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most prevalent during the upcoming flu season. Sometimes those predictions are off, making the vaccine less effective. However, the CDC is calling this year's shot a good match with the |
most prevalent forms of flu. "As of the first week in January 2013, most (91 percent) of the influenza viruses that have been analyzed at CDC are like the viruses |
included in the 2012-2013 influenza vaccine," the CDC's website states. Even when the shot is a good match, it doesn't always prevent flu. However, those who are vaccinated generally experience |
milder symptoms if they do get sick. "Findings from early data suggest that this season's vaccine so far is reducing the risk of having to go to the doctor for |
influenza by about 60 percent for vaccinated people," the CDC reports. There are other measures an individual can take to avoid getting sick, Herbert noted: Cover your mouth when you |
cough or sneeze; Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub; Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. |
Germs spread this way; Try to avoid close contact with sick people; Stay home if you are sick to avoid spreading flu to others. Those tips work for influenza as |
well as norovirus, which is also on the rise locally, Herbert said. She explained the difference between the two viruses is basically that influenza is a respiratory illness, while norovirus |
affects the gastrointestinal illness. While both can cause fever, headache or body aches, influenza sufferers may also experience cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose and fatigue (tiredness). Norovirus symptoms |
include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and stomach pain. Not everyone experiences the same symptoms with either disease, and influenza can cause vomiting or diarrhea, most commonly among children. Treatment for both |
viruses is typically just to stay home and rest. However, anyone who is concerned or has questions about their illness should contact their physician, Herbert said. Medical treatment is necessary |
in severe cases. For influenza, the warning signs include: Fast breathing or trouble breathing, Bluish or gray skin color, Not drinking enough fluids (not going to the bathroom or making |
as much urine as they normally do), Severe or persistent vomiting, Not waking up or not interacting, For children, being so irritable that he or she does not want to |
be held, Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough, Has other conditions (like heart or lung disease, diabetes, or asthma) and develops flu symptoms, including a |
fever and/or cough. For norovirus, the biggest risk is dehydration. Those suffering from the stomach ailment should drink plenty of liquids to replace fluid lost from throwing up and diarrhea. |
Symptoms of severe dehydration, which may require hospitalization to receive intravenous fluids, include: decrease in urination, dry mouth and throat, feeling dizzy when standing up. Children who are dehydrated may |
DO ALL prayers go to the same place, regardless of who is being addressed? In today’s world, it is often popular to assume so. The notion appeals to many who favor interfaith movements and want all religions to be acceptable, despite their differences. Is it possible, though, that the idea is untrue? The Bible teaches that a great many prayers are, in fact, misdirected. |
Back when the Bible was written, it was common for people to direct their prayers to carved images. Yet, God repeatedly warned against that practice. For example, Psalm 115:4-6 says about idols: “Ears they have, but they cannot hear.” The point is clear. Why pray to a god who will never hear you? A vivid Bible account enlarges on this point. The true prophet |
Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to pray to their god, after which Elijah would pray to his. Elijah said that the true God would answer and the false one would not. Accepting the challenge, the Baal prophets prayed long and hard, even with loud outcries After Elijah prayed, his God answered instantly, sending fire from heaven to consume an offering that Elijah had |
set out. What was the difference? There is one vital clue in Elijah’s prayer itself, recorded at 1 Kings 18:36, 37. It is a very short prayer Baal, meaning “owner” or “master,” was the god of the Canaanites, and there were many local versions of this deity. Jehovah, however, is a unique name, applying only to one Personage in all the universe. This God |
told his people: “I am Jehovah. That is my name; and to no one else shall I give my own glory.” Did Elijah’s prayer and the prayers of those Baal prophets go to the same place? Baal worship degraded people with ritual prostitution and even human sacrifice. In contrast, the worship of Jehovah ennobled his people, Israel, freeing them from such degrading practices. So |
think about it: If you specifically addressed a letter to a highly respected friend, would you expect it to be delivered to someone who did not bear your friend’s name and whose vile reputation contradicted everything your friend stood for? Surely not! Elijah’s challenge to the Baal prophets proved that all prayers do not go to the same place If you pray to Jehovah, |
is the God to whom Jesus prayed and to whom Jesus taught his followers to pray. Does the Bible instruct us to pray to Jesus, to Mary, to saints, or to angels? No So if you want your prayers to be heard by God, remember this Scriptural admonition: “Everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.” (Acts 2:21) But does Jehovah |
hear all prayers unconditionally? Or is there anything else we need to know if we want our prayers to Jehovah to be heard? ^ par. 9 Some religious traditions say that it is wrong to pronounce God’s personal name, even in prayer. However, that name appears some 7,000 times in the Bible’s original languages, in many cases within the prayers and psalms of faithful |
Introduction to Chinese The full meaning of Chinese words Remember that the full meaning of any Chinese word is resonant with cultural and historical meaning. The word 'wán' (2nd tone) |
玩 is usually and simply translated as, 'to play'. In English 'play' relates mainly to children. In Chinese it can refer to adults enjoying leisure activity. You must try to |
understand the full meaning of the word in context. That way you will remember it clearly and use it appropriately. Simon & Schusters "An Excellent Language Program we highly recommend" |
empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca Empire arose from the highlands of Peru sometime |
in early 13th century. From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered |
on the Andean mountain ranges, including large parts of modern Ecuador, Peru, western and south central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, north and north-central Chile, and southern Colombia. The official language of |
the empire was Quechua, although hundreds of local languages and dialects of Quechua were spoken. The Quechua name for the empire was Tawantinsuyu which can be translated as The Four |
Regions or The Four United Regions. Before the Quechua spelling reform it was written in Spanish as Tahuantinsuyo. Tawantin is a group of four things (tawa "four" with the suffix |
-ntin which names a group); suyu means "region" or "province". The empire was divided into four Suyus, whose corners met at the capital, Cusco (Qosqo). There were many local forms |
of worship, most of them concerning local sacred "Huacas", but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of Inti—the sun god—and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of |
Pachamama. The Incas identified their king as "child of the sun." The Incas had various creation myths. In one, Ticci Viracocha sent forth his four sons and four daughters (known |
as the Ayar brothers) from Pacaritambo to establish a village. Along the way, Sinchi Roca was born to Manco and Ocllo, and Sinchi Roca led them to the valley of |
Cusco where they founded their new village. There Manco became their leader and became known as Manco Capac. In another origin myth, the sun god Inti ordered Manco Capac and |
Mama Ocllo to emerge from the depths of Lake Titicaca. They were born in the lake and wandered north to establish the city of Cusco. They travelled by means of |
underground caves until they reached Cusco where they established Hurin Cusco, or the first dynasty of the Kingdom of Cusco. These myths were apparently transmitted via oral tradition until early |
Spanish colonists recorded them; however some scholars believe that they may have been recorded on quipus (Andean knotted string records). Andean civilization probably began c. 9500 BP. Based in the |
highlands of Peru, an area now referred to as the punas, the ancestors of the Incas probably began as a nomadic herding people. Geographical conditions resulted in a distinctive physical |
development characterized by a small stature and stocky build. Men averaged 1.57 m (5'2") and women averaged 1.45 m (4'9"). Because of the high altitudes, they had unique lung developments |
with almost one third greater capacity than other humans. The Incas had slower heart rates, blood volume of about 2 l (four pints) more than other humans, and double the |
amount of hemoglobin which transfers oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Archaeologists have found traces of permanent habitation as high as 5,300 m (17,500 feet) above |
sea level in the temperate zone of the high altiplanos. While the Conquistadors may have been intimidating in stature, the Inca surely had the advantage of coping with the extraordinary |
altitude. It seems that civilizations in this area before the Inca have left no written record, and therefore the Inca seem to appear from nowhere, but the Inca were a |
product of the past. They borrowed architecture, ceramics, and their empire-state government from previous cultures. The first Inca ruler was Manco Capac. There is no specific date for this ruler |
nor for the seven succeeding rulers, but the assumed dates are 1250 to 1438. The Inca originated at Cusco in the central highlands and expanded down the coast. The basis |
of the Inca's conquest is believed to be their organization. Their divine symbol was the sun god, their bureaucratic system consisted of a circle of officials belonging to eleven royal |
ayllus, and the line of descent continued through incestuous marriage with a sister who becomes the coya or "legal queen." The expansion of the Inca empire probably resulted from climatic |
conditions. Their resources in the highlands were limited to llama, alpaca, and vicuna. In 1445 Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (the ninth Inca) began conquest of the Titicaca regions. He incorporated and |
developed patterns of cultures already in existence, particularly that of the Chimu. Pachacuti had disciplined officers from his own elite household. Common soldiers were armed with bronze battle axes, wooden |
hafts with stone or bronze heads, slings, lances, throwing spears, bows and arrows, wooden shields covered with leather, cotton or cane helmets, and quilted armor. In each captured province Inca |
officials were superimposed upon the existing local officials. The loyalty of the captured province was assured by taking the sons of the officials hostage in Cusco. They made Quechua the |
official language and sun worship the official religion. They exploited the labor force in order to increase productivity and rapidly develop irrigation and terrace cultivation systems, and used guano deposits |
found on the coastal islands as fertilizer. The Inca social system required a severe authoritarian government backed by ritual and divine compulsion. They built temples and fortresses and were supreme |
in road building. The roads extended 3,250 miles from Quito in the north to Talca in Central Chile. These roads were vital to the maintenance of the empire, but ironically |
this network of highways made the Spanish conquest easier. There were road markers every topo which is 4.5 miles and rest houses or tambos every 12 miles for the Inca |
ruler and his retinue. Small post houses called chasquis every 5 miles housed the runners and were used for relaying dispatches at the rate of about 150 miles per day. |
Verbal dispatches were supplemented by quipu or knotted strings, probably involving a code based on numbers. These were the equivalent of the notched sticks of the old tally system used |
in Europe. Inca society was based on the idea of "equal footing." All men must work in order to live, and even the Inca nobles helped to set an example. |
Some archaeologists believe this was a façade supporting a two-caste system. The penalties for breaking the law were less severe for bureaucratic elites; this emphasizes the importance of the upper |
caste in the maintenance of the system. Kingdom of Cusco |“||We can assure your majesty that it is so beautiful and has such fine buildings that it would even be |
remarkable in Spain.||”| The Inca people began as a tribe in the Cusco area around the 12th century. Under the leadership of Manco Capac, they formed the small city-state of |
Cusco (Quechua Qusqu). In 1438 they began a far-reaching expansion under the command of Sapa Inca (paramount leader) Pachacuti, whose name literally meant "earth-shaker". During his reign, he and his |
son brought much of the Andes mountains (roughly modern Peru and Ecuador) under Inca control. Reorganization and formation Pachacuti reorganized the kingdom of Cusco into an empire, the Tahuantinsuyu, a |
federalist system which consisted of a central government with the Inca at its head and four provincial governments with strong leaders: Chinchasuyu (NW), Antisuyu (NE), Contisuyu (SW), and Collasuyu (SE). |
Pachacuti is also thought to have built Machu Picchu, either as a family home or as a summer retreat. Pachacuti sent spies to regions he wanted in his empire; they |
brought reports on the political organization, military might and wealth. He would then send messages to the leaders of these lands extolling the benefits of joining his empire, offering them |
presents of luxury goods such as high quality textiles, and promising that they would be materially richer as subject rulers of the Inca. Most accepted the rule of the Inca |
as a fait accompli and acquiesced peacefully. The ruler's children would then be brought to Cusco to be taught about Inca administration systems, then return to rule their native lands. |
This allowed the Inca to indoctrinate the former ruler's children into the Inca nobility, and, with luck, marry their daughters into families at various corners of the empire. Expansion and |
consolidation It was traditional for the Inca's son to lead the army; Pachacutec's son Túpac Inca Yupanqui began conquests to the north in 1463, and continued them as Inca after |
Pachucuti's death in 1471. His most important conquest was the Kingdom of Chimor, the Inca's only serious rival for the coast of Peru. Túpac Inca's empire stretched north into modern |
day Ecuador and Colombia. Túpac Inca's son Huayna Cápac added a small portion of land to the north in modern day Ecuador and in parts of Peru. At its height, |
the Inca Empire included Peru and Bolivia, most of what is now Ecuador, a large portion of what is today Chile north of Maule River. The advance south halted after |
the Battle of the Maule where they met massive resistance by the Mapuche tribes. The empire also extended into corners of Argentina and Colombia. However, most of the southern portion |
of the Inca empire, the portion denominated as Collasuyo, was desert wasteland. The Inca Empire was a patchwork of languages, cultures and peoples. The components of the empire were not |
all uniformly loyal, nor were the local cultures all fully integrated. The Inca empire as a whole had an economy based on exchange and taxation of luxury goods and labour. |
The following quote reflects a method of taxation: “For as is well known to all, not a single village of the highlands or the plains failed to pay the tribute |
levied on it by those who were in charge of these matters. There were even provinces where, when the natives alleged that they were unable to pay their tribute, the |
Inca ordered that each inhabitant should be obliged to turn in every four months a large quill full of live lice, which was the Inca’s way of teaching and accustoming |
them to pay tribute” Inca civil war and Spanish conquest Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro and his brothers explored south from Panama, reaching Inca territory by 1526. It was |
clear that they had reached a wealthy land with prospects of great treasure, and after one more expedition in 1529, Pizarro traveled to Spain and received royal approval to conquer |
the region and be its viceroy. This approval was received as detailed in the following quote: "In July 1529 the queen of Spain signed a charter allowing Pizarro to conquer |
the Incas. Pizarro was named governer and captain of all conquests in Peru, or New Castile, as the Spanish now called the land." When they returned to Peru in 1532, |
a war of the two brothers between Huayna Capac's sons Huascar and Atahualpa and unrest among newly-conquered territories—and perhaps more importantly, smallpox, which had spread from Central America—had considerably weakened |
the empire. Pizarro did not have a formidable force; with just 168 men, 1 cannon and 27 horses, he often needed to talk his way out of potential confrontations that |
could have easily wiped out his party. The Spanish horsemen, fully armored, had great technological superiority over the Inca forces. The traditional mode of battle in the Andes was a |
kind of siege warfare where large numbers of usually reluctant draftees were sent to overwhelm opponents. The Spaniards had developed one of the finest military machines in the premodern world, |
tactics learned in their centuries' long fight against Moorish kingdoms in Iberia. Along with this tactical and material superiority, the Spaniards also had acquired tens of thousands of native allies |
who sought to end the Inca control of their territories. Their first engagement was the Battle of Puná, near present-day Guayaquil, Ecuador, on the Pacific Coast; Pizarro then founded the |
city of Piura in July 1532. Hernando de Soto was sent inland to explore the interior and returned with an invitation to meet the Inca, Atahualpa, who had defeated his |
brother in the civil war and was resting at Cajamarca with his army of 80,000 troops. Pizarro and some of his men, most notably a friar named Vincente de Valverde, |
met with the Inca, who had brought only a small retinue. Through an interpreter Friar Vincente read the "Requerimiento" that demanded that he and his empire accept the yoke of |
King Charles I of Spain and convert to Christianity. Because of the language barrier and perhaps poor interpretation, Atahualpa became somewhat puzzled by the friar's description of Christian faith and |
was said to have not fully understood the envoy's intentions. After Atahualpa attempted further enquiry into the doctrines of the Christian faith under which Pizarro's envoy served, the Spanish became |
frustrated and impatient, attacking the Inca's retinue and capturing Atahualpa as hostage. Atahualpa offered the Spaniards enough gold to fill the room he was imprisoned in, and twice that amount |
of silver. The Inca fulfilled this ransom, but Pizarro deceived them, refusing to release the Inca afterwards. During Atahualpa's imprisonment Huascar was assassinated elsewhere. The Spaniards maintained that this was |
at Atahualpa's orders; this was used as one of the charges against Atahualpa when the Spaniards finally decided to put him to death, in August 1533. The Spanish installed Atahualpa's |
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