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baby will be male; the chance of no males in three births is twelve percent; the chance of no males in four births, six percent. Female infanticide continued to be |
an option, but not an attractive one — nor, in most modern jurisdictions, a legal one. Technology met the need by providing methods to determine the sex of a fetus. |
From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, amniocentesis was used for this purpose. Then high-quality second trimester ultrasound became widely available and took over the business of fetal sex determination. |
It caught on very fast all over East and South Asia, allowing women to abort female fetuses. The consequences showed up in last year's Chinese census, whose results are just |
now being published. They show an SRB of 118 males per 100 females. These unbalanced sex ratios and their social and demographic consequences form the subject matter of Mara Hvistendahl's |
book Unnatural Selection. An experienced journalist who has lived for many years in China, Ms. Hvistendahl covers the history, sociology, and science of sex-selective population control very comprehensively. She has |
organized each of her book's fifteen chapters around the experience of some significant individual: "The Bachelor," "The Parent," "The Economist," and so on. Her book's scope is by no means |
restricted to China: "The Student" of Chapter 6 is an Indian who commenced his medical training at a big hospital in Delhi in 1978, when sex-selective abortion was just taking |
off in India. We get a side trip to Albania, whose SRB is treated as a state secret, but seems to be at least 110. We also learn that sex-selective |
abortion is common among couples of Chinese, Korean, and Indian descent in the U.S.A. The subjects here are not just newly arrived immigrants, either. A research team from Columbia University |
found that: If anything, mothers who were U.S. citizens were slightly more likely to have sons. Sex selection, in other words, is not a tradition from the old country that |
easily dies out. South Korea makes a particularly interesting study. That country's governments were more foresighted than most in spotting the problems that might arise from sex-selective abortion. They outlawed |
the procedure in 1987, and followed up with rigorous enforcement. South Korea's SRB is now at the natural level. There is more here than meets the eye, though, as Ms. |
Hvistendahl uncovers. As elsewhere, sex selection was mainly resorted to for second or subsequent births. The SRB for first births is essentially normal worldwide. And first births is wellnigh all |
the births there are now in South Korea. Our author tells us that: "In 2005 Korea bottomed out with the lowest total fertility rate in the world, at an average |
of 1.08 children per woman." Things have since recovered somewhat. The 2011 estimate for total fertility rate is 1.23. That still makes for a fast-declining and aging population, though — |
surely not the ideal solution to the problem of sex ratio imbalances. What of the issue of angry young surplus males unable to find wives? Ms. Hvistendahl takes a less |
alarmist view than the one put forth by Hudson and den Boer in their 2004 book Bare Branches. That there is a causal relationship from excess males to political despotism, |
as those authors argued, is not well supported by historical evidence. As Hvistendahl notes: "Adolf Hitler came to power at a time when Germany had over two million more women |
than men as a result of the toll taken by World War I." (She might have added that the most authoritarian episode in recent Indian history was the 1975-77 "Emergency," |
instigated by a female Prime Minister at a time of normal adult sex ratios.) One feels intuitively that a surplus of sex-starved young men will generate trouble, but on the |
evidence so far, things may not go beyond domestic disorders of the containable kind. Ms. Hvistendahl seems to be of conventionally feminist-leftist opinions, but she has visible trouble keeping those |
opinions in order when writing about sex-ratio imbalances. She of course favors "reproductive rights," yet cannot but deplore the fact that those rights, extended to Third World peasant cultures, have |
led to a holocaust of female babies and the trafficking of young women from poorer places with low male-female ratios, to wealthier places with high ones. She works hard to |
develop a thesis about it all having been the fault of Western imperialists terrified of the breeding potential of poorer, darker peoples, in cahoots with opportunistic Third World dictators hungry |
for World Bank cash, but she cannot quite square the ideological circle. As she points out, abortion was frowned on throughout Asia until modern times. (Chinese people used to consider |
themselves one year old at birth: older Chinese still reckon their birthdays in this way.) Where would "reproductive rights" be in Asia if not for those meddling imperialists? These blemishes |
are minor, though, and probably inevitable in any book written by a college-educated young woman of our time. If you skip over them, you will find a wealth of research |
and much good narrative journalism in Unnatural Selection. The occasional feminist, leftist, and anti-American editorializing aside, this is a rich and valuable book on an important topic. David Hume would |
have admired Hvistendahl's respect for the data, even when it leads to conclusions that make hay of her prejudices. Rousseau would have applauded her egalitarian passions. Thomas Malthus, had he |
Birch: It is heavy, similar to maple, the grain is fine and close and the texture is even. It is adaptable to fine finishes, easy to work with and can be stained and finished to resemble many expensive and imported woods. Cherry: The heartwood of cherry varies from rich red |
to reddish brown and will darken with age and on exposure to light. In contrast, the sapwood is creamy white. The wood has a fine uniform, straight grain, satiny, smooth texture, and may naturally contain brown pith flecks. Mahogany: Comes in many different varieties. Strong and tough and uniform in |
structure with close moderately open grain. Possesses excellent physical and woodworking qualities. It ranges from a light pink to yellow, but on exposure to light and air, quickly turns to a reddish brown or sherry color. Maple: Hard or "sugar," maple is elastic and very strong. It is one of |
the hardest of the common woods. The grain is straight with occasional wavy, curly, bird's eye patterns that are much prized in veneers. The natural color is white to amber. Maple is sometimes finished to simulate cherry wood. Metal: Core construction is with metals. Oak or Ash: Oak is very |
tough, strong, and hard and can live up to the every day abuse furniture takes and it has a pronounced grain. White ash is a ring-porous, hardwood of great strength. It is used for furniture frames and hidden parts. Brown ash has strong grain character and is used for veneers. |
Painted: Can be solid wood or a wood like product that is painted. Pine: Soft wood that is white or pale yellow. Knotty pine is used extensively for paneling and plywood, cabinets and doors. Dries easily and does not shrink or swell much with changes in humidity. One of the |
least expensive woods for furniture production. Walnut: Because of its rich brown color, hardness and grain Walnut is a prized furniture and carving wood. Walnut burls are commonly used to created turned pieces along with veneers or thin Walnut slices. Other: Woods not classified above |
Joint use is a way to increase opportunities for children and adults to be more physically active. It refers to two or more entities — usually a school and a city or private organization — sharing indoor and outdoor spaces like gymnasiums, athletic fields and playgrounds. The concept is simple: share resources to keep ... |
of joint use agreements: A principal unlocks the school gate after hours so neighbors can shoot hoops or play ball on evenings and weekends. A school and swim team share a pool. A school opens its soccer field to a local league for weekend games. A YMCA opens its gym to the local PE teacher so students have a place |
to exercise. Why is joint use needed? The research is clear: the more active children are, the healthier they will be now and when they grow up. Yet certain places make physical activity harder instead of easier. Place matters since experts now know that where we live, work and play — the physical environment itself — ... |
degree, whether we will be healthy. Too often, kids find the gate to their school’s blacktop or basketball court locked after school hours, locking them out of opportunities to be active. Closing off recreational facilities after school leaves many children and families struggling to incorporate physical activity into ... |
park or be unable to afford exercise equipment or a gym membership. Joint use agreements can fix these problems. Joint use makes physical activity easier by providing kids and adults alike with safe, conveniently located and inviting places to exercise and play. Besides making sense from a health perspective, joint use... |
a community already has. Sharing existing space is cheaper and more efficient than duplicating the same facilities in other parts of the community. Where is joint use happening? Joint use is happening in cities throughout California and across the nation. In fact, the concept of joint use is not new. Schools have share... |
for over 200 years. Most states, including California, have policies to encourage or require schools to make facilities open to the public. In California, a 2008 survey conducted by the Center for Cities and Schools revealed that close to 60 percent of responding school districts already have some type of joint use par... |
it work? Joint use agreements facilitate a partnership between two or more entities, often school districts and local government agencies (e.g. parks and recreation or nonprofit organizations, to open up spaces such as playgrounds, athletic fields, pools, and gymnasiums to the community outside of school hours or to op... |
free. Joint use partnerships can be formal (based on a legal document) or informal (based on a handshake), but formal agreements offer increased protections for both the facility and the community group using the facility. Since school staffing can change over time, personal relationships are not the most secure way to... |
agreement can also help prevent problems related to maintenance, operations, liability, ownership or cost from arising. Maintenance– How can we keep the space in good condition? Joint use agreements can detail each partner’s goals to help ensure that school properties are respected and maintained. When school resources... |
needs to make repairs and who will address wear and tear to the property. Some school officials have noticed a decrease in vandalism since implementing a joint use agreement. They have noted that when the community shares school resources, they take pride and ownership in the space, which can help deter vandalism. Oper... |
will run the programs? These questions can be answered with joint use agreements so that partners know what they are responsible for. Liability–What if someone gets hurt? Experts say most schools’ existing liability insurance is sufficient to cover any liability issues associated with joint use. Joint use agreements ca... |
How does joint use affect how decisions are made about the property? Joint use agreements should outline a process for resolving any conflicts that may surface. They should also highlight how the partnership will benefit each party. Cost– How expensive will the partnership be? Joint use agreements can be used to define... |
MUSIC'S ROOTS RUN DEEP WITH PURPLE, PROFESSOR SAYS MANHATTAN -- Ask Steven Maxwell what the color purple means and his answer is simple: turn the volume to 11 and open your mind, because purple is rock and roll in its prime. "Artistically purple is a descriptive word, and I think |
that's why it's been adopted by some successful acts in the music world," said Maxwell, assistant professor of music at Kansas State University. In 2008 Maxwell created a class about the history of rock and roll, where he teaches about the genre's evolution and its relationship to history. "The really |
cool thing about rock and roll is that it ties into the American culture and really reflects what's going on in the country," Maxwell said. "It serves as the voice of the common person and has been associated with some important historical moments in the U.S. It was a part |
of that voice in the civil rights movement in the '60s and used in protest of the Vietnam War in the '70s." Rock music's history runs purple, with the color being adopted by some of the most influential musicians. "Think of the deeper concept of what a song like 'Purple |
Haze' means, especially when it first came out," Maxwell said. "The late '60s was all about looking at things differently. Jimi Hendrix perfectly captured that psychedelic era in the country, that time of opening the doors of perception in one's mind and really looking at something on a deeper level." |
He said the "purple" Hendrix is referring to is that new, unknown, almost analogous way of thinking. "Metaphorically, purple was a blend between the standardized 'primary colors' introduced by mainstream society in the 1950s and mid-1960s," Maxwell said. Other artists, such as Deep Purple and Prince, adopted the color ... |
of its ambiguity in the musical soundscape and pop culture. Deep Purple was one of the pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal, Maxwell said. The group was the first rock band to record with a full Concerto orchestra, as well as the first to turn the volume to 11, |
a feat earning them the title of the world's loudest band by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1972. And then there's the song "Smoke on the Water." "When that song came out it was such a fresh thing," Maxwell said. "No longer was the focus just on the |
lyrics. That guitar riff made the music as important as the words. Today most people don't remember the lyrics but they know that guitar lick." In 1984 Prince released "Purple Rain," an album that took the newly introduced music video to the next level as a full-length film. The album |
also introduced Prince's backing band. The Revolution, an apt title due to the soundtrack's revolutionary nature, Maxwell said. The album has since been seen as an avant-garde piece of work and has been named one of the greatest albums of all time by outlets like Time magazine, Rolling Stone, VH1 |
and others. "Purple's taking the softness of blue, the loudness of red, and meeting in the middle to make things a little ambiguous. It's a blend of those two primary colors and is therefore a different way of looking at things," he said. |
attacked. In Kamerun initial British attacks across the Nigerian border were repulsed by the Germans, but an amphibious assault on Douala seized that port on 27th September 1914. The allied commander, Brigadier General Sir C.M. Dobell CMG, DSO, then ordered |
two columns to move north and attack Susa and Yabasi (sometimes spelt as Jabassi.) Yabasi lay 50 miles (80 kilometres) up the Wuri River which was navigable. The Royal Navy was tasked with transporting the column to Yabasi. Column Commander |
was Brevet Colonel E.H. Gorges DSO, the Commandant of the West African Regiment. Colonel Gorges force consisted of a land party under Lieutenant Colonel E. Vaughan (Manchester Regiment and West African Regiment) who commanded: 2 sections of mountain artillery, one |
section each coming from the Sierra Leone Battery and the Gold Coast Battery, West African Frontier Force (WAFF). plus 2 machine guns from the West African Regiment 2 companies from the 1st Nigeria Half of the Pioneer Company of the |
Gold Coast medical detachments and 688 porters. the Royal Navy, under Commander the Honourable B.T.C.O. Freeman-Mitford, was a flotilla comprised of: Mole a dredger armed with a 6-inch gun. Dreadnought a lighter also mounting a 6-inch gun. Balbus a steam |
tug that towed the Dreadnought and carried three 1-pounder guns. boat from HMS Cumberland, armed with one 3-pounder gun and a machine gun. The steam launches Sokoto, Crocodile and Alligator, each armed with one machine gun. gun and detachment for |
employment on land. guns and crews came from HMS Challenger at The West African Regiment (WAR) in Sierra Leone was one of the Royal Navy’s most important harbours and bases, and it needed an effective garrison. White troops sent there |
were decimated by fever and had to be replaced by battalions of the West India Regiment from the Caribbean. Internal unrest in Sierra Leone caused the British to raise a local infantry regiment in the colony in 1896 titled the |
West African The WAR was an Imperial unit; that meant that its cost was born by the British War Office and not by colonial revenues raised in Sierra Leone. The regiment’s primary role was to defend the colony’s capital Freetown, |
but it was also available for operations anywhere in the world. The regiment raised twelve companies of infantrymen from tribes in the Sierra Leone interior. The unit strength was: 60 British seconded officers, 25 British seconded Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs) |
and 1,500 African rank and file. The regimental march was Rule Britannia. In the early days the regiment was dressed in a blue single-breasted tunic with five gilt buttons and standing collar, knee-length baggy blue breeches, a low red fez |
for headdress and a brown belt with two pouches. Boots and gaiters were not issued or used. The soldiers were armed with the .303-inch Lee Metford magazine rifle. By 1914 the soldiers were wearing a khaki flannel smock and calf-length |
breeches, but the men still fought in bare feet. The rifle in use was the Short Magazine Lee Enfield, and two machine guns had been issued to the regiment. In Kamerun the red fez was replaced by a green Kilmarnock |
hat and the belt and pouches were replaced with M08 web equipment. In pre-war days the WAR had deployed five companies into the interior of Sierra Leone, and had stationed the regimental headquarters and seven companies at Wilberforce, outside Freetown. |
The West African Regiment should not be confused with the Sierra Leone Battalion of the West African Frontier Force, which was a colonially-funded, directed and administered unit. The approach up the Wuri River up-river started on 7th October and was |
enlivened by canoe-loads of villagers trying to cling on to the vessels to get a free ride. Some of the canoe men climbed aboard the Royal Navy craft to search for removable objects, and they had to be ejected. As |
the long snake of vessels, led by the flagship Mole, passed Bosida the ‘King’ (head chief) of the region came aboard for a visit. He had been hiding in the bush for three days as the withdrawing Germans were hanging |
anyone in authority who was thought to favour the Allies. Left: The Wuri River at Yabasi As Nsake Fort was reached, 10 miles (16 kilometres) south of Yabasi, the flotilla came under enemy rifle fire. Machine gun and 3-pounder fire |
sprayed and bombarded the fort in reply. A company of WAR disembarked and seized the fort which was found to be empty. Local villagers advised that the enemy had quickly withdrawn up-river to Yabasi. Deployment into action at Yabasi defenders |
of Yabasi were the 1st (Depot) Company of the Schutztruppe supported by local policemen and local Europeans. Knowing that the British flotilla was on its way towards them they had planned a sound defence, and they wanted to fight. into |
the flotilla’s sight at 0800 hours on 7th October, and shortly afterwards the effects of the hot tropical sun began to be felt by the entire British column. The Mole and the Dreadnought bombarded Yabasi town whilst the troops disembarked |
on the west side of the river. The east side was thought to be too swampy and no British troops landed there. This was a big mistake. ordered Lieutenant Colonel Vaughan to advance with a main body of 4 companies |
and the machine gun section WAR, the Gold Coast pioneers and the Gold Coast mountain artillery. The remaining sub-units and the naval 12-pounder gun were held in reserve. At this time the flotilla noticed enemy movement on the east bank. |
A message was despatched to Colonel Gorges but it either did not arrive or was ignored. Lieutenant Colonel Vaughan was now ordered to seize a mound south of the town whilst Captain E. S. Brand (Royal Fusiliers and WAR) led |
a left-flanking attack (see sketch map). The mound was evacuated by the enemy and the British occupied it. machine gunners on both sides of the river opened fire on the flotilla and on the British troops on the mound. Enemy |
rounds hit the gun mountings on the vessels, forcing Commander Freeman-Mitford to withdraw his flotilla down-river out of range. This denied Colonel Gorges the naval gun fire support that he had been counting on. The tug Balbus had disobeyed orders |
and pushed her way too far upstream, and as she withdrew she ran aground on an island and had to be abandoned. The navy was now pre-occupied with emptying Balbus of her guns and other loose items. Things were going |
Disaster on the British left flank ordered the naval 12-pounder to be dragged onto the mound by the naval gun detachment and some accompanying Royal Marines. He then went to inspect his left flank attack, as it appeared to be |
The troops on the left flank were in disarray. They had advanced through a swamp to a river which could only be crossed by one bridge. German machine gunners had a clear field of fire from Yabasi and were knocking |
down anyone approaching the bridge. Captain Brand was dead along with Staff Sergeant (Armourer) Frederick C. Wade (Royal Army Ordnance Corps and WAR) and Colour Sergeant Hector McGuirk (King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and WAR). Lieutenant R.D. Bennett (Middlesex Regiment), |
the WAR Machine Gun Officer, was severely wounded. Twelve African soldiers had also been killed and 19 others wounded; many of these casualties were WAR machine gunners. On the river five British sailors had been Left: Captain Ernest Stanley Brand |
on the left flank were now either thrashing around in tall elephant grass or were unwilling to face the German machine guns. Tactical unity had been lost. A company of the 1st Nigeria Regiment was ordered to mount another flanking |
attack with the intention of going further to the west and getting onto ground beyond the bridge. But direction was lost in the thick, swampy bush and the Nigerians emerged behind the WAR instead of in front and to the |
left. Colonel Gorges now turned to what he perceived to be his trump card, the naval detachment on the mound; here he found the men prostrated with exhaustion. Having no real idea of the physical demands made by bush warfare, |
the naval detachment had thought that it could haul the 12-pounder gun and ammunition without the assistance of local porters. To compound this situation the detachment had been ordered into action wearing heavy marching order. The result was that although |
the 12-pounder was on the mound, the gunners were too exhausted to man it efficiently and the marines were too exhausted to fight forward. As dusk was now approaching a British retirement was ordered. The men re-embarked and the flotilla, |
less Balbus, sailed back down-river to Nsake for the night. It then returned to Douala. The second British attack on Yabasi ordered an immediate second assault on Yabasi. The WAR was rested and Colonel Gorges was given another column The |
Nigerian Mountain Artillery Battery (less one section) WAFF. from the Gold Coast Mountain Artillery Battalion The Nigeria Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel J.B. Cockburn (Royal Welch Fusiliers and Nigeria A Composite Battalion consisting of 2 companies of the Sierra Leone Battalion |
WAFF and 2 companies of the Gold Coast Regiment WAFF, under Lieutenant Colonel R.A. de B. Rose (Worcester Regiment and Gold Coast Regiment, WAFF). from the Pioneer Company of the Gold Medical detachments and 450 porters. flotilla, again under Commander |
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