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Huequi VulkanHuequi is an active small stratovolcano in southern Chile. It is located on the Huequi Peninsula in Ancud Bay. Unlike most other stratovolcanoes in the region, there is no glacier on the volcano. Huequi has a parasitic cone on the west flank which contains an 800 m wide crater.
Huequi has had frequent explosive eruptions recorded sind the 19th century, most recently in 1920.
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The Learning Center exists to assist students in the achievement of their academic goals by providing strengths-focused support for students seeking academic assistance.
It is our desire that students feel their visit to the Learning Center is a positive experience. We believe all students have been created with gifts, strengths and talents that can be capitalized upon to help them realize their full potential.
Rather than focusing on identifying weaknesses, we help students identify and develop their gifts, talents and strengths in order to achieve their academic goals. We believe students will achieve greater success by focusing their energy on their strengths and using those strengths to manage academic challenges. Sometimes, students feel discouraged when they need to ask for help; we hope that focusing on harnessing strengths the student already possesses will help them feel empowered.
Some examples of ways the Learning Center focuses on student strengths:
- We like to help students identify their personal learning style and teach them classroom and study strategies that meet their unique needs.
- We enjoy talking with students about the results of their StrengthsFinder assessment (students take this assessment as part of Terra Firma) and encourage them to learn about and develop their strengths.
- We work with students to set realistic academic goals that are appropriately challenging.
The Learning Center offers a range of programs and services to provide academic support for all traditional undergraduate students.
Students seek help from the Learning Center for a variety of reasons, including:
- Struggling in a class
- Feeling disorganized
- Needing help with study skills
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Needing help with time management
- Wanting to become a better student
When students come to the Learning Center, our staff helps identify their needs, and may recommend one or more of the following services:
- Services for students with disabilities
- General academic support
- Personal advising appointment
- Learning Strategies Course
Location and Hours
We’re located in Miller Hall. Our hours are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. during the regular school year. Hours during official school breaks may vary; please see posted times.
Please feel free to contact us with any questions. The Learning Center staff will be happy to assist you.
Shannon Pothoven, M.Ed.
Director of the Learning Center
Office Manager and Coordinator of Learning Support Operations
Tutor Coordinator and Adaptive Technology Assistant
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July 4, 2011 Leave a comment
Nothing in life comes without a price, not even freedom itself. I started thinking about this concept and the irony we face as we send our troops overseas and elect our officials here in the US…
Just a few weeks ago, a young man from my church suffered a tragic disaster. While serving in the military in Afghanistan, he accidently stepped on an IED. As a result, he has lost all of his limbs save for one arm. He is still in a coma; he is lucky to be alive. We are diligently praying for him to wake up to see his little girl again. This 22-year-old has given almost everything to ensure the safety of his fellow US citizens. There are countless stories just like this. Our family members, loved ones, friends, and strangers have given their lives for the protection and security of the greatest nation in the world. With the price of freedom so high, who are we to squander their sacrifice?
There are those in leadership positions of our government, local, state, and national, who do not hold the same American values that patriots like this man and our entire military force fight for on a daily basis. On the contrary, they prefer to focus on imposing govern
ment on the people, which leads to the destruction and devaluation of what makes this country what it is – liberty, freedom, independence, prosperity… this list goes on. It is such individuals and groups that fight to deteriorate what has kept this nation functioning on the basis of our Constitution since our Founding Fathers first drafted the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
So while you sit down with your family and friends, eat a hotdog and a hamburger, drink your beer and cola, relax on your boat, watch those fireworks, and whatever else you do to celebrate Uncle Sam’s birthday, think about what is happening all around you: soldiers in armor are fighting overseas for your right to live freely while elected officials in suits are fighting to make sure that as many of those freedoms are smothered and removed completely. So this leaves us with the question: what is freedom? Is the price really right or is it truly worth what the young man from my church and those with him have sacrificed?
On this Independence Day, the 235th birthday of the United States of America, let yourself be thankful for everything we have accomplished… and what it has meant for and against the people’s freedom. Happy 4th of July.
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Amazon | Fishpond
Sunshine Books (MA)
Positive Answers for the Aggressive dog The dog that bites. The dog that attacks other dogs. The dog who may not survive his own aggressive behaviour. What can be done to help these dogs ? When Emma Parsons, canine behaviour consultant, discovered that her own dog was aggressive, she developed innovative and effective strategies to calm, alter and re-shape his reactive displays, and those of her clients' dogs.
2013 © C.L.E.A.R Dog Training. All Rights ReservedDOG and PUPPY TRAINING BRISBANE
Designed by Rokit DesignsPowered by the latest version of Joomla 2.5
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Nonsurgical treatment is appropriate when the symptoms of spinal stenosis are mild or if a person is not a good candidate for surgery—for example, an older adult who also has another serious illness. Treatment includes
Some success has been reported with the use of caudal epidural blocks—injections of pain relievers and a steroid directly into the base of the spine.
If these measures fail to control symptoms, surgery is considered. Surgery is necessary when severe neurological deficits or impaired bowel or bladder function develop.
Spinal Stenosis Surgery
Decompression surgery for spinal stenosis enlarges the spinal canal to relieve pressure on the spinal cord. After the spinal column is opened at the narrowed points, the bone or fibrous tissue responsible for the constriction is removed. At times, a disk or fragments of a disk also may be removed. If an extensive amount of bone is removed, it may be necessary to fuse together two or more vertebrae to stabilize the spinal column (this may slightly decrease a person’s flexibility).
The hospital stay for decompression surgery is typically three to five days. A person can get around using a walker the first or second day and then graduate to a cane, which he or she uses for six to 12 weeks. After that, walking without assistance is usually possible. Results tend to be excellent if the disease is limited to one or two vertebrae. Studies have shown that leg pain associated with stenosis significantly improves after surgery in 70 to 85% of people.
Older adults with spinal stenosis may have other health conditions, such as heart disease or arthritis, that increase the risk of surgical complications. These conditions do not necessarily rule out surgery as a treatment option, however.
In one study, investigators monitored 50 people, age 71 to 84, who had undergone decompression surgery. Half of the people had other disorders that severely limited their mobility. No complications involving anesthesia, the heart, or blood clots occurred during the procedure. After two years, 28 of the study participants (more than half) rated the procedure’s effect on their leg pain as excellent (almost or totally pain free); nine reported fair relief (improved but residual pain); and nine said their pain was unchanged. Although the operation provided some relief, the rates of excellent outcomes were not as high as researchers had hoped. Therefore, although having other health conditions did not cause additional complications, it appeared to reduce the chances of obtaining the best results.
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One of the first items of business tackled by the first Kansas territorial legislature in 1855 was what to do with those of an unsound mind. Not to say that Kansas has or has had more than its share of deranged lunatics, screwballs, unfortunate hallucinatory incoherents, eccentric whackos or habitual drunkards than any other place, but the Victorian era saw many changes in the treatment of mentally ill. Shortly afterward becoming a state 6 years later, the pioneers of the plains established the Kansas Insane Asylum on a tract of land on a hill overlooking the Marais des Cygnes river, donated by the township of Osawatomie and it was filled to maximum occupancy almost immediately. Construction began in earnest of a much larger, state of the art facility in 1868 (see the original plans here: clickie).
The hospital was built using the Kirkbride system of long rambling wings, staggered so that each received plenty of sunlight and fresh air, with ‘improved grounds, tastefully ornamented’, the building itself designed to have a curative effect on the patient. It was indeed an impressive set of structures and with the farm for the patients to work as part of physical exercise and therapy, became a largely self-sustaining entity. By 1910, it had shops, boiler house, electric light and power plant, ice house, bakery, laundry, barns, green houses, a reservoir for a water supply, auditoriums, stages, fountains, butterfly gardens and more.
Sadly, very little remains of the once beautiful structures. Most, including the Queen Anne style Victorian Administration building with the twin 5 story turrets had been adandoned by 1986 , and stood empty and alone on a hill about the Marais des Cygnes river, looking over the little town of Osawatomie like a castle until 2002, when it was demolished. A new hospital is still functioning on the site, and a few of the old buildings remain, boarded up and solitary, a testament to the former grandeur of the site.
Across from the main complex of the current State Hospital is the old Asylum cemetery. Of the 343 souls buried in the cemetery, only two have headstones with their names and information, the others are simply numbered which correspond with a grid kept by the hospital staff. It really speaks as to how the patients were viewed by the staff and the state as less than human, just a number. No name, no date, no beloved daughter, cherished mother, just a fading number.
I would have liked to see more of the grounds and explore a little more, however, it was not long after we arrived that I was greeted by security guards and asked to leave the premises. *sigh* Maybe next time I will have the forethought to ask for permission, but then again…
The cobblestone brick road which led from the old highway to to hospital is still there and in good repair, and if you follow it down the hill towards the town, you will find yourself greeted by a limb obscured sign and the real reason for our visit: the Asylum Bridge. In faded letters, the sign boldy proclaimed: DANGER. It couldn’t have been more inviting to me if it had been backlit with neon flashing red arrows pointing to the entrance. I couldn’t wait to see what lay beyond!
Arming myself with my camera, I climbed out and pushed through the brush, marveling at how nature had enveloped the iron trusses, the vines wrapping themselves and slowly dismantling the once symmetrical iron structure. The 219 foot pin connected Reverse Parker Truss structure is singular in its structure and unique. There is no other standing example of this design, and it may well be the only one of its kind to have ever been built. It has been closed to vehicular traffic since the 1970s, and although it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, no effort to maintain or restore the bridge have ever been successfully mounted. It is now decrepit, missing boards and closed to all foot traffic. A flood in 2007 covered the bridge, including much of the truss. Birds have nested in the old gaslight mounts that still adorn the top of the bridge next to the plaque with three names of the city commissioners that were in office when the construction was completed. The bridge was built by Kansas City Bridge and Iron of Kansas City, Missouri for the lowest of numerous bids, $4800.00
After checking out the bridge we drove into town to visit the town Osawatomie and get a bite to eat. The downtown was charming, but we couldn’t find an open restaurant. We stopped at the vintage IGA and purchased some beef jerky, bananas and cokes and took a drive out to the Creamery Street Bridge. One of two triple span Marsh Rainbow Arch bridges in Osawatomie. Set above a lovely dam with nice shade trees, this was the perfect spot for an impromptu picnic.
James Marsh built 11 of these bridges in Kansas, this one spanning the Marais des Cygnes river was completed in 1931 and then its twin over Pottawatomie Creek the following year. Ironically, Marsh’s first job as an engineer was with the Kansas City Bridge and Iron company that built the Asylum Bridge. Marsh is also responsible for the sole remaining Rainbow arch bridge on route 66 which runs through a corner of Kansas – clickie.
We stopped by the John Brown Memorial Park, but the light was fading. On the way out of town, we pulled into the Sonic Drive In to grab a couple chocolate milkshakes. As the sun set, the local teenagers began to fill the empty spots. We sat the watching them, freshly showered, preening and flirting with one another. I was reminded of my own youth, sitting on the bumper of an old Volkswagen Bug with my best friend, drinking a Sonic Milk,shake on a Saturday night. Some things never change.
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou describes her coming of age as a precocious but insecure black girl in the American South during the 1930s and subsequently in California during the 1940s. Maya’s parents divorce when she is only three years old and ship Maya and her older brother, Bailey, to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, in rural Stamps, Arkansas. Annie, whom they call Momma, runs the only store in the black section of Stamps and becomes the central moral figure in Maya’s childhood.
As young children, Maya and Bailey struggle with the pain of having been rejected and abandoned by their parents. Maya also finds herself tormented by the belief that she is an ugly child who will never measure up to genteel, white girls. She does not feel equal to other black children. One Easter Sunday, Maya is unable to finish reciting a poem in church, and self-consciously feeling ridiculed and a failure, Maya races from the church crying, laughing, and wetting herself. Bailey sticks up for Maya when people actually make fun of her to her face, wielding his charisma to put others in their place.
Growing up in Stamps, Maya faces a deep-seated southern racism manifested in wearying daily indignities and terrifying lynch mobs. She spends time at Momma’s store, observing the cotton-pickers as they journey to and from work in the fields. When Maya is eight, her father, of whom she has no memory, arrives in Stamps unexpectedly and takes her and Bailey to live with their mother, Vivian, in St. Louis, Missouri. Beautiful and alluring, Vivian lives a wild life working in gambling parlors. One morning Vivian’s live-in boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, sexually molests Maya, and he later rapes her. They go to court and afterward Mr. Freeman is violently murdered, probably by some the underground criminal associates of Maya’s family.
In the aftermath of these events, Maya endures the guilt and shame of having been sexually abused. She also believes that she bears responsibility for Mr. Freeman’s death because she denied in court that he had molested her prior to the rape. Believing that she has become a mouthpiece for the devil, Maya stops speaking to everyone except Bailey. Her mother’s family accepts her silence at first as temporary post-rape trauma, but they later become frustrated and angry at what they perceive to be disrespectful behavior.
To Maya’s relief, but Bailey’s regret, Maya and Bailey return to Stamps to live with Momma. Momma manages to break through Maya’s silence by introducing her to Mrs. Bertha Flowers, a kind, educated woman who tells Maya to read works of literature out loud, giving her books of poetry that help her to regain her voice.
During these years in Stamps, Maya becomes aware of both the fragility and the strength of her community. She attends a church revival during which a priest preaches implicitly against white hypocrisy through his sermon on charity. The spiritual strength gained during the sermon soon dissipates as the revival crowd walks home past the honky-tonk party. Maya also observes the entire community listening to the Joe Louis heavyweight championship boxing match, desperately longing for him to defend his title against his white opponent.
Maya endures several appalling incidents that teach her about the insidious nature of racism. At age ten, Maya takes a job for a white woman who calls Maya “Mary” for her own convenience. Maya becomes enraged and retaliates by breaking the woman’s fine china. At Maya’s eighth grade graduation, a white speaker devastates the proud community by explaining that black students are expected to become only athletes or servants. When Maya gets a rotten tooth, Momma takes her to the only dentist in Stamps, a white man who insults her, saying he’d rather place his hand in a dog’s mouth than in hers. The last straw comes when Bailey encounters a dead, rotting black man and witnesses a white man’s satisfaction at seeing the body. Momma begins to fear for the children’s well-being and saves money to bring them to Vivian, who now lives in California.
When Maya is thirteen, the family moves to live with Vivian in Los Angeles and then in Oakland, California. When Vivian marries Daddy Clidell, a positive father figure, they move with him to San Francisco, the first city where Maya feels at home. She spends one summer with her father, Big Bailey, in Los Angeles and has to put up with his cruel indifference and his hostile girlfriend, Dolores. After Dolores cuts her in a fight, Maya runs away and lives for a month with a group of homeless teenagers in a junkyard. She returns to San Francisco strong and self-assured. She defies racist hiring policies in wartime San Francisco to become the first black streetcar conductor at age fifteen. At sixteen, she hides her pregnancy from her mother and stepfather for eight months and graduates from high school. The account ends as Maya begins to feel confident as a mother to her newborn son.
by maria106, November 14, 2012
Through a series of personal events, feelings, and thoughts, Maya Angelou is able to captivate its readers with her recounting of her life from her early years up to late adolescence. As readers, we are able to see how Maya grows from the insecure little girl in Arkansas to the strong woman who realizes that she can trust herself and will be able to keep moving forward, which is clearly shown when she realizes that she can take care of her son.
During the last chapter of the book, I feel that Maya does a great job describing the feeli... Read more→
65 out of 78 people found this helpful0
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EEOC Office of Legal Counsel staff members wrote the following informal discussion letter in response to an inquiry from a member of the public. This letter is intended to provide an informal discussion of the noted issue and does not constitute an official opinion of the Commission.
Title VII / Equal Pay Act - Wage Discrimination
August 7, 2000
This is in response to your letter to Chairwoman Ida L. Castro, dated June 15, 2000. The Chairwoman has asked this office to respond directly to you.
Your letter expresses your support for the Equal Pay Task Force that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) formed on May 11, 2000. Your letter also states your concern, however, that "approximately a year ago" someone at the Commission informed you that temporary workers had to compare their pay to other temporary workers for purposes of the equal pay laws. In your view, "this concept is in error . . . . [A]n employee must receive equal pay for equal work, regardless of status." Your letter expresses your view that the recent trend of employers using temporary workers rather than permanent employees is unfair, and should be prohibited.
The EEOC enforces the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). These laws generally prohibit pay discrimination, and other forms of employment discrimination, on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, and disability.
In 1997, the Commission published a policy document titled Enforcement Guidance: Application of EEO Laws to Contingent Workers Placed by Temporary Employment Agencies and Other Staffing Firms (1997). It is available on the EEOC's web site, at www.eeoc.gov. The document provides guidance regarding the application of the anti-discrimination statutes to temporary, contract, and other contingent employees. Two overriding principles of the document are:
As you noted in your letter, temporary workers often do not receive compensation on par with their permanent counterparts. The Commission does not consider this practice discrimination per se. But it does recognize the potential for this practice to be discriminatory in application, particularly in light of data showing that women are more likely than men to work as temporary employees.
Thus, the Commission's compliance manual states that in determining whether employees' status as temporary vs. permanent is nondiscriminatory, the following issues should be considered: 1) whether the wage differential is applied uniformly regardless of employees' protected status (e.g., race, sex, etc.); 2) whether the differential conforms to the nature and duration of the job; and 3) whether the differential conforms with a nondiscriminatory customary practice within the industry and establishment. See EEOC Compliance Manual Section 708.5(3) (BNA) 708:0023. EEOC investigators will explore these issues, among others, upon receiving a complaint in which a temporary employee alleges that s/he is being discriminatorily paid.
Your letter referenced other laws that may be implicated by temporary arrangements. The EEOC only enforces federal EEO law, and thus we cannot provide guidance outside the EEO context regarding temporary or other contingent work arrangements. However, we are aware of one U.S. court of appeals decision holding that workers who a company labeled as independent contractors and temporaries really were common-law employees of the company, thus entitling the workers to participate in company's savings and stock purchase plans under the terms of the plans. See Vizcaino v. Microsoft Corp., 120 F.3d 1006 (9th Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 1098 (1998). This is not an EEO case. However, the decision may indicate that your concern about temporary workers being denied benefits is addressable, at least in some factual circumstances, under existing law.
We hope this information is helpful to you. Thank you for your input on this important issue.
Corbett L. Anderson
Title VII/ADEA/EPA Division
This page was last modified on April 27, 2007.
Return to Home Page
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How to Lock in 8% Government Yields
Here's a handy tip:
Yahoo! Finance has a page with information on all sorts of bonds rates. The page makes it easy to see where bond yields are right now. Click here to see the list (be sure to save the link so you can check back often).
I bring this up because I want you to take a look at the current yields on Treasury bonds. At the time of this writing, 10-year Treasuries paid a measly 2.5%. I don't know about you, but I'd like higher yields than that.
The thing is, you can't beat the safety of a government bond. That's why the yields are low -- anxious investors are fleeing to safety in a roller coaster market. But what if you could earn considerably more on government bonds -- more than three times more -- without sacrificing much safety?
I found just such an opportunity. There are bonds you can own today that pay triple what similar U.S. Treasuries pay. These bonds are backed by governments and have investment-grade credit ratings. On top of this, the asset class has returned +12% annually for the past 15 years.
I'm talking about emerging market bonds. I'm finding some of the juiciest government yields in the world from emerging markets -- places like Indonesia, Turkey, India and Brazil.
Emerging markets have a reputation as being exceptionally risky, but that isn't always the case. In fact, many emerging markets have investment-grade debt.
Ten-year government bonds from South Africa carry a "BBB+" rating -- putting their credit quality on par in with bonds issued by Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW). Meanwhile, 10-year bonds from India are rated "BBB-" and yield 7.7%. Bonds issued by Indonesia are just below investment grade at "BB" and yielding 8.0%.
Unlike their European counterparts, credit ratings for these emerging markets are getting better, not worse. Ratings for Chile and Turkey were upgraded last month, and Brazil and Indonesia moved up last year. Ratings for many emerging markets have improved so much that more than half of the holdings in JP Morgan's Emerging Market Bond Index are now rated as investment grade.
As you would expect, bonds from emerging markets are handily beating U.S. Treasuries this year. And it's not just a fluke. The fact is that emerging market bonds have been the best performing bond category for the last five years, 10 years and even 15 years, according to Morningstar data. I mentioned above that the group has returned +12% annually in the past 15 years.
So How Do You Invest?
Yields on foreign bonds are enticing, but it's not always easy for the average investor to own them outright. I have a solution.
There are several funds on the market that make accessing a basket of emerging-market bonds as simple as buying a share of stock. But picking the best fund involves much more than just opting for the highest yield.
In addition to looking for a solid yield and a portfolio that matches your risk appetite, it's important to check whether the fund can afford what it pays out. The easiest way to do this is to look where the distributions come from. If payments are identified as "interest" or "ordinary" income, it's usually safe; this is money paid from bond holdings. If payments are labeled as "return of capital," however, that can spell trouble. Return of capital payments can mean the fund had to dip into its cash reserves to maintain a high payment to investors.
Currency is another major consideration when you go global, as exchange rates affect the value of foreign bond funds. Foreign countries issue debt in both U.S. dollars and local currency. Those dollar-denominated bonds are unaffected by currency swings if you're a U.S. investor, but the value of a local currency fund rises or falls when the dollar weakens or strengthens. The currency swings can impact your returns for the better if the dollar falls or for the worse if it strengthens.
[Read: The Simple Ways to Profit from a Falling Dollar]
Action to Take --> The neutral stance is to invest in foreign bond funds that are not affected by currency swings. PowerShares Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt (NYSE: PCY) is such a fund. It invests 100% of its assets in dollar-denominated foreign government bonds. Moreover, all its monthly payments are considered "ordinary income." You might want to wait for a pullback -- the fund has returned nearly +10% in the past two months. But even at a current high, it yields close to 6.0%.
Try getting that from a Treasury...
(It's amazing how low yields on Treasuries have sank... the last time yields were this low was in the 1950s. I'm fighting back with international ideas like the one above in my High-Yield International letter. Most foreign markets simply yield higher. But you can see for yourself -- I'm offering a 60-day risk-free term for new subscribers. Click here for more information.)
P.S. -- Finding one great investment per month, this stock picker enjoys a 92% win rate and annualized returns of up to +90.4%, +99.6% and even +503.4%. Get her picks for your portfolio here...
StreetAuthority LLC does not hold positions in any securities mentioned in this article.
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The Origins of Christianity
by Revilo P. Oliver
Professor of the Classics, Retired; University of Illinois, Urbana
THIS IS THE REEF on which founder all religions that posit a supreme and benevolent god who is interested in mankind.
The Stoics constructed for their animus mundi a theodicy that evidently satisfied persons who were primarily interested in ethics and desiderated a system of moral certainties to stabilize societies. The Stoic answer was like that given in the Fourteenth Century by William of Occam and the other Nominalists, who saw that the only escape from the impasse was to assert that whatever the Christian god ordained, was, eo ipso, just. The Stoic answer could not content people who wanted a god who could and, if properly appeased, would interfere with the processes of nature and make miracles for his favorites: what use was a god who couldn’t do anything for you? William of Occam’s answer cannot content persons who have our innate and racial sense of justice and refuse to believe that unmerited suffering, agony and death inflicted on innocent and helpless individuals, can be right, no matter who orders it: who can respect a god who rewards evil and punishes good?
It is the business of theologians, of course, to devise arguments and rhetoric that will confuse the issue, and the theologians of all creeds have exhibited a high degree of ingenuity, but the only way to evade the problem of theodicy successfully is to assume, as do several of the Hindu cults, that metempsychosis provides a long series of incarnations that produce a spiritual and moral evolution of the individual from the very simplest and lowest forms of organic life through ascending forms of mammalian life to mankind and then on upward to superhuman species, who reside on the moon or in some place beyond human attainment, and eventually to gods in some well-furnished heaven. On this vast scale, the suffering that comes upon any individual in any one life shrinks to insignificance and, furthermore, is condign and just punishment for the misdeeds of an earlier life and is a necessary process of spiritual purification and evolution.
If the present life is the only one we shall have on earth it will do no good to say that divine injustice in it doesn’t matter because this life will be followed by a few hundred thousand years or a few million years or even an eternity in some heaven that will be equipped to prevent its inhabitants from dying of boredom after a few dozen centuries. To our racial mind, justice does matter and furthermore it is inherently unjust to make an infinite future depend on conduct during a few years by a person who was born with certain innate tendencies and capacities and placed in situations that more or less determined how his character would respond to them.
One of the important junctures in our civilization is marked by the short treatise De libero arbitrio,* written around 1436 by Laurentius Valla, who had the most incisive critical mind of the early Renaissance. Under the transparent veil of a dialogue about Apollo’s power to predict human conduct, Valla demonstrates that no god can be omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent.
* The text was well edited by Maria Anfossi (Firenze, 1934); I have not heard of a translation. Almost all scholars who concern themselves with the Humanists of the Renaissance assume that Valla could not have been so impious as to say anything that was bad for the salvation-business. It is true that at the end of the dialogue Valla says that he has proved that human reason cannot cope with the Divine Mystery, but I take that to be an anticipation of the notion of a "double truth," which enabled Pomponatius and many other philosophers of the age to affirm that they believed by faith what they had just proved to be impossible. In the Fifteenth Century men with inquiring minds had to take precautions to avoid being tortured to death if they annoyed the theologians. The hounds of Heaven were baying on Valla’s trail often enough as it was, and once he was saved only by the intervention of King Alfonso of Naples.
The proof is simple. Take one of the incidents, so common today, in which an obviously innocent little girl of five or six, old enough certainly to feel pain, is raped and blinded or raped and killed by one of the savages on which masochistic or sadistic British and Americans now dote. Now, if there is a god who oversees the lives of men and sparrows, did he foresee the conduct of the savage, whom he created and presumably endowed with a savage’s instincts? If he did not foresee it, he is not omniscient. If he did foresee it, was he able to prevent the child’s agony? If not, he is not omnipotent. If he had the power and did not use it, he willed the crime and he willed the suffering of the child, so he cannot be benevolent.
Theologians, of course, explain that if the girl had not been killed at that time, she might have grown up and become an atheist – or papa must have offended a deity who chose to take out his anger on both the innocent child and her mother (who, of course, may have done something to vex him).* Or we mustn’t think about it, because thinking is bad for souls. None of these explanations will satisfy an Aryan’s sense of justice.
* Every such incident has repercussions on persons other than those immediately involved. Years ago, an old man, with whom I was discussing the efforts of professional holy men to attribute the coincidences that are called luck to intervention by their deity, told me that his life had been shaped by an appointment he had kept when he was a young man. He had decided to keep that crucial appointment in the metropolis by taking a train that passed through his town in the early morning. That morning his alarm clock failed to ring, and when he awoke, he threw on his clothes and ran to the station, although he knew he could not reach it in time. He was fifteen minutes late, but that morning the train, for the first time in many months, was even later: it had been delayed when it struck an automobile on a grade crossing, killing the occupants. "If I had been superstitious," he said, "I would have decided that Jesus so loved me that he killed three persons, a man, his wife, and their child, to enable me to keep my appointment. Or, if the train had not been late, I would have been sure that my sins had so annoyed him that he slipped into my bedroom that night and tampered with the mechanism. But that would have drastically changed the life of my wife, whom I married later, and our children would never have been born. Of course, she and I might have married other spouses, changing both their lives and our own, and each of us would have had quite different children, who would have grown up to change the lives of many others and themselves engender children. The consequences of that accident at the grade crossing are almost infinite and incalculable, for, of course, we should have to consider also the victims and the results of their death."
Valla’s explanation did not too greatly perturb contemporary churchmen, for Christian ditheism then attributed such things to its anti-god, who either had on this earth a power that his celestial antagonist could not overcome or sneaked in to promote the dirty work when God wasn’t looking. Everyone knew, after all, that the Devil was so powerful that he had been able to carry a third of the Christian god up to high mountains and there try to bribe him. But with the current tendency to make Christianity a monotheism, the problem has to be faced.
It is probably impossible to devise for a monotheism a theodicy that will satisfy the Aryan mind. At least, no one has done it yet.
There is one more topic that must be considered in our hurried sketch of the evolution of religions with reference to what we suppose to be the innate mentality of our race. When we speak of any religion today, we automatically think of its priests, a specialized and professional clergy. That is not a necessary connection.
Go to chapter 5
Back to Table of Contents
The Origins of Christianity by R.P.Oliver, to be published by Historical Review Press (160pp £10 inc p&p). Please order now via e-mail firstname.lastname@example.org
Copyright ©1999 Kevin Alfred Strom. Back to Revilo P. Oliver Index
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Sorry for the gap, RL intervened. This is going to be the hardest one of these to write. And if you think tl;dr, fair enough. But it’s a crucial aspect to discussions of EP and SB.
Although I think that Darwin’s greatest idea was common descent as an explanation for the relationships of organisms, I am very much in the minority here. Most people take it as read that Darwin’s best idea was natural selection. However, ideas very like natural selection (NS) had been around for a long time, unsurprisingly since they are employed in animal husbandry (the artificial/natural distinction is, well, artificial). What was novel about Darwin’s and Wallace’s use of NS was that it caused change in species, or so they thought. These days the consensus appears to be that species originate independently of natural selection processes, and selection changes the ecological adaptive features of the species rather than the isolation of species from other species.
That is by the way, however. Almost everyone in the evolutionary psychology movement and prior sociobiologies, at least after the turn of the 20th century, thinks that natural selection accounts for human behaviours. The issue is again a haggling over the price: how much and how often, and of what? So a major issue in SB4.0 is the role of adaptive explanations: what should we propose, how do we test them, and what is the default explanation: chance or selection? That is what this post is about.
EP and SB have typically presented explanations of human behaviour based upon the adaptation of those behaviours. Everything from mate choice to rape to religious belief to cognitive deficits are explained in this fashion. I do not propose to examine any of them here. What, as a philosopher, I find interesting are the assumptions underlying them, and how they might fail. Scientific research has a number of mathematical and experimental techniques to determine if something is the outcome of selection: selective sweep analysis, experimental work on cases, and phylogenetic comparisons. Each seems to have problems.
To determine if something is the result of a selection process, one has to have a good idea of what it is that could be the target of selection. The Standard Answer is that genes are, but often as not we do not yet have much of an idea what genes are responsible for what traits, and what the norm of reaction (the way the genetic trait is expressed) might be. This has always been a problem for evolutionary genetics, and indeed for a long time, a “gene” was simply a heritable trait (or rather, what underlay a heritable trait). As once noted by Lewontin, phenotypes are what Mendelian genetics studied.
So EP/SB has to indirectly approach selectionist explanations. Often they do not, but the better studies have to face the same methodological issues that every other evolutionary explanation does:
- We do not know the genes for most traits (and few traits are single gene traits, even for metabolic diseases),
- We often do not know much about the environment in which selection is thought to have occurred, and when we do it is global rather than local (e.g., a snail is not affected by the climate of the whole world, but by the microclimate of its hillside or valley),
- Information about the past is often fragmentary, leading to easy and cheap narratives that happen to suit the researchers,
- Information about the present is also often fragmentary and partial, and
- If a trend is seen in the data, it is often unclear when this is due to drunkard’s walks (chance) which can deliver directionality over moderately long periods, and when it is due to selection (which can be chaotic if the environment is).
Moreover, the standard EP approach relies upon an atomisation of traits that is more based on expectation than upon observational data. For example, and the key issue for EP for humans, the “massive modularity hypothesis” requires that the cognitive and psychological traits are parcelled into discrete and relatively independent modules. There is a parlous amount of evidence for this outside sensory modalities. Yes, vision (and possibly hearing and the other senses) is quite modular. It is also very old, going back perhaps to the Cambrian, so given that things with eyes need to see well, we might expect the visual module to be independent of the other neurological traits.
But modularity is not required by evolutionary theory; in fact it seems more to be a matter of convenience for researchers than anything else. A complex multifactorial system can be modified simultaneously in many ways by selection, so long as the factors (i.e., the underlying genetics) are heritable, because what NS requires is that things be heritable for them to be adaptively changed by NS. Think of an organism as a system that develops like a sprung mess of rigid poles connected by elastic bands. You can move several at once and the whole system will reshape (this is called tensegrity by Buckminster Fuller, as a punishment for thinking about these things). The rigid poles are the heritable genes, and the rubber bands are the norms of reaction.
[A tensegrity example, from here.]
So we might expect that you can modulate behaviours (or at any rate d-behaviours) by adjusting a few genes at once.The requirement that d-behaviours (or for that matter expressed behaviours) should be isolated and independent of other traits is not required. Gould and Lewontin referred to this as “inappropriate atomisation”. The “adaptationist programme”, they wrote (Gould and Lewontin 1979: 585), starts with this step:
An organism is atomized into ‘traits’ and these traits are explained as structures optimally designed by natural selection for their functions. For lack of space, we must omit an extended discussion of the vital issue: ‘what is a trait?’ Some evolutionists may regard this as a trivial, or merely a semantic problem. It is not. Organisms are integrated entities, not collections of discrete objects. Evolutionists have often been led astray by inappropriate atomization, as D’Arcy Thompson … loved to point out.
The emphasis upon isolating single genes or alleles is a case in point. No gene does what it does in a vacuum (in fact, put DNA into a vacuum, and it will simply sublimate and denature). It needs not only other genes but a developmental organism in an environment it affects simply by developing. I can’t stress this truism enough. What a gene does depends on the system it is a part of.
Modularity, whether of genes or organs or neurological systems, is only ever a conceptual abstraction. Cognitive modularity, however, was based upon the presumption that to be the subject of selection, a cognitive process had to be isolated from other processes in order to be optimised, to be encapsulated: modules were shallow so they could produce outputs without much delay based on the types of inputs they were optimised to receive, domain specific to they only received one type of stimulus or input, inaccessible so they were not affected by content or dispositions elsewhere in the brain, and so on. Later work showed that even those exemplars of modularity, such as are tested by the Wason Test, of reasoning are able to be moderated and even interrupted by contents of the cognitive system
So, enough about what fails or is problematic about EP and SB. What about what works?
Some may take issue with (PZ has) my claim that only selection can generate complex d-behaviours. A brief word is due. We know that selection (as an instance of general sorting processes) can generate complexity of behaviours. We know that a lineage or population that has some suite of behaviours can randomly attain a more complex behaviour. I am not suggesting that random variations within a population of already high complexity cannot produce such behaviours. But over the longer term, what randomness giveth, randomness will taketh away. For a trait to persist in a population (note, in a population, not a lineage of species over large periods) and to go to fixation if the population is of any size it is more often than not, much more often, due to selective pressures on those behaviours than to chance. And where using chance as a “null hypothesis” generates few if any hypotheses of what did happen that are testable, selective explanations do generate many, often very specific, hypotheses that are testable.
There is a real issue (see here, here and here; the work that convinced me of this is Fidler’s) with null hypotheses anyway. A “null” hypothesis is, simply put, the hypothesis that the researcher or the researcher’s community defaults to in the absence of anything else. In short, the null hypothesis is what the community of researchers is comfortable with, and since this is not really constrained by data (there are an indefinitely large number of potential nulls) testing between a null and positive hypothesis is at best a very localised test.
But leave this to one side: if chance explanations of a d-behaviour explain it arising, it can equally explain it disappearing. To explain the persistance of a complex d-behaviour, selection is pretty well it. As was long ago noted the origins of the raw material of selection are down to accidental changes, but not their retention.
But that is not the whole story. Once you have a reproducing populations of organisms of overall high fitness, individual d-behaviours may wander about stochastically. This can be true of a single variable, so long as the overall or general fitness of the population mean is high enough. So it comes down to being able to establish whether the d-behaviour is likely to lower the fitness enough that selection pressures will overcome the randomness of mutation and recombination. And there is no principled answer to this – it relies upon the facts of the case; the boundary conditions and the number and relation of the variables. Sergey Gavrilets (1997, 2004, see Wilkins 2007) has noted that in a correlated or smooth fitness landscape (such as we might expect nearly all species to exist in when in their ordinary environments) there are what he calls “holey landscapes” (see figure), which are components of fitness space that are of roughly equal fitness, and which are connected in various ways to higher and lower fitness components. In short, in a sufficiently high dimensional landscape, a population may drift around at about the same fitness (in other words, its d-behaviours can shift stochastically) so long as the fitness of that population remains about the same. So this implies that a d-behaviour can be both the result of selection relative to its absence, but also the result of chance relative to equally fit alternatives. The chance/selection dichotomy is misplaced. Both can be true simultaneously.
So to take on the adaptationist program (or “programme” as Gould and Lewontin spelled it) is not to make a mistake. It is to make an epistemic bet. Cheap and simple adaptive hypotheses must be treated with derision, of course, as they must in every aspect of science – this is not a critique of EP as such, but of bad science. But good ones must be treated as working hypotheses. There’s a big literature on testing and choosing between models. I shan’t bore you with that here (I find the Akaike Information Criterion approach perplexing, for example, which probably says more about me than it). The point is that EP/SB is not required not to be
non-adaptationist as a null hypothesis.
In the light of all this, I suggest that so long as we test our adaptive scenarios, and do so realistically on the basis of phylogenetic bracketing (to ensure we are actually dealing with a d-behaviour) and on the best data (especially that of neurobiology and cognitive psychology), EP/SB (or SB4.0 at any rate) has a right to be adaptationist, and that alternative approaches must be justified. Adaptation is the “null hypothesis” in the case of complex d-behaviours, subject to the qualifications I make above.
As once said, there’s the bit where you say it and the bit where you take it back. Adaptationism does not explain, I believe, the persistence of a trait across phylogenetic bifurcations – that is, in the case of evolutionary lineages. Or rather, it can, but only in the sense of it being “evolutionarily conserved”. For example, the structure of the genetic code is highly conserved. Although there are some 15 variants across the whole of life, they vary only in details. The having of the “universal” code is highly fit, and variants tend to be eliminated. Many developmental, phenotypic, physiological and cytological structures are highly conserved. Why? The answer has to be something like: if you deviate from this state, your fitness is lowered, just because it is the default or modal state. So the having of, say, a particular social disposition among primates can be maintained because the having of that disposition increases your fitness – deviants get fewer mating opportunities. Creatures inveterately wrong at following the norm have a pathetic, but praiseworthy, tendency to die before reproducing their kind…
Which leads us to a final point about adaptation: the what it adapts to. Good Old Fashioned Adaptationism (GOFA*) always presumed that what the fitness assigning process was had to do with the ecological context of the organisms. But equally, or in the case of highly adapted creatures like primates, predominantly, the fitness assigning process is social. You are fitter because your d-behaviour fits a potential mate or social conspecific. Here I think the emphasis has been more productive. Others will disagree, but as the Buss Lab’s defence shows (Confer et al 2010), there are some useful results in so doing.
* Not to be confused with GOFAI, which is a position in artificial intelligence philosophy.
Confer, Jaime C., Judith A. Easton, Diana S. Fleischman, Cari D. Goetz, David M. G. Lewis, Carin Perilloux, and David M. Buss. 2010. Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects, and limitations. American Psychologist 65 (2):110-126.
Gavrilets, Sergey. 1997. Evolution and speciation on holey adaptive landscapes. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 12 (8):307-312.
———. 2003. Perspective: models of speciation: what have we learned in 40 years? Evolution Int J Org Evolution 57 (10):2197-2215.
———. 2004. Fitness landscapes and the origin of species, Monographs in population biology; v. 41. Princeton, N.J.; Oxford, England: Princeton University Press.
Gould, Stephen Jay, and Richard C. Lewontin. 1979. The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme. Proc R Soc Lond B 205:581–598.
Wilkins, John S. 2007. The dimensions, modes and definitions of species and speciation. Biology and Philosophy 22 (2):247 – 266.
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Buddhist monk, Jewish poet, famed philanderer and now the subject of political protest, Leonard Cohen performed at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on May 17. The elusive Canadian folk-rock legend, on his first major tour in 15 years, worked the capacity crowd of 6,000 fans who shouted out and sang along through three hours of his trademark songs of despair, doom and failed love. Now 74, Cohen bounced around the stage with more energy than he ever displayed as a young singer in the 1960s.
The excitable scene has been repeated in scores of cities, during a yearlong tour that has taken him as far afield as Moscow; Berlin; London, and Melbourne, Australia.
The New York event, however, featured one new element that reportedly had Cohen’s handlers on edge: a group of about three dozen pro-Palestinian protesters standing across the street from the theater entrance, calling on the singer to cancel a concert in Israel that is expected to take place in September.
The demonstrators, organized by local pro-Palestinian organizations and at least one left-wing Jewish group, spent an hour and a half chanting and singing improvised songs addressed to Cohen. A typical song, “Don’t Play Israel, Leonard Cohen,” was sung to the tune of “Hava Nagila.”
Protests against the Tel Aviv concert — which has yet to be scheduled, according to Cohen’s spokeswoman Tiffany Shipp — were begun in late April in Great Britain by a group called the British Committee for Universities of Palestine, which has been advocating boycotts of Israel by artists and academics for several years. Open letters to Cohen have now been issued by a Palestinian pro-boycott campaign and by a group of 110 Israeli intellectuals.
All three groups’ statements cite a poem titled “Questions for Shomrim” that Cohen is said to have written in the 1970s. The brief poem ends with the words, “And you and I/Can only cry and wonder/Must Jewish people/Build our Dachaus too?” The poem appears to have been circulating on the Internet for at least two years, provoking furious debates on numerous Web sites and chat groups.
The British pro-boycott group has posted the poem on its Web site, together with a brief statement signed by Cohen, saying he had written the poem in the 1970s and that the word “Shomrim” referred to the Hashomer Hatzair Zionist youth group, which “supported a binational state in Palestine/Israel when I was close to them.”
In fact, however, Cohen did not write the poem at all, according to Shipp. She emphasized, too, that the trip to Israel had not yet been scheduled, so any discussion of reconsidering his plans was “premature.”
Pro-boycott protesters outside Radio City said they remained hopeful that Cohen would end up staying away from Israel. Three members of their group had met on May 15 with Cohen’s manager, Robert Kory, and several other representatives, they said. “We explained to them that the situation in the region is no longer acceptable,” said an organizer, Riham Barghouti, a West Bank native. “They asked for some alternate possibilities other than cancellation. We said because we were there for the Palestinians, we could not negotiate…. It’s not an issue of coming halfway. It’s an issue of what Israel is doing in Palestine.”
One of the leading organizers of the protest is a group called Adalah-NY: The Coalition for Justice in the Middle East, which participants at the rally routinely referred to as “Adalah” — also the name of an Israeli-Arab rights group funded by the New Israel Fund. A representative from the fund said the two groups had no connection and that the NIF-funded Adalah (The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel) did not support boycotting Israel. There had been discussions about Adalah changing its name to avoid confusion, she said, but no decisions have been reached.
Inside the theater, concertgoers who were aware of the protest seemed nonplussed by the idea of canceling a concert. According to John Brett, a Dublin resident who flew to New York for the weekend to hear Cohen — “I had to, because the Dublin concert was sold out,” he said — Cohen had conclusively dealt with the matter of playing in Israel back in 1988, when he was asked the question in a Norwegian television interview. “He said he would play to both Israelis and Palestinians,” Brett said. “I have the tape.”
A glance at Cohen’s biography suggests that the idea of him canceling an Israel appearance, much less comparing Israel to Nazi Germany in a poem, is wildly implausible. In the early 1970s, when he was said to have written “Questions for Shomrim,” he was visiting Israel. He volunteered at an army base during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, at a time when his career was soaring. He has visited Israel several times since then, and performed there twice in the 1980s. In an undated interview, apparently from the mid 1980s, posted on an unofficial Cohen fan site, he called Israel “probably the most democratic country in the world. It’s alive.”
Born and raised in Montreal, where he attended Orthodox day schools through high school, Cohen is one of a trio of iconic figures in the city’s intensely ethnic Jewish culture, along with late novelist Mordecai Richler and poet A.M. Klein. All three became towering figures in Canada’s general culture through writings that were deeply suffused with their Jewish experience, in much the same way as American writers such as Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. Unlike the Americans, however, the three Canadians remained deeply engaged with Judaism and the Jewish community throughout their lives.
The religious-cultural engagement was never uncomplicated for any of them. Cohen himself has led a famously un-pious life, including a series of affairs with wives of friends, which he chronicled intimately in his songs. He was ordained as a Buddhist monk in the 1990s and spent five years in a Buddhist monastery near Los Angeles. Throughout, he has been described in repeated media profiles as a religious Jew who observes the Sabbath. He told The New York Times in an interview last February that he saw no contradiction between his Buddhism and his Judaism, because Buddhism did not involve prayer to a deity.
His current tour’s playlist, reportedly identical in every appearance, is a live psychodrama of his psycho-religious career. His love songs, mostly laments, repeatedly allude to the romantic trials of the biblical King David and Samson. One of his best-known songs, the much-recorded “Hallelujah,” is framed as a confessional by King David himself. Several of his songs draw not on the Bible, but on the prayer book. One of his most durable favorites, performed early in the current concerts, is a play on the Unetaneh Tokef prayer on Yom Kippur: “Who by fire, who by water, who by ordeal, who by common trial…. And who should I say is calling?”
The concert’s closing song, “Whither Thou Goest,” is lifted word for word from the Book of Ruth. It ends with evocative words that easily could have been his response to the protesters outside: “Thy people shall be my people.”
Contact J.J. Goldberg at firstname.lastname@example.org.
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Lead paint is a toxic substance that can pose serious health issues, illnesses and other problems in adults and children as well. It is not wondrous that you are enthusiastic for a lead paint testing equipments. Most often children are prone to the health hazards due to the inhalation and consumption of lead paint. You must want to know for sure why you want to test lead paints as there are varied options. You have to identify which one you want for your home and for what purpose.
The varied options are- lead-based paint testing, lead paint safety measures and lead hazard screen. The first option is carried out in most of the older homes to ensure you whether or not there is any serious health hazard or any reason to be worried of. Indeed, lead paint testing covers the total painted surface area inside the house and all around it. This evaluation is done to examine the levels of lead based paint. Every nook and corner section is considered for testing and a report is made providing you the information, whether there is any confrontation that will particularly be stressful.
Now coming to the second option, lead paint safety measures; this will provide you a more detailed analysis of the lead based paint that have been identified during a lead based paint inspection. The process will deeply analyze the various elements including the type of paint, the risk associated with the location of the paint and the amount of lead in the paint. This aspect of evaluation is accomplished by combining methods, which includes a survey of surfaces, water testing and soil and dust testing as well. The third testing ground, lead hazard screen, is carried out to detect the amount of lead in painted surface that is damaged. It can also test dust particles present in small amount at home.
Before getting started with lead paint testing, you should know which particular test you are precisely interested to conduct. Once you have come to the right choice, it’s time to decide whether you will do the testing all by yourself or you will employ professionals to do the job for you. However, it is recommended to go with the latter option. When it comes to hire someone, you can consult the local yellow pages or make a thorough research online. Also you can shop around for the services you want and make a good deal.
Summary: You must want to know for sure why you want to test lead paints as there are varied options. There are lead-based paint testing, lead paint safety measures and lead hazard screen. The best way to do is to hire a professional to do the job for you.
Lead Paint Testing | Lead Paint Testing Cost | Lead Paint Testing Kits | Lead Based Paint Testing Cost
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Baby Skates Identified As Bering Sea Research Priority
In isolated spots in the Bering Sea, there are fields of so-called ‘mermaids’ purses.’ Any beachcomber would recognize them — small rectangular pods with pointy corners. They’re the protective casing that surrounds the fertilized eggs of skates, and in some underwater nurseries there are hundreds of thousands of them.
Skates have healthy population levels in the Bering Sea, but their unusual breeding habits could make them susceptible to human disruption. That’s why at this week’s North Pacific Fishery Management Council in Portland, the body decided to designate six of the nurseries in the Eastern Bering Sea as ‘Habitat Areas of Particular Concern.’
Councilor Bill Tweit says the designation acknowledges their significance.
“In establishing these as HAPCs, we in essence flag that these areas are potentially vulnerable to a broad range of disturbances, and requesting [sic] that decision-makers involved in other planning processes pay attention to these areas and pay attention to the unique attributes of those and consider the potential disturbances.”
In particular, Tweit singled out cable-laying and seismic testing. But he and the rest of the council rejected a proposal to ban fishing activities in the vicinity of the nurseries. The general consensus was that there’s too much scientific uncertainty to support a ban.
But the Council did agree to make researching the nurseries a priority. They’re still a relative unknown, even though interest in them has grown recently. In particular, scientists have questions about how many nurseries there are in the Eastern Bering Sea. The council’s scientific advisory group thinks there are probably less than 20, but that figure is disputed.
The National Marine Fisheries Service will be responsible for monitoring the six selected nurseries, although the exact scope of that work is yet to be defined.
Skate are an important food source for many species in the Bering Sea, including sea lions, halibut and cod.
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New data highlight increases in hypertension, diabetes incidence
16 May 2012 | Geneva - The World health statistics 2012 report, released today, puts the spotlight on the growing problem of the noncommunicable diseases burden.
One in three adults worldwide, according to the report, has raised blood pressure – a condition that causes around half of all deaths from stroke and heart disease. One in 10 adults has diabetes.
“This report is further evidence of the dramatic increase in the conditions that trigger heart disease and other chronic illnesses, particularly in low- and middle-income countries,” says Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO. “In some African countries, as much as half the adult population has high blood pressure.”
For the first time, the World Health Organization’s annual statistics report includes information from 194 countries on the percentage of men and women with raised blood pressure and blood glucose levels.
In high-income countries, widespread diagnosis and treatment with low-cost medication have significantly reduced mean blood pressure across populations – and this has contributed to a reduction in deaths from heart disease. In Africa, however, more than 40% (and up to 50%) of adults in many countries are estimated to have high blood pressure. Most of these people remain undiagnosed, although many of these cases could be treated with low-cost medications, which would significantly reduce the risk of death and disability from heart disease and stroke.
Also included for the first time in the World health statistics 2012 are data on people with raised blood glucose levels. While the global average prevalence is around 10%, up to one third of populations in some Pacific Island countries have this condition. Left untreated, diabetes can lead to cardiovascular disease, blindness and kidney failure.
Obesity another major issue
“In every region of the world, obesity doubled between 1980 and 2008,” says Dr Ties Boerma, Director of the Department of Health Statistics and Information Systems at WHO. “Today, half a billion people (12% of the world’s population) are considered obese.”
The highest obesity levels are in the WHO Region of the Americas (26% of adults) and the lowest in the WHO South-East Asia Region (3% obese). In all parts of the world, women are more likely to be obese than men, and thus at greater risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers.
Noncommunicable diseases currently cause almost two thirds of all deaths worldwide. Global concern about the rise in numbers of deaths from heart and lung disease, diabetes and cancer prompted the United Nations to hold a high-level meeting on noncommunicable diseases in New York in September 2011.
The World Health Assembly, to be held in Geneva from 21 to 26 May 2012, will review progress made since that meeting and agree on next steps. Work is currently under way to develop a global monitoring framework and a set of voluntary targets for prevention and control of these diseases.
Published annually by WHO, the World health statistics is the most comprehensive publication of health-related global statistics available. It contains data from 194 countries on a range of mortality, disease and health system indicators including life expectancy, illnesses and deaths from a range of diseases, health services and treatments, financial investment in health, as well as risk factors and behaviours that affect health.
Some key trends in this year’s report are:
- Maternal mortality: In 20 years, the number of maternal deaths has decreased from more than 540 000 deaths in 1990 to less than 290 000 in 2010 – a decline of 47%. One third of these maternal deaths occur in just two countries – India with 20% of the global total and Nigeria with 14%.
- 10 year trends for causes of child death: Data from the years 2000 to 2010 show how public health advancements have helped save children’s lives in the past decade. The world has made significant progress, having reduced the number of child deaths from almost 10 million children aged less than 5 years in 2000 to 7.6 million annual deaths in 2010. Declines in numbers of deaths from diarrhoeal disease and measles have been particularly striking.
- Death registration: Only 34 countries (representing 15% of the world’s population) produce high-quality cause-of-death data. In low and middle-income countries, less than 10% of deaths are registered.
For more information, please contact:
WHO Communications Officer and Spokesperson
Telephone: +41 22 791 32 28
Mobile: +41 79 475 55 56
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April 20, 2010
Sister Suzanne Neisser, Director of La Salle’s BUSCA Program, Receives Rousseau Justice Award
Sister Suzanne Neisser, RSM, Director of La Salle's BUSCA Program, (right) receives the 2010 Brother Scubillion Rousseau Justice Award from Louise Giugliano, associate director of University Ministry and Service.
In mid 19th century France, Brother Scubillion Rousseau dedicated his life to educating those marginalized by society. Known as the “catechist of slaves,” Rousseau believed every person was worthy of a quality education and developed curriculum suited to students’ needs and abilities. This year, La Salle University’s Justice Award, named in Rousseau’s honor, was presented to Sister Suzanne Neisser, RSM, Director of its Bilingual Undergraduate Studies for Collegiate Advancement (BUSCA) Program.
“Like Brother Scubillion Rousseau, Sr. Suzanne has dedicated her life to educating and advocating for those marginalized in our society,” said Ray Ricci La Salle’s Special Assistant to the President for Mission Integration. “As Director of BUSCA, Sr. Suzanne is building better lives by providing a college education to those who may not find an opportunity elsewhere.”
“Sister Suzanne is a passionate advocate and an insistent spokeswoman for her students,” said Ricci. “Through BUSCA, she has brought the possibility of educational advancement, and hope, to hundreds of Spanish-speaking students who stand precariously at the economic edge of this city and this region.”
Started in 1993, BUSCA is an innovative program that offers the region’s growing Spanish-speaking community the opportunity to earn an associate’s degree. Students begin the program with an intensive 12-credit course in English and then transition to classes completely in English. Students study full time for five semesters, attending class in the evening, allowing them to work during the day. To provide students with the best possible chance of success, the program provides bilingual tutors, and motivational, academic, and financial aid counselors.
“A former student once said to me, ‘BUSCA is a bridge to my dreams,’” said Sr. Suzanne. “The Hispanic population has been so underserved in higher education that I feel so privileged to be in a position to open doors for them and to help them make a better life for themselves.”
BUSCA students who are eligible for the complete package of federal and state aid study for free. The University, through grants and scholarships, covers the difference between the government aid and the total tuition cost. Currently 160 students are enrolled in BUSCA, ranging from recent high school graduates to grandparents. Nearly 75 percent of the students continue on to bachelor degree programs.
According to Sr. Suzanne, one of her proudest moments was when she found out that a former BUSCA student is currently teaching at the University. Altidoro Gallardo, who drove a cab while completing the BUSCA program, went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from La Salle, a master’s degree from Temple, and is currently teaching as an adjunct professor in the foreign languages department. “This is what the program is all about—helping people realize their potential and their dreams,” Sr. Suzanne said.
Sr. Suzanne took over as Director of BUSCA in 2006 after serving as the program’s motivational counselor for two and a half years. A Sister of Mercy nun for nearly 45 years, she taught foreign languages at Archbishop Carroll High School, Gwynedd Mercy Academy, and St. Charles Seminary. Sr. Suzanne started the North Philadelphia Spiritual Center, where she serves as spiritual director primarily for Hispanic and African American women. For the past 15 years, she has served as a buddy volunteer with Action AIDS of Philadelphia.
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Definition of EGF
EGF: Epidermal growth factor. A polypeptide (small protein) that is a powerful mitogen. (It stimulates cells to enter mitosis, cell division. ) EGF promotes cell growth and differentiation, is essential in embryogenesis, and is important in wound healing. It is produced by many normal cell types and is made in large amounts by some tumors. The EGF gene is on chromosome 4q25 (whereas the gene for its receptor, EGFR, is on chromosome 7). The kidney is the main source of circulating EGF. EGF is also known as urogastrone (URG).
Last Editorial Review: 6/14/2012
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versión impresa ISSN 0185-3325
DIAZ MARTINEZ, Alejandro et al. Prevalence of risky and harmful alcohol consumption and risk factors in freshmen students. Salud Ment [online]. 2008, vol.31, n.4, pp. 271-282. ISSN 0185-3325.
Background In Mexico, alcohol is the most widely used substance among young adults. Alcohol consumption in this age group contributes importantly to the most frequent causes of mortality and morbidity (e.g., accidents, violence, homicides, suicide and risky behaviors). Around the world, college or university attendance has emerged in the literature as a risk factor for drinking problems among young adults. In Mexico, data from the most recent National Survey on Addictions showed that lifetime and current drinking is experienced by more than half of the Mexicans attending college education. Despite this, in our country there is a paucity of epidemiological studies examining drinking behavior and correlates among those attending college. Findings in non-representative samples of students attending public and private universities in Mexico City suggest that, during the last two decades, there has been an increase in the frequency of lifetime and current drinking in this population. Additionally, these studies have shown that, in comparison to young adults of the same age in the general population, university students may experience a greater prevalence of lifetime and current alcohol drinking. Regarding the frequency of unhealthy drinking among Mexican college students, to our knowledge there are no prevalence estimates of hazardous or harmful drinking published. However, observations in non-random samples of university students in Mexico City suggested that at least one in three men and one in five women incurred in unhealthy drinking (e.g., ≥ 5 drinks per occasion or drinking to intoxication) at least once during the last month. Hazardous and harmful drinking is respectively defined by a pattern of alcohol consumption conferring a greater risk for health problems or that is frankly conducive to medical or psychological complications (e.g., accidents, victimization, violence, alcohol dependence, liver cirrhosis and/or other medical complications). The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), developed by the World Health Organization, is currently the only instrument specifically designed to identify hazardous and harmful drinking. Although the AUDIT was initially validated among older adult patients in primary care settings, this instrument has consistently shown to be valid and reliable in detecting alcohol problems in different populations such as the college students in many countries around the world. Given the public health implications of estimating the frequency of hazardous and harmful drinking among college students in Mexico, and given the importance of elucidating the variables influencing this problem, we decided to conduct the present study. To our knowledge, this is the first report published in the international literature on the prevalence of hazardous and harmful drinking among college students in a Latin American country. Objective In the analysis described here, derived from the project entitled Early Identification and Treatment of Problem Drinkers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), our aim was to examine the frequency and risk factors for hazardous and harmful drinking among Mexican university students. More specifically, our objectives were: 1. To determine the past-year prevalence of hazardous and harmful drinking among UNAM college freshmen; and 2. To examine in this population the effects of demographic and family variables on the likelihood of hazardous and harmful drinking. Subjects and methods This study was a cross-sectional survey that was conducted at the beginning of the school year during the registration period between September 1st and September 30th, 2005. In 2005, a total of 34 000 students were accepted to initiate college at the nine UNAM college campuses located in the Mexico City metropolitan area. Of these, 24 921 (73.3%) students (age=18.7±4.3 years; 55.7% women) consented in answering the survey and provided complete data. Consequently, 9 079 students (26.7%) were excluded from the analysis due to lack of consent, incomplete data or due to their absence at the time of registration. We used the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) to examine past-year prevalence of hazardous and harmful drinking. This self-report instrument includes 10 items that examine frequency and intensity of drinking (items 1-3), presence of alcohol dependence symptoms (items 4-6) and negative consequences of drinking (items 7-10), yielding a maximum possible score of 40 points. Among adult patients in primary care settings, it has been accepted that an AUDIT score of 0-7 points reflects safe levels of alcohol consumption, whereas a score of 8 points or greater indicates the presence of hazardous and harmful drinking. It has been described, however, that among college students, an AUDIT score of 6 points or greater reliably identifies those students experiencing this problem. In the analysis presented here, we separately examined and reported the prevalence estimates and correlates of hazardous and harmful drinking using both AUDIT cut-off scores (≥ 6 and ≥ 8). The AUDIT was administered at the same time as a wellness screening survey that the UNAM Medical Services routinely administer to all registering freshmen at the beginning of the school year. Questions in the wellness survey pertained students' medical and dental health, family medical history, immunizations, use of tobacco and other drugs. In addition, demographic and socioeconomic information was obtained from a questionnaire also routinely administered by the UNAM registrar's office. This questionnaire included 37 items inquiring about gender, age, employment and marital status, monthly family income, parental education, place and type of residency, persons with whom the student resided, and questions on previous academic performance.
Palabras llave : Alcoholism; alcohol; AUDIT; hazardous drinking; harmful drinking; college drinking; México; Latin America.
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Syphilis Testing Algorithms Using Treponemal Tests for Initial Screening --- Four Laboratories, New York City, 2005--2006
In the United States, testing for syphilis traditionally has consisted of initial screening with an inexpensive nontreponemal test, then retesting reactive specimens with a more specific, and more expensive, treponemal test. When both test results are reactive, they indicate present or past infection. However, for economic reasons, some high-volume clinical laboratories have begun using automated treponemal tests, such as automated enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) or immunochemoluminescence tests, and have reversed the testing sequence: first screening with a treponemal test and then retesting reactive results with a nontreponemal test. This approach has introduced complexities in test interpretation that did not exist with the traditional sequence. Specifically, screening with a treponemal test sometimes identifies persons who are reactive to the treponemal test but nonreactive to the nontreponemal test. No formal recommendations exist regarding how such results derived from this new testing sequence should be interpreted, or how patients with such results should be managed. To begin an assessment of how clinical laboratories are addressing this concern, CDC reviewed the testing algorithms used and the test interpretations provided in four laboratories in New York City. Substantial variation was found in the testing strategies used, which might lead to confusion about appropriate patient management. A total of 3,664 (3%) of 116,822 specimens had test results (i.e., reactive treponemal test result and nonreactive nontreponemal test result) that would not have been identified by the traditional testing algorithms, which end testing if the nontreponemal test result is nonreactive. If they have not been previously treated, patients with reactive results from treponemal tests and nonreactive results from nontreponemal tests should be treated for late latent syphilis.
Four New York City laboratories that routinely conduct syphilis testing using EIA treponemal screening tests were able to provide their testing algorithms, test volume, and test results for a convenience sample of specimens. Each laboratory used a slightly different testing algorithm and tested approximately 26,000--130,000 specimens for syphilis per year. CDC reviewed test results from a convenience sample of 116,822 specimens tested at these four laboratories during October 1, 2005--December 1, 2006.
In all four laboratories, no further testing was done on specimens that were nonreactive with the treponemal screening EIA. In all four laboratories, specimens considered reactive by EIA test were next tested with a rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test. However, the approach to follow-up testing then differed. At two laboratories, specimens that were reactive with EIA and nonreactive with RPR were retested using a different treponemal test: Treponema pallidum particle agglutination (TP-PA) or fluorescent treponemal antibody (FTA-ABS). At a third laboratory, specimens that were reactive to both the EIA test and the RPR test were retested using a different treponemal test (i.e., FTA-ABS or TP-PA). At the fourth laboratory, no further testing was done after the EIA and RPR tests.
Of the 116,822 specimens included in the convenience sample, 6,587 (6%) were initially reactive to the EIA test (Figure). When 6,548 of the EIA-reactive specimens were tested with an RPR test, 2,884 (44%) were reactive and 3,664 (56%) were nonreactive to the RPR test. Further testing with FTA-ABS or TP-PA tests on 2,512 of the specimens reactive to the EIA test but nonreactive to the RPR test found 2,079 (83%) specimens reactive to the second treponemal tests (i.e., FTA-ABS or TP-PA). In addition, the one laboratory that performed TP-PA testing on specimens that were reactive to both the EIA and RPR tests found 78 of 80 (98%) specimens were reactive to the TP-PA test.
One laboratory provided limited interpretation of the various permutations of syphilis test results. The other three laboratories gave providers an objective summary of the test results (e.g., EIA reactive, RPR reactive, or EIA reactive and RPR nonreactive) with no interpretation. No additional information was available from the four laboratories regarding patient treatment.
Reported by: T Peterman, MD, J Schillinger, MD , S Blank, MD, S Berman, MD, R Ballard, PhD, D Cox, PhD, R Johnson, MD, S Hariri, PhD, N Selvam, PhD, Div of STD Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC.
In the four New York City laboratories studied, reversing the traditional order of screening and confirmatory tests for syphilis resulted in 3,664 (3%) of 116,822 specimens with test results (i.e., reactive treponemal test result and nonreactive nontreponemal test result) that would not have been identified by the traditional testing algorithm. The importance of these test results is unclear because no specific prognostic information exists to guide patient evaluation and treatment.
Treponemal tests detect antibodies specific to T. pallidum. In addition to T. pallidum pallidum, which causes syphilis, other treponemal subspecies (e.g., pertenue, which causes yaws, and carateum, which causes pinta) also can produce reactive results to treponemal tests, but these subspecies are rare in the United States (1). A reactive treponemal test result indicates that treponemal infection has occurred at some point in the past but cannot distinguish between treated and untreated infections. As such, treponemal tests, such as the T. pallidum EIA test, TP-PA test, and FTA-ABS test, can produce reactive results for life, even after adequate treatment for syphilis.
Nontreponemal tests, such as the RPR test and venereal disease research laboratory (VDRL) test, detect antibodies to cardiolipin and are not specific for treponemal infection. Nontreponemal tests are more likely than treponemal tests to produce nonreactive results after treatment; therefore, reactive results from nontreponemal tests are more reliable indicators of untreated infection. Quantitative nontreponemal tests also are used to monitor responses to treatment or to indicate new infections. False-positive nontreponemal tests occur in 1%--2% of the U.S. population, and have been associated with multiple conditions, including pregnancy, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, intravenous drug use, tuberculosis, rickettsial infection, spirochetal infection other than syphilis, bacterial endocarditis, and disorders of immunoglobulin production (2,3). Nontreponemal test results might be falsely negative in longstanding latent infection (4). Both treponemal and nontreponemal tests can produce nonreactive results when the infection has been acquired recently; approximately 20% of test results are negative when patients have primary syphilis (4).
The four New York City laboratories in this report used various algorithms to evaluate specimens that were reactive to treponemal tests and nonreactive to nontreponemal tests. The different algorithms might lead to confusion in the interpretation of test results and, in turn, in the management and treatment of patients. Test results that would not have been identified by the traditional algorithm were obtained for 3% of the specimens tested for syphilis; thus, such results might be expected to occur several thousand times per year in New York City alone.
When results are reactive to both treponemal and RPR tests, persons should be considered to have untreated syphilis unless it is ruled out by treatment history. Persons who were treated in the past are considered to have a new syphilis infection if quantitative testing on an RPR test or another nontreponemal test reveals a four fold or greater increase in titer (health departments maintain registries of past positive tests). When results are reactive to the treponemal test but nonreactive to the RPR test, persons with a history of previous treatment will require no further management. For persons without a history of treatment, a second, different treponemal test should be performed (5). If the second treponemal test is nonreactive, the clinician may decide that no further evaluation or treatment is indicated, or may choose to perform a third treponemal test to help resolve the discrepancy.
If the second treponemal test is reactive, clinicians should discuss the possibility of infection and offer treatment to patients who have not been previously treated. Unless history or results of a physical examination suggest a recent infection, such patients are unlikely to be infectious and should be treated for late latent infections, even though they do not meet the surveillance case definition (7). Treatment can prevent severe (i.e., tertiary) complications that can result from untreated syphilis, although the probability of such complications occurring without treatment, while unknown, likely is small (6) Treatment also allows patients to report that they have been treated for syphilis if they ever receive similar results from future treponemal screening tests. Public health departments determine their own priorities for partner notification and other prevention activities; however, because late infections are unlikely to be infectious, they would likely be considered low priority for health department intervention activities.
Reversal of the traditional syphilis screening sequence has been driven by economics. For high-volume laboratories, an automated treponemal test can be less expensive than using an RPR test for the initial screening. An important consequence of this reversal is the identification of a combination of reactive and nonreactive test results that would not otherwise have been identified. The clinical interpretation of these results is complicated by the lack of standardized follow-up testing algorithms among the four laboratories, and by the lack of an evidence base with which to judge the merits of each algorithm. Consequently, use of a reversed sequence of syphilis testing might result in overdiagnosis and overtreatment of syphilis in some clinical settings.
The recommendations in this report might not be appropriate in countries with different patterns of seroreactivity, systems of health care, and epidemiology of disease. Furthermore, additional analyses are needed that further elucidate the use and total costs of these alternative screening approaches for syphilis, given the anticipated increase in use of treponemal tests for screening in the United States.
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All MMWR HTML versions of articles are electronic conversions from typeset documents. This conversion might result in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users are referred to the electronic PDF version (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr) and/or the original MMWR paper copy for printable versions of official text, figures, and tables. An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices.**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to firstname.lastname@example.org.
Date last reviewed: 8/13/2008
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Biography of JoŽl DES ROSIERS
|JoŽl DES ROSIERS||
Born on 28/10/1951 (format : day/month/year)Biography :
JoŽl Des Rosiers born†in Haiti on October 28, 1951 is a surgeon, psychiatrist, poet and writer of essays who now lives in Quebec.
He descends from one of the people who signed the act of independance of Haiti. He spent his adolescence in Canada, where his family was living in exile and went over to Strasbourg in France to study medecine and whilst there subscribed to the situationist movement in the early seventies.
As a doctor, poet and essay writer, he has travelled around the world including a long trip to the Sahel after which he published a book of poems Tribu, Savanes and an essay of theories about the Caribean.
His poetry which are often bathed in mystery and sacrifice are full of extreme suspense which have a surprising clinical or melacoholic inspiration inspiring a feeling of sensuel communion and even religious ceremony.
In 1999 he won the Vetiver Grand Prix of Montreal for litterature.
Since 1996 Joel is Vice President of Quebec writers union. He was also vice President of thye Laval literary from 1991 - 1995.†
Last update : 02/28/2011
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Immersed in German Agriculture
Although the official McCloy Fellowship has ended and we have returned to our lives back in the states, I would like to continue a few more blogs on some of the interesting topics presented to us.
The last leg of the experience brought us to Berlin, home of the DBV (German Farmer’s Association). We spent a couple days just meeting with their team as well as other organizations, including the WWF (World Wildlife Fund).
Colorado native Paul Spencer is the Agriculture Counselor for USDA FAS in Germany and is based at the U.S. Embassy. After spending several years in Japan with the same position, he transitioned to Germany just a few weeks ago.
The U.S. ships $1.7 billion to Germany. Deutschland is the biggest market for U.S. almonds.
The FAS has three main areas of involvement here:
1. Marketing – The biannual trade show Anuga is the world’s largest food show, and is located in Germany.
2. Policy – Although most policy is set in Brussels, the FAS works to resolve any trade issues at the port that might come up. The U.S. has just begun shipping corn to Germany for the first time in years.
3. Reporting – a country and EU wide report on commodities and bio-fuels is generated through the FAS office.
One of allybiggest issues currently on the table is that of GM (genetically modified). Mr. Spencer quoted a newly released survey that 19% of Germans are identifying themselves with the Green party, which is a significant increase over the past year.
Although the ultra-sensitive testing machines at the German ports might pick up a hint of unapproved corn dust in a shipment of soybeans, which recently happened, Mr. Spencer thinks it’s time to move past the genetically modified debate.
“Europe has lost the GMO debate. It’s over,” Spencer said. “Even China is working on it now.”
The German Farmer’s Association wants the debate separated into 3 areas:
1. seeding and raising of GMO (which is banned here)
2. Import of GMO feedstuffs which they are working on because a few varieties are allowed. Germany imports quite a few feedstuffs as well.
3. Labeling of meat from a GMO feed
Also, the many biogas plants we saw as part of a farm were part of a new energy policy that is not related to agriculture, which much of the development in Europe is based on incentives.
“Think about how much freedom farmers here give up to get a fair amount of support from the government,” Spencer said.
On the other side, Germany is renowned for great technology, which farmers are using to decrease labor cost, such as with robotic milkers.
Next year, the EU will begin a free market labor worker program, where anyone from an EU country can stay as long as they would like. Currently, mainly Polish workers make up the agriculture labor force. So ag leader are anxious to see if those workers look for more stable, less strenuous jobs.
Currently the Foreign Agriculture Service office in Germany has 4 employees, and the only US citizen there is Mr. Spencer. Twenty years ago the office had a staff of 20. Now, more and more staff are being moved from Europe to markets in Asia and India.
After our meeting, we were guests at the German Farmer’s Association Grummetfest. It’s a post-summer get-together for all Members of Parliament and their staff. Even Germany’s Minister of Agriculture attended.
To read more about Jeff's trip as a AFBF McCloy Fellow, visit: http://www.kfb.org/germany/
For information about the following organizations, you can log onto their websites linked below
American Council on Germany
American Farm Bureau
Kansas Farm Bureau YF&R
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Just wrote this on shark conservation:
Images courtesy Jérôme Mallefet
Published February 25, 2013
Diminutive deep-sea sharks illuminate spines on their backs like light sabers to warn potential predators that they could get a sharp mouthful, a new study suggests.
Paradoxically, the sharks seem to produce light both to hide and to be conspicuous—a first in the world of glowing sharks. (See photos of other sea creatures that glow.)
"Three years ago we showed that velvet belly lanternsharks [(Etmopterus spinax)] are using counter-illumination," said lead study author Julien Claes, a biologist from Belgium's Catholic University of Louvain, by email.
In counter-illumination, the lanternsharks, like many deep-sea animals, light up their undersides in order to disguise their silhouette when seen from below. Brighter bellies blend in with the light filtering down from the surface. (Related: "Glowing Pygmy Shark Lights Up to Fade Away.")
Fishing the 2-foot-long (60-centimeter-long) lanternsharks up from Norwegian fjords and placing them in darkened aquarium tanks, the researchers noticed that not only do the sharks' bellies glow, but they also had glowing regions on their backs.
The sharks have two rows of light-emitting cells, called photophores, on either side of a fearsome spine on the front edges of their two dorsal fins.
Study co-author Jérôme Mallefet explained how handling the sharks and encountering their aggressive behavior hinted at the role these radiant spines play.
"Sometimes they flip around and try to hit you with their spines," said Mallefet, also from Belgium's Catholic University of Louvain. "So we thought maybe they are showing their weapon in the dark depths."
To investigate this idea, the authors analyzed the structure of the lanternshark spines and found that they were more translucent than other shark spines.
This allowed the spines to transmit around 10 percent of the light from the glowing photophores, the study said.
For Predators' Eyes Only
Based on the eyesight of various deep-sea animals, the researchers estimated that the sharks' glowing spines were visible from several meters away to predators that include harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena), and blackmouth catsharks (Galeus melastomus).
"The spine-associated bioluminescence has all the characteristics to play the right role as a warning sign," said Mallefet.
"It's a magnificent way to say 'hello, here I am, but beware I have spines,'" he added.
But these luminous warning signals wouldn't impede the sharks' pursuit of their favorite prey, Mueller's bristle-mouth fish (Maurolicus muelleri), the study suggested. These fish have poorer vision than the sharks' predators and may only spot the sharks' dorsal illuminations at much closer range.
For now, it remains a mystery how the sharks create and control the lights on their backs. The glowing dorsal fins could respond to the same hormones that control the belly lights, suggested Mallefet, but other factors may also be involved.
"MacGyver" of Bioluminescence
Several other species use bioluminescence as a warning signal, including marine snails (Hinea brasiliana), glowworms (Lampyris noctiluca), and millipedes (Motyxia spp.).
Edith Widder, a marinebiologist from the Ocean Research and Conservation Association who was not involved in the current study, previously discovered a jellyfish whose bioluminescence rubs off on attackers that get too close.
"It's like paint packages in money bags at banks," she explained.
"Any animal that was foolish enough to go after it," she added "gets smeared all over with glowing particles that make it easy prey for its predators."
Widder also points out that glowing deep-sea animals often put their abilities to diverse uses. (Watch: "Why Deep-Sea Creatures Glow.")
"There are many examples of animals using bioluminescence for a whole range of different functions," she said.
Mallefet agrees, joking that these sharks are the "MacGyver of bioluminescence."
"Just give light to this shark species and it will use it in any possible way."
And while Widder doesn't discount the warning signal theory, "another possibility would be that it could be to attract a mate."
Lead author Julien Claes added by email, "I also discovered during my PhD thesis that velvet belly lanternsharks have glowing organs on their sexual parts."
And that, he admits, "makes it very easy, even for a human, to distinguish male and female of this species in the dark!"
The glowing shark study appeared online in the February 21 edition of Scientific Reports.
A new species of dinosaur-era reptile is rewriting the books on the evolution of so-called sea monsters, a new study claims.
The world's highest peak has been shedding snow and ice for the past 50 years, possibly due in part to global warming, new research shows.
Detailed scans capture transformation.
Celebrating 125 Years
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- Aston University Plies the Power of Wood
- Universidad Ceu Cardenal Herrera Takes Inspiration From Nature
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Slow net connection
Something's screwed up with my Internet connection. I have a wireless network set up, with my old computer directly connected to the router and my new one connected via a wireless connection. On the old computer the connection's still pretty good, but the new one's connection isn't rating much faster than 56k. Previously, it was much faster.
What have I done lately that might have had a negative impact? Reinstalled XP Pro and gone from an old Zoomair PCMCIA card to a new Linksys USB card. I'm guessing there's something futzed up in my Windows settings or the Linksys software settings that is throttling down my connection. Guess is the operative term here, because that really is a guess. I hope it's something like that and not just my ISP going south on me. I've got AOL Broadband, which heretofore has been very speedy.
I pinged Yahoo and got a 25% packet loss. That sucks.
Any ideas about what I should be looking at, or good websites for troubleshooting stuff like this?
Mark, ping your one computer from the other. Still have that packet loss?
I don't know how to ping the other computer. How do I know its address?
Go to a command prompt in winxp and type ipconfig.
Wow -- I pinged the old computer from the new one and got 100% packet loss. What's causing that?
Do you have an XP firewall on?
To allow your hard-wired computer to accept ping packets:
1. Start > Control Panel > Network Connections > Local Area Connection > Properties > Advanced tab
2. Uncheck the Protect my computer and network... checkbox
Here's a new app for you. Pingplotter. http://www.pingplotter.com.
Pingplotter doesnt just ping the destination computer, but all the computers in between. A traceroute ping lets you determine if a connection problem originates at your computer, somewhere within your ISP*, or someplace external to both of you.
Run identical pings to www.google.com on both computers. How do the results compare?
* Pingplotter graphs ping history over time. So if your connection really is suffering from bad packet loss, you can export the graph as a graphics file or a text file and send it to your ISP as proof.
Now that is a nice app, Roger. Thanks!
I prefer Visualroute http://www.visualroute.com - it does the stuff pingplotter does, plus extrapolates server locations based on whois data and then shows you on a map the probable geographical path your packets are taking. It's a pretty nice tool.
Originally Posted by Roger Wong
If you want to see what it more or less looks like you can give it a spin http://www.visualroute.it/vr.asp at that site - it's a java applet, it'll take a second to load, but you can enter in your ip address and have it trace back to you. The page isn't in english, shouldn't effect tool use though.
Mark, have you tried re-orienting the Linksys USB adapter? Sometimes antenna placement can make a big difference in WiFi speed. Move it as high as you can, and maybe shift it to the other side of the desk...
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On April 8, 2009, Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart finally arrived in the big leagues. After years of recovering from Tommy John surgery and working his way up through the minors, the highly touted pitching prospect earned a spot in the Angels' rotation for the 2009 season and delivered the best performance of his career. But just hours after achieving his dream, Adenhart's life was tragically cut short by an alleged drunk driver in an accident that also claimed two of his friends. In this emotional Real Sports/Sports Illustrated report, correspondent Mary Carillo looks at the heartbreaking death of the Angels pitcher and Maryland native, speaking exclusively with Nick's parents, reviewing the tragedy with the lone survivor in Adenhart's car, and talking with Angels players about the effect of his death on the team.
In the sports hotbed of Columbus, Ohio, Friday nights are traditionally all about high-school football and Saturdays are reserved for the Ohio State Buckeyes. But this year, as the Buckeyes play on, Fridays in some areas in and around Columbus have been eerily quiet: no screaming crowds, no high school bands, no cheerleaders and no football. That's because one of the largest school districts in the state recently eliminated all sports and other extracurricular activities due to a lack of funds. As students, parents and others in the community wrestle with the aftermath of this decision, correspondent Jon Frankel talks to those affected and sheds light on a growing nationwide trend of school districts slashing or completely eliminating athletic programs that were an integral part of American public education for generations.
Ashrita Furman, of Queens, NY, holds the Guinness World Record for holding the most world records. Since 1979, he's set 244 official Guinness World Records, and in April 2009 became the first person in history to hold 100 records simultaneously. His wild but incredible achievements include pushing a car 17 miles in 24 hours, walking an astonishing 80 miles with a milk bottle on his head and bouncing a basketball 339 times in just one minute. Furman has gone from self-declared childhood nerd to world-renowned conqueror of physical challenges, all in pursuit of a greater spirituality. Correspondent Bernie Goldberg sits down with the man who literally somersaulted, hopscotched and hula-hooped his way into the history books.
In 2002, Real Sports profiled Detroit Tigers broadcasting legend Ernie Harwell as he worked his 55th and final season behind the microphone in Major League Baseball. Over a career that spanned seven decades and 42 seasons calling games for the Detroit Tigers, Harwell became an integral part of the national pastime, describing some of baseball's most unforgettable moments. Now, seven years later, correspondent Frank Deford revisits the 91-year-old legend, who was recently diagnosed with inoperable cancer.
Tell us what you think about HBO GO. Sign up now to participate in the HBO GO Advisory Panel to share your opinions and for a chance to be entered into HBO sweepstakes and contests.
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The mix of soldiers, marching bands and floats that rolled through downtown Fayetteville on Saturday morning were a first-time sight for 66-year-old Jan Gojko.
"I've never seen a Veterans Day parade in my life," Gojko said.
He served in Vietnam, leaving the Army in 1969.
"I try not to focus on that," Gojko said, referring to his own service. "I focus on the folks who are serving now."
The parade was part of Heroes Homecoming II, a belated welcome home for troops from both Iraq wars organized by the Cumberland County Veterans Council.
Led off by the bagpipes of the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry, the procession passed beneath a cloudless sky. More than 1,000 people lined Hay Street, many of them waving the event guides, which unfolded into posters that read: "Thank You."
Chief Master Sgt. Eric Davis, who marched in the parade, has been in the Air Force for 29 years. He served in both Iraq conflicts but said he didn't think the celebration was just about Iraq veterans.
"It's great having the folks of Fayetteville and the surrounding communities come out and show their support for us," he said. "It's just recognizing our contributions."
Pfc. Perrin Shaw will deploy to Afghanistan for the first time in February with the 20th Engineer Battalion. He said he was "honored and proud" to march in the parade.
"It felt good to honor the people that served before us," he said, "and all the people who sacrificed their lives for this country."
After the parade, about 100 people sat on the immaculate lawns of the N.C. Veterans Park amphitheater for a ceremony to mark the holiday.
"We must remember these veterans grew up in our neighborhoods, our towns, our cities," said Col. John Aarsen, commander of the 4th Brigade, 94th Training Division and the keynote speaker.
Retired Capt. Daniel Jutson, in a World War I officer's uniform, read the famous poem written by John McCrae during that conflict.
"We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow," Jutson read, "loved and were loved, and now we lie in Flanders fields."
Gojko's father was in the Russian Army in World War II. When the soldiers were summoned home at the end of that war, Gojko's father headed instead to a Nazi SS training camp that had been converted into a relocation site for refugees. He got married and had two sons in Germany. He planned to relocate to Sweden under the Marshall Plan.
But he missed the boat because Jan and his brother had measles. Instead, they took the next ship out, which was headed to the U.S.
"I owe this country a lot," Gojko said. That led him to join the Army.
"That, to me," he said, "was more than just something to do."
New friendships were struck Saturday through the bond of shared experiences. Gojko watched the parade with Allen McNeill, a retired Marine reservist he met that morning on a low brick wall opposite the crumbling Prince Charles Hotel.
"I couldn't have picked a better day," Gojko said, "or a better companion."
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Erickson, K.A. & Wilding, P. (1993).
Evaluation of a novel point-of-care system, the i-STAT Portable
Clinical Analyzer. Clinical Chemistry, 39, 283-287.
Jacobs, E., Vadasdi, E, Sarkozi, L., & Colman, N. (1993). Analytical evaluation of i-STAT Portable Clinical Analyzer and use by nonlaboratory health-care professionals. Clinical Chemistry, 39, 1069-1074.
Rehab programs for the back focus on strengthening the abdominals. But in an item in the previous issue, we read that scores for bent-knee sit-ups and in the sit-and-reach tests did not correlate with low back pain. A recent paper by Juker et al. (1998) helps resolve this issue. They found substantial electrical activity in the psoas major muscle in all sit-up exercises, while curl-ups had minimal effect on these hip flexors. Activity in the psoas increases compressive and shear forces on the joints in the lower back, which is not good for people with bad backs. Fit individuals should be able to handle them, though.
The authors concluded that there is no single best exercise to train all the abdominal muscles. The safest exercises that maximize abdominal activation and minimize hip flexor activation are probably curl-ups, cross-curl-ups, and isometric side support.
Juker, D., McGill, S., Kropf, P., & Steffen, T. (1998). Quantitative intramuscular myoelectric activity of lumbar portions of psoas and the abdominal wall during a wide variety of tasks. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 30, 301-310.
Contributed by Duane Knudson.
UP TO WIN
Where will it end? In the 1920s, 100 kg (220 lbs) was considered enormous. By the 1960s the average football player's weight was 113 kg (250 lbs). Today many of these guys weigh around 135 kg (300 lbs). Some tip the scales at 158 kg (350 lbs), all in the interest of knocking down opponents. Ferret might eat more than his Wheaties and if it meant earning $15 million, like some of these guys. But is it worth the risk to health?
Katch and Monahan (1998) have now tracked changes in the build of offensive linemen in the National Football League in terms of their "BMI" (body mass index: weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters). From 1920 to 1996, their average BMI increased from 27 to 35. Advanced training techniques, diet, and recruitment of ever bigger individuals have probably all contributed to this increase in size.
Today these football players are muscular, not obese. But if that mass of muscle turns to fat when they retire, their high BMIs will put them in a high-risk category for many diseases. Some loss of muscles mass is inevitable when they quit the challenge of the football field. Not replacing it with fat mass will be their new challenge.
Katch, F.I. and Monahan, K.D. (1998). Changes in Body Size of Offensive Players in the National Football League: A 76 Year Review of 27,744 Players. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 30, S239 (Abstract 1359).
Contributed by Frank Katch.
COACH, NEW PLAN?
Ferret received word that Loren Seagrave is the new coach of Olympic Champion and World Record Holder for the 100 meters, Donovan Bailey. Seagrave replaces Dan Pfaff from the University of Texas at Austin. Loren was the Head Women's Track Coach at Louisiana State University, winning five NCAA team championships while Dan Pfaff was an Assistant Track Coach at the same university.
Seagrave has coached many top athletes including three of the top six American women in history over 100 meters. He is currently a speed consultant to the Atlanta Falcons and is co-author of the Speed Dynamics training system and instructional video series. He has served as consultant to Athletics Australia and the Swiss National Athletics Federation and has been editor of the sprint and hurdle events for the IAAF Level II World Coaching Education Program.
Bailey had a competitive event shortly after Seagrave took over. When asked if he planned any changes before that time, Seagrave said no, he needed to get a feel for how things are going. Are changes in store? Chile's Sebastian Keitel shocked everyone by beating Bailey on April 26 at the São Leopoldo meet in Brazil. Keitel ran 10.10 seconds to Bailey's 10.13. Bailey's 1996 world record was a 9.84 for the 100 meters.
Contributed by Mary Ann Wallace.
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Excerpts of this article are from Shawn Kennedy,
MA, RN, Editor-in-Chief for the American Journal of Nursing
At the most recent Sigma Theta Tau International (STTI) biennial meeting in Gaylord Texas, there was a seminar and discussion of the top 10 issues facing nursing, led by STTI’s publications director Renee Wilmeth. The issues were compiled from responses provided by 30 nursing leaders, and were presented in question form:
1) Is evidence-based practice (EBP) helpful or harmful? (Amazing how many interpretations there were of EBP, some of them—as I know from our EBP series—quite incorrect.)
2) What is the long-term impact of technology on nursing?
3) Can we all agree that a bachelor’s degree should be the minimum level for entry into practice? (General agreement here, despite concerns regarding the adequacy of financial support for achieving this goal.)
4) DNP vs PhD: separate but equal? (Not much discussion—I think no one wanted to really get into this.)
5) How do nurses get a seat at the policy table?
6) How do nurses cope with the growing ethical demands of practice? (This generated the most discussion, especially around whether society should provide unlimited costly care to those whose personal choices contribute to their health problems.)
7) How do we fix the workplace culture of nursing?
8) What role do nurse leaders play in the profession?
9) What are we doing about the widening workforce age gap?
10) How do we make the profession as diverse as the population for whom it cares?
What do you think? Would you agree that these are the ‘top 10’ issues? What’s missing? What’s here that shouldn’t be? We would love to hear your opinions, please share them here.
By Sam Baker - 10/31/11
The Health and Human Services Department on Monday finalized new standards to track broad factors that affect people’s health.
The standards are part of HHS’s effort to reduce healthcare disparities — differences in health status and access to healthcare that stem from social, cultural and environmental issues.
HHS devised the new standards to provide more detailed information than what it has collected previously. The department cited, for example, differing rates of diabetes between Mexican-Americans and Cuban-Americans. By tracking health data on that level, rather than using catchall terms like “Hispanic,” HHS says it will be better able to address health disparities.
The standards announced Monday also include tobacco use, obesity, education level and exposure to secondhand smoke.
“It is our job to get a better understanding of why disparities occur and how to eliminate them,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. “Improving the breadth and quality of our data collection and analysis on key areas, like race, ethnicity, sex, primary language and disability status, is critical to better understanding who we are serving.”
A study published this month in the journal Health Affairs found that private insurance companies are also doing a better job tracking health disparities. The number of health plans collecting racial and ethnic data more than doubled from 2003 to 2008, the study found.
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Eight years ago, Anne Elliot fell in love with poor but ambitious naval officer Captain Frederick Wentworth -- a choice which Anne's family was dissatisfied with. Lady Russell, friend and mentor to Anne, persuaded the younger woman to break off the match; now, on the verge of spinsterhood, Anne re-encounters Frederick Wentworth as he courts her spirited young neighbour, Louisa Musgrove. (Published posthumously.)
s, as being Sir Walter, in her apprehension, entitled to a great deal of compassion and consideration under his present difficulties.
They must retrench; that did not admit of a doubt. But she was very anxious to have it done with the least possible pain to him and Elizabeth. She drew up plans of economy, she made exact calculations, and she did what nobody else thought of doing: she consulted Anne, who never seemed considered by the others as having any interest in the question. She consulted, and in a degree was influenced by her in marking out the scheme of retrenchment which was at last submitted to Sir Walter. Every emendation of Anne's had been on the side of honesty against importance. She wanted more vigorous measures, a more complete reformation, a quicker release from debt, a much higher tone of indifference for everything but justice and equity.
"If we can persuade your father to all this," said Lady Russell, looking over her paper, "much may be done. If he will adopt these regulation
"Persuasion" and "Pride and Prejudice" (P&P) are definitely Jane Austen's best novels... however "Persuasion" is the superior novel.
While P&P is a more fun book, about landed gentry, pressure to marry etc. Persuasion is a novel about persistent love and deep feeling.
You will fall in love with Captain Wentworth, I guarantee it! :)
Jane Austen's maturity comes through in this novel. It's an excellent read and the characters are well done.
Persuasion imo is a much better, if not the best, Austen story when it comes to arguing in favour of the heroine's plight and her never-smooth struggles thru life to keep constant, if u will, to that one great love of her heart despite the then presiding fact that it would prove to be a lost endeavour.
To that end, it is only Emma that almost resembles Anne among the list of Austen female protagonists that will not admit to another lover to replace or spite their first and foremost one.
Nevertheless, Anne's great virtue does little to merit her ordinary physical appearance courtesy of Ms. Austen...
Persuasion is considered Jane Austen's most mature novel by many. Of her 6 major novels, this is my personal favorite. Ms. Austen's wit, talent for writing dialogue and developing complex, characters shines.
This novel is a story of an experience many of us have lived - one of great love lost and regretted. Anne Elliott gets a second chance at love she was once persuaded to forego.
Pay attention to the first 2 chapters. The development of the characters is fantastic.
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DatasetAdded By mariavs
This API returns the US Census Block geography ID information given a passed Latitude and Longitude.
Just about every major data set in the US Federal Government uses some form of Census geography. With this API you can retrieve the US Census Block by providing a latitude and longitude coordinate. Providing this search allows developers to build applications which foster connectivity from their individual location to the full array of federal databases based on census geography.
About National Broadband Map
The National Broadband Map (NBM) is a searchable and interactive website that allows users to view broadband availability across every neighborhood in the United States. The NBM was created by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), in collaboration with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and in partnership with 50 states, five territories and the District of Columbia. The NBM is a project of NTIA’s State Broadband Initiative. The NBM will be updated approximately every six months and was first published on February 17, 2011.
The State Broadband Initiative was created by the NTIA, to encourage economic growth by facilitating the integration of broadband and information technology into state and local economies. In addition to the NBM, the State Broadband Initiative accomplishes this goal through the State Broadband Data and Development (SBDD) Program. Through SBDD, NTIA has awarded a total of $293 million to 56 grantees, one each from the 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia, or their designees. Grantees are using this funding to support the efficient and creative use of broadband technology to better compete in the digital economy. These state-created efforts vary depending on local needs but include programs to assist small businesses and community institutions in using technology more effectively, research to investigate barriers to broadband adoption, innovative applications that increase access to government services and information, and state and local task forces to expand broadband access and adoption.
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The Committee on Maintenance of Union Membership, known as the MUM Committee, is charged with the responsibility of administering the Proportional Dues Program. This dues program is the method by which the congregational members of the Union for Reform Judaism have agreed to assess themselves in order to provide financial support to the Union and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR).
The funds raised through the system help:
To train rabbis, cantors, educators and community workers
To provide visionary leadership and direct services to congregations in order to ensure that Reform Judaism flourishes in every community, large or small, in which Reform Jews live
To develop and produce new religious education curricula, books, programs, and tools for synagogue management
The Proportional Dues Program and the delegation of the administration of the program are found in the Bylaws of the Union for Reform Judaism. As a point of general interest, there are only two committees established in the constitution of the Union -- the Executive Committee and the Committee on Maintenance of Union Membership.
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Like her mother the 35-year-old British designer, Stella McCartney is also a long-time activist for animal rights and a staunch opponent of fur in the fashion industry. She doesn't use fur or leather in her designs. Stella McCartney has joined forces with PETA for the world's first anti-fur protest. McCartney is taking her cause to the virtual space by co-hosting a virtual anti-fur protest next month in the online fantasy world known as Second Life.
This weeklong protest will begin on July 12 at 7pm on a dedicated island in the computer-generated alternative universe. The island will feature stables, a lake and picnic tables. Second Life's millions of users will also be invited for this week-long party, where they'll be able to buy Linda McCartney mini-veggie-burger stalls, listen to a 'live' DJ, and hang out with simulated animals. Guests will also be encouraged to suggest alternative tag lines such as PETA's famous tag line, 'I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur.' The best three, judged by McCartney, will win prizes, including two tickets to her fashion show in Paris in October.
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- About QRB
- Institutional (QIS)
- Music Dept.
- Kids & Teens
- Book Clubs
- Local Artists
This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family's Heartbreak (Paperback)
On Our Shelves Now
A true story, both tragic and redemptive, This Life Is in Your Hands tells of the quest to make a good life, the role of fate, and the power of forgiveness.
In the fall of 1968, Melissa Coleman's parents pack their VW truck and set out to forge a new existence on a rugged coastal homestead. Inspired by Helen and Scott Nearing, authors of the homesteading bible Living the Good Life, Eliot and Sue build their own home by hand, live off the crops they grow, and establish a happy family with Melissa and her two sisters. They also attract national media and become icons of the back-to-the-land farming movement, but the pursuit of a purer, simpler life comes at a price. In the wake of a tragic accident, idealism gives way to human frailty, and by the fall of 1978, Greenwood Farm is abandoned. The search to understand what happened is at the heart of this luminous, heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive memoir.
About the Author
As a freelance writer, Melissa Coleman has covered lifestyle, health, and travel. She lives in Freeport, Maine, with her husband and twin daughters.
Praise for This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family's Heartbreak…
“Intense readability.... haunting power.... as well as lush, vivid atmosphere that is alluring in its own right.... [A] story so nuanced that it would be a disservice to reveal what was in store. If you want to know what happened, read it for yourself.”
-Janet Maslin, New York Times
“A fascinating look at the roots of the organic movement as well as a cautionary tale about the limits of idealism and the importance of forgiveness.”
“Rendered with sublimity…. [Coleman] fluently describes the power of the natural world, familial love and heartbreak, grace after loss.”
-New York Times Book Review
“Coleman’s moving recounting never loses hope of redemption.”
-People, Lead Review "People Pick"
“The Colemans and the Nearings . . . worked hard to create an alternative economy that is still growing in rural America. This memoir is evidence of their great sacrifices.
-Los Angeles Times
“Combine the sincerity of Walden with the poignancy of The Glass Castle, add dashes of the lush prose found in The Botany of Desire, and you get This Life Is in Your Hands…. I was engaged and deeply moved by this evocative tale of Paradise found then lost.”
-Wally Lamb, The Hour I First Believed
“[This] is a rare breed of book-a memoir that justifies its own existence; that feels like it needs to exist…. Coleman shows that without the essential ingredient of heart, any family-no matter how perfect and revolutionary it seems-is in danger of experiencing real loss.”
“Lyrical and down-to-earth, wry and heartbreaking, This Life Is In Your Hands is a fascinating and powerful memoir. Melissa Coleman doesn’t just tell the story of her family’s brave experiment and private tragedy; she brings to life an important and underappreciated chapter of our recent history.”
-Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children and The Abstinence Teacher
“With beautiful lyrical prose, Coleman shows us what life in a 1970s back-to-nature farm was like, and the dear price her family paid pursuing their dream.”
-Ann Hood, author of The Red Thread and The Knitting Circle
“Her memoir is as wrenching as it is beautifully written.”
-Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Melissa Coleman’s enthralling account of ‘70s back-to-the-land living is an important cultural and emotional document: this is a story about surviving and, eventually, thriving amidst the shadows of loss.”
-Heidi Julavits, author of The Uses of Enchantment
“A dream, a family, a heartbreaking tragedy—and a book I could not put down. Melissa Coleman’s memoir of a back-to-the-land childhood is fresh, organic, and gorgeously written.”
-Peter Behrens, author of The Law of Dreams
“An absorbing read that intelligently arrays the romanticism of living off the land against the emotional challenges of moving off the grid.”
“This uncompromising memoir is tender, nonjudgmental, and heartfelt.”
“A beautifully rendered memoir about growing up in a unique environment fueled by experimental back-to-the-land living. . . . Coleman illuminates the beauty of growing up in a family culture that valued nature and freedom of expression, but also frankly exposes farming’s negative impact on her family.
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Quick guide to beer
A quick guide to beer
Beer in the UK varies considerably from most continental beers and a lot of the most common beers found in the US (though we know the States are starting to catch up with some of its micro-brews).
When you go into a pub, there are a few basic kinds of drinks you’ll find available on the pumps and here’s a quick guide to what you’re likely to find.
Real Ale or “proper” beer
Describes traditional ales, whether English, Welsh or Scottish. The Irish don’t tend to make much ale, preferring Guinness, which is Stout. Ale primarily refers to beers which are top-fermenting. The strength of ales varies and is usually dependent on how it’s made - although you won’t normally find beers in the UK as strong as Belgian beers, there are a number of producers producing stronger beers (See BrewDog, for instance - their strongest beer is somewhere around 27.5%). Strengths are typically in the range of around 3.8% to 5%, with some exceptions being around 6%. Typically, ales have a sweeter, fuller body than lagers. Other names for ale include Bitter, IPA (India Pale Ale), Mild and Best. These are the beers you usually see on the hand pumps (as opposed to taps, where it is pumped electriclaly or propelled by gas).
Most common brands are still beers like London Pride, Bombardier, Young’s and Greene King, although, there are a number of London breweries now who’s beers are proving popular with real ale drinkers as well as a lot more access to regional variations. Some of the London beers you might see include: Meantime (Greenwich), Sambrook (Battersea), Brodies (Leyton), Battersea Brewery (Battersea), Redemption (Twickenham), Camden Town (Camden) and Kernel (Tower Bridge).
Lager is the name for bottom-fermenting beers of Central European origin. They are the most commonly consumed beers in the world. This is a pale, mostly golden drink which varies in strength from fairly innocuous “cooking lager” to super-strength lagers designed to get you pissed, to continental pilsners (which also vary in strength). Common brands you’ll find in most pubs are Carling, Carlsberg Kronenbourg, Fosters, Stella, Groslch.
These are from, as the name says, Belgium. A number of pubs sell bottled versions of many popular Belgian beers now, varying from the pale to the brown to the Trappist, depending on the pub, and there are quite a few in the UK now which sell it on draft. Well, it is only across the channel, after all. These are very different to ales for the most part, and are entirely dependent on the ingredients used to make them. As for strength, that varies too, from about 4.5% all the way up to 12.5% - there’s a reason the Belgians don’t use pint glasses!
Wheat or white beer (Weißbier)
Hoegaarden is probably the most famous wheat beer available here in the UK, it's from Belgium - most wheat beers come from Germany (Weißbier - where it is traditional to put a slice of lemon in it) - and is delightfully light and refreshing, although usually stronger than average. They vary from producer to producer, and the end result can vary widely. It is naturally cloudy as it is unfiltered.
Stouts and porters are very dark beers - usually black - and of course the most famous stout is Guinness. It is produced using dark or patent malts, that have been roasted longer and includes roasted unmalted barley. There are several versions in the UK, including Oyster Stout. Porter is similar in style (in fact Guinness is a derivative of it), but tends to be a little lighter.
Always order beer first, and if you’re ordering a stout (i.e. Guinness) – ALWAYS ORDER IT FIRST. It takes longest to pour (and it should stand for a short while, before being topped up) and you’ll save everyone a lot of time by getting this right.
Another thing to remember is that you won’t get a “pitcher” of beer in most pubs in the UK, but you may be able to purchase a “jug”. Chances are, the bar staff won’t know what you’re talking about if you ask for a pitcher, either.
If you’re unsure what you’re ordering, some pubs will let you try a sample to see if you actually like this. Most notable for this are the Nicholsons (“Sup before you Tup”), Sam Smiths and Wetherspoon pubs – if in doubt, ask.
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Hidden Refugees In Gothenburg — The City Of Events
Media often portray so-called hidden refugees as individuals who spend their days hiding behind closed curtains, and this leads to false perceptions of these people living underground and outside society. A doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, explores how the hidden refugees, the non-citizens, navigate in the city environment.
‘The interviewed individuals taught me that "hiding" is rather a matter of passing unnoticed on the streets of a busy city. They talked about the public environment as a mine field that they must learn how to navigate through safely,’ says the author of the thesis Helena Holgersson. In her study she shows how hidden refugees create a life in the intersection between national regulations and the opportunities that the city has to offer.
Holgersson for example analyses maps drawn by interviewed asylum seekers and finds a distinct division between the ‘official’ Gothenburg and the city as experienced by non-citizens. One example of this is that only one person included the water off the coast of Gothenburg whereas the marine features and archipelago of Gothenburg are clearly at the centre of the official, mainstream perception of the city.
Gothenburg is a great city of events and knowledge. However, it is also a city that is becoming more and more segregated. At the same time as the city has a clear ambition to attract new inhabitants and to become a metropolitan landmark on the map of Europe, it is making efforts to restrict the inflow of asylum seekers.
Holgersson discusses the different versions of the city and in so doing points to a community that is falling apart.
‘All cities are trying to put themselves on the map. That’s how they promote themselves. Politicians want to attract events, tourists and capital to their cities. Yet there is more than one map, and they don’t want to be on all of them ““ for example, they don’t want to be on an asylum seeker’s map,’ says Holgersson.
Holgersson’s point of departure is that questions concerning how the welfare state ought to deal with the presence of non-citizens come to a head in large cities. At the same time as the city of Gothenburg is urging the Swedish government to assign asylum seekers ‘home’ communities in order to ease the pressure on large cities, it is clear that the local routines used in health care and schooling are more generous than the national regulations.
‘When individuals who have been refused asylum stay in Sweden and make a home for themselves in the city, they also change their position in society at large,’ says Holgersson.
Holgersson sheds light both on concrete aspects of the lives of non-citizens and on the spectrum of national and global factors that make up the nature of the Swedish non-citizenship.
On the Net:
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If you are a beginner to model railroading, it is essential to get the basics correct. With the wrong information or scale figures, this hobby could turn out to be an expensive one that will cause you much frustration. Those who are experienced, frequently use technical jargon that can be confusing for beginners, so if that’s you, then make sure you stop the expert and get him to explain in more simplistic terms for your benefit. Experts often don’t realize they have begun to talk technically and have simply got carried away, forgetting the confused beginner in the process.
To start with, beginners need to understand clearly that model railroading is not just about constructing a basic track and model train set to run around your Christmas tree but is in fact a fully scaled model railway. Like the real thing it should have scenery, buildings, bridges, people and other vehicles plus anything you can possibly imagine. These model train layouts are sometimes designed to simulate a real railway however most have layouts designed and created entirely from the owner’s imagination.
This hobby is one that requires both time and money, as well as an ample amount of space and it is not one that can be completed in a day. There are planning, construction and operational issues to consider as well as the possibility of expanding the original model in the future. The latter is why many experts say that model railroading is a project that never ends as you will constantly find things you want to change or improve to make it more realistic as well as implementing new techniques you may have learned. This includes the likes of digital command control or DCC, which allows you to operate several trains at the same time and make them all do different things.
You can have lights going on one, horns tooting on another and even smoke coming from the steam trains, all very exciting and fun to do. DCC has been a revolution for this hobby and has increased the enjoyment factor tenfold while removing the complications with the best control system to help you get started on this hobby. Many who have been constructing their own model train layouts for years still think of themselves as beginners. This is because there is so much to learn and their model railroads are an ongoing project that may well be endless. Some even consider that to be the best part of this fun hobby so why not give it a go yourself.
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“If you can connect with your consumer’s identity, you win. It isn’t your brand that matters. It’s how your brand is a reflection of them that matters. […] The future belongs to those marketers who can find a way to become a part of their consumer’s identity.”
- Shama Kabani, President, The Marketing Zen Group
The concept of ego really gets a bum rap. It has been tangled up in a bunch of undesirable personality traits like egocentrism and egotism, and is most often used pejoratively, as in, “Can you believe the ego on that guy?” But even the most humble among us have egos. And the best marketing in the world leverages this aspect of our human nature without exploiting it.
Asking someone to share something about you is a request. Providing someone with a way to share something about them is a gift. The brands that do the latter have put to work the power of ego capital. Ego capital is anything that we feel will help us look better in front of others. The key for brands is to create and distribute ego capital in a way that brings others back to the source (Dan Rose calls this the “viral loop”). Let’s take a look at some of the most common instruments of ego capital.
This instrument is the most powerful, but usually the most difficult to engineer. Marketers have been trying to create emotional bonds between consumers, products and brands for decades. Those that have succeeded did so only when they learned to draw the lines a bit differently. Instead of fruitlessly attempting to conjure up direct emotional connections between people and things, they realized that brands can serve consumers by helping them experience more of what they’re already emotionally connected to—things like community, success, family, love, and of course, each other.
The team that created Intel’s Museum of Me understood this from the beginning. Visitors are invited to watch their own stories told in a beautiful, retrospective experience. As the “visual archive” of their Facebook presence unfolds, they relive good times, friendships, and maybe more. Intel is present throughout without intruding, and when the short film is finished, users can share it with others effortlessly—inviting them create their own museum, continuing the loop.
Personal insights and comparisons
This instrument shows a person unique insights about them that would be difficult or impossible to obtain on their own. When these insights are positive, people will want to share them—especially if they are compared favorably with others. Klout has mastered this instrument by making each analysis of user influence individually shareable. By choosing any of the sharing options, users are presented with a pre-populated update that reflects their “performance” against each measure, complete with a link to that analysis. Many, if not most, of Klout newcomers that click on this link will want to see their own numbers, and so the user base grows.
HubSpot’s Tweet Grader operates similarly. With rankings, scores out of 100, lists of the Twitter Elite by location, and more, it dishes up plenty of ego capital to visitors and lets them tweet their personal reports to their followers. Branding and calls-to-action make it clear who users can thank for teaching them a bit more about their social presence.
Achievements, features, and status symbols
This instrument is built to leverage a simple notion—when we win, we want the world to know. Things like Top Contributor badges, reward unlocks, etc., are used to build participation chains that keep users coming back, while inviting them to celebrate their victories with their social peers.
Foursquare, most visibly, has mastered this dynamic, but their brilliant badging system is just part of the equation. People are way more inclined to share where they are when that location elevates their social status. Just having a structured, fun way to brag a little about that exclusive concert or referral-only New York cocktail club turns our physical location into ego capital. Imagine, for instance, the simple thrill of checking into the TED conference for the first time.
Urban Outfitters has taken the idea of Top Contributors in an innovative new direction by designing entire email campaigns around photographs of some of their most stylish reviewers. The emails have led to increased review submissions, fueled by the “chance to get noticed as a true brand advocate.” It’s hard to imagine any of the featured fashionistas not sharing their inclusion in these emails with their networks; it makes them look good, which makes Urban Outfitters look good, too.
Links, lists, and mentions
This instrument is built in reverse. It starts with public recognition of someone or something, but doesn’t require their participation in building ego capital. Every time bloggers link to or mention others, they are passing along ego capital in the form of public endorsement. The person or organization that is endorsed will discover the content through pingbacks or listening tools, and is very likely to share it since it reflects well on them.
Imagine you’re marketing something to realtors. If you post a list to your blog like, “The Coolest Realtors on Twitter,” you’ll have many of these cool realtors sharing your post with other cool realtors, driving qualified traffic to your site.
Be honest, use in moderation
Ego capital is not about indiscriminately lavishing everyone with praise, or urging your customers to become self-important braggarts. Small doses go a long way. When they come to you, give them something worth sharing about themselves, but something that represents them accurately and respectfully. When you reward their achievements, make sure they’ve actually earned something worth rewarding (and sharing). If designed and deployed strategically, instruments of ego capital can be potent brand builders. How are you leveraging ego capital?
Note: Urban Outfitters is a client of Bazaarvoice
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Looking for a last-minute gift for that special teacher? A gift that she/he probably doesn’t already have?
I recommend the beautiful picture book , Dream: A Tale of Wonder, Wisdom & Wishes by Susan V. Bosak. Published in 2004, this gem has received numerous awards. The book poetically explores hopes and dreamsthroughout the arc of one’s lifetime.
The story is multi-layered and can be appreciated by young children and older teens as well. Aspiring artists will appreciate the full-color illustrations by 15 top world illustrators. Each page has an inspirational quote and a hidden star for the reader to find.
The narrator not only encourages young people to dream but to to action: “You need the Believe of childhood, the Do of youth, and the Think of experience.”
As a teacher, this is just the kind of gift book I’d love to receive. It works for multi-age groups and can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. Dream was published as a part of the Legacy Project’s LifeDreams program. The website offers terrific ideas for literacy and cross-curricular activities.
I discovered Dream a few years ago when I began searching for projects to inspire kids to set goals and imagine their future. Now I use the book as part of my writing workshops and presentations. At my latest educational workshop: Raising Girls to Dream Big, a young couple showed up with their newborn daughter. I was thrilled to have these first-time parents in attendance. I congratulated them for getting an early start on raising a child with hopes and dreams.
So now I’ve adding Dreams to my list of meaningful baby gifts, as well as teacher gifts.
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More New and Used
from Private Sellers
Dressage with Mind, Body, and Soul : A 21st-Century Approach to the Science and Spirituality of Riding, Training, and Competingby Unknown
Trafalgar Square Books
A new approach to the classical methods of training dressage horsesmethods that can cause the animals undue physical and emotional distressthese powerful new techniques from world-renowned horse trainer and behaviorist Linda Tellington-Jones improve not only the dressage horse's performance but also its well-being. The guide employs the author's legendary TTouch method and features practical dressage-training information on topics such as relaxing the overly touchy horse, focusing the overly playful horse, improving balance and transitions, and solving problems with stage fright. In addition to the providing the tips and techniques needed to ensure that the horse relishes its role in the art of dressage, numerous case studies of the top horses, riders, and trainers Tellington-Jones has worked with in her career are also included.
Linda Tellington-Jones is an internationally acclaimed authority on animal behavior and training and is the author of numerous books, including Getting in TTouch with Your Cat, Getting in TTouch with Your Dog, Getting in TTouch with Your Horse, and Getting in TTouch with Your Puppy. She lives in Kona, Hawaii. Rebecca Didier is a lifelong horsewoman as well as a copywriter, an editor, a graphic designer, and a blogger. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.
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Why do we have Easter eggs at Easter?
An egg is a symbol of new life. For Christians, Easter eggs are used as a symbol the resurrection of Jesus.
Christians believe that, through his resurrection, Jesus overcame death and sin and offers people the promise of eternal life if they follow his teachings.
The symbol of the egg at Easter is explored in the Good Friday and Easter eggs video
Where is the Easter story in the Bible?
The Easter story can be read in Mark, Chapters 14 to 16, or Luke, Chapters 22 to 24, and it can be found in the gospels of Matthew and John too.
Why does the date of Easter change from year to year?
The date of Easter Sunday varies from year to year because it is based on the lunar calendar. It is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon, on or after March 21st.
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Even the most casual of television viewers have probably noticed the glut of negative ads related to the Senate race between Chris Murphy and Linda McMahon. It might seem like civility is a thing of the past, but that’s not necessarily true.
The Connecticut Mirror interviewed Susan Herbst, author of “Rude Democracy” and president of the University of Connecticut for some historical context.
While the Senate ads criticizing the character of the candidates might seem rude, they pale in comparison to one event Herbst called “rock-bottom.”
According to the Connecticut Mirror:
And as the politics of sectionalism in the 1850s drove the United States toward the Civil War, South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks viciously beat Massachusetts Sen. Charles Sumner with a cane on the Senate floor after the latter referred to Brooks' relative, Sen. Andrew Butler, as a pimp trying to introduce the whore of slavery to Kansas.
Rosa DeLuaro (D) is leading a discussion on Saturday in Hartford titled “Connecticut Women: Change You Want to See.” The talk begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Legislative Office Building.
Wayne Winsley (R) is calling for the suspension of state and federal gas taxes in order to keep fuel prices down. “Whether a person has a full-time job that they must commute to; or, a person is out of work but actively seeking a job; or, commuting to a part-time job; or, commuting to school; or, going to the grocery store to purchase food for their family – we need gasoline in the tank. That’s the reality,” Winsley said.
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Re: Dinogeorge Digest #5
> I've noticed a correlation that might be worthwhile investigating further: in
> both pterosaurs and birds, the relative size of the braincase increases at
> about the same time as the tail shortens. I suggest this is part of the
> conversion from stable flying to unstable flying, when the animal begins to
> rely less on the tail and more on its brain power to control its flight.
I would agree with the above. In fact, I thought it was a given.
> Unstable flight is possible only if the brain is an active part of the flight
> control system (so to speak).
This is only partly true. it presents a significant problem in late,
long necked pterosaurs. Of the two normal modes of the longitudinal
equations of motion, the brain could be used to control the phugoid
mode, but I would suspect signal delay (travel time) from the brain to
be a problem in controlling the short-period mode. Similarly, in Qn the
18-24 foot long path between the brain and the proximal metacarpal joint
and spoon-shaped joints between phalanges 1&2 and 2&3 (the three joints
which affect gust load alleviation) might well delay the signal long
enough to make primary control of these joints from the brain unusable
or even destabilizing. Also, it seems problematic that the pencil-lead
diameter of the cervical neural passage would allow the signal density
required for control of the short-period mode(which is controlled at
shoulder, wrist, and hips) and gust alleviation plus other bodily
functions. Perhaps (I throw this out as a conjecture rather than as a
hypothesis) the brain did optical processing required for overall flight
control and terrestrial operations, while local flight response was
provided by a combination of automatic deflections in the outer wing and
reflex signals generated at or outboard of the shoulder and biased by
optical processing from the brain.
Some of you guys out there who are into neural signal velocities, how
long would it take Qn to pass a signal approximately 24 feet from the
brain to the joint between Ph 3&4 ?
> If this is so, one might predict the existence
> of birds and pterosaurs with somewhat enlarged braincases and long tails, but
> never the smaller braincases and short tails.
I agree with this.
> It is mainly the enlargement of
> the braincase that results in the rearrangement of the cranial bones from
> typically reptilian to typically avian in birds, also enlargement of the
> orbits--which could well be part of the same flight-control-improvement
I fully agree that enlargement of the orbits and of the optical
processing area of the brain is a key part of the
> This is not some kind of untested assumption. I've yet to see a published
> scenario in which avian ornithoptering flight evolves with any facility from
> cursorial flightlessness. The physics is against it,
I think the physics is for it, but that's why they make Fords and
Chevrolets, so we can all make our own choices.
> It is not a simple modification of some quirky
> behavioral pattern; if it were, there would be hundreds of different kinds of
> flying vertebrates instead of only three.
I gotta stop. My daughters want the phone.
Good points George - even the ones I don't agree with.
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AFTER LONG YEARS AND OTHER STORIES
AFTER LONG YEARS AND OTHER STORIES
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN SOPHIE A. MILLER AND AGNES M. DUNNE
Produced by Charles Aldarondo Tiffany Vergon Tonya Allen
Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
[Illustration: "The Count then opened the door and overcome with emotion
he fell at the feet of the Countess."--From _"Royal Palace to Lowly
_SUNSHINE AND SHADOW SERIES_
AFTER LONG YEARS
TRANSLATIONS FROM THE GERMAN BY
SOPHIE A. MILLER
AGNES M. DUNNE
These ethical stories have been translated from the German with the view
of instilling into the minds of youthful readers such truths as will
help materially toward building a character that will withstand the
trials and temptations of life.
It is conceded by educators that ethics presented in the lecture form
fails of its purpose; therefore the writers have presented this subject
in the form most appealing to children--the story.
I. AFTER LONG YEARS
I. The Journey
III. Alfred Banford
IV. The Stranger
II. THE CAPTIVE
II. The Slave
III. In the Turkish Family
IV. The Lion
V. The Offer
VI. The Plans
VII. Restored to Freedom
III. THE ARTIST'S MASTERPIECE
I. The Gift
II. Under the Emperor's Bush
III. No Prophet in His Own Country
IV. The Condition
V. The Fulfilment
IV. THE VINEYARD ON THE HILLSIDE
II. The Faithful Dog
III. The Fond Foster-Parents
IV. The Errand
V. The Old Man
VI. The Legacy
VII. The Journey
V. THE DAMAGED PICTURE
I. The Artist
II. The Picture
III. The Discovery
VI. MEMORIES AWAKENED
I. The Change of Circumstances
II. The Revelation
VII. THE INHERITANCE
I. Mr. Acton and his Son
II. The Uninvited Guest
III. The Flowering Plant
IV. The Two Families
V. The Feast
VIII. HOW IT HAPPENED
I. The Wooded Island
II. Far From Home
III. The Smoke
IX. FROM ROYAL PALACE TO LOWLY HUT
I. The Suburbs
II. The Retreat
III. The Prison
IV. The Purchase
X. THE UGLY TRINKET
I. The Opened Door
II. The Test
AFTER LONG YEARS
I. THE JOURNEY.
III. ALFRED BANFORD.
IV. THE STRANGER.
[Illustration: "He halted offered his assistance to the two half-frozen
men helped them into the sleigh and hurried on with them."]
AFTER LONG YEARS
The Duchess of Banford and her two children were driving toward their
villa when owing to the roughness of the road the front wheel of
their coach was suddenly broken. Considerably frightened mother and
children quickly alighted. The approaching darkness coupled with the
loneliness of the place added to the difficulty; for the prospect of
spending the night in the woods was particularly distressing.
Just then a stable-boy chanced along and seeing the predicament said:
"Oh that wheel can be easily mended. Not far from here there lives a
wheelwright and I am sure he can repair it in a very short time." The
boy then looked about him and seeing a long pole said: "We can use
this to support the wagon as it drags along. The road is rugged and it
will take us about an hour to get there."
"Is there no shorter route?" inquired the Duchess.
"This is the only wagon road; but if you wish I will lead you along a
shorter path across the fields which will cut the distance in half."
The Duchess thanked him and asked: "Do you think that we may take this
pole? It seems to me as though some wood-cutter had left it here to prop
"Oh yes" he answered "it belongs to the wheelwright to whom I am
taking you. All the wood around here belongs to him and he will be glad
to have this pole so handy." So saying he hurried to get the pole and
helped the coachman fasten it in place. The horses then drew the
carriage slowly over the rocky road while the coachman walked
The family however followed the footpath which led between tall elms
and blooming shrubbery along the edge of a babbling brook.
The silence was broken now and then by the plaintive song of a
nightingale. The Duchess and her two children seated themselves upon the
trunk of a fallen tree and listened to the music till it ceased. A
gentle wind sighed softly through the leaves of the trees and merrily
flowed the near-by brook. As the nightingale repeated its song they all
When the song was ended the Duchess said: "I would give twenty pounds
if I had such a bird in my garden. I have heard many nightingales sing
in the city but here in the country in this wooded region and deep
stillness and at this twilight hour its song seems doubly enchanting.
Oh that I might hear it sing in the little bower near my villa."
"Hm" whispered the stable-boy who stood near her oldest son Alfred
"those twenty pounds could be easily earned."
Alfred nodded and motioned to the boy to be still for just then the
nightingale began to sing. When the song ceased the Duchess arose to
continue her way. Alfred however lagged behind with the stable-boy
with whom he was soon busily engaged in earnest talk.
"A nightingale in a cage is not what my mother wants; what she wants is
a nightingale that is at liberty to sing and nest and fly as it pleases
in our beautiful garden and to return to us in the spring from its
"I understand very well what you mean. I should not want to catch a bird
and deliver it into captivity." After questioning Alfred more closely
about the trees near his villa the boy said: "I feel sure that I can
get a nightingale and its nest for you. I know just how to go about it.
You will soon hear its song resound from all parts of your garden--
possibly not this week but surely next."
Alfred stood still for a moment and looked at the boy--clothed in a
shabby suit with his hair protruding from his torn hat. Then he asked
wonderingly "What would you do with the money?"
"Oh" said the boy and the tears stood in his eyes "twenty pounds
would help us out of our troubles. You see my father is a day-laborer.
He is not a very strong man and I was just on my way to visit him and
do what I could to help him. My foreman has given me a few days' leave
of absence. I don't earn much but it helps my father a little. I often
feel that it would be a great help to him if I could earn more. I
certainly should like nothing better than to be a wheelwright. It must
be grand to be able to take the wood that lies here in the forest and
make a beautiful carriage out of it like the one you own. I have often
talked with the wheelwright but he will not take me as an apprentice
until I have a certain amount of money. Besides I should need money to
buy tools. It would cost twenty pounds and my father and I haven't as
much as that together.
"Poor boy" thought Alfred "if what he says is true we must help him."
Then he said aloud "Bring me a written recommendation from your
schoolmaster; and if the wheelwright really wants to take you I will
give you ten pounds as soon as the nightingale sings in our garden; and I
know that the missing ten pounds will soon be forthcoming. But you must
say nothing about this to anyone until my mother's wish is gratified. I
should like to give her an unexpected pleasure."
Soon they struck the main road again and the rest of the distance was
While the wheelwright was repairing the carriage Alfred engaged him in
conversation concerning the stable-boy all of whose statements the man
corroborated. He also showed a willingness to apprentice the boy on the
The damage had now been repaired so the Duchess paid the charges
giving the stable-boy a few coins and seated herself in the carriage
with her children.
After whispering a few words to the boy to tell him how to reach the
villa Alfred joined his mother and sister and with tooting of horns
they proceeded on their journey in high spirits.
The little stable-boy Michael Warden hurried on to his sick father. It
was late and the journey would take him two hours. On his way he
stopped to buy a few delicacies for his father with the coins the
Duchess had given him. To his surprise he found on arrival that his
father was very much improved.
Before daybreak on the following morning Michael hurried to the woods
to find the nightingale's nest he knew so well. When he had last visited
it he had seen five brownish-green eggs there. But as he now peered
into it he found to his great astonishment that the young birds had
broken through their shells. With all haste he set out for the villa
several miles distant to study the situation and decide where he could
best fasten the nest. Arriving there he found a suitable place and
then hurried back to the woods.
In the course of a few days he succeeded in caging the parent birds.
Placing the nest beside them in the cage he carried it to the garden of
the Duchess. He arrived there toward evening and was hospitably
received by the gardener who had been fully acquainted with the idea.
Adjoining the villa was a large tract of land well wooded which was
beautifully laid out with garden plots pebbly shaded paths
vine-covered bowers and rustic seats. In one corner of the garden there
stood an odd little thatch-covered arbor nestling between high rocks in
the shadow of the tall trees. A brook which fell in foaming whiteness
flowed past this little nook clear as crystal and made the stillness
fascinating by its intermittent murmuring. This spot the Duchess loved
well and many hours of the day she spent here.
Scarcely a hundred feet distant there stood a willow tree closely
resembling the late home of the caged nightingales. The boy had chosen
this tree and had prepared a place for the nest on a forked branch. He
went there late one evening as the moon was shining brightly and
placed the nest securely on this tree; then he gave the parent birds
The next morning the boy returned to the spot and hid himself in the
thick shrubbery to see whether the birds would feed their young who
were loudly crying for food. In a little while the parent birds returned
and fed them.
"Now I have triumphed" said Michael; and he hurried to the villa to
carry to Alfred the welcome news that in a few days the nightingales
would be singing their song in his garden.
"Fine" said Alfred "and then the money will be yours. Stay a few days
longer and you can take it with you."
Two days later the Duchess invited her friends to a lawn-party. The sun
had risen in all its glory the sky was unclouded and the breezes were
light and refreshing. The garden with all its natural beauty afforded
a most entrancing spot for the feast which proved perfect in every
detail and was enjoyed in full measure.
After the guests had departed the Duchess said to her children "Let us
spend this delightful twilight hour here in quiet. My soul is satisfied;
for what can compare with this blessed evening hour? What comparison can
there be between the grandeur of our salon and the beauty of nature?"
Just then the nightingale broke the stillness with its ecstatic song.
The Duchess was surprised and listened intently until the song was
"I wonder how this nightingale came to my garden. The oldest residents
cannot remember ever having heard one in this region."
"Dear mother" said Alfred "you often wished that a nightingale would
lend its song and its presence to grace this beautiful spot. The same
boy who assisted us out of a difficulty recently helped me gratify your
wish. You remember dear mother that you said at that time: 'I would
give twenty pounds to have a nightingale in my garden.' That boy has
helped us please you and we have paid him half this amount out of our
savings. The boy is worthy of the money and it may be the foundation of
his future success."
"You have acted nobly" said the Duchess. "I am transported with ecstasy
at hearing the nightingale sing for the first time in my garden and
also at the love which you have shown for your mother. It moves me still
more however when I think that my children possess a heart big enough
to part with money intended for their own use and voluntarily give it
up to afford help and joy to others. I too will reward the boy
generously. I wonder what use he would make of the money."
"We could not give the money to a more worthy person" said Alfred who
then related to his mother the boy's aspirations. "Besides I have
written to his teacher and this is what he says about him: 'A greater
deed of charity you could not perform than to help Michael Warden carry
out his desire to learn a trade. He is a clever ingenious boy and
would learn quickly. I think he would like best to be a wheelwright and
I would suggest that you apprentice him with the master in our village.'
So you see mother the money would not be spent in vain."
"Very well the money shall be his."
On the following morning Alfred sent for Michael and counted out to
him the money increasing it to fifty pounds. Michael's astonishment
almost carried him off his feet and he thanked Alfred profusely for the
extra money. He hurried home to his father and laid his wealth before
him on the table. The old man stared at it in blank amazement and said:
"My boy I hope you have not stolen this money!"
"No father but a little bird in the forest helped me" and Michael
related the incident.
His father overjoyed now made all preparations for Michael's outfit.
He then conducted him to the master wheelwright paid the stipulated sum
and entered him as an apprentice. At the end of three years the boy was
as accomplished in his trade as his master.
Before starting out into the world Michael returned to the Castle of
Banford to tell of his progress and once more thank the Duchess and her
children for their kindness to him. They praised him heartily for the
strides he had made. The Duchess then gave him another gift of money for
his journey and said: "Success be yours. We must never do good by
halves; the sapling that we plant we should also water." Then with many
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Update: the Prezi itself, below, was updated in May 2013 with some more tips, examples, FAQs, and also to cover the new Prezi interface.
I’ve been meaning to do this for ages, so here we go: a complete guide to the presentation software Prezi, from what it is and why to use it right up to advanced techniques for making your presentation absolutely killer.
Works best on full-screen, as ever.
I created this for a workshop next week in the library, so I was going to launch it then – but Prezi themselves have started promoting it via their Facebook presence and on their Explore page. (You should really check out the Explore page, some of the Prezis on there are amazing!) So seeing as it’s gone global already, I’ve brought things forward.
I created a hand-out for the workshop, which features screen-grabs of the nuts-and-bolts instructions on how to use Prezi, plus this basic overview for those completely new to it:
The basic principle of Prezi is to put objects on the canvas and link them together with a ‘path’. Your presentation will then consist of Prezi moving from object to object, zooming in on them in the order you’ve chosen.
Objects can be text boxes, images, youtube videos or graphics. You can write and structure your presentation exactly as you would a PowerPoint, or you can do something completely different.
Just click on the canvas anywhere to start adding stuff.
A typical process of creating a Prezi might consist of these stages:
- Plan the structure and outline of the presentation
- Add the text, plus any images / videos etc
- Move them around and arrange them in a coherent order on the canvas
- Plot the path between them in the order you want to use
- Click ‘Show’ and watch the presentation back, then refine it if you need to
If you found this guide useful, I’ve written a bunch of others to various things like twitter, blogging platforms, netvibes and so on – they can all be accessed here.
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Welcome to the web site of The Last Straw (TLS), the international journal of strawbale and natural building since 1993. We now offer pdf and hardcopy formats.
On our web site, you will find our online ordering system for back issues and current issues, as well as a calendar of events, including workshops and training opportunities; classified listings for jobs and apprenticeships, real estate, and items you want to find or sell. And be sure to search our resource guide for people, products, publications and other sources or information. Please follow the links in the menu to the left to navigate our site. We know you will find the site interesting and informative. You can also contact TLS here.
You will find two web resource links that are supported by or are a supplement to TLS that are very useful and important. First is the official TLS blog. Selected articles are now posted online from current and back issues. We encourage you to use this resource as a forum for ongoing discussion of various topics that are covered in the journal or that you would like to learn more about.
The second resource is the International Straw Bale Registry hosted at www.SustainableSources.com. You can find a listings of straw-bale projects around the globe that have been posted to this database by owner/builders and others involved in the projects. You can list your project here to help build the largest research and information gathering/sharing database of straw-bale projects anywhere. The Registry can be found here.
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| 0.935182
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| 1.554688
| 2
|
ROCKFORD (WREX) - With so many people fighting for jobs in this struggling economy, giving yourself a "leg up" in the job search should be your goal.
Some job experts say it all starts with the application and your resume.
Kelly Haugen is the Director of Career Services at Rockford College. She recommends starting with the basics, tailoring your resume to the job you're applying for. You should also make sure you include duties in the old job that will help you in the new position you are applying for.
"It's not that you need to change your resume - your entire resume for every job you are applying for. Say you are applying for a marketing position you really want to highlight your marketing skills on that resume. Maybe the position is a customer service position, so you'll want to highlight your people skills. Think about the skills needed for each position you're applying for," said Haugen.
Haugen also says you should write with strong action verbs and keep things short and sweet. "Another important piece of information for resumes is definitely don't use the paragraph format anymore. Typically, employers spend about 30 seconds or so reviewing a resume so instead of using paragraphs use bullet points and it will allow the employer to go through your resume more quickly and more efficiently," said Haugen.
Haugen also advises you to double check your resume for misinformation and misspellings.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WREX. All Rights Reserved.
Persons with disabilities who need assistance with issues relating to the content of this station's public inspection file should contact Administrative Assistant Trista Truesdale at (815) 335-7856. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, at 888-835-5322 (TTY) or at email@example.com.
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The early loggers in Humboldt County felled trees with brute strength. In later years drag saws with gas powered engines were introduced. Drag saws were a step up in the industry, but only when they were in actual operation. Moving the heavy machinery from tree to tree required heaps of stamina. The machines had to be carried on the logger's backs like backpacks and the terrain was most always uphill or downhill.
In the early nineteen fifties, chain saws were introduced into the woods. Probably no other equipment has ever been more beneficial in the art of falling trees. When they began utilizing chainsaws, the volume of downed timber increased to where the fallers virtually worked themselves out of employment.
The men worked two men to a set and two of the most proficient fallers were Don Nolan and Dean Holt. Don is a Fortuna High graduate with the "Class of 47" and would later be owner of a trucking company. Theirs would have been a tough act to follow. The work day began on the jobsite at daybreak. They would start three saws which, I was told, would run the entire day. One saw would be used by the two to fall trees, and then each man would have a machine to buck off limbs. The machines stopped only for refueling, and the men didn't stop. Each would grab from brown bags, or "school buckets", as my daughter called them, and eat on the run.
I was employed by The Pacific Lumber Company (PL) at its Yeager Creek operation near Carlotta. My duties were recording timber harvesting and timekeeping. The camp was the last of its kind for PL and the Humboldt area. I imagine its demise was due to modern transportation. Operating the daily logging train to the Scotia mill was more costly than utilizing trucks. And, apparently more employees were residing as what might be called "off base." A few were residing in cabins at the camp. A cook house provided three meals each working day. Actually the meals were a step up from common eating. Eating was more like dining. The meals were the best. I don't have the words to describe how really really good they were.
Ed Ryan had been with PL for several years and was the office manager. It was a pleasure to hear him share stories and tales of the long ago. In the early years prior to automobiles, most of the logging industry depended on trains for transportation. Men would be paid on Fridays, then ride the rails for a weekend in Eureka. More often then not, most of them would never return after the first week. But, there would be new employees coming in. Ed would relate, "We always had three crews, one working, one coming and one going." He was continually relating, "That's how the mop flops, the way the cookie crumbles or the ball bounces." The office was also a company store. A part of it was set aside for vending work clothing. Levi's were $2.35 a pair.
Bud Oman's dog, Spike (a purebred Heinz), prowled the area and seemed to be in trouble most of the time. His purpose in life appeared to be to watch for the salmon runs up Indian Creek. The fish would die after spawning and he would roll in the rotten carcasses. He was always being threatened by Bud, for his dirty dog ways, but Spike was a slow learner, and I don't think he learned anything all the time I was present.
NEXT: Fortuna to Adak
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15,475,692 candles have been lit from 243 countries, including 13,189 candles in last 2 days.
In many different traditions lighting candles is a sacred action. It expresses more than words can express. It has to do with gratefulness. From time immemorial, people have lit candles in sacred places. Why should cyberspace not be sacred?
You may want to begin or end your day by the sacred ritual of lighting a candle on this website. Or you may want to light a birthday candle for a friend. One single guideline is all you need: Slow down and do it with full attention. From here on, you will be guided step by step.
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If your child likes robotics, how can you encourage this interest?
NASA/JPL education specialist
Former math teacher
If your child is really interested in robotics, and a lot of kids are, they see the robots on Mars and they're like, I want to do that when I grow up, totally encourage them to do that because that is a really, really super-fun career.
They do need go solid math and science background so of course encourage them to do their math and science.
When they get to middle school and high school, take computer science classes.
They'll have the opportunity to learn how to program a computer.
Starting as early as third grade, you can buy a robotics kit for your child to use at home.
They can build little robots that go forward, backward, turn left, turn right and that will come in really handy because right around 5th grade, 6th grade and middle school, all the way up into high school, there are competitions that your students can be involved in.
They can do them as a group, as a team, they're like "Okay I got my robot here, I got to make it do this, how do I make that happen?" and it's always within a certain amount of time so the kids are under pressure but it gives them something really good to strive for and it's actually developing the skills that they would use in a robotics engineering career.
For more information about careers in science and engineering:
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Existence of God: Design in the Universe
Successful Scientists Seminar
February 26-29 of this year marked the first-ever Apologetics Press Scientists Seminar. Held at the Jacksonville church of Christ, across the street from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, the seminar proved to be an unqualified success. The goal of the seminar was to show that the scientific evidence points to the presence of design in the Universe—not random chance, as evolutionary theories suggest.
The seminar kicked off with a general look at the concept of design and the Teleological Argument for the existence of God. Dr. Joe Deweese, a biochemist, presented evidence for design at the molecular level. James Spencer, a geologist, presented evidence of design in the waters of the Earth—specifically the microorganisms that cause natural attenuation. Dr. Jerry Fausz, an aerospace engineer, presented evidence pointing to design in the air. I presented evidence for design in human beings—specifically the human bio-thermal system. Dr. Branyon May, an astrophysicist, presented evidence for design in the cosmos, and Dr. Michael Houts, a nuclear engineer, wrapped up the seminar, looking at the concept of design as a whole.
The seminar was a testament to the fact that there are many qualified scientists who hold to the biblical view of Creation, because we believe that is where the scientific evidence leads. Belief in God and the Bible is not a “blind leap into the dark” without evidence. Rest assured, the Christian’s faith is based on evidence.
For more information on the A.P. scientists seminar, By Accident…or Design?, please click here, or contact our offices at 334-272-8558 to book a seminar in your area.
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Asbestos fulfilled a number of important roles in power plants for many years, thanks to its high resistance to heat, fire, electricity and corrosion. First of all, asbestos made an excellent thermal insulator of steam pipes and turbines. However, the natural mineral was also found insulating many electric conductors, including its use in yarn as a wrap for electrodes. In addition, cable and wiring in these facilities often contained asbestos, as did field-coil wrapping used on electrical machinery.
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In addition to the equipment, the facilities frequently contained asbestos insulation as well, as the risk of fire was generally high in these facilities which saw the presence of high amounts of electricity, heat or fossil fuels. These areas of asbestos use included the ceilings, walls and floors, where the material’s natural fire resistance protected workers. In addition, asbestos products could be found elsewhere, including as protective clothing for employees and fire blankets.
An article as early as 1963 warned that controls for asbestos exposure needed to be expanded beyond the manufacturing and mining industries to adequately protect all American workers. Some of the first employees to exhibit the symptoms of asbestos exposure in power plants were pipe fitters, who stripped asbestos off steam pipes, generating dangerous clouds of asbestos dust. Other workers that developed asbestos-related diseases included refinery workers, clerks, insulators and cleaners.
As asbestos sources deteriorated through physical disturbance and the strain of high temperatures, these fibers shed, collecting in employee work areas. When friable sources of asbestos detach, the tiny particles can suspend in the air for long periods of time, which poses a significant asbestos inhalation and ingestion threat. Furthermore, employees risked bringing these asbestos fibers home with them, as they can attach to clothing and hair, putting family members at risk for indirect exposure. Although secondhand asbestos exposure is less intense, scientists have discovered that any degree of asbestos exposure can cause related diseases to form.
Significant lawsuits eventually grew out of this past employee asbestos exposure. Several past sufferers of asbestos exposure filed lawsuits against former employers, claiming they were neither properly warned nor provided protective equipment during their careers. Furthermore, some of these former employees filing suit did not work directly with asbestos materials, yet underwent dangerous amounts of exposure anyway. Because of the close quarters and poor ventilation of many of these power plants, asbestos exposure was a potential threat to every employee inside, especially if no warning or protective equipment, such as respirators, was given.
Even today, significant numbers of former power plant employees come forward to file lawsuits after developing an asbestos-related disease. Thanks to such litigation, as well as Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Government pressure and regulation, asbestos use was curbed in these facilities in the late 1970s and 1980s. Around that time, asbestos materials began being removed from these facilities or encapsulated with sealant materials. In addition, new power plants were no longer built with this insulating fiber. Although a less obvious and greater long term risk to employees of these facilities than the immediate dangers present, the high number of illnesses and injuries resulting from this asbestos exposure helped purge asbestos from an industry that was once so reliant on the material.
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Libraries celebrate National Library Week 2010
Contact: Megan McFarlane
Campaign for America’s Libraries
ALA Public Information Office
For Immediate Release
April 12, 2010
CHICAGO – In today’s tough economic times, libraries are helping their communities thrive by offering a lot more than just books. More than 99 percent percent of libraries offer free public access to the Internet, while 65 percent provide job-seeking services.
The Boyd County (Ky.) Public Library, in celebration of the National Library Week theme, Communities thrive @ your library, hosted a community fair. Community groups were on hand to discuss their programs and services and sign up new members and volunteers.
The Mary Kintz Bevevino Library at Misericordia University of Dallas, Pa. also embraced the Communities thrive @ your library theme by utilizing university students to reach out and promote collaboration involving the university, library and community to better meet the needs of each. A National Library Week presentation, “Helping Our Communities Thrive,” featured Misericordia students discussing the service projects they have undertaken throughout the regional community.
The Palm Beach County (Fla.) Library Association celebrated Celebrate National Library Week with area libraries in the first-ever county-wide library treasure hunt. Public, academic, school, museum and corporate libraries provided clues, and participants searched for answers at local libraries and on library Web sites. The treasure hunter with the most correct answers at the end of the week won a Sony Reader.
This National Library Week held special significance for the Poudre River Public Library District, the 2010 Scholastic Library Publishing National Library Week Grant winner. As the winner, the library connects Communities thrive @ your library with the concept of the library as the “original renewable resource.” The theme will be promoted through a series of programs and activities centered on the concept of renewable resources.
Programs included partnering with the Friends of the Library and a local Girl Scout troop to organize a children’s book swap. In addition, the library hosted a “green” day for new parents, who learned tips ranging from using cloth diapers to buying toys made from recycled plastic. Throughout the week, the library will also give away CFL light bulbs, magnets made out of recycled library cards and recycled book bags.
Also, An Evening with Neil Gaiman, hosted by the Jessamine County (Ky.) Public Library in collaboration with the American Library Association’s (ALA) Campaign for America’s Libraries, is now available at www.atyourlibrary.org. Gaiman was the 2010 Honorary Chair of National Library Week and the 2009 Newbery Medal winner for “The Graveyard Book.”
National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the ALA and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation's libraries and librarians and to promote library use. Join us next year, April 10-16. National Library Week 2011 tools for librarians will be posted here and available through the ALA Store in October 2010.
Libraries across the country are encouraged to share their National Library Week stories on the National Library Week community in ALA Connect, the home of the ALA’s online communities. To join, visit http://connect.ala.org/node/85425.
The Campaign for America’s Libraries (
www.ala.org/@yourlibrary), ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe - use the Campaign’s @ your library® brand. The Campaign is made possible by
ALA’s Library Champions, corporations and foundations
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[The Paulings in England: Part 3 of 5]
In his lab, a five minute walk from his office at Balliol College (where he was once caught boiling an egg on his electric space heater), Linus Pauling’s research took a turn from the contents of his lectures – intermolecular forces and biological specificity – and he found himself devoting his research time to metal theory. Pauling had planned to revise the index for his newly published freshman text, General Chemistry, during his Eastman Professorship, but couldn’t seem to get metals off his mind. As he wrote in a letter to his Caltech colleague J. Holmes Sturdivant, “I thought that I would be doing work in connection with my freshman text while in England, but it has turned out that I have devoted all of my time, and presumably shall continue to do so, to work on the theory of metals and intermetallic compounds.”
He was aided in his lab by three other researchers – David Shoemaker, Hans Kuhn, and a young man from Holland, Dr. F. C. Romeyn. Pauling’s circumstances were proving to be highly productive, and in a March letter to Robert Corey, Pauling wrote of the impact that the change of setting was having in stimulating his thoughts:
I have been having wonderful success in my development of a theory of metals. I think that it has really been very much worthwhile for me to get away for this period of time, under circumstances favorable to my thinking over questions and trying to find their solution. The problem of metals has been on my mind for a number of years, and I haven’t been able to leave it alone, so it is a good thing that I have now managed to get it solved.
This new theory of metals was an extension of Pauling’s valence-bond approach to determining the structure of molecules, as initially developed in the late 1920s. Pauling was first exposed to quantum mechanics as an undergraduate at Oregon State University (then known as Oregon Agricultural College) and retained that interest as he transitioned to graduate studies and faculty employment at the California Institute of Technology.
In 1926 Pauling traveled on a Guggenheim Fellowship to study the developing field of quantum mechanics with physicists in Europe, and especially Germany. He brought these new ideas back to Caltech in the form of quantum chemistry, which he used to compute the electronic structures of molecules. This intuitive valence-bond approach was quickly judged a success and had been popular since the 1930s as a simple model for studying the electron dispersal in the bonds between molecules.
But all the while another chemist, Robert Mulliken (recipient of the 1966 Nobel Prize for Chemistry) had been steadily fostering a rival approach: the molecular orbital theory. While the Pauling family enjoyed springtime in Paris at the beginning of April, Pauling and Mulliken met head to head at a conference on Isotopic Exchange and Molecular Structure. There an entire day was devoted to the comparison of the two theories before a group of quantum chemists. Pauling had written earlier that molecular orbitals were confusing to students, but he learned at this meeting that one always has to stay one’s toes: with more mathematics under their belts, advanced chemistry students were increasingly hungry for the more quantitative approach that Mulliken’s theory offered.
Sometimes ideas come upon the great thinker at surprising times, and Pauling experienced just such a eureka moment during one of his twice-weekly Oxford lectures in February. As he wrote to Holmes Sturdivant,
I have just had a great stroke of luck. While giving my lecture on Tuesday I suddenly realized that a calculation about resonance energy of metals that I had just made and was reporting contained the key to the strange valence numbers and numbers of atomic orbitals and unused orbitals that have turned up in my theory of valency of metals.
Pauling worked out his ideas on electron theory and the structure of metals and intermetallic compounds through pages and pages of careful handwritten calculations. In looking at each manuscript now, Pauling presents a hypothesis about some aspect of metal theory and then proceeds to calculate, revise, and recalculate until the theory and the experimental x-ray diffraction data line up. For instance, on one day in March, Pauling was exploring intermetallic compounds from several different angles. He writes “I shall now treat intermetallic compounds, with my new ideas – resonance of bonds when an extra orbital is available, importance of n=1/2, 1/4 etc., concentration of bonding electrons into strong bonds (Zn-Zn, etc as compared with Na-Na) , transfer of electrons with increase in valence.” Hybrid orbitals, bond lengths, and the overall stability of structures were other items on Pauling’s research agenda.
Of course, not every idea is a winner and a few theories led Pauling down the wrong path; in one manuscript Pauling set out to, as he wrote, “consider sp hybridization – how can we set up a secular equation to give the results given by my bond-strength postulate?” In the end Pauling found that “the ratio does not come out as desired. It is evident that my assumption that the energies can be taken proportional to ‘bond strengths’ is not right.” Missteps such as these didn’t deter Pauling from pressing on with his research, for as he often said, “The way to have good ideas is to have lots of ideas, and throw away the bad ones.”
Chemistry boasts its own special language, or nomenclature, and chemists like Pauling are to thank for the terms that make chemical jargon unique. As research advances, sometimes an entire new word is needed to describe an innovative concept. While tackling the nuances of metal theory at Oxford, Pauling wrote to Sturdivant about this very problem.
By the way, I think that we should do something toward improving the nomenclature. For example, coordination number is an awkward and unwieldy expression – we need one short, precise word for this concept. Perhaps ligancy could be used. It would fit in well with ligand and the verb to ligate. We also need some general words to express the bonds between one atom and the surrounding atoms – we now use the word bond to refer both to the electron pair bond that is resonating around among alternative positions and to the fraction of an electron pair bond that is a portion to a particular position. I have also felt troubled about using the word position in this way – to mean the region between two atoms. If we do introduce any change in nomenclature, it must be very well thought out, and must not involve too great a strain on the memory, or too great a departure from the past.
New fields also call for innovations in instrument development and research programs. Pauling was in constant communication with his colleagues back home about new tools that might be constructed to aid the researchers. He admired the Cavendish’s vast x-ray crystallography laboratory and also gained new insights from reading British journals devoted to scientific instrumentation. He would frequently send word back as to how Caltech workers could improve on a complex apparatus such as the specialized cameras for x-ray diffraction of metallic crystals.
Pauling was likewise intrigued by the English system of graduate education, wherein graduate students would take class work completely during the first year and then spend practically 100% of their time on research during the other two years. Pauling was always looking to improve upon existing programs, but as appealing as the English system was, he acknowledged that in implementing it one would run the risk of not knowing whether a student was an apt researcher for their entire first year!
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I started to write this blog about advice for practitioners, the importance of learning from failure and of conducting monitoring and evaluation for that purpose. It remains a good topic, but after spending the last few days with Generations For Peace "pioneers" and "delegates,"after hearing their stories and their wisdom, what i had written seemed less important, even silly.
The representative of Generations For Peace I spoke with were from Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. Though their geographic proximity is very close, their experiences and approaches to sports and peacebuilding were nothing short of unique. In each unique story, however, threads of similarity in the smallest details began to weave a tapestry of the wider sports and peacebuilding world, demonstrating not just the universality of sport, but perhaps more importantly, a common humanity.
Their stories filled my notebook, my recorder, my mind, and my heart. From the academic side, we discuss these programs in terms of theory and extensive categorization of each interaction. I found, though, more resounding wisdom not in the notions of contact theory or physio-therapy, but rather, in the simplest and often off-handed advice of the youth leaders. For both the Lebanese and Palestinian representatives, politics and constrained and defined their lives, even "peace" is highly politicized. They recognized the politics, they demonstrated resentment or despise or hope for the political situation, and they returned to the point over and over that when they play sports, they have the opportunity to escape these politics for a moment. They can be free of the constraints that political divisions impose. They can play. And, when even peacebuilding is political, the simplicity of playing a game with others is accessible and alluring.
Pushing aside all my notions of theory and categorization, the most important observation/advice/pearl of wisdom came from each group of representatives, from every site I've visited, and from the people existing in the darkest of places. Smile. That is it. That peace starts with a smile. A smile expresses inner peace, it is infectious and, even if just for a moment, it is a light in a dark place. I am grateful to the GFP representatives that reminded me of the power of the smile, and to reiterate the GFP motto, I hope to "pass it on."
For more information on Generations For Peace visit http://www.generationsforpeace.com/
For Georgetown University's Conflict Resolution Program visit http://conflictresolution.georgetown.edu/
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Bad rap: What if TV's <I>good</I> for you?
"Watching TV is a lot like smoking. People know all the crummy side-effects and continue to do it anyway," declares one typical anti-TV rant. "Most smokers are aware that their habit can cause cancer and emphysema– most TV watchers know that their habit is mind-numbing and wasteful," goes another.
A man recently threatened to sue his cable company. Why? "I believe that the reason I smoke and drink every day and my wife is overweight is that we watched TV every day for the last four years," he claimed.
These assertions regarding the ill effects of TV seem so obviously true that few even question them. Surely, reams of academic studies over the decades have amply confirmed television's pernicious mental and moral influences.
Or have they? Is the conventional anti-TV wisdom true?
When I was a boy growing up on a dairy farm in southwest Virginia in the early 1960s, the black-and-white television that dominated our living room was a magic kaleidoscopic window onto a wider and more alluring world. It enlarged my sense of what was possible. It showed me different ways of life that didn't involve chasing after brute stupid Holsteins twice a day.
As silly as the old programs might seem, one could be inspired by images of Danny Thomas living in a high-rise apartment in Manhattan or the dolphin Flipper rescuing people in the Gulf of Mexico. Television wasn't the only thing that motivated me to flee the farm by way of the nearly completed Interstate 81, but it helped.
Our self-appointed moral guardians and cultural mandarins have largely been blind to the liberating aspects of television. Federal Communications Commission chairman Newton Minow famously declared on May 9, 1961, that television was a "vast wasteland." He invited his listeners to sit through a full day's programming, promising: "You will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience-participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western bad men, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials– many screaming, cajoling, and offending. And most of all, boredom."
Curmudgeonly cultural critic Neil Postman piled on in his 1986 book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, claiming that "a great media-metaphor shift (from typography to television) has taken place in America, with the result that the content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense."
Despite the hectoring from bureaucrats and intellectuals, the nation continued to tune in. In 1950 only nine percent of American households owned a television set. By 1961, when Minow pronounced his execrations on the boob tube, nearly 90 percent of U.S. living rooms were bathed in blue light each night. By 2001, according to the Census Bureau, 98.2 percent of American households owned at least one of the 248 million TVs in the country, for an average of 2.4 per home. American adults watch about 4.6 hours of television per day, or 1,669 hours per year.
Critics ceaselessly point out television's alleged faults. The growing girth of the nation is blamed on it as well as increased violence and higher levels of teen sexual activity– and finally, we are assured, the idiot box is generally dumbing us all down.
But we have plenty of reasons to doubt that bill of indictment against television. Children today are watching slightly less television per day than they were a decade ago, even as they continue to pork up. Violent crime rates have been falling in the United States for a decade; and rates of teen sexual activity and pregnancy have fallen dramatically since the mid-1990s. Average IQs have been soaring along with TV viewing for decades.
And it's not as though Americans have been sitting in front of their boob tubes and drooling all day for the past half-century of mass TV viewing. America's real gross domestic product has more than quintupled since 1950.
A lot of anti-TV attitudes are based in mere differences of opinion over what qualifies as a judicious use of one's free time. Critics are constantly hectoring viewers to wrench their eyes away from their flickering screens and get out and do something! Commentator Nina Buck offers a typical anti-TV screed, claiming that television "steals your life." Buck badgers couch potatoes: "Learn Italian! Take up underwater basket weaving, practice your circus act! Call your grandma, make dinner for your sweetheart, go salsa dancing, use pipe cleaners to make your hair look like Pippi Longstocking's!"
The suggestions are amusing (and I appreciate the tip on how to make my hair look like Pippi Longstocking's), but there is a solemn assumption behind them: that any activity will be less wasteful and more edifying than, for example, watching a good episode of The West Wing. It's not as though two or three generations ago people were sitting around discussing Kierkegaard and Kant with their children over the family dinner table every evening. In fact, most of them were fully engaged in the basic drudgery of earning a living or managing a household. In their scarce leisure time, they might go to a baseball game or read a penny dreadful. In a similar fashion today we might switch on the TV to watch a ball game or an episode of The Simpsons.
The New York Times recently described a new survey that reported "what many Americans know but don't always admit, especially to social scientists: that watching TV is a very enjoyable way to pass the time, and that taking care of children– bless their young hearts– is often about as much fun as housework."
All of which is not to say that watching TV does not have some bad aspects– one can always get too much of a good thing– but it's hardly the instrument of mental, cultural, and moral degradation it is so often portrayed as. So feel free to wield that remote from time to time and just relax: There are few things more liberating than doing what you want with your time.
It's not as though two or three generations ago people were sitting around discussing Kierkegaard and Kant with their children over the family dinner table every evening.
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The recently issued "OSHA Instruction" directive establishes agency enforcement policies, and provides instructions to inspectors to ensure uniform procedures, when conducting inspections in work sites with a high- to very high-occupational exposure risk to H1N1 by workers whose occupational activities involve contact with patients or contaminated material in a health care or clinical laboratory setting.
It is not a "fact sheet" or a general guidance document for employers or workers or a recommendation.
It applies throughout the Federal OSHA system and instructs State OSHA plans to either adopt identical policies and procedures as are in the OSHA Instruction or adopt policies and procedures that are as effective as those adopted by Federal OSHA in this Instruction.
The definition of health care personnel is "all persons whose occupational activities involve contact with patients or contaminated material in a health care or clinical laboratory setting" and includes personnel that may be engaged in a range of occupations that do not involve direct provision of patient care, such as dietary and housekeeping services in hospitals. Work settings further described as including inpatient/outpatient facilities, home health care settings and institutional settings. Funeral service is not specifically mentioned in this instruction, but it is also not eliminated.
Autopsies, however, are included in the instruction as an aerosol generating procedure requiring engineering controls, administrative controls and protective equipment. In addition, health care workers present during the performance of aerosol generating procedures during autopsies, such as medical examiners, are listed as having a very high exposure risk of occupational exposure to concentrations of suspected or confirmed H1N1 influenza virus. Very high exposure risks, is further defined as involving health care workers who are in close contact, such as working within six feet of suspected or confirmed patients or entering into a small enclosed air space shared with the patient as well as staff transporting suspected of confirmed H1N1 patients.
While medium -or low-exposure risk job tasks are mentioned in the instruction, the document specifically does not apply to those occupational exposures which include employers such as teachers, high-volume retail cashiers and office workers.
The instruction indicates that OSHA inspections will be conducted in work places likely to have high to very high-risk exposure to H1N1 Influenza "where workers' occupational exposure involve close contact with patients or contaminated material". This specifically includes hospitals, emergency medical centers, doctors and dental offices and clinics which "typically" will be the focus of inspection activities. If fatalities from H1N1 flu mount, in addition to autopsy suites and medical examiners facilities, there is little doubt that OSHA will include funeral homes involved in the preparation of the remains of deceased H1N1-infected individuals.
Inspections will be conducted, according to the instruction, on the basis of worker complaints, referrals, which include media referrals, or as part of a fatality or catastrophe investigation. A fatality catastrophe investigation is defined in this instruction as a "death or multiple hospitalization due to reported occupational exposure to pandemic influenza virus."
The inspector, during the course of the inspection, will review the employers' risk assessment to determine the presence of hazards which necessitate the use of personal protective equipment, consider the respiratory hazard evaluation, and request information and the exposure risk assessment.
The inspector is instructed to do an initial determination as to whether the employer has a written pandemic influenza plan, as recommended by the CDC, and verify whether the employer has considered or implemented a hierarchy of controls for worker protection involving engineering controls, administrative controls, and work practices, as well as personal protective equipment, including a respiratory protection program.
Since aerosolization is an issue, it would be essential, as an example, for an inspected funeral director to show that barrier protection is used on any potentially infected, intact remains to prevent aerosolization of air trapped in the lungs of the deceased. The employer would also have to be able to show that all required personal protective equipment is in use to guard against biologic hazards such as those covered under the OSHA Blood Borne Pathogens Standard, 1910.1030.
During an inspection, OSHA inspectors will also review the employee medical and exposure records, that are required to be maintained by the employer under 1910.1020, including any records regarding work related exposure to H1N1, influenza test results and medical evaluations. The inspectors are also required to review the employer's injury and illness records to identify any workers with recorded illness symptoms associated with exposure to patients with suspected or confirmed H1N1 influenza. The employers are specifically responsible for recording cases of H1N1 illness if there is a confirmed case, whether it is work-related, and if it involves one or more other recording criteria such as medical treatment or days away from work. Inspectors will also review the OSHA 300 log entries for confirmed cases of work related H1N1 influenza transmission.
Since funeral service is specifically exempt from maintaining these records, this portion of the OSHA instruction will not apply to funeral service in a funeral home inspection unless the funeral home has been specifically instructed, by mail, to maintain these accident and illness records.
If it is determined that there is a high- to very high-occupational risk exposure, the instruction indicates that citations and penalties could be issued to the employer under the OSHA General Duty Clause; the OSHA Standards regarding reporting occupational illnesses and injuries (which would not apply to funeral service); and Standards including 1910.132 personal protective equipment, 1910.133 eye and face protection, 1910.134 respiratory protection, 1910.141 sanitation, 1910.145 specifications for accident prevention signs and tags, and 1910.1020 access to employer exposure and medical records.
The instruction goes on to state that employers shall be cited under the Respiratory Protection Standard,1910.134, when there is a failure to conduct an initial hazard evaluation to identify potential respiratory hazards of employees who have high or very high occupational exposure risks to H1N1 influenza. If a respirator is necessary, there will be a citation under the specific standard for failure to select and provide appropriate respirators such as a NIOSH certified N95 respirator for airborne transmission of H1N1.
If respiratory protection is required, the instruction indicates that a "complete respiratory program" must be in place in accordance with 1910.134 (c) of the OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard. Employers who fail to conduct an initial annual fit test for employees required to use respirators under a respiratory protection program, because of actual or potential exposure, will also be cited. If an N95 respirator is not available, the instruction indicates that employers must provide and ensure the use of a respirator that is as least as affective as an N95 respirator to workers with high or very high occupational risk exposure covered by the instruction.
The instruction also directs inspectors to specifically review other OSHA standards commonly associated with health care employers such as the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard 1910.1030, the Sanitation Standard for surfaces potentially contaminated with H1N1 influenza virus, 1910.141, and 1910.145 which deals with specifications for accident prevention signs and tags, including warning signs be posted outside of the entrance of isolation or treatment rooms describing the necessary precautions that must be taken such as "respiratory protection must be donned before entering."
As part of the OSHA instruction, OSHA is directed to send notification letters, as part of an outreach effort, to alert employers who may have employees with high to very high occupational exposure risks to H1N1 influenza as a result of job tasks/duties performed in the workplace. Any NFDA member who receives such a letter should treat it as an indication that the members' funeral home is a potential inspection target for an OSHA or State OSHA inspection pursuant to this OSHA Instruction. The letter itself describes the hazard, encloses a fact sheet for health care workplaces classified as high or very high risk, an OSHA fact sheet dealing with respiratory infection control and CDC interim guidance infection control measures for H1N1 influenza in health care settings, which would have the effect of placing the employer on notice of the hazards in the workplace and thereby arguably eliminating a defense to a future general duty violation as well as possibly establishing some of the ground work for a willful violation of a applicable cited standard.
If you have questions about protecting your employees or yourself against H1N1 or about complying with OSHA standards, NFDA members may call NFDA's FREE OSHA Hotline, 800-633-2674, answered by experts from Stericycle. The NFDA Website also has information and links to federal Websites containing the latest news and updates surrounding the spread of H1N1.
|Events||Education||Member Benefits||About NFDA|
|NFDA Event Calendar
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David McCauley can barely move his right hand and can’t move the fingers on his left. But the Jersey City resident is moving crowds with his art and his drive to “Rise Up” above his disability.
In 2008, McCauley sustained a spinal cord injury during a diving accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. With support from his loved ones and innovative body weight support training, McCauley has been able to improve his health and find new ways to express himself.
McCauley takes photographs and has them printed on canvas before laying them on cut-up, recycled skateboards. The former Coloradan and Australian rode boards on waves, snow and streets before his injury. Some of the resulting mosaics spell short, powerful words like “hope” or “love.”
“My finger dexterity isn’t great, so it’s difficult to paint,” said McCauley. “But mosaics this is something I can do!”
Recently, McCauley received the New Jersey Hero award for his work through his foundation Rise Up to Cure Paralysis. He founded its offshoot, the Rise Up Gallery, in June so he and other disabled artists can showcase their work.
“We noticed at several fundraising events one of the most effective fundraisers were our art auctions. So I thought, ‘Why can’t we turn this into our flagship program because it’s our most successful?’ ”
At the Jersey City City Hall Rotunda Gallery, art lovers will be able to buy paintings, photography and other work by Rise Up Gallery artists.
“I think that people will just enjoy the art,” said McCauley, who hopes it will raise awareness about paralysis.
“I hope it goes to show how people can help, whether it’s not parking in a handicapped parking spot at a grocery store or going out and actually volunteering for an organization like us,” he said.
Proceeds from the event will go toward Quality of Life grants for disabled individuals, research to cure paralysis and a studio for artists with disabilities.
“We’re trying to create an adaptive art studio for other people living with disabilities,” said McCauley. “They can come and create and get their mind off their injury and just have a bright, fun creative space.”
The Rise Up Gallery exhibition will be on display through Dec. 31 at the City Hall Rotunda Gallery, 280 Grove St., Jersey City. Admission is a suggested donation of $20, which can be used toward a tax-deductible art purchase.
An opening reception will be held tomorrow from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Refreshments will be served. For more information, visit RiseUpGallery.com.
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Readings in Planning Theory, 3rd Edition
September 2011, ©2011, Wiley-Blackwell
This price is valid for United States. Change location to view local pricing and availability.
The third edition of Readings in Planning Theory features thirteen new readings that define current debates and presents the works that constitute the main focus of the field, addressing the central issues that face planners as theorists and practitioners.
- Expands the focus on international planning by including globalization and theories of development
- Includes new readings that examine themes emerging in planning theory, including a critique of the modernist roots of centralized planning, a re-emphasis on space in planning, and a discussion of the difficulty of sustainable development
- Features new case studies of planning success and failure on both sides of the Atlantic
- Addresses the range of core planning theory so as to remain the primary text in urban planning courses
- Examines the current state of planning theory and the new directions it has taken in recent years
- Draws on a wide range of authors who address planning history, arguments for and against planning, competing planning styles, planning ethics, the public interest, and considerations of race and gender
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Artist: John Franklin (flourished 1800-61)
Engraver: E. Dalziel
4 ¾ x 4 ¼ inches
Illustration for Old English Ballads (1864), p.231. This illustration forms an interesting contrast with Richard Dadd’s treatment of the same text in The Book of British Ballads (1842). Heavily influenced by Rethel and Maclise, the fey composition offered here is markedly different from the malign and troubling vision offered by Dadd. Both artists worked on The Book of British Ballads, and it is possible that they met each other. Franklin’s style, formed in the 1830s and ‘40s, did not develop and change, and the example given here, from 1864, is indistinguishable from his earlier designs.
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke
You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.
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From Connecticut, USA:
My 3 year old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 at 13 months of age. She has had Chronic Ear Infections (in the winter months) associated with colds and has been given antibiotics which have usually taken care of the infection. Several weeks ago, after having 5 infections so far this winter season, her pediatrician prescribed (along with an antibiotic) prednisilone to reduce swelling so the fluid could drain from her ears. This immediately sent her blood glucose levels soaring into the 300s! I was alarmed and called her Ped. Endo., who had me increase her NPH insulin dosage due to the fact that the prednisilone suppressed the insulin in her bloodstream. I took her off the prednisilone after 3 days because that consistent high blood glucose level was really taking its toll on my daughter, and I couldn't seem to knock it down no matter how aggressive I got with the insulin.
My first question is: Shouldn't the pediatrician or the pharmacist have been aware of the drug interaction and warned me? Another question is: Is there a list somewhere that I could obtain which states some of these potential problems?
I always tell parents to let me know of any medicines started by other doctors for any reason.
Additional comments from Dr. Quick:Also, see Your doctor advises using steroids.
Original posting 27 May 1999
Posted to Other Medications
Last Updated: Tuesday April 06, 2010 15:09:02
This Internet site provides information of a general nature and is designed for educational purposes only. If you have any concerns about your own health or the health of your child, you should always consult with a physician or other health care professional.
This site is published by Children With Diabetes, Inc, which is responsible for its contents.
© Children with Diabetes, Inc. 1995-2013. Comments and Feedback.
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by National Gardening Association Editors
There are a variety of insects that attack bean family crops. Here are some of the most common culprits.
Mexican Bean Beetle
The Mexican bean beetle is the worst bean pest. The beetles usually first appear before the beans blossom. They feed for a week and lay yellowish orange egg masses on the undersides of the leaves. The average female lays more than 400 eggs. If you see any beetles, pick them off and destroy the egg clusters right away. Beetles in advanced stages of growth can be controlled with applications of pesticides such as pyrethrum. Also, spade or till the plants into the ground as soon as the harvest is over. It will improve the soil, and the beetles won't have anything to eat, so they'll leave.
If you don't like using chemicals on your plants and still want to deter pests, you can try companion planting: marigolds, onions and garlic grown near bean plants sometimes keep the bugs away. Other gardeners buy and release Pedio wasps (Pediobius faveolatus) or spined soldier bugs, beneficial insects that parasitize bean beetle larvae.
Other Bean Pests
Another pest is the bean leaf beetle, which eats large holes in bean leaves, feeding from the underside.
The cowpea curculio is a very destructive pest in the South. It eats holes in pods, beans and southern peas.
Root-knot nematodes may also be a problem, particularly in the South and West. These very small, eel-like creatures live on the roots and damage many crops. A bad infestation of nematodes will leave your plants quite stunted.
Bean weevils may attack dry beans in storage. You can avoid the problem by heating the beans (130 to 140F) or chilling them (35° to 40° F) for half an hour and storing them in tightly covered containers.
Contact your Extension agent for advice of controlling all of these pests.
Minor Pest Problems
Other insects such as aphids, spider mites, Japanese beetles, stinkbugs, leafhoppers, lima bean pod borers and leaf miners may be problems for some gardeners in different parts of the country. Many of these pests can be controlled by spraying pesticides such as pyrethrum. For the most effective time to spray, check with your County Extension agent.
The steps for crop protection are the same with all these pests: early detection, correct identification of the pest and careful implementation of the recommended procedures for control.
Sources of Information
The best source for help and advice is the nearest Cooperative Extension Service office or county agent. Many offices publish local guides that help you identify the various pests in your region and inform you of possible controls. Remember to follow all directions carefully if you use sprays or dusts in your garden.
|Bean Diseases||Table of Contents|
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|You are here: HOME > Publications > Stories > Story|
CNS Feature Stories
Special articles and reports on timely nonproliferation issues by CNS staff.
Updated: Feb 16, 2011
A Second Sighting of Russian Tactical Nukes in Kaliningrad
Russian tactical nuclear weapons appear to have a curious propensity to surface with some regularity in Kaliningrad oblast.
Author: Nikolai Sokov
Posted: February 15, 2011
Judging by press reports, tactical nuclear weapons appear to have a curious propensity to surface with some regularity in Kaliningrad oblast, a Russian exclave squeezed between Lithuania and Poland. The Associated Press and other U.S. media organizations have recently reported Eastern European concerns about "an arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons believed to be at their doorstop in Russia's Kaliningrad exclave." Ten years ago, almost to a day, The Washington Times reported that Russia had possibly moved warheads for short-range Tochka-U (SS-23) short-range ground-launched missiles into Kaliningrad. The story caused a brief stir in the United States and NATO and then quietly died since no proof emerged. This time statements about tactical nuclear weapons in the exclave as well as in the main Russian territory close to the Baltic states came from Lithuania; the same issue was raised by several countries during the tour of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller to the region.
The SS-23s in Kaliningrad that were a concern in 2001 are still there, but recent reports add a new wrinkle: the additional presence of new Iskander ground-launched missiles with the range close to 500 km. Unlike the SS-23s, there is no evidence that these new missiles have been tested for nuclear warheads, although theoretically they could be used for that mission. Nonetheless, as before these concerns do not cite any publicly available evidence making it unclear whether they are accurate or merely reflect fears of Russia by the Baltic States and Poland that make these countries suspect the worst.
At a different time few would have paid close attention to these statements, but things are different today. Several Western European countries are seriously discussing the possibility of completely withdrawing the small arsenal of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons that still remains in Europe (estimated at 180 B-61 bombs), among them are Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, three of the five countries in which the weapons are based (the other two basing countries are Italy and Turkey). Before New START could enter into force, the Obama administration had to pledge to Congress in writing that within a year it would seek to begin talks with Moscow to address Russia's substantial preponderance in tactical nuclear weapons; Russia is estimated to have about 2000 of the weapons. At the same time, as several recent statements by high-level Russian officials indicate, Moscow has decided to temporize and will not provide a positive response to the anticipated U.S. proposal to discuss TNW. Statements about Russian tactical nuclear weapons that originate from NATO members in Eastern/Central Europe are just another piece in a complicated diplomatic and political game that will be played this year.
A closer look suggests, moreover, that suspicions about Russian tactical nuclear weapons in the vicinity of the Baltic states are probably overstated. There is no doubt that Russia is enhancing its missile capability there. The plan to deploy new Iskanders in Kaliningrad oblast was officially "sold" as a response to the George W. Bush administration's plan to deploy ten missile defense interceptors in Poland. Thus after the Obama administration announced a revision of that intention — a move clearly not anticipated by the Russians — the original plan for Iskanders had to be canceled and it was decided to deploy them in the main Russian territory in the vicinity of the Baltic states. Since the reach of these assets from the new location is smaller, the cancellation was clearly a defeat for the Russian military's plans.
There is no indication, however, that these missiles were intended to carry nuclear warheads. Instead, they fit perfectly with decade-old Russian efforts to develop a long-range conventional strike capability. Russian military leaders and experts regard a similar capability of the United States and NATO as the most serious threat to their security (and a source of envy), and there is every intention in Moscow to field an adequate response. Iskander missiles as well as a variety of other assets, such as a long-range conventional air-launched cruise missile and conventional sea-launched cruise missiles are just the more visible elements of these efforts. Giving a nuclear mission to Iskanders would simply defy the main purpose of having these missiles.
Similarly, there is no indication that SS-23s are now equipped with nuclear warheads. In fact, the 2001 rumors were reportedly based on the fact that some warheads for these missiles had been transported to Kaliningrad oblast, but even at that time it remained unclear whether these were nuclear or conventional. More recently, in 2007 the Chief of the 12th GUMO, General Vladimir Verkhovtsev, declared that nuclear warheads assigned to Ground Forces had been dismantled. This means that there should be no more nuclear warheads for the ground-launched SS-23s.
Sea-launched nuclear weapons are kept at naval bases and the probability that any are intended for the Baltic Fleet (much less for the ships based in Kaliningrad oblast) appears very low — there are simply few targets for these assets. According to statements from the leaders of the Russian Navy, these weapons are intended to balance U.S. Navy, and there are few, if any, targets for them in the Baltic Sea.
In a more general sense, tactical nuclear weapons (aside from sea launched ones as noted above) do not have a viable mission contrary to the common perception that Russian short-range nuclear assets are intended to balance NATO's conventional superiority. The Russian military believes that the key danger from U.S. and NATO military forces involves conventional strikes at long distances; short-range nuclear weapons simply are incapable of balancing that particular threat. Consequently, the role of nuclear balance is assigned to longer-range nuclear assets — strategic and intermediate range (air-and sea-launched). Given the operational Russian nuclear strategy, deployment of short-range nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad oblast, much less further to the east, simply does not make much sense.
The issue of tactical nuclear weapons is difficult and highly controversial. Their psychological significance and visibility far outweighs their political and military value, and this seems true for both East and West. No one really knows how to deal with them: negotiations are highly desirable, but since they have never been a subject of negotiations, there is no precedent. Raising the profile of these weapons, no matter how well-intentioned, can only make the task of limiting and reducing them more difficult. Even today, NATO talk about Russian TNW only serves to enhance their perceived value in the eyes of Russian policy makers and military and consequently raises the "price" for the agreement to include them into the arms control agenda. A more realistic — and cool-headed — assessment can conceivably be more conducive for early success at limiting and reducing the Russian TNW arsenal.
Iskander, a new Russian short-range missile
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Scholars have always been baffled by petroglyphs.
Long ago, these primitive renderings depicting people, animals, canoes and other objects were painstakingly carved onto rocks or old lava flows, but their exact meanings remain a mystery.
Are they the result of some sacred rituals practiced by the early Hawaiians? Were they used to record family genealogy? Were they meant to provide directions to certain places? Or could it be that petroglyphs were simply doodlings carved by bored or weary natives?
No one knows for sure. Curiously, petroglyphs aren’t mentioned in chants or myths that have been handed down through the generations, making it even more difficult for historians to piece together the petroglyph puzzle.
Petroglyphs can be found throughout Hawaii. On Lanai, ancient rock carvings may be viewed in an area near Shipwreck Beach (north of Lanai City. Depicted appears to be a hunting scene with 13 men, a horse, a dog and either a wild pig or cow. There are also many petroglyphs showing men, women and children in an assortment of poses; they’re depicted performing a number of activities, including surfing, fishing and hunting.
One petroglyph shows a man with a dog and Axis deer. It’s believed that the first wave of Polynesian settlers to Hawaii brought dogs with them. Axis deer were brought to the islands from India in the mid-1800s. Today, there are more than 8,000 Axis deer on Lanai.
Another petroglyph reserve is located in the southern part of Lanai. From Lanai City, head toward Manele Bay on Manele Bay Road, then turn left on the first dirt road. The petroglyphs are just beyond the large water tank on the slopes of the hill. Most of the petroglyphs found in this three-acre area are found on the south faces of the boulders.
Even though the exact meanings of these images may forever be a mystery lost in time, they remain important vestiges of Hawaii’s past. Always show respect for the petroglyphs and take care not to damage them.
© 1997-2011 Aloha from Hawaii
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This automated translation tool is powered by Google Translate. Although every effort is made by Google to ensure translation accuracy, errors may occur. Bat Conservation International does not guarantee or warrant the accuracy or reliability of this tool.
When the evenings get particularly thick with mosquitoes where I live, I sometimes sit out in the yard with my daughters and look up at the fading sky. Before too long, a single bat will usually flit out of the nearby trees and start flying circles around the house, scooping up bugs along the way. We can barely make out the bat’s wings as it takes its laps, a flicker of membranes. And so it was a revelation to spend some time earlier this week with two Brown University biologists, Dan Riskin and Sharon Swartz, watching slow-motion movies of bats in flight. There’s a lot going on up there.
Bats evolved about 50 million years ago from squirrel-like ancestors. They probably made their first forays into the air as gliders. Like living gliders, they used flaps of skin to increase their surface area, letting them glide further. Their hands evolved long spindly fingers that were joined by membranes. Some early bat fossils suggest that they may have shifted from gliding to alternating between gliding and bursts of fluttering. Eventually bats evolved sustained powered flight.
Bats evolved a way to take advantage of the same laws of physics birds use to fly. And many scientists who have studied bat flight in the past have basically treated bats like leathery birds. Yet there’s no reason to assume that this should be so. After all, it would not be surprising to find that the way the feathers on a bird’s wing react to air pushing against them are different from the way the stretchy membranes on a bat react. Birds don’t have wing surfaces connecting their front and back legs, like bats do. And while birds only have a couple joints in their wing skeleton, such as at the elbow and wrists, bats have lots of knuckles they could, in theory, bend selectively to alter their wing surface. Bats also have lots of sensitive hair cells on their wings that appear to track the speed and direction of the air flow, and the information they get from the hairs may help them make fine adjustments to their wings many times a second.
And when scientists like Swartz and Riskin study bats, they discover, in fact, that bats are not birds. Bats fly more slowly than birds, but they maneuver more effectively. Bats fly cheap compared to birds. A hovering bat use 60% less energy than a hovering hummingbird. These sorts of discoveries suggest that if you’d like to make an agile, efficient, and tiny flying robot (and who doesn’t?) it might be worth looking for some inspiration in bats.
The problem with looking to bats for inspiration is that scientists are only starting to figure out bat aerodynamics. What’s really challenging to figure out, however, is the difference between the aerodynamics of birds and bats. Riskin and Swartz use lots of tools to find the answer. They paint bright dots on bats and then film the animals as they fly in wind tunnels. The biologists can then use computers to create models of the bat wings and calculate the speed and direction of each dot at each instant of flight. They can spray mist into a tunnel and then film the swirls the bats leave in their wake. From this data on real bats, bat researchers can then test out simulations on computers to see if they produce the same forces and swirls of air as they see in their wind tunnels.
A close look at these movies reveals that bat flight is just too complex for simple labels, like upstroke and downstroke. The shoulder of a bat starts rotating upwards before the wrist, which move up before the fingers. The fingers on each hand don’t move in sync with each other. A joint on the left wing is often out of sync with the corresponding joint on the right wing.
Physicists like to treat wings as rigid surfaces because the math involved causes fewer headaches. But that’s a gross simplification when it comes to bats. The bones in a bat’s hands are surprisingly flexible, and the skin of the bat wing is never fully stretched out during its stroke. In fact, the region of the wing close to its body actually balloons out to double its surface area during each flight stroke. Bats probably use this ever-changing wing surface to control their lift and drag, so that they can make tight maneuvers without stalling.
Bats have clearly evolved a sophisticated flight system, but they face some awkward challenges when they’re not flying. Birds only need two limbs for flying, leaving their remaining two relatively free to land and walk around on the ground. Bats, on the other hand, make their hind legs part of their wings, and so natural selection has to strike a compromise between several different functions. And while birds can stop flying by using their feet to land on the ground, most bats have to use their feet to hang upside down.
To figure out how bats manage this feat, Riskin turned the typical biomechanics lab upside down. Scientists can measure the forces of a running animal by putting a force-sensitive plate on the floor; Riskin put his on the ceiling. In his recordings of landing bats, he’s discovered two strategies. In one species that lives in caves, the bats make an elegant backwards flip combined with an upside-down cartwheel, so that they can land with just two feet.
In a species that hangs from trees branches, the bats use a very different technique. They swoop in without a cartwheel, and bring both feet and both hands upward to grab onto the tree. And they hit the tree hard. The cave bats land with a force that’s twice their body weight; the tree bats generate forces as high as eleven times their body weight.
This discovery (published in the Journal of Experimental Biology) illustrates an important fact about bats–a bat is not a bat is not a bat. Bats live in many environments and are adapted to eating many different kinds of food, from moths to fruit to cow blood. They’ve adapted to these different ways of making a living, in part by evolving different ways of moving around. If you’re a bat flying towards a wall of rock, you don’t want to hit it too hard. But if you can grab a branch that can absorb the shock, you can skip the fancy acrobatics.
That same lesson emerges from how bats behave on the ground. With their delicate legs yoked together by their wings, you might expect that bats don’t do very well on the ground. And indeed, most species won’t win any track and field medals. When Riskin puts a typical bat on a treadmill, they stumble around. If the treadmill goes too fast they start to lose all control. It’s likely, then, that the ability to walk efficiently and to run was lost in the early evolution of bats. But millions of years later, that ability evolved once more in at least two species.
One place where bats have taken to the ground again is New Zealand. The remarkable isolation of New Zealand left it without big predators and without any mice or other ground-dwelling mammals. One species, the New Zealand short-tailed bat, has adapted to this niche. While it can still fly, it now moves around comfortably on the ground in search of bugs, nectar, fruit, and pollen.
Riskin found that New Zealand short-tailed bats walk comfortably on a treadmill, using the same pendulum-like movements that other walking mammals use to save on energy. But when other mammals have to move faster, they break into a run so that they can store extra energy in their tendons as they hit the ground. The New Zealand short-tailed bat can’t make the transition from walking to running.
But another species of bat can make that switch. A vampire bat will walk on the ground to sneak up on its victim. If its victim tries to get away, it can scramble in pursuit. Riskin found that if he put vampire bats on treadmills, they can walk like New Zealand short-tailed bats. But when he speeds up the treadmill, they suddenly switch to a bizarre form of running. Instead of pushing off with their hind legs, like a squirrel, they use their long, heavily muscled arms. It’s a mammal version of front-wheel drive versus rear-wheel drive.
The difference between the two species of ground-moving bats is not surprising when you consider where they live. Bats on New Zealand didn’t pay any cost for evoling into slow walkers, because life was pretty easy (at least before humans showed up with their rats and other assorted camp followers). But vampire bats evolved in a more competitive environment where they had to adapt to moving prey.
Once bats evolved flight, in other words, they did not stop evolving. Their movements have been changing in astonishing ways for millions of years, and will continue to change as long as bats fly, walk, or run across the Earth.
Carl Zimmer writes about science regularly for the New York Times and magazines such as Discover, where he is a contributing editor and columnist.
The original article can be viewed at the Discover Magazine Channel here.
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Presentation of Work
Law students not only have to construct arguments, they have to present them succinctly and with clarity. To this end the law school has prepared: Presentation of Work within the School of Law. It is available for reading or downloading from the link below. The document is intended only to provide guidance with regard to setting out written work. Remember that good presentation is not an end in itself: it is a means of providing greater clarity of expression.
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Space and atmosphere- human beings’ final frontier has been conquered and navigated by satellites, rovers, and probing telescopes. But it will always be mysterious and nebulous to those who crane their heads upwards towards specks in the sky. A congested nothingness. An expanse with it’s own puzzling geography.
Sharon Harper is a professor of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard, a photographer whose muse is the heavens. She documents the nighttime sky and it’s phases in her first monograph, From Above and Below; working like a scientist who found a way to marry discipline with dreaming. The photographs feel like fantasy, but the book is prefaced with detailed notes about the image, it’s location, exposure time, and capture data. Scanned pages of her hand-written process journal makes up the epilogue. Her images are glittering, abstract chimera. The pages are filled graphic, imperfect starscapes and experimental exposures of the moon. Harper’s art is a beautiful science.
She will be signing copies of From Above and Below (published by Radius Books) in New York at ICP on Friday, February 15, 6:00pm–7:30pm.
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When I first went to study with my teacher, Ajaan Fuang, he handed me a small booklet of meditation instructions and sent me up the hill behind the monastery to meditate. The booklet — written by his teacher, Ajaan Lee — began with a breath meditation technique and concluded with a section showing how the technique was used to induce the first four levels of jhana
In the following years, I saw Ajaan Fuang hand the same booklet to each of his new students, lay and ordained. Yet despite the booklet's detailed descriptions of jhana, he himself rarely mentioned the word jhana in his conversations, and never indicated to any of his students that they had reached a particular level of jhana in their practice
. When a student told him of a recurring meditative experience, he liked to discuss not what it was, but what to do with it: what to focus on, what to drop, what to change, what to maintain the same. Then he'd teach the student how to experiment with it — to make it even more stable and restful — and how to judge the results of the experiments. If his students wanted to measure their progress against the descriptions of jhana in the booklet, that was their business and none of his. He never said this in so many words, but given the way he taught, the implicit message was clear.
As were the implicit reasons for his attitude. He had told me once about his own experiences as a young meditator: "Back in those days you didn't have books explaining everything the way we do now. When I first studied with Ajaan Lee, he told me to bring my mind down. So I focused on getting it down, down, down, but the more I brought it down, the heavily and duller it got. I thought, 'This can't be right.' So I turned around and focused on bringing it up, up, up, until I found a balance and could figure out what he was talking about." This incident was one of many that taught him some important lessons: that you have to test things for yourself, to see where the instructions had to be taken literally and where they had to be taken figuratively; that you had to judge for yourself how well you were doing; and that you had to be ingenious, experimenting and taking risks to find ways to deal with problems as they arose
So as a teacher, he tried to instill in his students these qualities of self-reliance, ingenuity, and a willingness to take risks and test things for themselves
. He did that not only by talking about these qualities, but also by forcing you into situations where you'd have to develop them. Had he always been there to confirm for you that, "Yes, you've reached the third jhana," or, "No, that's only the second jhana," he would have short-circuited the qualities he was trying to instill
. He, rather than your own powers of observation, would have been the authority on what was going on in your mind; and you would have been absolved of any responsibility for correctly evaluating what you had experienced. At the same time, he would have been feeding your childish desire to please or impress him, and undermining your ability to deal with the task at hand, which was how to develop your own powers of sensitivity to put an end to suffering and stress. As he once told me, "If I have to explain everything, you'll get used to having things handed to you on a platter. And then what will you do when problems come up in your meditation and you don't have any experience in figuring things out on your own?
So, studying with him, I had to learn to take risks in the midst of uncertainties. If something interesting came up in the practice, I'd have to stick with it, observing it over time, before reaching any conclusions about it. Even then, I learned, the labels I applied to my experiences couldn't be chiseled in rock. They had to be more like post-it notes: convenient markers for my own reference that I might have to peel off and stick elsewhere as I became more familiar with the territory of my mind. This proved to be a valuable lesson that applied to all areas of my practice.
Still, Ajaan Fuang didn't leave me to reinvent the dharma wheel totally on my own....http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... mbers.html
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I love this!
Eleanor Roosevelt said"Do one thing every day that scares you."
I don't know about the every day thing, but taking risks takes practice, and if we keep doing the same things we already know, in the same way, our willingness to dare to be different atrophies. ... Most of us don't want to be labeled "risk averse". We don't want to take stupid risks, but we don't want to be all Who Moved My Blackberry either. So consider this my quarterly reminder (to myself, more than anyone else) to--as Eleanor Roosevelt also said:
You must do the things you think you cannot do.
This is part of keeping life exciting and staying young! Kids are always doing something scary and new! It is adults that lose the desire to try new things and do new things! That is why I so love the Internet and the blogosphere. Although I live in my small town of 5,000 I am exposed to the best in thought!
I can listen to podcasts to teach me new things. Last week, I learned how to make multi page posters in Excel. I've used it three times in the last week, it is really cool! After I got past the, "Why would I do that?" and "It is so stupid to want to do that!" I got to "Wow! I can really use this!"
When we do things that are scary we can better relate to our students. It is scary to get out of our comfort zone. But we are grateful to those who guide us into new territories that we need to explore.
Teachers must continue to learn. Learning can be scary. So, get out there and learn something scary.
Here are some options guaranteed to get you out of your comfort zone:
Take the new Web 2.0 book that I recommended earlier and try something in the book.
Find a podcast and start listening:
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Our fair city is filled with traditions and places where we all go to find the comforts of life that we crave. Almost all those traditions and places have their roots right here in Murfreesboro. But what about a tradition that has its roots half way around the world?
The Far East Café is just such a place—a long-standing ‘Boro tradition and arguably the oldest oriental restaurant in Murfreesboro. (I say “arguably” because BoBo Chinese Restaurant and Far East opened at about the same time.)
Far East Café owners Chan and Vanida Plaengnam started Far East as a market specializing in oriental groceries. The location at 1529 East Main Street had been a bicycle shop, just a couple blocks down from the main entrance to MTSU and convenient to the old hospital, which provided steady business. (Although Middle Tennessee Medical Center has recently moved, they still choose Far East for catering.)
In the back of the market, Chan and Vanida set up a few card tables where they served food made from Vanida’s recipes. Some of these were family recipes from back home in Thailand and others were newer ones shared amongst family and friends.
After a while, more customers were coming for Vanida’s cooking than the market, so Far East Café was born and it has been a staple of Murfreesboro ever since.
Far East has become such a regular part of the community that they are now serving third-generation customers. Many past residents that return to visit Murfreesboro always include a trip to Far East. Mariya Plaengnam, daughter of Chan and Vanida, related the story of one lady who drove all the way from Michigan just to fill her daughter’s birthday request of a meal from Far East.
“The lady drove all the way down here and took the food home in Tupperware,” Mariya said. She also told me of a pregnant lady who had such a craving for Far East’s sweet tea, she left her husband at home because he was taking too long to get ready. “She downed the first glass while standing in line,” she said. Never get between a pregnant woman and her cravings.
According to Vanida, the reason for such customer loyalty is the food. Far East makes everything on the menu from scratch and only uses fresh products, never frozen. All the sauces are made from scratch and all the dishes are made from hand-selected meat and vegetables.
A few years ago, customers started asking for General Tso’s chicken. Having never tried this, Chan went out and sampled it and decided he could do it better. He made up his own recipe for it and served it to friends and family at Mariya’s MTSU graduation party. It has become their best seller on the lunch buffet.
Far East’s lunch buffet is unique. It’s not a serve-yourself all-you-can-eat buffet. Instead, it is piled high on your plate by a member of the Far East family. Take it from someone who eats there regularly, it’s enough that only the customer with the heartiest appetite will go home empty-handed. All menu items are available all day. During the day, you can choose the buffet or order off the menu.
Chan and Vanida met in California and moved to Murfreesboro so Chan could finish his master’s degree at MTSU. Both agreed that this was the place to set down roots and start a family. Much like the customers they serve, the Plaengnam family has deep ties to this community. All the employees at Far East are family or family friends and it shows in the customer service, from the smiling faces serving the buffet to the deliveries that service most all of Murfreesboro. The restaurant also offers a discount to MTSU students who have a student ID and offers catering services.
I like spicy foods and I personally suggest the Spicy Beef and those wonderful noodles that you can order with it. But that’s just me. It’s best to try them all and decide for yourself. If you venture into Far East on any given day around lunchtime, there’s a good chance you’ll see me there, or the masses of other ‘Boroites who Chan seems to know on a first-name basis.
Being a soul who likes his comfort foods, I’ll be sitting at one of the tables in the back so I can view the world as it marches its way through the quickly moving lunch line. I’ll be enjoying my Spicy Beef, Cashew Chicken, noodles and that famous sweet tea. If you see me, smile and wave, I’ll do the same.
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ArtWorks installed their third Queen City Art Rack (artistic bike rack/sculpture) last week at 5th and Elm in front of the convention center. The sculpture was designed by local artist Edward Casagrande, and resembles three bicycles holding up a sail.
Cincinnati’s first Art Rack was installed last year, in front of Coffee Emporium in OTR. I like the homage to Cincinnati (the rack features local landmarks), but personally I think it can be a bit challenging to use with a U-lock if anyone who showed up prior to you is parked in the center of the rack. But I’m sure it functions fine for those with cable locks.
|Cincinnati's first Art Rack, at Coffee Emporium in OTR|
The new rack seems to be very functional; its shape clearly dictates where you’re expected to park, and there are several holes located at varying heights. I was able to find several different ways of locking Veronica’s mixte frame, even with a mini U-lock.
There’s no signage identifying the sculpture as a bike rack, but hopefully something will be installed soon. I don’t think it’s really evident on its own that it is a bike rack, and some cyclists might be wary of locking to something that looks like public art.
I think that artistic racks can really raise awareness about bicycling for transportation, but only if they’re functional enough to actually be used by cyclists. What do you think?
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Creating panoramas with software that does the entire trick by itself can be fun. But, what’s even more fun is creating that panorama manually, shot by shot in a new and, to an extent, crazy way. It’s called Panography, and it can take you to a whole new level of photographic creativity. Panography consists of the creation of a photo collage of many shots of the same place in order to obtain a panoramic view of the scenery. It differs from classic panoramas by the fact that it doesn’t follow a strict way in taking the shots and the actual stitching of the different photos is done by the photographer, one photo at a time. The stitching is done in an editing software, like Photoshop, thorough the use of multiple layers of different opacities, which gives the photo a special effect.
So, there are two major steps in the creation of any panograph: the shooting stage and the editing stage. This article will provide you with the necessary knowledge to succeed throughout the whole process.
Stage1: The shoot
While the rules for shooting panographs aren’t as strict as those concerning classic panoramas, there are still some guidelines and tips you should follow in order to make sure you go back home with usable shots. The first thing to consider is your subject. While you can shoot anything, you will get a better final result if you choose the scenery you are going to cover properly. Your panograph will most probably cover a huge surface. So, it’s a good idea to find scenery with an imposing element such as a historic monument, a huge building, an interesting architecture. One thing to keep in mind, the bigger the better! Also, when choosing your subject, pay close attention to the light, and try to shoot it under the best conditions. Beautiful light will provide you with breathtaking images no matter the photographic technique you are using. Don’t concentrate on the technique and forget the essential elements of photography: light and subject.
Setting the camera:
Once you found the scenery you want to shoot, it’s time to adjust your camera settings according to the kind of photos you will be making. First, set your camera to record the photos as medium sized JPGs. You don’t need big files, as you will be resizing the photos anyway, in post processing. You can leave your camera on automatic, which will give you different exposures from shot to shot, an effect sought by many Photographers making panographs. But, I prefer having a constant exposure throughout the scenery, so I set my shutter speed and aperture manually. So , after taking some test shots to determine the proper setting , I set the camera on a shutter speed fast enough for handholding the camera and an aperture small enough (F/8 or F/11) to have a large depth of field. When focusing, it’s better to use manual focusing, choose your focus zone and keep it for all your shots.
In order to be able to stitch the photos properly, you must use one focal length for all the photos. I shot most of my panographs by setting my 18-55mm kit lens on its 55mm end, which provided me with great results.
Taking the photos:
Once everything is in place, you need to start shooting. You don’t need a tripod for this kind of technique, although it can be useful in certain situations where the light is dim. Just stay at one spot all the time and move your camera horizontally through your upper body movement and vertically through your head. Take as many photos as possible. It will give you more variety to choose from afterwards. Also, don’t just shoot in a conventional manner (vertical or horizontal). Take some shots tilted to the left or to the right. Go crazy in all direction and don’t forget to cover every spot of the scenery you are shooting. Although the composition of each shot is not that relevant for the final result, it’s always better to try to imagine what you want to achieve and to try to capture the photos in a way that would help achieve your goal. For example, you can follow the movement of a passenger or a vehicle through different frames which will give an interesting effect in your final image. It will be as if you captured the notion of time.
Back home, you will find yourself with a quite a big number of images which need to be sorted, selected and stitched together. You need a software such as Photoshop to finish your panograph.
First you need to resize your images for easier and quicker manipulation. A size of 800px at the longest side should be fine. You can use the batch resizing option in Photoshop ( a tutorial explaining how to do it) or you can use another software for resizing a big number of photos at once.
After resizing your images, you need to create a new canvas, big enough to contain all your shots. In my case, I created a canvas with a width of 5000px.
After preparing your canvas begin by adding your first photo to it. This will be your reference photo, the one which will help you place and locate the other photos. So, choose a shot with clear details, to facilitate the task of finding where to place the following shots.
After that, begin by dragging one photo at a time to your canvas. Set the opacity to around 50% , hit (Ctrl+ T) which will set the layer on free transform, and then flip , and drag your layer until it takes its place in the composition. Repeat this process with the rest of the shots and your panograph will begin to take shape
You need to make your selection while adding the photos to the canvas. You don’t have to include every shot you took in the panograph, as some shots cover approximately the same surface and others won’t just fit. So, you will have to decide which photo to keep and which one to discard after trying it on the canvas. After quite some time (2.5 hours and 57 photos in my case) you will get your final result.
The editing doesn’t stop here. Now you need to do basic photography editing, to add some sharpness to the photo and to adjust contrast and colors.
First, you need to flatten the image in order to be able to work on all layers at once (Layer> Flatten Image). After that, go to (Image> Adjustments> Curves) and give your image an “S” shaped curve to add a nice contrast to it.
Next, you can add some sharpness, since it will be lacking it, because of the use of multiple layers at low opacities. For this, duplicate your background layer and set the blending mode on overlay. Go to (Filter> Other> High pass) and set a radius of about 2 pixels. You will see the result immediately and your image will look sharper.
That’s it, now all you have to do is to save your image and to be proud of yourself!
Here are some great examples of Panography:
Gary Adam Nisbet
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Unnatural Acts: Harvard's persecution of gay students in 1920
A new play portrays the Ivy League school's expulsion of a group of gay students over 90 years ago.
Story from The Takeaway. For more, listen to the audio above.
In 2002, in a search for a story to fulfill a homework assignment, Harvard student Amit Paley stumbled upon a reference to "secret court files, 1920" in the institution's archives. Paley initially found that the school was unwilling to give him access to the files, but after finding a clause in the school's bylaws that granted him a hearing, he was given a significantly redacted version of their contents. The files turned out to reveal the institution's investigation of 38 men for "deviant behavior" and "homosexualism."
After six months of restoring the file's contents with a team of reporters, Paley learned that in 1920, an investigation was initiated after the suicide of sophomore Cyril Wilcox and the subsequent discovery of letters referencing a gay lifestyle among Wilcox' friends. The school found 14 men guilty of "homosexualism," nine of whom were students, one was an alumnus, and four were not affiliated with the university. Those that were students were expelled, and all were told to leave the city of Cambridge and were blacklisted.
"Unnatural Acts: Harvard's Secret Court" is based on the story Paley uncovered, and was conceived and directed by Tony Speciale. The play, which he says is about "youth and vibrancy and survival," is being performed in New York at Classic Stage Company (CSC). According Speciale, the story fits CSC artistic director, Brian Kulick's definition of a classic story, a story that "refuses to stay still -- it has to be told -- and I think […] the five suicides last fall came up, and this story will repeat itself probably a hundred years from now."
Speciale hopes that people in positions of power like leaders of institutions, organizations, and religious groups, see the play and gain a better understanding of marginalized groups. Speciale says, "Everyone can relate to being an outsider at some point, and having a secret, and having that secret be turned inside out and made public."
"The Takeaway" is a national morning news program, delivering the news and analysis you need to catch up, start your day, and prepare for what's ahead. The show is a co-production of WNYC and PRI, in editorial collaboration with the BBC, The New York Times Radio, and WGBH.
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Date: February 25 2013
New National Children's Commissioner Megan Mitchell has faced big questions from the smallest voices even before starting her role.
Meeting some of the primary school students who helped choose her for the job, Ms Mitchell was quizzed about what she hoped to achieve and why she had wanted the position.
But the first question was one close to the hearts of the nation's schoolkids: Would she get to choose if they got less homework?
Ms Mitchell told the students at Kingsford Smith School in Canberra that was an example of where children should start up a discussion and see if they could change things.
"Often adults make decisions about children without actually listening to them," she said.
"I think that's a big mistake, and it's one of the things I want to change."
The national commissioner will promote discussion about issues affecting children, conduct research and consult directly with children in examining commonwealth legislation.
The role will have a strong focus on vulnerable children.
Ms Mitchell is currently the NSW Commissioner for Children and Young People.
She takes up the national role, within the Australian Human Rights Commission, on March 25 for five years.
The commissioner said a voice for children at a national level had been missing and it was an honour to fill that gap.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard told the Years 5 and 6 students it was the responsibility of adults to create a good Australia for them.
"We've been thinking about what's a way of ensuring that the voices of children are heard as government goes about making decisions," she said.
"We want to make sure that young people are safe, that they're healthy, that they get a great opportunity for education, that they get to feel included as an Australian."
Families Australia said Ms Mitchell's appointment was a major step forward in promoting children's wellbeing and safety.
About 40 children at Kingsford Smith were consulted about what sort of children's commissioner they would like during the selection process.
This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or mirroring is prohibited.
[ SMH | Text-only index]
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Srila Prabhupada, Morning Walk Conversation, May 2, 1973, Los Angeles — And so far economic question is concerned, the birds, beasts, animals, they have no economic concern. Why you have got? You are less than bird and beast, you have created this economic problem. Harer nama harer nama [Adi 17.21].
Where is the economic question? The small birds, tiny birds, they are solving their economic question, coming (makes sound:), “bup, bup,” finished. They are not stocking, they are not thinking of tomorrow, but are satisfied.
They have got eating, sufficient eating, sufficient sex, sufficient intelligence to defend. As soon as we go, immediately they fly away. That is defense. They know how to defend them. They immediately understand, “They are human beings, stronger. They may do some harm. Let us fly away.”
So these things are everywhere, eating, sleeping, mating and defending. There is no scarcity. Only scarcity is Krishna consciousness. That we have to preach. Theology… Logy means science, is it not?
Svarupa Damodara: Yes.
Prabhupada: Everything, logy means science. So theology is also science. Why they reject theology, “Yes, you are talking…”. What kind of scientist you are? It is a “logy,” it is a science. Why you are giving preference to one “logy” to another?
What kind of scientist you are? Even though I am talking of theology, why should you reject it? In Vedic knowledge, “logy” is the basic… Nyaya-prasthana, sruti-prasthana, smrti-prasthana. These are the three ways of understanding the Absolute Truth.
Svarupa Damodara: Logic and argument?
Prabhupada: Yes. Nyaya-prasthana. Just like Vedanta-sutra, it is logic and argument to approach the Absolute Truth. Athato brahma jijnasa: “Now it is the time for inquiring about Brahman.” This is logic.
Because other animals, they cannot inquire about the Absolute Truth, but human being can, therefore the first proposition is, atha atah, “Now because you have got human form of life, therefore you should now inquire about the Absolute Truth.” This is the beginning.
It is logic. And actually we feel, “Who has created the ocean? Who has created the stars? How it is floating? Whether there are human beings?” So many questions. That should be solved now. And actually they are doing, the scientists.
Scientists means they are also trying to solve so many problems. So that is, human being can be scientist. Not a dog can be scientist. So why not become the supreme scientist to know the Absolute Truth. That is Vedanta-sutra. Athato brahma jijnasa.
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If online posts are tagged #NSFW — not safe for work — they’re probably not appropriate for your kids. Over the past week, Twitter’s popular new video-making app Vine became stocked with porn.
Twitter has apologized for the pornographic clip that was included as an editor’s pick on the app’s homepage stream, and it has removed the X-rated clip. It has also removed many of the hashtags to make the posts unsearchable.
However, chances are the videos made the round of school lunchrooms before Twitter could clean up the service. But at Twitter and its video service Vine, that meant adding a warning to say a post may contain possibly sensitive material, along with removing some hashtags. Twitter does not prohibit pornography as long as it’s not used as a profile photo, a header image or background image, or violates U.S. law such as photos that involve children.
“Parents just don’t have the opportunity to react. These things can happen in the blink of an eye,” said Joel Holl, CEO of MMGuardian, a mobile monitoring app for parents.
Parents and teachers have been caught by surprise with the proliferation of both smartphones and apps. More than 30 percent of American teens now own a smartphone, and that figure will reach 100 percent by 2016, according to Pew Research.
“An app goes viral and all the kids are talking about it, but parents may not even know it exists,” Holl said. “Parents need some way of screening apps before kids use them.”
Tips for parents
You simply can’t control everything that your kids do on their smartphones, but a few simple steps will greatly reduce the risk.
1. If an app is based on sharing video, it can be a magnet for porn. Apps that let kids send photos or videos that then “disappear” in a few seconds add to the risky nature of an app. The worst are those that connect kids with strangers for video chat.
2. Before downloading, read user reviews. You may get a heads up about questionable material.
3. Check the app’s rating. Apple has a no-porn policy and assigns age ratings to each app. Google Play makes ratings optional and leaves their assignment up to app developers. However, the problems may stem from users, not the apps, so don’t rely on either Apple or Google ratings in the same way as you do with video game and movie ratings.
4. Test the app yourself first to monitor other users’ posts and interactions. If it’s a social sharing app, search for hashtags (keywords) that signal inappropriate material — if your search results turn up NSFW material, you can bet it’s not safe for school either.
As part of an ongoing solution, parents can use a mobile security app to receive alerts when a new app is downloaded to a child’s phone, which provides an opportunity to step in and test the app earlier than might otherwise have been possible.
MMGuardian debuted its new safety apps at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In addition to providing an early warning system, MMGuardian lets parents block apps from being downloaded, set time limits on permissible apps and prevent texting while driving.
As part of an ongoing solution, parents can use a mobile security app to receive alerts when a new app is downloaded to a child’s phone — a feature that Holl’s MMGuardian offers.
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July 29, 2006
Early this morning we started off next to the coast in calm, peaceful waters broken only by the pontoons of our catamaran. Standing on deck you can see shapes on the seafloor down to fifteen meters depth. This makes Ricardo's quest for seagrass meadows a lot easier.
Today we are on a voyage of discovery. We are looking at two banks or small seamounts that show up on the map as dots, that we will be describing and mapping in greater detail. The boat cruises and turns back and forth over the site in order to develop a more detailed map with our new cartographic machine. From the point of view of any nearby vessel we must look very strange going in circles but with each turn we collect better information. The "OLEX" machine takes depth data using soundbeams and aggregates it into a geographic matrix. In the areas of the matrix that are missing data, it extrapolates by averaging nearby datapoints, adding new information as it becomes available. The result is a detailed map of the banks were we are going to dive.
Xavier and later Ricardo are seated by the screen, looking at the map and directing our captain Jordi on the turns needed to improve the image. While we are watching new high points and cracks appear as the resolution improves live on the screen. We can also turn the image or zoom in and out. It's a great toy for map fiends. Ricardo uses it to infer where there might be important habitats and to choose the most interesting site to explore with divers.
- Disabled Killer Whale Survives with Help from Its Pod Posted Tue, May 21, 2013
- Oceana CEO Andy Sharpless Discusses His New Book, The Perfect Protein Posted Wed, May 22, 2013
- Happy World Turtle Day! Posted Thu, May 23, 2013
- Washington Passes Legislation to Fight Seafood Fraud Posted Fri, May 24, 2013
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Dig aims to unearth Tullos Hill's secrets
Archaeologists are calling for volunteers to help unearth the secrets of a historic site in Aberdeen.
Tullos Hill has long been known as an important archaeological site because four Bronze Age burial cairns are located there.
But interest was renewed several years ago when a survey revealed new historic and archaeological features.
Archaeologists now want the public to help search for artefacts which reveal more of the hill's intriguing past.
Until recently, it was believed few archaeological remains survived on the hill because of its use as a landfill site since the 1970s.
However, a survey by CFA Archaeology in 2004 revealed further evidence of prehistoric activity and more recent structures associated with the 18th to 19th Century development of the Tullos House estate.
Interest was further boosted last year by the discovery of the remains of what is believed to be Aberdeen's last surviving World War II prisoner of war camp.
The site also features the remains of a heavy anti-aircraft battery situated some 300m south west of the summit.
The aim of this week's dig is to examine some of the features identified during the 2004 archaeological survey more closely. It is hoped this will help determine the nature of the finds and establish their age.
The excavation is being directed by Ian Suddaby of CFA Archaeology, who undertook the 2004 survey.
Judith Stones, Aberdeen city council's curator of local history and archaeology, said: "This is a great opportunity for local people to work alongside professional archaeologists to discover more about this rich historic landscape, and for visitors to understand more about the past, present and future of Tullos Hill."
Volunteers interested in taking part in the dig, which runs until 21 July, must contact CFA Archaeology to book a place.
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In the US, how may the police legally enter a private residence without a search warrant?
#108835. Asked by star_gazer. (Sep 15 09 12:28 AM)
Under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, most searches by the police require a search warrant based on probable cause, although there are exceptions. Any police entry of an individual's home always requires a warrant (for either search or arrest), absent exigent circumstances, or the free and voluntary consent of a person with reasonably apparent use of or control over the property. Some commonly cited exigent circumstances are: hot pursuit of a felon (to prevent a felon's escape or ability to harm others); imminent destruction of evidence before a warrant can properly be obtained; emergency searches (such as where someone is heard screaming for help inside a dwelling); or a search incident to arrest (to mitigate the risk of harm to the arresting officers specifically).|
In each of the situations below, a police officer does not need a search warrant to conduct a search.
1. If an individual voluntarily consents (agrees to) a search, no warrant is needed.
2. A police officer that spots something in plain view does not need a search warrant to seize the object.
3. If a suspect has been legally arrested, the police may search the defendant and the area within the defendant's immediate control.
4. Following an arrest, the police may make a protective sweep search if they reasonably believe that a dangerous accomplice may be hiding in an area near where the defendant was arrested.
5. If the police stop a car based on probable cause, they can search for objects related to the reason for the stop without obtaining a warrant.
Find something useful here? Please help us spread the word about FunTrivia. Recommend this page below!
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Have you ever heard statements like the following? The boys of today are not as strong as they we 20 years ago; they just don’t have the legs; they lack upper body strength; they ride everywhere; they have it too easy; they are soft generation.
Some people say modern girls starve themselves and they lack the luster what earlier girls used to have. Their work is done by mechanical devices; they don’t get enough exercise; and they too, are physically soft. The need for increased attention to the physical fitness of our youth is clearly established. Although today’s young generation is fundamentally healthy, the majority have not developed strong, agile bodies. The softening process of our civilization continues to carry on its persistent erosion.
Most people would like to have a stronger body like a skillful performer in some sport or a star athlete. Many women long to have an attractive figure like a movie star or fashion model. Members of both sexes enjoy having an abundance of energy for play and recreation. This matter of physical fitness is important for several reasons:
- It radiates health and self-confidence
- It improves appearance
- It increases capacity for enjoyment of friends and activities
- It enables a person to perform his daily work without undue fatigue
The upper limits one can achieve in fitness are partially determined by inheritance. Some of us inherit the capacity y for an exceptionally strong and well-coordinated body; others are not so fortunate. However, the extent to which an individual develops to a great extent on his daily exercise habits. To be sure, adequate food, sufficient rest and relaxation, suitable work, proper medical and dental care and a practice of moderation are also very important in keeping your body fit.
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Insect Control has a direct impact on your plant health and longevity. Certain types of insects can be fatal to your trees. Four of the major pests that threaten Massachusetts tree populations include the Emerald Ash Borer, Asian Longhorned Beetle, Wooley Adelgid and Winter Moth. A variety of microorganisms, pests, and insects are necessary for the balance of nature and overall tree health. A variety of microorganisms, pests, and insects are necessary for the balance of nature and overall tree health. The key, is knowing when the naturally occurring insects and diseases begin to cause problems for your trees. This is when an integrated pest management (IPM) program is helpful.
IPM creates the steps needed to promote a healthy landscape by providing insect control to prevent destructive pest outbreaks. IPM strives to maintain the health of your trees. One of the ways to maintain tree health is to make sure you have diverse types of trees as well as a variety of ages. For example, the pests on a younger tree could be naturally regulated by the parasites and predators that are already well established on an older tree. Also, keep your landscape properly trimmed and thinned. When trees are overcrowded, they compete for the things that sustain them such as light, water, and soil nutrients. This can stress the trees causing them to be more susceptible to destructive pests.
If you see symptoms of poor health on your trees such as dieback on the upper limbs, yellowing needles or leaves, or severe thinning foliage, contact a certified Tree Tech arborist right away. Tree Tech professionals can examine, diagnose, and create a personalized integrated pest management program that will ensure the health and beauty of the trees you love for years to come!
For more information about all of Tree Tech’s many tree services including tree disease diagnosis, insect control and tree treatments, visit www.TreeTechInc.net or call us at 888-873-3832. We provide complete tree services in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
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John of Monte Corvino, the first missionary sent by the Pope to China, arrived in Cambaluc [medieval term for Peking] soon after Marco Polo left for Europe. John remained at Cambaluc, as head of the mission until his death in 1328. This mission became the base for other Catholic missionary work in China.
"These missionaries, spending their lives in China, learning the language and mingling with the people, must have come in contact with printed literature at every turn. John of Monte Corvino in the first dozen years of his work, even before reinforcements had arrived, had already translated the New Testament and Psalter, and prepared pictures and text for the ignorant at just the time when in China it was the natural thing to have every important literary work printed. There is no question that the Chinese who were associated in the work of translation would have suggested that the translation and the pictures should be brought before the public in what to them was the usual and natural way. Whether the missionaries agreed and thus became the first European patrons of the art of printing, we have no means of knowing. That religious image prints, prepared, like the pictures of John of Monte Corvino, 'for the ignorant,' began to appear in Europe some time within the half century after these early missionaries laid down their work, may not be altogether a coincidence" (Carter, Invention of Printing in China 2nd ed 161-62.)
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|Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,
to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.
For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. |
But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.
Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition,
knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.
When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing.
And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.
All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
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What Types of Items Do You Crochet for Charity?
Right now I crochet mainly scarves.
Which Organization(s) Do You Donate Crocheted Items To?
The World War II Museum in New Orleans has a program called Knit Your Bit. The collect crocheted and knitted scarves and send them to the VA outlets around the country and they in turn distribute them to the homeless vets in the area. My husband and my son were in the Marine Corp and 2 brothers were in the Navy. Vets are close to my heart.
- Keep patterns as simple as possible so you can get the most out of your yarn. There are so many men needing help. I can usually get 2 scarves out of the 14oz skein of Red Heart. Try to keep colors in the neutral range. So no bright pinks, purples or oranges.
Have Your Experiences All Been Positive?
Yes. I have a chance to do something I love and help someone in need at the same time.
Are There Any Pitfalls to Be Aware of?
Not that I know of.
Which Yarn(s) Do You Use When Crocheting for Charity?
I prefer the acrylics. Some people are allergic to the natural fibers. Also since you are trying to reach as many as possible you want to keep it as reasonable as possible.
Where Do You Acquire the Yarns?
Wal-Mart or from Red Heart or Caron on line.
Amy Solovay, Crochet Guide, says:
To Gerry: Thanks for the info! Sounds like a great group to work with.
To Everyone: You're invited to check out our free scarf patterns if you'd like to contribute a scarf to charity. This easy scarf would work well for either men or women, but there are lots of possibilities if you'd like to try a different design.
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Organ transplantation is a lifesaving procedure, yet the demand for transplants far exceeds the available supply. Each year, nearly seven thousand patients in the United States die while waiting for an organ transplant . Developing heart muscles in vitro for transplantation is one approach that could ultimately overcome this critical shortage. For complex tissues such as a heart muscle, the final product has to mimic physiological functions as well as the regulatory system for regenerating the recipient’s tissue functions. Successful development of implantable and functional engineered tissues is currently hindered by the time-consuming and cost-intensive processes through which developers iteratively work to optimize tissue-fabrication protocols, needing to establish proper culture conditions and the ideal quantities of materials used. To overcome these burdens, it is critical to establish a prototyping process by which the developers can explore many parameters rapidly using minimal resources. To achieve this goal, 1) the prototypes of engineered tissues have to be small enough to save materials, including cells, extracellular matrices and growth factors that are necessary for the in vitro heart tissue development, and 2) the assay system to evaluate the heart tissue function has to be automated for rapid high-throughput analysis of prototyping results. In addition, a stable source of cells must be carefully selected to maintain the reproducibility of tissue production while scaling up the manufacturing capability.
2. Miniaturizing biological samples and products
Size of engineered tissue (ET) varies based on research needs. To systematically screen and analyze a large number of parameters that determine tissue function, the size of ETs has to be defined based on the required throughputs and phenotying assays for the tissue function analysis. Fully-grown cardiac muscle cells in three dimensional matrices are at least 100 um in length along their longitudinal axis . Therefore, engineered heart tissues (EHTs) should be at least several times larger than the size of single cells in order to form multi-cellular functional cardiac muscles. In addition, the statistical significance of data improves significantly when using multi-cellular tissues rather than single cells because the tissue samples contain from tens of thousands to over a million cells. The functional assay data collected using tissues represents an average function of many cells embedded in the tissues. By applying the photolithographical techniques, smaller, micro-scale (50-200 um) engineered tissues can be fabricated to mimic intricate shapes of native tissues. However, in these micro-scale tissues, it is yet to be determined if there is an improvement of the statistical significance of functional data over that from single cells. At present, ETs in millimeter scale have been used for the functional assays with relatively good data reproducibility . By using ETs, a statistically significant data can be obtained using only 4-8 samples instead of collecting ranging 60-600 data points per well in cell-based assays .
Unlike the rapid prototyping of parts with synthetic materials, the prototyping of engineered tissues with live cells has to consider the behavior of tissues after fabrication in a given culture condition. Cells are a vital element of developing functional organs and tissues. While consuming nutrients and receiving extracellular stimuli, the cells synthesize, secrete, and degrade proteins, divide, and remodel tissues. Therefore, developers of engineered tissue have to take these aspects into account for the design and development of engineered tissue samples and products. Behaviors of cells have been studied extensively to understand the molecular mechanisms by which biological functions of cell are regulated . Because the cell behavior should underlie function of tissues and organs, the vast amount of information that has been accumulated through studies of cells should be used to understand tissue and organ function. However, some recent findings indicate that biology of cells cultured in two dimension (2D) is not entirely the same as that of cells cultured in a three dimensional (3D) environment, which is more similar to the in vivo environment in which cells reside.
3. 2D vs 3D cell based analysis
Even though cells cultured on a 2D surface have been assumed to closely resemble those in tissues and organs, in some aspects they are quite different from those found in vivo. In vivo, most cells are found embedded within a 3D extracellular matrix (ECM), and their shape and cell-ECM adhesion are different from those in 2D culture . In most 2D cell culture, cells are cultured on infinitely stiff solids. However, in 3D culture, the ECM in which native cells reside can be deformed, stiffened, softened, or degraded to change the mechanics of the tissue. Stem cell linage specification has been observed to be directed by matrix stiffness , which strongly suggests that mechanical signaling will play a pivotal role in developing physiologically functional and implantable tissues. A difference in mechanical signal transduction between a 2D and a 3D environment was also suggested . For instance, fibroblasts cultured in 3D have intrinsically lower expression levels of the small GPTase Rac than those in 2D cultured cells, which switches the migratory pattern of cells from random to persistent . Reduction of the activity of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and ERK1/2 in 3D culture, as compared to 2D cultures, has also been reported . There is significant concern over the biological differences observed between 2D cell-culture systems, which have been used to study almost all signal transduction pathways to date , and the arguably more physiological 3D cell-culture environment.
When testing mechanical signaling, the tissues are subjected to mechanical deformations including pushing and stretching. An application of cyclic mechanical stretch to cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts up-regulates various signal transduction pathways through Rho/ROCK activation [17, 18]. Activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) and up-regulation of an immediate early gene family of transcription factors, and c-fos are well-characterized early responses of cells to the stretching. Up-regulated cellular processes including protein synthesis and myofibril organization are also apparent. The Rho/ROCK signaling pathway also regulates a hypertrophic response in cultured cardiac myocytes after application of soluble factors such as endothelin-1 treatment . Therefore, an intricate balance orchestrated by soluble stimuli, mechanical deformation, and extracellular stiffness dictates the tissue development.
The tissue can function normally under homeostasis, at which the mechanical balance between extra- and intra-cellular activities is balanced. The homeostasis can be shifted by aging or other long term processes but is a quasi-steady state that is required for a tissue’s physiological function. For example, physiological wound healing restores the homeostasis in the granulation tissue – fibrous connective tissue of healing wounds – by active fibroblasts contracting open wounds, secreting factors and hormones, and degrading ECMs to reconstruct the damaged tissues . Pathological wound healing, such as keloids and scars in skin , fails to restore the homeostasis. A schematic description of potential network system is in shown in Figure 1. Intracellular molecular sensors, such as the src family kinase substrate p130Cas , detect the stiffness of extracellular environment to initiate its down-stream signaling events including Ca2+ release, kinase activity, and gene regulation. Expressions of various genes are up-regulated through translocation of transcription factors from cytoplasm into nucleus. Furthermore the gene expression can be coupled to cell contraction. For instance, during the formation of actin stress-fibers in contracting fibroblasts, the balance of actin pools is shifted from a high prevalence of the monomer state to increased polymer levels. This balance shift frees up myocardin-related transcription factors (MRTF)-A, which are bound to monomer actins, and the unbound MRTF-As translocate into nucleus to promote gene expression. Therefore, MRTF-A’s downstream up-regulation of wound healing gene-family including collagen type I a1 is tightly coupled to the state of actin polymerization (F- and G- actin ratio) in fibroblasts .
In parallel with changing the mechanical environment, the soluble factors, such as TGF β1, binding to their specific receptors initiate the similar downstream signaling events [27, 28]. Depending on the signaling pathways, the initial signal strength can be amplified. One of recent observations indicates that signal strength is amplified in three-tiered kinase module of Raf-MEK(mitogen-activated protein kinase or extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase)-ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase) by increasing concentrations of kinases involving in downstream (e.g., 1:3:6 = raf-1:MEK:ERK) in COS cells . The soluble and mechanical stimuli result in the development of contractility by actin-myosin interactions, which is one of end-points of the signaling pathways. We hypothesize that the activities of actin-myosin interactions is a part of feedback mechanism by which cells sense the strength of mechanical stimuli and stiffness of extracellular space . Integrin-linked kinase and ECM protein, tenascin-C, have been demonstrated to be a part of the mechanical sensory systems in zebrafish heart , skeletal muscles , and fibroblasts .
As demonstrated elegantly for p130Cas , a simple analogy of the biological sensory mechanism is represented as a mechanical strain gauge that measures applied forces by detecting small deformations of proteins. Depending on an elastic strength of the gauge (i.e., protein), its sensitivity can be varied. In general the sensitivity becomes higher by reducing the elasticity of the gauge material since it can deform more with a same applied force. We and others assume that the molecular strain gauges are coupled to the actin-myosin forming stress fibers whose elasticity or stiffness is modulated by activity of myosin. The receptor activation initiated by binding of various soluble factors triggers and modulates myosin activity. Therefore, the sensitivity of the mechanical sensor can be modulated. Eventually the mechanical properties of cell and extracellular matrix reach a steady state to find homeostasis. However, its specific mechanism by which sensors can modulate their sensitivity and determination of the homeostasis are yet to be elucidated. Nevertheless, the concept of the establishment of homeostasis between the cells and ECM comprising “tissue” should be considered carefully while designing and developing the functional tissues in vitro. The mechanical properties of engineered tissues have to match with donor tissues, especially for those carrying critical mechanical functions including the cardiovascular system. As described, varying stiffness of the extracellular environment takes part in dictating stem cell fates . Rapid high throughput tissue phenotyping can be used to test various soluble and mechanical stimuli to yield an optimal tissue with desired functions.
4. Cardiac tissue phenotyping and their potential to assay-automation
The assay system by which developers can evaluate the functional improvement that results from optimizing the tissue fabrication and culture conditions will have to accurately observe the physiological functions of cardiac tissues. The contractility of cardiac tissues is the most fundamental functional readout that can indicate the functional improvement by varying the tissue fabrication conditions. The regulatory system of cardiac contractility should also be reconstituted in the engineered tissues, which will be evaluated through rapid prototyping. As listed in Table 1, EHT-based contractility assessment is ideal for assessing cardiac functions in high-throughput, as compared to the other techniques that have traditionally been used to assess the function of myocytes, myocardium, and isolated hearts. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. The assay results using isolated adult cells and papillary muscles will continue to serve as references for the expected muscle cell and tissue contractility and its regulation. However, they can not report the tissue functions. Cardiac contractility assays using isolated Langendorff preparation has been gradually replaced by hemodynamic measurements using pressure-volume conductance catheters as well as echo cardiography. Nevertheless, the whole heart functional assay can be used to assess functional improvement that results from the tissue transplantation.
Once the EHTs start contracting, they maintain contractility for at least 2-3 weeks. Assessment of acute and chronic changes in contractility and cell physiology can thus be monitored for long periods using EHTs. Even though EHTs are artificially reconstituted organoids, their histological structure and functional properties are similar to those in native myocardium [5, 36]. Each EHT is fabricated by pouring a gel solution containing predefined concentrations of cells, matrix proteins, and growth factors into a precisely machined well . Since 1993, similar engineered tissues have been used as a model system to study signal transduction pathways that regulate contractility of fibroblasts , smooth muscle cells, skeletal muscle cells . We were the first to introduce the use of tissue models to determine effective drug doses and have recently extended the application of this technology to include phenotypic screening . We demonstrated the phenotypic difference in tissue mechanics between wildtype cells and mutant cells with truncated α1 integrin . We also extended the applications of engineered tissue models by creating cardiac tissue constructs . Recently, we introduced the concept of growing mini-tissues in 96-well plates for high-throughput drug screening . Initially engineered heart tissues were fabricated using a tissue fabrication mold that cast hydrogel into a ring . To miniaturize the tissues, we developed tissue fabrication wells similar to those used in 96-well format. The center-to-center distance of 96-well plates is 9 millimeters. We developed 8mm x 8mm square wells to fabricate the engineered tissues. We demonstrated the automation of contractile measurements of EHTs to improve the productivity of the proposed studies. The generation of EHTs using pluripotent stem cells will open up the new pathways to develop engineered tissues using human cells. However, there are several issues that need to be solved before benefitting highly promising technology.
5. Multi cell types require functional cardiac patches using iPSCs
Human iPSCs, which are generated by genetic reprogramming of somatic cells to an infinitely self-renewing pluripotent state [43, 44], offer an excellent source for robust generation of large numbers of human cardiac myocytes (CMs), endothelial cells (ECs) and fibroblasts (FBs), which are all needed for producing a vital EHT in vitro . Protocols to generate somatic cells from hPSCs typically attempt to recapitulate cardiac development in an accelerated manner by temporal application of differentiation cues. For example directed differentiation protocols that achieve high yield and purity of CMs from human pluripotent stem cells apply basic FGF, TGFβ superfamily ligands, VEGF, and Wnt agonists and antagonists at precise differentiation stages [46, 47]. Recently CMs generated from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have been injected into rodent cardiac muscle; these CMs engrafted, survived, and resulted in functional improvement in myocardial infarction models ;. HESC-derived CMs and ECs assembled into spontaneously contracting patches and, when implanted on a rodent pericardium, survived and anastomosed . This study clearly indicates that multiple cell types are necessary in generating functional cardiac patches.
Because of the requirement of multi cell types to fabricate functional cardiac patches, the high throughput rapid prototyping system can contribute to identifying the optimal combination of cell types to fabricate the best cardiac patches. Not only varying the number of CMs, ECs, and FBs to initiate the fabrication, the response to each cell type to various hormones, growth factors, and mechanical environment will have to be screened again to find the best combinations. Therefore, a rapid prototyping system that can screen various test conditions will be critically needed to establish functional tissues with desired phenotypes.
Systematically optimizing a tissue-fabrication protocol will require an iterative process of changing the parameters of fabrication and tissue culture conditions incrementally after measuring the resulting functional improvement. To test a large number of these parameters to the best outcome, many tissues have to be fabricated and their function has to be evaluated in high-throughput. To achieve this prototyping cost-effectively, the samples have to be miniaturized. Most importantly, establishing the tissue homeostasis in the engineered tissue has to be achieved either before implantation or by taking account how tissue homeostasis will be established with the acceptor’s existing tissue. In vivo tissue organ phenotyping with transplanted tissues will be as important as availability of rapid prototyping of engineered tissues.
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I Am The Messenger - Tags - merchant of venice
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The other day, the newspaper carried a story on Pakistan with a photo of a bricklayer on the front page. There he was, a young man in the dust of a street, a pile of bricks up to his elbows, and a serious, tired look to his face. At 18, the article said, he is what he will be, as there was no greater dream for the young man.
No greater dream for a boy just now a man? He is what he will be, forever?
This is a tragedy, but at least the young man could feed himself by laying bricks. If he were a writer, on top of the other indignities, he would have starved.
There’s not too much in the way of mechanical work for a writer to fall back upon. The distances are long. Endurance is essential. The sprints, when they come, are pell-mell furious. Outcomes are unpredictable. How could a withered spirit make it to the end of the working day, let alone produce a serviceable line or two?
Seek what nourishes you: Something new. Something different. Something physical. Something deviant. Play the tourist. Play the fool. Play the devil’s advocate. Walk in the park. Walk in someone else’s shoes. Do something nice. Do something earth-friendly. Get in nature. Get social. Immerse yourself in other art forms. Especially this, as other creators, by virtue of their very differentness, none of them writers, have a way of shaking up your sense of the usual. This is exactly what a withered spirit needs—a reorientation toward the possible, the new, the surprising.
In due course, in time . . . Hear that? It’s your heart beating, blood quickening. It’s your awe building at the growing realization that your best work is still ahead of you.
What do you do to nourish yourself? Comment here and now. Share the wealth. The more ideas, the better.
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....inspired by this season of Lent and Father Basil conferences on audio. Not a real post (I apologize for the recent lack of these), just musings:
~The first Station of the Cross: Jesus is condemned to death. The first day of Lent: Remember you are dust, and unto dust you shall return. The first step in the spiritual life: Knowing that we are condemned to death - we will indeed return to dust. How does knowing this truth inspire and guide all we do? Do I live every day as though it were my last?
~Silence of speech: Not engaging too much in idle talk. Not even trying to speak too much of good and sacred things. Speaking less with creatures and more with God. Silence of other senses, of taste: Gluttony is not simply about eating too much, it also applies to those (like me) who only like to eat tasty and appealing foods. Silence of touch: How I always find myself seeking comfort - soft blankets, instant warmth when cold, sitting in my comfortable chair when there is work to be done.
~How many times in a given day am I doing what I ought? How many times do I neglect a responsibility in favor of an activity more pleasant?
~Years ago, a good and pious priest said something to me and my husband that's been on my mind since the start of Lent. He said frankly, "If you're aiming for Purgatory, you're probably not going to make it."
We are having a good Lent around here. I know I don't give up as much as I should. Life is so easy for us here with the pleasant weather and the abundance of pleasant things to do every day. I'm so grateful for all of it. But Lent is good too, and reserving oneself from certain pleasantries for forty days - reminding oneself again of that first step: realizing the imminence of death; the last step and ultimate goal: Heaven, and everything in between.
On a side note, I've been sewing up a storm and have some fun things to show for it. The girls are wearing their outfits everywhere, and I'm making ensembles for friends. I might have some of it available online soon too. What fun!
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A PILOT program allowing four BHP Mitsubishi Alliance mines in Queensland to pump extra water into the Isaac River has stirred up concerns about the safety of Rockhampton's drinking water.
The program, announced by Environment Minister Andrew Powell in November last year, is set to start once there has been sufficient rain and will aim to remove water which filled mine pits during the 2010-11 floods.
While the program has been welcomed by the Queensland Resources Council, Member for Rockhampton Bill Byrne today expressed concerns over what this would mean for the city's drinking water.
"The people of Rockhampton remain very concerned about what effects the release of this dirty water will have on the supply of our drinking water," he said.
Acting Premier Jeff Seeney said Mr Byrne was just "scaremongering".
"The Newman Government is implementing a whole of catchment water quality management system that is used in many places around the world, including the Hunter River in New South Wales," Mr Seeney said.
"It will ensure the mining industry can operate as well as guaranteeing water quality in the whole catchment area."
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The blogosphere is abuzz with the story that broke last night, when the Human Rights Campaign released internal memos from the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the nation's largest and most visible anti-same sex-marriage group, calling for the use of a racial wedge strategy to fight campaigns for marriage equality.
“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks -- two key Democratic constituencies,” one of the NOM memos says.
“The documents, marked “confidential,” were unsealed yesterday afternoon in Maine by court order, as part of that state’s ongoing ethics investigation into NOM’s campaign finances.
The memo spells out specific steps to enact, including:
Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage, develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots…”
Here is an excerpt on NOM’s Hispanic strategy:
"The Latino vote in America is a key swing vote, and will be so even more so in the future, both because of demographic growth and inherent uncertainty: Will the process of assimilation to the dominant Anglo culture lead Hispanics to abandon traditional family values? We must interrupt this process of assimilation by making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity - a symbol of resistance to inappropriate assimilation."
NOM also spells out its plans for the 2012 presidential election:
"From a political angle," the NOM document says, "this strategy will require electing a pro-marriage President in 2012." Strategies for defeating, ("sideswiping," as the document calls it) President Obama include "expose Obama as a social radical," and "raise such issues as pornography, protection of children, and the need to oppose all efforts to weaken religious liberty at the federal level."
Public opinion has moved considerably in the three years since the memos were drafted. The most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll (conducted Feb. 29 through March 3) shows a plurality favors same-sex marriage -- 49 percent say so versus 40 percent who oppose. That's a reversal from 41-49 percent in October 2009.
Among African Americans, a majority (50 percent) said they were in favor (41 were opposed). That's a big change from October 2009, when just a third (32 percent) were in favor and a majority (53 percent) were opposed. Among Hispanics, in the most recent poll, 55 percent said they were in favor, 30 percent said they were against. That's also a change from October 2009, when the margin was tighter (45-40 favor to oppose).
Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign -- which supports efforts to legalize same-sex marriage -- criticized NOM. “Nothing beats hearing from the horse’s mouth exactly how callous and extremist this group really is,” Solmonese said in a statement.
NOM posted a statement on its website today, saying it is "proud of [its] strong record on minority partnerships."
It added: “Gay marriage advocates have attempted to portray same-sex marriage as a civil right, but the voices of these and many other leaders have provided powerful witness that this claim is patently false. Gay marriage is not a civil right, and we will continue to point this out in written materials such as those released in Maine. We proudly bring together people of different races, creeds and colors to fight for our most fundamental institution: marriage.”
NBC's Domenico Montanaro contributed to this report.
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Arizona Smoke-Free Arizona, Proposition 201 (2006)
|Preamble • I • II • III • IV • V • VI • VI.I • VII • VIII • IX • X • XI • XII • XIII • XIV • XV • XVI • XVII • XVIII • XIX • XX • XXI • XXII • XXV • XXVI • XXVII • XXVIII • XXIX • XXX|
Text of measure
The language that appeared on the ballot:
Analysis By Legisative Council
Currently, state statutes provide that smoking tobacco is prohibited in certain areas and most state buildings. A person who smokes where smoking is prohibited is guilty of a petty offense. Several cities and towns also have restrictions on smoking in public places.
Proposition 201 would prohibit smoking in all public places and places of employment, except as provided by the proposition. These exceptions include:
1. Retail tobacco stores that are physically separated and independently ventilated.
2. Veterans and fraternal clubs when they are not open to the public.
3. Hotel rooms designated as smoking rooms.
4. Outdoor patios.
Proposition 201 would increase the state tax on cigarettes from $1.18 per pack to $1.20 per pack. Taxes on cigars and other tobacco products would not be increased by this proposition. Revenues collected from this tax would be deposited in a new Smoke-Free Arizona Fund to be administered by the Department of Health Services (DHS) to pay for enforcement and education costs.
Proposition 201 also would prescribe notice and other requirements for operating establishments to implement the smoking restrictions. In addition, an employer could not retaliate against an employee for exercising any rights provided by the proposition.
A person who smokes where smoking is prohibited would be guilty of a petty offense.
Under the proposition, DHS would implement and enforce these smoking restrictions. DHS would be required to design and implement a program to educate the public and business owners about the smoking restrictions. DHS would also be authorized to accept complaints about and investigate violations of the smoking restrictions. Proposition 201 would also require DHS to assess a civil penalty of at least $100 but less than $500 for each violation.
Proposition 201 would not prohibit or repeal more restrictive city, town or county laws.
Fiscal Impact Statement
State law requires the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) Staff to prepare a summary of the fiscal impact of certain ballot measures. Proposition 201 increases the tax on cigarettes by 2 cents a pack and allocates the monies to the Department of Health Services for enforcement and education provisions. State and local governments may receive additional revenues in the form of civil penalties, fines and penalty assessments from violators of the provisions of the proposition. The total amount of these collections will depend on the level of compliance, which is difficult to predict in advance.
The tax increase is estimated to generate $4.7 million in new revenue for the state in its first full year. Because some individuals may reduce their tobacco consumption when the price of tobacco increases, the state's existing tobacco tax collections may decrease. At 2 cents per pack, the impact of the tax on existing collections is projected to be minimal. The existing tobacco tax goes to health programs, prisons and the State General Fund.
- Arizona 2006 ballot measures
- 2006 ballot measures
- Arizona State Senate
- Arizona House of Representatives
- List of ballot measures by year
- List of ballot measures by state
- List of Arizona ballot measures
- Arizona Secretary of State, 2006 Ballot Propositions & Judicial Performance Review Proposition 201
- National Conference of State Legislatures Ballot Measures Database
|You can improve this article by adding information about campaign spending and donors|
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The mobile euthanasia units launched in the Netherlands Thursday may not much resemble Dr. Kevorkian's death van, but they stirred up nearly as much controversy.
The program allows teams of doctors and nurses to visit very sick patients whose primary care physicians have refused end their lives, the Guardian reported. The Netherlands was the first country to legalize euthanasia in 2002.
The program, called Levenseinde, meaning “Life End,” was initiated by the world's largest euthanasia organization, with 130,000 members, based in the Netherlands. The mobile program is free to Dutch citizens.
Program rules say that sick people or their relatives may apply for a mobile unit visit, by phone or email. Patients must be suffering tremendous pain and be able to articulate several times that they want to die.
The team would also interview the primary care physician who would not end their patient’s life.
"They will first give the patient an injection, which will put them into a deep sleep, then a second injection follows, which will stop their breathing and heart beat," said Walburg De Jong, an advocate of assisted suicide, according to the Guardian.
The teams would be allowed one procedure a week because of the emotional toll that each visit takes.
In the Netherlands, each euthanasia case is reported to a commission, made up of a doctor, legal and ethics specialists to make sure the criteria have been followed.
Controversy arose when the members of the Royal Dutch Society of Doctors said they doubt the doctors would be able to form a strong enough bond with patients to properly assess a case, the Agence France-Presse reported.
Currently, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Oregon, Washington and Montana are the only jurisdictions where laws allow assisted suicide, according to the Patients Rights Council.
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Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
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Scott’s Branch Middle School has received the Palmetto Silver Award for general performance and for closing the achievement gap in grades 6-8 for the 2011-2012 school year.
Established by the Education Accountability Act of 1998, the Palmetto Gold and Silver Awards Program gives recognition to schools for high levels of academic achievement and high rates of improvement. Since 2008, the EAA also includes awards for schools that closed the gaps in achievement between historically lower- and higher-achieving demographic groups of students as an additional criterion to overall school performance.
Scott’s Branch Middle High School Principal Dr. Gwendolyn Harris said that she was honored by the award.
“The students worked hard and while we recognize the growth that we have made, we still realize that we have a long way to go,” she said.
For the last three years, SBMS has also made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), a measurement that determines how every public school and school district in the country is performing academically based on results of standardized tests.
“I would like to commend the administrative team, faculty, staff and students in earning this award,” said Clarendon School District 1 Superintendent Dr. Rose H. Wilder.
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CUDA Spotlight: GPU-Accelerated Science and Computing
Find other great interviews on our CUDA Spotlights page.
This week’s spotlight is on Dr. Vincent Natoli, president and founder of Stone Ridge Technology.
Dr. Natoli is a computational physicist with 20 years of experience in high performance computing. Previous roles include senior physicist at ExxonMobil Corporation and Technical Director at High Performance Technologies Inc. (HPTi).
NVIDIA: Vincent, tell us a bit about Stone Ridge Technology.
Vincent: Stone Ridge provides products and services to the HPC market. I had the idea for the company back in 2002 and started it full time in 2005. I wanted to build a company that solves difficult problems in science and engineering on leading edge hardware platforms. It’s the border between science and computing which I love.
NVIDIA: What services do you provide?
Vincent: Most of our customers are in the oil and gas industry. We port, optimize and develop from scratch high performance technical codes for some of the biggest corporations in the world.
It used to be easier to be both an expert in your science domain and able to do a decent job writing simulation code when people were writing mainly scalar Fortran code. It’s much more complex today with multi-core, multi-node cluster solutions, GPU computing and object oriented languages. It’s a rare person who can do both well and those are the people who I hire!
NVIDIA: Why is GPU computing so relevant today?
Vincent: It’s relevant because it’s the leading compute platform for solving challenging, real world applications. All of the Tier 1 cluster vendors now offer GPU compute options.
NVIDIA: What kinds of applications benefit the most from GPU computing?
Vincent: The applications that benefit most from GPU computing are those that are compute bound and floating point. In those cases you are able to take advantage of the large gap in peak FLOP performance between GPU and CPU.
NVIDIA: What advice do you have for a developer who hasn’t yet made the leap to GPU computing?
Vincent: I would say that if performance is important to you then GPU computing is well worth a try. Take a look at CUDA Zone to find a code similar to your own to see what kind of performance you can expect from the GPU. Profile your code and try porting the most significant hotspot first. The potential gain is well worth a few weeks of investigation. Along the way you will learn a lot about your code.
NVIDIA: What advice would you offer to CIOs who are looking at adopting GPU computing in their organizations?
Vincent: There are many considerations that organizations must carefully weigh when considering a new technology. (My recent article in HPCwire explores some of these issues.)
For a new technology to even get on the radar, it should offer superior performance, it should not depend on the HPC market exclusively for its success, and it should have a mature development environment. GPUs qualify on all three fronts.
On the issue of development environment, NVIDIA deserves a lot of credit for delivering CUDA to the community. I’ve said before that the most enduring contribution to HPC from GPU computing may well be the CUDA programming model.
NVIDIA: Tell us about the ROI of using GPUs in a heterogeneous computing environment, in terms of speedup, man months, etc.
Vincent: The ROI is going to vary for each company as the benefits and the costs of GPU computing will be weighed differently. In general, on the return side, applications that are memory-bound can see about a 6X improvement and compute-bound applications can see from 8X to over 20X.
Cost savings are realized by getting answers more quickly and in reducing infrastructure footprint and power budget. That savings is worth differing amounts to a firm in finance, oil and gas or bioinformatics. On the cost side there are direct costs like the hardware and code ports and indirect costs like potential inefficiencies introduced by changes to the IT infrastructure. For a data point on the cost of porting, optimizing, validating and integrating code, our projects range in duration from three to nine months.
NVIDIA: As computing becomes more powerful, what will the future hold?
Vincent: I like to point out that the field of computing - and HPC in particular - is not in the middle of its development, it’s not even at the beginning of its development. It’s at the beginning of the beginning. It’s only been 50 years since computers began to have a significant impact on business. It’s humbling to think what the field will be like 50 and 100 years in the future.
The near term three-to-five year timeframe is more accessible to prognostication. With respect to general computing, I believe the cloud will dominate. The economies of scale there make so much sense. Computing will become more like a utility to which you subscribe similar to the way we subscribe now to music and video.
In the HPC realm I believe the trend of leveraging easily-accessible systems from industry leaders like NVIDIA will continue. I am not as enthusiastic about the convergence of CPU and GPU architectures as others who see it around the corner. In the implementations I’ve seen, the integration basically throws out all the advantages of GPUs by reducing the number of cores and the memory bandwidth.
I believe there will continue to be advances in data parallel programming models such as CUDA which will allow developers to focus on writing optimal kernel code that scales more transparently. Finally, I see increasing attention and emphasis on power/FLOP and power/Byte as we move to larger and larger systems.
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The big news over the weekend is the New York Times’ report that the United States and Iran have reached agreement in principle for their first-ever direct bilateral negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The details surrounding the nature of these talks remain unclear, and indeed it is not even clear whether any such agreement even exists, as both countries’ governments issued denials the following day.
As Paul Pillar has already noted at TNI, if true, there could be significant advantages to pursuing bilateral talks as opposed to the existing forum of the P5+1. As he writes, the bilateral format
would be useful because the United States is the most important player in the process, because achieving the flexibility necessary to reach an agreement would be aided by not having to reach a multilateral consensus on each concession and because secrecy could be better preserved with a smaller forum.
This secrecy is particularly valuable because there are powerful forces within each country that are opposed to any sort of concessions toward the other nation. Avoiding any leaks that might blow up a prospective deal before it has been completed is thus a strong imperative, and a good reason to favor a bilateral format over a multilateral one. It’s also, as Pillar observes, a good reason to favor talks that would be held in total secrecy, with both governments denying that they are even talking place. There is little basis for thinking that such negotiations are currently under way, but “we can hope,” as Pillar says.
Nevertheless, even without such secret talks, this announcement holds out at least the potential to be a limited, positive step. Of course, there are a number of potential pitfalls. Most important, Washington must take care to ensure that the bilateral discussions, if they do take place, do not become simply another vehicle for Iran to drag out the process without any prospect of resolution. But it would be folly to not even try. As Nicholas Burns, George W. Bush’s under secretary of state, told the Times, “It would be unconscionable to go to war if we haven’t had such discussions.” He goes on: “What are we going to do instead? Drive straight into a brick wall called war in 2013, and not try to talk to them?”
Burns is absolutely right. War—and a bombing campaign against Iran’s nuclear facilities would be an act of war—is and should always be a choice of last resort. Direct bilateral negotiations with Iran, while providing no guarantee of success, are certainly worth exploring before the United States makes such a consequential choice.
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Get involved: Send your news, views, pictures and video by texting SUPIC to 80360 or email us.
School welfare cuts to ‘hit vulnerable pupils’
Parents have warned that cuts to school welfare staff will pull a safety net from underneath the feet of vulnerable children.
Opposition councillors and parents have described West Sussex County Council’s plans to reduce their education welfare service as “very shocking”.
Under the proposals, the service is set to be focussed on its legal responsibility to penalise parents of truanting pupils.
But opponents to the plans say the service previously created a vital independent broker between parents, schools and teachers and that without the team, schools would find it easier to remove “problem pupils”.
Proposals to be discussed at the council’s children and young people’s service select committee next week include finding savings of £290,000.
The number of education welfare officers employed by the council has recently reduced from 26 full and part-time officers to just 14 and the council is now proposing to keep these staffing levels with officers no longer assigned to a specific school.
In the last school year, the service prosecuted 81 parents for unauthorised absences and handed out 31 fixed penalties, although only a small minority of the referrals to the service ever reached this stage.
'Keep kids in school'
The report raises concerns that the reforms would mean children in need of support might not come to the attention of the authorities and that skilled and knowledgeable staff would be lost.
Schools had “considerable anxieties” about the changes, according to the report.
Liberal Democrat councillor and committee member Bob Smytherman said: “The service plays a key independent role brokering between parents, children and schools and they help keep kids in school.
“Without the EWS [Education Welfare Service], I fear that school heads and governors will use it as an opportunity to get rid of people they see as problem children.
“There will only be a few officers for the whole of the county and there is no way they will be able to do all the work that needs to be done.”
Helen Martin, from Lavant, said she and her 14-year-old son Jack, who suffers from ADHD and OCD, had benefitted from the support of education welfare officers and had serious concerns about any cuts to the service.
She said: “This would have a massive impact on us as a family if we lost the support of the education welfare service, as a lone parent I would be without a voice.
“If these cuts had happened four years ago I would have been fined £1,000 for my son being absent from school and could be in prison. Welfare officers understand my son’s disability whereas most teachers don’t quite get it.”
See the latest news headlines from The Argus:
- Police release pictures of brothers wanted in connection with Hove shooting
- Albion sex trial jury sent out to consider verdict
- Mayor of Cuckfield fronts High Weald Welly Walk
- Smart return for circus
- M23 northbound near Pease Pottage closed after lorry fire
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« Johnny Rex Buckles Posts "Do Law Schools Forfeit Federal Income Tax Exemption When They Deny Military Recruiters Full Access to Career Services Programs? The Hypothetical Case of Yale University v. Commissioner" | Main | Obama's Election Sparks Hope for Two Churches Separated on Racial Grounds »
January 23, 2009
The Role of Charity in Eliminating Polio Worldwide
The Washington Posts announces that Bill Gates has joined with Rotary International and British and German governments to donate $630 million dollars to the effort to eradicate Polio throughout the world. The devastating disease spiked recently and spread to seven new countries that were believed to be Polio-free. For the entire story, see "$630 million for new push to eradicate polio" in the January 21, 2009, issue of the Washington Post.
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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference The Role of Charity in Eliminating Polio Worldwide:
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Welcome, and thank you for visiting the home of East Bay Traditional Chinese Medicine.
On this site, you'll find information on the fundamental theories and treatment methods of traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as well as answers to many commonly asked questions on the subject. (Believe me, after thousands of years of TCM history, there's a lot to discuss.) To begin, I believe the most important difference between TCM and modern western medicine is simply that in TCM we treat the whole person, not just their symptoms. Thus, while some of our patients come to us for weekly "tune-ups" to help ease the stresses of modern life, others come to us with serious issues to address: insomnia, repetitive-strain injuries, depression, digestive disorders, hepatitis, cancer, and various immune disorders. The beauty of TCM lies in the fact that, regardless of a patient's disorder, TCM allows us to discover and treat the underlying conditions—the root of the disorder—while addressing the patient's current set of symptoms.
I think of this site mainly as a service to my patients, to help them better understand their treatments and the principles that guide them. In my years of practice, I've never yet run across a patient who wasn't deeply curious about this medicine, who didn't have as many questions about it as I had time to answer, who didn't want a ready reply for their friends' and colleagues' quizzing: "Do you believe in that stuff?" "Does it really work?" "Can it help my husband's mother's cousin's case of…." For all those people and all their questions, let me present you with the short, straight answer as I've come to discover it: "Why, yes. TCM can help that." Still curious? Excellent. Please read on.
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While several recent studies discovered molecules that repel motor neuron axons from incorrect targets in the limb, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a molecule, known as FGF, that actively lures growing axons closer to the right destination. Their findings appear in the June 15 issue of Neuron.
"The most important aspect of our finding is not necessarily that we finally nailed the growth factor FGF as the molecule that guides a specific subgroup of motor neurons to connect to the muscles that line our spine and neck," says senior author Samuel Pfaff, Ph.D., a professor in the Gene Expression Laboratory, "but that piece by piece, we are uncovering general principles that ensure that the developing nervous system establishes proper neuronal connections."
Understanding how axons find their destinations may help restore movement in people following spinal cord injury, or those with motor neuron diseases such as Lou Gehrig's disease, spinal muscle atrophy, and post-polio syndrome. Failure to establish proper connectivity in the brain may also underlie autism spectrum disorders and mental retardation.
The multitasking members of the FGF growth factor family regulate blood vessel formation, wound repair, lung maturation, and development of skeletal muscle, blood and bone marrow cells. The Salk study adds on more job to an already long list.
"Our study emphasizes that the nervous system does not necessarily rely on an entirely new set of molecules to govern axon navigation, but instead uses growth factors already involved in embryonic development in clever and novel ways," Pfaff says.
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- Development & Aid
- Economy & Trade
- Human Rights
- Global Governance
- Civil Society
Saturday, May 18, 2013
- The World Bank released its 10th annual Doing Business report on Monday, using the occasion to track business- and investment-friendly reforms put in place around the world over the past decade.
The bank recorded more than 200 such reforms in countries across the world just over the past year. Further, over the course of a decade of Doing Business reports, 180 countries have put in place nearly 2,000 such reforms, with a third of those changes in regulations since 2005 having taken place in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In part, these reforms have been put in place in response to the ubiquity of the report itself, with both developing country governments and major donors having increasingly relied on the Doing Business rankings and indicators as development benchmarks.
“In the first report one of the main findings was that low-income economies had very cumbersome regulatory systems,” the new report states. “Ten years later it is apparent that business regulatory practices in these economies have been gradually but noticeably converging toward the more efficient practices common in higher-income economies.”
Indeed, the World Bank finds that the rate at which developing countries have implemented these reforms has been higher than in developed countries. During that period, globally, the average time to start a business has gone from 50 to 30 days and the average cost from 89 to 31 percent of income per capita.
“The bank is a development institution, and so we have been encouraged as the reforms in the last several years seem to have taken strong root in sub-Saharan Africa,” Augusto Lopez-Claros, the director of global indicators and analysis with the World Bank Group, told journalists ahead of the report’s release.
“During the last couple of years, an average of 70 percent of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have engaged in at least one, and sometimes many, reforms – compared to just 33 percent in 2005.”
At the same time, however, two-thirds of those 2,000 reforms recorded over the past decade have focused strictly on reducing the complexity and cost of regulations, rather than on the more difficult process of strengthening legal institutions.
Diverting vital resources
The Doing Business report, put out jointly by the World Bank and its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is one of the bank’s most high-profile publications, reportedly used by some 85 percent of global policymakers. The report has built up a particularly significant influence in the developing world, where the need for jobs creation is typically the greatest.
The report’s rankings system has come under increased criticism, however, with some suggesting that the report’s indicators lead to an outsized focus on the needs of large over smaller businesses.
“It is not just that some reforms promoted by the Doing Business rankings might be irrelevant for the majority of businesses in developing countries – in some instances they are actively harmful to poor men and women,” Christina Chang, an economist with the U.K.-based Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), told IPS by e-mail.
“The World Bank’s mandate is to reduce poverty. Yet the rankings skew vital resources away from small and micro-enterprises that account for the majority of jobs in poor countries – jobs that are critical in reducing poverty.”
According to CAFOD’s analysis, nearly 90 percent of jobs in a sample of developing countries are associated with small businesses – and around half of those countries’ gross domestic products.
In a new briefing, CAFOD reports that, when asked, women entrepreneurs in Ghana say their businesses are constrained by a lack of education and by discrimination, which cuts them off from capital and credit while also leading to unfair land-inheritance practices.
But the Doing Business rankings “would not help with any of these problems”, the CAFOD briefing notes. “They promote one preferred reform – usually deregulation, even though other actions might be more appropriate or pressing.”
While admitting that the Doing Business project has been “instrumental” in highlighting the importance of strong investment climates, CAFOD’s researchers are suggesting that the World Bank include five additional reforms indicators. These include data on business skills and education, corruption, lack of market information or access to technology, and poor rural infrastructure.
While multiple other World Bank Group initiatives deal with some or several of these issues, the bank’s Lopez-Claros does acknowledge some of the limitations of the Doing Business indicators.
“Countries do need to invest in human capital, in infrastructure, in building up the types of skills necessary to interact with the global economy, and this report has nothing to say on those issues,” he told journalists. “This report captures one dimension of the overall policy framework that you need to get right in order to achieve good economic development.”
Over the years, the World Bank Group has tweaked the Doing Business indicators, including in response to a negative report by its own Independent Evaluation Group in 2008. Perhaps most significantly, in 2009 it dropped its controversial “employing workers” indicator in favour of a “worker protection” index.
In early October, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Sharan Burrow urged the bank to “definitively take labour issues out of the Doing Business report, which for years encouraged countries to eliminate all workers’ protection rules.”
A concerted effort by civil society, urging the World Bank to revisit the Doing Business indicators, has recently seen some initial success. On Friday, the bank published the composition of a new panel of experts that will review these indicators.
“The 10-year point is a good time to conduct a thorough review, taking stock of the experience to date, analyzing results, distilling lessons learned, and mapping the way forward,” the bank stated. “Given the issues that have been raised … as well as the public attention that the Doing Business indicators attract … a close and independent review will be of great value.”
The new committee will be headed by Trevor Manuel, the head of the South African National Planning Commission, and will be tasked with providing final recommendations by May 2013. (The committee’s terms of reference can be found here.)
Yet while an open letter to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim from more than a dozen civil-society organisations (including ITUC and CAFOD) has called on the bank to include members of trade union confederations on the committee, the composition as announced includes no formal representation of organised labour.
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Community Opposition to Edgemere Hosanna House Remains Strong
Catholic Charities of Baltimore proposes putting a "permanent housing" program for 14 homeless men in St. Luke's Catholic Church's former convent.
Community opposition to the proposed Hosanna House in Edgemere is picking up steam, if Thursday night's North Point Community Council meeting is any indication.
About 45 residents attended to hear additional information and ask questions of Catholic Charities of Baltimore officials.
The Catholic organization is proposing the permanent housing program for as many as 14 homeless men, ages 60 and up. They plan to use the vacant St. Luke's Catholic Church convent on Lodge Farm Road, which is now owned by Catholic Charities.
Mary Ann O'Donnell, director of community services for Catholic Charities, started her presentation by saying that published descriptions of the program as a homeless shelter are inaccurate and she wanted to set the record straight.
Hosanna House will be a permanent housing program for people who are down on their luck for a variety of reasons, she said.
"This is not a shelter where people can walk in off the street and we have to take them in," O'Donnell said. "There is an application process, people need to be accepted and we have the opportunity to interview people."
Community residents had many questions, and voiced opinions about what they believe is the inappropriate placement of such a social services program.
They expressed concern about the program being in such close proximity to St. Luke's Pre-School, St. Luke's Place—a senior citizen housing complex—and other residential areas.
Benton Berman, who directs Holden Hall, a similar program in Baltimore City, said his program is close to a Head Start program, and there has never been a problem—in 20 years—of the men interacting with those children.
The Head Start director, who attended the meeting, said Holden Hall had been "nothing but good neighbors" in her experience.
She said the residents volunteer at the program, keep an eye on its building and help clear debris when neighbors dump things at the center's outdoor trash bin.
Catholic Charities has already been awarded federal funding for the program, and has applied for a special exception through Baltimore County to be allowed to start it in the convent building.
O'Donnell told the crowd that she called Baltimore County Thursday, and a hearing date had not yet been set.
Edgemere residents said there are no employment opportunities in Edgemere, nor is there public transportation.
O'Donnell said she and her colleagues acknowledged those problems that the Edgemere location would present.
Berman said money has been allocated in the budget to provide van service and drivers to get men from the house to bus lines.
The program aims to provide employment services, with the hope of getting the men jobs so they can eventually provide their own income and secure private housing.
With a senior citizen population, that might not be possible with all the men, and some could live the rest of their lives at Hosanna House, the Catholic Charities officials said.
North Point Council President Harry Wujek asked how many people in the audience have children in the pre-school program, and about eight residents raised their hands.
Many spoke of their intention to pull their children from the pre-school if Hosanna House opens.
With a student population of 53, it wouldn't take many resignations to cripple the program, Wujek said.
Berman said every effort would be made to draw from local ZIP Codes first when filling the proposed house. The area from which to draw applicants would grow as needed to fill the house.
"We would have no problem coming up with 30 or 40 men to fill a 14-men house," he said.
Berman said he would invite local residents to sit on the interview board when interviewing prospective candidates for the program.
In response to a question about what kind of guest visitation would be allowed at the house, Berman said those kinds of rules have not yet been written. He also said he would be willing to consider community suggestions in that process.
He said, in response to another question, that there would be no curfews imposed upon residents; that they would be free to come and go as they please.
Men will have electronic swipe cards to enter and leave the building, so residents coming and going at odd hours would be noticed, officials said.
"By the way, this is America," Berman said. "Hosanna House will not be a jail or a prison—this will be their home."
One woman asked how many other programs were being considered for the site, or if this program would happen, "no matter what."
"At this point, none," O'Donnell said of other possible programs. "But it's not going to happen, no matter what."
O'Donnell said she and her colleagues would take this community input into consideration as they continue their talks about the project.
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« April 2008 Table of Contents
Lauren Kramer: Breading/battering techniques
Health consciousness triggers switch to more natural ingredients
By Lauren Kramer
April 01, 2008
With the trend toward better health, consumers are
increasingly inspecting the ingredient lists and nutritional
facts on seafood products. This health focus has led to change
in the breading and battering of seafood, from a modification
of the coating constituents to the removal of trans fat from
the coating systems.
"There's a demand for the use of more natural ingredients,"
says Paul Ludtke, director of R&D for coatings at Kerry
Ingredients in Beloit, Wis. "What we're doing is trying to get
rid of any ingredients with chemical sounding names and
replacing them with ingredients that are natural or would be
commonly found in their kitchen cupboard.
"Ingredients that are more than minimally processed are
removed and replaced with natural or minimally processed
ingredients," he adds. "For example, modified food starch is
replaced with corn starch; artificial colors and flavors are
replaced with natural ingredients that achieve the same
Kerry Foods supplies batters and breading to many major
seafood processors. In an attempt to differentiate themselves,
several processors have developed products that are encrusted
with ingredients that are different from the traditional wheat-
and corn-based coating systems. Such ingredients, found in both
retail and foodservice, include tortilla chip pieces, coconut,
potato pieces, nuts and soy nuts, dehydrated vegetables and
whole grains such as oats.
"The trend toward healthy products has led us to try to do
more breading and battering without the fat that comes with
it," says Ludtke. "We're working on technologies to make that
possible, but it's still a work in progress."
The entire breading and battering industry is moving in that
direction, according to Art Christianson, VP of operations at
High Liner Foods USA in Portsmouth, N.H.
"We've developed more un-battered and un-breaded products,
and our sauced and glazed products are growing faster than the
breaded and battered," he says. "But for those that are breaded
and battered, we've switched cooking oils to get away from
While the switch to trans fat-free oils has not increased
sales, "it's probably resulted in lost sales avoidance," says
Christianson. "The schools to which we sell are looking at salt
and fat content when they source their products."
Like Kerry Ingredients, High Liner has also seen a trend
toward more natural ingredients in the breading and battering
"With one customer, we switched to a multigrain breading
that has been very well received by the public, and we've
reduced a lot of the salt content," says Christianson. "But
it's still difficult to get an all-natural ingredient
High Liner's shift to the use of a spraying technology
rather than typical batter applicators has resulted in a more
consistent breading process that "allows you to use some of the
more advanced ingredients that restrict or reduce oil intake,"
Despite the switch to all-natural flavorings, Christianson
believes breaded and battered fish will continue to hold their
own in the marketplace.
"Their basic flavors deliver a product that tastes very
good, and people enjoy them," he says. "The issue is the health
aspects and obesity. I see the industry reshaping the breading
and battering process to the extent that in the future, they
won't be as calorie-heavy as they are today."
Good Harbor Fillet in Gloucester, Mass., has distinguished
itself as a leader in this respect with its development of
NutraPure™, a protein system that blocks the absorption of
cooking oil and prevents the escape of moisture in the frying
"We've been able to reduce the fat in our par-fried products
by 50 to 60 percent since our first commercial product run in
2004, without compromising the quality," says Bill Stride,
company president. "Everyone is trying to improve the
nutritionals in their product, but I don't know anyone who's
come up with anything close to ours. We're the only ones to
bring a highly reduced fat, par-fried product to the
Good Harbor has focused its sales of this product to
specific markets like the national school lunch program and the
military. The company has also started to work with more
natural coating systems that contain fewer invasive ingredients
like bleached wheat flour and monosodium glutamate, replacing
the latter with malic acid, and the former with unbleached
"That's been well received," says Stride. "It's allowing us
to market the items as more natural and healthy, and since our
emphasis is on improving the quality of ingredients, we've seen
sales increase, particularly in products we're targeting to the
Good Harbor has entered into a licensing agreement with
Weight Watchers to develop a line of reduced-fat, par-fried
seafood products under the Weight Watchers brand this year.
"That's going to raise the visibility of our technology
significantly," predicts Stride. "With obesity issues being
what they are today, you can't ignore fried foods that have 60
percent less fat while maintaining the quality and integrity of
Stride says NutraPure™ will become the standard for Good
Harbor product packed under its Healthy Catch™ brand and will
be present in the majority of its other branded products, too,
in the future. "It's hard to imagine this process not being
adopted across all product lines, and ultimately across all
proteins," he says.
Alimentario Adin in Italy is another company that has
created a healthier product through its non-frying batter.
Working in collaboration with the Institute of Agriculture
& Food Technology in Valencia, Spain, the company has
patented a non-frying batter called Adinmix that contains
methyl cellulose. The latter helps to lock out the fat during
the final cooking process adopted by the consumer, resulting in
battered food without the fat intake.
Icelandic USA also has focused on removing trans fat from
its coating systems. There has been a demand for ovenable
versus fried products in retail, says Ron Basch, the company's
VP of technical services.
"Converting to ovenable systems versus products intended for
frying has meant ingredient modifications to give the product
more crunch and color," says Basch. "I don't see fried products
disappearing from the marketplace, but ovenable ones are
becoming more popular."
The consumer focus on health has affected many seafood
companies, and Ambos Seafood, a distributor of shrimp, conch
and crab products in Savannah, Ga., is no exception. Since
1998, Drew Ambos, the company's VP and CFO, has seen the demand
for breaded shrimp shrink with every passing year.
"In the past, we did mostly breaded shrimp, but every year
the demand for marinated shrimp has increased until today it
constitutes 80 percent of our business," says Ambos.
Ambos Seafood goes back 150 years to Ambos' grandfather,
Henry F. Ambos, who created a method to bread and freeze
fantail shrimp. His company, Trade Winds, became America's
first to market and widely distribute frozen, pan-ready
"In the beginning the decreasing popularity of breaded
shrimp severely affected our profitability, because shrimp
constitutes 60 percent of our business," says Ambos. "But we
put more money into marketing our marinated shrimp and other
non-breaded products, and we were able to create other sales
pockets with our customers."
Twenty percent of Ambos' breaded shrimp is produced in China
because of the high cost of hand breading in the United
"It's cheaper in China as the raw material is already
there," explains Ambos. "By contrast, marinated or sautéed
shrimp is much more cost effective and can be done
Last year the company switched to trans fat-free oil,
launching a marketing campaign to increase consumer awareness
"I've not seen the success we were hoping to see," he says.
"Nothing has picked up in sales, but before we come out with a
conclusion we'll give this another year or so."
However, it's clear that Americans are increasingly health
conscious, and a company's failure to re-evaluate the
nutritional content of its breaded and battered seafood
products may give the competition an edge.
Contributing Editor Lauren Kramer lives in
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