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Teachers and parents are always looking for the right scenarios to promote blended learning engagement. We see the potential in creating forums and using apps, websites and other virtual tools to promote creativity and higher-level learning.
Implementing blended learning takes practice in order to engage students, and allow them to be creative. It requires specific supportive guidelines for the use of technology.Click to tweet
The teacher always has a crucial role to play in blended learning situations. Teachers have the power to control the type and level of blended learning engagement. Here are some great ways to do just that.
5 Paths to Blended Learning Engagement
Teachers can guide practice and create expectations in these 5 ways:
1. Create and nurture the need to know.
With any effort towards developing interest for a topic, creating a need to know is an essential element in the process. Authentic projects where students find relevance to information and must use it to meet certain expectation or solve a problem builds on the natural curiosity and constructive impulses of a child. Using “need to know” motivations creates an intrinsic urge to understand the learning.
2. Combine collaborative work with virtual meetings.
Conferences can be used to help children with problem-solving, working together on projects, or for guided practice. Class meetings are useful when learning is meaningful and applied in context. Children need to understand the connections.
3. Set goals and milestones.
Provide a roadmap of where students are expected to go and the requirements of the final product. Set up moments online or offline to reflect on the current stage of progress and how it related to overall end goals. Have students reflect on their progress and problems and build constructive support systems for them to find their own answers.
Goals should be quantifiable and be developed around the needs of students. We can work with abstract tools towards concrete goals.
4. Student assignments can be individualized online.
Differentiating the expected learning is possible online. Higher-level engagement and products can be expected from those with a firm grasp of the concept. More remedial tasks and assignments to understand core concepts can help learners who are experiencing difficulty.
Differentiated instruction in a blended learning environment allows all learners to learn at their speed and level and to complete meaningful tasks that apply to their needs and interests.
5. Allow students to use appropriate online tools to learn core concepts.
There are so many educational apps, forums and social media platforms to help students understand and work with concepts. Here are just two excellent examples:
- The Khan Academy app allows teachers to tap into the flipped classroom concept for more individualized digestion of materials.
- TED-Ed, TED’s education initiative, offers educators presentations that work to provide information and development of core concepts.
Classroom forums can be created and managed by teachers to provide a place for students to ask questions and help each other while working on projects outside of the classroom.
7 Core Principles to Guide Instruction
Important elements to include in any instruction can be taken from the study Student Engagement in Blended Learning Environments with Lecture-Based and Problem-Based Instructional Approaches, published in the journal of Educational Technology and Society.
Truly useful at any level of instruction, they cited a framework by Chickering and Gamson called “Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education.” These principles, easily adopted for any instruction, are:
- Increase contact between student and faculty.
- Provide opportunity for students to work cooperatively.
- Encourage students to use active learning strategies.
- Provide timely feedback on progress.
- Allow sufficient time for students to spend on a task.
- Establish high standards for acceptable work.
- Address different learner needs within instruction.
Teachers who follow these principles are creating an environment that supports a high level of learner engagement. Blended learning engagement is simply another form of instruction that helps students master concepts and work with the material at their level.
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Once state-of-the-art mental healthcare facilities, Kirkbride buildings have long been relics of an obsolete therapeutic method known as Moral Treatment. In the latter half of the 19th century, these massive structures were conceived as ideal sanctuaries for the mentally ill and as an active participent in their recovery. Careful attention was given to every detail of their design to promote a healthy environment and convey a sense of respectable decorum. Placed in secluded areas within expansive grounds, many of these insane asylums seemed almost palace-like from the outside. But growing populations and insufficient funding led to unfortunate conditions, spoiling their idealistic promise.
Within decades of their first conception, new treatment methods and hospital design concepts emerged and the Kirkbride plan was eventually discarded. Many existing Kirkbride buildings maintained a central place in the institutions which began within their walls, but by the end of the 20th century most had been completely abandoned or demolished. A few have managed to survive into the 21st century intact and still in use, but many that survive sit abandoned and decaying—their mysterious grandeur intensified by their derelict condition. More...
Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride was a founding member of the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (AMSAII)—forerunner of the American Psychiatric Association—serving first as secretary, then later as president. Through this association and in his writings, Kirkbride promoted a standardized method of asylum construction and mental health treatment, popularly known as the Kirkbride Plan, which significantly influenced the entire American asylum community during his lifetime. More...
Latest Blog Entries
10 Mar 2013 -- Christian VanAntwerpen had an idea recently to photograph “every inch” of the Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Kirkbride for posterity, and is now working to make his idea a reality. Christian has gathered a group of about forty photographers and cinematographers who plan to photograph the entire building together this year... read more
Abandoned Asylums of New England
28 Feb 2013 -- John Gray is publishing a new edition of his Abandoned Asylums of New England photography book. The original version was self-published and came out a little over ten years ago... read more
Help Save the Athens Kirkbride
13 Feb 2013 -- Please help the Athens County Historical Society and Museum save the Athens Kirkbride by signing this online petition. Ohio University (current owner of the former Athens State Hospital site now known as The Ridges) is set to tear down an historic building at the site next month... read more
Hudson River Cameo in New Soundgarden Video
21 Jan 2013 -- A friend of mine recently posted photos from a Soundgarden show on Instagram. She was excited to see photos of the Hudson River State Hospital Kirkbride appear on the screen behind the band while they played their new song Been Away Too Long... read more
Colliers International’s Fergus Falls Website
02 Oct 2012 -- Colliers International has launched a website as part of their campaign to find a developer for the Fergus Falls Kirkbride: Historic Campus Opportunity. It’ll be interesting to see if Colliers is successful... read more
The Danvers Room
17 Aug 2012 -- The New York Times published an article Tuesday about John Archer’s eclectic house in Danvers, Massachusetts: Scrap Mansion. For those who don’t know, John Archer probably did more than anyone to try keeping the Danvers State Hospital Kirkbride intact... read more
Prints of Kirkbride buildings are now available.
Added a Saint Elizabeths Hospital page.
Added an Harrisburg State Hospital page.
Added chapters 51-60 to Kirkbride's book.
Added a Cherokee State Hospital page.
Expanded the Weston State Hospital gallery.
- Athens State Hospital
Architect: Levi T. Scofield
Location: Athens, Ohio
- Buffalo State Hospital
Architect: Henry Hobson Richardson
Location: Buffalo, New York
- Cherokee State Hospital
Architect: Henry F. Liebbe
Location: Cherokee, Iowa
- Clarinda State Hospital
Architect: Foster & Liebbe
Location: Clarinda, Iowa
- Danvers State Hospital
Architect: Nathaniel J. Bradlee
Location: Danvers, Massachusetts
- Dixmont State Hospital
Architect: J.R. Kerr
Location: Dixmont Township, Pennsylvania
- Fergus Falls State Hospital
Architect: Warren Dunnell
Location: Fergus Falls, Minnesota
- Greystone Park State Hospital
Architect: Samuel Sloan
Location: Morristown, New Jersey
- Hudson River State Hospital
Architect: Frederick Clarke Withers
Location: Poughkeepsie, New York
- Independence State Hospital
Architect: Stephen Vaughn Shipman
Location: Independence, Iowa
- Northampton State Hospital
Architect: Jonathan Preston
Location: Northampton, Massachusetts
- Saint Elizabeths Hospital
Architect: Thomas U. Walters
Location: Washington, DC
- Taunton State Hospital
Architect: Elbridge Boyden
Location: Taunton, Massachusetts
- Traverse City State Hospital
Architect: Gordon W. Lloyd
Location: Traverse City, Michigan
- Weston State Hospital
Architect: R. Snowden Andrews
Location: Weston, West Virginia
- Worcester State Hospital
Architect: George Dutton Rand
Location: Worcester, Massachusetts
- Photo Prints
Prints of selected Kirkbride photographs on this site are available for purchase in 8x10 and 11x14 formats.
Please note that in some instances these buildings are off-limits to the general public and permission must be obtained if you wish to access the property and/or take photographs.
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AIDS Diagnoses in the US, by Transmission Method and Gender
"From 2009 through 2013, the annual number of infections classified as stage 3 (AIDS) among adult and adolescent males with HIV infection attributed to male-to-male sexual contact, injection drug use, male-to-male sexual contact and injection drug use, or heterosexual contact decreased. The number of infections classified as stage 3 (AIDS) among adult and adolescent females with HIV infection attributed to injection drug use or heterosexual contact decreased."
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV Surveillance Report, 2013; vol. 25. Published February 2015. Accessed October 29, 2015, pp. 6-7.
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The influence of money in politics
76% of Americans think that the amount of money in elections gives rich people more influence than the rest of us. They're right. Princeton and Northwestern University recently released a released a study suggesting that our government outcomes function on behalf of a polarized special interest oligarchy not the majoritarian democracy. That's not the deal promised by the whole "We The People" thing.
The Spoiler Effect and Lesser Evil Voting
The spoiler effect is the effect of vote splitting between candidates or ballot questions with similar ideologies. One spoiler candidate's presence in the election draws votes from a major candidate with similar politics thereby causing a strong opponent of both or several to win. The minor candidate causing this effect is referred to as a spoiler.
The lesser of two evils principle (or lesser evil principle) is the principle that when given two bad choices, the one which is not as bad as the other should be chosen over the one that is the greater threat.
More on Ranking Systems
Plurality voting - the choice of one favorite in a field of many candidates - is the simplest ranking system. Other methods like Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) allow you to rank multiple candidates 1,2,3, etc. in order of your preference. It turns out that for elections with more than two candidates, ALL ranked voting methods fail the test for voting system equality because there are rank orderings for which there are no counter-balancing orderings. Further, rank orderings can't account for disproportionate clusterings of candidates, so such systems are necessarily vulnerable to vote-splitting. Some super smart dude named Nobel Prize Winning Economist Dr. Kenneth Arrow actually proved that no rank order voting system with more than two distinct alternatives can produce a “fair” outcome.
Other complaints regarding ranked systems include ballot complexity and winner computation complexity.
Computing the shutout
Currently only members of the Democratic and Republican parties can participate in meaningful primary elections. According to the November, 2016 voter registration statistics, 34% of voters don't affiliate with either, and are therefore excluded from the contests that select the two frontrunner candidates for the general election. Further, a strong majority of districts provide a single party enough of an advantage because of the imbalanced segregation of voters in the primary stage that its candidate always wins the general election. This silences another 17.1% of voters in the minority party in dominated districts.
That's actually more than half of us. Without a voice of representation in a "representative democracy." Hmm...
The spreadsheet that computes these results from Oregon's published voter registration data and the computer program that generates the nifty colored maps can be accessed at this GitHub repository.
The California Top Two
California adopted a top two general election system in 2010. While the California law bears similarity to the Oregon Open Primary, it differs significantly in its purpose, excerpted in part:
“(a) Purpose. The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act is hereby adopted by the People of California to protect and preserve the right of every Californian to vote for the candidate of his or her choice…
(b) Top Two Candidate Open Primary. All registered voters otherwise qualified to vote shall be guaranteed the unrestricted right to vote for the candidate of their choice in all state and congressional elections… The top two candidates, as determined by the voters in an open primary, shall advance to a general election…”
The California system has no requirement of equality within the primary election itself. Instead, its Purpose subtly reinforces the single choice limitation, and so because all the candidates are in a single, larger primary field, California has seen a magnification of the vote-splitting/spoiler effect inequality present in our election system today.
A discussion of strategic voting in the equal vote with a top two
"Bullet Voting" - FairVote, a national election reform advocacy organization, has criticized rating systems because "they create obvious, immediate and ongoing strategic dilemmas in every election. With approval voting, each equally weighted vote counts both for that candidate but effectively against the other candidates -- if you indeed have a preference between the two candidates, you need to weigh whether to 'bullet vote' for your favorite to avoid canceling out that vote by voting for someone else. You can be sure candidates will publicly call for voters to reach out to all candidates they might like with their votes, but privately to urge all backers to bullet vote for themselves."
In a discussion of using a rating system for the primary election with a top two, Rob Richie, Executive Director of FairVote conceded that adding a second round mitigates the bullet voting concern. A voter's desire to see his or her favorite candidate win is balanced by the safety of having two acceptable candidates advance (including his or her favorite).
"Voting or advocating for the weak opponent" - A number of folks have suggested that one way to "game" the equal top two is to cast dishonest votes in favor of a weak opponent candidate in order to squeeze out a more-feared strong opponent. This is not a safe voting strategy; in fact it is only viable if the voter has a very high degree of confidence that his or her favorite candidate will out-poll the strong opponent in the first round. Voting insincerely does not change at all the calculus between the voter's favorite and most feared opponent, but actually increases the likelihood that the voter's own favorite will get squeezed out. This weak opponent strategy is an effective technique in most other two stage election systems.
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Scientists have found an association between fungicide use and retinal degeneration in the wives of farmers who are pesticide applicators. Researchers had already found an association with retinal degeneration among the farmers themselves in the Agricultural Health Study, a large study of farm families from Iowa and North Carolina.
Researchers reviewed data from questionnaires given to 31,173 women from 1993 to 1997 to determine whether wives of these farmer pesticide applicators were at increased risk of retinal degeneration. This information was evaluation to determine associations of specific pesticides and groups of pesticides based on function (fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, and fumigants) or chemical structure (organophosphates, organochlorines, and carbamates) with eye disorders.
Their findings suggest that exposure to some fungicides and other pesticides may increase the risk of retinal degeneration; specific fungicides that appeared to drive this association were maneb or mancozeb and ziram.
Study authors noted that although these findings for retinal degeneration are based solely on self-reported disease, they are consistent with those reported for farmer pesticide applicators.
SOURCE: Retinal Degeneration and Other Eye Disorders in Wives of Farmer Pesticide Applicators Enrolled in the Agricultural Health Study, Kirrane, et al, American Journal of Epidemiology 2005 161(11):1020-1029; doi:10.1093/aje/kwi140
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Encouraging Kindness in Kids
As parents of preschoolers, we're regularly reminding them to take turns, say "please" and "thank you," be good listeners, help each other, clean up their toys, don't bite … and so on.
We're pretty relentless. Because it's all related to what we consider one of our most important jobs as parents: How do we raise kind kids?
Considerate, generous people make the world better, of course. And studies show that people are happier and healthier when they're kind. Parents Magazine wrote that kids have an innate desire to help others – we just need to guide it, so that doing good becomes a lifelong habit.
Here are a few things we're trying at our house.
1) Make a Kindness Box.
Like anything, we figure kindness takes practice. We're wrapping up and decorating a box with our kids, cutting up some slips of paper, and writing an act of kindness on each one. Then we'll draw one out of the box each day this month, and do it together. Here are a few of them (big and small):
- Go on a hike in the Presidio, and pick up any trash we see.
- Donate books to the library.
- Clean up the playroom.
- Plant a garden.
- Draw a picture for Mrs. Patel (our neighbor).
- Volunteer at Glide (local nonprofit).
- Make and bring treats to the fire station.
- Hug your brother.
- Write a thank you to our teachers.
- Smile at everyone you see.
- Walk Elvis (our dog).
- Have a lemonade stand, and donate the $ to the Children's Hospital.
Stories like Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, The Please and Thank You Book, And Llama Llama Time To Share, help teach what it means to be thoughtful and kind.
We created the Wee You-Things app to help encourage acceptance – and to celebrate differences – in a fun way.
3) Family dinner.
During dinner, when you're asking your kids about school or the park – ask them how they helped spread kindness that day. Who did you help today? Who helped you? How were you a good friend? How were you a good brother? Hopefully it gives you more insight into their days – and frames it up in a way that shows what we value most.
Download a free activity page from the Wee Workshop – featuring Wee Alpha Kind Koala Kate – to capture kids' ideas on paper.
4) Notice (and recognize) it.
When we catch our kids (or they catch us) being kind, we're calling each other on it. When we remember to do it, positive reinforcement is more fun for all of us.
How do you teach your kids kindness? Please share your ideas on our Facebook page.
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Now, I’m using Microsoft word to write these articles. These word processor programs are very useful when you writing something down. Sometimes, we heard someone was very familiar with these programs, such as word, can remember many short-cuts. Though I use this program frequently, I can’t remember many short-cuts. I can remember some short-cuts, such as “Ctrl+Z”, which means UNDO.
The UNDO command is widely use in today’s program. You can see it almost everywhere. Besides the word processor program, you can find it in photoshop, in flash, or even in games. Eh, in games, this command isn’t called UNDO, it use another name SAVE.
I think you should be familiar with this command. But, have you ever implemented this command in your application? Maybe, your application doesn’t need this kind of command, but you won’t deny the importance of this command. So, it’s worth to consider how to implement this command.
In the GoF book, there is a pattern, which has much to do with this command, called Memento. The intent is as follows.
Without violating encapsulation, capture and externalize an object’s internal state so that the object can be restored to this state later.
–By GOF BOOK
In my opinion, without practice, the definition is nothing. So, let’s write some code to implement this pattern.
This little program will mimic the game command SAVA. Generally, we need to store some basic information about the role, such as the blood, the experience and so on. Do it the easy way, we will only store the blood and the experience, nothing more.
Our demo will be looks like follows.
This is a little game with no rules, just fight And you can save the characters state, including blood and experience, with the save button. Of course, you can load the states you’ve just saved. One more thing, the experience here can’t help you level up; you can take a look at the source code for its effect.
The class diagram is as follows.
The SaveManager class is used for manage the save state, and all the state of Character will be put into the CharacterState. When we want to save the character’s state, we just need to call the SaveManager.save, and pass the character’s state into it. Then, when we want to load it, call the load method of SaveManager.
This is a basic application of this pattern. If you want to implement the UNDO and REDO commands, you may need a memento stack. How to use the stack depends on you program.
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Canberra’s Deep Space Tracking Station could be the first place on Earth to receive signals indicating life on other planets from NASA’s new space telescope.
The US$10 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will help astronomers unravel the secrets of the cosmos in unprecedented detail.
The 10-year mission aims to observe the first galaxies that formed in the early universe and see planets taking shape.
It’s carrying cutting-edge technology, including the largest mirror ever launched into space, capable of seeing a wide range of light frequencies.
Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) spokesman Glen Nagle said the JWST will be able to detect signs of life on planets within our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
“We could know for the first time whether there’s life out there and maybe clues to what it’s like. [If it’s] developing or even ahead of us,” he said.
The astronomically sensitive equipment can measure if atmospheric gases on far distant planets show signs of extra-terrestrials.
“To tell us if these are worlds that have the potential to support life or even could be supporting life,” he explained.
“Even right down to the possibility of looking for a technologically based civilisation.”
The JWST launched on Christmas Day 2021 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in South America.
On 9 January it fully deployed its 21-foot, gold-coated mirror and was ready to prepare for science operations.
The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) played a vital role in seeing it off safely into space.
Mr Nagle said it was a moment years in the making.
“To get that signal in and be able to confirm the spacecraft was healthy back to mission control was a really good feeling,” he said.
According to Mr Nagle, the JWST is a complete game-changer, allowing images and detail like nothing on Earth can, “in the same way that the Hubble space telescope revolutionised our view of the universe around us in the optical wavelength”.
“Webb’s capability to actually see that infrared light and incredible detail, 100 times more powerful than Hubble could ever do in optical, will give us an unprecedented view of the early universe.
“It will reveal how the first galaxies were born, how that web of the universe came together.”
The JWST is designed to send 58 gigabytes of information back to Earth each day, more than any spacecraft has done before.
NASA is planning something special when the JWST is ready to take its first astronomical images, in about five to six months’ time.
“They plan a ‘wow’ image,” Mr Nagle said. “They’ve already got a target decided on, but they haven’t told anybody what it is yet.
“They will take their highest resolution image and that will be the first really big one revealed to the world.”
If the timing is right, it will be the CDSCC that receives the data from that stunning first image.
“It will come down definitely through the deep space network, but it all depends on the alignment of the stars whether it’s us or not,” Mr Nagle said.
“The signals we get from these spacecraft are just the digital ones and zeros. We’ll send that data off to the mission control team and they’ll be the ones to unpack it first.
“They plan to release it virtually in real-time, I’m sure they’ll have a big press conference around it and they’ll get it out as soon as possible.”
Mr Nagle said it’s all part of the dedicated CDSCC team’s work to make history every day.
You can track the James Webb Space Telescope’s mission online.
Original Article published by Damien Larkins on Riotact.
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Click to view larger photo.
The Pacific humpback whale's (Megaptera novaeangliae) habitat is the warm waters of Hawai'i and the cold waters of Alaska. The Pacific humpback whales are the state of Hawaii's official marine mammal and is an endangered species. Humpback whales migrate to Hawaii every year from their summer feeding grounds off Alaska. They can be seen in Hawai'i from late October to early June. Many tourists and students go whale watching during this time of the year.
Hawai'i is the only place in the U.S. where humpbacks reproduce. Scientists estimate that two-thirds of the entire North Pacific humpback whale population (approximately 4000-5000 whales) migrates to Hawaiian waters to engage in breeding, calving and nursing activities. The young calves are often found near the mother.
Humpback whales eat shrimp, small fish, and krill. They grow up to fifty feet in length and can weigh up to forty tons! The humpback whale's age is determined by the size of its earwax which can get up to 3 feet long. Humpbacks are so called because they have a fin on their back just behind the middle of the body which has a ridge or "hump." The humpbacks usually travel in large groups of three to ten called pods.They are known to jump out of the water and return with a giant splash. This process is called breaching.
The Pacific humpback whales is protected by the Federal National Marine Sanctuary Program. Under this Federal Regulations it is unlawful to:
(a) approach by any means, within 100 yards (90 m) of a humpback whale; or
(b) cause a vessel or other object to approach within 100 yards (90 m) of a humpback whale; or
(c) operate any aircraft within 1000 feet (300 m) of any humpback whale; or
(d) disrupt the normal behavior or prior activity of a whale by any other act or omission
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Diabetes-related foot disease remains a common problem. For wounds, classic teaching recommends the treatment of any infection, offloading the wound and ensuring a good blood supply, as well as ensuring that the other modifiable risk factors are addressed and optimized. There remain, however, several questions about these and other aspects of the care of diabetes-related foot disease. Some of these questions are addressed in the present report; in particular, the impact of newer technologies in the identification of any organisms present in a wound, as well as the use of novel approaches to treat infections. The use of new remote sensing technology to identify people at risk of developing foot ulceration is also considered, in an attempt to allow early intervention and prevention of foot ulcers. The psychological impact of foot disease is often overlooked, but with an increasing number of publications on the subject, the cause-and-effect role that psychology plays in foot disease, such as ulcers and Charcot neuroarthropathy, is considered. Finally, because of heterogeneity in diabetic foot studies, comparing results is difficult. A recently published document focusing on ensuring a standardized way of reporting foot disease trials is discussed.
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The main themes in the graphic novel, Asterios Polyp, are those of separation and the search for completion. Much of the visual and narrative images have to do with either separation or the search for a missing element to form a complete unit. As such themes of symmetry, unity and geometry are explored. It is important to note that the story is narrated by Ignazio, Asterios' twin brother who was still-born.
Elements of Greek tragedy play out in this book and there are many references to specific plays and works of art.
As Mazzucchelli does a great job of explaining several points along the way, I am limiting my notes to places where he has not explained what is happening on the page.
Page 3, Panel 1. Exterior of Asterios Polyp’s apartment. It is important to note the symmetry of both the apartment building and the lit windows.
Page 3, Panel 2. Interior of the apartment of Asterios Polyp. This panel will be repeated often throughout the book. It is important to note how this apartment looks now to compare it to the view of the apartment later in the book.
Page 6, Panel 1. This is Asterios Polyp. The name, Asterios, is probably derivative of the word “asterism.” An asterism is a pattern of stars seen in Earth's sky that is not a constellation (such as Ursa Major). Their mostly simple shapes and few stars make these patterns easy to identify (which Asterios Polyp likes), and thus particularly useful to those just learning to orient themselves when viewing the night sky. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterism_(astronomy))
Page 9, panels 2, 4, and 6. In the fire, he takes three things: A watch, a lighter, and a Swiss Army knife. When all his life is crashing down around him and he has to save the most important, those are what he chooses to save. The fact that he chooses three things to grab is a contradiction to his life. He says later he doesn't think in terms of three, when Hana specifically asks him if he could only grab three things in the event of a fire.
Page 17, Panel 1. We can assume from the narration and the picture that Polyp was a tenured professor at Cornell University.
Page 17, Panel 3. Asterios Polyp is left handed. Yes, this is important. I promise.
Page 18. The seated figure of Polyp is reminiscent of classic Greek figures. But, with it raised above his head, it also invokes the divine. He is over-seeing a plane of classic Greek forms, figures and sculptures. The three columns form a sort of timeline of Greek architecture. From furthest to closest (oldest to most recent) there is The Doric column, the oldest and simplest Greek style. It is found on the Parthenon in Athens. This column features fluted sides, a smooth rounded top, and no separate base.
Ionic columns have the scroll-shaped ornaments at the top, which resemble a ram’s horns. The Ionic column rests on a rounded base. Corinthian columns are the most recent of the three classic Greek styles. The tops are shaped like inverted bells. The Tops are also decorated with olive, laurel, or acanthus leaves. Corinthian columns rest on a base similar to that of the Ionic style. (http://www.realtor.org/archives/arch35) By his pose and demeanor, we are to assume that Polyp is sitting in judgment of all that is before him. Polyp spends his life judging everything and everyone by how he sees the world. That which does not fit his view of ideal is crap and worthless.
Page 19, Pane 1. Asterios subscribes to the modernist architectural philosophy that form reflects function. Anything that does not serve a purpose is superfluous.
Page 19, Panel 2. Apollonian and Dionysian refers to Apollo and Dionysus of Greek myth. Both are sons of Zeus. “Apollo is the god of the Sun, lightness, music, and poetry, while Dionysus is the god of wine, ecstasy, and intoxication. In the modern literary usage of the concept, the contrast between Apollo and Dionysus symbolizes principles of wholeness versus individualism, light versus darkness, or civilization versus primal nature. The ancient Greeks did not consider the two gods as opposites or rivals.” However, Asterios uses these two to represent opposites. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollonian_and_Dionysian)
Page 20, Panel 1. An introduction to the ordered pairs in Aterios’s life. There are double helix patterns on his bed, two pictures on the wall (one of a set of twins), two pairs of books (two light blue, two darker).
Page 20, panel 1. Asterios has a photographic memory. This too will be important later.
Page 20, panel 2 narration. An introduction to the concept of a lost or missing half in Asterios’s life. His “real” last name was cut in half, leaving only the first five letters.
Page 20, panel 2 narration. Aglia Olio is a play on “Aglio e Olio”, a traditional Italian pasta dish that is associated with home cooking and rustic or poor life. It is made with local, simple ingredients that can be easily found and adapted. This suggests that, while his father was well-educated (and Greek), his mother was perhaps not (and Italian).
This serves as a further metaphor. The Greeks were the educated and philosophical of the two cultures, while the Italians (Romans at the time) were not as educated, but made the most of what they controlled. They adapted the Greek society to their own, incorporating many of the Greek traditions in to their Roman way of life.
Both the Greeks and Romans served as a foundation for our modern, Democratic society, just as Asterios’s parents serve as a foundation for his life.
Page 20, panel 2 narration. Continuing the theme of missing halves, Asterios was born on June 22, 1950, the first day of the second half of the century, thus missing out on the first half.
Page 21, panels 1 - 3. We are introduced to several important pieces of information here. First being that the narration of this story is by Ignazio, Asterios’s dead twin brother. Ignazio, his brother, is probably based on Ignazio Danti, a figure in the renaissance. He was trained in Mathematics and science, but joined the priesthood. He studied cosmography and spent time mapping the heavens and the earth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignazio_danti) More on him later.
This is also the introduction of the yin and yang as a visual theme. Yin and Yang are often considered opposite forces, but together they keep each other in check and in balance. Without one there cannot be the other. The light fetus and the inverted, dark fetus fulfill the visual of the yin and yang (light and dark, opposite directions) while also filling the philosophical role as well (life and death seeming to be opposites, but actually being intertwined and giving rise to each other). We can look back to Page 19, Panel 2 for another example of this philosophical comparison.
Page 24, Panel 5. The sign reads “Standpipe Siamese”. Siamese twins was a term used for conjoined twins (popularized by Sang and Eng Bunker in the early 1800’s). However, conjoined twins are often separated due to health issues. Asterios is walking without his twin.
Page 25. More examples of pairs in Asterios’ life: two turnstiles, two rats, four sets of stairs (visible), two handrails (visible).
Page 26. Another Yin-Yang reference. Asterios goes under the turnstile, his missing twin goes over.
Page 27. “Splitting me in two with a smile so Euclidean” refers to Euclidean geometry. (For more information see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_geometry). One bird question mark, seems to be questioning the validity of one bird. One of something contradicts Asterios's world view.
Page 28. We now see 4 birds in front of the train.
Page 35. The lettering drives home the point that Asterios believes that function is all that is important. Asterios’ words are all lettered in “standard comic book” font. It is all capitals with little style. His is stripped bare. Pure function.
Everyone else in the book has a unique and distinct look to their lettering. While both do the work (conveying the message and information) the decorative additions point out the individuality of each character. It is, as the book narrative pointed out, that the perceived reality (how we, the readers, see their spoken words) is merely an extension of the self.
Page 36. Introduction of the archetype for Asterios. This is Asterios stripped to his barest. There are no extra lines or decorations. He is nothing but shapes and angles which, when placed together, form Asterios.
Floating above Asterios are the Five Platonic Solids. Tetrahedron Cube Octahedron Dodecahedron and Icosahedron. “The faces of a Platonic solid are congruent regular polygons, with the same number of faces meeting at each vertex. They have the unique property that the faces, edges and angles of each solid are all congruent.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_solids) They are the perfect marriage of form and function. The aesthetic beauty and symmetry of the Platonic solids have made them a favorite subject of geometers for thousands of years. They are named for the ancient Greek philosopher Plato who theorized that the classical elements were constructed from the regular solids.
The shapes making up each student form an elegant way to show which students are following his instructions, and which are not.
Page 37, Panel 2. “I’m thinking about adding fenestration to this planar surface…?” Translation: “I am thinking about putting a couple of windows in this wall.”
Page 38. Here we see the lighter he grabbed during the fire.
Page 39, Panel 4. Asterios is imagining himself as Odysseus lashed to the mast of his ship to avoid succumbing to the Siren’s call. This is a double entendre as siren also refers to an alluring female. Panel shape follows very rigid lines until he starts to slip into fantasy.
Page 40. Cleverly clueing the reader into which panels are fantasy and which are reality with the panel shape.
Page 41. Here we see the first use of Mazzucchelli's art showing the differences between Asterios and his future wife, Hana. Red detailed art depicting his wife, where the simple blue outline shows Asterios' perception. This page is also a good place to point out that Mazzucchelli uses different lettering and word balloon for each person talking. This will be pervasive throughout this book, and shows a deeper layer for both personality and how a person sounds.
Page 43. The Parthenon in Greece. The Parthenon was a temple to the Greek goddess Athena (goddess of strategic warfare, wisdom, and heroic endeavor).
Page 45. Here we see the man who later hits Asterios in the head with a bottle sitting next to him.
Pages 49 – 50. The lighter represents his past. It is representative of his father (seen smoking on Page 49, panel 6) and it is the fact that his ex-wife made him give up smoking. But, this is the first thing he gives up. He gives up this token of his past relatively quickly, and to a complete stranger. Why? Because the piece no longer serves a function. He no longer smokes. It no longer contains lighter fluid, so it no longer works. There is no room for sentimentality in a world dictated by function.
Page 50. Apogee is the point at which an object is at its farthest distance from the object around which it is orbiting. So, for Asterios to be in the town of Apogee it is both literally the furthest point away from his life (he asked how far away he could get in the Greyhound station on Page 31, panel 3).
Page 52, panel 7. Stiff Major is an almost sexual innuendo. It is a clue that he almost gets things right. He has plenty of mis-sayings and almost clichés that, in the end, work out as well, if not better than what was supposed to be said.
Page 53, panel 5. Here is that photographic memory coming in to play.
Pages 58 – 61. Introduction of the visual theme for Hana. Hana’s life and influence will be represented in the book through the use of pink.
This is also the first time we see the use of the spotlight as a metaphor for the attention of others. Hana is always standing just outside the spotlight, desperately wanting it to shine on her. However, she is always passed over for one of her four brothers.
Page 63, panel 4 narration. A return to the spotlight metaphor.
Page 63 – 64 note how the pink of Hana is filling the empty form of Asteros, and Asteros is lending form to Hana’s color. It is Yin and Yang. Each completes and supports the other. This also shows how each person's perception is representing a reality for the other person. They're combined perception of self has become reality for both. This is also a very clever technique to show two people clicking.
Page 66, panel 3. Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of animals, the environment and Italy. This is ironic as Asterios has just swatted a mosquito. It is also a slight nod to his Mother’s Italian heritage. We later find out that this is from a conversation between Asterios and Hana.
Page 73, Panel 6. Spotty Drizzle is probably referring to 1998 DK36. On February 14, 1998 this near earth object passed within 0.0006 astronomical units (AU) or roughly 56,000 miles of Earth. (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/neo_ca?type=NEO;hmax=all;sort=date;sdir=ASC;tlim=past;dmax=0.05AU;max_rows=500;action=Display%20Table;show=1&from=1000)
Page 79. The panels here represent a stylized yin and yang. It supports the narrative that people are searching for their missing half. Whereas these pieces do not fit together, the yin and yang mesh together perfectly.
Page 79, panel 1. The woman is referring to Richard Nixon.
Page 79, Panel 2. The song is Feelings by the band Gemini. Gemini, in astronomy, is referred to as “The Twins”, and is commonly associated with the myth of Castor and Pollux.
Page 80, panel 1. Asterios is referring to Hana. This is a playful term, referring back to their initial meeting on page 57.
Page 81, panel 6. Thus we see why Asterios asks this question on page 66. The difference is that Hana chooses not to swat the mosquito.
Page 82, panel 3. Isamu Noguchi (November 17, 1904 - December 30, 1988) “was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isamu_Noguchi)
Page 83, panel 5. Typo?
Page 86, panel 1. The Uffizi is the oldest art museum in the western world. It is in Florence, Italy. This also highlights that one of the things that attracted Hana to Asterios, was his storytelling and bravado. Now it is appearing to be somewhat of an annoyance.
Page 87. This is the first time we see Asterios’s apartment since page 3, panel 2. Compare. Great use of the windows' reflection to show the other side of the room.
Page 88. We see that improvisation for Asterios is really more a matter of just choosing something different as opposed to creating something new. Also, his perfect memory comes into play again.
Page 91, panel 4. We learn that the movie Asterios was watching at the start of the book was a recording of this night.
Page 94. More twin imagery. In this case, Asterios and Ignazio are represented as Cheng and Eng.
Page 96. Stiff is singing Rock You Like a Hurricane by the Scorpions.
Page 97. Ursula Major is a play on Ursa Major. Ursa Major (the constellation) is useful to individuals in the northern hemisphere for helping travelers find the north star, and thus their direction.
Page 98, panel 5. Cancer, almost a Gemini. Asterios’s last name is polyp. Polyps are growths that are often cancerous. Asterios was also almost a twin. . Gemini, in astronomy, is referred to as “The Twins”.
Page 99. Here we see his two remaining possessions from his former life.
Page 102, panel 1. Gerry is paraphrasing from “On Protracted War" (May 1938).
Page 102, Panel 3. Gerry is paraphrasing from Introductory note to "A Serious Lesson" (1955)
Page 102, panel 3. Asterios is paraphrasing Mao. “The outstanding thing about China's 600 million people is that they are "poor and blank." This may seem a bad thing, but in reality it is a good thing ... On a blank sheet of paper free from any mark, the freshest and most beautiful characters can be written, the freshest and most beautiful pictures can be painted.” — Mao Tse-tung, 1958
Page 104, panel 4 & page 105, panel 1. Ursula claims tobacco is sacred to her people. But then says that these people were from a past life. Ursula is, in fact, Jewish by birth.
Page 105. Again, this panel is meant to contrast with Asterios’ previous living arrangements.
Page 112 – 113. On this page are representations of the periodic table of elements, visual representations of Plato’s concept of the real vs the ideal, and the Fibonacci sequence.
Page 115. In Plato’s Republic, Plato theorizes about a perfect world where everything exists in its ideal state. It is pure marriage of form and function. There is nothing extra. It is all perfect as is and needs nothing more. Asterios takes the philosophical idea to an extreme. If we swept away everything that is decoration we would have the true form of something, or as close as we could produce in our imperfect world. His example: The Essence of Shoeness. Note that he chooses not to wear the shoes first, but chooses them based on their appearance.
Page 116, panel 2. Tearing lettuce causes less browning than cutting with a metal knife. Asterios is a know-it-all who doesn't respect others' opinions. This is in stark contrast to where we see him in conversations with Ursula, later.
Page 118. All of the buildings have symmetry. They are from left to right, the pyramid at Giza, The Parthenon, Japanese Pagoda, Monticello, Notre Dame, the Taj Mahal.
Page 118. Asterios’s designs demonstrate several of the themes of the story. His architectural designs not only offer symmetry, but offer it in the yin-yang motif of asymmetrical individual pieces joining to make a symmetrical whole. The fact that none of his buildings have been constructed is brilliant. Much like Plato’s Republic, the fact that the building exists in the world of Forms or Ideas is enough. Were it to be translated to the “real” world, it would get lost in translation and not live up to the truly ideal “form” building.
Page 120. Mazzacchelli uses a brilliant method to show the linear thinking of Asterios. His thinking is cartesian, which aligns with his shadow and the shadow of the sphere which are 3 dimensional. But are in fact a 2 dimension representation on a page.
Page 123-126. We again see Mazzacchelli using the perception of self to represent reality, where Asterios is in stark blue outline, and Hana is in detailed red shading. On the last page we see the separation of Hana fading as she comes to understand his explanation.
Page 127, Panel 1. Egyptian Pharaos were often entombed with servants who would look after them and serve them in the afterlife.
Page 127, panels 2 & 3. Emperor Shi Huang Di was the first emperor of China. He had a massive terracotta army constructed to watch over him in the afterlife.
Page 127, panel 4. A return to the yin yang theme.
Page 129. The Washington Monument in Washington, DC. It should be noted that, after the previous page’s discussion about monuments and people watching over others, Washington DC is full of monuments to the founding fathers who now watch over thr country.
Page 130. This is a slightly fictionalized representation of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.
Page 143. St. Francis of Assisi.
Page 147. Asterio’s father is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The fact that his father has no memory whatsoever must be terrifying for Asterios. since one theory about Alzheimer’s is that it has a genetic component. Asterios has photographic memory, and loves to be able to pull facts out of thin air about a wide variety of topics.
Page 145. We see Hana's dream and it is in the detailed red shading that depicts her identity.
Page 149. A return to the spotlight imagery from pages 58 – 61. This highlights how Asterios steals the "spotlight" from Hana's own creation. A very subtle way to show a relationship problem.
Page 153, Panel 1. These are the same cups from page 49, panel 6.
Page 156, panel 1. Again, compare to earlier visuals of the aprtment.
Page 156, Panel 1. “Tansu has a long history dating back to the Edo period (1603 - 1867), when it was a luxury available only to the richest samurai and noblemen” (http://www.greenteadesign.com/tansu.html) The design is very symmetrical and serves a particular function.
Page 156, panel 3. The curves of the table do not serve a function and are thus decoration. Asterios does not like it.
Page 157, Panel 3. Hana challenges his thinking and introduces something new to his life. She forces him to think in terms of curved lines, colors, form instead of function. She is the one who asks: if you have to take only three objects, what would they be? For Asterios this is preposterous. He does not think in terms of three. He can’t. It is all about duality. Yin and Yang. Right and wrong. But, as we found earlier he would grab the lighter, watch, and the knife.
Page 158. He drives a late seventies/early eightes saab.
Page 169. Asterios gives away his second item that he saved from his old life.
Page 171. “It’s a goy!” Historically and up to modern times goy is a synonym for Gentile or non-Jew.
Page 172, panel 3. Asterios replies negatively to the question about siblings while a shadow/reflection mirrors him in the car window, showing his twin.
Page 174 & 175 Barringer Meteor Crater – Arizona.
Page 176-177. Asterios and Ursula discuss the duality of the world, and Asterios seems to agree that his view may have been short-sighted.
Page 182, panel 1. Willy Ilium is a play on words. Willy is slang for penis, while the ilium is the largest bone in the pelvis. So, basically, this little man is a big dick. Add to that his constant sexual innuendo and the metaphor is complete.
Page 183, panel 1. Asterios is taking credit for something Hana pointed out to him.
Page 184, Panel 1. “Like Wright and Neutra…” Wright refers to Frank Lloyd Wright. (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 projects, which resulted in more than 500 completed works. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_lloyd_wright)
Neutra refers to Richard Joseph Neutra (April 8, 1892 – April 16, 1970) who is considered one of modernism's most important architects. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neutra)
Page 185. Iridium is a metal from the Platinum family
Page 185. Illuminato is a play on illuminati, or enlightened one.
Page 185. The Hip has double meaning here. It is both a nod to his soon-to-be-new name, Iliuim, as well as a slang term for being current or “with it.”
Page 185. Gilgamesh is a legendary King from the ancient civilization of Ur. Gilgamesh is described as two-thirds god and one-third human. In an ironic twist, Gilgamesh is also a character in a comic book (Marvel’s Avengers) who is referred to as “the forgotten one.” The ballet, produced by Willy Gilgamesh is titles “Forget About It.” No telling if Mazzucchelli inserted this as a comic book reference, but Willy Ilium seems to fit the bill.
Page 185. George Balanchine, Jules-Joseph Perrot, Martha Graham, and Twyla Tharp (possible misspelling of her name) were all choreographers and pioneers of modern dance.
Page 185. Chimera is an amalgam of different animals: The head of a lion, the body of a goat, and a tail that ends in the head of a snake. Sighting the Chimera was an omen of storms, shipwrecks, and natural disasters. In more recent times, the name Chimera is used to describe real life entities which were created as amalgams of separate entities in categories such as botany. The term chimera has also come to mean more generally, an impossible or foolish fantasy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(mythology))
Page 185, Panel 3. Orpheus (underground) is a bit of a repetition as the majority of the story of Orpheus takes place under ground.
Page 187, Panel 8 echoes what Asterios says to Ursula on page 179.
Page 190. Panel 1. Notice that the furniture and plants which Hana has added to the apartment are colored in her shade of pink.
Page 194, panel 3. Ilium is probably referring to Carl Jung’s Principle of Opposites. In short, the only way we can know anything is by contrast with an opposite. (http://psych.eiu.edu/spencer/Jung.html) Ilium’s point is that we may be assuming that two things are opposites when they are, in fact, not. Ursula Major made a similar statement on page 176. Ignazio also illustrates the point on page 120.
Page 197, panels 1 – 3. An illustration of the difference between the realm of ideals and the real world.
Page 197, panel 5. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900). German philosopher who believed that his works were the “deepest ever.” (Nietzsche describing Thus Spoke Zarathustra.)
Page 199. Walt Disney concert hall designed by Frank Ghery.
Pages 200 – 201. On page 125, Polyp talks about how twins separated lead similar lives taking up similar professions and marrying at the same age. In his dreams, Polyp’s brother is an architect as well, but his architecture is based on Frank Ghery ( the design of the building where Polyp visits his brother is based on the Walt Disney concert hall designed by Ghery). The building is full of swoops and curved lines as opposed to polyp’s straight lines and sharp angels. So, while he thinks his brother would have been similar, he sees that his brother would have been more of an opposite or compliment than an exact copy.
Page 202, Panels 2 & 3. Both Barcelona and Milan are famous for their influential works of architecture.
Barcelona, most famously, has buildings by Gaudi.
Milan was the center and foundation of the Renaissance. Earlier in the book, Polyp’s twin notes that Aterios thought that religion made some of the best paintings. The paintings that came out of the Renaissance were both religious and secular. But, some of the most famous, the Last Supper, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were religious in nature.
Milan also is home to both Renaissance architecture, as well as modern structures that would be more at home with what Asterios likes, such as Torre Velasca.
Page 202. Ignazio is right handed to Asterios’ left handedness. Remember when I said we would revisit Ignazio Danti? Here we go. Due to his mathematical skills, the Pope appointed Ignazio pontifical mathematician and made him a member of the commission for the reform of the calendar (thus we see him writing on a day planner/calendar).
Page 203. The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honor "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture". The irony is, of course, that Ignazio is dead.
Page 205, panel 2. Frank Lord Wright is, of course, Frank Lloyd Wright. However, he is held in such high regard that the title of Lord might not be all that far fetched.
Page 205, Panel 3. Windows in this wall is a direct reference to page Page 37, Panel 2. “I’m thinking about adding fenestration to this planar surface…?”
Pages 206 – 207 This is the first time that Polyp has been directly involved in any construction. However, he did not design the building, even though Stiff comes to him for help with the design. The building itself conforms to Wright’s philosophy of integrating the structure in to the surrounding environment.
Page 213. Look at the space between the two tulips.
Page 217. “Rothko from a Rockwell.” Mark Rothko, (September 25, 1903–February 25, 1970), was an abstract expressionist painter. Norman Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was a 20th century American painter and illustrator of everyday life scenarios.
Interestingly enough, there is a band named Rothko as well as a keyboardist/R&B singer named Rockwell.
Page 218 Ctirad Kohoutek (born March 18, 1929 in Zábřeh) is a contemporary Czech composer, music theorist, and pedagogue. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ctirad_Kohoutek)
Given that Kalvin Kohoutek does not look terribly Czech, I believe that is what arouses Asterios’s curiosity.
Page 219, panel 3. Modes are scales mapped to specific notes. Locrian starts on a vii, aeolian on an a
Page 221, panels 3 – 6 are a visual representation of what Kohoutek is describing musically.
Page 224, panel 1. A pith helmet is an old timey british exploration helmet, commonly used in WWI.
Page 227, panel 2. On March 7, 1965, known as "Bloody Sunday", approximately 600 civil rights marchers departed Selma on U.S. Highway 80, heading east. They reached the Edmund Pettus Bridge, only six blocks away, before being met by state troopers and local sheriff's deputies, who attacked them, using tear gas and billy clubs, and drove them back to Selma. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma,_Alabama#Civil_rights_movement)
Page 232-243. Shows a montage of daily life with a coherent thread stringing through the middle about Hana losing the tip of a ear cleaner and Asterios using the tweezers from the utility knife to retrieve it. This thread culminates with Hana proclaiming she will never buy that pseudo-somebody brand, admitting to Asterios that he was right.
Pages 245 - 265. This section recreates the story of Orpheus with Asterios in the role of Orpheus and Hana in the role of Eurydice. Ilium plays the role of Hades. The story goes like this: “While fleeing from Aristaeus (son of Apollo), Eurydice ran into a nest of snakes which bit her fatally on her heel. Distraught, Orpheus played such sad songs and sang so mournfully that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus traveled to the underworld and by his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone (he was the only person ever to do so), who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. He set off with Eurydice following and in his anxiety as soon as he reached the upper world he turned to look at her, forgetting that both needed to be in the upper world, and she vanished for the second time, but now forever.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus).
Note that Orpehus’s (Asterios’s) harp is created from a drafting square.
Page 272: The drummer’s theory is roughly correct. The cells in a person’s body are in a state of constant rejuvenation. It takes between 7 – 10 years for various cells to rejuvenate and replace. This hearkens back to Asterios’s conversation about Ise shrine on page 210.
Page 273: The three coasters hearken back to Asterios saying that he does not think in threes. The fact that Manana is the one who brings it up and then her moment is overrun by Gerry further reflects Asterios’ relationship with Hana.
Page 274-275. A reappearance of the man with Asterios' lighter.
Page 279: Christoph Willibald Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice (1762)
Page 285. Emperor Qin was Chinese and did not die by Seppuku. He wanted to live a long life, so he took pills containing high levels of Mercury. The mercury was supposed to extend his life, but it ended up killing him quicker.
Page 288. Here is the recurring theme about every memory being a recreation, and therefore reality is through a personalized lens.
Page 294. Aristopahnes purported theory is that men and women form two halves of a whole and that the tension between male and female is essential to human life (The Knights). It is often easier to see flaws in ones life from another perspective. Here Asterios sees a recap of his life as Ignozio tells his own life story. Asterios sees his flaws and understands them.
Page 295. Pantheon - The generic term pantheon is now applied to a monument in which illustrious dead are buried. This is of note because Ignazio is speaking as if he is alive, yet the use of the word Pantheon gives a slight nod to the fact that he is aware he never lived.
Pantheon is also the publisher of the graphic novel, Asterios Polyp. So, in truth, he has joined the Pantheon (publishing house).
Page 295. “Sulivan, and Mies, Wright and Gropius-.” Louis Henri Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called the "father of modernism
Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe 1886- 1969 one of the leading figures of modern architecture
Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 projects, which resulted in more than 500 completed works
Walter Gropius - founded "The Architect's Collaborative", a design team that embodied his belief in the value of teamwork.
Page 300. When Asterios says this is a “Creative Challenge,” he is quoting Hana from page 216. It is important to note that he is finally designing and building something.
Page 302. Parallax = depth perception. It is caused by the eyes of a hman being in two different locations on the head, thus giving two views at once The brain interprets the information from both eyes and allows it to see depth. With only one eye providing the information, depth perception is lost.
Page 304-305. He has shown a certain amount of apathy towards animals. This highlights him seeing things from Hana's perspective
Page 322-323. Here we see that Hana has been playing with the five platonic solids in her art, showing that she sees things from his perspective.
Page 324. We see that the only thing he has kept from the fire is the utility knife, which reminds him of Hana. In the end, the only thing of any real function or importance to Asterios is Hana.
Page 327. They tell a story together and Asterios doesn't have to overpower the conversation. The effect of the conversation is masterfully shown by Mazzucchelli by playing with the word balloon tails.
Page 332 – 333: Echoing the story of Orpheus, before our two lovers are reunited, they are lost forever.
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Chandrayaan-1, Indian lunar space probe that found water on the Moon. Chandrayaan-1 (chandrayaan is Hindi for “moon craft”) was the first lunar space probe of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It mapped the Moon in infrared, visible, and X-ray light from lunar orbit and used reflected radiation to prospect for various elements, minerals, and ice. It operated in 2008–09.
A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle launched the 590-kg (1,300-pound) Chandrayaan-1 on October 22, 2008, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island, Andhra Pradesh state. The probe then was boosted into an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon, 504 km (312 miles) high at its closest to the lunar surface and 7,502 km (4,651 miles) at its farthest. After checkout, it descended to a 100-km (60-mile) orbit. On November 14, 2008, Chandrayaan-1 launched a small craft, the Moon Impact Probe (MIP), that was designed to test systems for future landings and study the thin lunar atmosphere before crashing on the Moon’s surface. MIP impacted near the south pole, but, before it crashed, it discovered small amounts of water in the Moon’s atmosphere.
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration contributed two instruments, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) and the Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini-SAR), which sought ice at the poles. M3 studied the lunar surface in wavelengths from the visible to the infrared in order to isolate signatures of different minerals on the surface. It found small amounts of water and hydroxyl radicals on the Moon’s surface. M3 also discovered in a crater near the Moon’s equator evidence for water coming from beneath the surface. Mini-SAR broadcast polarized radio waves at the north and south polar regions. Changes in the polarization of the echo measured the dielectric constant and porosity, which are related to the presence of water ice. The European Space Agency (ESA) had two other experiments, an infrared spectrometer and a solar wind monitor. The Bulgarian Aerospace Agency provided a radiation monitor.
The principal instruments from ISRO—the Terrain Mapping Camera, the HyperSpectral Imager, and the Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument—produced images of the lunar surface with high spectral and spatial resolution, including stereo images with a 5-metre (16-foot) resolution and global topographic maps with a resolution of 10 metres (33 feet). The Chandrayaan Imaging X-ray Spectrometer, developed by ISRO and ESA, was designed to detect magnesium, aluminum, silicon, calcium, titanium, and iron by the X-rays they emit when exposed to solar flares. This was done in part with the Solar X-Ray Monitor, which measured incoming solar radiation.
Chandrayaan-1 operations were originally planned to last two years, but the mission ended on August 28, 2009, when radio contact was lost with the spacecraft. Chandrayaan-2 will have an orbiter, a lander, and a rover and is planned for launch by 2017.
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American Wine History
The history of wine in America has been an up and down affair. Attempts by the settlers to make wine from the native varieties came up short. And when they introduced the European grapes, they all seemed to die. The culprit was a tiny insect called phylloxera. Native varieties tolerated the pest, but the immigrant vines fell victim. Grafted and hybrid varieties began to appear and by 1830 the wine industry in America was finally born. But what nature couldn't undo the government almost succeeded in destroying. 1920 introduced Prohibition. In order to stay afloat, most vineyards plowed under their wine grapes and planted table grapes instead. So the fledgling American wine industry, which was indeed world class, came out of prohibition battered and bruised. To be completely honest, our wine industry is still in its infancy. In less than 100 years, America is once again producing world class wines.
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Chapter 6. Programming Using the Message-Passing Paradigm
Numerous programming languages and libraries have been developed for explicit parallel programming. These differ in their view of the address space that they make available to the programmer, the degree of synchronization imposed on concurrent activities, and the multiplicity of programs. The message-passing programming paradigm is one of the oldest and most widely used approaches for programming parallel computers. Its roots can be traced back in the early days of parallel processing and its wide-spread adoption can be attributed to the fact that it imposes minimal requirements on the underlying hardware.
In this chapter, we first describe some of the basic concepts of the message-passing programming paradigm and then explore various message-passing programming techniques using the standard and widely-used Message Passing Interface.
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Biochar and energy from pyrolysis can pave the way for carbon-neutral agriculture in China
Agriculture accounts for a large share of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the path to carbon neutrality is not straightforward. Researchers from Land-CRAFT - Center for Landscape Research in Sustainable Agricultural Futures at Aarhus University and others have, through a comprehensive life cycle analysis of data from China, identified an integrated biomass pyrolysis and electricity generation system coupled with commonly applied methane and nitrogen mitigation measures that, together with the right management of agricultural land, can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Chinese staple crops.
Since the Paris Agreement to combat global warming was reached in 2015, many countries have committed to becoming climate neutral, i.e., achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The world's largest agricultural country, China, is also committed to join the green transition. As the largest agricultural country, China is also the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, yet it has set itself a target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.
According to Professor and Head of Land-CRAFT at Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, this places huge demands on agricultural systems: "Agriculture in China accounts for about 14% of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions, and the production of staple foods such as rice, wheat and maize take up about 70% of the country's cultivated land. This is a very large area, and the cultivation of these staple crops account for large emissions of methane and nitrous oxide because they are grown with intensive use of fertilizers and irrigation. So, it has been difficult to see how China's production of staple crops could achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.”
Management cannot do it alone
According to the researchers, several management methods have already been tested, all of which help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from crop production in one way or another. Intermittent irrigation, for example, has been tested to reduce methane emissions from rice fields. In addition, the use of nitrogen fertilisers has been reduced, and attempts have been made to improve the ability of crops to use nitrogen more efficiently, so that they need less and thus reduce nitrous oxide emissions. In addition, the focus has been on increasing soil organic carbon content by increasing the amount of straw returned to the soil.
"Although all these management methods work well, they are insufficient to achieve carbon neutrality," says Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, and points out that this is partly because the effect of one management method can be negated when they are used in combination.
"When you reduce one greenhouse gas, it can lead to an increase in another. For example, intermittent irrigation effectively reduces methane emissions from rice fields, but at the same time increases nitrous oxide emissions from those same fields. The same trade-off is seen with several of the other management practices; the increased emissions of either methane or nitrous oxide can completely outweigh the benefits of the management practices," he says.
Biochar is the new black
So, management methods alone will not pave the way for climate-neutral food production. According to the researchers, more is needed, and pyrolysis of straw into biochar could prove to be part of the solution. It has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time increase the soil's organic carbon content.
"We can see that using biochar in rice fields significantly reduces methane emissions. This happens because the organic carbon in biochar decomposes much more slowly than in straw. The slower decomposition also means that the carbon from the biochar is sequestered in the soil for a longer time, it is a more long-term solution than straw," says Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, who has been involved in a comprehensive life cycle analysis of, among other things, an integrated pyrolysis and energy system to find solutions that can help China towards climate-neutral agriculture.
The study shows that in addition to carbon sequestration and reduced methane emissions, biochar can also help reduce nitrous oxide emissions. This happens through complex microbial processes in the soil that inhibit denitrification, where nitrate is converted into nitrous oxide and other gases.
Integrated pyrolysis and energy production lay the foundations for a greener future
"There is another advantage to pyrolysis. Pyrolysis of straw into biochar also produces biogas and bio-oil. These are by-products, but they can be used to generate electricity through an integrated pyrolysis and power generation system," says Klaus Butterbach-Bahl.
The energy produced by such a system can replace fossil fuels, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"Our analysis shows that with this integrated pyrolysis and power generation system, combined with commonly used management methods to reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions, we can achieve carbon-neutral production of staple crops in China," says Klaus Butterbach-Bahl. He stresses that when talking about carbon neutrality, the researchers are referring to a state where the sum of emissions of all greenhouse gases (CO2, methane and nitrous oxide) from crop production is offset by CO2 removal through carbon sequestration in the soil and CO2 compensation through lower fossil fuel consumption.
The life cycle assessment included an analysis of the production of staple crops as it is today, as well as scenarios with different combinations of management methods, one scenario with biochar, and one with biochar and energy production from the integrated pyrolysis and energy system.
"Our analysis shows that only the combination of the integrated pyrolysis and energy system and different management methods can ensure carbon-neutral production of staple crops in China. In addition, this method can help reduce nitrate leaching into the aquatic environment and reduce emissions of air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, that can cause acidic rain. And there is the added benefit of increasing yields too. Therefore, we conclude that this method can bring China, and perhaps other countries too, one step closer to the national goal of carbon neutrality and environmental sustainability in agriculture in 2060," says Klaus Butterbach-Bahl.
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|External collaborators||Land-CRAFT - Center for Landscape Research in Sustainable Agricultural Futures at the Department of Agroecology Aarhus University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, The University of Queensland, Chongqing Univeristy, China Agricultural University, University of Aberdeen, University of Exeter, Cornell University, The Ohio State University and Tsinghua University|
|External funding||This study was financially supported by Helmholtz-OCPC (Office of China Postdoc Council) Postdoc Program and Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 42061124001, 72174197, 72025401, 71974108, 71690244 and 41961124004) and Tsinghua University-Inditex Sustainable Development Fund|
|Conflict of interest||None|
|Link to the scientific article||The paper "Integrated biochar solutions can achieve carbon-neutral staple crop production" is published in the journal Nature Food. It was written by Longlong Xia, Liang Cao, Yi Yang, Chaopu Ti, Yize Liu, Pete Smith, Kees Jan Van Groenigen, Johannes Lehmann, Rattan Lal, Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Ralf Kiese, Minghoa Zhuan, Xi Lu and Xiaoyuan Yan|
|Contact information||Professor and Centre Director Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Land-CRAFT - Center for Landscape Research in Sustainable Agricultural Futures, Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University. Tel: +45 93508238 or mail: firstname.lastname@example.org|
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The black-necked stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) is a tall long-necked wading bird in the stork family. It is a resident species across the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia with a disjunct population in Australia. It lives in wetland habitats and near fields of certain crops such as rice and wheat where it forages for a wide range of animal prey. Adult birds of both sexes have a heavy bill and are patterned in white and irridescent blacks, but the sexes differ in the colour of the iris with females sporting yellow irises and males having dark-coloured irises. In Australia, it is sometimes called a jabiru although that name refers to a stork species found in the Americas. It is one of the few storks that are strongly territorial when feeding and breeding.
Taxonomy and systematics
First described by John Latham as Mycteria asiatica, this species was later placed in the genus Xenorhynchus based on morphology. Based on behavioural similarities, Kahl suggested the placement of the species in the genus Ephippiorhynchus, which then included a single species, the saddle-billed stork. This placement of both the black-necked stork and saddle-billed stork in the same genus was later supported by osteological and behavioural data, and DNA-DNA hybridisation and cytochrome–b data. The genera Xenorhynchus and Ephippiorhynchus were both erected at the same time, and as first revisor, Kahl selected the latter as the valid genus for the two species. This and the saddle-billed stork Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis are the only stork species that show marked sexual dimorphism in iris colour.
Two subspecies are recognized E. a. asiaticus of the Oriental region and E. a. australis of south New Guinea and Australia. Charles Lucien Bonaparte erected the genus Xenorhynchus in 1855 and placed two species in it, X. indica and X. australis. This treatment was carried on into later works. James Lee Peters in his 1931 work treated them as subspecies. In 1989, McAllan and Bruce again suggested the elevation of the two subspecies into two species: E. asiaticus or the green-necked stork of the Oriental region, and E. australis or the black-necked stork of the Australian and New Guinean region. This recommendation was based on the disjunct distributions and differences in the iridescent colouration of the neck which the authors suggested might reflect different behavioural displays. This recommendation has not been followed and a subsequent study did not find consistent differences in the colours. Analysis of the cytochrome b mitochondrial sequences however showed significant genetic divergence. The genetic distance of a stork presumed to be Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus asiaticus from a confirmed individual of E. a. australis was 2.1%, much greater than the genetic distances between individual storks of the same species. The conservative treatment as two subspecies has been followed in the Australian faunal list by Christidis and Boles.
The black-necked stork is a large bird, 129–150 cm (51–59 in) tall having a 230-centimetre (91 in) wingspan. The only published weight for this species was a single specimen at 4,100 g (9.0 lb), but this is nearly 35% less than the mean body mass of the closely related and similar sized saddle-billed stork. Therefore, this specimen of black-necked stork could have been at the low end of sizes attainable or perhaps somewhat malnourished. The plumage patterns are conspicuous with younger birds differing from adults. Adults have a glossy bluish-black iridescent head, neck, secondary flight feathers and tail; a coppery-brown crown; a bright white back and belly; bill black with a slightly concave upper edge; and bright red legs. The sexes are identical but the adult female has a yellow iris while the adult male has it brown. Juveniles younger than six months have a brownish iris; a distinctly smaller and straighter beak; a fluffy appearance; brown head, neck, upper back, wings and tail; a white belly; and dark legs. Juveniles older than six months have a mottled appearance especially on the head and neck where the iridescence is partly developed; dark-brown outer primaries; white inner primaries that forms a shoulder patch when the wings are closed; a heavy beak identical in size to adults but still straighter; and dark to pale-pink legs. Like most storks, the black-necked stork flies with the neck outstretched, not retracted like a heron. In flight it appears spindly and a black bar running through the white wings (the somewhat similar looking migratory black stork has an all black wing) with black neck and tail make it distinctive.
Distribution and habitat
In India, the species is widespread in the west, central highlands, and northern Gangetic plains extending east into the Assam valley, but rare in peninsular India and Sri Lanka. This distinctive stork is an occasional straggler in southern and eastern Pakistan, and is a confirmed breeding species in central lowland Nepal. It extends into Southeast Asia, through New Guinea and into the northern half of Australia. Compared to other large waterbirds like cranes, spoonbills and other species of storks, black-necked storks are least abundant in locations that have a high diversity of large waterbird species.
The largest population of this species occurs in Australia, where it is found from the Ashburton River, near Onslow, Western Australia, across northern Australia to north-east New South Wales. It extends inland in the Kimberley area to south of Halls Creek; in the Northern Territory to Hooker Creek and Daly Waters; and in Queensland inland to the Boulia area and the New South Wales border, with some records as far south as the north-west plains of New South Wales, along the coast of Sydney and formerly bred near the Shoalhaven River. It is rare along the south-east extremity of its range, but common throughout the north. An estimated 1800 occur in the Alligator Rivers region of the Northern Territory, with overall numbers during surveys being low in all seasons. A combination of aerial surveys and ground counts in the middle Fly River floodplain, Papua New Guinea estimated 317 (December 1994) and 249 (April 1995) storks.
The largest known breeding population occurs in the largely agricultural landscape of south-western Uttar Pradesh in India. Densities of about 0.099 birds per square kilometre have been estimated in this region made up of a mosaic of cultivated fields and wetlands. About six pairs were found to use the 29 square kilometres of the Keoladeo National Park. One breeding pair has been observed in Bhagalpur district, western Bihar.
In Sri Lanka, the species is a rare breeding resident, with 4–8 breeding pairs in Ruhuna National Park. It is exceedingly rare, and possibly no longer breeding in Bangladesh and Thailand.
Black-necked storks forage in a variety of natural and artificial wetland habitats. They frequently use freshwater, natural wetland habitats such as lakes, ponds, marshes, flooded grasslands, oxbow lakes, swamps, rivers and water meadows. Freshwater, artificial wetland habitats used by these storks include flooded fallow and paddy fields, wet wheat fields, irrigation storage ponds and canals, sewage ponds, and dry floodplains. Small numbers are also seen in Indian coastal wetland habitats, including in mangrove creeks and marshes. In cultivated areas, they prefer natural wetlands to forage in, though flooded rice paddies are preferentially used during the monsoon, likely due to excessive flooding of lakes and ponds. Nests are usually on trees located in secluded parts of large marshes or in cultivated fields as in India and lowland Nepal.
Behaviour and ecology
This large stork has a dance-like display. A pair stalk up to each other face to face, extending their wings and fluttering the wing tips rapidly and advancing their heads until they meet. They then clatter their bills and walk away. The display lasts for a minute and may be repeated several times.
Nest building in India commences during the peak of the monsoon with most of the nests initiated during September – November, with few new nests built afterwards until January. They nest on large trees, sometimes isolated in large marshes, or in agricultural landscapes, on which they build a platform. On agricultural landscapes, human disturbance can cause nesting adults to abandon nests in some locations, but storks in other locations nest successfully. The nest is large, as much as 3 to 6 feet across and made up of sticks, branches and lined with rushes, water-plants and sometimes with a mud plaster on the edges. Nests may be reused year after year. The usual clutch is four eggs which are dull white in colour and broad oval in shape, but varies from one to five eggs. The exact incubation period is not known but is suspected to be about 30 days. The chicks hatch with white down which is replaced by a darker grey down on the neck within a week. The scapular feathers emerge first followed by the primaries. Fledged young birds make a chack sound followed by a repeated wee-wee-wee call that has a ventriloquistic quality. Adult birds take turns at the nest and when one returns to relieve the other, they perform a greeting display with open wings and an up and down movement of the head. Food is brought for the young chicks by the adults and regurgitated onto the nest platform. Adults stop feeding the young at the nest and begin to show aggression towards the chicks after they are about 3 or 4 months old. The young birds may stay on nearby for about a year but disperse soon. Typically one to three chicks fledge from successful nests, but up to five chicks fledge in years with high rainfall. The number of stork pairs that succeed in raising chicks, and the average size of fledged broods, are strongly related to monsoonal and post-monsoon rainfall, improving in years with more rainfall.
At the nest trees, which are typically tall with large boles and a wide-canopy, the birds in Bharatpur competed with Indian white-backed vultures sometimes failing to nest due to the vultures. While many wetland birds are flushed by birds of prey, these storks are not usually intimidated and can be quite aggressive to other large water-birds such as herons and cranes. Adults aggressively defend small depressions of deep water against egrets and herons (at Malabanjbanjdju in Kakadu National Park, Australia), and drying wetland patches against waterbirds such as spoonbills and woolly-necked storks (at Dudhwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, India).
The black-necked stork is a carnivore and its diet includes water-birds such as coots, darters, little grebes, northern shoveller, pheasant-tailed jacana, and a range of aquatic vertebrates including fish, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates such as crabs and molluscs. They also prey on the eggs and hatchlings of turtles. In the Chambal River valley they were observed to locate nests of Kachuga dhongoka buried under sand (presumably by moistness of the freshly covered nest) and prey on the eggs of the turtle. In Australia, they also forage at night feeding on emerging nestlings of marine turtles. Stomach content analyses of nine storks in Australia showed their diet to contain crabs, molluscs, insects (grasshoppers and beetles), amphibians, reptiles and birds. The storks had also consumed a small piece of plastic, pebbles, cattle dung, and plant material. In well-protected wetlands, both in Australia and India, black-necked storks feed almost exclusively on fish but in the agriculture-dominated landscape of Uttar Pradesh in India they feed on a wider range of prey including fish, frogs and molluscs; storks obtained fish in wetlands, frogs from roadside ditches and molluscs from irrigation canals. Although predominantly diurnal, they may forage at night, and have been known to forage on moonlit nights on sea turtle hatchlings on Australian beaches.
They sometimes soar in the heat of the day or rest on their hocks. When disturbed, they may stretch out their necks. Their drinking behaviour involves bending down with open bill and scooping up water with a forward motion followed by raising the bill to swallow water. They sometimes carry water in their bill to chicks at the nest or even during nest building or egg stages.
Like other storks, they are quite mute except at nest where they make bill-clattering sounds. The sounds produced are of a low-pitch and resonant and ends with a short sigh. Juveniles fledged from the nests can occasionally call using a mildly-warbling, high-pitched series of whistles, accompanied with open, quivering wings. These calls and behaviour are directed at adult birds and are a display to solicit food, particularly in drought years when younger birds are apparently unable to find food on their own easily.
Black-necked storks are largely non-social and are usually seen as single birds, pairs and family groups. Flocks of up to 15 storks have been observed in Australia and India, and these possibly form due to local habitat conditions such as drying out of wetlands.
The black-necked stork is the type-host for a species of ectoparasitic Ischnoceran bird louse, Ardeicola asiaticus and a species of endoparasitic trematode Dissurus xenorhynchi.
Status and conservation
The black-necked stork is widely scattered and nowhere found in high densities, making it difficult for populations to be reliably estimated. The Sri Lankan population has been estimated to be about 50 birds while the species has become very rare in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. They may be extinct in the Sundaic region. The combined South and South-east Asian population is placed at less than 1000 birds. A 2011 study found the population in south-western Uttar Pradesh to be stable, although population growth rates may decline with an increase in the number of dry years or land use changes that permanently remove the number of breeding pairs. The Australian population has been suggested to have about 20,000 birds, but the lack of systematic estimates has meant a wide variation in the guesses ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 birds. They are threatened by habitat destruction, the draining of shallow wetlands, disturbance at nests, overfishing, pollution, collision with electricity wires and hunting. However, healthy breeding populations are found in unprotected and intensively cultivated agricultural landscapes (especially in south Asia) and cattle raising areas (as in north-east Australia). Suggestions abound in literature regarding Black-necked Storks requiring undisturbed wetlands, but these appear valid only in areas where hunting of wildlife is common (like in some countries in south-east Asia). Few breeding populations with high breeding success are known primarily due to lack of field work. It is evaluated as near threatened on the IUCN Red List.
The Mir Shikars, traditional bird hunters of Bihar, India had a ritual practice that required a young man to capture a black-necked stork "Loha Sarang" alive before he could marry. A procession would locate a bird and the bridegroom-to-be would try to catch the bird with a limed stick. The cornered bird was a ferocious adversary. The ritual was stopped in the 1920s after a young man was killed in the process. Young birds have been known to be taken from the nest for meat in Assam.
In Australia, an aboriginal creation myth describes the origin of the bill of the "jabiru" from a spear that went through the head of a bird. The Binbinga people often consider the meat of the bird as taboo and eating its meat would cause an unborn child to cause the death of its mother. The jabiru is known as "karinji" and is the totem of a group known as the Karinji people.
The difference in iris colour among the sexes was noted in 1865 by A D Bartlett, the superintendent in charge of the collection at the Zoological Society of London. The similarity in this aspect with the African saddle-billed stork was noted by Bartlett and commented on by J. H. Gurney. Charles Darwin who corresponded with Bartlett was well aware of this and used it as one of the examples of sexual dimorphism among birds. John Gould in his handbook to the birds of Australia noted that the meat of the bird "... has a fishy flavour, too over-powerful to admit of its being eaten by any one but a hungry explorer."
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- ^ Baral,HS (1995). "Black-necked Stork endangered". Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 35 (4): 74–75.
- ^ Banerjee,D.P.; Bavdekar,S.P.; Paralkar,V.K. (1990). "Aggressive behaviour of Blacknecked Storks towards Cranes". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 87 (1): 140.
- ^ a b Dorfman, E.J.; Lamont, A.; Dickman, C.R. (2001). "Foraging behaviour and success of Black-necked Storks (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) in Australia: implications for management". Emu. 101 (2): 145–149. doi:10.1071/MU00008. S2CID 82498317.
- ^ a b Maheshwaran, G.; Rahmani, A.R. (2001). "Effects of water level changes and wading bird abundance on the foraging behaviour of Black-necked storks Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus in Dudwa National Park, India" (PDF). J. Biosci. 26 (3): 373–382. doi:10.1007/BF02703747. PMID 11568483. S2CID 23647616.
- ^ Panday, J.D. (1974). "Storks preying on live birds". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 71 (1): 141.
- ^ Verma, A. (2003). "Feeding association of Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus and Black-necked Storks Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus in Keoladeo National Park (Bharatpur, India)". Aquila. 109–110: 47–50.,
- ^ Kannan, R. 1986. Black-necked storks feeding on a darter, Blackbuck, 2(3): 33-34.
- ^ Chauhan, R.; Andrews, H. (2006). "Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus and Sarus Crane Grus antigone depredating eggs of the three-striped roofed turtle Kachuga dhongoka" (PDF). Forktail. 22 (174–175). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 March 2012.
- ^ Whiting, S.D.; Guinea, M.L. (1999). "Nocturnal foraging by the Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus on sea turtle hatchlings". Emu. 99 (2): 145–147. doi:10.1071/MU99017B.
- ^ Clancy, G.P. (2009). Ecology, conservation and management of Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.
- ^ Sundar, K.S.G (2011). "Farmland foods: Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus prey items in an agricultural landscape". Forktail. 27: 98–100.
- ^ Whiting, S.D.; Guinea, M.L. (1999). "Nocturnal Foraging by the Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus on Sea Turtle Hatchlings". Emu - Austral Ornithology. 99 (2): 145–147. doi:10.1071/MU99017B. ISSN 0158-4197.
- ^ Comway, M. (1991). "Notes on the behaviour and food-begging calls of a juvenile Black-necked Stork Xenorhynchus asiaticus". Australian Bird Watcher. 14 (1): 29.
- ^ Kumar P.; Tandan, B.K. (1971). "The species of Ardeicola (Phthiraptera-Ischnocera) parasitic on the Ciconiidae" (PDF). Bull. Br. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Entomol. 26 (2): 119–158.
- ^ Wahid, S. (1962). "On a new trematode from a black-necked stork, Xenorhynchus asiaticus". J. Helminthol. 36 (1–2): 211–214. doi:10.1017/S0022149X00022495. PMID 14004399. S2CID 36845003.
- ^ Clancy, G.P. (2010). "Causes of mortality in the Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus australis in New South Wales". Australian Field Ornithology. 27: 65–75. Archived from the original on 1 March 2011.
- ^ Grubh, B.R.; Shekar, P.B. (1968). "Blacknecked Stork (Xenorhynchus asiaticus) and the marriage of Mirshikars". Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 8 (3): 1–2.
- ^ Barman, R.; Talukdar, B.K. (1996). "Nesting of Blacknecked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus in Panidihing, Assam". Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 36 (5): 95.
- ^ "Emu and the Jabiru". Australian Museum. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
- ^ Spencer, B.; Gillen, F.J. (1904). The northern tribes of central Australia. Macmillan and co, London. pp. 197, 614.
- ^ Gurney, J.H. (1865). "A seventh additional list of birds from Natal". The Ibis. 7 (3): 263–276. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1865.tb05772.x.
- ^ Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. Vol. 2. John Murray, London. p. 129.
- ^ Gould, J. (1865). Handbook to the birds of Australia. Vol. 2. Published by the author. p. 293.
- Maheswaran, G. and Rahmani, A. R. (2002) Foraging behaviour and feeding success of the black-necked stork (Ephippiorhychus asiaticus) in Dudwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh, India. J. Zool. 258: 189–195.
- Maheswaran, G. (1998) Ecology and behaviour of Black-necked Stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus Latham, 1790) in Dudwa National Park, Uttar Pradesh. PhD thesis, Centre of Wildlife and Ornithology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
- Farah Ishtiaq, Sálim Javed, Malcolm C. Coulter, Asad R. Rahmani 2010 Resource Partitioning in Three Sympatric Species of Storks in Keoladeo National Park, India. Waterbirds 33(1):41–49
- Maheshwaran G, Rahmani AR (2008). "Foraging technique and prey-handling time in black-necked stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus)". Integrative Zoology. 3 (4): 274–279. doi:10.1111/j.1749-4877.2008.00101.x. PMID 21396077.
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I listened to this book in September 2007
History: first published in 1826. Cooper named a principal character Uncas after a real person. Uncas was a Mohegan, not a Mohican, and Cooper's usage has helped to confuse the names of two tribes to the present day.
Plot: The narrative is about Natty Bumppo, the “Hawk- eye”, the scout, the Kill-deer; and the culmination of his abundant love for Uncas – the last Mohican. It signifies, above all, the moral wisdom and 19th Century values of compassion and fellow feeling.
The novel describes a journey of two groups of people. The first part of the journey begins with the description of the union of two parties in the journey, both separated racially and in their attitudes to life – a group of Whites, consisting of Hayward, Alice and Cora and a group of Indians, consisting of Chingachnook and Uncas and also Hawk-eye in Chapter III.
David, the singer, provides gracious moments of joy through his song all along the journey, in particular after the massacre at Fort Williams. The two groups of characters drawn against the vast landscape try to know each other in suspicion, innocence, fear and wonder. Landscape shapes their moods and attitudes. Nature implicitly ‘instructs’ them. The journey of these two groups continues unmixed till the French camp, under the leadership of Moteclam, sieges Fort William in Chapter fourteen. In the second part, narrative action moves quickly, interspersed with acts of savagery and moments of insecurity till the climax occurs with the massacre at Fort Williams. This is followed by dramatic loss and recovery of Alice, the death of Cora – the mulatto girl, and the heroic death of Uncas in trying to save her. With the death of Uncas, the last Mohican, his race is decimated. Finally, with Magua’s (the Heron) death the narrative action ends. However, the grand union of minds across race and prejudices is an extraordinary and highly romanticized narrative moment. The complete reading of the novel leaves us not with visions of endemic savagery but with feelings of compassion, fraternity, and democracy of ideas. Finally, love triumphs over savagery.
Review: the book is not without flaws. The momentum of the book lags for a brief stretch, and some of Cooper's characters (in particular, his women) at times sound a bit stereotypical. But the overall power and intelligence of Cooper's work is undeniable. Particularly impressive is his re-creation of a multilingual world of complex cultural and personal conflict. Also noteworthy is his evocation of the American landscape. A tale of death and survival, of betrayal and loyalty, and, above all, of the extraordinary bond between a white man and an Indian, "The Last of the Mohicans" is one classic that deserves to be read and reevaluated by each generation.
Opening Line: “It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America, that the toils and dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered before the adverse hosts were to meet.”
Closing Line: “In the morning I saw the sons of Unamis happy and strong; and yet, before the night is come, I have lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mohicans.”
Quotes: “When the white man dies, he thinks he is at peace; but the red-men know how to torture even the ghosts of their enemies.”
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By Henry Gitner and Rick Miller
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania lies in the Maghreb region of northwest Africa.
The 11th largest country in Africa, with a population of roughly 3.5 million people, about 90 percent of its land area lies within the Sahara Desert. The base population is ethnically Berber, but Arab warriors conquered the land between the 11th and 17th centuries, and Arabs now form the top strata of society.
Through a series of alliances with local tribal leaders and minor conquests of those who resisted, France asserted dominion over Mauritania by 1901. French colonial authorities issued the first stamps in 1906. Desultory fighting continued with various tribes until 1912.
Connect with Linn's Stamp News:
Mauritania declared independence from France on Nov. 28, 1958, although it was not formally recognized until 1960.
Although French authorities had abolished slavery and suppressed the slave trade, it quickly re-emerged with the departure of the French. According to some estimates, about 600,000 people, roughly 20 percent of the population, are enslaved today. There are racial elements involved because most of the slaves are either black Africans or Berbers.
As the country’s name informs, the population is uniformly Sunni Muslim. There is heavy pressure on the non-Arabic elements of the population to adopt Arab language and culture.
Most collector interest in Mauritania is a holdover from its status as a former French colony. In 1993, Mauritania issued a two-stamp set to commemorate the first anniversary of the first multi-party presidential election. The 2016 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue lists the 60-ougulya stamp (Scott 706B). In a note after the listing, the Scott editors say that they would like to examine the other stamp in the set.
The 60um stamp was issued for use as postage and was not advertised to dealers and collectors, who only became aware of it when used examples started showing up in kiloware. The Scott catalog values the stamp in mint never-hinged condition at $25 with the value in italics. It does not value the stamp in used condition.
We can’t find this stamp on offer anywhere. If you see the stamp offered in mint never-hinged condition it should be worth at least Scott catalog value, if not more.
Used examples are probably more readily available, but they are likely worth at least as much as the Scott catalog value for a mint stamp.
Tip of the week
Canal Zone — The Panama Canal Zone was an unorganized territory of the United States from 1903 to 1979. The territory was created by the Isthmian Canal Convention, by which the Republic of Panama granted a strip of land roughly 5 miles wide on either side of the Panama Canal to the United States in perpetuity.
The Canal Zone was abolished Oct. 1, 1979, and the land returned to Panama.
The American administration issued stamps for use on mail from the Canal Zone from 1904 until the territory was abolished.
In 1941, the Canal Zone issued a set of seven airmail Official stamps (Scott CO1-CO7) by overprinting “Official Panama Canal” on the 1939 airmail set (Scott C15-C20). The airmail Official stamps were in use through Dec. 31, 1951.
Mint stamps were not sold to the public until they were made available for three months beginning Jan. 2, 1952. Prior to that, stamps sold to the public were canceled with a parcel post rotary cancel with “Balboa Heights, Canal Zone” between two wavy lines.
The 2015 Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers values the set of seven airmail Official stamps in mint never-hinged condition at $94.
A mint set without bad gum skips or creases is worth full catalog value. A canceled-to-order set, mint with never-hinged gum, is valued at $31.50. Postally used examples sell for more.
For a real challenge, look for examples of these stamps used on cover. If you find one, it won’t be cheap.
More from Linns.com:
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Hands of a Disciple
Hands of a Disciple
The Xiangtangshan Caves located in the Fengfeng Mining District in Handan, Hebei Province, are clustered in two groups: Northern and Southern Xiangtangshan. They represent the finest of grotto art produced in the Northern Qi dynasty (550-577 CE). This pair of limestone hands originally belonged to the Middle Cave at Northern Xiangtangshan, constructed during the reign of Emperor Wenxuan (550-559) of the Northern Qi dynasty. The cave is a huge central-pillared cave with a corridor in front of a main chamber, the second largest of all caves at Xiangtangshan.
Old pictures have shown that this fragmented piece originally belonged to the left acolyte disciple of a grouping featuring Śākyamuni Buddha flanked by two Bodhisattvas and two disciples in the large niche at the front of the central pillar. This disciple’s lean and rather aged face suggests that he is Mahākāśyapa, one of the ten principal disciples of Śākyamuni. He was deemed the foremost in ascetic dhūta practice. Before the Buddha passed away, he entrusted Mahākāśyapa with the task of imparting the Buddhist Dharma. After the Buddha entered parinirvāṇa, Mahākāśyapa became the head of the monastic community and convened the First Council at Rājagṛha for compiling Buddhist canon. Thereafter, he continued to lead the monastic community for more than two decades.
Although fragmented, this work is amazingly realistic. The left hand with palm up is holding a reliquary, while the fingers of the right hand are pressing against the lid. Both hands are soft and fleshy, as if boneless. The fingers are nimble, and the curvature of each finger differs. It is worth noting that the carver did not illustrate the knuckles, but rather, greatly emphasising the softness and texture of the hands. The fingernails are also finely represented. The hands look fleshy but not chubby; the gesture natural and lively. Overall, the carver’s superb artistry is well demonstrated.
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Statements: No beach is island. All islands are reefs.
The question contains some statements followed by some conclusions. Decide which of the given conclusions logically follow from the given statements, disregarding commonly known facts.
No beach is island.
All islands are reefs.
I. All beaches are reefs.
II. No beach is a reef.
III. Some reefs are islands.
IV. All reefs are islands.
A . Only I follows.
B . Only II follows.
C . Either I or II follows.
D . Only III and IV follows.
E. Neither I, II nor IV follows
Answer : E. Neither I, II nor IV follows
Only III follow Some reefs are islands.
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The GED test is designed to measure critical thinking skills in five areas.Typically, the test is given over three nights or, if offered during the day, two days. The test covers:
Language Arts Writing: Part I is multiple choice questions regarding grammar and writing. (50 questions 75 minutes) Part II is writing an essay on an assigned topic. (45 minutes)
Social Studies: U.S. History, World History, Civics and Government, Economics, and Geography (50 questions 70 minutes)
Science: Life Science, Earth and Space Science, and Physical Science (50 questions 80 minutes)
Language Arts Reading: Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (40 questions 65 minutes)
Mathematics: Part I with calculator--Casio fx-260 only. (25 questions 45 minutes) Part II without calculator (25 questions 45 minutes) Topics include: Numbers and Operations, Measurement and Data Analysis, Geometry, and Algebra
To pass the GED, you must score a total of 2,250 points with a minimum of 410 points in each of the five test categories or an average of 450 points out of the five tests. That means students must score at least 410 on each test and in addition, score an extra 200 points. These 200 points may be spread over all the tests ( average of 450 a test) or can be achieved collectively on one or more tests. The highest score possible on a single test is 800. Essays are graded on a 1-4 scale with 2 being a passing score. If you do not score a "2" on the essay, Part I of the Writing test will not be scored. If a score of 2250 is achieved, yet any ONE test is below 410 points, then you must test again until a score of 410 is achieved. You may test up to three times in one year. If you do not pass one subject, your other subject scores will be retained, and you need only make up that one subject test.
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Wosk, Julie. Breaking Frame: Technology and the Visual Arts in the
Nineteenth Century. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers UP, 1992.
Breaking Frame focuses on the broad social anxiety and excitement attendant
upon industrialization as these feelings were expressed in the visual arts.
In the early 19th century painters began to include the railway in their
landscapes, but generally in a distant and non-threatening fashion. Newspaper
artists and engravers, by contrast, saw humor and horror in technology,
and fore-fronted technophiles as pre-occupied fools, almost non-humans.
Americans, Wosk notes, tended to be more enthusiastic and less satiric
that the French or English in their public response to technology.
Wosk uses both paintings and newspapers to explore the dwarfing of
humans by machines (reminiscent of Chinese landscapes) so prevalent in
mid-century illustrations. She also chronicles the dismay of artists and
writers responding to the new decorative arts made possible by electroplating,
cast-iron sand-casting, die cutting, and other means of mechanically copying
artisans' work. Sheffield plate, ornamented stoves and artifacts ornamented
with grape leaves, flowers, animals and classical figures were subjected
to scorn by cultural critics. As it became possible for the average person
to afford more luxuries, some writers (American Horace Greeley) celebrated
the good influence to be had through public exposure to the arts, while
others (British John Ruskin) feared the swallowing up of good taste in
bad. To the contemporary eye the cast-iron artwork made by the Coalbrookdale
Factory offers scope for both responses: some of the pieces included by
Wosk are florid excrescences, but other items are lovely in their simplicity.
Wosk describes how classical references in machine design gradually
gave way to an emphasis on the marriage of form and function (Greek ideas,
not Greek things). For instance, as the nineteenth century opened, steam
engines were cast as a Greek columns to dignify and make "safe" their dangerous
strength. As the century moved on, engineers saw less need for ornamented
engines, preferring the spare, simple lines that demonstrated and depended
upon the power of good design alone. Wosk closes with a review of a puckish
post-modernist plaza, embodying the classical and modernist styles, and
moving beyond them to a new integrative, playful style very different from
the eclectic but fundamentally serious style of the Victorian era. Finally,
Wosk suggests that Americans and English saw themselves as powerful countries,
moving forward, using immense machines to do so, fearing and admiring themselves
as they went.
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The hills and farmlands gradually turned to inner suburbia and then to the harshness of urban streets, choked tightly with the crush, smells and sounds of the city.
He also modifies the harshness of St Mark's style, and frequently recasts his language in reference to diseases.
The National Gallery "Virgin of the Rocks" certainly, with help from Ambrogio de Predis; in this the Florentine character of the original is modified by an admixture of Milanese elements, the tendency to harshness and over-elaboration of detail softened, the strained action of the angel's pointing hand altogether dropped, while in many places pupils' work seems recognizable beside that of the master.
Why did they not seem inflicted by the harshness his people knew?
Throughout his historical career - at the Ecole Normale and the Sorbonne and in his lectures delivered to the empress Eugenie - his sole aim was to ascertain the truth, and in the defence of truth his polemics against what he imagined to be the blindness and insincerity of his critics sometimes assumed a character of harshness and injustice.
His infidelity to his wife and his harshness towards his son Carlino are blemishes on a splendid career, but he more than expiated these faults by his tragic end.
In the middle notes of the musical register the maximum harshness occurs when the beats are about 30.
The harshness of deep notes on instruments rich in overtones may be explained as arising from beats between successive overtones.
These seceders were at first treated with great harshness, but have won their way to toleration, and form the Lutheran Free churches of Germany.
The general's object may probably have been to accentuate the harshness with which the fathers had been treated, and so to increase public sympathy, 1 but the actual result of his policy was blame for the cruelty with which he enhanced their misfortunes, for the poverty of Corsica made even a bare subsistence scarcely procurable for them there.
Familiarity has mitigated the harshness of the revisers' renderings; scholarship, on the whole, has confirmed their readings.
Her harshness to Paul was probably as much due to political distrust as to what she saw of his character.
Under his authority the colony of Massachusetts Bay made rapid progress, and except in the matter of religious intolerance - he showed great bigotry and harshness, particularly towards the Quakers - his rule was just and praiseworthy.
The fur is fairly serviceable for carriage rugs, the leather being stout, but its harshness of quality and nondescript colour does not contribute to make it a favourite.
As crown lawyer his treatment of the accused was marked by more than the harshness and violence common in his time; and the fame of the victim has caused his behaviour in the trial of Raleigh to be lastingly remembered against him.
The independence of his conduct as a judge, though not unmixed with the baser elements of prejudice and vulgar love of authority, has partly earned forgiveness for the harshness which was so prominent in his sturdy character.
The centre of this elevated tract is the Rauhe Alb, so named on account of the harshness of the climate.
He himself was moderate and enlightened in his views on this matter, and it was through his influence that the harshness of the anti-Catholic policy was relaxed in 1607.
The king's harshness and the arrogance and cruelty of his son, found vent in a revolt led by Roberto Sanseverino and Francesco Coppola, which was crushed by means of craft and treachery.
The governor appears to have given great offence by the harshness of his proceedings, and a Ghilzai chief named Mir Wai~, who had complained of his tyranny, was sent a prisoner to Isfahan.
He had a voice both sweet and deep-toned, and its effect was not injured by his Northumbrian burr, which, though strong, was entirely free from harshness and vulgarity."
Still examination must be had whether persons have been expelled from the congregation by any episcopal small-mindedness (µucpokxia), or contentious spirit, or such-like harshness (evibia).
In the laws respecting slavery and war)' that subdues or even removes the harshness of earlier laws or usages.
He received, however, the province of Languedoc. The peasant revolt of the Tuchins and Coquins, as the insurgents were called, was suppressed with great harshness, and the duke exacted from the states of Languedoc assembled at Lyons a fine of f i 5,000.
Nehemiah was faced with old abuses, and vehemently contrasted the harshness of the nobles with the generosity of the exiles who would redeem their poor countrymen from slavery.
The gloom and harshness of these Spanish mystics are absent from the tender, contemplative spirit of Francois de Sales (1567-1622); and in the quietism Fof Mme Guyon (1648-1717) and Miguel de Molinos (1627-1696) there is again a sufficient implication of mystical doctrine to rouse the suspicion of the ecclesiastical authorities.
While yet an infant, his father was driven from his kingdom, either by a revolt of his subjects, caused by his own harshness (Lanzelet), or by the action of his enemy Claudas de la Deserte (Lancelot).
Monster of iniquity; but, in spite of the harshness and occasional cruelty with which he treated his religious opponents, for which an excuse may be found in the obstinate fanaticism of the monks,.
The only illogical point in his system is that the beauty of his dreamlike chords depends not only on his artful choice of a timbre that minimizes their harshness, but also on the fact that they enter the ear with the meaning they have acquired through centuries of harmonic evolution on classical lines.
But, whilst condemning harshness towards them, he encourages the feeling of contempt for them as a class.
And creeds were treated impartially; and, although the administration has been reproached alike for undue harshness and undue leniency, neither accusation can be sustained.
The harshness of the treatment meted out by Maurice to his father's old friend, the faithful counsellor and protector of his own early years, leaves a stain upon the stadholder's memory which can never be washed away.
Cursor treated his soldiers with such harshness that they allowed themselves to be defeated; but after he had regained their good-will by more lenient treatment and lavish promises of booty, they fought with enthusiasm and gained a complete victory.
In reality, he was a prince of wide knowledge and culture, knowing several languages and austere in morals; and although he cannot be acquitted of occasional harshness, he had the secret of winning the hearts of his subjects, who never refused him their support in times of difficulty.
The government was accused of illegal interference with the elections, with the use of the Hungarian arms and language in official documents, and with undue harshness in the censorship of the press.
During this time his mother died, and his father's harshness became unbearable.
It is their harshness and greed that drive the poor to join the Bagaudae and fly for shelter to the barbarian invaders (v.
Her agents are said to have shown great harshness in collecting the feudal dues with which to supply her large household.
Just four years later he wrote to her in terms of such calculated harshness and imposed such conditions as to make further intercourse virtually impossible.
Apart from the rigorous restrictions imposed by his successors upon trade, the sympathies of the natives were estranged by the harshness and venality of Portuguese administration, by such barbarities as the wholesale mutilation of non-combatants in war-time, and by religious persecution.
For three years the Spaniards maintained their hold on Chile, ruling the country with tyrannical harshness, but in the spring of 1817 a patriot force which had been organized at Mendoza in the Argentine by Jose de San Martin, an Argentine officer, and by O'Higgins, crossed the Andes and overwhelmed the royalists at the battle of Chacabuco.
Urban was frugal and never practised simony, but harshness, lack of tact, and fondness for unworthy nephews disgraced his pontificate.
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News from the CRG
With age, our tissues lose their function and capacity to regenerate after being damaged. A study published today in Cell by scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and the Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico of the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CNAG-CRG) explains how dermal fibroblasts age.
The main conclusion drawn is that these fibroblasts lose their cell identity, as if they had “forgotten” what they are, and consequently their activity is altered, thus affecting tissue. The study reveals the cellular and molecular pathways affected by ageing and proposes that they could be manipulated to delay or even reverse the skin ageing process.
Holger Heyn, team leader at the CNAG-CRG and co-leader of the study, explains that “cutting-edge technologies allow molecular analysis of individual cells. In this study, we have applied advanced techniques to obtain high resolution images of fibroblasts as they age”.
Marion Salzer, et.al. Identity Noise and Adipogenic Traits Characterize Dermal Fibroblast Aging. Cell (2018)
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Exercise Physiology | Exercise Science | Health and Physical Education | Kinesiology | Leisure Studies | Other Rehabilitation and Therapy | Outdoor Education | Sports Management | Sports Sciences | Sports Studies | Tourism and Travel
This paper documents a demonstration project conducted by the authors under the auspices of the Irish Naval service. It explores and describes in detail the consequences that cold water immersion can have on the human body. Further, this study investigates post immersion treatment and survival challenges and proposes appropriate casualty care regimes with specific focus on ‘post rescue collapse’ and ‘afterdrop.’ Observations of individual differences in response are reported.
Buck, Patrick J. Ph.D.; Roberts, Commander William; Minehane, Commander Ken; and Irish Naval Service
"The Consequences of Cold Water Immersion: Impacts and Treatment,"
International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education: Vol. 11
, Article 2.
Available at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/ijare/vol11/iss4/2
Exercise Physiology Commons, Exercise Science Commons, Health and Physical Education Commons, Leisure Studies Commons, Other Rehabilitation and Therapy Commons, Outdoor Education Commons, Sports Management Commons, Sports Sciences Commons, Sports Studies Commons, Tourism and Travel Commons
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A READING from: "In The Company of The Holy Mother"
(available at all Vedanta Centres)
Holy Mother allowed no compromise with the exalted ideals of chastity and renunciation. A monk, she said, should be a model of renunciation. She taught them that even if the wooden image of a woman lay prone in the street, a monk should not turm it over and look at it.
She used to say, "How can I live without the company of men of renunciation? Can a householder, entangled in worldly desires, be the same as a monk who has renounced everything for God?"
She encouraged the monastic members of the Ramakrishna Order to work ceaselessly, and often said, "Without work the mind becomes befouled. Can anyone spend twenty-four hours a day in meditation? It is much better to remain busy than to lead an idle life. The activities of both the Math and Mission must be carried on. Those who cannot adjust themsleves to work, shall have to leave."
The householder devotees, like the monks, received full measure of Holy Mother's blessings. They formed the majority pf her disciples and visitors, and she encouraged them to perform their duties in a spirit of detachment, and to practice regular meditation and prayer. She became their sole refuge from the tribulations of the world.
(to be continued....)
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[dc]Y[dc]ou've all heard about anaerobic threshold, lactate threshold, threshold, red line, Zone 4, “the burn” and plenty of other terms that relate to the upper limits of your aerobic engine. But what a lot of people don't seem to understand is how to find that magical number, and what to do with it.
In this article, we'll examine the physiology behind anaerobic threshold and then you'll learn how to figure out what it is. I'll also discuss (very briefly) how you can use it to train towards becoming a stronger cyclist.
So without further ado….
What Is This Threshold Stuff and Why Do We Care?
In short terms, lactate or anaerobic threshold (from here on out abbreviated as LT) is the point at which your body switches from primarily aerobic metabolism to primarily anaerobic metabolism.
In reality, there's a LOT more going on than that. One of the keys to remember is that lactic acid is a by-product of anaerobic metabolism, and that is produced in all exercise intensities (even standing from a chair produces a small amount of lactic acid.) Under sub-threshold circumstances, this molecule is split into a lactate molecule and a free H+ ion, creating an acidic environment. Many believe this is the cause of muscle fatigue.
But is it?
Recent research has been shattering notions that lactic acid is the culprit of muscle fatigue, and for good reason. Research conducted in the last decade has shown that the breakdown of lactic acid into lactate actually consumes a pair of protons (those H+ that researches talked about for so long), and the even under the most intense exercise, muscular acidity never reaches a pH that (biochemically) causes contractile failure. Muscles always fatigue before they hit that catastrophic level of acidity, so really, what's the cause?
(Warning: physiology and biochemistry ahead. If you don't care to read it, skip ahead to the next section where we talk about threshold testing.)
What's that mean? Well, think of your muscles as an electrical system: contractions are stimulated by electric currents generated throughout the body by movement of sodium and potassium ions. Each muscle cell's contraction relies on a lightning quick exchange during which potassium ions inside the cell and sodium ions outside the cell switch places, and this process is facilitated by a high degree of polarization (difference in strength of electrical charge between the inside and outside of the cell.)
To put it simply, at the beginning of high intensity exercise, the inside of the cell is much more positive than the outside of the cell, making ion flow very easy to facilitate. As intense exercise continues, potassium ions are released from the muscle cell faster than they can be channeled back in via special “potassium pumps” in the cell membrane, which results in a buildup of potassium ions outside the cell. This causes a progressive decrease in the difference in charge between the inside and outside of the cells (depolarization), leading to weaker and less efficient contraction. We call this “fatigue.”
Lactate actually counteracts this. By a series of complex biochemical reactions, lactate produced by that same high intensity exercise helps to counteract depolarization, and thereby delaying fatigue. Unfortunately, nothing can stop depolarization completely, so continual high intensity exercise will eventually cause failure of the muscles to contract due to this biochemical fatigue.
Oh, and one other thing. In addition to counteracting fatigue, it's been discovered that lactate is actually fuel for muscle cells, and is one of the most easily utilized in the body.
Wow. So if lactate is so great, why does anyone care about threshold?
That Magical Number
The key to riding well is to limit the amount of time spent above LT. You want to limit biochemical fatigue (depolarization) and maximize our power below that magical level during which depolarization outstrips the body's ability to counteract it. As you continue to push harder, depolarization interferes with efficient and proper muscle contraction and as a result power output drops, suffering increases and you are forced to slow down. Fortunately, LT is one of the most trainable limiters in the body. This is truly why you should care about it so much
From a practical standpoint, LT is the highest steady-state intensity that you can maintain for a prolonged period of time, which is generally described as an hour. This suggests that the best way to determine your LT is to perform a 60 minute time trial under race conditions. However, the chances that you have that data available to use as your LT are pretty slim. Thankfully, there are other reliable ways to find LT that don't involve race fees and a TT helmet.
The simplest way to find your LT is to do the following test, which can be done on a trainer (very mentally tough) or outside on a predominantly flat series of roads (avoid continuous rollers or significant climbs):
- Warm up for about 15 minutes by spinning a nice easy gear, throwing in two or three 15 second hard efforts to open up the legs and prime your engine.
- Go out and ride a 30 minute TT at full gas, leaving nothing in the tank. Do not look at your heart rate. Do not look at your power. The only thing you'll ask yourself is “Am I going as hard as I can right now?”
- Record your heart rate (and power if you have it) for the entire duration of the TT (30 minutes).
- Warm down for 5-10 minutes by spinning easily.
When you get home, you'll download and analyze your data. To find your LT heart rate (LTHR) you'll want to look at the final 20 minutes of your TT effort. The average HR during those last 20 minutes is a good approximation of you LTHR. If you are using a power meter, look at the average power for the last 20 minutes of the TT and subtract 5% to get a good approximation of your LT power (also called Functional Threshold Power or FTP.)
Bear in mind that if done on a trainer and done outside, power and HR numbers may be different. Changes in wind speed and direction, temperature and road conditions may raise or lower average LTHR or FTP numbers. Outdoor testing is by far the best option as it will compare to the real riding you're going to do on the road.
Final Thoughts On LTHR and FTP
While both LTHR and FTP are acceptable measures by which to set your training zones, there is a distinct difference between them. HR is a measure of input: the amount of physiological work your body is doing. Power is a measure of output: the amount of work your body is putting to the pedals. Measuring only input (HR) is a difficult way to determine training improvements since it is easily influenced by hydration, sleep, heat, humidity, mental state and other external (and internal) stresses. Power (output) is brutally honest in that it is a direct measure of the work you're doing (although comparing the two is a great way to note fitness gains.)
The bottom line is: use a power meter if you can. If you absolutely can't (or won't due to cost or any other factor) HR and LTHR will serve you fine, but you'll have to find some other ways to measure your changes in fitness.
Questions, comments, snarky remarks? Post below and start the party!
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