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How Do You Know If Your Child Has Autism?
“Why doesn’t my child do that?” You think to yourself as you watch the other kids play together at the birthday party.
Your stomach twists into a knot and you try and dismiss it. You’ve already discussed your fears with your pediatrician. Children reach milestones at different times and he believes your child is fine. But you’re a Mom. Something is wrong! You can feel it in your gut!
You get on-line, looking for reassurance that your child is fine. The more you read the more confused you get. In some ways, your child appears to be developing typically. But in others he’s totally off base. As you search the strange behaviors your child sometimes exhibits, the word suddenly pops out at you…AUTISM.
The blood drains from your face and you feel like you’re about to faint. The pit of your stomach feels like lead. “It can’t be autism” you think to yourself. “He’s far too smart. Besides, don’t people with autism rock in a corner all day?”
Frantically, you begin searching on-line for the word “autism.” Other words keep appearing like “pdd-nos”, “Asperger syndrome” and “hyperlexia.” This is overwhelming. “A simple definition, that’s what I need,” you tell yourself.
And you find one. In fact, you find hundreds and they all say the same thing. Terms like “stereotyped or idiosyncratic language” and “persistent preoccupation with parts of objects.”
You stare blankly at the screen. What on earth does all this mean? Tears begin to roll down your cheeks. “I just want to know if my child is OK. Why can’t there be a simple definition? Why isn’t there something that will tell me right away if my child has autism?”
Every child is unique but we’ll do our best to help. The following descriptions portray some COMMON behaviors in children on the spectrum. It’s unlikely that your child will display all of these. However, if you’re concerned enough to be reading this and you can relate to some of the descriptions below, I recommend you get an evaluation right away!
YOUR CHILD AT PLAY
Your child has an unusual method of play. Toys are played with in the same way and there is very little imaginative play. Your child might repeatedly make his train go around the track and then crash into a tree. Any suggestions to alter this are usually rejected. Even though your house might resemble a mini Toys ‘R Us, it strikes you as odd that your child prefers spinning the stroller wheels to all his toys. You might also find that he spends large amounts of time lining things up. Cars go next to each other, side by side. Crayons are lined up together, sometimes in size order. Stuffed animals are arranged in a row. Disturbing any of his arrangements can cause extreme distress and your child will insist on fixing it.
Your child is happily playing with his train. While a typical child will constantly turn around to see what you think, your child is interested in his toy, not your reaction. Typical children constantly bring you things, point to things and show you things. Children on the autism spectrum might bring you a toy because they want you to wind it up constantly, but they’re not interested in what you think about it. They are simply getting their needs met so they can continue their game.
Children with autism typically have delayed speech. They might not be verbal at all, saying very few words and making sounds. Some children might have a lot of words but not use them in a typical manner. You might find your child “echoing” words that you say. He might repeat lines from movies over and over. He might label objects but not string words together. For example he might say words like “juice” but not “I want juice.” Your child might understand exactly what you are saying but isn’t able to express what he wants. He might drag you to the fridge if he’s thirsty rather than ask you for juice. He may get pronouns mixed up and when asked a question like “Are you hungry?” might respond by saying “You’re hungry”” rather than “Yes, I’m hungry.”
YOUR CHILD PAYS ATTENTION TO SOUNDS
While most people don’t pay attention to the number of airplanes that fly over their house every day, your child might notice every one of them. He is either fascinated by the noise or he blocks his ears because it’s too loud. You’ve also noticed that he has selective hearing. He often doesn’t seem to hear his name or look up when you call him.
There are many more common symptoms that will help you detect if your child has autism. | <urn:uuid:84383af3-0959-4878-af0e-1775b46cd173> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://healthytcm.com/how-do-you-know-if-your-child-has-autism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549423629.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20170721002112-20170721022112-00325.warc.gz | en | 0.963485 | 1,084 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Learn About The Different Types Of Eating Disorders In The Elderly And What You Need To Know About The Causes And Treatment
Are you concerned about your loved one’s appetite? Are you aware of eating disorders in the elderly? Learn here what you need to know from Pegasus senior care professionals in Monrovia and elsewhere.
Three primary eating disorders are anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. Traditionally, the illnesses were thought to be diseases of young women. Eating disorders are now recognized as affecting all:
- Socioeconomic levels
Many experts believe that most eating disorders result from the stress of trying to control something. The stress is caused by different factors for each individual. What individuals eat is sometimes the only thing they can control.
As individuals age, they are often coping with the death of friends, family, or their spouse. They are also facing stressors such as an empty nest, retirement, financial hardship, disability, and other medical issues. They may also be coping with downsizing and loss of independence.
Anorexia Is One Of Several Disorders
Individuals with anorexia are usually very thin but obsessed with losing more weight. They go to extreme lengths to control their weight by severely limiting how much they eat. They may also exercise excessively, use laxatives and diet pills, and vomit after eating.
Those with bulimia often don’t appear severely underweight. They typically go without eating, then binge by eating huge amounts of food. They immediately purge themselves with laxatives or vomiting, as well as sometimes exercising excessively.
A binge-eater may be normal weight or even overweight. They eat large amounts of food, often in secret. They typically don’t purge afterward.
Some individuals suffer from rumination, in which what they’ve eaten is regurgitated. The regurgitation is involuntary and not forced by gagging themselves. They may swallow the food or spit it out.
Avoidance disorder refers to individuals who aren’t interested in eating. Some are afraid of choking. Others dislike the smell, appearance, or taste of food.
All of the eating disorders, except binge eating, result in weight loss. Individuals with rumination and avoidance disorders aren’t trying to lose weight.
As anorexia is the most common eating disorder, excessive thinness is an obvious symptom. Additional symptoms of anorexia, bulimia, or binging include:
- Changes in behavior that include running to the bathroom after eating
- Dental issues
- Excessive hair loss
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Overuse of laxatives or diet pills
- Preferring to eat alone
- Sensitivity to the cold
Not everyone has all the symptoms, and your loved one may have other symptoms related to their relationship with food.
Not Eating Can Result From A Physical Condition
It’s important to keep in mind that not every problem with food is an eating disorder. Other conditions include:
- Difficulty chewing, due to ill-fitting dentures, missing teeth, painful cavities or gums
- Decreased production of saliva and dry mouth
- Inability to shop or prepare food
- Impaired ability to swallow
- Indigestion, reflux, or other gastrointestinal issues that make eating unpleasant or painful
- Loss of ability to taste or smell
- Medications that either destroy the appetite or make food taste “off”
Some may refuse food as a protest against the person preparing it. Others reject food as a way of getting attention. In some cases, individuals may refuse to eat as a method of “silent suicide” to escape their feelings or situation.
The Consequences Of Not Eating Are Serious
A lack of nutrition, whether from an eating disorder or another condition, can have serious consequences. These include:
- Cardiovascular problems
- Digestive difficulties
- Imbalances in electrolytes or hormones
- Impaired immune system
- Kidney failure
- Loss of muscle strength
Aside from their inherent seriousness, many of these conditions also lead to weakness that results in falls.
Observing your loved one’s eating habits is the best way to discover if there’s a problem. Understand that they may be embarrassed at some conditions, such as shaking, that makes eating difficult. Or they may know they have an eating disorder and feel ashamed about it.
You may need to look in the refrigerator or pantry to see if they even have food. Participate in meal preparation to evaluate their abilities to choose and cook food. Patience is your friend.
Treatment is dependent on the cause of poor eating habits. A visit with a healthcare provider is essential to rule out or treat medical conditions. A dietitian can teach how to establish and maintain healthy eating habits.
Your loved one may need psychotherapy. They may undergo cognitive behavioral therapy, which typically teaches them healthy stress management.
No medication will cure an eating disorder. Medications can treat the symptoms. For example, an antidepressant helps with the depression that is both a cause and a result of eating disorders.
If an eating disorder has put your loved one in a life-threatening condition, hospitalization may be the only answer. Depending on how ill your loved one is, outpatient care may be available.
Pegasus is a licensed Home Care Organization and a Joint Commission Accredited Home Health Care organization. Pegasus senior care in Monrovia and our other locations is designed to keep your loved one safe at home. We’re here to help, regardless of the level of care needed. | <urn:uuid:601c5bc8-1e47-4003-b306-89df5a46fce4> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://pegasushomecare.com/services/pegasus-personal-care/ways-personal-care-can-help/eating-disorders-in-the-elderly-what-you-need-to-know/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296948900.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20230328232645-20230329022645-00251.warc.gz | en | 0.957666 | 1,200 | 3.234375 | 3 |
BY GEORGE D. WOLF
The nonviolent revolution in Egypt that prompted President Hosni Mubarak to resign after 18 days of protest of his people has, once again, exposed the conflict between idealism and pragmatism in American diplomacy. Historically, our idealism inspires people around the globe, but our pragmatic approach gives money to dictators.
America’s greatest idealism is expressed in the rights of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence: natural rights, rightful government and the right of revolution. Much to the surprise of many of us, these rights declare that Jefferson was writing for humanity, not just Americans.
Natural rights emanate from a higher power. They are “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Jefferson wrote that rightful government is instituted “to secure these rights,” and that, “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Finally, and too often ignored, is the right of revolution.
Jefferson stated clearly that “whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.” The right of revolution is the court of last resort when governments fail to fulfill their intended purpose, to serve the people.
Believe it or not, take the right of revolution out of the context of the Declaration and many, if not most, American students will reject it. I have spent my adult years teaching those rights. Every American needs to be familiar with them as we become witnesses to history in the Egyptian revolution.
If you want to know why Abraham Lincoln was the greatest American president, it was simply because, as he said in Independence Hall on Washington’s birthday in 1861, “I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. ... I have often inquired of myself what great principle it was that kept this confederacy so long together. ... It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance.”
In his first inaugural, he asserted that “this country, with its institutions belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.”
If you want to know where the Egyptians, particularly the younger ones, got the idea in this interconnected Internet world, there you are. And Lincoln adds, “Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world?”
We have spent a fortune denying those rights with dictators such as Saddam Hussein, Ben Ali, Assad Khaddafi, Anwar Sadat and Gamal Abdel Nasser. And, that’s not to mention every petty little Caribbean tyrant who bankrupted us more than financially.
Why? Because we insist, pragmatically, on dealing with whoever is in charge, regardless of how he got there or how he governs. Leadership has to deal with de facto rulers, but it doesn’t have to pay them and supply them. Unfortunately, President Barack Obama has followed the trend and been too comfortable with the autocracies and too ready to bargain with and placate the dictators.
In this age of democratic governments, citizen armies and Internet communication, the driving force is not the whim of a king or the calculation of the moneyed class. It is public opinion, whatever the evidence or the feelings behind it. The trouble is that diplomacy can’t keep up with the people. Mubarak resigned once he recognized that fact.
Our pragmatic approach tends to get us deeper and deeper on the wrong side. Our heritage is with the people. We believe, as Lincoln said at Gettysburg, in “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Furthermore, we need to recognize that fact in our own muddling democracy.
GEORGE D. WOLF is former dean of faculty and current professor emeritus of American studies at Penn State Harrisburg. | <urn:uuid:6c396e83-6b3f-4a53-a7f4-6c0869a5c7b7> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2011/02/echoes_of_early_american_ideal.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049278244.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002118-00157-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.97161 | 900 | 2.671875 | 3 |
The Scout we were driving across the treeless landscape was coated with dust so thick you couldn't read the decal identifying us as scientists from a Forest Service Research Station. Had the decal been legible, an observer might have thought we were lost.
We weren't, but the forest that my work-partner Doug and I were heading for was, at least by name: The Lost Forest, a small stand of ponderosa pine and western juniper in the high desert, 50 dusty miles northeast of Silver Lake, Ore.
Unlike the sky islands of the Southwestern deserts, the Lost Forest is the same elevation as the desert around it, and there's no nearby water, spring or oozing seep. Clouding the issue more, the annual precipitation here is less than 10 inches, about half the minimum required by ponderosa pine in most of its range.
But there is one major difference: Underneath the Lost Forest, some 3.8 miles long by 1.5 miles wide, sits an island of coarse sand unlike the surrounding sea of fine-textured and clay-rich soil that holds moisture near the surface during the early part of the growing season. Sagebrush and its associates—rabbitbrush, wheat grass, fescue and other bunchgrasses—thrive in this medium, but they fight a losing battle in sandy soil where moisture quickly dissipates. What's not well understood is how pines can germinate in this arid setting and survive until their roots reach the moist depths, and then grow into large, old trees.
We visited the Lost Forest to find a plot established 10 years earlier by researchers as part of a nationwide program to keep up-to-date information on our forests. Global positioning systems hadn't been perfected a decade ago, so we located the plot the old-fashioned way—we followed directions written by previous visitors and consulted aerial photos.
As we approached an edge of the Lost Forest, I saw that a large pine had blown down. I climbed up on its huge root and started walking along the trunk, when suddenly there was a commotion beneath the tree at the spot where I stood. Out jumped a bobcat, which ran leaping and dodging through fallen-tree debris, then, like a stray cat spooked from a porch, it stopped and looked back at me. Except for the fluffy ruffs of its cheeks, it looked like my cat Barney, golden-tawny with white chin and lower cheeks, and brownish "worry lines" over the eyes. It ran off, giving me a broadside view of its mottled back and flank, before disappearing in the pines.
I stood on the massive fallen tree in the bright sunshine and let the experience soak in. Wildlife encounters are one of the perks of this job, making up for sub-modest pay, long hours with no overtime, bug bites, bruises, scrapes—you name it.
Once we found the forest boundaries, our work began. We had to account for everything that had been previously recorded and then record everything now present. That would include insects, what little understory vegetation there was, snags and downed trees. New tree diameter measurements showed remarkably high growth rates for an area of such aridity. Height growth was not so great, resulting in exaggerated inverted-cone-shaped tree trunks—the kind you see in harsh environments such as the famous cliff-top Jeffrey pines in Yosemite National Park.
We noted a large number of woodrat nests, usually in bushy junipers. Woodrats—aka packrats—are a main entrée of desert bobcats and are also relished by coyotes, hawks, eagles and owls. In one nest I saw the metallic glint of a pop-top, the old kind that came off the can. I reached for it, then jerked back at the sight of a moving reptilian body. Rattlesnakes often occupy woodrat nests, but this particular tenant looked like a western fence lizard. Or maybe a sagebrush lizard—they differ in minor ways you can only observe by catching a lizard and turning it upside down. This one got away before we could try.
As we worked, a raven followed us around making gargling sounds, while high overhead a red-tailed hawk repeatedly cried shhhhrrrreeeeee. Turkey vultures also circled overhead—first two, and then several—a cheerful reminder that nothing in nature goes to waste, including us, if we didn't make it out of the Lost Forest.
The single café back in Silver Lake was closed by the time we got in that night. Doug and I dined on sardines and crackers and split an orange and a granola bar. Our experience in the Lost Forest was worth missing a cooked meal, though we made sure to be at the café as soon as it opened the next morning.
Chuck Bolsinger is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). He writes in Boring, Oregon. | <urn:uuid:1d2fbdf7-88b8-4a50-94cb-f78ee44048a7> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/backcountry-basics/Content?oid=1156879 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218187144.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212947-00077-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966031 | 1,037 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Memories that have been “lost” as a result of amnesia can be recalled by activating brain cells with light.
In a paper published today in the journal Science, researchers at MIT reveal that they were able to reactivate memories that could not otherwise be retrieved, using a technology known as optogenetics.
The finding answers a fiercely debated question in neuroscience as to the nature of amnesia, according to Susumu Tonegawa, the Picower Professor in MIT’s Department of Biology and director of the RIKEN-MIT Center at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, who directed the research by lead authors Tomas Ryan, Dheeraj Roy, and Michelle Pignatelli.
Neuroscience researchers have for many years debated whether retrograde amnesia — which follows traumatic injury, stress, or diseases such as Alzheimer’s — is caused by damage to specific brain cells, meaning a memory cannot be stored, or if access to that memory is somehow blocked, preventing its recall.
“The majority of researchers have favored the storage theory, but we have shown in this paper that this majority theory is probably wrong,” Tonegawa says. “Amnesia is a problem of retrieval impairment.”
Memory researchers have previously speculated that somewhere in the brain network is a population of neurons that are activated during the process of acquiring a memory, causing enduring physical or chemical changes.
If these groups of neurons are subsequently reactivated by a trigger such as a particular sight or smell, for example, the entire memory is recalled. These neurons are known as “memory engram cells.”
In 2012 Tonegawa’s group used optogenetics — in which proteins are added to neurons to allow them to be activated with light — to demonstrate for the first time that such a population of neurons does indeed exist in an area of the brain called the hippocampus.
However, until now no one has been able to show that these groups of neurons do undergo enduring chemical changes, in a process known as memory consolidation. One such change, known as “long-term potentiation” (LTP), involves the strengthening of synapses, the structures that allow groups of neurons to send signals to each other, as a result of learning and experience.
To find out if these chemical changes do indeed take place, the researchers first identified a group of engram cells in the hippocampus that, when activated using optogenetic tools, were able to express a memory.
When they then recorded the activity of this particular group of cells, they found that the synapses connecting them had been strengthened. “We were able to demonstrate for the first time that these specific cells — a small group of cells in the hippocampus — had undergone this augmentation of synaptic strength,” Tonegawa says.
The researchers then attempted to discover what happens to memories without this consolidation process. By administering a compound called anisomycin, which blocks protein synthesis within neurons, immediately after mice had formed a new memory, the researchers were able to prevent the synapses from strengthening.
When they returned one day later and attempted to reactivate the memory using an emotional trigger, they could find no trace of it. “So even though the engram cells are there, without protein synthesis those cell synapses are not strengthened, and the memory is lost,” Tonegawa says.
But startlingly, when the researchers then reactivated the protein synthesis-blocked engram cells using optogenetic tools, they found that the mice exhibited all the signs of recalling the memory in full.
“If you test memory recall with natural recall triggers in an anisomycin-treated animal, it will be amnesiac, you cannot induce memory recall,” Tonegawa says. “But if you go directly to the putative engram-bearing cells and activate them with light, you can restore the memory, despite the fact that there has been no LTP.”
Further studies carried out by Tonegawa’s group demonstrated that memories are stored not in synapses strengthened by protein synthesis in individual engram cells, but in a circuit, or “pathway” of multiple groups of engram cells and the connections between them.
“We are proposing a new concept, in which there is an engram cell ensemble pathway, or circuit, for each memory,” he says. “This circuit encompasses multiple brain areas and the engram cell ensembles in these areas are connected specifically for a particular memory.”
The research dissociates the mechanisms used in memory storage from those of memory retrieval, according to Ryan. “The strengthening of engram synapses is crucial for the brain’s ability to access or retrieve those specific memories, while the connectivity pathways between engram cells allows the encoding and storage of the memory information itself,” he says.
Changes in synaptic strength and in spine properties have long been associated with learning and memory, according to Alcino Silva, director of the Integrative Center for Learning and Memory at the University of California at Los Angeles. “This groundbreaking paper suggests that these changes may not be as critical for memory as once thought, since under certain conditions, it seems to be possible to disrupt these changes and still preserve memory,” he says. “Instead, it appears that these changes may be needed for memory retrieval, a mysterious process that has so far evaded neuroscientists.” | <urn:uuid:83701658-60f9-4d87-9891-a2dda429cbb7> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | http://news.mit.edu/2015/optogenetics-find-lost-memories-0528 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370505359.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20200401003422-20200401033422-00209.warc.gz | en | 0.952402 | 1,134 | 3.734375 | 4 |
Image left: Expedition 9 Flight Engineer Mike Fincke, left, and Commander Gennady Padalka practice outfitting a spacewalking suit during preflight training.
NASA Astronaut Takes a Step Toward Mars
Expedition 9 Flight Engineer Mike Fincke got his first space assignment just a few weeks after President Bush announced the Vision for Space Exploration. So it's not surprising that the future of human space flight would be on Fincke's mind as he prepares for his upcoming flight.
In a recent interview, Fincke talked about the International Space Station's role in the Vision for Space Exploration.
"Going back to the moon, going off to Mars -- how exciting!" he said. "And the International Space Station is a perfect stepping-stone for us to perfect the technology, to perfect the operational tempo ... that we need in order to make those long-duration missions successful."
Fincke and his crewmate -- Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka of Russia's Federal Space Agency -- are scheduled to launch in April for a six-month mission aboard the Space Station.
"Our food will be shipped up to us, and some water and some air, and the rest of it is up to the systems on board to take care of us and so that we can live in space away from the comforts of Earth for such a long time," Fincke said. "That's the kind of experience that we need ... so that we can have bases on the moon and beyond."
Focusing on the Future
Image right: Expedition 9 Flight Engineer Mike Fincke practices using the hardware for the EXPRESS Physics Colloids in Space experiment. He is working in a mockup of the International Space Station's Destiny Laboratory.
As part of a two-person crew, Fincke will wear several hats while living aboard the Station. As the flight engineer, he will be responsible for managing, maintaining and repairing Station systems. He is also the NASA ISS science officer, a role that gives him a chance to prepare for future moon and Mars missions.
"When I received this assignment," he said, "I immediately went and asked what the science program was going to be, and I was amazed how many experiments we have ... There is a lot of science happening.
"One of the experiments [deals with] the effect of radiation that we experience in space ... What is the effect on the human cells and our basic fundamental genetic material? It sounds scary, but actually it's something that we're looking into to see the effects of long-duration space flight on people."
Another effect of long-duration flight on the human body is bone loss, a condition similar to osteoporosis. In addition to a rigorous exercise regimen, Expedition 9 will experiment with a medicine that might counteract the effects of bone loss.
"This is important for people who are going to be flying to Mars, and, if it takes three years, to understand the phenomenon and how to counteract it."
He credits NASA mission planners with making the most of a two-person crew: "We would like to have more people aboard the International Space Station, but the two people can do a good job, and there are a lot of people on the ground at the Mission Control Center and also in our Payload Operations Center.
"They're working very diligently on the schedules to make sure that we have time to not just eat and breathe and work aboard the International Space Station, but also to do our primary mission, and that's to look forward to the next step of going to the moon and Mars.
"And that means we need to do our science and do our payloads and make sure it's done right."
Crawling Around on the Outside
The high points of the mission for Fincke may come in the form of two scheduled spacewalks.
"Only recently did I actually start to think how really exciting that is, to be alone in the cosmos without a spacecraft around me, except for this suit that was put together by human hands. It's made out of material and a little bit of metal and a lot of plastic, and yet we'll be able to look out there on our planet below and the stars in the sky and really experience a true space flight.
"And it's an honor as a rookie to get a chance to perform two spacewalks, and it's an honor at all to be able to fly on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, and to work in a Russian spacesuit. My instructors spent a lot of time with me, and I'm glad I've earned their confidence ... to get a chance to do that."
+ Read the complete interview transcript
+ Expedition 9 Preflight Gallery | <urn:uuid:7aced2ee-2054-40b1-b48a-317b3fa9a4b8> | CC-MAIN-2014-41 | http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/fincke_interview.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-41/segments/1410657135558.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20140914011215-00338-ip-10-234-18-248.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964863 | 968 | 3 | 3 |
Hrita, Hṛta, Hrīta: 13 definitions
Hrita means something in Hinduism, Sanskrit, Marathi, Hindi. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.
The Sanskrit term Hṛta can be transliterated into English as Hrta or Hrita, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).
Alternative spellings of this word include Hrat.
Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology)Source: Wisdom Library: Brihat Samhita by Varahamihira
Hṛta (हृत) means “to take away” (i.e., to deprive others of their property), according to the Bṛhatsaṃhitā (chapter 8), an encyclopedic Sanskrit work written by Varāhamihira mainly focusing on the science of ancient Indian astronomy astronomy (Jyotiṣa).—Accordingly, “In the twelvth yuga sacred to god Bhāga (Sun), the first year is known as Dundubhi; the crops will thrive well. [...] The last year of the last yuga is Kṣaya; there will then be much rain in the land; the Brāhmins will be afflicted with fear and farmers will prosper. The Vaiśyas and Śūdras will be happy as also persons that deprive others of their property [i.e., para-sva-hṛta]. Thus have been described briefly the effects of the sixty years of Jupiter’s cycle”.
Jyotisha (ज्योतिष, jyotiṣa or jyotish) refers to ‘astronomy’ or “Vedic astrology” and represents the fifth of the six Vedangas (additional sciences to be studied along with the Vedas). Jyotisha concerns itself with the study and prediction of the movements of celestial bodies, in order to calculate the auspicious time for rituals and ceremonies.
Pancaratra (worship of Nārāyaṇa)Source: Universität Wien: Sudarśana's Worship at the Royal Court According to the Ahirbudhnyasaṃhitā
Hṛta (हृत) refers to “having been deprived (of one’s kingdom)”, according to the Ahirbudhnyasaṃhitā, belonging to the Pāñcarātra tradition which deals with theology, rituals, iconography, narrative mythology and others.—Accordingly, “One desirous of a kingdom, one who has been deprived of it (hṛta-rājya) or one conquered by [other] rulers, after having paid respect with large masses of wealth to the supreme Guru, the giver of Sudarśana’s Yantra, considering [him] superior to all, should propitiate God Nārāyaṇa - who has large eyes like lotuses, is [of] dark [complexion], clad in a yellow garment, adorned with all ornaments and with four arms - following the rules given by the teacher. [...]”.
Pancaratra (पाञ्चरात्र, pāñcarātra) represents a tradition of Hinduism where Narayana is revered and worshipped. Closeley related to Vaishnavism, the Pancaratra literature includes various Agamas and tantras incorporating many Vaishnava philosophies.
Languages of India and abroad
Marathi-English dictionarySource: DDSA: The Molesworth Marathi and English Dictionary
hṛta (हृत).—p S Borne off; taken away; seized from.Source: DDSA: The Aryabhusan school dictionary, Marathi-English
hṛta (हृत).—p Borne off; seized from.
Marathi is an Indo-European language having over 70 million native speakers people in (predominantly) Maharashtra India. Marathi, like many other Indo-Aryan languages, evolved from early forms of Prakrit, which itself is a subset of Sanskrit, one of the most ancient languages of the world.
Sanskrit dictionarySource: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary
Hṛta (हृत).—p. p. [hṛ-kta]
1) Taken or carried away.
5) Divided; see हृ (hṛ).
-tam A portion, share.
--- OR ---
Hrīta (ह्रीत).—p. p.
1) Ashamed; तत्रैव दुश्चरितमद्य निवेदयन्ती ह्रीणासि पापहृदये न सखीजनेऽस्मिन् (tatraiva duścaritamadya nivedayantī hrīṇāsi pāpahṛdaye na sakhījane'smin) Ve.2.12; ह्रीतमिव नभसि वीतमले न विराजते स्म वपुरंशुमालिनः (hrītamiva nabhasi vītamale na virājate sma vapuraṃśumālinaḥ) Kirātārjunīya 12.13.
See also (synonyms): hrīṇa.Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary
(-taḥ-tā-taṃ) 1. Taken, taken away. 2. Seized. 3. Accepted. 4. Captivated. 5. Divided. E. hṛ to take, kta aff.
--- OR ---
(-taḥ-tā-taṃ) 1. Ashamed, modest, bashful. 2. Divided, portioned. 3. Taken, conveyed. n.
(-taṃ) A portion, a share. E. hrī to be ashamed, kta aff., and the vowel made short; or hṛ to take, aff. kta, and ri substituted for ṛ .
--- OR ---
(-taḥ-tā-taṃ) Ashamed, bashful, modest. E. hrī to be ashamed, aff. kta.Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary
Hṛta (हृत).—[adjective] held, carried, seized, taken etc.; often °— robbed or bereft of, without.Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary
1) Hṛta (हृत):—[from hṛ] mfn. taken, taken away, seized (often [in the beginning of a compound] = ‘deprived or bereft of’, ‘having lost’, ‘-less’)
2) [v.s. ...] ravished, charmed, fascinated, [Ratnāvalī]
3) [v.s. ...] n. a portion, share, [Monier-Williams’ Sanskrit-English Dictionary]
4) Hrita (ह्रित):—[wrong reading] for hṛta, or hrīta.
5) Hrīta (ह्रीत):—[from hrī] mfn. ashamed, modest, shy, timid, [Mahābhārata; Kathāsaritsāgara]Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary
1) Hṛta (हृत):—[(taḥ-tā-taṃ) p.] Seized, accepted, carried off.
2) Hrita (ह्रित):—[(taḥ-tā-taṃ) a.] Ashamed, modest; portioned; taken. n. A share or portion.
3) Hrīta (ह्रीत):—[(taḥ-tā-taṃ) a. Idem.]Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi dictionary (S)
[Sanskrit to German]
Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.
Hindi dictionarySource: DDSA: A practical Hindi-English dictionary
Hṛta (हृत) [Also spelled hrat]:—(a) taken away, stolen, pilfered; ~[jñāna] out of wits, stupefied; ~[sarvasva] rendered penniless, who has lost his all.
Kannada-English dictionarySource: Alar: Kannada-English corpus
1) [noun] taken; taken away.
2) [noun] snatched; plundered; seized.
--- OR ---
1) [adjective] that which is taken or taken away.
2) [adjective] a portion; a share.
3) [adjective] he who is drawn towards, attracted, charmed.
--- OR ---
Hrīta (ಹ್ರೀತ):—[adjective] = ಹ್ರೀಣ [hrina]1.
--- OR ---
Hrīta (ಹ್ರೀತ):—[noun] = ಹ್ರೀಣ [hrina]2.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Starts with (+6): Hritacandra, Hritadara, Hritadhana, Hritadhikara, Hritadravya, Hritaishvarya, Hritajnana, Hritamana, Hritamanasa, Hritamukha, Hritamukhin, Hritapragraha-amatya, Hritaprasada, Hritarajya, Hritasara, Hritasarvasva, Hritasarvvasva, Hritashishta, Hritasu, Hritasva.
Ends with (+346): Abbhrita, Abhighrita, Abhihrita, Abhinirhrita, Abhisambhrita, Abhisamshrita, Abhivyahrita, Abhrita, Abhyavahrita, Abhyucchrita, Abhyuchchhrita, Abhyuddhrita, Adhamabhrita, Adhishrita, Adhrita, Adhyahrita, Adyahrita, Aghrita, Agnighrita, Ahrita.
Full-text (+67): Hritasarvasva, Caurahrita, Hritadhana, Apahrita, Nirhrita, Ananyahrita, Hritottara, Hritadhikara, Hritamukha, Hritashishta, Hritaprasada, Hritarajya, Hritamanasa, Hritasara, Hritadravya, Hrina, Upahrita, Hritoraga, Samhrita, Hia.
Search found 5 books and stories containing Hrita, Hṛta, Hrta, Hrīta; (plurals include: Hritas, Hṛtas, Hrtas, Hrītas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Brihad Bhagavatamrita (commentary) (by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyana Gosvāmī Mahārāja)
Verse 2.4.70 < [Chapter 4 - Vaikuṇṭha (the spiritual world)]
Verse 2.2.38 < [Chapter 2 - Jñāna (knowledge)]
Verse 1.5.39 < [Chapter 5 - Priya (the beloved devotees)]
Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu (by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī)
Verse 1.2.23 < [Part 2 - Devotional Service in Practice (sādhana-bhakti)]
Verse 2.4.77 < [Part 4 - Transient Ecstatic Disturbances (vyābhicāri-bhāva)]
Verse 1.2.59 < [Part 2 - Devotional Service in Practice (sādhana-bhakti)]
Shrimad Bhagavad-gita (by Narayana Gosvami)
Verse 7.20 < [Chapter 7 - Vijñāna-Yoga (Yoga through Realization of Transcendental Knowledge)]
Verse 4.12 < [Chapter 4 - Jñāna-Yoga (Yoga through Transcendental Knowledge)]
Verse 7.23 < [Chapter 7 - Vijñāna-Yoga (Yoga through Realization of Transcendental Knowledge)]
Kathasaritsagara (the Ocean of Story) (by Somadeva) | <urn:uuid:8ccd3913-057d-41fe-b76e-3a88410a10a6> | CC-MAIN-2022-27 | https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/hrita | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-27/segments/1656104597905.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20220705174927-20220705204927-00780.warc.gz | en | 0.794994 | 3,393 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Consider: the Tide-Water Pipe Line Company … built an “impossible” [crude-oil] pipeline in three months. And it was open for business in May 1879–a mere six months after the company was formed. In today’s American industry, in six months it can be difficult to get permission to lay down mats to teach Yoga on; a state of the art industrial project is inconceivable.
Like thousands of other businesses that deal with this “green” gauntlet, they knew that at any stage a hostile bureaucrat could undo billions in investment, not to mention future Americans’ ability to withstand disruptions in the world oil market.
Then, finally, when the pipeline decision was sent to the highest authority, President Obama, for approval, he casually announced that he would delay a decision by 18 months.
For those who bemoan the stagnation or decline of American industry–and I am one of them–ask yourself: Can America possibly experience rapid industrial progress when it takes 5 years to find out if you’re allowed to build a pipeline? (Congressional Republicans are trying to force a decision sooner, but the President has indicated this will not be in the pipeline’s favor.) Could America have possibly become the world’s industrial superpower with such policies?
The answer is a resounding No.
In this vein, it is instructive to know the story of America’s first long-distance pipeline, the Tide-water Pipeline, as it highlights the greatness of America’s original industrial policy–and the spectacular results it made possible.
Tide-Water Pipe-Line Company (1878)
In November 1878, Byron Benson and his business partners created the Tide-Water Pipe-Line Company. Benson’s goal was to change the way oil was transported.
Since kerosene refined from crude oil was by far the cheapest illuminant at the time, the ability of millions of Americans to see at night–or not–depended on the ability of the oil industry to produce cheap, plentiful, reliable kerosene. And a large variable in kerosene’s cost was its transportation cost. The industry had gradually evolved from wine barrels on wagons to barrels on rafts to barrels on railroad cars–and then to tanker cars (“tank cars”) that would transport oil that much more efficiently.
But the solution Benson sought, the long-distance pipeline, had the greatest potential of them all–no on-loading and offloading, no return trips, just a continuous flow of oil pumped between vital centers of commerce.
This was no easy task. The pipeline Benson wanted to create was enormous by the standards of the day–at 130 miles, it was 4 times longer than the existing record-holder. Further, the route he needed to take involved half-mile mountains, which meant challenges in building and engineering the pumping system. To make the task still more difficult, Tide-Water had as its competitors the master of railroad transportation, which just so happened to be the world’s largest and arguably shrewdest company: John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. John Archbold, one of Rockefeller’s top lieutenants, scoffed at Benson’s ability to build Tide-Water.
Private Property as ‘Regulator’
But Tide-Water had one great ally: it functioned under a very different industrial and environmental policy than today’s companies deal with. The policy was simple and profound: the government’s job was to protect everyone’s property rights–whether a developer who wanted to build a pipeline or a potential victim of the pipeline’s pollution.
As evidence of the efficacy of this policy, note that there were some worries at the time that the pipeline would burst–but they were found to be without evidence, and thus were not allowed to hold up development. As for the “environmental impact” on other species, that was up to land-owners. Everyone was free to buy property for whatever purpose he chose, whether to run a pipeline or build a house or enjoy wildlife or all three. But no one could dictate what someone else did with his land. Companies with new projects bought up land or acquired land-use rights from others, and they could build factors, railroads, oil refineries, etc. to the best of their ability.
The result of such a policy was profound: when individuals truly owned and could use their own property, there was no gap between their ideas and their implementation. This is the phenomenon I have referred to as “Energy at the Speed of Thought”–or, more broadly, industry at the speed of thought.
Consider: the Tide-Water Pipe Line Company began in 1878. It built an “impossible” pipeline in three months. And it was open for business in May 1879–a mere six months after the company was formed. In today’s American industry, in six months it can be difficult to get permission to lay down mats to teach Yoga on; a state of the art industrial project is inconceivable.
The moral of this story is that property rights are essential to industrial development. They make possible industry at the speed of thought. Today, we associate rapid progress with industries such as software and the Internet and electronics–which, not coincidentally, are the industries where the government has least control of the property involved. But there was a whole era of American history where the more physically-intensive industries, such as energy production or transportation, moved with amazing speed, as well.
How did we depart from that era? In Part II, I will discuss another seminal pipeline, the Trans Alaska Pipeline project of the 1970s, which epitomizes the decline of American industrial policy.
[Note: For more details on the history of pipeline law, including the Tide-Water case, see Robert Bradley’s Oil, Gas, and Government: The U.S. Experience., pp. 614–615].
Alex Epstein is a Principal at MasterResource and Founder of the Center for Industrial Progress. | <urn:uuid:b5ae5def-00c7-401d-9c6c-4b20ff793db7> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | https://www.masterresource.org/epstein-alex/three-pipelines-i-tide-water/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501170562.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104610-00220-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965101 | 1,266 | 2.9375 | 3 |
It might be an urban planners nightmare, but Australia's growing urban footprint is sure to create investment opportunities for astute property buyers moving forward.
The extent of this urban sprawl has been highlighted by a recent international report measuring the size and population of cities throughout the world.
Out of more than 1,000 cities in the world, Melbourne has been ranked 30th largest in geographic size according to the 2014 edition of Demographia World Urban Areas.
Sydney was ranked 40th largest city in the world by geographic size, and Brisbane 44th out of 1,008 cities surveyed.
Demographia World Urban Areas is the only annually published inventory of urban areas with a population of more than 500,000.
Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane now outrank super cities (cities with a population of more than 13 million persons) in terms of geographic size such as Mexico City, Delhi, Cairo, Manila, Tehran and Istanbul.
World Ranking of Cities by Geographic Size (2015)
1. Tokyo 11,642 square kilometres
30. Melbourne 3,800 square kilometres
40. Sydney 2,037 square kilometres
44. Brisbane 1,972 square kilometres
* Source Demographia 2015
These world rankings show that Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane are now larger than Manila (22 million population), even though they are only a fraction of the population of super cities.
The physical expansion of cities throughout Australia is placing huge financial pressure on government through the provision of new infrastructure such as schools and roads in fringe city areas.
A recent report produced by The Department of Planning in that state indicated it would cost the state government an extra $40 billion in new infrastructure costs to continue with its urban expansion plans compared to encouraging the redevelopment within existing suburbs.
This revealing report, cited research that found 'for every 1,000 dwellings, the cost for infill development (in existing suburbs) is $309 million and the cost of fringe developments is $653 million.
Because of this cost of urban sprawl, many governments throughout Australia are now encouraging urban infill in major capital cities.
Older areas with large amounts of vacant land are now being re-zoned for higher-density use.
This trend to urban infill will create opportunities for astute property investors moving forward since these older neglected inner-city areas will be regenerated over time and underlying land values will surge.
Astute property investors contact the planning department of their state government to examine the most current plans for urban infill and then draw up a target list of potential areas in the inner city that are primed for growth.
They should then physically visit these areas to determine whether major property development companies have secured land, but this is an early indication that the area is set to boom once their developments get underway.
Even buying a small one-bedroom apartment in these neglected inner-city areas can prove to be a wise investment over the long term if it is surrounded by land that will be developed into quality real estate in the near future. | <urn:uuid:20376902-8293-4e65-8b9e-3902bb50b5ff> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://www.whichinvestmentproperty.com.au/blog/13728-why-investors-should-embrace-urban-sprawl | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514573052.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20190917040727-20190917062727-00336.warc.gz | en | 0.934648 | 614 | 2.515625 | 3 |
“Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
As a speaker, the volume of our voice is very important. It can help us make our presentation or speech better. Even a simple sentence such as “I’m here.” or “Are you there?” can be interpreted differently depending on whether it’s spoken with a high voice, low voice, rising voice, falling voice, quickly, slowly, whispering, whining, yelling, or sighing. In some cultures, speaking with a higher voice tone is a common practice, while in others, it’s considered insulting.
The volume of our voice says a lot about us, as speakers. Some speakers speak too quietly, which can cause difficulties hearing them and some of them, on the other hand, too loudly, which can make them hard to be listened. A big challenge in public speaking is finding the right volume for our voice, which is audible and yet pleasing to the ear.
If we speak too quietly, or mumble, people might not be able to hear us well. However, it can also leave a bad impression of us – that we are scared, anxious, not confident, didn’t learn our presentation well or that we’re just disinterested in the topic we talk about. That can make our audience not listen to us or don’t believe in us. (if we don’t know what we’re talking about, the audience will not believe in what we’re saying)
Confident people have a better voice control and speak with a higher voice. However, speaking too loudly isn’t good, either. It can be very unpleasant for our ears and it might be difficult for listeners to stay focused because of the noise.
The most important thing is practice. The more we practice, the better we’ll become. When we present something, it’s not good to speak in the same voice tone during the entire presentation because it might be monotonous and our audience might get bored. From time to time, when we want to stress something important, or just catch people’s attention, it’s good to raise our voice a little bit.
Another thing that can help is us is to record our voice while practicing. Most of us don’t like the sound of our recorded voices or simply aren’t used to hearing them. That’s why the best way is to do it at home, when we’re alone. It’ll make us feel more confident and relaxed. Recoding our voice can help us realize how we actually sound to other people.
Anyone can improve the sound of their voice. Here you can see some breathing techniques can help us develop better volume control as a speaker. However, it’s important to have a certain level of commitment and practice regularly for just a few minutes. | <urn:uuid:b461e8a0-5890-489b-8f0b-220c973431e1> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://hrathand.wordpress.com/2016/09/21/the-importance-of-voice-control/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571993.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814022847-20220814052847-00327.warc.gz | en | 0.952152 | 621 | 3.171875 | 3 |
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Direct-Current Nanogenerator Driven by Ultrasonic Waves
- Wang, Xudong, Song, Jinhui, Liu, Jin, Wang, Zhong Lin
- Science 2007 v.316 no.5821 pp. 102-105
- cost effectiveness, electricity, electrodes, energy, nanowires, ultrasonics, zinc oxide
- We have developed a nanowire nanogenerator that is driven by an ultrasonic wave to produce continuous direct-current output. The nanogenerator was fabricated with vertically aligned zinc oxide nanowire arrays that were placed beneath a zigzag metal electrode with a small gap. The wave drives the electrode up and down to bend and/or vibrate the nanowires. A piezoelectric-semiconducting coupling process converts mechanical energy into electricity. The zigzag electrode acts as an array of parallel integrated metal tips that simultaneously and continuously create, collect, and output electricity from all of the nanowires. The approach presents an adaptable, mobile, and cost-effective technology for harvesting energy from the environment, and it offers a potential solution for powering nanodevices and nanosystems. | <urn:uuid:d727af42-04d8-44cd-b472-b476404c6594> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://pubag.nal.usda.gov/catalog/1532021 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514572896.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20190924083200-20190924105200-00530.warc.gz | en | 0.845045 | 249 | 2.8125 | 3 |
"A domain alias is a domain name that can be used as an alternate name for another domain." - Source: Google
For example, if you have two domains for your flower shop business, you can "map" the second domain as an "Alias" of the primary domain. Website visitors will see the Alias in their URL bar when navigating the site.
Here's how to configure a domain Alias on your hosting cPanel:
When you have a WordPress website (or website of any kind), you can assign Aliases to your website. However, not all servers are ready "out-of-the-box" to map domains to a single website and require additional configuration.
Furthermore, your WordPress website needs some extra configuration to "map" each alias to a specific "post" in WordPress (or group of posts).
Posts can include any default post type that comes out of the box with WordPress, like Pages, Posts, Products, etc, or any Custom Post Type created by other plugins or themes.
At the end of the day, the purpose of creating an Alias domain on your server is to map multiple domains to a single WordPress installation.
Domain Mapping System let's you handle the mapping of domains to specific posts after you've set up your server properly. | <urn:uuid:17f5a481-0935-42a4-a926-96db88d72371> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://docs.domainmappingsystem.com/faqs/what-is-a-domain-alias | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780057225.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20210921161350-20210921191350-00473.warc.gz | en | 0.891139 | 263 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Q.My aunt says we shouldn`t eat before swimming or other exercise because it causes cramps. Isn`t that just an old-fashioned myth?
A. Most people won`t suffer from cramps when they exercise after eating. In fact, if you`re going to participate in any exercise lasting for more than an hour, eating will help you exercise longer.
A related myth is that you shouldn`t eat sugar before exercise. Some people believe it will cause your blood sugar level to rise and your pancreas to release a lot of insulin, which will cause your blood sugar to drop too low and make you tire during exercise. They`re wrong. Sugar actually can sweeten your performance.
The major cause of muscle tiredness during exercise is lack of stored sugar in the muscles. Taking in extra calories before and during exercise preserves the sugar stored in muscles and prolongs your endurance.
What should you eat? Anything that will clear your stomach rapidly. Competitive athletes prefer to eat and drink during exercise, taking in small amounts of high-calorie drinks and fruits, such as bananas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cookies. Fatty foods usually stay in the stomach longer than other foods, but if you can eat a fatty roll or meat without suffering cramps, go ahead and do it.
The only concern about eating before or during exercise is stomach muscle cramps, which shouldn`t occur unless you are in poor shape, eat too much at one time or exercise at your maximum intensity. | <urn:uuid:5e88c03c-153e-4dcc-8ade-df523ae5ac39> | CC-MAIN-2016-36 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-11-12/news/9204120771_1_blood-sugar-cramps-eat | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-36/segments/1471982292697.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160823195812-00213-ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969602 | 309 | 2.5625 | 3 |
My First Classical Music Book
- Interesting, worth a look
“A delightful book for young (and not so young!) children”
Come and join the animals as they discover music. They dance, sing and play....and so can you!
Learn where you hear music, who writes it and what the instruments sound like and hear it all on the CD!
- An interactive, original and colourful approach to make learning fun
- Includes clear guidance on what to listen for
- Introductions to the most famous composers and musical instruments
Free CD with 28 classical music tracks, including:
- Mozart 'The Magic Flute'
- John Williams 'Harry Potter'
- Saint-Saens 'The Carnival of the Animals'
- Holst 'The Planets'
- Stravinsky 'Petrushka'
- Prokofiev 'Peter and the Wolf'
and many, many more.......
This book is aimed at 5-7 year olds and forms an excellent resource for the music teacher.
Item DetailsCategory: Music Appreciation
Publisher's reference: 9.78184E+11
Our Stock Code: 1005752
Media Type: Paperback; includes accompaniment CD | <urn:uuid:637ddbdd-4884-4aeb-ad1b-b969158ae438> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | https://www.justflutes.com/my-first-classical-music-book-with-cd-helsby-product1005752.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084887067.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20180118051833-20180118071833-00591.warc.gz | en | 0.86119 | 253 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Which of the following scientist discovered neutrons?
Sir James Chadwick, 20 October 1891 – 24 July 1974 was a British physicist who was awarded the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the neutron in 1932.
A glass rod gets electrically charged on rubbing with silk cloth. What’s the source of this charge?
When we rub a glass rod with a silk cloth, the glass rod gets charged. This charge produced on the rod comes from the atoms and charged particles present in the rod.
The proton has a charge equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to that of:
The proton has a charge equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to that of electron.
A proton has one unit positive charge whereas electron has one unit negative charge.
What is the other name for anode rays?
An anode ray (also positive ray or canal ray) is a beam of positive ions that is created by certain types of gas-discharge tubes. They were first observed in Crookes tubes during experiments by the German scientist Eugen Goldstein, in 1886.
Which scientist discovered the anode rays?
They were first observed in Crookes tubes during experiments by the German scientist Eugen Goldstein, in 1886. Later work on anode rays by Wilhelm Wien and J. J. Thomson led to the development of mass spectrometry.
Which of the following gases do not have neutron in the nucleus of their atoms?
There is only one stable atom that does not have neutrons. It is an isotope of the element hydrogen called protium. Protium, which contains a single proton and a single electron, is the simplest atom. All other stable atoms contain some number of neutrons.
Which of the following is not true for cathode rays?
Cathode rays are beam of electrons which are negatively charged. These electrons are identical. Hence, the charge to mass ratio (e/m) of cathode rays is same for all the gases.
Whereas, in case of anode rays, they are positively charged. Also, they are composed of ionised nuclei which vary from gas to gas in terms of atomic number and mass number. Thus, charge to mass ratio (e/m) of the positively charged ions changes as the number of nucleons changes in the nucleus of each gas can be different.
What will be the net charge on the atom if it contains one electron and one proton?
According to J.J Thomson, an atom is a positively charged sphere. Which sub-atomic particles is embedded in it?
Electron and proton were embedded in nucleus as said in watermelon experiment.
The canal rays led to the discovery of which subatomic particle?
Canal rays are positively charged radiations which led to the discovery of another sub-atomic particle called protons.
Which of the following is not a part of J. J. Thomson’s atomic model?
J. J. Thomson, who discovered the electron in 1897, proposed the plum pudding model of the atom in 1904 before the discovery of the atomic nucleus in order to include the electron in the atomic model. In Thomson's model, the atom is composed of electrons (which Thomson still called “corpuscles,” though G. J.
Select the sub-atomic particles that are present in the nucleus of an atom.
Subatomic particles include electrons, the negatively charged, almost massless particles that nevertheless account for most of the size of the atom, and they include the heavier building blocks of the small but very dense nucleus of the atom, the positively charged protons and the electrically neutral neutrons.
thomson proposed the model of an atom to be similar to that of a:
Thomson proposed the model of an atom to be similar to that of a Christmas pudding. The electrons, in a sphere of positive charge, were like currants (dry fruits) in a spherical Christmas pudding.
What are the essential conditions for the production of anode rays?
The essential conditions for the production of anode rays is high voltage and very low pressure in a discharge tube.
The mass of an electron is approximately 1/2000 times that of:
Here it means that when we compare the mass of protons and electrons. Electrons weigh much less than protons and therefore when the mass of an atom is calculated then just the mass of protons and neutrons is taken into consideration. | <urn:uuid:0fafd109-2d69-4031-80ad-db4f11d0e554> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | https://edurev.in/course/quiz/attempt/598_Test-Model-Of-An-Atom-/395c2b5c-ab85-4d56-8f07-a45776c046ae | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439736057.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20200810145103-20200810175103-00255.warc.gz | en | 0.945803 | 913 | 3.546875 | 4 |
In January, as millions of people adjusted to life under the third national coronavirus lockdown, the government quietly released a document with sweeping implications for the future of UK construction.
It was its response to a 2019 consultation it held on its Future Homes Standard – Whitehall’s attempt to dramatically reduce the environmental damage caused by Britain’s houses and its housebuilding sector, as part of broader efforts to achieve net-zero carbon by 2050.
The Standard’s aim is simple, but far-reaching. It’s designed to cut the carbon produced by the average new-build house by between 75 and 80% in the coming years – something that would make a huge contribution to that quest for net-zero.
Originally, ministers had intended to introduce interim measures in 2020 to strengthen Building Regulations as a stepping-stone to the full Future Homes Standard. These measures would aim to cut the carbon emissions of the average new-build by 31%.
Unsurprisingly, given the vast disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, this was postponed.
In its consultation response, however, the government announced that this interim phase would begin in 2021. Details will be finalised by December 2021, before coming into force officially in June 2022.
We also got some much-needed clarification about exactly what the measures would entail.
With its interim ‘stepping-stone’ to the full Future Homes Standard, the government’s aim is to ensure that new-built homes are not installed with fossil fuel heating after 2025, and won’t require further retrofitting to make them fit for 2050.
The government is also set to close the loophole that’s previously allowed builders to only have to meet the energy efficiency standards that were in place when a development first started, even if those standards change in the meantime.
From now on, rules will apply to individual buildings, not whole developments.
These are all extremely welcome moves. It feels like, finally, the wheels of the urgently-needed net-zero transition are starting to turn.
However, there are aspects of the government’s proposals we’re less impressed with.
In their consultation response, ministers explicitly say that “low carbon heating systems will be integral to the specification of the Future Homes Standard”.
However, they then go on to say that “we anticipate that heat pumps will become the primary heating technology for new homes”.
At Energy Carbon, we’ve long been arguing that there’s no magic bullet solution to low-carbon heating, and that in 2050, we’re likely to draw on a variety of different technologies to help us heat homes both sustainably and efficiently.
We believe that air-source and ground-source heat pumps have their place – but they come with their own issues.
The first relates to their longevity. Heat pumps aren’t just very expensive, they require increasingly expensive annual maintenance visits, and even then, a heat pump product installed today is likely to need replacing a number of times between now and 2050.
That means a huge amount more embodied carbon (a yardstick of sustainability that the government short-sightedly aren’t using as part of the Future Homes Standard as it stands) – and many heat pump products use refrigerants that themselves contribute to global warming when they’re released into the atmosphere.
What’s more, heat pumps are extremely complex products – meaning any maintenance or replacement work requires the services of specialist engineers, who, for the moment at least, are very few and far between.
We therefore believe that the government is being very short-sighted by presenting this one heating technology as the solution to a complex problem – a problem likely to need all sorts of different systems to properly address.
So far in any of its documentation relating to the Future Homes Standard, the government is yet to mention the huge potential of our own area of expertise – far-infrared.
Infrared refers to a division of the electromagnetic spectrum. Within that division, there are three types of infra-red radiation: near infrared, mid infrared and far-infrared – and it’s far-infrared that’s by far the most beneficial for heating homes and its occupants.
In fact, it’s the exact same frequency of light called ‘the light of life’ generated by the sun, invisible to the naked eye, but capable of warming us directly.
Far-infrared radiation warms all the surfaces and objects in a room, rather than the air – and those surfaces and objects then go on to radiate heat themselves.
The embodied heat gathered in these areas slowly releases back into the room, letting occupants turn down the thermostat. This in turn allows for a very fast reaction time to perfectly control the room temperature.
Its fast reaction times mean occupiers feel the benefits within minutes of the thermostat switching back on – saving energy, and cutting carbon emissions.
We believe it can make a major contribution to the collective effort to reach zero carbon by 2050 – and we call on the government to seriously consider promoting its use as part of the Future Homes Standard.
For further information, please call 0203 507 1659 or contact us at email@example.com.
Are you interested in helping make Britain’s homes warmer, greener and more cost-effective places to be? Then speak to Energy Carbon today.Get in touch | <urn:uuid:35f2e5f6-c304-432b-9ed1-bf120e5083b6> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://www.energycarbon.co.uk/news/with-its-future-homes-standard-is-the-government-missing-a-trick | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046155188.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20210804205700-20210804235700-00253.warc.gz | en | 0.954394 | 1,126 | 2.78125 | 3 |
The Commission’s competition department wants to maintain subsidies for coal industy until 2023.
The European Union would maintain special subsidies for the coal industry until 2023, under proposals being drafted by the European Commission’s competition department.
The plans are to be published by Joaquín Almunia, the European commissioner for competition, on 6 July, but the draft is running into strong opposition inside the Commission.
Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner for climate action, and Janez Potocnik, the European commissioner for the environment, believe that the proposals contradict the EU’s ambition to move to a low-carbon economy. Hedegaard argues that the proposals are also at odds with the declared ambition of the leaders of the G20 developed and developing nations to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.
“We would make the link with the G20 Pittsburgh declaration where it is specifically said that we will phase out fossil fuel subsidies,” said one source in the Commission.
Hedegaard has told Almunia that the phase-out period is far too long.
Pit closures mean that hard coal has a diminishing place in Europe’s energy mix, but still accounts for around 18% of EU electricity generation.
Almunia’s proposal attempts a revision of the state aid regime for “hard coal”, the black anthracite. Softer ‘lignite’ falls under general rules that outlaw state aid.
A copy of the draft regulation seen by European Voice, says that subsidised coal is marginal for security of supply and “no longer justifies the maintenance of such subsidies” – the historical justification that has kept the regime in place since 1965.
State aid would be renamed “closure aid” and all support for mining would have to end by 2023.
According to Almunia’s proposal, subsidies to help the coal industry pay for clean-up operations would be allowed until 2030. But other Commission departments argue that such clean-up subsidies conflict with the ‘polluter pays principle’. “This is an unhelpful signal,” said the source. “It is a question of accountability that companies should be required [to pay] to restore the site.”
Poland accounts for more than half of hard coal production in the EU, but Germany and Spain hand out the biggest subsidies, expected to be worth around €2 billion and €1bn respectively in 2010. The Commission believes that 100,000 jobs are at stake, mainly in Germany’s Ruhr valley, north-western Spain and the Jiu valley in Romania.
Six countries give subsidies to their hard coal industry. Of these, Spain, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania are in favour of prolonging subsidies, while Poland wants a new regulation to allow new investment. Germany has passed a law to phase out subsidies by 2018.
Claude Turmes, a Luxembourgeois Green MEP who sits on the Parliament’s industry committee, said that the EU would look “ridiculous” and undermine its credibility if it allowed countries to continue supporting “the most dirty forms of energy”.
He accused Almunia of failing to act independently from the Spanish government. “A Spanish Socialist is basically tabling something from the Spanish socialist prime minister [José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero].” “This is purely Spanish electoral politics,” said Turmes.
A spokeswoman for Almunia said the conflict-of-interest claim was “ludicrous”. She pointed out that any proposal would need to be unanimously agreed by the Council of Ministers. The approval of the European Parliament would also be required.
Thomas Schneider of the German Hard Coal Association said the proposals would be “a lifeline for the next 12 years”.
He defended lengthy phase-out times: “Mining activities take place in certain areas that do not provide good replacement jobs.”
Mark Johnston of WWF said: “Uneconomic coal mines can be closed in three years or less. The Commission must avoid widening the credibility gap between our climate rhetoric and our climate actions. Public money would be better invested in energy sources of the future, not those of the past.” | <urn:uuid:50a067fd-072e-4dae-b518-40377a7a2bf7> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | https://www.politico.eu/article/low-carbon-eu-set-to-prolong-coal-subsidies/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578527866.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20190419181127-20190419203127-00405.warc.gz | en | 0.951533 | 892 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Burton K. Janes
The Newfoundlander, George Whitefield Ridout (1870-1954), may not be remembered by many people today. However, during the First World War he distinguished himself as chaplain with the 38th Regiment in France.
Born in St. John's, he went to Boston, Massachusetts, as a young man, and was educated at Temple University. He served as professor of theology at Upland, Indiana.
Following the war, he accepted the chair of theology at Asbury College, where he remained until 1927. Entering religious work, he travelled extensively in Japan, China, India, Africa and South America. He was a member of the British Philosophic Society and a fellow of the Royal Geographic Society.
He wrote several books, including "The Cross and Flag: Experiences in the Great World War." Published in 1919, so soon after the war ended, it reads today with a keen sense of immediacy. He says nothing about the so-called glamour of war, but everything about the way it really was.
"To live in a dugout," he writes, "is an experience rather unusual indeed. One feels a bit of surprise at times at the way men take to this kind of thing when it becomes a necessity of war, as well as a matter of safety and protection. I have seen men living in holes in the ground, in holes dug out of the side of the bank, as well as in the larger dugouts capable of holding quite a number ... I am with several lieutenants, and a captain in a large dugout. The advantage of a dugout is, you are protected from shellfire, and then the enemy aeroplanes cannot locate you and you can sleep free from the feeling that bombs might get you as you sleep ...
"Life in a dugout is very simple. Lots of things you don't have to do; you don't have to sweep the floors or dust the furniture or be careful of the furnishings, and then you are not so very particular about the matter of attire. There are no tailors around the corner to press your uniform, and as you have to sleep with your clothes on, ready to jump up and out in a moment, if need be, you don't grow very particular, and then, as you never meet any of womankind, you don't mind being a bit rough in appearance for the time being. Then again, you don't have to be over careful about the dining room. Your eating utensils are neither china nor glass, but tin or aluminum, and your dining table may be a box, or a rock, or a patch of straw. You have to forego napkins, etc., but invariably you have a good appetite and are always ready when mess time comes around.
"The other night I had to visit a company quite a distance away, and in reaching them I had to pass through some very interesting bit of territory, and in returning had to meet many a guard who, in compliance with his orders, halted with bayonet fixed and pointed at everyone who came by. The important thing at a moment like that is to stand still and not move till told to advance with the countersign. I of course had the countersign and was permitted to pass, arriving back at my dugout about midnight.
"I had no sooner laid down than the gas alarm was sounded and a lieutenant rushed in and yelled 'Gas.' This is a cry often heard within the war zone, and woe to the soldier who neglects to heed the warning. Instantly I grasped my gas mask and put it on. Fortunately, this was not a severe attack and none of us had to keep the uncomfortable gas mask on very long.
"About this war there is not much of the poetical; it is nothing but practical drab war with no brass band attachments. Often we read of the soldier marching into battle with flags flying and bands playing, etc. Not so in this war.
"You never hear the band play within the war zone, and the musicians themselves are called upon to be stretcher bearers and perform other duties. There are no flags flying, because it is important that your positions should not be known by the enemy, who has his aeroplanes flying all over, observing all movements. Besides, there are observation balloons constantly being employed and the man sitting up in that observation seat with his balloon attached to the ground can see for many miles with his all-powerful glass all that is going on."
Ridout writes much more, but space is limited.
Lest we forget.
Burton K. Janes lives in Bay Roberts. His column appears in The Compass every week. He can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org | <urn:uuid:1ab0f5bd-2788-425a-a95e-5c4dff296c87> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.cbncompass.ca/Opinion/Columnists/Burton%20K.%20Janes/2012-11-08/article-3116376/Life-in-a-dugout-during-wartime/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298020.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00282-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981579 | 985 | 2.671875 | 3 |
On January 17, 1771, American novelist, historian, and editor Charles Brockden Brown was born. He is generally regarded as the most important American novelist before James Fenimore Cooper. Although Brown was not the first American novelist, the breadth and complexity of his achievement as a writer in multiple genres makes him a crucial figure in U.S. literature and culture. However, outside the U.S. Charles Brockden Brown is mostly unknown. Thus, you might wonder why we have picked him for our blog. Now, this is simply a matter of personal choice. I always was a fan of gothic literature and Charles Brockden Brown falls into the same romantic period preceding today more famous authors such as Edgar Allan Poe. I’ve read ‘Arthur Mervyn‘, one of his most famous novels, and I really can recommend it to you.
“I used to suppose that certain evils could never befall a being in possession of a sound mind; “
— Charles Brockden Brown, Wieland, or: The Transformation (1798)
Brown was born five years before the start of the American Revolution, the fourth of six surviving siblings in a Philadelphia Quaker merchant family to Elijah Brown, a land-conveyancer and agent in real estate transactions. Brown’s father was a liberal merchant who, like other colonists, opposed the Stamp Act and supported the goals of the Revolution. From early age on Brown was of delicate constitution, and he early devoted himself to study. From 1781 to 1786 he received a classics-oriented secondary education under Robert Proud at the Friends’ Latin School of Philadelphia and displayed an enthusiasm for literary composition. His family intended for him to become a lawyer. After six years in Philadelphia at the law office of Alexander Wilcocks, he ended his law studies in 1793. He became part of a group of young, New York-based intellectuals who helped begin his literary career.
During most of the 1790s, Brown developed his literary ambitions in projects that often remained incomplete and frequently used his correspondence with friends as a sort of laboratory for narrative experiments. His first publications appeared during the late 1780s, but generally he published little during this period. By 1798, however, these formative years gave way to a period of novel-writing during which Brown published the titles for which he is best known. In complex ways, these novels and the rest of Brown’s career are informed by the progressive ideas he uses and develops from the period’s British radical-democratic writers, most notably Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, Thomas Holcroft, and Robert Bage. Brown was influenced by these writers and in turn exerted an influence on them and their younger studiers, for example in Godwin’s later novels, or in the work of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley, who reread Brown as she wrote her novels Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818).[7,8]
Although Brown was a prolific writer who excelled in a range of genres, from poetry and fiction to essays and historiography, his reputation developed almost exclusively around his six major novels. The first of his novels, Wieland, or: The Transformation (1798), is generally considered a minor masterpiece in American fiction. It shows the ease with which mental balance is lost when the test of common sense is not applied to strange experiences. The story is about Theodore Wieland, whose father died by spontaneous combustion apparently for violating a vow to God. The younger Wieland, also a religious enthusiast seeking direct communication with divinity, misguidedly assumes that a ventriloquist’s utterances are supernatural in origin; driven insane, he acts upon the prompting of this “inner voice” and murders his wife and children. When apprised of his error, he kills himself.
A Side Job
In 1799-1800, Brown cofounded and edited The Monthly Magazine and American Review. After one of his friends was killed in a yellow fever epidemic that struck New York, Brown’s work took a marked change, ruminating on moral choice in the face of plague and death. Since his writing did not prove financially stable, he began working in his brother’s mercantile importing firm. In 1803, he founded another magazine, The Literary Magazine and American Register, a semi-annual of book reviews, fiction, government reports and essays which he vowed would embrace the cause of religion.
His novel Arthur Mervyn draws on his experiences during the yellow-fever epidemics. It describes the adventures of Arthur Mervyn, a young man left to make his own way in the world. Leaving his rural home for Philadelphia, he becomes caught up in the schemes of the unscrupulous Welbeck in the nightmarish but still alluring setting of the plague-ridden city. Arthur ultimately establishes himself financially by marrying a wealthy woman. The embodiment of the self-made individual at the heart of liberal capitalist society, Arthur is ambiguously characterized as both a virtuous innocent and an opportunistic man on the make, revealing Brown’s own ambivalence about the individualistic values so cherished by his countrymen.
Brown was not the first significant American novelist, but he was the first important American writer to envision an exclusively literary career based on the romantico-modern assumption that literature constituted a separate sphere of culture worthy of pursuit in its own right. Brown’s novels are often characterized simply as gothic fiction, although the model he develops is far from the Gothic romance mode of writers such as Ann Radcliffe . Brown’s novels combine several revolutionary-era fiction subgenres with other types of late-Enlightenment scientific and medical knowledge. Most notably, they develop the British radical-democratic models of Wollstonecraft, Godwin, and Holcroft and combine these with elements of German “Schauer-romantik” gothic from Friedrich Schiller and the enlightened sentimental fictions of Jean-Jacques Rousseau or Laurence Sterne.
“Dost thou wish me to complete the catalogue by thy death? Thy life is a worthless thing. Tempt me no more. I am but a man, and thy presence may awaken a fury which may spurn my control. Begone!”
— Charles Brockden Brown, Wieland, or: The Transformation (1798)
When Brown died form tuberculosis in Philadelphia in 1810 at the age of 39, he was an obscure author who had struggled to establish himself in an era that financially and socially discouraged literary careers.
At yovisto academic video search you can learn more about Gothic literature in general in the lecture of Prof. Cyrus Patell with the title ‘American Gothic‘.
References and Further Reading
- Charles Brockden Brown, American author, Britannica Online
- The Charles Brockden Brown Electronic Archive
- Brown, Charles Brockden, at The American National Biography Online
- Ann Raddcliffe – Pioneer of the Gothic Novel, SciHi blog, Jul 9, 2013.
- “Brown, Charles Brockden (1771-1810).” American Eras. 1997. Encyclopedia.com
- The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, SciHi Blog
- Gothic – The Life and Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, SciHi Blog
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the Mother of the Monster, SciHi Blog
- Charles Brockden Brown at Wikidata
- Works by or about Charles Brockden Brown at Internet Archive
- Timeline for Charles Brockden Brown, via Wikidata | <urn:uuid:ba02b852-ec07-42ed-a5b8-046c12e59f2a> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | http://scihi.org/charles-brockden-brown/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370503664.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20200331181930-20200331211930-00039.warc.gz | en | 0.959092 | 1,585 | 3.34375 | 3 |
ERIC Number: ED426845
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1998
Reference Count: N/A
Environmental Action Energy Conservation. Teacher Resource Guide.
The environmental education curriculum called Environment ACTION is designed to empower students with the knowledge and skills necessary to make meaningful environmental changes. This module provides step-by-step instructions on how to explore the sources, production, uses, and environmental effects of energy in their schools and home. There are 14 separate lessons in this teacher-friendly resource guide, with each lesson designed to take one class period. Four types of activities are included: (1) Explore the Issues; (2) Analyze; (3) Consider Options; and (4) Take Action. Each activity contains ideas for home investigations and analysis, projects for the school and community, and student journals. A listing of student materials and suggestions for cross-curricular activities and extensions in history/social studies, language arts, math, and science are also included. Assessment materials such as content quiz, student survey, student self-evaluation form, and action group evaluation form for the teacher are also included. (SJR)
Descriptors: Elementary Education, Energy Conservation, Environmental Education, Hands on Science, Interdisciplinary Approach, Language Arts, Natural Resources, Outdoor Education, Science Activities, Social Studies, Student Research, Teaching Guides
Dale Seymour Publications, 2725 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025; Tel: 800-872-1100 (Toll Free); Web site: http://www.cuisenaire-dsp.com ($13.95).
Publication Type: Books; Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners; Teachers
Authoring Institution: N/A
Note: Developed by E2: Environment and Education (TM), an activity of the Tides Center. | <urn:uuid:2dcbbc76-c633-44b6-a843-ba69e356b37c> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED426845 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501169776.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104609-00344-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.883995 | 391 | 3.921875 | 4 |
Milk is a protective food that offers almost all nutrients necessary for growth and development. It is for this reason that Mother's milk is universally recommended for the new born babies as long as possible. While the first 6 months period is critical for the baby to survive, Mother's milk guarantees its health if free from in-born diseases. It is during the later part of its growth when baby is weaned away from Mother's milk that it needs supply of essential nutrients for continued growth and milk from cows and buffaloes is most commonly used, especially by vegetarian population for meeting the requirements Calcium, Proteins and a few other nutrients not available adequately from other food sources. In some parts of the world milk from Goat and Camel is popular either because the most common milk yielding animals do not proliferate there or due to local consumption habits. Camels are part of life in Dessert areas like Middle East used commonly as a transportation mode but its potential as a source of milk is now being recognized. UAE is the pioneer in promoting Camel Milk which is being exported in some quantities out side the region, probably for health conscious consumers because of its unique composition.
"Camel is a vital part of Arabian culture and tradition and its milk is an important component of the diet in the UAE and other Arab countries. Today camel milk is very important for human survival in many different countries. There are 18 million camels in the world which support the survival of millions of people in arid and semi-arid areas," the paper noted. Abdul Rahman said camel milk has a sweet and sharp taste normally, but at times it can taste salty and other times it tastes watery. "The quality of milk is affected by the number of calves, the age of the animal, the stage of lactation, the quality and quantity of feed, as well as the amount of water available. Talking about the benefits of camel milk, she said that camel milk is a rich source of proteins with potential anti-microbial and protective activity. "Some proteins are not found in cow milk, or only in minor concentrations. Camel milk need not be boiled as much as that of cow's or goat's. Strong in flavour, it must be drunk slowly to allow the stomach to digest it," said AbdulRahman. She said several studies have been conducted in connection with camel milk composition. "They point out that the fat content per unit in cow milk is 3.8% whereas it is 1.8% - 3.8% in camel milk. Vitamin C and Niacin are very higher in camel milk. Vitamins and proteins are different than in cow milk. "Camel milk also has a longer shelf life compared with other types of milk due to the presence of some special and strong compounds and this finding carries great importance to the people living in desert areas were cooling facilities were not available. The values of Lactoferrin and immunoglobulin were estimated slightly higher in camel milk than those reported in cow milk," she said.
The fact that Camel milk can be consumed without pasteurization because of the presence of some anti-bacterial substances lends itself to use in desert regions with least safety problem. But the digestibility issue is some thing which needs to be investigated as it could be due to presence of either some enzyme inhibitors or the complex nature of proteins present. Whether Camel milk will ever be a commercial proposition is uncertain because its value to the owners as a me is much more than income derived from milk extracted. Also not known is whether popular products like butter or cheese or yogurt can be made from Camel milk with acceptable characteristics. | <urn:uuid:1a6ad704-8288-4139-b641-9e3915eabae2> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com/2010/07/camel-milk-from-uae-making-its-debut-in.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917121165.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031201-00565-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974106 | 731 | 3.296875 | 3 |
(Natural News) Could one of the most prevalent molecules on our planet prove to be one of the most powerful healers of our time? While researchers investigate rare botanicals tucked away in remote corners of the planet and scientists try to engineer increasingly sophisticated treatments, the answer to many health problems might have been right under our noses all along. Hydrogen is everywhere, whether you realize it or not, and its abundance is good news for all of us if it turns out to be as beneficial as initial studies indicate.
As the original element, hydrogen is very reactive. One atom bonds easily with another to create molecular hydrogen, or H2 gas. Research has shown that this odorless, tasteless gas can reduce oxidative stress, which is believed to be the root of nine out of ten modern diseases. Molecular hydrogen therapy was first introduced more than two centuries ago. Since a 2007 study published in Nature Medicine demonstrated its excellent antioxidant qualities, hundreds more studies have confirmed and expanded on that finding.
Free radicals don’t just come from environmental toxins; they’re also created by your body’s own natural functions, like exercising and even inhaling. When free radicals interact with molecules in the body, they cause oxidative damage to the membranes of cells, facilitating aging and leading to problems like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
Hydrogen’s small size enables it to get inside of cell mitochondria easily, which could explain why it can be so beneficial. It diffuses quickly into your body’s cells and tissues, where it fights these dangerous free radicals and oxidative stress. Best of all, it does this safely; the only byproduct left behind is water.
Molecular hydrogen has an impressive list of benefits
Its antioxidant capabilities alone are remarkable enough, but its abilities go much further than that. It has been shown in studies to help fight inflammation, obesity, and allergies. One huge positive is its potential to prevent Type 2 diabetes by reducing triglycerides and blood sugar while helping with weight control. Studies have also shown that it can help alleviate fatty liver.
Molecular hydrogen can help prevent DNA damage and protect the body against toxins. In fact, it can boost your body’s production of an important hormone called ghrelin that is responsible for protecting the liver, vascular system and brain. In addition, it can improve cognitive function and memory and prevent neuronal inflammation, which means it could be quite useful in the fight against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
Athletes also have a lot to gain from hydrogen therapy. Studies have demonstrated that hydrogen water can decrease levels of lactate in the blood and fight against exercise-induced muscle function decline. This means faster recovery after serious workouts and shorter injury healing times.
Hydrogen water’s popularity is on the rise
How can you ingest molecular hydrogen? Water infused with hydrogen is one popular method; it’s also possible to dissolve hydrogen tablets into the water of your choice. It can also be inhaled or dropped into the eyes via a hydrogen saline solution. It’s suitable for topical application to address inflammation and pain, and you can even bathe in it.
Hydrogen water is already enjoying immense popularity in Asia. It makes up a tenth of the bottled water market in Japan, and more than 30 companies are selling hydrogen water formulations in Korea.
It almost sounds too good to be true, but this goes to show that something doesn’t have to be rare to be valuable. Sometimes the simplest treatments are the most powerful.
Sources for this article include: | <urn:uuid:46c62f85-5801-4a60-b998-e7cec7730b80> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-09-07-molecular-hydrogen-dramatically-reduces-oxidative-stress-in-your-body.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703517559.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20210119011203-20210119041203-00377.warc.gz | en | 0.944059 | 727 | 3.203125 | 3 |
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Self-regulated; consisting of self-governing members: an epithet of those convents of the Greek Church in which each member of the community is left to regulate his own manner of life. Also written idiorhythmic.
Sorry, no etymologies found.
This may be one reason why, even among the ruling monasteries of Mount Athos, the idiorrhythmic (individualized) rule has been set aside in favor of the more deeply traditional coenobitic (community) rule -- the fathers 'lives in Christ are necessarily lives together. | <urn:uuid:f820f8be-dfbf-4eaa-ae7b-a3df8a2e3226> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | https://www.wordnik.com/words/idiorrhythmic | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440644064517.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827025424-00211-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933353 | 131 | 2.53125 | 3 |
It now looks as though the bdelloids do acquire new genes from time to time — that mutation isn’t their only source of genetic novelty. Yet their means of getting new genes is unlike anything previously known for an animal. Namely: they seem to pick up genes from the environment, and add them into their genomes.
The latest analysis of bdelloid genomes shows that the animals don’t just have rotifer genes. They also have dozens of genes from bacteria, fungi, and plants.
Now that's weird. This puts the microscopic creatures in a league with human scientists who are just now learning to genetically modify animals! Link -via Digg
(image credit: William Dembowski)
Anyone else comparing these to the Borg? | <urn:uuid:43604a49-cd5e-415d-a29f-49c229e59eb5> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://www.neatorama.com/2008/06/05/living-without-sex-for-85-million-years/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224656963.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20230610030340-20230610060340-00645.warc.gz | en | 0.949096 | 157 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Psychoanalytic therapy is an intensive and prolonged technique for exploring the patient’s unconscious motivation, with special importance attached to the earliest sources of conflict and repression. Its aim is to bring to consciousness such repressed memories and conflicts and to help the individual resolve them in the light effects a radical change in the individual’s basic personality structure. Psychoanalysts use several techniques for bringing repressed conflicts to consciousness and helping the patients to solve them. These include free association, dream analysis,analysis of resistances, and analysis of transference in psychoanalytic.
Free association; The principal procedure used in psychoanalysis to probe the unconscious and release repressed material is free association. The patient sits comfortably in a chair or lies in a relaxed position on couch and lets his mind wander freely, giving a running account of his thoughts, wishes, physical sensation, and mental images as they occur. He is encouraged to reveal his every thought, regardless of how personal, painful, or seemingly unimportant. The therapist often takes a position behind the patient, where he will not serve as a distraction or disrupt the flow of association.
Although considerable catharsis is achieved in this “talking out” process, psychoanalysis is not fundamentally a client-centered technique in psychoanalytic. Rather, emphasis is placed on the authority of the therapist, who interprets to the patient the meaning of the thoughts, wishes, and attitudes expressed in the free association. As the stream of consciousness reaches deeper and deeper into the unconscious, the repressed urges which are uncovered often reveal themselves in disguised and experience to remove the disguises from the subject’s revelations and thus explain their real significance in psychoanalytic .
Dream analysis: Psychoanalytic therapists can gain further insight into the patient’s unconscious motivation by the technique of dream analysis. When the individual is asleep, his ego is presumably less on guard against the unacceptable impulses originating in the id, so that a motive which cannot be expressed in waking life may find expression in a dream. Some motives are so unacceptable to thee conscious self, however, that they cannot be revealed openly even in dreams but must be expressed in disguised or symbolic form. Thus a dream has two parts, or contents. The manifest (openly visible) content of the dream is that which we remember and report upon awakening. It usually is not painful and, in fact, often seems quite amusing. Beneath thee manifest content is the latent (hidden) content–the actual motives which are seeking expression but which are so painful or unacceptable to us that we do not want to recognize their existence. A trained therapist can often uncover these hidden motives by studying the symbols which appear in the manifest content of the dream and finding out what particular meaning they have for the dreamer.
The unconscious process which transforms the emotionally painful latent content of the dream into the less painful manifest content is called dream work. Dream work distorts the content of a dream in various ways, making the motives expressed in it less obvious to the dreamer. For example, a student who is filled with anxiety about failing an examination and being expelled from school may express his fear symbolically by dreaming that he is pushing his way through a heavy snowstorm, pursued by wild animals. Or, with rather less disguise, a woman who feels hostility toward her husband might dream of killing a rat–the significance of this symbol being revealed by her often referring to her husband as “the little rat.”
Free association, with the manifest content of the dream as the point of departure, gives the analyst clues as to the latent content and enables him to interpret the real meaning to the patient. Skilled therapists who are familiar with are frequently able to locate a conflict of which the patient is not aware.
Analysis of resistances; During the process of free association,the patients may show resistances–that is, inability or unwillingness to discuss certain ideas, desires, or experiences. Resistances prevent the return to consciousness of repressed material which is painful to recall, such as material connected with the individual’s sexual life or with hostile, resentful feelings toward his parents. Sometimes a resistance is shown by the patient’s coming late to his appointment or “forgetting” it altogether.
The psychoanalyst of the Freudian school attaches particular importance to subjects which the patient does not wish to discuss, believing that they are most closely related to the repressed experiences that are presumably causing the present difficulties. The aim of psychoanalysis is to break down resistances and bring the patient to face these painful ideas, desires, and experiences. Breaking down resistances is a long and difficult process but is considered absolutely essential in order to bring the whole problem into consciousness where it can be solved.
Analysis of transference; During the course of psychoanalytic treatment, the patient usually develops an emotional reaction toward the therapist, identifying him with some person who has been at the center of an emotional conflict in the past. This phase of therapy in psychoanalytic is known as transference. In most cases the analyst is identified with a parent or lover. The transference is called positive transference when they consist of hostility or envy Often the patient’s attitude is ambivalent–that is, he experiences both positive and negative feelings toward the therapist, as children often do toward their parents.
The analyst’s task in handling the transference is a difficult and dangerous one because of the patient’s emotional vulnerability, but it is a crucial part of treatment. The therapist helps the patient to interpret the transferred feelings and to understand their source in earlier experiences and attitudes.
Criticisms of psychoanalytic therapy;
The differences in emphasis appears in neo-Freudian therapy, which is aimed at understanding the patient’s present situation as well as his past experiences. Also, most neo-Freudian psychotherapists believe that a cure cannot be effected simply by helping the patient understand his unconscious feelings but rather that the patient must be directed along the path of changing himself and his inadequate modes of adjustment.
From a practical standpoint, psychoanalysis has also been criticized on the grounds that it requires a great deal of the patient’s time and money. Psychoanalysis aims to create a fundamental and permanent alteration in the individual’s personality structure, a goal that usually requires at least two or three year of frequent sessions with the analyst. Thus period of time does not seem inordinately long, however, when we consider that the patient’s problems may have been building up for most of a lifetime.
Even when the individual can afford to spend the time and money necessary for a complete course of analytic treatment, the results are not always satisfactory. Because psychoanalysis relies heavily upon the patient’s achieving great personal insight, it is best adapted to individuals who are above average in intelligence and who do not have severe mental illness. The following reasons have been cited as the primary causes of failures in psychoanalytic treatment; (1) the analyst’s difficulty in applying psychoanalytic techniques because of his lack of ability or training, (2) environmental conditions which interfere with the patient’s attempts to readjust, and (3) application of psychoanalytic techniques in cases which are too severe to be handled by this method alone (Oberndorf, 1950). | <urn:uuid:5dfc8a46-43e9-40cb-8b57-54ced07b1619> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://behaviouralsciences.net/psychoanalytic-therapy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298424.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00104-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95592 | 1,505 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Davidski notes in a recent post at his Eurogenes blog that two Bell Beaker individuals from the same grave, who are probably third degree relatives, have genomes that are at the opposite extremes of available Bell Beaker samples in their affinities. One has strong Corded Ware civilization affinities, while the other has strong Southern Bell Beaker affinities.
This suggests that in the era in which the Bell Beaker culture flourished in Western Europe that at least two distinct peoples with significant steppe ancestry, one of which may have been derived from the Corded Ware affiliated Single Grave Culture, and the other of which was more distinctively Bell Beaker, were in the process of assimilating into each other, even at the granular level of extended family groups. The migration routes and sources of the latter group aren't clear, although it seems to start in the European steppe somewhere and it seems to end up in the general vicinity of Southwest or central Western Europe, probably with some admixture with local populations including those with Western Hunter-Gather ancestry, en route or upon arrival.
Moreover, his observation, with which I tend to agree, is that this melting pot phenomena appears to have been going on over a large geographic area extending pretty much over the entire geographic range of the Bell Beaker culture simultaneously.
Since the end result of this process was something very close to the modern Western European gene pool that exists today, this process of Bell Beaker ethnogenesis is noteworthy. | <urn:uuid:e8fe5902-e55c-45a5-80f8-0bfdf98b5484> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://dispatchesfromturtleisland.blogspot.com/2019/02/more-indications-of-heterogeneous-bell.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335054.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20220927162620-20220927192620-00653.warc.gz | en | 0.974123 | 304 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Inequality in Literacy for People With Visual DisabilitiesPublished on
“Literacy is essential to social and human development in its ability to transform lives.” – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2009
Literacy as Freedom
In 2003, The United Nations deemed literacy a human right with their slogan, “Literacy as Freedom.” Literacy is the key to, “free people from ignorance, incapacity, and exclusion,” so they may gain equality and a better life. Literacy is more than understanding spoken words. It is being a full participant in communication, mathematics, sciences, and beyond by writing and comprehending written expressions and equations.
Literacy is the key to independence. And with independence, there is freedom. Think of all of the material you read to make an informed decision in your daily life. It is easy to see why literacy is vital for personal freedom.
Literacy Inequality for People with Disabilities
A form of inequality in literacy occurs when businesses and organizations fail to provide written materials in an accessible format for people with disabilities. In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) primary purpose was to end inequality for people with disabilities. Yet, more than thirty years later, inequalities still exist.
Many Americans with blindness, visual disabilities, and other disabilities require accessible documents for literacy and independence. Additionally, not providing accessibility puts people and society at risk for the exact adverse outcomes of those who are illiterate.
These adverse outcomes are why equality in literacy is vital for all of us, but especially for people with disabilities. Through accessible documents, your company can improve equality in literacy for people who are blind or who have low vision.
Braille Literacy For People with Blindness
The definition of literacy is the same for people with blindness. When a person can communicate with braille, a tactile code, they are literate. So, providing materials in braille is essential to people who are literate in braille.
But, braille isn’t the only pathway to literacy for people with a visual disability. You see, not all people with visual disabilities read braille.
Large Print for Independence
People with visual, physical, or neurological disabilities often rely on large print for independence in literacy. Some people might not require braille because they can see well enough to read properly formatted large print.
Audio Content and Literacy
While audio content alone is not literacy, it assists people in the ability to process and understand information. So, when a person is adjusting to vision loss or a reduction in vision, getting documents in an audio format still promotes independence and prevents inequality in literacy.
Let’s face it, most of the world has gone digital. Plus, digital compliance is an absolute must for businesses and organizations to be vigilant in providing. You see, digital compliance is no longer a gray area regarding accessibility.
Digital compliance, also known as WCAG or 508 Compliance, is essential for people who rely on web content and/or PDF documents for information. Digital compliance involves adjusting content behind the scenes to make it understandable for a person using a braille screen or a digital reader. For example, most digital attachments and uploads appear out of order without a remediation process and are deemed inaccessible.
Be a Literacy Champion for All
Your organization can be a literacy champion for everyone with just some minor commitments.
- Make a commitment to Literacy for All.
- Have a plan in place for people with disabilities to contact your organization to request accessible materials.
- Partner with a reputable document accessibility company, like Braille Works
- Train your employees in ADA laws and accessible formats and options.
- Understand the value of a literate society.
- Care enough to understand the need for accessibility.
Making a change for the better starts with a single step. Committing to improving literacy and outcomes in the lives of others is always the right move.
Categorized in: Accessibility
This post was written by | <urn:uuid:8415e91a-5bf4-41aa-82ef-712e15375191> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://brailleworks.com/inequality-in-literacy-for-people-with-visual-disabilities/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662522556.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20220518215138-20220519005138-00478.warc.gz | en | 0.920876 | 833 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Cabo Orange National Park
|Cabo Orange National Park|
|Parque Nacional do Cabo Orange|
|Nearest city||Macapá, Amapá|
|Area||657,318 hectares (1,624,270 acres)|
|Created||15 July 1980|
|Designated||2 February 2013|
The Cabo Orange National Park has an area of 657,318 hectares (1,624,270 acres). It covers parts of the municipalities of Calçoene and Oiapoque. To the southwest the park adjoins the 2,369,400 hectares (5,855,000 acres) Amapá State Forest, a sustainable use conservation unit established in 2006.
The Park is significant because it is situated on the coastline of Brazil; the only one in the rainforest that enjoys such a location. This means that the faunal and floral species found here are quite different from those of the areas situated further inland. The park is accessible by boat and provides a fascinating look at the very different ecosystems of the coast and the jungle, juxtaposed with one another. The Cabo Orange National Park covers varied ecosystems, examples of which are mangroves, natural fields, fluvial marine forests, floodable areas, and terra firm, besides rich fauna.
The natural beauties, rather well preserved and with evident tourist appeal – the case of the Cassiporé, Cunani, Uaçá, and Oiapoque – allow for boat, canoe, and launch trips and the practice of rafting. The vast biodiversity makes possible visitation for contemplating vegetal and animal species, above all birds, in addition to projects of environmental education and scientific research (main objectives of the national parks).
The Cabo Orange National Park was created by decree 84.913 of 15 July 1980 with the objective of protecting flora, fauna and natural beauty. It is administered by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). The consultative council was created by IBAMA on 9 March 2006. The management plan was approved on 17 January 2011. On 22 March 2012 ICMBio and the Oiapoque fishermen came to an agreement mediated by the Federal Public Ministry over fishing in the park's waters. On 2013, the government of Brazil has named it the 12th Wetland of International Importance, under Ramsar Convention.
The park is classified as IUCN protected-area category II (national park). The basic objective is the preservation of natural ecosystems of great ecological relevance and scenic beauty. This enables the conduct of scientific research, the development of educational activities and environmental interpretation, recreation in contact with nature and eco-tourism. It is part of the Amapá Biodiversity Corridor, created in 2003. The park is supported by the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program.
Protected species in the park include the giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), jaguar (Panthera onca), oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus), black bearded saki (Chiropotes satanas), green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata), West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) and Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis).
- "Cabo Orange National Park". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- Parna do Cabo Orange – Chico Mendes.
- Unidade de Conservação ... MMA.
- FES do Amapá – ISA.
- PARNA do Cabo Orange – ISA.
- Corredor de Biodiversidade do Amapá Biodiversity Corridor, p. 43.
- Full list: PAs supported by ARPA.
- Corredor de Biodiversidade do Amapá Biodiversity Corridor (PDF), Belém: CI-Brasil, Governo do Amapá, Fundação Lee & Gund, 2007, retrieved 2016-11-05
- FES do Amapá (in Portuguese), ISA: Instituto Socioambiental, retrieved 2016-07-06
- Full list: PAs supported by ARPA, ARPA, retrieved 2016-08-07
- Parna do Cabo Orange (in Portuguese), Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, retrieved 2016-04-29
- PARNA do Cabo Orange (in Portuguese), ISA: Instituto Socioambiental, retrieved 2016-07-06
- Unidade de Conservação: Parque Nacional do Cabo Orange (in Portuguese), MMA: Ministério do Meio Ambiente, retrieved 2016-04-29 | <urn:uuid:c0d32415-810c-41a0-96e0-b86abe1c7a0c> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabo_Orange_National_Park | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676593223.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20180722120017-20180722140017-00114.warc.gz | en | 0.813927 | 1,032 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Value of Networks
“The more we know about the world, and the deeper our learning, the more conscious, specific, and articulate will be our knowledge of what we do not know.”- Karl Popper
Scientific philosophers including Karl Popper, Michael Polanyi, and Thomas Kuhn have long stressed the importance of networks in helping spread and test new theories and produce evidence in support or rejection of claims. Healthy networks where information is easily exchanged is a critical component of scientific innovation and thriving markets. And, when used effectively, networks also help to distinguish between effective and ineffective policies within government. Modern technology can amplify the application of network theory in government to create more feedback loops between the public and private sector.
For thousands of years, networks have catalyzed the evolution of scientific thought and human progress. The propensity of a flourishing network to disseminate information and drive market intelligence cannot be underscored enough. Some of our most significant breakthroughs in science and the humanities are the result of rich information networks that span across geographies and socioeconomic class.
Conversely, top-down hierarchies with limited distribution channels stall feedback loops and slow a culture’s ability to evolve. If we examine some of our most catastrophic failures and abhorrences, behind them we might find rigid hierarchies that controlled information to the detriment of progress.
A limited network is like a one lane highway: there’s only one way to go and only so much room on the road. One car accident can create hours of traffic and delay everyone on the road. You can think of a robust network as a multi-deck, multi-lane, bi-directional highway that is intentionally designed to support efficient paths for travelers.
In this essay, we explore the benefits of robust networks and how they can be applied in government to create more opportunities for growth. We also discuss the dangerous side effects of weak networks and top-down hierarchies that contribute to societal decay. In both cases, governance structures play a critical role in how networks flourish or decay. We posit that a well-functioning administrative state can fuel healthy networks that allow a marketplace of ideas and further enable progress.
Modern technology supports the creation of new data-driven governance structures — and efficient checks and balances — that upgrade our regulatory state to reflect the wisdom of America’s founding. Governments can leverage an updated understanding of network theory that allows liberty to drive progress in markets.
From the very beginning, information has been our most valuable asset. The earliest civilizations placed the great orators on pedestals for their ability to teach and inspire with their words. Their lessons reached broader audiences as we began to write and document their stories. The invention of ink, paper, the printing press, telegrams, internet, cell phones….all of these tools helped build, expand, and reinforce networks. One might argue that the most important human inventions are the ones that catalyze multi-directional flow of information and increase the potency of networks.
One of our favorite historical examples of dialogue and its widespread distribution is the Federalist papers, a series of essays penned by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison under the pseudonym Publius. The essays argued in favor of ratification of the Constitution, and were published in newspapers that reached city and rural audiences. In response, the Anti-Federalist papers were published opposing the proposed Constitutional design and helped drive healthy discourse across the newly independent America.
Politics aside, both parties intellectually contributed to the debate of how the United States government would be structured and the eventual passage of our Constitution as we know it. Ironically, we may have strayed from the careful system of checks and balances in support of networks that our founders originally intended. The growth of unchecked systems is best exemplified in the growth of the administrative state- a largely unchecked power that wields massive influence over networks today.
Critical inquiry is an essential component of the scientific method. It encompasses the freedom to unpack an idea, question its existence, hypothesize, test, and share findings. The body of scientific knowledge has grown through our ability to communicate findings to larger audiences. Through such exchange, we collectively evolve our understanding of concepts and are able to take one scientist’s contributions to a new level through critical inquiry and experimentation. The presence of feedback loops propels science to new discovery.
Healthy markets are microcosms for the practical application of the scientific method. The best markets, in which the best ideas win, have the ability to test ideas, record results, and share findings. But sometimes institutional structures fail us by creating roadblocks for testing and communicating new ideas.
In science, the ivory tower and professional reputations can be compromised when new evidence contradicts old. One of the most notable examples is Ignaz Semmelweiss’s discovery that the lack of handwashing was contributing to mothers dying during childbirth. In the 1840s, childbirth fatalities were shockingly high- to the point that women feared giving birth. Semmelweiss studies two hospitals: a midwifery clinic and a hospital staffed by doctors. He observed that mothers died far more often at the hospital staffed by doctors and hypothesized that it was because the doctors were performing autopsies and contaminating new mothers with cadaverous particles. In contrast, the midwives had less deaths because they routinely washed their hands and did not touch corpses.
Semmelweiss tried in vain to introduce chlorine hand-washing into doctor’s offices, but doctors were resistant to the idea because it made them look responsible for the death of mothers. He was ostracized for his idea and died in a mental asylum. Countless lives could have been saved with Semmelweiss’s findings, but an entrenched market of doctors stifled his findings to protect their reputational interests.
In his seminal work “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,” Thomas Kuhn wrote “Because it demands large-scale paradigm destruction and major shifts in the problems and techniques of normal science, the emergence of new theories is generally preceded by a period of pronounced professional insecurity…Failure of existing rules is the prelude to a search for new ones.”
Similarly, markets can be dominated in government by entrenched interests that fight to limit competition and restrict the flow of information between producers and consumers. Occupational licensing regulations are a well-documented example of entrenched interests. Dozens of independently-appointed boards and commissions exist across the United States to regulate professions such as nurse practitioners, optometrists, electricians, even florists. These commissions, composed of licensed professionals in the field, create licensing exams, fees, and other credentialing requirements for people to legally operate.
While some of these guide rails are important to the health and safety of our communities, many serve entrenched interests and are designed to keep new competition out, often disproportionately hurting the working class. For example, recently released prisoners are more likely to seek occupations that require a license, but with limited resources in the face of daunting licensing requirements, they often turn back to previous criminal activity and find themselves in prison again. The Arizona State University Center for the Study of Economic Liberty estimates that between 1997 and 2007 the states with the heaviest occupational licensing burdens saw a 9% average increase in the three-year, new-crime recidivism rate, while the states with the lowest burdens and no such character provisions saw an average 2.5% decline in that recidivism rate.
The growth of the administrative state continues to rapidly increase as new regulations, departments, and authoritative institutions are created to reign in markets. The creation of these organizations are often well-intentioned, and serve our innate human desire to create and preserve order. However, they often have counterintuitive effects that, when unchecked, create compounding roadblocks for markets and networks. Moreover, they imbue a larger lack of trust in our individual ability to think and seek truth for ourselves. The over-regulation signals an over-estimation of top-down leadership and an under-estimation of bottom-up exchange of information.
The Constitution originally intended three branches of government, with each holding unique power to check the other in certain circumstances. There was no real mention of a bureaucratic fourth branch, yet one has indeed emerged over the past century with virtually no check on its powers. The administrative branch of government has its own legislative, enforcement, and adjudication powers. While the early 20th century Wilsonian era of public administration placed great trust in a cadre of top-down experts to create and enforce rules, it did not design effective feedback networks around these organizations.
At present, our regulatory scheme is not optimized for a dynamic marketplace and is slowing our network effects tremendously. In fact, one study from the Mercatus Center estimates that regulation — by distorting the investment choices that lead to innovation — has created a considerable decline in US gross domestic product, averaging a 0.8 percent reduction in the annual growth rate of the US GDP. In distinction, a well-designed regulatory scheme is responsive to an evolving marketplace and inspires confidence in the private sector to innovate and take risks.
Regulations and regulatory bodies should have checks to verify and audit their processes similar to the other branches of government. For example, requiring legislative review of regulations or automatically expiring regulations on a regular cadence if they are not updated. One of the best examples of this is the Texas Sunset Commission, which audits regulatory agencies on a fixed schedule and makes a determination on whether or not they should be eliminated or consolidated to improve government efficiency and citizen experience. In 2019, the Commission reports it eliminated over 68 types of licenses, consolidated several agencies into one, and increased data interoperability between Texas agencies.
With more dynamic systems of feedback, we can hold regulators accountable to the regulations they produce and enforce. For example, if a certain number of enforcement actions or consumer complaints are made, this should trigger an audit of the regulatory agency by an independent third body. Regulators should also be comparing and learning from other jurisdictions to experiment and understand what is working. One example of this is the regulatory sandbox the state of Arizona hosted for financial companies, effectively allowing them to test innovative products without undergoing an arduous and time-consuming licensing process. Since the sandbox launched, other states have introduced similar reforms and the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau developed an Office of Innovation to encourage more experimentation in financial agencies across the United States.
The common denominators from the different reforms discussed above is that they introduce oversight and greater flexibility to make changes to regulations and regulatory agencies. They reflect an understanding of network theory by creating and strengthening networks in government and business. More importantly, they create feedback loops to hold both the private and public sector accountable.
Technology can enable these process checks and verifications in government by opening up paths for the documentation and exchange of information. It requires a paradigmatic shift within governments to move away from failing processes and test new methods. The Commonwealth of Kentucky is one of the first state to move toward tech-driven regulation. The government introduced the sunset of regulations and leveraged a regulatory management platform to hold agencies accountable to goals of better, more business-friendly regulation. Over the course of several years, the government eliminated outdated rules, introduced online licensing, consolidated agencies, and changed its internal culture to be more embracive of flexible regulatory process.
For the first time, governments have an opportunity to leverage world class technology that applies network theory in its own processes. Governments play an important role in helping networks thrive and evolve over time. To best serve the public, governments should be mindful to avoid concentrating too much power in a single body and stifling creativity within and outside of governments. By creating intelligent feedback loops between the public and private sectors, we can better encourage vibrant, network-driven markets that propel us to new discoveries.
Maleka Momand, Co-Founder & CEO, Esper
Joe Lonsdale, Co-Founder, Esper & Partner, 8VC | <urn:uuid:3fa0e1e5-a7d9-46a9-b8ed-d57af4e1cca2> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://esper.com/blog/value-of-networks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251783342.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20200128215526-20200129005526-00160.warc.gz | en | 0.945064 | 2,427 | 2.859375 | 3 |
MAKE subscriber Brian writes in to point out MemAxe, a Simon-like game made with an 8-pin PicAxe microcontroller. It’s pretty simple, but i like how all the buttons are connected up using only one input pin. So how is this possible? Well, instead of reading the input pins using the digital input, they are instead connected up similar to a voltage divider, with resistor on each switch being twice that of the switch before it. Then, by measuring the voltage of the input pin and figuring out which combination of resistors corresponds to the value read, you can figure out which switches were pressed. Here is what the schematic looks like:
These are cool tricks, but before you go crazy optimizing your project, keep in mind that it might be cheaper/easier to just buy a processor with enough inputs, since they usually aren’t much more expensive. | <urn:uuid:46c886f8-6597-4c7b-8ae8-30ff19717a09> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://makezine.com/2009/09/30/memaxe-game-made-using-tiny-process/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1397609539665.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20140416005219-00320-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94594 | 185 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Giant meteorite crashes into moon causing explosion
If you saw a flash on the moon on March 17th, it was not just your imagination. A huge meteorite crashed into the lunar surface at 56,000 mph creating a new crater about 65-feet wide according to Yahoo News.
They say the light from the crash created a bright flash of light that was visible with the naked eye on that night.
Scientists say this is the biggest explosion they’ve seen since experts have been watching the moon. | <urn:uuid:1ed84d73-d253-42c4-99ce-124fed86add3> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://wtkr.com/2013/05/17/giant-meteorite-crashes-into-moon-causing-explosion/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257828283.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071028-00297-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966535 | 104 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Tyree D. Mitchell, Jenny Daugherty 10.12806/V18/I1/R9
With the tremendous growth of leadership programs in the United States, leadership education has become a mainstay of the collegiate curriculum with several degree-granting programs from majors to minors being created and offered (Brungardt, Greenleaf, Brungardt, and Arensdorf, 2006). Haber (2012) noted that several higher education institutions have mission statements that “emphasize leadership, striving to develop students who will be leaders in various aspects of society, and a variety of leadership training, education, and development efforts are implemented on college campuses” (p. 27). As Perruci (2014) concluded with “so many different voices and programmatic inclinations, sometimes it is challenging to assess the true nature of leadership studies as an academic enterprise” (p. 43). Programs vary in their focus from understanding leadership (leadership education) to building an individual’ skills (leadership training) to developing leadership abilities in all students (leadership development) (Murphy & Johnson, 2011).
As leadership continues to be a targeted outcome of student learning within higher education, university faculty are left with the challenge of how to best teach and develop leadership in college students. Collegiate leadership programs vary greatly from where they are situated on campus (in agricultural education, engineering, business, etc.) to their mission and philosophy. Leadership is often seen as interdisciplinary or “an amalgam of the arts, humanities, and sciences” (Clegorne & Mastrogiovanni, 2015, p. 48). Degree-granting leadership programs also vary greatly in terms of size, total number of required credit hours (for a major or minor), and instructional strategies. In a review of 15 leadership degree programs in 2006, Brungardt, Greenleaf, Brungardt, and Arensdorf concluded however that despite the differences in mission, the programs all emphasize the need to balance both the theory and practical applications of leadership. Leadership education involves both learning about it and developing the ability to do it. As Harvey and Jenkins (2014) argued, a common approach to teaching and learning in leadership programs is a focus on knowledge acquisition, praxis (or experiential learning), and reflection.
The similarities and differences in collegiate leadership programs reflect the faculty decisions made in designing the programs and in the development of the curriculum. The students are a key component of undergraduate leadership education; their motivations, learning goals, and experiences. However, the research on undergraduate leadership programs from the students’ perspectives is relatively “sparse, and the existing studies on this topic are limited in scope” (Haber, 2012, p. 27). In order to offer better quality leadership education to college students, we need to understand students’ leadership development needs and goals, as well as their understanding of leadership and experiences in leadership programs. The purpose of our study was to understand the perceived benefits and challenges/concerns of a leadership undergraduate minor from the perspective of currently enrolled students, alumni, and coordinators of leadership development minors. We surveyed 130 current students and alumni of one leadership minor program and interviewed coordinators of seven other leadership minor programs to address the following research questions:
What do current students, alumni, and program coordinators believe are the benefits of undergraduate leadership minor programs contributing to students’ career/professional development?
What do current students and alumni believe are quality components of leadership minor programs?
What do current students, alumni, and program coordinators believe are the challenges associated with the undergraduate leadership development minor programs?
As discussed, the development of leadership skills is often a common core component of the leadership curriculum. However, even within this dimension to leadership education, “there are no general models for the development of leadership skills” (Lord & Hall, 2005, p. 591) and thus a variety of approaches. Some programs have decided instead, or in conjunction with skill development, to focus on a “leadership studies” approach with goals of expanding students’ knowledge of various leadership theories and research. Another focus of collegiate programs is leadership identity development, where students develop their own understanding of leadership, as well as their own sense of leadership (Komives, Owen, Longerbeam, Mainella, & Osteen, 2005). And some programs integrate a combination of these approaches and goals. For example, Lord and Hall (2005) argued for the development of leadership skills that occurs over an extended period of time guided by students’ desires to match their behaviors to theories of effective leadership and integrate their leadership skills with their identity as a leader.
Perruci (2014) offered that a focus on leadership skills matches students’ expectations in that most “students join leadership programs because they want to become a better leader, which they often define as someone who possesses strong leadership skills” (p. 44). There are a few studies that have examined students’ understandings of leadership and learning outcomes. For example, Haber’s (2012) mixed method study of 1,100 undergraduate students’ found that they had more traditional views of leadership in that that they viewed leadership as hierarchical and leader-centric instead of collaborative. Sessa and colleagues assessed undergraduate student leaders’ constructive development, leadership identity development, and understanding of leadership through interviews and surveys of 50 juniors and seniors (Sessa et al., 2016). They found that until students encounter experiences that conflict with their view of leadership, they will continue to see leadership simply as a personal characteristic and not develop a more complex understanding of leadership.
In studying the impact of leadership education on students, Rosch (2015) found few gains in the leadership capacity of 285 engineering students’ after a semester-long classroom-based team experience. However, Williams, Townsend, and Linder (2005) found that students retained the same amount of knowledge comprehension of leadership for each year for three years after they took a leadership course. The students also reported using their leadership knowledge with the same regularity over the three years. In another study, Rosch and Collier (2013) examined the incoming leadership-oriented differences between 166 students enrolled in either an elective leadership studies course or an elective team-based engineering projects course to determine significant predictors of transformational leadership behavior. Students enrolled in the leadership course scored higher on measures of both transformational and transactional leadership behaviors, as well as motivation to lead.
Although these types of studies are crucial to understanding the role of leadership education in college students’ understandings and development as leaders, a missing element is students’ perspectives of the programs themselves. In reflecting on our own leadership development minor, we have debated the merits of a skills-based or theory-driven approach. We have discussed the challenges of delivering leadership training via online instruction and the overall learning outcomes we are targeting. In our discussions we realized the need to better understand our students’ thoughts and perspectives on the program. How are they experiencing the program and what do they think are the benefits and quality aspects of the program? In these discussions, we also wanted to gain a larger perspective on the design side of leadership development programs and talk with other program coordinators about what they perceive are the benefits of their programs and what they know or think they know concerning their students’ perceptions of their programs. As Rosch and Collier (2013) argued, “the more educators can understand about the types of students who elect to participate within their courses, the better they will be able to help them learn” (p. 104).
Sample and Procedures. In order to answer our research questions, we used a mixed methods research design that included a short survey consisting of closed-ended and open-ended items and a semi-structured interview. We collected survey data from two different stakeholders of a leadership development minor located in the southeastern United States: current undergraduate students and alumni. We sent a recruitment message via email to 137 current students and 680 alumni who were awarded their degrees from 2007 to 2016. Our informed consent document stated that all responses would remain anonymous, and there would be no negative consequences associated with an individual’s decision to participate (or not participate) in our research. Our informed consent document also stated that participants would be eligible to win 1 of 10 $100 cash prizes (5 for alumni and 5 for current undergraduate students). We sent a reminder message two weeks later to all potential participants. In terms of our response rate, we received responses from 27 students (20% response rate) and 103 alumni (15% response rate).
Respondents in both groups (current students and alumni) were primarily Caucasian (76%), and female (68%). And there was not much variation in age, with current students being in their mid-twenties (Mage = 24.52, SDage = 8.81) and alumni being in their late twenties (Mage = 27.81, SDage = 5.72). Students represented a variety of majors (e.g., sports administration, interdisciplinary studies, english, digital advertising) and alumni represented a variety of work areas including government, sales, consulting, and education. Fifty percent of alumni indicated that they are currently in a supervisory role in which they are responsible for the work of at least one other individual.
We also conducted seven interviews of leadership development minor program coordinators at comparable university programs. The interviews provided a larger context for the understanding the student survey data and the design side of leadership education programs. Our institution had identified a list of peers for its strategic planning process, which consisted of 13 institutions that were also public universities with a land grant mission, Carnegie Research designation as Very High Research Activity, without a medical school, and located in the Midwest or South. We reviewed the websites of these peer institutions to identify comparable leadership development minors. A comparable leadership development minor program was determined to be one that is open to all students in the university and is not discipline specific (i.e., agricultural leadership or engineering leadership). We compiled a spreadsheet of all possible leadership programs and reviewed it to determine if the program met the “comparable program criteria.”
Of the institutions reviewed, three appeared to not have comparable leadership development minor programs. The contact information for coordinators or key personnel for the remaining ten comparable programs was obtained. An email request was sent to these individuals requesting a brief (20-30 minute) information gathering interview to learn about the development of the leadership minor program and about the student experience. Of the ten, seven leadership minor program coordinators were interviewed using a semi-structured protocol that contained eight questions. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed by a professional transcription service.
In order to analyze the interviews, an Excel spreadsheet was use to categorize the interview responses based on the study’s research questions seeking to understand the benefits and challenges of leadership minor programs. Thus, the two primary categories were the program coordinators’ responses to questions about the benefits and challenges of their leadership minor program. Another category was their responses to whether they collect student feedback on the leadership minor program, and if so, how. Direct quotes concerning the benefits and challenges were entered into each cell of the spreadsheet for each program. The program coordinators’ responses to how they collect student feedback was summarized on the spreadsheet. We then reviewed the direct quotes and summaries captured on the spreadsheet and identified consistent responses or themes.
Another category on the spreadsheet was the “story of the leadership minor program,” which included the program coordinators’ explanation of why the program was developed, when it was developed, where it was housed in the university, and how it was currently being managed. A summary of the story was developed by one of the researchers after reading each response several times and entered into the spreadsheet, along with pithy or interesting direct quotes. The “approach to leadership education” was an additional category that was used to capture how the program was teaching leadership whether from a defined model or another approach. Again, a summary of each program’s approach was developed by the researcher based on the program coordinator’s response and entered into the spreadsheet.
Program Descriptions. Our leadership development minor program first started offering courses in 2006 and it currently consists of 12 hours of core leadership courses and 6 hours of electives from an approved list. The leadership development minor is open to any undergraduate student at the university. The core leadership courses are primarily web-based and focus on core concepts and principles of leadership. The core courses also require students to complete a variety of assessments that help them better understand their personal values and characteristics as it relates to leadership development. Students are also required to complete an internship that allows them to integrate their coursework with practical leadership experience.
The electives allow undergraduate students the opportunity to enroll in various courses across the university to supplement their core leadership coursework.
Of the seven programs we interviewed the program coordinators, the oldest was estimated to have started “20-25 years ago” and the most recent was launched last year. Almost all of the program coordinators pointed to the impetus for the creation of the leadership minor program being a core value of the institution often identified in the university’s strategic plan or as one coordinator stated, leadership “kind of became the buzz word.” Another coordinator stated, “so there’s a been a big push for we have a transformative very accessible philosophy of leadership education, and we realize the value added of leadership courses and realize that not every student can declare a leadership major.” Another impetus identified by two of the programs were faculty interest and expertise in leadership development. As one program coordinator stated, our vision was to create “an experiential learning academic experience that focused on college student leadership and transition that to their post college experience.”
The approach to leadership development taken by the minor programs varied somewhat. Although our program does not adhere to a specific leadership model, it does integrate a focus on assessment where students identify their strengths and weaknesses in an assessment center.
Students then learn leadership concepts and principles and are provided an opportunity to apply these skills in a service learning course, as well as during an internship. A few of the program coordinators we interviewed identified specific models or theories. Three of the coordinators pointed to the social change model as at least one element of their approach to leadership. One coordinator stated that the social change model guides the “learning outcomes we wish our students to experience.” One of the programs is in the middle of an assessment to examine whether this is still the appropriate underpinning of the program. They currently approach leadership development as mindsets; “some of the mindsets that we’ve identified is learning mindset, community mindset, a justice mindset, and an action mindset.” Another coordinator pointed to the leadership theories identified in Northouse (2018), as well as a set of competencies they identified as their foundation.
Three of the program coordinators said they did not use a specific model. One of the programs takes a “holistic approach” in that they use “a little bit of skills, context, behaviors, theories, current issues and then practical application.” Another program coordinator indicated that “we do have more of a kind of community and community theory base, so interactional theory and that sort of stuff, where it’s really about the process of community and capacity building.” The other program coordinator said they did not use a specific leadership framework but identified the interdisciplinary nature of the program as foundational. The coordinator stated that we are “trying to meet the needs of employers as well as trying to get the students to bridge that gap of what employers are seeing as lacking in their skills and knowledge and understanding and trying to help them make those connections.”
RQ 1. Perceived Benefits of Leadership Minors. We asked the coordinators of the leadership minor programs what they thought their students believed were the benefits of the minor. Five of the program coordinators discussed gauging students’ perceptions via surveys; three of which specified they conducted exit or senior surveys. Two program coordinators stated that in addition to surveys they have conducted focus groups of graduating students and one of these coordinators mentioned doing an alumni survey as well. This program coordinator explained they had recently conducted a formal program evaluation of the leadership minor. Two of the seven program coordinators cited anecdotal evidence when answering this question, as they did not conduct any formal feedback methods.
All of the program coordinators referenced students’ career/professional development as a benefit of the program. Three of the program leaders specifically identified the students’ acquiring “a leadership language” to use in their careers. As one program coordinator stated, the program alumni they interviewed said they valued “their ability to name phenomena that is happening, and then identify the tools needed to navigate that space.” Two other program coordinators responded that this language was beneficial to alumni of their programs as they participated in interviews; “they felt light years better prepared than their peers.” Related to this notion of a leadership language, is the benefit of listing a leadership minor on a students’ resume which was identified by five of the coordinators.
Given the coordinators’ focus on leadership programs benefiting students’ career/professional development, we asked alumni and currently enrolled students specifically how the leadership development minor contributed to their career/professional development. An overwhelming majority of the open-ended comments from both alumni and current students were related to how the minor enhanced their knowledge and skills necessary for effective leadership. For example, one alumni stated, that “I find that I’m very aware of how I manage my employees because of this minor.” Another credited the minor with giving “me leadership techniques I implement every day at my current job.” Pointing to the idea of a “leadership language,” another alumni noted the impact of the minor in “being able to effectively communicate and negotiate with clients, coworkers, superiors, etc.” A current student commented that the minor is helping her or him “to be able to take responsibility and lead others with confidence.”
In addition to developing their leadership knowledge and skills, 14 of the alumni mentioned how the leadership development minor enhanced their marketability to employers and helped with career advancement. One alumni stated that “a past employer admitted that the leadership development minor and the skills I obtained from the courses are what landed me the job.” Another alumni pointed to the minor as contributing to “getting a promotion 11 months into my career.” From landing a job to promotions, several alumni credited being able to list the leadership minor on their resumes as contributing to their career advancement opportunities. One alumni even stated that the leadership minor “was one of the best educational decisions I made.” Current students echoed these alumni comments, in the hope that the leadership minor will set them apart. One student believed that “it will contribute to my ability to be competitive in interviews and the job market.” Another student is “hoping that it may put me in a position to be promoted quickly once in the workforce.”
RQ 2. Quality Components of Leadership Minors. The identification of benefits to students’ career/professional development begs the question of what components of the leadership minor students and alumni perceive as important for a quality program. We posed this question directly to current students and alumni. Using a Likert-type scale anchored at 1 (“unimportant”) and 5 (“very important”), we asked current students and alumni to rate components of the leadership development minor program (see Figure 1 below). Current students and alumni identified the availability of internships (M= 4.45, SD = .73, N = 126) and faculty teaching effectiveness (M= 4.68, SD = .65, N = 126) as the two most important components of the leadership minor. Current students and alumni reported rather neutral or indifferent feelings about the importance of facilities (M= 3.68, SD = .95, N = 126), low student- to-faculty ratio (M= 3.62, SD = 1.01, N = 125), the research productivity of faculty (M= 3.66, SD= .84, N = 126), and having prestigious faculty affiliated with the minor (M= 3.50, SD = .91, N = 126). In testing for significant differences between alumni and current students regarding perceptions of quality components of leadership minors, we observed that alumni rated the availability of internships as higher in importance than current students. There were no other significant differences between alumni and current students regarding perceptions of quality components of a leadership minor.
Figure 1. Students’ Perceptions of Quality Components of Leadership Minors
We also asked current students and alumni to indicate how valuable, rigorous, and prestigious the leadership development minor is in comparison to other types of minors (see Figure 2 below). All items used a Likert-type scale anchored at 1 (“strongly disagree”) and 5 (“strongly agree”). Current students and alumni agreed that in comparison to other types of minors, the leadership development minor is valuable (M = 4.01, SD = .91, N = 124). However, current students and alumni did not agree that the leadership development minor is rigorous in comparison to other types of minors (M = 2.70, SD = 1.04, N = 124). Current students and alumni were rather indifferent regarding the statement that the leadership development minor is prestigious in comparison to other types of minors (M = 3.14, SD = .86, N = 124). In testing for significant differences between alumni and current students regarding perceptions of the leadership minor in comparison to other types of minors, we observed that alumni (in comparison to current students) rated that the leadership minor as less rigorous. There were no other significant differences between alumni and current students regarding perceptions of the leadership minor in comparison to other types of minors.
Figure 2. Students’ Perceptions of the Leadership Minor in Comparison to Other Types of Minors
RQ 3. Challenges of Leadership Minors. In thinking about improving the quality and further benefiting students, we wanted to identify particular challenges encountered in delivering and experiencing the leadership minor. Although we did not specifically ask about challenges, we did ask current students and alumni to offer suggestions for improving of the minor. The majority of students and alumni (11) focused on the web-based nature of the minor. Many pointed to the lack of in person interaction in courses. As one student commented, “I think it would’ve been a lot better if it wasn’t online and we had more face-to-face interactions with other classmates.” Although students identified this as a challenge, many also noted the benefits of having the courses online. As one student stated, “I understand the convenience of the minor being offered online, and it fit into my schedule as a student very well. I do think that…seeing and learning in-person could be really helpful.”
The other suggested area of improvement identified by nine of the students and alumni was the internship capstone course. Current students and alumni felt that there should be more guidance through the internship process and more realistic requirements for the internship. An alumni offered that “I think the internships could be taken more seriously, but students need more guidance on how to find the right fit.” A current student commented that they thought “the requirements for the type of internship is unrealistic.” Similarly another student pointed to several factors that make the 144-hour requirement for the internship challenging, “I work a job, am enrolled full time in school, and am heavily involved in a campus organization.”
We asked coordinators what they believed are the challenges associated with the undergraduate leadership development minor programs. All but one of the program coordinators pointed to issues of managing and delivering the programs. An often-identified issue pertained to the lack of resources to support the programs and manage growth. Three of the program coordinators spoke specifically to the need for instructors to teach and transition courses to an online format. One coordinator spoke of this need stating that, all of the instructors are limited- term lecturers. Four of the coordinators discussed the pressure of offering more online course options in the minor program. One of the coordinators highlighted the need to “really making sure that the quality of education they’re getting online is matching that to what they would get if they were a major student taking the courses face-to-face.”
Another area that three of the program coordinators identified as problematic was related to the curriculum of the programs. Two coordinators spoke to the need to continually update and maintain a consistent curriculum, as well as attend to “the national conversation around leadership education” – which is focused more on equity inclusion, power/privilege, a critical lens.” In terms of the curriculum, another coordinator mentioned the interdisciplinary nature of the program leading to challenges in “working across colleges” and the fact that “some of the classes aren’t always in our control, and some not following a standard curriculum.”
Another challenge two of the program coordinators described was in recruiting and advising students. One coordinator commented that due to other leadership minor programs emerging on campus, “students confuse them if not differentiated well.” Two program coordinators spoke to challenges working with advisors to understand and communicate the program requirements to students. One coordinator stated that “a lot of times we don’t get the support from the advisors in the other colleges even though we try.” Another commented that “one of the biggest challenges is that students can join this program whenever and they wait until the last semester and there are just not enough seats in classes they need.” Another coordinator summed this challenge up by stating, “so for us that means we constantly have to make sure that we are recruiting and the advisors are helping us get students into the program and we’re successfully graduating our students.”
Although the sample size from our survey and interviews was relatively small, we believe we were able to capture unique insights that further our understanding about the impact of leadership development minors from various stakeholders’ perspectives. It is worth noting that we contacted alumni who received their degrees as early as 2007 capturing to some degree the long-term impact of the leadership development minor on their careers. From the alumni, current students, and program coordinators, we identified perceived benefits, quality components, and challenges of a leadership minor. We hope this adds to the discussion around collegiate leadership education as we pursue effective leadership education “to prepare people to deal with the diverse reality present in a pluralistic world” (Watt, 2003, p. 14).
The benefits of leadership minors as identified by the program coordinators focused primarily on contributing to students’ career/professional development, even though the programs varied in terms of approach. This perceived benefit is reflected in Stephens and Beatty’s (2015) belief that leadership education has “the potential to dramatically shape students’ trajectory in college and beyond” (p. 119). Alumni participating in this study reported actual benefits to their career trajectories, identifying jobs secured and promotions obtained as evidence. However, more research is needed to determine how, and in what ways, leadership education is impacting students’ leadership skills and abilities in their careers. Beyond obtaining the job or promotion, how does the program enable students to lead effectively? Another key question, posed by Grimes (2015), is “While students may adopt the necessary skills to function well in their particular leadership roles, are they experiencing the depth of thinking that we as leadership educators hope for?” (p. 39). Although we did have participation from alumni who had graduated a decade before, future research is needed to understand the long-term effects of leadership programs on individuals’ thinking, as well as their career and leadership development.
This type of research would also inform and refine the curriculum and instruction of leadership programs. In our study, current students and alumni shared similar perspectives about the curricular components of the leadership development minor. Faculty teaching effectiveness and availability of internships were considered to be the most important benchmarks of a quality leadership development minor. Perhaps the most interesting finding was that while students and alumni appreciate the web-based nature of the minor in terms of ease and availability, they desired more in-person interaction with other students and the instructors. This finding is particularly interesting in light of the recent trends in higher education with institutions offering more web-based courses and programs. Several of the program coordinators pointed to this tension the students identified commenting on a “push” to integrate more online courses but struggling with how to teach leadership effectively in an online environment. Research is needed to explore how students learn leadership in web-based environments and the potential trade-offs of offering web-based leadership programs.
Our findings support Perucci’s (2014) beliefs that the majority of students join leadership programs to become better leaders and provided their perspectives on the programs’ benefits. We hope the study’s findings can encourage researchers to further investigate the benefits and impact of leadership programs in higher education. Similarly, we hope that program coordinators and researchers report information about their programs, including the program design, curriculum and instruction, and approaches to leadership. As Haber (2012) argued, as “colleges and universities continue to strive to develop students who are leaders and capable of leading and affecting change, it is important that institutional leaders clarify what values around leadership they seek to develop in their students” (Haber, 2012, p. 46).
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Sessa, V. I., Ploskonka, J., Alvarez, E. L., Dourdis, S., Dixon, C., & Bragger, J. D. (2016). The relationship between student leaders’ constructive development, their leadership identity, and their understanding of leadership. Journal of Leadership Education, 15, 15-30.
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Dr. Tyree Mitchell is an Assistant Professor in the School of Leadership & Human Resource Development at Louisiana State University. He holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from DePaul University. His research in the area of leadership primarily focuses on understanding the antecedents of leadership emergence in self- managing teams. email@example.com.
Dr. Jenny Daugherty is a leadership and education consultant and program evaluator for various projects. She is focused on developing solutions and improving practices that build learning capacity and leadership capability in individuals and organizations. Her experience over the last several years in academia as a professor, researcher, and director have equipped her with strategic planning, collaboration, and project management skills. firstname.lastname@example.org. | <urn:uuid:e3796f49-db37-4f89-a81f-388c0df6c546> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://journalofleadershiped.org/jole_articles/learning-to-lead-perceptions-of-undergraduate-leadership-minor-programs/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764499524.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20230128054815-20230128084815-00587.warc.gz | en | 0.961167 | 6,979 | 2.828125 | 3 |
WHY DO CLEAN HANDS MATTER?
Although we may think that germs spread through the air, they are actually more often spread by contact between peoples’ hands. Even if your hands don’t appear to be dirty, there are germs on them. These germs can make you sick when they move from your hands into your body through your mouth, nose, eyes and open wounds.
One of the best ways to stop the spread of germs is to clean your hands by washing them with soap and water or applying alcohol based hand rub. By cleaning your hands, you greatly reduce the chance of spreading germs around.
- Alcohol hand rubs should only be used if no visible dirt is present on the hands
- To be effective the alcohol content must be at least 70%
- The alcohol in hand rubs completely evaporates as it dries and is safe to use on children
- 99.9% of germs are killed by hand rubs within seconds
- People shed one million flakes of skin a day. Each flake can contain microorganisms capable of causing harm.
- The average person has 1,500 germs on each square centimeter of their hands, and the average bathroom faucet has more than 229,000 germs on each square inch.
- Every 60 seconds a working adult touches up to 30 objects. You are picking up their germs when you pick up or touch those objects!
- Even though hands may appear to be clean, they may carry germs that are capable of causing disease
- It is important to encourage and help children wash their hands
- Some viruses and bacteria can live from 20 minutes to 2 hours or more on surfaces like doorknobs, hand rails, faucets and telephones
CLEANING YOUR HANDS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO TO MINIMIZE YOUR RISK OF INFECTION.
Some critical times to clean your hands
- Before eating or preparing food
- When hands are visibly dirty
- Before and after contact with someone who is sick
- After using the washroom
- After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
- After handling garbage
HOW TO CLEAN YOUR HANDS
Alcohol Based Hand Rub
Alcohol based hand rub is the preferred method of hand hygiene when your hands are NOT visibly soiled.
- Apply a ‘loonie-sized’ amount of alcohol rub to the palm of one hand - enough that when you rub your hands together you cover all areas of your hands, including under your nails.
- Rub your hands together, covering all surfaces of hands and fingers.
- Rub until your hands are dry. This will take a minimum of 15 to 20 seconds if sufficient product is used.
Soap & Water
How you wash your hands is just as important as when you wash them. Just rinsing your hands is NOT ENOUGH! By rubbing your hands vigorously with soapy water, you pull the dirt and the oily soils free from your skin. The soap lather suspends both the dirt and germs trapped inside and are then quickly washed away.
- Wet your hands with warm running water
- Add soap, and then rub your hands together, making a soapy lather. Do this away from the running water for at least 15 seconds, being careful not to wash the lather away. Wash the front and back of your hands, as well as between your fingers and under your nails.
- You do not have to use antibacterial soap. Any type of plain soap may be used. However, bar soap should be kept in a self draining holder that is cleaned thoroughly before new bars are put out. Liquid soap containers should be used until empty and then disposed of.
- Rinse your hands and wrists well under warm running water to remove all the soap.
- Pat dry with a paper towel. In your own home, you may use a cloth towel.
- Turn off taps with paper towel and discard towel garbage.
- To prevent chapping, wet your hands before applying soap and use a mild lotion soap with warm water; pat rather than rub hands dry; and apply lotion liberally and frequently.
IF YOU ARE A PATIENT IN THE HOSPITAL
(Adapted from brochure Clean Hands Protect Lives)
There are important moments when your health care team should clean their hands such as:
- After touching objects in a patient’s room and going to another room
- Before and after treating patients
- Before and after special procedures such as giving a needle
- After contact with body fluids such as blood or urine | <urn:uuid:a5814b3c-b461-4db6-accd-aecb9f3f4d6e> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://www.sfmhosp.com/patient-safety/hand-hygiene/hand-hygiene-info-sheets-7594.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585231.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20211019012407-20211019042407-00568.warc.gz | en | 0.941873 | 963 | 3.484375 | 3 |
A trader is a man who earns what he gets and does not give or take the undeserved. He does not treat men as masters or slaves, but as independent equals. He deals with men by means of a free, voluntary, unforced, uncoerced exchange—an exchange which benefits both parties by their own independent judgment.
Ayn Rand, "The Objectivist Ethics," The Virtue of Selfishness (via the online Lexicon)
Free exchange and independent equals--this is how we deal with things like sharing and taking turns. You don't have to let your sister take a turn with your toy merely because you owe her some kind of duty because she's your sister or because she's younger or because she needs or wants it. She is not owed a turn merely because she has decided she wants a turn. You have no moral obligation to share toys, and she has no moral claim on your toy by virtue of her desires or needs.
Indeed, this is generally how kids are taught to share. "Give him a turn, he wants it!" "Share that toy because he's a baby!"
A somewhat separate though related issue is that often the adult will swoop in and make a declaration as to which kid ought to have a turn, and skip over the process of teaching kids to negotiate their own terms independently.
But here, we trade. We trade goods (like turns with toys) and services (like help or kind words). If someone really, really doesn't want to share, he doesn't have to (but he may have some negative consequences that go along with that decision, such as a mad friend who stomps home or a sibling unwilling to share with him in the future).
My role is not to make people take turns, but rather to help them negotiate kindly and properly, and only step in where necessary. Sean, at 27 months, sometimes needs a little assistance in letting go, so sometimes I need to pry the toy away from his little hands and help him cope with the ensuing sadness. Ryan (8), who has never been Mr. Willing to Share, needs daily (hourly!) reminders to speak kindly and what to do if someone is touching his stuff. Morgan (5), generally willing to take turns and speak kindly, needs help in surviving the interminable negotiation process. (How could I ever have considered Ryan "not persistent?" That's clearly Crazy Talk, as nobody has his stamina or motivation when it comes to a negotiation.)
And as with any developmental stage or new skill, kids seem to make some forward progress, take a step or two backwards, and then move forward again. We're in Forward Motion around here lately, and it's so enjoyable!
For instance, I was playing Chutes and Ladders with Morgan the other day, and Sean's job was to spin the spinner when it's my turn (always best to give him a job where he can be kind of helpful in such situations). He was resisting handing the spinner back over to M for her turn. She sat there patiently, hand out, and would say in a sweet little voice "Come on, Seanie! It's my turn now, but YOU can have the NEXT turn!" And he would then hand it over of his own volition (though with some pouty face)! The fact that he is able to do this at least sometimes is super great, as he's still quite young.
I was also really impressed with Morgan. By explaining the process, she's helping him get an understanding of turn-taking (first you, then me, then you, then me). And she appealed to his self-interest, that he wanted a turn, and reassured him that he would get what he wants. So cool.
Then yesterday, Ryan surprised me with this exchange:
"Mom, can you help me reach the UNO cards that dropped down by my bookcase?"
Me: "Not right now, because I'm about to take all the garbage to the curb."
Ryan: " Well why don't I help you? That way your work will get done even faster and then you can come help me sooner!"
Me, jumping up and down: "Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Oh I've waited for this moment my entire life!" (or similar)
So we did that. He worked hard and helped me do my job, and then we came back in and I helped him reach the UNO cards. I played it cool (though inside I was shouting and jumping as previously described), but told him thanks for helping me out. And I mentioned that trading work and kindness helped us both get what we want, and made us happy, too!
It was pretty cool! | <urn:uuid:76348b52-dff9-4b06-a941-56d878b12a8c> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://rationaljenn.blogspot.com/2010/09/trader-principle-progress.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501172000.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104612-00356-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.987014 | 975 | 2.5625 | 3 |
|Name: _________________________||Period: ___________________|
This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through The Square Egg.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What bird builds their nests in the "battered remnants" of a poplar tree?
(a) The turtledove.
(b) The goose.
(c) The stern.
(d) The magpie.
2. Who does Marion Eggelby state that Clovis would like (one of her children)?
3. What bird, according to "Birds on the Western Front," is attracted to the rats and mice?
(a) Barn owls.
4. Which bird does the Russian naturalists state has disappeared?
(a) All of them.
(c) Wild pigeons.
5. What color does the Queen of Spain detest?
Short Answer Questions
1. What is wrong with Vanessa Pennington's husband?
2. How many children does Emily have?
3. Whose job is it to insure that both Jane and Dora do not come face-to-face?
4. What is the name of Vanessa's husband?
5. Who "harms" the buzzards at the end of "The Forbidden Buzzards"?
This section contains 163 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page) | <urn:uuid:ce661e31-c0ce-4c95-9e05-2c59d75da54e> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | http://www.bookrags.com/lessonplan/the-penguin-complete-saki/quiz1a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084889798.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20180121001412-20180121021412-00682.warc.gz | en | 0.89489 | 290 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Cities, Towns, Villages
Albion, Boone, Cedar Rapids, Loretto, Petersburg, Primrose, Raeville, St. Edward
Historical accounts of the "Great American Desert" indicate that stolen horses may have led to the formation of Boone County. According to reports from the 1800s, no white man other than government surveyors had explored the 687-square-mile area prior to 1860. The area was primarily a bountiful hunting ground for the Pawnee and Sioux Indians.
But in the late 1860s, Sam Smith of Columbus ventured into the area in search of a stolen herd of horses. In 1871 Smith returned to this thriving prairie area along Beaver Creek as leader of a six-man exploration party. The party was unconvinced, however, that the land was of value. One member of the party, S.D. Avery, decided to try his fortunes again. Avery led three exploration parties to the area that same year and on the third visit began work on a sod house along Beaver Creek, marking the first white settlement.
Avery began the settlement just one month after the Legislature, on March 28, 1871, defined the boundaries and organized the county, naming it in honor of Kentucky pioneer and hunter Daniel Boone. The government of Boone County officially went into operation on July 28, 1871 when three commissioners were sworn into office. It was decided by these new representatives that the first county election would be conducted on the first Tuesday in January 1872.
A difference of opinion arose over where the county seat should be located and a struggle developed between Albion and Boone, the only two locations with post offices. An election was held and Albion was the victor. Until the first courthouse was completed in 1897, commissioners met in an Albion hotel. The present courthouse was dedicated in 1976.
The community that today serves as the county seat actually had its name selected through a game of chance. Two factions argued for several weeks about what the town should be named. They agreed to settle the argument with game of euchre. Two men played for the name Albion; two for the name Manchester. | <urn:uuid:7cf6fbc9-d2a2-4963-beec-8fea3764ba5e> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | http://nacone.org/webpages/counties/countywebs/boone.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232257920.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20190525064654-20190525090654-00060.warc.gz | en | 0.981212 | 436 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Cryptocurrency - A Mathematical Extravaganza
Languages of publication
Paper emphasizes some aspects of Cryptocurrency which has evolved in the digital era with elements of mathematical theory and computer science to become a way to secure communications, information and money online. It also addresses a major issue regarding the existence of one of the most prevalent form of Cryptocurrency prevalent these days known as “Bitcoin”. Bitcoin don’t actually exist but are digital keys that are stored in a digital wallet which exist either in the cloud or on computers and can be linked to bank accounts.
- Chambers Andrew, Marianne. Elliptic cryptography. Plus magazine, 20 July, 2015, 22.
- Lewis Hazel, Bitcoin - The currency built with mathematics. 21 December 2017. www.mathscareers.org.uk
- Dorothy Villa. The Nuts and Bolts of Cryptocurrency. Planet of Finance, 7 November 2017.
- Hamburg Michael. Which one is better: elliptic curve cryptography or RSA algorithm and why? Quora 20 November 2013, 28.
- George Gilder (2016). The Scandal of Money. Published in the United States by Regnery Publishing. A Division of Salem Media Group, 300 New Jersey Ave NW Washington. ISBN 978-1-62157-566-5
- Raymaekers, Wim. Cryptocurrency Bitcoin: Disruption, challenges and opportunities. Journal of Payments Strategy & Systems, Volume 9 / Number 1 / Spring, 2015, pp. 30-46(17)
- Kinga Kądziołka, Analysis of the investment risk in cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Contemporary Economy Vol. 6 Issue 3 (2015) 1-8
- Andrew Phillip, Jennifer S. K. Chan, Shelton Peiris. A new look at Cryptocurrencies. Economics Letters Volume 163, February 2018, Pages 6-9
- John Fry, Eng-Tuck Cheah. Negative bubbles and shocks in cryptocurrency markets. International Review of Financial Analysis Volume 47, October 2016, Pages 343-352
- Andrew Urquhart. The inefficiency of Bitcoin. Economics Letters Volume 148, November 2016, Pages 80-82
- Aurelio F. Bariviera. The inefficiency of Bitcoin revisited: A dynamic approach. Economics Letters Volume 161, December 2017, Pages 1-4
Publication order reference | <urn:uuid:4db90c5d-ea47-42ee-83ff-afe4a3dba9bd> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | http://psjd.icm.edu.pl/psjd/element/bwmeta1.element.psjd-08808408-15c8-4696-a6f8-b1fc793c0e72?q=bwmeta1.element.psjd-b64715b8-88fe-49b1-be0c-bc26cb72455b;2&qt=CHILDREN-STATELESS | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038118762.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20210417071833-20210417101833-00595.warc.gz | en | 0.783723 | 500 | 2.59375 | 3 |
-Sir Winston Churchill
Going through a tough time? Does the mountain you are climbing seem too steep?
But it’s not just a mountain, and it’s not your only mountain.
You are striving not only for yourself, but also for others. Whatever you are trying to achieve today, whatever you hope to have in the future, can be used as inspiration for others…
You’re learning from it. Growing from it, and becoming a better person. Don’t give up, you don’t want to do that; Don’t be discouraged, it won’t aid your cause. You’re not a piece of cotton candy, disintegrating; no, you are firm, resolute, patient.
Your mountain lesson isn’t just for you. It will be an example, a story with which you can encourage others.
Thank you for persevering — the world thanks you!
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician and was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, Churchill was also an officer in the British Army, a historian, a writer, and an artist. He is the only British Prime Minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature, and was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. He was born into the aristocratic family of the Dukes of Marlborough, a branch of the Spencer family. Churchill married Clementine Hozier in 1908 and had five children: Diana, Randolph, Sarah, Marigold Frances, and Mary. (Bio source: Wikipedia: Sir Winston Churchill) | <urn:uuid:cd5b36c2-0e18-4b2f-b756-fd626d16b906> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | https://pamelahawley.wordpress.com/tag/learn/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267867424.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20180625033646-20180625053646-00129.warc.gz | en | 0.972047 | 368 | 3.125 | 3 |
- Water/Waste Solutions
- Tech Portals
- Buyer's Guide
- White Papers
A new project funded by the European Union is set to launch a pilot plant that would use an innovative method for treating dairy wastewater and whey, the EU's Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) announced on its website.
The REWAGEN project could potentially save the industry millions by dramatically reducing water and energy consumption required in conventional treatment methods. According to project coordinator Alexander Karos of Fraunhofer IGB in Germany, the technology can link dairy wastewater treatment with energy production by generating electricity through recovering hydrogen.
RELATED: US dairy industry eyes international markets
Thanks to the new technology, the pilot wastewater treatment plant will be extremely energy-efficient, as it will provide part of the power needed for the process itself. It is estimated that the technology would result in a 10% decrease in energy consumption and about a 30% drop in water consumption. In addition, between 80 and 95% of the wastewater is expected to be recycled, scientists said.
Researchers believe that the method could also be applied in other sectors, such as olive processing, biodiesel production and animal slaughter. By 2016, plans are for a fully developed eco-friendly dairy wastewater treatment system to be available to other industries as well. Researchers predict that a way to separate fats and oil will also be introduced, as well as an electro-oxidation device that would allow simultaneous wastewater treatment and hydrogen recovery. | <urn:uuid:f7b3fbb0-f01f-4112-bd19-6bd9d7c989f9> | CC-MAIN-2014-42 | http://www.processingmagazine.com/articles/126225-eu-backed-project-to-launch-pilot-for-dairy-wastewater-treatment | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1414119649807.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20141024030049-00009-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949427 | 303 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Toward a Longer, Healthier Life
PASADENA, Calif. - The Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon spent a fair amount of his time in 1513 looking for the fountain of youth. The upside was that he discovered Florida. The downside was that the fountain was a myth. Now in two separate awards from the Ellison Medical Foundation, two scientists from the California Institute of Technology are taking a much more scholarly approach to the ravages of aging. Harry Gray, a chemist, has been awarded $970,000 to reveal the structure of a protein and a peptide that underlie two age-related diseases, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, while biologist Alexander Varshavsky has been awarded $972,000 to conduct a systematic investigation of the genetics and biochemistry of aging.
Gray, the Arnold O. Beckman Professor of Chemistry, notes that approximately one million Americans suffer from Parkinson's, while 4.5 million have Alzheimer's. In order to design a drug to combat these two diseases, a key step is to understand the critical structural differences between normal proteins and the malignant proteins that comprise these diseases.
Both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are associated with the accumulation in the brain of aggregates of proteins known as fibrils. In Parkinson's, the fibrils are composed of the protein alpha-synuclein, while in Alzheimer's, the fibrils or plaques are composed of the AB amyloid peptide. Alpha-synuclein and AB amyloid peptide are known as "disordered biopolymers," meaning that they do not have well-defined structures. Because of this lack of structure, the traditional tools used by chemists, such as x-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, are virtually useless. They are only effective if the peptides and proteins being studied have well-defined structures in crystals or solutions.
Instead, Gray and his colleagues plan to use laser spectroscopic methods developed in Caltech's Beckman Institute to gain new insights into the structures, dynamics, and misfolding of malignant proteins and peptides. One of the most powerful methods they will use will employ an ultrafast camera to obtain distances between atoms in disordered structures that are constantly changing.
"We're very excited about the possibility of applying our laser methods to study proteins and peptides that are involved in disease in older people," says Gray. "We have a chance to identify toxic species that lead to these diseases, and point the way to successful interventions."
For Alexander Varshavsky, the Howard and Gwen Laurie Smits Professor of Cell Biology, it is the causes and alterations of the aging process that interest him. Every cell contains within it a molecular machine to eventually destroy its own proteins, he notes. The mechanisms and functions of this so-called regulated protein degradation became (mostly) understood over the last 25 years, in large part through discoveries in Varshavsky's lab. When a protein called ubiquitin is linked to another protein in a cell, that protein is marked for destruction. The molecular machines inside a cell that link ubiquitin to other proteins, and the intracellular machinery that "recognizes" ubiquitin-linked proteins and destroys them, are elaborate and complex. "Detailed understanding of these protein-destruction pathways will have a profound impact on the practice of medicine," says Varshavsky, "because all kinds of things that go wrong with us, from cancer and infectious diseases, to neurodegenerative syndromes and even normal aging, have a lot to do with either inherent imperfections of the ubiquitin system, or with an overt damage to it in a specific disease." Many clinical drugs of the future, he notes, will be designed to suppress, enhance, or otherwise modify various aspects of the ubiquitin system.
In this research Varshavsky will overexpress, selectively and in a controlled manner, specific components of the mouse ubiquitin system in intact mice, in order to determine the effects of such alterations on the rate of aging. He also plans to use analogous approaches with a much simpler organism, S. cerevisiae, common baker's yeast. His aim is to discover the molecular circuits that contribute to normal aging, and also to see whether some of the alterations that he plans to introduce could slow down the aging process.
The Ellison Medical Foundation is a nonprofit corporation that was established by a gift from Mr. Lawrence J. Ellison to support basic biomedical research to understand aging processes and age-related diseases and disabilities. Through various award mechanisms, including the Senior Scholar and New Scholar award programs, the foundation fosters research by means of grants-in-aid to investigators at universities and laboratories within the United States. | <urn:uuid:dc8f760b-4ba3-4a70-a176-9e74eb78c6ba> | CC-MAIN-2014-52 | http://www.caltech.edu/content/toward-longer-healthier-life | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-52/segments/1418802771374.156/warc/CC-MAIN-20141217075251-00014-ip-10-231-17-201.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95522 | 970 | 2.953125 | 3 |
An accumulation of blood that clots within a muscle. It may be caused by a muscle strain, tear, or bruise. The muscle fascia and the epimysium remain intact, trapping the blood within the injury site. The intramuscular haematoma results in pain and tenderness, and it limits the ability of the affected muscle to contract or to be passively stretched. In order to avoid long-term problems, it requires quick initial treatment by, for example, RICE, followed by a treatment method that increases blood flow, such as diathermy or ultrasound. An intramuscular haematoma is more painful than an intermuscular haematoma and requires more rehabilitation, with emphasis on stretching and strengthening the affected muscle. Occasionally, a cyst develops in an intramuscular haematoma that requires surgical removal.
Subjects: sports and exercise medicine. | <urn:uuid:c468a998-8d0a-448c-a5a3-4a04604b50dd> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100008989 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422122102237.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124175502-00133-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89001 | 186 | 3.0625 | 3 |
The Capillary Structures investigation uses capillary action, or the ability for a liquid to flow through a narrow spaces, such as small tubes, to move liquids and gases in microgravity, a task that can’t be tested in Earth’s gravity environment.
HOUSTON, TX, July 27, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ — Sometimes the best solution to a complex problem is the simplest one. That’s the approach that the Capillary Structures for Exploration Life Support (Capillary Structures) team took when designing the fluid physics investigation aboard the International Space Station. The Capillary Structures investigation uses capillary action, or the ability for a liquid to flow through a narrow spaces, such as small tubes, to move liquids and gases in microgravity, a task that can’t be tested in Earth’s gravity environment.
Life-support technology aboard any spacecraft is vitally important, especially as crews move farther away from Earth and into deep space. Many life support systems function differently in the space station’s microgravity environment than they would on Earth, including the way that liquids collect on and move across surfaces.
Currently, the life-support systems aboard the space station require special equipment to separate liquids and gases. This technology utilizes rotating and moving parts that, if broken or otherwise compromised, could cause contamination and/or system failure. The Capillary Structures investigation studies a new method of water recycling and carbon dioxide removal using structures designed in specific shapes to manage fluid and gas mixtures in microgravity.
As opposed to the expensive, machine-based processes currently in use aboard the station, the Capillary Structures equipment is made up of small, 3-D printed geometric shapes of varying sizes that clip into place.
The impact of this research could benefit those on Earth as well. Research gathered during this investigation will teach us about using geometry to optimize evaporation, more efficient water recovery systems, passive purification methods, other water processing approaches on Earth.
The first of this two-part investigation focuses on evaporation, a process that is specifically influenced by gravity and one that isn’t obvious in the microgravity environment of space.
“If you could do controllable evaporation in space, you could do all kinds of things,” said Mark Weislogel, one of the project’s principal investigators. “You could evaporate urine and recover all of the water. All of it. If you had a way of holding the liquid in a passive, no-moving-parts way like a puddle does on earth, but in space, then you could do a lot of unique processing, safely and with no maintenance.”
Crew members will fill each structure as research teams on the ground observe the behavior of the liquids over a few days via time lapse photography. Results from the investigation could lead to the development of new processes that are simple, trustworthy, and highly reliable in the case of an electrical failure or other mechanical system malfunction.
“We’re going to be getting detailed information about how the liquid evaporates out of the structures,” said Kyle Viestenz, co-investigator for the project. “The structures are set up to have different geometries, different angles, different heights, all these different parameters that we are varying across these structures to get quantitative data of evaporation in low gravity.”
The second part of the investigation demonstrates the use of fluids in a carbon dioxide removal system, called the Carbon Dioxide Liquid Sorbent System. This system uses a network of “water falls” to bring a liquid sorbent, or a material used to absorb gases, into contact with air, allowing the carbon dioxide to be carried away by the liquid. Of course, in a microgravity environment, the liquid does not “fall,” but is driven by surface tension forces generated passively by the unique surface geometry of the capillary structures.
Also comprised of 3-D printed capillary structures, this portion of the investigation is optimized for liquids to flow through the structures, rather than to simply evaporate.
“One of the things needed to scrub the carbon dioxide out of the air would be to split the fluid into multiple channels to achieve high surface area for the reaction,” said Viestenz. “In this investigation, we are going to be splitting the flow into multiple parallel open passages and recollecting them again–something that hasn’t been done before and will go a long way in demonstrating this kind of technology. The results are broadly applicable to liquid fuels, propellants, and coolants as well as myriad passive water management operations for life support.”
For more information about other science happening aboard the orbiting laboratory, follow @ISS_Research.
For the original version of this press release, please visit 24-7PressRelease.com here | <urn:uuid:0ed94fc4-2b30-45dd-8beb-86a241e0fec7> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | https://switzerlandposts.com/investigation-tests-new-methods-of-water-recycling-in-space | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578528702.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20190420060931-20190420082909-00060.warc.gz | en | 0.926404 | 1,009 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Jefferson On Money
Of Money and Measuring: Thomas Jefferson's Attempt to Rationalize America
Thomas Jefferson is known for many accomplishments: legal scholar, scientist, statesman, diplomat, and educator. But, he is also the individual who developed the United States’ monetary system and was almost the father of the metric system. The last two he devised in his spare time while he was assuming other taxing duties.
Jefferson, a child of the Enlightenment, saw disorder as an anathema. The English system of measurement with its ounces, feet and bushels; which were not related mathematically, grated on his rational mind. He felt the same about the nonsensical pences and pounds monetary units which the English had bequeathed to the colonies.
Jefferson saw standard American monetary and measuring units as a unifying aspect for the new nation; a way of completely severing all ties to its English past. He believed that new systems would have political, social, economic and scientific implications which would have positive consequences for the fledgling nation.
To accomplish these consequences, Jefferson, ever the rational man, devised measuring and monetary systems based on units of ten. In his own mind, these simple, elegant solutions would be apparent to all. As he was to find out, they were not; it would take many years for his monetary plan to be adopted and we are still waiting for a decimal-based measuring system in the United States.
The first time that Jefferson dealt with the colonies’ disorderly monetary system was in 1776. (Dumas Malone, Jefferson the Virginian, 1948, p. 416). He drafted a report for Congress on the value of various monetary values in the states. This was vital since each state could issue its own specie, and it was common practice to also use foreign coinage. Along with this, prior to the war, each colony had instituted “Land Banks” which could also print its own currency. Standards and values were not equitable between the competing currencies. Later in the war, to add to the confusion, the British employed economic sabotage by flooding the Colonies with counterfeit Continentals. (“Following, Er, Finding the Money”, securingamerica.com. 2006). Nobody knew what any currency was worth. This brought about a situation where currency would be valued at one amount in a certain colony and a different amount in another. Jefferson’s investigations for Congress impressed on him the need for a common currency for all of America.
Congress turned its attention to the multitude of monies in the states, once again in 1782. Robert Morris, Superintendent of Finance, was directed to devise a table of rates by which the various currencies could be exchanged at the national treasury. This plan could be grafted onto the existing hodgepodge of state and foreign currencies. Jefferson, then back in Congress, balked at the complicated plan. Morris had proposed a unit which was the largest common divisor of the different pennies of each state. This calculation was 1440th part of a dollar. Jefferson regarded this as impractical for carrying on commerce.
The price of a loaf of bread, 1/20 of a dollar, would be 72 units. A pound of butter, 1/5 of a dollar, 288 units. A horse of bullock, to wit, 115,200; and the public debt, suppose of eighty millions, would require twelve figures, to wit, 115,200,000,000 units. Such a system of money-arithmetic would be entirely unmanageable for the common purposes of society. (As cited in Jefferson Himself, Bernard Mayo, 1970, P.107).
A Common Currency
Jefferson’s objections were not only because of the awkwardness of the Morris plan. He wished to get rid of all state and foreign monies, not have a system which integrated them. He felt a common currency would bind the country together and aid in the support of the new national government.
Jefferson, while praising Morris’ plan as “worthy of sound judgment”, sent to him some notes on the plan which he just “threw together”. Knowing that no action would be taken on the Morris’ plan in that session of Congress, Jefferson, ever the politician, had his plan printed and distributed so his views would be known when Congress sat again. These “off the cuff” notes were published as Notes On The Establishment Of A Money Unit, And Of Coinage In The United States.
In Notes on Coinage Jefferson set down three principles for the new system.
- That it be of convenient size to be applied as a measure to the common money transactions of life.
- That its parts and multiples be in an easy proportion to each other, so as to facilitate money arithmetic.
- That the Unit and its parts, or divisions, be so nearly of the value of some known coins, as they may be of easy adoption for the people.
Jefferson believed that a coin based on the Spanish Dollar (what we know of as “pieces of eight”) would fit the bill. It was convenient in size and weight to be used in everyday commerce. This coin was easily divided by tens, a ratio that almost everyone could deal with and was known. And, it was a coin that was very familiar. A major portion of American business had been using the Spanish Dollar for transactions for many years. The subdivisions of the new dollar would also nearly coincide with other coins in circulation.
The tenth (dime) which he recommended was comparable with the Spanish bit, the double tenth was like the Spanish pistareen, and the hundredth would be nearly enough like existing coppers. (Jefferson The Virginian, Dumas Malone, 1948, p. 417).
Congress debated the Morris and Jefferson systems several years. In 1785 Jefferson presented a revised plan to aid in reconciling the two plans. In 1786 (some sources state 1785), ten years after Jefferson first took up the issue, Congress established a new monetary system. Jefferson’s three principles were accepted. This new, unifying coinage would have one, five, and ten dollar coins. Smaller denominations would be a half-penny, penny, ten cent, twenty cent, and fifty cent coins. This system was so simple and practical that over 200 years later it is practically unchanged.
The Geometrical Mile
Jefferson had long been contemplating rationalizing America’s weights and measurements, once again based on the decimal system. He attempted to plant the seed of this idea to members of the Congress through his various reports. (Jefferson wrote 31 state papers in six months.) In his paper on the new Northwest Territories, he advocated in its surveying “the ‘geometrical mile’; subdivided into 10 furlongs, 100 chains, and 1000 paces, on the decimal principle.” (As cited in Jefferson The Virginian, Dumas Malone, 1948, p. 416). Imbedded in a reply to Congress concerning his coinage proposal was a veiled attempt at getting his fellow lawmakers to consider altering the English system in use.
The divisions into dimes, cents, and mills is now so well understood, that it would be easy of introduction into the kindred branches of weights and measures. I use when I travel, an Odometer of Clark’s invention, which divides the mile into cents, and I find every one comprehends a distance readily, when stated to him in miles and cents; so he would in feet and cents, pounds and cents, etc. (The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson).
Jefferson was unable to champion the new measuring system to his fellow Congressmen after the 1785 session, because he had been appointed Ambassador to France. While in France he continued his explorations into a base ten measuring system. He discussed this idea with the leading French thinkers of the day, including Talleyrand. We know he shared his novel thoughts with the French and also received some new ones himself.
Jefferson returned to the United States in 1789 to assume the duties of Secretary of State in Washington’s initial cabinet. One of Washington’s first orders of business was to task Congress with the importance a uniform system of weights and measures. Washington, like Jefferson, believed that such a change would unify the nation.
Congress turned right around and gave the problem to Jefferson. As Secretary of State he was obligated to respond to a request for information from that body. (The Secretary of State, at that time, had numerous duties including the Patent Office and the Mint.) What Congress received is probably much more than they expected. Jefferson loved the science of the project and his report regaled the Congressmen with a learned study containing advanced mathematics and physics.
Jefferson conducted his research and wrote the report in one month. This was while carrying on the duties of Secretary of State. Also during this time, he experienced one of his prolonged headaches. These headaches would begin at sunrise and did not cease until sunset. Reflecting of this time and his work, he stated: “What had been ruminated in the day under a paroxysm of the most excruciating pain, was committed by candlelight and then the calculations were made.” (As cited in Jefferson and the Rights of Man, Dumas Malone, 1951, p. 276).
Jefferson based his measuring units on what he deemed to be universal and natural laws. He looked to the motion of the Earth around its axis. He knew this calculation could be subdivided into hours, minutes and seconds. He developed a pendulum so that its arc would take one second; later he would substitute a rod without a bob. The length of the rod became the base unit of measurement and all other weights and measures would derive from it. The “rod” would be divided into five equal parts called a foot.
Let the foot be divided into 10 inches; The inch into 10 lines; The line into ten points; Let 10 feet make a decad; 10 decads one rood; 10 roods a furlong; 10 furlongs a mile. (As cited in Jefferson Himself, Bernard Mayo, 1970, p. 178).
Jefferson sent the report to Congress asking for a gradual transition for the new system, but he warned that waiting too long would increase the difficulty of its acceptance by the general population. He was very proud of the report and had copies made. He sent these throughout the states and to Europe, including scientists in France.
Action of the report was stalled time and again in Congress. This may not have been because of the merits of the plan, but a result of the political rancor which emerged during Washington’s first administration. The closest it ever came to success was in the spring of 1792 when the Senate committee approved the plan. The next administration, Adams, wouldn’t touch any Jeffersonian proposal. And, by the time Jefferson became President, the French had already adopted the metric system.
On his tombstone Jefferson listed what he felt were his greatest accomplishments: the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom and the University of Virginia. Dumas Malone, Jefferson biographer, felt he might have added a fourth: Father of the Metric System. “Thus Jefferson lost a title to fame which he might have cherished more than any of the political honors he gained or offices he held.” (Jefferson and the Rights of Man, Dumas Malone, 1952, p. 281). | <urn:uuid:335baae1-c70e-4ab2-b3ef-4ccd69d6487a> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://www.varsitytutors.com/earlyamerica/jefferson-primer/jefferson-on-money | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257829320.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071029-00150-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978138 | 2,378 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Renewable energies such as wind power or photovoltaic energy are getting attentions for view points of energy conservation and environmental issue. However, fluctuation of output power of renewable energies may cause excess variation of voltage or frequency of the grid. Increase of the amount of renewable energies would violate the quality of the grid. The micro grid in which dispersed energies compensate the variation from the renewable energies can expand the installation limit of the renewable energies by maintaining the quality of the interconnected grid. In this paper, evaluation of ratio of gas turbines, gas turbines and batteries is discussed from the point of power flow stability of the grid, efficiency and economy. Gas turbines have quicker response and lower efficiency, whereas gas engines have slower response and higher efficiency. Best ratio is discussed for higher efficiency while fluctuation of output power of the micro grid is kept in a small amount. Additionally, introducing batteries is discussed to introduce more gas engines he point of power flow stability of the grid, efficiency and economy.
|ジャーナル||Nihon Enerugi Gakkaishi/Journal of the Japan Institute of Energy|
|出版物ステータス||Published - 2009 3 1|
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Fuel Technology
- Energy Engineering and Power Technology | <urn:uuid:4910cc53-7ab7-4fe7-a5de-1a78ce12b2f6> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://shibaura.pure.elsevier.com/ja/publications/evaluation-of-micro-grid-including-power-storage-device | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400210616.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20200923081833-20200923111833-00455.warc.gz | en | 0.883672 | 273 | 3.25 | 3 |
Creating a Bare Bones Bootloader
Upon hearing the word 'bootloader', many people cower in fear. It seems like a scary low-level thing that's very easy to mess up. To dispel some of this fear, I'm going to walk through making a super simple bootloader/OS, assuming only a basic level of familiarity with assembly language and how computers work.
The first thing to understand or research if we're looking to write something to run when the computer starts up, is exactly what the boot process is. Typically computers will first boot into the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) firmware, which performs some tests (often while showing a logo of sorts onscreen) and then boots into an operating system. There's also a new standard, UEFI, coming into play as an alternative to BIOS, but we aren't going to talk about that here.
More precisely, the standard BIOS boot process is as follows:
- The computer boots into the BIOS.
- The BIOS performs a Power-on Self-test (POST).
- Using information from POST, and BIOS configuration details, possible boot devices are selected.
- For disk drives (or similar devices), the first 512 bytes of the disk - termed the 'boot sector' - is considered for booting. If the sector can be read and the standard boot signature is present in the last two bytes (0x55 0xAA), the device is considered bootable. Otherwise, the next device in the list of candidates is checked.
- Assuming the disk drive is bootable, the 512 byte boot sector is copied to address 0x007C00 at which point the BIOS transfers control to the loaded sector through a jump instruction to 0x007C00.
When booting from partitioned devices, the boot sector of the drive will commonly be a Master Boot Record (MBR), in which case the boot sector generally consists of a bootstrap which identifies a certain partition on the drive - usually via a partition table (which may also reside in the first sector of the drive) - and proceeds to load the boot sector of that particular partition, sometimes called a Volume Boot Record (VBR). The structure of a number of modern MBR boot sectors is as follows:
0x7C00: Bootstrap 0x????: Disk Information 0x????: Partition Table 0x7DFE: Boot Signature (0x55 0xAA) 0x7E00:
In our case, however, dealing with disk partitions is a bit fancy and overcomplicated. Since complete control is handed to us when the BIOS jumps to our boot sector in RAM, we can just work with an unpartitioned disk and go straight into our Volume Boot Record in the first 512 bytes (the boot sector) of our disk image. Technically that means we're not really creating a bootloader, more of a really really really small operating system. Realistically though, what we're creating is exactly like a bootloader - just without the loading of and jumping into into some other portion of code on the disk, and so I'll continue referring to our bootloader as such. Thus the structure of our boot sector will be the code we want to execute, followed by the standard boot signature.
So the plan is that the BIOS will copy our boot sector to 0x007C00 and transfer control to this point, and then we... do something. Since we're just creating a bare bones bootloader, let's make our goal to output some text. Note that in the x86 BIOS process, the BIOS will transfer control while the processor is still operating in real-mode. This has its advantages and disadvantages, but to keep things simple here we'll just keep things in real-mode (keeping it real, bro) for the entirety of our bootloader.
With all this research and theory out of the way, let's actually write some code!
We're going to be using NASM here, because it happens to be the x86 assembler I'm most familiar with. Since x86 real-mode defaults to using 16-bit instructions, we want the assembler to output instructions as such. We can still use 32-bit registers if we so wish, but as we're operating in 16-bit mode we need to prefix any instructions that do this with the "Operand Size Override Prefix" (0x66). All of this is accomplished by using the 'BITS' NASM directive - in this case:
Addresses in x86 assembly are determined from the segment address plus an offset. As both real and protected mode of the x86 processor use 16-bit segment registers, we should ensure that our segments - in particular the stack segment (
ss) and data segment (
ds) - refer to sensible 64K regions. Since real-mode limits absolute addresses/offsets to 16-bits in length, segments can help us access more than one 64K portion of memory.
Regardless of whether we'll make explicit use of the stack segment in this example, it seems good practise to set up a stack - especially given that some instructions make implicit use of segments (e.g.
push, which uses the Stack Segment with a Stack Pointer offset), and it would be irresponsible not to define a stack if the bootloader were to be expanded beyond our basis of outputting some text.
In this case, I'm going to structure our bootloader such that it has a 4K stack just after the location of the boot sector in memory. Remember that the boot sector is loaded into 0x7C00 and is 0x200 (512) bytes long, and so we want our stack to reside just after this. Due to the way that segments work in x86 assembly (they refer to 64K chunks of memory, not specific locations, as noted previously), we actually want to divide both of those values by 16 before assigning the final location to the stack segment --
Effective Address = Segment*16 + Offset. So the code to set up our stack segment is as follows:
1 2 3
mov ax, 07C0h ; Set 'ax' equal to the location of this bootloader divided by 16 add ax, 20h ; Skip over the size of the bootloader divided by 16 mov ss, ax ; Set 'ss' to this location (the beginning of our stack region)
Since space is often precious in a mere 512 bytes, assuming we don't get the assembler to optimise this code it might be more appropriate to save a few bytes by doing the
add instruction manually, and simply changing the
mov ax, 07E0h. I'll keep things as they are for now though since keeping the
add separate offers more clarity to what we're actually doing.
As noted previously, operations involving the stack involve the stack pointer offset from the stack segment:
SS:SP. As the stack pointer grows downwards in memory address (i.e. towards 0x00) by default, we want to define the stack pointer to point to the bottom of the stack which is 4K away from our stack segment:
mov sp, 4096. At this point our bootloader memory footprint should look like the following:
|ˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆˆ| 0x7C00: |-----------------| | Boot Sector | 0x7E00: |-----------------| <-SS | | | | | Stack Space | | | | | 0x8E00: |-----------------| <-SS:SP (grows upwards) | | ˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇ
With regards to the data segment, we can just set the segment to the start of our bootloader code. Remember that the real purpose of segments in real-mode is to allow us to access more than a single 64K of data (in real-mode, there is a little over 1MB of addressable memory -
0xFFFF0 + 0xFFFF bytes to be exact), and any static or global data in our little bootloader will most definitely live within our little 512 codebase. So with the
ds pointed towards the start of our bootloader code, we can definitely access all of the data we might need to in Segment:Offset form. Thus the code to initialise our data segment:
mov ax, 07C0h ; Set 'ax' equal to the location of this bootloader divided by 16 mov ds, ax ; Set 'ds' to the this location
From here, we can actually go ahead and do something interesting before we tie up. As we're in real-mode and haven't specified any custom interrupt handling, we can make use of some standard BIOS interrupts to accomplish tasks. Looking at the list on Wikipedia, the 'Video Services' interrupt 10h seems interesting. Upon closer inspection, the interrupt when
AH is 0Eh seems particularly interesting as it provides teletype output. Looking at the particular parameters for this interrupt it seems that
AL should contain the character to be printed to the screen,
BH should contain the page number, and
BL should contain the colour (only in graphic mode). Thus writing assembly to print a string using
int 10h from here is trivial.
Perhaps in the context of our bootloader it makes sense to write a proper routine for writing strings which expects a single parameter - the address of a null-terminated string - through the
si (Source Index) register. The next portion in our bootloader code will hence be to call this routine (which we'll name 'print'), and stop execution such that our string remains on the screen and nothing else happens:
1 2 3 4 5 6
mov si, message ; Put address of the null-terminated string to output into 'si' call print ; Call our string-printing routine cli ; Clear the Interrupt Flag (disable external interrupts) hlt ; Halt the CPU (until the next external interrupt) message db 'This was outputted by a basic bootloader!', 0
Now we just need to define our print function to make use of the standard BIOS interrupt 10h previously described:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
; Routine for outputting string in 'si' register to screen print: mov ah, 0Eh ; Specify 'int 10h' 'teletype output' function ; [AL = Character, BH = Page Number, BL = Colour (in graphics mode)] .printchar: lodsb ; Load byte at address SI into AL, and increment SI cmp al, 0 je .done ; If the character is zero (NUL), stop writing the string int 10h ; Otherwise, print the character via 'int 10h' jmp .printchar ; Repeat for the next character .done: ret
Now we've finished writing the main bulk of the code, we just need to pad the code out with 0s to byte 510, and then use bytes 511 and 512 for the standard byte signature (as previously mentioned, 0x55 and 0xAA - which we'll specify backwards in our code due to little endian byte order). Using the NASM
times directive for the padding, we can do all of this with the following:
1 2 3
; Pad to 510 bytes (boot sector size minus 2) with 0s, and finish with the two-byte standard boot signature times 510-($-$$) db 0 dw 0xAA55 ; => 0x55 0xAA (little endian byte order)
And we're done! We finished writing our little bootloader - the final product of which, 'bootloader.asm', is broadly as follows:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42
BITS 16 start: ; Set up 4K stack after this bootloader ; [Remember: Effective Address = Segment*16 + Offset] mov ax, 07C0h ; Set 'ax' equal to the location of this bootloader divided by 16 add ax, 20h ; Skip over the size of the bootloader divided by 16 mov ss, ax ; Set 'ss' to this location (the beginning of our stack region) mov sp, 4096 ; Set 'ss:sp' to the top of our 4K stack ; Set data segment to where we're loaded so we can implicitly access all 64K from here mov ax, 07C0h ; Set 'ax' equal to the location of this bootloader divided by 16 mov ds, ax ; Set 'ds' to the this location ; Print our message and stop execution mov si, message ; Put address of the null-terminated string to output into 'si' call print ; Call our string-printing routine cli ; Clear the Interrupt Flag (disable external interrupts) hlt ; Halt the CPU (until the next external interrupt) data: message db 'This was outputted by a basic bootloader!', 0 ; Routine for outputting string in 'si' register to screen print: mov ah, 0Eh ; Specify 'int 10h' 'teletype output' function ; [AL = Character, BH = Page Number, BL = Colour (in graphics mode)] .printchar: lodsb ; Load byte at address SI into AL, and increment SI cmp al, 0 je .done ; If the character is zero (NUL), stop writing the string int 10h ; Otherwise, print the character via 'int 10h' jmp .printchar ; Repeat for the next character .done: ret ; Pad to 510 bytes (boot sector size minus 2) with 0s, and finish with the two-byte standard boot signature times 510-($-$$) db 0 dw 0xAA55 ; => 0x55 0xAA (little endian byte order)
This code, along with the bits I use to compile and test the bootloader can be found at the associated GitHub repo, here.
Testing The Code
Now we've actually finished writing our bootloader, we need some way to test it. I use Vagrant with a 'lucid32' box for all my OS testing, but in this case you might be able to get by in your local environment. You can first compile the NASM via something along the lines of
nasm -f bin -o bootloader.bin bootloader.asm, and you can then use a utility such as 'dd' to copy the data to a floppy disk image file (or to a real floppy disk!):
dd conv=notrunc bs=512 count=1 if=bootloader.bin of=bootloader.flp. Using QEMU, you could then boot the floppy disk image in a virtual machine with something like
qemu -fda bootloader.flp -curses. And voilà, it works.
Now, I appreciate that this seems like an awful lot of work for a single line of text. There certainly is a fair bit of theory behind this, but at the end of the day the resulting assembly is actually relatively simple, and we've created a disk sector that a real x86 BIOS could boot into. If you wanted to actually test this 'properly', you could apply the disk image in the correct manner to a USB stick, floppy disk, or CD, and actually boot your computer into our little bootloader. Into our little world from which we have full CPU control and a number of powerful extensions could easily be added. If you're looking for some cool extensions you could add right now (still in real-mode), just take a look at some of the other standard BIOS interrupts, or alternatively you could start looking at other more complex bootloader goals.
Generally if you're interested in writing the core of an operating system, I'd actually suggest that you start out by using GRUB, which takes care of the process of taking control and switching into protected mode for you in a very standardised way (this is a pretty nice tutorial for getting started writing a very basic kernel which boots from GRUB). There's something interesting to me, however, about being able to write the code to actually take control - from the very first stage - all on our own, and that's exactly what we've achieved here.
P.S. If you liked this post, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed. | <urn:uuid:51eb72ef-1e79-439d-9445-7b8c926bc77b> | CC-MAIN-2016-40 | http://www.reinterpretcast.com/creating-a-bare-bones-bootloader | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738660342.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173740-00227-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.892659 | 3,462 | 3.59375 | 4 |
We hate History textbooks in our home. Why use a boring textbook when you can experience it in real life! That is why the Genghis Khan Exhibit at the Irving Arts Center is an awesome opportunity to experience a bit of history in a way your children and you will actually remember. Honestly…think back to when you were in school. Now dig deep into the depths of your brain and tell me what you remember being taught about Genghis Khan… For most I am sure your answer is “Nadda…..“
Did you know you can schedule a field trip to the exhibit? You can download the field trip form and get it all scheduled. They have study guides available as well that tie into objects, videos and activities within the exhibition and complement lesson plans for history, arts, music and English classes. Enrichment activities are available as part of pre-exhibition, during-exhibition and post-exhibition learning and include word find puzzles, vocabulary, knowledge hunts, story-telling, detailed TEKS objectives and more. See, you can cover a lot more that history with this!
This is a learning opportunity that you don’t want to miss! Imagine the information and ideas you could gather to prepare a LapBook for world history including Genghis Kahn! Here are a few links to get you started.
- Info on Ancient China
- Genghis Kahn Clip art for the cover of your LapBook!
- Here is a page with tons of info on Genghis Kahn to help you with your LapBook
Don’t know what a LapBook is? This site will get you started. It’s fun!
All opinions in this post are my own. This is a sponsored post courtesy of the Irving Arts Center. | <urn:uuid:96178fe6-47f4-4d8e-b17a-50e4c238295e> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://notsoaveragemama.com/teaching-history-genghis-khan/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400198213.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20200920125718-20200920155718-00464.warc.gz | en | 0.950241 | 364 | 3.046875 | 3 |
NOAA announced the inclusion of 82 existing marine protected areas into the National System of Marine Protected Areas. This addition brings the total number of marine protected areas in the national system to 437.
Sites in the system remain under the management of the agency that established them, but work voluntarily and cooperatively together to address common management problems, such as adapting to climate change impacts or managing emerging ocean uses.
"Linking marine protected areas through the national system builds partnerships and provides new opportunities for sharing ideas and collaborating on solutions to protect the healthy oceans that sustain coastal communities," said Holly A. Bamford, Ph.D., NOAA's assistant administrator for the National Ocean Service. "The national system also increases support for marine conservation by recognizing the critical contribution of these special areas to our shared marine conservation goals."
The national system was established in 2008 to connect and strengthen the nation's diverse marine protected area programs managed by federal, state, territorial, tribal and local governments. Familiar examples of marine protected areas include national marine sanctuaries, national parks, national wildlife refuges and their state counterparts.
Eighty of the new additions, such as Anacapa Island State Marine Reserve in the Channel Islands, are state marine protected areas established through California's Marine Life Protection Act and are managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The remaining two additions are Padre Island National Seashore in Texas and Redwoods National Park in California.
For a complete list of marine protected areas in the national system, including the 82 new additions, see http://marineprotectedareas.
The National Marine Protected Areas Center serves as the nation's hub for building innovative partnerships and tools to protect special ocean places. It is located within NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and works in partnership with the Department of the Interior.
NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels. | <urn:uuid:89c92bf9-1c2b-4adc-92c2-21871772ce0d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-08/nh-naa081413.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397567.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00042-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92692 | 424 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Trump Administration Cuts Back Federal Protections for Streams and Wetlands
By Scott Neuman and Colin Dwyer.
The Environmental Protection Agency is dramatically reducing the amount of U.S. waterways that get federal protection under the Clean Water Act — a move that is welcomed by many farmers, builders and mining companies but is opposed even by the agency’s own science advisers.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who announced the repeal of an earlier Obama-era water rule in September, chose to make the long-anticipated announcement in Las Vegas, at the National Association of Home Builders International Builders’ Show.
“All states have their own protections for waters within their borders, and many regulate more broadly than the federal government,” Wheeler told reporters on a conference call before the announcement.
“Our new rule recognizes this relationship and strikes the proper balance between Washington, D.C., and the states,” he added. “And it clearly details which waters are subject to federal control under the Clean Water Act and, importantly, which waters falls solely under the states’ jurisdiction.”
The biggest change is a controversial move to roll back federal limits on pollution in wetlands and smaller waterways that were introduced less than five years ago by President Barack Obama.
READ MORE at npr.org | <urn:uuid:3fe3b1ba-7091-4285-a48b-eb4f9c1d9049> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | https://www.usharbors.com/2020/02/trump-administration-cuts-back-federal-protections-for-streams-and-wetlands/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590348513321.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20200606124655-20200606154655-00156.warc.gz | en | 0.946972 | 269 | 2.78125 | 3 |
The Treaties Themselves
For copies and transcripts and translations of the treaties in SENCOTEN and Lekwungen see the Treaties Tab.
- There is a lesson plan for teaching about the Vancouver Island Treaties on the Governor’s Letters website.
Recorded Oral Histories
- Elliott, Dave. Saltwater People, as told by Dave Elliott Sr.: A Resource Book for the Saanich Native Studies Program, edited by Janet Poth. Saanichton, BC: School District 63, 1990.
- Pagett, Frank. “105 Years in Victoria and Saanich! Chief David Recalls White Man's Coming; 80 Years Rent Unpaid”. Victoria Daily Times (Victoria, BC), 14 July 1934, 1. (Contains the oral History of David Latasse)
- For Bobby Yacklam's account see newspaper article by Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, “Greatest Real Estate Deal Recorded,” Vancouver Sunday Sun (Vancouver), 4 June 1922.
- For a transcript of Dick Whoakum's testimony before the McKenna/McBride Commission see BC Union of Indian Chiefs website. BC Union of Indian Chiefs, “UBCIC Library and Archives,”: http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/library.
- For Joe and Jenny Wyse's account see newspaper article by Beryl Cryer, “Ki'et'sa'kun of Nanaimo: Telling How Governor Douglas Renamed Him ‘Coal Tyee,’” The Victoria Daily Colonist (Victoria, BC), 5 March 1933; reproduced in Two Houses Half-buried in the Sand: Oral Traditions of the Hul'q'umi'num' Coast Salish of Kuper Island and Vancouver Island, edited by Chris Arnett, Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2007, 186-92.
Published Secondary Sources (Print)
- Bowsfield, Hartwell, editor. Fort Victoria Letters 1846-1851. Winnipeg: Hudson’s Bay Record Society, 1979.
- British Columbia. Papers Connected with the Indian Land Question, 1850-1875. Victoria: Queen’s Printer, 1875.
- Duff, Wilson. “The Fort Victoria Treaties.” BC Studies, 3 (1969): 3-57.
- Foster, Hamar. “The Saanichton Bay Marina Case: Imperial Law, Colonial History and Competing Theories of Aboriginal Title.” UBC Law Review (1989): 629-650.
- Foster, Hamar. “Letting Go the Bone: The Idea of Indian Title in British Columbia, 1849- 1927.” In Essays in the History of Canadian Law, British Columbia and the Yukon, Vol VI edited by Hamar Foster and John McLaren, 28-86. Toronto: University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society for Legal History, 1995.
- Foster, Hamar and Allen Grove. “’Trespassers on the Soil’: United States v. Tom and a New Perspective of the Short History of Treaty Making in Nineteenth Century British Columbia.” In The Power of Promises: Rethinking Indian Treaties in the Pacific Northwest, edited by Alexandra Harmon, 89-127. Seattle: University of Washington, 2008.
- Frogner, Raymond. “’Innocent Legal Fictions’: Archival Convention and the North Saanich Treaty of 1852.” Archivaria, 70 (Fall 2010): 45-94.
- Harris, Cole. Making Native Space: Colonialism, Resistance, and Reserves in British Columbia. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2002.
- Keddie, Grant. Songhees Pictorial: A History of the Songhees People as Seen by Outsiders, 1790-1912. Victoria: Royal British Columbia Museum, 2003.
- Lutz, John. Makúk: A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations. Vancouver: UBC, 2008.
- McNeill, Kent. “Negotiated Sovereignty: Indian Treaties and the Acquisition of American and Canadian Territorial Rights in the Pacific Northwest.” In The Power of Promises: Rethinking Indian Treaties in the Pacific Northwest, edited by Alexandra Harmon, 35-55. Seattle: University of Washington, 2008.
- Ormsby, Margaret.“Introduction,” Fort Victoria Letters 1846-1851. Hartwell Bowsfield, editor. Winnipeg: Hudson’s Bay Record Society, 1979, xi-xcv
Dissertations, theses, graduate research papers
- Knighton, Janice. “The Oral History of the Saanich Douglas Treaties: A Treaty for Peace.” Master’s thesis, University of Victoria, 2004. [LINK TO PDF on IGOV site]
- Shankel, George. “The Development of Indian Policy in British Columbia.” PhD dissertation, University of Washington, 1945.
- Vallance. Neil, Sharing The Land: The Formation of the Vancouver Island (or ‘Douglas’) Treaties of 1850-1854 in Historical, Legal and Comparative Context. Ph.d. Dissertation, UVic Law, 2015.
- Van Wart, Harriet. "A Bibliography and Discussion of Douglas Treaty Materials: Phase One of Research on the Tsawout First Nation's Douglas Treaty.” Master’s thesis, University of Victoria, 2001.
- R. v August and Bartleman, 1 CNLR 68.
- R v Bartleman, 55 BCLR 78 (BCCA).
- R v Morris, 2006 SCC 59 2 SCR 915.
- R v White and Bob, 50 DLR (2nd) 613.
- Saanichton Marina Ltd. v Claxton, 3 CNLR 46.
- Summaries of the Presentations from the 2017 Conference First Nations, Land, and James Douglas: Indigenous and Treaty Rights in the Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia,1849-1864 held at the Songhees Wellness Centre in Victoria, February 24-26th 2017.
- VI Treaties: The Vancouver Island Treaties of 1850-54 2012, Presentations at the Conference on Pre-confederation Treaties 2012
- Blossom, Ashlee. “Reenactment of the Douglas Treat Signing on PKOLS.” Video. Accessed 20 August 2015. | <urn:uuid:4e772330-0247-4dae-905e-a70527fb5726> | CC-MAIN-2018-51 | https://hcmc.uvic.ca/songheesconference/resources.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376823872.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20181212112626-20181212134126-00583.warc.gz | en | 0.778592 | 1,375 | 2.640625 | 3 |
<span>The monomers combine with each other via covalent bonds to form larger molecules known as polymers. In doing so, monomers release water molecules as byproducts. This type of reaction is known as dehydration synthesis, which means "to put together while losing water.</span>
It is a safe and convenient way for preparing fungi slide.
Needle loop is used by the scientists when they want to study the structure of fungi under microscope. There are two reasons for using of needle loop in preparing fungi slide. First, it is the safe way in which the chances of contamination is less and secondly, it is a convenient and easier way to place the fungi on the slide of microscope. The needle loop provides more surface area at which more fungi attached to it and place it to the slide. | <urn:uuid:88a0185a-640b-4077-b89e-6e4f78e0a80b> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://answer-ya.com/questions/352350-danielle-is-a-normal-weight-female-whereas-ron-is-an-obese-male.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882570879.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20220809003642-20220809033642-00694.warc.gz | en | 0.953591 | 168 | 3.71875 | 4 |
Thoroughly revised for the latest version of Visual Basic, this book explains basic concepts in a clear and explicit way that takes very seriously one thing for granted—that the reader knows nothing about computer programming.
Addressed to anyone who has no prior programming knowledge or experience, but a desire to learn programming with Visual Basic, it teaches the first thing that every novice programmer needs to learn, which is Algorithmic Thinking. Algorithmic Thinking involves more than just learning code. It is a problem-solving process that involves learning how to code.
This edition contains all the popular features of the previous edition and adds a significant number of exercises, as well as extensive revisions and updates. Apart from Visual Basic ’s arrays, it now also covers dictionaries, while a brand new section provides an effective introduction to the next field that a programmer needs to work with, which is Object Oriented Programming (OOP).
This book has a class course structure with questions and exercises at the end of each chapter so you can test what you have learned right away and improve your comprehension. With 250 solved and 450 unsolved exercises, 475 true/false, about 150 multiple choice, and 200 review questions and crosswords (the solutions and the answers to which can be found on the Internet), this book is ideal for
- novices or average programmers, for self-study
- high school students
- first-year college or university students
- anyone who wants to start learning or teaching computer programming using the proper conventions and techniques
(*) Tested on amazon Kindle e-reader (8th Generation), Kindle for PC and Kindle for Android. It looks quite messy on Kindle Cloud Reader. If you encounter any problem on your device send me a message, including your e-reader’s model and any screenshots or photos (if possible).
Material about this book:
- Book’s Table of Contents
- The answers to the review questions and the solutions to the review exercises
- The solved exercises (Visual Studio projects)
- Report Errata
Customer Reviews (for 1st Edition)
Extremely Lucky Find for Beginner’s.
I have found myself in the position that I must learn programming for work. I have bought numerous books trying to teach myself how to program but have struggled quite a lot. There are several programming books out there that could be used to learn programming but none seemed to have the basics of thinking like a programmer. Thank goodness I found this book, it has been a life saver. This book provides a clear, concise and organized teaching method that allows for the fact the user is a complete beginner in programming. The basics of Visual Basic programming are presented in a detailed manner which are easily understandable for the beginner; and provides practical guidance in using the Visual Studio IDE. I am still working through the book, but my knowledge base has already expanded greatly.I would definitely recommend this book for beginners!
Easy to read and understand by an absolute beginner.
Lessons and exercises are easy to follow.
J. W. W.
Clear and Useful for beginner and advanced.
This book provides a clear and organized teaching method that respects the fact that the reader is a beginner, yet shows great respect for the reader’s intelligence. The basics of Visual Basic programming is presented in a detailed manner which is usable for the beginner; yet at the same time the book provides practical guidance on the use of Visual Studio, which is software for the creation of Visual Basic programs. The book is reasonably priced; Visual Studio is a free download from Microsoft. After each Chapter practical application is taught by the use of exercises, and the answers to each exercise are available in a separate free download. It is recommended that the answers be downloaded, but not examined, before each chapter is completed. That way, the answers are available immediately for feedback.
The book presents increasingly challenging material at a reasonable pace, with plenty of clear examples and opportunities to exercise each new learning module. The book not only teaches Visual Basic programming, and the use of Visual Studio software (the technical term for software like Visual Studio in computer talk is Integrated Development Environment or “IDE”; while it’s fun to do tech-talk, be prepared for lots of new terms), but also teaches “Algorithmic” thinking. Don’t be deterred by another new term like “algorithmic.” Algorithmic thinking is step-by-step problem-solving method that employs the same logic we use for all good thinking. Yet, as our skills in algorithmic thinking increase, thinking not only becomes more clear, but becomes more comprehensive. The opportunities in life to use algorithmic thinking for simple and complex problem solving are endless. Not to mention, the job opportunities for those who can program with the use of detailed and comprehensive algorithms are limitless.
As you progress through each clear and reasonably brief chapter of the book, you surprise yourself that you are not only learning programming, but you are learning to think more clearly about increasingly complex subjects. If you continue with Visual Basic programming you may even be able to modify Microsoft Office programs (macros) to suit your particular needs. And as many courses in programming tell us, once you learn one programming language like Visual Basic, it becomes much easier to learn others which may be more powerful.
The author is quickly and easily available by email to answer specific questions and provide support. In addition, he and his co-author have a series of books on other programming languages and how to employ algorithmic thinking in each of them.
The best part of this book is not just its clarity and powerful detail, but that it doubles as a workbook. If you print out the answers to each exercise for each chapter ahead of time, you can cut them to the same size as the pages of the book, insert them after each chapter, and you have a total workbook to carry around and work on for a while whenever you have a chance.
It is rare to see authors in the computer sciences who respect our intelligence yet provide clear and useable steps. The book almost totally free of arcane jargon, yet introduces us to the special vocabulary of the computer sciences and beginning programming. This book is a piece of cake for beginners, and excellent way for an advance programmer to learn a new language. | <urn:uuid:def47353-451f-4191-b062-1d10075be797> | CC-MAIN-2021-25 | https://www.bouraspage.com/books/visual-basic-and-algorithmic-thinking-for-the-complete-beginner-second-edition | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623488289268.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20210621181810-20210621211810-00370.warc.gz | en | 0.945881 | 1,296 | 2.53125 | 3 |
LEADER TIMES WEEKEND RELIGION ARTICLE FOR
October 8, 2016 by William H. Scarle, Jr. 813-835-0129
Yom Kippur and Christopher Columbus
Columbus set sail on August 3, 1492. He had originally been scheduled to sail the day before, but August 2 was a Jewish fast day, Tisha b’Av, or the day the first and second Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed. Why would this be significant to the man who carried the name of “Christopher,” or Christ bearer? The answer is that Columbus was a Converso, or what we would call a Messianic Jew. His family background is difficult to ascertain, but it seems he was born into a Converso family.
Columbus landed in the new world on October 12, 1492, or sixty-nine days after he left Spain. On the Jewish calendar this would land him in the New World in the midst of the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot. He would have been in the Atlantic on Yom Kippur, some eighteen days previous.
The voyage of Columbus was not funded by the royal house of Ferdinand and Isabella. It was rather financed by prominent business men who were Messianic Jews, or Conversos. Their names were Louis Santangel and Gabriel Sanchez. He was also supported by Jewish statesman and Rabbi, Isaac Abrabanei. The first two letters sent back from the expedition were not to Ferdinand and Isabella, but to Santangel and Sanchez.
The voyages of Columbus did have to be approved by the royal house. When Columbus presented his plan to Queen Isabella in 1487 he built his argument on the evangelistic aspects of reaching the world with the Christian Gospel. It does seem however he had additional motivation. He may have been looking for a new home for the Jewish population that was being forced out of Spain. Spain had been home for the Jews ever since the first Jewish rebellion against Rome in 70 AD when the Temple was destroyed. After about 200 AD Spain became a second homeland for Jews. The Apostle Paul was deeply concerned to get to Spain to evangelize the Jews of the diaspora (Rom. 15:28). The eastern Jews are to this day called Sephardim, meaning Spanish Jews.
He was also concerned to find the wealth needed to mount a final Crusade to take back Jerusalem. He speaks about this in his book written following his third voyage in about 1501 entitled “Book of Prophecies.” In Spain it was crystal clear that the Crusades were a defensive war of the Christian West to take back the conquest of Christian lands (the Byzantine Empire) from the Islamic invasions from Arabia. Spain finally ousted the last of the Moors in 1492 with the conquest of Granada. This fact likely energized Columbus to move forward with his plans to find a new home for Israel and to finish the work of world evangelism.
Columbus was convinced that Messiah would not return until Jerusalem was liberated from the Muslims. “Book of Prophecies” is still available having been published by the University of Florida Press in 1991.
Would Columbus have celebrated Yom Kippur in the Atlantic and Feast of Tabernacles upon landing in the New World? It is not improbable. Of course, we will never know. In the midst of the Spanish Inquisition this was not a piece of information he was apt to put in his report to the throne of Spain.
(Bill Scarle can be contacted at email@example.com). END-whs | <urn:uuid:5a650af7-9a90-4d56-8ed0-9f647d9f62a7> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://bayshorebaptistchurch.com/yom-kippur-and-christopher-columbus/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618039601956.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20210423041014-20210423071014-00496.warc.gz | en | 0.981123 | 739 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Crowds for Clouds: Using an Internet Workforce to Interpret Satellite Images
Blinn, Christine E.
Thomas, Valerie A.
Wynne, Randolph H.
MetadataShow full item record
A chronologically ordered sequence of satellite images can be used to learn how natural features of the landscape change over time. For example, we can learn how forests react to human interventions or climate change. Before these satellite images can be used for this purpose, they need to be examined for clouds and cloud shadow that may hide important features of the landscape and would lead to misinterpretation of forest conditions. Once clouds and their shadow have been identified, researchers can then look for other images that include the feature of interest, taken a bit earlier or later in time, to fill in the "missing information" for the original image. Therefore, the task of identifying clouds and their shadow is extremely important for the correct and efficient use of each image. Computer algorithms are only imperfectly suited for this task. The aim of this project is to outsource the cloud interpretation task to a global internet community of "turkers" -workers recruited via amazon.com's online job market known as "Mechanical Turk." | <urn:uuid:73faee68-5064-4bae-b9e9-62bf532fabde> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/50682 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496670156.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20191119144618-20191119172618-00521.warc.gz | en | 0.893107 | 244 | 2.71875 | 3 |
MATE SELECTION: IS IT LOVE OR DEMOGRAPHICS?
POTENTIAL RESEARCH QUESTION(S):
How do people select a marital partner? Is the process in the United States similar or different to mate selection processes in other countries? Is it true that "opposites attract" or that "birds of a feather flock together?" Do people choose spouses who are demographically similar or dissimilar to them? What patterns exist and why?
Use of Supplementary Materials
I recommend that you read the following book:
Whyte, Martin King 1992. Dating, Mating, and Marriage. New York. Aldine De Gruyter.
This will depend on the specific research question you, or your group decides to adopt. Remember, a hypothesis is a speculative statement about the relationship between two variables.
METHODS AND DATA COLLECTION:
This project requires you to perform statistical analysis of existing resources. You will use data such as the GSS, CULTURES, National Survey of Children and World Factbook Datasets.
This will be determined by the previous step in the research process.
In your analysis, you must explain WHY you have observed the relationships that you described in your findings section. This is most effectively done my using one of the three theoretical approaches that we have learned in class (Functionalism, Conflict Theory, or Interactionism). | <urn:uuid:fb7f7510-0df6-433d-aa6e-c3cdff5fd6c3> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://rockqu.tripod.com/projects/id4.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818690591.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20170925092813-20170925112813-00423.warc.gz | en | 0.883262 | 285 | 2.921875 | 3 |
DENVER - Sixteen Colorado kids, whose immigrant parents toil in agricultural fields, grabbed a few empty soda bottles, some construction paper and clay, and set about testing the laws of motion.
“We’re learning science and how to make different rockets,” said Natalie Menjivar.
“We take the bottles and put fins and nose cones on them,” said Kenya Falcon. “And we added clay at the top of the nose cone for height. That's the first thing that will hit the ground.”
“I think it’s really fun making them and seeing how far they’ll go,” added Alexis Mosqueda.
Menjivar, Falcon, Mosqueda and several other 10 – 13 year old students who live at Casa de la Esperanza in Longmont are taking part in a unique “Rockets for Junior Astronauts” camp designed to help find the next generation of astronauts, scientists and mathematicians.
Tom Mason, an education and outreach specialist at the University of Colorado at Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, says the camp is part of a 5-year project funded by NASA.
He said the first year is focused on basic rocketry, year three on advanced rocketry, and by year five, the campers immerse themselves in robotics and engineering.
"One of the main lessons I want them to take home is that engineering and rocket science is not an elite type of activity. It's something that they can do in their everyday lives," Mason said.
During the launch event, the students added a little water to their “rocket” and then handed it over to Mason, who attached it to the launch pad. The students then used a bicycle tire pump to add pressure to the soda bottle. At about 20 to 25 pounds of pressure, they then began the countdown.
The launch controller then pulled a string, releasing the pressure and propelling the rocket into the air.
“My team made it up to 90 feet,” said Menjivar. “Another team had theirs go up to 80.”
"It's kind of amazing having a rocket that goes that high," Mosqueda said.
When asked if he anticipates some of these students will become scientists, Mason replied, "I would hope so … that's one of our objectives. (We want) to instill a passion in them for learning science and engineering -- STEM principles of science, technology, engineering and mathematics," said Mason.
Mason hopes that these immigrant students soar as high, or higher, than their rockets. | <urn:uuid:3f6d3fae-d6d8-41e4-949b-021e3a38ed21> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/nasa-funded-summer-camp-designed-to-get-colorado-children-interested-in-math-science08082014 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422120394037.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124172634-00194-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957871 | 549 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Thirty years and counting, Shark Week is coming – it starts August 9! Why is it that people are drawn to these unusual creatures? It can’t be because they are cuddly and fuzzy. So I can only guess that it is because of how mysterious and dangerous they seem to be.
Add to that that they are remnants of a long ago world, that survived into our modern age. Oh wait a minute – is that so?
The Modern View of Sharks
The modern view of sharks is rooted in the secular view of geology – that the Earth is older than what the book of Genesis states, and that all animals are related via evolutionary processes. You may had heard it stated this way:
- Sharks began appearing and evolving 450 million years ago
- Variations in living things (including sharks) demonstrate evolution
- Fossils tell the story of the origin and development of the shark
Although scientists tell us that shark evolution continued over those millions of years, sharks have not changed considerably.
A Biblical View of Sharks
There is another view, however, of these creatures, one that does not embrace the long ages that I just mentioned. The Bible has some very clear thoughts about sharks:
- Sharks were created, after their own kind, on Day 5 of Creation Week
- In fact, all sea creatures were created on Day 5
- Fossils that we find of sharks are most likely related to the Flood of Genesis 7.
Sharks may show variation, but not evolution. This means that the variation that we find in sharks is because of their inherent DNA (just like we see variation in dogs and cats), not because of evolution. They were created, “after their own kind.” And these fossils that we love to search for tell us of extinction and death, not evolution and advancement.
Sharks and Fossils
You usually find shark fossils in sedimentary rock. These rocks consist of water-born rock like shale, sandstone, and limestone. This is the type of rock found in Kansas. And, not surprisingly, this is where many shark fossils have been found!
It is unlikely that you will find a shark skeleton. The structure that supports a shark is largely cartilage, and it doesn’t fossilize as well. But we do find vertebrae, teeth, coprolites (poops!), dermal scutes, and stingers. Teeth are probably the most common thing you will find – a single shark can grow upwards of 30,000 teeth in a lifetime. They generally have several rows of teeth for easily replacing others that are lost due to eating and fighting.
A great place to visit to see shark teeth is the Fick Fossil Museum in western Kansas. Many of these teeth came from Castle Rock, Kansas, home to the chalk cliffs which contain lots of marine fossils.
Further Exploration on Sharks
If you are wanting to learn more about sharks (and other great sea creatures!) from a Biblical perspective, check out these two kits on our web site:
Geology and the Great Sea Creatures (Grades 3-12) and
Ocean Geology (Grades 6-12) | <urn:uuid:27d2c80b-6af2-4189-88c7-9558ed0813fb> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://northwestrockandfossil.com/shark-week/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038066568.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20210412023359-20210412053359-00401.warc.gz | en | 0.964793 | 647 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Statutes of LimitationsBy Rabbi Pinchas Winston
If you will follow My statutes and guard My mitzvos and do them, then, I
will give your rains in their times (Vayikra 26:3-4)
Here we go again. Brace yourself Š it is time for the blessings and the
curses. However, before discussing the curses, it is worthwhile to look at
what appears to be a secondary message that emerges from these lines of
blessing, which Rashi points out:
Five of you will pursue one hundred, and one hundred will pursue ten
"According to the calculation (a ration of 1:20), it should only have said
"one hundred will pursue two thousand"! Thus, there is no comparison
between when a few perform Torah and many perform Torah!" (Rashi)
In other words, Rashi (and the Sifra) is teaching, the more people learning
and living by Torah, the greater our national leverage becomes. Our success
does not increase proportionally, but rather, exponentially. In the Torah's
example, the ration improved from 1:20 to 1:100 -- a very significant
But why should that be? If more of the nation keeps the Torah, how does
that affect our spiritual "firepower."
As the Talmud points, the Jewish nation specifically is called "Adam,"
whereas the rest of the nations of the world are referred to as "Nations of
the World" (Yevamos 61a). What does that mean? Among other things, it means
that the Jewish people, regardless of our remarkable propensity to differ
from one other, are to be viewed as a single "body," a unified whole which
suffers when parts of that whole are out-of-step with the rest.
Take an athlete, for example. Even though an athlete runs with his legs,
his performance is hampered when his finger is sore, or he has a headache.
A runner just needs to be able to place the right foot in the right place
at the right time. However, an olympic runner needs to function life a
"well-oiled," smooth-running, well-integrated collection of parts.
It is no different with the Jewish people. After years of spiring with one
another, and, in some cases, conspiring against one another, we have come
to feel so distant from one another that it would not be difficult for some
to say, "Why needs you anyway?!" And, to feel it as well.
The answer is, we all do -- we all need each other.
Now, it is true there is "Erev Rav" among us, elements that may appear to
be Jewish by birth (or even conversion) who go out of their way to limit
the influence of Torah; the Torah, the Midrash, the Zohar, and rabbis of
yesterday (such as the Vilna Gaon) predicted that this would be so.
However, they are far from being the majority of the Jewish population,
and, besides, who can know who is whom?
Thus, we have no choice but to care for one another, regardless of whether
or not we can influence one another. We may find it next to impossible to
resolve our differences at this stage of our history, but, at the very
least, we have to hold on to the understanding that we must dream of doing
so, and whenever possible, endeavor to do so. If we don't, then our
national defense system can only weaken, and then all of us will find
ourselves becoming increasingly vulnerable to even greater anti-Torah,
"But if you will not listen to Me and will not perform My commandments
then I will do the same to you I will" (Vayikra 26:14-16)
The other day, in the midst of a conversation with someone about the
present spiritual status of the Jewish people, the person complained about
how, within fifty short years, we returned back to the problems of pre-war
Europe. Assimilation, intermarriage are rampant, and, materialism seems to
affect Jews on all levels. It was certainly making it very difficult to
marry off her child, since, the family is neither fabulously wealthy nor
fabulously famous in Torah circles. However, the child is fabulously
devoted to a sincere Torah lifestyle, and is today, literally,
However, what concerned this person most was not the difficulty of finding
a worthy shidduch, because that, the person knows, is G-d's business, and
He will come through, eventually (Sotah 2a). What concerned the person was
how materialism was distracting good Jews from good service of G-d, and how
the gap between rich and poor was increasing, as was the gap between heart
and mind. "My brother calls the Holocaust 'The Great Equalizer'," the
person told me. "By 1942, most of Europe was poor and broken."
As I watched a religious CD Rom produced to portray the level of
self-sacrifice by Jews during the Holocaust to maintain a level of
Torah-observance -- indeed, just to keep from losing their beards and
"paos" -- I was amazed, again, by the extent to which Hitler (yemach shemo
v'zichro!) went to cause the Jews suffering and to exterminate them. As I
watched actual footage of the Nazi Genocide Machine systematically wrap its
noose around the Jewish neck of that time and tighten it, a little voice
inside of me kept asking questions:
"How? How did we ever let it go so far? How did we get caught? Why didn't
we leave? Why didn't we change? How were they able to become so barbaric?
How could they hate us THAT much, to even derive pleasure and a sense of
purpose from what they did to decent, upstanding (if not by Torah
standards, certainly by German standards), mature adults and so many
innocent and helpless children?"
I have, in my library at home, a book called, "Anti-Semitism: The Causes
and Effects of a Prejudice." What it is, basically, is a listing of every
KNOWN anti-Semitic event since the time of the destruction of the Second
Temple (70 CE), until the time of the book was published in recent times.
Details of the cruelness of the attacks are provided when available, and
sometimes they are more barbaric than one can stomach even from the
However, that book begins where the Talmud leaves off, and the Talmud
begins pretty much where "Tanach" leaves off. All-in-all, Jewish history,
when viewed from this perspective, makes the Jewish people appear like a
person whom, upon hitting a wall and falling down, gets up again only to
walk into the same wall all over again.
Judging from the present spiritual status of the Jewish people today, it
would appear that we have fallen, gotten up again, and are walking full
stride, right back into that wall. Brace yourself.
My Rosh HaYeshivah used to cajole us by warning, "It is either program or
pogrom." His intention was clear: If we don't at least show G-d that we are
concerned about ourselves and our brethren in terms of our Torah
connection, and, most important of all, look for ways to reunite G-d and
His children, then, G-d Himself will implement His own "program." As our
history proves over-and-over again, His is not always the most pleasant
form of spiritual wake-up call.
In the beginning, when my Rosh HaYeshivah used to use the term, "Spiritual
Holocaust," he was heavily criticized. "How can you compare," the outraged
outraged. However, that was about fifteen years ago; now I have found that
the term is used by just about everyone in the field of Torah outreach.
Just yesterday, someone told me (in the name of Berel Wein) that, some
twenty years ago, there were about 6,000,000 Jews living in America. By
even conservative estimates and projections, those 6,000,000 Jews should
have grown into 20,000,000 by Year 2000. However, how many Jews are known
to live in the United States today? About 6,000,000. And where did the
projected 14,000,000 "other Jews" go? "They went the way of total
assimilation and rampant inter-marriage," complained Rabbi Wein, "and no is
saying ANYTHING about them!"
Here comes that wall again.
Israeli secular society. I don't want to go into details, but, let us just
say that it shows very, very little concern for the warnings explicitly
expressed in this week's parshah. We're talking Ultra-Secularism. Now
there's a term I haven't seen used in the newspapers yet Š
"Wait Š Is that a wall I see coming up?"
I have always known that there are people who believe in Torah, and people
who do not. However, I did not appreciate the fact that another category of
Jew exists -- he who "believes" in Torah, but, does not in Parashas
BeChukosai. I don't mean that they have removed that section from their
Sifrei Toros, G-d forbid! They BELIEVE that G-d gave every word of this
week's parshah to Moshe Rabbeinu just as He dictated every other word of
Torah to him as well. They just don't believe, or take seriously, the
notion that what this week's parshah is warning even OUR generation.
Did someone mention a "statute of limitations" on this week's parshah? It
seems as if, at least in the minds of many Jews today, Jewish history has
entered some kind of historical "black hole," within which the "physics" of
Torah no longer apply. What can G-d expect from us inside a historical
However, the Torah has another name for that so-called spiritual black hole:
Š And I will also act toward you with indifference, and will bring you to
the land of your enemies, and perhaps then the foreskin of your heart will
be humbled, and you will atone for your sins. (Vayikra 26:41)
G-d's indifference to us and our uncircumcised heart.
In fact, the only REAL reason why so many Jews do not feel compelled to
allow Torah to guide their lives (besides ignorance and lack of
inspiration) is because they have avoided Torah for so long, and, they HAVE
BEEN GETTING AWAY WITH IT. However, they misread the signs. They are
judging today's weather by looking straight up and not at the storm brewing
on the horizon, threatening to ruin their "picnic."
The Holocaust made "Ba'alei Teshuvos" as well. Old survivors who, before
the war did NOT wear Tefillin, now do, and will continue to do so until
their dying day. When asked, "Why the change?" they often role up their
sleeves and show you that eerie number permanently tatooed into their skin,
courtesy of the Nazis.
"You know," they may say in a humbled voice, "it says in the Torah that a
Jewish male above the age of 13 must wear Tefillin. The Torah calls
Tefillin a 'sign upon your arm.' Before the war, I had no such 'sign' upon
my arm, not since I forgot my Tefillin back at my Bar Mitzvah. Now I have a
sign upon my arm Š this number here Š So, after the war, it occurred to me
to cover upon THIS sign with THAT sign (pointing at Tefillin) Š"
I have heard and read similar stories.
Where I live in Telzstone, the view of the Judean Hills is wonderfully
relaxing. From my front lawn, where I often sit and learn, I can't help but
look up and take in the scene, especially when the sun gracefully sets in
the distance. Sometimes it is so quiet and peaceful, it seems as if I am
the only one in the whole world.
It is then that my mind has to jump in and remind me that, only a few miles
away, live 150,000,000 Arabs who probably would like to see me move and
abandon my house. Many of them, very likely, given the opportunity would
probably do me terrible harm; on occasion, they have told us so. At that
point, a cold shiver often goes up and down my spine.
But then I am overtaken once again by the present peace of my immediate
physical view, and it becomes as if my Arab neighbors in all directions
have picked up and moved to another part of the world, far, far away. Out
of sight, out of mind. I quietly go back to my present way of life, as if
by doing so, all threats become imaginary, though, in reality, they remain
to exist in full force.
It's that uncircumcised heart again, blocking my view and the view of the
rest of my people. This phenomenon is symptomatic of the "End of Days," and
why the Torah has to say:
"Hashem, your G-d, will circumcise your heart and the heart of your
offspring, to love Hashem, your G-d Š" (Devarim 30:6)
In other words, the Torah is telling us that at the end of history,
spiritual barriers will exist that will prevent us from being able to take
Torah seriously -- some to become observant, and others to become more
observant. Either way, it will be -- it is -- hard for us to see reality as
it REALLY exists, as G-d sees it, to take it as seriously as it ought to be
Hard yes, but, impossible, no. The truth will not be handed to us on a
silver platter, at least not at this stage of history. We have to work for
it, and hard. However, to not work for it is to force the hand of G-d, G-d
forbid, to introduce His own "program" of reJEWvenation. Parashas
BeChukosai is here to help us gain clarity and perspective.
G-d spoke to Moshe saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and tell them
that, when a person makes a vow regarding the value of his life (Vayikra
The purpose of the vow being a commitment to bring a certain amount of
money to the Temple as an obligation.
What makes this mitzvah unusual is not so much its details as much as where
it occurs in the Torah -- right after the curses of destruction for
disobedience. It is like describing the effects of a terribly destructive
occurrence and then, in the very next breath, discussing the stock market!
It would seem somewhat insensitive.
However, we can assume that G-d is not insensitive, and that is why it is
such anomalies that often lead to insights that we would not otherwise have
noticed. And, even though the Ramban gives a very technical answer, we can
assume that there is also a philosophical reason as well for the
connection, and there is.
From the beginning of the curses until the end of the curses, it is a
discussion of effect and not cause. Each and every curse is a reaction to
our sins and our failure to turn ourselves around and wake up and smell the
Divine Providence. Human indifference leads to Divine indifference, and
Divine indifference leads to disaster. But what leads to sin in the first
It's all an issue of self-worth, of what you mean to yourself.
We know, because the Torah has told us, that we were created in the "image
of G-d." However one interprets that phrase, it will always lead to the
conclusion that man comes from noble stock, and is capable of reaching
tremendous spiritual heights, but not without effort. Life has provided
many such examples of people who have reached for the stars and who have
On the other hand, at the far left extreme, man is barely distinguishable
from the most savage animals. He is very capable of debasing others and
himself, and can even do so without conscience. History is replete with
examples of this reality. The rest of mankind scuttles around between these
two extremes, the majority of which, perhaps, are content to find their
version of a "happy medium."
The only question is, who does it make happy?
One of the most disastrous events in the history of the Jewish people was
the building of the golden calf. As a result of that sin, Moshe Rabbeinu
broke the first set of Tablets, condemning the Jewish people to go through
thousands of years of history vulnerable to the whims and outrageous plans
of the non-Jewish nations (and "enemies" from within).
But, according to the Midrash, with the exception of a few weak
individuals, the Jewish people didn't even participate in the building of
the calf; it was the Erev Rav! If so, then why are we still paying such a
high price for a mistake we barely made?
Because, we didn't stop the building of the calf, either. Intimidated, and
afraid of the consequences for standing up for truth (Chur was murdered by
the Erev Rav for doing so), we stayed home in our tents, huddled at the
back, closed our eyes, and prayed that things wouldn't get too out of hand.
They did. We can see from G-d's and then Moshe's reaction to the crisis in
the camp below just how much the "happy medium" makes G-d happy! In This
World, G-d is not interested in "fence-sitters," people who don't take a
stand and responsibility for the world around them, and do what they can --
as limited as that may be -- to make things better. G-d likes zealots for
I said zealots, not fanatics. What is the difference? A zealot is someone
who aspires to live in the image of G-d, and, as a result, is driven to
live and act godly. A zealot is someone with a strong sense of self-worth,
which allows him to put important issues ahead of his own, and often petty
concerns. He doesn't need to prove himself to anyone; he just needs to be
A fanatic, on the other hand, is someone with little self-worth. His
extremism is in order to compensate for a lack of self-worth, which, as we
well know, can be damaging to him and society as a whole. A "good cause" is
just a "good reason" to do something that will make him feel heroic.
Low self-worth and spiritual mediocrity are the ills of a person and of
society as whole. They may seem harmless on the surface, but, in fact, they
represent the slide of mankind in the direction of spiritual decay and
moral destruction. What can follow at that point if not Divine response to
Therefore, concludes the parshah after a lengthy review and warning of the
curses: maintain your godly image, and maintain the peace of the world.
Not for our sake, G-d, not for our sake, but for Your Name's sake give
glory, for Your kindness and for Your truth! Why should the nations say,
"Where is their G-d now?" (Tehillim 115:1-2)
This is the third paragraph of Hallel, and the first half (1 - 11) of it is
one of the two sections that are omitted on Rosh Chodesh and the last six
days of Pesach. The omission signifies that there is something missing from
these days to make them completely joyous days. In the case of the last six
days of Pesach, it is the fact the Egyptians -- creations of G-d -- were
destroyed at the Red Sea, and, in the case of Rosh Chodesh, it is the fact
that the light of the moon has yet to be restored to its former glory.
We have made the point before, which is found in Nefesh HaChaim, that when
Jews suffer, it is a profanation of G-d's Name. It gives the impression to
those weak in faith in G-d that He has abandoned His people in their hour
of need, and therefore, it undermines the disbeliever's belief in Divine
Providence (and doesn't help the believing Jews faith much as well). Hence,
the term "Chillul Hashem" -- Profanation of G-d['s Name] -- comes from the
word "challal," which means "void," referring to the spiritual void sin
leaves in its wake.
Therefore, says the Nefesh HaChaim, praying for another's recovery is not
for the unwell person's sake, for, who knows how much atonement the
suffering is bringing? We want Jews to remain well and successful to reveal
to the world that there is a G-d, and that He cares about His people, and
that He is actively involved in their affairs, and the affairs of all
mankind, and that history is HIS story, not some random string of events.
True, we would benefit from a world that has little if any doubt about G-d
and His Torah. How nice it would be for the world to flip-flop and, rather
than mock and condemn Torah Jewry, instead hold them in high esteem and
seek their guidance. How nice it would be for yeshivas to be able to focus
on the learning of holy books, rather than on maintaining accounting books.
Dreaming of such a reality makes one yearn for Moshiach all that much more.
However, says this psalm, the real reason for that yearning has to be:
Not for our sake, G-d, not for our sake, but for Your Name's sake give
glory, for Your kindness and for Your truth!
-- and let personal gain take a back-seat to the amplification of truth for
its own sake.
Š Our G-d is in Heaven; He does what He desires. (3)
That's funny, all kinds of people seem to be doing all kinds of things that
G-d can't POSSIBLY enjoy! Therefore, people draw the conclusion: Maybe in
Heaven G-d does want He wants, but down here on earth, it's a human's world!
Well, it certainly seems so, but that is only a projection of the curse
mentioned in this week's parshah. All that apparent freedom we seem to have
to do whatever we want whenever we want to do it is an illusion, and will
come at a cost. G-d is just playing the role, for the time being, of a
parent who is watching His children act foolishly from a vantage point that
allows Him to see us, but not for us to see Him, unless we spiritually
"squint" and look real carefully. Hester panim only means G-d is "hiding,"
Š Their idols are silver and gold, the handiwork of man. They have a mouth,
but they cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see Š (4 - 5)
Once upon a time, there was a boy who made a stone god. He said to it, "I
shall call you, "god of the weather," and I will bring you offerings each
day and pray to you so that the weather shall always be fair." One day,
during an intense lightning storm, the boy worried that maybe his god was
angry, and that maybe he had been a poor servant, and that this was why his
god was causing such a terrible storm. Therefore, he quickly took from his
possessions all sorts of valuable and burned them before the stone idol.
"Here Š this is for you Š" he told the stone, "perhaps you can make the
weather clear up once again for me."
But, as he spoke, the weather only became worse, and lightning ignited the
evening sky like never before. Afraid that maybe his god required an even
bigger offering, he began to turn to run for more valuables. Just then, a
bolt of lightning came hurling out of the sky and hit its mark -- the stone
idol shattered to millions of tiny pieces in all directions.
The boy just stood in his spot, completely stunned by what he had just
witnessed. He didn't even notice that the storm was passing, and that calm
was being restored.
"How Š how Š" he began to wonder, "can a god be destroyed by the very storm
And then he recalled, "I built that statue, and I imbued it with powers it
did not have, and I became afraid of those powers that I believed it had,
and, eventually, I became victimized by the very powers I gave it, but, it
never really had." This is what it says:
Š Those who make them should become like them, whoever trusts in them! (8)
And they do: they become like stone and metal, unable to speak the
objective truth, or to see it, or to hear it.
Israel, trust in G-d; He is their help and shield! House of Aharon, trust
in G-d; He is their help and shield. Those who fear G-d, trust in G-d; He
is their help and shield. (9 - 11)
And those who do, shall become like HIM, speaking, seeing, and hearing the
truth, living in the image of G-d, and rising above the mundane moments of
a godless society, into the realm of an eternal Father in Heaven.
Have a great Shabbos, | <urn:uuid:c8e47f87-4ba4-4f63-b9f3-624a591e9160> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5760/bechukosai.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246661733.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045741-00240-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967822 | 5,682 | 2.5625 | 3 |
The main symptoms of a bulging, or herniated, disc in the neck include pain, numbness, tingling and weakness that may occur in the neck, shoulders, chest, arms or hands, according to WebMD. If the herniated disc is large, weakness and tingling in other parts of the body may occur.Continue Reading
Some people with herniated discs experience shooting pain, especially when coughing, sneezing or moving into certain positions, states Mayo Clinic. Other people affected by a herniated disc have no symptoms. Some causes of herniated discs include back or spine injuries and normal wear and tear. Discs normally lose some fluid during the normal aging process, making them less flexible. Herniated discs also occur more often in smokers.
About 90 percent of people with herniated discs manage the condition with conservative treatment, which may include special exercises, medication and avoiding activities that cause pain, states Mayo Clinic. Doctors typically suggest over-the-counter pain relievers, narcotics, nerve medications or muscle relaxers to treat symptoms associated with a herniated disc. Oral steroids or cortisone injections may be prescribed to decrease inflammation. If symptoms persist after six weeks of conservative treatment, surgery may be recommended. Surgical options for herniated disc include removing part or all of the disc, fusing the spine together using hardware, or implanting an artificial disc.Learn more about Pain & Symptoms | <urn:uuid:0b77e835-b897-4e88-a038-dae8c2b0402c> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://www.reference.com/health/main-symptoms-bulging-disc-neck-2262132b9eb2f0d2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267161214.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20180925063826-20180925084226-00315.warc.gz | en | 0.923804 | 295 | 2.75 | 3 |
Protecting Truth Tellers: 4 Things To Know About Whistleblower Laws
The roots of American whistleblowing can be traced back to 1773 when Benjamin Franklin leaked letters written by the Massachusetts governor to the colonial government. In the letters, the governor called for more British troops to repress growing agitation among colonists over unfair taxation. Franklin argued that the letters were written by public officials regarding public affairs and were, therefore, of public interest. Franklin’s actions are regarded today as the first known case of whistleblowing in America and have laid the groundwork for a wide array of legal protections.
Whistleblowing v. Retaliation
Many times whistleblower and retaliation claims are discussed together as claims brought by whistleblowers can involve later retaliation by the employer. However, the two terms are not truly interchangeable. Whistleblower complaints center on employer conduct that violates a specific state or federal law aimed at protecting public safety and trust. These complaints do not include an employer’s issues with an individual worker. For example, a whistleblower claim could be made against a company for violating environmental laws by improperly disposing of toxic waste. Retaliation complaints, on the other hand, focus on instances where an employer takes action against an employee for enforcing his or her individual employment rights. For example, a retaliation claim could be made against a company for firing an employee for reporting the improper disposal of toxic waste.
The Public Interest Test
To claim protection under whistleblower and anti-retaliation laws, an employee’s disclosure or complaint must involve serious matters of public interest. This includes matters such as criminal activity, danger to public health or safety, environmental damage, and fraud. Usually, courts will not fault an employee when the complaint or disclosure is outside the public interest if the employee reasonably believed otherwise.
Protected Whistleblower Activities
Whistleblower laws only protect certain employee actions from discipline. Some state laws only protect the actual complaint. Any further conduct, like alerting the media, could be lawful grounds for dismissal. Other state and federal laws have more broadly worded statutes that protect the employee as long as his or her actions are not unlawful and are reasonable in light of the circumstances.
Statute of Limitation
The statute of limitation refers to the amount of time an employee has to file a complaint in court. Generally, the clock starts running from the time the employee learns of the illegal activity or is retaliated against, NOT the employee’s last day on the job. State and federal laws can vary dramatically – from three to three hundred days – so it is important to know which law or laws are applicable. Failure to file the necessary paperwork within the deadline is a common and successful defense against whistleblowing and retaliation claims.
Whistleblowing laws protect employees and the employers by shedding light on unlawful or untoward behavior that could have serious long-term ramifications for a company. While the decision to file a complaint should not be taken lightly, employees should remember there are numerous protections in place to keep them from losing their jobs after doing the right thing, including specialized firms like Kohn, Kohn, & Colapinto, LLP that work often with whistleblower law. | <urn:uuid:b20ce6b4-f3a4-4b54-bb68-7e806e9051c8> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://easyb.org/protecting-truth-tellers-4-things-to-know-about-whistleblower-laws/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585305.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20211020090145-20211020120145-00094.warc.gz | en | 0.948435 | 644 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Our Journey with Assessment for Learning in Religious Education
The purpose of this article is to add to the growing conversation about assessment practices in Religious Education. At St Joseph’s in Oamaru we have a set of challenges that are quite common. We analysed our challenges, came up with a response and tested it over three years to see if it made a difference to what our students understand in Religious Education. Our data is moderated and consistent and we believe we have made a difference.
Religious Education, unlike faith, is something we can measure. In our school timetable and reporting systems, Religious Education is expected to be equal to the core subjects that we report on for National Standards. It is my belief that we should teach it and assess it with the same rigour, moderation and reflection that we use for the National Standards subjects.
The RE curriculum is a progressive curriculum which year by year adds knowledge and understandings so that in 8 years, the student can cover an extensive knowledge and experience base to help them understand the teachings of the Catholic Faith. In theory, if children didn’t learn about Mary in year 1, they can have another go in year 6 although that doesn’t help them if they missed year 1 and year 6.
At the present time this holds some challenges for students and teachers. Many students arrive at Catholic schools during their schooling with no prior religious experience. In the past, knowledge of the faith was nurtured within the parish and family. Now, many families do not have an active life in the parish or have not had the benefit of religious education themselves and the school is the sole transmitter of the faith and the content of the faith. This is by no means ideal and it does not mean we give up on making the parish the centre of religious life for the children and their families, but it is the reality.
This makes it very difficult for children to retain the vast treasury of information that is Church teaching. In our case, at St Joseph’s in Oamaru, we have a turnover of around 50 children a year entering or leaving the school and some children just coming to us for intermediate years so we do notice the effect of religious illiteracy.
Having said that, many children have 13 years of Catholic education and yet, “A general religious illiteracy has taken hold among young Catholics; unfamiliarity with the tradition that makes only the more remarkable their continuing desire to be called ‘Catholic’” (Duthie-Jung, 2011, pp. 154-155).
When I was year 7 teacher at St Joseph’s I had several children enter every year who were completely new to any form of Catholic education and I had children who had experienced their whole schooling in a Catholic school and were active members of the parish. To compare this with the curriculum area of reading: at the intermediate level one would usually expect to teach reading to children with a range of reading ages from about 8 to 16 years and in some year groups from about 5 to 16. Differentiating learning for a wide range at this level is an expected part of our practice. Translating that into Religious Education makes for a much wider achievement gap. It is not uncommon for children to enter with some maturity, perception, and developing academic rigour who have never heard of the Christian version of the Christmas story. So a year 7 class in RE not only has children who are performing at the equivalent of the 16 year old reading age, but those who not only can’t read but do not know the alphabet and have never seen a book. How do we differentiate?
I suggest that in the intermediate + years if the RE curriculum is not taught with rigor and differentiation, it leaves those with no prior religious literacy very little to latch onto while those who had a good basis switch off from a “dumbed down” curriculum. No other curriculum area faces this degree of challenge. I suggest also that it is very hard to find teachers who can cope with the level of differentiation required because it demands an in-depth understanding of the whole of the catechetical faith combined with excellent pedagogy.
Assessment for Learning - how we were doing it and why it wasn’t working
In 2012 our special character reviewer, Paul Ferris, commented on our extensive use of RE assessment data in the classroom and asked whether it went any further. Our RE assessment information helped to identify areas of weakness in the children’s understanding and areas of weakness in practice. However, we didn’t use it for anything beyond that.
We used the tests provided for each strand. We used them at the beginning as a diagnostic test and all teachers found this very disheartening and we came to the conclusion that we should just assume our students know nothing about each strand before we began it and spare them the humiliation of testing something they know nothing about. The reason for this is the new strand usually does not relate directly to the strand before it and so the children could not make connections. For instance, a student may have achieved well in year 5 for the Jesus strand which is about understanding the humanity of Jesus. The year 5 strand also contains some teaching on the divinity of Jesus which is the focus of the year 6 strand a year later, but as it was a minor focus in year 5, when that child is diagnostically tested on the year 6 Jesus strand a year later they tend not to do well. They don’t have the prior knowledge just from from their RE teaching to address the test.
Without a good diagnostic starting point, we can’t assess the impact of teaching and learning.
At the end, when tested again, most children typically did very well. An average 60-80% improvement was normal. That would indicate we were all doing very well indeed. But two or three months later, the children retained very little of that information. Part of that challenge is about maintenance and how we maintain the knowledge over time. The rest is about good pedagogy. Good pedagogy tells us that knowledge-building happens when children can relate new information to their prior knowledge and make connections between areas of knowledge. In the example of the Jesus strand, if the year 6 teacher has limited knowledge or has only taught the year 6 strand, or is teaching for the first time, they may not have the knowledge connections themselves to situate the learning in a context. They will teach the point that Jesus is the fullness of God’s revelation; the Christ aspect of Jesus, but fail to emphasise that Jesus was also fully human.
An eleven-year-old boy really illustrated for me the necessity for making connections. He was new to our school with no prior faith background. He was very enthusiastic about prayers and masses and he engaged wholeheartedly in RE. But when he answered the question, “Can you tell us some of what Jesus taught us?” his answer was, “Jesus taught us how to make shelves, side tables and cabinets.” He had grasped the idea that Jesus was a human, situated in a time and place and that he had been a carpenter. He did not have sufficient prior knowledge to make any connections as to why we might still be interested in this carpenter 2000 years later. He loved it all and accepted it as it came but couldn’t make much sense of it.
Of course that’s how we learn about God in the first place, with a child-like, even childish appreciation. The children learning at their mother’s knee learn the stories about Jesus, they hear about the birth and the humanity, alongside the miracles. My three year old son, after being at the Good Friday service, came home, took the crucifix off the wall, put it in the back of his tricycle and announced he was taking the “King” for a ride. How many connections were being made there? A three year old could identify the Triumphant King with the crucified Christ and respond with empathy, doing the best thing he could think of to help Jesus. How do we create those sort of connections with older children, who have more mature, analytical minds but only small snippets of information? How do we empower all our staff to make connections between the year levels and to make the connections sufficient to form a big picture themselves?
The Need to Make Connections
The Christian Research Association in the United States has found that young people cannot coherently articulate their own beliefs (Smith & Denton, 2005 in Hughes & Christian Research Association, 2007). We wanted to help them with that and give them some “big ideas” to help them make connections with their learning.
Another study by Hoge and Petrillo (1978) shows a positive correlation between education and understanding that translates into a negative correlation with faith. According to that study, that means that the more academic understanding students have of RE the less faith they have. Could that mean that the actual issue facing young New Zealanders is not the quality of their religious education but rather the lack of a scaffold to help them translate this knowledge into the personal meaning and relevance they feel is required of them? As post-modern young people they feel obliged to make personal sense of the world. They need a means of making connections. Whilst maintaining Catholic identity, individual attempts to make meaning are resulting in young Catholics distancing themselves from faith communities and therefore any possibility of support with developing their academic understanding into a mature faith response. I believe we need to be actively and explicitly teaching the children how to make connections within the context of their religious education.
At St Joseph’s, our solution was to make “key ideas” for each strand. Over the course of a year, as a whole staff, we unpacked the theology behind each strand, using the theology and the catechetical references at the front of each strand book as a start.
To make this work we had to start making connections ourselves. Alongside this we were also working on integrating digital learning into our curriculum. As DRS at the time I started our RE blog based on flipped learning for staff http://stjoesoamarudrs.blogspot.co.nz/2014/05/holy-spirit-staff-meeting-term-2-2014-i.html?view=flipcard
We agreed that we would do a certain amount of reading and background work before arriving at meetings. Meeting time was about challenging and making connections for ourselves with the aim of all staff having a good understanding of the underlying strand theology. We also focused on tricky areas, the areas that challenge our understanding and how we would approach these areas in our teaching.
For each strand we made a graduate profile, of what children leaving our school should know and understand. If they are to have the kernel of the knowledge that sits alongside our faith, it had to be simple.
This is what we came up with for each strand:
Communion of Saints
1. Jesus was a human (as well as God).
2. Jesus came to show us how to live and to save us.
3. Jesus is God
1. The Holy Spirit acts in people and in the Church
2. The Holy Spirit appears in Bible stories.
3. The Holy Spirit is the third person the Trinity.
4.We have images of the Holy Spirit but these are not the Holy Spirit.
1. There are 7 sacraments - Baptism, Reconciliation, Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick.
2. Each sacrament has its own symbols and rituals.
3. Sacraments are a sign of God’s grace in the world and in us.
4. Sacraments relate to your life journey (te wa)
1. The Church is the people united with God.
2. We all have a responsibility in the Church.
3. There are formal responsibilities in the Church.
4. The mission of the Church is to bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth.
1. Mary is Jesus’ mother and first disciple and model to all Christians.
2. Communion of Saints is all the souls in heaven, purgatory and God's family - the church on earth.
3. Our choices affect the type of person we become and what happens to us after we die
Our aim in using these key ideas was to turn the curriculum around. Many of our teachers have a full Catholic background and understanding but these teachers are becoming more rare. The first thing we turned around through addressing these key ideas was the teacher understanding. The teachers now had a broad roadmap of what they were teaching. One non-Catholic teacher with seven years experience of teaching RE said it was the first time she felt she had an understanding of what she was doing. Having taught one level for many years, it was easy to know that level really well but not know how it tied in with the bigger picture. So using key ideas, from the staff perspective has been a scaffold for understanding.
This approach is about making connections, helping the children to form a big idea into which to link their new understandings. The hope was that telling the year 7 completely new to Catholicism that Jesus was a human being who lived in Israel 2000 years ago, and He is also God, and He came to teach us how to live and to save us through sacrificing Himself on the cross, would give him the picture - but not yet the understanding. If you only get that Jesus was a carpenter you’re going down the wrong track and you’ve got the wrong starting picture. Which one of us is not on a journey of understanding about those few short statements? Which one of us actually really “gets” it and reached an endpoint where we can pass the test? It is a developing process and your understanding changes, hopefully deepens, but sometimes it is challenged, as you change. Yet a three year old can get those concepts too. Originally, when our RE curriculum was made, we may not have had to spell this out, but now we do.
To make this approach work, the first and foremost thing that we must be explicitly teaching is the key ideas for each strand. Each year when we return to the strand the key ideas are the same and in between times we refer to them. We also have to be true to the body of knowledge and in the past three years the way we have done this is to continue to teach the RE curriculum at each level. So the year 4 child will still be getting the essence of the year 4 curriculum - Jesus came to teach us how to live, but this is taught explicitly alongside Jesus is fully human and Jesus is fully divine. As we have gone on we have pulled out some examples of the Gospel stories children need to be exposed to in order to get the big idea, to sit alongside their coverage of the national RE curriculum so we can keep returning to these as maintenance. We are not taking away from the curriculum, we are adding to it.
From the children’s perspective, the proof would be in their achievement and we knew we had to give that time to show. So we dedicated three years to following the key ideas as we had agreed them and tracking achievement to see if it made any difference. We knew that from year to year previously very little was retained and connections were not being made. One of my outspoken year 7 students back in 2012 stopped me when I tried to teach the Holy Spirit strand which covers the images and action of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. He said, “I can’t do this, I don’t even know where this place is.” He hadn’t been at school in year one when they did the life and times of Jesus. Those who had been there were not any more able to make sense of the Old Testament in terms of geography and history. So we had to make timelines and maps and put them around the classroom and find out about the Holy Land as a real place before anyone could even imagine the Spirit of God in the Old Testament.
A year 5 boy a few years back exclaimed when we talked about modern Jerusalem, “What you mean this place is real?” He was immersed in a faith-filled family and in parish life and had been a high achiever in RE from year 1 but somehow he had decided it was all a made up story. If we’d been fully explicit in year 1 that Jesus lived in a particular time and place and was a human like ourselves and kept coming back to that point again and again, he would have known Jerusalem was a real place. There are so many connections needing to be made.
At this point when I talk to some people about what we are doing and I start to talk about SOLO, some switch off because they don’t “do” SOLO. We all “do” SOLO. SOLO is the best structure I have come across to explain the natural learning process. It is the one promoted by John Hattie in Visible Learning, which gives us a fairly definitive meta-analysis of what makes a difference in education.
What was failing us in the way we had been teaching and assessing RE is the making of connections. There is a strong affective component to our curriculum, but given the nature of the challenges which I have described above, the children were not making connections. They were learning a discrete set of information which they could test on successfully and then instantly forget.
SOLO = Structure of Observable Learning Outcomes (Biggs & Hollis). The first part is about structural thinking and multistructural is where there are several pieces of information or strategies. Practitioners engaging with SOLO are either using things like the “hot SOLO” maps (Pam Hook, n.d.) or their own devices to explicitly scaffold children to move from knowing pieces of information to help them make connections between information, world-views, and prior knowledge in order to engage in “relational” thinking. This is when some new understanding has truly happened. This is learning. Beyond that there is “extended abstract” thinking which is when the new learning is embedded and is used in new ways, in different contexts. It is when the student has gone beyond. Here is an example of extended abstract writing about “Church” written by a year 8 student who was new to Catholic education in year 7. It shows she has taken on multistructural thinking about what we believe about Church. She is doing relational thinking as she has put it all together to make a coherent whole picture. Most importantly she is doing extended abstract thinking - she has gone beyond, she has interacted with the Holy Spirit because the wisdom she imparts in what she has written is way beyond what we taught her directly.
Written by a year 8 student, St Joseph’s Oamaru
How am I the Body of Christ?
By being the Body of Christ we are being Christ in spirit and mind by doing those little things like picking up litter which shows bits of Christ’s mind and spirit. How do we extend this in our daily life? We do things that brighten others’ day, receive the Sacraments, go to church and pray for others – simple things like this.
When and how do we continue to be the living Church?
By having and believing in our conscience, by reading the Gospel, by caring for others because of our righteousness, by trying to be leaders to others, by helping and being a role model.
Why do I believe?
Because Jesus and God show us that humanity can be so much more if we show our inner true grace; because doing something good is the true feeling that God and Jesus meant for us to feel; because our heart is not unlocked until we believe in this strong faith and because the Gospel speaks to our souls.
We choose to commit ourselves to God and Jesus but why? Because when you’re walking down the street and someone falls over - faith and our good heart shows us how to help them up. It just makes a better, more compassionate society. There is not a time limit for choosing your faith even at the end of your life you’re welcome. The price to pay for not believing is truly not being true to yourself. So that is why.
As a staff we did a year’s learning in SOLO in RE before we started feeling confident about using it. We realised that extended abstract thinking couldn’t be specifically planned for. In a sense it is what happens after good teaching and learning, when the Holy Spirit enters and transforms it into something else. For a year we were vigilant for examples of this and shared them with each other. Some of these examples are described on my blog and I believe some of what the children came up is inspiring: http://lorrainefrancesrees.blogspot.co.nz/2015/03/solo-development-2013.html
We are still challenged by SOLO but we know that when we use it, it helps us scaffold the natural learning process. Examples of how we might use SOLO are also on our DRS blog: http://stjoesoamarudrs.blogspot.co.nz/
Did it make a difference?
Yes it did.
We tested the children by asking open-ended questions about the key ideas. The children could then draw from the knowledge they had available to answer the question. They had to be taught how to expand and add detail so their answers would truly show their understanding - a useful skill for future high-stakes testing. For our juniors, pictures were acceptable which they then describe for teacher/older student annotation. It put all children on an equal playing field. The child who had been read Bible stories from infancy was in the same position as a child who only knew a couple of parables. I know there’s inherent difficulties with that which I will come to in our “next steps” but it is a way of finding out a bit more about what meaning the children give to their RE learning. If they can apply relational or extended abstract thinking to it, it tends to last a lot longer than the previous two or three months.
For our content knowledge, the teaching from the specific strand curriculum level provides knowledge and activities which have helped to grow understanding but the teachers also needed to be aware of the examples that we should keep coming back to, e.g:
Jesus came to show us how to live and to save us (year 2+)
a) Give an example of a Bible story where Jesus shows love (draw or write).
Any of the healing stories:
- Washing of feet, obeying his parents and going home at 12
- Matthew 8:1-17, 9:18-38
- Healing crippled man and forgiving sins: Mark 2:1-12
- Healing deaf man Mark 7: 31-37
- Blind man Mark 8:22-26
- Ten lepers Luke 17: 11-19
- Washing of feet – John 13: 1-17
- Obeying his parents and going home - Luke 2: 41-52
What the data tells us
In the first year the children were post-tested after the teaching strand with the key ideas as the explicit, up-front focus. This gave us baseline data. We knew we were going to trial this for three years so we took the achievement information from the class two years ahead as the baseline data for the present class. This meant that if the present class reached that baseline (the present achievement of the class 2 years ahead) in two years we would have achieved a year’s progress each year and everything was still the same. If they didn’t reach it after two years, then our proposition to teach to the key ideas, was not helpful. If they exceeded it after two years then we knew we were on to something.
So for instance our year 3 class achieved an overall class average of 52% understanding after learning about the Holy Spirit in 2014 and our year 5 class achieved 61%. We would hope that after two further years when the 2014 year 3 cohort reached year 5, they would at least achieve an overall 61% understanding.
In fact, this class went beyond the baseline in their next year achieving 65% in 2015 and then 77% in 2016. This was typical. Most classes exceeded the benchmark they would hope to reach in two years, in their first year.
We have been able to drill down into our results in a lot more detail. We are able to tell which children are excelling and need extension and who is struggling. We found there was a strong correlation between learning difficulties in other curriculum areas and struggles with RE. We found that our “veterans” the children who had been with us all along did slightly better on average, but the difference was not significant. Not surprisingly, children who showed interest, who choose to be active in the parish and are active participants in prayer and liturgy tended to also do well. Overall though, achievement was most strongly correlated with achievement in other curriculum areas.
The data has also given useful information about teaching. We can see the ongoing areas of weakness coming through in the learning. For instance we can see from the results that the children have a good understanding of images of the Holy Spirit but less so the Holy Spirit as part of the Trinity. We can use that information to plan our future teaching and learning and factor into our professional development.
Surprisingly this has also helped us with our National Standards moderation. There is an element of teacher judgement involved in deciding whether something is relational or extended abstract thinking just as there is in making National Standards judgements. It has extended our practice of inviting others to moderate our judgements and it has identified areas where we consistently make kind, or tough judgments and helped us to smooth these out.
In 2014 we remade our whanau reports to show each strand and we were able to give specific achievement information to parents. Our board reports now have data which grows from year to year and we can clearly see areas where we are doing well and areas for growth.
The Next Steps
The three year cycle is finished. We know that teaching with the key ideas is helping our students to make sense of their learning from year to year and we will continue to do this.
Our approach is deductive in the first instance rather than inductive. Inductive reasoning involves experiencing a variety of pieces of information and building these into knowledge; very much like the SOLO process. Deductive reasoning starts with a statement of theory or fact and demands proof – which sounds like it goes against what I have written.
In the case of religious understanding, both inductive and deductive reasoning are needed to build faith. Very few people believe God is the creator of the world because someone told them so (deductive). They much prefer the more ‘logical” or “scientific” information that it started with a big bang, forgetting to wonder what caused the big bang. People actually “get” that God made the world when they see something above and beyond in the nature of the world around them, or when they experience death and understand that life is not just a breathing body. Yet if there was no teaching available about God people would make up their own stories - which is also what happens. So it has to go both ways, through teaching and through experience.
Our approach is giving the children the statement, showing them that we believe it ourselves by our witness and giving them the information - the Bible stories, prayer/liturgical experiences and Church teaching to back it up and show its truth. Both have to happen, I don’t know of anyone who has come to an understanding of the Christian God without having any direct teaching about God. Jesus said, “Go and spread the Good News,” - yes we do it through action as St Francis so rightly said but we also have to tell - if the first witnesses did not TELL that Jesus is the Risen Lord, no-one would know.
If we had been direct disciples living with Jesus we would have come to an understanding of Jesus’ divinity through inductive reasoning as Peter did at the Transfiguration. Our body of faith has been transmitted deductively. The Church Fathers chose which writings to include in the Bible in order to convey the Church’s understanding of the truths about Jesus Christ. Our catechism tells us what the Church believes and references the many places these beliefs have been built. We don’t make up our own belief system based on our inductive reasoning. We use our experience to measure, reinforce or challenge our belief system. For this reason I think it is not sufficient to test solely for content-knowledge and that is why we are using the SOLO component. That could be compared to the affective domain but that is typically an area we cannot measure whereas when we can use SOLO to measure the degree and quality of connections.
Our children’s are getting a better idea of the contents of their faith and how to connect that to their lives and beyond through using the key ideas. Over the last year or so we have started to add more content as suggestions for what teacher’s might specifically use to help children explain their understanding, particularly when that key idea is not covered in the year’s strand.
Our next step will be to continue to build on our knowledge-base, continue with our staff formation plans where every teacher is working towards, and some have achieved the diploma in Religious Education and to integrate RE more consistently throughout the curriculum. The main focus of meaning-making with RE will be to help the children scaffold the knowledge they pick up from RE into lifestyle. By “style” I mean the way in which they live their lives. Through our integrated inquiry curriculum we will seek to help our children understand they view the world through a lens even without knowing it. We want them to become aware of the Catholic Christian lens and help them view the world with these eyes. This will be our next step towards helping our children become fully integrated Catholic Christians.
Biggs, J., & Collis, K. (1982). Evaluating the quality of learning: the SOLO taxonomy. New York: Academic Press.
Duthie-Jung, C. (2011, September). Faith Amid Secularity - A Critical Exploration of Catholic Religious Identity Among Young Adult Pakeha Catholics in Aotearoa New Zealand (Doctoral thesis). Sydney College of Divinity, Sydney, Australia. Retrieved from file:///Users/Teacher/Downloads/Faith%20Amid%20Secularity%20-%20Chris%20J.%20Duthie-Jung%20(2).pdf
Hoge, D. R., & Petrillo, G. H. (1978). Development of religious thinking in adolescence: a test of Goldman’s theories. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 17(2), 139–154.
Hook, P. (n.d.) http://pamhook.com/
Hughes, P. J., & Christian Research Association. (2007). Putting life together : findings from Australian youth spirituality research. Fairfield [Vic.]: Fairfield Press.
Smith, C., & Denton, M. (2005). Soul Searching : The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Oxford University Press, USA. | <urn:uuid:e5594454-8ea3-43a6-b915-06490b5af533> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://stjoesoamarudrs.blogspot.com/2017/05/our-journey-with-assessment-for.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886133042.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20170824062820-20170824082820-00178.warc.gz | en | 0.971551 | 6,499 | 2.890625 | 3 |
By Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Because most of the kernel and supporting packages are free and open source software, Linux distributions have taken a wide variety of forms — from fully featured desktop, server, laptop, netbook, Mobile Phone, and Tablet operating systems as well as minimal environments (typically for use in embedded systems or for booting from a floppy disk). Aside from certain custom software (such as installers and configuration tools), a distribution is most simply described as a particular assortment of applications installed on top of a set of libraries married with a version of the kernel, such that its "out-of-the-box" capabilities meet most of the needs of its particular end-user base.
One can distinguish between commercially-backed distributions, such as Fedora (Red Hat), openSUSE (Novell), Ubuntu (Canonical Ltd.), and Mandriva Linux (Mandriva), and entirely community-driven distributions, such as Debian and Gentoo.
Before the first Linux distributions, a would-be Linux user was required to be something of a Unix expert, needing to know not only what libraries and executables were required to successfully get the system to boot and run, but also important details concerning configuration and placement of files in the system.
Linux distributions began to appear very soon after the Linux kernel was first used by individuals other than the original Linux programmers who were more interested in developing the operating system than developing application programs, the user interface, or convenient packaging.
Early distributions included:
SLS was not well maintained, so Patrick Volkerding released a distribution based on SLS, which he called Slackware, released in 1993. This is the oldest distribution still in active development.
Users were attracted to Linux distributions as alternatives to the DOS and Microsoft Windows operating systems on the PC, Mac OS on the Apple Macintosh, and proprietary versions of Unix. Most early adopters were familiar with Unix from work or school. They embraced Linux for its stability, low (if any) cost, and availability of the source code for most or all of the software included.
Originally, the distributions were simply a convenience, but today, they have become the usual choice even for Unix or Linux experts. To date, Linux has proven more popular in the server market, primarily for Web and database servers (see also LAMP), and in embedded devices market than in the desktop market.
A typical desktop Linux distribution comprises a Linux kernel, GNU tools and libraries, additional software, documentation, a window system, window manager, and a desktop environment. Most of the included software is free software/open-source software which is distributed by its maintainers both as compiled binaries and in source code form, allowing users to modify and compile the original source code if they wish. Other software included with some distributions may be proprietary and may not be available in source code form.
Many distributions provide an installation system akin to that provided with other modern operating systems. Some distributions like Gentoo Linux, T2, and Linux From Scratch include only binaries of a basic kernel, compilation tools, and an installer; the installer compiles all the requested software for the specific microarchitecture of the user's machine, using these tools and the provided source code.
Distributions are normally segmented into packages. Each package contains a specific application or service. Examples of packages are a library for handling the PNG image format, a collection of fonts or a web browser.
The package is typically provided as compiled code, with installation and removal of packages handled by a package management system (PMS) rather than a simple file archiver. Each package intended for such a PMS contains meta-information such as a package description, version, and "dependencies". The package management system can evaluate this meta-information to allow package searches, to perform an automatic upgrade to a newer version, to check that all dependencies of a package are fulfilled, and/or to fulfill them automatically.
Although Linux distributions typically contain much more software than proprietary operating systems, it is normal for local administrators to also install software not included in the distribution. An example would be a newer version of a software application than that supplied with a distribution, or an alternative to that chosen by the distribution (e.g., KDE rather than GNOME or vice versa for the user interface layer). If the additional software is distributed in source-only form, this approach requires local compilation. However, if additional software is locally added, the 'state' of the local system may fall out of synchronization with the state of the package manager's database. If so, the local administrator will be required to take additional measures to ensure the entire system is kept up to date. The package manager may no longer be able to do so automatically.
Some distributions go to considerable lengths to specifically adjust and customize most or all of the software included in the distribution. Not all do so. Some distributions provide configuration tools to assist in this process.
By replacing everything provided in a distribution, an administrator may reach a "distribution-less" state: everything was retrieved, compiled, configured, and installed locally. It is possible to build such a system from scratch, avoiding a distribution altogether. One needs a way to generate the first binaries until the system is self-hosting. This can be done via compilation on another system capable of building binaries for the intended target (possibly by cross-compilation). For example, see Linux From Scratch.
Types and trends
Broadly, Linux distributions may be:
The diversity of Linux distributions is due to technical, organizational, and philosophical variation among vendors and users. The permissive licensing of free software means that any user with sufficient knowledge and interest can customize an existing distribution or design one to suit his or her own needs.
Installation-free distributions (Live CDs)
A Live Distro or Live CD is a Linux distribution that can be booted from a compact disc or other removable medium (such as a DVD or USB flash drive) instead of the conventional hard drive. Some minimal distributions such as tomsrtbt can be run directly from as little as one floppy disk without needing to change the system's hard drive contents.
When the operating system is booted from a read-only device such as a CD or DVD, if user data needs to be retained between sessions, it cannot be stored on the boot device but must be written to some other media such as a USB flash drive or an installed hard drive. Temporary operating system data is usually kept solely in RAM.
The portability of installation-free distributions makes them advantageous for applications such as demonstrations, borrowing someone else's computer, rescue operations, or as installation media for a standard distribution. Many popular distributions come in both "Live" and conventional forms (the conventional form being a network or removable media image which is intended to be used for installation only). This includes SUSE, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, MEPIS, Sidux, and Fedora. Some distributions, such as Knoppix, Devil-Linux, SuperGamer, and dyne:bolic are designed primarily for Live CD, Live DVD, or USB flash drive use.
Well-known Linux distributions include:
DistroWatch attempts to include every known distribution of Linux, whether currently active or not; it also maintains a ranking of distributions based on page views, as a measure of relative popularity.
Other distributions are targeted at other specific niches, such as the tiny embedded router distribution OpenWrt, distributions for bioinformatics, the Ubuntu project to create Edubuntu for educational users, and KnoppMyth, which wraps MythTV around Knoppix to ease building Linux-powered DVRs. Similarly, there is the XBMC Live distro which wraps Ubuntu around XBMC Media Center ease building Linux-powered HTPC (Home Theater PC). Others target the Apple Macintosh platform, including mkLinux, Yellow Dog Linux, and Black Lab Linux. Karoshi is a server system based on PCLinuxOS and aimed at educational users. SuperGamer is one of the few distributions focused solely on gaming. Trisquel is a Debian-based distribution that is composed entirely of Free Software and is endorsed by the Free Software Foundation. Scientific Linux is commonly used for scientific computer servers and workstations.
The Free Standards Group is an organization formed by major software and hardware vendors that aims to improve interoperability between different distributions. Among their proposed standards are the Linux Standard Base, which defines a common ABI and packaging system for Linux, and the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard which recommends a standard filenaming chart, notably the basic directory names found on the root of the tree of any Linux filesystem. Those standards, however, see limited use, even among the distributions developed by members of the organization.
The diversity of Linux distributions means that not all software runs on all distributions, depending on what libraries and other system attributes are required. Packaged software and software repositories are usually specific to a particular distribution, though cross-installation is sometimes possible on closely related distributions.
Tools for choosing a distribution
There are tools available to help people select an appropriate distribution, such as several different versions of the Linux Distribution Chooser, and the universal package search tool whohas. There are easy ways to try out several Linux distributions before deciding on one: Multi Distro is a Live CD that contains nine space-saving distributions. Tools are available to make such CDs and DVDs, among them Nautopia.
Virtual machines such as VirtualBox and VMware Workstation permit booting of Live CD image files without actually burning a CD.
Details and interest rankings of Linux distributions are available on DistroWatch and a fairly comprehensive list of live CDs is available at livecdlist.com. Some websites such as OSDir.com and www.osvids.com offer screenshots and videos as a way to get a first impression of various distributions.
Workspot provides online Linux desktop demos using Virtual Network Computing (VNC).
There are many ways to install a Linux distribution. The most common method of installing Linux is by booting from a CD-ROM or DVD that contains the installation program and installable software. Such a CD can be burned from a downloaded ISO image, purchased alone for a low price, provided as a cover disk with a magazine, shipped for free by request, or obtained as part of a box set that may also include manuals and additional commercial software. New users tend to begin by partitioning a hard drive in order to keep their previously-installed operating system. The Linux distribution can then be installed on its own separate partition without affecting previously saved data.
Early Linux distributions were installed using sets of floppies but this has been abandoned by all major distributions. Nowadays most distributions offer CD and DVD sets with the vital packages on the first disc and less important packages on later ones. They usually also allow installation over a network after booting from either a set of floppies or a CD with only a small amount of data on it.
Still another mode of installation is to install on a powerful computer to use as a servers and to use less powerful machines (perhaps without hard drives, with less memory and slower CPUs) as thin clients over the network. Clients can boot over the network from the server and display results and pass information to the server where all the applications run. The clients can be ordinary PCs with the addition of a network bootloader on a drive or network interface controller; hard disk space and processor power can be offloaded onto the client machine if desired. The cost savings achieved by using thin clients can be invested in greater computing power or storage on the server.
In a Live CD setup, the computer boots the entire operating system from CD without first installing it on the computer's hard disk. Some distributions have a Live CD installer, where the computer boots the operating system from the disk, and then proceeds to install it onto the computer's hard disk, providing a seamless transition from the OS running from the CD to the OS running from the hard disk.
Both servers and personal computers that come with Linux already installed are available from vendors including Hewlett-Packard and Dell.
On embedded devices, Linux is typically held in the device's firmware and may or may not be consumer-accessible.
Anaconda, one of the more popular installers, is used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora and other distributions to simplify the installation process.
Installation via an existing operating system
Some distributions let the user install Linux on top of their current system, such as WinLinux or coLinux. Linux is installed to the Windows hard disk partition, and can be started from inside Windows itself.
Virtual machines (such as VirtualBox or VMware) also make it possible for Linux to be run inside another OS. The VM software simulates a separate computer onto which the Linux system is installed. After installation, the virtual machine can be booted as if it were an independent computer.
Various tools are also available to perform full dual-boot installations from existing platforms without a CD, most notably:
Some specific proprietary software products are not available in any form for Linux. This includes many popular computer games, although in recent years some game manufacturers have begun making their software available for Linux. Emulation and API-translation projects like Wine and CrossOver make it possible to run non-Linux-based software on Linux systems, either by emulating a proprietary operating system or by translating proprietary API calls (e.g., calls to Microsoft's Win32 or DirectX APIs) into native Linux API calls. A virtual machine can also be used to run a proprietary OS (like Microsoft Windows) on top of Linux.
Computer hardware is usually sold with an operating system other than Linux already installed by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). In the case of IBM PC compatibles the OS is usually Microsoft Windows; in the case of Apple Macintosh computers it has always been a version of Apple's OS, currently Mac OS X; Sun Microsystems sells SPARC hardware with Solaris installed; video game consoles such as the Xbox, PlayStation, and Wii each have their own proprietary OS. This limits Linux's market share: consumers are unaware that an alternative exists, they must make a conscious effort to use a different operating system, and they must either perform the actual installation themselves, or depend on support from a friend, relative, or computer professional.
However, it is possible to buy hardware with Linux already installed. Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Affordy, and System76 all sell general-purpose Linux laptops, and custom-order PC manufacturers will also build Linux systems (but possibly with the Windows key on the keyboard). Fixstars Solutions (formerly Terra Soft) sells Macintosh computers and PlayStation 3 consoles with Yellow Dog Linux installed.
It is more common to find embedded devices sold with Linux as the default manufacturer-supported OS, including the Linksys NSLU2 NAS device, TiVo's line of personal video recorders, and Linux-based cellphones (including Android smartphones), PDAs, and portable music players.
Consumers also have the option of obtaining a refund for unused OEM operating system software. The end user license agreement (EULA) for Apple and Microsoft operating systems gives the consumer the opportunity to reject the license and obtain a refund. If requesting a refund directly from the manufacturer fails, it is also possible that a lawsuit in small claims court will work. On 15 February 1999, a group of Linux users in Orange County, California held a "Windows Refund Day" protest in an attempt to pressure Microsoft into issuing them refunds. In France, the Linuxfrench and AFUL organizations along with free software activist Roberto Di Cosmo started a "Windows Detax" movement, which led to a 2006 petition against "racketiciels" (translation: Racketware) and the DGCCRF branch of the French government filing several complaints against bundled software.
Screenshots of common distributions
Debian 6.0 "Squeeze".
Fedora 15 "Lovelock".
Gentoo Linux 10.1
Mandriva Linux 2010.0
Puppy Linux 5.2.5
Linux Mint 11 "Katya"
Published - October 2011
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A successful resolution to your dog or cat’s skin allergies means tackling the problem from both inside and out.
When we talk about skin allergies in a dog or cat, the main concern is usually what’s making them itch so much. Itching causes the animal to scratch and bite at their skin, which can lead to redness and inflammation, hot spots, hair loss, and secondary infections. The cycle of itching and scratching can spiral out of control and the dog or cat becomes miserable. Relieving an animal’s allergies can be difficult, but a key point is that you need to address the problem from both sides of the skin. In other words, you need to consider your dog or cat’s nutritional and bodily health as well as look at their outside environment (where allergens come from). This two-pronged approach is the most effective way to beat allergies and help your dog or cat feel more comfortable.
A CLOSER LOOK AT ITCHINESS
It doesn’t take much for a reaction to occur in allergic animals. Extreme, intense itching over the whole body can come from the bite of a single flea; one mouthful of a certain food the animal is sensitive to; a very small amount of dust in an otherwise clean-looking house (for a dog or cat allergic to dust mites); or low pollen levels that don’t bother you or other animals.
If only one thing is causing your dog or cat’s itchiness, you might be able to solve the problem by simply removing that trigger from the environment. Broader allergies with multiple causes, however, require the “both sides of the skin” approach.
Fast Fact: Although any dog can develop allergies, the two breeds most likely to have allergies affecting the skin are the Shar Pei and West Highland White Terrier.
FIGURING OUT THE PROBLEM
Trying to pinpoint what’s causing the problem is the first step. Here are some questions to consider:
Is your dog or cat’s itchiness seasonal? Does it occur mainly when pollen counts are high? If you live in a region where warmer weather lasts longer now, have your animal’s allergies become year-round? Are his eyes red much of the time, in the absence of an eye infection? If your answer to one or more of these is “yes”, then part of the problem, if not all of it, is probably an allergy to plant pollen.
Is your dog or cat itchiest in front of the tail and around the neck? If so, fleas are probably playing a part.
Does the itching get worse after eating? Did it increase when you started a new food, or when the dog or cat is given one special treat? These are good hints that a food allergy is at the bottom of the problem.
Fast Fact: Does your animal seem itchier inside the house than out? Does the problem decrease or go away when you take them on vacation with you? If so, they might be allergic to house dust, mold, fungal spores, or cleaning products used in your home.
WHAT TO DO OUTSIDE THE SKIN — ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS
You don’t have much control over pollen levels, but you can help minimize exposure by keeping your animal indoors as much as possible on dry, windy days when pollen counts are high. After your dog or cat has been outside, rub their coat down with a clean, damp cloth to help remove pollen that might have settled on it. Rinse the cloth afterwards so it doesn’t carry pollen that can fall off when it dries out.
Keep the air in your house as clean as possible. HEPA filters are the best way to do this. Animal guardians who begin using HEPA filters in their homes often notice their own eyes are less irritated. Just doing this can help with pollen, molds, fungal spores, and dust. Another way to limit problems with airborne allergens is to vacuum often, including under the furniture and the cracks near the baseboards.
Get rid of cleaning products made with artificial fragrances. Even natural fragrances can lead to sensitivities. Limit these products, or better yet, go with scent-free, natural cleaning products.
More frequent bathing and flea combing can be helpful in several ways. Bathing will remove any pollens, dust and other allergens from the coat. Shampoo will also help kill fleas, though a natural flea soap will work better — avoid commercial products containing harsh chemicals as they can make the skin problem worse. Do not use a citrus-based shampoo on cats, or one that contains d-limonene. Since heat tends to make itching worse, use cool or lukewarm water. A chamomile tea rinse after the bath is also soothing to the skin. Make sure any hair dryer you use is on the cool setting. Also wash your dog or cat’s beds often.
When the problem is a flea allergy, even if you can’t find fleas on your dog or cat and don’t see them in the house, act as if you have a severe flea problem (because, for your pet, a single flea is a severe flea problem)! One or more flea traps in the house, placed near beds and scratching posts, are a must (you might be surprised how many fleas you catch). You can make your own flea trap with a pan of soapy water and a desk lamp over the pan to keep things warm.
Commercial sticky traps work well in areas where you don’t want water. In the yard, flea nematodes can be helpful, depending on your climate. Inside the house, diatomaceous earth is the longest-lasting natural indoor control for fleas, and is especially effective if you have deep carpets. Do not forget to put some underneath the seat cushions on couches and deep chairs.
WHAT TO DO INSIDE THE SKIN — DIET AND SUPPLEMENTS
A good, balanced, natural diet will make your dog or cat less attractive to fleas. Vitamin B12, given by mouth once or twice a day on a daily basis, works well to repel fleas on some animals, though it doesn’t work for all.
Anything you can do to minimize inflammation in the whole body, not just the skin, helps with itchiness. Omega 3 fatty acids improve skin health and are anti-inflammatory, so they help decrease itching no matter what the cause. Vitamins C and E also decrease inflammation.
Food sensitivities can be harder to control. Be sure there are no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives in whatever you are feeding your dog or cat, including treats as well as meals. Saliva tests available through your veterinarian can identify food sensitivities in animals.
Some animals develop sensitivities to common pet food ingredients such as beef or chicken. Diets made from novel proteins like bison, rabbit or elk may help.
Sometimes, dogs and cats get so anxious about their itching that it magnifies the problem. A natural calming product such as Rescue Remedy or valerian can make a big difference.
Fast Fact: You might think stopping a particular food or treat will immediately end the itching. However, it can take up to 12 weeks for itching to subside.
If your dog or cat is plagued by skin allergies and incessant itching, it’s important to get to the root of the problem rather than just mask symptoms with medication. Try to find out what your animal’s triggers are, then take steps to minimize or eliminate them. At the same time, make sure your dog or cat is eating a healthy diet and receiving supplements that support skin health and overall wellness. Tackling allergies from both sides of the skin, with the help of a holistic or integrative veterinarian, gives your dog or cat a much better chance at relief.
The post Dealing with Your Dog or Cat’s Allergies—From Both Sides of the Skin appeared first on Animal Wellness Magazine. | <urn:uuid:495037c9-0c99-4558-805a-9c36e62a0c4e> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | http://exoticpaw.com/index.php/2023/08/08/tackling-allergies-from-both-sides-of-the-skin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510219.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20230926175325-20230926205325-00015.warc.gz | en | 0.94162 | 1,688 | 2.625 | 3 |
This is part of activities within the framework of the Culture and Tourism Week 2020 in Bac Giang, and to mark the 300th founding anniversary of Tung Lam Bo Da (1720-2020), and 200 years of the establishment of Viet Yen district (1820-2020).
It aims to popularise widely unique values of the woodblocks as well as the quintessence in ancient sculpture art in the community, while contributing to introducing the image of the Sutras of Zen Buddhism to domestic and foreign visitors.
The exhibition is expected to help raise public awareness of the importance of preserving the national treasures.
According to Vice Chairman of the Viet Yen district People’s Committee Nguyễn Đại Lượng, Bo Da Pagoda, which is a centre of Lam Te Buddhism and had a major role in Buddhism’s development in Vietnam, is now home to nearly 2,000 Sutra woodblocks engraved by the Lam Te Zen Buddhism’s masters in the Le dynasty - Canh Hung era (1740-1786).
Carved woodblocks, which were named national treasures in 2018, reflect profound thoughts and philosophies of Buddhism in general and the Lam Te Zen Buddhism in particular.
In the 18th century, monks at the pagoda carved Buddhist Sutras on thi wood (decandrous perssimmom) that is both light and pliable, making it ideal for carving, preserve the texts so that they could be used to teach Buddhism.
The pagoda, also known as Quan Am (Goddess of Mercy), lies at the foot of a pine-covered hill, surrounded by earthen walls with mountains and rivers in the distance.
The pagoda was built in the 11th century under the Ly dynasty, the golden age of Buddhism in Vietnam, but was badly damaged during wars in subsequent centuries. It was not until the revival of the Le dynasty under King Le Du Tong that the pagoda was reconstructed.
Bo Da is unique for its architecture, while it appears to be a closed complex from the outside, the pagoda’s inside has hundreds of compartments that open into one another. The pagoda provides visitors with a sacred, secluded refuge from the world.
On this occasion, Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Le Anh Duong handed over a decision recognising Bo Da Pagoda as a tourism site to representatives of Viet Yen district and the pagoda./. | <urn:uuid:24505740-ac0a-4e45-bf64-7f0224f05c9d> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | http://religion.vn/Plus.aspx/en/News/71/0/9028/0/12256/Bo_Da_Pagoda_s_woodblocks_on_display_in_Bac_Giang | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875148850.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20200229083813-20200229113813-00557.warc.gz | en | 0.949985 | 508 | 3.09375 | 3 |
The Métis in Canada
Catalogue Number: LM0006
Producer: LeMay Media
Subject: Canadian History, Canadian Social Studies, First Nations Studies, History, Indigenous Peoples, Social Studies
Grade Level: 6 - 8, 9 - 12, Post Secondary
Country Of Origin: Canada
Copyright Year: 2016
Running Time: 10:43
Closed Captions: Yes
The Métis are one of Canada's three official Aboriginal peoples and have played an instrumental role in shaping the Canada we know today. Narrated and produced by multi award winning Métis film maker Matt LeMay , The Métis in Canada provides the viewer with a compelling overview of the history, culture and heritage of the Métis people.
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This program examines the history, legacy and current impacts of the Residential School experience... | <urn:uuid:a616f4d8-c960-4a7e-872c-b08a5c005b74> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://www.mcintyre.ca/titles/LM0006 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703499999.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20210116014637-20210116044637-00030.warc.gz | en | 0.855895 | 348 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Styx (from the Greek verb signifying “to abhor”) in Greek mythology was one of the principal rivers of the underworld, where it flowed sluggishly round seven times; and is properly the river of death, which all must cross to enter the unseen world, and of which, in the Greek mythology, Charon (mythology) was the ferryman (although in some accounts, it is the river Acheron which must be crossed to enter Hades). In their solemn engagements it was by this river the gods took their oaths to signify that they would forego their godhood if they swore falsely. The Styx was a branch of the Great Ocean which girds the universe.
In Dante's Inferno, the Styx is a marsh which forms the fifth circle of Hell, where the sin of anger is punished. Dante answers the question of which river must be crossed to enter Hell by using both Styx and Acheron: Charon ferries souls across Acheron to reach Hell, while the Greek king Phlegyas ferries Dante and Virgil across Styx to reach lower Hell.
The largely obsolete custom of placing coins over a dead person's eyes or in their mouth was done to provide the deceased with money to pay Charon for his services.
According to Greek myth, Thetis dipped her son Achilles into the river Styx soon after his birth, an act which rendered him invulnerable to injury, save for a small spot on his heel, covered by Thetis's thumb and forefinger when she held his hand to dip him into the river.
Styx is also the name of a prominent U.S. rock band, which produced hits such as "Come Sail Away" and "Mr. Roboto".
- Nuttall Encyclopedia of General Knowledge, article on Styx originally published in 1907 written by Reverend James Wood | <urn:uuid:883c1d4e-d663-40fb-aec5-b482c498e543> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | http://www.conservapedia.com/Styx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934806465.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20171122050455-20171122070455-00518.warc.gz | en | 0.97778 | 382 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Lumpawaroo, also known as Waroo, was a Wookiee male whose parents were Chewbacca and his wife Malla. During the Age of the Empire, Waroo and his species were enslaved by the Galactic Empire. He and other Wookiee children were forced to work at a slave labor camp run by Commandant Dessard. Following the liberation of Kashyyyk, Waroo escaped his labor camp. He was pursued by Dessard and his men, who caught up with him. However, the Imperials were killed by a joint party of Wookiees and New Republic soldiers. Waroo reunited with his father Chewbacca.
Lumpawaroo was the son of Chewbacca and his wife Malla. During the Age of the Empire, the Wookiees of Kashyyyk were enslaved by the Galactic Empire. As a child, his mother Malla was taken from him and he was separated from his father. Waroo and other Wookiee children were forced to work as slave laborers at an Imperial child labor camp on the slopes of Mount Arayakyak. The Imperials prized the Wookiees for their small hands and their ability to climb for high altitudes.
Waroo was a slave for most of his childhood and toiled under the supervision of Commandant Dessard. The Empire controlled the Wookiees by using inhibitor chips which sounded like a song of fire and terror. On one occasion, Waroo witnessed a female friend dying while trying to scale the walls of the daubcrete bunker. Following the liberation of Kashyyyk by New Republic forces in 5 ABY, the inhibitor chips in Waroo and the other child slaves were disabled. While Dessard and his subordinates managed to reassert their authority by using shock-lances and blasters, Waroo was encouraged by the demoralized state of the Imperial slave masters.
Desiring liberty, Waroo made a dash for freedom while Commandant Dessard tried to close the pylon-gate. Waroo fled through the jungle by leaping through trees and branches. However, he came into contact with a spore-pod that had defoliated much of the surrounding jungle. Dessard and his men caught up with Waroo and prepared to execute him. However, the Imperials were then shot by several adult Wookiees including his father Chewbacca and Greybok, and New Republic soldiers. Dessard managed to escape the barrage of blaster bolts and was taken prisoner by New Republic soldiers. Waroo recognized his father and the two embraced each other after years of separation.
Personality and traitsEdit
Lumpawaroo was a male Wookiee child who lived during the Age of the Empire. As a slave, he was prized by his Imperial masters for his small hands and ability to climb high. Waroo hated his Imperial captors and nicknamed them "milk-skins." He regarded the signals created by the Imperial inhibitor chips as a song that could drive one insane. He also had a strong sense of smell and could smell his Imperial captors from afar. Waroo took delight in the disabling of the inhibitor chips and the despondent state of his Imperial captors. Waroo once made a desperate dash for freedom. He loved his father Chewbacca and mother Malla. Waroo experienced an emotional reunion with his father following the Liberation of Kashyyyk.
Behind the scenesEdit
Lumpawaroo first appeared in the 1978 Star Wars musical spinoff film The Star Wars Holiday Special. He has also appeared in several Legends literature including Michael P. Kube-McDowell's Tyrant's Test and The New Jedi Order novel series. Waroo made his first canonical debut in a stand-alone point of view passage in Chuck Wendig's 2017 Aftermath: Empire's End, the last installment in Star Wars: The Aftermath Trilogy.
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary (First mentioned; albeit indirectly)
- Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded | <urn:uuid:35fb5def-7d22-40be-a807-7ec69673c55c> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lumpawaroo | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934805911.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20171120032907-20171120052907-00711.warc.gz | en | 0.984749 | 828 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Effective communication in nursing can lead to better care for patients and a more efficient workplace learn about the theories and best practices here. This essay will discuss how active listening strategies such as analysing effective communication in relationships - the world is full of psychos and you.
Learn 10 simple therapist-recommended communication skills, manage conflict in a respectful way, and build healthier relationships. Needed effective communication in the workplace business essay print the core concept of good relationships without effective communication and. Communication in relationships essays: over 180,000 communication in relationships essays, communication in relationships term papers, communication in relationships.
Demonstrating and modelling effective communication skills, whilst dealing with others, contributes to positive relationships you should take into account the way in.
Effective communication in relationships interpersonal relationships essay - to be an effective leader the person has communication, relationships. Effective communication skills are very important in all aspects of life, be it work or in relationships people in organizations typically spend a major part of.View | <urn:uuid:084eaf57-e9c3-4378-bfeb-f61874bce36f> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | http://axessayjnsx.health-consult.us/effective-communication-in-relationships-essay.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891811352.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20180218023321-20180218043321-00299.warc.gz | en | 0.916937 | 198 | 2.671875 | 3 |
In 2018, legislation which ties life expectancy to the retirement age will take effect, extending the retirement age in Cyprus.
It’s a measure which is introduced in the Cyprus retirement system for the first time and will affect the retirement age for workers in 2023, when the first recalculation of the age of retirement takes place. The measure will affect both private and public sector employees.
In the five-year period, 2018-2023, the Ministry of Labour will evaluate the changes in the life expectancy and, depending on its findings and the viability of the Social Insurance Fund, it will recalculate the age of retirement limit.
The goal is that by 2039, the retirement age limit is set at 67 years old, given that life expectancy continues to increase.
Life expectancy for men today is at 79.4 years, while for women it’s at 83.6 years. This is expected to increase, and by 2020 reach 80.1 years for men, and 84.3 years for women.
The age of compulsory retirement today is set at 65 years old, with a right for early retirement and reduced pension at 63 years old.
Tying life expectancy to the age of retirement is considered a crucial measure which aims to make the Social Insurance Fund viable in the long run. | <urn:uuid:050017c6-abdf-4cb5-a0b8-f1239fd66d4e> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://in-cyprus.com/gradual-increase-in-retirement-age/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463607046.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20170522190443-20170522210443-00252.warc.gz | en | 0.949822 | 265 | 2.640625 | 3 |
The Kindleberger Trap
Charles Kindleberger, one of the intellectual architects of the Marshall Plan, argued that the disastrous decade of the 1930s was a result of the United States' failure to provide global public goods after it had replaced Britain as the leading power. Today, as China’s power grows, will it make the same mistake?
CAMBRIDGE – As US President-elect Donald Trump prepares his administration’s policy toward China, he should be wary of two major traps that history has set for him. The “Thucydides Trap,” cited by Chinese President Xi Jinping, refers to the warning by the ancient Greek historian that cataclysmic war can erupt if an established power (like the United States) becomes too fearful of a rising power (like China). But Trump also has to worry about the “Kindleberger Trap”: a China that seems too weak rather than too strong.
Charles Kindleberger, an intellectual architect of the Marshall Plan who later taught at MIT, argued that the disastrous decade of the 1930s was caused when the US replaced Britain as the largest global power but failed to take on Britain’s role in providing global public goods. The result was the collapse of the global system into depression, genocide, and world war. Today, as China’s power grows, will it help provide global public goods?
In domestic politics, governments produce public goods such as policing or a clean environment, from which all citizens can benefit and none are excluded. At the global level, public goods – such as a stable climate, financial stability, or freedom of the seas – are provided by coalitions led by the largest powers.
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Already have an account or want to create one? Log in | <urn:uuid:c324a5b5-0abc-4040-8db4-1bade294de9c> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/trump-china-kindleberger-trap-by-joseph-s--nye-2017-01?barrier=accesspaylog | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232257100.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20190523043611-20190523065611-00013.warc.gz | en | 0.951377 | 415 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Solidarity blockades and protests erupted across Canada in the first months of 2020 after the RCMP moved against camps set up to block the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in unceded Wet’suwet’en territory.
After initially setting up a roadblock on Wet’suwet’en land on Jan. 13, the RCMP led a raid against one of the camps occupied by Indigenous activists who describe themselves as land defenders. The RCMP’s stated goal was to enforce a court injunction preventing disruption of pipeline construction.
Dozens of people were arrested during the Feb. 6 raid and in the following weeks. These arrests included three of the five Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who opposed the building of the pipeline in their territory without the “free, prior and informed consent” of their nation’s traditional leaders, as stipulated by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
In response to the police raids and arrests, supporters across Canada—both Indigenous and non-Indigenous—rallied behind the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs. Protests were held at government offices and buildings, and blockades set up at ports and railways. Perhaps the most impactful was the blockade set up by members of the Mohawk First Nation on a stretch of railway in Tyendinaga, Ont., which caused Via Rail and the Canadian National Railway to shut down the railroads for several weeks. The economic impact of these blockades led Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to demand: “The barricades must now come down. The injunctions must be obeyed and the law must be upheld.”
Debates over the blockades and protests eventually made their way into the Anglican Church of Canada. On Feb. 11, the church put out an official statement expressing “disappointment, distress and ongoing concern” over recent events on Wet’suwet’en territory, following up from a preliminary statement on Jan. 11 when tensions were mounting.
In this second statement, church leaders called on the government to “meet and speak to the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and to have the RCMP stand down as they de-escalate the situation.” Primate Linda Nicholls and National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop Mark MacDonald signed this statement, as did six other Anglican bishops and archbishops.
On Feb. 18, the Anglican Journal published an article which reported that 71 church leaders had signed a statement of support with the Wet’suwet’en pipeline opposition. The statement called on the Canadian government and the RCMP to “immediately cease their occupation, arrests, and trespassing on Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory.” Along with Anglican leaders were representatives of other Canadian churches.
Among those affixing their names to this statement were MacDonald, Indigenous Ministries Coordinator Canon Ginny Doctor and National Reconciliation Animator Melanie Delva, as well as National Bishop Susan Johnson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. The Anglican Journal subsequently published two columns by the national Indigenous archbishop expressing his support for the “five traditional leaders of Wet’suwet’en.”
The response among Anglicans on social media was swift. Many backed the church’s support for the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and its call for the government and police to step down:
• “I am so glad that church leaders are taking a stand here. It does this younger Anglican great comfort and hope for the future of the Church and the world.”
• “I am so thankful that the Churches have given this statement…. Our dear brothers and sisters living their faith in Wet’suwet’en give us such good example of how to be Christians. I know that so many young people are looking for a direction of how to live in faith, and to live in the courage that Christ asks us to hold in our hearts. This is the most beautiful moment of our Churches living into the message of the Gospel.”
• “I am very proud of the Anglican Church leaders for taking this courageous stand as allies, leading and setting an example for colonial settler society. It is fitting, since they were one of the original perpetrators of the residential school genocide and some have continued in white supremacy ways to this day.… As a Métis person from Anishinabe, Treaty 3, Tyindenaga Mohawk, Cree and Salish parents I am only attending the Anglican Church because they are serious about their apology and are taking action in the stand with the Wet’suwet’en Nation…. I am proud to see a remnant of true believers in Jesus rise up and stand for truth.”
Others expressed dismay that the church appeared to be supporting blockades that were affecting Canada’s economy, and noted that elected band councils of the Wet’suwet’en had come out in support of the pipeline.
Some Anglicans, however, offered a different opinion: that in such disputes, the Anglican Church of Canada should not “take sides” at all.
A sampling of comments from the Journal Facebook page offers examples of this view:
• “I think it would be preferable if the churches worked to find a solution to this impasse, instead of taking sides and thereby creating more division. We are supposed to be peacemakers.”
• “I support the First Nations in this issue. But it is not the church’s place to take sides. As a church we are Peacemakers or should be.”
• “Why doesn’t it seem to matter that many First Nations people have given their consent for this project? Why is our church supporting one group over another?”
• “Most of the native people in this area want this pipeline. Sad to see a church encouraging division in this country.”
One of the most strident voices suggesting it was not the place of the church to “take sides” in this case was Joseph Quesnel, an Anglican from Tracadie, N.S. of northern Ontario Métis background.
Currently taking theology courses at the Atlantic School of Theology with an eye to potentially joining the vocational diocanate, Quesnel worked for more than 15 years as a policy analyst at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, a Winnipeg-based think tank where he researched and wrote op-eds and commentary on topics related to Indigenous governance. Quesnel also served as editor of the now-defunct national Indigenous newspaper Drum/First Perspective and has appeared in numerous newspapers and media outlets addressing questions related to Indigenous issues.
Most of the native people in this area want this pipeline. Sad to see a church encouraging division in this country.
Most recently, he worked as a program manager at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa, overseeing its “Aboriginal Canada and the Natural Resource Economy” project. This project seeks to bring together “a team of experienced experts” in the field of resource development to examine how “two sides—First Nations and business” can “work together to ensure our development of natural resources is safe, stable and reliable.”
In his Facebook comments to the aforementioned Journal articles, Quesnel said that the church had “lost its way” by “supporting one side over another and “adopting a simplistic narrative about this complicated dispute.” Responding to the article about church leaders signing the statement of support, he expressed anger and embarrassment that his church “would issue such an inflammatory and biased statement.”
I am so glad that church leaders are taking a stand here. It does this younger Anglican great comfort and hope for the future of the Church and the world.
“The Anglican tradition,” he added, “is moderate restraint and balance. None of that is in this statement.”
These comments by Quesnel and other Anglicans were a major force in the writing of this Epiphanies article, which examines what it means for the church to take sides. Quesnel was happy to share his thoughts when the Journal reached out to him for further comments. However, he stressed that these were purely his own opinions and that he was not representing or speaking on behalf of any parish or diocese. He also emphasized that his views on this matter are separate from any of his professional work.
“I think in general, the church should promote peaceful resolution to disputes and good relations between the two or more sides in dispute,” Quesnel says. “When it comes to issues involving gross injustice between groups, I think the church should side with the most marginalized and repressed groups.” Thus, he believes “the church took the right side” when it supported ending apartheid in South Africa, or when it backed the civil rights movement in the United States.
In the case of the conflict between Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and the government, Quesnel believes that “the church should identify most with the Indigenous side in general, as the most disadvantaged.”
However, he characterizes the matter as “an internal government dispute between two Indigenous bodies,” and as such is not “about gross injustices” like South African apartheid and U.S. racial segregation. Rather, he says, it is about divisions between the hereditary chiefs, as well as between the hereditary chiefs and the elected band leadership.
“The matter of how an Indigenous community feels about this project is for them to resolve internally,” Quesnel says. “Canada has a constitutionally mandated doctrine of duty to consult and accommodate Indigenous communities who are impacted by resource development.”
Coastal GasLink, he adds, appears to have undertaken such consultations. “If the community feels there were flaws in the consultation process, they have legal mechanisms to challenge that.”
Quesnel believes that the role of the Anglican Church of Canada in any conflict is to “be on the side of peaceful resolution.” In the case of the standoff involving the Wet’suwet’en, the church “should call for governments to listen to both the dissident hereditary chiefs, the elected leadership, and the Wet’suwet’en people in general. It should call for the government to be as generous to the Indigenous side as possible as the disadvantaged party.”
“It should call for peace at blockades sites. But, I think the church should call for an end to blockades that threaten to harm people and their livelihoods.”
Delva, however, responds that Anglican leaders did take a mediatory role in publicly expressing their support for the Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership.
“I would say that in releasing the statement, the Church is playing the role of peacemaker,” Delva says.
“If the hereditary leadership had been consulted in good faith from the beginning, we would be in a very different situation. If the RCMP pulled out and construction ceased, real talks would be possible. People could meet without being under duress.”
The question of whether Christians and the church should “take sides” in situations of conflict and injustice is an old one. According to one church historian, it is a debate that may go all the way back to Constantine, first Christian emperor of Rome.
Louis DeCaro, Jr. is an associate professor of church history at Nyack College’s Alliance Theological Seminary in New York City, and has served as a pastor at two multiethnic congregations. DeCaro notes that during the first 300 years of Christian history, Christians occupied a very different position as a persecuted sect who were all “on the same side” against the might of Rome.
In the wake of Constantine’s ascent to power, Christianity began a shift that would take it from a marginalized faith to the state religion. But with that shift came new questions.
“When Christians become sharers of power, then what happens?” DeCaro asks. “It’s easier to be perhaps pure of heart and consistent with the gospel of Christ when you’re the one who’s bleeding. But once you start wielding power, for better and for worse—this is our issue. This is our history.”
Much of DeCaro’s own research focuses on one of the most vivid examples in history of Christians “taking sides”: the issue of slavery in the United States.
In particular, he has authored numerous works about the Christian abolitionist John Brown, who in 1859 led an armed raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia hoping to spark a movement to overthrow slavery. Brown was tried for treason and hanged, but his actions accelerated the events that would culminate in the U.S. Civil War.
In 19th-century America, the vast majority of the population identified as Christian. The question of slavery, however, was the subject of intense debate among self-identified Christians. Both pro-slavery and anti-slavery voices quoted passages from the Bible to justify their positions.
“I wish I could say that abolitionism, or maybe to put it more specifically, the end of slavery was primarily driven by the movement of the church or Christianity,” DeCaro says. “But I think in fact, the church failed to do that. It’s funny, because it was very much a religious culture 150-plus years ago. The church was central to life in both the North and the South.”
Reflecting society as a whole at this time, the American abolitionist movement was “replete with Christians,” he says. First to call for the abolition of slavery were the Quakers, followed by other Protestant groups. All of the major abolitionists during the antebellum era, such as William Lloyd Garrison, were Christians, and the abolitionist movement in its early phases was strongly evangelical in spirit.
The abolitionists were also a non-violent movement and identified as pacifists. DeCaro compares them to the “Martin Luther King Jr. wing” of the civil rights movement, in that their strategy largely based itself on a campaign of moral persuasion—“that you’re going to change the hearts of slaveholders by telling the stories of the oppressed and by preaching at them and calling them to justice.”
As a result, though the abolitionists did extensive work such as publishing anti-slavery newspapers, their efforts were comparatively limited in scope.
The 1840s and ’50s would see the growth of a more political abolitionism, as the movement was increasingly joined by formerly enslaved people such as Frederick Douglass. Though these black abolitionists were also Christian, their horrific stories of slavery led to an increasingly militant tone in the movement.
With the beginning of the 1850s, DeCaro says, “you’re starting to see the possibilities of slavery ending peacefully coming to an end.” Developments such as the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 and the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision in 1857 caused a reaction among abolitionists in the North.
“They became, more and more and more, advocates of using strategic attacks and so forth, although really, nothing was being done,” DeCaro says. “And that’s the significance of John Brown, because John Brown was the only guy who made a plan and then actually tried to enact it.”
Brown himself defined his opposition to slavery as an expressly religious movement.
A Congregationalist in the Reformed tradition with a Calvinistic background, Brown was very devout and had a high view of the Bible. Influenced by the theological ideas of postmillenarism—the idea that the Second Coming of Christ would follow a great worldwide movement of Christians towards justice—Brown felt with an intense fervour that he had been called by God to work against slavery.
He also sharply criticized the pacifism that dominated the abolitionist movement, once proclaiming: “These men are all talk. What we need is action—action!” In leading the raid against Harpers Ferry, he hoped to destabilize slavery through the South by arming slaves and leading a mountain-based campaign to disrupt the economic operations of the slave system.
But Brown’s attempted raid of Harpers Ferry met with wide condemnation from most sectors of society, even those ostensibly opposed to slavery—including the established churches.
Though there were people within each church on both sides of the slavery debate in the 19th century, the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church did not split over slavery. However, all other Protestant denominations “split hard” over their contrasting views on slavery, DeCaro says.
The southern Protestant churches were unified in their condemnation of Brown, calling him a “criminal” and a “terrorist” who reflected the worst intentions of the North. Meanwhile, the churches of the North were divided between anti-slavery churches and those who saw the South’s “peculiar institution” as acceptable. The Episcopal Church appeared to have made no official statements about slavery one way or the other.
“Many of the churches that condemned John Brown were allegedly anti-slavery, but believed that this was a matter that God had to take care of in his own time,” DeCaro says.
“They didn’t believe in interfering. So he was widely condemned by traditional churches—even some of his own colleagues. In fact, he had a cousin who was a renowned clergyman and theologian, and this cousin wrote him a letter in jail basically saying, ‘We think you’ve lost your mind.’”
But what must be realized, DeCaro says, is that by the time John Brown took action in 1859, “there were no options. There really weren’t any options.”
Brown’s acts “have to be weighed into what’s possible. Obviously he’s willing to take up arms and fight if necessary, and kill if necessary. But in that situation, I really think that that was all that there was left to do.”
I think sometimes Christ is mistaken as if the philosophy that he was teaching was a total political philosophy or a total political strategy. It’s not…. It’s a worldview.
— Louis DeCaro, Jr.
DeCaro emphasizes that each situation must be looked at in its own context, and that Christians should strive as much as possible to live in peace. Supporters of the Wet’suwet’en in Canada, he notes, may view the blockades as “a better measure as opposed to violence.”
“The Christian can ask of himself, ‘What should I do as a Christian?’ But what should the Christian do as a citizen?” DeCaro asks.
“I think sometimes Christ is mistaken as if the philosophy that he was teaching was a total political philosophy or a total political strategy. It’s not…. It’s a worldview. But as citizens go…if there are gross injustices, people are suffering, and the state is not addressing the issues, then some direct action has to be taken. That was Martin Luther King’s strategy. He did it non-violently but he still became disruptive.
“So I personally would say, there’s a basis for direct action. But again, one has to ‘count the cost,’ to use the words of Christ…. You have to be prepared to pay the price, because once you take a certain route, there are going to be certain consequences. I think that that’s hard—that every Christian activist who’s going to take action against injustice has to count the cost and then be prepared to take the consequences. Because John Brown was prepared to die.”
One 20th-century figure who, like John Brown, was prepared to accept the consequences of taking action against injustice was Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
A German evangelical pastor, theologian and founding member of the Confessing Church, Bonhoeffer became known for his resistance to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. Like Brown, Bonhoeffer was a marginalized figure who garnered little support from the established churches of his day.
In the 1930s, Bonhoeffer established an underground seminary in Germany. During the Second World War, he gained a position at the military intelligence office thanks to connections from his brother-in-law, who occupied a high rank there. Ostensibly tasked with making contacts with neutral nations, Bonhoeffer instead used his position to serve as a “double agent,” trying through his church relationships to make connections between Allied forces and the German Resistance.
“To be a Christian is to participate in both God’s judgement on, but also the redemption of, the world,” Harvey says. “It puts you, if you will, in harm’s way…[Bonhoeffer] talks about it in terms of being ‘for others’. Christ is the one for others, and through faith we participate in that, which ultimately means taking actions that might…involve breaking one or more of God’s commandments.”
After Bonhoeffer embezzled money from the military intelligence office to help 14 Jews escape to Switzerland, he was arrested for misappropriation of funds. His trial was postponed through 1944, when files were discovered linking him to the failed assassination attempt against Hitler. Imprisoned at the Flossenbürg concentration camp, Bonhoeffer was executed by hanging in 1945, only weeks before the end of the war.
Barry Harvey, a professor of theology at Baylor University in Waco, Texas and an ordained Baptist minister, has conducted extensive research into the life and thought of Bonhoeffer. In his book Taking Hold of the Real: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Profound Worldliness of Christianity, Harvey suggests that according to Bonhoeffer, Christians are compelled to participate in “profound this-worldliness”: to act in the world out of self-understanding of what this world is and what is possible.
“To be a Christian is to participate in both God’s judgement on, but also the redemption of, the world,” Harvey says. “It puts you, if you will, in harm’s way….[Bonhoeffer] talks about it in terms of being ‘for others’. Christ is the one for others, and through faith we participate in that, which ultimately means taking actions that might…involve breaking one or more of God’s commandments.”
The actions during the war of Bonhoeffer, who saw himself as a pacifist, illustrate that conviction. While writing clandestinely against the Nazi dictatorship and its persecution of the Jews, Bonhoeffer took actions in the background that Harvey says “otherwise ran against his understanding of Christian discipleship.”
“Whether or not ultimately [Bonhoeffer] was in favour of the assassination attempt, he did participate in a conspiracy against Hitler and the National Socialists, which, in a certain sense, could be viewed as breaking God’s commandment,” Harvey says. “But the situation demanded it, because the injustice was so egregious that he couldn’t ignore it.”
In his own writings, Bonhoeffer uses the metaphor of a cart on a hillside that is running out of control down the hill. For anyone faced with such a situation, the only way to stop the cart is to throw oneself into the spoke of the wheel.
But Bonhoeffer’s own attempts to confront the Nazi regime also marginalized him from mainstream German life, including the established churches. Bonhoeffer fell out of favour after teaching at the University of Berlin because he did not support either the Nazis or a movement known as the German Christians, which Harvey calls “oddly reminiscent of some things going on here in the United States—a very nationalistic understanding [of Christianity], including a claim that God had given Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist state to Germany as a kind of revelation.”
The Rev. Tony Harwood-Jones, a retired Anglican priest in the diocese of Rupert’s Land, sums up the isolation that Bonhoeffer faced among fellow Christians across Germany.
“His society went into an atrocious state, and he spoke for the Christian mindset, but it was not shared by his fellow Lutherans,” Harwood-Jones says. “Many Lutheran pastors wore jackboots and had swastikas up in the front of their churches.”
Faced with such a situation, Bonhoeffer had strong criticism for those who tried to evade their moral responsibility as Christians to stand against injustice. Harvey quotes from a letter that Bonhoeffer wrote from prison to one of his close friends after 10 years of the Nazi dictatorship, reflecting on what had happened to them and what they had learned:
In flight from public discussion and examination, this or that person may well attain the sanctuary of private virtuousness. But he must close his eyes and mouth to the injustice around him. He can remain undefiled by the consequences of responsible action only by deceiving himself. In everything he does, that which he fails to do will leave him no peace. He will either perish from that restlessness or turn into a hypocritical, self-righteous, small-minded human being.
“There’s no not taking sides if there is injustice there,” Harvey says. “Not for Bonhoeffer.”
Is it fair to compare the response of the Anglican Church of Canada to the standoff between Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and the Canadian government with the response of Christians to some of history’s worst atrocities, such as slavery and the crimes of the Nazis?
Some Anglicans, such as Quesnel, believe the answer is a firm “no”—arguing that “gross injustices” such as apartheid and segregation simply do not compare to the dispute over the authority of the hereditary chiefs and the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
Harwood-Jones says that if one were to make comparisons between the Wet’suwet’en standoff and episodes such as the abolitionists’ opposition to slavery or Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s opposition to the Nazis, “it does imply a conclusion.”
“Everybody knows [today] that Dietrich was on the right side and he lost his life for it,” Harwood-Jones says. But at the time, he says, “Dietrich wasn’t well-received by his fellow Lutherans.”
When looking at such episodes in the present day, he adds, Anglicans do so with the “judgement of history.” As an example of this judgement closer to the history of their own church, Harwood-Jones cites the Indian residential school system.
At the time the residential schools were set up, he says, the “mostly British overlords in Canada” thought they were doing a favour to Indigenous children by sending them to school and that their parents would thank them for the “wonderful opportunity.” The Anglican church ran many of these residential schools and echoed such views.
But with the passage of time, and the coming forward of Indigenous survivors to share stories of the physical, sexual and emotional abuse they suffered in the schools as children—and the conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that the schools’ attempt to eradicate Indigenous languages and cultures was a form of “cultural genocide”—church leaders now view the residential school system in overwhelmingly negative terms.
For Anglicans who worked in the schools and sincerely believed they were doing the right thing, such radical shifts in opinion can be difficult to comprehend.
“I was pastor to an old priest and I held his hand [at] his deathbed,” Harwood-Jones recalls. “He was crying, because he had been the principal of a residential school and he had loved his kids and his kids had thrived, and he felt so hated now by Canadian society.”
“I warn people today…the things we think are good today will be vilified 100 years from now if we’re not careful,” he adds. “So we don’t want to be too dogmatic. If you want to say the [Wet’suwet’en] hereditary chiefs are on the right side of God, and that the church should support them, well, be my guest. But you will get blowback.”
During the blockades in support of the Wet’suwet’en, Indigenous activists experienced one type of blowblack in the form of confrontations with counter-protesters—some associated with the far-right Yellow Vest Canada movement, who forcibly dismantled the blockades while police looked on. At another point, a bomb threat was made against Mohawk blockaders in Tyendinaga.
Some of the rhetoric by public figures at the peak of the blockades echoed language used against the likes of John Brown.
Writing in the National Post on Feb. 11, columnist Stephen LeDrew called for police action against those he deemed “lawbreakers.” Activists supporting the Wet’suwet’en through rallies and blockades, he wrote, were not engaging in acts of protest, but rather “insurrection.” At a meeting of the House of Commons public safety and national security committee on Feb. 27, Conservative MP Doug Shipley asked Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair whether the blockades were being deemed as “terrorist activity” under the Criminal Code of Canada. (Blair replied that they were not.)
I warn people today…the things we think are good today will be vilified 100 years from now if we’re not careful. So we don’t want to be too dogmatic. If you want to say the hereditary chiefs are on the right side of God, and that the church should support them, well, be my guest. But you will get blowback.
— The Rev. Tony Harwood-Jones
In his own ministry, Harwood-Jones has learned much about the views of those confronting Wet’suwet’en land defenders and their supporters on the ground. Though formally retired as a priest, he has kept busy by accepting the position of chaplain to the Manitoba RCMP Veterans’ Association.
For the purposes of this article, Harwood-Jones emphasizes that he is speaking simply as an “observer.” But in serving as a chaplain to retired RCMP officers, he has learned something about the predominant mentality among police who confront Indigenous land defenders or those who have erected blockades.
By and large, Harwood-Jones says, police officers “favour law and order.” If asked, he believes, the majority of police would say their job is simply to enforce the law. “We’ve employed these people to support the law of the land, not their own opinion,” he says.
Harwood-Jones cites a reflection sent to the RCMP Veterans’ Association by James Forrest, communications director for the association. In this article, entitled Charter Trumps Everything, retired police incident commander James Hardy Supt describes how police officers themselves often feel caught between opposing sides—between enforcing federal and provincial statutes, and facilitating protests and tolerating “some” civil disobedience, the latter guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The police officers in Canada are dedicated but, in many cases, demoralized. Recruiting is becoming difficult. Despite the community involvement that a majority of our officers participate in, it is never enough. We are split between social work and law enforcement. Our people are dedicated and will be there when you need them, but in my opinion, our officers are having an increasingly difficult time figuring out what the rules are. We are an extension of Canadian society. Canadian society will have to determine what the police role is.
Faced with a situation in which grievances have been expressed both by Wet’suwet’en land defenders and by those impacted economically by blockades, leaders of the Anglican Church of Canada—particularly those involved in Indigenous ministries—have supported the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, as documented earlier in this article.
For Canon Doctor, whether the church should take sides in situations of conflict or injustice depends on the movitation. In the specific case of Wet’suwet’en land defenders, she believes her decision to support that “side” flows from the commitments made by Christians in the baptismal covenant.
“When we are baptized, a covenant is made between us and God…. Part of that covenant is that we will strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being,” Doctor says.
“So for me, it’s a no-brainer. Yes, the church needs to take sides, if you truly believe and support your covenant…. If we are really baptized Christians in the Anglican Church, then yes, we need to be on the side of justice. From my standpoint of view, it is a point of justice because people are defending lands that were taken from them, or lands that could be taken from them.”
Another commitment made at baptism, Doctor says, is to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation. The Marks of Mission also remind Anglicans of this commitment, and the need to transform unjust structures.
It comes down to accepting that Indigenous people have inherent rights, and one of those rights is the right to live on their lands, and the right to be free to live on their lands, and the right to protect their lands…. If we’re truly going to be in a move towards reconciliation, people need to understand those rights and how they come into play.
— Ginny Doctor
“If you put a pipeline through any land—not only Indigenous land, but any lands—you are putting that in jeopardy because of damaging leaks…and that’s a given,” Doctor says. “Every day I read about pipelines leaking or catching fire or whatever. It’s catastrophic to the land, and people don’t see it. People just see the money side, and that’s their main ambition.”
The national Indigenous archbishop, Doctor points out, has spoken many times about idolatry and how it leads the focus of people away from God. One idol, Archbishop MacDonald has said, is the “culture of money” which he calls on Christians to reject.
While supporters of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs describe the pipeline standoff as another manifestation of centuries of colonialism, opponents of the blockades focus on the blockades’ harmful economic effects. How should the church navigate such a dispute in which two sides claim grievances?
“I think what’s important here is the history, and to look at the history of Canada and First Nations people and to see how the history [informs] the situation today,” Doctor says. “When [opponents of the blockades] look at that history, they will see that it’s something that is repetitive and it’s something that can be fixed, can be straightened out.
“But again, it comes down to accepting that Indigenous people have inherent rights, and one of those rights is the right to live on their lands, and the right to be free to live on their lands, and the right to protect their lands…. If we’re truly going to be in a move towards reconciliation, people need to understand those rights and how they come into play.”
We as settlers who force elected leadership on Indigenous communities have no right to later throw elected leaders under the bus and say their voices are not valid. That is what colonial ‘divide and conquer’ looks like. The hereditary leadership was left out of this process.
We are saying that that is not right.
— Melanie Delva
Delva suggests that the question “Should the church take sides in situation of conflict or injustice?” is more complex than one might assume.
For one, there are often more than two sides to a story. In the gospels, she notes, Jesus will often identify and land on a “third way” when people try to get him to choose one option or another, forcing them to examine the question from a completely different perspective.
In the case of Wet’suwet’en, Delva believes that the Anglican Church of Canada in fact did not take a side. Rather, the statements signed by the primate and national Indigenous archbishop say that they support the right of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership to be consulted and to give free, prior and informed consent. Finally, Delva believes that there is a distinction between “conflict” and “injustice.”
“When there is conflict between groups of equal power and privilege, then I can see how the church could act more as an intermediary, a ‘peace-maker,’ Delva says. “But injustice is something different. Injustice happens when a group with power and privilege uses that against another group.
“That is what is happening in the case of the Wet’suwet’en. Jesus was very clear about our need as Christians to take a stand against oppression. When there is injustice, I do believe we must take a stand. Jesus told us the side we should land on—that of the poor, widowed, orphaned, oppressed.”
Quesnel acknowledges that the “two issues presented” in the standoff between those supporting the blockades and those opposing them were not equivalent. But he aims his main criticism at those who erected the blockades.
“The blockaders acted outside the law and did not seem to have much care how their behaviour impacted many other people, including many vulnerable people….These blockaders act on their own accord and seemed very callous towards the general public,” he says.
Maintaining that there is nothing incompatible between calling for the blockades to end and supporting Indigenous rights more broadly, Quesnel says that Indigenous rights in Canadian society are “rights embedded within a constitutional structure.”
The realization of those rights, he adds, takes place through the courts and lawful processes. He supports the right of the Wet’suwet’en to appeal the pipeline project and says he would support the court’s decision if it ruled the project did not meet required standards.
“It is not appropriate to fight over these specific legal rights out on the streets or on the backs of Canadian workers,” Quesnel says.
“Indigenous rights are not absolute rights and the church should not treat [them] as such. The church is also responsible to all Canadians, not just one segment, even if it is an underprivileged one. Taking a position in favour of Indigenous rights is fine, but there are problems when that right comes into tension with the right of Canadians to engage in their jobs and livelihoods and the right to have the necessities of life.”
Quesnel argues that UNDRIP “does not somehow make the elected [band] government illegitimate in our system.” UNDRIP, he says, “is an aspirational, non-legally binding document that should not be used to further conflict within Indigenous communities.”
Quesnel’s views echo those of both Conservative and Liberal federal governments, who have expressed similar attitudes towards UNDRIP.
When the UN General Assembly first adopted UNDRIP in 2007, there were only four nations who opposed the declaration: the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. In 2010, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper endorsed UNDRIP, but called it merely an “aspirational” document and never took any concrete action to apply its principles in Canada
In 2015, the Liberal election platform pledged that the party, if elected to form a government, would “enact the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, starting with the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” In May 2016, Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Carolyn Bennett stated that the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau was committed to “fully adopting [UNDRIP] and working to implement it within the laws of Canada.”
Just two months later, however, Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould called UNDRIP “unworkable” and dismissed it as “a political distraction.” Following the 2019 re-election of a Liberal government, Trudeau immediately signalled his intention to push forward with expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. In his support of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, Trudeau finds himself opposed to the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who do not support the building of a pipeline on their land and claim that the Wet’suwet’en traditional leadership has not give its free, prior and informed consent, as required by UNDRIP.
In explaining why she signed the statement supporting the Wet’suwet’en pipeline opposition and calling on the Canadian government and RCMP to withdraw from Wet’suwet’en territory, Delva cites the endorsement of UNDRIP by both “our country and our church.”
She also notes that Council of General Synod unanimously passed a motion stating that the Anglican Church of Canada stands in solidarity with Indigenous peoples “in asserting and advocating their right to free, prior, and informed consent concerning the stewardship of traditional indigenous lands and water rights, and in acknowledging and responding to their calls for solidarity.”
Delva says that actions taken by the Canadian government and the RCMP in the standoff with Wet’suwet’en land defenders and supporters contravene many articles of UNDRIP, including:
Article 10, which states that “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories”;
Article 18:, which notes that “Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous decisionmaking institutions”;
Article 22, requiring that particular attention be paid to the rights and special needs of Indigenous elders, women, children and youth, and that states in conjunction with Indigenous peoples should take measures to protect Indigenous women and children from “all forms of violence and discrimination”; and
Articles 25-29, which give Indigenous people the right to control their traditional territories and to conserve the environment therein, and that states shall establish and implement assistance programs for Indigenous people to conserve and protect these environments.
The Anglican Church of Canada, Delva says, has taken clear stances on UNDRIP, Indigenous rights and reconciliation.
“We have said that these are things we ‘back’. We have also said that we will take our lead from Indigenous peoples on these issues. Now that I have seen the backlash to the stance that the church has taken on Wet’suewt’en, I wonder if the church really understood what those commitments really mean in the ‘real world’.
“We obviously need more education on UNDRIP, its articles, what they mean both literally in terms of what the words and phrases of the articles mean, but also what they ‘look like’ in situations such as this. If we are committed to what we say we are committed to, I do not see how we could act differently with integrity.”
Contrary to those who would make distinctions between elected band councils and hereditary chiefs, Delva says, “respecting Indigenous authority and self-determination means respecting all of it.
“We as settlers who force elected leadership on Indigenous communities have no right to later throw elected leaders under the bus and say their voices are not valid. That is what colonial ‘divide and conquer’ looks like. The hereditary leadership was left out of this process. We are saying that that is not right.”
In evaluating the impact of the protests and blockades, one must acknowledge another fact: they appear to have been effective.
On March 2, after days of negotiations, Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and senior ministers of the federal government reached a tentative deal centred on Indigenous rights and land titles.
While work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline resumed shortly thereafter, Chief Woos, one of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders, said that the central dispute over the pipeline remained. The Canadian Press reported that Woos called the agreement a milestone for all parties, but also said the “degree of satisfaction is not what we expected.”
“We are going to be continuing to look at some more conversations with B.C. and of course with the proponent and further conversation with the RCMP,” Woos added. “It’s not over yet.”
The RCMP raids and subsequent wave of solidarity across Canada, however, have changed the views of many Indigenous and non-Indigenous people regarding the very idea of reconciliation.
On Feb. 10, the RCMP moved into territory of the Unist’ot’en, or Big Frog Clan, who describe themselves on a website for the Unist’ot’en camp as “the original Wet’suwet’en Yintah Wewat Zenli distinct to the lands of the Wet’suwet’en.” A description of these events on the Unist’ot’en camp website bore the headline: Reconciliation is Dead. Revolution is Alive. It reports:
“On February 10, RCMP invaded unceded Unist’ot’en territory, arresting and forcibly removing Freda Huson (Chief Howilhkat), Brenda Michell (Chief Geltiy), Dr. Karla Tait, and four Indigenous land defenders from our yintah. They were arrested in the middle of a ceremony to honour the ancestors. Police tore down the red dresses that were hung to hold the spirits of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two spirit people. They extinguished our sacred fire.
Police tore down the red dresses that were hung to hold the spirits of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two spirit people. They extinguished our sacred fire.
— From a report published on Unist’ot’en Camp website, “Reconciliation is Dead. Revolution is Alive.”
“We have had enough. Enough dialogue, discussion, negotiation at the barrel of a gun. Canada comes to colonize. Reconciliation is dead.
“It is time to fight for our land, our lives, our children, our future. Revolution lives.”
Hearing the words of this headline, Doctor expresses her hope that reconciliation is still alive.
But the mention of revolution, she adds, is “playing like a record to me” as a “child of the ’70s.” During the 1970s, Doctor witnessed the radicalization of Indigenous protest in forms such as the American Indian Movement, which resisted government authority through actions such as the occupation of the abandoned Alcatraz prison from November 1969 to June 1971.
“I think revolution has always been there—maybe not as stark and maybe not as hard-hitting as it has become in Canada now, but it’s always been there,” Doctor says.
“Our people have always stood their ground. If they see something, an encroachment on land, they definitely rise to protect it. I witnessed it where I grew up, where they were trying to expand the road onto what was our Indigenous land. They did it without consultation, and this of course was before ‘free, prior and informed consent.’ They just thought they had the right to do that….The people rose up, they protested and they stopped it.”
“We have so little left that yes, we have to revolt,” she adds. “Yes, we have to protect it. Otherwise we’ll end up with nothing.”
Like DeCaro in describing the outlooks of John Brown in the abolitionist movement and Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement, Doctor believes that there are some cases where direct action is necessary.
For many years in both Canada and the United States, she notes, it has been a popular form of protest to go on walks. Many Indigenous and non-Indigenous activists, for example, have gone on walks to bring attention to issues such as missing and murdered Indigenous women. “But when it comes right down to it, what good does it really do?” she asks.
When the Wet’suwet’en and their supporters took direct action, Doctor acknowledges, the blockades indeed disrupted the economy. But for those in positions of power, she says, “that’s the language they know and that’s the language they speak to…. ‘Oh, we’re losing money!’”
I think revolution has always been there—maybe not as stark and maybe not as hard-hitting as it has become in Canada now, but it’s always been there.
— Canon Ginny Doctor
In this way, direct action forces those in power to listen. Mohawk people in particular, Doctor says, “have been famous for that. They’re more prone to direct action than any other Indigenous people I know.” At both the takeover of Alcatraz and the railroad blockade at Tyendinaga, Mohawks played a leading role.
When she studied at the King Center in Atlanta on non-violent approaches to social change, Doctor learned that there are different steps on the path to reach reconciliation.
“One of those steps [is that] when all else fails, you have to take direct action,” she says. “But that direct action has to be peaceful, it has to be non-violent, and I truly believe that that’s what our people are trying to do.
“They’re not prone to do violence against anyone. But if you look at the whole situation, you’ll see that violence is being done to our people again—either through physical intimidation or through the violence that comes from desecrating the land and desecrating your spirituality as people. That is violence in another form.”
What, then, is the role of the church in relation to such disputes? In answering that question, Harwood-Jones offers something of a reality check.
Decades ago, when he was rector of a large parish in Winnipeg, one of his parishioners was a minister of the provincial government. In those days, the Anglican Church of Canada frequently issued what were known as “memorials” to the civil government offering the church’s position on various issues.
One day, Harwood-Jones remembers, the government minister asked him, “Do you know what happens to churches’ memorials?” Answering his own question, the minister said, “File 13”—a synonym for a garbage can.
“In many ways, the church’s voice on secular matters is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the increasingly secular environment of Canada,” Harwood-Jones says.
Statistics seem to bear his opinion out. For example, a 2013 demographic study by the Pew Research Center, “Canada’s Changing Religious Landscape,” indicates that the fastest growing religious identity in Canada between 1971 and 2011 was “religiously unaffiliated.”
For that reason, Harwood-Jones suggests, popular reaction to church statements in general seems to be a collective shrug.
“The primate issued something in favour of the Wet’suwet’en? OK. It didn’t hit any media that I saw,” he says.
“We have to realize that at this point, we are no longer an arm of the state…. We have to speak to each other and to the world around us from a position of marginalization. And then we need to think about the issues that face our society.”
Then there is the question of to what extent statements made by Anglican leaders reflect the will of the church as a whole. Harwood-Jones points to the example of divisions within the church over same-sex marriage.
“When a primate speaks out, who are they speaking for?” he asks. “They might be speaking for a sense of God’s calling that this matter needs to be addressed in a certain way. But they’re not speaking with the voice of the church, necessarily. You just need to go to some conservative Anglican churches to find that out.”
Given the relatively marginal presence of the church in secular society, Harwood-Jones believes that the job of the church in a dispute such as that involving the Wet’suwet’en is simple: “The role of the church is to see to its Indigenous members and what they want.”
In the diocese of Rupert’s Land, for example, Harwood-Jones is currently on a board that is creating canons to give Indigenous elders a formal voice in diocesan synods. Manitoba, he notes, has a large population of Cree and Ojibwe people. Many are members of the Anglican Church of Canada and some are members of the synod.
“If our bishop makes a public stand on a matter affecting Indigenous folks, he or she is going to hear from our elders. That’s reconciliation…. Listening to marginalized voices means listening to the Indigenous folks who feel they’re not heard in our settler-dominated synods.”
Responding to Anglicans who suggest that the role of the church in the standoff between Wet’suwet’en and the Canadian government and RCMP is to act as a “mediator” or “peacemaker” between the two sides, Doctor offers a skeptical view.
“That’s kind of pie-in-the-sky to me, because the peacemaking needs to be done between the two parties that have stakes in it, and that’s the Wet’suwet’en and the government, or whoever,” Doctor says. “Those are the two that need to come together and talk and make the peace…. If the church gets called in or invited in, that’s a whole different thing.
“But you have to remember that a lot of our First Nations people don’t trust the church…. How can they be a peacemaker, and what have they done to really make peace, in terms of reconciliation and in terms of becoming right with God and…becoming right with so many injustices that have been done? What has the church actually done? So I don’t know that the church is the best institution to be invited in as a peacemaker.”
In navigating between opposing groups in situations such as the Wet’suwet’en standoff, Delva finds the teachings of MacDonald on systemic racism to be helpful.
“The success of the colonial enterprise relies on the ‘grassroots’ people turning on one another—attacking and blaming the people we can literally see in front of us,” Delva says. “It takes our focus away from the system that animates and supports ongoing injustice.
“When we as settlers focus our anger at people on a blockade, we are not using our energy to focus on the system that has planted, fertilized, tended the seeds of injustice that have led to these actions, and in so doing, we are not addressing the core of the injustice. If we do not do so, this will be ongoing.”
The historical record of the Anglican Church of Canada, Delva points out, is a “pretty mixed bag” in terms of how it has responded to colonialism.
She recalls a quote by Dr. Hilda Hellaby, a deacon who worked for decades with Indigenous people, particularly the Gwich’in. In a letter Delva discovered years ago in archival records, Hellaby wrote, “When in doubt, choose the losing side. The winners don’t need you, they’re doing okay.”
For Delva, those words stuck with her as “something Jesus would have said.” In her personal opinion, the Anglican Church has often—perhaps even always—supported or been the “winners.” But at the same time, “there have always been grassroots Anglicans who resisted.”
During the internment of Japanese Canadians in the Second World War, Delva notes, “the church as an institution voted to support the internment, but there were many grassroots Anglicans who spoke against the Church’s stance, and even chose to be interred with the Japanese.”
While the Anglican church was deeply involved in the Indian residential school system and land occupation, “there have always been individual Anglicans who have blown the whistle, called for justice, refused to be part of systemic injustice, and they have often paid a high price for it.
“I feel that the institutional church is now wrestling with what it means to do things differently, and that is shaking people up a bit, and maybe that is a good thing.” | <urn:uuid:a722b591-53d1-4e11-b2c9-cb10956fe93f> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://www.anglicanjournal.com/taking-sides/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046154126.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20210731203400-20210731233400-00679.warc.gz | en | 0.972511 | 12,237 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Intensive animal farming, also known as factory farming, is controversial for two reasons. First of all, it has a huge negative impact upon our environment – cattle is, for instance, one of the major sources of methane (a greenhouse gas stronger than carbon dioxide) emission. Second but not least, is the suffering imposed on animals kept as livestock. Though animal slaughter is an unpleasant aspect of livestock farming, the way we keep animals is probably far more cruel than merely killing a sentient being.
In this essay I want to explore a not-too-far future in which technology has reconciled our demand for animal products and animal welfare. Of course, I know that certain animal welfare activists will argue that we should become all vegans in order to put an end to animal suffering. However, I do not believe such strategy will be successful. Too many people like meat and other animal products, while current plant-based alternatives cannot (yet) satisfy this demand.
What are the main animal products we humans consumer? Meat, dairy, eggs and leather. I will discuss each product one by one. Thereafter I will argue that we can return to small scale farms that both respect animal welfare and play an important social function.
Read full essay
The agricultural section of a Bernal Sphere (source: NASA)
Scientific and technological progress will make factory farming obsolete in the near future. Here is short video explaining how we can still consume meat and dairy products, while avoiding the mistreating of animals.
For more info:
Perfect Day Foods (animal free dairy)
Cultured Beef (Mark Post’s official web page)
The issue of animal testing is one of the more difficult ones within the animal welfare movement. With our hearth we would call for the abolition of animal testing, though with our brains we know it is sometimes necessary. In this respect animal testing differs from other animal welfare topics. Continue reading Animal testing
Human organs are short in supply, that is more people are waiting to receive organs than are available. There are too few donors, not in the least place because better road safety rules and better healthcare. So scientists and doctors are looking for alternatives. Continue reading Organs on demand
Japanese scientist have created bioengineered skin that is almost as real as skin can get. This skin contains hair, glands and even nerves. The researchers mention two practical applications of their invention: better treatment of burn victims and as an alternative for animal testing. Continue reading Artificial skin
Human organ transplants have become a normal medical procedure during the last fifty years. Organ transplants in animals, usually pets, are, on the other hand, quite rare. Continue reading Animals and organ transplants
In the Netherlands and Belgium there is an official list of animals people are allowed to keep as pets, the so-called positive list (Dutch: positieflijst). Animal not listed are not allowed as pets and people who still do so, are subject to penalties. Continue reading The Positive List
Shock collars are a particular type of dog collars which use electric shocks to train dogs.
We believe that shock collars are unnecessary cruel as there are other ways to train dogs. Hence we are in favour of prohibiting the use of these collars.
As everyone should know cheese is made from milk and milk is produced by female mammals to feed their young. From an animal welfare perspective there are two problems with cheese. Continue reading On cheese
A fair number of experiments on animals is done for educational purposes. For instance aspirant-surgeons practice on animals before they are allowed, or animals are dissected just to teach students what an animal looks like from the inside. Continue reading PVC Rats | <urn:uuid:97f36091-4254-43ad-91df-3268b78af9b0> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://republicoflagrangia.org/tag/animal-welfare/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195528208.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20190722180254-20190722202254-00437.warc.gz | en | 0.954433 | 750 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Benchmarks are heavily wired into modern financial markets. For example, trillions of dollars in bank loans and several hundred trillion dollars (notional) of derivatives transactions depend on daily announcements of LIBOR. The WM/Reuters foreign exchange fixings dominate the currency markets, in which there are over $5 trillion of transactions per day. Benchmarks are the basis for trade of a wide range of commodities such as gold, silver, oil, and natural gas. They have also been the focus of scandals (Brousseau et al. 2013).
Years after a devastating crisis that spread from the U.S. across Europe and Asia, policymakers all over the world are still trying to come up with strategies to make sure that a financial crisis of that magnitude never happens again. One essential element of this task is building back the trust of the public.
When the every day participants in the financial system—the depositors, holders of short-term commercial paper of banks, and other bank investors—feel confident in the banks, the financial system stabilizes. Business runs more smoothly. And growth improves.
In the U.S. our faith in banks is abysmally low. According to a Gallop poll conducted in June, Americans’ confidence in U.S. banks stands at 26%, up from the record low of 21% a year ago. The percentage of Americans saying they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in U.S. banks remains well below its pre-recession level of 41%, measured in June 2007. Meanwhile, across the pond, only 19% of Britons say that banks are well managed, according to the British Social Attitudes Report released in September.
Perhaps the simplest way to instill confidence in the public is transparency. That is: to compel banks to provide full and complete balance sheet information. They must disclose more detailed information to the public on their holdings of securities, government bonds, commercial real estate, and commercial paper; they must reveal their amounts of equity and capital; and they should be more forthcoming about outstanding loans and other liabilities. There should be no such thing as “off balance sheet” assets.
With regard to financial reform, the outcome of the November election seems straightforward. At the presidential level, the too-big-to-fail banks bet heavily on Mitt Romney and lost; President Obama received relatively few contributions from the financial sector, in contrast to 2008. In Senate races, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio demonstrated that it was possible to win not just without Wall Street money but against Wall Street money. Read More »
Professor of Applied Economics Roberto Rigobon, co-creator of the Billion Prices Project at MIT, asserts that countries with higher inflation are recovering more slowly from the global financial crisis. During a talk that was part of MIT Sloan’s Alumni Weekend, he predicts there will be another financial crisis and that governments will again over-react in an attempt to address it: “Whenever we have a financial crisis, regulation always overshoots.”
Rigobon says that neither rising commodity prices nor monetary expansion explains rising inflation rates, and points out that the traditional measures that governments uses to track the prices of goods are inefficient or suspect. He and MIT Sloan colleague Alberto Cavallo launched the Billion Prices Project, which now tracks online prices of commodities in 70 countries, providing real-time information on major inflation trends. As a result, even after the earthquake hit Japan earlier this year, the Billion Prices Project was still able to monitor prices in that country and track Japan’s inflation rate. | <urn:uuid:55446750-2af2-498d-bd0e-70c0d6b50ad1> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://mitsloanexperts.mit.edu/tag/financial-regulation/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501171608.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104611-00428-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944109 | 740 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Charles Perrault was French writer born in 1628 whose work laid the foundation for the genre of "fairy tale." At the age of 69 he published Histoires ou Contes du Temps passé (Tales and Stories of the Past with Morals), with the subtitle: Tales of Mother Goose (Les Contes de ma Mère l'Oye). Its publication made a name for him and marked the beginning of a new literary genre, the fairy tale. His famous tales include Le Petit Chaperon rouge (Little Red Riding Hood), La Belle au bois dormant (Sleeping Beauty), Le Chat botté (Puss-in-Boots), Cendrillon (Cinderella), Barbe Bleue (Bluebeard), Le Petit Poucet (Hop o' My Thumb), Les Fées (Diamonds and Toads), and Ricquet à la houppe (Ricky of the Tuft).
FCIT. (2014, November 27). Charles Perrault author page. Retrieved November 27, 2014, from
FCIT. "Charles Perrault author page." Lit2Go ETC. Web. 27 November 2014. <>.
FCIT, "Charles Perrault author page." Accessed November 27, 2014.. | <urn:uuid:9de4836d-48c9-4b56-8947-3da2c1ebb10a> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/authors/66/charles-perrault/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416931008899.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20141125155648-00211-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.760668 | 268 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Updated September 2, 2022
Galvanization is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, in order to prevent rusting. The term is derived from the name of Italian scientist Luigi Galvani.
Galvanized steel plumbing pipes are pipes made of steel, and coated with zinc to prevent rusting. This is commonly done by dipping the pipes in a molten zinc bath. These pipes and fittings were commonly installed in homes prior to 1950 (some sites say it was used until the 1960s). Over time, the galvanized steel pipes begin to rust or corrode from the inside out, resulting in reduced water pressure and restricted water flow. This presents an increased risk of leaks or ruptures occurring in the pipes and the potential for flood damage. Corrosion also occurs to steel when it is connected directly to copper or brass.
Galvanized steel pipes have an average life expectancy of 40 to 50 years. Since these have not been installed since, at the very latest, the 1960’s, these would all have passed their expected lifespan. If your supply lines are made of galvanized steel, there is constant water pressure pushing the water towards the faucets, placing pressure on the corroded pipes. If your waste lines are made of galvanized steel, there is less pressure on them, as the waste liquid is just flowing out of the home, and the lifespan may be a bit longer.
Galvanized steel will corrode over time, and it is almost impossible to tell this is happening just by looking at the pipes from the outside. The pipes rust away from the inside out, causing weak structural properties resulting in leaks and collapses. They will also develop calcium deposits inside of the pipe. These pipes can eventually become completely clogged with calcium build-up resulting in low water pressure and rusty water.
Watch for these tell-tale signs to spot issues before the galvanized steel pipes begin to leak or even rupture:
Unfortunately, if you are experiencing issues with your galvanized steel pipes, the best remedy may be completely replacing the galvanized plumbing that has been affected. According to Cost Helper, the cost to replace galvanized steel plumbing in the average house ranges between $1,500 and $15,000.
The service lines, which connect your home’s plumbing with the water main, are normally made of copper. However in older cities in the Eastern parts of the US and Canada, may still have service lines made of lead. Many homes have had this lead service pipe removed and upgraded with modern plumbing material, however for homes that had galvanized plumbing while their lead service lines were in-place there exists another area of concern. Galvanized piping has been found to accumulate lead that has leeched into the water from the old lead service lines. As the galvanized plumbing corrodes (as it inevitably will do), it releases this built up lead back into the water.
Insurance companies will want to know exactly what type of plumbing you have in your home. If you’re not sure, there is an easy way to check. Find where the piping enters your home and then scratch it. If the piping is:
If you have galvanized steel plumbing, your insurance company may require you to have it replaced with copper or plastic piping before providing coverage. Or they may increase your water damage deductible or limit the amount of coverage provided.
ready for an online quote? Policies start at $12/month if you rent your home and $40/month if you own your home. To see how much you can save with Square One, get a personalized online quote now.
Typically, home insurance policies include coverage for any sudden or accidental escape of water in your home, including ruptured water lines, or overflowing appliances. This is why insurance companies ask what type of plumbing you have in your home. They need to be able to accurately assess the risk in order to charge the right rates and provide you with the right coverage. Sometimes, depending on your plumbing situation, a company may not be able to insure you at all, and you’ll need to shop around, and likely pay a higher rate, if you can find coverage at all.
Don’t let this tempt you to tell a little white lie to your insurance broker. This can be construed as “misrepresentation” and can void your policy when it is discovered. Your best course is to always tell the truth. If you discover that the only solution is to replace your plumbing, the expense will be a lot less than finding out, after a loss, that you have no insurance coverage.
When you have a home insurance policy in place, remember that there are always exclusions and limitations. It is extremely important to read your policy wording, with an emphasis on any water exclusions. You can contact your insurance agent or broker if you have any questions. In most cases, there is a requirement that you either shut off your main water supply or arrange to have your home checked daily if you are going to be away more than a few days during the winter. If you fail to do this, damage caused by frozen or burst plumbing may not be covered. The requirements differ from one company to the next, so before you go away on vacation, you would be wise to give your broker a call to make sure you’re complying, and that coverage will be in place.
Know exactly what type of plumbing you have, especially if your home is older. Life expectancies vary, and as mentioned above, your insurance company will want an accurate picture of the risk they’re taking on. If your plumbing is past its “best before” date, you could be at risk of leaks, or even worse, bursting pipes.
Check the grout in your bathroom. Water can leak through any small cracks, resulting in dampness behind the wall. This can lead to rot or mold, which is never a good thing.
Think about installing a leak protection device on your plumbing system. Some of these can actually shut off the water when it senses an inappropriate flow.
Scout out any water in the basement after a big rain. If you see water anywhere, it could be because your foundation has some small cracks. You may need to make some repairs, or it could be time to install a sump pump. Maybe your window wells aren’t draining properly, and water has come in through the basement windows. This can be a fairly simple fix, so add this to your maintenance checklist.
Check any water supply hoses on your appliances, such as washing machines or dishwashers. They usually come with rubber hoses that get brittle and crack as they get older. These can be replaced with stainless steel braided hoses, even if you haven’t yet spotted any cracks or other signs of wear. Keep in mind that all hoses have a life expectancy, so check with the manufacturer.
Store valuable possessions high up on shelves, not in boxes on the floor.
Want to learn more? Visit our Getting to Know Your Home resource centre for the complete rundown on all your home's systems and features. Or, get an online quote in under 5 minutes and find out how affordable personalized home insurance can be.
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Even when you take precautions, accidents can happen. Home insurance is one way to protect your family against financial losses from accidents. And, home insurance can start from as little as $12/month. | <urn:uuid:68993643-d965-405f-b326-786539f43856> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://www.squareone.ca/resource-centres/getting-to-know-your-home/galvanized-steel-plumbing | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296945368.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20230325161021-20230325191021-00770.warc.gz | en | 0.957982 | 1,559 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Undergraduate and Ph.D. students quite often expect their academic supervisors to provide them with a “menu” of ready-made topics. It is worth remembering though that writing a research paper is a creative process, that should be interesting for both the supervisor and the student. The best research is usually the one that is initiated by the student. In order to help a young researcher to independently choose the topic for their future work and to prepare a draft of the research proposal, we provide some websites, which contain general advice on how to make this choice:
How to prepare a poster presentation
A popular way of demonstrating your research ideas at a scientific conference is a poster presentation – a graphic means of communicating the message of your research. With the help of the poster a researcher informs the participants of a conference about his or her work in a concise and visually compelling way. To become an effective instrument of advertising your research ideas the poster should attract attention; it should be well-structured, user-friendly and present the most important results of your research. Here you can find hyperlinks to some websites, which contain practical suggestions on the preparation of a poster presentation:
How to prepare a Power Point presentation
Today a PowerPoint presentation is one of the reqirements for a report. It helps to illustrate ideas on the one hand, and give detailed information on the subject matter using tables, graphs, audios and videos on the other.
One should bear in mind, though, that a presentation should only accompany but not replace. It should not distract the audience from what you are saying.
You may find useful hints on how to avoid common mistakes and design an effective presentation below: | <urn:uuid:852604f8-227c-4888-906b-4c17d7ea3ffd> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | http://scodis.com/for-students/useful-hints/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547584519757.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20190124080411-20190124102411-00515.warc.gz | en | 0.941472 | 339 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Florida is beautiful, after all, there’s a reason it’s called the sunshine state. However, there are a few months out of the year where you’ll have to be on the lookout for hurricanes. Unfortunately, hurricanes come with a lot of wind, rain, and tornadoes. So, it’s only natural that construction sites will face many damages. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that hurricanes and tropical storms will cost $54 billion a year in damages. This fact only emphasizes the importance of developing a contingency plan.
Emergencies and disasters can strike at any time on a construction site, and that’s anywhere, not just Florida. As a result, it’s critical to plan and prepare for disasters like hurricanes ahead of time in order to protect personnel and job sites. Preplanning is one of the most critical things contractors can do to prevent job site damage and keep their personnel safe during a crisis. A business continuity management policy plan focused on recovery and resuming operations can help in this situation.
There are few key things you can do to help create an effective policy:
Lessen the Impact of Hurricanes
These storms have the ability to cause considerable damage, with wind speeds ranging from 74 mph in a Category 1 hurricane to 157 mph in a Category 5. If a construction site is in the path of a hurricane, it’s a good idea to look over the structures to identify what might be vulnerable to damage.
Contractors can make various upgrades to assist the situation and lessen the risk of significant harm. For example, adding extra roof and exterior cladding fasteners, changing roof ballasts, bracing rooftop components, and applying various graded films to windows are all essential upgrades that can decrease damages.
And then there’s water damage. A hurricane’s storm surge can be up to 20 feet higher than the regular tide when it makes landfall. As a result, it’s critical for builders to assess and update the building’s water damage prevention plan. Because every job site is different, each construction project should have its own strategy. Some common sources of water damage include groundwater, irrigation systems, windows and doors, plumbing, and fire sprinklers.
Safety is Most Important
The good news is that there is time to prepare for a hurricane. The National Hurricane Center will issue a hurricane warning if a storm is en route to impact your area. The first focus of any policy should be safety. Issuing an evacuation, shelter, or lockdown order, training staff in first aid, so they can assist wounded colleagues by calling emergency services with complete and accurate information, are great examples of safety measures key to enforcing on the team and your constriction site.
Measures to Stabilize and Preserve Property
Slow-moving hurricanes or storms that linger over an area for an extended length of time can wreak havoc on a construction site. That’s why it’s critical to implement property stabilization and preservation procedures on the job. A plan should include a process that addresses damage assessment, salvaging, cleanup, and resources to have on hand. If you’re in the path of a hurricane, one of the best things you can do is check the forecast on a frequent basis.
Knowing what type of storm is coming or the strength of a hurricane when it makes landfall is critical information to have because it will allow your business to minimize damage and save property. Builders and contractors should be aware of how powerful the winds will be and how much rainfall will be brought by a hurricane or storm when it passes through the area, particularly in low-lying sections of the construction site or where equipment is stored.
Here at Waldron Carpentry, we value safety, and that means taking proper precautions and measures. Safety for you, your team, and your construction site are of the utmost importance. The one good thing about hurricanes is that you can prepare. Plan ahead, enforce prevention policies, and, most important, stay safe. | <urn:uuid:2e41f3f8-f734-4384-b26e-fcc2e2dc51d8> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://waldroncarpentry.com/preparing-construction-sites-for-hurricanes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337668.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20221005203530-20221005233530-00090.warc.gz | en | 0.921336 | 820 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Anethum sowa Roxb.
Local Name: Soya
Sindhi Name: Sowa
English Name: Dill
Part Used: Seeds and leaves
AnethumsowaRoxb. is an annual herb and about 1m high.Stems are hollow and grooved with striated dark and lighter green shade. Leaves are bluish-green, pinnate, and compound that cut into filiform segments.Flowers are yellow and present in umbel form. Fruit is winged1.
A. sowais distributed to Eastern Europe, west Asia, and Mediterranean basin. In Pakistan, it grows throughout Sindh.
Ethnomedicinal uses in Skin Diseases
ButeamonospermaLam. (Butea Gum) and AnethumsowaRoxb. (Soya) is soaked in water overnight, this water is used as face wash for the treatment of acne in District Tando Mohammad Khan (Sindh).
Herbs and roots of A. sowacontain vitamin C, polyene, β-sitosterol, umbelliferone,stigmasterol, scopoletin, myristicin, and coumarin. Dried fruits contain fatty oil. Seeds contain essential oil containing flavonoids, β-sitosterolglucoside, and carvone2. Other chemical constituents isolated from plant are apiol, o-cymene, exo-2-hydroxycineol, limonene, α-thujene, and β-phellandrene3.
Medicinal Uses and Pharmacology/Scientific Studies
A. sowais act as carminative and digestive. It is helpful in the treatment of gastrointestinal tract infections, kidney and urinary tract infections, internal spasm, cold, cough, flu, and menstrual disorder. It is used for reducing the swelling of stomach in children and gastric problems of alimentary canal4,5. It is important ingredient used in gripe water and recommended for colic pain and flatulence in babies and young children. Seeds are chewed for controlling bad breaths. It is also used by lactating mother for increasing milk flow. It is used as preservative because of ability of inhibiting bacterias. Essential oil is act as repellent6.
Phytochemical analysis of A. sowahave indicated the presence of saponins, flavonoids, and steroid, which is attributed for antioxidant, antiamylase, cytotoxic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antiarthritic,aphrodisiac,cardioprotective, antihyperlipidaemic, antihypercholesterolaemic, andanticonvulsant activities7,8,9.
- Moshfekus, Saleh-e-In M., Sultanaa, A., and Husainb, M. (2010). Chemical Constituents of Essential Oil from Anethumsowa Herb (Leaf and Stem) Growing in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 45(2), 173-176.
- Bhimwal, R., Aggrawal, N., Nagauri, B. P., Sharma, M. C., Kumar, P., Sharma, A. K., and Kachhawa, J. B. S. (2009). Review on Anethumsowa: An Indian Medicinal Plant. International Journal of Chemical Sciences, 7(1), 435-441.
- Kumar, V. R. (2011).In-Vitro Anti-Oxidant, Anti-Amylase, Anti-Arthritic, and Cytotoxic Activity of Important Commonly Used Green Leafy Vegetables. International Journal of Pharmatechnology Research, 3(4).
- Jana, S., andShekhawat, G. S. (2010). Anethumgraveolens: An Indian traditional medicinal herb and spice. Pharmacognosy Reviews, 4(8), 179–184. http://doi.org/10.4103/0973-7847.70915
- Nahida, S. H., and Siddiqui, A. N. (2012). Quality Standards and Safety Profile of a Unani Formulation, Habb-e-Suranjan. International Research Journal of Pharmacy, 3(3).
- Jana, S., and G. S. (2010). Shekhawat. Anethumgraveolens: An Indian traditional medicinal herb and spice. Pharmacognosy reviews, 4(8), 179. | <urn:uuid:ce80cb56-0a39-4998-8953-1327f2246e7f> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | http://folkmedsindh.com.pk/anethum-sowa-roxb/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676589470.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20180716213101-20180716233101-00268.warc.gz | en | 0.749338 | 950 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Many people dismiss littering as no big deal. After all, what does it matter if you throw one disposable cup out of your car window while driving? Well, aside from the fact that no one likes to look at garbage, it is never just one person who thinks like that.
Thousands of people think that very thought every day, and then follow through with it. That is why so many of California’s roadways are covered in garbage. This is why there laws against littering. The laws and penalties vary from county to county.
Someone convicted of littering can face a combination of the following:
- Fines up to $1,000
- Community service
- Jail time
These punishments might seem extreme for what people would classify as a small crime, but it is still a crime after all. These tougher punishments are to remind people that littering is, in fact, a crime.
If everyone littered every single day, then we would all be wading through trash. So, help keep our golden state of California clean and avoid any fines or jail time by disposing of your trash responsibly. | <urn:uuid:b6393ad0-3a92-4f13-b40b-2e55ef863a4c> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | https://davidortizbailbonds.com/category/los-angeles-bail-bonds/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247526282.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20190222200334-20190222222334-00522.warc.gz | en | 0.97426 | 229 | 2.625 | 3 |
Child labor is a major threat to the health of children in the United States. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that more than four million children are legally employed and that another one to two million are employed under illegal, often exploitative conditions. Across the United States, child labor accounts for 20,000 workers compensation claims, 200,000 injuries, thousands of cases of permanent disability, and more than 70 deaths each year. Agriculture and newspaper delivery are the two most hazardous areas of employment for children and adolescents. Poverty, massive immigration, and relaxation in enforcement of Federal child labor law are the three factors principally responsible for the last two decades' resurgence of child labor in the United States. Control of the hazards of child labor will require a combination of strategies including vigorous enforcement, education, and public health surveillance. | <urn:uuid:7a118e59-1dd1-42ec-beea-85f498f857ad> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nioshtic-2/20030928.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886108264.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20170821095257-20170821115257-00062.warc.gz | en | 0.953267 | 163 | 3.015625 | 3 |
It's a blurry image. But in some ways that makes it the perfect portrait of Mary Bowser, an African American woman who became a Union spy during the Civil War by posing as a slave in the Confederate White House. What better representation of a spy who hid in plain sight than a photograph whose subject stares straight at the viewer yet whose features remain largely indecipherable? Small wonder the photograph has been circulated by NPR, Wikipedia, libraries, history projects, and in my book, The Secrets of Mary Bowser. There's only one problem: The woman in the photograph was no Union spy. How did we get it so wrong?
Mary Bowser left behind a sparse historical trail. One early clue comes from a 1900, Richmond, Virginia, newspaper story about a white Union spy named Elizabeth Van Lew. In the story, the reporter included the tantalizing detail that before the war, Van Lew freed one of her family's slaves and sent her North to be educated. The young woman later returned to Richmond and was placed in the Confederate White House as part of Van Lew's spy ring. Van Lew's own Civil War-era diary describes her reliance on an African American referred to only as Mary, who was a key source for Van Lew's intelligence network. Nearly half a century after the war, Van Lew's niece identified the black woman as Mary Bowser, a revelation included in a June 1911 article in Harper's Monthly.
Numerous books and articles repeated the tale of Bowser's espionage, often embellished and without any verifiable sources. The advent of the Internet made it especially easy for the story to circulate, and a growing interest in black history and women's history provided a steady audience for pieces about Bowser. Online pieces about Bowser could easily include an illustration -- if one could be found.
As far as I can determine, the photograph began circulating in 2002, when Morning Edition ran a story about Bowser, and NPR included the photograph on their website, with a caption crediting it to "James A. Chambers, U.S. Army Deputy, Office of the Chief, Military Intelligence." A radio network might seem an unlikely venue for circulating a photograph, but NPR webpages are rife with images supporting each radio story, a fact that exemplifies the extent to which the Internet has made accessing and distributing visual content not only easy but seemingly necessary. (Try to find a popular, public-facing web page without any visuals.)
When my publisher, HarperCollins, asked for images to include in my novel, I dutifully sent the picture purportedly of Bowser. With photographs of Van Lew, Jefferson Davis, and other Civil War figures easy to find, it seemed only fair to feature a picture of Bowser herself. Cautiously, I captioned the image as "rumored to be of Mary Bowser." Ultimately, I couldn't resist the urge to show what Bowser looked like, even though elements of the photograph had always troubled me.
As historian and expert on internet hoaxes T. Mills Kelly warns, we should be skeptical about any Internet source that fills a gap in the historical record too neatly. What was the likelihood that a woman for whom we have no birth or death dates, who used several aliases throughout her life, and who lived during the earliest decades of photography, happened to leave a clearly documented studio portrait?
My doubts about the image grew when I unearthed several post-war sources corroborating Bowser's participation in the Richmond espionage ring. One of these documents indicates that in June of 1867, the slave-turned-spy, then using the surname Garvin, left the U.S. for the West Indies; after that date, she disappears from the historical record. But both the dress the figure in the photograph wears and the chair next to which she stands appear to be from a much later period. Could the only surviving portrait of Bowser really have been taken years, perhaps decades, after the woman herself otherwise seems to have vanished?
Diligence, doubt, and dumb luck -- the great triumvirate of historical research -- finally led me to an answer. In 2011, I'd contacted both NPR librarian Kee Malesky and the military office listed in NPR's original caption for the photograph, but neither could provide any information about the image. Despite this seeming dead end, I kept seeking the original, and in January of 2013, I mentioned the mysterious provenance of the photograph to Paul Grasmehr, reference coordinator at the Pritzker Military Library. He put me in touch with Lori S. Tagg, command historian for the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame, which inducted Bowser in 1995. Tagg searched their records and determined that "the Bowser photo most likely came from ... the Virginia State Library Pictures Collection."
This lead didn't initially seem promising. Now known as the Library of Virginia, this institution contains no reference in its catalog to an image of Bowser. But when I contacted Dana Puga in their Prints and Photographs Collection, she confirmed that the famed photograph was indeed on file in the library, "in the form of a cabinet card from the Petersburg Studio [of] C. R. Rees."
Quick research (on the Internet, I confess!) revealed that C. R. Rees took his first picture -- a daguerreotype -- around 1850. Cabinet cards began to be produced in the 1860s, suggesting a slim possibility that Mary Bowser might have posed for one. But C.R. Rees didn't open a studio in Petersburg, Virginia, until around 1880, making it unlikely any image captured there was of my spy. Luckily, a few months later a speaking engagement at the Museum of the Confederacy brought me to Richmond, Virginia, where I could at last view the elusive original.
This is the moment a historian lives for -- cradling a rare primary source in hand. And it was just as informative as I'd hoped. On the back of the cabinet card was written the name Mary Bowser, and the name was repeated on the attached mailing envelope, along with a street address in Petersburg.
Image courtesy of the Library of Virginia
So could this be my spy after all? The answer became clear when I turned the cabinet card over:
Image courtesy of the Library of Virginia
There, staring straight at the camera, was Mary Bowser, her features easily recognizable -- unlike the blurry version found online. Just as clear was the date the image was created: 1900. A better match for the clothing and furniture, but not for the spy, who by the turn into the twentieth century would have been about sixty years old. The image is of Mary Bowser ... just not the Mary Bowser we've been claiming her to be.
Having my suspicions about the photograph's authenticity confirmed left me more frustrated than vindicated. It doesn't take any advanced training to look at a clearly dated artifact and ascertain whether it could reasonably relate to a figure whose active moment in history occurred decades earlier. Whoever cropped the image to the form in which it recurs online removed a critical piece of historical evidence. But the ease with which NPR, US Army Intelligence, and I have all participated in the mistaken circulation of this image also reveals how much our expectations of history are products of the way we live in the 21st century.
As a current exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art reminds us, the Civil War was more or less contemporaneous with the advent of photography, resulting in an unprecedentedly visual experience of the conflict, even for Americans who never ventured anywhere near a battlefield. The subsequent century and a half of technological advances in capturing and reproducing images have so substantially increased our expectation -- our demand -- for reliable, historic visual sources that it can be difficult for us to understand how ahistoric this desire is. But in Mary Bowser's own era, individuals didn't have our expectations of visual certainty. They were far less likely to know what someone, even a public figure, looked like, as contemporary descriptions of Bowser reveal.
A reporter for the Brooklyn Eagle who attended a lecture the former spy gave in September of 1865 described her as so "strongly resembling" the prominent abolitionist speaker Anna Dickinson that "they might, indeed, easily be mistaken for twin sisters." Given that Anna Dickinson was white, this description suggests that the speaker was light enough to pass. Yet when Mary first returned to Richmond in 1860, she was arrested for going out without a pass, indicating that she was visually recognizable as "colored" and therefore assumed on sight either to be a slave in need of a pass or a free black in need of proof of her legal status. And when she happened to meet Charles Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1867, Beecher described her as "a Juno, done in somber marble ... Her complexion was a deep brunette, her features regular, and expressive, her eyes exceedingly bright and sharp."
How are we to understand these contradictory sources? In an era in which photography was still in its infancy, it was rare to have a detailed sense of what someone beyond your immediate acquaintance looked like. The allusion to Anna Dickinson likely made sense to readers of the Eagle not as a specific physical description of the former intelligence agent but simply as a marker for the still unusual spectacle of a female speaker addressing an audience on political issues of the day. Although by our standards it might be regarded as an inaccurate comparison, the Eagle's description filled an expectation specific to its era, just as the photo purportedly of Bowser filled an expectation specific to our own era.
Bowser's story evidences the wonderful truth that Americans of all backgrounds contributed to our history. But the enormous holes in what we have of her biography remind us that gender, race, and class also shaped how millions of Americans went unrecorded in what we rely on as the historical record, because they were restricted from holding property, voting, leaving wills, or being accurately recorded in censuses. Wanting to commemorate an African American woman who played such a dramatic part in the Civil War is laudable. Expecting to have a photograph of her was borderline ludicrous. (Consider that even what seems to most Americans today like basic information about the Civil War, the number of military deaths during the conflict, remains a matter of estimation and conjecture.)
The story of the mistaken Mary Bowser reveals how an interest in history, especially women's history and black history, can blind us to how much about the past remains unknowable. The paradox of the information age is that our unprecedented access to information feeds an expectation that every search will yield plentiful -- and accurate -- results. But the type of evidence that our 21st-century sensibilities most desire may be the least likely to exist.
Uncovering the past is arduous work: Compare the ease with which an Internet search turns up the falsely labeled, cropped image of Mary Bowser with the number of sources I persistently contacted over a period of several years before locating the original cabinet card. Alas, in the age of the Internet, it may prove nearly impossible to curtail the use of that image as an avatar for the elusive slave-turned-spy, despite the definitive proof that it isn't her.
Probing how our own desires shape our understanding of history can be revelatory. If a genie granted me the ability to learn any three things about Bowser, I wouldn't choose what she looked like -- it's not nearly as important as understanding the choices she made that led to her extraordinary espionage, the dangers she faced in that position, or how she understood her own role in the struggle to end chattel slavery. But in telling her story, I admit I still find it hard not to want to offer a visual image, to present her in the way that is so quick, and so ubiquitous, today. | <urn:uuid:51f894a6-9519-456a-98ee-a3e1857b1002> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/06/the-spy-photo-that-fooled-npr-the-us-army-intelligence-center-and-me/277276/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039743854.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20181117205946-20181117231946-00525.warc.gz | en | 0.966241 | 2,385 | 3.203125 | 3 |
We pass urine several times a day, without paying attention. But what do we know about this vital process that occurs as a result of kidney function?
We urinate less when it’s hot
One liter of urine approx. It consists of 950 g of water, while the remaining amount contains sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium ions, urea (i.e. urea, which gives the color of urine) and other metabolic products (urobilin, uric acid or the mentioned creatinine). When it’s hot, we sweat more and the body expels water differently – which naturally reduces the amount of urine. So the more we sweat, the less urine we excrete if we don’t drink enough fluids.
If possible, you should always urinate while sitting
This position is the usual and of course more comfortable. Its main advantage is that it allows you to empty the bladder well, and it is not necessary to force urination (exercise pressure), which causes many excretory organ disorders, infections, urine leakage, etc. can be a facilitator. In addition, contrary to popular belief, you cannot get an infection from toilet seats – not even in the case of well-maintained public toilets.
If we suddenly burst out laughing, everyone can leak urine
Normally, the “latch” remains closed even when we suddenly laugh out loud. If this does not happen, you should consult a doctor. Even if we only notice leakage occasionally, it is better to clarify the cause with the doctor, because over time this symptom tends to become more frequent and stronger.
The article was published in Patika Magazin! Look for it every month in pharmacies!
Source: Patika Magazin Online by www.patikamagazin.hu.
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*We always respect the copyright of the content of the author and always include the original link of the source article.If the author disagrees, just leave the report below the article, the article will be edited or deleted at the request of the author. Thanks very much! Best regards! | <urn:uuid:d935de36-40b3-4eef-8779-b1a99763a237> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://tekdeeps.com/intimate-health-about-urination-patika-magazin-online/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337490.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20221004085909-20221004115909-00171.warc.gz | en | 0.915173 | 547 | 3.125 | 3 |
Secularity: On Benedict XVI and the Role of Religion in Society | Fr. James
V. Schall, S.J. | January 9, 2007
Secularity: On Benedict XVI and the Role of Religion in Society | Fr. James
V. Schall, S.J. | January 9, 2007
"It is our task to make people understand that the moral
law given to us by Him and manifested to us by the voice of our conscience does
not aim to oppress us but rather to set us free from evil and make us happy." -- Benedict XVI, to Italian Jurists.
On December 9, the Holy Father
a Lecture to 59th
Study Conference of the Union of Italian Catholic Jurists in the Vatican's Hall
of Blessings (L'Osservatore Romano,
English, December 20/27, 2006). Its subject briefly is that we should promote
"secularity" not "secularism."
What, you might ask, is this all about?
Some of the older readers will recall the oft-heard Latin
ending to prayers and invocations that went per omnia saecula saeculorum. This phrase was usually translated into English as
"world without end, Amen." Literally, it means through "ages of ages." A saeculum is generally the period of a man's life. So it comes
to mean the generations of man down the ages, the length of our time on this earth.
Thus saeculum means
the world. In Scripture, "world" has a twofold meaning. It means what is good
but not God. God created precisely "the world," which was not God. God would be
God even if He did not create a "world." This created world was good, not evil.
But we also recall that Christ told the disciples that the
"world" would hate Him--that we are not to be overly concerned about the things
of this "world." Ultimately, however much it is our home, we are not made
solely for "this world," even when we are made to dwell within it. Thus, the
world can also mean what is formally opposed to God. Christianity is not
embarrassed when it asks us to think clearly about what words mean in context.
And the ultimate temptation of man is to understand "the world" precisely as
apart from God--as being man's sole business, not God's.
In medieval law, moreover, the secular was conceived to be
opposed, not to the world, but to the orders of clerics. The "lay state" was
the secular state of life, with its own goodness. By extension the "secular
state" took on legitimate political overtones. It meant that which belonged to
this world and especially to its politics, which were, as Aristotle said,
"natural" to us.
In this sense, then, the notion of the saeculum came to mean the natural world, what was due by
nature, what was intended to be irrespective of any consideration of revelation
and its subsequent orders. Politics, in this sense, were conceived to be
"secular." They were only considered by the Church when they touched on
something that pertained to revelation. The whole medieval period sought to
separate out intellectually and practically what belonged to the Church and
what to the world, to the civil order, to Caesar.
The Pope recalls to the Italian Jurists the various ways in
which "secularity" is understood in the "contemporary" world. Some ways of
understanding "secularity" and living it can be opposed to each other, that is,
what is said to be good in one order is said to be evil in another. Thus an
exercise in fundamental distinction is called for. "In the Middle Ages,
'secularity' was a term coined to describe the condition of the ordinary lay
Christian who belonged neither to the clerical nor to the religious state."
Some opposition was implied here in the sense that one was not the other and
both could misconstrue the limits of their competence. But both were good and
had their proper place within the order of the whole.
However, in modern thought, the term "secularity" came to
mean "the exclusion of religion and its symbols from public life by confining
them to the private sphere and to the individual conscience." In the classic
Roman tradition, both the private and the public (res privata, res publica) were considered perfectly normal and compatible,
even necessary to each other. The triumph of the one over the other meant harm
to both. The family in particular was res private whose inner health it was part of the res
publica to defend and promote. The
interpretation of the saeculum as
excluding both the private and the transcendent implied a claim to authority
that overreached the competence of what secularity was about.
The ideological understanding of "secularity" that excludes
any carefully understood presence of the transcendent or the private from the
public order is the "opposite of its original meaning." "Secularity is commonly
perceived today as the exclusion of religion from social contexts and as the
boundary of the individual conscience." That is to say, nothing can be addressed
either to the public order or individual conscience from outside of itself.
They make their own laws and their own "world."
Benedict explicitly brings up, from an extra-constitutional
letter of Jefferson the phrase "the separation of Church and State." In this
understanding of "secularity," the Church is not "entitled" to intervene in
areas that concern "the life and conduct of citizens." Religious symbols
themselves--Crosses, Nativity scenes, displays of the Ten Commandments--are
thus excluded from "schools, courts, hospitals, prisons" and other governmental
However, because of this notion of separation, Benedict
points out, the issue becomes more clouded. If "secularity" by definition
excludes any philosophical or religious contribution to the public order, what
follows is that the world, the polity, must develop its own thought, morals,
politics, and ethic. No other source but itself is allowed. We subsequently
have a "morality" that is totally independent of any nature, revelation, or
reason that would claim a more universal grounding than what the state
establishes for itself, whatever it is. We now have an "a-religious" morality.
No room can be left open for God. No mystery can transcend this inner
completely self-enclosed morality. Nothing can claim to be true or right "in
every time and every situation." Multiculturalism and tolerance--the acceptance
of everything and the exclusion of nothing--are the only remaining virtues.
Only if we understand this intellectual background of the
various meanings of "secularity" can we begin to understand "post-modernity and
especially ... modern democracy," the Pope observes. That is, modern democracy is
often a promoter of precisely this inner and exclusive understanding of "the
world" that excludes all outside input or influence. It is itself totally
Is there an alternative? Can we formulate an understanding
of "secularity" that would include a place for moral law, for Christ, for the
Church, for honoring God? And can this view allow for an understanding
of "the rightful autonomy of earthly affairs"--a phrase from Vatican II?
"Secularity," in its proper sense, meant the gradual and historical development
of our understanding of "the laws and values of matter and society." We are
supposed to use our minds and hands, as Aristotle said. We are supposed to
learn what things are and how to use them. God is praised both by thought and
action. That is, the very meaning of creation was that many things were left to
man to find out by himself. God might have revealed everything to us by some
illumination, including how to make an airplane, but this would have the
drawback of never allowing mankind to find the things he could find by himself.
Thus, a perfectly valid understanding of human "autonomy"
can be formulated, one that does not imply exclusion from all things higher or
lower than the state or the world. Things have their own "stability" and
"excellence." Secondary causes are real causes. It is the purpose of revelation
to enhance, not substitute for this understanding of the world. Nature may need
to be healed, but it is not to be replaced.
When "autonomy" means, however, that nothing depends on God
or that no limits can be found to what we do or endeavor, then believers in God
will see the vast scope of this counter claim to exclude God from all the
public order. "Secularity," in the proper sense, does not mean excluding God
but rather means limiting both the Church and state to their proper spheres, to
learning by mind and experience what belongs to what and why. The state cannot
view religion as simply an "individual sentiment that can be confined to the
private spheres alone."
The Church is a visible organization. It is a form of
"public community" and so to be officially recognized. It is not simply a
private association of individual consciences whose activities have nothing to
do with the world. Such a view implicitly denies the very meaning of what a
"rational animal" is. By his very nature, in all he does, the human being
reaches out from inside of himself to the world. And, in its own way, the world
comes back to him as something already what it is beyond his own making.
Indeed, expanding on this principle, the Pope says that "every religious
denomination (provided it is neither in opposition to the moral order nor a
threat to public order) [should] be guaranteed the free exercise of the
activities of worship--spiritual, cultural, educational and charitable--of the
believing community." This is a most penetrating passage and leaves us much to
For instance, in the light of the Regensburg Lecture, just
whom does the Pope think might in fact be opposing "the moral order" or posing
a "threat to the public order?" What states and ideologies do not permit public
expression of spiritual, cultural, educational, and charitable activities to
religious peoples? The list is astonishingly wide, I suspect. Those polities
that forbid these latter activities are certainly not always "secular" in any
proper sense. Religion can be used to deny revelation. Many have embraced the
ideology of "secularism" that displays "hostility to every important political
and cultural form of religion and especially the presence of any religious
symbol in public institutions."
There is something else that bothers the Pope about this
exclusive secular autonomy. "To refuse the Christian community and its
legitimate representatives the right to speak on the moral problems that
challenge all human consciences today, and especially those of legislators and
jurists, is not a sign of healthy secularity." Obviously, Benedict here refers
to the right of Church officials to present their views about public issues
that concern truth and morality without fear of being accused of interfering
with the "internal autonomy" of the secular or religious order. It is
delicately put, that the Church does intend and has an obligation to speak to
its own members and to the world about truth and morality in public issues that
are of transcendent importance.
Isn't this view just another view of typical Church
"interference?" The Pope does not back down. It is not "meddling" in affairs of
State but "the affirmation and defense of important values that give meaning to
the person's life and safeguard his or her dignity." It is noteworthy that the
Pope states, "these values are human before being Christian, such that they
cannot leave the Church silent and indifferent." This statement goes back to
the notion of a legitimate intellectual and human autonomy that believers also
are witness to and have an obligation to address themselves to. This is a
defense of philosophy and politics as such. The Church sees it as a duty "to
firmly proclaim the truth about man and his destiny." Who else, we wonder, is
proclaiming this when the very questions of the truth of man and his destiny
are excluded from serious public consideration?
The Pope recognizes the many accomplishments of our times.
"We are living in an exalted historical period because of the breakthroughs
that humanity has achieved in many areas of law, culture, communication,
science and technology." Acknowledging this "exalted period" is nothing other
than a recognition, in a proper way, of the "natural autonomy of human
Yet, Pope Ratzinger is not na´ve. "There are attempts by
some people to exclude God from every sphere of life and present Him as man's
enemy." He does not "list" who such people are, but expects us to recognize
them when they appear in our midst. We need to have full, objective understandings
of these attempts and a strategy, both intellectual and political, to prevent
their total success.
If universities need an intellectual agenda about reality,
the Holy Father has one. "It is our task to make people understand that the
moral law given to us by Him and manifested to us by the voice of our
conscience does not aim to oppress us but rather to set us free from evil and
make us happy." (This spring Ignatius Press will publish a book of Josef
Ratzinger, written while he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith, entitled On Conscience.) The
"making people understand" does not mean "coercion" but genuine understanding
of what is at stake, of what is our precise destiny.
We have to show (that is, give reasons), "that without God
man is lost, and that the exclusion of religion from social life--and the
marginalization of Christianity in particular--undermines the very foundation
of human coexistence. Indeed, before being social and political, these
foundations are of a moral order." Of course, this legal "marginalization," as
the Pope knows, is what is taking place over the foundations of the European
Union and indeed in every modern democracy. But politics and society do not
form man to be man. He is already formed in his being what he is by his very
existence, which he does not give himself.
This short address of Benedict XVI is a jewel in clarifying
what we mean by intelligence and its use to define what and who we are in "this
world". The state does not "make man to be man," as Aristotle said. Benedict
speaks within a long history of philosophy and theology in which the two
sources are both open to him and to all of us. It is, as he says, his "duty
[to] firmly proclaim the truth about man and his destiny." As I often say, who
else is proclaiming precisely these two things together about our whole being?
Such is what we need to know per omnia saecula saculorum, "through generation upon generation, world without
Related IgnatiusInsight.com Links/Articles:
"A Requirement of Intellectual Honesty": On Benedict and the German Bishops | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
Intellectual Charity: On Benedict XVI and the Canadian
Bishops | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
The State Which Would Provide Everything | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
Are Truth, Faith, and Tolerance Compatible? | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
Why Do We Need Faith? | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
What Is Catholic Social Teaching? | Mark Brumley
The Regensburg Lecture: Thinking Rightly About God and Man | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
Relativism 101: A Brief, Objective Guide | Carl E. Olson
The Role of the Laity: An Examination of Vatican II and Christifideles Laici | Carl E. Olson
On Reading the Pope | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
Author page for Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI)
Fr. James V. Schall, S.J., is Professor of Political Philosophy at Georgetown
He is the author of numerous books on social issues, spirituality, culture,
and literature including Another
Sort of Learning, Idylls
and Rambles, On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs: Teaching, Writing,
Playing, Believing, Lecturing, Philosophizing, Singing, Dancing,
and A Student's Guide to Liberal Learning. His most recent book is
The Life of the Mind (ISI, 2006).
Read more of his essays on his
the Insight Scoop Blog and read the latest posts and comments by
IgnatiusInsight.com staff and readers about current events, controversies,
and news in the Church! | <urn:uuid:96251653-100f-4c3f-8744-04e25437e11b> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2007/print2007/schall_secularity_jan07.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422122192267.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124175632-00106-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951229 | 3,612 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral
|Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary
Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de María
Mexico City Cathedral, with the Metropolitan Tabernacle to the right.
|Location||Mexico City, Mexico|
|Year consecrated||2 February 1656|
|Ecclesiastical or organizational status||Cathedral|
|Leadership||Card. Norberto Rivera Carrera|
|Architect(s)||Claudio de Arciniega|
|Direction of façade||South|
|Length||110 m (360 ft)|
|Width||54.5 m (179 ft)|
The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary of Mexico City (Spanish: Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de María) is one of the oldest and largest Roman Catholic cathedral in the Americas and seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mexico. It is situated atop the former Aztec sacred precinct near the Templo Mayor on the northern side of the Plaza de la Constitución in downtown Mexico City. The cathedral was built in sections from 1573 to 1813 around the original church that was constructed soon after the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlán, eventually replacing it entirely. Spanish architect Claudio de Arciniega planned the construction, drawing inspiration from Gothic cathedrals in Spain.
The cathedral has four facades which contain portals flanked with columns and statues. The two bell towers contain a total of 25 bells. The tabernacle, adjacent to the cathedral, contains the baptistery and serves to register the parishioners. There are two large, ornate altars, a sacristy, and a choir in the cathedral. Fourteen of the cathedral's sixteen chapels are open to the public. Each chapel is dedicated to a different saint or saints, and each was sponsored by a religious guild. The chapels contain ornate altars, altarpieces, retablos, paintings, furniture and sculptures. The cathedral is home to two of the largest 18th-century organs in the Americas. There is a crypt underneath the cathedral that holds the remains of many former archbishops.
Over the centuries, the cathedral has suffered damage. A fire in 1962 destroyed a significant part of the cathedral's interior. The restoration work that followed uncovered a number of important documents and artwork that had previously been hidden. Although a solid foundation was built for the cathedral, the soft clay soil it is built on has been a threat to its structural integrity. Dropping water tables and accelerated sinking caused the structure to be added to the World Monuments Fund list of the 100 Most Endangered Sites. Reconstruction work beginning in the 1990s stabilized the cathedral and it was removed from the endangered list in 2000.
After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, the conquistadors decided to build their church on the site of the Templo Mayor of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan to consolidate Spanish power over the newly conquered domain. Hernán Cortés and the other conquistadors used the stones from the destroyed temple of the Aztec god of war Huitzilopochtli, principal deity of the Aztecs, to build the church. Cortés ordered the original church's construction after he returned from exploring what is now Honduras. Architect Martín de Sepúlveda was the first director of this project from 1524 to 1532. Juan de Zumárraga, the first Bishop of the first See of the New World, established in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, promoted this church's completion. Zumárraga's Cathedral was located in the northeast portion of what is now the cathedral. It had three naves separated by three Tuscan columns. The central roof was ridged with intricate carvings done by Juan Salcedo Espinosa and gilded by Francisco de Zumaya and Andrés de la Concha. The main door was probably of Renaissance style. The choir area had 48 seats made of ayacahuite wood crafted by Adrian Suster and Juan Montaño. However, this church was soon considered inadequate for the growing importance of the capital of New Spain.
In 1544, ecclesiastical authorities in Valladolid ordered the creation of new and more sumptuous cathedral. In 1552, an agreement was reached whereby the cost of the new cathedral would be shared by the Spanish crown, encomenderos and the Indians under the direct authority of the archbishop of New Spain. The cathedral was begun by being built around the existing church in 1573. When enough of the cathedral was built to house basic functions, the original church was demolished to enable construction to continue.
- 1 Construction
- 2 Exterior
- 3 Interior
- 3.1 Altars
- 3.2 Sacristy
- 3.3 Chapels
- 3.3.1 Chapel of Our Lady of the Agonies of Granada
- 3.3.2 Chapel of Saint Isidore
- 3.3.3 Chapel of the Immaculate Conception
- 3.3.4 Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe
- 3.3.5 Chapel of Our Lady of Antigua
- 3.3.6 Chapel of Christ and of the Reliquaries
- 3.3.7 Chapel of the Holy Angels and Archangels
- 3.3.8 Chapel of Saints Cosme and Damian
- 3.3.9 Chapel of Saint Joseph
- 3.3.10 Chapel of Our Lady of Solitude
- 3.3.11 Chapel of Saint Eligius
- 3.3.12 Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows
- 3.3.13 Chapel of Saint Philip of Jesus
- 3.4 Organs
- 3.5 Choir
- 3.6 Crypt
- 4 Restoration
- 5 Cultural importance
- 6 See also
- 7 References
- 8 External links
The cathedral was constructed over a period of over two centuries, between 1573 and 1813. Its design is a mixture of three architectural styles that predominated during the colonial period, Renaissance, Baroque and Neo-classic.
Initial plans for the new cathedral were drawn up and work on the foundation began in 1562. The decision to have the cathedral face south instead of east was made in 1570. In the same year, construction commenced, working from the Gothic designs and models created by Claudio de Arciniega and Juan Miguel de Agüero, inspired by cathedrals found in Spanish cities such as Valladolid and Málaga.
Because of the muddy subsoil of the site, work on the foundation continued past the work on the walls to 1581. In 1585, work on the first of the cathedral's chapels began and by 1615, the cathedral's walls reached to about half of their final height. Construction of the interior of the current cathedral began in 1623 and what is now the vestry was where Mass was conducted after the first church was finally torn down.
In 1629, work was interrupted by flooding, over two metres in depth. Parts of the city were damaged, especially around the main plaza or Zocalo. Because of such damage, this site was almost abandoned and a new cathedral project was begun in the hills of the Tacubaya area to the west.
Despite these problems, the project continued in its current location, and under the direction of Luis Gómez de Transmonte, the interior was finished and consecrated in 1667. The cathedral still lacked bell towers, the complete front facade, and many of the other features it has now at the beginning of the 18th century.
In 1787, José Damian Ortiz de Castro was in charge of finishing work on the cathedral. He did most of the work on the bell towers, putting in most of the fretwork and capping them with roofs in the shape of bells. With his death in 1793, he did not live to see the cathedral completed, and Manuel Tolsá finished the cathedral by adding the cupola, the central front facade, the balustrades, and the statues of Faith, Hope and Charity at the top of the front facade. Tolsa's work was the last major construction to the cathedral and the appearance it had when he finished is the basic look the cathedral has today.
The cathedral faces south and is approximately 54.5 metres (179 ft) wide and 110 metres (360 ft) long. It consists of two bell towers, a central dome, three main portals, five naves, 51 vaults, 74 arches and 40 columns. Inside the cathedral are five large altars, sixteen chapels, a choir area, a corridor, capitulary room, and sacristy. The cathedral has approximately 150 windows.
Facades and portals
The main facade of the cathedral faces south. The main portal is centered in the main facade and is the highest of the cathedral's three portals. Statues of Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle stand between the columns of the portal, while Saint Andrew and James the Just are depicted on the secondary doorway. In the center of this doorway is a high relief of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, to whom the cathedral is dedicated. This image is flanked by images of Saint Matthew and Saint Andrew. The coat of arms of Mexico is above the doorway, with the eagle's wings outstretched. There is a clock tower at the very top of the portal with statues representing Faith, Hope and Charity, which was created by sculptor Manuel Tolsá.
The west facade was constructed in 1688 and rebuilt in 1804. It has a three-section portal with images of the Four Evangelists. The west portal has high reliefs depicting Jesus handing the Keys of Heaven to Saint Peter.
The east facade is similar to the west facade. The reliefs on the east portal show a ship carrying the four apostles, with Saint Peter at the helm. The title of this relief is The ship of the Church sailing the seas of Eternity.
The northern facade, built during the 16th century in the Renaissance Herrera style, is oldest part of the cathedral and was named after Juan de Herrera, architect of the El Escorial monastery in Spain. While the eastern and western facades are older than most of the rest of the building, their third level has Solomonic columns which are associated with the Baroque period.
The bell towers are the work of Xalapan artist José Damián Ortiz de Castro. They are capped with bell-shaped roofs made of tezontle covered in chiluca, a white stone. Ortiz de Castro was in charge of the cathedral's construction in the latter half of the 18th century until he died, unexpectedly. Manuel Tolsá of Valencia, who had built other notable buildings in Mexico City, was hired to finish the cathedral. At this point, the cathedral had already been 240 years in the making. He added the neo-Classic structure housing the clock, the statues of the three theological virtues (Faith, Hope, and Charity), the high balustrade surrounding the building, and the dome that rises over the transept.
The cathedral has 25 bells—eighteen hang in the east bell tower and seven in the west tower. The largest bell is named the Santa Maria de Guadalupe and weighs around 13,000 kilograms (29,000 lb). Other major bells are named the Doña Maria, which weighs 6,900 kilograms (15,200 lb), and La Ronca ("the hoarse one"), named so because of its harsh tone. Doña Maria and La Ronca were placed in 1653 while the largest bell was placed later in 1793.
The statues in the west tower are the work of José Zacarías Cora and represent Pope Gregory VII, Saint Augustine, Leander of Seville, St. Fulgentius of Écija, St.Francis Xavier, and Saint Barbara. The statues in the east tower are by Santiago Cristóbal Sandoval and depict Emilio, Rose of Lima, Mary (mother of Jesus), Ambrogio, Jerome, Philip of Jesus, Hippolytus of Rome, and Isidore the Laborer.
In 1947, a novice bell ringer died in an accident when he tried to move one of the bells while standing under it. The bell swung back and hit him in the head, killing him instantly. The bell was then "punished" by removing the clapper. In the following years, the bell was known as la castigada ("the punished one"), or la muda ("the mute one"). In 2000, the clapper was reinstalled in the bell.
In October 2007, a time capsule was found inside the stone ball base of a cross, in the southern bell tower of the cathedral. It was placed in 1742, supposedly to protect the building from harm. The lead box was filled with religious artifacts, coins and parchments and hidden in a hollow stone ball. The ball was marked with the date of 14 May 1791, when the building's topmost stone was laid. A new time capsule will be placed in the stone ball when it is closed again.
Situated to the right of the main cathedral, the Metropolitan Tabernacle was built by Lorenzo Rodríguez during the height of the Baroque period between 1749 and 1760, to house the archives and vestments of the archbishop. It also functioned and continues to function as a place to receive Eucharist and register parishioners.
The first church built on the cathedral site also had a tabernacle, but its exact location is unknown. During the construction of the cathedral, the tabernacle was housed in what are now the Chapels of San Isidro and Our Lady of Agony of Granada. However, in the 18th century, it was decided to build a structure that was separate, but still connected, to the main cathedral. It is constructed of tezontle (a porous volcanic rock) and white stone in the shape of a Greek cross with its southern facade faces the Zócalo. It links to the main cathedral through the Chapel of San Isidro.
The interiors of each wing have separate uses. In the west wing is the baptistry, in the north is the main altar, the main entrance and a notary area, separated by inside corner walls made of chiluca stone and tezontle. Chiluca, a white stone, covers the walls and floors and the tezontle, a reddish porous volcanic stone, frames the doors and windows. In the center of the cross is an octagonal dome framed by arches that form curved triangles where they meet at the top of the dome. The principal altar is in the ornate Churrigueresque style and crafted by indigenous artist Pedro Patiño Ixtolinque. It was inaugurated in 1829.
The exterior of the Baroque styled tabernacle is almost entirely adorned with decorations, such as curiously shaped niche shelves, floating drapes and many cherubs. Carvings of fruits such as grapes and pomegranates have been created to in the shape of ritual offerings, symbolizing the blood of Christ and the Church. Among the floral elements, Roses, Daisies, and various types of four-petaled flowers can be found, including the indigenous chalchihuite.
The tabernacle has two main outside entrances; one to the south, facing the Zocalo and the other facing east toward Seminario Street. The southern facade is more richly decorated than the east facade. It has a theme of glorifying the Eucharist with images of the Apostles, Church Fathers, saints who founded religious orders, martyrs as well as scenes from the Bible. Zoomorphic reliefs can be found along with the anthropologic reliefs, including a rampaging lion, and the eagle from the coat of arms of Mexico. The east facade is less ambitious, but contains figures from the Old Testament as well as the images of John Nepomucene and Ignacio de Loyola. Construction dates for the phases of the tabernacle are also inscribed here.
Altar of Forgiveness
The Altar of Forgiveness is located at the front of the central nave. It is the first aspect of the interior that is seen upon entering the cathedral. It was the work of Spanish architect Jerónimo Balbás, and represents the first use of the estípite column (an inverted triangle-shaped pilaster) in the Americas.
There are two stories about how the name of this altar came about. The first states that those condemned by the Spanish Inquisition were brought to the altar to ask for forgiveness in the next world before their execution. The second relates to painter Simon Pereyns, who despite being the author of many of the works of the cathedral, was accused of blasphemy. According to the story, while Pereyns was in jail, he painted such a beautiful image of the Virgin Mary that his crime was forgiven.
This altar was damaged by a fire in January 1967 but has been completely restored.
Altar of the Kings
The Altar of the Kings was also the work of Jerónimo Balbás, in Mexican Baroque or Churrigueresque style. It was begun in 1718 by Balbás in cedar, and was gilded and finished by Francico Martínez, debuting in 1737. It is located at the back of the Cathedral, beyond the Altar of Forgiveness and the choir. This altar is 13.75 metres (45.1 ft) wide, 25 metres (82 ft) tall and 7.5 metres (25 ft) deep. Its size and depth gave rise to the nickname la cueva dorada ("the golden cave").
It takes its name from the statues of saintly royalty which form part of its decoration, and is the oldest work in churrigueresque style in Mexico, taking 19 years to complete. At the bottom, from left to right, are six female royal saints: Saint Margaret of Scotland, Helena of Constantinople, Elisabeth of Hungary, Isabel of Portugal, Empress Cunegunda and Edith of Wilton. In the middle of the altar are six canonized kings, four of whom are: Hermenegild a Visigoth martyr, Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, Edward the Confessor and Casimir of Poland. Above these four are Saints Louis of France and Ferdinand III of Castile. In between these kings an oil painting of the Adoration of the Magi by Juan Rodriguez Juarez shows Jesus as the King of kings. The top portion features a painting of the Assumption of Mary as celestial queen flanked by oval bas reliefs, one of Saint Joseph carrying the infant Jesus and the other of Saint Teresa of Ávila with a quill in her hand and the Holy Spirit above her, inspiring her to write. Above this are figures of Jesus and Mary among sculptures of angels crowned with an image of God, the Father.
This altar has been under restoration since 2003.
The Herrera door opens into the sacristy, the oldest part of the cathedral. It is a mixture of Renaissance and Gothic styles.
The walls hold large canvases painted by Cristóbal de Villalpando, such as The Apotheosis of Saint Michael, The Triumph of the Eucharist, The Church Militant and the Church Triumphant, and The Virgin of the Apocalypse. The Virgin of the Apocalypse depicts the vision of John of Patmos. Two other canvases, Entering Jerusalem and The Assumption of the Virgin, painted by Juan Correa, are also here. An additional painting, attributed to Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, hangs in the Sacristy.
On the north wall, there is a niche that holds a statue of the crucifix with a Christ image sculpted in ivory. Behind this, is another mural that depicts the Juan Diego's of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Sacristy used to house Juan Diego's cloak, upon which the Virgin's image purportedly appears, but after massive flooding in 1629, it was removed from the Sacristy to better protect it.
In 1957, The wooden floor and platform around the perimeter of the Sacristy were replaced with stone.
The cathedral's sixteen chapels were each assigned to a religious guild, and each is dedicated to a saint. Each of the two side naves contain seven chapels. The other two were created later on the eastern and western sides of the cathedral. These last two are not open to the public. The fourteen chapels in the east and west naves are listed below. The first seven are in the east nave, listed from north to south, and the last seven are in the west nave.
Chapel of Our Lady of the Agonies of Granada
The Chapel of Our Lady of the Agonies of Granada (Spanish: Capilla de Nuestra Señora de las Angustias de Granada) was built in the first half of the 17th century, and originally served as the sacristy. It is a medieval-style chapel with a ribbed vault and two relatively simple altarpieces. The narrow altarpiece contains an oval painting of Saint Raphael, Archangel and the young Tobias, a 16th century painting attributed to Flemish painter Martin de Vos. At the top of this altarpiece is a painting of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and above this is a painting of the Last Supper. At the back of the chapel is a churrigueresque painting of Our Lady of the Agonies of Granada.
Chapel of Saint Isidore
The Chapel of Saint Isidore (Spanish: Capilla de San Isidro) was originally built as an annex between 1624 and 1627, and was once used as the baptistery. Its vault contains plaster casts representing Faith, Hope, Charity, and Justice, considered to be basic values in the Catholic religion. After the Tabernacle was built, it was converted into a chapel and its door was reworked in a churrigueresque style.
Chapel of the Immaculate Conception
The Chapel of the Immaculate Conception (Spanish: Capilla de la Inmaculada Concepción) was built between 1642 and 1648. It has a churrigueresque altarpiece which, due to the lack of columns, most likely dates from the 18th century. The altar is framed with molding—instead of columns—and a painting of the Immaculate Conception presides over it. The altar is surrounded by paintings by José de Ibarra relating to the Passion of Christ and various saints. The chapel also contains a canvas of Saint Christopher painted by Simon Pereyns in 1588, and the Flagellation by Baltasar de Echave Orio, painted in 1618. The altarpiece on the right side is also dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and was donated by the College of Saints Peter and Paul. This chapel holds the remains of Franciscan friar Antonio Margil de Jesús who was evangelized in what is now the north of Mexico.
Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe
The Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Capilla de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) was built in 1660. It was the first baptistery of the cathedral and for a long time was the site for the Brotherhood of the Most Holy Sacrament, which had many powerful benefactors. It is decorated in a 19th century neo-classic style by the architect Antonio Gonzalez Vazquez, director of the Academy of San Carlos. The main altarpiece is dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe and the sides altars are dedicated to John the Baptist and San Luis Gonzaga respectively.
Chapel of Our Lady of Antigua
The Chapel of Our Lady of Antigua (Spanish: Capilla de Nuestra Señora de La Antigua) was sponsored and built between 1653 and 1660 by a brotherhood of musicians and organists, which promoted devotion to this Virgin. Its altarpiece contains a painting of the Virgin, a copy of one found in the Cathedral of Seville. This copy was brought to New Spain by a merchant. Two other paintings show the birth of the Virgin and her presentation. Both were painted by Nicolás Rodriguez Juárez.
Chapel of Saint Peter
The Chapel of Saint Peter (Spanish: Capilla de San Pedro) was built between 1615 and 1620, and contains three highly decorated Baroque altarpieces from the 17th century. The altar at the back is dedicated to Saint Peter, whose sculpture presides over the altar. It is surrounded by early 17th century paintings relating to his life, painted by Baltasar de Echave Orio. To the right is an altarpiece dedicated to the Holy Family, with two paintings by Juan de Aguilera of Florence called The Holy Family in the workshop of Saint Joseph and Birth of the Savior. The altarpiece to the left of the main altarpiece is dedicated to Saint Theresa of Jesus whose image also appears in the chapel's window. It includes four paintings on sheets of metal that depict scenes from the birth of Jesus. Five oil paintings illustrate scenes from the life of Saint Theresa, and above this is a semi-circular painting of the coronation of Mary. All these works were created in the 17th century by Baltasar de Echave y Rioja.
This chapel is home to the Niño Cautivo (Captive Child) a Child Jesus figure that was brought to Mexico from Spain. It was sculpted in the 16th century by Juan Martínez Montañez in Spain and purchased by the cathedral. However, on its way to Veracruz, pirates attacked the ship it was on and sacked it. To get the image back, a large ransom was paid. Today, the image is in the Chapel of San Pedro or De las Reliquias. Traditionally, the image has been petitioned by those seeking release from restrictions or traps, especially financial problems or drug addiction or alcoholism. The cult to the Niño Cautivo is considered to be "inactive" by INAH. However, this particular image has made a comeback since 2000 as one to petition when a family member is abducted and held for ransom.
Chapel of Christ and of the Reliquaries
The Chapel of Christ and of the Reliquaries (Spanish: Capilla del Santo Cristo y de las Reliquias) was built in 1615 and designed with ultra-Baroque details which are often difficult to see in the poorly lit interior. It was originally known as the Christ of the Conquistadors. That name came from an image of Christ that was supposedly donated to the cathedral by Emperor Charles V. Over time, so many reliquaries were left on its main altar that its name was eventually changed. Of 17th century ornamentation, the main altarpiece alternates between carvings of rich foliage and small heads on its columns in the main portion and small sculptures of angels on its telamons in the secondary portion. Its niches hold sculptures of saints framing the main body. Its crucifix is from the 17th century. The predella is finished with sculptures of angels, and also contains small 17th paintings of martyred saints by Juan de Herrera. Behind these paintings, hidden compartments contain some of the numerous reliquaries left here. Its main painting was done by Jose de Ibarra and dated 1737. Surrounding the altar is a series of paintings on canvas, depicting the Passion of Christ by Jose Villegas, painted in the 17th century. On the right-hand wall, an altar dedicated to the Virgin of the Confidence is decorated with numerous churrigueresque figurines tucked away in niches, columns and top pieces.
Chapel of the Holy Angels and Archangels
The Chapel of the Holy Angels and Archangels (Spanish: Capilla de los Ángeles) was finished in 1665 with Baroque altarpieces decorated with Solomonic columns. It is dedicated to the Archangel Michael, who is depicted as a medieval knight. It contains a large main altarpiece with two smaller altarpieces both decorated by Juan Correa. The main altarpiece is dedicated to the seven archangels, who are represented by sculptures, in niches surrounding images of Saint Joseph, Mary and Christ. Above this scene are the Holy Spirit and God the Father. The left-hand altarpiece is of similar design and is dedicated to the Guardian Angel, whose sculpture is surrounded with pictures arranged to show the angelic hierarchy. To the left of this, a scene shows Saint Peter being released from prison, and to the right, Saul, later Saint Paul, being knocked from his horse, painted by Juan Correa in 1714. The right-hand altarpiece is dedicated to the Guardian Angel of Mexico.
Chapel of Saints Cosme and Damian
The Chapel of Saints Cosme and Damian (Spanish: Capilla de San Cosme y San Damián) was built because these two saints were commonly invoked during a time when New Spain suffered from the many diseases brought by the Conquistadors. The main altarpiece is Baroque, probably built in the 17th century. Oil paintings on wood contain scenes from physician saints, and are attributed to painter Sebastian Lopez Davalos, during the second half of the 17th century. The chapel contains one small altarpiece which came from the Franciscan church in Zinacantepec, to the west of Mexico City, and is dedicated to the birth of Jesus.
Chapel of Saint Joseph
The Chapel of Saint Joseph (Spanish: Capilla de San José), built between 1653 and 1660, contains an image of Our Lord of Cacao, an image of Christ most likely from the 16th century. Its name was inspired from a time when many indigenous worshipers would give their alms in the form of cocoa beans. Churrigueresque in style and containing an graffito statue of Saint Joseph, patron saint of New Spain, the main altarpiece is Baroque and is from the 18th century. This once belonged to the Church of Our Lady of Monserrat. This altar contains statues and cubicles containing busts of the Apostles, but contains no paintings.
Chapel of Our Lady of Solitude
The Chapel of Our Lady of Solitude (Spanish: Capilla de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad) was originally built in honor of the workers who built the cathedral. It contains three Baroque altarpieces. The main altarpiece is supported by caryatids and small angels as telamons, to uphold the base of the main body. It is dedicated to the Virgin of Solitude of Oaxaca, whose image appears in the center. The surrounding 16th century paintings are by Pedro Ramírez, and depict scenes from the life of Christ.
Chapel of Saint Eligius
The Chapel of Saint Eligius (Spanish: Capilla de San Eligio), also known as the Chapel of the Lord of Safe Expeditions (Spanish: Capilla del Señor del Buen Despacho), was built by the first silversmith guild, who donated the images of the Conception and Saint Eligius to whom the chapel was formerly dedicated. The chapel was redecorated in the 19th century, and the image of Our Lord of Good Sending was placed here, named thus, since many supplicants reported having their prayers answered quickly. The image is thought to be from the 16th century and sent as a gift from Charles V of Spain.
Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows
The Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows (Spanish: Capilla de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores), formerly known as the Chapel of the Lord's Supper (Spanish: Capilla de la Santa Cena), was built in 1615. It was originally dedicated to the Last Supper since a painting of this event was once kept here. It was later remodeled in a Neo-classical style, with three altarpieces added by Antonio Gonzalez Velazquez. The main altarpiece contains an image of the Virgin of Sorrows sculpted in wood and painted by Francisco Terrazas, at the request of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. On the left-hand wall a ladder leads to a series of crypts which hold most of the remains of past archbishops of Mexico. The largest and grandest of these crypts contains the remains of Juan de Zumarraga, the first archbishop of Mexico.
Chapel of Saint Philip of Jesus
The Chapel of Saint Philip of Jesus (Spanish: Capilla de San Felipe de Jesús) was completed during one of the earliest stages of the construction of the cathedral. It is dedicated to Philip of Jesus, a friar and the only martyr from New Spain, who was crucified in Japan. The chapel is topped with a Gothic-style dome and has a Baroque altarpiece from the 17th century. A statue of the saint is located in a large niche in the altarpiece. The altar to the left is dedicated to Saint Rose of Lima, considered a protector of Mexico City. To the right is an urn which holds the remains of Agustín de Iturbide, who briefly ruled Mexico in the 19th century. Next to this chapel is a baptismal font, in which it is believed Philip of Jesus was baptised.
The cathedral has had perhaps a dozen organs over the course of its history. The earliest is mentioned in a report written to the king of Spain in 1530. Few details survive of the earliest organs. Builders names begin to appear at the end of the sixteenth century. The earliest disposition that survives is for the Diego de Sebaldos organ built in 1655. The first large organ for Mexico City Cathedral was built in Madrid from 1689 to 1690 by Jorge de Sesma and installed by Tiburcio Sanz from 1693 to 1695. It now has two, which were made in Mexico by José Nassarre of Spain, and completed by 1736, incorporating elements of the 17th century organ. They are the largest 18th century organs in the Americas; they are situated above the walls of the choir, on the epistle side (east) and the gospel side (west). Both organs, damaged by fire in 1967, were restored in 1978. Because both organs had fallen into disrepair again, the gospel organ was re-restored from 2008-2009; the restoration of the epistle organ was completed in 2014, and both organs are now playable.
The choir is where the priest and/or a choral group sings the psalms. It is located in the central nave between the main door and the high altar, and built in a semicircular fashion, much like Spanish cathedrals. It was built by Juan de Rojas between 1696 and 1697. Its sides contain 59 reliefs of various saints done in mahogany, walnut, cedar and a native wood called tepehuaje. The railing that surrounds the choir was made in 1722 by Sangley Queaulo in Macao, China and placed in the cathedral in 1730.
The Crypt of the Archbishops is located underneath the floor of the cathedral beneath the Altar of the Kings. The entrance of the crypt from the cathedral is guarded by a large wooden door behind which descends a winding yellow staircase. Just past the inner entrance is a Mexica-style stone skull. It was incorporated as an offering into the base of a cenotaph to Juan de Zumárraga, the first archbishop of Mexico. Zumárraga was considered to be a benefactor of the Indians, protecting them against the abuses of their Spanish overlords. There is also a natural-sized sculpture of the archbishop atop the cenotaph.
On its walls are dozens of bronze plaques that indicate the locations of the remains of most of Mexico City's former archbishops, including Cardinal Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada. The floor is covered with small marble slabs covering niches containing the remains of other people.
There are other crypts and niches in the cathedral where other religious personages are buried, including in the chapels.
The sinking ground and seismic activity of the area have had an effect on the cathedral's construction and current appearance. Forty-two years were required simply to lay its foundation when it was first built, because even then the Spaniards recognized the danger of constructing such a huge monument in soft soil. However, for political reasons, much, but not all, of the cathedral was built over the remains of pre-Hispanic structures, leading to uneven foundation from the beginning.
Fire of 1962
On 17 January 1962 at 9 pm, a fire caused by an electrical short circuit caused extensive damage to the cathedral. On the Altar of Forgiveness, much of the structure and decoration were damaged including the loss of three paintings; The Holy Face by Alonso López de Herrera, The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian by Francisco de Zumaya and The Virgin of Forgiveness by Simon Pereyns. The choir section lost 75 of its 99 seats as well a painting by Juan Correa along with many stored books. The two cathedral organs were severely damaged with the partial melting of their pipes. Paintings by Rafael Jimeno y Planas, Juan Correa and Juan Rodriguez Juarez were damaged in other parts of the cathedral. After the fire, authorities recorded the damage but did nothing to try to restore what was damaged. Heated discussions ensued among historians, architects and investigations centering on the moving of the Altar of Forgiveness, as well as eliminating the choir area and some of the railings. In 1972, ecclesiastical authorities initiated demolition of the choir area without authorization from the Federal government, but were stopped. The government inventoried what could be saved and named Jaime Ortiz Lajous as director of the project to restore the cathedral to its original condition. Restoration work focused not only on repairing the damage (using archived records and photographs), but also included work on a deteriorating foundation (due to uneven sinking into the ground) and problems with the towers.
The Altars of Forgiveness and of the Kings were subject to extensive cleaning and restorative work. To replace what was lost on the Altar of Forgiveness, several paintings were added; Escape from Egypt by Pereyns, The Divine Countenance and The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. The organs were disassembled with the pipes and inner workings sent to the Netherlands for repair, and the casings were worked upon by Mexican craftsmen. They were reassembled in 1977. Reconstruction of the choir area began in 1979 using the same materials as existed before the fire. In addition, any statues in the towers that had received more than 50% damage from city pollution were taken out, with replicas created to replace them. Those with less damage were repaired.
Some interesting discoveries were made as restoration work occurred during the 1970s and early 1980s. 51 paintings were found and rescued from behind the Altar of Forgiveness, including works by Juan and Nicolas Rodriguez Juarez, Miguel Cabrera and José de Ibarra. Inside one of the organs, a copy of the nomination of Hernán Cortés as Governor General of New Spain (1529) was found. Lastly, in the wall of the central arch of the cathedral was found the burial place of Miguel Barrigan, the first governor of Veracruz.
Late 20th-century work
The cathedral, along with the rest of the city, has been sinking into the lakebed from the day it was built. However, the fact that the city is a megalopolis with over 18 million people drawing water from underground sources has caused water tables to drop, and the sinking to accelerate during the latter half of the 20th century. Sections of the complex such as the cathedral and the tabernacle were still sinking at different rates, and the bell towers were tilting dangerously in spite of work done in the 1970s. For this reason the cathedral was included in the 1998 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund.
Major restoration and foundation work began in the 1990s to stabilize the building. Engineers excavated under the cathedral between 1993 and 1998. They dug shafts under the cathedral and placed shafts of concrete into the soft ground to give the edifice a more solid base to rest on. These efforts have not stopped the sinking of the complex, but they have corrected the tilting towers and ensured that the cathedral will sink uniformly.
The cathedral has been a focus of Mexican cultural identity, and is a testament to its colonial history. Researcher Manuel Rivera Cambas reported that the cathedral was built on the site sacred precinct of the Aztecs and with the very stones of their temples so that the Spaniards could lay claim to the land and the people. Hernán Cortés supposedly laid the first stone of the original church personally.
It once was an important religious center, exclusive for the prominent families of New Spain. In 1864, during the Second Mexican Empire, Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg and Empress Charlotte of Belgium (later known as Maximiliano and Carlota of Mexico) were crowned at the cathedral, at their magnificent arrival to the head city of their reign.
Located on the Zocalo it has, over time, been the focus of social and cultural activities, most of which have occurred in the 20th and 21st centuries. The cathedral was closed for four years while President Plutarco Elías Calles attempted to enforce Mexico's anti-religious laws. Pope Pius XI closed the church, ordering priests to cease their public religious duties in all Mexican churches. After the Mexican government and the papacy came to terms and major renovations were performed on the cathedral, it was reopened in 1930.
The cathedral has been the scene of several protests both from the church and to the church, including a protest by women over the Church's exhortation for women not to wear mini-skirts and other provocative clothing to avoid rape, and a candlelight vigil to protest against kidnappings in Mexico. The cathedral itself has been used to protest against social issues. Its bells were rung to express the archdiocese's opposition to the Supreme Court upholding of Mexico City's legalization of abortion.
Probably the most serious recent event occurred on 18 November 2007, when sympathizers of the Party of the Democratic Revolution attacked the cathedral. About 150 protesters stormed into Sunday Mass chanting slogans and knocking over pews. This caused church officials to close and lock the cathedral for a number of days. The cathedral was reopened with new security measures, such as bag searches, in place.
- http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-29616220/stock-photo-mexico-city-metropolitan-cathedral-catedral-metropolitana-de-la-asuncion-de-maria-is-the-largest.html Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral
- "View of Guadalupe". PEERLESS. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
- "Catedral metropolitana de México". MSN. Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- Alvarez, Jose Rogelio (2000). "Catedral de Mexico". Enciclopedia de Mexico 3. Mexico City: Encyclopædia Britannica. ISBN 1-56409-034-5.
- "Metropolitan Cathedral Mexico City". Sacred Destinations. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- Galind, Carmen; Magdelena Galindo (2002). Mexico City Historic Center. Mexico City: Ediciones Nueva Guia. pp. 41–49. ISBN 968-5437-29-7.
- "Cathedral Metropolitan". Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- "Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City –History". Archived from the original on March 13, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- Enciclopedia de Mexico 16. Mexico City: Encyclopædia Britannica. 2000. pp. 8273–8280. ISBN 1564090345.
- Cancino, Fabiola (2006-07-21). "Restauran el reloj de la Catedral tras nueve años". El Universal Online México, S.A. de C.V. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
- PMC (2008-01-17). "Found atop Mexico City Cathedral - Time capsule from 1791". Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- Noble, Joshn (2000). Lonely Planet Mexico City (in Spanish). Oakland, California: Lonely Planet Publications. pp. 110–111. ISBN 1-86450-087-5.
- Horz de Via, Elena (1991). Guia Oficial Centro de la Ciudad de Mexico. Mexico City: INAH-SALVAT. pp. 28–30. ISBN 968-32-0540-2.
- Cano de Mier, Olga (1988). Guia de Forasteros Centro Historico Ciudad de Mexico (in Spanish). Mexico City: Guias Turisticas Banamex. pp. 32–37.
- "Catedral Metropolitano: 478 años de historia". Epoca (in Spanish) (Mexico City: Archdiocese of Mexico) 565: 52–59. 1 April 2002.
- In the chapels, the terms "left-hand" and "right-hand" are used with reference to the main altar of each chapel.
- Mondragón Jaramillo, Carmen (7 January 2010). "Niños Jesus que obran milagros" [Nino Jesus that performs miracles] (in Spanish). Mexico: INAH. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
- El Sol de México (9 November 2008). "Santo Niño Cautivo, patrono de los secuestrados" [Holy Niño Cautivo, patron of the kidnapped]. El Sol de México (in Spanish) (Mexico City). Retrieved January 20, 2010.
- "Tiene arraigo en México la veneración al Niño Dios" [Veneration of the Niño Dios has deep roots in Mexico]. El Universal (in Spanish) (Mexico City). Notimex. 2 February 2007. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
- Edward Pepe, "From Spain to the New World: the hiring of the Madrid organist Fabián Pérez Ximeno by Mexico City Cathedral," Keyboard Perspectives IV (2011), 27-48
- Edward Pepe, "Writing a History of Mexico's Early Organs: A Seventeenth-Century Disposition from the Mexico City Cathedral," in Thomas Donahue, ed., Music and Its Questions: Essays in Honor of Peter Williams (Richmond: OHS Press, 2007), 49-74.
- Edward Pepe, "An Organ by Jorge de Sesma for Mexico City Cathedral," Revista de Musicología 29:1 2006
- Flentrop, Dirk Andries; John Fesperman (1986). "The Organs of Mexico City Cathedral". Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology 47.
- "Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City- The choir". 2007. Retrieved 2008-09-18.[dead link]
- Ricardo Pacheco Colín (2005-07-25). "La Cripta de los Arzobispos, una joya escondida en la Catedral" (in Spanish). Gobierno de Presidente Fox. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
- "A Walking Tour of Mexico City". Suzanne Barbezat. 12-09-2008. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- Greste, Peter (2008-09-12). "World: Americas Saving Mexico's sinking cathedral". BBC. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- Wiley, John; Meli, Roberto; Sánchez, Roberto; Orozco, Bernardo (May 2008). "Evaluation of the measured seismic response of the Mexico City Cathedral". Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics 37 (10): 1249–1268. doi:10.1002/eqe.808. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- "Mexico City Cathedral". Time. August 1930. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- "Protestan mujeres in minifalda frente a catedral Cd. de México". Xinhua. 2008-08-17. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- "People hold candles in front of the cathedral in Mexico City Aug. 30...". 2008-09-09. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- "Campanas de la Catedral de México repicaron en señal de duelo por ley del aborto". ACI Prensa. 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- "Message of forgiveness at Mexico City Cathedral". Catholic News Agency. 2009-11-28. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- Grillo, Ioan (2007-11-21). "Mexico City's Cathedral closes after anti-Catholic protesters storm building during Mass". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City.|
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral.|
- La Rehabilitación de la Catedral Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México, from the UNAM
- Archdiocese of Mexico, 'Historia De La Fábrica Material De La Catedral De México', in Spanish
- Have a look inside Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral A first hand visit and review of Mexico City's Cathedral. | <urn:uuid:9b55b3b3-aaae-432a-b191-4a4ea322481f> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City_Metropolitan_Cathedral | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394011163856/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305091923-00012-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.94867 | 10,510 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Imagine being able to pull data from hundreds, even thousands, of different sources to create charts and graphs; compare facts, figures, or relationships; or discover patterns that no one ever knew existed. If you had the ability to do it, what would you set out to find?
This is the new web of Linked Data that’s envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, and amazingly, it’s starting to become reality. We have accomplished incredible things with a web of documents, but we now have the opportunity to dig deeper to explore the relationships between people, places, and things utilizing graphs rather than tables. It’s like going from The Muppets to Avatar (or if you hated Avatar, pick your own exaggerated analogy for a paradigm shift in technology).
The humanities stand to benefit enormously by this new opportunity for discovery and analysis. Not only does it offer the real possibility for bridging isolated archives and data collections, but it opens the door for community contributed links that can significantly amplify long-stagnant archives and records.
Within the Linked Data movement, there are roles to be played by technologists, developers, researchers, archivists, dreamers and everyone in between. I’d like to present the Civil War Data 150 Project as just one example of what Linked Data may help us achieve, and invite everyone to come up with creative projects you might pursue if you had the ability to reach across collections, time, and space to explore new networks and relationships of information. | <urn:uuid:12ed42ee-a258-4d7e-beb9-0e75647f9bf0> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://www.2010.greatlakesthatcamp.org/2010/03/toward_linked_data_in_the_humanities/comment-page-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422121914832.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124175154-00145-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956309 | 317 | 2.75 | 3 |
Clinical Chemistry (Glucose Tolerance Test)
|Published: October 26, 2010|
|Revised: June 9, 2015|
This programme is intended as a compendium of modules on procedures in clinical chemistry. At present, the only completed module is one concerning the conduct and interpretation of the glucose tolerance test (GTT). In a GTT, glucose is adminstered to the patient in order to determine how quickly it is cleared from the blood. The test is usually used to test for diabetes, insulin resistance, and sometimes reactive hypoglycemia. The glucose is most often given orally so the common test is technically an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT).
Authors: Francis A. Yeboah, Cary Engleberg
Institutions: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Michigan | <urn:uuid:45e6689d-e244-4b36-98df-39b428a8b244> | CC-MAIN-2015-27 | http://open.umich.edu/education/med/oernetwork/med/internal/clinical-chemistry/2009 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375097473.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031817-00264-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.894155 | 175 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Chemistry Made Simple – Atoms
Teaching science can feel overwhelming, and it can be hard to know where to start. In this series of webinars, we will build teacher knowledge and confidence around the Material World concepts identified in the New Zealand Curriculum.
During this interactive PLD session, Greta Dromgool, an experienced science teacher at secondary and primary levels, will take you step by step through key ideas associated with the particle nature of matter. There will be lots of practical examples and opportunities to ask questions.
If you want to teach more science and don’t know where to start or you have a chemistry topic coming up that you want to refresh your knowledge on, this webinar is for you.
This session will be valuable for all teachers who want to teach science.
New Zealand (nationwide)
Contact: Andrea Soanes
(0800) 832 242 | <urn:uuid:b3cc2a4a-2515-49fc-980f-f60fcb834418> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | https://gazette.education.govt.nz/notices/1H9kX3-chemistry-made-simple-atoms/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578716619.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20190425094105-20190425120105-00463.warc.gz | en | 0.888739 | 187 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Halal means “the way“. It is a term designating any object or action that is permissible to use or engage in according to Islamic law.
Malaysia Halal Logo.
On 1st January 1997, in line with the country’s steadfast Islamic development and progress, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) was established by the Government of Malaysia as a coordinating body of halal certification in Malaysia and had introduced the standard Halal Malaysia logo, which is intended to answer the most frequently asked questions and misconception in regards to halal certification.
This logo carries the word halal in Arabic and the “Malaysia” is written in Roman. The main objective of this logo standardization is to abolish the use of fake certificates and any other halal logos, which are not certified by authorizing bodies.
The use of the halal logo has changed rapidly. It has become a necessity for producers in today’s consumer-driven market. We cannot separate halal from its source and origin. Only consumers who exercise their rights will choose halal product and services, which are assured from the aspects of safety and cleanliness, in line with the motto “Halal Malaysia, the Choice of Assurance”.
Malaysia Halal Certification.
Malaysia’s Halal certification is recognised worldwide among Muslim and Non-Muslim countries. It is of ISO compliant standard – MS1500: 2004 – Standard for the Production, Handling and Storage of Halal food, developed by the Department of Standard Malaysia. The standard complies with international standards such as Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Good Hygiene Practice (GHP).
Malaysia also has a balanced knowledge of both Islamic tenets and other areas including technological development and sciences, particularly food sciences, biochemistry and microbiology as well as in business management.
Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) has resumed the responsibility as the Halal Certification body effective from 1 August 2009.
Jakim also recognizes foreign halal certification bodies to ensure the halal status of imported products, including raw materials and additives.
Today, JAKIM had recognized 51 halal certification bodies from 25 nations. In fact, in 2010 alone, Jakim has received 13 new applications from foreign certification bodies.
Thailand Halal Logo.
Halal Food Market is regarded as the key target since it serves more than 1,800 million of Muslims consumers worldwide. With an aim to promote Halal food industry as the whole chain, the Thai government led by Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra, the Prime minister of Thailand has established various organizations such as the Islamic Bank of Thailand, the Institute for Halal Food Standard of Thailand, the Halal Science Center as well as the Halal Food Industrial Estate in Pattani province in order to empower Thailand’s competitiveness as one of the Halal Food Hub of the region.
Historically, Halal food affairs in Thailand have been undertaken for more than 50 years. The Central Islamic Committee of Thailand and The Provincial Islamic Committee are authorized to act as the principle bodies of Halal food certification.
In 2003, the organization was restructured towards establishing a special body as so called “ The Institute for Halal Food Standard of Thailand (Halal-Thai)” under supervision of the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand, this Institute works through the Executive Committee composed of Islamic scholars, high experienced professionals and experts in various fields with potential teamwork with doctorate, master and bachelor degree to create the best performance as to attain the Institute ‘s vision.
The Halal-Thai is a national agency engaged in standard development, screening, monitoring, verification and tracing of all Halal food to be in accordance with Islamic law (Shariah) as well as internationally accepted and reliable food standards (Codex, HACCP and GMP)
Regarding the promotion of Thailand as one of the leader in Halal food market, the Halal-Thai acts as a key player in developing the Thai Halal certification system to comply to Islamic law as well as to those internationally standards leading to the credibility and acceptance of both domestic and foreign consumers
With regard to personnel management, The Halal-Thai has performed human resource planning and developing schemes to adequately support the demand for certification grant throughout the country
Apart from the above-mentioned, the main duties of the Halal-Thai include tracing, investigating, verification, and monitoring of all food products and training throughout the country in order to harmonize the system based on compatible standard and meet the Halal food requirement and quality.
With commitment of all sectors to strengthen Thailand’s competitiveness, the Halal-Thai commits to the reliability and credibility in Halal food certification along with close collaboration with both diverse concerned private and public agencies particularly the Halal Science Center regarding as the first one of the world, founded at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, to work in the application of science and technology in food analysis and with full support from the government, it is ensured that Halal food system in Thailand will be gracefully stand on the world stage graining the trust and confidence in physical and spiritual safety for all Muslim and non-Muslim consumers all over the world.
For further related information, please visit;
1. About Thailand Halal Logo | http://www.himayah.net/v2/node/42
2. For Halal Standard Certification Process | http://www.acfs.go.th/halal/pdf/Halal%20Product.pdf
3. Department of Halal Affair | http://www.halal.or.th/en/main/index.php
4. The Halal Science Centre Chulalongkorn University | http://www.halalscience.org/en/main2011/content.php?page=sub&category=33&id=207
5. Regulation of the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand Regarding Halal Affair Operation of B.E. 2552 | http://www.foodsafety-lcfa.com/web/uploadfiles/pdf/Argiculture/Halal_regulation.pdf
Out there is a lot more of Halal references with different category of use and practice on the net. If you know something which wills benefits to other, post your comment here. | <urn:uuid:53ec76e9-1d05-4598-934f-b96b2e4be1f7> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | https://halalpacket.wordpress.com/about-halal/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267865181.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20180623190945-20180623210945-00524.warc.gz | en | 0.940672 | 1,308 | 2.515625 | 3 |
LOCATION: Romentino (NO)
IDEAS FOR A SQUARE AND AN UNDERGROUND PARKING CONTEST – FOURTH PLACE – ROMENTINO – NO (Italy)
Square [skwèr] n.
An open area formed at the place where two or more streets meet.
The dictionary’s definition for “square” describes the spatial conditions and highlights its architecture elements. Bonomi square in Romentino respects all the necessary (but not sufficient) conditions to be included in the category. What the definition is missing, as it is, is the interaction between humans and space, the use that is made of it and the role assigned by the community. A home with no inhabitants is just the mere sum of physical elements which is made of: four walls and a roof.
Seeing the new town hall as a starting point, Bonomi square acquires irregular borders that “touch” very different conditions. The choice was to keep the distance from the borders and to interpret the “respect verge” in a kind of decisive way. So, we decided to add a border, made of neutral materials, with no plot whatsoever. | <urn:uuid:8f7a8c83-c38b-4ab2-8a5a-d95e0d812678> | CC-MAIN-2020-24 | http://www.alessiorivarchitetto.it/work/romentino/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-24/segments/1590347410745.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20200531023023-20200531053023-00374.warc.gz | en | 0.945672 | 244 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Let your child get to know the composers even better with these hands-on activities.
This CD contains two lapbooks. One is to be used with Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells and the other with Joseph Haydn, The Merry Little Peasant. The projects include: Keyboard Family Cousins, the Vocabulary of Ludwig’s Music, Boating Down the Rhine, How to Judge Greatness, Papa Haydn’s Symphony Fun, St. Stephen’s Cathedral tour guide, Map Work flip cards, the Rules of Composition Analogy, and many other projects.
Use this hands-on activity CD to accompany your study of the composers. The CD includes directions for each project, all printable masters needed, and photos of the finished projects.
Add a comment and post it to your Facebook wall! | <urn:uuid:c9284395-787c-439e-9064-b0390473c08f> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | http://www.graceandtruthbooks.com/product/beethoven-haydn-lapbook-cd | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860122501.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161522-00210-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.889638 | 175 | 2.96875 | 3 |
It has been ten years since cryptographic currencies began to gain importance in the financial world and many countries are still a little uncertain about the future of this new form of transaction.
Bitcoin is located in a digital environment. It is an algorithm that records a chain of transactions in a peer-to-peer network and is itself decentralized. It all started in 2009, when Bitcoin was first released to the public. Since then, other types of cryptographic currencies have appeared such as Ethereum, Litecoin, BAT, NEO, etc. Bitcoin, being the first of the cryptographic currencies, is the most popular and most used. Ethereum is the second most popular cryptographic currency, which is also based on a modified version of the Bitcoin consensus mechanism.
Throughout the European Union, most developed countries have adopted or accepted cryptographic currencies. There are a few exceptions, such as France, which has stated that it does not have a clear definition of digital currency at this time. Countries such as Portugal have followed the example of their neighbors and have allowed the use of cryptographic currency, while pushing it further in the hope that it will be adopted by many. It is believed that the use of cryptographic currency is almost inevitable in all countries. However, with each new form of technology, adoption will be gradual, and more and more countries will gradually accept the new technology.
Individuals and companies that are not very fond of cryptographic currency will gradually be led to accept it because of the changing economic factors that are bound to occur. Many believe that the rapid growth of this new technology is a bit exaggerated and that the authorities are not ready to manage digital money. This is a radical change in business life, created by the spread of Internet-based solutions.
Adoption by businesses
The fact that this technology is only about ten years old, it is not yet developed enough or has not been exposed enough to simply be used by everyone. At the moment, very few people are using it. Performing a transaction using a cryptographic currency is as difficult as when it was first released to the public in 2009, and the security procedures are very complex. So, people who have just been introduced to this new technology have some difficulty using it in their daily transactions. The 2020s will be the time when this new technique will come to an end and reach a point where it will be similar to what we know today as the traditional financial system. Many believe that soon national cryptographic currencies will be developed, especially in more developed countries, and there is also hope that digital currency will also have some kind of regulation very soon. For developing countries, cryptographic currencies are seen as a way to support them also in different areas.
In the United States, a member of Congress has introduced the Cryptonics Act of 2020. One of the objectives of this law is to make it easier for American companies and citizens to participate in the inevitable growth of this industry. The bill will also provide some additional clarification regarding the use of digital currency. It also classifies these digital assets into three main categories: crypto-currency, crypto-currency and crypto-security. Beyond the additional clarifications it provides, it helps to redefine the entire crypto-currency landscape.
Other countries such as Malta, for example, are already ahead of the game with the adoption of cryptographic currency in enterprises since 2018 and are declaring themselves to be islands of chain blocks. This small country was the first to take part in more adventurous business initiatives, such as being the first EU country to regulate online gambling, thus becoming a major hub for casino companies in Europe. Since then, many online casino platforms have been licensed. Having an open approach to new technologies, the crypto competitive aspect has attracted a large number of entrepreneurs to the country.
The security of the cryptographic currency
In order for an organization to accept cryptographic currency, it needs a digital wallet in which private and public keys are stored. These are unique identifiers that are used to mark the owner of the tokens. These wallets allow users and businesses to hold digital currency and participate in the trend landscape using these digital funds. The wallets themselves are designed to be compatible with a particular type of cryptographic currency, primarily Bitcoin, but some allow the user to store multiple types of cryptographic currency.
Some have seen the potential problems associated with monetary cryptography and blockchain technology. Many believe that the use of blockchain is the safest way to conduct transactions. Every transaction made must be verified. After being approved, it is then added to the blockchain. The problem occurs when the chain becomes too large and the computing power needed to validate new transactions becomes more and more important. The security of the blockchain is based on encryption. Each portfolio has a unique key or “hash” that is mathematically generated, each one being different from the other. But as with any technology, weaknesses still exist.
Don’t be late for cryptocurrency for your business. Our experienced team can help improve your business with cryptocurrencies. Contact us today. | <urn:uuid:acdafaa8-d51e-4b69-b4c1-1f6723d3452f> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://content.enkronos.com/a-crypto-renaissance-in-the-2021s/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446711111.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20221206161009-20221206191009-00102.warc.gz | en | 0.968707 | 999 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Welcome to Learning Ally’s blog. You've come to the right place if you are an innovative teacher who wants to transform more struggling readers into grade-level achievers.
February 24, 2020 by Julie Heaton
Last October, middle school English teacher, Cathy Hatcher, decided to do things differently in her classes. She gave up some instruction time so her middle schoolers would have more time to read independently; then, she challenged them to read for thirty-three days. Her students' reading scores tripled. Their reading habits improved. Students could more easily recognize their own reading interests, and as importantly, they felt really good about their reading progress.
“Giving up precious instruction time is a decision that teachers do not take lightly,” shares Ms. Hatcher. “Yet, the value of giving up my time, increased my students’ love of reading, as well as their self-esteem.”
Cathy Hatcher is a seasoned teacher in secondary and higher education. For the last three years, she has worked with 7th and 8th English Language Learners at Folsom Middle School, Folsom-Cordova USD in California.
For her students with reading deficits, like those with dyslexia, and with IEPs requiring a reading accommodation, Hatcher chose access to the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution. “I wanted to test the theory that if students read for 20 minutes a day for 33 days, they would improve their reading habits and it worked!” Her students experienced considerable growth.
Students began to see a pay-off from reading human-read audiobooks. Their fluency skills improved. Upon taking the standard iReady diagnostic exam, Hatchers’ students’ reading scores tripled thanks to the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution. Students were reading one and a half grade levels above their baseline. Hatcher knew she was on to something big! "We were completely overwhelmed with their reading progress," said the teacher.
Hatcher also saw positive changes in her students’ learning confidence and self-worth. “They were excited about reading on grade-level. They read daily and on weekends. They read audiobooks of interest and understood what they read. They felt accomplished."
Hatcher affirms that middle school is a critical time for students to have positive feelings about themselves as learners. “At this age, children are still eager to please their teacher and explore new ideas,” she shares. “They aren’t shutting down, like many older students who struggle to read. They liked the autonomy of selecting books on their own. They liked the trust we had in them to access the Learning Ally digital library of more than 80,000 human-read audiobooks 24/7, 365 days a year.”
One of Hatcher’s students, an 8th grader, who decoded words on a 3rd grade level, became completely absorbed in the Raider’s Night, by Lipsyte Robert through the human-narrated audiobook. This book is fairly large and listed at a 9th grade reading level. Hatcher said, “It would have stalled a struggling reader. When he saw how thick the book was in print, he became so impressed with himself. He never would have read that book on his own.”
For class instruction, Hatcher downloads core textbooks and novels from Learning Ally. She encourages students to browse the audiobook library for additional reading assignments and titles that interest them.
In addition to students reading independently, they listen to a selected audiobook for whole class discussions. Students recently read Kwame Alexander’s novel, The Crossover. “It was a big hit!” adds Hatcher. “They really related to this book. They enjoyed the figurative language. We analyzed the characters and looked at the poetic nature of Kwame’s writing style. They loved the reading assignment.”
Hatcher’s students also participate in Learning Ally’s Great Reading Games, an annual 7-week national reading challenge. Her class won 4th place in the nation.
Hatcher says her students no longer use delay tactics to avoid reading. They put on their headphones, press play on their devices, and are quickly absorbed in an audiobook. “They aren’t hung up on trying to decode words that slow their comprehension,” she says. “Their cognitive skills are more intact because their frustration to read is minimized.”
Folsom School District is in the early stages of developing equity training to ensure that every student receives the right kind of support, like the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution, to address their unique needs, and Cathy is leading the charge. “We want all students to believe that they will learn English and pass the ELPAC exam,” she says. “It starts in believing in yourself. Adding independent reading time into my class schedule was a win/win. It enabled my students to improve their reading habits and their learning confidence. Learning Ally’s prescribed formula of reading for 20 minutes a day for 33 days was successful. No teacher will say “no” to this kind of reading progress.”
Note: Since writing this article, the Principal of Folsom Middle School has moved to the elementary campus, Navigator Elementary, a Title I School. After seeing the reading success of Hatcher’s middle schoolers, he implemented the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution so that younger students with reading deficits would have the earliest opportunity to access human-read audiobooks and improve their chances for academic success.
The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution is a multi-sensory reading accommodation that levels the playing field for students who struggle to read due to a reading deficit, providing them the opportunity achieve in school and in life. Gaining access to the books they want to read—and the books they need to read—in an easy-to-absorb format can be a game changer. Sign up for a demo or get more information today to experience the satisfaction of seeing students who have never before experienced reading success blossom, with improved grades, higher test scores and increased confidence and self-esteem.
Categories: Audiobook Library, Books, Authors, & Movies, Education & Teaching, Educators, In the news, Reading Strategies for K-12
February 20, 2020 by Julie Heaton
PRINCETON, NJ, February 12, 2020 – Learning Ally, a leading nonprofit education solutions organization that transforms the lives of new and struggling learners through proven literacy solutions, is pleased to announce that they are giving students the opportunity to meet best-selling children’s author, Dan Gutman as part of their on-going “Meet the Author” webinar series on February 27 at 1:00 PM EST.
Mr. Gutman is the author of more than 160 books for kids from kindergarten through middle school, including the wildly popular "My Weird School" series for beginning readers, the long-running “Baseball Card Adventures” series, and the New York Times Best-Selling “The Genius Files” series. His webinar, “There’s Nothing Weird about Reading,” will include an opportunity to ask questions, and is guaranteed to be a hit with students of all ages.
“We’re so excited to have Dan as part of our Meet the Author webinar series,” says Learning Ally Vice President of Educator Initiatives, Terrie Noland. “Dan has made it his goal as a writer to inspire reluctant readers to love reading, which aligns with our goal to help educators with effective programs and solutions that help struggling readers to succeed.”
Dan himself says that he hated reading as a kid, so he tries to make reading his books feel effortless. He says, “I'm trying to write stories that are so captivating that kids will look up after an hour and feel like they'd been watching a movie in their head."
Dan has even prepared a message about his upcoming webinar.
The event coincides with Learning Ally’s Great Reading Games, a nationwide reading competition that motivates struggling readers to read twice as much, three times as often. The games provide a great opportunity for teachers to excite and motivate struggling readers in a way where students can feel confident and engaged in reading.
Terrie Noland says of the event, “the Great Reading Games celebrates students’ reading achievements; even students who struggle to read have a chance to win awards.”
It comes just as the games are finishing and are the perfect way for schools to celebrate the students who just completed a marathon of reading success while bringing awareness to dyslexia and other reading struggles, across their entire school.
Register today for the free webinar: "There's Nothing Weird About Reading" with Dan Gutman on February 27th at 1:00PM EST
Learning Ally is a leading nonprofit education organization dedicated to equipping educators with proven solutions that help new and struggling learners reach their potential. Our range of literacy-focused offerings for students Pre-K to 12th grade and catalog of professional learning allow us to support more than 99,000 educators across the US. The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution is our cornerstone award-winning reading accommodation used in more than 17.500 schools to help students with reading deficits succeed. Composed of high quality, human-read audiobooks and a suite of teacher resources to monitor and support student progress, it is designed to turn struggling readers into engaged learners. For more information, visit www.LearningAlly.org.
Categories: Activities, Books, Authors, & Movies, In the news, Press Releases
February 18, 2020 by Julie Heaton
At a private school in Greenville, South Carolina, imagine having 157 students who feel the struggle of their reading deficit, every-single-day. Not only do they struggle with reading, but they face the reality that the public school setting did not work for them. As a result, there are 157 students who face the inevitable drop in confidence after leaving their classmates who could learn, “the normal way”. At Camperdown Academy, the need for specialized educational services for students with dyslexia is greater than what they can serve, harkening further to the increasing need for some sort of intervention across schools in Greenville in order to level the playing field in equitable access.
Meet Leslie Davis, a reading tutor at Camperdown, and true fan of the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution. Davis's daughter struggled with reading and used Learning Ally's audiobooks throughout high school and even in college. "Learning Ally became an invaluable tool for my daughter, and I knew it would help others as well," she said.
Davis used Learning Ally with her reading intervention class on an individualized basis for each student. The human-read audiobooks gave students access to grade-level content. More importantly, it "gave her struggling readers access to what their friends were reading." For many of these students, the missed opportunity to enjoy good stories and share those experiences with their friends made them feel defeated.
"Learning Ally gave students an opportunity to those who wouldn't read on their own." But Learning Ally changed this entirely as Davis also had students participate in the program's reading contests which empowered them to become independent readers and keep up with their peers.
Student Spotlight: Seth, like most of his classmates at Camperdown Academy, struggled with reading, and also had no motivation to try. With the integration of Learning Ally into his tutoring sessions with Davis, he was so motivated he participated in the reading contests and consumed far more books than he had before. As a result, Davis said, “it transformed him into a happier, more confident student.”
Learning Ally gives students “equitable access to be like their peers, so they do not have a sense of being all alone”. That is why Davis expressed that the parents of these students choose to continue their subscription beyond the school walls--because they see the academic and social-emotional impact that Learning Ally has on reading development. Furthermore, it is the confidence students gain when using Learning Ally, their ability to now enjoy the same positive experience as their peers, but also perform at an improved capacity in reading that allows them to reach their literacy potential.
Categories: Education & Teaching, General, In the news, Reading Strategies for K-12
February 10, 2020 by Julie Heaton
Blog Author: Terrie Noland
You were that kid. The full package. Your teachers always gave you rave reviews. Your parents never felt the need to really “worry about you” when it came to school. The awards came in year after year---spelling bee winner, top math student, best invention, top attendance, spirit award, and not to mention a recognized athlete. Or singer, dancer, actor. Maybe all of them because you knew how “natural” school and extracurriculars were for you and you felt like a superstar. You were the profile student. If anything, you created the mold from which all other students should fit in.
Then you went on to college and still held those accolades within the palm of your hand. It never left, you were motivated, you loved school. The envy of the crowd; the envy of the parents who struggle with their children, of your peers who need help, but couldn’t get it. You knew you would be an amazing teacher someday because you were the smartest, most recognized student your entire life. One would never expect that someday, despite all of the recognition and success, you would learn that all of this was not what mattered after all.
You leave your own bubble of academic success and go out into the world with so much enthusiasm to change the world one student at a time. You fit the profile of a prepared teacher. Except you realize that you are not.
You start to work with students. Their academic needs and beliefs about themselves defy your preconceptions of what you thought you could do to engage, motivate and teach. You look around and see the child with their head down, the child that is acting out, and the child who throws the book to the ground in frustration, or the child that just doesn’t get reading. How can this be? School came so easy for you. You’re an awesome teacher, why aren’t these kids engaged? What happens is that these realizations cause you to feel a sense of despair.
It’s then that you find yourself on a mission - a mission to learn more, a mission to understand the why behind what is going on for your students and a mission to never let any student feel defeated in school. Learning is no longer one ideal profile, but several ones that have just as much potential than those learners who just don’t need help. The experience changes the way you prioritize the accolades. Instead, you prioritize equity. Equity for allowing others to reach their potential, no matter what their needs are, just like you did.
This mission takes you on a journey of discovery and growth and you become immersed in understanding the science of reading because being able to read is the foundation of learning. You become a trained professional in how to teach an evidence based structured literacy program and you see so much growth and progress for your students. However, another feeling starts to creep in. Your despair has now turned to guilt. Guilt of knowing that your first year students didn’t get the best you. Guilt of knowing that you could have impacted students if you would have just been taught properly from the get go. Guilt of knowing that you failed your students.
The end of the story doesn’t stop there, your growth and transformation continues. Hope begins to peek into your teacher heart and spirit. A hope that says, now that I know better, I want to light a flame of understanding and enthusiasm in other teachers, I want to do better. A hope that says your students are getting the best you. A hope that says when students are learning at your feet, they will build a foundation of reading that is their launching pad for a successful academic career and a purposeful life. A hope that says, continue to learn, continue to grow and continue to provide every student with equity in reaching their full potential.
"I remember teaching my Pre-K kids how to trace letters without attaching any sounds to those letters. We did tracing papers and that was IT! Now that I know better, I want to do better and I want other teachers to learn from my mistakes. I have figured out my own personal growth plan and strive to do better every day. #KnowBetterDoBetter" - Terrie Noland, C.A.L.P. - Vice President, Educator Leadership and Learning
Are you on a journey of knowing better in order to do better? What transformational experience changed the way you look at learning? Tag us on Twitter and Facebook and use the hashtag #KnowBetterDoBetter and share your story! Or email us at email@example.com.
Categories: Education & Teaching, Educators, General, In the news, Reading Strategies for K-12, Teacher Best Practices, Webinars
February 3, 2020 by Julie Heaton
Blog Author: Kate Stewart
Our featured edwebinar speaker on December 3rd, Dr. Evan Ortlieb, believes there is a book for everyone… every learner… we just have to hook them. And his talk, Fulfilling Students' Potential Through Engaging Literacy Practices, will help you do just that with practical, hands-on teaching strategies that you can implement right away in your classes. As a leading researcher in this area, Dr. Ortlieb’s focus is on re-engaging learners and motivating them towards reading and writing fluency. He highlighted the erosion of engagement from 1st grade through 6th grade for multiple reasons, including the move from picture books to chapter books as students age. However, as Dr. Ortlieb explains, all is not lost when students see literacy as a means to learning, communicating, and interacting with peers.
This is an instrumental interview to watch as Dr. Ortlieb provides practical solutions based on his own teaching experience and research. His Attraction Theory, which is a model to engage learners, could be put to use in a classroom right away. Our favorite example of a reading engagement strategy was the use of “jolts.” Implementing a jolt targets an emotional response in the learner and challenges his or her existing knowledge on a topic. Take the mudskipper that Dr. Ortlieb spoke on, which is an amphibious fish that walks, eats, and courts on land. You could envision the students’ surprise while reading about the mudskipper and learning that a fish could survive out of the water! The goal is to “jolt” the students into wanting to learn more and to be inquisitive since research shows inquisitiveness relates to high proficiency learning. Another strategy presented and discussed was the Ortlieb Experiential Survey to better tailor lessons to your specific classroom demographic. What we loved most about this talk is how educators will walk away with numerous new teaching methods to try with their own students.
Dr. Ortlieb also spoke about how to use the in-between spaces outside of the classroom and other modalities, such as video and Learning Ally’s human read audiobooks, to keep students engaged: “Multimodal spaces are the easiest way to encourage jolts. Learning Ally has an incredible database for audiobooks… The in between spaces are an opportunity, not just when you are at school or you’re home, but in between those spaces, I think, should be built upon and opportunized as possible learning opportunities.” The Templeton Twins, by Ellis Weiner, is brought to life by Learning Ally’s audiobook solution. It is a perfect example of a “jolt” story, which when paired with the human read audiobook experience, will keep struggling readers engaged in the material. Listen to a short clip here.
To watch the full webinar for more ways to re-engage your students in reading, please click here.
Dr. Evan Ortlieb is a Professor and Director of the Manhattan Campus in the School of Education at St. John’s University in New York City. He also coordinates the PhD in Literacy program. He is an internationally recognized leader in the field of literacy education with previous work experience in the multicultural milieus of Australia and Singapore and whose expertise centers on empowering disenfranchised readers and writers, preparing literacy teachers, and differentiating literacy instruction for native and non-native English speakers. He has published over 130 manuscripts that substantiate some of his contributions to the field.
Take part in the dynamic network of educators working toward a common goal and national movement to ensure equitable access for all students.
Learning Ally's edWebinar series offers continuing CE certificates in support of educators in K12 who serve students with reading deficits and print disabilities.
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- Tune to cpu-type everything applicable about the generated code, except
for the ABI and the set of available instructions. The choices for
- Produce code optimized for the most common IA32/AMD64/EM64T processors.
If you know the CPU on which your code will run, then you should use
the corresponding -mtune option instead of
-mtune=generic. But, if you do not know exactly what CPU users
of your application will have, then you should use this option.
As new processors are deployed in the marketplace, the behavior of this
option will change. Therefore, if you upgrade to a newer version of
GCC, the code generated option will change to reflect the processors
that were most common when that version of GCC was released.
There is no -march=generic option because -march
indicates the instruction set the compiler can use, and there is no
generic instruction set applicable to all processors. In contrast,
-mtune indicates the processor (or, in this case, collection of
processors) for which the code is optimized.
- This selects the CPU to tune for at compilation time by determining
the processor type of the compiling machine. Using -mtune=native
will produce code optimized for the local machine under the constraints
of the selected instruction set. Using -march=native will
enable all instruction subsets supported by the local machine (hence
the result might not run on different machines).
- Original Intel's i386 CPU.
- Intel's i486 CPU. (No scheduling is implemented for this chip.)
- i586, pentium
- Intel Pentium CPU with no MMX support.
- Intel PentiumMMX CPU based on Pentium core with MMX instruction set support.
- Intel PentiumPro CPU.
- Same as
generic, but when used as
march option, PentiumPro
instruction set will be used, so the code will run on all i686 family chips.
- Intel Pentium2 CPU based on PentiumPro core with MMX instruction set support.
- pentium3, pentium3m
- Intel Pentium3 CPU based on PentiumPro core with MMX and SSE instruction set
- Low power version of Intel Pentium3 CPU with MMX, SSE and SSE2 instruction set
support. Used by Centrino notebooks.
- pentium4, pentium4m
- Intel Pentium4 CPU with MMX, SSE and SSE2 instruction set support.
- Improved version of Intel Pentium4 CPU with MMX, SSE, SSE2 and SSE3 instruction
- Improved version of Intel Pentium4 CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE,
SSE2 and SSE3 instruction set support.
- Intel Core2 CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and SSSE3
instruction set support.
- Intel Core i7 CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1
and SSE4.2 instruction set support.
- Intel Core i7 CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3,
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AES and PCLMUL instruction set support.
- Intel Core CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3,
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AES, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND and F16C instruction
- Intel Atom CPU with 64-bit extensions, MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and SSSE3
instruction set support.
- AMD K6 CPU with MMX instruction set support.
- k6-2, k6-3
- Improved versions of AMD K6 CPU with MMX and 3DNow! instruction set support.
- athlon, athlon-tbird
- AMD Athlon CPU with MMX, 3dNOW!, enhanced 3DNow! and SSE prefetch instructions
- athlon-4, athlon-xp, athlon-mp
- Improved AMD Athlon CPU with MMX, 3DNow!, enhanced 3DNow! and full SSE
instruction set support.
- k8, opteron, athlon64, athlon-fx
- AMD K8 core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set support. (This supersets
MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3DNow!, enhanced 3DNow! and 64-bit instruction set extensions.)
- k8-sse3, opteron-sse3, athlon64-sse3
- Improved versions of k8, opteron and athlon64 with SSE3 instruction set support.
- amdfam10, barcelona
- AMD Family 10h core based CPUs with x86-64 instruction set support. (This
supersets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A, 3DNow!, enhanced 3DNow!, ABM and 64-bit
instruction set extensions.)
- IDT Winchip C6 CPU, dealt in same way as i486 with additional MMX instruction
- IDT Winchip2 CPU, dealt in same way as i486 with additional MMX and 3DNow!
instruction set support.
- Via C3 CPU with MMX and 3DNow! instruction set support. (No scheduling is
implemented for this chip.)
- Via C3-2 CPU with MMX and SSE instruction set support. (No scheduling is
implemented for this chip.)
- Embedded AMD CPU with MMX and 3DNow! instruction set support.
While picking a specific cpu-type will schedule things appropriately
for that particular chip, the compiler will not generate any code that
does not run on the i386 without the -march=cpu-type option
- Generate instructions for the machine type cpu-type. The choices
for cpu-type are the same as for -mtune. Moreover,
specifying -march=cpu-type implies -mtune=cpu-type.
- A deprecated synonym for -mtune.
- Generate floating point arithmetics for selected unit unit. The choices
for unit are:
- Use the standard 387 floating point coprocessor present majority of chips and
emulated otherwise. Code compiled with this option will run almost everywhere.
The temporary results are computed in 80bit precision instead of precision
specified by the type resulting in slightly different results compared to most
of other chips. See -ffloat-store for more detailed description.
This is the default choice for i386 compiler.
- Use scalar floating point instructions present in the SSE instruction set.
This instruction set is supported by Pentium3 and newer chips, in the AMD line
by Athlon-4, Athlon-xp and Athlon-mp chips. The earlier version of SSE
instruction set supports only single precision arithmetics, thus the double and
extended precision arithmetics is still done using 387. Later version, present
only in Pentium4 and the future AMD x86-64 chips supports double precision
For the i386 compiler, you need to use -march=cpu-type, -msse
or -msse2 switches to enable SSE extensions and make this option
effective. For the x86-64 compiler, these extensions are enabled by default.
The resulting code should be considerably faster in the majority of cases and avoid
the numerical instability problems of 387 code, but may break some existing
code that expects temporaries to be 80bit.
This is the default choice for the x86-64 compiler.
- Attempt to utilize both instruction sets at once. This effectively double the
amount of available registers and on chips with separate execution units for
387 and SSE the execution resources too. Use this option with care, as it is
still experimental, because the GCC register allocator does not model separate
functional units well resulting in instable performance.
- Output asm instructions using selected dialect. Supported
choices are `intel' or `att' (the default one). Darwin does
not support `intel'.
- Control whether or not the compiler uses IEEE floating point
comparisons. These handle correctly the case where the result of a
comparison is unordered.
- Generate output containing library calls for floating point.
Warning: the requisite libraries are not part of GCC.
Normally the facilities of the machine's usual C compiler are used, but
this can't be done directly in cross-compilation. You must make your
own arrangements to provide suitable library functions for
On machines where a function returns floating point results in the 80387
register stack, some floating point opcodes may be emitted even if
-msoft-float is used.
- Do not use the FPU registers for return values of functions.
The usual calling convention has functions return values of types
double in an FPU register, even if there
is no FPU. The idea is that the operating system should emulate
The option -mno-fp-ret-in-387 causes such values to be returned
in ordinary CPU registers instead.
- Some 387 emulators do not support the
sqrt instructions for the 387. Specify this option to avoid
generating those instructions. This option is the default on FreeBSD,
OpenBSD and NetBSD. This option is overridden when -march
indicates that the target CPU will always have an FPU and so the
instruction will not need emulation. As of revision 2.6.1, these
instructions are not generated unless you also use the
- Control whether GCC aligns
long double, and
long long variables on a two word boundary or a one word
double variables on a two word boundary will
produce code that runs somewhat faster on a `Pentium' at the
expense of more memory.
On x86-64, -malign-double is enabled by default.
Warning: if you use the -malign-double switch,
structures containing the above types will be aligned differently than
the published application binary interface specifications for the 386
and will not be binary compatible with structures in code compiled
without that switch.
- These switches control the size of
long double type. The i386
application binary interface specifies the size to be 96 bits,
so -m96bit-long-double is the default in 32 bit mode.
Modern architectures (Pentium and newer) would prefer
to be aligned to an 8 or 16 byte boundary. In arrays or structures
conforming to the ABI, this would not be possible. So specifying a
-m128bit-long-double will align
to a 16 byte boundary by padding the
long double with an additional
32 bit zero.
In the x86-64 compiler, -m128bit-long-double is the default choice as
its ABI specifies that
long double is to be aligned on 16 byte boundary.
Notice that neither of these options enable any extra precision over the x87
standard of 80 bits for a
Warning: if you override the default value for your target ABI, the
structures and arrays containing
long double variables will change
their size as well as function calling convention for function taking
long double will be modified. Hence they will not be binary
compatible with arrays or structures in code compiled without that switch.
- When -mcmodel=medium is specified, the data greater than
threshold are placed in large data section. This value must be the
same across all object linked into the binary and defaults to 65535.
- Use a different function-calling convention, in which functions that
take a fixed number of arguments return with the
instruction, which pops their arguments while returning. This saves one
instruction in the caller since there is no need to pop the arguments
You can specify that an individual function is called with this calling
sequence with the function attribute `stdcall'. You can also
override the -mrtd option by using the function attribute
`cdecl'. See Function Attributes.
Warning: this calling convention is incompatible with the one
normally used on Unix, so you cannot use it if you need to call
libraries compiled with the Unix compiler.
Also, you must provide function prototypes for all functions that
take variable numbers of arguments (including
otherwise incorrect code will be generated for calls to those
In addition, seriously incorrect code will result if you call a
function with too many arguments. (Normally, extra arguments are
- Control how many registers are used to pass integer arguments. By
default, no registers are used to pass arguments, and at most 3
registers can be used. You can control this behavior for a specific
function by using the function attribute `regparm'.
See Function Attributes.
Warning: if you use this switch, and
num is nonzero, then you must build all modules with the same
value, including any libraries. This includes the system libraries and
- Use SSE register passing conventions for float and double arguments
and return values. You can control this behavior for a specific
function by using the function attribute `sseregparm'.
See Function Attributes.
Warning: if you use this switch then you must build all
modules with the same value, including any libraries. This includes
the system libraries and startup modules.
- Return 8-byte vectors in memory instead of MMX registers. This is the
default on Solaris 8 and 9 and VxWorks to match the ABI of the Sun
Studio compilers until version 12. Later compiler versions (starting
with Studio 12 Update 1) follow the ABI used by other x86 targets, which
is the default on Solaris 10 and later. Only use this option if
you need to remain compatible with existing code produced by those
previous compiler versions or older versions of GCC.
Set 80387 floating-point precision to 32, 64 or 80 bits. When -mpc32
is specified, the significands of results of floating-point operations are
rounded to 24 bits (single precision); -mpc64 rounds the
significands of results of floating-point operations to 53 bits (double
precision) and -mpc80 rounds the significands of results of
floating-point operations to 64 bits (extended double precision), which is
the default. When this option is used, floating-point operations in higher
precisions are not available to the programmer without setting the FPU
control word explicitly.
Setting the rounding of floating-point operations to less than the default
80 bits can speed some programs by 2% or more. Note that some mathematical
libraries assume that extended precision (80 bit) floating-point operations
are enabled by default; routines in such libraries could suffer significant
loss of accuracy, typically through so-called "catastrophic cancellation",
when this option is used to set the precision to less than extended precision.
- Realign the stack at entry. On the Intel x86, the -mstackrealign
option will generate an alternate prologue and epilogue that realigns the
runtime stack if necessary. This supports mixing legacy codes that keep
a 4-byte aligned stack with modern codes that keep a 16-byte stack for
SSE compatibility. See also the attribute
applicable to individual functions.
- Attempt to keep the stack boundary aligned to a 2 raised to num
byte boundary. If -mpreferred-stack-boundary is not specified,
the default is 4 (16 bytes or 128 bits).
- Assume the incoming stack is aligned to a 2 raised to num byte
boundary. If -mincoming-stack-boundary is not specified,
the one specified by -mpreferred-stack-boundary will be used.
On Pentium and PentiumPro,
long double values
should be aligned to an 8 byte boundary (see -malign-double) or
suffer significant run time performance penalties. On Pentium III, the
Streaming SIMD Extension (SSE) data type
__m128 may not work
properly if it is not 16 byte aligned.
To ensure proper alignment of this values on the stack, the stack boundary
must be as aligned as that required by any value stored on the stack.
Further, every function must be generated such that it keeps the stack
aligned. Thus calling a function compiled with a higher preferred
stack boundary from a function compiled with a lower preferred stack
boundary will most likely misalign the stack. It is recommended that
libraries that use callbacks always use the default setting.
This extra alignment does consume extra stack space, and generally
increases code size. Code that is sensitive to stack space usage, such
as embedded systems and operating system kernels, may want to reduce the
preferred alignment to -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2.
- These switches enable or disable the use of instructions in the MMX,
SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, AVX, AES, PCLMUL, FSGSBASE, RDRND,
F16C, SSE4A, FMA4, XOP, LWP, ABM, BMI, or 3DNow! extended instruction sets.
These extensions are also available as built-in functions: see
X86 Built-in Functions, for details of the functions enabled and
disabled by these switches.
To have SSE/SSE2 instructions generated automatically from floating-point
code (as opposed to 387 instructions), see -mfpmath=sse.
GCC depresses SSEx instructions when -mavx is used. Instead, it
generates new AVX instructions or AVX equivalence for all SSEx instructions
These options will enable GCC to use these extended instructions in
generated code, even without -mfpmath=sse. Applications which
perform runtime CPU detection must compile separate files for each
supported architecture, using the appropriate flags. In particular,
the file containing the CPU detection code should be compiled without
- Do (don't) generate code that uses the fused multiply/add or multiply/subtract
instructions. The default is to use these instructions.
- This option instructs GCC to emit a
cld instruction in the prologue
of functions that use string instructions. String instructions depend on
the DF flag to select between autoincrement or autodecrement mode. While the
ABI specifies the DF flag to be cleared on function entry, some operating
systems violate this specification by not clearing the DF flag in their
exception dispatchers. The exception handler can be invoked with the DF flag
set which leads to wrong direction mode, when string instructions are used.
This option can be enabled by default on 32-bit x86 targets by configuring
GCC with the --enable-cld configure option. Generation of
instructions can be suppressed with the -mno-cld compiler option
in this case.
- This option instructs GCC to emit a
before a transfer of control flow out of the function to minimize
AVX to SSE transition penalty as well as remove unnecessary zeroupper
- This option will enable GCC to use CMPXCHG16B instruction in generated code.
CMPXCHG16B allows for atomic operations on 128-bit double quadword (or oword)
data types. This is useful for high resolution counters that could be updated
by multiple processors (or cores). This instruction is generated as part of
atomic built-in functions: see Atomic Builtins for details.
- This option will enable GCC to use SAHF instruction in generated 64-bit code.
Early Intel CPUs with Intel 64 lacked LAHF and SAHF instructions supported
by AMD64 until introduction of Pentium 4 G1 step in December 2005. LAHF and
SAHF are load and store instructions, respectively, for certain status flags.
In 64-bit mode, SAHF instruction is used to optimize
remainder built-in functions: see Other Builtins for details.
- This option will enable GCC to use movbe instruction to implement
- This option will enable built-in functions,
__builtin_ia32_crc32di to generate the crc32 machine instruction.
- This option will enable GCC to use RCPSS and RSQRTSS instructions (and their
vectorized variants RCPPS and RSQRTPS) with an additional Newton-Raphson step
to increase precision instead of DIVSS and SQRTSS (and their vectorized
variants) for single precision floating point arguments. These instructions
are generated only when -funsafe-math-optimizations is enabled
together with -finite-math-only and -fno-trapping-math.
Note that while the throughput of the sequence is higher than the throughput
of the non-reciprocal instruction, the precision of the sequence can be
decreased by up to 2 ulp (i.e. the inverse of 1.0 equals 0.99999994).
Note that GCC implements 1.0f/sqrtf(x) in terms of RSQRTSS (or RSQRTPS)
already with -ffast-math (or the above option combination), and
doesn't need -mrecip.
- Specifies the ABI type to use for vectorizing intrinsics using an
external library. Supported types are
svml for the Intel short
vector math library and
acml for the AMD math core library style
of interfacing. GCC will currently emit calls to
vmlsAcos4 for corresponding
function type when -mveclibabi=svml is used and
__vrs4_powf for corresponding function type
when -mveclibabi=acml is used. Both -ftree-vectorize and
-funsafe-math-optimizations have to be enabled. A SVML or ACML ABI
compatible library will have to be specified at link time.
- Generate code for the specified calling convention. Permissible values
are: `sysv' for the ABI used on GNU/Linux and other systems and
`ms' for the Microsoft ABI. The default is to use the Microsoft
ABI when targeting Windows. On all other systems, the default is the
SYSV ABI. You can control this behavior for a specific function by
using the function attribute `ms_abi'/`sysv_abi'.
See Function Attributes.
- Use PUSH operations to store outgoing parameters. This method is shorter
and usually equally fast as method using SUB/MOV operations and is enabled
by default. In some cases disabling it may improve performance because of
improved scheduling and reduced dependencies.
- If enabled, the maximum amount of space required for outgoing arguments will be
computed in the function prologue. This is faster on most modern CPUs
because of reduced dependencies, improved scheduling and reduced stack usage
when preferred stack boundary is not equal to 2. The drawback is a notable
increase in code size. This switch implies -mno-push-args.
- Support thread-safe exception handling on `Mingw32'. Code that relies
on thread-safe exception handling must compile and link all code with the
-mthreads option. When compiling, -mthreads defines
-D_MT; when linking, it links in a special thread helper library
-lmingwthrd which cleans up per thread exception handling data.
- Do not align destination of inlined string operations. This switch reduces
code size and improves performance in case the destination is already aligned,
but GCC doesn't know about it.
- By default GCC inlines string operations only when destination is known to be
aligned at least to 4 byte boundary. This enables more inlining, increase code
size, but may improve performance of code that depends on fast memcpy, strlen
and memset for short lengths.
- For string operation of unknown size, inline runtime checks so for small
blocks inline code is used, while for large blocks library call is used.
- Overwrite internal decision heuristic about particular algorithm to inline
string operation with. The allowed values are
rep_8byte for expanding using i386
of specified size,
expanding inline loop,
libcall for always expanding library call.
- Don't keep the frame pointer in a register for leaf functions. This
avoids the instructions to save, set up and restore frame pointers and
makes an extra register available in leaf functions. The option
-fomit-frame-pointer removes the frame pointer for all functions
which might make debugging harder.
- Controls whether TLS variables may be accessed with offsets from the
TLS segment register (
%gs for 32-bit,
%fs for 64-bit),
or whether the thread base pointer must be added. Whether or not this
is legal depends on the operating system, and whether it maps the
segment to cover the entire TLS area.
For systems that use GNU libc, the default is on.
- Specify that the assembler should encode SSE instructions with VEX
prefix. The option -mavx turns this on by default.
- If profiling is active -pg put the profiling
counter call before prologue.
Note: On x86 architectures the attribute
isn't possible at the moment for -mfentry and -pg.
- On some processors, like Intel Atom, 8bit unsigned integer divide is
much faster than 32bit/64bit integer divide. This option will generate a
runt-time check. If both dividend and divisor are within range of 0
to 255, 8bit unsigned integer divide will be used instead of
32bit/64bit integer divide.
- Split 32-byte AVX unaligned load and store. | <urn:uuid:d4b6adf7-1474-429c-b288-cce652321dd3> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-4.6.3/gcc/i386-and-x86_002d64-Options.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296949701.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20230401032604-20230401062604-00110.warc.gz | en | 0.75139 | 7,110 | 2.53125 | 3 |
- BUENOS AIRES
- NORTHERN BOHEMIA
- LAS PALMAS
- DEN HAAG
© 1993-2012 Frank Derville
At the end of last century, Barcelona was quaked by anarchism together with catalan nationalism. It was an area of quick industrial development and the artistic world was not forgotten. The catalan modernism movement aimed to gather every artistic skill and wanted to get out of the steady and leisurely historicism like other european Art Nouveau movements. It starts from the 1880 wiyh the painter Ramon Casas and the theoriser Cirici Pellicer.
L'Eixample: This famous part of Barcelone gathers more than 150 modernist buildings including the Sagrada Familia.
Famous Architects: Gaudi, Domenech i Montaner, Jujol, Puig y Cadafalch
World fairs in 1888 and 1929.
Tarragona, Sant Saturni d'Anoia, Reus, Palma de Mayorca have also some modernist buildings.
More specific links about Barcelona, Melilla can be found in the dedicated sections.
|The Art-Nouveau-round-the-world server is dedicated to promote a better knowledge of the Art Nouveau period (1890-1914)| | <urn:uuid:aa6896bc-e8cb-4deb-a53e-40a5685e3e39> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | http://artnouveau.pagesperso-orange.fr/en/pays/spain.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578527865.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20190419161226-20190419183226-00428.warc.gz | en | 0.676219 | 279 | 2.671875 | 3 |
What are Heart Murmurs?
A murmur is an extra sound that your doctor hears while examining your child’s heart. The sound is produced by the movement of blood through the valves and chambers in your heart. Murmurs are graded on a scale of 1 to 6, with 1 being very faint and 6 being very loud and there are four types of murmurs.
- Systolic murmur – a heart murmur that occurs when the heart contracts
- Diastolic murmur – a heart murmur that occurs when the heart relaxes
- Holosystolic Murmurs- a heart murmur that occurs for the entire duration that the heart contracts
- Continuous murmur – a heart murmur that occurs throughout the heart cycle
What Causes a Heart Murmur in a Child?
Heart murmurs are very common in normal, healthy children. These may be called innocent murmurs. In fact, the vast majority (95%) of heart murmurs are normal. Or a child may be born with a heart defect that causes a murmur. Other noncardiac causes include:
- Low red blood cell count (anemia)
- Overactive thyroid gland (hyperthyroidism)
What Are the Symptoms of Heart Murmurs in a Child?
Children with innocent murmurs have no other symptoms except the noise the blood makes moving through the heart. A child with a heart murmur caused by a heart problem may have the following symptoms. Remember, the symptoms can vary depending on the problem.
- Poor feeding, eating, or weight gain
- Shortness of breath or breathing fast
- Chest pain
- Dizziness or fainting (syncope)
- Bluish skin, especially of the tongue and cheeks (cyanosis)
- Swelling (edema) of the lower legs, ankles, feet, belly (abdomen), liver, or neck veins
The symptoms of heart murmur can be like other health conditions. Make sure your child sees his or her healthcare provider for a diagnosis.
How are Heart Murmurs Diagnosed in a Child?
Your healthcare provider will ask about your child’s symptoms and health history and will give your child a physical exam. During an exam, the provider will listen to your child’s heart with a stethoscope. If the provider hears an abnormal sound, he or she may refer you to a pediatric cardiologist, a doctor with special training to treat children with heart problems. Tests to confirm the diagnosis may include:
- Chest X-ray. An X-ray creates images of the heart and lungs.
- Electrocardiogram (ECG). This test that measures the electrical activity of the heart.
- Echocardiography (echo). An exam that uses sound waves (ultrasound) to look at the structure and function of the heart. This is one of the most important test to find heart murmurs.
How are Heart Murmurs Treated in a Child?
Remember, a murmur is not a disease and it is not an indication that your child needs heart surgery. Most kids with murmurs have healthy, normal hearts. However, if the murmur is from a congenital heart defect, treatment will depend on your child’s symptoms, age, and general health. It will also depend on how severe the condition is and may include medicine, procedures, or surgery. If the murmur is from another condition, the heart murmur will usually lessen or go away once the condition is treated.
Key Takeaways about Heart Murmurs in Children:
- Heart murmurs are extra or unusual sounds made by blood moving through the heart.
- Most heart murmurs are harmless.
- Some heart murmurs are caused by congenital heart defects or other conditions.
- The healthcare provider hears a heart murmur when listening to your child’s chest with a stethoscope.
Dr. Michael Brumund specializes in Fetal and Pediatric Cardiology, Adult Congenital Cardiology and Cardiac Intensive Care at Children’s Hospital. He has more than 17 years of experience in caring for children and adults affected by congenital heart disease. Dr. Brumund received his medical degree, residency training and fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology all from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia. Dr. Brumund is board-certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Cardiology by the American Board of Pediatrics and in Adult Congenital Cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine. He is one of only four adult congenital cardiology board certified specialists in the state of Louisiana. He serves as an Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at LSU Health New Orleans and is the Director of Outpatient Cardiology and Adult Congenital Cardiology. When asked why he chose to specialize in Congenital Cardiology, Dr. Brumund said, “I take a very personal interest in all my patients and their families from fetus to the adult. The practice of congenital cardiology is very unique and provides me the opportunity to care for patients before they are born, in the newborn period, throughout childhood and then into adulthood.” Dr. Brumund sees patients at the Children’s Hospital Main Campus, Children’s Hospital Denham Springs Center and the Children’s Hospital Northshore Center. | <urn:uuid:91641ba9-4ad9-4fce-be51-6cbf410ad8ca> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://www.chnola.org/blog/2018/june/what-did-you-hear-is-that-a-murmur-/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780056892.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20210919160038-20210919190038-00116.warc.gz | en | 0.912914 | 1,107 | 3.71875 | 4 |
|CATHOLIC SAINTS INDEX||A||B||C||D||E||F||G||H||I||J||K||L||M||N||O||P||Q||R||S||T||U||V||W||X||Y||Z|
A Canadian territory lying north of the Province of Quebec, detached (1876) from the Great Labrador peninsula. Ungava, whose area (354,961 sq. m.) surpasses that of Quebec (351,873 sq. m.), was annexed to the latter province (1912) by the Federal Government. It is bounded on the west by Hudson's Straits, comprising Ungava Bay, on the north-east and east by Labrador proper, on the south by the Province of Quebec, on the west by Hudson and James' Bays. This land was visited by the Basques, by Cabot (1493), Weymouth (1602), Hudson (1610), and by the Jesuits Dablon (1661) and Albanel (1672), on their journey by land to Hudson Bay. During the last century the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Babel (1866 and 1870) and Lacasse (1875), evangelized the Indians of the interior. The Moravian Brothers began proselytizing the Esquimaux in 1770. Ungava now depends spiritually on the Vicariate Apostolic of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Its immense forest and mineral resources, fertile soil, and unparalleled hydraulic power reveal a bright prospect for colonization and industry. Railway lines are in preparation between Quebec and Western Canada and Hudson Bay. The census of 1901 gave a population of 5113 souls, comprising the aborigines (Esquimaux on the coast, Montagnais and Nascaupis in the interior) and whites. | <urn:uuid:bf1fba5a-96a0-450a-99cd-d83d6d759979> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | http://www.ecatholic2000.com/cathopedia/vol15/volfifteen150.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084887253.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20180118111417-20180118131417-00429.warc.gz | en | 0.798128 | 387 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Character of the Harvest WorkGathering the WheatBundling and Binding and Burning the TaresTheir Origin and Prolific GrowthConsumed Like the Chaff of the Jewish HarvestTime Correspondencies NotedThe Casting off, Gradual Fall and Final Destruction of BabylonThe Sealing of the Servants of God Before the Plagues Come upon BabylonJudgment or Trial, Both as Systems and IndividuallyThe Test of the Jewish System TypicalThe Testing and Sifting of the WheatThe Wise, Separated from the Foolish Virgins, Go in to the Feast"And the Door was Shut"A Further Inspection, and the Casting Out of SomeWhy? and How?The Close of the "High Calling"The Time is Short"Let no Man Take Thy Crown"Eleventh Hour Servants and Overcomers.
"HARVEST" is a term which gives a general idea as to what work should be expected to transpire between the dates 1874 and 1914. It is a time of reaping rather than of sowing, a time of testing, of reckoning, of settlement and of rewarding. The harvest of the Jewish age being a type of the harvest of this age, observation and comparison of the various features of that harvest afford very clear ideas concerning the work to be accomplished in the present harvest. In that harvest, our Lord's special teachings were such as to gather the wheat, who were such already, and to separate the chaff of the Jewish nation from the wheat. And his doctrines became also the seeds for the new dispensation, which opened (shortly after the nation of Israel was cast off) at Pentecost.
Our Lord's words to his disciples as he sent them forth, during his ministry to that church-nation, should be carefully [C136] remembered, as giving proof that their special work then was reaping, and not sowing. He said to them, "Lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest: and he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal." (John 4:35,36) As the chief reaper in that harvest (as he also is in this one), the Lord said to the under-reapers, "I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men [the patriarchs and prophets and other holy men of old] labored, and ye are entered into their labors"to reap the fruits of those centuries of effort, and to test that people by the message, "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand," and the King is present"Behold, thy King cometh unto thee." Matt. 10:7; John 12:15; Zech. 9:9
In the Jewish harvest, the Lord, rather than to make goats into sheep, sought the blinded and scattered sheep of Israel, calling for all who already were his sheep, that they might hear his voice and follow him. These observations of the type furnish an intimation of the character of the work due in the present harvest or reaping time. Another and a larger sowing, under the more favorable conditions of the Millennial age and Kingdom, will soon be commenced: indeed, the seeds of truth concerning restitution, etc., which will produce that coming crop, are even now being dropped here and there into longing, truth-hungry hearts. But this is only an incidental work now; for, like its Jewish type, the present harvest is a time for reaping the professed church (so-called Christendom), that the true saints gathered out of it may be exalted and associated with their Lord, not only to preach the truth, but also to put into operation the great work of restitution for the world.
In this harvest, wheat and tares are to be separated; yet both of these classes, previous to the separation, compose the nominal church. The wheat are the true children of the [C137] Kingdom, the truly consecrated, the heirs, while the tares are nominally, but not really, Christ's Church or prospective bride. The tares are the class mentioned by our Lord, who call him Lord, but who do not obey him. (Luke 6:46) In outward appearance, the two classes are often so much alike as to require close scrutiny to distinguish between them. "The field is the world," in the parable, and the wheat and tares together (the tares more numerous) constitute what is sometimes called "The Christian World," and "Christendom." By attending religious services occasionally or regularly, by calling themselves Christians, by following certain rites and ceremonies, and by being identified more or less directly with some religious system, the tares look like, and sometimes pass for, God's heart-consecrated children. In so-called "Christian lands," all except professed Infidels and Jews are thus counted Christians; and their numbers (including the few fully consecrated onesthe saints) are estimated at about one hundred and eighty millions of Greek and Roman Catholics, and about one hundred and twenty millions of Protestants.
During the Gospel age, our Lord's instructions have been not to attempt a separation of the true from the imitation children of the Kingdom; because to accomplish a complete separation would occasion the general turning of the world (the field) upside downa general unsettlement of the wheat, as well as of the tares. He therefore said, "Let both grow together until the harvest." But he added, "In the time of harvest I will say unto the reapers [angels, messengers], Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn." (Matt. 13:30) Hence, in the time of harvest we must expect a general separating work, hitherto prohibited. While those symbolized by the wheat are ever encouraged to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ made them free, and to [C138] avoid entangling alliances with open transgressors and with wolves in sheep's clothing, yet they were not to attempt to draw the line between the fully consecrated class (the wheat, the saints), and the tares who profess Christ's name and doctrines, and who to some extent allow these doctrines to influence their outward conduct, but whose heart desires are far from the Lord and his service. This judging of hearts, motives, etc., which is beyond our power, and which the Lord commanded us to entirely avoid, is the very thing which the various sects have all along endeavored to accomplish; attempting to separate, to test the wheat, and to keep out as tares or heretics, by rigorous creeds of human manufacture, all professors of Christianity whose faith did not exactly fit their various false measurements. Yet how unsuccessful all these sects have been! They have set up false, unscriptural standards and doctrines, which have really developed many tares and choked and separated the wheat; for instance, the doctrine of the everlasting torment of all not members of the Church. Though now becoming greatly modified, under the increasing light of our day, what a multitude of tares this error has produced, and how it has choked and blinded and hindered the wheat from a proper recognition of God's character and plan. Today we see what a mistake the various sects have made in not following the Lord's counsel, to let wheat and tares, saints and professors, grow together, without attempting a separation. Honest men in every sect will admit that in their sects are many tares, professors not saints, and that outside their sectarian bars are many saints. Thus, no sect today either can or does claim to be all wheat, and free from tares. Much less would any earthly organization (except Christadelphians and Mormons) be bold enough to claim that it contained all of the wheat. Hence, they are without any excuse for their organizations, theological fences, etc. They do not separate [C139] wheat from tares, nor can anything completely and thoroughly accomplish this separation of hearts except the method which the Lord has ordained shall be put into execution in the time of harvest. This shows the necessity for knowing when the time is at hand and the harvest work of separating is due to begin. And our Lord, true to his promise, has not left us in darkness, but is giving the information now due, to all whose hearts are ready for it. "Ye, brethren, are not in darkness [nor sleep] that that day should overtake you as a thief." 1 Thess. 5:4
The truth now due is the sickle in this harvest, just as a similar sickle was used in the Jewish harvest. The reapers, the angels* or messengers, now, are the Lord's followers, just as a similar class were the reapers in the Jewish harvest. And though others, throughout the age, were told not to attempt the separation of the wheat from the tares, yet those now ready, worthy and obedient will be shown the Lord's plan and arrangement so clearly that they will recognize his voice in the time of harvest, saying, "Thrust in the sickle" of present truth, and "gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." "They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels." Psa. 50:5; Mal. 3:17
Not only is this the time for the gathering of the saints by the truth (into oneness with their Lord and each other, and out of fellowship with mere professors, tares), but it is also a time for cleaning up the field by consuming the tares, stubble, weeds, etc., preparatory to the new sowing. In one sense the "wheat" is gathered out from among the taresbecause of the greater abundance of taresas when the Lord says, "Come out of her, my people." Yet, in another sense, the separation is properly represented by the tares [C140] being gathered from the wheat. Really, the wheat has the place by right; it is a wheat-field, not a tare-field (the world of mankind being counted the ground out of which the wheat and also the tares grow or develop); so it is the tares that are out of place and need to be removed. The Lord started the wheat-field, and the wheat represents the children of the Kingdom. (Matt. 13:38) And since the field or world is to be given to these, and already belongs to them by promise, the parable shows that really it is the tares that are gathered out and burned, leaving the field, and all in it, to the wheat. The tares are returned to the ground (world) whence they came, and the first-fruits of the wheat are to be gathered into the garner, so that the earth may bring forth another crop.
The wheat was not to be bundled: the grains were originally planted separate and independent, to associate only as one kind, under similar conditions. But the parable declares that one of the effects of the harvest will be to gather and bind the tares in bundles before the "burning" or "time of trouble." And this work is in progress all around us. Never was there a time like it for Labor Unions, Capitalistic Trusts and protective associations of every sort.
The civilized world is the "field" of the parable. In it, during the Reformation, the winds of doctrinal strife, from one quarter and another, threw wheat and tares together into great batches (denominations), inclining some in one direction (doctrinally), and some in another. This huddled wheat and tares closely together, and took away much of the individuality of all. The doctrinal storms are long past, but the divisions continue from force of habit, and only here and there has a head of wheat attempted to lift itself to uprightness from the weight of the mass.
But with the harvest time comes the release of the wheat from the weight and hindrance of the tares. The sickle of [C141] truth prepares this class for the freedom wherewith Christ originally made all free, though the same sickle has an opposite influence upon the tares. The spirit of the tares is toward sectarian greatness and show, rather than toward individual obedience and allegiance to God. Hence, present truths, the tendency of which they at once discover to be to condemn all sectarianism, and to test each individual, they reject and strongly oppose. And, though disposed to unite with each other, all the sects unite in opposing the disintegrating tendencies of present truth, to such an extent as to draw the cords slowly, cautiously, yet tightly upon all individual thought and study on religious subjects, lest their organizations should fall to pieces and, all the wheat escaping, leave nothing but tares.
Each of the tare class seems aware that, if examined individually, he would have no claim to the Kingdom promised to the close followers of the Lamb. The tares would prefer to have the various sects judged as so many corporations, and in comparison one with another, hoping thus to glide into the Kingdom glory on the merits of the wheat with whom they are associated. But this they cannot do: the test of worthiness for the Kingdom honors will be an individual oneof individual fidelity to God and his truthand not a trial of sects, to see which of them is the true one. And each sect seems to realize, in the greater light of today, which is scattering the mists of bigotry and superstition, that other sects have as good (and as little) right as itself to claim to be the one and only true church. Forced to admit this, they seek to bind all by the impression that it is essential to salvation to be joined to some one of their sectsit matters little to which one. Thus they combine the idea of individual responsibility with sectarian bondage.
As an illustration of a popular cord recently drawn tightly by sectarianism upon its votaries, we cite the seemingly [C142] harmless, and, to many, seemingly advantageous, International Sunday School Lessons. These lend the impression of unsectarian cooperation in Bible study, among all Christians. They thus appear to be taking a grand step away from, and in advance of, the old methods of studying with sectarian catechisms. These uniform lessons have the appearance of being an abandonment of sectarianism and a coming together of all Christians to study the Bible in its own lighta thing which all recognize to be the only proper course, but which all sectarians refuse to do actually; for, be it noticed, these International S. S. Lessons only appear to be unsectarian: they only appear to grant liberty in Bible study. Really, each denomination prepares its own comments on the scriptures contained in the lessons. And the committee which selects these lessons, aiming for the outward appearance of harmony and union, selects such passages of scripture as there is little difference of opinion upon. The passages and doctrines upon which they disagree, the very ones which need most to be discussed, in order that the truths and errors of each sect may be manifested, that a real union might be arrived at upon the basis of "one Lord, one faith and one baptism"these are ignored in the lessons, but still firmly held as before by each sect.
The effect of these and other similar "union" methods is to make Protestantism more imposing in appearance, and to say to the people in fact, if not in words: You must join one of these sects, or you are not a child of God at all. Really, it is not a union as one church, but a combination of separate and distinct organizations, each as anxious as ever to retain its own organization as a sect or bundle, but each willing to combine with others to make a larger and more imposing appearance before the world. It is like the piling of sheaves together in a shock. Each sheaf retains its own bondage or organization, and becomes bound yet more [C143] tightly by being wedged and fastened in with other bundles, in a large and imposing stack.
The International Lesson system, in connection with modern methods of "running" Sunday Schools, greatly aids sectarianism, and hinders real growth in the knowledge of the truth, in yet another way. So general a lesson is presented in connection with the "exercises" of the school, that there is scarcely time to consider the guarded, printed questions, with prepared answers; and no time is left for the truth-hungry Bible student, or the occasional earnest teacher, to bring out other questions of greater importance, containing food for thought and profitable discussion. Formerly, Bible classes met to study such portions of the Bible as they chose, and were hindered from obtaining truth by the bondage of their own prejudice and superstition only, and the earnest, truth-hungry ones were always able to make some progress. But now, when increasing light is illuminating every subject and dispelling the fogs of superstition and prejudice, it is hindered from shining upon the Bible class student by the very International Lessons which claim to aid him. His time for Bible study is skillfully directed, so that he may get no new ideas, but be so continually occupied in the use of the "milk of the word" (greatly diluted with the traditions of men), as to take away all appetite for the "strong meat" of more advanced truth. (Heb. 5:14) In such classes, all time and opportunity for tasting and learning to appreciate "meat" is sacrificed, in obedience to the words, "We must stick to our lesson; for the hour will soon expire." Well has the prophet, as well as the apostle, declared that, to appreciate the great doctrines of God, so essential to our growth in grace and in the knowledge and love of God, we must leave the first principles and go on unto perfection"weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." Heb. 6:1; Isa. 28:9
While Sunday School methods have recently been considerably improved, they still leave much to be desired. They contain some of the best of the Lord's peoplewho, anxious to serve the Master, are more or less bewildered by the show of numbers and appearance of "work for the Lord." Some good is accomplished, we admit, but it has its offsets. The earnest are hindered from personal duty and progress, in the doing of that which God committed to the parents, the neglect of which is an injury to the parents as well as to the children. The immature find the brief session and "exercises" more agreeable than Bible study. They are let to feel that they have performed a duty; and the sacrifice of the few moments is repaid by the social gossip and interchange which it affords. The little ones, too, like the "exercises," the singing, story-books, picnics, treats and general entertainment, best; and they and their mothers feel well repaid for the labor of dressing, by the opportunity thus afforded for showing their fine clothing. And the parental responsibility of religious home-training is very largely resigned in favor of the sham and machinery of the Sunday School. The Sunday School has been well named the nursery of the church and the little ones thus brought up in the nurture and admonition of the worldly spirit are the young shoots of that abundant crop of tares with which great Babylon is completely overrun.
Wherever, here and there, an adult Bible class does exist, and the teacher is candid and independent enough to leave the prescribed lesson, and follow up more important topics, giving liberty for the truth to be brought forward, whether favorable or unfavorable to the creed of the sect, he is marked by the worldly-wise pastor or superintendent as an unsafe teacher. Such teachers are indeed dangerous to sectarianism, and are very soon without classes. Such teachers, and the truths they would admit to candid investigation, [C145] would soon cut the cords and scatter the sectarian bundles, and hence are not long wanted. Others are therefore preferred, who can hold the thoughts of their classes, divert them from "strong meat," and keep them unweaned babes, too weak to stand alone, and bound to the systems which they learn to love, and believe they would die without. The true teacher's place, and the true Bible student's place, is outside of all human bondage, free to examine and feed upon all portions of the good Word of God, and untrammeled to follow the Lamb whithersoever he leads. John 8:36; Gal. 5:1
While individual liberty must outwardly be recognized as never before, we see that really there never was a time when the bands were so thoroughly drawn, to bind all wheat and tares into the many bundles. There never was a time when arrangements were so close, and so restraining of all personal liberties, as now. Every spare hour of a zealous sectarian is filled by some of the many meetings or projects, so that no time for untrammeled thought and Bible study can be had. The principal design of these meetings, entertainments, etc., is sectarian growth and strength; and the effect is the bondage mentioned, so detrimental to the real development of the consecrated children of God, the wheat. These bands are being made stronger, as the prophet intimates. (Isa. 28:22) Some wheat and many tares constitute these bundles, from which it daily becomes more difficult to get free.
From what we have seen of the small quantity of truly consecrated wheat, and the great mass of "baptized profession" (as a Methodist bishop has forcibly described the tare class), it is evident that the burning of the tares will be a momentous event. It is a mistake, however, which many make, to suppose that the burning of the tares in a furnace of fire, where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth [C146] (Matt. 13:42), refers either to a literal fire, or to trouble beyond the present life. The entire parable belongs to the present age. Not only is this fire a symbol, as well as the wheat and the tares, but it symbolizes the destruction of the tares, in the great time of trouble with which this age is to close, and from which the wheat class is promised an escape. (Mal. 3:17; Luke 21:36) The great furnace of fire symbolizes the "great time of trouble" coming, in the close of this harvest, upon the unworthy tare class of "Christendom."
Nor does the destruction of the tares imply the destruction, either present or future, of all the individuals composing the tare class. It signifies rather a destruction of the false pretentions of this class. Their claim or profession is that they are Christians, whereas they are still children of this world. When burned or destroyed as tares, they will be recognized in their true characteras members of the world, and will no longer imitate Christians, as nominal members of Christ's Church.
Our Lord explains that he sowed the good seed of the Kingdom, the truth, from which springs all the true wheat class, begotten by the spirit of truth. Afterward, during the night, the dark ages, Satan sowed tares. Doubtless the tares were sown in the same manner as the wheat. They are the offspring of errors. We have seen how grievously the sanctuary and the host were defiled by the great adversary and his blinded servants, and how the precious vessels (doctrines) were profaned and misapplied by Papacy; and this is but another showing of the same thing. False doctrines begat false aims and ambitions in the Lord's wheat-field, and led many to Satan's service, to sow errors of doctrine and practice which have brought forth tares abundantly.
The field looks beautiful and flourishing to many, as they count by the hundreds of millions. But really the proportion of wheat is very small, and it had been far better for the [C147] wheat, which has been choked and greatly hindered from development by the tares, if the worldly-spirited tares had not been in the Church, but in their own place in the world, leaving the consecrated "little flock," the only representatives of Christ's spirit and doctrine, in the field. Then the difference between the Church and the world would be very marked, and her growth, though apparently less rapid, would have been healthy. The great seeming success manifested by numbers and wealth and social standing, in which many glory so much, is really a great injury, and in no sense a blessing, either to the Church or to the world.
As we examine this subject, we find that many of these tares are little to blame for their false position as imitation wheat. Nor do many of them know that the tares are not the real Church; for they regard the little flock of consecrated wheat as extremists and fanatics. And, when compared with the tare multitude, the Lord and the apostles and all the wheat certainly do appear to be extremists and fanatics, if the majority, the tares, be in the right.
The tares have been so thoroughly and so often assured that they are Christiansthat all are Christians except Jews, infidels and heathensthat they could scarcely be expected to know to the contrary. False doctrines assure them that there are but two classes, and that all who escape everlasting torment are to be joint-heirs with Christ. Every funeral discourse, except in the case of the miserably degraded and the openly wicked and immoral, assures the friends of the peace and joy and heavenly glory of the deceased; and, to prove it, passages of scripture are quoted, which, from the context, should be seen to apply only to the fully consecrated, the saints.
Naturally inclined to reprove themselves, to conscientiously deny that they are saints, and to disclaim the rich promises of the Scriptures to such, they are persuaded [C148] to claim them, by their no better informed fellow-tares, both in pulpits and pews. They conscientiously feelindeed they are certainthat they have done nothing which would justly merit everlasting torture; and their faith in the false doctrines of "Christendom" leads them to hope, and to claim, that they and all moral people are members of the Church to which all the rich promises belong. Thus they are tares by force of false doctrines, and not only occupy a false position themselves, but misrepresent the truly high standard of saintship. Under the delusion of the error, they feel a sense of security and satisfaction; for, measuring themselves and their lives with those of the majority in the nominal church, and with their deceased friends to whose funeral eulogies they have listened, they find themselves at least averageand even more consistent than many of loud profession. Yet they are conscious that they have never made any real consecration of heart and life, time and means, talents and opportunities, to God and his service.
But as the "chaff" class of the Jewish nation was consumed in the close of that harvest (Luke 3:17), so this "tare" class will be consumed in this harvest. As the chaff ceased from all pretention to divine favor as the triumphing Kingdom of God, before that harvest closed in the great fire of religious and political contention, which consumed that system, so it shall be with the tare class of so-called "Christendom." They will be consumed; they will cease to be tares; they will cease to deceive either themselves or others; they will cease to apply to themselves the exceeding great and precious promises which belong only to the overcoming saints; and, when their various so-called Christian kingdoms, and their various religious organizations, rent by discords induced by the increasing light of truth, will be consumed in the fire already kindled, "the fire of God's zeal" (the great time of trouble with which this age will end [C149] Zeph. 3:8), they will cease to claim for their worldly systems the name "Christendom."
After telling of the burning of the tares, the parable further declares, "Then shall the righteous [the wheat] shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father." [What better testimony than this could we have, that the true Church is not yet set up in power, as God's Kingdom, and that it will not be thus exalted until this harvest is ended?] Then shall this sun of righteousness (of which Christ Jesus will always be the central glory) arise with healing in his beams, to bless, restore, purify and disinfect from sin and error the whole world of mankind; the incorrigible being destroyed in the second death.
Let the fact be remembered that, in the typical Jewish harvest, Israelites indeed, as well as imitation Israelites, constituted the Jewish or Fleshly House of Israel; that only the true Israelites were selected and gathered into the gospel garner, and honored with the truths belonging to the Gospel age; and that all others of that nation ("chaff") were not physically destroyed (though of course many lives were lost in their trouble), but were cut off from all Kingdom favors in which previously they trusted and boasted. Then trace the parallel and counterpart of this, in the treatment of the "tares" in the present burning time.
Not only has the Lord shown us what to expect in this "harvest," and our share in it, both in being separated ourselves and, as "reapers," in using the sickle of truth to assist others to liberty in Christ and separation from false human systems and bondages, but in order to render us doubly sure that we are right, and that the separating time of the harvest has arrived, he provided us proofs of the very year the harvest work began, its length, and when it will close. These, already examined, show that the close of 1874 marked the beginning, as the close of 1914 will mark the [C150] end, of this 40 years of harvest; while all the minutiae of the order and work of this harvest were portrayed in that of the Jewish age, its type. Some of the marked time-features of that typical harvest we will now examine, and note the lessons which they teach, which are applicable now, and which our Lord evidently designed for this purpose, so that we might not be in either doubt or uncertainty, but might know of his plan, and be able to act accordingly, with strength, as cooperators with him in carrying out his revealed will.
All the time-features connected with the Jewish harvest (though they sometimes indirectly related to the faithful), had their direct bearing upon the great nominal mass, and marked periods of its trial, rejection, overthrow and destruction as a system or church-nation. Thus the Lord, as the Bridegroom and reaper, came (A.D. 29) not to the true Israelites only, but to the entire mass. (John 1:11) The progress of the harvest work there disclosed the fact that the grains of ripe wheat fit for the garner (the Gospel dispensation) were few, and that the great mass was wheat merely in appearancein reality only "chaff," devoid of the real wheat principle within. When, three and a half years later (A.D. 33), our Lord assumed the office of King, and permitted (what before he had refusedJohn 6:15) that the people should mount him upon an ass and hail him King, it marked a point in this antitypical, Gospel harvest more important far than that of the type. The parallel to this, as we have seen, points to 1874 as the time of our Lord's second presence as Bridegroom and Reaper, and to April 1878 as the time when he began to exercise his office of King of kings and Lord of lords in very deedthis time a spiritual King, present with all power, though invisible to men.
The doings of our Lord, while there for a few hours typically [C151] acting as King of Israel, are deeply significant to us, as unquestionably indicating, and shadowing forth, what must be expected here. What men saw him do at that time, such as riding on an ass into Jerusalem as king, and scourging the money-changers out of the temple, we recognize as typicalas done here on a larger scale, though the King, and the scourge of cords, and the proclamation of kingly authority, are now manifested in a very different way, and to the eye of faith only. But the Jewish type serves to call attention to this fulfilment, which otherwise we would not be able to appreciate. The first work of the typical King was to reject the entire church-nation of Israel as unworthy to be his Kingdom, or longer to be treated as his special heritage. This was expressed thus: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate!" Matt. 23:37-39
This, when applied to the present harvest, teaches that as in A.D. 33 typical Israel, after being recognized as God's people for 1845 years by favors, chastisements, etc., was cast off, rejected by the King, because found unworthy, after a trial and inspection of three and a half years, so in the present harvest, after a similar three and a half years of inspection, and at the close of a similar period of 1845 years of favor and chastisement, nominal Christendom would be rejected by the King as unworthy longer to receive any favors from him, or to be recognized in any manner by him.
But, as the rejection of nominal Fleshly Israel did not imply the rejection, individually, of any "Israelite indeed," in whom was no guile, but rather a still greater favor to such (who were set free from the "blind guides," and taught more directly and perfectly through new spiritual channelsthe apostles), so here we must expect the same. The [C152] spiritual favors, formerly bestowed upon the nominal mass, belong henceforth only to the faithful and obedient. Henceforth the light, as it becomes due, and "the meat in due season for the household of faith," must be expected, not through former channels, in any degree, but through faithful individuals outside of the fallen, rejected systems.
During his ministry, and up to the time when, as King, he cast off the Jewish system, our Lord recognized the scribes and Pharisees as the legitimate instructors of the people, even though he often upbraided them as hypocrites who deceived the people. This is evident from the Lord's words (Matt. 23:2)"The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat; whatsoever therefore they bid you do, that observe and do." So, likewise, for a time the great religious rulers of nominal Christendom in Synods, Conferences, Councils, etc., measurably sat in Christ's seat as instructors of the people, as the Jewish Sanhedrin once occupied Moses' seat. But as, after A.D. 33, the scribes and Pharisees were no longer recognized by the Lord in any sense, and the true Israelites were no longer instructed by these, but by God himself, through other, humbler, untitled and more worthy instruments, who were raised up among the people and specially taught of God, so we must expect and do find it here, in this parallel harvest.
The taking of the kingly office by our Lord in A.D. 33, and his first official act in rejecting the national church of fleshly Israel, taken in connection with all the striking parallels of the two ages, indicate very clearly that at the parallel point of time in the present harvest, i.e., 1878, mystic Babylon, otherwise called Christendom, the antitype of Judaism, was cut off; and there went forth the message, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Rev. 18:2
The fall, plagues, destruction, etc., foretold to come upon mystic Babylon, were foreshadowed in the great trouble and national destruction which came upon fleshly Israel, and which ended with the complete overthrow of that nation in A.D. 70. And the period of falling also corresponds; for from the time our Lord said, "Your house is left unto you desolate," A.D. 33, to A.D. 70 was 36 1/2 years; and so from A.D. 1878 to the end of A.D. 1914 is 36 1/2 years. And, with the end of A.D. 1914, what God calls Babylon, and what men call Christendom, will have passed away, as already shown from prophecy.
Judaism was a divinely appointed type of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ which will control and regulate all matters; hence Judaism was properly a union of church and stateof religious and civil government. But, as we have already shown, the Gospel Church was in no sense to be associated in, or to have anything to do with, the government of the world, until her Lord, the King of kings, comes, assumes control, and exalts her as his bride to share in that reign of righteousness. Neglecting the Lord's words, and following human wisdom, theories and plans, the great system called Christendom, embracing all governments and creeds professing to be Christ's (but a miserable counterfeit of the true Kingdom of Christ), was organized before the time, without the Lord, and of wholly unfit elements. The fall of Babylon as an unfit church-state system, and the gathering out of the worthy wheat, therefore, can be and is well illustrated by the fall of Judaism.
The name Babylon originally signified God's gate-way; but afterward, in derision, it came to mean mixture or confusion. [C154] In the book of Revelation this name is applied specifically to the church nominal, which, from being the gate-way to glory, became a gate-way to error and confusion, a miserable mixture composed chiefly of tares, hypocritesa confused mass of worldly profession in which the Lord's jewels are buried, and their true beauty and luster hidden. In symbolic prophecy, the term Babylon is applied at times only to the Church of Rome, called "Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots." The name could apply only to her for centuries, so long as she was the only mixed system and would tolerate no others; but other ecclesiastical systems, not so great as the "mother," nor yet so wicked, nor so radically wrong, sprang up out of her, through various attempted though imperfect reforms. Errors, tares and worldliness in these also largely predominating, the name Babylon is used as a general or family name for all the nominal Christian systems, and now includes not only the Church of Rome, but all Protestant sects as well; for, since Papacy is designated the mother system, we must regard the various Protestant systems which descended from her as the daughtersa fact very generally admitted by Protestants, and sometimes with pride.
Previous to the harvest time, many of God's people in Great Babylon discovered her real predominant character to be grossly antichristian (notably the Waldenses, the Huguenots and the reformers of the sixteenth century); and, calling attention to the fact, they separated from the mother system and led others with them, many of whom were tares, as the prophet had predicted, saying, "Many shall cleave to them with flatteries." (Dan. 11:34) Here were the separatings of the politico-doctrinal storms before the harvest time. Among these the tares, still predominating, formed other, though less objectionable, Babylonish systems.
Thus the wheat, though from time to time endeavoring [C155] to free themselves from the incubus of the tares (and especially from the grosser errors which fostered and produced the tares), and though blessed by these efforts, were still under their influence, still mixed with a large predominance of the tare element. But for the wheat's sake God's favor extended even to these mixed bunches or Babylonish systems; and not until God's time for effecting a complete and final separationin the time of harvest, 1878were those systems completely and forever cast off from all favor, and sentenced to swift destruction, and all of God's people explicitly and imperatively called out of them. In the very beginning of the age, God's people were warned against the deceptions of Antichrist, and taught to keep separate from it; and yet, for their trial and testing, they were permitted to be in a measure deceived by it and more or less mixed up with it. Every awakening to a realization of unchristian principles, doctrines and doings, which led to reform measures, tested and proved the wheat class, and helped to purify them more and more from the pollutions of Antichrist. But this last testing and positive call, coupled with the utter rejection of those systems, no longer to receive divine favor (as they had formerly received it, for the sake of the wheat in them), is to effect the final separation of the wheat class from all antichristian systems and principles. What truths those systems formerly held are now fast being swept away from them, being displaced by theories of men, subversive of every element of divine truth; and vital godliness and piety are being rapidly displaced by the love of pleasure and the spirit of the world.
With the declaration that Babylon is fallen comes also the command to all of God's people still in her, to come out"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev. 18:4) The expression, "Babylon is fallen: Come out of her, my [C156] people," clearly marks two thoughts which should be distinctly remembered. It indicates that at one time Babylon was not fallen from divine favor; that for a time she retained a measure of favor, notwithstanding her mixed character; that, however large the proportion of error which she held, and however little of the spirit of Christ which she manifested, she was not entirely cast off from God's favor until the harvest time of separation. It indicates that at some time a sudden and utter rejection is to come upon Babylon, when all favor will forever cease, and when judgments will followjust such a rejection as we have shown was due in 1878. It indicates, also, that at the time of Babylon's rejection many of God's people would be in and associated with Babylon; for it is after Babylon's rejection, or fall from favor, that these are called to"Come out of her, my people."
The contrast between the many gradual reform movements of the past four hundred years and this final complete separation should be clearly discerned: they were permitted attempts to reform Babylon, while this recognizes her as beyond all hope of reform"Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken; the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad [intoxicated with her errors]. Babylon is suddenly fallen and broken: wail for her; take balm for her wound, if so be she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one unto his own country [to the true Church, or to the world, as the case may be, according as each is thus proved to be of the wheat or the tares]: for her punishment reacheth unto heaven." Jer. 51:7-9. Compare Rev. 17:4; 14:8; 18:2,3,5,19.
Unhealed Babylon is now sentenced to destruction: the whole systema system of systemsis rejected, and all of God's people not in sympathy with her false doctrines and [C157] practices are now called to separate themselves from her. The prophet gives the reason for this sentence of rejection, and the failure of some to comprehend it, saying:
"The stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming home; but my people know not the arrangement of the Lord. [They do not recognize that a harvest time of full and complete separation of wheat, from chaff and tares, must come. In this they show less discernment than the migratory fowls.] How can ye say, We are wise, and the Law of the Lord is with us [when you cannot discern the harvest time and the change of dispensations then due]? Truly, behold in vain wrought the pen, in vain the writers [because the word of the Lord by his prophets and apostles is made void, and set aside without attention, and creeds formed in the past "dark ages" are the lightless lanterns of them that walk in darkness]. The wise (?) [learned] men are ashamed; they are disheartened [by the failure of their cherished human schemes] and caught: lo, the word of the Lord have they rejected, and what wisdom have they [now]? [Compare Isaiah 29:10.] Therefore will I give their wives [churches] unto others, and their fields [of labor] to the conquerors; for, from the least even to the greatest, every one [of them] is seeking his own personal advantagefrom the prophet [orator] even unto the priest [minister], every one practiceth falsehood. [Compare Isa. 56:10-12; 28:14-20.] And they heal the sore of the daughter of my people [nominal ZionBabylon] very lightly, saying, Peace, peace: when there is no peace [when her whole system is diseased, and needs thorough cleansing with the medicine of God's Wordthe truth]. They should have been ashamed of their abominable work; but they neither felt the least shame, nor did they know how to blush: therefore shall they [the teachers] fall among them that fall; in the time of their visitation [or inspectionin the "harvest"] [C158] they shall stumble, saith the Lord. I will surely make an end of them, saith the Lord; there shall be left no grapes on the vine, and no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall wither; and the things that I have given them [all divine favors and privileges] shall pass away from them." Jer. 8:7-13
The succeeding verse shows that many of the rejected will realize the troubles coming, yet will still be blind to their real cause. They will say, Let us unite ourselves and entrench ourselves in the strong cities [governments], and keep silence. They somehow realize that neither reason nor Scripture supports their false doctrines, and that the wisest method is to keep silent, in the shadow of old superstitions and under the protection of so-called Christian governments. They are here represented as saying very truly: "The Lord hath put us to silence, and given us bitter poison-water to drink." The only refreshment they may have is the cup which they have mixed (the poison of bitter error, the "doctrine of devils," mingled with the pure water of life, the truth of God's Word). Shall not such as are of and who love Babylon, and who are therefore unready to obey the command, "Come out of her," be forced to drink the cup of their own mixing? Shall not such be forced to admit the falsity of their doctrines? They surely shall; and they will all be thoroughly nauseated by it. The next verse tells of the disappointment of their expectations, which were that their bitter (poison-water) doctrines would have converted the world and brought about the Millennium. They say, "We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!"The disease of nominal Zion will grow rapidly worse from the time of her visitation and rejection, when the "Israelites indeed," obeying the divine call, begin to come out of the nominal systems.
Some wonder why the Lord does not institute a still greater reform than any of the past, which have proved so futile and short-lived. They ask, Why does he not pour [C159] out a blessing upon all the great sects and amalgamate them all into one, or else upon some one and purify it of dross, and draw all others into it? But, we ask, Why not also amalgamate all the kingdoms of earth into one, and purify it?
It should be sufficient for all of God's children to know that such is not what he reveals as his plan. And a little further reflection, from the standpoint of God's Word, shows us the unreasonableness of such a suggestion. Consider the number of the professed church (four hundred millions) and ask yourself, How many of these would themselves claim to be fully consecrated, mind and body, to the Lord and the service of his plan ? Your own observation must lead you to the conclusion that to separate the "wheat" from the "tares," by removing the "tares," would in almost every instance leave but a small handful even in the largest church buildings or cathedrals.
The reason for not attempting to purify the nominal systems is that no amount of cleansing would make the unconsecrated mass of "Christendom" and their organizations, civil and ecclesiastical, suitable to the Lord's work, now to be commenced in the earth. During the past eighteen centuries he has been selecting the truly consecrated, the worthy ones, and now all that remains to be done is to select from among the living those of the same classand they are but fewas only a few are lacking to complete the foreordained number of members in the body of Christ.
The reason for discarding all human organizations, and not reforming the least objectionable one and calling out of all others into it, now, is shown by our Lord's treatment of the various Jewish sects in the harvest or close of their dispensation; for then, as now, all were rejected, and the "Israelites indeed" were called out of all, into freedom, and taught the will and plan of God by various chosen vessels of God's own selection.
Illustrating this subject to the Jews, the Lord in two parables explained the wisdom of his course: first, that a patch of new cloth upon a very old garment would only make the weakness of the garment more noticeable, and from the inequality of strength the rent would be made greater; second, that new wine put into old wine-skins, out of which all the stretch and elasticity had gone, would be sure to damage, rather than benefit, for the result would be not only to speedily burst and destroy the old wine-skins, but also to lose the valuable new wine.
Our Lord's new doctrines were the new wine, while the Jewish sects were the old wine-skins. Suppose that our Lord had joined one of those sects and had begun a reform in it: what would have been the result? There can be no doubt that the new truths, if received, would have broken up that sect completely. The power of its organization, built largely upon sectarian pride, and cemented by errors, superstitions and human traditions, would forthwith have been destroyed, and the new doctrines would have been left strandedhampered, too, by all the old errors and traditions of that sect, and held responsible for its past record by the world in general.
For the same reasons, the Lord here, in the present harvest, in introducing the fuller light of truth, at the dawn of the Millennial age, does not put it as a patch upon any of the old systems, nor as new wine into old skins. First, because none of them are in a fit condition to be patched, or to receive the new doctrines. Second, because the new truths, if received, would soon begin to work, and would develop a power which would burst any sect, no matter how thoroughly organized and bound. If tried, one after another, the result would be the same, and, in the end, the new wine (doctrines) would have none to contain and preserve it.
The proper and best course was the one followed by our Lord at the first advent. He made an entirely new garment out of the new stuff, and put the new wine into new wine-skins; i.e., he called out the Israelites indeed (non-sectarian), and committed to them the truths then due. And so now: he is calling out the truth-hungry from nominal spiritual Israel; and it becomes them to accept the truth in the Lord's own way, and to cooperate with him heartily in his plan, no matter which, or how many, of the old wine-skins are passed by and rejected as unfit to contain it. Rejoice, rather, that you are counted worthy to have this new wine of present truth testified to you, and, as fast as proved, receive it and act upon it gladly.
Those who at the first advent waited to learn the opinion and follow the lead of prominent sectarians, and who inquired, "Have any of the scribes or Pharisees believed on him?" did not receive the truth, because they were followers of men rather than of God; for prominent sectarians then did not accept of Christ's teaching, and the same class always have been, and still are, the blindest leaders of the blind. Instead of accepting the truth and being blessed, they "fall" in the time of trial. The old garment and the old wine-skins are so out of condition as to be totally unfit for further use.
Since it is the Lord who calls his people out of Babylon, we cannot doubt that, whatever may be his agencies for giving the call, all truly his people will hear it; and not only will their obedience be tested by the call, but also their love of Babylon and affinity for her errors will be tested. If they approve her doctrines, methods, etc., so as to be loathe to leave her, they will prove themselves unworthy of present truth, and deserving of her coming plagues. But the words of the call indicate that God's true people in Babylon are [C162] not to be considered as implicated in her sins of worldliness and ignoring of divine truth, up to the time they shall learn that Babylon is fallencast off. Then, if they continue in her, they are esteemed as being of her, in the sense of approving her wrong deeds and doctrines, past and present, and shall be counted as partakers of her sins, and therefore meriting a share of their punishment, the plagues coming upon her. See Rev. 18:4.
How strong the expression, "She is become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." How true it is, that the most execrable of society seek and wear the garb of Christian profession and ceremonialism, in some of the various quarters (sects) of Babylon. Every impure principle and doctrine, somehow and somewhere, finds representation in her. And she is a "cage" which holds securely not only the Lord's meek and gentle doves, but also many unclean and hateful birds. Of all the defaulters, and deceivers of men and of women, how many are professedly members of Christ's Church! and how many even use their profession as a cloak under which to forward evil schemes! It is well known that a majority of even the most brutal criminals executed die in the Roman Catholic communion.
Babylon has contained both the best and the worst, both the cream and the dregs, of the population of the civilized world. The cream is the small class of truly consecrated ones, sadly mixed up with the great mass of mere professors and the filthy, criminal dregs; but under favorable conditions the cream class will be separated in the present harvest, preparatory to being glorified.
As an illustration of the proportion of the unclean and hateful birds, in and out of Babylon, note the following official report of the condition of society in a quarter of the wheatfield where "Orthodoxy" has for centuries boasted of [C163] the fine quality and purity of its wheat and the fewness of its tares, and where "The Church," so-called, has been associated with the government in making the laws and in ruling the people:
Population by Religious Professions
Church of England...............................6,933,935
Dissenters [Protestants other than Episcopalians]
Total Number of Criminals in Jails
Roman Catholics................................. 37,300
Church of England............................... 96,600
Criminals to Every 100,000 Population
Roman Catholics................................. 2,500
Church of England............................... 1,400
Proportion of Criminals
Roman Catholics................................. 1 in 40
Church of England............................... 1 in 72
Dissenters...................................... 1 in 666
Infidels..................................... 1 in 20,000
The cause of this mixed condition is stated: "Babylon made all the peoples drunk with the wine [spirit, influence] of her fornication"worldly affiliation. (Rev. 18:3) False teachings concerning the character and mission of the Church, and the claim that the time for her exaltation and reign had come (and particularly after the great boom of success which her worldly ambition received in the time of Constantine, when she claimed to be the Kingdom of God set up to reign in power and great glory), led many into Babylon, who would never have united with her had she continued in the narrow way of sacrifice. Pride and ambition led to the grasping of worldly power by the early Church. To obtain the power, numbers and worldly influence were necessary. And to obtain the numbers, which, under present conditions, the truth never would have drawn, false doctrines were broached, and finally obtained the ascendancy over all others; and even truths which were still retained were disfigured and distorted. The numbers came, even to hundreds of millions, and the true Church, the wheat, still but a "little flock," was hidden among the millions of tares. Here, as sheep in the midst of devouring wolves, the true embryo Kingdom of God suffered violence, and the violent took it by force; and, like their Lord, in whose footprints they followed, they were despised and rejected of men, men of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
But now, as the Millennial morning dawns, and the doctrinal errors of the dark night past are discovered, and the real gems of truth are lighted up, the effect must be, as designed, to separate completely the wheat from the tares. And, as false doctrines produced the improper development, so the unfolding of truth in the light of harvest will produce the separation. All of the tares and some of the wheat are fearful, however. To them it seems that the dissolution of Babylon would be the overthrow of God's work, [C165] and the failure of his cause. But not so: the tares never were wheat, and God never proposed to recognize them as such. He merely permitted, "let," them both grow together until the harvest. It is from Babylon's "cage" of unclean birds that God's people are called out, that they may both enjoy the liberty and share the harvest light and work, and prove themselves out of harmony with her errors of doctrine and practice, and thus escape them and their rewardthe plagues coming upon all remaining in her.
These plagues or troubles, foreshadowed in the troubles upon the rejected Jewish house, are pictured in such lurid symbols in the book of Revelation that many students have very exaggerated and wild ideas on this subject, and are therefore unprepared for the realities now closely impending. They often interpret the symbols literally, and hence are unprepared to see them fulfilled as they will beby religious, social and political disturbances, controversies, upheavals, reactions, revolutions, etc.
But note another item here. Between the time when Babylon is cast off, falls from favor (1878), and the time when the plagues or troubles come upon her, is a brief interval, during which the faithful of the Lord's people are all to be informed on this subject, and gathered out of Babylon. This is clearly shown in the same verse; for with the message, "Babylon is fallen," is coupled the call, "Come out of her, my people, that ye...receive not of her [coming] plagues." This same interval of time, and the same work to be accomplished in it, are also referred to in symbol, in Rev. 7:3. To the messenger of wrath the command is given, "Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have SEALED the servants of our God in their foreheads." The forehead sealing indicates that a mental comprehension of the truth will be the mark or seal which will separate and distinguish the servants of God from the servants and votaries [C166] of Babylon. And this agrees with Daniel's testimony: "The wise [of thy people] shall understand; but none of the wicked [unfaithful to their covenant] shall understand." (Dan. 12:10) Thus the classes are to be marked and separated before the plagues come upon rejected, cast off Babylon.
And that this knowledge is to be both a sealing and a separating agent is clearly implied in the verse before considered; for the declaration is first made, that "Babylon is fallen," and that certain plagues or punishments are coming upon her, before the Lord's people are expected to obey the command, "Come out," based upon that knowledge. Indeed, we know that all must be well "sealed in their foreheads"intelligently informedconcerning God's plan, before they can rightly appreciate or obey this command.
And is it not apparent that this very work of sealing the servants of God is now progressing? Are we not being sealed in our foreheads? and that, too, at the very proper time? Are we not being led, step by step, as by the Lord's own handby his Wordto an appreciation of truth and affairs in general from his standpointreversing our former opinions derived from other sources, on many subjects? Is it not true that the various divisions or sects of Babylon have not been the channels through which this sealing has come to us, but rather that they have been hindrances which prevented its speedier accomplishment? And do we not see the propriety of it, as well as of the Lord's declaration, that a separation of wheat and tares must occur in the harvest? And do we not see it to be his plan, to reveal the facts to his faithful, and then to expect them to show their hearty sympathy with that plan by prompt obedience? What if to obey and come out obliges us to leave behind the praise of men, or a comfortable salary, or a parsonage home, or financial aids in business, or domestic peace, or what not? [C167] yet let us not fear. He who says to us "Come!" is the same who said "Come!" to Peter when he walked on the sea. Peter, in obeying, would have sunk, had not the Lord's outstretched arm upheld him; and the same arm supports them well who now, at his command, come out of Babylon. Look not at the boisterous sea of difficulties between, but, looking directly to the Lord, be of good courage.
The command is Come, not Go; because in coming out of bondage to human traditions, and creeds, and systems, and errors, we are coming directly to our Lord, to be taught and fed by him, to be strengthened and perfected to do all his pleasure, and to stand, and not to fall with Babylon.
God's Word reveals the fact that the nominal church, after its fall from his favor and from being his mouthpiece (Rev. 3:16), will gradually settle into a condition of unbelief, in which the Bible will eventually be entirely ignored in fact, though retained in name, and in which philosophic speculations of various shades will be the real creeds. From this fall the faithful sealed ones will escape; for they will be "accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand"not fall, in the time of the Lord's presence. (Luke 21:36) In fact, many are already thus settlingretaining the forms of worship, and faith in a Creator and in a future life, but viewing these chiefly through their own or other men's philosophies and theories, and ignoring the Bible as an infallible teacher of the divine purposes. These, while retaining the Bible, disbelieve its narratives, especially that of Eden and the fall. Retaining the name of Jesus, and calling him the Christ and the Savior, they regard him merely as an excellent though not infallible exemplar, and reject entirely his ransom-sacrificehis cross. Claiming the Fatherhood of God to extend to sinners, they repudiate both the curse and the Mediator.
It has not been generally observed that at the first advent [C168] our Lord's ministry of three and a half years, up to the casting off of the Jewish nation (their church and nation being one), was a trial or testing of that polity or system as a whole, rather than of its individual members. Its clerical classPriests, Scribes and Phariseesrepresented that system as a whole. They themselves claimed thus to represent Judaism (John 7:48,49), and the people so regarded them; hence the force of the inquiry, Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed on him? And our Lord so recognized them: he rarely rebuked the people for failure to receive him, but repeatedly held responsible the "blind leaders," who would neither enter into the Kingdom themselves, nor permit the people, who otherwise would have received Jesus as Messiah and King, to do so.
Our Lord's constant effort was to avoid publicityto prevent his miracles and teachings from inciting the people, lest they should take him by force, and make him king (John 6:15); and yet he constantly brought these testimonies or evidences of his authority and Messiahship to the notice of the Jewish clergy, up to the time when, their trial as a church-nation being ended, their house or system was cast off, "left desolate." Then, by his direction and under the apostles' teachings, all efforts were directed to the people individually; and the cast off church-organization and its officers, as such, were wholly ignored.
In evidence that during his ministry, and until their system was rejected, the teachers and priests represented it, note the Lord's course with the cleansed leper, as recorded in Matt. 8:4. Jesus said to him, "See thou tell no man; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto THEM." The evidence or testimony was to be hidden from the people for a time, but to be promptly given to their "rulers," who represented the Jewish church in the trial then in progress.
We should notice particularly the object and results of the trial of the Jewish church as a system, because of their typical bearing upon the present trial of the Gospel Church, as well as their relationship toward the entire plan of God. They professed, in harmony with God's promises, to be the people ready for the coming Messiah, the people whom he would organize, empower, direct and use as his "own people," in blessing all the other nations of the earth, by bringing all to a full knowledge of God and to opportunities of harmony with his righteous laws. God, though by his foreknowledge aware that Fleshly Israel would be unfit for the chief place in this great work, nevertheless gave them every opportunity and advantage the same as though he were ignorant of the results. Meanwhile he disclosed his foreknowledge in prophetic statements which they could not comprehend, lest we should suppose that he had experimented, and failed, in his dealings with the Jewish people.
So long as Israel as a church-nation claimed to be ready, waiting and anxious to carry out their part of the program, it was but just that they should be tested, before God's further plan should go into effect. That further plan was, that when the natural seed of Abraham should, by their testing, be proved unfit for the chief honor promised and sought, then an election or selection should be made, during the Gospel age, of individuals worthy of the high honor of being the promised seed of Abraham, and joint-heirs with Messiah in the promised Kingdom, which would lift up and bless all the families of the earth. Gal. 3:16,27-29,14
The "seventy-weeks" (490 years) of divine favor promised to the Jewish people could not fail of fulfilment; and hence in no sense could Gentiles, or even Samaritans, be invited to become disciples, or in any sense to be associated with the Kingdom which Christ and the apostles preached. (Acts 3:26) "It was necessary that the word of God [the invitation [C170] to share the Kingdom] should first have been preached to you," said Paul, addressing Jews. (Acts 13:46) "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel"; and again: "I am not sent, except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," said the Master, sending forth his disciples. Matt. 10:5; 15:24
The entire "seventieth week," in the midst of which Christ diedthe seven years from the beginning of our Lord's ministry to the sending of Peter to preach to Cornelius, the first Gentile convertwas set apart by God's arrangement for the Jewish trial. But instead of testing them as a whole (as a church-nation) all of those seven years, that testing was "cut short in righteousness"that is, not to their disadvantage, but to their advantage. Because it was evident, not only to God but to men also, that the Pharisees, priests and scribes not only rejected, but toward the last hated, the Lord Jesus and sought to kill him; therefore, when the time had come for him to offer himself publicly as King, riding to them on the ass, when not received by the representatives of the church-nation, the King promptly disowned that system, though the common people received him gladly and insisted on his recognition as king. (Mark 12:37) Thus our Lord cut short the further useless trial, in order that the remainder of that "seventieth week" might be spent specially and exclusively upon the people, the individuals of that cast-off systembefore the efforts of the ministers of the new dispensation should be distributed broadcast to all nations. And it was so; for our Lord, after his resurrection, when telling his disciples that their efforts need no longer be confined to Jews only, but might be extended to "all nations," was particular to add" beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke 24:47) And he knew well that their Jewish ideas would hinder them from going beyond the Jews until [C171] he should in due time open the wayas he did at the end of their favor, by sending Peter to Cornelius. Since that time, individual Jews and Gentiles have shared the privileges of God's favor equally, both being alike acceptable, in and through Christ; for in the present call "there is no difference" so far as God is concernedthe difference unfavorable to the Jew being his own prejudice against accepting, as a gift through Christ, the blessings once offered him upon condition of his actual compliance with the full letter and spirit of God's law, which none in the fallen state could fulfil.
That "seventieth week," with all the particulars of the testing of Fleshly Israel, not only accomplished the purpose of testing that system, but it also and specially furnished a typical representation of a similar testing of the nominal Gospel Church or Spiritual Israel, called "Christendom" and "Babylon," during seven corresponding years, which began the harvest of the Gospel agethe period from October 1874 to October 1881. "Christendom," "Babylon," professes to see the failure of its prototype, Fleshly Israel, and claims to be the true spiritual seed of Abraham, and to be ready, waiting and anxious to convert the heathen world, and to righteously rule and teach and bless all nations, just as the Jewish system professed. The present is like the typical age, also, in the fact that the leaders then had generally come to regard the promises of a coming Messiah as figurative expressions; and only the commoner class of the people expected a personal Messiah. The learned among the Jews, then, ignored an individual Messiah, and expected that their church-nation would triumph over others by reason of its superior laws, and thus fulfil all that the common people supposed would require a personal Messiah to accomplish. (And this is the view that is still held by "learned" Jewish teachers, or Rabbis, who interpret the Messianic [C172] prophecies as applicable to their church-nation, and not to an individual Savior of the world. Even the prophecies which refer to the sufferings of Christ they apply to their sufferings as a people.) Carrying out their theory, they were sending missionaries throughout the world, to convert the world to the Law of Moses, expecting thus to reach and "bless all the families of the earth," aside from a personal Messiah. To such an extent was this the case, that our Lord remarked it, saying, "Ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte."
How similar to this is the theory of nominal "Christendom" today. The common people, when their attention is drawn to the fact that the Lord promised to come again, and that the apostles and prophets predicted that the Millennium, or Times of Restitution, would result from the second coming of the Lord (Acts 3:19-21), are inclined to accept the truth and to rejoice in it, just as a similar class did at the first advent. But today, as eighteen hundred years ago, the chief priests and rulers of the people have a more advanced (?) idea. They claim that the promises of Millennial blessedness, of peace on earth and good will among men, can and must be brought about by their efforts, missions, etc., without the personal coming of the Lord Jesus; and thus they make void the promises of the second advent and the coming Kingdom.
The present chief priests and rulers, the "clergy" of "Christendom," deceiving themselves as well as the people, claim, and seemingly believe, that their missionary efforts are just about to succeed, and that, without the Lord, they are now upon the eve of introducing to the world all the Millennial blessings portrayed in the Scriptures.
The foundation of this delusion lies partly in the fact that the increase of knowledge and of running to and fro in the earth, incident to this "Day of His Preparation," have been [C173] specially favorable to the spread of the commerce of civilized nations, and the consequent increase of worldly prosperity. The credit of all this Babylon coolly appropriates to herself, pointing out all these advantages as the results of her Christianizing and energizing influences. She proudly points to the "Christian nation" of Great Britain, and to her wealth and prosperity, as results of her Christian principles. But what are the facts? Every step of progress which that nation or any other nation has made has been only to the extent of the effort exercised to cast off the yoke of Babylon's oppression. In proportion as Great Britain threw off the fetters of Papal oppression, she has prospered; and in proportion as she continued to hold and to be influenced by the Papal doctrines of church and state union, of divinely appointed kingly and priestly authority and oppression, and to submit to the tyranny of greed and selfishness, to that extent is she degraded still.
Greed for gold and ambition for power were the energies by which the ports of heathen lands were reluctantly opened up to the commerce of so-called Christian nations, to English and German rum and opium, and to American whiskey and tobacco. The love of God and the blessing of the heathen nations had no place in these efforts. Here is an apparently small item of current history that ought to startle the consciences of so-called Christian nations, if they have any. The Mohammedan Emir of Nupe, West Africa, recently sent the following message to Bishop Crowther, of the Niger mission:
"It is not a long matter; it is about barasa [rum]. Barasa, barasa, barasa! It has ruined our country; it has ruined our people very much; it has made our people mad. I beg you, Malam Kip, don't forget this writing; because we all beg that he [Crowther] should ask the great priests [the committee of the Anglican Church Mission Society] that they [C174] should beg the English Queen [Head of the Church of England] to prevent bringing barasa into this land.
"For God and the Prophet's sake! For God and the Prophet, his messenger's sake, he must help us in this matterthat of barasa. Tell him, may God bless him in his work. This is the mouth word from Malike, the Emir of Nupe."
"This humble negro ruler reveals in this letter a concern for his people which Christian monarchs and governments have not yet reached; for no European Christian ruler, and no President of the United States, has ever yet so appealed in behalf of his people. In all the addresses opening Parliaments, in all the Presidential messages, no such passage has ever been found. All shame to our Christian rulers! Gain, the accursed hunger for gold, is the law with merchants; and these are the darlings and lords of governments."
Then, in the name of truth, we ask, Why call these Christian governments? And the government of the United States is no exception, though so many persist in denominating it a Christian government, while properly it does not recognize the undeserved title, though urged to do so by zealous sectarians. From Boston, vast cargoes of rum are continually sent to Africa, unchecked by the government, and with its full permission, while it grants licenses to tens of thousands to manufacture and deal out to its own citizens the terrible "fire-water," made doubly injurious and seductive by what is called rectifying, that is, by the legalized mixture of the rankest poisons. All this, and much more, is justified and defended by "Christian" statesmen and rulers of so-called Christian nations, for revenueas the easiest way of collecting from the people a share of the necessary expenses of the government. Surely this is prostitution of the lowest and worst type. Every thinking man must see how out of place is the name Christian, when applied to even the very best of present governments. The attempt to [C175] fit the name Christian to the characters of "the kingdoms of this world," ruled by the "prince of this world"Satanand imbued with the "spirit of the world," has perplexed all truly Christian hearts, deluded by this error of supposing the present governments of the world to be in any sense Christ's Kingdom.
"The old rapacity of the slave-trade has been followed by the greedier and more ruinous rapacity of the drink-seller. Our fathers tore from the neck of Africa a yoke of whips: we have subjected the native races to a yoke of scorpions. We have opened the rivers of Africa to commerce, only to pour down them the raging phlegethon of alcohol, than which no river of the Inferno is more blood-red or accursed. Is the conscience of the nation dead?"
We answer, No! The nation never was Christian, and consequently never had a Christian conscience or a Christian spirit. The most that can be said of it is, that the light from God's truly consecrated children has enlightened, refined and shamed into a measure of moral reform the public sentiment of those nations in which they "shine as lights."
In like manner a similarly horrid traffic was forced upon China and Japan, against their earnest protest, by the same Christian (?) governments. In 1840 Great Britain began a war with China, called the "Opium War," to compel the Chinese government, which wished to protect its people from that terrible curse, to admit that article. The war resulted favorably to the devil's side of the question. British warships destroyed thousands of lives and homes, and forced the heathen Chinese ruler to open the empire to the slower death of opiumthe intoxicant of China. The net revenue of the British government from this drug, after paying large expenses for collecting the revenue, amounted, according to official reports published in 1872, [C176] to over $37,000,000 for the preceding year. This, $37,000,000 per year, was the inspiring cause of that war, the very reverse of love for either the present or future welfare of the Chinese. The clause in the treaty providing protection to Christian missionaries was merely a morsel cunningly thrown in to appease the consciences of justice-loving peopleto make a great crime appear to be a mercy, in kindness done. In the treaty at the end of the war, certain ports were made free to British trade, and similar treaties with other nations followed, and some good results were thereby secured. One of these was the opening of China to civilizing influences. But the fact that a few Christian men and women stepped to the front to teach the people some of the principles of righteousness is not to be reflected to the credit of the British nation, whose object was trade, and which, for greed of gold, and not for the good of the Chinese or the glory of God, waged an unholy and unjust war upon a people not so skilled in the devilish art.
Along with other vices, "Christendom" has taught the nations the worst forms of idolatry, the idolatry of self and wealth and power, for which professedly Christian men and nations are willing to defraud, to injure and even to kill one another. It has also taught them blasphemy and sacrilege in every language; for every ship's crew, from every professedly Christian nation, blasphemes the name of Christ. But, while such has been the influence of the so-called Christian nations, from their midst have also gone some noble missionaries of the cross, some real servants of God, and also some less noble, the servants of menin all, however, but a mere handfulto tell the heathen about Christ and real civilization.
It is not the earnest missionaries but the sanguine home officers of missionary societies, who have little idea of, and often little actual interest in, the real situation in foreign lands, and whose views are based mainly upon the large [C177] sum annually collected and expended, who think the heathen world almost converted, and their efforts about to eventuate in the promised Millennial blessings, without the Lord's second coming. Missionaries who have been to the front confess, generally, to great discouragement, except when they can stimulate their hope out of all proportion to actual experience and sound judgment. Thus, one suchRev. J. C. R. Ewing, D. D.who had spent nine years in mission work in India, in delivering a discourse recently before the Young Men's Christian Association of Pittsburgh, Pa., admitted that the present effect of civilization and missionary effort is not only to break down the heathen religions, but to abolish all religious faith and to make the people infidels. But his strong hope is that the next step will be from Infidelity to Christianityan unreasonable hope, surely, as all experience here, in civilized lands, most certainly proves. We extract from the public press reports of his discourse, as follows:
"India owes more to the direct and indirect influences of Christianity than to any other one thing. It has done much to break down the old idea of material gods, and in its stead to set up the idea of a single supreme God, that the people of the West [Europe and America] entertain. [A more explicit statement would be that they are receiving the idea, common to Atheism, that Nature is the supreme and only God.]
"Among the 263,000,000 of people in that country there are 10,000,000 young men who speak the English language and are instructed in the Western ideas that we are taught. The higher caste are thoroughly learned in the literature, the religion and the sciences that are the basis of the education of the people of this country. The old idea of a vengeful God, who must be propitiated by numerous gifts and many prayers, has given way to the modern spirit of Infidelity. The educated men of the East no longer believe in the gods of their fathers. They have abandoned them forever, and replaced them with the teachings of Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, [C178] of Paine, of Voltaire, of Bradlaugh and of every other atheistical and pantheistical teacher. This skeptical age will soon pass away, and the West, just as it has given India her ideas, will give her the religion of the Christian God.
"The young men of India are well educated, acute observers, intelligent, well posted in all the affairs of other nations besides their own, and, though it may seem strange, well acquainted with our Bible. Indeed, they know it so well that none but a man thoroughly conversant with its teachings, and the Christian theology, could hope to be able to successfully answer all the objections they bring forward against it. The popular idea, that a missionary sits in the shade of a tree and teaches naked savages who gather around him, is an exploded one. In India the missionary meets intelligent and educated men, and he must be well equipped to influence them. They are, besides being intelligent, a fine looking people, amiable, courteous, gentlemanly, and treat all foreigners with the greatest consideration and respect."
The obstinate facts he cites certainly do not warrant the gentleman's unreasonable hopes. Experience has surely proved that the bungling arguments of sectarianism, whose errors distort and vitiate what truth they possess, seldom make converts of either honest or scoffing skeptics. Surely, all but the blind can see that if the ten hundred millions of heathendom were converted to the condition of the four hundred millions * of so-called Christendom, the question would be an open one, as it was in the Jewish age (Matt. 23:15), whether they would not be two-fold more fit for destruction than they were in their original heathen superstitions. Surely no sane mind could claim that conversion to such a condition as that of so-called Christendom would fulfil the description of the Millennial peace and good will, foretold [C179] by the prophets, and briefly summed up in our Lord's prayer, in the words, "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven." Luke 11:2
Is it at all surprising that this mass of four hundred millions, professedly constituting the Church of Christ, and calling itself his Kingdom"Christendom"is disowned by the Lord, and by him given the more appropriate name, Babylon (mixture, confusion)? And is it any wonder that with their ideas of the Kingdom of Christ, and of the manner and results of its spread throughout the world, these should be unprepared for the real Kingdom, and unwilling to receive the new King, as, for similar reasons, the rulers of the typical house were unprepared at the first advent? Nor can it be doubted that those emperors, kings and princes who now use influence and power chiefly for self-aggrandizement, and who equip and maintain millions of armed men to protect and to continue them in their imperial extravagances and lordly positions, would rather see millions slaughtered, and other millions made widows and orphans, as in the past, than that they should part with their present advantages. Is it any wonder that these should neither desire, nor expect, nor believe in the kind of Kingdom promised in the Scriptures?a kingdom in which the high and lofty and proud shall be brought low, and the lowly lifted up to the general, proper and designed level? Is it any wonder that all in sympathy with any kind of oppression, extortion, or grinding monopoly, by which they obtain, or hope to obtain, unjust advantage over their fellow-creatures, would be slow to believe in the Kingdom of righteousness in which no injustice and overreaching will be permitted? Especially, can we wonder that such are slow to believe this Kingdom nigh, even at the doors?
Nor can we wonder that the great ones, the chief priests and rulers of "Christendom," looking each to gain from his own quarter or sect (Isa. 56:11), fail to recognize, and therefore [C180] reject, the spiritual King now present, as the teachers of the fleshly house rejected him when present in the flesh. And as the Lord rejected, cut off and cast away from favor, into a fire of trouble, many of the "natural branches" of the olive tree, preserving only the Israelites indeed as branches, do we not see that, in the harvest of this age, the same wisdom tests the "wild branches" also (Rom. 11:21,22), and cuts off from the favor and fatness of the root [the Abrahamic promise] this great mass of professed branches, whose character and aims and dispositions are foreign and wild indeedvery different from the promise and plan of God represented in the root?
It is not strange that the present harvest witnesses the separation of true Christians from mere professors, as in the Jewish harvest a separation of Israelites indeed from mere professors was accomplished. It is only what we might reasonably have expected, even had there been no revelation made to us in God's Word, showing the fact of the rejection of the mass, as Babylon. Compare Rom. 11:20-22 with Rev. 3:16; 18:4.
The rejection of Babylon ("Christendom"), in 1878, was the rejection of the mass of professorsthe "host," as it is termed by Daniel, to distinguish it from the sanctuary or temple class. The sanctuary class will not be given up, nor left desolate. No, thank God, the sanctuary is to be glorified; the glory of the Lord is to fill his temple, when its last living stone is polished and approved and set in place. (1 Pet. 2:5,6) We have seen how such a sanctuary class has existed throughout the age, how it was defiled, and its precious vessels (doctrines) profaned, and how its cleansing from error has been gradually effected. This class had all along been the real Church, even while the nominal systems were still in a measure recognized and to some extent used. After the rejection of the nominal systems, however, [C181] now as in the Jewish harvest, the real Church or Sanctuary class alone is recognized and used as God's mouthpiece. Caiaphas, a chief-priest of Fleshly Israel, was used as the agent of God to deliver a great lesson and prophecy only a few days before that system was cast off. (See John 11:50,51,55; 18:14.) But we have no intimation in the Scriptures, nor any reason for supposing, that God ever used or recognized that church-nation, its rulers and representatives, after it was cast off. And this same lesson should be recognized, here, in connection with Babylon. She is "spewed out" of the Lord's mouth; and neither the voice of the Bridegroom nor of the bride shall be heard in her any more forever. Rev. 18:23
It is in vain that some attempt to make a plea for their quarter of Babylon, and, while admitting the general correctness of the prophetic portrait, to claim that their sect, or their particular congregation, is an exception to the general character of Babylon, and that, therefore, the Lord cannot be calling upon them to withdraw from it formally and publicly, as they once joined it.
Let such consider that we are now in the harvest time of separation, and remember our Lord's expressed reason for calling us out of Babylon, namely, "that ye be not partakers of her sins." Consider, again, why Babylon is so named. Evidently, because of her many errors of doctrine, which, mixed with a few elements of divine truth, make great confusion, and because of the mixed company brought together by the mixed truths and errors. And since they will hold the errors at a sacrifice of truth, the latter is made void, and often worse than meaningless. This sin, of holding and teaching error at the sacrifice of truth is one of which every sect of the Church nominal is guilty, without exception. Where is the sect which will assist you in diligently searching the Scriptures, to grow thereby in grace and in the [C182] knowledge of the truth? Where is the sect which will not hinder your growth, both by its doctrines and its usages? Where is the sect in which you can obey the Master's words and let your light shine? We know of none.
If any of God's children in these organizations do not realize their bondage, it is because they do not attempt to use their liberty, because they are asleep at their posts of duty, when they should be active stewards and faithful watchmen. (1 Thess. 5:5,6) Let them wake up and attempt to use the liberty they think they possess; let them show to their fellow-worshippers wherein their creeds fall short of the divine plan, wherein they diverge from it and run in direct opposition to it; let them show how Jesus Christ by the favor of God tasted death for every man; how this fact, and the blessings flowing from it, shall "in due time" be testified to every man; how in "the times of refreshing" the blessings of restitution shall flow to the whole human race. Let them show further the high calling of the Gospel Church, the rigid conditions of membership in that body, and the special mission of the Gospel age to take out this peculiar "people for his name," which in due time is to be exalted and to reign with Christ. Those who will thus attempt to use their liberty to preach the good tidings in the synagogues of today will succeed either in converting whole congregations, or else in awakening a storm of opposition. They will surely cast you out of their synagogues, and separate you from their company, and say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for Christ's sake. And, in so doing, doubtless, many will feel that they are doing God service. But, if thus faithful, you will be more than comforted in the precious promises of Isaiah 66:5 and Luke 6:22"Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his Word: Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified [we do this for the Lord's glory]: but he [C183] shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed." "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy; for, behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets." But, "Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you; for so did their fathers to the false prophets."
If all with whom you worship as a congregation are saintsif all are wheat, with no tares among themyou have met a most remarkable people, who will receive the harvest truths gladly. But if not, you must expect present truth to separate the tares from the wheat. And more, you must do your share in presenting these very truths which will accomplish the separation.
If you would be one of the overcoming saints, you must now be one of the "reapers" to thrust in the sickle of truth. If faithful to the Lord, worthy of the truth and worthy of joint-heirship with him in glory, you will rejoice to share with the Chief Reaper in the present harvest workno matter how disposed you may be, naturally, to glide smoothly through the world.
If there are tares among the wheat in the congregation of which you are a member, as is always the case, much will depend upon which is in the majority. If the wheat preponderates, the truth, wisely and lovingly presented, will affect them favorably; and the tares will not long care to stay. But if the majority are taresas nine-tenths or more generally arethe effect of the most careful and kind presentation of the harvest truth will be to awaken bitterness and strong opposition; and, if you persist in declaring the good tidings, and in exposing the long established errors, you will soon be "cast out" for the good of the sectarian [C184] cause, or have your liberties so restrained that you cannot let your light shine in that congregation. Your duty then is plain: Deliver your loving testimony to the goodness and wisdom of the Lord's great plan of the ages, and, wisely and meekly giving your reasons, publicly withdraw from them.
There are various degrees of bondage among the different sects of Babylon"Christendom." Some who would indignantly resent the utter and absolute slavery of individual conscience and judgment, required by Romanism, are quite willing to be bound themselves, and anxious to get others bound, by the creeds and dogmas of one or another of the Protestant sects. True, their chains are lighter and longer than those of Rome and the Dark Ages. So far as it goes, this surely is goodreformation trulya step in the right directiontoward full libertytoward the condition of the Church in the apostolic times. But why wear human shackles at all? Why bind and limit our consciences at all? Why not stand fast in the full liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free? Why not reject all the efforts of fallible fellowmen to fetter conscience and hinder investigation?not only the efforts of the remote past, of the Dark Ages, but the efforts of the various reformers of the more recent past? Why not conclude to be as was the apostolic Church?free to grow in knowledge as well as in grace and love, as the Lord's "due time" reveals his gracious plan more and more fully?
Surely all know that whenever they join any of these human organizations, accepting its Confession of Faith as theirs, they bind themselves to believe neither more nor less than that creed expresses on the subject. If, in spite of the bondage thus voluntarily yielded to, they should think for themselves, and receive light from other sources, in advance of the light enjoyed by the sect they have joined, they must either prove untrue to the sect and to their covenant with it, to believe nothing contrary to its Confession, or else they [C185] must honestly cast aside and repudiate the Confession which they have outgrown, and come out of such a sect. To do this requires grace and costs some effort, disrupting, as it often does, pleasant associations, and exposing the honest truth-seeker to the silly charges of being a "traitor" to his sect, a "turncoat," one "not established," etc. When one joins a sect, his mind is supposed to be given up entirely to that sect, and henceforth not his own. The sect undertakes to decide for him what is truth and what is error; and he, to be a true, staunch, faithful member, must accept the decisions of his sect, future as well as past, on all religious matters, ignoring his own individual thought, and avoiding personal investigation, lest he grow in knowledge, and be lost as a member of such sect. This slavery of conscience to a sect and creed is often stated in so many words, when such a one declares that he "belongs" to such a sect.
These shackles of sectarianism, so far from being rightly esteemed as shackles and bonds, are esteemed and worn as ornaments, as badges of respect and marks of character. So far has the delusion gone, that many of God's children would be ashamed to be known to be without some such chainslight or heavy in weight, long or short in the personal liberty granted. They are ashamed to say that they are not in bondage to any sect or creed, but "belong" to Christ only.
Hence it is that we sometimes see an honest, truth-hungry child of God gradually progressing from one denomination to another, as a child passes from class to class in a school. If he be in the Church of Rome, when his eyes are opened, he gets out of it, probably falling into some branch of the Methodist or Presbyterian systems. If here his desire for truth be not entirely quenched and his spiritual senses stupefied with the spirit of the world, you may a few years after find him in some of the branches of the Baptist [C186] system; and, if he still continue to grow in grace and knowledge and love of truth, and into an appreciation of the liberty wherewith Christ makes free, you may by and by find him outside of all human organizations, joined merely to the Lord and to his saints, bound only by the tender but strong ties of love and truth, like the early Church. 1 Cor. 6:15,17; Eph. 4:15,16
The feeling of uneasiness and insecurity, if not bound by the chains of some sect, is general. It is begotten of the false idea, first promulgated by Papacy, that membership in an earthly organization is essential, pleasing to the Lord and necessary to everlasting life. These earthly, humanly organized systems, so different from the simple, unfettered associations of the days of the apostles, are viewed involuntarily and almost unconsciously by Christian people as so many Heaven Insurance Companies, to some one of which money, time, respect, etc., must be paid regularly, to secure heavenly rest and peace after death. Acting on this false idea, people are almost as nervously anxious to be bound by another sect, if they step out of one, as they are if their policy of insurance has expired, to have it renewed in some respectable company.
But no earthly organization can grant a passport to heavenly glory. The most bigoted sectarian (aside from the Romanist) will not claim, even, that membership in his sect will secure heavenly glory. All are forced to admit that the true Church is the one whose record is kept in heaven, and not on earth. They deceive the people by claiming that it is needful to come to Christ through themneedful to become members of some sectarian body in order to become members of "the body of Christ," the true Church. On the contrary, the Lord, while he has not refused any who came to him through sectarianism, and has turned no true seeker [C187] away empty, tells us that we need no such hindrances, but could much better have come to him direct. He cries, "Come unto me "; "take my yoke upon you, and learn of me"; "my yoke is easy and my burden is light, and ye shall find rest to your souls." Would that we had given heed to his voice sooner. We would have avoided many of the heavy burdens of sectism, many of its bogs of despair, many of its doubting castles, its vanity fairs, its lions of worldly-mindedness, etc.
Many, however, born in the various sects, or transplanted in infancy or childhood, without questioning the systems, have grown free in heart, and unconsciously beyond the limits and bounds of the creeds they acknowledge by their profession and support with their means and influence. Few of these have recognized the advantages of full liberty, or the drawbacks of sectarian bondage. Nor was the full, complete separation enjoined until now, in the harvest time. Now the Lord's words are heard, Come out from among them: be ye clean (free, both from wrong practices and from false doctrines), ye who bear the vessels (truthsdoctrines) of the Lord. Isa. 52:11 *
*In view of the fact that some misunderstand, and others wilfully misrepresent, those who take this stand for the Lord and for the Truth, we have provided "Withdrawal Letters," which require only dating and signing and a one-cent stamp. We supply letters, envelopes, and tracts to enclose, free - one for each member of the congregation. Write to us for sample, or as many as can be used.
Now the ax is laid to the root of the nominal Christian systemBabylon, "Christendom"as it was to the nominal Jewish system at the first advent; and the great system in which the "fowl of heaven" delight to roost, and which they have grievously befouled (Luke 13:18,19), and which has in fact become "a cage of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev. 18:2), is to be hewn down, and shall deceive the world no longer. Instead, the true olive tree, whose roots are the true promises of God, and whose branches are the truly and fully consecrated and faithful ones of this Gospel age, whose names are "written in heaven," will be seen to be the true and only joint-heir and Bride of the Lamb. Rev. 17:14
Though coming out of Babylon is one step, and a long one, in the direction of complete overcoming, it is by no means the last one; and we should be careful to guard against a disposition to rest after every advance step of the way.
The step out of Babylon has generally been preceded by other steps of obedience, which in turn have exercised and strengthened the character for subsequent conflicts and victories. And it will be followed by various other tests and opportunities for overcoming, in view of which Paul (Gal. 5:1) wrote, "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with a yoke of bondage." Every one who comes to realize the liberty of the sons of God and full freedom from Babylon's bondage should expect to meet other attempts of the great adversary to bring him into other bondages, or to stumble him. The Lord permits these severe testings, that the class now sought may be manifested, and prepared for his service in the Kingdom of glory.
An illustration of this testing and sifting took place in the Jewish harvest, foreshadowing what we may expect here. The temple or sanctuary class at the first advent was represented by the Lord's disciples, of whom he said, "Ye are clean, but not all [of you]"; and following the casting off of nominal Israel (A.D. 33) came a severe testing to those representing God's temple, the clean and the unclean, to separate [C189] them. Peter was sifted, and almost failed (Luke 22:31; Matt. 26:74,75; John 21:15-17); but, being "clean," true at heart, he was enabled to come off victorious. Judas also was tested, and he proved to be unclean, willing to sell the truth for earthly advantage, to deny the Lord for money, even while kissing him in profession of love.
Just so there is here, in this harvest, a cleansed sanctuary, and, closely associated with it, some who are not clean. And since the casting off of Babylon in 1878, and the call there made, to come out of her, a testing and sifting work has been going on amongst those who have come out. Doubtless Peter and Judas were illustrations of similar classes here, among those who have come out of Babylon, and who have been cleansed from many of her doctrinal pollutionsa class which remains faithful to the Lord and the truth, and another class which proves unfaithful, which does not follow on to know the Lord, but which turns aside to evil and false doctrines, often worse than those from which they had escaped.
This testing and sifting of the temple class, in this harvest since 1878, were foreshadowed by our Lord's typical act of cleansing the typical temple after assuming the office of King and pronouncing judgment against the nominal Jewish church. After declaring their house left unto them desolate, he proceeded to the temple in Jerusalem, typical of the true temple or sanctuary, and, making a scourge of small cords, he used it in driving out the money changers; and he overturned the tables of them that sold doves.
The scourge of small cords used in that typical act represented the various truths, used in the present harvest among the temple class, to correct and prove, and to separate the unclean. The truths now made manifest reveal so clearly the perfect will of God, the import of full consecration to his service, and the narrowness of the way which must be traveled [C190] by those who walk in the Master's footprints, that those who have joined themselves to this class from any unclean motives are continually scourged by the truth, until constrained to separate themselves from the sanctuary class.
Though several of our Lord's parables show the general separation of the "sanctuary" class from the "host," or general mass of professing Christendom, there are two which go still further and show the testing and sifting, afterward, of the sanctuary classthe separation of the overcomers, who shall inherit the Kingdom (Rev. 3:21), from others of the honestly consecrated, who, overcome by the spirit of the world, neglect to sacrifice present advantages and honors of men, for the higher honors of God.
The parable of the Ten Virgins, while it shows the entire virgin or consecrated class being separated from Babylon, marks distinctly a testing and separation to take place in this class alsoa separation of wise virgins, full of faith and fervent love and the spirit of prompt obedience, from foolish virgins, who allow their first love and fervency of spirit to cool, and their faith and promptness of obedience consequently to abate. The wise, living in full harmony with their covenant of entire consecration to God, and earnestly watching for the Lord's promised return, are prepared to appreciate the glad harvest message, to recognize the foretold indications of the Master's presence, and to stand whatever tests he may see fit to apply, to prove their loyalty and faithfulness. These, awake and watching, hear the Master's knock, through the words of the prophets, announcing his presence; and to them present losses and crosses, meekly borne for the truth's sake, are welcomed as the harbingers of a more lasting peace and joy and glory and blessing to follow.
When the knock of prophecy was heard announcing the [C191] Lord's presence in the autumn of 1874, almost immediately it began to be recognized; and quickly the cry was raised, "Behold the Bridegroom! go ye out to meet him." And this cry still goes forth, and will continue until all of the consecrated virgin class have heard, and have had their faith and loyalty tested by it. The wise, with lamps (the Word of God) trimmed and burning, and with oil (the holy spirit) in their vessels (their hearts), will all recognize the Lord's presence; and, by ordering their conduct and affairs in harmony with their faith, they will go "forth" to meet the beloved Bridegroom, and sit down with him at the marriage feast.
The marriage custom of the Jews formed a beautiful illustration of the Church's betrothal and marriage with Christ, her Lord. The espousal or betrothal was a formal agreement made with solemn covenants of fidelity on each side. The woman continued in her father's house until she was taken to the home of her husband, usually about a year after betrothal or marriage. The consummation of the union consisted in the receiving of the wife to the home prepared for her by the husband, and was celebrated with a great feast lasting several dayscalled the Nuptial Feast. At a fixed hour the bridegroom set out for his bride, who was waiting in readiness to receive him and to accompany him to their future home and to the feast which he had provided, followed by her virgin companions with lamps and all the necessary preparations.
In the parable no mention is made of the bride, but all of the "wise virgins" are mentioned as those for whom the Bridegroom comes, and who accompany him and enter to the feast of joys prepared. And this is both proper and necessary; because the Bride of Christ is composed of many members or persons, most beautifully represented in the wise virgins. The foolish virgins who obtain the light and [C192] experience later, but who will fail to obtain the high exaltation of the "wise," faithful Bride class, will no doubt be the class mentioned (Psa. 45:14,15) as "the virgins her companions which follow her," who in due time will be favored, but not so highly, by the King.
The attitude of the wise virgins, ready, waiting and anxious for the Bridegroom's coming, fitly represents the only proper attitude of the Lord's betrothed, the truly consecrated Church. For a bride to neglect or to be unprepared for this, the most eventful moment of life, would prove her unfitness for the honor; and so it is with the Church: "He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself," seeks to be in an attitude of heart and life pleasing to the Bridegroom, and is longing and waiting for the blessed union and feast promised by him who said, I go to prepare a place for you, and will come again and receive you unto myself.
Two things are evident from this parable: first, that this special feature of truth (the knowledge of the Bridegroom's presence) is not intended for the world in general, nor for the nominal church in general, but only for the virgin or consecrated class; second, it is evident that this message of the Bridegroom's presence will cause the separation which will test and prove each individual of the virgin class and clearly manifest the wise, faithful, worthy ones from the unfaithful, unwise virgins.
Oh, what riches of grace are contained in this glorious message, "Behold the Bridegroom!" As yet it is a great secret known only among the saints; for the world cannot receive it. It is foolishness unto them, and will be, until the virgins have all heard, and the wise among them have fully entered in; until "the door is shut," and the "flaming fire" of the great time of trouble then to ensue will cause every eye to see (recognize) the Lord's presence and reign begun.
With what kingly grace the message of Jehovah comes to [C193] his humble servants and handmaidens"Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy father's [Adam's] house [the human relationships, hopes, aims and ambitions]; so shall the King [the Lord Jesus] greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him." (Psa. 45:10,11) And who are these who will receive such favor? They are the "called, and accepted, and faithful." "The King's daughter [Jehovah's daughter; for as such the Bride of Christ is owned] is all glorious within." Her beauty is the beauty of holiness. Outwardly, before the world, she is not glorious; and, like her Lord in his humiliation, she is despised and rejected of men. But she will not always be so: having followed him in his humiliation, she shall also share in his glory. As a new creature, she will in due time be clothed with his divine nature"Her clothing [when glorified] is of wrought gold"gold being a symbol of the divine nature. "She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needle work"in the simple white robe of her Lord's own furnishing, the robe of his righteousness, upon which she will have wrought, with much carefulness, the beautiful adornments of the Christian graces. And great will be the rejoicing in heaven and in earth at her abundant entrance into the King's palace (2 Pet. 1:5-8,11): many will say, "Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready." (Rev. 19:7) "And the daughter of Tyre [the strong ones of earth] shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favor....I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee forever and ever." Psa. 45:12-17
Truly "wise" will those of the consecrated prove to be who, neglecting worldly enchantments, and earthly hopes and prizes, and with hearts yearning and waiting for the [C194] Beloved, are found ready and proved worthy of the great exaltation promised, as the Bride, the Lamb's wife.
Since taking their lamps and following the Bridegroom represents leaving all else to follow Christ in this time of his presence, it is equivalent to leaving Babylon, where the virgins have mainly been; because the truth manifested in the light of harvest clearly indicates this separation of wheat from tares. Careful trimming reveals this fact to the wise virgins possessing the holy spirit of consecration and obedience. Such as have this "oil" will have the light also; and such, appreciating the privilege, will gladly and promptly "follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth."
The foolish virgins, on the contrary, lacking sufficiency of oil, fail to get clear light on the subject of the Bridegroom's presence; and, being overcharged with the cares, plans, etc., of the present life, they fail to investigate the subject fully, and consequently are halting and undecided about leaving Babylon, and are measurably indifferent to, and incredulous of, the whole subject. And even if, urged by others, they reluctantly take their departure, like Lot's wife, they are constantly inclined to look back. For such the Lord left the injunction, "Remember Lot's wife." (Luke 17:32) And again he said, "No man having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God."
There is nothing in the parable to indicate that the foolish virgins will be aware of their foolishness, until the opportunity of going in to the feast has passed by. Then they will realize how foolish they were in expecting to be owned of the Lord as his Bride and joint-heirs, when they were at most but lukewarm and distant followers. Many now "highly esteemed among men," and noted for their "wonderful works," will be among the disappointed.
The proclamation of the Bridegroom's presence, the going forth to meet him, and the entering in with him to the marriage, still continue, and will continue, until all the wise virgins are "sealed in their foreheads" with a knowledge of harvest truth sufficient to separate them from Babylon, and to enable them to enter in with the Bridegroom to the feast prepared. Then, when all the virgins have been tested by this present truth, the door of opportunity will be shut, and no more will be permitted to enter to the feast; for, said the Master, I am "he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth." (Rev. 3:7) And when the foolish virgins come knocking and seeking admittance, after the door is shut, saying "Master, Master, open it for us," he will answer them, saying, "Indeed, I say to you, I recognize you not." Those who are ashamed of him and of his words now, and therefore indifferent to them, of such will he then be ashamed, when he is about to appear in glory and power with all his holy, faithful messengersthe wise virgins exalted and glorified with him.
The shut door, it will be perceived, has nothing whatever to do with the worldly. It is the door to the marriage feast; and it never was open to any except the consecrated, the virgin class. No other class was ever invited to enter it; and it closes when the harvest truths have sifted and separated all the warm, earnest covenant-keepers from the cold, lukewarm and overcharged, who neglect to fulfil their covenant. Thank God, it is not the door of mercy that here closes, nor even the door of all favor; but it is the door to that one chief favor of joint-heirship with Christ as his Bride. But when it closes against the foolish virgins, and will never again open to their knock, though it leave them standing without, exposed to the great tribulation of the "evil day," where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of [C196] teeth, it still leaves them in the arms of God's love and mercy, and even under his favor and special care; for the great tribulations through which they shall pass are designed to purify and purge those then repentant virgins, and thereby to fit them as vessels of honor for the Master's use, though not for the chief honor to which they were originally called, but of which they proved themselves unworthy. Partaking to some extent of the spirit of Babylon, giving to her the weight of their influence, however small, they are reckoned of God as partakers of her sins and therefore as unworthy to escape the plagues coming upon her. These plagues are necessary, not only for Babylon's destruction, but also for the purification and separation of the hitherto unripe wheat remaining in her; the foolish virgins, measurably intoxicated and overcome with the wine of Babylon.
The going in with the Lord to the marriage was beautifully illustrated by the happy bridal procession which escorted the Jewish bride to her husband's home, with music and lighted lamps and every demonstration of joy. Thus she entered in to the joy of her Lord and to the feast which he had provided. Thus the wise virgins are now entering in. The joy begins when they first hear of the Bridegroom's presence. Gladly they leave all else for his company and the prepared feast. Already by faith they are enjoying the coming feast, as the present Bridegroom makes known to them the exceeding great and precious things in reservation for his elect Bride, and reveals to them his great work of blessing and restoring the world, in which it will be the privilege of the Bride to share. Surely, as we enter the reception room and see evidences of the coming feast of Kingdom favor, we are already entering into the joys of our Lord. Already we have a foretaste of the good things to come. Already we are feasting, mentally, upon the richest bounties of his grace. [C197] By faith we are already seated at the Master's table, and he himself, according to promise (Luke 12:37), has come forth and is serving us.
This feasting by faith on the precious truths disclosed during this harvest time began in 1875, at the close of the 1335 days (Dan. 12:12), in the beginning of the harvest, and is the blessedness foretold by the prophet, saying, "Oh, the blessedness of him that waiteth earnestly, and cometh unto the thousand three hundred five and thirty days!"
Another of our Lord's parables (Matt. 22:1-14) shows a still further testing of the sanctuary classa testing and separation even among those who have heard and recognized the harvest message. The "wise virgins" of the one parable, who enter with the Bridegroom to the wedding, and the "guests" of this parable, are the same class of consecrated ones, who thus far have shown themselves faithful and obedient. In fact, this class is represented by many different figures, each of which has, as an illustration, its own peculiar force. They are represented as wise virgins, as servants waiting for their Lord's return from a wedding, as guests at a wedding, and as a bride. They are the body of Christ, the prospective bride of Christ, soldiers under Christ their Captain, branches in Christ the vine, olive branches in Christ, living stones in a temple of which Christ is the chief corner stone, pupils under Christ as their teacher, sheep over whom he is Shepherd, etc., etc. In considering these figures, we must remember that they are distinct and separate illustrations, entirely independent of each other, and seek to gather from each the lesson which it was designed to impart. If we endeavor to blend the illustrations, and wonder how a stone in a temple can be a branch in a vine, how sheep can be soldiers, or how the guests at a wedding can be [C198] the servants, or the bride, we fail entirely to comprehend them. Actually we are not called to be guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb, nor servants waiting for his return from the wedding, but we are called to be the bride, though in some respects we must be like servants and like these guestslike faithful servants in our vigilance and watchfulness, and like guests in another respect.
This parable serves to show what could not be illustrated under the figure of the bride, which represents the elect church collectively as Christ's joint-heir. This shows both the character of the readiness required, and also the inspection of each individual which shall reject some and accept others. Those thus inspected are represented as already in the guest chamber. They are the wheat reaped or gathered out from amongst the tares, the wise virgins separated from the foolish. They have heard and received the harvest truths, and are rejoicing by faith in anticipation of the glory and blessing to follow their full union with the Lord. Hitherto they all have run well; but until he reach the end of his course, "let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."
The condition of acceptableness and readiness for the marriage is symbolized in this parable under the figure of the wedding garment. It was a custom at Jewish weddings for the host to provide dresses of ceremonywhite linen robesfor all the guests; and for any guest to discard the wedding robe presented by the host on such an occasion, and to appear in his own clothing, would have been considered a shameful impropriety, significant of pride and of disrespect for his entertainer.
As a symbol, the wedding garment clearly illustrates the righteousness of Christ, provided by our host, Jehovah (Rom. 8:30-34), imputed to every one believing and trusting in him, without which no one is acceptable at the marriage [C199] of the Lamb, and without which no guest is admitted. The invitation and the wedding robe are both necessary, and the parable shows that only those so attired are admitted even to the ante-chamber of special preparationinto the light of present truth, where the bride makes herself finally ready. (Rev. 19:7) The robe and the invitation received and accepted, these guests spend the short time just prior to the marriage feast (the harvest time) in adjusting their robes and giving to themselves and to each other the finishing touches of preparation. And, while thus engaged, they are together feasting already, by faith, on the prospect before them. The Bridegroom, the grand future work, the glorious inheritance and the present work of preparation are the constant themes of their thoughts and conversation.
In this ante-chamber (this favored time and condition), brilliantly lighted with the clear unfolding of divine truth now due, both the facilities for, and the inspiration to, the final adornment and complete readiness for the marriage feast are granted. But, nevertheless, the parable shows that even under these specially favorable conditions, some, here represented by "one," will insult the host, the King, by despising and taking off the wedding garment.
The unmistakable teaching of this parable then is, that the final general test of those "wise virgins," who have thus far been found ready and worthy, and who have therefore been ushered into much of the harvest light, will be a test of their appreciation of the fact, often testified to in the Scriptures, that they are accepted to the feast, not in their own merit, solely, but primarily because their nakedness and many imperfections are covered by the merit of him who gave his life as their ransom price, and whose imputed righteousness, as a robe, alone makes them presentable and acceptable before the King. All must wear the robe. Each may embroider his own with good works.
How remarkable and significant that this should be the great, general, closing test. Our Heavenly Father is evidently determined that none shall be of the bride company except such as realize clearly their own nothingness, and that the great Bridegroom is their Redeemer, as well as their Lord and Teacher.
It seems strange, too, that any who had run well so far along the course should fall when so near the fruition of their hope; yet, when warned of such a possibility, it behooves all the consecrated to watch and pray, lest they enter into temptation; for in these last days come the perilous times foretold by the Apostle. (1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1; 4:3-5) And yet the times are not so perilous that divine grace is unable to sustain those who lean confidently upon the Omnipotent Arm. Indeed, those who humbly keep the narrow way of sacrifice were never before so well sustained, or so fully equipped with the whole armor of God. But, strange as it may seem, the very abundance of God's favors, the very clearness of the unfoldings of the Lord's gracious plans (for using the Church during the Millennium to bless all the families of the earth), instead of leading to humility and a greater appreciation of the wonderful ransom price, through which release from condemnation is accomplished, and our call to the divine nature and joint-heirship with Christ is secured, seems to have the opposite effect upon some. Such seem to lose sight of their personal unworthiness, as well as of the Lord's unblemished perfection; and, instead of realizing themselves to be at best "unprofitable servants," they seem to see, in their own little self-denials for the truth's sake, something wonderfulthe equivalent of what our Lord Jesus didand feel that they as much as he are indispensable to the execution of the great plan of the ages which the Scriptures reveal. Such are guilty of "not holding the Head," and his great work of redemption, in [C201] proper respect. (Col. 2:19) These stand condemned of "counting the blood of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified" (and accepted) a common or ordinary thing. (Heb. 10:29) These do despite to the very spirit of God's favor, when they reject the "way"the only wayand the only name given under heaven and among men, whereby we must be saved from Adamic condemnation and fully reconciled to God.
These are represented in the parable by the one "bound," hindered from making further progress toward the feast, or even toward a further appreciation of its blessings and joys; and these will finally be cast out of the light entirely, into the "outer darkness" of the world, to share in the anguish and vexations of the great time of trouble. To these, therefore, the very truths now unfolding, designed for our good and development, become an occasion of stumbling, because they are not rightly exercised by them. And as Israel, so long specially favored of God, became proud, and began to think themselves actually worthy of those favors, and indispensable to the divine plan, so that God cast them off from all favor, so now it will be with those who, though they have hitherto run well, fail to keep humble, and begin to think themselves worthy to stand before God in their own righteousness, and who assume a right to partake of the feast without the wedding robe of Christ's imputed righteousness.
Peculiarly sad though it be, this feature of prophecy, shown in the parable under consideration, is also fulfilling before our eyes, forming another link in the great chain of evidence that we are in the "harvest." Some of those enjoying present spiritual favors have thus disdained and cast aside the wedding robe; and, though still speaking of Christ as Lord, they despise and deny the importance and efficacy of the very transaction by which he became Lord, and on [C202] account of which they were counted worthy of an invitation to the marriage. (Rom. 14:9; 5:2) They boldly claim to need no Redeemer; and with subtle sophistries and misapplications of Scripture they convince themselves and others that they get into the sheepfold by another way without being ransomedin their own righteousness, which the Apostle terms "filthy rags"; and some claim that they need no Advocate or Ransom, but were unalterably elected by God to heavenly glory.
This taking off of the wedding garment, by a rejection of the value of Christ's ransom-sacrifice, first made its appearance amongst those in the light of present truth in the summer of 1878; and since that time it has been testing all who entered into the light of the guest-chamber, the harvest light. In the very presence of the Bridegroom the error has gained a footing; and some are casting aside the indispensable wedding robes. And what a commotion it has caused among the guests! what division! what sifting! Those who discard the robe seem anxious to have others do the same; and these strive while the faithful remonstrate; and the work of division goes on, even in the very guest-chamber; and doubtless it will continue up to the very last hour prior to the marriage.
Meanwhile, the invisible but present Bridegroom-King marks the faithful worthy ones who shall taste of his supper; and he permits, and in the parable foretold, this final test. Of those who have discarded the robe he inquires, "Friend [comrade], how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment?"a gentle but very forcible reminder that the wearing of the robe was the very condition of his admission to the favors enjoyed, and that he had been provided one gratis. And we challenge any who now deny the value of Christ's death as their ransom-price, to say that they came into the present lightthe knowledge of the [C203] Lord's presence and the other deep things of God, now so clearly seenwithout, at the time of entrance, being clothed in this garment. No one ever entered in without the robe: others cannot see the deep things of God. (1 Cor. 2:7-14) Just as in the parable, so now, when this question is put to those who have rejected the robe, they are "speechless." They cannot deny that it was while wearing the robe they were admitted; and they do not like to acknowledge it.
"Then said the King unto his servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness." The "outer darkness" is the darkness that envelops the worldly-wise, the darkness of human reasoning undirected by God's Word and unsquared by his revealed plan of ransom and restitution. The binding or restraining makes an example of such before the company of the consecrated, and helps all the truly loyal ones to see most clearly the necessity and value of the robe in the King's estimation. The servants who are directed to do the binding are those who have the truth on the subject, and who can bind the influence of such with Scriptural testimonies on the value and necessity of the precious blood and the robe of righteousness which it purchased for us. In struggling against these arguments of Scripture, the disrobed ones are forced, by their own arguments and efforts to justify themselves, out of the light into the "outer darkness." To them, as to the world, the cross of Christ is now a stumbling-block and foolishness; but to the faithful, consecrated ones it is still "the power of God and the wisdom of God."
But let it not be overlooked that those of the parable who are "bound" and "cast into outer darkness" must first have been in the light of harvest truth; and consequently their responsibility and penalty are greater than the responsibility and penalty of those who never enjoyed such favor. Thousands in the nominal Church will doubtless follow the [C204] teaching of prominent leaders among them, in discarding faith in the efficacy of the precious blood of Christ as the sinner's ransom-price, who will not be accountable for the step to the fullest extent; because they have not been sufficiently enlightened with reference to it.
Thousands of professed Christians have never believed in Christ as their ransom or substitute, and have never worn the robe of his imputed righteousness. These, of course, are not noticed in the parable. The parable refers only to a very limited class, all of whom have once clearly appreciated the ransom, and while so appreciating it had, under the favor which it secured, entered into the special light of the harvest timethe time of the King's presence, just before the feast. With what care should those who have been once enlightened, and who have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, guard against the merest suggestion to a step so disloyal, unjust and disastrous. Heb. 10:26-31; 6:4-8
In considering these parables, we must not make the mistake of presuming that all the wise virgins have already gone into the marriageto the guest-chamber of special and final preparationand that the door is shut before the inspection referred to in this parable begins. The door of opportunity still stands open to all the consecrated, robed by faith in the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness; the message, "Behold, the Bridegroom!" is still going forth; the wise virgins are still going out to meet him, and entering in with him to the marriage; and the foolish have not yet returned with oil in their vessels. But, since "the King came in" (since 1878, the parallel in time to our Lord's typical assumption of the office of King of the JewsMatt. 21:1-13), the inspection of the guests and the testing of their appreciation of the wedding robe have been in progress. And while more of the wise virgins are still learning of the Bridegroom's [C205] presence and joyfully coming in to the feast, some of those already in are proving themselves unworthy to stay in, and have been, and are being, bound hand and foot; and their appreciation and apprehension of present truthof the Lord's presence and the present and future workbegin to grow more and more dim, as, borne along by false reasonings upon false premises, they gradually or rapidly, according to temperament, gravitate toward worldly views of thingsthe "outer darkness" of the world, when contrasted with the inner light, now accessible to the properly robed saints. And, doubtless, all the virgins who come in must be tested upon this subject. Happy and fearless, in this testing, will be all who from the heart can say:
"My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand."
And such can exultantly sing:
"The Prince of my peace is now present,
The light from his face is on me.
O listen! beloved, he speaketh:
'My peace I now give unto thee.'
The cross well covers my sins;
The past is under the blood;
I'm trusting in Jesus for all;
My will is the will of my God."
The Scriptures do not give the exact date at which the door to the marriage feast will close, though they show plainly that it will not be closed until all the "virgins" shall [C206] have had an opportunity to enter, and after all the "wise" or ready ones have done so.
An open "door" symbolizes an opportunity of entrance to certain conditions and privileges; a shut door represents the termination of such privilege or opportunity. The privilege, invitation or opportunity of the Gospel age, granting, under restrictive conditions, to believers in Christ, entrance into joint-heirship with him in the heavenly Kingdom and to the divine nature, is the "door" by which we "have access into this grace [favor] wherein we stand"; namely, into the hope of sharing the glory of God. (Rom. 5:2) This door, which has stood open throughout the entire age, is sometime to be closed; and the door in the parable of the virgins marks this closethe termination of all such opportunities and privileges. This parable of the virgins merely portrays the events in the close of this age among those of the true Church living at that time. The "door" of this parable represents that certain special privileges, the consummation and goal of all the favors of the Gospel age, will be open to the "wise virgins" in the time of harvest; and the closing of the door when all of this class shall have availed themselves of such privileges represents the close of all the favor and privileges of the Gospel age; because the feast represents in full the Gospel advantages and privileges, being a representation of the grand consummation to which all other favors leadthe promised Kingdom glories.
Consider this "door" of opportunity and privilege, soon to close. Our Lord called it a gate, and said that during the Gospel age it would be difficult both to find and to enter it, and advised us to make great effort to enter, if we would share the immortality and Kingdom honors, to which it and no other door leads. He said, therefore, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in and shall not be able, when once the Master of the [C207] house hath risen up and shut to the door." (Luke 13:25) This narrow way, as we have already seen,* is the way of self-sacrifice in the interest of the Lord's plan and work. The way is made narrow by the circumstances of the present time, by the opposition of the worldly spirit against truth and righteousness, so that whoever walks in the footprints of our Leader and Forerunner will find the way narrow or difficult and must suffer persecution. To walk in this way, as our Lord set us an example that we should follow in his steps, implies not only a passive conformity to his disposition or spirit, but also an active, energetic zeal in the promulgation of his truth at all hazards. And all who walk in this narrow way, faithful as he was faithful, unto death, have fellowship in his sufferings, and will also in due time have fellowship in his glory, at the marriage feastin the glory to be revealed at his appearing and Kingdom. Phil. 3:10; 1 Pet. 4:13
In view of its glorious termination, the opportunity to walk in this narrow way of self-sacrifice for the truth's sake is the grandest privilege that was ever offered to any creature. The privilege of suffering with Christ and in his cause, after first recognizing him as our Redeemer, is therefore the door, and the only door of opportunity, by which the glory to follow, as the bride and joint-heir of Christ, can be reached.
There are three ways in which the closing of this door might be indicated: first, by a definite Bible statement of the exact date; second, by such a reversal of public sentiment with reference to the truth, that fidelity and zeal in its service would no longer meet with opposition, and when suffering with Christ for the truth's sake (Rom. 8:17) would be no longer possible; or third, by such a condition of affairs [C208] obtaining in the world that all opportunity for such service would be effectually obstructed, thus leaving no opportunities for candidates to enter into the work and to develop and prove their love and faithfulness by their activity and endurance.
Though we are definitely informed that the door will be shut sometime within this harvest period or end of the age, the Bible does not give the exact date; and, although after the great time of trouble there will be a grand reversal of public sentiment in favor of truth and justice, we have no intimation whatever that such a condition of affairs will obtain until after the harvest period is fully ended. But we have a clear intimation that the door will be shut in the manner last named; for, before the Millennial day breaks, we are forewarned of a dark night wherein no man can labor"The morning cometh, and also the night." Isa. 21:12. See also Vol. II, chap. viii.
The narrow way opened to us is the privilege and opportunity of cooperating with our Lord now, when to manifest his spirit of meekness and zeal and loyalty to God and his truth will be at the cost of earthly advantage; when to champion his cause and the truths which he advanced will make us, to say the least, very unpopular; and when our endeavors to honor his name and bless our fellowmen with the truth, by letting our light shine, bring upon us reproach, misrepresentation and persecution in some form. And if, as we have seen, the narrow gate-way opened means the privilege of thus sacrificing, faithfully, unto death, at whatever cost, it follows that the closing of all such opportunity for such fellowship of service and suffering would be the closing of the door, the barring of the narrow way to the future glory and joint-heirship; our reign with Christ being conditioned on our faithfulness in his service, which now means suffering with him. Rom. 8:17; 6:8
And suffering with Christ, we have seen, is not the ordinary suffering, common to all in the fallen state, but only such sufferings as are the results, more or less directly, of the following of Christ's example, in advocating unpopular truths and in exposing popular errors. Such were the causes of the sufferings of Christ; and such will be the causes of persecution, suffering and loss to all who follow in his footsteps. They will have fellowship in his sufferings now, and in the end will be accounted worthy to share in the reward of such faithfulness to principle. This, throughout the Gospel age, has meant self-sacrificing labor and endurance of reproach in the sowing and watering of the seed of Christ's doctrines; and now, in the close of the age, it means a similar fidelity and endurance in the harvest work now in progresseven to the laying down of life, whether it be required by the gradual process of working it out in the Master's service, a dying daily, or by being brought more abruptly to a martyr's sudden death.
The worthiness of the espoused virgin Church to be the bride, the Lamb's wife, consists not merely in sinlessness, though she will be holy and "without blemish""without spot or wrinkle or any such thing" (Eph. 5:27), made "whiter than snow" in the great fountain of redeeming love, her Redeemer's merit. This much is necessary to all who will ever be accounted worthy of lasting life on any plane. But to be the bride of the Lamb, she must not only be a virgin in purity, and in addition be free from sinful alliance and coquetry with the world, but she must be more, much more than this. She must so closely resemble her Lord, and so closely follow his footsteps and his counsel, that she will on this account be a sufferer, a martyr, as he was, and for the sake of the same principles of truth and righteousness. She must prove that she possesses a consuming love for the Bridegroom, and an untiring devotion to his name and principles, [C210] so as to be willing to be despised and rejected of the worldly, as he was, for the sake of obedience to his doctrines.
To develop and demonstrate this character, she must be tried and tested. Her confidence, her endurance, her fidelity to her Lord, through evil as well as good, must be developed and proved. And only such as are thus developed and tested and by the test proved faithful, will ever be owned and recognized as the bride and joint-heir of the Lord, the heir of all things. As it is written, "Blessed the man that endureth under temptation: because, having become [thus] approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him"thus intensely. Thus, rightly understood, every trial of our fidelity should be joyfully met as a fresh opportunity to show the Bridegroom the depth and strength of our love, and another proof of worthiness of his love and confidence and of the promised exaltation. Those who will share with the Lord the coming glory must not only be called and accepted, but also faithful, even unto death. Rev. 17:14
Thus the door of opportunity to engage, with Christ our Lord, in the work of the Gospel age, will be closed when "the night cometh wherein no man can work." And all who have not previously by faithful service, developed the necessary character and proved their sympathy, devotion, love and zeal for the Lord and his truth (Matt. 10:37; Mark 8:38), will then be too late to do so. As represented in the parable, they will thus be proved to be "foolish virgins," for letting slip the great and glorious opportunity to suffer with and on behalf of him with whom they would gladly reign. By that time, the full number predestinated by God to constitute and complete the Church will have been called, chosen, and by trial proved faithful"copies of the likeness of his Son." (Rom. 8:29) The harvest will be past, the summer time of favor ended, and only the burning of the tares will remain, to clear the field (the world of mankind) and to prepare [C211] it fully for the much more extensive sowing of the Millennial age.
The closing in of this night will evidently put a stop to any further labor to disseminate the truth, which, misunderstood by the public generally, will probably be accused of being the cause of much of the anarchy and confusion then prevailing, instead of being seen in its true light as a foreshadowing of the divine mind and revelation concerning coming troubles of the world and their true causes. Nor should we expect that the coming of night and the closing of the door will be sudden, but rather that it will be a gradual obstructing and closing down of the harvest work.
The present is the time for the sealing of the servants of God in their foreheads, before the storm of trouble bursts (Rev. 7:2,3); and every wise virgin should appreciate this privilege of the present, both for his own intellectual sealing with the present truth, and also for engaging in the harvest work of sealing others of the wheat class and gathering them into the barn of security, before the night cometh and the door of opportunity to labor is shut.
That the present, most favorable opportunity is but a brief one, is manifest from the fact that only twenty-four years of the harvest period remain, the close of which will witness the end of the reign of evil and the ushering in of the glorious Millennial Day; and within this period the dark night of the world's greatest tribulation must find place. The great darkness which must precede the glorious day is drawing on: "the morning cometh, and also the night""a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation."
Observe that, when this night cometh, when the reapers must cease their labors, it will prove that this final work of the Gospel age is accomplished; that the elect number of the Bride of Christ have all been "sealed," and "gathered" [C212] into a condition of separateness from the worldlyinto the barn condition (Matt. 13:30); for God will not permit anything to put an end to his work until it is finished. Then, all the true and faithful servants of God will have been sealed in their foreheads; and, the work of the Gospel age being finished, no more can enter into that work or reap its rich reward, foretold in the "exceeding great and precious promises" as the reward of the faithful who enter while the "door" is open. 2 Peter 1:4
But we are not to gather from this that all, as quickly as proved faithful, will at once enter into their reward. Possibly some such may live on, far into that dark night of troublethough our expectation is to the contrary. "Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Having put on the whole armor of God, and boldly withstood error by clear and fearless presentation and defense of the truth, during this evil day, when giant errors so boldly and defiantly stalk abroad, the saints are exhorted, "Having done all, to stand," clad in full armor, with the sword of the spirit ever ready for defense, and with watchfulness and perseverance and prayer for all saints. All will have need of patience, that after having done the will of God they may receive the promise. Rev. 14:12; Eph. 6:13; Heb. 10:36
The ending of the high calling to joint-heirship with our Lord Jesus in the Kingdom of God, it should be distinctly understood, is not the shutting of the door in the parable of the virgins. Though the general "call" to this favor ceased in 1881, the "door" is yet open. The call is the general invitation of God, to all justified believers in the Redeemer, to follow in his footsteps of self-sacrifice, even unto death, and thereby prove their worthiness to reign with him in glory. This favor had a definite time for beginning: the waiting disciples were accepted to it on the day of Pentecost, A.D. 33. [C213] And it has had, as already shown, a definite time of ending; viz., October 1881.*
On the other hand, the closing of the "door," in the parable of Matt. xxv, marks the full end of all opportunity for any, even of the "called" ones, thereafter to attain the prize of the high calling. It marks the end of all opportunity to prove worthy of the prize by faithfulness in the service: all opportunity for service will there terminate, in the "night" wherein no man can work. (John 9:4) It is manifest, therefore, that the door, or opportunity, thus to make our calling and election sure, does not necessarily close when the call, or general invitation to all believers to enter, ceases to go forth. And, while the door stands open, it indicates that any believer who is anxious to enter and ready to comply with the conditions may yet do so, even though the general "call" or invitation to enter is no longer sent out. As a matter of fact, the door or opportunity to labor and sacrifice has not yet closed, though the general call ceased in 1881.
The Gospel age has been the calling timefirst, for calling sinners to repentance and to faith in Christ the Redeemer; and, second, for calling these justified ones to the high privilege of joint-heirship with Christ in his Kingdom, on the condition of following now in his footprints of self-sacrifice, even unto deathas the condition of acceptance to the Kingdom work and honors of the coming Millennial age. When, therefore, the Lord tells us that the closing period of the age will be a harvest time, it indicates clearly a radical changefrom sowing to reaping, from calling to testing the called and closing the work begun by the call.
As an illustration of the change in the character of the work at the close of the Gospel age, our Lord gave the parable of the drag-net. (Matt. 13:47-50) "The Kingdom of [C214] heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; which, when it was full, they [the fishermen] drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels and cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the age [the harvest, Matt. 13:39]: the angels [messengers, servants of God] shall come forth and separate the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire [the great time of trouble]: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
This parable represents the nominal Christian Church as the nominal prospective Kingdom of Godthe net cast into the sea (the world), which gathered fish (menMatt. 4:19) of every kind (real Christians, half deceived and deluded Christians, and multitudes of hypocrites); which, when it is full (in the fulness of God's time), is drawn to shore. It shows that the "every sort" gathered into the nominal Church are not fit for the Kingdom, whatever else they may be fit for; that at the close of the agein the harvest timethe call or invitation to a place in the Kingdom would cease by God's arrangement, as represented by the dragging of the net to shore; and that then a different work would be commenced by the fishermennamely, a separating, a dividing work, which will accomplish the gathering of the desired sort and the rejection of others who are unworthy of the favor to which they had been called; for "many are called, but few chosen." Matt. 22:14
The separating work of this parable is the same as that shown in the parable of the wheat and the tares, which teaches us to expect a discontinuance of the sowing (the calling), and a change from that work to the work of reaping. The Lord's servants, who, under his direction, will thus change the work, are in both parables called angelsspecial messengers of God. They are his faithful disciples who, walking very humbly, and near to the Lord, and very earnestly [C215] seeking to know his plan and to cooperate in his work, are not left in darkness concerning his times and seasons. (Matt. 13:11; 1 Thess. 5:4; Jer. 8:7-12) Of course, this reaping and gathering relates only to those living in the harvest time, and not to those who died previously; each of whom, as he finished his course, was noted, and separated to await his proper position in or out of the glorified little flock, the Kingdom proper. 2 Tim. 4:8
The net was not intended to catch all the fish of the sea. Our Lord, the great Chief Fisherman, designed to catch a particular number of fish of a particular kind, no matter how many of other varieties went into the net with them; and when the full number of the desired, peculiar kind, have entered the net it is ordered ashore for the purpose of sorting and separating. When the net is thus ordered ashore, the commission given at the beginning of the age, to cast the net into the sea (Matt. 28:19; 24:14), should be understood as at an end; and all who would continue to be coworkers with the Lord must give heed to his directions, and no longer give their time to general fishing, but to the present work of selecting and gathering. And as the truth then due was the agency for calling, so truth, "present truth," harvest truth, is now the Lord's agency for testing and dividing.
When, therefore, the Lord's servants hear his voice, through his Word, declaring that the time has come to stop sowing and to begin reaping, to stop catching and go to sorting the fish, to stop calling and to preach the harvest message now due to those already called, they will, if faithful, gladly and promptly obey. Such, therefore, instructed of the Master concerning his plan of the ages, and not in darkness as to the times and seasons in which we are living, should no longer be going forth seeking to sow the good seed of the Kingdom in the field or world of mankind, but [C216] should be "giving meat in due season to the household of faith"scattering among the Lord's professed children the good tidings of the Kingdom at hand, and of the great joy and blessing it will soon bring to all people.
And, strange to say, it is this message of God's loving provision, in the ransom, for the restitution of all things, by and through Christ Jesus and his glorified body, the Church, God's Kingdom (this message, which should rejoice, refresh and unite all loving Christian hearts), that is to develop and draw into heart-union the true class only, to test them and to separate them from the nominal mass.
Shortly the harvest will be ended, and then both he that sowed and he that reaped will rejoice together. Now, the reapers must hasten the work, and should feel so concerned about its full accomplishment as to pray the Lord of the harvest, the Chief Reaper, to send forth more laborers into his harvest. It will not be long before the plowman of the next dispensation (the great trouble foretold, which will prepare the world for the Millennial seed-sowing) shall overtake the reaper of this dispensation. Amos 9:13
It will be remembered that Israel's "seventieth week"the last seven years of their favorwas very exactly marked at its beginning, middle and close; and we believe for the very purpose of giving us clearly defined dates in the close of the Gospel age of favor to Spiritual Israel. We have seen that the beginning of that week was to Fleshly Israel the date of the beginning of their harvest testing, in A.D. 29. It was marked by our Lord's baptism and recognition as Messiah at Jordan, when the reaping work beganthe parallel to which, here, is the recognition of the presence of the Lord, in A.D. 1874, at the beginning of this harvest.
The middle of that covenant week, A.D. 33, was the date of the rejection of Israel as a system or church-nation, and was marked by our Lord's death on the cross, and by his words just before his death, "Your house is left unto you desolate." And the parallel to that, here, is the rejection from favor and the fall of the sectarian systems, called Christendom or "Babylon," in 1878.
The last half of Israel's covenant week (3 1/2 years, from A.D. 33 to 36) was not a period of national or sectarian favor, but of individual favor, granting the Israelites (not as formerly through the channels of the nominal Church, but individually, if they would receive it) all the favors and special privileges of the Abrahamic covenant, down to the end of those seventy symbolic weeks, the limit of their favor, marked by the sending of favor to Cornelius and Gentiles in general. So in the parallel, here: the 3 1/2 years from April, 1878, where so-called Christendom, or "Babylon," was rejected from favor, to October, 1881, was the closing period of the favor of the high calling to individual believers. Thus, the general "call" (the favor of this Gospel age) ceased with October, A.D. 1881, just as the corresponding date, October, A.D. 36, witnessed the end of Jewish favor.
The Jewish favor consisted in the offer to Israel of the Kingdomthe call of the natural children of Abraham to avail themselves of the privileges and opportunities granted them under their Law Covenant. This call, favor or privilege ceased totally and forever with the end of their covenant week. The Gospel favor consisted in the offer of the Kingdom (exclusively) to believers in Christthe "high calling" of all reconciled to God under the Grace Covenant, who might avail themselves of the opportunities thus granted (and become members of the Abrahamic "seed" which is to bless the world) by joining with Christ Jesus, their Redeemer, in his covenant of self-sacrifice; the test [C218] which must demonstrate their worthiness to share in Christ's coming work and glory. And it is this favor, this "call" or invitation, which we have seen ceased, totally and forever, in October 1881, the parallel point of time to the end of the Jewish call or favor.
Be it noted, that the stopping of the Jewish favor or call was followed by another general call, which, ignoring them and their past favor, nevertheless included any of them who afterward, by becoming believers, became worthy of that world-wide call to the honor of the Kingdom. The stopping of their past favor was just as actual as though they had not been invited to anything after their favor ceased; just as actual as though they had afterward been invited to a lower favor; but it is not as noticeable, because the general Gospel call, which did not exclude them, was the same call broadened and deepened; made applicable to all believers in Christ, of every nation.
The stopping of the favor or "call" here, in 1881, is followed, or rather lapped upon, by the general call of the whole world to the Millennial blessings and favors upon conditions of faith and willing obedience (not however a sacrifice unto death). This however, is a lower call, a less favor than that which ceased; a call to enjoy blessings under the Kingdom, but not to be parts of the anointed, Kingdom class. And this changethis stopping of the higher favor and beginning of a lesser favor will be little noticed in the present time, by reason of the fact that the great prize of the Kingdom and joint-heirship with Christ as partakers of the divine nature, has been generally lost sight of in the Church. The highest conception of reward generally held by Christians for centuries past is, that in their resurrection they will be given perfect bodies; and, freed from sickness, pain and sorrow, will enjoy God's favor and have everlasting life. And this conception, though far short of the real [C219] privileges under the "high calling" of the Gospel age, is really a fair conception of the blessed privileges to be granted during the Millennial age to the world in generalto as many of them as will then yield obedience and come into harmony with God.
As a matter of fact, then, the only ones who see clearly the peculiarly high and grand features of the call of the Gospel agethe only ones, therefore, who could announce or explain this callingare the very ones who are also shown from God's Word that the time limit of this call was reached in October, 1881. Others, while quoting the Apostle's words concerning a "high calling of God in Christ," really explain the lower call which belongs to the Millennial age. Hence the general Gospel call, the true one, is ended. None can extend it. Some cannot because they do not understand it and could not give it, and some because they know it to be at an end.
But though the general "call" has ceased, the "door" is not yet shut. The end of the "call" and the shutting of the "door" are distinct and separate. The "door" stands open for some to enter the race, for the great prize of joint-heirship in the Kingdom, after the general "call" has ceased. God had predetermined a fixed number to constitute the Church, "the body of Christ"; and there can be neither one member superfluous nor one lacking. (See this typically taught in Lev. 21:17-23.) It follows that he could not call or invite to that honor more than would complete the number he had determined. And, in October 1881, his Word shows, this full number had been secured. But, since some of those who responded under the general call and made the covenant with him will fail to keep their covenant, fail so to run as to obtain the prize, the "door" stands open after the general call has ceased, to permit the entrance to the race, to self-sacrifice in the service of the truth, of some to take the [C220] places of such as may, during the inspection, cast aside the wedding garment of Christ's righteousness; and also of such others as, having made the covenant of self-sacrifice in the service, love the present world, become overcharged with its cares or pleasures, and fail to perform the requirements of their covenant.
And, again, it should be noted that the ending of the call in 1881 in no way interfered with the privileges of the thousands who had already accepted the call and become God's consecrated servants: it put none out who were in. Nor does it imply that no more can come in: it was merely the stopping of God's general invitation.
The fact that you may only recently have come to a clear knowledge of the exceeding great and precious promises of the things which God hath in reservation for them that love him does not prove that you were not called and accepted as a runner for this great prize long before you understood how great and grand is the prize. The fact is, not one who accepts the call is able, at first, to comprehend fully either the roughness and narrowness of the way or the grandeur of the prize to be attained at its farther end. The clearness of our comprehension of the promises is to us the power of God working in us to strengthen us and to enable us to overcome present obstacles and trials. The exceeding great and precious promises are unfolded to us gradually, as we prove faithful and go on, in order that by theseby the strength and courage which they infusewe may be enabled so to run as to obtain the prize. 2 Pet. 1:4
The class to receive the prize is not only called and chosen (accepted), but also faithful. And though the general call has ceased, it is evident that the testing of the faithfulness of the called ones is not yet finished. The faithful are being sealed, and separated from those who are unfaithful to their covenant of self-sacrifice; and the wise virgins are being separated [C221] from the foolish, whose folly consists in supposing that they can run for and win the world's prizes of honor, wealth, etc., and at the same time run faithfully the race for the great prize of glory, honor and immortalitythe very conditions of which render such a dual course impossible. "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Jas. 1:8, Matt. 6:24
When all the faithful "wise virgins" have been proved so, and have entered in to the joys of the Lord, the "door" of opportunity to become of that class will close; and no more can enter it. When all the wise have entered in, the number predestinated will be complete; and then the Master will rise up and shut the door. (Luke 13:24,25; Matt. 25:10) Our Lord himself tells us that then many will begin to see matters differentlyto see what privileges and opportunities for sacrifice they once enjoyed and missed. But when they seek entrance, the Master will tell them, I do not recognize you as my brideshe is complete, and I have but one. But, thank God, other scriptures show that the foolish virgins, though thus rejected from the high calling, for which their conduct when on trial will have proved them unworthy, will nevertheless be favored, and will be known in a humbler capacity in the Lord's household.
Therefore, before the door shuts, before the full number of the faithful is completed, let each strive to make his calling and election sure; and to this end let us permit the Lord, by these precious promises and these explanatory parables, to work in us to will and to do his good pleasure.
But some may yet say, I fear that I am not one of those called before the general call ceased in 1881, because I was then not only wholly ignorant of the deep things of God's promises, but more: I was wholly a stranger to God, and even an enemy of his, far from any covenant with him to do him service, and far from any such desire. Only recently I [C222] came to know God, at all; recently I took Christ's yoke upon me to learn of him; and still more recently I learned of the privilege of suffering with Christ now, by self-denials in his service, and that such joint-sacrificers are by and by to be made joint-inheritors with him in the glorious work of the Millennium. And now, after seeing these glories, after admiring these precious things, and after setting myself to run this race for this wonderful prize, must I conclude that it is not open to me, because enough to fill the number had already been called? I would not think to change the divine arrangement, or to ask that another be added beyond the limit determined by divine wisdom, but I shall feel keenly my misfortune.
To such we answer: Run on. Your case is not so dark as it seems to you. The "door" is not yet "shut." Remember that if all who had accepted the call when it closed should prove faithful to their covenant, there would be none too many, but just enough. Remember, too, that your observation as well as the Scriptures, indicates that of the many who accept the call few will be chosen, because but few prove faithful to their covenant when on trial. As one after another some of the called ones prove unfaithful, their opportunities, their places of labor and their crowns of reward are transferred to others. One of these places of labor and one of these crowns of reward may be transferred to you, and your name may be written on the scroll of life as a probationary member of the Bride of Christ, in the place of one erased as unworthy. See Rev. 3:5; Heb. 12:23.
Those who can grasp these precious promises and who have the desire to work in the vineyard have a strong evidence that they have been begotten of the spirit;* for the human mind, even when justified, is unable to grasp the deep things intended by God for those only who have consecrated [C223] themselves and been accepted. (1 Cor. 2:6-16) And the Lord is too loving and too just to authorize in the hearts of any hopes which could never be realized. To be begotten of the spirit, through the Word of truth, implies an ultimate birth to spirit conditions, unless the one as begotten prove himself unworthyunfaithful. "Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward."
The Eleventh Hour
This parable seems to have been given specially to teach a lesson for this time. The laborers are those earnest, consecrated children of God who throughout this Gospel agethe "day" of the parableare faithfully spending their time and energy, not in the service of self, the service of mammon, but in the service of God. Only the faithful therefore are represented by the laborers, all of whom get the same reward, the Kingdom honors represented in the parable by the "penny."
The generality of the call and the need of laborers are represented by the four callsearly in the morning, at nine o'clock, at noon, and at three o'clock in the afternoon. Yet the exact, clear understanding of what the wages should be was mentioned only at the beginning: the householder then "agreed" to give them a penny for the service. So the promise of the Kingdom was clearly understood by the early Church, but afterward was in the main lost sight of and not clearly enunciated. The living members of Christ's Church laboring in his vineyard at any time during this Gospel age represent all the laborers. And the parable shows, as its particular feature, a class who enter this service of the Lord when the day's work is about done, at the "eleventh [the last] hour." They are represented as some desirous of engaging in the Master's service, but too late, the general call having [C224] ended. They say"No man hath hired us," we were too late to get into the service under the call.
The Master responds by pointing to the door of opportunity for doing and suffering in his service not yet "shut" the close of which will be indicated by the coming of "the night in which no man can work." But he says nothing about what the reward will be; though in employing the others under his general call, he said, "Whatsoever is right I will give you"*a portion of the pay at first "agreed" upon.
*The oldest Greek Manuscripts, the Sinaitic and the Vatican, omit from Matt. 20:7 the words, "and whatsoever is right that shall ye receive."
So, during the Gospel age, our Lord has continually, through his mouthpieces in the Church, invited all believers to enter into his service. The full reward, the divine nature and Kingdom glory, was clearly stated and well understood at first; but, although repeated throughout the age, it has not since been clearly understood because of the great falling away from the truth. But now we have come to the close of the Gospel day of serviceto the "eleventh hour." It is past the time for calling laborers for this day. Yet, some are now standing by and saying, We have not been called into the work; "no man hath hired us"; we have no promise of labor, nor of a reward if we should find work; the call is ended, the day's work is nearly done; there are enough laborers without us. But to these the Master would have us say, as his mouthpieces, "Go ye also into my vineyard"; I promise nothing, the general call is ended, the time is short, the time for labor is nearly ended, "the night cometh wherein no man can work"; but go in, show your love and zeal, and leave the rewarding to my generosity.
And this is all we can say; the only hope we can hold out is that no man ever labored for our Master who will not receive abundantly more than he could ask or expect. And [C225] then we know that some of the places in the work will be vacated by reason of some not continuing faithful, and that the crowns of reward set apart for such will be given to others who, by faithfulness and self-sacrifice, prove themselves worthy of the work and the reward.
So, then, if any have but recently come to know and love our Lord, and desire to serve him and his truth, let not such be discouraged because the general call ended in 1881. If you see the "door" of opportunity for sacrifice and service open before you, enter in. But enter quickly; for the night of darkness and of intense opposition to the truth will ere long be upon us and will hinder you from engaging in the service. "The morning cometh, and also the night." "The night cometh in which no man can work." When that is true, you may know that "the door is shut," that all the wise virgins have entered in, that all have been proved, and that all vacancies have been acceptably filled. All the special "servants of God" having by that time been "sealed in their foreheads" (given an intellectual appreciation of God's plan), the four winds will be loosed (Rev. 7:1-3), and will produce the great "whirlwind" of trouble in the midst of which the remnant of the Elijah class will be "changed," and exalted to Kingdom glory.
What a lesson is here for those who have covenanted with the Lord to serve him first and chiefly, and who are neglecting his work to strive with time and thought and means for the transient joys and prizes which the world offers. These the Lord urges, saying, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." "He that overcometh [who conquers in himself the spirit of the world], the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his holy servants." "Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." Rev. 2:10; 3:5,11
Let Us Go Forth
"Silent, like men in solemn haste,
Girded wayfarers of the waste,
We pass out at the world's wide gate,
Turning our back on all its state;
We press along the narrow road
That leads to life, to bliss, to God.
"We cannot and we would not stay;
We dread the snares that throng the way;
We fling aside the weight and sin,
Resolved the victory to win;
We know the peril, but our eyes
Rest on the splendor of the prize.
"No idling now, no wasteful sleep,
From Christian toil our limbs to keep;
No shrinking from the desperate fight;
No thought of yielding or of flight;
No love of present gain or ease;
No seeking man or self to please.
"No sigh for laughter left behind,
Or pleasures scattered to the wind;
No looking back on Sodom's plains;
No listening still to Babel's strains;
No tears for Egypt's song and smile;
No thirsting for its flowing Nile.
"What though with weariness oppressed?
'Tis but a little and we rest.
This throbbing heart and burning brain
Will soon be calm and cool again;
Night is far spent and morn is near
Morn of the cloudless and the clear.
"'Tis but a little and we come
To our reward, our crown, our home!
Another year, or more, or less,
And we have crossed the wilderness;
Finished the toil, the rest begun,
The battle fought, the triumph won!" | <urn:uuid:7ba048da-4032-4f3a-b0d2-0d3393d78c4b> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.htdb.one/Volume3/V3_06.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446711232.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20221208014204-20221208044204-00511.warc.gz | en | 0.971028 | 38,597 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Piriformis syndrome is a condition in which the piriformis muscle irritates the sciatic nerve and causes pain in the rear and may cause pain along the back of the leg and into the foot (similar to sciatica pain). Piriformis syndrome is most common among women, and is thought to be common among active individuals (such as runners and walkers).
The piriformis muscle is a small muscle located deep in the rear (behind the gluteus maximus).
The piriformis muscle:
- Starts at the lower spine and connects to the upper surface of each femur (thighbone).
- Functions to assist in rotating the hip.
- Runs horizontally, with the sciatic nerve running vertically directly beneath it.
Piriformis syndrome can develop when the piriformis muscle becomes tight or spasms and places pressure on the sciatic nerve that runs beneath it. The pressure on the sciatic nerve can cause low back pain and/or pain that radiates to the rear and down the leg (similar to sciatica pain). From a technical standpoint, piriformis syndrome does not cause true sciatica (as sciatica is usually defined as a radiculopathy, or compression of a nerve root as it exits the spine). However, just like sciatica, piriformis syndrome can cause pain, numbness and tingling along the sciatic nerve, which runs down the back of the leg and into the foot.
A common symptom of piriformis syndrome is pain along the sciatic nerve, so it is often thought that piriformis syndrome causes sciatica. However, piriformis syndrome does not involve a radiculopathy - a disc extending beyond its usual location in the vertebral column that impinges or irritates the nerve root - so it is technically not sciatica. Instead, it is the piriformis syndrome, it is the piriformis muscle itself that irritates the sciatic nerve and causes sciatic pain.
The piriformis is a muscle located deep in the hip that runs in close proximity to the sciatic nerve. When the piriformis muscle becomes tight and/or inflamed, it can cause irritation of the sciatic nerve. This irritation leads to sciatica-like pain, tingling and numbness that run from the lower back, to the rear and sometimes down the leg and into the foot.
Stretching the piriformis muscle to is almost always necessary relieve the pain along the sciatic nerve and can be done in several different positions. A number of stretching exercises for the piriformis muscle, hamstring muscles and hip extensor muscles may be used to help decrease the painful symptoms along the sciatic nerve and return the patient's range of motion.
Several of the stretching exercises commonly prescribed to treat sciatica symptoms from piriformis muscle problems include:
Spine piriformis stretches
- Lie on the back with the legs flat. Pull the affected leg up toward the chest, holding the knee with the hand on the same side of the body and grasping the ankle with the other hand. Trying to lead with the ankle, pull the knee towards the opposite ankle.
- Lie on the floor with the legs flat. Raise the affected leg and place that foot on the floor outside the opposite knee. Pull the knee of the bent leg directly across the midline of the body using the opposite hand or a towel, if needed.
- Lie on the floor with the affected leg crossed over the other leg at the knees and both legs bent. Gently pull the lower knee up towards the shoulder on the same side of the body.
Buttocks stretch for the piriformis
- Begin on all fours. Place the affected foot across and underneath the trunk of the body so that the affected knee is outside the trunk. Extend the non-affected leg straight back behind the trunk and keep the pelvis straight. Keeping the affected leg in place, scoot the hips backwards towards the floor and lean forward on the forearms.
All of the piriformis stretching exercises should be held for 30 seconds and repeated 3 times.
At Wockhardt, we care for your well being. We strongly recommend practicing prevention and securing health.In a world where lifestyle evolves by the day, it is essential to stay in the pink of health.Wishing you and your family good health and happiness always.
The information in the booklet is not intended as a substitute for medical advice but is to be used as an aid in understanding ailment. Always consult your doctor about your medical condition. | <urn:uuid:a74099f0-896b-4432-891b-d89e387f44b3> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | https://international.wockhardthospitals.com/knowledge-centre/piriformis-syndrome-guide | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912205163.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20190326115319-20190326141319-00486.warc.gz | en | 0.923408 | 943 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Day 3 focused on sharing best practices in supporting victims of hate crimes.
VICTIM SUPPORT – EXAMPLE FROM BERLIN
In the first plenary session of the day, Johanna Mohrfeld from KOP – Campaign for victims of racist police violence (Berlin) gave an overview of the importance of self-organised activism against racist police proceedings and racial profiling in Germany. “Institutional racism and racist stereotypes lead to failure in proceedings by the law enforcement agencies.” The Campaign for victims of racist police violence documents and monitors incidents and also takes action to advocate for the people affected by racists police violence. She highlighted the importance of advocating and networking since the victim’s accounts are often not taken up by the media.
SHARING GOOD PRACTICES
Parallel workshops shared projects and approaches that offered insightful ideas and practical tools to improve their activities.
An inspiring project on victim support in rural areas was presented in one of the workshops.The workshop focused around the issue that in rural areas people often distrust the police and that there is a lack of awareness around the issue of hate violence. The participants than shared best practice approaches to tackle this issue, e.g. distributing phone numbers to call in case of racism and offering trainings to raise awareness within the law enforcement agencies. It was pointed out that numbers are misleading: the number of hate crimes seems small in rural areas, but proportionately minorities are more likely to become victims of bias-motivated violence in the countryside than in big cities. Results of the presented project are positive: in the last few years, people and police became more aware of hate violence and more cases are being reported.
The workshop on remembering fatalities of hate crimes explored individual cases of hate crimes. In individual cases, the consequences for relatives are: loss of a loved one, financial costs, possible trauma, possible stigmatization. However, a connection to social conditions needs to be established. A theming of inhuman attitudes which should be classified socially is needed. A murder of a single person is at the same time a collective moment in which a similar group is addressed (prejudice and enemity against specific groups). Motives for hate crimes can include racism, social Darwinism and homophobia.
Another working group talked about stereotypes on LGBT* people and summarised different ways of supporting LGBT* people who are affected by hate crime. The discussion highlighted some key factors to be aware of when working with LGBT* people: no judgement, be aware of how you react when people report a hate crime, be aware of secondary victimisation, “it’s not about you” – remembering this is about the person affected, don´t question their experience, keep intersectionality in mind, don’t push people and respect boundaries, be aware of the words you are using, be visible – if possible – so people know they can contact you, connect with other support services and networks, put working into building trustful relationship, take your responsibility serious and respect confidentiality.
The workshop on self-care for supporters was of great importance to anyone working in a difficult area, with vulnerable people, and with people who have been through any kind of trauma. The danger when working with such people on top of having quite a heavy workload is that one can easily burn out and become emotionally exhausted. Vicarious trauma is a real experience for many people working in the area. When this happens, it is not only discomforting and damaging for you, but also for the people who you are trying to help. A weak you cannot be strong for other people. In view of this, it is very important to meet one’s own need of rest and a good work-life balance. Take time to relax and care for yourself so that you can remain always strong for the people you are trying to help.
MEETING LOCAL REALITY
The afternoon was spent in the city of Berlin, where participants had the opportunity to visit historical and topic-related sites in Berlin through organised tours. Participants visited the “Topographie of Terror” documentation centre, took an Antifascist Walking Tour organised by the Association of Persecutes of the Nazi Regime / Federation of Antifascists (VVN/BDA), and had a meeting with Killian Behrens from the Monitor of the parliamentary commission of enquiry of the far-right terror group NSU. | <urn:uuid:e2ef6228-b4b8-46de-9d3e-e9d8a1920f89> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/blog/2017/12/01/united-berlin-conference-report-day-3/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250606269.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20200122012204-20200122041204-00328.warc.gz | en | 0.961961 | 899 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
projectile (plural projectiles)
- an object intended to be or having been fired from a weapon.
- (physics) any object propelled through space by the application of a force.
object intended to be or having been fired from a weapon
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked
projectile (not comparable)
- Projecting or impelling forward.
- a projectile force; a projectile weapon
- Caused or imparted by impulse or projection; impelled forward.
- projectile motion
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Arbuthnot to this entry?) | <urn:uuid:3f999707-3afb-4834-b19f-ff9aada163fb> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/projectile | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042988930.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002308-00340-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.760936 | 173 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Unlike M101, this galaxy has no disk or spiral arms, and so it belongs to the second great category of galaxies: "elliptical galaxies." Perhaps the simplest way to describe this kind of galaxy is as a gigantic ball of stars. In the case of M87, with over 100 billion stars, we have a true giant of its kind, perhaps 10 times bigger than our own Milky Way galaxy. One of the reasons this galaxy contains so many stars is that it sits at the center of a galaxy cluster, which contains several hundred galaxies. Over billions of years, M87 has grown ever larger by "ingesting" other galaxies when they pass through the cluster's center and get caught and shredded by M87's powerful gravitational field.
But if powerful gravitational fields are what you're interested in, then you should head to the very center of this galaxy where you'll find a 3 billion solar mass black hole. There, within the central few hundred light years, gas is trapped and falls down towards, and ultimately into, the black hole. In ways that are not yet fully understood, the energy released by this gas somehow drives two fast-moving jets of very low-density gas way out into the galaxy and beyond. You won't see these jets in this image, but they show up very clearly in images taken by radio telescopes.
In case you're wondering, our Milky Way galaxy also has a central black hole, though it's a thousand times smaller than the one in M87, weighing just 4 million solar masses. As it happens, the very center of our galaxy is currently rather devoid of gas, and so our black hole just sits there, not doing very much besides anchoring the orbits of a few dozen nearby stars. But who knows, perhaps in time some star will pass too close and get shredded, in which case its spreading guts will fall into the black hole, rekindling for a time, the kind of fireworks we see today in M87. | <urn:uuid:92bc22e9-2fbe-4658-bfc8-4dedbfa2ff49> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www.astro.virginia.edu/class/clark107images/image18.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131298080.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172138-00049-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959591 | 399 | 2.6875 | 3 |
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