the audience get a feel for the woods surrounding the Baxter home, they also begin to realize the relationship that the three main characters have to their setting. The objective of this lesson is for students to explore the idea of the wooded setting and to discuss the ways that the setting may come into play later in the novel.
1.) As a class, create a list of adjectives used by the narrator to describe the setting of the woods. What emotions are evoked through the description of the setting?
2.) As a class, compare/contrast Jody's relationship to the woods with his mother's relationship to the woods. What is the same about their relationships? What is different? Is there anything unexpected/surprising in this comparison of setting...
This section contains 10,659 words
(approx. 36 pages at 300 words per page) | <urn:uuid:2ada25d3-2e6c-4715-a977-6003d4094755> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/yearling/lessons.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00006-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960836 | 208 | 3.796875 | 4 |
The principle of utu dharma, followed by ancient mystics, is summarized in the following statement: one side can only go so far before it becomes its opposite. To my way of thinking, this idea is quite pertinent to this very specific history, that of the ‘woman composer.’
To fully understand the term ‘woman composer’ and all of the historical baggage associated with it, it’s important to be aware of hundreds of years of challenges met and overcome. Three years of research from 2007-2010 taught me that the main challenges to women’s authorship were the social structures of historical times, which manifested in the very personal, internal conflicts of individuals. The private writings of Clara Schumann, Julie Candeille (a composer who in 1795 had 154 performances of an opera she composed, and who was greatly scrutinized because of it), and Corona Schröter, among many others, poignantly disclose these conflicts. To give you a snapshot from 18th-century thought, here is Schröter in her own words (1786):
I have had to overcome much hesitation before I seriously made the decision to publish a collection of short poems that I have provided with melodies. A certain feeling towards propriety and morality is stamped upon our sex, which does not allow us to appear alone in public, and without an escort: Thus, how can I otherwise present this, my musical work to the public, than with timidity? For the complimentary opinions and the encouragement of a few persons…can easily be biased out of pity.
In the 19th century, Clara Schumann wrote this in her diary (1839):
I once thought that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose—not one has been able to do it, and why should I expect to? It would be arrogance, though indeed, my father led me into it in earlier days.
Both of these are examples of the inner conflicts which reflect broader social struggles of the times. Schröter’s time period was bound by social propriety, one that considered it offensively bold for a woman to speak her thoughts outright, much less put them in print—a format that was then thought of as eternal. You can follow the implications therein. Schumann’s conflict, which undoubtedly echoes similar social constraints, incorporates self-criticism and rationalization (conflicts which also appear as far back as the writings of Hildegard). I offer these brief, yet specific examples to give a small cross-section of scope, history, and of the burden associated with the term ‘woman composer.’
Examining this subject can take you even farther back in history. Most fascinating to me is the idea that social, religious, and scientific philosophies upheld over time, in an effort to maintain a kind of social order, did not keep women from authorship, quite the contrary. There were many women who broke through constraints and forged ahead (sometimes literally endangering their own lives) because they felt they had something to say, and because they believed, deep down, in their own ability (even if they had to deny it with their own pens). As I researched this subject, I gained a more complete picture of the history as well as a strong aversion to the term ‘woman composer.’ Although it may be lost on a younger generation, its very use implies that the corresponding body of work is of a lesser quality; in effect, the term renders it a sub-group.
The middle part of the 20th century was a tumultuous and transitional time. As such, the term ‘woman composer’ may have been beneficial, if only to assert the presence of quality authors who were women, to wave a flag on behalf of equality, and to have a specific term to identify a cause. As Western culture seriously struggled to transcend issues of race and gender, perhaps the label was needed for a time.
To take a phrase from Dame Ethel Smyth, “if you put on your binoculars and sweep across the landscape,” things are quite a bit different now. We’ve come a long way since these earlier centuries when the act of women’s authorship (both literary and musical) had to be self-excused and rationalized. We’ve come a long way since the time when the act of composing was caught up in political causes defined by gender. Many battles, seen and un-seen, were fought on behalf of gender equality. What reward did those challenges reap for the artistic pursuits of today’s composers? A relative healthy lack of self-awareness with regard to gender. There is no shortage of new music composers, no shortage of excellent ones, and no shortage of women. The fact the Rob Deemer could easily come up with a list of 202 living women in the field is evidence of that. A mere 20 years ago, that list would have been much smaller.
It’s important to be aware of the history, so we can understand that the term ‘woman composer’ is nothing more than the residue of struggles past, persisting like a bad habit.
My biggest concern, however, about the resurgence of this whole subject of late, is the issue of programming. I’m sympathetic to the fact that International Women’s Day may have given understandable attention to, and examination of the issue across the world and even in our field, but I feel compelled to offer a different perspective than those previously expressed on NewMusicBox.
If the leading new music ensembles today are programming 8-22% composers of the female sex (as David Smooke’s pie charts maintain), I simply must point out that 15 years ago this number would probably have been 0-3%. But most importantly, I do not accept, and do not believe, that analyzing programming data is the way to measure success of composers in this field. Perhaps a better way is to ask young composers if they feel gender is an obstacle in their personal quest to make art. No doubt you will be greeted with total confusion and a look that betrays the thought, “Does not compute.” Perhaps an even better way to measure success would be to notice how many composers today have this healthy lack of self-awareness I mentioned above. It pains me to think that we are “celebrating” composers of the female sex by criticizing ensembles (who are supporting a diverse body of excellent works) for not programming enough of them. These ensembles are surely programming music they find compelling. I would hope they are not basing their programming choices on gender, but rather on excellence.
As I wrote in my response to Deemer’s article, it’s commendable to be aware of and in support of all composers striving to make art, but our first responsibility is to identify and program music that is excellent—which of course has nothing to do with gender. I would hate to think that my work had been programmed simply because I’m a woman—and in fact, I’ve declined concert and recording opportunities that were gender-based.
It would be a great detriment to the field if suddenly, in the 21st century, when we’ve largely transcended the issue of gender, to start focusing on it again. Neither art nor artist is served by segregation—even if it’s well intended. The moment we begin programming based on gender, instead of excellence, is the moment we begin to go backwards. I would encourage administrators, ensembles, and concert producers to examine a diverse body of new works and program only those that speak to you and those that you find to be of the highest quality. Let those qualifications be the paradigm, and an excellent and diverse group of composers will surely continue to rise to the surface.
It’s wonderful to celebrate the composers of our time, but lets do it by freeing them from our gender-burdened past. If we do this, then what happens to the ‘woman composer’? Well, we bury her. She is, after all, quite dead.
Who killed her?
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Shulamit Ran, Jennifer Higdon, and Melinda Wagner did when they won the Pulitzer Prize for Music Composition; Kaija Saariaho, Jennifer Higdon, and Unsuk Chin did when they were among the first to be commissioned by major opera companies; Chen Yi also did when she received the Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; Joan Tower, Libby Larsen, Augusta Read Thomas, Jennifer Higdon, and Anna Clyne did when they became composers-in-residence for three of our country’s leading orchestras; Jennifer Higdon and Joan Tower did by winning Grammy Awards for Classical Composition (to trumpet only a small few of the most recognizable names and honors); and so too did all of the young composers who have poured into this field by way of undergraduate and graduate programs throughout the last forty years or so. If accomplishment is evidence of ability, then the proof is in the pudding.
The ‘woman composer’ opened doors for all of us—and we have many musicians and administrators to thank for this. But it was in the late 20th century that this label reached its most potent point and even then it was just short of becoming offensive. Before this label begins to darken our doors, which is the opposite of its intended purpose, let’s let the ‘woman composer’ rest in peace.
I know I’m only one person, but to me, in light of all of these things and in the context of a very long history, it is highly insulting to classify a composer by gender because it perpetuates the myth of a sub-group. It’s even further insulting to imply that our ensembles have made, or should make, programming choices based on gender.
Berthold Litzmann, Clara Schumann: An Artist’s Life Based on Material Found in Diaries and Letters, trans. Grace E. Hadow, 2 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1913), Vol. 1 241-244, quoted in Carol Neuls-Bates, ed., Women in Music: An Anthology of Source Readings from the Middle Ages to the Present (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996), 154.
Amy Beth Kirsten, one of this year’s Guggenheim Fellows in music composition, is currently composing a forty-five minute chamber opera—without singers—for the 2012 Grammy-winning ensemble eighth blackbird. The work, about a diabolical and murderous Harlequin back from the underworld to reclaim his theatrical throne, will be choreographed and directed by Martha Clarke for its 2013 premier. In recent years, Kirsten’s work has been recognized by the American Composers Orchestra, The MAP Fund, ASCAP, the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the state of Connecticut—where she now lives. Before coming to the East Coast to attend Peabody Conservatory, she was a singer-songwriter for ten years in the Chicago area and played at many of the city’s smallest, but mightiest, nightclubs. Since then she has written music for orchestra, chamber ensemble, opera, and for solo instruments. She currently teaches music composition at the HighSCORE summer music festival in Pavia, Italy. Upcoming projects include a work for solo cello commissioned by Jeffrey Zeigler of Kronos Quartet. | <urn:uuid:208c0616-f22f-41cc-89be-7229787eb928> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/the-woman-composer-is-dead/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00025-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966492 | 2,416 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Background on Provider Education
What are provider education strategies?
- Interventions that train qualified health care providers to diagnose asthma symptoms as well as counsel or provide advice to individuals about asthma management.
- This type of intervention is geared towards health care providers working in clinical settings including physicians, nurses, dentists, dieticians, etc.
- Provider education interventions can enhance providers’ knowledge and skills related to counseling individuals about behaviors related to asthma. This training offers health care providers access to information and resources about:
- the benefits of understanding the nature of the disease;
- the benefits of maintaining good lung function;
- how to improve culturally competent communication between individuals and health care providers;
- the benefits of identifying and avoiding triggers for asthma attacks; and
- the benefits of complying with appropriate medication regimens (e.g., using inhalers properly and accessing health care services when needed).
How can provider education impact asthma related behaviors?
- Health care providers are a primary and respected source of health information. Many individuals and families seek out the advice of health care providers to maintain their health and quality of life on a regular basis. Therefore, health care providers are ideally suited to have an ongoing influence on individual decisions to adopt certain behaviors.
What are provider reminder strategies and how can they be used in asthma interventions?
- Provider reminder interventions can be developed as part of provider training. A provider reminder intervention gives cues or prompts to increase the likelihood that health care providers will discuss asthma with individuals. Provider reminder interventions utilize various strategies to prompt providers to discuss asthma with individuals, including changes to the individual’s chart (e.g., stickers, colored folders), changes in the physical environment (e.g., posters in exam rooms), or personal prompts (e.g., laminated pocket-sized information sheets).
What types of settings are appropriate for provider education strategies?
- Provider education interventions are usually offered to health care professionals in public or private health care settings, including a provider’s office, hospital, pharmacy, health department, or assisted living facility. However, health care providers with or without specialized medical training can participate in provider education interventions training for nontraditional settings, including communities (e.g., mobile clinics), schools (e.g., school nurses), worksites (e.g., health screening), faith-based settings (e.g., health ministry) or homes.
Where are opportunities for interventions in during patient visits?
- As part of their interaction with individuals, health care providers typically provide the following:
- An assessment of an individual’s behaviors related to asthma, and readiness to make behavior changes. This assessment enables the provider to give personally relevant information to the individual about their needs. For example, it may be used to increase knowledge or awareness, change attitudes, provide social support, or teach skills for using various self-management techniques.
- An opportunity for the individual to ask questions or clarify what they have been told. This exchange with the provider can help to ensure that the individual understands the information and recommendations that they have been provided.
- Referrals and resources within the community to assist the individual in following recommendations for managing asthma.
- Subsequent interactions between the provider and individual, which may include a reassessment of the individual’s behaviors as well as updates to their self-management plan.
- The information given to patients or clients may be provided face-to-face or over the phone, during a single session or over multiple sessions, or through informational materials including brochures or videos created for this purpose.
What are the best methods for educating health care providers?
- Provider education training works best if it is hands-on and practical. This may include discussions among health care providers about how to counsel or provide advice to specific individuals (e.g., those with special health care needs, those who show no change over time), how to respond to individual barriers to asthma self-management including how to reduce environmental triggers, how to reach high risk populations, how to work in different settings, and how to integrate effective practice strategies into different practice styles.
- Previous studies also suggest that it is important to consider longer-term education strategies, tailor provider education about asthma to specific behaviors, and train providers on community and policy influences on these behaviors in addition to the more traditional focus on individual services. It is also useful to share methods for patient tracking, repeat counseling and referrals as appropriate. Interventions should be accomplishable in a quick and succinct manner.
What are the barriers to implementing provider education interventions?
- It is difficult to understand the effectiveness of these interventions because the interaction between the provider and individual is unique for each individual, short in duration (often less than 5 minutes), may involve recommendations for multiple behaviors at once (e.g., be more physically active and quit smoking), or may lack institutional support for sharing this type of information during a visit (e.g., policies, procedures, training, or incentives). | <urn:uuid:89b3c3ab-0314-4ae4-8f00-6fc1da24810f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://health.mo.gov/data/InterventionMICA/Asthma/ProviderEducation/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00199-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.924623 | 1,016 | 3.828125 | 4 |
Table of Contents
- Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy Facts
- Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy introduction
- What are the risks and complications of tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy?
- What happens before surgery?
- What takes place the day of surgery?
- What happens during surgery?
- What happens after surgery?
- General instructions and follow-up care
- General instructions and follow-up care (Continued)
- When to call the doctor
Quick GuideEar Infection Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments
Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy introduction
Your doctor has recommended a tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy for you, a loved one, or your child. The following information is provided to help individuals prepare for surgery, and to help those involved understand more clearly the associated benefits, risks, and complications. Patients or caregivers are encouraged to ask the doctor any questions they feel necessary to help better understand the above procedure.
The tonsils and adenoids are masses of immune cells commonly found in lymph glands (lymphoid tissue). These tissues are located in the mouth and behind the nasal passages, respectively. Infected or enlarged tonsils may cause chronic or recurrent sore throat, bad breath, dental malocclusion, abscess, upper airway obstruction causing difficulty with swallowing, snoring, or sleep apnea. Infected adenoids may become enlarged, obstruct breathing, cause ear infections or other problems. Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy are surgical procedures performed to remove the tonsils and adenoids.
These instructions are designed to help you, a loved one, or your child recover from surgery as easily as possible. Taking care of yourself or the individual having surgery can prevent complications. The doctor will be happy to answer any questions that you or the person having surgery has regarding this material. If you or your loved one, or child is having ear tube surgery (myringotomies and tympanostomy tubes placed) in conjunction with his/her tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, please read information on these procedures as well. Continue Reading
Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy in children: Indications and contraindications
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Subscribe to MedicineNet's Children's Health & Parenting Newsletter | <urn:uuid:52ebdcc7-b070-4979-8307-3f3ae1b9be57> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medicinenet.com/tonsillectomy/page2.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00176-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902906 | 497 | 3.3125 | 3 |
SCA Dance Cheat Sheets
In general, most figures behind on the left foot --- but there are always exceptions. Modern English Country Dancers (ECD) always start on the right; I've heard it claimed that this is due to the influence of the post-period Minuet. It is certainly rare that any pre-1600 dance which specifies the starting foot calls for a right-footed start.
References to ``country dances'' or even ``English country dances'' appear as early as 1551 (see Cunningham's article, and Cassazza's article in The Letter of Dance, vol 2), and Queen Elizabeth (d. 1603) was repeatedly said to have encouraged and danced country dances. Unfortunately, Playford's 1651 book The English Dancing Master is the first extant published collection of ``country dances.'' There are a few earlier short manuscripts on the topic, but unfortunately neither they nor Playford give any detailed instructions as to how the steps are to be done; the introduction of the English Dancing Master has a list of abbreviations (single, double, etc.), and that's it. In fact, early Baroque dance step styling is also not recorded, and so there is a complete lack of knowledge about Country Dance steps until the middle 1700's.
The way Country Dances are done in the SCA are heavily influenced by the modern English Country Dance community. Cecil Sharp, who revived ECD early in the 20th century, used a variety of sources, including collecting descriptions of early 20th century ``traditional'' folk-dance. Their reconstruction of these steps, therefore, is not a reflection of the steps used in 1651 (or 1600), nor is it likely that there will ever be enough information to reconstruct the exact steps used for country dancing in 1600 or 1651.
Here's how the steps are done by the modern ECD community:
A single takes 2 beats, and is one step forward and a second step to bring the feet together. A double is three steps forward and a fourth step to bring the feet together.
A slipping circle, which is not mentioned in Playford but is sometimes used in modern English Country Dancing (e.g. in Sellenger's Round), is done in a circle with the dancers all facing inwards and holding hands: the dancers step sideways to the left or the right without turning their hips. Playford generally specifies doubles where modern ECD uses slipping circles.
A sashay involves a couple facing each other holding both hands, and moving sideways with a step identical to that used in a slipping circle. Playford calls this slipping (e.g. Picking Up Sticks). This step is also called ``slipping'' in the Inns of Court manuscripts.
When arming, the dancing couple grips each other's elbows with one hand, and uses two doubles to walk in a circle. Arming always appears in pairs in Playford; we adopt the convention of calling for arming left and then right, but Playford never specifies a direction.
When siding, the dancing couple advances with a double until they are next to each other with their shoulders parallel, and then use a double to return to place. There is a variant called Sharp Siding which is not commonly seen today (even at Cecil Sharp House in London); this is discussed in The Playford Ball.
The set and turn single step involves a single to one side, a single to return to place, and then a turn in place using a double. As usual, Playford gives no directional hints. The modern ECD community always starts right. I've seen it taught in the SCA always starting left, and I've also seen it taught starting left the first time and starting right the second time, when they appear in pairs.
Unlike English Country Dances, the bransles of Arbeau have very precisely specified steps. Bransles also are mentioned repeatedly in English sources of the 16th century and early 17th century, albeit without any details, and survive to the present day as traditional folkdance in France.
A bransle single left is a sideways step to the left with the left foot, and then a step with the right foot to join the left. A bransle double is two singles in the same direction. Arbeau specifies various ornaments which can be added to these steps, such as ``step, close, step, kick,'' which is specified for the Scottish bransle and the Burgundian bransle. See the discussion after the Bransles Double, Single, Gay, and Burgundian for a description of other bransle step embellishments discussed by Arbeau.
Another embellishment is the capriole, which may be done during any leap or jump and is discussed by Arbeau in the galliard section: when you leap into the air, wiggle your feet rapidly forwards and backwards in opposite directions, while keeping your legs as straight as possible. It's important to land with your knees bent in order to avoid hurting yourself.
Arbeau states that bransles can be danced as a line or circle of dances. If danced in a line, new dancers may join in the dance at the trailing end of the line. I rarely see bransles danced in this fashion in the SCA, but Arbeau mentions this repeatedly.
Many Arbeau dances do not actually require couples, although Arbeau always speaks of boy/girl couples. These dances are listed in the cheatsheets as being for ``dancers'' instead of ``couples.''
An excellent beginner article on Galliards can be found in The Letter of Dance, volume 1. One of the basic galliard steps is the Cinque Passi, which takes 6 beats and is danced to the rhythm of the first phrase of ``My country 'tis of thee:'' one, two, three, four, (pause), six-and, one... Alternately, one can follow the simple prescription of one of the Inns of Court manuscripts: ``One, two, three, foure, & fiue.''
The galliard is described in numerous late 16th century sources, with hundreds of variations on the basic step. There are also quite a few articles about galliard variations in The Letter of Dance.
Start with left foot slightly in front of the right:
kick right kick left kick right kick left (pause) jump into the air, landing with the right foot slightly in front
The last bit is called a cadence, and leaves you ready to start again, but with the left first going first. You may stand still, move slowly around the room, or turn in place using this step.
In addition to these solo galliard steps, there are also choreographed galliard dances (some for couples), and an interesting variation called `La Volta,' which is described by Arbeau. This 2-person, intimate, spinning dance was favored by Queen Elizabeth and was condemned by some in the the religious community.
The dance known as the Almain is described in Arbeau with detailed steps and improvised choreography, and in the Inns of Court manuscripts without a detailed description of the steps, but with many explicit choreographies.
In Arbeau, the Almain single and double are quite similar to the pavane single and double, except the final close turns into a step which leaves the foot in the air. A single beginning on the left is thus ``step forward left, step forward right, leaving the foot in the air,'' while a double starting on the right is ``step forward right, step forward left, step forward right, step forward left, leaving the foot in the air.'' Subsequent steps begin by stepping with the foot currently in the air.
The Inns of Court manuscripts include no detailed step descriptions, but do refer to doubles in the opening ``traveling'' section of many almains as being ``hopped.'' Arbeau specifies that you do not actually hop but merely lift your foot into the air.
I find that ending with the foot in the air is an excellent teaching tool, allowing any dancer to remain on the correct foot.
The steps used in 15th century Italian dances are considerably more complicated than the steps used in most dances in these cheat sheets. The following material follows Joy and Jealousy in content, but is highly condensed and probably has errors; I highly recommend that you look at Joy and Jealousy if you are serious about 15th century dance.
A Movimento (plural movimentii) is simply a small motion, perhaps rising on the toes.
A Mezavolta is a half turn, and usually happens at the end of another step, taking no time. For example, a doppio ending with a mezavolta takes the same amount of time as a doppio, but the dancer ends up turning 180 degrees.
A Doppio (plural doppii) in quadernaria (4/4 time) is: step, step, step, pause. The appropriate styling is to rise throughout the step, and fall back on your heels during the final pause. A doppio done in bassadanza (6/4 time) is syncopated: 1 pause 3 4 pause drop.
A Piva (plural pive) in quadernaria (4/4) is: step, step, step, pause. Unlike the similar doppio, the second step brings the moving foot behind or even with the front foot, not past it. When done in 6 it is syncopated. Note that in some instances (Gelosia, Anello), pive in quadernaria are done twice normal speed, while in other cases (Amoroso) they are done only as fast as a doppio.
A Saltarello (plural saltarelli) is: step, step, step, hop. It also has the same styling as the doppio.
A Sempio (plural sempii) in quadernaria (4/4) is: step pause. It takes half as much time as a doppio, and has similar styling. The ``step'' mentioned in several of these dances is similar; Rosina has yet to successfully explain to me what the difference is. A sempio in bassadanza time (6/4) takes 3 beats: step pause drop.
A Reverenza is significantly different from later eras. Slide your left foot back and kneel part-way, bending both knees. This step generally takes as much time as a doppio.
A Ripresa is a piva done sideways.
A Voltatonda is a 360 degree turn using a doppio step. A Volta del Gioioso uses 2 sempii to turn, and then adds a ripresa. When turning left, you should do a circle around a point to your left.
A Contrapasso (plural contrapassii) in quadernaria (4/4) takes half the time of a doppio, and is step, step, step, close, except the final step brings the moving foot behind the other foot. Contrapassii generally come in groups, and will all start on the same foot. | <urn:uuid:a167ab11-08e1-4f24-a576-e15382708008> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/dance/Steps.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00132-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935776 | 2,333 | 2.515625 | 3 |
- Composite volcanoes, shield volcanoes, and cinder cones
- Describe the basic shapes of volcanoes.
- Compare the features of volcanoes.
- Describe the stages in the formation of volcanoes.
caldera: large, circular hole formed when the top of a volcano collapses after an eruption empties the magma chamber
cinder cone: small volcano composed of rock fragments piled on top of one another
composite volcano: tall, cone-shaped volcano with steeply sloping sides that is composed of alternating layers of ash and lava
shield volcano: broad-based, shield-shaped volcano with gently sloping sides that is composed almost entirely of lava
strata: layers of sediments or of lava and ash deposited by a volcano
supervolcano: massive volcano that can produce rare but enormous eruptions
Introducing the Lesson
Ask students to recall the two types of volcanic eruptions they read about in the previous lesson, “Volcanic Eruptions.” (The two types are explosive and non-explosive eruptions.) Then ask them to predict how volcanoes might differ if they erupt in these two different ways. Accept all reasonable responses at this point, and tell students they will learn in this lesson how the type of eruption affects the type of volcano that forms.
Building Science Skills
Do the activity at the following URL as a group activity. Each group will research a different volcano and present information about it to the class. Then the rest of the students will try to identify the type of volcano based on the information provided.
Set up a gallery walk for types of volcanoes. Attach four pieces of poster board to different walls of the classroom, and label them “Composite Volcano,” “Shield Volcano,” “Cinder Cone,” and “Supervolcano.” Divide the class into groups that incorporate any differential learners with other students. Ask groups to move around the room from poster to poster and list what they know about each type of volcano. Afterward, review the posters with the class and correct any errors.
Tell students that Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Have them investigate Io’s volcanic activity, starting with the URLs below. The students should find out why Io is so active volcanically and how volcanic activity has affected its surface. Ask students to share what they learn in a brief oral report to the class. Discuss as a class how the cause of Io’s volcanic activity differs from that of Earth.
At the URL below, you can find an activity in which students make a three-dimensional paper model of a volcano. The model will help students visualize a composite volcano (inside and out) and understand how it forms. Students will also gain an understanding of how the volcano’s shape is related to its internal structure. Included at the URL are the paper model, instructions for assembly, a teachers' guide, and a simple description of volcanoes.
Discuss the following common volcano misconceptions with the class. Call on students to explain why each statement is false. Help them find examples of specific volcanoes that show the misconceptions do not apply. You can learn more at the following URL.
- All volcanoes erupt violently.
- Volcanoes only erupt straight up through the top vent.
- If a volcano doesn’t erupt for a hundred years, it must be extinct.
- If a volcano does not produce lava, it is not dangerous.
Reinforce and Review
Copy and distribute the lesson worksheets in the CK-12 Earth Science for Middle School Workbook. Ask students to complete the worksheets alone or in pairs to reinforce lesson content.
Lesson Review Questions
Have students answer the Review Questions listed at the end of the lesson in the FlexBook® student edition.
Check students’ mastery of the lesson with Lesson 8.3 Quiz in CK-12 Earth Science for Middle School Quizzes and Tests.
Points to Consider
Composite volcanoes usually have craters on the top. Why are the craters sometimes U- or horseshoe-shaped?
A shield volcano is relatively flat and a composite volcano is relatively steep because of the type of magma that creates them. What type of lava might create a volcano that is steeper than a shield volcano but not as steep as a composite volcano?
Some people believe there would be a worldwide catastrophe if a huge asteroid hits the Earth. How might an asteroid impact and a supervolcano eruption be similar? | <urn:uuid:0f898fba-88d3-46e4-86af-6ad7e5175e5f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ck12.org/tebook/CK-12-Earth-Science-For-Middle-School-Teachers-Edition/section/8.4/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00193-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.888936 | 950 | 4.03125 | 4 |
The Atomic Energy Commission's National Accelerator Laboratory (of all places) has come up with an idea that might make it a little easier for you to have that strong but cheap and easy-to-build cabin or shed of your dreams. Robert Sheldon, an AEC engineer, was put about the task of finding a lightweight, translucent panel to use in the construction of a new laboratory. After seeing a gag sign that said, "Keep America beautiful—swallow a beer can," Sheldon decided to put together a sandwich worthy of Dagwood Bumstead's best efforts, beer cans on fiberglass, heavy on the glue.
A 10'3" equilateral triangle of 100-mil-thick polyester-bonded fiberglass was roughened with an abrasive, spread with epoxy resin adhesive and covered with about 530 discarded aluminum beverage cans stood on end. The tops and bottoms had been removed from the containers so that light could pass through the finished panels. A second adhesive-backed triangle was then placed on top of the cans, weights were set on the sandwich and it was left to dry overnight. Next day the edges of the panel were bound with U-shaped aluminum channeling to prevent peeling of the fiberglass away from the cans. The red, blue, orange and yellow honeycomb-like units built in this fashion were then put together into a multi-colored geodesic dome, 40 feet high and 200 feet in circumference.
News of the idea spread rapidly, and soon some engineering students at The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio were building and testing more beer can panels. Rumor has it the ultimate goal is flooring the Professor Joseph Lestingi's new patio, but presently the project is part of classes taught by another professor, Robert Dubensky. So far the students have limited themselves to fiberglass-epoxy construction similar to NAL's, using varying thicknesses of sheeting to build arched panels that would be suitable for roofing, footbridges and the like. Their first arch, made from 40-mil fiberglass, withstood a center load of 2,450 pounds before buckling.
The biggest expense in constructing the beer can panels is the glue used to bond each unit. Epoxy rapidly runs into money. At the suggestion of MOTHER, the Akron crew will soon build test panels of plywood bonded with Weldwood and other lower cost glues in an attempt to find the most economical materials combination.
The aluminum channels affixed to the edges of the triangular sandwiches used on the NAL dome are also quite expensive but very important, they both prevent peeling and, especially in the case of arch construction, help distribute load forces throughout a panel. The Akron students have already found that wood will do the same job for less dollars in at least some cases.
A full report on beer can construction panels, including test results on strength and insulating capacity, detailed construction plans and tips on cutting costs, is coming up soon in MOTHER. We think the units should prove to be light, strong, self-insulating to an extent, easy to build and relatively inexpensive, just the thing for getting started on the homestead or cutting corners in the suburbs. A good recycling idea, too! | <urn:uuid:7e7cd162-cdcd-4435-bbb0-fb8b65741f17> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/beer-can-house-zmaz72mjztak.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959015 | 665 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Monday, May 19, 2014
According to a report published Thursday by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a Washington, D.C.-based public health non-profit, most popular U.S. breakfast cereals contain too much sugar — far more than experts recommend. In fact, many pack in so much sugar that a child eating an average serving of a typical kid’s cereal per day will consume more than 10 pounds of sugar a year from that source alone.
The highest sugar contents were found in cereals specifically marketed to children — those that come in packaging featuring cartoon characters that appeal to kids. Even more troubling: Though the sugar overload is a clear contributor to the country’s childhood obesity epidemic, cereal makers and regulators aren’t doing much to address the issue, according to the study, which also re-evaluated a sample of 84 popular children’s cereals that it had previously reviewed in 2011. While a few manufacturers lowered the sugar content of 11 of those cereals, the vast majority still contain an unhealthy amount of sugar (averaging two teaspoons per serving), and none of the 10 most sweetened cereals from that list took any steps to lower its sugar content.
The EWG report covered more than 1,500 cereals, including 181 marketed to children. Among the findings:
- Every single cereal marketed to children contains added sugar.
- On average, kids’ cereals have more than 40 percent more sugar than adult cereals.
- For 98 cereals, a single serving exceeded the American Heart Association’s recommended daily sugar limit for children.
- Kelloggs’ Honey Smacks, Malt o’ Meal Golden Puffs, and Post Golden Crisp were among the most sugary offenders.
- Eleven of the 13 most sugary children’s cereals feature misleading claims (such as “good source of fiber”) that suggest the products are healthful.
- A whopping 97 percent of cold cereals list unrealistically small serving sizes, according to FDA’s analysis of food consumption data, so people may underestimate how much sugar they’re getting.
What Parents Should Know
There’s been a big push recently by food manufacturers to increase the health profile of cereals by including more whole grains, leading parents to believe they’re feeding their children something healthy — when in reality the sugar content of the food may also be sky-high. Breakfast cereals are the fifth highest source of added sugars in the diet of children under 8, coming in behind sugary drinks, cookies, candy and ice cream – and perhaps get overlooked by parents who are focused on encouraging their children to eat breakfast each day as part of a healthy diet. Better options for parents include preparing breakfast from scratch and giving kids fresh fruit along with unsweetened hot cereals or other whole foods with no added sugar, according to the EWG report.
But with caution, cereal can also be a healthy part of your kid’s diet. When grocery shopping, pay close attention to food labels and be particularly wary of foods with the telltale bright, cartoonish packaging that’s meant to draw in kids. Check the grams of sugar per serving — the EWG recommends no more than a teaspoon (4 grams) per serving — as well as the listed serving size, as your child may be used to eating much more than one serving in a sitting.
“Always look at the ingredient list, and if the first ingredient listed is sugar, put the box back on the shelf,” says nutrition expert and author Frances Largeman-Roth, RDN. She also cautions, “It’s not only kids’ cereals that are highly sweetened — many ‘adult’ cereals contain 14 to 16 grams of sugar per serving — half of what you’re supposed to get in a day!”
Remember, too, to keep it all in perspective, notes Largeman-Roth. “If you’re choosing a really low sugar cereal, but giving your kids lots of other sources of sugar in their diet, you’re defeating the purpose.” So be sure to also take a close look at the sugar content of other items — both for you and your kids — including snacks, frozen meals, and salad dressings before you put them in your cart.
Last Updated: 5/19/2014 | <urn:uuid:0dfd60e3-be8d-4715-b382-68e9cfbdf244> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.everydayhealth.com/news/would-you-give-your-kid-cookies-for-breakfast-you-probably-already-are/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00008-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957958 | 917 | 2.875 | 3 |
Pierre Curie was a French physical chemist who discovered radium and polonium, while studying radioactivity with his wife, Marie Curie. Widely considered to be one of the founders of founders of modern physics, he pioneered the fields of crystallography, magnetism and piezoelectricity. Curie shared the 1903 the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife for their work on radiation.
Early Life and Education:
Born in Paris, France on May 15, 1859, Pierre Curie was a childhood prodigy. He showed an extraordinary aptitude for mathematics and geometry. Curie completed the equivalent of a higher degree when he was only 18, but failed to pursue a doctorate due to some financial problems. He instead accepted a job as a laboratory instructor.
Contributions and Achievements:
Pierre Curie is widely credited to be one of the founders of modern physics. As a young researcher, his work had already brought important discoveries related to heat waves, crystals, magnetism and symmetry. He formulated the Curie’s law before he married Marie Sklowdowska in 1895. The Curies, the husband and wife, together discovered polonium and radium while conducting research in radioactivity.
Together with Henri Becquerel, the Curies shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in physics for their revolutionary work on radioactivity.
Later Life and Death:
Pierre Curie died in a street accident in Paris on 19 April 1906. He was only 46 years old. | <urn:uuid:ef66e1a4-722b-4289-ae35-adf1310b09da> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.famousscientists.org/pierre-curie/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959351 | 306 | 3.6875 | 4 |
|Name: _________________________||Period: ___________________|
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Who are Pedro and Sebastian in The Town-Ho's Story?
2. What did buccaneers leave on the islands that Melville claims is proof of their better traits?
3. How does the narrator describe the men who work the Erie Canal?
4. What does the crew decide to do after Steelkilt is flogged?
5. What do the Peruvian listeners force the storyteller to do to prove his story is true?
Short Essay Questions
1. Why did the first seven of Steelkilt's men come out of their imprisonment?
2. What was disrespectful about Radney asking Steelkilt to sweep the deck?
3. What does the narrator say happens to one in command who discovers a subordinate who is "significantly his superior"?
4. What does the captain decide to do with Steelkilt and those who followed him in insubordination?
5. What did Steelkilt's followers decide to do upon their release?
6. Why does Melville come to believe that some buccaneers on the isle of Albermarle must have been gentlemen?
7. What verb tenses does Melville use in "The Two Temples" to bring immediacy to the story?
8. In "Rich Man's Crumbs," why is the narrator called a "graceless ragamuffin"?
9. How is the accuracy of copy verified by scriveners?
10. What words does the narrator use to describe Bartleby when he first meets him?
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
One recurring theme in Melville's stories is the fate of an innocent man in the grip of malice he does not comprehend. Compare two such protagonists, such as Steelkilt and Billy Budd.
Essay Topic 2
Melville uses brief sketches to address large issues of social justice. Select two of the stories that work together, such as "The Paradise of Bachelors" and "The Tartarus of Maids," or "The Two Temples," to analyze the social issues addressed in those comparisons.
Essay Topic 3
Melville has a gift for inventing language: "The picturesque yields to the pocketesque." The government of the island was a "riotocracy." Find and analyze examples of invented language. Are the new words useful? Comprehensible? Effective? Discuss their effect on you as a reader.
This section contains 799 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) | <urn:uuid:c5d9b3c4-7720-4644-86d6-68bd907aadec> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/great-short-works-of-herman-melvill/test5.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00022-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947721 | 570 | 2.96875 | 3 |
This article is an answer to comments posted by johan.smit .1978 on the article
Firstly, the phrase ‘genetic information’ is always thrown around by creationists at will and always claim all sorts of things about them. For example, they always claim that, for the theory of evolution to be true, ‘genetic information has to be added’ or ‘genetic information has to increase’. Then they'll trow lots of words around; Shannon Information; Algorithmic Information, Gitt Information; Dembski Information. Don't let them fool you. They just use sciency-sounding words to fool you.
Of course all their claims are untrue.
The theory of evolution does not state that, 'genetic information must increase', anywhere. All the theory of evolution requires is a change of genetic information and natural selection.
For example, read these comments from johan.smit.1978
Johan.smit.1978, January 21, 2013 at 15:41
‘…..but his conclusion that this explains the origin of species was illogical IMO since it could never be proven that mutations lead to an increase in genetic information - a prerequisite for evolution.’”
Nope. It certainly is not. All the theory of evolution requires is genetic variation and natural selection. Nothing about ‘increases in genetic information’.
Johan.smit.1978, answer the following question: which organism has the ‘most genetic information’; a crocodile or an ostrich? A prokaryote or a eukaryote? Please provide the units in which you measure that ‘genetic information’.
johan.smit.1978, January 21, 2013 at 19:35
Help me if I don't understand. Would you agree that an increase in genetic information is required for evolution e.g. from a microbe into a microbiologist? If not, why do scientists call single celled organisms 'simple' and multi celled organisms like yourself 'complex'”
Well, firstly, unicellular organisms consist of one little cell, they’re thus called ‘simple’ while multicellular organisms consist of more than one cell, they’re called complex.
As described earlier, creationists always claim all sorts of things about the ‘amount’ of genetic information, but they never want to define how the measure the amount of genetic information. To put it in terms everyone can understand: what are the units on the tape creationists ‘use’ to measure the amount of ‘genetic information’ to be able to claim that it ‘increases’ or ‘decreases’? How do they measure it? You’ll never get a clear answer, just lots of words.
It is really simple; an increase in genetic information is not required for evolution. For example, every cell in your body (you are an organism) is a eukaryotic cell. The same as that of a Bluebottle (Portuguese-Man O’War , a colony of eukaryotic cells).
Could you, Johan.smit.1978, please indicate whether a human or a Bluebottle has the most ‘genetic information’ and how do you measure it?
I’ll give you a hint, johan.smit.1978, you can measure ‘genetic information’ in different ways: I’ll mention two of them.
1. Number of genes (measurable). The organism with the most genes is a certain protozoan…a single cell. Does this protozoan have ‘more genetic information’ than humans?
2.Largest genome (measurable). The organism with the largest genome is the flower Paris japonica. Does it mean that the Paris Japonica has more ‘genetic information’ than humans?
So it’s really not the amount of DNA, or even the number of genes, that leads to complexity: it’s what they do that matters. That’s why I’m always really confused when creationists talk about ‘an increase in information’.
So, everyone else, next time a creationist talks about ‘more information’, realize that they use sciency-sounding words to pretend that creationism is science; just laugh at them and ask them how exactly they measure it. And ask them exactly how they measure the 'genetic information' in an African elephant and an Asian elephant to know which one of them has 'most genetic information'. | <urn:uuid:0f9f7732-516e-4247-b59a-2c64e00cd3f0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/Title-20130122 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00061-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9106 | 977 | 2.578125 | 3 |
In profit and loss, the activity of buying things from one place and selling them at another place is known as business.
Sam is a shopkeeper. He buys the following articles from a wholesale market at the following rates:
Rate at which an article is purchased is called Cost Price (C.P.)
Rate at which an article is sold is called Selling Price (S.P.)
Sam purchases the water bottle for $ 45. He sold it for $ 60.
Here, cost price = $ 45
Selling price = $ 60
Thus, earning $ 60 - $ 40 = $ 20 more
The extra money earned by selling an article is called profit or gain.
When Selling Price (S.P.) is greater than the Cost Price (C.P.) we have a gain (Profit).
Sam purchases the pencil box for $ 25. There were some defects in the pencil box.
So, he sold it for $ 20.
Here, Cost Price = $ 25
Selling Price = $ 20
Thus, lost $ 25 - $ 20 = $ 5
The money lost by selling an article is called Loss.
When Cost Price (C.P.) is greater than the Selling Price (S.P.) we have a loss.
Profit or Gain = S.P. - C.P. = Selling Price - Cost Price
Loss = C.P. - S.P. = Cost Price - Selling Price
Ron is a shopkeeper. He buys his goods either from the factory directly
or from the whole seller. He then tries to sell each of goods or item at
a higher price to earn money. If he succeeds, he makes a profit or gain
or else he suffers a loss.
1. If Ron buys rice at $ 20 per kg and sells it at $ 23 per kg, he makes a profit of $ 3. (i.e., 23 - 20 = 3)
Cost price (CP) = $ 20,
Selling price (SP) = $ 23
Profit or Gain = $ 20
2. If Ron buys rice at $ 20 per kg and sells it at $ 18 per kg, he suffers a loss of $ 2 i.e., (20 – 18 = 2)
Cost price (CP) = $ 20,
Selling price (SP) = $ 18
Loss = $ 2
From this we understand:
(i) The price at which a man buys his goods is called the Cost Price (CP).
(ii) The price at which a man sells his goods is called the Selling Price (SP).
(iii) When the SP is greater than CP the man makes a Profit or Gain.
SP > CP → Profit = SP – CP
(iv) When the SP is less than CP the man suffers a Loss.
SP > CP → Loss = CP – SP
1. Ron bought rice worth $ 2000 and spent $ 200 for transporting it to his shop, $ 150 on getting it cleaned and $ 50 on packing.
Then total CP = 2000 + 200 + 150 + 50 = $ 2400.
(v) Transportation charges, labour charges, salaries etc. are called Overhead Expenses and these are always added to the cost price to get the total CP. | <urn:uuid:01c4963a-9ae1-4edb-9051-919d9838b21b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.math-only-math.com/profit-and-loss-a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00069-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931886 | 679 | 3.6875 | 4 |
Stanford, CA -- Scientists, including Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology, have found that the Earth's global warming, 55 million years ago, may have resulted from the climate's high sensitivity to a long-term release of carbon. This finding contradicts the position held by many climate-change skeptics that the Earth system is resilient to such emissions. The work, led by Mark Pagani of Yale University, is published in the December 8, 2006, issue of Science magazine.
For some years scientists have known that an ancient global warming event, called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) beginning about 55 million years ago, was caused by a massive release of carbon. The geologic record shows that the ensuing greenhouse effect heated the planet by about 9° F (5° C), on average, in less than 10,000 years. The temperature increase lasted 170,000 years and caused profound changes to the world's rainfall patterns, made the oceans acidic, and affected oceanic and terrestrial plant and animal life, including spawning the rise of our modern primate ancestors. But understanding just how much carbon was responsible for the temperature increase and where it came from remains elusive.
The new calculations used data from carbon found in fossils of ancient land plants and tiny marine organisms known as plankton. "We can tell that the amount of carbon released to the atmosphere and ocean was more or less the same as what is available today as coal, oil, and gas," Caldeira explained. "The carbon heated up the Earth for over 100,000 years. If the climate was as insensitive to CO2 as the climate skeptics claim, there would be no way to make the Earth so warm for so long."
The source of this ancient carbon is still a mystery. It might have come from massive fires burning coal and other ancient plant material, or it could have come from "burps" of methane from the continental shelves.
"By examining fossils and ancient sediments on the sea floor, we can see that something very unusual happened to Earth's carbon cycle," Caldeira continued. "At the same time the climate near the North Pole became like Miami. We can tell it didn't take all that much carbon to make this change in climate."
If the source of the release was ancient plant material, calculations indicate that for each doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentration, the Earth would warm at least 4 ºF (2.2 ºC) and possibly twice this much. If ancient methane was the cause, as many believe, the situation is even more dire. The methane would have become carbon dioxide in the atmosphere within decades. The research indicates that much less of it would have been available to cause climate change, which means that the climate is even more sensitive to added CO2 than we have thought.
"If ancient methane 'burps' really occurred, as many believe," Caldeira said, "a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentration would warm the Earth by over 10 ºF (5.6 ºC). If that's what happened, we could be in for a mighty toasty future."
With a continuation of current trends in the use of coal, oil, and gas, natural background atmospheric CO2 concentrations are expected to double around mid-century. The ancient emissions are comparable to the CO2 that can be expected from human activity over the coming few centuries. If human-induced carbon emissions continue unabated, there could be a similar shift in species evolution.
"The last time carbon was emitted to the atmosphere on the scale of what we are doing today, there were winners and losers," Caldeira remarked. "There was ecological devastation, but new species rose from the ashes. Luckily for us, our ancient primate ancestors were winners. Who knows who the winners and losers will be in the next go round""
"Our carbon dioxide emissions are risking biological, chemical, and climate changes of a magnitude that has not been seen for more than 50 million years," he warned. "Our work provides even more incentive to develop the clean energy sources that can provide for economic growth and development without risking the natural world that is our endowment."
The Carnegie Institution of Washington (www.carnegieinstitution.org), a private nonprofit organization, has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research since 1902. It has six research departments: the Geophysical Laboratory and the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, both located in Washington, D.C.; The Observatories, in Pasadena, California, and Chile; the Department of Plant Biology and the Department of Global Ecology, in Stanford, California; and the Department of Embryology, in Baltimore, Maryland. | <urn:uuid:77b715f0-22c4-4a2d-be19-e7eaa4f72555> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-12/ci-acc120406.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00116-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967751 | 956 | 4.125 | 4 |
Welcome to my Fanon!
Before the First Age of Pony, there were the primorial protoponies. these beings were all earthlings and resembled horses. From the protoponies came the first ponies. They were nomads who traveled in herds led by a single stallion. They did not think like we do now. They were guided by instinct alone. Their speech was in nieghs and nickers.
The First Age of Pony began with the rise of language and the development of the first civilizations. True thought took off as the brain had evolved beyond basic instinct. These ponies still resembled horses, but they were smaller then their ancestors. The Stallion was still head of his herd and town.
Toward the end of the First Age of Pony, a new energy was discovered. It was called Magic. Magic moved like water in a river. Soon, this magic had condensed into a single large flow that flowed in the sky. A new type of pony was starting to appear.
The second Age of Pony began with the birth of the first Unicorn. This Unicorn could manipulate the Flow to to their will. The Unicorn studied Magic and created the first spells. It also gave rise to the next new type, the Pegasus. The first pegasus did not fly, but rather used their wings to jump higher and farther then ever before. True flight came about in the Third Age of Pony.
The Third Age of Pony saw true flight by the Pegasus and more powerful magic by the Unicorn. This was also the last age of the long legged horse form. Due to the wild use of Magic, the Flow became destablized which led to the end of the Third Age of Pony when it collapsed. This led to the Great Extinction in which 98% of life was wiped out. Pony kind was brought down to six breeding pairs while many of the animal races were completely wiped out.
This led to the first Dark Age. With little food and water, the survivors reverted to the old way of the herd. They traveled far and wide in search of food. Unicorns were gone. Pegasi lost true flight. Earthlings tried to grow food but the land was dead. Eventually, the herd found its way into what would become Equinova. Here, the Fourth Age of Pony dawned.
This age saw the rise of castles and the return of civilization. Towns and villages flourished Pegasi regained true flight while Unicorns began to appear again. This first settlement was named Dream Valley. From Dream Valley new settlements rose. Equinova became a country as the many settlements rose to become their own kingdoms. Riverdale and Rainbowfalls rose on the other side of the vast Blackhill mountain range. New types of Pony rose as pony kind evolved. Flutter ponies rose from the pegasi, Seaponies rose from the unicorns magic and the earthlings desire, and from the seaponies and earthlings came the mereponies. Dragonponies rose towad the end of the fourth age.
The fifth age of pony rose as new advances were made in magic. The very first Aicorn, a pony with both wings and a horn, was born to Princess Tiffany and Prince Darkstar. She was named Dawnstar. Dawnstar grew up and became Queen of Dream Valley. She married King Deadskull of the Shadowlands and gave him an alicorn daughter, Villana, and an alicorn son, Dreadwing. Evil entered the land. Calling itself Chaos, it was a large black Pegasis with red feathers and eyes. Dawnstar met him in battle but was forced to retreat. Around then, Dawnstar gave birth to Twila, a Unicorn filly. Deadskull took Twila to a place called Angel's island to protect her. Villana and her husband, Ganon, joined them. Twila made friends with the pegasus stallion Link.
Dawnstar fought Chaos many times. She came up with a plan to stop him using a powerful spell. She joined forces with her family and Link. Together they unleased the first Strike of the Seven Gaurdians, an attack that was so powerful that it destroyed the Palace of Magic. It did not distroy Chaos. Link cast a seal around Chaos, sacrificing himself to form a seal around the enemy. Dawnstar fused light and darkness to form the Flow of Magic and shifted it so it would flow through the sealed evil. She called it the source of Magic and hid it inside its own pocket demension. She also created the Guardianship to watch over and protect the Flow.
The prince of Rainbowfalls and Princess of Riverdale fell in love. Their fathers aproved and they constructed a bridge between their castles, which each sat on opposite sides of Rainbow River. Their children fell deeply in love with each other and soon married. With the two Kingdoms united in marriage, a new name was needed. Two names were settled upon, Riverfalls, and Rainbowdale. To prevent civil war, the princess, who was with foal, said that if she had a colt, they would go with Rainbowdale. If she had a filly, they would go with Riverfalls. When the time came for the Princess to give birth, She gave birth to a filly, and a pair of colts. The new kingdom was named Riverfalls because the filly was the first born. The filly, named Starrise, went on to marry and have triplets of her own, one named Flaming Wind. Flaming Wind would father Windsparkle, who would give birth to Flaming Star and Sparklestar.
Sunstar and Riverstar were born to Sunriver and Flamingstar, king and Queen of Riverfalls. Riverfalls fell to Mage, a dark Guardian of Magic. Sunstar grew up in Dream Valley where she fought and healed Mage. The spell backlashed, turning a piece of Sunstar's soul dark. After she fought and saved Deathstar, God of Death, Deathstar threw himself into finding a cure for Sunstar. He would go on to create the Elements of Harmony, using the good emotions of the six Guardians serving under Sunstar. He also created two Alicorn fillies, Celestia and Luna, which Sunstar carried to term. No one expected Celestia to be born with a male aicorn twin, Aries. Sadly, the cure was not ready in time to heal Sunstar.
Sunstar went dark and destroyed Equinova. She destroyed the Flow and brought about the mini extinction in which saw the end of the Grundles, seaponies, mereponies, and many other races. Only 50 percent of all life was destroyed. The Flutter Ponies lost the Sunstone and Sunstar 'saved' them by changing them to Changlings. They became her army.
Knowing that Sunstar could not be stopped, Ribbons journied to Tambelon and begged Grogar for help. She saw Grogars past and felt for him. Grogar knew how dire the threat Sunstar posed so he agreed. He met with the Guardians of which Ribbons was a member, a plan was cobbled together where Battlefield, the only known pony that could stand up to Sunstar, whould keep her at bay while the spell was cast that would bind Sunstar to Tambelon. Grogar fell in love with Ribbons and her daughter, Ribbon.
Sunstar met her former friends and family in battle. Tirac engaged her first and soon switched places with Battlefield. He then joined the Guardians in summoning the darkness needed to make the binding spell stick. He would not survive the battle as would 75% of the two armies. When the dust finally cleared, Battlefield had vanished and only three Guardians remained. Tambelon took Sunstar with it into the Realm of Darkness. Thus, the Fifth Age of Pony came to an end.
The second Dark Age began next. Mage gathered all known survivors and guided them away from their ruined homeland. They journied for many months until they arrived on the outskirts of what would be known as the Blue Manor. Mage used the remains of the dead sun and the Flow to create a new Sun and Moon. Celestia took the Sun and Luna took the Moon. Mage and Andromeda passed away during the first winter, starting a young black colt on his path to become King Sombra. After Sombra was sealed, Luna was tainted.
Celestia and Aries sent Luna to the moon when she became Nightmare Moon, and Aries, tainted by Luna, begged Celestia to send him to Mars, which she did. Tambelon came, and she rang the bell to send it back. This led to the end of the Dark Age and the begining of the Sixth Age of Pony.
This age saw pony kind become lazy and partyholics. They came to be called the third generation. Tambelon came, and the third Generation fell to Sunstar before Celestia could ring the bell and send it back. This also ended the Sixth Age of Pony.
200 years of Dark Age saw Celestia rebuild her home. After this Dark Age came the current age, the Seventh Age of Pony. Luna and Aries returned and were purified by the Elements. Tambelon returned, but the bell was shattered... | <urn:uuid:b6bbce9f-d3d9-432a-9fd6-0e1ba2691f6b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Sunstar | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394605.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00192-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982122 | 1,918 | 2.75 | 3 |
Portuguese Grammar Reference ("QuickGrammar")
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>>Portuguese Nouns > Regular Nouns > Articles and Nouns
Portuguese has four definite and four indefinite articles. To understand which article to use with each noun, you must first know the noun's gender. The gender of the noun alone determines the gender of the articles used with it. Ano year can be modified as um ano a year or o ano the year. The word festa feast can be modified as uma festa a feast or a festa the feast.
Since every Portuguese noun has a singular form and a plural form, you must use the corresponding form of the article (see number). If you know the noun's gender, then you will simply use the appropriate masculine plural or feminine plural article. Anos years can be modified as uns anos some years or os anos the years. The word festas feasts can be modified as umas festas some feasts or as festas the feasts.
Portuguese adjectives also change to reflect the number and gender of the noun in a similar manner.
Nouns do not typically head sentences in Portuguese. This means that you must use articles with nouns at the beginning of any sentence. You can say time flies in English, where time is the noun, but the correct translation is o tempo foge (the) time flies.
The definite articles are more frequent in Portuguese. You can call the language o português the Portuguese and say falo o português I speak the Portuguese. Fields of study like a história the History or a ciência the Science also demonstrate how much more inclined Portuguese speakers are to use the definite article than speakers of English.
Definite articles also precede proper nouns, a practice that will sound foreign to English speakers. Using a definite article with a person's or place's name adds a hint of familiarity. You can call a country o Brasil the Brazil. You can also say that a Ana fala inglês the Anna speaks English or o Roberto tem idéia (spelled ideia in Portugal) the Robert has an idea. It is not acceptable to use the definite article when calling out someone's name, as in Roberto! venha cá! Robert, come here!.
Indefinite articles, on the other hand, can fall out of a sentence entirely. This is especially true when the noun is the object of an action and you are not setting it apart as one example. Tenho idéia! (in Portugal: tenho ideia!) literally translates I have idea!, but you must use the indefinite an in the same phrase in English. | <urn:uuid:2eb27df6-9fdc-4ca3-8176-fd30dcd08fac> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nativlang.com/po/qg_nouns_articlenouns.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00027-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.877592 | 567 | 4.1875 | 4 |
Contaminants You Can’t See or Smell
When you think of unhealthy air, you might picture billowing factory smoke or car exhaust. But some bad air won’t make you wheeze or hold your nose. Allergens, viruses, and infectious bacteria often hang around undetected. The results can range from minor irritation to major illness.
But don’t reach for the oxygen mask just yet. There’s plenty you can do to keep your air clean and safe for everyone who breathes it.
Does your vacuum cleaner seem to kick up almost as much dust as it picks up? Choose a model that has a HEPA filter. HEPA filters help prevent pollen, dust, and allergens from finding their way back into the air. If you share your space with pets, consider a vacuum cleaner that specialises in picking up animal hair, such as the Samsung NaviBot.
How Air Conditioners Can Help
You don’t need a stand-alone air purifier to get cleaner air. Some air conditioners and heating/cooling units include powerful air purification systems. The same devices that keep you comfortable can also keep the air you breathe clean.
Air conditioners help slow the growth of mold by removing excess moisture from the air. Samsung’s Auto Clean function prevents that moisture from accumulating by running the fan even when the unit is turned off. As a result, both the air conditioner and the room stay dry and clean.
Removing all the various impurities that might be present in the air requires more than a single filter—or even two. Samsung air conditioners use multiple purification technologies. The resulting air doesn’t just smell clean—it is clean, and free of unhealthy particles that can make you uncomfortable or sick.
Key features to look for include advanced filters that capture dust and bacteria that conventional filters can miss. With its large surface area and high density, Samsung’s Full HD Filter removes even the tiniest microscopic particles, keeping your air clean and fresh.
Active Technology Sterilises Impurities
Featured on some models, Samsung’s S-Plasma ion technology takes air purification a step further. Unlike conventional passive filters, S-Plasma ion doesn’t sit around waiting for impurities to come to it—instead, it sends out hydrogen atoms and oxygen ions to scour the room. These particles are harmless to people and pets but fatal to influenza viruses, fungi, bacteria, allergen particles, and other impurities. The result is a strong sterilising effect.
Any air purifying device must circulate the air through every corner of the room in order to provide the full benefit. Make sure the model you choose has sufficient capacity for the area where it’ll be used—and that it’s designed to circulate the air thoroughly throughout that area.
Remember to Clean Your Filter
Cleaning your air conditioner’s filter when needed isn’t exactly an event to remember, but it’s essential. Choose an air conditioner that removes the guesswork by automatically reminding you that it’s time to clean the filter. That way you’ll keep it working at its best.
It’s easy to take indoor air quality for granted, but it’s wiser to do what you can to improve it. With a little effort and some smart shopping, you can make a real difference in the air you breathe. | <urn:uuid:01d6a2bf-2e4b-441d-9a3a-a4bb449d42dc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.samsung.com/ph/article/breathe-easier | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00037-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.909355 | 717 | 2.796875 | 3 |
As stated in lesson one, first and foremost is knowing ones own mind and emotional state. This is critical, as otherwise you cannot be 100% certain if what you are feeling, is or is Not your own. So that being the case, a few practical ways to get to that understanding. In the current day parlance, this is often called your "emotional intelligence".
Keller once said "We do not see things as they are. We see things as we
meaning, is not just what we feel, it's what we think that also matters.
So first off, lets understand a few basic realities about the thing we
It's a plain fact, that what we "feel" influences how we think. It goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, if what we are "feeling" is something outside of our own life events, we could very well react to, and make life choices, based on something that is not our own.
We are at the doctors office, sitting there in that silly paper gown, waiting for the doctor. Suddenly, we feel fear and embarrassment. Now, if this is not your normal reaction to being in this position, and you are not aware of your own thoughts, and are picking up someone else's fears, you could very well develop your own feelings of embarrassment and fear in this situation, and start avoiding your doctor on account of it. Know your own thoughts, and feelings so you can identify what is, and is not your own thoughts.
Emotions control your body response:
We are present when an accident happens, now, if we just "feel" their shock and pain, our mind will react with as much bodily distress as if we are the ones injured, and we will therefore, tend to become just as incapacitated as they are ... or we can empathize with it, and use that inner knowledge to help them, without being overwhelmed ourselves, by events outside ourselves. Gain some distance from events, to prevent being traumatized, but not so much as to leave you disconnected, at a time when that intuitive understanding, could be a very helpful use of your empathy.
Just as an FYI, we have,
in our brain, literally, things called mirror neurons, which means we can
see an event and feel that event, in exacts, a direct duplication, ( yeah,
they finally have proved what we have always known : ) ...
but knowing this is useful, as such knowledge helps you to accept that,
Yes you ARE feeling it, literally. Bone fide proof for empathy, at a brain level, that is measurable.
Emotions are influenced by our beliefs:
Re: the statement of Helen Keller, "We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are." What this means is, if we believe for example, that to be in the presence of an "angry" person is to experience hurt, and we feel this way due to someone who abused us in the past, we are walking around with the notion that to feel anger is "bad", or something to be afraid of. Neither of course is the case, as anger is a normal, and very common human emotional state and we must realize we are allowing our thoughts to color our perception of the events.
As we think, so we are, our thoughts control our reality, so it is just as imperative to fully understand what we believe, and why we believe it. This can mean quite a bit of "soul" searching, with the help of a competent professional if need be, but understand, that what we "perceive" about a thing, is often more real to us, than reality. An Empath must be well versed in their own beliefs and perceptions.
Emotional reactions are not things that just happen:
Other than automatic reactions, that insure our survival ( fight or flight responses) your emotional state is always something you can control. This one is hard to accept, as emotional states just seem to ... happen ! Well to a point, they do, but how we react to them however, is entirely and totally up to us. This is what we can, and must control most of the time. We need the ability to step back from our emotions, and freeze the moment ... and look at it totally dispassionately, and to hold on to that moment as long as you have to, but do not just "react" blindly.
You need a perspective that is not emotionally blinded, either your own, or from outside influences, and once you have that, you can often see ways of handling whatever the situation is, that got your emotions all riled up to start with.
Most negative emotions are based on fear:
Lots of these, and most of them are not even on a conscious level. Fears of being alone, unknowns, ridicule, financial worries, aging, death, and so on, and so on ... the list is almost endless, and is as individual as you are, and these "fears" effect how we think and thereby, what we do. But in order to overcome these fears, you have to be aware of them, which means you have to first admit you even have the fears to begin with.
No outside event can change these feelings, you can be with someone, and still feel alone, you can have lots of money, but still worry over funds ... so it's not events, it's what we think and feel, and therefore fear, that we must face and overcome. This of course, is especially helpful if you are trying to help someone else deal with their negative emotional state, to know that you need to look for and find, what is their fear ?
Feel your emotions, do not just analyze them:
We are very often, afraid of our feelings. We are taught in society that to show strong emotions, is a sign of weakness or loss of control. We apologize if we "break down" and cry. Listen to your thoughts, feel your feelings, you have them for a reason. Write them down if that helps, keep a diary of feelings for a while, and figure out your own thought patterns.
Don't pre-judge them as you write them up, by that I mean don't hesitate to write down the "little" things, all the petty thoughts and minor hurts that we tend to hide, even from ourselves, as they are too "small" to worry about.
Nothing is too small, all those little hurts are more to blame for any negative emotional state we find ourselves in than the "big" issues. We can often handle the big stuff, but shove the annoyances, under the mental rug, where they have a nasty habit of becoming monsters, does an event like "Columbine" ring a bell ? This kind of emotional gunny sacking is not only damaging, it can be downright dangerous, as when that sack full of "petty" hurts blows up, generally, someone's gonna get hurt.
Detail what you feel, and use real words, don't generalize saying.. oh.. I'm feeling Sad today, figure out exactly why you are sad. ( Sadness is another mask for anger by the way, and anger is just another way to say ... I am afraid ... so we are back to identifying fears again ) Is it the weather, your spouse, the kids, money issues, health issues, what is at the root of your fears ?
One of the easiest ways to get at the root of your emotionality is to find a quite place, and just be for a while, meditate, and let the mind run, emotions and all. Let the mind within talk to you, as you will often find out a great deal more about yourself this way, than any analytical process you could do. As a Neil Diamond song said once, "don't think ... feel".
Emotional changes, tracking down the source:
As before, it all starts with knowing your own mind, and your state of emotions at all times. Then comes recognition ... the point when you know something has changed. Look back in the mind, what were you thinking just prior to the state you now find yourself in ? Are they related ? If your current "feelings" and your most recent thought process, are not related, you can just about assume the thought is not your own.
Note when this sudden event took place, where were you ? What were you doing ? Were you thinking of someone in particular? ( In which case you may have a combination of empathy and clairvoyance going on, as it might well be "that" persons feelings your feeling )
Once you have tracked it down, and have figured out ... no, this was not me, take a mental snap shot of that event, so that the next time it happens, you will be quicker to notice it and follow it. This takes practice as you might assume, but it can be done.
As stated in lesson one, shielding for an Empath is imperative, and here are a few basic reasons why you need to and how to do it.
First off, the world can be a very hostile place and for an Empath, overt or even covert hostility can be painful and even damaging, so first things first.
Calmness: Work on creating a centered space in the mind of calmness, certitude, at ease with yourself. To be alert and aware, does NOT mean to be tense as a tick. If you are tense, you tend to break rather than bend when things happen. The way of the uncarved block, so said the Tao, is the state you want, you are not pre-disposed to anything, but are ready for anything.
Make a safe haven inside your head, which is yet another mental exercise, which is not, as is commonly believed, a bolt hole to jump into ... no, rather it is a pond of calm and collectiveness, that you can tap into at need, and sort of, wash the whole situation in this bath of soothing calmness. It becomes a habit, it really does, of when things start to stress up, to reach into the pond and pour calmness all over it, until the situation is brought down to a level where it can be handled. Think ... the negative emotions coming my way, are fire, the logical defense, is still deep water.
Learn to see life spikes, when things just took a jump for the roof, be aware of the emotional temperature around you, at all times. Emotional conflicts are major drains for anyone, but especially for an Empath. Pick your battles, focus on things you feel you can really DO something about.
Control your reaction, breathe
deeply, and let that action trigger your shielding and your calmness (
it's a well known fact, that when we are under stress we tend to hold our
breath, so just the simple act of breathing can take things down a major
notch, and be an automatic cue to the mind of, bring on the water, and
put out this emotional fire )
Beware of Emotional contagion:
This is one of the prime dangers for anyone, but especially for an Empath. Emotional contagion is when we become "infected" by the emotions and moods of others. For most people, this can only happen when they see or hear others, for an Empath, you can get this way, from people across town !
Hall marks of emotional contagion
Emotional contagion happens fast, it's like the shift that happens in a school of fish, the fish in the middle of the school, might not be able to see what made the lead fish, shift position, but everybody moves over anyway. This is contagion. The obvious danger here of course is, you could easily react to something you cannot even see, or that you don't fully understand.
This is especially true of contagion from people who are the closest to you, your spouse, parents, children etc. It's like you are lot more likely to catch a cold, if a family member has it, so too with emotional contagion.
Partly, this is because you have a better understanding of their personalities, and can therefore "read" their mood better, however, your own nearest and dearest, are your largest contributors to emotional contagion, so be aware of it, as it is ten times more likely to happen with them, as it is with outsiders.
Your own self confidence, and control will help you prevent this kind of emotional take over ... if your a reclusive introvert, who blinks owlishly at the light of day, and avoids others like the plague, your are a lot more likely to be overwhelmed by the emotions of others, as you are more vulnerable to them, than your more out spoken counterparts, who spend a lot of time interacting with others.
You have to get tougher, get out there and experience others, get used to them, learn to handle them, and you will not find yourself overwhelmed by them. If you are never among them, every time you stick your head out, it's going to feel like you are being run over by a freight train. Take it slowly, work your way out there, to where you can walk in a crowd with calmness, but it will never happen, unless you do some desensitization work and get used to it.
Notice how you feel around different people. Does a certain party make you feel distressed all the time ? Or create other strong emotional states? Figure out if its related to contagion, or something else ? I mean, it's not contagion if they appear happy go lucky, and all this does is irritate you ! At that point you have to ask yourself why their apparent happy state, creates an opposite reaction in you ?
( My favorite "good morning" all smiles and grins, to which I say... yeah right, the only thing good to say about most mornings, is I am not there to see them and if I am forced to be there to see them, the last thing I want is some die hard morning person bustling around with vim, vigor and vitality ,telling me what a lovely morning it is, when all I want ... is to go back to bed ! ) So our perceptions again, do matter, regardless of another's possibility to infect us with their mood.
Emotional Empathy is not always a good thing:
The flip side of the force, several things, one, too much empathy, without managing it, leads to major burnout. The average "life expectancy" in the helping professions, is 5-10 years, max ... before they burn out. Most often due to the fact, that most of those who go into the helping trades, tend to rate high on the empathic scale, but unless they are under control of their empathy, they quite literally, can fry.
This effect is well known, so we get told to have "professional detachment" which is good, but ... warning ... you can go too far with this, and become out and out indifferent to others, or worse, develop sociothopathic behaviors.
A evil Empath you say ? Yep ... your Marquee De Sade type of person, has a high degree of Empathy, it is how they know exactly what to say or do to hurt the worst ! These persons are completely detached from any sharing of feeling with their victim, but yet, they can read them, perfectly.
Emotional states on auto pilot:
Yet another risk factor, automatic thoughts. These are things that we tend to short cut, and get ahead of ourselves, going into distressed reactions, before we have had a chance to saddle up our brains and really think about it. Most prejudice is like this, it's an emotional reaction, based on a pre judgmental thought, that often has nothing whatsoever to do with the current situation.
Monitor your thoughts, always, always, ask yourself, "why did I do that ? Think that ?" if you cannot immediately give a detailed, logical and rational answer to that question, you have thoughts that are working on auto pilot, that you need to get a handle on. This is particularly so, if you are reacting to thoughts coming from outside yourself.
Do not just accept emotional reactions as valid, without being positive of where they came from, and what lead up to them. Drag the mind away from it's emotional state for a moment and go "ok, just had response A, where the heck did A come from?" and send the brain off on a seek and find mission. There is always a thread to a first thought, things just don't "happen" in your head without rhyme or reason, there is a logical progression, and with practice you can, and must seek out these threads of thought, in order to honestly "know your own mind".
Lesson three, the Dark side and relationship issues | <urn:uuid:eabc4496-8cd3-45e3-8c05-4fe69699b88a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://paganandproudofit.com/empath-2.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97266 | 3,491 | 3.046875 | 3 |
September 28, 1863
Broke Jail. – On Thursday about 2 o’clock in the forenoon Reason K. Fowler and John Yost confined, the former for stealing a horse and the latter for robbing the cars at Glover’s Gap, broke jail and made their escape out the Clarksburg pike. They effected their escape by loosening the iron bolt which passes through the wall and to which the lock of the door is attached. The bolt was fastened on the inside of the cell by a bur which they unscrewed, and pushing the bolt out, the door was open. We wonder, that with such easy facilities, they did not get out long ago.
They were pursued within ten minutes after they got out and if proper efforts are made we have no doubt of their capture. - Fairmont National.
Both of the above named scamps have been before the Federal Court in this city. They are consumate rebel scoundrels, each, who ought not, if possible, be permitted to escape.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: September 1863 | <urn:uuid:6ce619ca-f017-43a8-bf64-9168982d350f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wvculture.org/history/sesquicentennial/18630924a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981951 | 226 | 2.71875 | 3 |
NEW YORK — Over the past several decades, staph infections resistant to multiple antibiotics have become a major problem for hospitals, according to a press release.
Such infections contracted outside of a medical setting have also been problematic: The rate of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) peaked at 62 percent of the population in 2006, the release stated.
According to the release, the increased awareness of this problem may finally have had some impact; a new study, published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), has identified a decline in the rate of MRSA infections among the over nine million military personnel (both active-duty and non-active) it observed.
Researchers led by Dr. Michael Landrum at the San Antonio Military Medical Center found that, between 2005 and 2010, there was a decline in the rate of both community-onset and hospital-onset MRSA, the release noted.
"Physicians and other healthcare professionals seem finally to be placing greater emphasis on improving hygienic environments in the hospital setting," said Landrum.
"It has been estimated that hospital infections — including those from MRSA — may have been responsible for 90,000 deaths a year, so it''s good to see that preventive measures are being taken to reduce the number of lives lost to hospital-onset bacterial infections," said American Council on Science and Health''s (ACSH) Dr. Gilbert Ross.
Click here to read the complete release. | <urn:uuid:1126a2ea-3d06-4ddc-8eb5-88afe59c07a1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cmmonline.com/articles/mrsa-infections-see-a-decline-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961451 | 311 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Advancing Basic Science for Humanity
04/09/2014 - Stalking Gamma Rays from the Ground
Originally published by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Key components for a new type of camera that will collect only the faintest, fastest flashes of light in the night sky are being assembled and tested now at SLAC. Their eventual destination: the first Compact High-energy Camera (CHEC), which will be installed in a prototype telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array.
The CTA is a ground-based gamma-ray observatory currently under development by an international consortium with more than 1000 members from 27 countries. The CTA will detect ultra-high-energy gamma rays, which are beyond even the reach of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Current plans call for the observatory to comprise two separate arrays – one in the Northern Hemisphere and one in the Southern Hemisphere – totaling more than 100 telescopes of three different sizes.
The telescopes are now under development. Researchers at SLAC are testing modules of electronic components for the first CHEC camera, which will be installed on a prototype telescope later this year.
But most gamma rays from cosmic sources are blocked by the Earth’s atmosphere. What will the camera be looking at?
'Seeing' Gamma Rays
Gamma rays are the most energetic form of electromagnetic radiation – energetic enough they cause showers of secondary particles when they hit the atmosphere. The particles race toward the ground so fast they break the speed of light in our atmosphere. This is considerably slower than the speed of light in a vacuum, but still speedy enough to cause them to emit a form of radiation called Cherenkov radiation.
"It’s really just light – bluish light," said Stefan Funk, an astrophysicist at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, a joint SLAC-Stanford institute. Faint blue light that flashes on and off in about five nanoseconds: "If we had nanosecond eyes, we could see it," he said.
Unfortunately we don't have nanosecond eyes, and neither do CCD cameras, which are the type of camera generally used at observatories to collect light. That's where the CHEC camera comes in.
Each CHEC camera contains modules of customized electronic components, beginning with photomultipliers. A photomultiplier can capture a single photon, or particle of light, and amplify its signal for a detector to read. But the real heart of each module is a special integrated circuit chip called a TARGET chip, developed at the University of Hawaii in collaboration with SLAC researchers. Each TARGET chip can read the signals from 16 individual pixels on a photomultiplier one billion times a second – fast enough to capture the flashes of Cherenkov light.
"The prototype camera we're building uses 32 modules, each with a 64-pixel photomultiplier and four TARGET chips," said KIPAC postdoctoral researcher Luigi Tibaldo. "It will be installed on a prototype of the smallest telescope," which represents the majority of instruments needed for the arrays; the TARGET chips are also under consideration for some of the mid-sized telescopes under development. This adds up to around 60 telescopes to equip, making cost an important factor in the design.
To address this issue, the modules can easily be mass-produced, Funk said. Their colleague Gary Varner of the University of Hawaii works with industry partners to create the TARGET chips and the photomultipliers are supplied by Hamamatsu Photonics, a Japanese firm.
Later this month, after Tibaldo and his colleagues at SLAC have finished assembling and testing the modules, they'll be shipped to collaboration partners at the University of Leicester in England for more tests and final assembly into a camera, a step Funk says he's eagerly awaiting.
"The good thing about having our modules assembled into a camera now is that we'll learn a lot that will help us make the entire package – telescopes and cameras – better," he said. | <urn:uuid:adb3a6c0-5e14-46a9-82d8-1f8f94398133> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kavlifoundation.org/kavli-news/stalking-gamma-rays-ground | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00038-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926876 | 830 | 3.546875 | 4 |
The moon, seen from the International Space Station, on July 31.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity on July 20, 1969.
Can astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's "giant leap for mankind" be permanently preserved? Two House Democrats want to do just that: They proposed a bill to create a national historic park for the Apollo 11 mission — on the moon. The legislation would designate a park on the moon to honor that first mission, as well as preserve artifacts from other lunar missions
But Rep. Donna Edwards of Maryland and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson from Texas might have a legal hurdle to memorializing those first lunar steps, taken 44 years ago on Saturday.
What countries can and cannot do on the moon is dictated by a body of international treaties, says Dr. Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. He tells NPR's Jacki Lyden that most of those agreements were negotiated during the "space race" with the Russians in the 1960s.
"Probably the most important one is the 1967 Outer Space Treaty," Pace says. "Nations cannot claim sovereignty over celestial bodies. So you can't plant a flag on the moon and claim it for the United States."
So, Pace says, it doesn't look like there will be a U.S. national park on the moon any time soon because the legislation appears to contradict international law.
"That being said, the issue that the legislation tries to address is, in fact, actually a real one," he says. "There are a number of historical sites on the moon that I think people would feel strongly about — not only American sites, but also Soviet and Russian sites. And arguably there will be other people there in the future."
In order to make way for these kinds of celestial memorials, countries would have to agree to new rules.
Without creating new laws, what are other ways to honor those famous first steps? Pace can imagine a way for tourists to experience the moment, even without actually going to the moon.
"One can imagine robotically controlled rovers roaming around on the moon. There are even more advanced proposals for landing people on the moon, but I think those are actually quite a ways in the future," he says. "But robotic rovers on the moon controlled by others who want to go and visit and sort of peer virtually at former lunar landing sites, that's certainly within the realm of possibility."
As for the broader future of human-space interaction, Pace envisions four possible scenarios: space colonies, Everest, Antarctica or a North Sea oil platform. Each of the models depends upon the answers to two fundamental questions, he says: "Can you live off the land?" and "Can you do anything to pay your way?"
If the answer to both of these questions is yes, then space colonies are possible. If the answer to both questions is no, then space is like Mount Everest: "People go there for adventure — even tourists go there — but nobody really lives there. It's a symbol."
If you can live off the land, but there's nothing commercially useful, "then space is like Antarctica," Pace says. "We have tourists, we have scientists and researchers, and it's an international cooperative effort, but again, no one lives there."
What if we can do something commercially useful, like mining, but the land is not inhabitable? You end up with something like a North Sea oil platform: You go there for business, but you don't live there.
"We don't really know which [scenario] is going to happen," Pace says. "And the purpose of exploration is to find out what kind of future — if any — humans have beyond the planet. That's one of the more profound questions I think we can ask." | <urn:uuid:349af6fd-857c-4c58-89dd-4b6aded9b0b1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ideastream.org/news/npr/203605390 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00055-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960643 | 793 | 3.75 | 4 |
By Dr. Mercola
If you'd like to know how much body fat you have, and whether or not your levels put you into a weight category that might lead to health problems, most public health agencies, and therefore most physicians, promote the use of the Body Mass Index (BMI).
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) call it a "reliable indicator of body fatness" for most people, but new research confirms that the method, which gauges weight in relation to height, is actually seriously flawed.
BMI is Not a Reliable Method for Diagnosing Overweight or Obesity
According to CDC estimates, which are based on BMIs, the United States has an obesity rate of 20 percent, with certain states approaching 30 percent. Researchers from New York University compared a DXA (duel-energy x-ray absorptiometry) scan, which is a FAR more accurate method to assess body fat percentage, to BMI and found the CDC estimates likely seriously underestimate the rate of obesity in the U.S.
- BMI characterized 26% of the subjects as obese, while DXA indicated that 64% of them were obese
- 39% of the subjects were classified as non-obese by BMI, but were found to be obese by DXA
- BMI misclassified 25% men and 48% women
According to lead author Dr. Eric Braverman, president of the nonprofit Path Foundation in New York City:
"Based on BMI, about one-third of Americans are considered obese, but when other methods of measuring obesity are used, that number may be closer to 60%."i
One of the primary reasons why BMI is a flawed measurement tool is that it uses weight as a measure of risk, when it is actually a high percentage of body fat that makes a person obese. Your weight takes into account your bone structure, for instance, so a big-boned person may weigh more, but that certainly doesn't mean they have more body fat. BMI also tells you nothing about where fat is located in your body, and it appears that the location of the fat, particularly if it's around your stomach, is more important than the absolute amount of fat when it comes to measuring certain health risks, especially heart disease.
Improving BMI Accuracy
The researchers noted a strong relationship between increased leptin and increased body fat, and recommended that "clinicians can use leptin-revised levels to enhance the accuracy of BMI estimates of percentage body fat when DXA is unavailable." The hormones your fat cells produce impact how much you eat and how much fat you burn. One of these hormones is leptin, and leptin sends signals that reduce hunger, increase fat burning and reduce fat storage. That is, if your cells are communicating properly and can "hear" this message.
In my mind this may work but is not nearly as practical or certainly as inexpensive as measuring a person's body fat through a variety of techniques that are discussed below. My favorite is waist size because it is a simple easily reproduced measurement that is virtually free. The only requirement is a tape measure and if you don't already have one we carry one in our store that is specifically designed for measuring waist size easily.
What's One of the Most Accurate Measures of Obesity?
The other tool, which many experts are now leaning toward as the most accurate measure of obesity, is body fat percentage. As it sounds, this is simply the percentage of fat your body contains, and it can be a powerful indicator of your health. Too much body fat is linked to chronic health problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Too little body fat is also problematic and can cause your body to enter a catabolic state, where muscle protein is used as fuel. A general guideline from the American Council on Exercise is as follows:ii
||Women (% fat)
||Men (% fat)
I would encourage you to not make the mistake that I did as I was seeking to get healthy. More is not necessarily better. What does that mean here? One might think that getting to be highly athletic and "super fit" and have really low body fat percentage would be a sign of excellent health, but the reality is that it isn't.
It would certainly allow you to more effectively compete at whatever athletic endeavor you choose but the down side is that it would lower your fertility level. This is typically a good indicator of how healthy you are. You see you can't optimize for health and competitive fitness, you can only have one or the other. So if you are striving for health it would be wise to strive for the fitness levels.
How to Measure Your Body Fat
Body fat calipers are one of the most trusted and most accurate ways to measure body fat when used correctly. A body fat, or skinfold, caliper is a lightweight, hand-held device that quickly and easily measures the thickness of a fold of your skin with its underlying layer of fat. Taken at three very specific locations on your body, these readings can help you estimate the total percent of body fat within your entire body. (Skinfold measurement is the method most widely used by fitness trainers.)
For even greater accuracy, you can resort to hydrostatic weighing, where you get weighed under water. This measures the density of your body, which is then used to calculate how much body fat you have.
Another technique that is gaining support by medical and fitness experts is the bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). To measure body impedance, an electrical signal is passed through your body. Impedance is greatest in fat tissue, which contains low amounts of water, while fat-free mass, which contains up to 75 percent water, allows the signal to pass through fairly unimpeded. This measurement, along with other factors such as your height, weight, and body type, is then used to calculate your percentage of body fat, fat-free mass and other body composition values.
There are now bathroom scales that use this technology. I picked one up from Eat Smartiii that I have been using for the last four months. I find it's a simple way to monitor my body fat percentage. It may overestimate a bit as it has me at 13.5 percent when I tested between 11 and 12 percent using other methods, but it is very accurate in measuring day-to-day variability, and can be an excellent and inexpensive way to monitor your progress on optimizing your body fat so it is in line with your health goals.
A DEXA scan is probably one of the most accurate ways to measure body fat but it is difficult to find a center that uses them to measure body fat percentage. There are many DEXA scans out there but most are used to measure bone density.
Additionally, a DEXA scan is an X-ray, which will expose you to radiation, and is far more expensive than all of the other methods discussed. For a fraction of the price of one DEXA scan you can pick up an Eat Smart scale, or for even less a set of skinfold calipers, and use them daily to monitor your progress. Remember that it is FAR better to monitor your body fat percentage than it is your total weight, as your body fat percentage is what dictates metabolic health or dysfunction -- not your total weight.
What About Measuring Your Waist Size?
This is my favorite method for indirectly measuring body fat. This is another simple tool you can use to gain even more insight into your health, as waist size provides a far more accurate benchmark for predicting your risk of death from a heart attack and from other causes than does BMI. Determining your waist size is easy. With a tape measure, measure the distance around the smallest area of your abdomen, below your rib cage and above your belly button. The following is a general guide for healthy waist circumference:
- Men: 37 to 40 inches is overweight; greater than 40 inches is obese
- Women: 31.5 to 34.6 inches is overweight; greater than 34.6 inches is obese
The reason why this is a better indicator of heart disease risk is because your waist size is related to the type of fat that is stored around your waistline, called "visceral fat" or "belly fat." This type of fat is strongly linked to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other chronic diseases. It is thought that visceral fat is related to the release of proteins and hormones that cause inflammation, which can in turn damage your arteries and affect how you metabolize sugars and fats.
An expanded waistline is associated with insulin resistance, high blood pressure, lipid imbalance, cardiovascular disease, thickening of the walls of your heart, and even increased risk for developing Alzheimer's disease decades later.
What to Do if Your Body Fat Percentage is Too High
For the majority of people, severely restricting carbohydrates such as sugars, fructose, and grains in your diet will be the key to weight loss. Refined carbohydrates like breakfast cereals, bagels, waffles, pretzels, and most other processed foods quickly break down to sugar, increase your insulin levels, and cause insulin resistance, which is the number one underlying factor of nearly every chronic disease and condition known to man, including weight gain.
As you cut these dietary villains from your meals, you need to replace them with healthy substitutes like vegetables and healthy fats (including natural saturated fats!). I've detailed a step-by-step guide to this type of healthy eating program in my comprehensive nutrition plan, and I urge you to consult this guide if you are trying to lose weight.
Additionally, a growing body of evidence shows that certain forms of fasting are particularly effective for losing weight. One of the mechanisms that makes fasting so effective for weight loss is the fact that it provokes the secretion of human growth hormone (HGH), which is a fat-burning hormone. It also plays an important role in muscle building. Fasting also increases catecholamines, which increases resting energy expenditure, while decreasing insulin levels, which allows stored fat to be burned for fuel.
Together, these and other factors will turn you into an effective fat-burning machine. Hence, if like many tens of millions of people, your goal is to shed excess fat, fasting can be both effective and beneficial for improving many disease markers. The type of fast you choose appears to be less important, so pick whichever one fits your lifestyle, schedule, and temperament the best.
The variations include:
- Scheduled Eating, or intermittent fasting. In essence this fitness-enhancing strategy looks at the timing of meals, as well as when NOT to eat. The longest time you'll ever abstain from food is 36 hours, although 14-18 hours is more common. You can also opt to simply delay eating. For example, skipping breakfast may be just the thing to kick-start you off a plateau in your fitness routine. For more details, please see this more in-depth article on intermittent fasting.
- LeanGains (a fasting protocol by Martin Berkhaniv )—A daily 14-16 hour fast, during which time you consume nothing, with the exception of non-caloric fluids. Sleeping time is included in this time-frame, leaving an 8-10 hour window during the day when you're allowed to eat.
This protocol is designed with regular exercise in mind, with specific nutrient ratios for workout days and rest days, and is geared for those who want to shed excess fat and gain muscle mass. Hence, it's best suited for those who are actually exercising and lifting weights each week and can tolerate working out in a fasted state.
- Eat Stop Eat (created by Brad Pilonv )—In this protocol, you fast for a full 24 hours once or twice a week. Your fast should be broken with a regular-sized meal (i.e. avoid gorging when coming off your fast), and you can maintain a regular exercise program without any special diet recommendations for workout days.
Fasting for 24 hours can be tough for some people, but eating a high-fat, low-carb diet can make 24-hour fasting easier, as a higher fat diet will tend to normalize your hunger hormones and provide improved satiety for longer periods of time.
- The Warrior Diet (by Ori Hofmekler)—This is another protocol designed to improve your fitness by exercising in a fasted state. I've interviewed Ori and posted detailed articles on this in the past. His plan calls for 20 hours of fasting, and four hours of "feasting." You exercise during the day in a fasted state. Raw vegetables are allowed during your fast, but no protein, which is reserved for "feasting" or post-exercise recovery meals.
To learn more about the Warrior Diet, please see this previous interview with Ori.
- Alternate Day Fasting—This fasting protocol is exactly as it sounds: one day off, one day on. When you include sleeping time, the fast can end up being as long as 32-36 hours. This may be the most difficult of all types of fasting, as it will require you to go to bed with an empty stomach a few times a week. It's definitely not for everyone.
You can also simply let your hunger guide you and skip meals if you're not hungry. While this should work really well for those who are otherwise healthy and are not struggling with food cravings, it may not work if you're constantly craving food. Food cravings is a sign that you're not providing your body with proper nutrients in the appropriate ratios, so following your hunger in this case could be staggeringly counterproductive.
Fasting is not something you should undertake willy-nilly. You need to pay careful attention to your body, your energy levels, and how it makes you feel in general—especially if you're diabetic, hypoglycemic, or pregnant, categories for which fasting is not appropriate.
The foods you choose to eat, and how much you eat, will be the driving force behind successfully achieving your weight loss goals -- even more so than exercise. But exercise is still important for weight loss and optimal health. The key to boosting weight loss and getting the most out of your exercise routine is to make sure to incorporate high-intensity, short-burst-type exercises, such as my Peak Fitness Program, two to three times per week. Several studies have confirmed that exercising in shorter bursts with rest periods in between burns more fat than exercising continuously for an entire session. | <urn:uuid:19d40d59-a1c8-4aa8-915a-fbe5934a4cdc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/06/15/why-bmi-is-not-a-great-indicator-of-body-composition.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00009-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957392 | 2,975 | 3.296875 | 3 |
|Image from the video at 1:12 PM Feb. 12|
The temperature and dew point at Skunk Bay (see graphic) and other nearby sites (e.g., Wahl Rd on Whidbey Is, also shown) were close but not at saturation (the dew point was a few degrees less than the temperature).
air was forced up quickly along that share.. As the air was forced to rise, it cooled (air moving from higher pressure to lower pressure expands and cools). The temperature fell to the dew point and the air became saturated, producing a cloud. As shown in the picture above, and the video below, the cloud was not only maintained over the land, but streamed downwind of the island.
How much will air cool moving up a slope? If we assume that the air rose 100 meters (328 ft) and assume the dry adiabatic lapse rate (9.8 C per km, the rate that unsaturated air parcels cool when they are forced to rise), we get a decrease of .98C or 1.8F, which was enough to bring the temperature down to the dew point.
Greg Johnson produced a wonderful slow-motion video of the event; click on the image to view it yourself.
If you want real visual treat, check out his melding of TWO cams into one wide image--it doesn't get much better than that! (click on image below): | <urn:uuid:dcf095df-193b-42ab-9b3b-1346cc759162> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2013/02/island-clouds.html | 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 | 0.965417 | 298 | 2.8125 | 3 |
What do biologists do?
There are several career paths you can follow as a biologist, including these:
Research: Research biologists study the natural world, using the latest scientific tools and techniques in both laboratory settings and the outdoors, to understand how living systems work. Many work in exotic locations around the world, and what they discover increases our understanding of biology and may be put to practical use to find solutions to specific problems.
Health care: Biologists may develop public health campaigns to defeat illnesses such as tuberculosis, AIDS, cancer, and heart disease. Others work to prevent the spread of rare, deadly diseases, such as the now infamous Ebola virus. Veterinarians tend to sick and injured animals, and doctors, dentists, nurses, and other health care professionals maintain the general health and well being of their patients.
Environmental management and conservation: Biologists in management and conservation careers are interested in solving environmental problems and preserving the natural world for future generations. Park rangers protect state and national parks, help preserve their natural resources, and educate the general public. Zoo biologists carry out endangered species recovery programs. In addition, management and conservation biologists often work with members of a community such as landowners and special interest groups to develop and implement management plans.
Education: Life science educators enjoy working with people and encouraging them to learn new things, whether in a classroom, a research lab, the field, or a museum.
Colleges and universities: Professors and lecturers teach introductory and advanced biology courses. They may also mentor students with projects and direct research programs.
Primary and secondary schools: Teaching younger students requires a general knowledge of science and skill at working with different kinds of learners. High school teachers often specialize in biology and teach other courses of personal interest.
Science museums, zoos, aquariums, parks, and nature centers: Educators in these settings may design exhibits and educational programs, in addition to teaching special classes or leading tours and nature hikes.
New directions in biological careers: There are many careers for biologists who want to combine their scientific training with interests in other fields. Here are some examples:
Biotechnology: Biologists apply scientific principles to develop and enhance products, tools, and technological advances in fields such as agriculture, food science, and medicine.
Forensic science: Forensic biologists work with police departments and other law enforcement agencies using scientific methods to discover and process evidence that can be used to solve crimes.
Politics and policy: Science advisors work with lawmakers to create new legislation on topics such as biomedical research and environmental protection. Their input is essential, ensuring that decisions are based upon solid science.
Business and industry: Biologists work with drug companies and providers of scientific products and services to research and test new products. They also work in sales, marketing, and public relations positions.
Economics: Trained professionals work with the government and other organizations to study and address the economic impacts of biological issues, such as species extinctions, forest protection, and environmental pollution.
Mathematics: Biologists in fields such as bioinformatics and computational biology apply mathematical techniques to solve biological problems, such as modeling ecosystem processes and gene sequencing.
Science writing and communication: Journalists and writers with a science background inform the general public about relevant and emerging biological issues.
Art: All the illustrations in your biology textbook, as well as in newspaper and magazine science articles, were created by talented artists with a thorough understanding of biology.
UCA Career Services: Career Resource Links
National Science Foundation: http://www.nsf.gov/about/career_opps/ | <urn:uuid:70b495d6-13b6-49df-9acc-ef882d2f814c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://uca.edu/biology/careers-in-biology/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399428.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934493 | 729 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Electrical regulations must be followed by law. If you are not a competent person under the regulations do not attempt electrical work. Click here for the meaning of competency.
Not following electrical regulations and ignoring electrical safety is responsible for many deaths every year in this Country. This is why the Government have bought in more electrical regulations in the form of Part P.
In March 2006 the Electrical Safety Council published some amazing figures:
- 42% of home owners stated they had never had their electrics checked
- 32% of DIY enthusiasts said they had experienced electrical shocks while working on their homes
- A staggering 59% of people do not use, or refer to a qualified electrician when doing electrical work
- 35% of homeowners said their electrics were older than 15 years and had not been checked.
Electrics should be checked at least every 10 years. There are 12,500 electrical fires in homes across the UK every year so please pay attention to electrical regulations and stay safe. Advice on electrical safety for householders can be found on the www.esc.org.uk website
Please also see our project on the New Wiring and Cable Colours.
Checklist and Safety Guidelines
- overall safety when working with electrics
- Electrics - how it works
- Electrical safety with electric cables
- Electrical safety with fuses
- Electrical safety with ceiling roses
Please remember when attempting any electrical installations at home that you are obliged to get the completed job tested by a fully qualified electrician and obtain a minor works certificate. Failure to do this may render your house insurance invalid and you may have difficulty selling your home.
Check all walls for wires and pipes before cutting out for any new cables and boxes. A detector such as the one below can identify cables in the wall.
If in any doubt whatever consult a qualified electrician. There is a legal requirement to obtain a completion certificate from a qualified electrician for any work you do that requires a mains connection. For any work within circuits a minor works certificate should be obtained.
- Turn off the power and remove the fuse from any circuit you are working on.
- Make sure no-one can turn the power on by mistake.
- Use only approved materials.
How the Electricity in Your Home Works
An electrical supply will come to your home at a main, sealed fuse called a service head and from there will go to your meter via one large red and one large black wire. The meter measures how much electricity you use. At no time should you touch either the service head or the meter.
From here the electricity will go to your consumer unit, from where it is distributed around the house. Each circuit is fused at this box either by an amp rated fuse wire, or a trip switch if you have an RCD (Residual Current Device).
The amount of electricity available to you is measured in Volts, and the rate at which it flows along its conductors is measured in amps. The power required by any appliance is measured in Watts. The formula for working out the correct cable and fuse is; Watts / Volts = Amps (or watts divided by volts equals amps).
A way to picture the volts is as the "potential difference" such as the height of a hill (metaphorically speaking), and the Amps are the rate that the electricity is "allowed to roll down the hill". Resistance stops or slows the rate of flow "down the hill" and this is measured in Ohms.
Remember your consumer meter does not actually measure volts or amps, it measures energy that is consumed which is the amount of Watts that are used every hour by all the electrical appliances you are using, generally referred to as kWh or Kilowatt hours.
The amount of electricity used (rather than electricity available - Volts) is measured in Amp/Hours. You can think of this as the "flow per hour" if we use our hill analogy.
Electricity flows along the live wire, feeding whatever is required and then returns along the neutral wire to its local transformer. The flow can be stopped by the insertion of a switch, which for all practical DIY purposes is placed in the live wire.
Switches, most often, will be linked from your ceiling rose through a separate cable, even though one of the wires in this cable is black it is still live.
Electricity will always find the shortest or easiest route and you may represent that route, so be careful!
Electrical Cables and how They Work
Fixed wiring is done in cable. This consists of individual conductors (wires) sheathed separately, by insulation to prevent leakage. The earth or "ground" wire is normally bare. The wires are then jointly covered by the outer sheath. The wires are colour coded, red for live, black for neutral and green/yellow striped for earth, where this is covered. Modern cables are sheathed with PVC which has an indefinite life, older cables were rubber with about 20/30 years life. If your home has these cables do not attempt electrical extensions with them. When installed, bare earth wires should be covered with an "earth sleeve" which can be bought in all sizes at an electrical store or most diy stores.
1.5mm is most common in lighting circuits. When installed it must not exceed 110m in length and carries a fuse rating of 5amps. (6 amps if used in conjunction with a miniature circuit breaker). It is acceptable to run 1200 Watts on this cable, the equivalent of 12 x 100 Watt bulbs, but lighting circuits are normally run independently on each floor of your house.
2.5mm (as above but larger) is usually used for the installation of power sockets on a ring main. The circuit uses a 30 amp fuse at the consumer unit (32 with a MCB). Cable length must not exceed 60m or 50m with an MCB.
Three core and earth is used to interconnect switches with more than one operation:
Flex, is simply flexible cable and is used for connecting appliances. The colour coding is different using brown for live, blue for neutral and green/yellow stripes for earth.
There are many more cables for connecting cookers etc, but these are generally run directly from the consumer unit and require a professional electrician for their installation.
You may also find it necessary to run some cables through plasterboard walls or ceilings, ceiling joists and other timber materials. If this is the case then the best thing to use is a flat drill bit or hybrid drill bit as these types of bit will cut a nice clean and tidy hole through what ever surface you are drilling into (for more information see our tool review on flat drill bits and also our review of the hybrid drill bit).
What are Electrical Fuses?
Fuses are placed into a circuit as a deliberate weak point. If anything goes wrong within your circuit, the fuse will "blow" first. With the modern RCD boxes, the trip switch will go. BUT BEFORE YOU PUSH IT BACK ON, LOCATE THE REASON WHY IT TRIPPED. Most of the time it is because the circuit has been overloaded or there is an earth fault. If you are in doubt contact an electrician.
How Does a Ceiling Rose Work?
We have included ceiling roses in this section because it is the most misunderstood fitting of all. Many people think they can take the old one off, do not mark the wires, and connect a new fitting, black to black, red to red. It is not that easy, because in the majority of cases your light switch will be wired to the rose, and in that case, at least one of the black wires will be live. Below is a diagram of a wired ceiling rose showing you what to look for when working with one.
For regulations governing heights of sockets etc, please visit our Electrical Socket Height project page | <urn:uuid:08259b18-2827-42d3-beeb-7cd944661116> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/electrical_safety.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947316 | 1,612 | 2.828125 | 3 |
If Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari and Yonatan Winetraub succeed and send a robot to the moon, they'll donate their millions in prize money to promote science among Israel youth. Yesterday the trio announced their participation in the Google Lunar X Prize competition - an effort to send an unmanned vehicle to the moon and beam back high-quality photos and short films.Those Israelis, always trying to grab land.
The competition seeks to encourage space scientists and engineers from around the world to develop cheap technologies for robotic space exploration. To win, a team needs to raise private funding; the first team to achieve the mission gets $13 million; second prize is $5 million. The other prizes total $5 million. So far 13 groups have registered for the competition; prizes can be won up to the end of 2015.
The X Prize gained publicity in 2004 when Burt Rutan, who led a group in cooperation with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the first private manned spaceship.
The Israeli group's official declaration was issued at a space conference held by Tel Aviv University's Yuval Ne'eman workshop for science and technology. The group goes by the name SpaceIL and is registered in Israel as a nonprofit organization. It's the only Israeli team in the competition.
The three young men are not motivated by money; they view the competition as a national mission to develop Israel's ability to explore space.
The group has a website, http://www.spaceil.com, in Hebrew. "Our mission is to put the Israeli flag on the moon. During the next two years, we intend to build a small space robot that will make the long journey from the earth to the moon. The vision is to promote technological education in Israel," the website states.
Will the UN be next?
3 hours ago | <urn:uuid:bd032c46-c212-4d2b-8cfd-0658380f8b0a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2011/02/israelis-plan-to-occupy-14-million.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00023-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945994 | 374 | 2.609375 | 3 |
On January 8, 1964, in his first State of the Union speech, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a "War On Poverty." Johnson's declaration came just weeks after succeeding to the White House upon the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Making poverty a national concern set in motion a series of bills and acts, creating programs such as Head Start, food stamps, work study, Medicare and Medicaid, which still exist today. The programs initiated under Johnson brought about real results, reducing rates of poverty and improved living standards for America's poor. While the poverty rate has remained steady since the 1970s, today the WV Office of Economic Opportunity is dedicated to continuing the fight through the support of innovative and strong programs with a focus on changing the lives of West Virginians, strengthening agency capacity and strengthening WV communities. | <urn:uuid:2a1f5b57-3d37-4576-92a2-ec5e8b5b41ba> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oeo.wv.gov/Pages/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00091-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955599 | 163 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Ants Solve Steiner Problem
|February 18, 2011||Posted by William Dembski under Intelligent Design|
Some years back, ID critic Dave Thomas used to tout the power of genetic algorithms for their ability of solve the Steiner Problem, which basically tries to minimize distance of paths that connect nodes on a two-dimensional surface (last I looked, he’s still making this line of criticism — see here). In fact, none of his criticisms hit the mark — the information problem that he claims to resolve in evolutionary terms merely pushes the design problem deeper, as the peer-reviewed research at the Evolutionary Informatics Lab makes clear (go to the publications page there).
Now here’s an interesting twist: Colonies of ants, when they make tracks from one colony to another minimize path-length and thereby also solve the Steiner Problem (see “Ants Build Cheapest Network“). So what does this mean in evolutionary terms? In ID terms, there’s no problem — ants were designed with various capacities, and this either happens to be one of them or is one acquired through other programmed/designed capacities. On Darwinian evolutionary grounds, however, one would have to say something like the following: ants are the result of a Darwinian evolutionary process that programmed the ants with, presumably, a genetic algorithm that enables them, when put in separate colonies, to trace out paths that resolve the Steiner Problem. In other words, evolution, by some weird self-similarity, embedded an evolutionary program into the neurophysiology of the ants that enables them to solve the Steiner problem (which, presumably, gives these ants a selective advantage).
I trust good Darwinists will take this in without skipping a beat, mumbling something like “evolution sure is amazing” or “natural selection is cleverer than us.” Dispassionate minds might wonder if something deeper is at stake here. | <urn:uuid:34c06cf8-589e-47b3-ab94-e1416a1d45df> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/ants-solve-steiner-problem/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00049-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936384 | 401 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
The Hatrenians fought back bravely; pouring down a steady stream of stones and arrows, they did considerable damage to the army of Severus. Making clay pots, they filled them with winged insects, little poisonous flying creatures. When these were hurled down on the besiegers, the insects fell into the Romans' eyes and on all the unprotected parts of their bodies; digging in before they were noticed, they bit and stung the soldiers.Note that Herodian doesn't actually mention bees here.
Another reference is to Aeneas Tacticus 37.3 (tr. Brian Campbell):
And if at any point the tunnel comes into the ditch, throw the wood and the shavings there and set fire to them. Then cover the rest of the ditch so that the smoke penetrates the tunnel and injures those inside. Indeed it is possible that the smoke will kill many. Some have even released wasps and bees into the opening and caused distress to those in the tunnel.The "some" mentioned by Aeneas Tacticus are the inhabitants of Themiscyra, who were besieged by Lucullus in 72 B.C. [Correction here.] See Appian, Mithridatic War 11.78 (tr. Horace White):
The besiegers of this place brought up towers, built mounds, and dug tunnels so large that subterranean battles could be fought in them. The inhabitants cut openings into these tunnels from above and thrust bears and other wild animals and swarms of bees into them against the workers.But one of Bishop's references is more elusive (p. 153):
For naval battles, the Romans developed special shipboard swarm catapults. They raised bees and kept them in lightweight, fragile earthen hives for the sole purpose of lobbing them onto enemy ships. Angry bees would so unnerve the opposing sailors that they often jumped overboard to escape.It is not difficult to find secondary sources which make similar assertions, e.g. Rick Beyer, The Greatest War Stories Never Told (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), p. 37:
The Romans made such frequent use of beehives in their catapults that some historians feel it contributed to a massive decline in the European bee population during the latter stages of the Roman Empire.But where is the ancient evidence? Beyer on p. 203 cites his sources, two of which are articles in Gleanings in Bee Culture unavailable to me: John T. Ambrose, "Bees in Warfare" (Nov. 1973) and Roger Morse, "Bees Go to War" (Oct. 1955). Beyer also cites a web page by Conrad Bérubé, "War and Bees: Military Applications of Apiculture," which I find here. Bérubé states:
The Romans, for instance, having prudently learned not to exact a tax of honey in Asia Minor also learned, in the great Roman tradition of imitation and innovation, to use bees in the wars they waged. They were less deceptive in this than the Heptakometes, however, and instead of employing the subterfuge of poisoned honey they simply sent beehives catapulting into the ranks or fortifications of their enemies. The unleashed fury of the bees, enraged when their hives were smashed, is credited with being the decisive stroke of more than one battle. Turn-about being fair play the Dacians, of what is today Romania, defeated the armored legions of Rome, at least temporarily, with their own salvo of skeps .A skep is a beehive. Bérubé's footnote 7, alas, refers only to yet another secondary source, C. Krochmal and A. Krochmal, "Beekeeping in Romania," American Bee Journal 122.5 (1982) 345-346, also unavailable to me.
Perhaps there are ancient references to catapulted beehives, but in a quick search I haven't found any. Adrienne Mayor's Greek Fire, Poison Arrows and Scorpion Bombs (New York: Overlook Press, 2003) might be one place to look, but its pages are invisible in Google Books.
I noticed a few minor mistakes in Bishop's book. On p. 238 she calls Herodotus a "Roman historian" (he was Greek and never mentioned Rome), and on p. 239 she calls Vitruvius a Greek (he was a Roman). On p. 247 she mistakenly dates Varro to the first century (should be the first century B.C.). On p. 214 she writes:
Discussing the best domestic arrangement for bees, Columella wrote in the first century that "It is expedient for the apiary to be under the master's eye." In ancient Greece and Rome, the master was often a male slave known as the melitore.So far as I know, there is no such word as melitore in classical Greek or Latin.
But these are quibbles. I find Bishop's candid admission that she doesn't "know it all" refreshing (p. 323):
Every year I am humbled, educated, and inspired to learn and know more, and every year I realize how much I don't know....Though I have been keeping bees for years and have researched and written about them for thousands of hours, I still consider myself a beginner.Bishop's main informant, beekeeper Donald Smiley, has much the same to say (p. 66):
[T]here's always more to learn. Not a year goes by that I don't see something different, learn something different. I never get tired of this.Smiley (pp. 41-43) and Bishop (p. 282) both admit to some embarrassing mistakes when they first started keeping bees. | <urn:uuid:3b18540e-625c-4ee7-bcff-18c43ade2d61> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://laudatortemporisacti.blogspot.com/2008/01/beeological-warfare.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962828 | 1,190 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Definition of synapomorphy
: a character or trait that is shared by two or more taxonomic groups and is derived through evolution from a common ancestral form
Origin and Etymology of synapomorphy
International Scientific Vocabulary syn- + apomorphy derived evolutionary trait or feature (from apo- + -morphy)
First Known Use: 1965
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up synapomorphy? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible). | <urn:uuid:464d7155-4cbf-4a44-b271-884e71ccb064> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/synapomorphies | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.895438 | 113 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Deadly Climate Change From Nuclear War:
smoke from burning cities enters stratosphere
global smoke layer forms
10% of sunlight blocked from reaching the surface of Earth
100 nuclear explosions create massive firestorms in the cities of India and Pakistan. 5 million tons of smoke rises above cloud level into the stratosphere and forms a global smoke layer which will remain in place for 10 years. The smoke layer will block 10% of sunlight from reaching the surface of the Earth.
Loss of warming sunlight creates the coldest average surface temperatures on Earth in the last 1000 years. Prolonged cold acts to reduce average precipitation by 40% to 50% in some areas. Sunlight heats the smoke in the stratosphere; the hot smoke destroys 25% to 45% of the protective ozone layer above the populated mid-latitudes and 50% to 70% of the ozone above the northerly latitudes, allowing massive amounts of harmful UV light to reach marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
The combined decreases in average temperature, precipitation, sunlight and stratospheric ozone would act to significantly shorten growing seasons and reduce agricultural production for several years. Conditions would then slowly return to normal over a period of about a decade. Given that world grain reserves are now only adequate to sustain human populations for about 30 to 50 days, it is likely that prolonged and severe food shortages will result from such drastic changes in global climate. Those human populations already living at the verge of starvation and dependent upon imported food supplies will be at extreme risk of famine and starvation if grain exports from North America and Eurasia are suddenly halted by Ice Age weather conditions. It has been estimated that up to 1 billion people could starve to death following this regional nuclear conflict.
The smoke images were created by Dr. Luke Oman of Rutgers University and are reproduced with his permission. The data on deadly climate change from regional nuclear conflict is taken from “Climatic consequences of regional nuclear conflicts”, by Robock A., Oman L., Stenchikov G., Toon O. B., Bardeen C., and Turco R., Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 7, 2007, p. 2003-2012; the data on ozone depletion is from “Massive global ozone loss predicted following regional nuclear conflict”, by Mills M, Toon O, Turco R, Kinnison D, Garcia R (2008). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), Apr 8, vol. 105(14), pp. 5307-12; data on famine, I. Helfand, An Assessment of the Extent of Projected Global Famine Resulting From Limited, Regional Nuclear War, 2007, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Leeds, MA
Global stratospheric ozone levels would fall to near those now seen only over Antarctica during the formation of the “ozone hole”. The UV index in the mid-latitudes would increase by 42–108%, which would cause fair skinned people to suffer sunburn in as little as 7 minutes. In the high northerly latitudes, the UV index would increase by 130–290%, shortening the time required for fair skinned people to sunburn from 32–43 minutes to 8–19 minutes.
Massive increases of UV-B light would clearly have negative impacts upon marine and terrestrial ecosystems, yet no research is being done to investigate the consequences of such a scenario. Likewise, no studies using modern climate models have yet been done to assess ozone depletion following larger nuclear conflicts fought with high-yield strategic nuclear weapons.
Nuclear War Fought with High-Yield Strategic Nuclear Weapons
The high-yield strategic nuclear weapons in the operational arsenals of the U.S. and Russia have a combined explosive power at least 500 times greater than the low-yield weapons detonated in the regional war conflict. A large fraction of these strategic weapons are kept on high-alert status (in 2009, more than 2000 U.S. and Russian strategic warheads were on high-alert). Virtually all their land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles are kept ready to launch within 30 seconds to 3 minutes, apparently operating under the policy of Launch-On-Warning.
In 2008, scientists predicted the detonation of 4400 strategic nuclear weapons in large cities could cause 770 million prompt fatalities and produce up to 180 million tons of thick, black smoke. Ten days after detonation, the smoke would form a dense global stratospheric smoke layer which would block about 70% of warming sunlight from reaching the surface of the Northern Hemisphere and 35% of sunlight from reaching the Southern Hemisphere.
The resulting nuclear darkness would cause rapid cooling of more than 20º C (36º F) over large areas of North America and of more than 30º C (54º F) over much of Eurasia (Figure 2). Daily minimum temperatures would fall below freezing in the largest agricultural areas of the Northern Hemisphere for a period of between one to three years. Average global surface temperatures would become colder than those experienced 18,000 years ago at the height of the last Ice Age.
The cooling of the Earth’s surface would weaken the global hydrological cycle and the Northern Hemisphere summer monsoon circulations would collapse because the temperature differences that drive them would not develop. As a result, average global precipitation is predicted to decrease by 45%.
The cumulative effects of deadly climate change and ozone destruction would eliminate growing seasons for more than a decade. Catastrophic climatic effects lasting for many years would occur in regions far removed from the target areas or the countries involved in the conflict. Under such conditions, it is likely that most humans and large animal populations would die of starvation.
Figure 2: Surface Air Temperature (degree C) changes averaged for June, July, and August in the year after 150 million tons of black smoke forms a global stratospheric smoke layer.
Global Warming versus GlobalCooling from Nuclear War
Figure 3: Northern Hemisphere average surface air temperatures during the last 1000 years contrasted with forecast temperature drops from a range of nuclear conflicts.
The scientific studies summarized in this paper make it clear that the environmental consequences of a “regional” nuclear conflict could kill hundreds of millions of people far from the war zone. Deadly climate change caused by a war fought with the strategic nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and Russia would threaten the continued survival of the human species.
Yet neither the U.S., nor Russia, nor any other nuclear weapons state has ever officially evaluated what effects a war fought with their nuclear arsenals would have upon the Earth’s climate and ecosystems. Surely it is time for such evaluations to be openly conducted and made subject to public discussion. Nations with nuclear weapons should be required to create Environmental Impact Statements on the likely results of the detonation of their arsenals in conflict.
Deadly climate change from nuclear war must become a primary topic in the debate about the need for “a world without nuclear weapons”. This discussion must include the dangers posed by the nuclear arsenals of all nations, including those in the U.S. and Russia. A failure to recognize and describe the omnicidal potential of strategic nuclear arsenals will prevent the abolition discussion from developing the sense of urgency needed to bring about fundamental change in the nuclear status quo.
The nuclear weapons which are kept ready for virtually instant use constitute a well-maintained self-destruct mechanism for the human race. What political or national goals can possibly justify the existence of such a threat? There can be no “victory” in universal suicide.
Therefore, the U.S. and Russia must recognize the senselessness of continued preparations for a nuclear war, or a “successful” nuclear first-strike, which would make the whole world – including their own country – uninhabitable. It is imperative that they renounce the first use of nuclear weapons, stand-down their high-alert nuclear forces (which make accidental nuclear war possible through launch-on-warning postures), and dismantle the tens of thousands of nuclear weapons in their active and reserve arsenals.
Nuclear weapons cannot ultimately provide “national security” when a single failure of nuclear deterrence can end human history. Unless deterrence works perfectly forever, nuclear arsenals will eventually be used in conflict. We must abolish these arsenals – before they abolish us.
About the Author: Steven Starr is a Senior Scientist with Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Director of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program at the University of Missouri. He has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and by the Center for Arms Control of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. For further detailed information on the environmental consequences of nuclear war, please visit his website at www.nucleardarkness.org
- A. Robock, L. Oman, G. L. Stenchikov, O. B. Toon, C. Bardeen, and R. Turco, “Climatic consequences of regional nuclear conflicts”, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 7, 2007, p. 2003-2012.
- M. Mills, O. Toon, R. Turco, D. Kinnison, R. Garcia, “Massive global ozone loss predicted following regional nuclear conflict”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), Apr 8,2008, vol. 105(14), pp. 5307-12.
- O. Toon , A. Robock, and R. Turco, “The Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War”, Physics Today, vol. 61, No. 12, 2008, p. 37-42.
- R. Turco, O. Toon, T. Ackermann, J. Pollack, and C. Sagan, “Nuclear Winter: Global consequences of multiple nuclear explosions”, Science, Vol. 222, No. 4630, December 1983, pp. 1283-1292.
- A. Robock, L. Oman, G. Stenchikov, “Nuclear winter revisited with a modern climate model and current nuclear arsenals: Still catastrophic consequences”, Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres, Vol. 112, No. D13, 2007. p. 4 of 14.
- I. Helfand, ”An Assessment of the Extent of Projected Global Famine Resulting From Limited, Regional Nuclear War”, 2007, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Leeds, MA.
- In 2009, India and Pakistan were estimated by the NRDC to have a total of 140 to 160 operational nuclear weapons, and there are 32 other non-nuclear weapon states which have sufficient fissionable nuclear materials to construct weapons, some in a relatively short period of time.
- Robock, et al., “Climatic consequences…, op. cit., p. 2003-2012.
- Ibid.
- S. Starr, “Catastrophic Climatic Consequences of Nuclear Conflicts”, INESAP Bulletin 28, April 2008, Figure 1.
- I. Helfand., op. cit.
- M. Mills, et al, “Massive global ozone loss . . . op. cit.
- Personal correspondence with Dr. Paul Newman of NASA, Nov. 20, 2009.
- High-yield weapons are generally 8 to 75 times more powerful than low-yield Hiroshima-size weapons.
- S. Starr., “High-Alert Nuclear Weapons: the Forgotten Danger”, SGR Newsletter, Autumn, 2008, p.1.
- Launch-On-Warning (LOW) is a launch of nuclear weapons after Early Warning Systems (EWS) identify an incoming nuclear attack, but before one or more nuclear detonations provide unequivocal proof that the perceived attack is in fact a nuclear attack. High-alert nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, EWS and nuclear command and control systems, all working together, provide the U.S. and Russia the capability to implement LOW. The combination of LOW capability with LOW policy has created what is commonly referred to as launch-on-warning status.
- O. B. Toon et al, “The Environmental Consequences of Nuclear War”, p. 38.
- Personal correspondence with Dr. Luke Oman of NASA, Dec. 1, 2008.
- A. Robock, et al, “Nuclear winter revisited . . . op. cit., p. 6 of 14.
- Ibid.
- Ibid, p. 6 of 14.
- O. Toon, et al, “The Environmental Consequences of Nuclear Wa”, op. cit. p. 37.
- Robock et al., “Nuclear winter revisited…, op.cit., Figure 4.
- S. Starr, “Catastrophic Climatic Consequences of Nuclear Conflicts”, Updated 2009 version (from INESAP Bulletin 28, April 2008), Fig. 4, http://www.nucleardarkness.org/warconsequences/catastrophicclimaticconsequences/
- There are also other important considerations which must be made when estimating the environmental and ecological impacts of nuclear war. These include the release of enormous amounts of radioactive fallout, pyrotoxins and toxic industrial chemicals into the ecosystems.
- A. Phillips, S. Starr, “Change Launch on Warning Policy”, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Center for Arms Control, Energy and Environmental Studies, 2006; www.armscontrol.ru/pubs/en/change-low.pdf
- According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Russia has about 13,000 nuclear weapons and the U.S. has about 9,400 nuclear weapons, see R. Norris, H. Kristensen, “Nuclear Notebook: Worldwide deployments of nuclear weapons, 2009”, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Nov/Dec 2009, DOI: 10.2968/065006010, http://thebulletin.metapress.com/content/xm38g50653435657/fulltext.pdf | <urn:uuid:57ef6746-6d4c-41f2-bbc1-3f9a965ed4e4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nucleardarkness.org/warconsequences/deadlyclimatechangefromnuclearwar/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00168-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.893444 | 2,962 | 3.203125 | 3 |
We tend to view international politics in terms of horizontal divisions with nation states competing with each other at various levels that can on occasion lead to conflicts. Sometimes this split can be taken advantage of by playing one country against the other. But in the case of Edward Snowden we see even countries that are not particularly friendly to the US closing ranks and being reluctant to give him asylum. Even South American countries who are furious at what the US and Western European countries did to the Bolivian president’s plane still have not accepted him.
Undoubtedly one reason is that countries do not want to be seen as too hostile to the US. The US government is notorious for harshly punishing any smaller country that does not toe its line, as we can see from the cruel decades-long embargo that has been imposed on Cuba, causing immense hardship to the people of that nation.
But there is another factor at play. We must never forget that there are other ways to see the international divide and that is along a vertical dimension between governments and their own peoples. This is because all governments are to varying degrees authoritarian. While governments view other governments as potential adversaries, they also view their own people in the same way because the people may demand more from the government than it is willing to allow. This is most clear in the case of dictatorships but it is also true of more democratic countries.
Governments don’t like ordinary people getting ideas above their station and this tension is clearly at play in the case of Snowden. While it is undoubtedly the case that some governments welcome what Snowden did because it reveals the extent to which the US is exerting its hegemonic power, they are also wary of encouraging whistleblowers within their own countries who might reveal things that are embarrassing to them.
We see this most clearly with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who is a tool of governments in general and the US and Western Europe in particular, who stepped into the fray, saying that Snowden has ‘misused’ digital communications, an extraordinary statement when the biggest ‘misuser’ is clearly the US government.
The question is which country will eventually break ranks and have the courage to embrace Snowden. It is important that this happen because he must not be allowed to fall into the clutches of the Obama administration. | <urn:uuid:73beea82-5430-47e1-9a7a-ce2b8c8677bf> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2013/07/05/countries-closing-ranks-against-snowden/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396222.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971391 | 467 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Free Cognitive Behavioral Therapy the Anxiety and Depression of ADHD-PI or SCT
There is considerable debate among health care providers about whether the anxiety and depression associated with ADHD-PI and SCT is the result of the inattentiveness, slow reaction time, self esteem and social skills problems of these conditions or if the inattentiveness, etc is caused by the depression and anxiety.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a very effective tool, designed by psychotherapist, that aims to teach people with and without mental illness learn how to better manage stressful life situations. According to the Mayo Clinic this form of therapy has been extensively studied and found to be a very helpful tool for treating mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression. The therapy involves a limited number of sessions and works quickly to assist you in becoming aware of negative thinking and enabling you to view challenging situations more clearly so that you may respond to them in a more effective way.
CBT has traditionally been performed in a therapist office but in the last five years this therapy has been offered in England, Australia and the U.S. online. Research studies performed on the benefits of online CBT have found this form of counseling to be as effective as the face to face office based cognitive therapy.
Australia has a universal coverage health system and a rate of ADHD and mental illness that roughly approximates the rates in the U.S. According to Responseability.org, 20% of Australians will experience some form of mental illness in any 12 month period and the most common disorders diagnosed in Australia are anxiety and depression. These statistics are similar to the mental health statistics of the United States.
In the Unites States, the health care and the pharmaceutical industries are especially driven by a profit incentive. It is difficult, at times, to trust studies performed by pharmaceutical companies because of their vested interest in the success of the products that they are promoting. The health care industry in the U.S. is a for profit system and precious little is ever free. There is a very slim chance that a healthcare organization in the U.S. would offer a free online Cognitive Behavioral Program. Some lobby would object stating that it was affecting their bottom line and the free program would be no more.
You can see where I fall on the question of Universal Health coverage but in my humble opinion, it is in the best interest of any country to keep their citizens free from any and all illnesses and to make health care as accessible as possible. In countries where the government pays the medical bills, this policy is essential. Healthy citizens cost the country far less money than unhealthy citizens so programs that are readily available, readily accessible and free are common place. With this in mind, it did not surprise me to find that Australia has an online program that is free and available to anyone needing such a program.
A short registration form must be filled out prior to starting the program but involves little more than choosing a user name and password. They will ask you what country you live in and if you think you will complete the entire program. After this short registration, your are ready to start. Thanks MoodGym for this incredible resource. If you or your children are having symptoms of anxiety, depression, negative thinking or problems with self esteem, this program could make a huge difference. Give it a try and let me know how you do. | <urn:uuid:1ff99585-75f7-4409-be89-a7cc83ec3c77> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.primarilyinattentiveadd.com/2010/12/free-cognitive-behavioral-therapy.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395160.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00093-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962184 | 680 | 2.625 | 3 |
Eat Your Yard! (Gibbs Smith, 2010) has information on 35 edible plants that offer the best of both landscape and culinary uses. Edible garden plants provide spring blossoms, colorful fruit and flowers, lush greenery, fall foliage, and beautiful structure, but they also offer fruits, nuts, and seeds that you can eat, cook, and preserve.
Buy this book in the MOTHER EARTH NEWS store: Eat Your Yard!
Read more from Eat Your Yard!
• Edible Mint for Your Garden
• Edible Roses: Beautiful and Delicious Garden Features
Crack! The sound of a ripe hazelnut being broken open before Thanksgiving dinner is unmistakable. So is the ruddy color of the hard little shell. Hazelnut flavor: that’s unmistakable too, sweet and earthy, with a little crunch.
Hazelnut, filbert. They’re interchangeable as far as the nut industry is concerned and, botanically speaking, quite close.
The important thing is that the filbert, or hazelnut, grows as a beautiful shrub or small tree with year-round interest. Pendulous catkins—the blooms—hang like golden chains from the bare branches in late winter. During summer the rounded, many-pleated leaves provide islands of shade as the nuts develop. In fall the leaves glow red and gold.
Some filberts have special landscape value on their own—the contorted filbert, or Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick, for instance—and are grown as specimen trees. Others are chosen for screening; filberts rarely grow taller than twenty feet, and some stay much smaller. Because filberts need cross-pollination with other varieties, it’s imperative to mix and match anyway.
There are two ways to grow filberts: as individual trees with single, or at most a few, trunks; and as a hedge of medium height. Imagine a garden plant with such versatility.
The natural growing habit features “suckering,” or the tendency for the plant to throw up many extra shoots around the main trunk. That’s perfect for a hedge configuration; space the plants just four feet apart and let the suckers fill in the spaces. For more intense nut production as well as for ornamental treatment, situate the plants about fifteen feet apart and keep suckers off. Hazelnut trees may need to be netted once nut production begins; squirrels love them.
“Heavy, rich land should be avoided,” advises one filbert master. These marvelous nut trees prefer a light, edge-of-the-forest soil with good drainage and not too much nutrient content; the trees will grow too much vegetation and not enough fruit if given an overindulgent diet. Likewise, they don’t particularly relish a burning sun but like a bit of dappled canopy nearby.
One generality is that filberts thrive where peaches also grow. That is, they like some warmth but can succeed in a colder climate if well sheltered from wind and damp frost.
Sweet & Spicy Hazelnuts Recipes
Yield: 3 cups
1 pound shelled hazelnuts (about 3 cups)
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread nuts on a large, rimmed baking sheet and bake 6 to 8 minutes, or until they are lightly roasted and the skin starts to come off.
Remove from the oven and let cool. With a clean, non-fuzzy dish towel, rub the skins off the nuts. Reserve the baking sheet.
Meanwhile, reduce oven heat to 250 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk egg white and water until foamy. Add hazelnuts and toss to coat well. Transfer the nuts to a sieve, shake, and then drain for at least 2 minutes. Mix all remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add drained nuts and toss to coat.
On the baking sheet, spread nuts in a single layer. Bake for 30 minutes. Stir with a spatula, spread the nuts out again, and bake 25 to 30 minutes longer, or until the nuts are dry. Loosen the nuts from the baking sheet and let them cool to room temperature on the sheet. Let the nuts cool completely and become crisp before putting them away. They can be stored for up to one month in an airtight container.
Recipe courtesy of The Hazelnut Council.
Reprinted with permission from Eat Your Yard! Edible Trees, Shrubs, Vines, Herbs and Flowers for Your Landscape by Nan K. Chase and published by Gibbs Smith, 2010. Buy this book from our store: Eat Your Yard! Edible Trees, Shrubs, Vines, Herbs and Flowers for Your Landscape. | <urn:uuid:b6e0431a-1953-44c1-96ce-ba6e25092b2d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/growing-hazelnuts-ze0z1303zgar.aspx?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.911709 | 1,030 | 3 | 3 |
A mythical king and hero of Athens, born from Ge (the Earth) and cared for by Athena. Often shown as a baby; part or all of his body can be shown as a snake. As a baby he was hidden by Athena on the Acropolis in a box, opened by the daughters of Cecrops.
Above: Detail from an Athenian red-figure clay vase, about 470-450 BC. London, British Museum E182 © British Museum | <urn:uuid:6721ff27-9b01-42ef-8e01-3c9bc18831b8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/dictionary/Dict/ASP/dictionarybody.asp?name=Erichthonios | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00165-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969153 | 95 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Today is the anniversary of the birthday of out first President, George Washington. But he wasn’t born on February 22nd. The original birth date of Washington would have been February 11, 1751/2. There are two genealogy problems at work to cause the confusion.
First, there was a change in the calendar used. Originally most European countries used the Julian calendar which was begun by Julius Caesar. After many centuries it was found the calendar was off by about 10 days. The Gregorian calendar (from Pope Gregory XIII) replaced the old Julian calendar in most Catholic countries in 1582. England and her colonies including us in America didn’t switch to the Gregorian calendar until September 1752. By that time there was a difference of 11 days. For a while after that you may see old records with either the suffix “O.S.” for old style (Julian calendar) or “N. S.” for new style (Gregorian calendar) or occasionally both date styles recorded.
Then there is what most people call the double dating for the year. That arose because in England the start of the legal year began on March 25th. So dates from Jan. 1 to March 24 usually recorded with the double years. That has always confused genealogists. If you are looking at old vital records from New England and only see one year recorded before 1752 then check to see what year is recorded after March 25th in order to get the correct year.
This part isn’t related to Washington but I have some ancestors that were early Quakers (aka Society of Friends). Quakers recorded their records as xth day, xth month, year. Before 1752 the first month was March as in the English legal calender. Then beginning in 1752 the Quakers started having January as the first month.
No matter what country you are doing research in, you should familiarize yourself with the calendar that was used at that time. George Washington really was born 282 years ago today but that day wasn’t February 22nd. | <urn:uuid:9a21de48-0ab5-40cc-9098-459bf46402c7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://rochistory.com/blog/?p=3326 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396945.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00070-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978919 | 426 | 3 | 3 |
For NT of the Bible , Acts 13:48 Ἀκούοντα δὲ τὰ ἔθνη ἔχαιρον καὶ ἐδόξαζον τὸν λόγον τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἐπίστευσαν ὅσοι ἦσαν τεταγμένοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον·
The King James Version was translated as below :“And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”
Can the whole relative clause "as many as were ordained for eternal life" act like a parenthetical expression? In other words, the whole sentence may be constructed like this “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and they (as many as were ordained to eternal life) believed” or “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord and they believed ,as many as were ordained to eternal life. That is to say the relative clause does not necessarily serve as the subject of the verb “ believed”, but just serve to qualify the main clause "They believed". And "they" refers back to the gentiles in the first part of the verse, and "as many as were being ordained eternal life " just some what qualified who they were . They were all among these gentiles who believed. Can the suggested construction be valid?
The place to discuss extinct languages.
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Don't you hate those stinking little squares? When will they solve that problem? But to the point; The passage may mean that not all the Gentiles who were glad and glorified the Word were destined for eternal life, but among them were those who were. Can you translate it better?
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Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest | <urn:uuid:cf5589bf-740a-4994-8eb2-1cc34dd5de46> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.omniglot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=478&view=previous | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00013-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982694 | 493 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The Eagles at the Norfolk Botanical Garden have a second egg. The second egg was laid close to dusk on Monday February 4th, two days after the first egg was laid. While we we not able to actually get a glimpse of this egg (the nest bowl is fairly deep) the female's posture and behavior were consistent with egg laying. Two eggs is common for Bald Eagles while three (as laid by this pair in 2006 & 2007) is very unusual. There is often a significant delay between the date of the first egg and any subsequent eggs (last year there was a full week between egg#1 and egg#3). We'll continue to monitor to see if any more eggs are forthcoming.
The youngest sibling in a nest is often at a disadvantage. The first to hatch have the benefit of their parents undivided attention, getting all the food. They grow rapidly and get a head start on later hatchlings. This larger eaglet dominates at the nest, often receiving the lions share of food deliverd by the parents. Food must be plentiful and the parents good hunters to successfully raise a brood of three eagles. | <urn:uuid:cbcba1ff-69d0-4bc0-8d6f-bf42b4380d60> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/eaglecam/2008/02/egg-2.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00056-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.984033 | 229 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Arden was stretching her athletic capacity to the max by training for her first sprint triathlon.
And then she got sick.
After finishing her triathlon by walking and almost falling off of an elliptical machine the following week, Arden was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, a form of cancer that starts inside bone marrow. The cells grow very quickly, and replace healthy blood cells. She had to begin chemotherapy immediately.
"I never questioned anything about the meds," Arden said. "My doctor joked that if they had told me to eat glass to cure me I would have done it. And that was very true. Whatever they gave me I had to assume it was the best we've got."
And it was the best drugs they had. As part of her treatment, Arden received ARA-C, a drug that is derived from Caribbean sea sponges. In fact, components found in coral reefs are essential sources of medicine for everything from diabetes to heart disease to Alzheimer's disease.
"We're learning more and more every day about what healing compounds we're finding in coral reefs," says Conservancy marine scientist Steph Wear. "Coral reefs are the most diverse habitat in the ocean and we are just beginning to scratch the surface in discovering what is there."
Protecting Coral Reefs, Protecting Lives
Coral reefs are also one of the most threatened marine systems. Scientists estimate that unless we take immediate action, we could lose up to 70 percent of coral reefs by 2050. That's why the Conservancy's work protecting coral reefs around the world is so essential — not just for ocean habitat, but for human health as well.
These days, Arden has more stamina than ever. After finishing Harvard Business School in 2008, she started a new company, enjoys sitting on non-profit boards and became an advanced scuba diver because of her love of the ocean. This year, she went diving in Anguilla to visit the coral reefs that had been part of her journey back to health.
"Knowing that coral reefs can help people in this way, it does reframe the way the way I think about the environment and how we should be protecting our oceans," Arden said. | <urn:uuid:c938d598-38ea-4cd7-9bb2-552346f6f7ac> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nature.org/newsfeatures/specialfeatures/nature-saved-my-life.xml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00186-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978351 | 453 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Cravings—we all have them. These intense desires can be triggered by a place, a smell, even a picture. For recovering drug addicts, such memory associations can increase vulnerability to relapse. Now researchers at the Florida campus of the Scripps Research Institute have found a chemical that prevents rats from recalling their drug-associated memories. The study, published online in Biological Psychiatry last fall, is also the first of its kind to disrupt memories without requiring active recollection.
Over the course of six days the rats in this study alternated between one of two chambers. On days one, three and five, the animals were injected with methamphetamine hydrochloride—the street drug known as meth—and placed in one room. On the even-numbered days they received a saline placebo and entered a different chamber.
After two more days, half the rodents were given a choice between the rooms. As expected, they showed a clear preference for the place they visited after receiving meth. The other half of the animals were injected with a solution containing Latrunculin A (LatA). This chemical interferes with actin, a protein known to be involved in memory formation. These animals showed no preference between rooms, even up to a day later: their choices seemed not to be driven by a memory of meth.
Previous research has suggested that drugs of abuse alter the way actin functions, causing it to constantly refresh memories associated with these drugs rather than tucking them away into typical memory storage, which is more inert. As a result of their active status, drug memories might remain susceptible to disruption long after their initial formation.
The idea that drug memories might differ in this way is relatively new, so the researchers double-checked this understanding by testing whether LatA could affect food associations. The rats underwent a similar regimen to create a mental link between food and environment. LatA injections had no effect on the animals' reactions to the different chambers, meaning it left the food associations intact.
“The claim that you have an active [actin process] that can maintain the memory days later is really remarkable,” says Gary Lynch, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California, Irvine. The next step is to find out what other types of memories—if any—share this property, so that we know exactly what kinds of recall this treatment can target, he says.
Courtney Miller, a co-author of the study and a neurobiologist at Scripps, points out that the technique's limited usefulness helps to alleviate ethical concerns about memory alteration. “You actually couldn't take our discovery and erase a run-of-the-mill memory in the brain, because it simply doesn't work. You can only actually get rid of these drug-associated memories.” Miller emphasizes that the idea behind this research is to give those affected by drug addiction “a fighting chance to stay clean.” | <urn:uuid:7c88def2-8429-43a8-9331-ea59768b8729> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/memories-of-meth-can-be-deleted/?mobileFormat=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00115-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960622 | 595 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Grades 3 - 5
Grade level Equivalent: 4.6
Lexile® Measure: 890L
Guided Reading: P
- Autobiography and Biography
- Composers and Musicians
About This Book
This introductory biography of John Philip Sousa tells the story of how America's March King was inspired to write the classic marches that are still popular to this day. Interesting text is accompanied by humorous cartoons by the author.
The author/illustrator of the highly successful "Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists" series lends his creative talents to another fun, informative series, this one featuring world-famous composers. Venezia's clever mix of historical photos, his own tongue-in-cheek cartoon illustrations, and factual biographical text combine to present the composers as they really were.
- Perfect for music appreciation studies
- A great resource to prepare for a concert
- Clever illustrations, historical photos, and factual text help readers grasp subject matter | <urn:uuid:5b82b098-04e4-4090-80bb-da3cbf77258d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/book/john-philip-sousa | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00169-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914282 | 205 | 3.640625 | 4 |
This release is available in French.
Montreal, November 30, 2010 Approximately 13 percent of parents turn to alternative therapies to treat their children's asthma, according to a new study from the Universit de Montral. The findings, published recently in the Canadian Respiratory Journal, suggest that this trend is associated with a two-fold higher rate of poor asthma control in children.
"Previous studies have shown that close to 60 percent of parents believe that complementary and alternative medicines are helpful," says seniour author Francine M. Ducharme, a Universit de Montral professor and pediatrician and researcher at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center. "Yet, well designed studies have failed to show any evidence that therapies such as acupuncture, homeophathy, chiropractic medicine or herbal therapy are effective in asthma. Parents may not be aware of the risk associated with the use of alternative medicine, including adverse reactions, possible interactions with conventional asthma therapy, as well as delay in taking, and compliance with, effective asthma therapy. Our findings confirm that children using complimentary or alternative medicine, are twice as likely to have poor asthma control that those that don't. "
More than 2000 children assessed
Questionnaires were completed by more than 2000 families who came to the Asthma Centre at the Montreal Children's Hospital for an initial visit. Parents were asked if they used any form of alternative medicine to help alleviate their children's asthma and to specify which type. Health information, patient demographics, asthma severity and control were then compiled.
The findings showed that over eight years, the use of alternative therapy remained stable around 13 percent, a five-fold lower rate than in the United States. There was a relationship between alternative and complementary medicine use, and pre-school age, Asian ethnicity, episodic asthma, and poor asthma control. The most commonly reported alternative therapies included supplemental vitamins, homeopathy and acupuncture.
"Most of the children receiving these therapies were younger than six," says Ducharme. "This is particularly troublesome, given that there is no evidence that these therapies are effective and preschool aged children suffer more asthma flare-ups requiring an emergency department visit than all other age groups. Our study may serve as a reminder to parents that alternative and complementary medicine has not been proven effective in asthma and that it may interfere with effective conventional therapy: they should first discuss its use with their physicians. It should also serve as reminder to health care professionals to inquire about alternative therapy use, particularly if asthma is not well controlled, and initiate appropriate counselling."
|Contact: Julie Gazaille|
University of Montreal | <urn:uuid:0b0355df-f28f-4535-abaf-71445125d0fc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-1/Alternative-therapies-may-leave-asthmatics-gasping-77454-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394937.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00157-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958801 | 530 | 2.921875 | 3 |
by Staff Writers
Johannesburg, South Africa (SPX) Jul 16, 2012
South African scientists will share the country's latest fossil discovery with the world using live virtual technology.
Scientists from the Wits Institute for Human Evolution based at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg will announce the discovery of a large rock containing significant parts of a skeleton of an early human ancestor on Friday, 13 July 2012. The skeleton is believed to be the remains of 'Karabo', the type skeleton of Australopithecus sediba, discovered at the Malapa Site in the Cradle of Humankind in 2009.
Professor Lee Berger, a Reader in Palaeoanthropology and the Public Understanding of Science at the Wits Institute for Human Evolution, will make the announcement at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum in Shanghai, China on Friday, 13 July 2012 at 09:00 South African standard time. Prof Berger is visiting China as part of a South African delegation promoting trade, business and tourism relations between the two competitive city regions, Gauteng and Shanghai.
"This discovery will almost certainly make Karabo the most complete early human ancestor skeleton ever discovered. We are obviously quite excited as it appears that we now have some of the most critical and complete remains of the skeleton, albeit encased in solid rock. It's a big day for us as a team and for our field as a whole."
The remains are invisible to the casual observer and are entrenched in a large rock about one metre in diameter. It was discovered almost three years ago, but lay unnoticed in the Wits laboratories until early last month. Prof. Berger and his wife Jackie Smilg, a radiologist at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, who is conducting her PhD on the CT scanning of fossil material embedded in rock, scanned the large rock in a state of the art CT scanner.
A world first - Live Science!
A laboratory studio, designed in collaboration with the National Geographic Society, will be built at the Maropeng Visitor Centre in the heart of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. It will allow the public to view the preparation of this skeleton live if they visit Maropeng, or live on the internet.
"The public will be able to participate fully in Live Science and future discoveries as they occur in real time - an unprecedented moment in palaeoanthropology," explains Berger. "The laboratory studio will be also linked to laboratories at Wits University and the Malapa site."
"These outposts will allow visitors to these partner museums the chance to interact with scientists in real time in a way we simply could not conceive of a few years ago. It is anticipated that the laboratory and virtual infrastructure will be built within a year, expanding our ambitious tourism and smart province infrastructure programme."
Berger adds that negotiations have begun with the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, the Natural History Museum in the United Kingdom and the Smithsonian in Washington.
"We have already donated casts of Australopithecus sediba to these three institutions, amongst others," says Berger. "It has also just been confirmed that one of the virtual outposts will be hosted in the new Shanghai Natural History Museum due to open later this year."
University of the Witwatersrand
All About Human Beings and How We Got To Be Here
|The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement| | <urn:uuid:bc5bd0c8-fb46-4bde-a8ec-3c6ed6260458> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.terradaily.com/reports/New_Au__sediba_fossils_discovered_in_rock_999.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.899684 | 799 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Construction Worker Electrocuted in Maryland
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Division of Safety Research (DSR) is currently conducting the Fatal Accident Circumstances and Epidemiology (FACE) Project, which is focusing primarily upon selected electrical-related and confined space-related fatalities. The purpose of the FACE program is to identify and rank factors that influence the risk of fatal injuries for selected employees.
On April 29, 1987, one construction worker was electrocuted and a second worker received severe electrical burns, while guiding a load attached to a crane, when the boom of the crane contacted a 13 kV power line.
Officials of the Occupational Safety and Health Program for the State of Maryland notified DSR concerning this fatality and requested technical assistance. This case has been included in the FACE Project. On June 11, 1987, a DSR research industrial hygienist conducted a site visit, collected incident data, photographed the site, and interviewed the owner and comparison workers.
Overview of Employer's Safety Program:
The employer is a construction company that employs 44 workers. The company installs water, sewer, and other underground utility lines.
The company does not have a written safety program and depends on its small size to communicate safety issues and concerns. Prior to the start of each construction project the owner conducts a pre-construction meeting with workers at the job site and occasionally discusses safety issues specific to the job.
Synopsis of Events:
The employer had been subcontracted to install a sewer line under a 47 foot wide highway. A work crew (consisting of a foreman (the victim), a crane operator, and a laborer) was assigned to bore a hole under the paved highway and insert 57 feet of 36 inch diameter steel casing. The sewer pipe was then to be installed inside the casing.
On April 29, 1987, at about 7:00 a.m., the work crew met at the site and began construction. In preparation for boring under the highway a pit (approximately 10' deep x 30' long x 12' wide) had been excavated to within five feet of the edge of the highway, and a steel track (approximately 1' high x 4' wide x 20' long) had been laid on the floor of the pit in order to support and direct the boring machine. The crane provided by the employer was capable of reaching vertically approximately 15 feet. However, for convenience in lifting and moving materials at the site, the victim called the employer and insisted that a boom extension be brought out to the site (giving the crane boom a potential vertical reach of approximately 35 feet). The employer delivered the boom extension to the site and cautioned the crew to ". . be careful, you're working under wire." A 13,000 volt, three-phase overhead power line (28.5 feet from ground level and parallel to the edge of the highway) was located directly above the end of the pit closest to the highway. The boring machine was attached by a steel cable to the end of the crane boom and was lowered into the pit at about 12:30 p.m. The victim and the laborer were in the pit attempting to guide the boring machine onto the track. The victim and laborer would periodically give directions to the crane operator to facilitate placement of the boring machine. Because the sun was almost directly overhead, it was difficult for the workers in the pit to see when they looked up. As the crane operator hoisted the boom upward, the upper end of the boom made contact with one of the power line conductors. The victim and the laborer had both hands on the boring machine when the crane contacted the power line. The victim provided a path to ground for the electrical current and was electrocuted. The laborer, who was wearing rubber work boots received severe electrical burns on his hands. It is estimated that both the victim and laborer were in contact with the electrical current for approximately five seconds.
The emergency medical service (EMS) rescue squad was notified and arrived at the scene about 15 minutes after the accident occurred. When the rescue squad arrived, a county sewer inspector (who had been working nearby) had been administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to the victim for approximately five minutes. Resuscitation was attempted at that time by rescue squad paramedics, but was unsuccessful. The victim was transported by ambulance to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Cause of Death:
The medical examiner's report stated the cause of death as electrocution. Electrical burns were noted on the left hand, left arm, and left upper thigh.
Recommendation #1: Employers should enforce existing regulations concerning equipment operating in the vicinity of overhead power lines.
Discussion: OSHA regulation 1926.600 (a)(6) Subpart 0 - Motor vehicles, mechanized equipment, and marine operations requires that all equipment when working or being moved in the vicinity of power lines rated 50 kV or below must maintain a minimum clearance of ten feet. The crane operator did not comply with these requirements.
Recommendation #2: Employees should be trained in hazard recognition.
Discussion: Employees working in the vicinity of electrical power lines should be trained to recognize electrical hazards. The employer or supervisory personnel should conduct formal safety meetings with workers regularly. During these meetings employees should be made aware of all hazards, including electrical hazards, associated with the tasks to be performed at each construction site.
Recommendation #3: Non-conductive tag lines should be used to aid in guiding and stabilizing crane loads.
Discussion: The use of non-conductive tag lines could help prevent exposure of the worker to electrical current in the event of an electrical mishap. Note: Although all ropes will conduct electricity, dry polypropylene rope provides better insulating properties than most commercially available rope.
Recommendation #4: Additional personnel should be used to observe clearances when equipment is being operated in the vicinity of electrical power lines.
Discussion: A person should be designated to observe clearance of the equipment and to give timely warning for "all" operations where it is difficult for the operator and workers who are positioning the load to maintain desired clearances by visual means.
Recommendation #5: Primary contractors that subcontract construction projects should require that a safety program be implemented. The primary contractor should assure that all safety requirements are enforced.
Discussion: When hazardous tasks (such as operating cranes in the vicinity of electrical power lines) are to be performed by contractors or subcontractors, the contract should require compliance with safe work procedures. These requirements should be enforced by the company letting the contract.
Recommendation #6: Employees who work around electrical circuits and equipment should be trained in the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Discussion: To optimize results, CPR should begin within four minutes (in accordance with American Heart Association guidelines). To meet this criterion employees should be trained to support circulation and ventilation until trained medical personnel arrive. None of the employer's workers at the accident site were trained in CPR and, therefore, critical care was not provided in a timely manner.
Return to In-house FACE reports
- Page last reviewed: November 18, 2015
- Page last updated: October 15, 2014
- Content source:
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Division of Safety Research | <urn:uuid:ae7beafd-fe88-49fe-a2ff-15cdd80a9765> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/In-house/full8744.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00023-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956729 | 1,499 | 2.578125 | 3 |
What Are Percocets?
Many people who have come across this name at one point or another have asked themselves this question, what are Percocets? To provide the best possible answer to this question, it is mandatory to understand the category of drugs that a Percocet is usually classified under.
First and foremost, this drug is a painkiller hence it is prescribed by doctors and medical practitioners for patients that require relief from severe pains that they are feeling. This drug is classified under the narcotics group and it has acetaminophen hydrochloride and Oxycodone hydrochloride as its constituents.
This drug relies entirely on the properties of these two constituents because of the effects that they have on a human body. Percocet is also classified as a Schedule 2 controlled substance, which means that its use is normally governed under laws and regulations that are very strict. This is done so that the safety of the drug can be maintained as required. In addition to this, the drugs which are under this class are often abused by people, hence the need for this law.
In order to answer the question ‘what are Percocets?’ it is relatively important to understand what the drugs are used for. As mentioned earlier on, this drug is normally used for relieving mild and even severe pains. Under normal circumstances, doctors usually prescribe this drug for patients that have chronic pains, migraines and various other illnesses that usually cause pain and discomfort to the patient in question.
In addition to this, Percocets are also used for moderating pain that is normally experienced as a result of dental procedures, injury or even surgery. On the other hand, it is also important to know what this drug is made of so that you can understand it better.
The two main components of this drug each have their specific roles to play in the body. The first component, which is known as acetaminophen hydrochloride, is a non prescription drug which actually relieves pain and reduces fever as well. The second component is known as Oxycodone hydrochloride and it is used for relieving pain too but it also reduces coughing. These two components when used together reduce the effects of Oxycodone hence they eventually work more effectively together.
It is also relatively important to understand that when you ask, ‘what are Percocets?’, you must also understand the effects of the drugs in the process. It very significant to understand that this drug does not affect everyone who uses it, but it is all the same very dangerous especially when abused. When this drug is used in the correct manner as prescribed by the doctor, then the side effects that are experienced are normally mild and can be tolerated with little effort, if any are even experienced.
Some side effects that may be experienced include: dizziness, constipation, itching, feeling uneasy and sick. On the other hand, when one takes far too much or perhaps overdoses on this drug, the side effects may include diarrhea, loss of appetite, vomiting, yellowish urine, confusion, liver diseases and even death. | <urn:uuid:b6a2dd02-0dbc-4bcf-b191-66735e8f2cf5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://percocetabuse.com/what-are-percocets/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00135-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976435 | 633 | 3.3125 | 3 |
- generate message IDs
The msgid utility generates message IDs.
A message ID is a numeric identifier that uniquely identifies a message. Although the probability of two distinct messages having the same ID is high, this can be greatly reduced with the appropriate priority or facility.level designator (see syslogd(1M)). Specifically, the message ID is a hash signature on the message's unexpanded format string, generated by STRLOG_MAKE_MSGID() as defined in <sys/strlog.h>.
syslogd(1M) is a simple filter that takes strings as input and produces those same strings, preceded by their message IDs, as output. Every message logged by syslogd(1M) includes the message ID. The message ID is intended to serve as a small, language-independent identifier.
例 1 Using the msgid command to generate a message ID
The following example uses the msgid command to generate a message ID for the echo command.
example# echo hello | msgid205790 hello
例 2 Using the msgid command to generate a message catalog
The following example uses the msgid command to enumerate all of the messages in the binary ufs, to generate a message catalog.
example# strings /kernel/fs/ufs | msgid 137713 free: freeing free frag, dev:0x%lx, blk:%ld, cg:%d, ino:%lu, fs:%s 567420 ialloccg: block not in mapfs = %s 845546 alloc: %s: file system full ...
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: | <urn:uuid:a9e35d4c-56e7-4174-94b9-6b5bafd00850> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E26924_01/html/E29114/msgid-1m.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00130-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.659719 | 355 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Writing Student Learning OutcomesBy the end of a program of study, what do you want students to be able to do? How can your students demonstrate the knowledge the program intended them to learn? Student learning outcomes are statements developed by faculty that answer these questions, typically expressed as knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, or values.
Characteristics of Student Learning Outcomes
- Describe what students should be able to demonstrate, represent or produce based on their learning histories (Maki, 2010)
- Rely on active verbs that identify what students should be able to demonstrate, represent, or produce over time (Maki, 2010)
Student learning outcomes also:
- Should align with the institution’s curriculum and co-curriculum outcomes (Maki, 2010)
- Should be collaboratively authored and collectively accepted (Maki, 2010)
- Should incorporate or adapt professional organizations outcome statements when they exist (Maki, 2010)
- Can be quantitatively and/or qualitatively assessed during a student’s studies (Maki, 2010)
Examples of Student Learning Outcomes
The following examples of student learning outcomes are too general and would be very hard to measure: (T. Banta personal communication, October 20, 2010)
- will appreciate the benefits of exercise science.
- will understand the scientific method.
- will become familiar with correct grammar and literary devices.
- will develop problem-solving and conflict resolution skills.
The following examples, while better are still general and again would be hard to measure. (T. Banta personal communication, October 20, 2010)
- will appreciate exercise as a stress reduction tool.
- will apply the scientific method in problem solving.
- will demonstrate the use of correct grammar and various literary devices.
- will demonstrate critical thinking skills, such as problem solving as it relates to social issues.
The following examples are specific examples and would be fairly easy to measure when using the correct assessment measure: (T. Banta personal communication, October 20, 2010)
- will explain how the science of exercise affects stress.
- will design a grounded research study using the scientific method.
- will demonstrate the use of correct grammar and various literary devices in creating an essay.
- will analyze and respond to arguments about racial discrimination.
Importance of Action Verbs and Examples from Bloom’s Taxonomy
- Action verbs result in overt behavior that can be observed and measured (see list below).
- Certain verbs are unclear or relate to covert, internal behaviors that cannot be observed or measured. These types of verbs should be avoided (e.g., appreciate, become aware of, become familiar with, know, learn, and understand).
Bloom, B. (1956) A taxonomy of educational objectives, The classification of educational goals-handbook I: Cognitive domain. New York: McKay.
Maki, P.L. (2010). Assessing for learning: Building a sustainable commitment across the institution (2nd ed.). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Palomba, C.A., & Banta, T.W. (1999). Assessment essentials: Planning, implementing, and improving assessment in higher education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Authored by Mona Kheiry (March, 2011)
Revised by Terri Tarr (February, 2014) | <urn:uuid:24ef69c1-1ee9-4db4-804b-16451257d5d7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ctl.iupui.edu/Resources/Planning-the-Learning-Experience/Writing-Student-Learning-Outcomes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00020-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915227 | 699 | 3.984375 | 4 |
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