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Stoneflies: Idaho stonefly (Capnia zukeli)
Profile prepared by Celeste Mazzacano, The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
Capnia zukeli is endemic to northern Idaho and is known only from seven locations in Latah county, including Little Boulder Creek, Potlach River in the Moscow Mountains, Palouse River, Troy Creek, and Spring Valley Creek. This species’ limited habitat may be threatened with degradation from extensive recreational use in the region from which it is known. Research should focus on determining the true distribution of this species, the status and size of existing populations, and the potential presence of additional populations at suitable habitat in the region. Assessing and strengthening current management practices for known habitat would also be beneficial.
Canada – Species at Risk Act: N/A
Canada – provincial status: N/A
USA – Endangered Species Act: N/A
USA – state status: Idaho S1 Critically imperiled
NatureServe: G2 Imperiled
IUCN Red List: N/A
Capnia zukeli currently receives no federal protection. It is considered a Species of Conservation Need (SGN) by the Idaho Natural Heritage Program.
Capnia zukeli is a stonefly in the family Capniidae (small winter stoneflies). Adults have unusual features compared to other species in this genus, including an extremely long male epiproct (intromittent organ), which is almost 30 times as long as it is wide, lack of knobs or protrusions on the dorsal (top) surface of abdominal segments, and extremely reduced wings (brachyptery) in males (Nelson & Baumann 1989).
Females are 9 mm (0.35 in) long, with forewings that are 7.8 mm (0.31 in.) long. They lack a medial bridge between abdominal segments 7 and 8, a characteristic that can be used to distinguish them from females of some other closely related species in this genus.
Nymphs have only been described for a few of the North American species in this genus, but Capnia nymphs differ from other Capniidae in having notches halfway along the inner margins of the hind wingpads, and they lack the deep serrations at the base of the ventral tooth of the right mandible seen in other genera in this family (Stewart & Stark, 2002).
Capnia zukeli Hanson 1943. The taxonomic status of this species is accepted as valid. Capnia zukeli and C. lineata (straight stonefly) were once thought to be synonyms (Baumann et al. 1977), as the original descriptions and accompanying figures of female specimens were not adequate for separating the two species. Also, it is not uncommon for members of these two species to be collected at the same sites. However, following examination of additional female and male specimens collected at later dates, distinguishing characteristics were identified that confirmed these taxa as two distinct species (Nelson & Baumann, 1989).
Little is known about the life history and ecology of this species. No habitat information is available for nymphs, but members of this genus generally prefer small streams and springs. Species in this family require cool temperatures for development. Young nymphs hatch in early spring; as the water temperatures rise they move into the hyporheic zone (a zone of loose rocky substrate under the stream saturated with water) and undergo diapause, becoming inactive until the water cools in late fall and winter, at time they feed and grow rapidly to maturity. Specific feeding behavior of C. zukeli nymphs has not been observed, but most species in this family feed by shredding detritus (Merritt et al. 2008).
As the common name for this family implies, adult capniids emerge during the late winter or early spring. Adult C. zukeli have been captured in late April (Nelson & Baumann 1989), but their flight date range is not known. Species in this family are usually univoltine, with one generation per year.
Capnia zukeli is endemic to northern Idaho and is known from only seven different locations in Latah County (Nelson and Baumann 1989). Sites from which it is known include Little Boulder Creek in Little Boulder Creek Campground, Potlach River in the Moscow Mountains, Palouse River, Troy Creek, and Spring Valley Creek.
Capnia zukeli is a rare endemic species with restricted habitat, limited populations, and unknown dispersal ability. This species is restricted to a handful of streams in a single county in northern Idaho. One of those streams, Little Boulder Creek, is on the EPA list of impaired (303(d)) waters from source to mouth, due to sediment and siltation. Sedimentation could lower water quality and clog the spaces in the hyporheic zone where young larvae diapause during warm weather, increasing larval mortality. Habitat quality could also be impaired by extensive recreational use, as mountain biking, hiking, camping, fishing, ORV usage, and scenic driving are popular activities in the area.
Capnia zukeli was mentioned as a species that could be negatively impacted by a proposed highway extension (Thorncreek Road to Moscow Project) that would change an existing undivided 2-lane road into a divided 4-lane highway. This project will affect several streams, drainages wetlands that are potential C. zukeli habitat. The environmental assessment associated with the project stated that the cumulative impacts on C. zukeli would be negligible (Idaho Fish and Game 2006).
Additional potential threats such as the effects of disease and predation have not been assessed. However, such small isolated populations are extremely vulnerable to stochastic events, and are generally at greater risk of extirpation from normal population fluctuations due to predation, disease, and changing food supply, as well as from natural disasters such as floods or droughts. They may also experience a loss of genetic variability and reduced fitness due to the unavoidable inbreeding that occurs in such small populations.
The Idaho Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (2005) states that data regarding population trends is not available for this species. Additional surveys to establish these parameters would be beneficial. Necessary actions include monitoring known populations and searching for new ones, and protecting habitat in regions where the species is known to occur.
Little is known about the biology or dispersal ability of this species. Research into life history and habitat management in the area would be valuable.
Baumann, R. W., A. R. Gaufin, and R. F. Surdick. 1977. The stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Rocky Mountains. Memoirs of the American Entomological Society 31: 207 p.
Hanson, J. R. 1943. Descriptions of new North American Plecoptera. II. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 45: 85-88.
Idaho Fish and Game. 2006. General wildlife assessment, Thorncreek Road to Moscow. Project Number: DHP-NH-4110 (156), Key Number: 9294. 29 pp. Available online.
Idaho Fish and Game. 2005. Idaho Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy, Appendix F: Species Accounts and Distribution Maps for Idaho Species of Greatest Conservation Need. Available online.
Merritt, R. W., Cummins, K. W., and Berg, M. B. (eds). 2008. An introduction to the aquatic insects of North America. 4th edition. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, Dubuque, Iowa.1158 pp.
Nelson, C. R., and Baumann, R. W. 1989. Systematics and distribution of the winter stonefly genus Capnia (Plecoptera: Capniidae) in North America. Great Basin Naturalist 49(3): 289-363
Stagliano, D., M., Stephens, G. M. and Bosworth, W. R. 2007. Aquatic Invertebrate Species of Concern on USFS Northern Region Lands. Report to USDA Forest Service, Northern Region. Montana Natural Heritage Program, Helena, Montana and Idaho Conservation Data Center, Boise, Idaho. 95 pp. plus appendices.
Stewart, K. W. and Stark, B. P. 2002. Nymphs of North American stonefly genera (Plecoptera), 2nd ed. The Cddis Press, Columbia OH. 510 pp.
Nature Serve Explorer (Accessed March 2008) | <urn:uuid:0519b86d-9b2f-41d6-b468-746d7ac7de0d> | CC-MAIN-2015-27 | http://www.xerces.org/idaho-stonefly/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375094491.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031814-00076-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918923 | 1,771 | 2.828125 | 3 |
An interaction with a smart speaker is not a conversation — at least not yet — and that concerns some experts. “I’m worried about parents handing off the responsibility for serve-and-return conversations to the device because they’re tired,” says Chip Donohue, director of the Technology in Early Childhood Center at the Erikson Institute. We adults do have some bad habits around technology, studies find; for example, parents tend to talk less with their children in the presence of an electronic toy than a traditional one.
Does that mean young children shouldn’t use smart speakers? Not necessarily. The key is to be thoughtful about how they are using them, advise Donohue and other child development experts. Adults should make sure children are still getting plenty of rich conversation, and they can do that in combination with the devices. For example, if a child asks Alexa, “What’s the weather?,” a parent can turn that into a learning opportunity by asking him a follow-up question like, “Alexa told us it’s raining, so what do you think we should wear?”
Parents should also monitor how the child feels about interacting with the device. Children could become frustrated if the devices don’t understand them. On the other hand, some speech therapists suggest the devices could actually motivate children to practice their articulation. It likely depends on the child, and the issue may soon become moot; engineers are tackling the challenge of developing robots attuned to children’s speech patterns.
Smart speakers as storytellers
Children of all ages love stories, so they are likely to be attracted to smart speakers’ storytelling and audiobook functions. Parents can ask, “Alexa, read a bedtime story to Allie,” Amazon suggests on its website. Many parents and teachers cringe at the notion of delegating that most classic of bonding moments to a robot. But when an adult isn’t available, children probably do benefit from asking the device for a story. Listening to audiobooks and podcasts can be helpful for reading development, at least for comprehension and vocabulary, although not for decoding. And listening to audio narration while following along with text helps struggling readers.
Lisa Guernsey, deputy director of the Education Policy program and director of the Learning Technologies project at New America, recommends that educators and parents should take a “both-and” approach to printed books and newer media, including smart speakers. Different media offer different benefits. For example, Guernsey points out that audiobooks allow children to engage their imaginations. On the other hand, printed books make it easier to do dialogic reading, a highly effective strategy where an adult pauses while reading to ask questions that require thought and analysis. In addition, children’s needs vary. For instance, English language learners and children with below-average vocabulary levels tend to comprehend less with audio narration than when hearing a present adult read the story.
Expanding notions of literacy
Guernsey points out that getting information from smart speakers isn’t all that different from hearing the news in our cars or relying on smartphones — but in all cases, young people are failing to evaluate the information source. According to a Stanford study, 80 percent of middle schoolers thought “sponsored content” on a news website was a real story, and three-quarters of high schoolers couldn’t tell the difference between a real news website and a fake one. Media literacy education is lacking in most schools, according to Sherri Hope Culver, who directs the Center for Media and Information Literacy at Temple University, and smart speakers only heighten the urgency of filling that gap.
The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) provides helpful resources with questions young people should ask about the content they are consuming, including who created the message, its purpose, and the values that are included and omitted. That is a complex process that requires adult scaffolding, especially when a disembodied voice provides information with no visible cues such as a website’s url, byline and links to credible sources. “The earlier we start those conversations, the better,” counsels Culver.
Smart speakers aren’t inherently beneficial or harmful — it’s the way we use them that determines whether children will gain or lose learning opportunities. As they become increasingly present in our lives, it is important for educators and parents to help children understand the devices’ functions and limitations. A recent MIT study found that young children viewed smart speakers as having thoughts and feelings like a human, and Culver thinks the line between technology and humans is likely to get blurrier as devices look and sound more human. | <urn:uuid:66d755c6-6d67-4f96-9849-0c1edbc87b7e> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/50781/hey-alexa-what-are-you-teaching-our-kids | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296945372.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20230325191930-20230325221930-00447.warc.gz | en | 0.945772 | 976 | 2.921875 | 3 |
We hear about the big picture of climate change almost every day — the threats it poses, the effects on our world and lives, the fight to stop it. Across the world, armies of researchers are contributing pieces to that big picture narrative every day. They often travel long distances and brave the elements to collect information, one small data point at a time.
How do Antarctic penguins fare when warming temperatures bring changing conditions to a part of the continent? How do we really know what Earth’s climate was like in the past, and how it compares to today? What’s it like to spend months living on an old oil drilling ship, in search of tiny ancient fossils? On this special episode of The Pulse, we go behind the headlines to spend time with scientists on the front lines of climate research. We’ll hear how they’re collecting data, what they’re learning, and what keeps them motivated.
Also heard on this week’s episode:
- The Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing some of the fastest warming on Earth — and scientists are already seeing the effects among two of the region’s penguin populations: the Adélie and the Gentoo. Reporter Sophia Schmidt talks with penguin researchers about what changes they’re witnessing, and why.
- We talk with leading climate scientist Kim Cobb about her work in the field of paleoclimatology, and what studying coral — old and new — can tell us about the earth’s ancient climate history. She also explains what’s next on the horizon in our fight against global warming. Cobb is director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, and a recent addition to President Biden’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
- There’s a certain way we expect scientists to communicate — in calm, measured tones that prioritize facts over feelings. But science communicator Joe Duggan thought that feelings were an important part of the narrative — a powerful tool to communicate how urgent climate research is. He decided to ask scientists to express their emotions about their work and the fate of the planet in letters. Nichole Currie reports on his project.
- On a beach in the Siberian Arctic, a marine biologist lives in a small hut and waits for more than 100,000 walruses to pile their massive bodies on shore. The walruses overcrowd the beach and sometimes die due to stampedes. This coming out-of-the-water phenomenon is called a “haulout,” and it’s a result of climate change. Filmmaker Evgenia Arbugaeva talks about documenting this phenomenon and the scientist who studies the walruses. “Haulout” was nominated for an Academy Award for best Documentary Short Film this year. | <urn:uuid:84b7aef0-d880-4225-a9c6-de765672cafb> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://whyy.org/episodes/taking-the-temperature-of-climate-science/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100769.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20231208180539-20231208210539-00162.warc.gz | en | 0.942944 | 570 | 2.921875 | 3 |
A Room of One's Own
by Virginia Woolf
Mary Seton is Mary Beton's BFF. After a terrible meal at the women's college Fernham, they confab up in her room about how women have always been poor while men have been rich.
We don't learn a lot about Mary Seton herself. She lives at the women's college, but isn't a student, so we might assume that she is a professor or administrator there. If Mary Beton represents the independently wealthy woman writer, Mary Seton is the female intellectual who works for her money at a university. She's badly fed, and probably badly paid.
Weirdly, we do learn a bit about her mother: she gave Mary Seton a happy childhood in Scotland and bore thirteen children (1.28). Why does Woolf drop this fun fact in? Well, we think it probably has something to do with Woolf pointing out that Mary Seton has obviously made different life choices—and that's okay. Not every woman needs to have thirteen kids. In fact, some women might choose to have no kids. They choose their choice! | <urn:uuid:e8275d33-1b57-4499-9765-52c5011e1911> | CC-MAIN-2015-22 | http://www.shmoop.com/room-of-ones-own/mary-seton.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-22/segments/1432207930916.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20150521113210-00135-ip-10-180-206-219.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981154 | 232 | 3.015625 | 3 |
For MLA when you quote or paraphrase a specific portion of a text in a source, give enough information, most typically the author's last name and the page number, to identify the exact location of the borrowed material.
Want to know more, have a look at the links below:
A selection of books available in our Library.
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is most commonly used to write papers and cite sources within the arts and humanities. These examples reflect the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (7th ed.) and the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd ed.). See the links to the left for copies in our collection.
From a book
Lastname, Firstname, and Firstname Lastname. Title of Book. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication.
Zelizer, Barbie, and Stuart Allan, eds. Journalism after September 11. London: Routledge, 2002. Print.
Baker, Nancy L., and Nancy Huling. A Research Guide for Undergraduate Students: English and American Literature. 6th ed. New York: MLA, 2006. Print.
From an eBook
Lastname, Firstname. Title of Book. edition. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication. Source/supplier of eBook. Medium of Publication. Date of access.
Zelizer, Barbie, and Stuart Allan, eds. Journalism after September 11. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2011. EBL Ebook Library. Web. 22 Mar. 2012.
A chapter from a book
Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Essay." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. Page range of entry. Medium of Publication.
Sinclair, Upton. “The Brass Check.” The Journalist’s Moral Compass: Basic Principles. Eds. Steven R. Knowlton, and Patrick R. Parsons. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 1995. 184-190. Print.
From a print journal article
Lastname, Firstname. "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Medium of publication.
Martin, Greg. “Subculture, Style, Chavs and Consumer Capitalism: Towards a Critical Cultural Criminology of Youth.” Crime, Media, Culture 5.2 (2009): 123-145. Print.
From an electronic journal article
Lastname, Firstname. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal Volume.Issue (Year): pages. Medium of publication. Date accessed.
Morreale, Joanne. “The Spectacle of the Prisoner.” Television & New Media 7.2 (2006): 216-226. Web. 12 April 2010.
From a website
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.
CIA World Fact Book. Central Intelligence Agency, 2009. Web. 10 April 2010.
From a print newspaper
ReporterLastname, ReporterFirstname. "Title of article." Title of Newspaper DD Month YYYY: page number. Format.
Lawlor, Anne. "Phoenician 'find' makes textbooks ancient history." The Courier Mail 20 July 2000: 3. Print.
From a newspaper website
ReporterLastname, ReporterFirstname. "Title of Article." Newspaper Title DD Month YYYY. Format. Access DD Month YYYY.
Nicholson, Brendan. "Row over 'biblical' weapons in Afghanistan." The Australian 22 January 2010. Web. 22 March 2010.
From a government publication
If the author is a government body:
Dept. Name. Name of Section if Relevant. Title of Document. Place of Publication: Publisher, YYYY. Format. Date of Access if online.
If author is a person:
Lastname, Firstname. Name of Section if Relevant. Title of Document. Place of Publication: Publisher, YYYY. Format. Date of Access if online.
Great Britain. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food. Our Countryside, the Future: A Fair Deal for Rural England. London: HMSO, 2000. Print
Hodgen, Gary. Livestock Movement. Conditions of entry of cattle and buffalo in relation to tick in Western Australia. Perth: Government of Western Australia, 2007. Web. 14 March 2011.
From a lecture or speech:
SpeakerLastname, SpeakerFirstname. "Title of Lecture." Name of Seminar or Meeting. Adress of Seminar or Meeting. DD Month. YYYY. Format.
Matuozzi, Robert. "Archive Trauma." Archive Trouble. MLA Annual Convention. Hyatt Regency, Chicago. 29 Dec. 2007. Address.
Hooper, Helen. "Finding Academic Information and Evaluating Websites." Time Truth and the Human Condition. BA1001. James Cook University. 8 March 2012. Lecture.
From a film
For Film, if you are referencing the entire film, structure the reference with the title first. If you are citing the contribution of a particular person, begin with the name of that person.
Title. Dir. Firstname Lastname. Prod. Lastname, Initial. Distributor, year of release. Medium consulted.
nb. medium could be film or DVD or television or videocassette.
You can count on me. Dir. Ken Lonergan. Prod. Scorsese, M. Paramount Pictures, 2000. Film.
It's a Wonderful Life. Dir. Frank Capra. Perf. James Steward, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Thomas Mitchell. 1946. Republic, 2001. DVD
Scorsese, Martin, prod. You can count on me. Dir. Ken Lonergan. Paramount Pictures, 2000. Film.
From a lecture (live)
Lastname, Firstname and Firstname Lastname. "Title of Lecture." Title of Conference or Programme (if applicable). Location of Lecture. Date of lecture. Medium consulted.
nb. medium could be Lecture or Address, for example.
Bryan, Sharon and Helen Hooper. “Reference Points.” Writing the Assignment. James Cook University, Townsville, QLD. 27 Feb. 2011. Lecture.
Craven, Allison. "EL2047 Introduction to Children's Literature." James Cook University, Townsville,QLD. 24 Feb. 2011. Lecture.
We acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and acknowledge Traditional Owners of the lands where our staff and students, live, learn and work. | <urn:uuid:cbe97bda-3262-4364-b971-8cb3fa4e61fb> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://libguides.jcu.edu.au/referencing/mla7 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267160842.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20180924224739-20180925005139-00010.warc.gz | en | 0.768994 | 1,434 | 3.625 | 4 |
To become a better guitarist, you should focus on studying music theory. In music theory, the circle of fifths and fourths is one of the essential tools you will run into from the beginning.
One of those basic fundamentals will set the foundation of your understanding of music theory and lead the way in studying advanced music theory.
All genres of music have been written based on the theory of the circle of fifths and fourths throughout the centuries. Let’s dive into the deep of the circle of fifths and fourths.
Circle of Fifths and Fourths: What is it?
The circle (or cycle) of fifths, often known as the cycle of fourths, is a graphic that clearly and quickly provides useful information on key signatures, chords, and scales.
In western music, twelve notes are called the chromatic scale. The Circle of Fifths, however, represents all diatonic major and minor keys in music, arranged according to the number of sharps and flats.
When it comes to the interval of fifths, it moves clockwise. A fifth of an interval is equivalent to seven semitones or seven guitar frets. For instance, the sequence C, G, D, A, E, and B comprises perfect fifth intervals and therefore belongs to the circle of fifths.
When it comes to the interval of fourths, it moves counterclockwise. A fourth of an interval is equivalent to five semitones or five guitar frets. For example, the sequence C, F, B flat, E flat, A flat, and G flat is made up of fourth intervals and therefore belongs to the circle of fourths.
Usually, the circle of fifths comes in handy in the study of classical music. In contrast, the circle of fourths is often used in jazz music. But both help in writing any shorts of music. Let’s learn some of their applications.
Finding Key Signatures
Finding the key of any song is one of the most popular uses of the cycle of fifths and fourths. At the top of the circle, you see that key C has no sharps. But every time you move one step forward to the circle, it sharpens the key.
That means the next key, G, has one sharp; after that, the key of D has two sharps. Similarly, A has three sharps, E has four sharps, and so on.
If you go anticlockwise, which will be the circle of fourths, it will add an extra flat to each move you take. That means the F key has one flat; the Bb has two flats; the Eb has three flats, and so on.
These sharp and flat counts can help you recognize the key of the song if you don’t know how to read sheet music. For example, if you see 2 sharps at the beginning of the score, you will know that it is in the key of D.
When it comes to songwriting circle of fifths and fourths is great to have around. Notice that the difference between the Key C and G (or any consecutive keys of the circle) is one sharp. As a result, these key sounds very close as there is only one note difference.
As a result, if you want to change the key, say from C to F#, which is just opposite in the circle, it will sound dissonant to the listeners as there are many different notes.
In that case, you can shift to the nearest key first and continue this all the way back to the opposite key. That way, the listener can keep track of what they are listening to. It will not sound dissonant, then.
Finding the chord
Chords are usually constructed based on three notes called triads. They are the root, the 3rd note, and the fifth.
For example, if we want to play the A major chord, we must find the root note A. The third note C# will be two whole steps up. Now for the fifth note, you can follow the circle of fifths that shows after A; the fifth note is E.
Memorizing the circle of fifths will help you quickly figure out the notes. It gives confidence to the guitarists to learn and play more quickly than usual.
Reading scales of the diagram
You can read the notes of the scales from the diagram, which is the beauty of the circle of fifths. For example, let’s pick a scale, say D major Scale. To find out the notes of the D major scale, you must move five steps in a clockwise direction, counting each one. Also, add the previous note, which is G. You will have the root note D and A, E, B, Gb, Db, and the previous note G…
There are seven notes of the D major scale. If we arrange them alphabetically, we have the D major scale. Root D, E, Gb, G, A, B, Db.
Building chord progressions
1-4-5 is one of the most widely used beautiful chord progressions, especially in pop and blues music. You can develop this version from the circle of fifths and fourths. For example, play the chord profession C-F-G.
There are two chords that are known as the most important chords. They are the root chord and the dominant chord, which is the five chord. The five chord creates a bit of tension to the music that wants to resolve back to the root chord.
If you memorize the circle of fifths, you can find the five chord instantly. That is great, especially when you are jamming with friends other than writing music.
The entrance to knowing music theory is unlocked by the circle of fifths! Spend some time studying the relationships depicted in the circle every day, and you’ll be playing with the greats in no time.
Helpful Ways To Get You Started: Learn to play guitar | <urn:uuid:9b0aeca7-c4a2-4f45-8fdd-34fe1bd0f5da> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://authorityguitar.com/learn-guitar-circle-of-fifths-and-fourths/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224646350.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20230610200654-20230610230654-00233.warc.gz | en | 0.956056 | 1,248 | 4.09375 | 4 |
1822: Brazil declared its independence from Portugal. Soon after
many Spanish Jews from Morocco migrated to the area. By 1879 Sephardim
had settled all the way down to the Amazon rain forest area. Those
Jews living in the jungle were very strict about their religion.
The Hahambashi of Turkey presents an address to Sultan Abdul Hamid
on the occasion of his 25 anniversary of his accession to the thrown.
Anti-Jewish laws are annouced on the Island of Rhodes in the newspapers.
Ritual slaughter was banned & all Jews who came after 1919 must
leave the island.
1735: Lewis Gomez, a merchant in New York sold 25 loads of lime
to the city for £6 pounds, 5 shillings. Gomez advertised his
"lime" in the newspaper as "good stone-lime."
A disastrous fire in Adrianople, Turkey destroys 1500 Jewish homes
and 13 synagogues. 10,000 Jews were rendered homeless along with
the 40,000 who already were.
1902: Two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the foundation
of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation Beth Israel at Hamburg.
There were no celebrations.
Fire destroys a synagogue at Travnik, Bosnia.
1654: Twenty-three Sephardic Jews, seeking sanctuary from the
Spanish Inquisition, arrive in New Amsterdam [New York], from Pernambuco,
Brazil. They had arrived at their final destination on the ship St.
Catherine (also referred to in the literature as the St. Charles).
1705: On this day an auto-de-fe took place in Lisbon. In 1846
in the Occident and American Jewish Advocate the journal described
the situation on that day while reviewing a book review for a work
called The Inquisition and Judaism: "In the public square of
Lisbon there were led out to the stake a number of hapless victims,
declared criminal by the tribunal of the Inquisition, for being suspected
and afterwards convicted of Judaism, a crime than which that abominable
institution knew none greater."
In San Sebastian, Spain, Jewish New Year services are held for the
first time in 400 years. The services were attended by 30 worshipers.
A petition by Jacques de la Motthe, the French master of the ship
St. Charles requested payment for Jews and their freight which he
brought to New Amsterdam from Cape St. Anthony. He said their were
"23 souls, big and little, who must pay equally." After
a week passed, the Jews belongings were put up for auction, and
it was said many Christians bought the Jews belongings, only to
give them back to the Jews.
Jews in Aleppo telegraph the Hahambashi requesting he intervene
with the government respecting taxes for exemption for military
service, on account of their precarious financial situation. The
Hahambashi prevailed and the Minister of Finance telegraphed the
Aleppo authorities to collect only 20% of debt Jews owed, and to
release prisoners from prison who could not pay.
Salonica government declares compulsory military service is now
required and that all Jews over 21 cannot leave from its newly acquired
1899: Anti-Jewish riots occurred in Algeria.
New Ladino newspaper El Desperter appears in Tetuan. It is the first
Jewish newspaper in Morocco.
Turkish government tax sales of kosher meat by local communities.
Proceeds were promised to go to philanthropic purposes. Governors
of all vilayets (provinces) informed and directed to assist chief
rabbis in enforcing payment.
Jews in New Amsterdam petition to be allowed to worship their religion
publicaly. Their wishes were not approved, because they did not,
"profess faith in Christ." During this time strict Christian
observance was mandatory.
King of Italy makes Commanders Guido, Rava, Sforni, Mantua and Signor
Sereni, Presidents of the Jewish Community at Rome, Grand Officers
in the Crown of Italy.
Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden was informed the inhabitants of
Strumitza, fearing its occupation by Bulgarians, set fire to the
town and fled. One hundred families went to Salonica and Doiran.
1909: A total of 12,214 Jewish young men registered as recruits for
the Turkish Army.
1614: Mass murder of Jews in Salonica, killed while returning
from the Dolia market.
At the request of the Hahambashi, authorities take important steps
to suppress the White Slave Trade. Both Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews
did have involvement with this, but when Chief Rabbi Nahum provided
the Turks with lists of names for investigations, they did nothing
1485: Pedro Arbues, Canon of the Cathedral of Saragossa was
attacked while praying. He died two days later, and when the news
went public, the Christian community gathered to swear revenge. The
attack was planned by prominent Jews (Conversos) of Aragon including
Sancho de Paternoy, Master of the Royal Household; Gabriel Sanches,
the High Treasurer of the kingdom; and Francisco de Santa Fe, assessor
to the Governor of Aragon. The Church later made Arbues into a Saint
in 1867. The results of this were near 200 people had revenge struck
upon them, some murdered outright, some beheaded with their mutilated
bodies put on display. Some were imprisoned, some committed suicide
to alleviate their suffering, and some fled to France.
Indians had assaulted Manhattan with, "murder, robbery and
fire." Public defenses which were built the year prior and
ran along Wall Street were reinforced. The Jews were ordered to
pay a high contribution to the fund for defense.
1501: A decree was issued by the Portuguese Govorner Nicolas
de Oviendo which aimed at keeping Jews from entinering the New World.
Died at Frankfort-on-the Main, the poet Grace Aguilar at age 31.
She was the oldest child of parents descended from Portuguese Marranos
who sought asylum in England in the eighteenth century. A prominent
poet and writer, her words graced Jewish journals around the world.
She was a staunch defender of Judaism, and a Torah loving woman.
"Her last words, spelled on her fingers, were, 'Though he slay
me, yet will I trust in Him,'"
Jews of Salonica compel editors of Turkish paper that published
anti-Semitic remarks to send a public retraction to every Turkish
1480: Two Dominican friars, Miguel de Morillo, Master of Theology,
and Juan de San Martin, Bachelor of Theology were commissioned to
go to Seville and seek out heresy of the Jews.
Born, Benjamin Gomez in New York. The Gomez family was one of the
most prominent families of all early Sephardim in America. Benjamin
traced his family to Isaac Gomez who fled Spain in 1660. In New
York the family were wealthy ship owners and merchants, as well
as leaders in the Jewish community. Benjamin was the first Jewish
bookseller in America.
1380: The Cortes of Soria, Castile, denies the rights of Jews
to judge their own criminal cases. The Cortes also reaffirmed King
Enrique II's decree forbidding Jews from serving in the royal and
nobiliar administrations. These events help fuel the harangues of
Ferran Martinez who lead the bloody anti-Jewish events of 1391.
1917: Anti-Jewish riots in Tunis cause five Jews to be injured,
and their shops pillaged and vandalized.
1540: The first auto-de-fe was held in Portugal.
On the exact anniversary of the first auto-de-fe in Portugal, Gabriel
Malagrida was burned alive on the Terreiro do Paço at Lisbon.
He was to be the last victim burned in Portugal at any auto-de-fe.
M. Politis, Minister of Foreign Affairs, announces Greek governmental
approval of the suggestion by Dr. Haim Weizmann to the Greek representative
in Egypt, that a volunteer military corps be developed for Palestine,
from among the Jews of Salonica.
1900: Fire in Constantinople, 2000 Jews left without shelter,
one synagogue destroyed.
1909: Jews forced to leave Arabia (Yemen) to avoid being forced
to convert to Islam.
1916: Rabbis in Palestine declare that all
Jews should not fast on Yom Kippur, but eat due to the epidemics
which were rampant.
1943: Germans announce through their puppet
Greek press that all Jews have only five days to register their
names, or face a penalty of death. Christians were told if they
hide Jews they would be shot.
1911: Arabs attack Jewish worshipers in Jerusalem at the Western
Wall on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. About 60 worshipers were
1912: Anti-Jewish demonstrations took place
in Sophia, Bulgaria in response to statements by the Chief Rabbi.
Police were instructed to repress further disorders.
1038: Jews in Granda celebrate a special Purim commemoration
after the capture of the Muslim leader Ibn Abbas who was brought to
Granda, killed, and beheaded by a rival (and Jewish tolerant) Muslim
1909: Four new Jewish schools open in Turkey.
1943: The Chief Rabbi of Athens, Ilia Barzilai,
escaped from the city disguised as a peasant. He reached Thessaly
where he promoted the Greek partisans, saving some 600 Jews by smuggling
them across the Aegean to Turkey. The smuggled boats and money came
from the Jewish Labor Federation in Palestine.
1919: The Hahambashi of Turkey was granted an audience with
the Shah of Persia, who paid tribute to the patriotism of Jews of
Persia. The Shah attributed the progress of civilization to the Alliance
Israelite Universelle schools.
1480: The Catholic Kings of Spain Ferdinand and his wife Queen
Isabella ordered a tribunal in their kingdoms to study cases of heresy.
This is the start of what would soon to be known as the Spanish Inquisition.
1920: For the first time since 1492, the
Spanish government formally recognizes the Jewish community, according
to it all privileges of other religious bodies.
1251: King Jaime I declared, "No Jews will hold office
in the Kingdom of Valencia." The following year Jews were banned
from office in all of Catalan and Aragon.
The Sultan ordered a census of the Jews of Safed for the purposes
of raising taxes.
1941: The Jewish owned newspaper in Tunis ceased operation at
the order of the government.
Oscar S. Strauss of New York City who is a member of the Hague Tribunals
appeals to the United States government to extend help in establishing
peace between Italy and Turkey.
788: Died, Abd Al-Rahman, the man who laid the foundation for
an impressive Mulsim dynasty in Cordoba. The grand mosque he started
building still stands today over 1,300 years later, right outside
the old Jewish quarter of Cordoba.
Both Sephardic and Ashkenazic rabbis in Jerusalem pledge to work
hand in hand in the interest of the entire Jewish community. Together
they found a relief committee to benefit Jewish families whose heads
will be called to military service. | <urn:uuid:b6cb1f00-39a4-4ab8-8f00-8772706babfd> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | http://www.isfsp.org/sep.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038075074.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20210413213655-20210414003655-00099.warc.gz | en | 0.947222 | 2,429 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Insights Into Cytopathology and fine needle aspiration (FNA)
Fine needle aspiration (FNA) and cytopathology are important “partners” in the diagnosis of cancer. A fine needle aspiration specialist who is a cytopathologist uses certain tools to increase the accuracy as well as decrease the time it takes to get a diagnosis. But what are these important tools?
First let’s define what a cytopathologist is capable of.
Pathology is the study of diseases and what causes them. Cytopathology is a branch of the medical field of pathology. “Cyto” means “cell” and cytopathology is the study of free cells or tissue fragments, in contrast to histopathology, which studies whole tissues. Cytopathology is commonly used to investigate diseases involving a wide range of body sites, in order to diagnose cancer but also to diagnose some infectious diseases and other inflammatory conditions. For example, a common application of cytopathology is the Pap smear, a screening tool used to detect precancerous cervical lesions which may lead to cervical cancer. These are sometimes called smear tests because the samples may be smeared across a glass slide for subsequent staining and microscopic examination. Additional training above and beyond the usual medical residency in pathology is required to become a cytopathologist, the doctor who reads and interprets these tests. The cells can be obtained by scraping or washing the surface of a suspected tumor, but also can be extracted, as in an FNA biopsy. A fine needle aspiration specialist inserts a very thin, fine needle into the area of a suspected tumor and removes cells or tissue with or without suction.
Many different types of doctors can perform a fine needle aspiration (i.e. endocrinologist, ENT, surgeon), but only a cytopathologist is able to interpret the slides made from the sample. As these other doctors cannot analyze the tissue during the time of the procedure, they cannot ensure that there is adequate or correct sampling and the patient may end up having to come back for a repeat biopsy. Providing expert analysis and performing rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) of the sample is one of the primary roles of cytopathologists.
Dr. Celina Nadelman is a board-certified cytopathologist who provides hands-on care as well as diagnostic services. She sometimes refers to her practice as a “one-stop shop,” since you can have an FNA biopsy and then get the diagnosis from her within a day or so. Quick turnarounds mean less patient anxiety and a quicker return to one’s daily routine. | <urn:uuid:08e17784-5ab4-45ef-8bd6-67951e7fe750> | CC-MAIN-2019-35 | https://www.drnadelman.com/insights-into-cytopathology-and-fine-needle-aspiration-fna/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-35/segments/1566027317688.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20190822235908-20190823021908-00165.warc.gz | en | 0.956779 | 552 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a very common condition caused by inflammation of the median nerve that runs through the palm side of the wrist. When the median nerve is pinched and irritated, numbness, tingling, and/or weakness in the hand can result.
Wrist splinting is a common recommendation given to CTS patients by all healthcare providers, including chiropractors, based on the theory that pressure increases dramatically inside the tunnel at the extremes of wrist bending, so restricting motion may allow the associated soft tissues to become less inflamed. But, does splinting actually work?
One study that included 36 participants looked at the outcomes of night-time splinting only, using a common thermoplastic neutral wrist splint. The researchers observed that the patients in the study reported improvements related to their hand/wrist symptoms at the three-month point, while after six months, the participants had also experienced improvements related to wrist function.
To determine if all splints and braces for CTS were the same or if some were better than others, a 2018 study compared the efficacy of a neutral wrist splint vs. one the incorporated a “lumbrical unit” that extended further into the hand. After six weeks, patients in both groups reported improvements related to pinch and grip strength, but the patients given the longer splint also experience statistically significant improvements related to pain and function.
What about combining nerve and tendon stretching exercises WITH wrist splinting? One study that included 51 mild-moderate CTS patients found that those who performed nerve/tendon gliding exercises (three times a day for four weeks) reported better outcomes regardless of which splint they used. A similar study found that patients who engaged in a home stretching program and who wore the longer splint were less likely to require surgical intervention.
These studies support the use of a longer splint and stretching exercises in the management of CTS. When treating patients with CTS, doctors of chiropractic typically take a multimodal approach that includes wrist splinting, specific exercises/stretches, and manual therapies in order to reduce pain and improve function in the wrist and surrounding tissues. | <urn:uuid:976fdc39-ec8f-45da-9989-b410f8757d47> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://chiro-trust.org/carpal-tunnel-syndrome/splints-help-carpal-tunnel-syndrome/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662534773.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20220521014358-20220521044358-00431.warc.gz | en | 0.954596 | 449 | 2.609375 | 3 |
May 3, 2010
Helping Kids with Delayed Speech
Advice for parents whose child's vocabulary is more limited than his or her peers
We have a great deal of concern about our son's speech. At his third birthday party, compared to the other 3-year-old children, his vocabulary was very limited. He only says about 10 words and uses "mom" for everything he needs. And he calls everyone in our family "mom." We do not know how many words he should know by this age. Would you please point us in the right direction?
Between the ages of 2 and 3, most children will acquire a vocabulary of about 450 words. Your son has not reached this milestone in normal speech development. Have you addressed your concerns with his pediatrician? You can contact your local school district's director of special education for a diagnostic screening at no cost to you through the IDEA process called Child Find. This will help you see whether a delay exists.
You need to find out about the federal special-education program for children age 3-5. Section 619 of Part B of IDEA defines the preschool program, which guarantees a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities age 3-5. Under this program, your son might be eligible to receive services that will help him improve his speech before he enters kindergarten. Your local director of special education will have information. You may also wish to contact Michigan's 619 coordinator (click here for details) to learn about your rights and the local programs and services available to you.
Learn more about other opportunities for helping children from 3 to 5 who have disabilities, check out the IDEA Parent Guide from the National Center for Learning Disabilities; explore stats and research from the Data Accountability Center or check out the National Association of Young Children.
The NECTAC – National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center, supported by the U.S. Department of Education – also serves infants and toddlers with special needs and their families. Each infant or toddler with a disability will be assessed, and a written individualized family plan will be developed. | <urn:uuid:f2aee11a-7bc6-4344-8d47-0d9abdacaf4d> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://www.metroparent.com/Blogs/Dear-Teacher/May-2010/Helping-Kids-with-Delayed-Speech/index.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394010962725/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305091602-00082-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958637 | 424 | 3.234375 | 3 |
The first 1000 days, from conception until two years, are the most crucial for a baby's development. more
Calligraphy Christmas card
You don't have to be an expert in calligraphy to use a quill and ink pot - simply by playing with squiggles and swirls you can create simple but effective cards.
- Plain coloured card
- A calligraphy quill
- A pot of white ink
Practice using the calligraphy quill on a scrap piece of card. Find the best, most comfortable way to use the quill and take note of how the ink works and how quickly it runs out. Have a play with patterns.
Once you've practiced, squiggle a Christmas tree with a few swirly baubles, a stump and a star on top on the card. Finish the card off with a message - like 'Merry Christmas'!
Browse all Christmas cards
Browse all Christmas crafts | <urn:uuid:83c890cd-f4e9-4b0a-8beb-2430c7193d1d> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.kidspot.com.au/Christmas/Christmas-Christmas-crafts-Calligraphy-Christmas-card+6224+117+article.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246639482.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045719-00038-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914965 | 197 | 2.515625 | 3 |
The term “data management” describes a collection of functions, principles, and tactics that concentrate on the useful use, storage area, and security of data for business purposes. Data management protects all levels of an company data lifecycle, from info acquisition to data storage. Its target is to advance the value of info assets and enable organizations to derive higher value from them. In comparison, unmanaged raw info is the comparable of crude oil. The process coming from oil to gasoline may include extraction, refining, quality assurance, transportation, and storage, and data control is similar to the method from fresh data to actionable business intelligence (bi).
The process of data management comprises of automation, governance, and cleanse. The process of centralizing disparate info can deliver new information. For instance, data out of CRM and accounting program can be connected to business revenue or income. The objective of data management is always to provide a centralized repository of reliable data and to provide you with secure use of it. Therefore, it is vital to follow guidelines when handling data. Listed below are a few steps that can help organizations achieve this goal:
um Define the objective of the data. Data elements needs to have specific traits. These attributes slowly move the appropriate data governance coverage. Attributes consist of purpose of use, https://reproworthy.com/business/best-software-intended-for-data-safety-and-organization-efficiency/ title, and risk impact. Similarly, data tagging helps in organising information by associating it with tags. In addition , info management can create a historical record of how the info flowed through the organization, and also details of data transformation. The process of data managing also helps keep up with the integrity of data by ensuring that data privateness and details governance are adhered to. | <urn:uuid:934c9c6e-ff92-4f84-95b8-4a93107791aa> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://www.thamskonferansen.no/2022/04/25/what-is-data-operations/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296948673.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20230327154814-20230327184814-00722.warc.gz | en | 0.907426 | 369 | 3.078125 | 3 |
No nation’s defeat is ever quite straight-forward, and sometimes downfall can bring its own kind of posthumous victory. By the end of the American Civil War in 1865, for example, the Confederates had managed to recast themselves as Christ-like victims, exalted by the myth of a noble lost cause. The South had lost 20 per cent of its white male population to the Union armies, but that only confirmed its moral superiority over the money-grubbing Yankee.
According to Susan Neiman, postwar Germans approximated the vanquished Confederacy in their inability to imagine their own defeat. Attempts were made to recompense the Jewish community, but most Germans, East and West, refused to accept responsibility for the war at all. Auschwitz survivors received a smaller pension than former SS guards and their widows. Everything was blamed on Hitler. In Neiman’s formulation, the slave-holding Confederates had been no less blindly defiant in their self-image as wronged victims.
Neiman was born in 1955 in Atlanta, Georgia. She was brought up there as a white Jewish girl amid the iniquities of segregation, but for much of her adult life she has lived in Berlin, where she teaches philosophy. Berlin might seem a questionable choice of home for a Jewish woman whose people had been caught in the Nazi dragnets in far-distant Europe. However, Neiman believes that Germany is no longer at heart anti-Semitic. For as long as ‘good’ Germans are at the helm of Germany today, moreover, a Fourth Reich remains unlikely.
German attitudes to the war changed decisively in the late 1960s, when the children and grandchildren of Nazis began to ask troubling questions about their nation’s past. Some Germans turned guilt into a national virtue and performed Trauerbeit, or the ‘labour of mourning’; others sought to renew themselves spiritually by undertaking pilgrimages to Israel. Still others, a minority, took up the Baader-Meinhof terrorist cause. In Neiman’s view, the American South might profit usefully from the German example of ‘working-through-the-past’ or Vergangenheitsbewältigung. The compound noun — all but unpronounceable for non-German speakers — was added to the nation’s vocabulary in the postwar period.
The legacy of racial opprobrium has never been properly ‘exorcised’ in the American South, Neiman maintains. While a museum dedicated to the African–American ‘experience’ was opened to the public in Washington in 2016, America’s confrontation with its legacy of slavery is far from complete. (Neiman can sound quite sententious at times.) The German example of public self-examination and moral atonement might serve white Southerners as a model for their own attempts to mourn and master the past.
For all its strained and rather eccentric argumentation, Learning from the Germans is certainly thought-provoking. Neiman’s concern is not with ‘comparative evil’ — which is worse: slavery in the deep South or Hitler’s murderous anti-Semitism? — but with ‘comparative redemption’. She wants to know how each, very different community has responded to and reframed the memory of its past enormity.
In preparation for writing her book, Neiman spent three years interviewing people in both Germany and the United States. Learning from the Germans, part reportage, part extended essay, is informed by interviews conducted with civil rights lawyers, historians, novelists, philosophers, film-makers and others engaged in ‘remembering’. Many of the Southern informants speak openly of national guilt, but show an understandable Southern discomfort at comparisons made between Hitler’s extermination of European Jewry and plantation slavery. The circumstances surrounding wartime Germany’s biological anti-Semitism and the history of slavery in Dixie cannot bear comparison. Auschwitz was a unique instance of human infamy. Neiman, to her credit, says as much.
Everywhere Neiman goes in Mississippi, people want to know how Germany has managed to reckon so directly with its past. She finds eerie echoes of Germany’s postwar protestations of innocence in what some Mississippi interviewees tell her about slavery (nobody was in the slave business; Southerners only bought what unscrupulous Northern ship captains sold them). Neiman says she had to rid herself of images of tight-lipped gauleiters in uniform barking ‘Shut up! Papers please!’ in order to write Learning from the Germans. Though at times poorly written, the book remains a stimulating if rather strained exploration of moral myopia in the face of unnecessary suffering. | <urn:uuid:38c8ce46-f59d-4bdb-977b-d7278b07cb8d> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/10/a-thought-provoking-work-of-moral-atonement-and-comparative-redemption/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575541319511.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20191216093448-20191216121448-00266.warc.gz | en | 0.962766 | 978 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Otherwiseknown as knee effusion, water or fluid on your knees is a clear sign that something isn’t right. Moreover, there are several things that can cause this, such as arthritis and injuries, and how to get rid of fluid on the knee may depend on the underlying cause.
So, today, allow me to show you a few treatments and options, along with why you might want to go a certain route.
But, just so I’m sure we’re on the same page, let’s get our definitions straight.
Water on the Knee (Joint Effusion): What Is It?
First of all, you need to understand the basic anatomy of your knee.
It’s a synovial joint which means it allows a lot of movement. This degree of movement is made possible largely because of fluid within and around the bones (i.e. your shin bone, your thigh bone, your kneecap) and other soft tissue that make up your knee.
The synovial fluid in the knee basically reduces friction between the joint’s moving parts, similar to how gear oil helps your car to run smoother. It’s also what most people consider “water on the knee”.
So, if you’ve ever wondered, “is it bad if you have fluid in your knee?”
No, it’s not. Having fluid in the knee joint is actually normal. But, also like gear oil, the problem begins when you have too little or too much.
In this case, excess fluid in the knee is essentially what joint effusion is.
Research from the Journal of The Royal Society of Medicine says that knee effusion is more common than in any other joint because of 2 connected reasons:
- You bear weight on it, but
- Your knee joint isn’t as congruent as your other weight-bearing joints (i.e. your hips and ankles)
Soft tissues such as the menisci right in the middle of the joint, as well as the ligaments and joint capsule that tie them all together, make up for the incongruency.
That being said, you can basically group effusions into 2 kinds:
Small and large.
According to a study, small joint effusions don’t show any symptoms, can happen to anyone, and typically resolve on their own.
Large effusions, on the other hand, are what you have to watch out for (and are also what people typically refer to when they say they have a swollen knee) because they’re clear giveaways that something is wrong, which brings us to the next part of our discussion.
What causes knee effusion?
There are basically 2 things:
- Injury, and/or
If you break them down, however, a number of conditions come up. Here are a few examples:
Injuries that may lead to knee swelling
- Sprains (when there’s damage to your ligaments)
- Strains (when there’s damage to your tendons)
- Meniscal tears
- Overuse injuries
Diseases associated with knee swelling
- Rheumatoid arthritis
Needless to say, the gravity of some of these conditions is worse than others. For instance, malignant tumors are far worse than mild sprains, osteoarthritis is a localized issue whereas rheumatoid arthritis involves your entire immune system, and so on and so forth.
Now that we’ve got the basics covered, let’s move on to why you’re really here.
How to Reduce Fluid on the Knee
These range from simple home remedies and over-the-counter medication to more serious procedures like joint aspiration and surgery. Let’s talk about them.
As the University of Michigan says (and pretty much every other reputable source will tell you), the RICE method is used as soon as possible after injuries, most notably sprains and strains but arthritis sufferers and those who just underwent knee surgeries can also benefit from this method.
RICE is an acronym for:
- Rest. This is to prevent any more injuries but also so you have the time and opportunity to start the healing process.
- Ice. This slows down circulation to your knee, reducing inflammation. Also, the coolness helps numb the joint which, in turn, decreases pain. Do this for 15-20 minutes several times a day for the first 2-3 days.
- Compression. This helps channel fluids away from the knee, reducing inflammation. You can use elastic bandages (using the spiral wrapping method) or sleeves. Take the compression off when you’re icing your injury and when you sleep at night.
- Elevation. Ice, compression, and elevation all have the same goal which is to help guide fluids away from the site of injury, reducing swelling. Only, specifically for elevation, gravity is the one doing the work by means of making sure your knee rests higher than your heart.
Effleurage, deep strokes, and lymphatic drainage are the most commonly used massage techniques used to treat knee swelling.
They all sound complicated but, really, all they do is help drive excess fluid away from your knee. Effleurage, in particular, is gentle and easy, making it great for treating painful new injuries or arthritis flare-ups at home.
Now, just a disclaimer before we proceed: I’m not a professional massage therapist but I do have some training on effleurage as a physical therapist. If you’re uncomfortable doing this at home, it’s best you contact a therapist you trust.
That being said, here’s what I’d do:
- I sit on my bed with my swollen knee straight in front of me. The couch or the floor should work fine, too.
- I roll up a towel or blanket and put it right under my knee. This puts a slight bend on my joint which, in turn, also puts my leg in a more relaxed position.
- I then take a good amount of massage lube and rub it all over my palms and fingers. I personally prefer using massage oils but lotion and other lubes you have at home should work okay.
- I place either of my hands on my lower leg, making sure that my palm and/or my fingers are in contact with my skin.
- I then slowly glide my hands upwards, applying enough pressure that I feel is tolerable.
- Without breaking contact, I glide my hands back down below my knee, making sure not to apply any pressure.
- Repeat steps 5-6. Make sure to work the entire knee.
Basically, isometric (or setting) exercises are when you contract a muscle without actually moving your joint.
This accomplishes 2 important things:
- First, it helps prevent your muscles from getting weaker while you rest. This is important because you want to come out of the swelling just as, if not stronger than before it happened.
- Second, and perhaps more importantly to our discussion, the Journal of Physiological Anthropology says that isometric exercises can promote blood flow which, in turn, helps prevent fluid from pooling around your knee.
Here are a couple of easy isometric exercises you can do on your own:
As the name implies, this works your quadriceps muscle, or the muscle right in front of your thigh. It’s the muscle responsible for straightening your knee.
- Sit on your bed or couch with your knee straight in front of you.
- Place a rolled towel or blanket right underneath your knee. This puts your knee at a slight bend and also gives you a target and a cushion.
- Press your knee down towards the rolled towel. Hold the contraction for 3 seconds then relax.
- Repeat the 3rd step 10 times. Remember to breathe through every repetition and never hold your breath.
This works, well… your hamstrings. Or, the huge slab of muscle right under your thighs (and below your butt). It’s also the main muscle responsible for bending your knee.
- Sit on your bed or couch with your knee in front of you.
- Bend your knee to about 30-45 degrees.
- Press your heel straight down. Hold the contraction for 3 seconds then relax.
- Repeat the previous step 10 times. Again, breathe through every repetition and never hold your breath.
P.S.: Holding your breath while you do isometric exercises may cause your blood pressure to spike up and you don’t want that. So, again: Breathe.
If home remedies didn’t work, then it might be best to visit your physical therapist (PT).
That being said, your PT should know how to get rid of fluid on the knee naturally. The methods we just talked about can and likely will be a part of your program but they might also use other modalities, tools, techniques, exercises, and stretches to improve your range of motion.
These will not only help reduce pain and swelling but also get you ready for when you return to your normal life.
OTC pain relievers, NSAIDs, and topical salicylates
Over-the-counter medications (OTC meds) are also options. You can buy them virtually anywhere without needing a doctor’s prescription and come in various brands and types.
Per MedlinePlus, there are 2 main types of oral OTC pain relievers you can buy:
- Acetaminophen (otherwise known as paracetamol), and
- NSAIDs (NonSteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs)
Acetaminophen has no anti-inflammatory properties but it does help you manage the pain. Popular examples include Tylenol and Panadol.
NSAIDs, on the other hand, have anti-inflammatory properties as well as pain-relieving properties. Examples include Advil, Aleve, Celebrex, and several others.
Apart from oral medication, you could also get topical salicylates.
Topical salicylates are technically still considered NSAIDs, so they can also help reduce pain and swelling.
For those of you whose stomachs don’t react well to oral NSAIDs, these topical alternatives may be the better option.
However, Harvard says that topical NSAIDs aren’t as effective as their oral counterparts because your body absorbs less of the medicine. So, you might not feel the same exact relief. Also, don’t apply these on wounds or rashes.
If OTC drugs don’t work, then perhaps ones that you can’t get without a prescription from your doctor will.
Just to give you a bit more perspective, though, the OTC meds I just talked about can also be described by your physician. However, the “doctor-prescribed medications” I’m referring to here are generally stronger and more specific to your condition.
That being said, you’re looking at corticosteroids and antibiotics.
According to the NHS, corticosteroids (or steroids) are man-made hormones that can fight off inflammation and suppress the immune system.
Consequently, your doctor may prescribe this if the cause of the swelling and pain around the joint is because you lack certain hormones or if your immune system is attacking your own body. Examples of these conditions include rheumatoid arthritis and Addison’s disease.
Steroids can also be administered in various ways, including:
- Orally (through tablets)
- Parenterally (through injections)
- Respiratory (through inhalers), or
- Topically (through the skin)
In any case, always – and I mean always – stay within the prescribed dose as long-term use of corticosteroids can come with significant side effects.
Per the NHS definition, antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections and don’t work on viruses. However, I don’t believe that trustworthy health practitioners will prescribe antibiotics for any and all bacterial infections.
They will only give these to you under the following conditions:
- If the infection can spread to other people
- If the infection is taking too long to heal
- If they know your body can’t clear the bacteria on its own, or
- If there can be serious implications if they don’t
With that said, these infections can develop into infectious arthritis (also known as bacterial or septic arthritis) and cause pain and inflammation. According to Harvard, some examples of these bacterial infections include:
- Lyme disease
- Staphylococcus (staph)
These range from minimally invasive procedures to full-on knee replacement. Let’s start our talk with the former.
Minimally invasive procedures
There are 2 kinds you need to be aware of:
- Aspiration, and
Aspiration, otherwise known as arthrocentesis, involves inserting a syringe through your knee and sucking out the excess fluid. This makes it one of the methods to quickly reduce swelling in the knee.
The extracted fluid can also be used to diagnose certain diseases. So, it’s actually both a treatment and a diagnostic tool. Some conditions that may need arthrocentesis include:
- Several types of arthritis
- Lupus and other autoimmune disorders
- Soft tissue injuries
- All sorts of bursitis (e.g. prepatellar bursitis, pes anserine, etc.)
Arthroscopy, on the other hand, is essentially surgery needing only a small incision. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, this method is also done for both diagnostic and treatment of certain issues, including:
- Meniscus repair
- ACL reconstruction
- Bone and/or cartilage removal
Knee replacement surgery
I believe the Mayo Clinic says it best when they said that your physician will consider replacing your joint if weight-bearing becomes impossible.
This surgery is also typically done with people suffering from all kinds of arthritis, including osteo-, rheumatoid, and traumatic arthritis.
That being said, there are, again, 2 kinds to be aware of:
- Partial knee replacement
- Total knee replacement
Let’s talk about them both very quickly:
Disclaimer: All the info below came from the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons.
Partial knee replacement
- Done on younger folk with issues on only one part of the knee
- Requires less time in surgery and you retain more of your tissue
- Faster recovery and less physical therapy
- Less risk of complications
- Costs less
- Replacement parts have shorter lifespans
- You can still get meniscal tears and arthritis
Total knee replacement
- Implants last longer (10-15 good years)
- Candidates are generally more satisfied with their quality of life
- Candidates generally end up more functional than they were prior
- Surgery takes longer
- More risk of complications
- More expensive
- More time doing physical therapy (and your knee never feels “natural”)
The last couple of methods we discussed involved doctors. So, you might be asking:
When should I see a doctor?
If you ask me, it’s always best to see a doctor or other reputable health and wellness professionals if you’re experiencing anything that’s out of the ordinary.
However, I also understand that hiring these wellness professionals is expensive. I don’t even follow my own advice because of financial constraints if I’m being honest.
So, below is a list of what research considers red flags. If you experience any of them, be sure to get your symptoms reviewed by medically trained folk you trust.
- Losing pulse below your knee
- Partially or fully losing sensation below the knee
- Losing the ability to bear weight on your lef
To add, you should also seek your physician’s help if neither of the home remedies and OTC meds works.
Is it bad if you have fluid in your knee?
Synovial joints (e.g. your knee joint) normally have fluid in them. This helps reduce friction between the several parts of your joint.
What’s bad is when you have too much or too little fluid. In both cases, your joints aren’t properly lubricated, leading to pain.
Will fluid on the knee go away?
Yes, it can. In some cases, it can go away on its own. Other times, it might take a few home remedies, physical therapy, and/or your doctor’s intervention.
For reference on when you need to see a professional, scroll a little further up from this page.
How to drain fluid from knee at home
While you technically can’t drain fluid without the help of a professional, there are a few home remedies that can reduce inflammation at the site of your injury. These include the following:
RICE method (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation)
Massage (effleurage), and
Isometric exercises (quad setting and hamstring setting)
For more information on how to drain fluid from knee at home, there’s a section near the top of this page that describes these methods in detail.
What is the best way to get rid of fluid on the knee?
This is purely situational. What’s “best” for you may be different for someone else.
The RICE method is essentially first-aid for fresh injuries.
Oral over-the-counter medications like pain relievers and NSAIDs are solid options but topical salicylates may be better if the former give you gastric distress.
Corticosteroids may also be prescribed if OTC options don’t work or if the knee swelling is caused by autoimmune disorders
Your doctor may also order antibiotics if bacterial infections are what caused the swelling and knee pain.
Knee joint aspiration can also be an option to quickly evacuate the “water” inside your knees.
Minimally invasive and extensive knee surgeries may be required if structures in and around your joint need repair.
Just to give you a summary, getting rid of “water” on the knee depends on what caused it in the first place. But, here are your options:
- Home remedies (RICE, effleurage, isometric exercises)
- Medication (OTC pain relievers, NSAIDs, doctor-prescribed corticosteroids, and antibiotics)
- Minimally invasive procedures (joint aspiration and arthroscopy)
- Extensively invasive procedures (partial and total knee replacement surgeries)
If you’re unsure of which route you should take, it’s always best to consult your doctor. | <urn:uuid:23d41516-db8a-46b0-ab38-cd8bccfd4117> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://kneeforce.com/fluid-on-the-knee/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506480.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20230923062631-20230923092631-00705.warc.gz | en | 0.928051 | 4,089 | 2.6875 | 3 |
What is the average salary of a petroleum geologist? What are the factors that determine a petroleum geologist’s salary? Scroll down to find out more about a petroleum geologist’s job description and salary.
Geology refers to the scientific study of the dynamics and physical history of the earth. The work of a geologist involves the study of processes that affect the composition or structure of the materials that make up the earth. A petroleum geologist is a petroleum, mineral and natural gas expert who is involved in the discovery of oil, mineral and gas and its eventual extraction.
Petroleum is a finite resource and the discovery of potential sites and analysis of the accompanying geological complexities makes it a challenging as well as an exciting career choice. If you are wondering what does a petroleum geologist do and what are the factors that affect their salary range, scroll down to get a basic idea on the petroleum geologist job description along with the average salary.
Educational Requirements and Job Description of a Petroleum Geologist
A geologist is expected to have in-depth knowledge of the composition, structure and history of the earth’s crust. They must also have a good understanding of geophysical techniques. Their work involves looking for possible locations or drill sites on land and sea, wherein petroleum, oil or natural gas may be present. Petroleum geologists and petroleum engineers work together so as to locate the petroleum reserves and extract them. The work of a petroleum geologist involves the identification of sites, while the petroleum engineers develop effective and economical ways to extract the petroleum, oil or natural gas.
Petroleum geologists also have to document their findings and prepare charts, maps and make presentations to the higher authorities for their approval. They must, therefore, be able to work as a part of a team, and have the ability to communicate well. Those who wish to work in the capacity of a petroleum geologist, must have a bachelor’s degree in geology or applied geology with a specialization in petroleum geology. A master’s degree in geology, with a specialization in petroleum exploration, would naturally be preferred.
Salary Range of a Petroleum Geologist
The job of a petroleum geologist is financially rewarding on account of the high technical competence and skills needed to analyze geological formations and sensitivities. The demand for petroleum geologist jobs has certainly been growing primarily due to petroleum being a non-renewable natural resource. With the growing demand for petrol and gas, and the rising crude prices, the market has seen a rise in a petroleum geologist’s average salary.
Since the skills and expertise of petroleum geologists are required for discovering new sites, well-established oil companies have been known to shell out good pay packages to those with the right qualification and experience. The salary can also go up significantly in the realm of consultancy. The salary range is often affected by the existing prices of the natural finite energy sources. A petroleum geologist’s salary is linked to several variables.
The college one has graduated from, along with the educational qualification of the individual in question, are some of the factors that would affect the pay package. A person with a master’s degree or doctorate in geology, would naturally be paid more. The condition of the oil economy is another big factor that will determine the salary range.
The knowledge or expertise the individual possesses in the realm of geophysics, structural geology, geochemistry, basin modeling, sedimentology and stratigraphy, the ability to use scientific equipment or advanced technology in exploration, and appropriate geological modeling and mapping techniques on computers, will also affect the salary. While an individual with a bachelor’s degree, and a minimum experience of 2 years, can command a salary of around $74,000 annually, an individual with a master’s degree and prior experience of a couple of years, could draw around $95,000 annually.
An individual with a doctorate in geology, with an experience of 1-2 years, could easily get a remuneration of $100,000 annually. These are base salary figures, and bonuses and shares in the company’s profits have not been included. Such bonuses and shares in profits are known to run into thousands of dollars on an average, but may also vary from employer to employer and even location to location.
The average salaries in an oil producing state would be higher than the minimal oil producing parts of the country. At the higher end, with respect to a combination of qualifications and work experience, salary range could go way higher than $100,000. The nature of the employer would also have an impact on the salary one may receive. Studies have revealed that the salary range is higher for petroleum geologists who are working for the Federal government than the state governments. The private sector pays more than the government and environmental research institutes.
Aspiring petroleum geologists must be ready to work hard as petroleum exploration is a challenging task. There is no dearth of career opportunities, and for those who have in-depth knowledge and experience, this can be a financially rewarding career. | <urn:uuid:b568244c-111d-4354-9849-d3a2db40bed0> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://ibuzzle.com/petroleum-geologist-salary | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296949694.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20230401001704-20230401031704-00759.warc.gz | en | 0.95594 | 1,042 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Common rabbit diseases and how to treat them
Diseases are dangerous in animal production, it affects not only the animals but the productivity and growth of the farm, therefore, accurate measures needs to be taken by every farmer to ensure a disease free farm.
Rabbits, though have high resistivity to diseases but are greatly affected by disease if not properly managed.
There are several rabbit diseases that are capable of causing huge harm to your rabbits.
Observing your rabbits daily for signs of diseases is a very critical task you can’t afford to overlook. This is because rabbits don’t show signs of diseases.
They are prey animals and as such try to hide any sign of weakness. You, therefore, have to be very observant of your rabbits.
Once a rabbit is no longer as active as normal, or is no longer eating, as usual, something is wrong. You have to observe the rabbit properly for any of the following common rabbit diseases.
Common rabbit diseases
Common rabbit diseases includes
- Snuffles: This is one of the commonest rabbit diseases, this is an infection of the upper respiratory tract of rabbits. It can be caused by exposure to cold, dusty feed, poor quality feed, and the introduction of infected animals into your herd.
Symptoms include sneezing, mucoid discharge from the nose and mucous near the eyes. Treatment: Snuffles can be cured by giving antibiotics (L.A)
- Mange: This is caused by mites. Symptoms include a patch of dandruff on a rabbit’s coat, usually at the back of the neck, around the tail area, fingers, and toes.
The mange can settle anywhere. The fur will pull away wherever dandruff settles. This will bring discomfort to the animal and can lead to death.
Treatment: Ivermectin injection.
Note: Be extra careful when injecting Ivermectin. Weigh your animal properly and administer the adequate dose, never too much.
Normally, the dosage is 1ml to 50kg of the animal. Do your maths properly.
- Ear canker: A brownish crust inside the ear of the rabbits. Caused by mites also. Rabbits will keep shaking their heads and continuously scratch the ear. Ear canker can lead to other ear infections that can cause loss of hearing in your rabbits. It is contagious, just like mange.
Treatment: Ivermectin injection.
Note: You can also use engine oil. A few drops inside the ear. A few drops…don’t baptize them with engine oil.
- Coccidiosis: This is a very serious one. It is caused by a protozoan parasite (Eimeria sp).
Symptoms are a rough coat, dullness/depression, decreased appetite, dehydration, loss of weight and (profuse) diarrhoea.
There are two types: hepatic and intestinal coccidiosis.
Don’t worry about the details.
What you should know is that they are both very bad for your rabbits.
It is very difficult to cure. Here, you should take that prevention is better than cure adage very seriously.
Prevention: Give coccidiostats and anticoccidiosis to your rabbits frequently. They are not expensive and are sold in vet shops and most animal feed stores around you.
- Sore hocks: This can be caused by injuries to the animal’s feet on the floor of the cage. The animal will refuse to move around or may try to sit on its feeder to relieve its feet of its weight. Usually, the feet bleed or have sores.
Treatment: Give antibiotics (L.A) and place a flat smooth material (like carton or newspaper) in the rabbit’s cage until the feet heal.
You might have to clean the cage more often to prevent the buildup of germs on the new flooring material.
- Paralysis: This can be caused by a shock to your animal.
Avoid loud noise around your rabbit house and prevent rodents and reptiles from entering your rabbit hutch.
It is a 50-50 case. Once your rabbit is paralysed, it might not make it again.
You should just pot it.
Others Rabbit Diseases include
- Neck tilt
- Overgrown teeth
- Rabbit fever (can be zoonotic), etc.
Generally, be very observant. If you’re careless, your rabbits will show signs of sickness when it is almost too late to do anything. Prevention is better.
General tips to prevent disease and reduce mortality
- Make sure the rabbit house is not too cold or too hot.
- Don’t feed dusty feed. Wet the feed with some water before feeding them.
- Give anticoccidiosis regularly.
- Don’t introduce animals from other farms into your herd without first quarantining them for some days to be sure of their health.
- Give multivitamins regularly and whenever you give medication.
- Feed plants with a medicinal value like Bitterleaf and Tridax procumbens to prevent coccidiosis and bacterial infection.
As a rabbit farmer, frequent inspection is a habit you must cultivate because it is a good way to detect any form of rabbit disease at its early stage, it is easier to manage any rabbit disease at the early stage than when it has escalated.
It is also desirable to establish a regular work routine. Care should be taken not to frighten the rabbits with sudden unaccustomed movement or noise, but without placing too much emphasis on quietness.
Premises and equipment should be regularly cleaned and thoroughly dried before restocking. Thorough disinfection should be carried out at suitable times to reduce the danger of continuing infection.
The good thing is, you can always do your best to ensure a disease free farm, because, that’s the best way to promote the health of your rabbits as well as keep a healthy farm.
We wish you Goodluck in your farm. don’t forget you can always reach us by dropping your comment in the comment box below.
or email us email@example.com | <urn:uuid:9fa63eab-3baa-49d8-be20-5e2eebac21b3> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://opportunitytracks.com/rabbit-diseases/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618039560245.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20210422013104-20210422043104-00438.warc.gz | en | 0.938777 | 1,296 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Diabetes is a group of diseases defined by the body’s inability to control levels of sugar in the blood.
Usually, the body turns food into glucose (sugar) that can be used for energy. Individuals who have this disease either don’t make enough insulin – or don’t use it efficiently enough – for it to help the glucose get into the body’s cells to be used as energy. As a result, excess sugar builds. Over time, high blood sugar levels cause the pancreas to overcompensate to make insulin, which leads to permanent damage. Excess sugar in the blood also causes blood vessels to harden, which leads to severe circulation problems to the legs and feet. High levels of blood glucose can cause damage to the tiny vessels in your kidneys, heart, eyes or nervous system. That’s why diabetes, especially if untreated, can cause heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness and nerve damage.
There are two main types of diabetes; Type 1 and Type 2
- Type 1 means that the pancreas is not producing insulin, or is producing very little. This type always requires shots of insulin injected into the body
- Type 2 means that the pancreas is producing insulin, but not enough OR that the body does not use its insulin effectively.
- 9 out of 10 cases of diabetes are Type 2
Type 2 diabetes affects at least one in every 10 Americans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates it will affect one in every three Americans by 2050.
The goal of treatment for diabetes is to keep the individual’s blood sugar as close to normal as possible. Doing this will lower the person’s chances of getting:
- Stroke, Heart disease, Kidney failure, High blood pressure, Stomach disease, Eye disease, loss of vision or blindness, Nerve damage with pain or loss of | <urn:uuid:96ec1f6f-43ad-472c-ab02-44abc45fef1c> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | http://lasvegashospiceserviceeducation.com/diabetes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676593438.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20180722174538-20180722194538-00589.warc.gz | en | 0.915912 | 393 | 3.8125 | 4 |
Magnolia tree care is really simple. You'll be delighted to see how easily you can grow evergreen southern M. grandiflora cultivars as well as the spring flowering tulip or saucer trees.
Believed to be the oldest flowering trees on the planet, Magnolias have been cultivated for their beautiful flowers since time immemorial in Asia and since, at least, the early 1600s in North America.
There are deciduous types that burst into profligate bloom before putting on their new leaves in spring and evergreen varieties whose dark, glossy leaves provide a contrasting backdrop to white summer flowers.
Evergreen varieties perform best in the south, while deciduous types do better in cold climates.
The saucer or tulip Magnolias take their botanical name from the 19th century French horticulturist Etienne Soulange-Bodin. They are hybrids obtained by crossing M. denudata with M. liliflora. These hardy, deciduous Magnolia trees begin branching very close to the ground and can reach a height of 25 feet when mature.
The stunning spring flowers of the numerous varieties of this plant appear before the leaves sprout and range from white to lavender. A single, open bloom can measure 10" across! Cultivars often bear women's names, like 'Ann' and 'Jane' above.
The saucer Magnolia performs best in full sun locations, grows quickly, and begins blooming at an early age.
Because they are hybrids, they cannot be propagated from seed. Use cuttings instead.
Hardy into zone 5.
The greenish buds and fragrant flowers of the Southern Magnolia.
The Southern Magnolia is native to the southeastern U.S. and is a fixture in many of the gardens here. When siting it in the landscape, give this bodacious beauty plenty of space as it can grow to a height and spread of 80'x26' and does not like to be moved once it has established.
Its leathery, oblong leaves are a glossy hunter green on top with a rusty down on their undersides. The tree will branch to the ground if it is allowed to, and it should be. When planted in too small a yard, they are often limbed up to allow for walking, mowing, or parking underneath. This raises the canopy of the tree but ruins its natural shape.
Huge, creamy white flowers scent the garden repeatedly throughout the summer months. Once the flower show is over, showy seed pods form. When ripe, the pods split open, revealing the bright red seeds inside. You may use these to grow new plants, but cuttings will work just as well.
This species does not like lime. Plant it on neutral to acid soils in zones 7-9.
Buy Trees Below:
The swamp or Sweet Bay Magnolia (M. virginiana) can grow to 60' in the warmer end of its range which is zones 5 (with protection) through 9. In the colder end of its range, it may be expected to mature at 20' and to drop its leaves each winter. It remains evergreen where winters are warm.
This tree's lemon-scented, water lily-shaped blossoms begin their display in late spring and make repeat appearances during the growing season.
The leaves of this species bear unusual silvery reverses rather than the typical rust leaf reverses of the grandifloras. The Sweet Bay's fruit is also particularly ornamental.
The swamp Magnolia can survive zone 5 winters if planted in a protected spot, otherwise, zone 6 is a safer bet. Heat tolerant to zone 10.
This is the one species that will tolerate boggy soil, but it does not require it.
The dwarf grandiflora 'Little Gem' standing beside a pair of Japanese yews.
New trees should be installed in early spring or fall. Most types like rich soils with a pH of 5.0-6.5. Except for the Sweet Bay, they will not take standing water.
Magnolias do not enjoy dry soil, but most mature trees can endure it for short periods without harm.
The best bloom is achieved when the trees are planted in full sun. Evergreen varieties will tolerate light shade. | <urn:uuid:85066826-8dd0-42f6-ae33-b599d609ef9c> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | http://www.botanical-journeys-plant-guides.com/magnolia-tree-care.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917123276.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031203-00401-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932452 | 892 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Set your calendars for April 13, 2029 when a speck of light will streak across the sky, getting brighter and faster as Apophis (near-Earth asteroid 99942) cruises harmlessly past our planet.
This 1,100 foot-wide (340 meters) space rock will come within 19,000 miles (31,000 km) of Earth gaining in brightness equal to that of the stars in the Little Dipper.
Discovered in June 2004 by a team of astronomers at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, the asteroid was only able to be detected for about two days before weather and technical issues prevented further study. Initial calculations revealed that the asteroid had a 2.7% chance of impacting with Earth in 2029.
Luckily, another team rediscovered the asteroid at the Siding Springs Survey in Australia later that same year. Additional observations of Apophis have completely ruled out the possibility of collision.
Apophis will first become visible to the naked eye in the night sky over the Southern Hemisphere, on an East to West trajectory. At this time, it will be mid-morning on the east coast of the United States.
By mid-afternoon EST, the asteroid will be above the African continent, still traveling West.
Around 6pm EST, Apophis will be over the Atlantic Ocean and will be moving so fast that it will cross the ocean’s entirety within one hour. Sky watchers here in the US should expect to see it around 7pm EST as it crosses the United States.
The international asteroid research community couldn’t be more excited about this rare event.
In fact, today, April 30th, at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in College Park, Maryland, scientists have gathered discuss plans for observation of, as well as hypothetical missions we could send out to the asteroid in order to further study it.
“The Apophis close approach in 2029 will be an incredible opportunity for science,” says Marina Brozovi, a radar scientist at NASA’s JPL in Pasadena, who works on radar observations of near-Earth objects (NEOs). “We’ll observe the asteroid with both optical and radar telescopes. With radar observations, we might be able to see surface details that are only a few meters in size.”
Ever since its initial discovery, optical and radar telescopes have been tracking Apophis as it continues to orbit the Sun.
This means that scientists know its future trajectory quite well.
While current calculations show that the asteroid still has a small chance of impacting Earth (less than 1 in 100,000) many decades from now, scientists are certain that future measurements of its position, especially those made during the 2029 flyby, will rule out any possible impacts.
“Apophis is a representative of about 2,000 currently known Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs),” says Paul Chodas, Director of CNEOS. “By observing Apophis during its 2029 flyby, we will gain important scientific knowledge that could one day be used for planetary defense.” | <urn:uuid:28063dfb-d992-400f-97a2-16d2a5b602fd> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://elpasoheraldpost.com/amys-everyday-astronomy-rare-large-asteroid-flyby-will-be-visible-to-the-naked-eye-in-2029/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585196.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20211018031901-20211018061901-00326.warc.gz | en | 0.943808 | 641 | 3.46875 | 3 |
Materials research and structural research are crucially important to the process of re-industrialisation. The objective of the research programme was to bring together the efforts and the expertise of research teams working in different fields and in this way to take advantage of the resulting synergy benefits in what has become a rapidly expanding field of study.
The projects in this programme were concerned in studying biomaterials, new materials, information processing methods, polymers, macromolecules, metals, wood and paper, nanostructures, thin films, surface processes and semiconductors.
The programme had a wide field of applications. On the basis of its findings new materials can be developed for use in medicine, electronics, the process industry and polymer technology. Examples are provided by biodegradable materials that are used in the treatment of bone fractures and tissue damage as well as new catalyst materials used in the production of polymers. The electronics industry was expected to benefit from the work that was done to develop production methods for microelectronics and nanotechnology materials.
The programme comprised a total of 33 projects involving several research teams. The organisations involved included virtually all the country's universities with research in mathematics and the natural sciences, medicine and technology, as well as the Technical Research Centre VTT.
Academy of Finland funding for the programmes totaled around EUR 20.2 million. The National Technology Agency supported the programme's nanotechnology component. | <urn:uuid:45aa6564-a1a2-48b1-acdd-48d12963e41a> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://www.aka.fi/en/research-and-science-policy/academy-programmes/completed-programmes/Matra/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560627998580.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20190617203228-20190617225228-00179.warc.gz | en | 0.945228 | 286 | 2.703125 | 3 |
A 5th grade teacher found themselves in hot water after they allowed their class of students to sample non-alcoholic beer during a history lesson, a school official said.
Superintendent Ed Koledo said the teacher allowed Hyatt Elementary students in Linden, Mich. To sample O’Doul’s that had been brought to the school by a student on March 6 to represent common ale in the 1700s. The students were told that many people drank ale at that time because the water was sometimes unhealthy or dirty to drink.
“We talked to the teacher and said this was an inappropriate choice,” Koledo said. “There were a lot better choices to represent a colonial-era drink than what was chosen here.”
The students were allowed to take a small taste but none were forced to drink the non-alcoholic beer, school officials said. The Michigan teacher was not identified though Koledo said allowing non-alcoholic beer into the classroom and allowing students to drink it was a mistake.
Hyatt Principal Vicki Malkaravage sent a letter to the parents of the students on Friday informing them of what had taken place, The Flint Journal reported. The 5th grade teacher supposedly thought O’Douls’s would be OK because the label said it was a non-alcoholic beverage, according to the letter sent. She also said that three of the students took home a bottle of the non-alcoholic beverage.
O’Doul’s is advertised as non-alcoholic beer, though it contains a small amount of alcohol. Liquor Control Commission spokesperson Andrea Millers says giving O’Doul’s or similar drinks to minors can be charged as a misdemeanor in Michigan.
The 5th grade teacher responsible nor the school was charged.
Koledo described the teacher as being a “very responsible person” who didn’t intend to expose their students to any harm. The students who brought the beer home will not be disciplined.
“Nobody complained to the teacher, principal or me,” Koledo said. “We monitored the situation the next day. It was a dead topic so we just left it at that.” | <urn:uuid:340c65d0-5d2d-45ff-9b4b-5412318131a5> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | http://americanlivewire.com/2014-03-18-5th-grade-teacher-gives-beer-to-students/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187822739.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20171018032625-20171018052625-00148.warc.gz | en | 0.986797 | 459 | 2.515625 | 3 |
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Hyphae grow by adding cells at the tip. Hyphae are very tiny, measuring only a few microns in diameter in some cases. But they can also be incredibly strong, punching through not only the soft membranes of animal cells, but also the tough, woody walls of plant cells and the hard chitin that makes up insect bodies.
Fungi usually reproduce without sex. Single-celled yeasts reproduce asexually by budding. A single yeast cell can produce up to 24 offspring.
Fungi that make hyphae can reproduce asexually as well. Bits of the hyphae can break off and continue to grow as separate entities, or can form stalks containing seed-like spores.
Although less common, fungi can produce spores sexually. Two mating cells from hyphae of different strains of fungi can mate by fusing together and forming a spore stalk.
When the spore caps at the end of spore stalks fully mature, they burst. The spores may simply drop in the same area, or be carried by the wind or rain to new spots.
Where they land, spores will germinate like seeds. But if they don’t land on a suitable food source or in ideal conditions, the spores can survive in a dormant state for extended periods, waiting for more favorable conditions or to be carried to a better spot.
When you hear the word fungus, you probably think of mushrooms. Did you know bread mold is a kind of fungus, too? And that the itchy burning of athlete's foot is, yes, caused by another fungus? And that when you take penicillin, you're taking a medicine made by a fungus?
Fungi come in a variety of shapes and sizes and different types. They can range from individual cells to enormous chains of cells that can stretch for miles. | <urn:uuid:51ecd77b-a6a9-4e31-a067-643710aea11a> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://www.microbeworld.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=123 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042989891.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002309-00292-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941445 | 394 | 3.765625 | 4 |
Together with you, we make history
German engineer Rudolf Diesel builds his first prototype for a compression ignition internal combustion engine. He continues developing the technology throughout the 1890s.
The world’s first two diesel-powered marine vessels, both designed for canal and river use, launch in the same year. They are the French barge Petite-Pierre and the Russian tanker Vandal.
Gustaf de Laval starts work on the development of a centrifugal separator.
Gustaf de Laval and his partner, Oscar Lamm, establish the company AB Separator. The De Laval Cream Separator Co. is formed in the U.S. which is the start of a continuously growing international establishment.
The sinking of the RMS Titanic in the North Atlantic leads to legislation standardizing protocol and equipment for marine telecommunications, and ultimately to the creation of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System.
German ocean liner SS Bremen and her sister ship SS Europa smash speed records thanks to advanced high-speed steam turbines and pioneering bulbous bow construction.
Alfa Laval delivers an oil separator to the U.S. Navy, which uses it to break water emulsions in lube oil on vessels driven by steam turbines. This begins Alfa Laval’s partnership with the marine industry.
Aalborg Shipyard in Denmark designs and produces their first boiler, a Scotch marine type.
The SS Normandie is launched in France with a novel hydrodynamic hull design that allows it to attain great speeds using far less power than other ocean liners. It is later equipped with an early form of radar technology.
Naval warfare during the Second World War leads to major technological innovations from both the Allied and Axis powers. These include advancements in sonar, the submarine snorkel, and welding in hull construction. Significantly, diesel engines increasingly become the standard for marine propulsion during the war.
Alfa Laval launches the new modern separator series – 1500, 1700 and 1900 – developed specifically for the marine industry.
The first container ship, the Clifford J. Rodgers, enters operation. The SS Ideal X, developed by American entrepreneur Malcolm McLean, launches one year later and goes on to become the first container ship to achieve commercial success.
The first liquefied natural gas tanker, a converted cargo ship appropriately named Methane Pioneer, embarks on its maiden voyage from the Calcasieu River in Louisiana.
Sales of Alfa Laval “self-cleaning” centrifugal separators and decanter centrifuges begin.
The Alfa Laval P12 plate heat exchanger (PHE) is the first PHE sold to the marine industry. The PHE is installed on the “Markland,” a motor tanker built in Gothenburg, Sweden for a subsidiary of the Broström Group.
The first freshwater generator, based on tube technology, is produced by Atlas for a Lauritzen vessel. An alternative solution with plate technology is developed by Nirex two years later. Alfa Laval will later acquire both technologies and unite them in today’s Alfa Laval AQUA solutions.
The advent of intercontinental jet travel results in the fatal decline of the ocean liner business, which in turn leads to the beginning of the modern cruise industry. Several major cruise lines are started during the decade, including Viking Line (1963), Princess Cruises (1965), Norwegian Cruise Line (1966) and Royal Caribbean (1968).
Alfa Laval begins to move its production from Fleminggatan in central Stockholm to new facilities in Tumba, just outside Stockholm. Tumba continues to be Alfa Laval’s centre for separator research and development.
Frank Mohn AS, which began operation as a Norwegian importer of maritime equipment in the 1930s, introduces the high-pressure, hydraulically driven marine pump.
Smit Ovens, a company based in the Netherlands, delivers their first marine inert gas system, which is installed on the fishmeal vessel M/V Willem Barentsz. Smit goes on to become an industry leading brand for inert gas systems.
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is signed. It is the most significant international marine environmental convention to this point, and will later be modified in 1978.
An OPEC oil embargo sparks a decade-long global energy crisis. The crisis is a partial factor in the advancement of supertankers, such as the Seawise Giant, that had weights exceeding 500,000 DWT.
Alfa Laval affirms its commitment to marine markets with a sales company in Greece.
Alfa Laval sets up a sales company in Singapore to better serve the marine business in this part of Asia.
A new sales company in Korea broadens Alfa Laval’s Asian presence.
MARPOL Annex I, addressing pollution from oil and oily water, and Annex II, addressing pollution from noxious liquid substances, take effect.
The steamship era comes to an end when the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, the last transatlantic passenger steamship in service, is converted to diesel propulsion.
Marine pollution gains greater awareness after the Exxon Valdez tanker spills upwards of 900,000 barrels of oil off the coast of Alaska. The disaster leads to stricter regulation of oil tankers, which helped to standardize the double-hull design in tanker construction.
Since 1980, Alfa Laval has trained many thousands of customers in Tumba and worldwide.
Alfa Laval presents Alcap, a game-changing separator technology it has been developing since the 1970s. Alcap uses a water transducer in the oil outlet to automatically adjust the cleaning process, which allows low-quality oils to be separated with minimal losses.
The Chinese market – where Alfa Laval products have been sold since the 1950s – gets its own dedicated sales company.
Alfa Laval establishes a fully owned sales company in Japan, where its marine products have been sold since 1926. It inherits the marketing rights for marine equipment previously held by Nagase-Alfa, a 10-year-old joint venture between Alfa Laval AB and Nagase & Co.
Alfa Laval acquires Moatti Filter, a leading supplier of filters for the lubricating oil used in crosshead and trunk piston engines.
MARPOL Annex III, addressing harmful substances carried by sea in packaged form, takes effect.
The Global Positioning System (GPS), in development since 1973, becomes fully operational.
Alfa Laval launches the innovative Alfa Laval S separator for oil cleaning. The SU separator modules introduced with the series would later be further simplified as a part of the Alfa Laval S and P Flex concept.
MARPOL Annex IV, addressing sewage from ships, takes effect.
The IMO adopts the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention). The Convention is a response to the growing ecological issue of invasive marine species transmitted in ballast water exchange. It requires ratification by 30 or more countries representing at least 35% of global shipping in order to take effect.
MARPOL Annex VI, addressing vessel air pollution, takes effect. Annex VI establishes Emission Control Areas (ECAs), where levels of sulphur oxide in ship exhaust are limited to 0.1%.
Alfa Laval returns to the Stockholm Stock Exchange and acquires companies such as Toftejorg Group, the world’s leading supplier of advanced tank cleaning systems.
Pure Thinking becomes the framework for Alfa Laval’s development of marine environmental solutions. Focused on practical, cost-effective compliance, it paves the way for Alfa Laval PureBilge, PureVent, PureBallast, PureDry, PureSOx and PureNOx.
Alfa Laval PureBallast becomes the first commercially available ballast water treatment system.
Both the global shipping industry and international cruise business continue to grow. Shanghai, the world’s leading container port, sees traffic of over 35 million TEU, up from 31 million TEU in 2011. Meanwhile, almost 5 million passengers pass through the Port of Miami, the busiest for cruise ships.
TheDelegates to the 70th Session of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC70) agree to implement a 0.5% limit for marine sulphur oxide emissions worldwide. The new restriction is scheduled to take effect in 2020.
The IMO BWM convention is scheduled to take effect in September, exactly one year after Finland became the 52nd nation to ratify, bringing the combined tonnage of contracting States to the treaty to 35.1%.
Alfa Laval acquires Aalborg Industries, a world leader in boiler systems, thermal fluid systems, waste heat recovery systems and inert gas systems. The acquisition strengthens Alfa Laval’s existing global position, adding a strong product offering focused on energy efficiency. Alfa Laval PureSOx is launched the same year.
Alfa Laval expands its offering to the growing LNG market by acquiring the Gas Combustion Unit (GCU), which provides a reliable and safe way to handle excess boil-off gas on LNG carriers and other vessels using LNG as fuel.
Alfa Laval acquires Norwegian company Frank Mohn, now known as Framo. As a leading manufacturer of submerged pumping systems, their unique technology strengthens Alfa Laval’s offering to the marine and offshore markets.
The Alfa Laval Test & Training Centre, a ship simulation facility, is inaugurated in Aalborg, further extending Alfa Laval’s network of training sites. In 2017, a major expansion focusing on fuel challenges produces innovations faster than ever before.
Alfa Laval PureBallast receives type approval from the U.S. Coast Guard. The approval means vessels with PureBallast can deballast in U.S. waters in addition to complying with IMO regulations.
100 years after installing our first marine separator, Alfa Laval celebrates a century of service to the marine industry.
Alfa Laval will celebrate 100 years since the delivery of the first Aalborg marine boiler. | <urn:uuid:f42b9bab-9b42-44a4-9d02-b3e5eb0ab4f4> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://www.alfalaval.com.au/industries/marine-and-transportation/marine/marine-history/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780056711.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20210919035453-20210919065453-00095.warc.gz | en | 0.912686 | 2,161 | 3.203125 | 3 |
A Young Person's Guide to the Principles of Music Synthesis
- Table of Contents
- Sound Waves and Oscillators
- Building a Synthesizer
- Volume Control
- Control Signals
- Conclusion and Further Reading
This article is a (relatively) brief introduction to the principles of music synthesis. Each of the basic components of synthesizers are explained, along with descriptions and examples of how these components are chained together to make interesting sounds. The principles discussed are not unique to any specific synthesis platform, but are applicable to music synthesis in general.
I hope this article will help interested musicians and composers access the academic tools and literature associated with electronic music. Most electronic music literature assumes a linguistic and conceptual vocabulary which is opaque and inaccessible to the beginner. There's no good reason for this. This article is intended as a good place to start learning; a place to acquire vocabulary without technical training.
The text of this article is accompanied by illustrations, audio examples, and links to working demonstrations in PureData. PureData is a powerful, free, cross-platform, open source music synthesis tool. It's a good idea to read this article with PureData open in the background, building and learning as you go.
You can download PureData by clicking here. It's available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. The examples provided with this article were created with and tested on PureData 0.40.1 for Mac OS X.
Sounds are pressure waves which travel through air, or another medium, to our ears. Unlike waves in the ocean, which move up and down, pressure waves move forward and back. These waves move our ear drums in and out, and we experience this as sound. Sound synthesis is the art of creating signals that, when turned into sound waves by a speaker, people find interesting. During the course of this article we'll explore a number of devices that create and modify signals used to synthesize sound.
The first such device we'll consider is called an oscillator. An oscillator generates a consistent, repeating signal. Signals from oscillators and other sources are used to control the movement of the cones in our speakers, which make real sound waves which travel to our ears. If you tie one end of a rope to a doorknob, stand back a few feet, and wiggle the other end of the rope up and down really fast, you're doing roughly the same thing as an oscillator. The difference is that you're wiggling a rope, whereas the oscillator is wiggling an audio signal.
Audio signals are often represented on a graph where the horizontal x-axis represents time and the vertical y-axis represents the pressure of the signal. This is called a time domain representation of audio. Time domain graphs are kind of like instructions for speakers about how to move in and out. When the graph reads 1, the speaker cone is pushed all the way out, when it reads -1, the cone is pulled all the way in. This movement creates a pressure wave in the air which we hear as sound. If a speaker cone moves in and out according to the graph above, it will make the sound of a bass drum.
The rate at which a sound wave moves in and out is called the frequency. Frequency is measured in cycles per second. The length of a singal cycle of a waveform is the span of time it takes for that waveform to repeat. People generally hear an increase in the frequency of a sound wave as an increase in pitch. When the frequency of an oscillator is doubled, the pitch of the sound it generates moves an octave up. For example, an oscillator generating a signal that repeats at the rate of 440 cycles per second will have the same pitch as middle A on a piano. An oscillator generating a signal that repeats at 880 cycles per second will have the same pitch as the A an octave above middle A. A common way of saying "cycles per second" is "Hertz," abbreviated "Hz."
There are four different types of basic wave shapes, or waveforms, illustrated here.
Technical note: Topics in music synthesis sometimes call for a little bit of math. If you're not a math person, that's okay, you can skip over the stuff that doesn't make sense. To make it easier for you, the parts you can skip will be safely contained in these sturdy boxes.
Sine waves look similar to a gentle wave in a bowl of water, moving up and down with no abrupt starts or stops. Common sounds similar to a sine wave include whistling, air blowing across the opening of an empty bottle, and a ringing tuning fork.
Technical note: The sine wave is the most basic, pure waveform, with a contour described by a trigonometric function called the sine function. Any other waveform, including the other simple waveforms described below, can be created by adding up a series of sine waves. Details on this process exceed the scope of this article. For more information, check out the Wikipedia entries on Fourier Analysis and Additive Synthesis.
In the above picture, the first two sine waves are added together to produce a third, different wave.
In the above picture, a sine wave is added to its opposite. The result is silence.
The above chart represents an audio signal based on its frequency. This is called a frequency domain graph. Some stereo systems have an LCD screen where lines rise and fall based on the pitch content of the sounds being played. That LED screen is a frequency domain representation of the audio. As shown in the chart above, a sine wave would only push up one of these lines. This is because sine waves, the simplest waves, have only one frequency. More complicated waves can have energy at more than one frequency, and a graph is a good way to keep track of what's going on. We'll look at frequency domain graphs of more complicated waves very soon.
Sawtooth waves, also called saw waves, have a very strong, clear, buzzing sound. A sawtooth wave can be made by adding a series of sine waves at different frequencies and volume levels. The frequency of the first, loudest sine wave is what we hear as the frequency of the resulting sawtooth. This is called the fundamental frequency. Each of the other, progressively quieter, sine waves that make up a sawtooth have frequencies which are integer multiples of the fundamental frequency. These frequencies are called harmonics.
For example, an ideal sawtooth wave with a fundamental frequency of 100Hz would have harmonics at 200Hz, 300Hz, 400Hz, and so on to infinity, with each harmonic quieter than the last. Because the sawtooth wave contains every integer harmonic of the fundamental frequency, it sounds very rich to our ear. The fundamental frequency defines the pitch of the sound, while the harmonics change the character, or timbre, of the sound without affecting the pitch.
Technical note: The amplitude of a given harmonic in a sawtooth wave is equal to the inverse of its harmonic number. For example, a sawtooth wave with a fundamental frequency of 100Hz and an amplitude of 1 would have a harmonic at 200Hz (100*2) with an amplitude of 0.5 (1/2), another harmonic at 300Hz (100*3) with an amplitude of 0.33 (1/3), and so forth. The more harmonics are added in this manner, the more the wave will look like the idealized sawtooth wave depicted in this article.
Square waves have a rich sound that's not quite as buzzy as a sawtooth wave, but not as pure as a sine. Old Nintendo game soundtracks were made almost exclusively from square waves. Like sawtooth waves, square waves can be generated by adding a series of sine waves with decreasing volume. However, the square wave contains only the odd numbered harmonics.
The amplitude of a given harmonic in a square wave is equal to the inverse of its harmonic number. For instance, a square wave with a fundamental frequency of 100Hz would have a harmonic at 300Hz (100*3) with an amplitude of 0.33 (1/3).
Triangle waves sound like something between a sine wave and a square wave. Like square waves, they contain only the odd harmonics of the fundamental frequency. They differ from square waves because the volume of each added harmonic drops more quickly.
Technical note: The amplitude of a given harmonic in a triangle wave is equal to the inverse square of its harmonic number. For example, a triangle wave with a fundamental frequency of 100Hz and an amplitude of 1 would have a harmonic at 300Hz (100*3) with an amplitude of 0.1111 (1/3^2).
Now that we understand oscillators, let's draw a diagram of a very simple synthesizer. This synthesizer will contain a single sawtooth oscillator which sends signal to our audio output, and then to our speakers. The pitch of the oscillator will be controlled by a keyboard.
Individual synthesizer components which perform a single, simple function—such as oscillators and filters—are called modules. A modular synthesizer is a synthesizer made by linking together lots of small modules in interesting ways. In the diagrams we use, the lines connecting the modules are like virtual cables, sending signal between them in much the same way an audio cable would in real life.
There are some problems with our synthesizer design—not the least of which is that because we have no way of controlling the volume of the oscillator, our instrument is always making sound! In order to fix this problem, we need to add a module called a Voltage Controlled Amplifier, or VCA. The function of a VCA is to raise or lower the volume, often called amplitude or level, of a signal. Essentially, a VCA is a volume knob. Oscillators and other sound generating modules are always making sound, and VCAs are what keep the level down when you're not playing.
In analog synthesizers, VCAs are actually controlled by wires carrying electrical current. There are no real wires carrying voltage inside a virtual synthesizer, but people often call virtual amplitude controls VCAs anyway. With many synthesizers, most of the VCAs are beneath the hood and we don't need to worry too hard about where they are or how they're controlled, but it's important to know how they work.
Let's add a VCA to our simple synthesizer now. This means adding a new module and a couple more cables, but don't worry, they're explained right after the diagram.
Here's a sample of what the synthesizer described in this diagram might sound like. Note that we can now insert pauses and play notes at different volumes.
The "gate" cable running from the keyboard to the VCA is a signal that sends one of two messages to the VCA: "on" if a key is depressed, and "off" otherwise. When the gate signal is off, or closed, we hear nothing. When the gate signal is on, or open, then the VCA will let the noise from the oscillator to the audio output. The "velocity" cable sends a level to the VCA that corresponds with how fast we hit the key, and controls the volume level of the output. If we press a key very hard, and thus very fast, the volume of the output will be louder than if we pressed the key soft and slow.
Filters are, generally speaking, tools for manipulating signals. Any device which modifies a signal in any way is, technically, a filter. When people talk about filters, however, they usually are referring to filters which modify the harmonic content of the signal, altering the characteristics of the sound in the frequency domain. This is the sense in which the term "filter" is used in this article.
Filters allow you to select a range of frequencies in a sound, and either amplify or reduce those frequencies. Decreasing high frequencies or increasing low frequences within a sound makes it seem "darker" or muffled, while increasing high frequencies or decreasing low frequences makes the sound seem "brighter." Filtering like this happens in real life all the time. If you're talking to someone and hold a large book in front of your mouth, the book filters out much of the high frequency content of your voice, causing it to sound dark and muffled.
A low pass filter allows low frequencies to pass through the filter and blocks out high frequencies, causing the sound to seem muffled. The range of frequencies blocked by a filter is called the stop band. The range of frequencies allowed to pass through the filter is called the pass band. The transition from pass band to stop band is gradual, and happens over a range called the transition band. The width of the transition band depends on the rate at which the filter reduces the signal. This rate is called the slope, which is measured in decibels per octave. (A detailed discussion of the decibel as a unit of amplitude measurement is beyond the scope of this article. As always, the Wikipedia article on decibels delivers the goods.) The frequency where the filter has reduced the level of the signal to about seven tenths its original level is called the cutoff frequency. A high pass filter does the opposite of a low pass filter: blocks low frequencies and lets high frequencies pass through.
Technical note: The exact amount of level reduction that defines the cutoff frequency of a filter is 0.707 times the maximum level of the signal. The power of a signal is proportional to the amplitude of the signal squared, and at 0.707 times the maximum level, the power has dropped in half. For this reason, the cutoff frequency is also called the "half-power point." Since this drop in power results in a drop in volume of about 3 decibels, the cutoff frequency can also be called the "3dB point."
A band pass filter is like a low pass and a high pass filter used in combination to isolate a group of frequencies to pass through while everything else gets cut out. A band reject filter is the opposite of a band pass filter: a band of frequencies is blocked while everything else is let through.
These filters have a number of attributes over which we have some control. For low pass and high pass filters, we can change the cutoff frequency, allowing control of the range of frequencies affected. Running a lead synthesizer through a low pass filter and slowly moving the cutoff frequency from high to low and back is a popular technique used in electronic dance music.
With band pass and band reject filters, rather than changing the cutoff frequency, we change the center frequency and width of the affected band.
With some filters we can also change the slope, which determines how quickly the stop band frequencies are reduced in level.
Many filters allow for a change in resonance or Q. Resonance occurs when sound in the pass band near the cutoff frequency is sent back into the filter as it comes out, creating feedback. The amount of feedback affects the volume of these frequencies, as well as the timbre of the sound. A wah-wah effect box is a resonant low pass filter with a foot pedal controlling the cutoff frequency.
Let's add a low pass filter module to our imaginary synthesizer. We'll place it between the oscillator and our VCA. Depending on how we control it, this filter can make all kinds of changes to our synth sound, from gently decreasing the harshness of the high frequencies to making a variety of more intense special effects.
Here's a sample of what the synthesizer described in this diagram might sound like. As the sample progresses, the frequency of the low pass filter moves up and down again.
In order to get the most mileage out of our synthesizer, we need a way of controlling each of its components internally. While many synthesizers have myriad knobs and buttons for controlling the sound, most people only have two hands, and it's difficult to accurately twist more than one or two knobs at a time. Fortunately, almost every module in a synthesizer can be controlled by another module. Our imaginary synthesizer does this already: the frequency of the oscillator and the volume level of the VCA are controlled by our keyboard.
One way we can control signals within a synthesizer is by using a module called an envelope generator. When an envelope generator receives an "on" gate signal, it sends out a new signal that can be used to control another module. Unlike an oscillator, which repeats its signal over and over again, an envelope generator sends out its signal only once. Like an oscillator, we can look at the signal produced by an envelope generator on a time domain graph:
For every fraction a of a second the envelope generator is active, it sends a control signal that can be used to tell another module what to do. One way to think about envelopes is as maps for automatic knob control. For instance, the envelope pictured above starts by sending out a signal that gradually moves up from zero to one, which is like turning a knob from the far left, lowest position, to the far right, highest position. After that, the signal moves gradually down to about 0.7, which is like turning the knob to the left a little bit, and so on.
Envelopes like the one pictured here are called ADSR envelopes, so named for their four stages: Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release. When we put an ADSR envelope module in a synthesizer, we specify exactly what is to happen during each stage of the envelope after an "on" gate signal is received. For example, the envelope pictured above has an attack stage that lasts 250 milliseconds, where the level increases to 1. After that, it has a decay stage lasting 200 milliseconds where the level decreases to 0.7. During the sustain stage, the level stays at 0.7 for as long as the envelope generator is receiving an "on" gate signal. Sustain stages do not have a specified duration. When the gate signal changes to "off," we enter the release stage, where the level takes 200 milliseconds to drop to 0.
ADSR envelopes are often used to control the volume of a sound, although they can be used to control almost anything inside a modular synthesizer. For example, the same envelope could control a resonant low pass filter, making a cool sweeping and wooshing effect evolve as we play each note.
Let's add an envelope generator to our synthesizer below. This envelope will cause the volume of the sound from the oscillator to fade in gradually, sustain, and then drop off sharply. We'll use an ADSR envelope generator connected to the level input of our VCA:
Another type of module frequently used to control other modules is the low frequency oscillator, or LFO. An LFO is just like a normal oscillator, it can have any waveform and amplitude we specify, but it has a very low, sub-audio frequency, producing a very slowly oscillating signal generally used to control other modules within a synthesizer. For example, an LFO might move the volume level of a VCA up and down, creating a tremolo effect. LFOs are like little robots that turn knobs back and forth for you.
Let's add an LFO to our synthesizer that causes the pitch of our oscillator to wiggle up and down a little bit, like a violinist moves their hand to create vibrato. We're also going to use the envelope generator to modulate the frequency of our filter, so we get a cool sweeping effect automatically on every note, especially if we turn up the filter's resonance. Using a control signal to change the frequency of another module is called frequency modulation, or FM, as indicated in the diagram below:
Almost every commercially available synthesizer and music synthesis software package operates using these basic principles. With this knowledge and some ingenuity, you'll never have to use a horrible synth preset again.
This is, however, not the end. There's quite a bit of excellent literature on sound synthesis and electronic music, and one of the best ways to learn is to read constantly. That said, here's some good stuff:
- The Computer Music Tutorial, by Curtis Roads
- The Csound Book, ed. Dr. Richard Boulanger
- Computer Music: Synthesis, Composition, and Performance, by Charles Dodge and Thomas Jerse
- Microsound, by Curtis Roads
- The Computer Music Journal
- Advanced Programming Techniques for Modular Synthesizers, ed. James J. Clark | <urn:uuid:12db1996-45ab-4281-b53e-6fe0f1c7fc2a> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://beausievers.com/synth/synthbasics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719542.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00422-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941925 | 4,265 | 3.53125 | 4 |
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Free new orleans papers, essays, and research papers. Hurricane katrina was one costliest and deadliest hurricane in the united states most of the damage was in new orleans there are many controversies on what happen. I flew endorse to new orleans and it was just the way i remembered it the temperature was 98 degrees and the humidity was so high that reapplying. Essay new orleans - rt @ essay on speech is silver smoking cigarettes cause and effect essay achieving goals in life essays fastethernet0 0 descriptive essay. | <urn:uuid:546040cc-7896-4a0a-b9a3-0f1c8e3c0fdd> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://iupaperrgwx.thehealthcopywriter.me/descriptive-essay-on-new-orleans.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583511175.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20181017132258-20181017153758-00068.warc.gz | en | 0.889012 | 728 | 2.546875 | 3 |
The plantar fascia is a thick band of tissue attached to the heel bone. It supports the arch of the foot. Plantar fasciitis is inflammation of the plantar fascia.
Plantar fasciitis is caused by small, repetitive trauma to the plantar fascia. This trauma can be due to activity that puts extra stress on the foot.
Plantar fasciitis is most common in people who are 40-60 years old. Other risk factors that increase your chance of getting plantar fasciitis include:
Physical exertion, especially in sports such as:
- A sudden increase in exercise intensity or duration
- Physical activity that stresses the plantar fascia
- People who spend a lot of time standing
- A sudden increase in activities that affect the feet
- Obesity or weight gain
- Pre-existing foot problems, including an abnormally tight Achilles tendon, flat feet, or an ankle that rolls inward too much
- Poor footwear
- Heel spurs
Symptoms of plantar fasciitis may start gradually or happen suddenly. They include:
- Pain on the sole of the foot near the heel
- Heel pain when taking the first steps in the morning
- Tenderness when touching the sole or heel
- Pain that increases over a period of months
You will be asked about your symptoms and medical history. A foot exam will be done. This will usually make the diagnosis.
Imaging studies of the foot may be done to help rule out stress fractures or other bone abnormalities. These include:
- MRI scan
Talk to your doctor about the best treatment plan for you. Options include:
Your foot will need time to heal. Supportive care may include:
- Rest—Activities, such as running, may need to be restricted.
- Ice—Ice therapy may help relieve pain.
- Night splint—A night splint helps to hold the foot in a neutral position while sleeping.
- Orthotics—Special shoe inserts will help to support the mid-arch region of the foot.
Stretches to lengthen the Achilles tendon and plantar fascia may be advised when pain has lessened.
Over-the-counter or prescription pain medication may be advised. Steroid injections may also be used in some cases if other treatments do not provide relief.
A special type of sound wave called extracorporeal shock wave may also be considered in certain cases. This treatment happens under the care of your doctor. At this time, this is generally a treatment for long-term cases that do not respond to other treatments. Massage therapy or acupuncture may also be effective for long-term cases.
In a few cases, basic treatments don't help. Surgery may be performed to cut the tight, swollen fascia.
To reduce your risk of getting plantar fasciitis take these steps:
- Wear appropriate and well-fitted footwear during sports and exercise.
- Do stretching exercises for the Achilles tendon and plantar fascia.
- Increase the intensity and duration of exercise gradually.
- Maintain an appropriate weight.
- Reviewer: Warren A. Bodine, DO, CAQSM
- Review Date: 02/2016 -
- Update Date: 04/24/2014 - | <urn:uuid:52dfd2a7-2ee7-404a-8bca-e6fd877b1b3f> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | http://restonhospital.com/hl/?/11621/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917121355.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031201-00481-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890256 | 684 | 3.140625 | 3 |
What makes Coke and other soft drinks acidic? These drinks are carbonated, so a freshly-opened can should have a lot of dissolved carbonic acid, but the ingredients also lists phosphoric acid. Would flat Coke be significantly less acidic than carbonated Coke?
If you look at the list of ingredients, you will find that Coca-Cola and many other brands contain phosphoric acid (food grade - don't worry). This is probably the dominant cause of acidity. Citric acid is another common component. Of course, the carbon dioxide is also acidic, but weakly, so there should be very little difference between carbonated and flat.
Flat coke is less acidic than carbonated coke. I did a lab report on this topic, and found that Carbonated coke had a concentration of around 0.131M whereas flat coke had a concentration of 0.064M. I guess we can assume that the carbonic acid that's dissolved in Coke makes up a large proportion of the acidity. | <urn:uuid:302a5731-23f9-4d2f-aac2-5e2fa9ebe110> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/2859/what-makes-coke-acidic | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320306301.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20220128152530-20220128182530-00549.warc.gz | en | 0.970299 | 208 | 2.828125 | 3 |
For years, the Indonesian blue-tongued skink was thought to be the only blue-tongued skink that was not found in Australia. Being of Indonesian origin, it was fair game for the import/export market, making it an affordable import option to the more expensive Australian blue-tongues.
In-spite of its frequent bad disposition, and high mortality rate, the Indonesian blue-tongue maintained a relatively solid place in the blue-tongued skink hobby, due mainly to the fact that it was quite inexpensive.
This all changed in the early 90’s with the discovery of another blue-tongue from Irian Jaya, which was soon named the Irian Jaya blue-tongued skink.
The Indonesian, and Irian Jaya blue-tongue, are often confused for each other, because of the close proximity of their ranges, and the misuse of their common names in current literature (Both species are often referred to as the New Guinea blue-tongue). Indonesian blue-tongued skinks have a very extensive range that includes many islands, which creates a great deal of variation in color and form. Many of these color variations are thought to be local specific.
There are currently three recognized subspecies: The Common Indonesian blue-tongued skink Tiliqua gigas gigas, the Merauke Faded blue-tongued skink Tiliqua gigas evanescens, and the Kei Island blue-tongued skink Tiliqua gigas keiensis. Because it has been divided into subspecies, I will also cover this species on the subspecific level.
Their coloration varies from light grey to silver with other specimens ranging from gold to brown. Some brown specimens from Ambon and Ceram Island are almost solid black with very little brown showing. The specimens from these two island locals frequently make poor captives, coming in with high parasite loads, and bad dispositions. They are apt to squirm, bite, and defecate whenever they are handled, and they have high mortality rates. On the other hand there are other brown specimens of very similar coloration and pattern, from the Sarong region of Irian Jaya, that make much better pets. The Sarong specimens are docile, quite hardy, and they get a lot bigger. Indonesian blue-tongues are usually banded with thin black bands that may or may not have peppering of the background color in them. One of their distinguishing traits is the coloration of their limbs. Their fore and hind limbs are always black, and may or may not possess a certain amount of white spotting on them.
Most specimens also have a large black rectangular blotch on the side of their neck that starts just behind the ear, and extends back just past the front legs. Indonesian blue-tongues usually have a single black stripe on the top of the neck. The ventral surface may be orange or cream in coloration, sometimes with varying amounts of black, forming a reticulated or almost checkerboard pattern. The tail is the longest of all the blue-tongue species, accounting for 85-95% of the snout-vent length. Of course, this is taking into consideration that the animal must have its original full tail. The tail’s banding is usually obscured or totally absent and it is often black with some white, gold, or brown flecking on it creating a granite-like pattern. A broken thin black temporal streak may or may not be present. The anterior temporal scales on the Indonesian blue-tongue are elongated and much longer than the other temporal scales. It is also very common for them to have a black outlining on the edges of the large scales on their heads.
Many Indonesian blue-tongues are a bit smaller than the typical blue-tongue, with adult sizes ranging from 17-19 inches (43-48 cm). It is important to remember that a 19-inch Indonesian blue-tongue is usually considerably smaller in snout to vent length than a 19-inch Common blue-tongue. Still, there are some forms that can grow considerably large. Females can produce up to 15 live young.
Distribution and habitat:
The Indonesian blue-tongued skink’s range includes the sub-humid tropical forests to the arid scrub and grasslands of Northern Irian Jaya, New Guinea, and its many surrounding Indonesian islands, including the Moluccas island chain. There is literature that inaccurately states that their range extends farther west to the lesser Sundas, and on through the Greater Sundas (Java, Borneo, and Sumatra). In actuality, according to current locality data this is highly unlikely, as there have never been any specimens documented in those localities. | <urn:uuid:e9a5e9ea-96d0-4504-84fd-6fd1c0761fa5> | CC-MAIN-2020-34 | http://www.bjorngrotting.com/wildlife/blue-tongued-skinks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-34/segments/1596439738552.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20200809102845-20200809132845-00112.warc.gz | en | 0.957017 | 1,006 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Printables for This Topic:
Wacky Wizards – Cut
out the letters. Change the first letter so the word matches the picture.
-op Words – Complete
the words and see how they all relate.
Fill In the Blanks –
This is a two part activity. Complete the word and use it in a sentence.
Each Word – Another practice sheet that has you create the word
and use it in a sentence.
The Frog Prince
– Color the lily pad containing the correctly spelled word.
– You get a choice of three words that completes each sentence.
– Yes, you can use the same word twice.
– "E" expresses a lot without even making a sound! | <urn:uuid:389015ae-1c89-4eec-be4b-16755797958f> | CC-MAIN-2018-51 | https://www.englishworksheetsland.com/grade1/8decode.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376823318.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20181210055518-20181210081018-00357.warc.gz | en | 0.825341 | 147 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Construction workers have a challenging job, one that is even often dangerous. Working on a construction site can be hazardous, and workers should be aware of the risks involved with their profession.
Construction accidents can lead to severe injuries, some of which can have long-lasting or even permanent damage. These are four of the most common injuries that construction workers may face.
Since many construction projects require workers to use ladders or work on scaffolding high above the ground, falls are a prevalent accident. Even if you’re wearing a hard hat, falling from a significant height can cause severe head injuries. They can also lead to broken bones. Either type of injury can lead to long-term rehabilitation that can affect your livelihood.
Construction sites may use hazardous chemicals, or explosions to help complete their projects. However, these factors can be dangerous for workers and cause severe burns.
Whether you’re injured by a fire or exposed electrical wiring, burns can lead to temporary or permanent scarring, nerve damage and other serious injuries. It’s essential to follow all safety protocols when working with these kinds of items.
Everyone has experienced a loud construction site – whether passing by in a car or from your home while doing renovations. Construction workers, who spend many hours in these noisy environments, can become susceptible to hearing loss due.
Workers should consider using earplugs to minimize hearing damage from loud machinery and equipment.
Construction work includes a lot of lifting and hauling of heavy material, equipment and other objects. The repetitive physical labor can result in a severe stress injury.
Stress injuries can include muscle or joint damage and often occur in your back, knees, or neck. They can make it challenging to complete even the simplest tasks.
How to receive compensation
If you sustain a severe injury on a construction site, you deserve the chance to receive compensation for your pain and suffering. Workers’ compensation can cover the damages of your injury and any loss of wages. Talk to an experienced attorney soon after your accident to receive benefits that can help you recover more quickly. | <urn:uuid:b72e2385-51b1-49d7-a94d-640d5def9301> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://www.lgkg.com/blog/2020/08/4-common-construction-injuries/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178350942.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20210225095141-20210225125141-00420.warc.gz | en | 0.944438 | 421 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The United States is located in North America with Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The country has a rich heritage of crafting with many crafts originating with the first inhabitants, the Native Americans, others brought over by immigrants, and lastly traditions developed in the New World. The United States is a true melting pot of cultures. Our first project is a wall hanging featuring the American Eagle. The eagle is the symbol of freedom in the United States and the national bird. Next, we explore an age old craft that is just as popular today - quilting. Our quilt is paper not fabric. The industrial revolution brought many changes as women no longer had to spin their own fabrics for their family. As more cotton in colors and prints were available quilting became a hobby. In the 1840's block styles became popular. When the sewing machine was invented, women could make clothing faster, leaving more time for quilting. We're making traditional quilt blocks from paper. Then, we make a rain stick inspired by Native Americans who have used them for centuries in ceremonies to bring rain. When they are tilted, the pebbles inside trickle down to create the sound of rain falling from the sky. Our final project is a beaded corncob. The United States is the largest producer of corn in the world producing more than 10 billion bushels per year on over 400,000 U.S. farms. | <urn:uuid:972fa1e8-5e0b-485c-bad8-06aec4246986> | CC-MAIN-2015-27 | http://www.kcet.org/shows/hands_on_crafts_for_kids/usa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375093400.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031813-00188-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972089 | 288 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Building a brand is not achieved through advertising, but rather publicity. A prime example of this is Starbucks who had spent less than $10 million in advertising in its first 10 years. Larger companies like McDonald’s spend more and more on advertising to maintain their brand and keep their position in the consumers’ minds. For older, more established companies, advertising helps to remind the world that they are still around. For a new company, it won’t do much good in the way or “reminding”. This is where publicity and PR come into play.
- PR is more reputable and trustworthy than advertising.
- Advertising helps to maintain a brand, not build it.
- A company will (usually) not gain much momentum from advertising early in the brand’s life.
- Advertising costs exponentially more than PR, and advertising’s effects are not as long lasting as those of PR.
Referring again to Starbucks, they rode the PR train until just recently when advertising was needed to maintain their market (and mind) share. PR worked for them for all of the reasons above, and they were able to continue using it.
In order to generate publicity and buzz around a brand it first has to be capable of generating publicity. A way to do this: being the first in a category or niche market. For example, Jell-O (now synonymous with gelatin desserts) was the first brand of gelatin desserts, and Xerox (also synonymous with its product: copiers) was the first plain-paper copier. Being first in their categories helped to generate massive amounts of publicity. Now, later in the brands’ life cycles, advertising is needed to maintain the brand. Another great benefit of being the first: the brands have captured mind share, and have created a new meaning for their names. When a consumer needs a cotton swab or a tissue, they think of Q-Tips or Kleenex, and even call all tissues and cotton swabs as Q-Tips and Kleenexes. This only helps to reiterate the brand and its “quality” for being first.
Media is more prone to talk about what’s new, hot, and emerging, rather than what is better. While consumers are usually welcoming of better products, they are more interested in learning about new products. For example, the Blu-ray player is not only supposedly better than the DVD player, it is new (to consumers).
For many years public relations has been seen as a secondary option to marketing and advertising. The combination of the two and the use of PR to bring a brand to life are vital to the well-being of a brand. PR should be used first (and most times over advertising) to help promote a brand and company. Advertising ought to be used to maintain a brand’s already generated publicity. Though PR is harder to control, and usually the result of outside parties reporting and mentioning your company, you can use the new tools that technology has given to advertisers, PR professionals, and marketers alike. Using these tools, combining PR and marketing efforts, and being a part of your online reputation, PR can build a brand. | <urn:uuid:83b02ffb-6c26-47bc-8d01-158d15c4f4a8> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | https://intro2publicrelations.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/4-reasons-that-pr-not-advertising-builds-a-brand/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549429417.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20170727182552-20170727202552-00475.warc.gz | en | 0.970426 | 652 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Ransomware is a type of malware that forces its victims to pay the ransom through certain online payment methods in order to grant access to their systems, or to get their data back.
Below are all the steps of how any ransomware works by delivering the malware, to the encryption algorithm, finding local IP’s / files and calling the command center (malware owner). These steps / code analysis will be based of the ransomware virus, called Chimera.
Step 1: Delivering the Malware
Like much of the ransomware that has appeared in recent years, Chimera was delivered by email, likely with a social engineering component to get someone to click on a link or a file. It was written in .NET.
In this first stage, Chimera initially delivers an executable stub, whose only job is to call, decrypt, and decode the second stage payload, to the victim.
Step 2: The AES Algorithm
The second stage is the encrypted and encoded payload that contains a method that is clearly an AES encryption algorithm.
Step 3: Mapping to Memory
In the next stage, Chimera then manually maps its processes to memory. This is very likely to bypass ASLR and DEP protections that are built into Windows and other operating systems. These protections randomize where a process will likely be in memory, making it more difficult to implement a buffer overflow as the malware cannot predict the location of the pointer. By manually mapping the process to memory, it makes it more likely that the malware will function as expected.
Step 4: Find 32-Bit Process to Host
Next, Chimera goes through every Windows process looking for a 32-bit process that can host its payload and then open it.
Step 5: Finding the Local IP
Next, this ransomware goes out and finds the public IP of the machine it has infected by using whatismyipaddress.com. It then stores that value in a variable.
Step 6: Call Back to Command & Control Servers
Once Chimera has the IP of the infected host, it then calls out to its command and control (C&C) servers. In this case, those servers are at 184.108.40.206 and 220.127.116.11.
Chimera uses Bitmessage to communicate via a P2P protocol on ports 8444 and 8080. Bitmessage is a secure, encrypted P2P messaging system that enables a single person to send out messages to one or many recipients. You can see in the screenshot below that Chimera calls the Bitmessage client PyBitmessage.
Step 7: Browse & Find Hard Drives, Then Files
Next, the malware must find the hard drives where the data is stored. It needs to browse each of the logical drives and then store these locations into a variable for later use in the encryption process.
Step 8: Get Random Key
Now that Chimera has successfully taken over a 32-bit process, mapped itself to memory to avoid ASLR, and enumerated the hard drives, it needs to call back to its command and control server to get a random key with which to encrypt the files.
Once the random key has been obtained from the command and control server, Chimera calls the function from Step #2 above—the AES encryption algorithm—and begins to encrypt critical files.
Before it starts the encryption, it looks for the following file types:
.jpg, .jpeg, .xml, .xsl, .wps, .cmf, .vbs, .accdb, .ini, .cdr, .svg, .conf, .config, .wb2, .msg, .azw, .azw1, .azw3, .azw4, .lit, .apnx, .mobi, .p12, .p7b, .p7c, .pfx, .pem, .cer, .key, .der, .mdb, .htm, .html, .class, .java, .asp, .aspx, .cgi, .php, .jsp, .bak, .dat, .pst, .eml, .xps, .sqllite, .sql, .jar, .wpd, .crt, .csv, .prf, .cnf, .indd, .number, .pages, .x3f, .srw, .pef, .raf, .rf, .nrw, .nef, .mrw, .mef, .kdc, .dcr, .crw, .eip, .fff, .iiq, .k25, .crwl, .bay, .sr2, .ari, .srf, .arw, .cr2, .raw, .rwl, .rw2, .r3d, .3fr, .eps, .pdd, .dng, .dxf, .dwg, .psd, .png, .jpe, .bmp, .gif, .tiff, .gfx, .jge, .tga, .jfif, .emf, .3dm, .3ds, .max, .obj, .a2c, .dds, .pspimage, .yuv, .3g2, .3gp, .asf, .asx, .mpg, .mpeg, .avi, .mov, .flv, .wma, .wmv, .ogg, .swf, .ptx, .ape, .aif, .av, .ram, .m3u, .movie, .mp1, .mp2, .mp3, .mp4, .mp4v, .mpa, .mpe, .mpv2, .rpf, .vlc, .m4a, .aac, .aa3, .amr, .mkv, .dvd, .mts, .vob, .3ga, .m4v, .srt, .aepx, .camproj, .dash, .zip, .rar, .gzip, ., mdk, .mdf, .iso, .bin, .cue, .dbf, .erf, .dmg, .toast, .vcd, .ccd, .disc, .nrg, .nri, .cdi
These file types are likely critical to the business operation. These are graphics files, spreadsheet files, database files, backup files, email files, Java files, audio files, movie files, and encryption keys. Without them, the business is crippled.
Step 9: Ransom Request
Finally, Chimera makes a ransom request to the business owner. Note that the browser and its associated files are exempt from the encryption to enable the browser request and receive the payment of the ransom. | <urn:uuid:63a47b26-cf81-419d-b474-0f6aa4672992> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | http://haxf4rall.com/2016/03/27/anatomy-crypto-ransomware-attack/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187826642.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20171023202120-20171023222120-00030.warc.gz | en | 0.842608 | 1,432 | 3.125 | 3 |
Consequences of climate change—floods, droughts, extreme weather, declining agricultural production—affect everyone. But in many developing countries, shifting temperature and precipitation patterns are making life especially hard for women and families. A new documentary, Weathering Change, tells the stories of women around the world who are shouldering a disproportionate share of the burden of climate change. Here are their stories.
Deko Kebele, Ethiopia
Every morning, before the sun even rises over her rural Ethiopian village, 32-year-old Aregash Ayele gets up. While her six children sleep, she silently sweeps the dirt floor of her home and squats at a small fire, preparing the morning’s coffee and breakfast.
Soon, as sunlight trickles through cracks in the thatched roof, her family gathers in a semi-circle around a communal plate and tiny cups full of steaming liquid. Her kids go to school, and she goes to chop firewood, carrying the heavy logs home on her back. She then walks more than an hour to the nearest source of clean drinking water. Aregash fills a yellow, 20-liter jerrycan, straps it to her back with twine, and starts once more for home.
“A woman’s work is a lot. She doesn’t have a break from morning until night,” Aregash says. “She is always hurting for her kids, for her husband, and even herself. She carries everything on her back.”
At 1 p.m., her kids return from school for lunch. After feeding them, she heads to the farm to pick coffee or harvest enset, a root vegetable. The coffee she will take to the market, in hopes of earning a little money to buy things she needs for dinner.
For Aregash and her family, life is more difficult than ever. Infrequent rain has caused a pond near her home to dry up, so she has to walk farther to get clean water. And changes in rainfall and other weather patterns have reduced harvests, resulting in less coffee to sell at the market, and less food for her family to eat. To make ends meet, her husband has taken work on another tract of land far from the village, leaving Aregash to manage their house, children, and farm on her own.
“It has never been like this,” she says. “It used to rain seasonally. Because it rained at the right time, we used to get our usual harvest. Now, because of climate change, the harvest has decreased and it’s affecting our livelihood.”
In many of the poorest areas of the world, shifting temperature and precipitation patterns are already affecting agricultural production and making scarce water supplies even more difficult to manage. The world’s growing population, which will surpass 7 billion people in October, is likely to magnify these challenges. Ethiopia, where Aregash lives, has doubled in population the last 25 years, and could double again by 2050. This puts increasing demands for land, water, food, and fuel on communities and families that are already struggling.
The coffee yields at Aregash’s farm have decreased by more than 80 percent during the last 10 years. At the same time, the prices of some staple foods have quadrupled at the market. She frequently goes without, subsisting on coffee to make it through her day. But she worries about the effect on her children.
“I’m feeding them with what I have, but I get really sad when they go hungry,” Aregash says. “If there are many children in a family, the food they eat is limited. But if women manage the number of kids they have…”
Her voice trails off for a few seconds. Then she brightens, finding her footing – and her voice as an unlikely advocate for family planning.
“For example, I have six children in my house, right? When I buy food for each, and give it to them, there will be none for me. And it’s not enough for my children… I tell mothers to use family planning and space their children. I tell them to use the three months, three years, or permanent protection so that they don’t have more children, so they can get out of poverty.”
Aregash finds time to volunteer at the local health clinic, distributing food aid to families in need, and teaching other mothers how to prevent pregnancy. In Ethiopia, the average woman has more than four children, and one-third of married women want to delay or stop childbearing but lack modern contraception. In Aregash’s community, where it is typical for a woman to have eight to 10 children, her efforts are being welcomed by women (and men) straining to care for the families they already have.
“Due to climate change, mothers have understood that using family planning and spacing their children is in their own best interest,” Aregash says. “A woman’s life is hard, and climate change makes it harder.”
She knows, because it is also her life.
Usually, by the time Aregash returns from the market each day, it is already dark. She starts a fire, and proceeds to cook dinner. Her family makes the same semi-circle to eat, this time around a single, flickering candle.
Around 10 p.m., she puts her kids to sleep, and lays down on her own bed. Aregash closes her eyes. Before long, another day begins.
Aregash’s story was cross-posted on Grist. | <urn:uuid:1d4a91aa-2c78-4087-a9d4-1830fe97e76b> | CC-MAIN-2013-48 | http://populationaction.org/articles/aregashs-story-weathering-change/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-48/segments/1386163052343/warc/CC-MAIN-20131204131732-00012-ip-10-33-133-15.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968652 | 1,185 | 3.328125 | 3 |
29 Aug 2013
ORANGES AND ITS HISTORY
more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday
One day Mr. Pomelo and Mrs Mandarin married and the Orange was born and became a tree. In general, it is believed that sweet orange trees have originated in Southeast Asia, or southern China, and that they were first cultivated in China around 2500 BC.
This proves that even before Jesus Christ we had already products produced in China. Today we get them mostly in form of toys or textiles.
In Europe, the orange was introduced to Italy by the crusaders in the 11th century and were grown widely in the south for medicinal purposes, but the sweet orange was unknown until the late 15th century or the beginnings of the 16th century, when Italian and Portuguese merchants brought orange trees into the Mediterranean area. Shortly afterward, the sweet orange quickly was adopted as an edible fruit. It was considered a luxury item and wealthy people grew oranges in private conservatories, called orangeries. By 1646, the sweet orange was well known throughout Europe but only by the rich !
Spanish explorers introduced the sweet orange into the American continent. Spanish missionaries brought orange trees to Arizona between 1707 and 1710 at least they did one healthy thing.
When Mr. G. and I compare our childhood, he in Italy had eaten oranges, figs, grapefruits, dates, pomegranates, etc, all things which I had never heard of as a child in Germany. I ate appels, pears, cherries, and berries.
I always remember the very first time I had eaten an orange. It was on a 6 December, at St.Nicholas when I found an orange together with sweets in my little boot I had put outside my room. I must have been 9 years old in 1952. It was something very special and hard to get in the after war times.
Of course that changed and from the 60th/70th on oranges became a common fruit just like an appel. Everybody today can afford to buy oranges. Even worse, Belgium's city Binche, (I wrote about it here ) is famous for its carnival where the "Gilles" march through the town with baskets of oranges. .
These oranges are thrown to, and sometimes at, members of the crowd gathered to view the procession. The vigour and longevity of the orange-throwing event causes sometimes injuries, blue eyes and – some residents choose to seal windows so that they can't be broken. The oranges are considered good luck because they are a gift from the Gilles and it is an insult to throw them back. | <urn:uuid:7b4e0276-9439-4bb8-9996-f6148c7461ee> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://gattinawritercramps.blogspot.com/2013/08/oranges-and-its-history.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549424079.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20170722142728-20170722162728-00300.warc.gz | en | 0.983847 | 538 | 2.953125 | 3 |
1 trimester - the most important and complex throughout pregnancy. It was at this time there is a formation of all systems and organs of the fetus. It is therefore essential that the woman received all the necessary vitamins and minerals.
The most important in the 1st trimester are group b vitamins and folic acid. B vitamins are necessary for the proper formation and development of the nervous system of the fetus, reduce the symptoms of toxicosis and regulate metabolism in women. They can be found in meat, dairy products, bread from wheat flour, bran.Their deficiency may develop heart defects, hydrocephalus of the child, the mother has morning sickness.
Folic acid is required for normal development of the spine of the fetus, its brain and spinal cord. The shortage may arise vices of their development.
Vitamin a is needed for proper development of the organ of vision, urinary system. Contained in large amounts in beef liver, eggs.In the form of beta - carotene (provitamin A) in carrots, spinach, parsley, sea buckthorn.
Vitamin D and calcium is needed for proper development of bones of the fetus. Calcium is found in fish, dairy products, green vegetables and fruits. Vitamin D in egg yolk, butter, cod liver, rapidly produced in the body by exposure to the sun. With its lack of a skeleton is formed incorrectly and is developing rickets.
Vitamin E is many times reduces the risk of miscarriage, which rises to the end of the 1st trimester. Contains peas, wheat germ, unrefined vegetable oils.
Iron is essential for preventing anemia in a pregnant woman, proper formation of blood and immune systems in the fetus. Found in liver, Turkey meat, beef, fish.
Vitamin C is needed for the formation of cartilage and bone tissue, improves the immune system. Contained in greens, berries, citrus. Iodine is required for good thyroid function of the pregnant woman. Usually it is not included in the composition of vitamins, it is administered separately.
But no matter how complete and balanced didn't eat a pregnant woman, in modern conditions it is impossible to get sufficient amounts of vitamins and minerals only from food. Therefore, a modern vitamin - mineral complexes, by which a woman's body will receive all the necessary components.
All prenatal vitamins have practically the same composition, the only difference is the doses. Elevit pronatal contains all the necessary minerals and vitamins and a high amount of magnesium, so they are recommended when the risk of miscarriage.
The alphabet: plus in the fact that the vitamins in it separated into different tablets, which makes it easy to exclude any vitamin when it is unnecessary or allergies.
Vitrum prenatal: these vitamins contain increased amounts of iron, which is good for pregnant women with anemia.
Centrum Materna: contain very large amounts of vitamin A, so it is better to take them only as directed by your doctor.
Complivit Mama: the disadvantage is that vitamins A , D and groups In it below normal. Plus the fact that they approach women who believe that they get enough vitamins with food. Now available vitamins trimestrul 1, trimestrul trimestrul 2 and 3. They increased the contents of those vitamins that are needed in this pregnancy.
Multitabs Prenatal: perfect for women with normal pregnancies, contains all the necessary vitamins, minerals in reasonable doses.
Vitamins for pregnant women it is better to take doctor's prescription, taking into account health status and needs of the increased content of a component. | <urn:uuid:0fb24aa3-27d6-4d01-9d2e-c1945aff4a92> | CC-MAIN-2018-22 | https://eng.kakprosto.ru/how-867141-what-vitamins-to-drink-in-the-first-trimester | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-22/segments/1526794863901.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20180521004325-20180521024325-00525.warc.gz | en | 0.93004 | 738 | 3.0625 | 3 |
There were red faces at the ecologically-correct Eden Project, Cornwall's runaway tourist attraction, when staff discovered they had been growing a group of genetically modified tomatoes by mistake.
Twenty-five seeds, not approved for planting in this country, were received in a batch ordered by the futuristic botanical garden from the University of California, Davis, which thought it was sending a non-GM variety.
The seeds grew into tall plants used in a display in the "warm temperate biome" to demonstrate the difference between the American style of field-grown, mechanically harvested tomato and the greenhouse-grown varieties used in Europe.
The Eden Project was unaware that the tomato variety known as UC-82B, which has a thick consistency favoured by tomato paste makers, had been modified with an enzyme that accelerates the ripening process.
When the mistake was discovered, the university contacted the Eden Centre and the seeds were destroyed. Its mistake and the hurried action taken by the Eden Project to destroy the plants was revealed in minutes of a Food Standards Agency board meeting.
A spokeswoman for the botanical garden said: "It was the university's mistake. We believed we were getting the variety that we ordered but they had been mislabelled.
"We're not about to grow GM plants. We don't have a policy which says they are a bad thing. We see there are two sides to a huge story."
Neal Van Alfen, dean of the UC Davis College of Horticulture and Environmental Science, said: "We have notified all the individuals or research units that received the seed.
"You are never going to be able to account for all the seeds but we're talking about a very small amount."
The university has had to recall the seeds from 12 UAS institutions, 14 foreign research facilities and two demonstration gardens that each received 25 shipments of the mislabeled seeds.
The environmental group Friends of the Earth said the planting of GM tomatoes by the Eden Project showed how difficult it would be to control legal and illegal varieties of GM plants in Britain. | <urn:uuid:d517bdf5-358f-4469-9d60-061906988ed7> | CC-MAIN-2016-36 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3337798/Eco-friendly-garden-grew-GM-tomatoes.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-36/segments/1471982965886.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20160823200925-00289-ip-10-153-172-175.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981838 | 417 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Summer ammonia measurements in a densely populated Mediterranean city
Real-time measurements of ambient concentrations of gas-phase ammonia (NH sub(3)) were performed in Barcelona (NE Spain) in summer between May and September 2011. Two measurement sites were selected: one in an urban background traffic-influenced area (UB) and the other in the historical city centre (CC). Levels of NH sub(3) were higher at CC (5.6 plus or minus 2.1 mu g m super(-3) or 7.5 plus or minus 2.8 ppbv) compared with UB (2.2 plus or minus 1.0 mu g m super(-3) or 2.9 plus or minus 1.3 ppbv). This difference is attributed to the contribution from non-traffic sources such as waste containers, sewage systems, humans and open markets more dense in the densely populated historical city centre. Under high temperatures in summer these sources had the potential to increase the ambient levels of NH sub(3) well above the urban-background-traffic-influenced UB measurement station. Measurements were used to assess major local emissions, sinks and diurnal evolution of NH sub(3). The measured levels of NH sub(3), especially high in the old city, may contribute to the high mean annual concentrations of secondary sulfate and nitrate measured in Barcelona compared with other cities in Spain affected by high traffic intensity. Ancillary measurements, including PM sub(10), PM sub(2.5), PM sub(1) levels (Particulate Matter with aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10 mu m, 2.5 mu m, and 1 mu m), gases and black carbon concentrations and meteorological data, were performed during the measurement campaign. The analysis of specific periods (3 special cases) during the campaign revealed that road traffic was a significant source of NH sub(3). However, its effect was more evident at UB compared with CC where it was masked given the high levels of NH sub(3) from non-traffic sources measured in the old city. The relationship between SO sub(4) super(2-) daily concentrations and gas-fraction ammonia (NH sub(3)/(NH sub(3) + NH sub(4) super(+))) revealed that the gas-to-particle phase partitioning (volatilization or ammonium salts formation) also played an important role in the evolution of NH sub(3) concentration in summer in Barcelona. | <urn:uuid:18195eb2-62e5-4c0a-bd3f-996ce4d05a29> | CC-MAIN-2016-18 | https://www.mendeley.com/research/summer-ammonia-measurements-densely-populated-mediterranean-city/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-18/segments/1461860121423.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20160428161521-00153-ip-10-239-7-51.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938676 | 511 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Cold adaptation: gut bacteria can make the difference
If someone told you that in our body we harbour billions of bacteria, surely you would feel mocked, but it's true! There is evidence showing that microbes colonize all the part of our body that are exposed to the external environment (like mouth and skin), with the greater portion of them residing in the gut. All the microorganisms, which are resident in our intestinal tract, are defined by scientists as gut microbiota. Importantly, gut microbiota is not a fixed group of microorganisms, but it may vary in its composition according to several factors e.g. food, age, health, antibiotic use (read also the Break: Collateral damage: antibiotics disrupt the balance in the gut).
In the past twenty years, interest has increased in science for the study of the interplay between the gut microbiota and our bodies. It is now clear that microbiota, also called "the forgotten organ", plays a major role both in physiological and pathological conditions. Gut microbiota has a variety of different functions, among which harvesting energy and providing information for the correct maturation of the immune system. Imbalance in the microbiota community, called dysbiosis, has been correlated with the development of different diseases like autoimmune and allergic diseases, obesity and diabetes1,2. However, the biological mechanisms and the factors that guide the effects of microbiota on the human metabolism are still poorly understood.
Recently, researchers from Dr. Trajkovski's lab described how cold exposure leads to a specific change in the composition of gut microbiota that favours energy absorption. After exposing lab-mice to cold for 10 days, they detected an increase in energy consumption and a decrease in body weight. Unexpectedly, despite the stable energy expenditure and food intake, the loss of fat decreased over time, leading the researchers to investigate the effects of prolonged cold exposure. In particular, focusing on the gut microbiota composition, they were able to observe a shift from "warm microbiota" to "cold microbiota" after 30 days of cold exposure. Interestingly, the transplantation of the "cold microbiota" into mice born without any microorganisms living in or on them (called germ-free mice), was sufficient to induce the metabolic changes needed to make these mice more resistant to cold. The researchers have shown that the above mentioned effects were promoted by the browning of the white fat depots (read also the Break: The colour beige: heating up the fat), in part mediated by the shift in the microbiota composition.
Furthermore, they investigated in detail the effect of cold exposure on the intestine. After prolonged cold exposure, the researchers observed a dramatic increase in intestinal surface area, which improves the mice's ability to get energy from food. This improvement in energy absorption explains the stabilization of the mice's body weight despite the increased energy consumption when exposed to cold. Remarkably, they also observed that one specific species of bacteria, Akkermansia muciniphila, is almost completely absent in the cold microbiota, and its transplantation into mice leads to a full prevention of their ability to enhance energy absorption and increase intestinal surface.
It is becoming clear that the relationship between host and gut microbiota plays a pivotal role in the regulation of both physiological and pathological conditions. In their publication, researchers propose that the co-evolution between host and microbiome may have had a role during periods of increased energy demand, like winter, where changes in the gut microbiota composition were needed to increase the calorie absorption from food. The group of Trajkovski was able to show that the above mentioned increment in calorie absorption is in part due to the expansion of the intestine. Furthermore, one strain from the gut microbiota, Akkermansia muciniphila, was reported to revert some of the benefits of cold exposure, representing the first example of symbiosis able to affect body's energy utilization.
Original Article:Chevalier C, Stojanović O, Colin D et al. Gut Microbiota Orchestrates Energy Homeostasis during Cold. Cell. 2015;163(6):1360-1374. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.11.004
Dr. Carlos Javier Rivera-Rivera , Managing Editor
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Collateral damage: antibiotics disrupt the balance in the gutJun 2, 2016 in Microbiology | 3.5 min read by Katri Korpela
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Blocking protein folding to fight antibiotic resistanceMay 13, 2022 in Microbiology | 4 min read by R. Christopher D. Furniss , Nikol Kaderabkova , Despoina A.I. Mavridou | <urn:uuid:3df8cb98-2454-4654-a8a4-027be78103b7> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://thesciencebreaker.org/breaks/microbiology/cold-adaptation-gut-bacteria-can-make-the-difference | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446711003.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20221205032447-20221205062447-00342.warc.gz | en | 0.932398 | 1,001 | 3.5 | 4 |
The emotional trend for present day body
ornament began thousands of years ago when a successful hunter pushed a sharp bone through
his nose. This painfully crude ornament may attract a potential mate. How or
what initiated the first use of ornamental Gold must remain a mystery. The
golden artifacts found in ancient graves are usually sand castings of religious
icons. Body piercing of the human extremities has never lost its popularity. Bone and claw
amulets adorned the idolized Chiefs and Medicine men. Animal leather,
with the fur intact, was crafted into arm bands and sandals. Fish vertebra,
which when dried is hollow, inspired the first rings and bracelets. Bone bracelets
bound captured slaves. "To the Victor go the Spoils".
Burial rosettes of drilled
bone and colored shells helps to date ancient shell middens.
History bugs have trouble dating the
origination of Gold adornments. Pretty pebbles mounted in horns or bone undoubtedly
came before metal attachments.
Purpose and function followed burial masks
depicting the immortal 'cravings and etchings' of Human Gods. Tribal chiefs along
with holy Pharaoh believed eternal life would be granted with mummification and encasement
in a gemstone embellished golden Sarcophagi.
Whether the earliest wall paintings
were simple historic recordings or the 'state of the Art' is another
mystery. Seldom do ancient temples or burial sites contain a reference to a
'commoner' being adorned with Gold jewelry.
With the discovery of FIRE came the majestic skill of
melting shinny gold nuggets then pouring the molten metal into sand impressions.
Sand casting, though highly refined, continues today. Centuries of trial and error
eventually produced the beautiful lost-wax castings of today's Goldsmith. | <urn:uuid:43024efd-40c0-4e32-839f-2313f2c8ef10> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | http://taagold.com/catagory%20page%202.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474671.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20240227053544-20240227083544-00661.warc.gz | en | 0.896264 | 384 | 2.984375 | 3 |
The City has developed a Waste and Resource Management Plan (WRMP) to outline how we will achieve our waste management goals over the next five years, aiming for a balance between accessibility, affordability and sustainability. The WRMP supports:
- Minimising waste
- Increasing resource recovery and recycling
- Delivering community education for a sustainable change
- Continuing to deliver a cost effective and equitable service to the residents of the City.
To satisfy the State’s targets, the City must meet the needs of the environment and community into the future, whilst simultaneously reducing levels of waste generation.
The Waste and Resource Management Plan (WRMP) was endorsed by Council on 27 August 2019.
The City’s long term approach to waste management
As a City we must think innovatively and in partnership with other local government authorities to develop long term waste management solutions.
It is no longer feasible to consider landfill as the long term solution to managing general waste. As our population continues to grow, the City must consider alternatives to landfill for the disposal of general household waste.
In partnership with the Rivers Regional Council (RRC), Phoenix Energy and the Cities of Armadale, Gosnells, Mandurah and Canning, and the Shire of Murray, the City has been working towards the development of Australia’s first Waste to Energy (WtE) plant.
The WtE plant will help the City significantly reduce its reliance on landfill disposal; making a step change towards achieving its zero waste objective.
Your waste will not go to waste
The average green bin placed on a verge for collection contains enough waste to produce up to 14% of a household’s weekly power needs.
WtE will use thermal processes to break down general waste into a fraction of its original size. This generates baseload renewable energy (such as steam), which can then be used to generate electricity.
The advantages of Waste to Energy include:
- Landfill avoidance: The City’s goal is to divert almost all of the residential rubbish which cannot be recycled through other means, to the WtE plant.
- Energy recovery: in the form of clean renewable electricity generation. Unlike solar and wind generation, WtE plants are a unique source of continuous renewable energy.
- Recycling: through the recovery of metals from the ash by-product, i.e. the capture of metals which are not recovered by kerbside recycling collection services.
- Reprocessing and reuse: through the proposed conversion of the solid ash by-product of combustion into bricks and pavers and/or used as construction aggregate.
Avertas Energy Waste to Energy Plant
The City, in conjunction with the other local governments, has signed a 20 year contract with Avertas Energy to deliver municipal waste to its WtE plant. The Plant is currently under construction in the Kwinana Industrial Area and should be operational by late 2021. When constructed, it will be the first of its kind in Australia.
The Plant will use moving grate combustion technology that is already operational in more than 2,000 similar waste to energy plants around the world. The Plant has the capacity to process 400,000 tonnes of general waste per year, resulting in a significant reduction in CO2 emissions and delivering 36MW of baseload electricity to the grid. These outcomes are equivalent to taking 85,000 cars off Perth’s roads and powering 50,000 households every year.
The Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association have developed an Energy from Waste Fact Sheet to answer many commonly asked questions and is a useful resource to learn more about energy from waste.
The Avertas Energy Frequently Asked Questions Fact Sheet also provides useful information about their Waste to Energy plant.
For further information visit the Avertas website.
Why we are choosing Waste to Energy over three-bins
As traditional forms of waste disposal change, costs rise and landfill sites become scarce, the City is faced with increasing challenges in delivering effective and sustainable waste management.
Better Bins, commonly referred to as the three-bin system, is a State Government program which provides funds to local governments to support higher waste recovery, including general waste, co-mingled recycling and organic/green waste.
After assessing the Better Bins option, the City and its Rivers Regional Council partners determined it was not the preferred option for the following reasons:
- Despite financial support from the State Government, it presents a significant cost to ratepayers that does not appear, at this stage, to justify the environmental and social benefits gained – high cost - low benefit
- It provides increased capacity to generate more household waste at a time when households are are being encouraged to reduce household waste
- The processing of household organics and end markets is a major factor for consideration and there are few processing facilities and no competitive market for the end product which is of low grade
- The lack of available space for some households to store an additional bin on their properties
- Additional truck movements in residential streets, creating a risk, and increasing wear on roads
- Increases transport carbon emissions.
How the City is helping you manage your garden waste
The City’s green waste initiatives are taking your green waste and recycling it into free mulch for all residents to use on their gardens.
The City has a number of initiatives and services available to residents to manage the disposal and recycling of green waste.
Further information about the City’s green waste recycling initiatives can be found on the Waste and Recycling pages. | <urn:uuid:9d0aa648-c80f-4a2d-aba5-021efaa66a44> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://southperth.wa.gov.au/residents/waste-and-recycling/waste-management | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178360107.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20210228024418-20210228054418-00283.warc.gz | en | 0.931957 | 1,135 | 2.75 | 3 |
Ontario’s corn crop — such that it is — is pretty much planted, as most growers are now turning their focus to soybeans.
Across the province during the past month, corn was planted into a range of wet, miserable conditions. The question now is how will the seedlings handle the tough going and what can growers do to help root systems as the plants fight their way through soil conditions ranging from water-logged to hardened cement?
In this episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn School, Peter Johnson and Bernard Tobin travel across planted cornfields to provide a snapshot of what growers are facing and offer tips on how they can help their crop win the war with the weather. Johnson takes a close look at root systems and explains how corn’s seminal roots fuel early development up to five leaves. These roots then die and secondary roots take over.
At this stage, however, Johnson fears that much of the crop may be in trouble as widespread hard, dry, concrete-like soil conditions could prohibit growth of secondary roots required to power the crop through the remainder of the season. (Story continues after the video.)
What can growers do? Johnson has a few ideas. He says inter-row cultivation, including using a rotary hoe, is an option. Growers can also learn from research work done in Lambton County that shows a significant yield boost when growers used an anhydrous applicator to open soil and inject air to improve root movement — simply turn off the anhydrous and run the knives down the row, explains Johnson.
Growers should also pay close attention to soil nitrogen release and consider applying more nitrogen to improve plant vigour.
Click here for more Corn School episodes. | <urn:uuid:2d970d86-c755-4fce-bd71-e16f04453c16> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://www.realagriculture.com/2019/06/corn-school-helping-seedlings-survive-cement-like-soils/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195526359.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20190719202605-20190719224605-00256.warc.gz | en | 0.95651 | 354 | 3.296875 | 3 |
In 2014-15, 20.7 per cent of adults aged 16 years and over in South Western Sydney (SWS) were current smokers compared with NSW (15.6 per cent)
More people were in hospital for smoking-related lung cancer in South Western Sydney (68.5 per 100,000) than the rest of NSW (59.5 per 100,000)
SWS had a higher smoking-related death rate in 2013 (64.9 per 100,000 population) than NSW (60.8 per 100,000 population)
Every time you smoke, the poisonous chemicals in cigarette smoke go into your mouth, lungs, brain and blood.
Your blood carries these poisonous chemicals and they change the way your body operates
On the inside walls of your lungs are tiny little hairs called cilia. They keep your lungs clean and protect them from dust, dirt and germs
The poisonous chemicals contained in cigarette smoke damage your cilia. The more you smoke, the more of your cilia are damaged. Once they are damaged, there is nothing else in your body to protect your lungs
When you smoke, it prevents your brain from getting all the oxygen it needs
When you smoke, the poisonous chemicals from the cigarette smoke gets into your bloodstream and makes it harder for your blood to pump oxygen around your body.
When you smoke, less oxygen gets to your brain and damage to the blood vessels can lead to you having a stroke.
The chemicals in cigarette smoke poison your body. This causes small lumps called tumours or cancers to grow. They can grow anywhere in your body, but especially the places where the cigarette smoke reaches first – your mouth, throat and lungs.
Smokers are more likely to end up with type 2 diabetes than non-smokers
Smoking is the single largest cause of COPD and chronic asthma may turn into into COPD in later life
Some treatment options are not offered to smokers because they don’t heal as well. Implants are one of those treatments. The health of your mouth, gums and teeth, as well as your senses of taste and smell, will improve if you quit smoking.
New South Wales (NSW) smoke-free laws mean you can’t smoke any lit tobacco or non-tobacco product (such as a water-pipe) in an indoor public place.
Outdoor smoking is banned where people queue or gather, such as:
Every year more Australians who quit smoking and there are less current smokers.
Below is a table of the health benefits experienced at different stages of the quitting process.
When you decide to quit, it is important to have a proper quit plan. Doing it alone and cold turkey is hard and you are more likely to not be successful. Work out exactly what resources (such as nicotine replacement therapy), services and other forms of reliable help you can use and use them as much as possible, so you have the best chance of quitting smoking.
When quitting. the first person you should speak with is your GP. They can help you find the best method for quitting. This might be ‘going cold turkey’, or using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) or a counselling service.
You need to see your GP if you want to use prescription medications or pay less for nicotine patches. Talk to your GP before quitting if you have other health conditions, such as diabetes or a mental illness and are taking other medications.
You have decided to quit and now it is time to plan. The more you prepare, the better the chance you will give up. Get as much information as you can.
There are many methods you can use to Quit smoking. The best is to #talktoyourgp who may recommend a form of Nicotine Replacement Therapy, which includes patches, gum, inhalator, lozenge, mouth spray and oral strip.
There are also support services, such as telephone or face-to-face counselling. This can give you the motivation, structure, confidence, new skills and support you will need during the quitting period.
Quitline offers trained advisors for the cost of a local call from landlines or higher rates from mobiles (check with your carrier for details). Quitline advisors talk with you about your difficulties with quitting and give you reliable information and support. They can also call you at a certain time for more support.
Family and friends of smokers and others requesting information about smoking can also call.
Quitline operates Monday to Friday 7.00am-10.30pm, Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays 9.00am-5.00pm. Call 13 7848 or 13 QUIT,
iCanQuit.com.au lets you share your quit story and shows you how others are going. You can track your quit journey and see how much money you can save when you quit. There is lots of information about quit smoking methods, how to get started and how to stay quit
Individual counselling usually involves weekly face-to-face meetings between a smoker and a counsellor trained in helping a smoker give up. They mostly take place over a period of at least four weeks after the quit date and are normally combined with some form of nicotine replacement therapy.
Contact Quitline on 13 7848 for individual counselling and information on the nearest group counselling service available to you. | <urn:uuid:8862615e-6028-4197-b381-24bfd9531365> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | http://yourhealthyourtimeyourway.com.au/region-priorities/tobacco-control/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320304915.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20220126041016-20220126071016-00474.warc.gz | en | 0.954865 | 1,094 | 3.25 | 3 |
Stunning news! Not really surprising though (nor necessarily encouraging), but here it is. In the most recent bulletin by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), issued at the time of writing (Monday, November 21, 2011), data show a steady increase in the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere (PDF). At present, we are at 389 parts per million (ppm) of atmospheric CO2, the highest recorded in the past 10,000 years.
At present, this is substantially higher than the 350ppm hoped for by 350.org, a transnational science and advocacy network, but still within the range deemed acceptable by the Fourth Assessment Report (AR-4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – namely 350 – 400ppm, as described in their Summary for Policymakers (PDF). For clarity’s sake, this is the range in which most scientists feel we have the best change at stabilizing the projected increase in global temperatures at 2 degrees above the current average. Further, as indicated in the bulletin, it is assumed that the 350 – 400 CO2 level would correspond with a similar leveling of other GHGs, such as methane, sulfur hexafluoride, and nitrous oxide, such that we would have a total accumulation of 445 – 490ppm of CO2 equivalent.
Hot Like Fire
It goes without saying that, even if we took the slightly-less-alarmist AR-4 as the better predictor, we would still be in dire straits. To get to that level, we would need to cut global emissions by 50% – 85% of 2000 levels. Further, this assumes that we would not dramatically raise the amount of other GHGs in the atmosphere. While CO2 is usually held up as the bad boy of the atmosphere (and is currently responsible for about 70 – 80% of current anthropogenic warming), data held by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) show that the other GHGs are more powerful warmers, based on ppm, than CO2. (This is due to their longevity, as well as chemical makeup). Unfortunately, these show no sign of decreasing and some, like HFCs, are increasing at alarming rates.
Theoretically, we still have time to act. Politically, engendering the will to do so is another question. Part of this depends on our disposition to alarming data – will these trends cause apathy, alarm, or disdain? We don’t know to a certainty what all this means, but the problem is too many people take this to mean we don’t know anything. One way or the other, we’re going to find out. We are, after all, to borrow from Roger Revelle, “…carrying out a large-scale geophysical experiment” with the atmosphere. I suppose that, for those skeptical about climate science theories, the logical thing to do is to take the experiment to its conclusion. | <urn:uuid:e8f1336d-47f8-4226-a8f5-f21086f0f34d> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://sites.middlebury.edu/fuentesgeorge/2011/11/22/a-new-world-record/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988718840.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183838-00197-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954361 | 614 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Fast fashion “refers to the low-cost clothing collection that mimic luxury fashion trends” in incredibly large scales (Joy, 273). The production of low quality clothing in mass quantities by poorly paid laborers is a system of production many large-scale clothing companies rely on to produce their products at the rate of turnover that the public demands. What once was a bi-seasonal turn over of clothing, transformed into the expectations of new products finding their place on the racks every few weeks [1, Claudio]. This demand is fed by the need for new products to be made in order to replace the old ones, which have fallen apart within a few wears. But this demand can only be met by producing clothing that is of lower quality in make and material. It is a cyclical effect, which results in “Americans [throwing] away more than 68 pound of clothing per person, per year” (Fast Fashion, 452).
Beyond the odd psychological affects of our reliance on material goods, it is that large accumulation of waste that is the basis of concern. Though the actual total percentage of waste that clothing makes up in landfills is less than 1%, with this consistently increasing demand and the fact that these man made materials will not degrade quickly, landfills are filling up with clothing produced at the hands of fast fashion [Fast Fashion, 453].
Unfortunately that is just the beginning, some of the biggest damages are seen in the production of the materials itself. Two examples of fiber production I’ll present are polyester, a man made fiber, and cotton, a natural fiber, based on Information from Waste Couture: Environmental Impact Of The Clothing Industry by Luz Claudio. Both are very commonly used fabrics in the fashion industry that require many chemicals in the production. As expected the production of a man made fiber such as polyester inevitably requires chemicals in the process. The production of polyester is an incredibly energy intensive process, which requires petroleum, that results in emissions such as hydrogen chloride and other chemical emissions through wastewater from manufacturing plants. In comparison to cotton, which is a natural fiber, there are significantly less chemicals put into the creation however there is a massive amount of pesticides put into the growth of cotton plants. The production of cotton “accounts for a quarter of all the pesticides used in the United States,[which is] the largest exporter of cotton” (Claudio, 450).
Claudio, Luz. "Waste Couture: Environmental Impact Of The Clothing Industry." Environmental Health Perspectives 115.9 (2007): A448-A454. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.
"Fast Fashion." Ecologist 37.2 (2007): 60-61. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.
Joy, Annamma, et al. "Fast Fashion, Sustainability, And The Ethical Appeal Of Luxury Brands." Fashion Theory: The Journal Of Dress, Body & Culture 16.3 (2012): 273-295. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Feb. 2017. | <urn:uuid:ad62b46f-df63-4a77-b5df-9d7089942119> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | http://www.thegreenmedium.com/blog/2017/2/11/let-me-introduce-to-you-some-of-the-facts-of-fast-fashion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500549436321.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20170728022449-20170728042449-00568.warc.gz | en | 0.932887 | 629 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Scientists may have just discovered examples of some of the earliest life forms on Earth.
In an article published in the journal Nature, researchers from University College London and other institutions outlined their discovery of microfossils found in rocks from Canada's Nuvvuagittuq belt. The researchers' estimate that the microscopic fossils, which have a straw-like shape, are anywhere from 3.77 billion to 4.28 billion years old — making them the oldest fossils ever discovered.
As evidence that the discovery is, in fact, a sign of biological life, the scientists pointed to a number of different observations, including the presence of the isotope carbon-12, which is considered "an isotopic signature of life," in the rock's graphite, as well as minerals in the rocks that typically form as a result of organic matter.
"We can think of alternative explanations for each of these singular observations, but why all of these features occur together can really only be explained by one thing, which is a biological interpretation," Matthew Dodd, a biogeochemist at University College London and the study's lead author, told the Washington Post.
Many in the scientific community remain skeptical about the study's findings, the Post noted, including the fossil's reported age and whether or not the discovery is even a fossil at all. Skeptics say the claims "require extraordinary evidence" that the researchers have failed to provide, including an explanation and images of the setting in which the fossils were found.
"I don't think there is a smoking gun here that says this is clearly biological," David Emerson, a geomicrobiologist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, told the Guardian.
If the researchers' claims are proven to be true, however, this discovery will have massive implications, proving that life was present on Earth at least 300 million years earlier than previously thought. Previously, the oldest discovered microfossils were found to be 3.4 billion years old.
It would also show that life and biological evolution is an easier process to get started than scientists had believed.
"The process to kickstart life may not need a significant length of time or special chemistry, but could actually be a relatively simple process to get started," Dodd told the Post. "It has big implications for whether life is abundant or not in the universe."
The study's findings, if true, could lead to discoveries that this abundance of life is also present on Mars, which reportedly had a warm climate and oceans on its surface 3.7 billion years ago.
Even if no such signs of life are found on the red planet, Ross told the Post, the findings still unlock clues about our own existence, "[suggesting] that life is a result of some fluke or phenomenon on Earth." | <urn:uuid:92e6f06d-b391-41bc-a3d6-04dcfc791a15> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://mic.com/articles/170058/scientists-find-3-77-billion-year-old-fossils-that-may-be-from-earth-s-earliest-life-forms | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267159193.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20180923095108-20180923115508-00316.warc.gz | en | 0.965335 | 568 | 4.15625 | 4 |
How to prepare for West Nile virus season
Anyone can become infected with West Nile virus, Toronto Public Health is warning, though less than one per cent of people with the virus become sick enough to be hospitalized, and only one in 1,000 people may die.
But regardless of the chances, the city and the Canadian Centre of Mosquito Management are reminding people to be aware of the virus this summer. West Nile virus is a potentially serious illness that is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. Although the risk of becoming infected is low, protection against mosquito bites can reduce this risk even further.
- West Nile virus monitoring ramps up in southern Quebec
- Toronto’s first death from the West Nile virus confirmed
According to the city, Culex mosquitoes are the most common carriers of West Nile virus in Southern Ontario. These types of mosquitoes prefer to bite birds, but will also bite humans. Storm water catch basins have been identified as significant breeding sites for Culex mosquitoes.
The first step to avoid getting the virus is to avoid mosquito bites. Public Health recommends:
- Stay indoors during peak mosquito activity, usually at dusk and dawn.
- Wear light-coloured clothing, long pants, long-sleeved shirts, socks and a hat.
- Use mosquito repellent.
- Avoid areas with large numbers of mosquitoes.
Toronto Public Health says | <urn:uuid:7724ace0-2278-4996-a985-8cfc34ea93e8> | CC-MAIN-2014-42 | http://magzcanada.com/how-to-prepare-for-west-nile-virus-season/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1414119648297.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20141024030048-00223-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943468 | 286 | 3.53125 | 4 |
I stumbled across this great mapping system of CO2 emmisions over at Science Daily. Whilst previous estimates of CO2 levels have been calculated per capita in the US, a new map called ‘Vulcan’ created by biogeochemists at Purdue University shows the top local and regional carbon dioxide producers in high resolution.
In the past, CO2 levels have been calculated based on population, putting the Northeast at the top of the list. Now, a new map called Vulcan reveals for the first time where the top carbon dioxide producers are in the country. The answer surprised Kevin Gurney, Ph.D., a biogeochemist at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
“There are a lot more emissions in the Southeast than we previously thought, and a lot of that is because it’s not necessarily associated with where people live directly, but actually where industry and activities are,” said Dr. Gurney.
The high-resolution map shows 100 times more detail than ever before and zooms in to show greenhouse gas sources right down to factories, power plants and even roadways. An animated version of Vulcan reveals huge amounts of greenhouse gas gets blown toward the North Atlantic region.
“We’ve never had a map with this much detail and accuracy that everyone can view online,” Dr. Gurney said. (Read more @ Science Daily)
The official website (“The Vulcan Project“) has an amazing Google Earth interface, where you can map the emissions from US power producers, residential and commercial CO2 emissions at 100km2 local scale resolution. Perhaps the most interesting contrast is the maps of residential CO2 emissions when comparing Republican vs Democrat districts. Given the difference in population density between the US and Australia, it’d be interesting to see someone scale this effort to a continental scale, allowing regional comparisons and perspectives on global carbon budgets. | <urn:uuid:60875802-e84d-4671-a598-c991e7d7b6a0> | CC-MAIN-2021-25 | https://climateshifts.org/tag/emissions/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623487600396.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20210613041713-20210613071713-00427.warc.gz | en | 0.930771 | 392 | 3.375 | 3 |
Appraised and assessed home values are normally mistakened for each other. As a home buyer or seller, it is crucial to understand the difference between the two. Information on MA appraised and assessed home values can be found below.
What Are Assessed Home Values
Localities charge a tax on residential properties. The calculation is determined by the tax rate multiplied by an assessed value of a property. Assessments are used only for calculating taxes and do not by any means relate to the market price. Every locality accounts for assessed value based on different features. They usually include the amount of land, interior condition, and exterior features such as decks. Municipalities can re-assess house values and/or increase the property tax rate yearly.
What Are Appraised Home Values
An appraisal is a estimation of the current price of a home by a trained professional using specialized methodologies. Banks hire appraisers to validate that the value of a home matches the dollar value they are loaning out. It is a way of evaluating their investment since they bear the majority of financial burdern until you pay down the mortgage. Appraisers always pull at least three comparable listings that sold within the last 6 months within a certain vicinity. Since the real estate market will change several times, evaluating recent sales is important for an accurate appraisal.
Information On MA Appraised And Assessed Home Values
The market value of a listing is ascertained by what a home buyer is willing to pay, which can go up and down constantly based on related factors such as financing options. Buyers must avoid equating assessed figures with the price of real estate since they do not relate to one another. Some municipalities rarely update assessments and can increase tax rates instead. Only an appraisal can generate an accurate reflection of current market value. This blog regarding information on MA appraised and assessed home values was prepared by Jonathan de Araujo at William Raveis Real Estate. For additional guidance on this and other related topics, contact Jonathan at 339-200-9444 or email@example.com. | <urn:uuid:ca49cbba-0680-4d08-b5ac-b76bf14c6861> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | http://searchmasshomes.com/information-on-ma-appraised-and-assessed-home-values/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875141806.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20200217085334-20200217115334-00126.warc.gz | en | 0.942557 | 421 | 2.625 | 3 |
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. The expectoration of blood or of blood-streaked sputum from the larynx, trachea, bronchi, or lungs.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. expectoration (coughing up) of blood
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. The expectoration of blood, due usually to hemorrhage from the mucous membrane of the lungs.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In pathology, spitting of blood: usually restricted to the raising of blood from the lungs. Also hæmoptoë.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. coughing up blood from the respiratory tract; usually indicates a severe infection of the bronchi or lungs
Dense, crunchy, intended for medical professionals (I learned two new words -- "cachectic" and "hemoptysis" -- and my medical Latin is pretty darned good for a non-doctor), and full of the usual assortment of incredibly gross but illustrative scene photos.
Mesothelioma that affects the pleura can cause these signs and symptoms: chest wall pain pleural effusion, or fluid surrounding the lung shortness of breath fatigue or anemia wheezing, hoarseness, or cough blood in the sputum (fluid) coughed up hemoptysis
Due to poor health (hemoptysis) he did not teach for more than two years (from June 1813 to October 1815), and only at the beginning of the academic year 1815/16 did he return to teaching.
Accidents or sequelae are hemoptysis, empyema and phthisis.
-- In cases not demonstrably tuberculous, hemoptysis may require bronchoscopic examination to determine the origin.
Emaciation, clubbing of the fingers and toes, night sweats, hemoptysis, in fact all of the symptoms of tuberculosis are in most cases simulated with exactitude, even to the gain in weight by an out-door regime.
-- One or more of the following laryngeal symptoms may be present: Hoarseness, croupy cough, aphonia, odynphagia, hemoptysis, wheezing, dyspnea, cyanosis, apnea, subjective sensation of foreign body.
For hemoptysis, especially when it was acute and due as Alexander thought to the rupture of a blood vessel in the lungs, he recommended the opening of a vein at the elbow or the ankle -- in order to divert the blood from the place of rupture to the healthy parts of the circulation.
In the following March she had hemoptysis, and serious symptoms of inflammation in the right lung following, led to her apparent death on the 31st of the month.
According to Lewin, there is mentioned in the case reported by Gauchet a symptom quite unique in the literature of quinin, viz., hemoptysis. | <urn:uuid:834b6eb9-b1b4-4de5-80be-d0c0a6ba1e8e> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | https://www.wordnik.com/words/hemoptysis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1393999640676/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305060720-00022-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.893727 | 658 | 2.75 | 3 |
Running through 23.6 miles of caves and passages, the long river that flows through the Bluespring Caverns has harbored a staggering concentration of albino, sometimes nearly see-through, amphibians and other aquatic creatures.
The Bluesrping Caverns were first discovered in the 19th century and further entrances to the caves continued to be discovered well into the 1940’s. Wide limestone caves span for miles under the ground acting as a canopy for the river running along their floor. The river is the longest underground river in the United States and the moist, churning environment combined with the constant darkness have created a unique setting where blind, albino species can thrive. In addition to bugs like crickets, beetles, and spiders, larger creatures such as salamanders, frogs, and crayfish all live under, above, and upon the flowing waters, many of them purely white or near translucent. There is even an extremely rare species of blind cave fish that swims the waters.
Tours down the river are available, taking visitors meandering across the underground waters for about an hour where sightings of albino wildlife are abundant. While most caves are known for their stony splendor, the Bluespring Caverns are the rare subterranea that are renowned for their thriving life, not their lack of it. | <urn:uuid:3168d30d-9aa9-45e0-8d1a-f0afd0647b89> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bluespring-caverns | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221217951.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20180821034002-20180821054002-00136.warc.gz | en | 0.95966 | 271 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Beneath Prague’s ethereal architecture, steadily flowing taps and crystalline splendor lies a taste of the surreal unearthed by Franz Kafka, master of the nightmare and champion of 20th-century literature. Kafka spent most of his tragically short life in Prague, and while it may not be overt, the impact it left on his work is undeniable.
Kafka’s existence corresponded with an era of prosperity for Prague’s artists, intellectuals and Jewish community, slipping away before the next few decades brought havoc to his country and people. However, Kafka plagued himself with the same anxiety he used to warp the human psyche through the medium of words, using the anonymous city to channel his subterranean horrors. Explore Prague’s eerie undertones at these spots that impacted or honored one of its most famous residents.
Kafka attended services at the Old-New Synagogue with his father a handful of times a year. The structure dates back to the 13th century and is the oldest preserved synagogue on the continent. During Kafka’s lifetime, European Jews experienced an epoch of economic and social prosperity that is best illustrated by Prague’s Spanish Synagogue. Built in 1868, the house of worship, outfitted in deep hues and Moorish design, honors this period as well as 19th and 20th-century Europe’s most notable Jewish figures including Kafka and Sigmund Freud. The Jewish Quarter’s unofficial monument to Kafka stands to the right of the synagogue’s entrance.
Photo by Frank Bienewald/LightRocket via Getty Images
Pay a visit to Kafka’s grave in the New Jewish Cemetery. Diehard Kafka fans congregate at the cemetery every year on June 3, the anniversary of his 1924 death. In addition to the cultural icon, the burial grounds, founded in 1891 and located in the Žižkov district, profoundly commemorate the Czechoslovak Jews who died in Terezin during the Holocaust in their 1985 memorial.
Photo by Meißner/ullstein bild via Getty Images
Vaclav Havel completed this Art Noveau staple, Prague’s first multi-use palace, in 1921. Palace attractions include the Lucerna Music Hall, Cafe Lucerna and the Lucerna Cinema, where Kafka’s crew drank and saw films. Today, it remains a cultural promenade, serving as Prague’s best venue for live music and premieres. Newer additions include the Galerie Lucerna and David Cerny’s 2000 hanging “memorial” to King Wenceslas (and possibly former Czech president Vaclav Kraus).
Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images
Several of Kafka and the intellectual elite’s old haunts, namely Café Imperial, Café Mozart and Café Slavia, exist today as with Prague’s vibrant cafe culture. Stop by all three to grab a coffee, mint tea or drink, but if you’re looking for food, Café Imperial has the best, with a Michelin star and dishes that cause a momentary lapse in table manners. Tilt your head back to admire the Art Deco establishment’s ornate mosaic ceiling before destroying a bowl of dill soup with poached egg or foamy truffle gnocchi.
Photo by Aziz Karimov/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Opened in 2005, Kafka’s namesake museum in the Malá Strana district puts the dichotomy of Kafka and Prague on display. One side, “Existential Space,” examines Prague’s effect on Kafka’s mind and work; the other, “Imaginary Topography,” explores Kafka’s weaving of Prague into the surreal. On the way through the museum’s dreamscape, you’ll encounter first editions of Kafka’s work and previously unreleased letters, diaries and manuscripts that offer a glimpse into his mind.
Main photo by PHAS/UIG via Getty Images
Sarra Sedghi is Paste Food’s and Paste Science’s assistant editor. Her eternal food baby is named Frederick. | <urn:uuid:cbb22d88-9b2f-467b-ac75-ec4028136428> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://www.pastemagazine.com/travel/prague/take-5-kafkas-prague/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107900200.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20201028162226-20201028192226-00423.warc.gz | en | 0.922162 | 875 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and the Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC) have published a study in the journal Nature Communications revealing the structure of a key protein, known as a portal, in Epstein-Barr virus infection.
The Epstein-Barr virus, which belongs to the herpesvirus family, is one of the most widespread human viruses and the main cause of infectious mononucleosis (also known as glandular fever). In addition, it causes several kinds of cancer, including Burkitt and Hodgkins lymphoma, stomach cancer and nasopharyngeal cancer, as well as several autoimmune diseases. There is currently no treatment for infections caused by this virus.
“Understanding the structure of the portal protein could prove useful for the design of inhibitors for the treatment of herpesvirus infections such as Epstein-Barr. Also, given that this protein is found only in herpesviruses, these inhibitors would be virus-specific and may be less toxic for humans,” says Miquel Coll, head of the Structural Biology of Protein & Nucleic Acid Complexes and Molecular Machines Lab at IRB Barcelona and professor at CSIC.
All herpesviruses have a similar infection mechanism. Having entered the cell and reached the nucleus, the viruses release their DNA, which can remain latent for years until certain conditions trigger its replication. After this process, DNA is then introduced into new viral capsids, thereby forming new viruses that can attack other cells. The portal protein is the route through which DNA enters the viral capsid and through which it leaves to infect cells.
Read more at IRB Barcelona | <urn:uuid:9c793f15-ee51-450a-9662-ea0b8e1d4407> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | http://outbreaknewstoday.com/epstein-barr-virus-irb-barcelona-researchers-describe-a-key-protein-44951/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178378872.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20210307200746-20210307230746-00585.warc.gz | en | 0.943326 | 343 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Amherst St. to be renamed due to namesake's brutal legacy
Published Wednesday, September 13, 2017 4:31PM EDT
Last Updated Wednesday, September 13, 2017 4:33PM EDT
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre confirmed the city intends to rename Amherst St. due to its namesake’s brutal history of attempted genocide.
In the same day the city unveiling its new flag, which now includes representation of indigenous people, Coderre said the name change will happen as soon as possible.
Jeffery Amherst was the English military commander who defeated the French army and captured Montreal, and was later named Governor General of British North America.
In 1763, after learning of a smallpox outbreak at a military fort in what is now Pittsburgh, Amherst suggested other military leaders attempt to use blankets to spread smallpox among indigenous peoples as a way of wiping them out.
Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said the name change has been on the radar for decades.
"To have a street in Montreal with his name is, I would say, an insult to our people and their history," said Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations.
Coderre said the street could be named for a female indigenous leader.
There have been efforts to have Amherst’s name removed in other parts of the country and in the United States.
The unofficial mascot of Amherst College in Massachusetts was Lord Jeff until last year, when tens of thousands of students, alumni and faculty voted overwhelmingly in favour of getting rid of him.
There was also another initiative in PEI to change the name of Port-La-Joye - Fort Amherst National Historic Site, but Parks Canada ultimately decided against it. | <urn:uuid:ae5d1c15-f731-40fe-b407-4e599b1eb64c> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/amherst-st-to-be-renamed-due-to-namesake-s-brutal-legacy-1.3588339 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818690307.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20170925021633-20170925041633-00314.warc.gz | en | 0.968826 | 370 | 2.890625 | 3 |
CHICAGO -- Twelve African Penguins joined the Lincoln Park Zoo this week in an exhibit that will open to the public Oct. 8.
PHOTOS: African Penguins at Lincoln Park Zoo
The warm weather penguins are from the southern tip of Africa, which makes them a perfect fit for life in Chicago, said Curator of the Birds at the Lincoln Park Zoo Sunny Nelson.
"They are suitable for our climate here in Chicago," said Nelson. "They'll be able to be out in the warmer months and they'll be able to be out in the cooler months as well."
The $7 million exhibit, called the Robert and Mayari Pritzer Penguin Cove, will be home to the twelve two foot tall waddling birds year-round. African Penguins are rare in zoos and are becoming rare in the South African wild.
"They are endangered," said Megan Ross, Vice President of the Lincoln Park Zoo. "The African Penguin population in the wild was about a million in the early nineteen hundreds, and now it's down to about fifty thousand do to fish issues, over fishing. Fish populations changing their courses as well as man made impacts like oil spills."
Eight males and four females are in the group and the zoo hopes to have a penguin population explosion over the next several years. The ultimate goal is to have about 30 penguins and share them with other zoos and aquariums.
One of the things that all penguins have in common is that they are white in the front and black in the back, said Nelson.
"What scientists think that's because while they're fishing and while they're finding prey, fish are looking up at them they won't be able to anything because they're white, and then predators like sharks and seals might not be able to see them from above because their backs are black," Nelson said.
Conservationists said this species of penguin could be extinct in 15 years unless there are more and more programs like the one starting at the Lincoln Park Zoo. | <urn:uuid:00c1842b-9498-4cb0-a96f-a8521683e2ad> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://abc7ny.com/lincoln-park-zoo-african-penguin-sunny-nelson-penguins/1532304/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764501555.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20230209081052-20230209111052-00415.warc.gz | en | 0.974737 | 411 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Il Fior di battaglia di Fiore dei Liberi da Cividale is an Italian language, full color facsimile of a fourteenth-century manuscript in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum (Ms. Ludwig XV 13). The earliest Italian instructional manual on battle skills, the Fior di battaglia contains accurate drawings of contemporary armor, weapons and combat techniques.
Massimo Malipiero's critical edition of the manuscript argues that it was written by a weapons expert rather than a master of battle techniques. The author provides a technical analysis of the manuscript's illustrations of combat and a full diplomatic transcription of the text.
This title is out of print. Please look for it at your local libraries and/or used bookstores. | <urn:uuid:4c42ee12-ccc1-4462-9f1a-432838c93936> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | http://www.getty.edu/bookstore/titles/battaglia.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084887065.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20180118032119-20180118052119-00483.warc.gz | en | 0.876467 | 153 | 2.796875 | 3 |
This is Part 2 of this article. For part 1 go here: Glycemic index and glycemic load – Part 1
As a counter measure to elevated blood sugar level the insulin hormone is released to your blood. Insulin enables the transformation of glucose from blood into cells. Larger and the more frequent spikes of blood sugar in your blood the more insulin is released into your blood. This may lead to lower long-term sensitivity of cells to it (insulin resistance).
Since insulin level in blood is increasing and has difficulty lowering blood sugar the pancreas responds with extra insulin. It starts a cycle of elevated insulin levels and reduced resistance to it. This may lead to an increase of fat deposits in your body. These are all reasons for the increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.
Balanced blood sugar level is crucial to your health and a normal body weight.
Some carbohydrates (eg glucose) are absorbed very quickly where others are absorbed slowly (eg. fructose). Glucose therefore has a high GI of 100 where fructose has a very low GI of 19. Regular sugar (which you put in coffee for example) is a disaccharide consisting of glucose and fructose molecule and therefore has an average GI of about 60.
Wholegrain cereals have a lower GI than non-whole grain cereals. The reason for this is that the shell that surrounds the dehulled grain is a natural barrier for the enzymes. Therefore, whole-grain rice has a lower GI than white rice which has the shell removed, or lower than the the rice wafers. Also an important role in determining a GI has a particle size (the smaller they are, the higher is the GI). Wholegrain wheat mash (whole seed) therefore has a lower GI than wholemeal wheat flour, where the particles are very fine – starch decomposition is also faster. This is also the reason that white and wholemeal bread can have about the same GI. Pasta made from white flour has a relatively low GI of about 50. Pasta is a kind of exception as it is the only product from white wheat flour that has a low GI.
Age of product:
The maturation process changes the starch into disaccharide maltose, which has a high GI (105). In one study it was found out that the GI of a fresh bananas is about 43, but for an old banana (not yellow anymore) a GI can go as high as 75.
Food processing (heat):
Baking and cooking weakens the bonds between molecules, the food softens and becomes more easily digestible, the foods GI therefore becomes higher. The more intense the heat at which we process the food, the higher the GI. Baked potatoes have high GI (85) whereas cooked potato has a quite low GI (of around 50). Very well cooked pasta has a much higher GI than pasta prepared al dente.
Fiber, fat or acid:
Fiber slows down the activity of digestive enzymes so that the starch breaks decompose longer than otherwise would. Fat and acids slows down emptying of gastric.
Unfortunately, the GI system metric has flaws among which the most striking flaw is that it ignores the actual food intake (in grams). This quantity may be quite unrealistic in practice – may be greater or less than the amount that you normally consume. To obtain 50 grams of carbohydrates in carrot for example (as it is required to determine the GI) one should consume more than 600 grams of carrots, which is much more than you usually eat in one meal.
Scientists from Harvard introduced a more accurate assessment of the impact of the food consumed in a rapid increase in blood sugar and insulin – a glycemic load (GL). The calculation takes into account the actual intake of food (a typical serving) and, like GI system, classifies food into three groups.
|High||20 or more|
|moderate||from 11 to 19|
|low||10 and less|
Glycemic load GL value is calculated by dividing the GI of food by one hundred and multiplied by the grams of carbohydrate in the portion of food that can be obtained. To determine the GL we need to have information on the GI of food and the amount of useful carbohydrates in one portion. GL of food is in this sense its GI, which is set to a specific portion.
An example of GL:
|High GI, Low GL||High GI, moderate GL||High GI, High GL|
|Piece of white bread (25 g)||A slice of watermelon (300 g)||Baked potato (200 g)|
|GI: 70||GI: 72||GI: 85|
|Portion: 25 g||Serving: 300 g||Serving: 200 g|
|OH content in 100 g: 48 g||OH content in 100 g: 6 g||OH content in 100 g: 21 g|
|OH content of the portion: 12 g||OH content of the portion: 18 g||OH content of the portion: 42 g|
|GO: 70/100 x 12 = 8.4||GO: 72/100 x 18 = 13||GO: 85/100 x 42 = 36|
All three products have a high GI, while their GL varies. Variable affecting the GL is the portion size – GL increases with portion size (GL rises) and lowers with smaller portion size (GL is reduced).
GI tells us what impact will food, that we are to consume, have on blood sugar level. GI is valid for 50 grams of obtainable carbohydrates, where such portion is not always the usual portions we eat (the carrot mentioned above). Therefore GL is more appropriate than GI – GL takes into account the real portion size. For those of you who forgot – GI is glycemic index, GL is glycemic load. We must also consider all the factors above – see Factors that affect the GI.
A lower GI does not necessary mean that the food is more healthy. It is also difficult to find out the GI of a food with mixed ingredients.
When planning a balanced and healthy diet there are more important factors to consider than GI. You should pay attention to what kind of food you consume. It is advisable to consume a lot of unprocessed foods such as wholegrain cereals and flakes, vegetables, legumes and nuts, some quality protein foods and foods that are a source of healthy fatty acids.
It is also recommended to reduce the consumption of processed foods that include a lot of fat and sugar and drinks that contain a lot of sugar (like Pepsi or Cola). With all this in mind we must also never forget to eat our meals on a regular basis (every few hours or so). So when planning an appropriate diet it is always wise to do that with a lot of common sense. Don’t bother yourself too much with glycemic index and such stuff. | <urn:uuid:7e1f8b29-43bb-4e41-b20f-9f0a5e73567e> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | https://healthiack.com/health/glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load-part-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583512332.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20181019062113-20181019083613-00397.warc.gz | en | 0.940579 | 1,420 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Comprehension Instruction in Content Area Classes.
Neufeld cites surprising research indicating that 4th- and 5th-grade teachers identified as the top in their fields did not directly teach comprehension skills, but rather offered opportunities to practice comprehension strategies. In this article, he provides convincing evidence of the benefits of explicitly teaching students comprehension strategies.
Neufeld examines the reading behaviors of expert comprehenders to clarify what comprehension consists of as the child experiences text. He then describes several comprehension strategies that are "teachable and useful" (p. 303). These strategies are divided into Getting-Read-to-Read strategies and During-and-After Reading Strategies. He offers detailed comprehension check lists, graphic organizers for different text structures, and key words. Having covered what is needed to teach students, Neufeld then explains how to teach these strategies in two phases, called Explicit Instruction of Individual Strategies and Teaching for Self-Regulated Strategy Use.
Neufeld ends the article by emphasizing the importance of comprehension in all aspects of learning. He also offers a list of suggestions for effective comprehension instruction. He cautions that if left to "their own devices, many students struggle to read and learn from texts" (p. 310). Although much of learning develops naturally, Neufeld believes that comprehension should not be left to chance, as it is a determining factor in future success. Reviewed by Angela Walker.
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Stackable Unified Module Interconnect Technology (SUMIT) has garnered a ground breaking technology in the form of a new interconnect standard which makes it applicable in the medical, aerospace and military applications. The designers have come up with a single connector or double connector system due to the pressing need of both SUMIT A and SUMIT B connectors. This paper discusses the functioning of this technology. SUMIT A and SUMIT B connectors can be used on the board either singly or separately. With 52 pin high density connectors, both the connectors have high and low buses and are capable of running in several volts. If the expansion or the add-on board has space for only one connector, then one can connect it to another processor or expansion board. The signals on both connectors are routed through stacks of cards on relative placement. It is possible to make use of two small connectors instead of one large one. This not only increases the I/O bandwidth in the smallest space confines but accelerates the performance factor too. The connectors have high frequency signals with unique characteristics. SUMIT A is capable of standing alone and supporting several buses. Space efficient factor has made it possible to incorporate it into today's processors. They also work with PC /104 ISA devices though on a different location on the same board. The SUMIT interface can be used with boards of reasonable size; there is no specific board form factor.
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- Size: 1948.5 KB | <urn:uuid:d3368da6-45b3-47ae-9c4d-e4e280df20c0> | CC-MAIN-2014-35 | http://www.techrepublic.com/resource-library/whitepapers/high-performance-embedded-applications-the-sumit-standard/?cname=components | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-35/segments/1408500835488.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20140820021355-00280-ip-10-180-136-8.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928921 | 301 | 2.71875 | 3 |
What Is Fraud?
Fraud is an intentionally deceptive action designed to provide the perpetrator with an unlawful gain or to deny a right to a victim. Types of fraud include tax fraud, credit card fraud, wire fraud, securities fraud, and bankruptcy fraud. Fraudulent activity can be carried out by one individual, multiple individuals or a business firm as a whole.
- Fraud involves deceit with the intention to illegally or unethically gain at the expense of another.
- In finance, fraud can take on many forms including making false insurance claims, cooking the books, pump & dump schemes, and identity theft leading to unauthorized purchases.
- Fraud costs the economy billions of dollars each and every year, and those who are caught are subject to fines and jail time.
Fraud involves the false representation of facts, whether by intentionally withholding important information or providing false statements to another party for the specific purpose of gaining something that may not have been provided without the deception.
Often, the perpetrator of fraud is aware of information that the intended victim is not, allowing the perpetrator to deceive the victim. At heart, the individual or company committing fraud is taking advantage of information asymmetry; specifically, that the resource cost of reviewing and verifying that information can be significant enough to create a disincentive to fully invest in fraud prevention.
Both states and the federal government have laws that criminalize fraud, though fraudulent actions may not always result in a criminal trial. Government prosecutors often have substantial discretion in determining whether a case should go to trial and may pursue a settlement instead if this will result in a speedier and less costly resolution. If a fraud case goes to trial, the perpetrator may be convicted and sent to jail.
While the government may decide that a case of fraud can be settled outside of criminal proceedings, non-governmental parties that claim injury may pursue a civil case. The victims of fraud may sue the perpetrator to have funds recovered, or, in a case where no monetary loss occurred, may sue to reestablish the victim’s rights.
Proving that fraud has taken place requires the perpetrator to have committed specific acts. First, the perpetrator has to provide a false statement as a material fact. Second, the perpetrator had to have known that the statement was untrue. Third, the perpetrator had to have intended to deceive the victim. Fourth, the victim has to demonstrate that it relied on the false statement. And fifth, the victim had to have suffered damages as a result of acting on the intentionally false statement.
Types of Financial Fraud
Common individual mortgage fraud schemes include identity theft and income/asset falsification, while industry professionals may use appraisal frauds and air loans to dupe the system. The most common investor mortgage fraud schemes are different types of property flipping, occupancy fraud, and the straw buyer scam.
Fraud also occurs in the insurance industry. Thoroughly reviewing an insurance claim may take so many hours that an insurer may determine that a more cursory review is warranted considering the size of the claim. Knowing this, an individual may file a small claim for a loss that didn’t really occur. The insurer may decide to pay the claim without thoroughly investigating since the claim is small. In this case, insurance fraud has been conducted.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) describes securities fraud as criminal activity that can include high yield investment fraud, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, advanced fee schemes, foreign currency fraud, broker embezzlement, pump-and-dumps, hedge fund related fraud, and late-day trading. In many cases, the fraudster seeks to dupe investors through misrepresentation and to manipulate financial markets in some way. These crimes are characterized by providing false or misleading information, withholding key information, purposefully offering bad advice, and offering or acting on inside information.
Consequences of Financial Fraud
Fraud can have a devastating impact on a business. In 2001, a massive corporate fraud was uncovered at Enron, a U.S.-based energy company. Executives used a variety of techniques to disguise the company’s financial health, including the deliberate obfuscation of revenue and misrepresentation of earnings. After the fraud was uncovered, shareholders saw share prices plummet from around $90 to less than $1 in a little over a year. Company employees had their equity wiped out and lost their jobs after Enron declared bankruptcy. The Enron scandal was a major driver behind the regulations found in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed in 2002. | <urn:uuid:eef8115f-adbf-4489-82e5-60792df690e2> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://eliminato.org/4394 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585449.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20211021230549-20211022020549-00711.warc.gz | en | 0.941254 | 915 | 3.171875 | 3 |
After a heart attack, the muscles in a patient’s heart are often weakened, increasing the risk for future heart complications, including a second cardiac arrest. Yet a new development from a team of Israeli scientists could change that in the future. In a study of rats, the researchers were able to grow a “bioengineered cardiac patch” by culturing their heart cells, and then placing them into the animals’ stomachs to ensure that they developed sufficient blood flow. They then transplanted the patches onto rats damaged hearts. After transplant, they found that the patches helped create renewed muscle growth in the heart, and also strengthened scar tissue.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, expands on previous research into techniques to mend heart muscle after myocardial infarction. Yet, while previous cardiac patches have been developed in the past, many have been prone to leaks or other complications. By growing this patch within the body, and transplanting it so rapidly—the time between removal from the abdomen and transplantation onto the heart was less than five minutes—scientists found that these patches were far more successful at maintaining the intricate network of blood vessels vital to helping heal the heart.
While the researchers say that this technique shows great promise for humans, they also admit that, unfortunately, since a majority of heart attack patients are older—and as such more susceptible to surgical complications—many wouldn’t likely be good candidates for the multiple procedures required to grow and implant the patch. That said, they remain confident that if scientists can somehow develop patches of similar strength and quality without requiring the initial transplant of cells into the stomach, using these high-tech patches to help mend broken hearts could soon be a reality. | <urn:uuid:5c24a8b9-1a69-4f93-a336-04b2efeab29a> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://healthland.time.com/2009/08/25/a-patch-to-help-patients-heal-after-heart-attack/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701146196.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193906-00016-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952424 | 356 | 3.84375 | 4 |
On the summit of Knocknarea Mountain (320 meters in height) in County Sligo a large Cairn can be found known locally as ‘Miosgan Meadhba’ (Maeve’s Cairn).
With a flat top Maeve’s Cairn measures 55m in diameter and 10m high. It is one of Ireland’s finest examples of ancient Cairn’s.
Folklore about Maeve’s Cairn
Local folklore says that the Iron Age Queen of Connaught, Meave, is buried here. Queen Meave is known in Irish legends for Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) when she invaded Ulster to steal a stud bull by the name of Donn Cuailnge. Folklore says that she is buried in the Cairn with her full body armour on and in a standing position facing her enemies in Ulster. If you stand at the Cairn facing north you can actually see Ulster far in the distance.
Folklore also mentions that its bad luck to remove a stone from the Cairn but good luck to take a stone up the hill and place it on the Cairn. A reason why this Cairn has probably stood for so long and well preserved.
When was Maeve’s Cairn Built?
Although the Cairn Knocknarea mountain has never been excavated archaeologists believe it may date back to the Neolithic period in Ireland.
Roger Walker, a local landlord and antiquarian, investigated the sites at Carrowmore destroying several of its satellite monuments. He had planned to investigate Maeve’s Cairn but died before doing so.
A Swedish archaeologist by the name of Dr Stefan Bergh surveyed all the monuments and published a book with his findings. He found a small platform 6 meters wide and 30cm high that runs around the cairn with a similar ring around the small satellite to the North of Meave’s Cairn. Bergh had also found approx 27 hut sites on the summit and south shoulder of Knocknarea. He also found 4 kilometers of neolithic stonewalls that run along the south and east edges of the summit.
Even though all we can see of Maeve’s Cairn today is a large mound of stones, its very possible that within it are fully structured chambers such as the ones seen in Newgrane at knowth.
Finding Maeve’s Cairn
Maeve’s Cairn can be seen for miles as it sits on top of Knocknarea mountain. It’s easy to find but the climb to the summit is not for the faint hearted.
From Sligo town centre go towards Strandhill Road and onto the R292. Keep on this road until you see the road signs for Maeve’s Cairn. It’s very well sign posted and easy to find from here.
There is a small car park that is safe to park your vehicle. From the car park there is a small path that takes leads you up to the summit.
Note: The path is not suitable for push chairs, wheel chairs or prams. It’s a very rough path so walking shoes are highly recommended. The climb to the summit is not easy and not recommend for elderly people or anyone with walking difficulties.
We advise to take water but also to take a lot of rests on the climb up, enjoy the views as you rest.
The path leading down from Knocknarea mountain is very steep with lots of stones, it can be very easy to fall and cause injury so be careful.
It should take approx 45 – 50 minutes to climb at an easy pace.
Related articles & websites
- Knocknarea Mountain – carrowkeel.com
- Queen Maeve’s Cairn – carrowkeel.com
- Legends of Sligo – ancestry.com
First published on March 4, 2010 and last modified on July 30, 2017. | <urn:uuid:19b8d540-a5a8-464a-a522-0f82349ca34d> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | https://www.yourirish.com/history/ancient/neolithic/maeves-cairn | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257647883.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20180322112241-20180322132241-00300.warc.gz | en | 0.955493 | 849 | 3.359375 | 3 |
(CNN) – The largest planet in our solar system seems to be looking more and more like a work of art. It is full of surprises, just like its moons. the a task NASA’s Juno, which began orbiting Jupiter in July 2016, recently made its 38th close flyby of the gas giant. The mission was extended earlier this year, with the addition of a flyby of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede in June.
Scott Bolton, Juno’s principal investigator, said: southwest research institute In San Antonio, during a briefing at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in New Orleans on Friday.
There, Bolton revealed 50 seconds of sound created when Juno flew past Ganymede over the summer. The moon’s sound clip was generated by electrical and magnetic radio waves generated by the planet’s magnetic field and picked up by the spacecraft’s Waves instrument, designed to detect these waves.
The sounds are like a space age soundtrack.
“This soundtrack is wild enough to make you feel like you’re riding as Juno sails alongside Ganymede for the first time in over two decades,” Bolton said. “If you listen carefully, you can hear the sudden shift to higher frequencies around the midpoint of the recording, which is the entrance to a different region in the Ganymede magnetosphere.”
The Juno team continues to analyze data from the Ganymede flyby. At the time, Juno was about 645 miles (1,038 kilometers) from the moon’s surface, exceeding 41,600 miles per hour (67,000 kilometers per hour).
William Kurth, co-principal investigator for the Waves tool, based at California State University, Iowa, said in a statement.
The team also shared stunning new images that look like artistic views of Jupiter’s swirling atmosphere.
“You can see how beautiful Jupiter is,” Bolton said. “It’s really an artist’s color palette. It’s almost like a Van Gogh painting. You see these wonderful swirls and swirling clouds of different colours.”
These stunning images help scientists better understand Jupiter and its many mysteries. Pictures of hurricanes at the poles of Jupiter intrigued Leah Siegelman, a scientist working with the Juno team who usually studies Earth’s oceans. He saw parallels between the dynamics of Jupiter’s atmosphere and the eddies in Earth’s oceans.
“When I saw the richness of the turbulence around cyclones Jovian, with all the threads and smaller eddies, it reminded me of the turbulence you see in the ocean around the eddies,” said Siegelman, a physical oceanographer and postdoctoral fellow at Scripps. at the University of California, San Diego, in a statement.
This is particularly evident in high-resolution satellite images of eddies in Earth’s oceans revealed by plankton blooms that act as flow trackers.
Mapping the magnetic field of Jupiter
Juno’s data also helps scientists determine Jupiter’s magnetic field, including the Great Blue Spot. This region is a magnetic anomaly located at Jupiter’s equator, not to be confused with the Great Red Spot, an atmospheric storm that has persisted for centuries south of the equator.
Since Juno’s arrival at Jupiter, the team has seen a change in Jupiter’s magnetic field. The Great Blue Spot is moving east at 2 inches (5.1 cm) per second and will complete one revolution around the planet in 350 years.
Meanwhile, the Great Red Spot is moving west and will cross the finish line faster, in about 4.5 years.
But the Great Blue Spot is riven by the jet streams of Jupiter, giving it a striped appearance. This visible pattern tells scientists that these winds extend much deeper into the planet’s gaseous interior.
The map of Jupiter’s magnetic field, generated by Juno data, revealed that the motion of the planet’s dynamo, which creates the magnetic field inside Jupiter, originates from metallic hydrogen under a layer of helium “rain”.
Juno was also able to notice a faint ring of dust around Jupiter from within the ring. This dust is actually made up of two of the planet’s small moons, called Metis and Adrastea. The observations allowed the researchers to see part of the constellation Perseus from a different planetary perspective.
“It’s impressive that we can view these familiar constellations from a spacecraft half a billion miles away,” Heidi Becker, associate principal investigator for the Juno Stellar Reference Module at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement.
“But it all looks pretty much the same when we appreciate them from our own backyards here on Earth. It’s a frightening reminder of how small we are and how much we still have to explore.”
In the fall of 2022, Jupiter will fly close to Jupiter’s moon Europa, which will be visited by its special mission, Europa Clipper, which will launch in 2024. Europa is of interest to scientists because the global ocean is located under the ice sheet. From time to time, feathers come out of the holes in the ice into space. The Europa Clipper can explore this ocean by “testing” and flying through the feathers, seeing if life is possible in this ocean world. | <urn:uuid:3d98ad53-4dcb-477a-82c7-84d98b2e8549> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.thenorthcountyvoice.com/juno-flybe-reveals-stunning-new-images-of-jupiter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335303.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20220929003121-20220929033121-00431.warc.gz | en | 0.920795 | 1,150 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Tree Planting, Pruning and Removal
I want to plant a tree. Does the city plant trees?
The city has programs every year where specific neighborhoods receive new trees in conjunction with a new sidewalk for a small fee from the adjacent property owner. In addition, depending on each year’s budget, there may be a small fund available on a first come first serve basis for planting fees. However, if a property owner wants to plant a tree in the right of way outside of these programs, a permit must be obtained via the city engineer’s office. There are specific trees that work well in specific locations and the city forester must approve each tree selection.
How much water does my tree need?
In general, trees that have been in the ground for longer than 3 growing season do not need additional water other than rainfall. If a minimum of 1 inch of rain per week is not available, supplemental irrigation is needed. A good rule is to provide water at the rate of 2 gallons per day for every inch of trunk diameter measured at 6 inches above the root crown from mid-May through October depending on the weather. For example, if you have a 2 inch caliper tree that tree needs 15 gallons of water per week spread over the week. It is important to water the ROOT ZONE of the tree and not the TRUNK. The root zone is the area extending out and away from the trunk of the tree.
What is the proper way to MULCH a tree?—THINK WIDER NOT HIGHER!
Mulching a tree should start 2"-4” away from the trunk of the tree and extend out to the drip line (the extent of the branches reaching out). On mature trees, at a minimum, mulch should extend 3-4 feet out in each direction from the trunk and only be 2-3 inches thick. Think WIDER NOT HIGHER with mulch….no mulch volcanoes! Mulch volcanoes invite pests and diseases and can cause false roots to develop therefore making an unstable tree.
What is the proper way to PLANT a tree?
Planting a tree too deep is the number one mistake made when putting a tree in the ground. It is best to start with a 1.5 to 2” caliper (diameter) tree. They are easier to plant and survival rate is stronger with a smaller tree. IMPORTANT! There can be utilities located below the grass space between the sidewalk and the street. Utility locates should be performed before each tree planting. The following are instructions on how to plant a tree:
1. Planting holes must be hand dug if utilities are within 24 inches of the plant hole.
2. Planting holes should be 1.5-2 times the diameter of the root ball and the walls should be dug so that they are vertical or sloping outward in heavy soils and the side of the planting shall be scarified.
3. Before placing tree into the dug hole, open burlap and find the root flare and one to two structural roots, this might require removing soil from the top of the root ball. Check to see that the planting hole has been dug to the proper depth and no more.
4. Position the tree as close to the planting hole as possible. Remove the upper 1/3 to 1/2 of wrapping material and wire basket.
5. If containerized, remove the container. If the root flare is not visible, remove enough of the soil on top of the root ball to expose the flare. Vertically root prune each side of the ball and the bottom of the ball about 1-2”.
6. Plant tree only as deep as the root ball, the root flare must be at or slightly above grade.
7. Existing soil shall be used to backfill the planting hole to the proper grade. Backfill in layers carefully so as to not compact the soil. Water the tree once the hole is half way filled.
8. 2-3 inches of wood mulch (preferably pine, cedar or hemlock) should be placed at the base of the tree in the shape of a tree well that slightly exceeds the tree's drip line. Do no cover the top of the root ball with soil. Mulch should not be in contact within 2"-4" of the trunk. Water the tree again once the mulch is in place.
What is the proper way to STAKE a tree?
Young trees usually need to be staked for the first year after planting. After that, the stake should be removed as the tree NEEDS to move with the wind in order to develop its wood and become a strong, stable tree.
What if a tree near my property needs pruned?
By city ordinance (link below), the maintenance of healthy, live trees is the responsibility of the property owner of which they are adjacent to. A permit must be obtained via the city engineer’s office for pruning in the right of way.
This can be confusing for property owners. The trees are planted on land owned by the city—the right of way—but just like sidewalks in the City of Lafayette, the responsibility of maintaining or pruning trees belongs to the property owner. Pruning only needs to take place on young trees every 3 years and then only every 7-9 years on mature trees. There are proper ways to prune a tree. In the City of Lafayette, topping or removing the upper most portion of a tree is not allowed. In general, only 25% of the crown of any tree should be removed during any pruning session. Limbs over a sidewalk should be a minimum of 10 feet above and limbs over a city street should be a minimum of 15 feet.
I want to prune my tree but I don’t know how?
If you have a young tree, say 25 feet or less in height it is relatively easy to prune with the proper equipment. Any tree above 25 feet is best pruned by a professional arborist. If your tree is above 25 feet in height, you will need a right of way permit due to the tree being planted on city land. Permits can be obtained at the city engineer’s office located on the 2nd floor of city hall, 20 N 6th Street or by clicking here.
By Ordinance, the city has a budget for removing trees that are dead, dying or diseased that are planted in the grass strip between the sidewalk and the street. These trees will be removed at no cost to the property owner and their removal is at the discretion of the City Forester. If you think the tree in the planting strip to your property may fall into one of the 3 listed conditions, click here to enter a request for an assessment under "Tree Questions." | <urn:uuid:28676267-56dc-4f4c-baeb-1254aa03499e> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | http://columbianparkzoo.org/2032/Tree-Planting-Pruning-and-Removal | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320303884.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20220122194730-20220122224730-00043.warc.gz | en | 0.939398 | 1,413 | 2.609375 | 3 |
The history of the most delicate of boats: royal barges.
by Harold Stephens
For nearly 700 years, royal barges have been plying the waterways of Thailand in ceremonies both religious and political. And twice they almost disappeared forever: once when the Burmese attacked Ayutthaya, and again during World War II, when the Allies bombed installations along the river.
The story goes that the grandest of all royal barge processions occurred in 1683 when Siam opened her doors to the nations of Europe. The first country to send an ambassador was France. To show that Ayutthaya was the most magnificent city in the East, if not the entire world, King Nawrai welcomed the French embassy by sending his fleet of royal barges downriver to Pak Nam to honor the new arrivals.
The official record of that splendid diplomatic voyage up the River of Kings was lost when the Burmese invaded and sacked the city in 1776, but accounts do survive in the form of the journals kept by the French, Dutch, and Portuguese who lived in Ayutthaya at the time, as well as in biographies and letters. From these, while doing research for my book “For the Love of Siam,” I was able to piece together that voyage. It’s a beautiful story I didn’t mind re-telling, but it’s too long to recount here.
When the Burmese attacked Ayutthaya in 1767, General Taksin ordered barges to seek cover to the south, but still the enemy destroyed almost all of them. Taksin succeeded in driving the Burmese back, and he set up his new capital at Thonburi, near the small village of Bangkok. He brought with him several of the badly damaged royal barges. However, it wasn’t until King Rama I ascended the throne in 1782 to become the first king of the present Chakri dynasty that he initiated the renewal of national arts and crafts, which included the construction of new royal barges.
Kings Rama II and Rama III had royal barges built in their honor, and the traditional art of royal barge building was passed on from generation to generation. During the reign of Rama IV, seven new barges were constructed. King Rama V built a new 44.9-meter barge, Suphannahong, carved from a single teak log. He died before it was completed, and it was left to his son, Rama VI, to dedicate it on November 13, 1911. It is still in use to this day.
April 1932 marked the 150th celebration of the Chakri dynasty. King Rama VII rode Suphannahong in a grand procession that could well have been the last of its kind. No one foresaw the coming of a coup, and that the kingdom would move from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy. Many changes took place, one of which was the termination of the royal barge procession. The annual ceremony on the Chao Phraya River ceased for 25 years.
In the meantime, World War II had dealt another devastating blow to the royal barges. Stored during that period in dry docks on Bangkok Noi Canal, the barges shared their berths with Japanese naval vessels and unfortunately became the target of Allied bombers.
In 1949, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, after his return from school in Europe, went to see the barges. He was taken back by their state of deterioration and ordered their complete restoration. Artisans and craftsmen under the direction of the Fine Arts Department were assigned to repair the damage. Then in 1959, the king decided to revive the tradition of the Royal Barge Procession for the Kathin ceremony. Today the procession takes place only for the most significant cultural and religious events. During the reign of King Bhumibol, spanning more than 60 years, it has only occurred 16 times, most recently commemorating the His Majesty’s 80th birthday on December 5, 2007.
Today, the vessels used for the procession consist of 51 historical barges and the Royal Barge Narai Song Suban. His Majesty built Narai in 1994, the only barge built during his reign.
Maintaining and caring for these vessels is not a simple task. Royal barges are the most delicate of boats, between 40 and 50 meters long, with several being hollowed out of a single log. They must carry up to 80 oarsmen and assorted crew, and for special occasions, the biggest and most splendid of these barges, Suphannahong, must carry the King of Thailand and his retinue downriver from the Royal Palace to Wat Arun, the temple of dawn.
The National Museum of Royal Barges, which is open to the public, is no ordinary museum; it’s more like a workshop staffed by teams of artists and artisans. An amazingly large shed, the boathouse can house no more than eight barges at any single time. The rest of the fleet is scattered around Bangkok’s docks and shipyards.
Barges are maintained in long berths, and raised high above water level with mechanical lifts. Individual berths are connected by a network of walkways. From morning to night, workers can be seen climbing high on scaffolds, or on the walkways, applying paint and trim to the hulls. I watched teams of artists apply pure gold leaf patches to the ornate woodwork of one of the royal barges, and as I looked down the length of the shed, to all the other barges, I could only imagine the man-hours involved in making these vessels ready for the royal barge processions. Much like painting the Sydney Harbor Bridge, it is work that never ends. | <urn:uuid:321b1061-2b2d-491d-a90a-224d1d6c810b> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | http://www.lookeastmagazine.com/2014/08/all-the-kings-barges/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400205950.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20200922094539-20200922124539-00343.warc.gz | en | 0.969848 | 1,202 | 3.140625 | 3 |
In a twist that reads more like a detective novel than a science report, a dog has sniffed out a major ecological find—the De Winton’s golden mole, a species not seen since 1936. The dog, a collie trained by the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), was part of a years-long quest to find this elusive mole thought to be extinct.
A hidden mole
The De Winton’s golden mole (Cryptochloris wintoni) is a highly elusive creature, known for its shimmering fur and subterranean lifestyle. It’s a small, intriguing mammal, typically measuring about 10 centimeters (4 inches) in length and weighing around 20 grams, comparable in size to a mouse.
This mole is adapted to a subterranean lifestyle, with a streamlined, cylindrical body, a wedge-shaped head, and powerful limbs with specialized digging claws. It is blind, a common trait in underground dwellers, relying instead on its heightened sense of touch and vibration detection to navigate and hunt in its sandy environment.
However, unlike other mole species, it leaves no tunnels behind, moving through sand in a swimming motion. Coupled with its extreme sensitivity to vibrations that immediately notify it of intruders, these traits make the golden mole extremely difficult to find.
For decades, this elusive mole has evaded detection like a ghost. But conservationists hadn’t given up on it yet. A collaboration of zoologists and wildlife managers from the Endangered Wildlife Trust, Stellenbosch University, South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, and the University of Pretoria employed a two-pronged approach to tackle a seemingly impossible mission.
Their first ally in this quest was an unlikely one: sniffer dogs. These dogs, typically trained to track known scents, were taught to identify three species of moles indigenous to the region. As the dogs scoured the landscape, they unearthed multiple signs of known mole species. But, amidst the familiar, lay the unknown — tracks and burrows that didn’t fit known mole burrowing patterns, a smoking gun for the golden mole’s presence.
The second technique involved an environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis. More than 100 soil samples were meticulously collected and analyzed in the lab. This method, akin to finding a needle in a haystack, searches for genetic remnants left in the vast environment by a species. The results were astonishing: among the DNA of three known mole species was a fourth, mysterious genetic signature.
Comparing this unknown DNA with a gene sequence from a De Winton’s golden mole specimen preserved in a museum, the researchers found a match. This genetic handshake across decades was the irrefutable proof they needed: the De Winton’s golden mole, once a phantom of the past, still roams the sands of South Africa.
“Though many people doubted that De Winton’s golden mole was still out there, I had good faith that the species had not yet gone extinct,” said Cobus Theron, a senior conservation manager for EWT and a member of the search team in a press release. “I was convinced it would just take the right detection method, the proper timing, and a team passionate about finding it.
The rediscovery of the De Winton’s golden mole in South Africa is more than just an exciting wildlife tale. It’s a sign of hope in a world where stories of conservation are often clouded with pessimism.
“I think it’s just fantastic that in 2023 we can still rediscover species. All of our stories around conservation are doom and gloom. Here we have an opportunity to say that, actually, there are opportunities to make change,” said Theron.
Since the researchers completed their study in 2021, the EWT has found four additional golden mole populations. This shows that even in 2023, the natural world still holds secrets waiting to be uncovered.
This finding is particularly important in light of the concerning trends in species extinction. Human activities have accelerated the extinction rate, pushing it up to 10,000 times the natural rate. Rediscovering species thought extinct, like the De Winton’s golden mole, offers a ray of hope amidst this troubling backdrop.
Similar rediscoveries, such as a fish in Ohio and a gecko in the Galápagos Islands, further illustrate that nature can still surprise us. The Mini Galaxy flower, found growing unexpectedly in the middle of an African road after 40 years, is another testament to this resilience.
Was this helpful? | <urn:uuid:3baad6ed-a011-4cde-b897-b2862b22be42> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/de-winton-golden-mole-rediscovery/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947475701.61/warc/CC-MAIN-20240301193300-20240301223300-00777.warc.gz | en | 0.944125 | 950 | 3.53125 | 4 |
|Scientific Name:||Anolis ventrimaculatus|
|Species Authority:||Boulenger, 1911|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Near Threatened ver 3.1|
|Assessor(s):||Castañeda, R.M., Castro, F. & Mayer, G.C.|
|Reviewer(s):||Böhm, M., Collen, B. & Ram, M.|
|Contributor(s):||De Silva, R., Milligan, H.T., Wearn, O.R., Wren, S., Zamin, T., Sears, J., Wilson, P., Lewis, S., Lintott, P. & Powney, G.|
Anolis ventrimaculatus is listed as Near Threatened due to this species having an extent of occurrence of approximately 22,600 km2, it being found in less than ten locations, and its habitat being in continuing decline because of wood extraction and agriculture (it almost qualifies as Vulnerable under criterion B1ab(iii)). Monitoring of this species and its habitat should be carried out because A. ventrimaculatus may qualify for a threatened category in the future if present pressures continue.
|Range Description:||This species is known from the high altitudes of the Pacific slopes of the western range of the Colombian Andes, including the basin of the River Murri, from the states of Valle de Cauca, Antioquia and Choco. It is found between 1,300 and 2,500 m above sea level and the area in which it is distributed is approximately equal to 22,601 km2.|
|Lower elevation limit (metres):||1300|
|Upper elevation limit (metres):||2500|
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||There is no population information available for this species.|
|Current Population Trend:||Unknown|
|Habitat and Ecology:||This species is arboreal and is found in high altitude montane forest.|
It is likely that this species is being impacted by habitat destruction and loss in some areas of its range. The montane forests of the Cauca Valley are severely fragmented and it is reported that between elevations of 1,000 and 2,000 m above sea level, most of the forest has disappeared and only scattered remnants remain. Many of the forest fragments are protected, however, the higher elevation forests in some areas are still being exploited for timber and other forest resources (WWF 2001a).
The forests of Chocó are also suffering from habitat loss due to deforestation. Although these forests only represent one-sixth of Colombian forests, they supply more than half of the wood in the country. Other causes of habitat loss in the area include industrial development, mining and illegal growing of coca (WWF 2001b).
|Conservation Actions:||There are no known species-specific conservation measures in place for this species. In places its distribution coincides with protected areas. Further research and monitoring of the population and its habitat status should be carried out.|
|Citation:||Castañeda, R.M., Castro, F. & Mayer, G.C. 2013. Anolis ventrimaculatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T178679A7594226. . Downloaded on 31 May 2016.|
|Feedback:||If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please provide us with feedback so that we can correct or extend the information provided| | <urn:uuid:b5d38e7b-cc18-4915-9bf3-62c8621517dd> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/178679/0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464053209501.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524012649-00132-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.845885 | 772 | 2.984375 | 3 |
EAST AMHERST, N.Y., Oct. 26, 2015 /CNW/ -- The next dent in the universe is the marriage between energy and agriculture, where the world's energy, clean water, hunger, and global warming challenges are addressed simultaneously. Since 2012, serial entrepreneur and inventor Darin Pastor has been working toward a far-reaching and global solution within the energy and agricultural industries. On Friday, October 23, 2015, Mr. Pastor filed a provisional patent for a process related to the capture of carbon dioxide emissions, electricity, and water byproducts from gas-to-liquid synthetic fuel manufacturing and its application within vertical farming. Combining these two industries using Mr. Pastor's patent-pending methodology will create the first ever mass-producing and emission free fuel and agricultural manufacturing facility.
Mr. Pastor intends to license his patent-pending technology to customers worldwide. In addition, his firm plans to develop at least ten facilities throughout the rustbelt region of the United States, in cities such as Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Cleveland, Detroit, Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, and in impoverished areas globally. Each of these projects can create approximately 4,000 to 4,500 construction jobs and 400 high-skilled, permanent jobs. In total, a minimum of 40,000 construction jobs and 4,000 permanent, high-skilled jobs stand to be created once all ten projects are successfully completed. Given the potential for locating these facilities in metropolitan areas, the entire emissions lifecycle of traditional fuel and agriculture production can be vastly diminished through reduced transportation costs.
Synthetic fuels have virtually no sulfur, heavy metals, or aromatics that are toxic to the environment. Mr. Pastor's patent-pending invention enables a gas-to-liquid synthetic fuel manufacturing facility to produce lower emission fuels, while emitting no harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere during production.
Gas-to-liquid fuel facilities create substantial carbon dioxide emissions during production that lack toxic molecules such as sulfur and other aromatics. This creates a unique opportunity to capture carbon dioxide and redirect the greenhouse gas into vertical farms (which need carbon dioxide for photosynthesis), resulting in larger, more nutrient rich fruits and vegetables. Further, gas-to-liquid fuel production generates almost three times the needed electricity to run their facility. By combining gas-to-liquid facilities and vertical farms, the potential profitability of both facilities becomes more attractive. In impoverished regions where fresh water is difficult to come by, the process could even be used to desalinize seawater and make it useable for consumption, vertical farming, and even traditional farming.
Vertical farming offers advantages traditional farming does not. For example, vertical farming requires substantially less land, increases the size and frequency of crop yields, and provides crops protection from unfavorable weather conditions. Because of the reduced land requirement, vertical farms can be located near or in metropolitan areas. As population densities in metropolitan areas increase, the placement and use of vertical farming in those areas can substantially reduce the logistical needs of current farming techniques. Vertical farms also create biomass as a byproduct, which can be used as feed for aquaponics within the vertical farm where fish are cultivated. A paradigm shift occurs when vertical farms are strategically located in metropolitan areas where the surrounding community easily consumes the vegetables, fruits, and fish produced in the facility.
The aforementioned new facilities will help revitalize a once-booming industrial region economically, while simultaneously making the rust belt region a leading global example for addressing the world's energy, hunger, global warming, and clean water concerns. Mr. Pastor believes this is an opportunity to leave the world a better place.
SOURCE Darin Pastor
For further information: For more information, contact Darin Pastor at [email protected], 716-462-3080 | <urn:uuid:82ffafe5-51f4-44e3-ae2e-853ec3c30f52> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-next-dent-in-the-universe---an-energy-and-agricultural-revolution-537059221.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506669.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20230924223409-20230925013409-00683.warc.gz | en | 0.924629 | 762 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Frederick Carl Frieseke - Before Her AppearanceDecember 15, 2012 0 comments Print Article
Frederick Carl Frieseke was an American Impressionist painter born in Owosso, Michigan in April 1874. He began his professional life as an illustrator and subsequently decided to become a painter early on in life. His painting "Before Her Appearance" is a part of The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens' permanent collection.
One of the exquisite pieces in The Cummers permanent collection is, Before Her Appearance by Frederick Carl Frieseke. Applying the last bit of ardent rouge to her lips before going on stage, a dancer sits on a stool in her dressing room, looking at herself in the mirror. This intimate scene was captured by the American Impressionist artist Frederick Carl Frieseke with a very tender, almost monochromatic palette of pink, pale blue, marble white, and an occasional patch of yellow. This painting was created while Frieseke spent the winter of 1912 on Corsica, an island off the Italian coast. He rented a house and garden there and sent for his favorite model Marcelle, who poses as the dancer in this painting. He wrote to an art dealer that he had nothing prepared for the upcoming Paris Salon exhibition. Nevertheless, Frieseke was able to complete six canvases that winter for inclusion in the Salon that spring. Before Her Appearance was among them and was very well received. It was bought by Mrs. Gertrude Whitney Vanderbilt for her private collection.
Frederick Carl Frieseke was an American Impressionist painter born in Owosso, Michigan in April 1874. He began his professional life as an illustrator and subsequently decided to become a painter early on in life. After graduating High School in 1893, Frieseke went on to study art at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1893 to 1896, followed by a year of instruction at the Art Students League of New York in 1897. Continuing his education, Frieseke moved to Paris in 1898 where he studied at the Acadamie Julian and with James Abbott McNeill Whistler for a short period at the Acadamie Carmen. In 1906, Frieseke moved with his wife to Giverny France, where Claude Monet resided. He rapidly developed a very original aesthetic that would establish him as influential member of the Giverny art colony. Frieseke preferred the attitudes in France to those that he encountered in the United States and spent most of his adult life in Europe, proclaiming, I stay on here, because I am more free and there are not the Puritanical restrictions which prevail in America I can paint a nude in my garden or down by the fish pond and not be run out of town. | <urn:uuid:f5270824-96f6-474f-aa3e-1552984713ba> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-dec-frederick-carl-frieseke-before-her-appearance | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462577.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00291-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982202 | 569 | 2.515625 | 3 |
I am asked to write a program that takes user's input on screen(like when you use a System.in), however, when the user type something, it needs to appear italic on the screen. Does anyone know how to do that?
By the way, the user is supposed to type in one integer at the time, and I need to use the integers as my data.
Text input/output consoles exist in most or all operating systems. Certain concepts (write some text, read some text, new-line etc.) are common to all of them. But more-advanced concept (fonts, colours, clear-screen etc.) are not available in all of them.
Java, being platform-independent (ish), takes a "lowest common denominator" approach, and only assumes that the console has features that all operating systems support. That means, no fonts, colours, clear-screen etc.
However, many operating systems' consoles understand control codes that will do things like change colour or clear the screen. If your application only needs to run on one operating system, you could find out what these are, for your particular console, and code them in Java.
Note that, in some operating systems (e.g. Unix), there are lots of different possible kinds of console, which would understand different control codes. In that situation, using control codes would restrict your application to a particular type of console (e.g. VT100 terminal) and a particular operating system.
Not good, but nevertheless, the possibility does exist. | <urn:uuid:c31fb8ef-96d3-47a9-8f94-d77512776ed3> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://www.coderanch.com/t/409140/java/java/format-user-screen-input | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510270577.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011750-00073-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943858 | 319 | 3.140625 | 3 |
A list of the 10 most expensive zip codes to purchase a home in.
A list of the most affluent zip codes in United States listing the top 10 richest of them all.
US ZIP codes are a type of postal code used within the United States to help the United States Postal Service (USPS) route mail more efficiently. ZIP codes near me are shown on the map above. Some still refer to ZIP codes as US postal codes. The term ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Plan. The basic 5-digit format was first introduced in 1963 and later extended to add an additional 4 digits after a dash to form a ZIP+4 code. The additional 4 digits help USPS more precisely group mail for delivery. Though ZIP codes were originally developed for USPS, many other shipping companies such as United Parcel Service (UPS), Federal Express (FedEx), DHL, and others make use of ZIP codes for sorting packages and calculating the time and cost of shipping a package (the shipping rate). | <urn:uuid:6716d323-fcaf-4a9a-bfd0-da033e0a76da> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://zipcodes.org/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224644913.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20230529205037-20230529235037-00356.warc.gz | en | 0.924628 | 199 | 2.734375 | 3 |
An amusement park ride consists of a cylinder that spins its axis fast enough that any person inside is held up again the wall when the floor drops away. The coefficient of static friction between person and wall is U(mew s), and the radius of the cylinder is R. A) show that the maximum period of revolution necessary to keep the person from falling is T=(4pi^2*R*mew s/g)^(1/2). B) if the rate of revolution of the cylinder is made to be somewhat larger what happens to the magnitude of each one of the forces acting on the person? what happens in the motion of the person? c) if the rate of revolution of the cylinder is instead made to be somewhat smaller, what happens to the magnitude of each one of the forces action on the person? how does the motion of the person change? | <urn:uuid:7ab873f8-f5c1-42ed-8bde-46af1cddb64d> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/questions-and-answers/amusement-park-ride-consists-cylinder-spins-axis-fast-enough-person-inside-held-wall-floor-q943603 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443736678118.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001215758-00110-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933507 | 177 | 3.390625 | 3 |
A Georgia high school student uses his smartphone to record a concealed attempt at a sexual act by two of his fellow students in the school cafeteria. That student and one of the classmates are now in legal trouble, facing public indecency charges.
Smartphones are a part of everyday life for many children and teens and protecting them from the dangers of this technology can feel like a daunting task for many parents.
The potential for young people to use their smartphones to record and even distribute sexually explicit or graphic content is troubling for parents. There is even a word for it, “sexting,” and it is a dangerous phenomenon. A recent FBI study reveals that 20 percent of teenagers with online access have sent or exchanged nude photos of themselves. The consequences of this type of unchecked online behavior are serious — such sexually suggestive material can be easily exchanged with others or, worse, posted on adult-oriented websites. Parents must be made aware of what their children are doing, or are capable of doing, with the most up-to-date personal communication technology. They must also be made aware of how vulnerable their children are to online predators, and even their peers.
Must Read: Adults Can Stop Bullying From Toxic Parents | <urn:uuid:a30160da-4e58-4fab-9995-e8d47c63266a> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | https://elev8.hellobeautiful.com/1138303/new-mobile-app-allows-parents-to-monitor-childrens-phone/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257823935.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071023-00014-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962357 | 246 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Surely the Bible, the book filled with goodness and light would never condone an institution as evil as slavery? Surely God would condemn this and set people free? Surely Jesus, perfect Jesus would condemn slavery? After all, didn’t Moses free his people from slavery? However there is not a single line condemning slavery in the Bible. In fact the only laws regarding it deal with regulating it.
“You may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way.” (Leviticus 25:44-46)
The Bible does ban slaves but only if they are Israeli. Foreigners are fair game and so are their children. Just in case there was any doubt they are to be treated not like people, but like property. This is the book; mind you that we are supposed to base our morality upon.
Like every part of the Bible, this part is filled with contradictions. Another part says you can have a “Hebrew” male slave, but you must set him free after “only” six years. (Exodus 21:2). Female slaves can be kept for an indefinite period and the master may sleep with them if he wishes. His only requirement is that he feeds and clothes her (in other words masters are free to do what they want with their slaves and the Bible won’t complain). (Exodus 21:7-11)
In fact you are even allowed to beat your slave to death so long as it takes them longer than a day to die (I don’t know how that is any better). This is justified as the slave is a piece of property.
“When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.” (Exodus 21:20-21)
But some would argue this is all out dated Old Testament nonsense. Surely Jesus with his message of love would set this straight. But no, the New Testament is no better than the old one. Jesus told many parables involving slaves but apparently he had nothing to say about their treatment. He must not have thought it was that big a deal. The few mentions of slavery are ones promoting that great Christian virtue of obedience.
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.” (Ephesians 6:5)
“Christians who are slaves should give their masters full respect so that the name of God and his teaching will not be shamed. If your master is a Christian, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. You should work all the harder because you are helping another believer by your efforts.” (1 Timothy 6:1-2)
Just in case anyone thinks this is harmless talk in obscure and long forgotten chapters, remember that the Bible was used to justify slaveholding during the American Civil War.
“[Slavery] was established by decree of Almighty God…it is sanctioned in the Bible, in both Testaments, from Genesis to Revelation.” Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.
“There is not one verse in the Bible inhibiting slavery, but many regulating it. It is not then, we conclude, immoral.” Rev. Alexander Campbell
Christians do point to positive commentary about slaves such as Galatians 3:28 or Colossians 3:11 which say that slaves will be reward in the afterlife just as much as free people. Good as this is, it’s not much good for the here and now. While Deuteronomy 23:15 does say you are under no obligation to return escaped slaves, it does not condemn the institution itself. Colossians 4:1 does appeal to slave owners, saying “Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.” This sounds quite hollow when you remember the brutal way in which slaves were treated.
All this makes you wonder. If the Bible has absolutely no complaints about slavery, one of the greatest injustices of the world, how can it possibly be called the good book? | <urn:uuid:2b549136-a749-4ecf-a50b-83bb1e5de4af> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | https://whistlinginthewind.org/2012/04/30/terrible-parts-of-the-bible-part-4-slavery/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583512400.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20181019124748-20181019150248-00013.warc.gz | en | 0.97837 | 955 | 2.65625 | 3 |
生物多样性 ›› 1999, Vol. 07 ›› Issue (1): 24-30.doi: 10.17520/biods.1999005
• 论文 •
袁磊, 张莉, 袁国映, 赵志刚, 李红旭
YUAN Lei, ZHANG Li, YUAN Guo-Ying, ZHAO Zhi-Gang, LI Hong-Xu
Wild Bactrian camels( Camelus bact rianus ferus) survive now only in and around the Great Gobi
National Park in Mongolia and Xinjiang region of Western China , principally in the eastern part of the Thaklimakan Desert in the vicinity of Lop Nur. Lop Nur region , which is the only remaining area in the world where
wild Bactrian camels can be considered genetically pure , because it is isolated from domestic living stock.
Number of camels in this area is estimated not more than 120 , and as a result of surveys , total number of wild
Bactrian camels remaining in both China and Mongolia is a maximum of 880 and a minimum of 730. Different
habitats of wild Bactrian camels as well as human influence were investigated and assessed in this paper
袁磊, 张莉, 袁国映, 赵志刚, 李红旭 (1999) 野双峰驼各分布区的生存环境差异及评价. 生物多样性, 07(1), 24-30.
YUAN Lei, ZHANG Li, YUAN Guo-Ying, ZHAO Zhi-Gang, LI Hong-Xu. Difference of habitat environment and assessment in wild Bactrian camel distribution areas. (1999) Biodiv Sci, 07(1), 24-30.
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, published in Paris about 1901, is considered the “bible” of decorative Art Nouveau elements. This exceptional collection of patterns and designs, a copy of which is in the Museum’s collection, was created by three artists: Georges Auriol (pseudonym for Jean-Georges Huyot, French, 1863–1938), Alphonse Maria Mucha (Czech, 1860– 1939), and Maurice Pillard Verneuil (French, 1869–1942). Our stunning watch features a swirling Art Nouveau motif adapted from this portfolio.
Silver overlay case, with a metallic-gold embossed face. Leather strap. Quartz movement. Case: 1'' square; strap: adjusts from 6''L to 7 3/4''L. | <urn:uuid:3efea4b1-0fbf-4b06-a41d-49e228a770e2> | CC-MAIN-2014-42 | http://store.metmuseum.org/womens-watches/art-nouveau-swirls-watch/invt/80015830 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1414637897717.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20141030025817-00211-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.850552 | 163 | 2.53125 | 3 |
As you embark on your final year of school, your thoughts may be turning towards…
There’s a near certainty that everyone has seen (and possibly used) the dreaded ‘formula triangle’ approach to solving calculation problems in physics.
‘Wait – why “dreaded”?’, you ask. Let me explain: I think the use of formula triangles is misguided for two main reasons.
1. Formula triangles only work with problems of the format a = b × c
Now admittedly 70% of the formulas for AQA GCSE Physics (the specification used by the majority of UK schools) follow the a = bc format, but if you are aiming for a top grade, you should use a system that can handle the remaining 30% as well. Formula triangles can’t handle formulas of the type v2 − u2 = 2as, for example.
2. The formula triangle is a ‘trick’ that hides the maths
Authors such as Dr Ed Southall and Dr Jenny Koenig argue that the use of a formula triangle is a type of ‘procedural teaching’. That is to say, it is merely a ‘quick win’ that bypasses mathematical reasoning rather than models or supports it. While it can sometimes supply the correct answer, it can give no insight into why that answer is correct.
What is FIFAcalc?
‘FIFA’ is simply a mnemonic to help students structure their response to a calculation question.
Teachers and students who have tried the FIFAcalc system have reported significant improvements in marks awarded for calculation questions.
This is because it is ‘mark scheme friendly’. Marks can be awarded for substituting the correct data values and unit conversions, even if the final answer is wrong. Also, examiners will limit the number of marks awarded if the full ‘working out’ is not shown: FIFAcalc encourages a logically sequenced layout that is easy to mark.
Step 1: Formula
Write down the relevant formula or equation. To save time, write it using symbols.
Step 2: Insert values
Write down the numbers that are given in the question in the correct position. For example, if the speed v is given as ‘11.2 m/s’ then you write it in the same position as the v in the original formula. It’s also helpful if you write down the units, especially if there may be unit conversions.
Step 3: Fine tune
This may be a multistep process where you ‘do what you gotta do’ to reach the final answer. For example, it could involve converting units such as kilowatts into watts or even rearranging.
Step 4: Answer
You write down the final answer with the correct unit.
That’s the bare bones of the FIFAcalc system, but it’s often easier to understand using examples.
Using FIFAcalc for a 3 mark question
The animated diagram below shows a 3 mark question. It is worth 3 marks because it requires a unit conversion. Line 4 of the answer models part of the rearrangement method we can use with FIFAcalc.
Using FIFAcalc for a 4 mark question
The animated diagram shows a 4 mark question. This is a 4 mark question because the examiner will be looking for evidence that the correct values have been squared as well as correctly calculating the final answer.
Applying FIFAcalc to an exam-style question
The following animation shows how we can apply the FIFAcalc system to an example exam question and also how marks are awarded for each completed sub-section of the question.
FIFAcalc for the GCSE Physics calculation win!
Many students – including those who find the mathematical aspects of Physics very challenging – have enjoyed great success using the FIFAcalc system as replacement for the ‘dreaded’ formula triangle. I hope you give the FIFAcalc system a try to see if it works for you! | <urn:uuid:084c2947-f9db-466e-8ca3-2cff92063cb7> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.pmt.education/blog/students/fifacalc-for-gcse-physics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233511351.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20231004020329-20231004050329-00220.warc.gz | en | 0.907699 | 845 | 3.5625 | 4 |
LANOUGUÈRE, THOMAS DE, ensign in the Carignan-Salières regiment, seigneur of Sainte-Anne, acting governor of Montreal in 1674, lieutenant and later captain of Governor Frontenac’s [see Buade] guards; b. 1644 at Mirande (Guyenne), son of Jean de Lanouguère, king’s counsellor in a state fiscal subdivision, and of Jeanne de Samalins; d. 1678 at Quebec.
He signed himself Lanouguère, a name which became Lanaudière, Tarieu de Lanaudière, and Tarieu de La Pérade in the case of his descendants. He himself did not have the surname Tarieu. Coming from a noble French family of long standing, Thomas de Lanouguère arrived in Canada in September 1665 as an ensign in the company of Pierre de Saint-Ours* (Carignan-Salières regiment). A short time after its arrival, his company received orders to go and second Capt. Pierre de Saurel in the construction of a fort at the mouth of the Richelieu River. Like the majority of the officers and soldiers of the Carignan-Salières regiment, Lanouguère took part in the expedition led by the Marquis de Tracy [see Prouville] against the Iroquois tribes in 1666.
His father and mother both being dead, he decided at the time of the disbanding of the troops to remain in Canada. On 29 Sept. 1670, acting conjointly with Edmond de Suève, the lieutenant of his company, an unmarried man who considered him a son, Lanouguère purchased a tract of land along the Rivière Sainte-Anne; the tract had previously been granted to Michel Gamelain de La Fontaine and a few settlers had begun to clear it. These lands, located in what is now the parish of Sainte-Anne de la Pérade, were officially granted to them by Intendant Talon on 29 Oct. 1672. A soldier by preference and by career, M. de Lanouguère was only slightly interested in his seigneury. At first he left this responsibility to M. de Suève. Then he entrusted the task to his wife, Marguerite-Renée Denys, whom he had married at Quebec on 16 Oct. 1672 and who was the daughter of Pierre Denys* de La Ronde and of Catherine Leneuf de La Poterie.
In that same year, 1672, the Comte de Frontenac was appointed governor of New France. Lanouguère pleased him as an officer, and he kept him close. He appointed him lieutenant of his guards after their return from the Cataracoui expedition, where in the governor’s opinion Lanouguère had conducted himself like a gallant soldier. In the spring of 1673, Lanouguère wanted to try his hand at the fur trade. But the commandant at Montreal, François-Marie Perrot, had been imprisoned, and Frontenac wanted to replace him with a man he could trust; he delegated his protégé, who was officially appointed 10 Feb. 1674. Frontenac, by an ordinance of 20 Oct. 1674, caused him to be given half of the withheld salary of Governor Perrot, and in his reports to the minister, Colbert, he never tired of praising this officer “who is very energetic and very zealous in the service.” Anticipating that Perrot would return, Frontenac requested for Lanouguère the post of town-major of Montreal, and in the meantime appointed him captain of his guards at Quebec.
This appointment as captain of the guards did not, however, prevent Lanouguère from spending brief periods on his seigneury, which was barely 20 leagues from Quebec. Able to count on the governor’s protection, he could look forward to a prosperous future. However, he died suddenly at Quebec in May 1678 and was buried in the little chapel of his seigneury.
His twenty-one-year-old widow settled down on his seigneury and lived there for 30 years among her copy-holders (censitaires), whom she assisted by her advice and her example. On 9 July 1708 she married Jacques-Alexis de Fleury* Deschambault, the widower of Marguerite de Chavigny, daughter of Eléonore de Grandmaison; he was the lieutenant-general of the royal jurisdiction of Montreal. Marguerite-Renée Denys died on 3 Feb. 1722 at Montreal.
Three children had been born of the Lanouguère-Denys marriage. One of them, Pierre-Thomas Tarieu de La Pérade, inherited the seigneury of Sainte-Anne and in 1706 married the celebrated Madeleine de Verchères [Jarret*].
[François Daniel], Histoire des grandes familles françaises du Canada ou aperçu sur le Chevalier Benoist et quelques contemporaines (Montréal, 1867). Raymond Douville, Premiers seigneurs et colons de Sainte-Anne de la Pérade (1667–1681) (Trois-Rivières, 1946). Faillon, Histoire de la colonie française, III, 482–500, et passim. P.-G. Roy, La famille Tarieu de Lanaudière (Lévis, 1922). Sulte, Mélanges historiques (Malchelosse), VIII.
Revisions based on:
Library and Arch. Can. (Ottawa), R11118-0-7. Bibliothèque et Arch. Nationales du Québec, Centre d’arch. de Québec, CE301-S1, 16 oct. 1672. | <urn:uuid:6aa93518-3904-4738-801e-4d2affa41e78> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/lanouguere_thomas_de_1F.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764501066.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20230209014102-20230209044102-00300.warc.gz | en | 0.947311 | 1,266 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Idling occurs when a vehicle or other engine is left running. In the recent past, it was necessary to keep cars and trucks idling just to keep the engine on and running. Starting an engine was risky, inconvenient, and dangerous before the invention of electric starters in the 1960’s for gasoline powered vehicle. Diesel engines have always been harder to start than gasoline powered engines because many engines use resistive heaters in the intake manifold to warm the inlet air for starting, or until the engine reaches operating temperature.
Today, due to technology advances, it is no longer a necessity to idle while stopped or parked. Idling has become a habit that wastes fuel and money, while costing all of us the ill effects of smog pollution. Smog is the common name for ground level ozone and engine idling adds to NOx and VOC emissions, which contribute to negative, unhealthy levels of ground level ozone.
Quit The Idle Habit - Adopt An Idling Reduction Policy
The Regional Air Quality Planning Committee (RAQPC) assists and advises H-GAC, regional and local governments, transportation organizations and other agencies on air quality issues. RAQPC recognizes the environmental, economic and health benefit potential associated with idling reduction in the HGB region. In late 2011, RAQPC formed an Idling Reduction Subcommittee to develop a voluntary diesel idling reduction policy for public and private sector fleets operating in our nonattainment region.
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Andrew DeCandisSenior Planner, Transportation832-681-2589Andrew.DeCandis@h-gac.com | <urn:uuid:06eee014-d31d-44dc-9ade-480b29930f12> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | http://www.h-gac.com/taq/airquality/engineoff/default.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039746847.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20181120231755-20181121013755-00488.warc.gz | en | 0.919097 | 374 | 3.40625 | 3 |
A fundamental design issue that woodworkers face when building bookcases and other shelf units is how to design a shelf that will not sag. Not only is a sagging shelf unsightly, but it may also be a safety concern.
There are several factors that affect the amount of shelf sag: the material used; the thickness, width, and length; and the expected load the shelf will carry. Determining appropriate values for some of these factors is not always an easy task. For the benefit of all the befuddled shelf designers out there, I developed the Sagulator.
The Sagulator is an online calculator that can determine potential sag in a shelf based on just a few basic pieces of information. Enter the shelf material (the calculator handles hardwoods, softwoods, and sheetgoods), shelf thickness, width, and length, and the load on the shelf, and the program runs its calculations to determine how much the shelf will sag. An answer of more than 0.02-in. per foot of shelf means you need to make compromises -- use a stronger wood, or make the shelf thicker, or wider, or shorter, or add wide edging.
Five Tips for Managing Shelf Sag
1. If shelf span is reduced by one-fifth, shelf stiffness is approximately doubled (deflection is halved)
2. If shelf span is increased by one-fourth, deflection doubles
3. If shelf span is doubled, deflection is eight times greater
4. If shelf thickness is doubled, deflection is reduced to one-eighth
5. If shelf depth is doubled, deflection is cut in half
How it works
In developing the Sagulator, ease of use for the average woodworker was a key consideration. There are a number of online calculators for computing beam deflection (a shelf is basically a beam placed on its side rather than on its edge) but many of these assume a knowledge of beam mechanics or require inputs that are somewhat esoteric or not readily available (such as the modulus of elasticity for various types of materials).
The Sagulator employs published beam deflection formulas for calculating shelf sag. These formulas are available in a number of engineering handbooks as well as Bruce Hoadley's book, Understanding Wood: A Craftsman's Guide to Wood Technology. The Sagulator also uses elasticity measurements that were culled from a variety of sources including the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory.
Use as a guide
Sagulator results should be viewed as guidelines rather than definitive numbers. The software makes assumptions about the bulk stiffness properties of various materials based on laboratory measurements. Some real-world variance from these values is to be expected. Although, many users have reported that the calculated sag figures hold up pretty well.
The Sagulator also does not take into account techniques for increasing shelf stiffness such as the use of reinforcing cleats or screws to attach the shelf to the case back. A rough approximation of a cleat reinforced shelf is possible with the Sagulator by ratcheting up the shelf thickness setting by the cleat thickness (the narrower the shelf, the more accurate this approach).
Bill Kovalick is a hobby woodworker in Annapolis, Maryland. He applies his background in forest science and software engineering to the many features and calculators available on his Web site, Woodbin.com.
Drawing: Stephen Hutchings | <urn:uuid:3c8e5153-447b-4fb3-a015-d0f7bee40d6b> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-to/article/engineer-shelves-with-the-sagulator.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1398223205375.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20140423032005-00336-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941529 | 693 | 2.625 | 3 |
As part of the Platonist vision of conservatism, articles on this site frequently speak of the vision unleashed by the intersection of Platonic forms and Germanic Idealism, namely that recognition that the underlying substance of the universe is thought or thought-like. This is why idea, structure, pattern and logic that corresponds to the outside world are more important than immediate material obstacles.
This ancient philosophy lives on through hermeticism, but also in Christianity through transcendentalist thinkers like Johannes Eckhart. Hermeticism finds its roots in Hindu idealism which, as expressed in the Bhagavad-Gita, roughly mirrored the Greek and German versions. All expressed the idea of an order of nature based not in material position, but logical order.
Plato even took this far enough to speak of healthy civilizations, which recognized this order, as contrasted to unhealthy ones, which were in the grip of hubris or the brew of individualism, narcissism, solipsism and socially-empowered boldness — in which the approval of the social group matters more than reality, and makes us feel safe in denying traditions — which modern people exhibit, especially with their smug and prim attention whoring at political events. Plato wrote:
In the succeeding generation rulers will be appointed who have lost the guardian power of testing the metal of your different races, which, like Hesiod’s, are of gold and silver and brass and iron. And so iron will be mingled with silver, and brass with gold, and hence there will arise dissimilarity and inequality and irregularity, which always and in all places are causes of hatred and war. This the Muses affirm to be the stock from which discord has sprung, wherever arising; and this is their answer to us.
…When discord arose, then the two races were drawn different ways: the iron and brass fell to acquiring money and land and houses and gold and silver; but the gold and silver races, not wanting money but having the true riches in their own nature, inclined towards virtue and the ancient order of things. There was a battle between them, and at last they agreed to distribute their land and houses among individual owners; and they enslaved their friends and maintainers, whom they had formerly protected in the condition of freemen, and made of them subjects and servants; and they themselves were engaged in war and in keeping a watch against them.
…Undoubtedly, he said, the form of government which you describe is a mixture of good and evil.
Why, there is a mixture, I said; but one thing, and one thing only, is predominantly seen, –the spirit of contention and ambition; and these are due to the prevalence of the passionate or spirited element.
The most important line can be found here, in plain sight because very few people can understand it: “the gold and silver races, not wanting money but having the true riches in their own nature, inclined towards virtue and the ancient order of things.”
To be virtuous is to live in a perpetual state of contentment, and to be free from “contention and ambition…the passionate or spirited element.” The ego is the root of the passions; the nature of being “spirited” is to be rebellious against what the evident order. Plato is pointing out that greed and rebellion are one and the same force.
Even more, he is showing how there is an esoteric path to wisdom, namely that only those with gold and silver natures are going to understand the value of “virtue and the ancient order of things.”
From this comes the root of traditionalist thinking: worldwide, there are many religions, and they all describe the same world, so they converge — unequally, idiosyncratically — on the same “truths” or accurate observations about the world, both physical and metaphysical. When we recognize this, we see that history is indeed cyclic, or the story of humanity in an optimal state, its fall, and its attempt to return.
In order to effect our return to this saner state of human being, and to force our evolution into silver and gold again, we must begin with an evolution of consciousness toward extreme accuracy:
When Owen Barfield described the evolution of consciousness, he used ‘evolution’ in a pre-Darwinian sense of a developmental change analogous to the fertilised egg ‘unfolding’ to become a mature, adult organism.
…If the evolution of consciousness has a unified purpose and aim (isn’t just a different purpose and aim for each entity), then this implies that there is a deity – as the source of purpose. Therefore, the evolution of consciousness is a consequence of some divine plan.
What could this divine plan be? For many Christians it will be ‘theosis’ – or the process of Men becoming more and more like God; aiming at becoming Sons and Daughters of God.
Realism demands that we understand our world as it is and adapt to it, which first requires that we make our minds more like the world, a process that in turn leads to transcendental wisdom, or appreciation for the logicality and sanity of our world in presenting us with the best possible existence. Normally humans do not understand their world and so view it as crude, threatening and disorganized.
Theosis is a subset of realism. If God exists, He is part of this world, in idea or at least as a cause of the effect that is this world. If we study the patterns of this world and come to understand its (realist + transcendental) wisdom, we can then grow closer to God by achieving greater mastery of adaptation to the physical world around us.
What this means, interestingly, is that the “religion-first” approach to traditionalism is not going to work. What works is to enforce self-discipline on ourselves so that we accurately understand and adapt to reality, and religion will emerge from within that process instead of the other way around.
To most people, there are only two options: inherent belief to human purpose in the universe, or an absence of anything resembling purpose or belief. The latter are commonly called nihilists.
A sensible version of nihilism cuts to its core, which is distrust of all things perceived through the human mind:
Nihilism is the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated. It is often associated with extreme pessimism and a radical skepticism that condemns existence.
The fundamental separation here occurs through the recognition that values, communication and truth are proxies or intermediates for reality. Our brains will recognize conclusions about the world, encode them in tokens and share them with others, but then the tokens become more important than results in reality. The same happens with money, popularity, religion and systems of control.
For this reason, nihilism is not what most people think it is, which is giving up on knowing reality at all or caring about the consequences of our actions. Instead, it is a refusal to let the human symbols for reality supersede reality itself, a condition known as solipsism which is the root of most common human errors.
Since most people are solipsistic, they want an excuse to give up on reality itself, not its proxies. They do this by strengthening the proxies instead of focusing on reality, or cause-effect results in the world outside our heads. One way to do this is a fanatical “anti-relativism” that emphasizes devotional truths, but the other is fatalism, or proclaiming that all reality is pointless except that in the human mind.
The kiddie form of nihilism arises from this, and ends up being a brew of individualism and anarchism, or essentially an individual without obligations to be correct in his or her statements. This allows the individual to justify inaction and selfishness as some form of “higher truth.”
And so, what does nihilism say about faith? First, it rejects the idea of any belief; in other words, there must be a source of spiritual understanding based on the world and its patterns, much as we know anything else. Next, this spiritual understanding cannot be communicated, only achieved by those who go along the path of cumulative learning.
Nihilism thus rejects exoteric faiths, or those based on the idea that we can communicate metaphysical or spiritual understanding through tokens, or that faith can be adopted on that basis. Religious texts can inform our understanding, but the source of the understanding comes from finding similarities between what is there and what exists in the world.
The root of metaphysics through nihilism is the same radical skepticism toward humanity that is found in most religious texts. Most humans, being monkeys plus language, have low capacity for analytical thinking or any real passion. Instead, they focus on the ego, externalizing choice to factors such as bodily impulses, socializing with others, and following what the group does.
An examination of the external world however reveals a potent clue: patterns, not physical matter, rule the day. That is: matter arranged in patterns has properties beyond its immediate physical presence, and these patterns can appear in different forms of matter and have the same effect, which means that patterns are more important than materiality.
The classic example of this is a chair. It can be made out of wood, stone, metal, plastic or even human bones, and still serves the same function. The design of the chair — four legs, a platform and a back — is where the magic lies, not in the plastic or bone. In the same way, forms of organization of groups or ideas have greater power than what they are written on or the tokens used. The idea is all.
From this realization comes the first honest spirituality. When life is seen in terms of patterns, those patterns can be compared and arranged, showing how reality is structured. This is separate from purpose, because that is a choice of the individual human, but those choices reflect the moral composition, intelligence and honesty of those individuals.
In turn, this places an emphasis on thought, or at least thought that is consistent with the world around it, making it a continuation of the world in the mind. Here a fine line arises: the world is thought, but not just any thought, since most human thought is a closed-circuit feedback loop of the impulses of the body and ego, and unrelated to the broader world.
When one sees the world as thought, something better than inherent purpose emerges: a sense that the world is calculating, or transacting change toward an ongoing end like evolution itself. Our thoughts take the same pattern, which is that many options emerge and are slowly whittled down to a final model, which is then refined qualitatively or in terms of degree of efficiency, accuracy and elegance.
At that point, the world takes on a new perspective. Instead of the world being the cause of thoughts, thoughts — or the evolution thereof — are the cause of the world, and it reveals its tendencies toward beauty and goodness through the seemingly endless creativity of nature and the many possibilities it gives us.
Through eyes that have realized this truth, a forest becomes not just an object of beauty, but a sense of beauty joined to function, revealing a pattern of thought that emphasizes something we can only call holiness. It takes us beyond the requirements of mere utilitarianism and shows us that the universe points in a different direction, toward an experience of greatness and existential pleasure.
With that, we realize that life has given us a clue: it is not random after all, nor is it ugly. Instead, it is us that are ugly. We resist a world that would push us to greater heights because we fear losing control. And yet, the world tries for beauty, which is how we know that we are immortal and that striving for excellence is worthy. Only then do we join the eternal pattern of our cosmos.
Among us now come many who have staked all of their hopes on a single tool to fix a complex situation, for example, religion. Many especially among our most learned and thoughtful believe that society must begin again with religion as the tool that makes this happen, but they would produce the worst of possible results, much as happened when Hitler treated race the same way: as a tool.
Our time is ruled by social popularity, democratic voting and consumer-based industry. We are accustomed to creating tools, whether physical or institutional, that shape people around us by forcing all of them through a filter. In this filter, they must either obey the dogma or face some kind of sanctions, although those seem only to fall on the good taxpayers and not those who make lives of crime.
The problem with tools is that they not only fail to contain meaning, or knowledge of goals (“ends”), but that they actively displace meaning. Your mind only has so much space of focus, and if all of the focus goes into methods (“means”) instead of ends, then the reasoning behind doing things is lost. This allows fools to compete with the wise by emulating them, and the audience cannot tell the difference.
Of those people who want religion to save the West — fundamentalists, evangelicals, some traditionalists and pentacostals — the analysis remains consistent because it has been so for the past two hundred years. They talk a good deal about morality, and how they will set an example, which turns out to mean they will go to their church, drop out of society at large, earn money and pay taxes.
In short, they will not fight the enemy, but will enrich themselves, and in the meantime, be the good stupid little sheep that any parasitic system needs. If you want to know why people are fleeing churches, it is that the Christian conservatives act like morons, and the rest of the flock is too busy trying to be hip, young and liberal so they can get some of those donations, but it never works for long.
People who are trying to use religion to save the West have made religion into a political organ. They want to use it like a tool to filter people and force us all to obey what becomes a de facto ideology. In other words, they make religion into liberalism by attempting to use it as a force against liberalism.
A more sensible vision, as offered on this site, is that we will not have a single over-arching theory as liberals do. Even conservatism itself has two general planks, time-proven methods and transcendental goals. Religion is part of this, possibly an inseparable part, but it is not the core. The core is a desire to be realistic and from that, to choose what is best for ourselves and recognize that the rest of humanity will not. That leads to something like our four pillars, varied methods shaped around the goal of excellence through realism and self-discipline.
In other words, our basic outlook has to be evolutionary. We rise because we target excellence, but most of the world will always be a human wasteland because most people are dishonest because they are solipsistic, in the eternal weakness of humankind. Our big brains become mental bubbles in which we live while life passes by outside, and we waste our time on garbage instead of making greatness of our days.
Every part of life demands greatness. Even the simplest acts of craftsmanship, agriculture and day-to-day leadership can be improved qualitatively as an infinite dimension. There is always room to be go further, but it is not through a change in methods, but through refinement of our understanding, self-discipline, aesthetics and other inner skills.
We do not know what the future holds for us, but it seems likely that there will be a rebirth of Western religion. This will occur through a desire to restore the West by finding reality, and will emerge from our focus on what is real, which includes religion but is not limited to it. Religion in fact can serve as a proxy, a game or a legal puzzle, for understanding this reality. The tool then becomes the master, and the master the slave.
This religion may even be a revitalized Christianity. Writers like J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Paul Woodruff and T.S. Eliot have given us a vision of what that might be like, with Tolkien and Woodruff leading the pack. But more likely, the strength of Christianity — its communication through fable and laws — will be its downfall. In our new complex era, we need something more.
Another writer, Michel Houellebecq, expresses something else: admiration for Christianity, but recognition that its vitality has faded, and so it needs to be restarted and renewed, if not remade in our image. We do not need a Western religion; we need a religious Westernism, a belief in ourselves in our goodness that includes the will to find God in all things, but not through the tired manipulations of the flagging church.
It is likely that the Western religion will be like our original pagan faiths, unwritten and in fact, not formalized. It will not be used as a tool, where the religion is the means of changing our motivation, but will be discovered as part of daily life. The ancients might have said to us that they did not have religion, only an awareness of an order within the patterns of life, and that this transparency allowed them to avoid turning it into a dogma, an ideology and a tool.
Our original religion comes from nature and is based in the idea that nature reflects a more complex order than man, because man must fit into this order. We study patterns and from them, can make some conclusions which are firmer than any material objects in their prevalence in our lives. For example, we notice that life seems to strive for beauty, balance, harmony and purpose, always refining itself toward greater complexity which is a form of simplicity with many layers, not lots of unconnected detail in the modern “complex” way that is really ornamentation.
To the ancients, religion was inseparable from any other form of knowledge. They knew that the natural world was everything, but that it had layers which are not visible to the living, and it has spaces to which the non-living pass, but that these are battlegrounds not of good versus evil but order versus randomness, with evil being an agent of that randomness because it is moral selfishness, or hubris.
Their beliefs were logical and rigorously ordered, not symbolic as the Asiatic religions were, and they were not backward like the process of using religion as a political tool. Instead, they sought to put each thing in its place, and then improve everything qualitatively according to the order found in nature. This is a more mature faith than what we have now, and the only type of belief that can aid us in our task of restoration.
As we look toward how this civilization has failed, the inevitable question arises of whether or not we can reverse the decline and avoid it again. The civilization that can find a path around this pitfall, which destroys most advanced civilizations, will inherit the future of humanity.
To reverse our decline, we must understand at least somewhat how it came about, and what sort of civilization design or structure will avoid or at least strongly resist this type of entropy. Many suggest the pithy phrase “throne and altar” to refer to a society ruled by aristocrats and administrated by kings.
This proves to be a poor idea however for a simple reason: it divides power. Kings function well when they have unlimited power and are not constrained by precedent, but are instead informed in tradition, because this enables them to uphold the principles of tradition without having to repeat the methods approved of by convention.
In addition, having greater wisdom than most, kings tend to be well-informed of the existence of the metaphysical, partially from having brains designed by nature to separate human patterns from ones found in non-human nature, and through that, to determine both what is real and what is excellent for humans among that set of options.
What a healthy society needs is a king who understands religion, not a priest playing the role of king, because while religion reflects an actuality understood at a personal level, making religion into an organized entity requires having leaders, and if those compete with the kings for power, it creates the same instability that fractured European societies in the past. Instead it makes sense to have a king with religious leanings informed by a matrix of aristocrats who support him and provide internal criticism, also being fully educated in the religion of the land.
This will not be a popular view. People want solutions that, like the designs of our democratic time, involve a balance of powers. They fear what happens when a king has unlimited power. But by doing so, they hamper power, and by making it ambiguous, create a contest for it in which we fight each other instead of focusing on cooperation.
Conservative Christians who had despaired of the country’s direction under President Barack Obama—and of developments such as the legalization of same-sex marriage—now expect to wield influence in an administration that they helped bring to power.
They are pressing for a ban on late-term abortions; expanded accommodation for religion in the workplace, at hospitals and elsewhere; and, above all, the appointment of conservative judges.
…In the long term, many evangelicals are hoping that conservative judges will overturn rulings on social issues including gay marriage and Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case that established a nationwide right to abortion access.
This post is not a rant against religion or religious conservatives, but it is a warning about “the religious Right,” who are a single-issue special interest group that has a tendency to hijack the greater Rightist agenda toward realism and replace it with a highly symbolic agenda. This is also not to say they are wrong on issues like abortion and gay marriage; in fact they are correct. However, they have put the details which will emerge from the bigger picture before achieving that bigger picture, and thus they are defeat monkeys who will (as they did in the 1980s) parasitize and deprecate the Right.
One of the great illusions of our time is that religion is impractical when the opposite is true. The practice of spirituality has intense real-world value and is necessary for making sense of the parts of our world that are not physical, including the condition of our own minds and the self-discipline required to rise about the default bog-normal Simian state of humanity. Religion, like history and literature, compiles human knowledge of what worked best and worst over the years, giving us directions instead of static rules.
For this reason, any realistic movement will discover a need for spirituality in time, and more importantly, will end the insanity of the society around it so that it can nurture a spiritual or religious movement without it getting obliterated by the chaos around it. This allows for a boostrapping process of civilization renewal: a feedback loop is established between power and culture, with the former protecting the latter so that it can grow and inform and expand the former.
Trying the opposite approach — hoping for a religious revival that somehow fixes everything else — ends in tears because religion is part of but not equal to the process of civilizational restoration. The religious fanatics will either retreat into their own bubbles, or campaign for power, and by pursuing symbolic goals rather than realistic ones, fail to achieve long-term popularity and thus quickly be dispensed with as they were in the 1990s. No one is sorry to see the PMRC or moralistic groups — including non-religious ones like MADD — pass on.
Right now, the last thing we need is a religious crusade; we need hard practical change for survival, including the removal of the triad of demographic genocide laws — affirmative action, anti-discrimination and civil rights — that ensure our people are last in line for jobs, housing, benefits and as a result are effectively being driven out of society. We need to protect ourselves so that in the future, with greater health, we can then create a healthy society, including but not limited to religion.
What we need then is a rise in “Rightists with religion,” or people who want realism plus transcendentalism including religion, instead of “the religious Right.” This seems counter-intuitive but it provides us with the basis for civilization renewal, and within that, the rebirth of religion that is as realistic as the civilization, without all of the symbolism and emotion that might make us put the cart before the horse.
As Neoreaction fades into a type of extreme Libertarianism that guarantees it will be absorbed by demotist forces with credit cards instead of ballots, more are considering the basic idea of Reaction itself: that modernity, based in equality applied by government, is a path to suicide and that we need cultural, religious and leadership guidance instead.
One form that appears fascinating is Christian Reaction, or the group of Reactionaries who base their worldview in a resurrected Christian nation instead of a purely leadership or cultural solution. The good side of this is that what they advocate is necessary and positive; the bad side is that sometimes, it can replace other things that need to be done, and become a scapegoat or false solution.
Where the Christian Reactionaries are most correct is at their core, which has two parts:
Morality. Civilizations die because their citizens become individualistic after there is too much tolerance for not-good people, usually during wartime or plagues when extra hands are needed. The natural tendency of civilization however is to increase social order, so that more survive, and to spare lives from the horrors of the pre-civilization era. The only way to restrain this natural entropy is to have a society that is morally alert to all transgressions, no matter how small, and constantly shedding those who are inclined toward any path other than good. This seems too extreme to most, so they settle for throwing out the extreme bad instead of generally removing the failed, and Christian Reaction has no patience for this.
Self-Discipline. Spiritual practice occurs through the denial of impulses and a redirection of that energy toward wholesome things. In particular, prayer and meditation increase focus, especially among the intelligent, who are otherwise prone to become chaos monkeys indulging in personal pretense and thus splitting society into many directions, few of which are relevant. Christian Reaction emphasizes personal growth through self-discipline and the necessity of it as a basis for society as a whole.
At the end of much of philosophy, we arrive at these two concepts as the only way to slow or prevent civilization decline. It cannot be done with authority alone, nor by filtering out the bad alone, because it is necessary to redirect the normal and intelligent toward the good, including things that seem “un fun” like chastity, relative sobriety, pride in tribe, and focus on moral goods — aspiration to excellence — above all else.
Unfortunately, Christianity today is a ruin and it has been for many centuries. In particular, the Catholic popes interfered with the absolute rule of the kings, introducing the kind of committee politics that specialize in making bad decisions in order to avoid upsetting the varied special interest groups sitting at the table. At this point, almost all churches are fallen, chasing Leftist ideals as a vain hope for restoring the people who once attended, forgetting that people come to church for the kind of discipline, purpose and guidance that only religion can provide.
In particular, the Catholic churches are worst about this, identifying with the victim narrative and opposing any kind of strong and healthy power that might compete with the church and papacy. This makes them toxic in every way and prone to thwarting the exercise of necessary changes. Traditional Western European focus is less Protestant than anti-Catholic, as we saw with the Nativist movements and the conversion of much of Europe. The popes thwarted the kings, and so sensible people ejected the popes.
Many on the Christian Reaction front call sensibly for a renewal of Christianity through a return to its core focus, including its Greco-Roman, Nordic Pagan and Hindu roots, among the many other influences that were compiled into the Bible. The point here is to not get caught up in specifics and rules, but look at the purpose of the religion, which is a meditative realism leading to transcendental understanding.
Some advocate a monistic Christianity. This is important because its opposite, dualism, argues for the presence of two worlds: a perfect heaven and an imperfect earth. This causes disregard of what happens in this world in anticipation of the next, and conveys the notion that the rules of this world are nonsense or illogical, both of which propel Christians toward emotional but unrealistic paths.
If Christian Reaction has its way, a future Christianity will be both more militant and more naturalistic. It will not fall into the easy excuses of being individualistic or ignoring the world. It will be an active, warlike Christianity that even Fred Nietzsche could approve of. For this reason, even metaphysical skeptics have reason to explore Christian Reaction.
Perception is regulated by conceptual understanding. What we know how to recognize in the flood of data coming in from our senses, we can mentally process. Everything else slips by into chaos.
If true knowledge is possible, it must come from valid concepts. Because these can be shared between people, they must exist outside of people, or be in the world like neo-Platonic forms.
Therefore, those who think purely in terms of concepts will be accurate, which means that we can think without evidence and achieve understanding of the universe.
In essence, pure conceptual thinking is how we understand reality.
Charlton attributes this schema to Rudolf Steiner’s early philosophical book The Philosophy of Freedom, but alert readers here will recognize the actual root of this idea: Immanuel Kant and his idea of intuition as the basis of a priori understanding.
In my own writing, specifically the unpublished Parallelism, I expand on the basic concept of the black pill and how it leads to understanding reality.
Humans have big brains, and those receive stronger signals from themselves than the world, which is a problem especially because we know the world through our memories of it, encoded as tokens based on our conclusion of the relevant parts to us. This comes after we filter the world, as Charlton notes, through what we know to look for, living in “a representation of a representation” as Schopenhauer argues. We never come in contact with the raw data because it would be like trying to drink from a firehose and would paralyze our reaction times.
Consequently, any process of understanding involves separating what we know to be true from what is merely signal reflected back from our big brains. We have to navigate our assumptions, emotions, impulses, neurotic mental chatter and tendency toward quick absolute categorical judgments in order to do this, among other perceptual pitfalls and glitches.
At this point, we must consider “evidence” versus “logical fact.” Evidence is what we can derive from our perception, but as illustrated above, it is already heavily filtered through our conceptual outlook. Further, it is based on material factors, such as how parts of reality interact, but blind to pattern which represents the organization of reality and its structure (analogous to Platonic forms). Evidence therefore is best for figuring out how to do things like make gasoline engines or grow crops, but not so good when it comes to questions of understanding reality under the surface formed of the interaction of material objects, like seeds plus water equals plants.
Logical fact, on the other hand, consists of looking at the organization of these material parts and deriving principles about how they work. Mathematics and philosophy are the closest to this field because they analyze patterns and their transformation, but these become difficult because we are unsure that what seems logically true corresponds to reality, which is wily and has twists and turns and emergent complexities. Enter parallelism: the idea that patterns occur in parallel across multiple domains, including thought, energy and matter.
With parallelism, we can see what patterns recur in multiple places in our world, and use these as the basis for understanding new input. This works through a type of metaphor that is more exact than what we expect from language. It requires precision about the nature of each pattern and why it works as it does, animating the structure with an understanding of purpose.
At this point, we are starting to get somewhere. We have a way of knowing what is true beyond any immediate circumstance because we can see the pattern in multiple places and its function or role is consistent. At that point, we are able to discipline our thought to being like that of the universe, and in so doing, realize its logical basis. As discovered by the German Idealists, the universe behaves in a thought-like way, and appears to respond at the level of structure as we would expect thoughts to do so.
Now we have moved beyond materialism. We see first the world as a function of order or pattern, and next, that structure as resembling thought, which works by having multiple impulses and selecting whichever one is compatible with everything that already exists, or is parallel to the rest of structure. This enables us to see the universe as having an inherent mode of operation and intent, one that is initially foreign to the world of human intent, which reflects our interests within the structure as we perceive them without knowledge of that structure.
This in turn requires us to look into what the intent of the universe might be. It seems to specialize in making beauty out of nothingness, but also, by holding to a hard line of logical fact that punishes that which deviates from compatibility with its order. Through processes like natural selection and entropy, it destroys that which is disorganized and reshapes the rest into greater degrees of order, balance and efficiency.
From this vantage point, we can see the nature of a divine force or something like one: benevolent in intent, rigorously logical in method, and focused on urging us upward toward greater order, versus our tendency as human monkeys to scatter in divergent chaotic directions in pursuit of our personal illusions, desires and other artifacts of having a lack of focus toward the divine. We are evil not because we mean badly, but because our thought and thus behavior is not disciplined.
Since we have ventured into metaphysics, we might take a look at an old theorem of Plato’s. We can see cause-effect relationships in everyday life, but now we know that these are a product of a thought-like structure to the universe, which like a computation seeks to resolve a problem constantly in order to refine itself; think of a self-programming computer, always testing its own code to find what works better, and replacing the old code with the new, more precise algorithms.
This means that in addition to regular cause-effect relationships, there is a bigger cause-effect relationship formed of compatibility between patterns and a steady pressure toward upward organization. This no longer acts like self-interested material objects, but a purposeful Designer who is starting us as dust and working us toward a god-like level, or as close as we can get.
In addition, we know that this causal space of pattern is much larger than the physical objects in which it manifests, meaning that our material world is the smaller part, and the world of thought much larger, implying not a dualistic “second world” but an extension to this one formed of the patterns as the universe intends them, not our perceptions of them. In this space, which is so large as to be infinite, information matters more than material, and here we see that the presence of our minds as information agents can have applicability beyond our physical selves.
None of this was unknown to the ancients, but then again, instead of checking Twitter every thirty minutes, they were sitting in darkened caves in deep thought guided by regular breathing and a suppression of the chattering monkey creating a background hum inside our heads. Clarity of thought, and eventually metaphysical experience, came naturally for them.
As we look toward peeling back the layers of the onion that is modernity, realizing that it started from a lie and that the only way to beat it is to head in a contrary direction, it makes sense to return to this focus on meditative understanding of structure. It does not contradict the realistic imperative that we adapt to material reality, but shows us a stage in which to go once we achieve basic sanity, and a basis for a spirituality which does not — like almost all existing forms of religion — lead us further into the illusion of ourselves.
The Book of Jude warned us well of the advent of Cuck Christianity. The relevant verses follow below.
16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. 17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
The 2,000 year old warnings found in Jude’s little-known epistle ring true as Christianity continues to degrade itself from the Passion of Christ to the legalism of the Pharissee. A vote against the will of these Real Christians, is indeed a toll pass via the express lane of AC/DC’s infamous Highway to Hell.
The gist of the conflict is that Christians, who have decided that Donald Trump is so evil and immoral that any vote for him is to approve of and even become complicit in his sin, are questioning not only the character but the salvation of those who support the GOP candidate. This condemnation encompasses even those reluctant and melancholy warriors for conservatism who are voting for him as a strategy to stop the advancement of a leftist political agenda that dominates a corrupt Democratic Party…
Are we really laid over for torture at the hands of Crom’s Devils if we urge our compatriots to vote against the type of people who are frustrated that Hurricane Matthew didn’t clean out more trailer parks to effectively scare the sheep about Global Warming? It depends on which whinging voice of Cuck Christianity is out there a-preachin’ it for Hillary. There are two versions of this sort of Neo-Judaizer Heresy – weak and strong.
The truth is, with headlines about Clinton’s emails, terrorist attacks, the Obama Administration’s advancement of transgenderism in the military, etc. I have been actively reconsidering my opposition to Trump. I’ve done it in conversation with friends, in prayer, and in quiet time dedicated to considering the future. In short, I see the election of Hillary Clinton as the antithesis of all my values and ideas on what fosters sound civil society in this country. Further, she should be in jail.
Once you’ve pretty much decided the opposition candidate is Alicia Capone, you’ve basically laid out your moral duty. You vote for the guy that will chain her up and parade her through Georgetown as part of his inaugural triumph. To weasel out of condign retribution against said career criminal, you’re stuck having to tear down the individual on the other side to a level of base deplorability that requires you to support Attila the Hag. And then get the muck off your hands a wee bit better than poor, old Lady MacBeth ever could.
So we get the predictable riffs about how Trump isn’t ¡PROLIFE! enough to fit in with a Congress that never had the guts to put a single piece of Pro-Life legislation on President Obama’s desk. We’ll elide past the historical illiteracy necessary to plant the axiom that a pride of Conservative Lions exists in today’s GOP. Let’s be sporting and temporarily let our #NeverTrumper claim that Trump could undermine this thin red line of heroes. I issue this intentional walk to get after the nasty beneath the beatific Churchian exterior.
When I see Christians defining deviancy down to justify a political decision, I see a real problem for the church. When I see Christians saying we have license to choose bad men because God chose bad men, I see the sparks of apostasy…The level of fear many of my friends have towards what a Clinton Administration may bring has turned to desperation and desire for a protector….While I concede they may be right, what I see is a level of desperation causing them to place their trust in one strong man instead of God.
The poor dears are just scared and don’t know any better. In the end, the accusation reads that any Christian of holds his nose and votes for Chairman Donald over Dear Leader Hillary has been frightened, unmanned and reduced to a gibbering blob of Glenn Beck worshiping at the foot of Trump Tower rather than the sacred cross. I’m sure the son of Jerry Falwell who recently said pleasant things about Mr. Trump has taken down all the Crucifix art he owns and replaced it with Trump Fuzzy Dice instead. Such ridiculous and small-hearted ecclesiastical nastiness hasn’t been this fashionable since Jimmy Carter won the Iowa Caucus in 1976.
There is also a stronger version of this heresy afoot that fears no killer rabbits. It preaches the fire and brimstone as if Making America Great Again would erect once more The Tower of Babel. If an angel descends and then Reverend Metaxas from Texas bursts into blue, incandescent flame, I will humbly seek forgiveness and admire the wisdom of Ed Rogers.
I wonder if this is the end of the evangelical movement within the Republican Party. Trump’s strength in South Carolina, of all places, is alarming. Many evangelical leaders, who can be so quick to point out the moral failings of others, are strangely silent concerning Trump’s shortcomings. How can they reconcile fidelity to their faith with a vote for Trump? How do they overlook Trump’s personal qualities and behavior? What about the morality of entrusting the presidency to someone with the temperament and questionable judgment we have all witnessed from Trump? I would like some answers. I find it hard to believe evangelicals are supporting Trump because of his policy positions, since he doesn’t have many. They can’t be supporting Trump because of his faith or godliness…
Alas Babylon, Ed Rogers. Alas Babylon. Rather than acting like he has the right to question the faith of churchgoers who vote athwart his divine commandmants thundered down to the mere mortals in the pews, he should ponder another question. How can a church that by all fair-minded and rigorous accounts is having its ass flambéed on any given Sunday like the 2008 Detroit Lions justify questioning the temperament and judgement of its rapidly declining membership. Maybe the people who no longer seek out salvation in the same church as Ed Rogers kinda-sorta have a point.
The starting Center from that Detroit Lions team looked in the mirror and saw reality. “I’ve got to live with this.” He lamented. “I’ve been here eight years. This is on my resume.” If we wake up on November 9 with a 50-49 Hillary victory, this will be true of #BibleThumpForNeverTrump. They will get to live with it as well. They will have elected a POTUS who will empower, hire and enrich a set of functionaries who at least empathize with the sentiment that nothing quite smells of lovin’ like an Evangelical in the oven.
Every single last one of these slimy #NeverTrumpers thinks they can leverage this betrayal to climb out of The Basket of Deplorables that Hillary has assuredly assigned them to and land a fat “loyal opposition” gig at CNN, Fox or K-Street instead. There were people like this all over China and Russia during these countries’ respective Communist Revolutions. They were the ones that got lined up against the wall and shot first.
Even the feckless and maladroit British Army leaders that lost the Thirteen Colonies were smart enough to significantly demote Benedict Arnold after his treason. They could not afford to see this sort of thing rewarded. It’s something for a #NeverTrumper to chew over for a bit if they ever seriously and sincerely reconsider their current trajectory into moral oblivion.
The truth is hurtful to the professionally brilliant and intellectual. The more heavily invested these people become in pseudo-erudite nonsense for their paychecks, the more they have to step lively through the dangerous minefield known as reality.
Rutgers university professor of social pyschology Lee Jussim attempts this subtle introduction of hard truthinto fantasy land below.
But as biased and destructive as these images may be, many stereotypes – fixed characterisations of specific groups – turn out to hold kernels of truth. In fact, even if vicious stereotypes are always inaccurate, that hardly disproves what most everyday people think of African-Americans, women, Jews, Muslims, or any other group. Which raises the question: what do people actually believe about groups, and are those beliefs inaccurate?
The rest of us, who live in our suburban peasant huts rather than the Ivory Tower of academic bliss, lack the luxury of believing in that which is not. Normal people are forced to interact with the world rather than study it from altitude and distance. That immediately puts us afoul of the fundamental assumptions of microeconomics. We, as consumers of reality, are always forced to make our decisions in a state of imperfect rather than perfect information. This forces us to have to rapidly overcome an information asymmetry, or risk making a series of poor decisions.
So we have to reach for more information under time duress. We need to get smarter and we need tog et their quickly. In Computational Operations Research, we can “plus up” a sub-optimal decision process via a heuristic. A heuristic is a logical law that simply sets the value of some X equal to a value k per each type of situation. We commonly call these “rules of thumb.”
So what happens when we have to operate in the complex system of a diverse population and don’t have the time or opportunity to figure out everything about everyone. The survival mechanism that kicks in in the face of our obvious information asymetry is to develop social rules of thumb.
To apply this, first divide all of these diverse and unique human beings into comprehensible equivalence classes that enable you to take comprehensible data. The observer assigns them variables like a physicist studying some bizarre new particle. Race, Social Class, Religion, Ethnic Origin, Spoken Language and anything else you can use to organize a recognizable sample.
Then the observer studies the sample and attempts to deduce rules of behavior. It allows him to state the following proposition: “If I encounter individuals in group X, under situation Y, I should do Z.” If the observer then tries out behavior Z, then reality will judge the accuracy of the underlying hypothesis. If it works, the observer and all his merry drinking pals will repeat behavior Z and tell all their buddies to do likewise. If behavior Z works everytime like Colt .45, it will become a social rule of thumb. Group X may not like or appreciate this, but they have just been stereotyped.
The more diverse and chaotic a society becomes, the more and more we need these rules of thumb to quickly and effectively negotiate social terrain. Diversity and disorder require an increased reliance on stereotyping. It’s like Pokemon Go. You’ll never be able to catch ’em all. People will increasingly rely on stereotyping.
So if stereotyping is E-vil, if it offends you personally, then you need to get rid of the conditions that necessitate the more frequent creation and use of stereotypes. In the end people stereotype because it works like hell.
The Alt Right contains multitudes — Traditionalism, Nationalism, Identitarianism, Theocracy, National Socialism/neo-Nazism, Libertarianism, Paleoconservatism, Social Conservatism, Neoreaction and the New Right coexist within it — all of which contribute to its character, but each Alt Righter finds one dominant over the others in his own thinking.
However, the penultimate sin of this artistic foray by Spencer et al. is its imposition of a wholly non-historical, secular, and privately-conceived image upon a decentralized movement designed to defend hundreds of millions of souls descended from millennia of historically and religiously-rooted European history.
In other words, this Alt Right logo does artistically what the European Union’s constitution does legally – it erases European history and replaces it with an abstract, de novo interpretation of who we are to become. It is wholly utopian and idealistic. But that is no surprise considering whence it came.
This illustrates why the Alt Right is composed of an intersection of those many impulses above: any “one right way” approach to restoring Western Civilization tends to become a special interest that eclipses all other needs, resulting in a single change to the status quo that leaves the bulk of the decay intact.
One Right Way philosophies include White Nationalism, which wants to eject or destroy some Other groups but not all, and then merge all white people into a vanilla milkshake under the current democratic regime. This fails because it leaves the conditions which will re-create our present state intact, and by focusing on a scapegoat (Others) instead of actual problems like Western Decline, democracy and individualism, strengthens those forces.
Theocracy/Orthosphere in its purest form is a One Right Way philosophy — ironically, one that is endorsed by many American Republicans. In their view, we need everyone to convert to Christianity, and everything else will work itself out. For most, this is simply an excuse for inaction. With a respected source such as Faith and Heritage, more is at work, but the problem still remains.
For the F&H guys, European = Christian. For them Christianity came first, the people and their culture second. This quixotic miscomprehension is their perpetual downfall. The understanding that Christianity took hold in Europe because it was compatible with the European mindset is incomprehensible to them.
In other words, they have it backward: Christianity did not make Europe, but when Europeans “Europeanized” Christianity, they made it into a religion that could unite Europe. It did not not through Christianity itself, but through the expression of the European mindset through Christianity.
This clashes with the modern view of Christianity, which is that Christianity is the tool of producing civilization. In that view, everyone is capable of becoming Christian and being saved, and this “system” in turn saves the society around it. Not only history but common sense suggests that is not so.
Repeat after me: people are not equal. (It almost rhymes.)
People are not equal. They have different capacities for understanding. If you follow Human Biodiversity (HBD), you know that intelligence fits into a Standard Distribution where only the far-right side is capable of in-depth understanding of the complex history of a people and its relationship to God found in the Bible. This is why we have clergy; they are learned, elite interpreters of the holy Book.
Rejecting equality means that not everyone is capable of being Christian, of being saved, and that doesn’t jive with the feel-good understanding of God that modern Christians pursue. It just does not compute that God would create people who cannot be saved (even though this is Biblical).
Let us look at the scripture:
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. – John 6:44 (ESV)
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. – John 15:16 (ESV)
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. – Romans 9:16 (ESV)
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. – Romans 8:29 (ESV)
The above passages are traditionally used to support Calvinism, or the notion that human beings are born good or bad and cannot be molded from one into the other. This is highly controversial in our egalitarian times, since it implies that human intention is less powerful than the world of nature and God, which contradicts the individualism incipient behind our modern democratic beliefs.
Romans 8:29 makes this clear: God makes people who are receptive to Him, and by the reflexive principle, not all people are receptive, and the ones who are not are hostile to God. Those who are receptive to Him are so because of the way God made them.
Much like the question of Christianizing Europe versus Europeanizing Christianity, this question hinges on causality. The ability to receive God must exist before a person can receive God, as in the esoteric “Traditionalist” view; this rejects the idea that receiving God creates the ability to receiving god, in the exoteric and democratic convention.
That ability to perceive and receive is the essential component and must come first. Without it, there is no belief in God, only superstitious peoples like in the third world and Western New Age cults. The other verses support this view: God installs in some of us the ability to perceive God.
From an Alt Right view, this means that we must have a hierarchy, and raise those who understand God/nature/logic above the rest so that the best can rule the rest. It may also imply that those who oppose God, because they cannot be “fixed” or “educated,” must be sent elsewhere so they do not threaten the society of those who receive God.
Europeans have a tendency toward ability to receive God, but not all of them can do it. In the past, whether in pagan societies or Christianity, Europeans have sought a transcendental worldview and a metaphysical understanding of their world. This separates them from other groups, and shows why it was Europeanizing Christianity and not Christianizing Europe that is responsible for the positive contributions of Christianity in Europe. | <urn:uuid:91199242-dc77-4ced-bc3f-bb27a1f70e5b> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://www.amerika.org/tag/religion/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501174215.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104614-00126-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956342 | 11,297 | 2.8125 | 3 |
June 2, 2018
What is the PASRR definition of intellectual disability?
According to 42 CFR 483.102(b)(3), an individual has an intellectual disability if he or she has:
A level of intellectual disability as described in the American Association on Mental Retardation's (AAMR) Manual on Classification in Mental Retardation, published in 1983; or
A related condition, which is defined by 42 CFR 435.1010 as a disability that:
a) Is attributable to:
i) Cerebral palsy or epilepsy; or
ii) Any other condition, other than mental illness, found to be closely related to intellectual disability because it impairs intellectual functioning or would require services normally delivered to an individual with impaired intellectual functioning;
b) Manifests before the age of 22;
c) Is likely to continue indefinitely; and
d) Results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following life activities:
ii) Understanding and use of language;
v) Self-direction; or
vi) Capacity for independent living
The CFR cited the AAMR's 1983 Manual because it represented the most current understanding of intellectual disability at the time the regulations were published, and because the authors of the original PASRR legislation (in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987) wished to identify a set of people that would not change over time (so that the application of PASRR would itself not change arbitrarily). Nonetheless, it is very much "of its time."
Notions of intellectual disability have evolved considerably since 1983. Indeed, the Association itself has published several revisions to the manual, and has changed its name to The American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), reflecting a move away from the (now derogatory) term "mental retardation."
Identifying related conditions may involve some discretion on the part of a clinician or evaluator. However, although related conditions are treated by PASRR as a subset of intellectual disability, note the definition of related condition does not require that an individual have an intellectual disability so long as other related conditions criteria are met.
For reference, this page includes a copy of the 1983 Manual as a downloadable PDF below. | <urn:uuid:7c2fb73c-9625-468e-82f2-602b8784b697> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://www.pasrrassist.org/combined/What-is-the-PASRR-definition-of-intellectual-disability%3F | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243988724.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20210505234449-20210506024449-00065.warc.gz | en | 0.924106 | 459 | 3 | 3 |
Our crowns and bridges are typically used to restore damaged smiles. Crowns are singular caps that can fix and protect a tooth that has suffered from severe decay. Dental bridges are created with multiple dental crowns and allow us to replace missing teeth.
What Are Dental Crowns?
Crowns are typically placed on teeth when the cavity, old filling or broken area of the tooth is too large to repair with a filling. Crowns are also placed to protect a tooth after a root canal treatment has been done. Crowns can be made from a variety of materials, and different situations dictate the type of material used. Our lab technician works closely with the doctors to provide an excellent result, esthetically and functionally. We take great pride in our work placed in your mouth. The ultimate goal is for the crown to look and feel like a natural, healthy tooth.
The most beautiful crown for a tooth is, without question, all-porcelain or all-ceramic.
To define some terminology, porcelain is a particular type of ceramic that is built by stacking and firing. When we say ceramic, we include porcelain—porcelain is a type of ceramic. All-porcelain crowns are translucent, and their color is influenced by the color of the underlying teeth.
With porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns, there has to be an opaque layer put over the metal to block out its color. This makes it impossible to have a translucent restoration that mimics the translucency of natural teeth. Only with pure porcelain or pure ceramic can you have such translucency.
Aside from ceramic or all-porcelain crowns, we have several types that we use, each for different situations. We commonly use all-zirconia, porcelain-fused-to-zirconia, e-max (lithium disilicate), and porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns.
There are several factors that go into the selection of crown material: strength requirements, esthetic requirements, and the abrasiveness of the material against the opposing teeth. There is not a single crown that is clearly superior for all situations. We will recommend a type of crown after considering your needs as well as the benefits of various materials.
Bridges are fixed (non-removable) prostheses constructed to replace one or more missing teeth.
The teeth on either side of the existing space are used to anchor the bridge to restore functionality as well as esthetics. We construct beautiful porcelain-fused-to-metal bridges as well as porcelain-fused-to-zirconia bridges to produce the most esthetic, functional and long lasting results as possible.
A dental bridge fills in the gap left behind by missing teeth. By filling in this gap, you can regain full chewing and speaking abilities as well as your original smile!
Restore Your Smile at Harris Family Dentistry!
To find out more about dental bridges and crowns, you can call us at our office! | <urn:uuid:2be80a13-37ea-493f-af9a-d8ec4c93b405> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.harrisfamilydentistry.com/dental-crowns-and-bridges/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679101282.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20231210060949-20231210090949-00381.warc.gz | en | 0.943474 | 636 | 3.03125 | 3 |
The german revolution or november revolution (german: novemberrevolution) was a civil conflict in the german empire at the end of the first world war that resulted in the replacement of the german federal constitutional monarchy with a democratic parliamentary republic that later became known as the weimar republic. The german revolution also known as the german civil war was a short conflict lasting only a week it was started when the germanic armies led a coup d'etat against the german monarchy for leading the german states into a disastrous war with the french and americans the federalist rebels gained a lot of public support and the. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the german revolution of 1923 the tragic failure of this revolution marked a turning point and represented the end. German translation of “revolution” | the official collins english-german dictionary online over 100,000 german translations of english words and phrases over 100,000 german translations of english words and phrases. German revolution of 1848 and historiography in the german democratic republic the revolution of 1848 in germany was a critical subject to historians from the german. How can the answer be improved. The german revolution in late 1918, there was unrest across the whole of germany the emperor fled for his life and a new government took control these events are called the german revolution this new government became known as the weimar republic it was eventually usurped by hitler when he was elected chancellor in 1933.
The german revolution of 1848 rudolf coper university of toronto quarterly, volume 17, number 2, january 1948, pp 137-151 (article) published by. The logical result of the collapse of german imperialism following the military defeat, was the revolution on november 4th the revolt in kiel occurred the ferment manifested itself first among the sailors rumours of revolt among the sailors were heard during the past year, and the independent. In the russian revolution of 1917 the radical bolsheviks overthrew the ruling royal family faced with military failures, food shortages, and social tensions, the german people were inspired to start a revolution of their own. Summary beginning shortly after the new year in 1848, europe exploded into revolution from paris to frankfurt to budapest to naples, liberal protesters rose up against the conservative establishment. Which event started the german revolution of 1918 the weimar republic parties of the german revolution of 1918 skills practiced some of the skills you will practice. The german revolution or november revolution (german: novemberrevolution) was a civil conflict in the german empire at the end of the first world war that resulted in.
The german revolution occurred shortly after world war i and included all the territories in the german empire in just a one year period, the revolution resulted in the creation of the weimar republic. The german revolutions of 1848–49 (german: deutsche revolution 1848/1849), the opening phase of which was also called the march revolution (german: märzrevolution), were initially part of the revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many european countries.
Get an answer for 'why did the german revolution of 1848 fail' and find homework help for other history questions at enotes. The german revolution of 1848 took place within germany’s major cities barricades were set up in the streets and gunfire rang through residential areas, often. The path which it took the russian revolution twelve years to cover, from 1906 to 1917, will have taken the german revolution five years, from 1918 to 1923 the. As 12 the german revolution 1918-1919 simon hinds loading unsubscribe from simon hinds german revolution | 3 minute history - duration: 4:56 jabzy 43,397.
Wwi and the german revolution wwi – part seven: turkey joins the war details alan woods 20 march 2015 print at the turn of the 20th century, the ottoman empire. A revolution in germany, as a result of which the monarchy was overthrown and a bourgeois parliamentary republic established on the eve of the november revolution of 1918, germany was one of the most developed capitalist countries. The german revolution, 1918-1919 every year the picturesque city of munich hosts the world famous oktoberfest, but this modern-day image of beer tents, parties and traditional dress contrasts sharply with the scenes that played out in this same city just under a hundred years ago.
German revolution the german revolution (german: novemberrevolution) was the politically-driven civil easter egg conflict in germany at the end of world war i the period lasted from november 1918 until the formal establishment of the weimar republic in.
- East german revolution: contemporary east german composers (a portrait in music) $347 buy it now free shipping tell us what you think pagination for search.
- An account of the german revolution that includes images, quotations and the main facts of the event gcse british history a-level last updated: 3rd november, 2017.
- The german revolution, 1917-1923 has 55 ratings and 6 reviews paul said: the translation and publication of pierre broué's magisterial account of the ma.
- English: the german revolution was a series of events at the end of the great war in germany from november 1918 to march 1919 which led to the end of the monarchy.
- The german revolution forced the abdication of kaiser wilhelm ii, ending the hohenzollern monarchy and plunging germany into weeks of political struggle and uncertainty the revolution began with the kiel mutiny of late october, which within a week had spread to numerous towns and military bases across germany.
German revolution 1918, november revolution spartakusbund socialists communists skip navigation sign in search loading close yeah, keep it undo close this. The german revolution (german: novemberrevolution) was the politically driven civil conflict in germany at the end of world war i, which resulted in the replacement of germany's imperial government with a republic. Describe the key stages in the german revolution from 1918 until january 1919 the german revolution covers a series of events at the end of the first world war between late 1918 and early 1919 that led to the demise of the monarchy and also led to the development of the parliamentary government. The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the spring of nations, people's spring, springtime of the peoples, or the year of revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout europe in 1848 it remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in european history. March revolution against the background of a revolutionary situation existing since 1847 and increasingly worsened by the outbreak of a cyclic economic crisis, the german march revolution began in the wake of and as the immediate consequence of the parisian february revolution on account of the. | <urn:uuid:cd8f00c7-9776-4be2-96d8-85da9f611aa2> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://uvassignmenthhvp.infra-sauny.info/german-revolution.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583511872.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20181018130914-20181018152414-00236.warc.gz | en | 0.94947 | 1,481 | 3.765625 | 4 |
Beet black scorch virus.
I know you all are thinking what Im thinking. LETS MAKE A VACCINE OUTTA THAT! YAY!!!!
A ton of plant vaccine papers have been rolling out on PubMed since I first wrote about them a few months ago. I couldnt resist writing about another cool paper– How to make a GMO virus that infects plants to make them produce viral proteins for a rotavirus vaccine:
Oral administration of plant-based rotavirus VP6 induces antigen-specific IgAs, IgGs and passive protection in mice
Rotavirus causes diarrhea that kills hundreds of thousands of babies and toddlers every year.
“WAAAAAAAIT, ERV!” some of you readers who call me ERV instead of Abbie might say. “We HAVE a rotavirus vaccine. Actually, we have a couple– Rotarix and Rotateq. Youve written about them before. Why are these people going to all the effort of making another one?”
Rotarix and Rotateq are live attenuated viruses. Even though these vaccines are administered orally, because the viruses are ‘live’, the vaccines have to be kept under refrigeration. The second you mix all the parts together (virus + liquid = oral vaccine), its only ‘good’ for 24 hours.
As we saw with the cholera/E. coli vaccine, not only are plants great as little factories, making tons of vaccine product– once you dry the plant material, it can sit at room temp for at least 3 years and still elicit a protective immune response! The places that need a rotovirus vaccine the most do not have reliable electricity/refrigeration– a plant-based rotavirus vaccine would be a fantastic option for them!
GMO plants are not the only option for us, though. We can transiently infect plant with plant viruses that have been genetically modified to encode for our protein of interest, so the plant will only be a temporary vaccine factory. In the case of this vaccine, scientists wanted plants to make a highly conserved protein, Viral Protein 6 (VP6). Instead of making their plant permanently make VP6 via plant genetic modification, they just altered a plant virus, Beet Black Scorch Virus, to encode VP6. Why Beet Black Scorch Virus? Cause then we can make this vaccine in sugar beet, a popular crop grown all around the world!
Whats SUPER neat about this approach, is that antibodies to VP6 are NOT neutralizing. If you get this vaccine and are exposed to rotavirus, you will probably still get diarrhea. However, antibodies to VP6 interfere with other parts of the viral life-cycle, and still help prime your immune system to ultimately make a neutralizing antibody response– the end result then, is that you still get sick, but its not as bad, and you get better faster.
That is exactly what happened. When they gave the plants-infected-with-a-GMO-scary-sounding-virus-that-makes-VP6 vaccine to mice, the mice made antibodies (IgG and IgA) to VP6. Those mice then breast-fed pups (transferred their anti-VP6 IgA to the babies). When the baby mice were then challenged with real rotavirus, the baby mice still got kinda sick (<40%), but all were totally fine by day 7. Contrast that to the babies fed on moms that did not get the vaccine: 100% got sick, and at day 7, when the other mice were all better, 50% of the control mice were still sick. This could go a long way to stopping lots of infant/toddler deaths. | <urn:uuid:7258c1a6-4545-437c-9483-ffd994d62316> | CC-MAIN-2015-35 | http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2010/08/02/green-our-vaccines-part-iii/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-35/segments/1440644064263.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20150827025424-00235-ip-10-171-96-226.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943818 | 774 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Aug. 9, 2003
Listen (RealAudio) | How to listen
Poem: "Cut Grass," by Philip Larkin from High Windows (Faber and Faber).
Cut grass lies frail:
Brief is the breath
Mown stalks exhale.
Long, long the death
It dies in the white hours
Of young-leafed June
With chestnut flowers,
With hedges snowlike strewn,
White lilac bowed,
Lost lanes of Queen Anne's lace,
And that high-builded cloud
Moving at summer's pace.
On this day in 1854, Henry David Thoreau published Walden; or, Life in the Woods. His friend Ralph Waldo Emerson said he saw a "tremble of great expectation" in Thoreau just before publication day. Thoreau's previous book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849) sold less than 300 copies. On the day he got his 706 unsold copies back from the publisher, he wrote in his diary: "I have now a library of nearly nine hundred volumes, over seven hundred of which I wrote myself " Walden didn't do much better. It took five years to sell off the first edition of 2,000 copies, and Thoreau did not live to see a second edition. Thoreau tried to arrange a nation-wide lecture tour, but only one city made an offer, and so Thoreau kept his lectures to the Concord area. Since then, millions of copies of Walden have been sold.
On this day in 378 A.D., the Romans were defeated by the Visigoths at the Battle of Adrianople. It was a victory of barbarian horsemen over Roman infantry, and one of the most decisive battles in history. In what is now Turkey, two-thirds of the Roman army-40,000 men by some accounts-including Emperor Valens himself, were overrun and slaughtered by the mounted barbarians. The stage was set for the fall of the Roman empire.
It's the birthday of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland (1896). He dedicated his life to the question of how a child learns. He wore rumpled suits, and he spent long hours on his hands and knees, playing marbles with children. He followed a strict schedule, waking up every morning at 4 a.m. and writing at least four publishable pages in small, neat handwriting. His major works include The Language and Thought of the Child (1923) and The Origins of Intelligence in Children (1948).
It's the birthday of the creator of Mary Poppins, P. L. (Pamela Lyndon) Travers, born in Mayborough, Queensland, Australia (1899).
It's the birthday of English poet Philip
Larkin, born in Coventry, England (1922). During his life he was called
"England's other Poet Laureate," and when the position became vacant
in 1984, many poets and critics wanted Larkin to be appointed. His books of
poetry include The Less Deceived (1955), The Whitsun Weddings (1964),
and High Windows (1974). In college at Oxford, Larkin met Kingsley Amis
and the two writers became best friends, a relationship that would last their
whole lives. They shared a love of jazz and wrote hundreds of letters to each
other, often with funny cartoons. To support himself, he worked as a professional
librarian for more than forty years, writing in his spare time. Larkin was also
a jazz critic for the London Daily Telegraph, and his reviews were reprinted
in All What Jazz; A Record Diary 1961-1968 (1970). He said, "Deprivation
is for me what daffodils were for Wordsworth." And he said, "I think
writing about unhappiness is probably the source of my popularity, if I have
any. After all, most people are unhappy, don't you think?"
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® | <urn:uuid:a2981788-7792-422e-9c32-169b8c77208e> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2003/08/09 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701156520.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193916-00023-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96923 | 859 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Bipolar disorder affects approximately 5.7 million American adults, or about 2.6 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. Bipolar disorder is characterized by periods of excitability (mania) alternating with periods of depression. The "mood swings" between mania and depression can be very abrupt. Bipolar disorder is also known as manic depression or bipolar affective disorder.
What causes Bipolar Disorder and who is at risk?
Bipolar disorder affects men and women equally and usually appears between the ages of 15 and 25. The exact cause is unknown, but it occurs more often in relatives of people with bipolar disorder. It is a result of disturbances in the areas of the brain that regulate mood. During manic periods, a person with bipolar disorder may be overly impulsive and energetic, with an exaggerated sense of self. The depressive phase brings overwhelming feelings of anxiety, low self-worth, and suicidal thoughts.
Types of Bipolar Disorder
There are two primary types of bipolar disorder. People with bipolar disorder I have had at least one fully manic episode with periods of major depression. In the past, bipolar disorder I was called manic depression.
People with bipolar disorder II seldom experience full-fledged mania. Instead they experience periods of hypomania (elevated levels of energy and impulsiveness that are not as extreme as the symptoms of mania). These hypomanic periods alternate with episodes of major depression.
A mild form of bipolar disorder called cyclothymia involves periods of hypomania and mild depression, with less-severe mood swings. People with bipolar disorder II or cyclothymia may be misdiagnosed as having depression alone.
Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder
The manic phase may last from days to months and can include the following symptoms:
- Elevated mood
- Racing thoughts
- Increased energy
- Lack of self-control
- Inflated self-esteem (delusions of grandeur, false beliefs in special abilities)
- Over-involvement in activities
- Reckless behavior
- Spending sprees
- Binge eating, drinking, and/or drug use
- Sexual promiscuity
- Impaired judgment
- Tendency to be easily distracted
- Little need for sleep
- Easily agitated or irritated
- Poor temper control
These symptoms of mania are seen with bipolar disorder I. In people with bipolar disorder II, hypomanic episodes involve similar symptoms that are less intense.
The depressed phase of both types of bipolar disorder involves very serious symptoms of major depression:
- Persistent sadness
- Fatigue or listlessness
- Sleep disturbances
- Excessive sleepiness
- Inability to sleep
- Eating disturbances
- Loss of appetite and weight loss
- Overeating and weight gain
- Loss of self-esteem
- Feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness and/or guilt
- Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions
- Withdrawal from friends
- Withdrawal from activities that were once enjoyed
- Persistent thoughts of death
There is a high risk of suicide with bipolar disorder. Patients may abuse alcohol or other substances in either the manic or the depressive phase and this can worsen the symptoms.
Sometimes there is an overlap between the two phases. Manic and depressive symptoms may occur simultaneously or in quick succession in what is called a mixed state.
In order to make a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, your physician will consider a number of factors. He/she may do some or all of the following:
- Observe your behavior and mood
- Obtain your medical history, including any medical problems you have and any medications you take
- Ask about your recent mood swings and how long you've experienced them
- Ask about your family medical history, particularly whether anyone in your family has or had bipolar disorder
- Perform a thorough examination to identify or rule out physical causes of the symptoms you are experiencing
- Request laboratory tests to check for thyroid problems or drug levels
- Speak with your family members to discuss their observations about your behavior
Use of recreational drugs may be responsible for some of the symptoms of bipolar disorder although this does not rule out bipolar affective disorder. Drug abuse may itself be a symptom of bipolar disorder.
Call your doctor if:
- You are having thoughts of death or suicide
- You are experiencing severe symptoms of depression or mania
- You have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and your symptoms have returned or you are having any new symptoms
|Generic Name||Brand Name(s)|
|divalproex sodium||Depakote, Depakote ER|
|lithium||Eskalith, Eskalith-CR, Lithobid|
|Generic Name||Brand Name(s)|
|aripiprazole||Abilify, Abilify Discmelt|
|olanzapine||Zyprexa, Zyprexa Zydis|
|fluoxetine and olanzapine||Symbyax|
|risperidone||Risperdal, Risperdal M-Tab|
Anti-psychotic drugs can help a person who has lost touch with reality. Anti-anxiety drugs, such as benzodiazepines, may also help. The patient may need to stay in a hospital until his or her mood has stabilized and the symptoms are under control.
Antidepressant drugs may be useful during the depressive phase provided the antidepressants are used with a mood stabilizer. Mood stabilizers are very important in people with bipolar disorder. Without a mood stabilizer, antidepressants may trigger mania in people with bipolar disorder. (Keep in mind that people with bipolar disorder II may be misdiagnosed with depression only because they do not experience full-fledged mania. If these patients take antidepressants without mood stabilizers, it can trigger a manic episode.)
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may be used to treat bipolar disorder. ECT is a psychiatric treatment that uses an electrical current to cause a brief seizure of the central nervous system while the patient is under anesthesia. Studies have repeatedly found that ECT is the most effective treatment for depression that is not relieved with medications.
Getting enough sleep helps keep a stable mood in some patients. Psychotherapy may be a useful option during the depressive phase. Joining a support group may be particularly helpful for bipolar disorder patients and their loved ones. | <urn:uuid:a6602bba-fc9f-4d32-845a-ef855a343988> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://www.drugs.com/bipolar.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394021446249/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305121046-00075-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.929914 | 1,323 | 3.65625 | 4 |
To “identify” is to name something and render it visible, even if it may have been present all along. Organized by Eastern Edge Gallery, the Identify festival facilitates the gathering and sharing of traditional and contemporary artistic and cultural practices of Indigenous peoples in Newfoundland and Labrador including Mi’kmaq, Inuit, Innu, Southern Inuit of Nunatukavut and Beothuk. The Gallery describes it as a “platform for Indigenous-led conversations on self-identity, self-rediscovery and celebration of Indigenous cultures of Newfoundland and Labrador”—and it’s more than a year-long process (running from September 2017- December 2018).
Why does Eastern Edge use the term “self-rediscovery”? The answer is rooted in a complex settler-biased history that has, until recently, emphasized distance and loss when discussing Indigenous peoples. Many examples can be cited. Among them, a widely held and historically convenient belief that all Beothuk were decimated due to colonial intervention—a stance that negates many who identify now as having Beothuk ancestry. In Labrador, the people of Nunatsiavut and Nunavik (one-third of Canada’s Inuit population) were excluded from the Federal Government’s Northern Strategy in 2004, which outlined initiatives for economic development and northern sovereignty. Residential-school survivors in Labrador were also excluded from compensation provided to survivors elsewhere. In residential schools throughout the province, many Indigenous children were taught to be ashamed of their heritage.
This history is now changing as more people reclaim and celebrate their Indigeneity. With the recent establishment of the Qalipu (Mi’kmaq) nation, approximately one-fifth of Newfoundland and Labrador’s population fit the criteria for membership. So many people applied, that the Federal Government began to deny status to many people who identified as Indigenous, and revisited the terms of acceptance. In Labrador, there was only recent acknowledgement of many Labrador Indigenous groups as having status on a Federal level. To “re-discover” is to shine light upon what has always existed, while also defining its terms from within the communities themselves.
Identify launched with an exhibition titled The Lay of the Land, featuring work by Logan MacDonald, followed by Pejipuk: the winter is coming by Meagan Musseau. Both artists spoke from a position of rediscovering and redefining their Indigenous heritage, and approaching larger histories from a personal perspective while exploring key notions of memory and reactivation.
The act of recovery was made plain through a powerful exhibition titled RECLAMATION by Mi’kmaq curator and artist Jerry Evans, who placed Indigenous artists from throughout the province in the Lieutenant Governor’s residence. A teepee was also constructed on the lawn of the residence by the St. John’s Native Friendship Centre—a significant and impactful gesture of presence and gathering. At Eastern Edge Gallery that same week, Mi’kmaq musician Joanna Barker’s curatorial debut, tet; mâni; ute|here, brought together two artists who turned their attention to everyday life in Newfoundland and Labrador. John Jeddore recorded scenes from everyday life in Miawpukek First Nation (Conne River, NL), while Melissa Tremblett passed her camera to children in her community of Sheshatshui (Labrador). Each child’s perspective was gathered in a hand-bound book with their name, and accompanied by Labrador tea dolls made by different generations.
As a curator at the provincial institution and a person of settler origin, I was humbled by the care and attention given by all involved. In particular, I was reminded of the value of sharing stories in a safe space (and the importance of listening when these stories are told). It was a lesson reinforced as Mi’kmaq artist Jordan Bennett painted his mural at the Rawlin’s Cross intersection in St. John’s. His imagery draws from Shanawdithit drawings held in The Rooms’ collections, Mi’kmaq and Beothuk canoe and paddle designs, and motifs from quill basketry. The site for the mural became a gathering space as other artists helped paint while members of the community dropped by. It remains a record of that time, in addition to altering the tone of the intersection for passersby.
A mural may last decades, but what is the lifespan of a voice? With this festival, each voice resonated. The powerful performance of NDN Way, by Brian Solomon and Mariana Medellin-Meinke, combined songs and imagery from contemporary popular culture with a voiceover by Cree storyteller Ron Evans that described Indigenous knowledge. The final event of the week celebrated throat singing by Jennie Williams and Tabitha Blake, and a performance by the all-women drum group Eastern Owl, who blend contemporary and traditional compositions.
As they introduced each song, Jennie William’s baby could be heard backstage. The baby’s coos had permeated every event. Baby sounds would punctuate speeches mid-sentence, halt panel discussions in acknowledgement of her presence, and even sing along with her mother. At each event, she was passed lovingly and carefully from person to person, and kissed gently if she cried. | <urn:uuid:b9caa817-daa5-4cdd-9a1a-ce45f997446c> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://visualartsnews.ca/2018/11/re-discovering-indigenous-identities/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030337421.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20221003133425-20221003163425-00000.warc.gz | en | 0.962252 | 1,108 | 3.109375 | 3 |
A cervical laminoplasty is performed to remove pressure on the spinal cord and nerves caused by spinal stenosis, a condition in which there is a narrowing of the spinal canal. The laminoplasty procedure involves making a hinge on one side of the lamina to create more space, relieving the pressure on the spinal cord.
Incision and Channel Creation
An incision is made in the back of the neck. A motorized instrument is used to cut 2 channels vertically on the lamina portion of the vertebrae. On one side the channels are cut all the way through the bone. On the opposite side, the channel is only cut 50% to 75% though the bone to create a hinge. The side causing the most pressure on the spinal cord or nerves is typically the side where the channels are cut entirely through the lamina. The tips of the spinous processes are also typically removed.
The lamina is then lifted and rotated. This increases the space for the spinal cord, relieving the compression that causes pain.
Maintaining the Opening
Maintaining the hinged door opening can be done in various ways. Some procedures use suture tied from the spinous process to the side of the spine, some use small wedges of bone graft, and some procedures screw specialized metal plates into position to keep the lamina in the elevated, rotated position.
The incision is closed and dressed to complete the procedure. A cervical collar is often worn for 6 weeks following surgery. Patients should be careful to avoid heavy lifting and excessive neck motion during the recovery period. | <urn:uuid:a4cd43d0-45fc-4d9a-bb4d-acb2633f294b> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | http://neurospineandbrain.com.au/spinal-procedures/cervical-laminoplasty | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187826049.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20171023130351-20171023150351-00112.warc.gz | en | 0.933766 | 323 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Mice moms, sons end up diabetic after short BPA exposure during pregnancy.
Alonso-Magdalena, P, E Vieira, S Soriano, L Menes, D Burks, I Quesada and A Nadal. Bisphenol-A exposure during pregnancy disrupts glucose homeostasis in mothers and adult male offspring. Environmental Health Perspectives http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1001993.
Brief exposure to low levels of bisphenol A during pregnancy may contribute to diabetic symptoms in the mother and her sons – but not daughters – finds a study with mice. BPA, which acts like estrogen and can interfere with normal hormone activity, caused changes in the mothers that resembled gestational diabetes. The mothers gained weight and could not properly regulate insulin, sugars and fats, even four months after the pregnancy. Their male pups showed similar deficits in metabolism, even though they had only been indirectly exposed for a brief period as fetuses.
Intricate body systems process and store energy from food. When needed, sugars and fats are released. These mechanisms are delicately balanced. When they go awry, metabolic problems such as diabetes and obesity can occur. At no time are these systems more vulnerable than during pregnancy, when the energetic demands of the fetus compete with the mother’s regulation of her own body (Haig 1993).
Normally, insulin release causes sugars to be stored in cells for later use. During pregnancy, the body becomes increasingly resistant to insulin. This ensures that enough sugar remains in circulation to feed the growing fetus. Typically, the mother compensates by secreting more insulin so that blood sugar levels are kept in check.
These check and balance systems are easily derailed. When the mother’s body fails to adjust its insulin release, gestational diabetes – which afflicts up to 10 percent of pregnant women – may occur. Most cases of gestational diabetes resolve soon after birth, but many serious consequences may remain for both the mother and child. The children are often dangerously large at birth, and both mothers and offspring may find themselves at increased risk of obesity and Type II diabetes.
Because estrogen may play an important role in regulating the normal changes in metabolism during pregnancy (Nadal et al. 2009), anything that disrupts the body’s normal estrogenic activity may also throw the blood sugar regulation systems into upheaval, causing metabolic symptoms, and possibly contributing to diabetes or obesity.
The environmental chemical bisphenol A (BPA) – found in products throughout the modern world – is a compound that mimics natural estrogens. Concern first surfaced because it can leach from widely-used polycarbonate plastics, which were used a food packaging and water bottles. Recently, several reports brought attention to its overwhelming prevalence in canned goods (Consumer Reports 2009; National Workgroup for Safe Markets 2010).
From food to household electronics to sales receipts, BPA is so commonly used in consumer goods that 95 percent of Americans have measureable levels in their blood. During pregnancy, BPA can pass from mother to the developing fetus.
Alarm bells were first raised about the chemical’s safety when animal studies showed that BPA could affect development of the reproductive system and the brain. More recently, concern has turned to whether BPA exposure may also impact metabolism. Several recent studies have linked BPA to diabetes, obesity and other symptoms of impaired metabolism in humans (Lang et al. 2008) and animal models (Alonso-Magdalena et al. 2006).
The researchers examined whether there were long-term metabolic effects on the mother and her pups exposed to BPA for a week during pregnancy.
Researchers injected pregnant mice with BPA from days 9 to 16 of pregnancy, which roughly corresponds to the development stage of middle to late pregnancy in humans. Some of the injected mice received a low dose of 10 micrograms per kilogram (μg/kg) of BPA each day while others received a high-dose of 100 μg/kg each day. Currently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) consider anything below 50 μg/kg per day to be a low, and thus, “safe” dose.
The researchers measured glucose in the blood to determine if the pregnant mice processed sugars and responded to insulin – a hormone that helps the body store sugars after a meal. After birth, they continued to monitor the mothers and their offspring for their ability to metabolize sugar and insulin. They also examined how well the animals processed fats and how well their pancreases worked. The researchers compared these measures from BPA-treated mice to untreated mice and determined the physiological differences between the two groups.
Pregnancy typically entails some degree of insulin resistance, and this effect was amplified in the BPA-exposed mice, particularly in those receiving the lower dose of BPA. When compared to the untreated pregnant mice, their cells were less able to efficiently process and store sugars and their liver and muscle tissues showed a reduced insulin response similar to that seen in diabetic conditions.
Four months after giving birth, the BPA-treated mothers were heavier than the controls, even though their diets were the same. The mice in the high-dose group – but not the low-dose groups – had clear deficits in their cells’ ability to use insulin to store sugars. In both BPA-treated groups, levels of triglycerides – a type of lipid or fat – in the blood were elevated.
The mouse pups born to BPA-treated mothers also showed differences from control mouse pups. The low-dose pups were heavier at birth than controls – as is frequently the case with babies born to mothers with gestational diabetes. Yet, the high-dose pups actually weighed less than the controls.
As they aged, the BPA groups showed similar metabolic problems to their mothers. Although no significant differences were seen at three months of age, by six months, male – but not female – offspring in both BPA groups showed clear abnormalities in their ability to use insulin to store sugars. This deficit was consistently apparent in the blood tests and when the pancreatic cells were examined.
Exposure to low levels of BPA at a crtical time in pregnancy may influence metabolic function during and after pregnancy, setting the stage for long-term gestational diabetes in the mothers and development of diabetes in sons as they age.
This study adds to a growing body of research evidence that, when taken together, suggests BPA causes health problems in animals and quite possibly in humans. Much of the research has focused on reproductive and developmental risks.
This study is one of a number of recent ones investigating whether BPA might have effects on metabolic conditions such as diabetes and obesity. But, it is the first to examine the mother’s risk of developing diabetes during pregnancy. While the recent studies have found some conflicting results, this new study’s methodological strengths mke the findings of particular concern.
Earlier this year, another group of researchers reported that prenatal and early postnatal BPA exposure in mice did not appear to lead to problems with blood sugar regulation, although they did find faster rates of growth during early development (Ryan et al. 2010).The new study improves upon earlier work, however, in that it is particularly comprehensive in its methods and approaches problems of insulin resistance and blood sugar regulation using a number of different methods. From sugar metabolism tests to measures of gene expression to blood chemistry, the multiple lines of evidence in this study all point to BPA having profound negative effects on the body’s ability to properly control blood sugar.
Beyond its methodological strengths, this new study adds two important nuances to our understanding of how BPA may impact metabolism. First, the study showed that even if BPA exposure occurs during a very brief period, the disruption in blood sugar regulation can be long-lasting. The female mice received BPA for only a seven day window during pregnancy, and yet were affected even months later, with higher weights and abnormal blood sugar and lipid levels.
In humans, of course, we are exposed continuously throughout our lifetimes as we ingest BPA in our food and pick it up through plastics and other sources every day. How this constant exposure might affect our bodies’ abilities to regulate blood sugars and other body systems remains an open ended question. However, these early results in mice are enough to merit additional research.
Second, the new study shows intergenerational effects. Males who were exposed to BPA as fetuses through their mothers displayed long-term metabolic problems resembling diabetes, even though they were never exposed to the chemical after birth. Because the body’s systems develop very early in life – often before birth – early exposures can cause permanent changes in body functions. In this case, through the ability to act as a pseudo-estrogen, BPA seems to permanently “program” body responses to sugar, causing an inability in the mice process the sugar – a condition that may mirror some of the most troubling current human health problems.
Aspects of the findings are also puzzling. Surprisingly, only male offspring were affected in this way by BPA exposure. The researchers hypothesize that perhaps the female offspring’s own estrogen production protected against the dysregulation, but further investigation would be needed to address that question.
In addition, low and high-dose BPA exposures didn’t yield the same findings. While both levels of exposure clearly produced negative health effects, it remains uncertain why the mice might respond differently to the two doses. The lower dose more closely approximates average human exposure levels. Ideally, future experiments will need to simulate the typical method of human exposure – ingestion through food – rather than injection.
Still, many questions remain unanswered, and more research is needed to fully understand how BPA impacts regulatory systems.
Alonso-Magdalena, P, S Morimoto, C Ripoll, E Fuentes and A Nadal. 2006. The estrogenic effect of bisphenol A disrupts pancreatic beta-cell function in vivo and induces insulin resistance. Environmental Health Perspectives 114(1):106-12.
Calafat, AM, Z Kuklenyik, JA Reidy, SP Caudill, J Ekong and LL Needham. 2005. Urinary concentrations of Bisphenol A and 4-Nonylphenol in a human reference population. Environmental Health Perspectives 113:391-5.
Lang, IA, TS Galloway, A Scarlett, WE Henley, M Depledge, RB Wallace and D Melzer. 2008. Association of urinary bisphenol A concentration with medical disorders and laboratory abnormalities in adults. Journal of the American Medical Association 300(11):1303-10.
National Workgroup for Markets. 2010. Silver lining: An investigation into bisphenol A in canned foods (PDF).
15 April BPA makes mice anxious, forgetful.
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The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a U.S. federal law designed to limit the collection and use of personal information about children by the operators of Internet services and Web sites. Passed by the U.S.
Congress in 1998, the law took effect in April 2000. It is administered and enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). COPPA is “the first U.S. privacy law written for the Internet,” Melissa Campanelli wrote in Entrepreneur. “It was written specifically for Internet marketers that operate Web sites visited by children under the age of 13 and collect personal information from those kids. Its purpose is to regulate that collection.”
The FTC conducted a survey of 212 Web sites in 1998 and found that 89 percent of them collected personal information from children. Of those that collected data from children, 46 percent did not disclose this fact or explain how the information was used. The law was intended to address this potential problem by requiring Web sites and other online services directed toward children under the age of 13—as well as general audience sites that collect personal information from children—to obtain verifiable consent from the children’s parents. “Its stated purpose is to protect children from micro-targeting by advertisers and to minimize the potential for contact with dangerous individuals through chat rooms, e-mail, and bulletin boards by involving parents in kids’ online activities,” Monica Rogers explained in Crain’s Chicago Business.
The Ultimate Guide to Website Traffic for Business
Requirements Of Coppa
COPPA applies to a variety of Web sites and services with content that may appeal to children. “In determining whether a Web site is directed toward children, the FTC will consider, among other things, the site’s content, language, advertising and intended audience, as well as the use of child-oriented graphics or features,” Antony Marks and Keith Klein noted in the Los Angeles Business Journal.
But the law also affects general interest sites that collect information from children, whether the site’s operators intend to do so or not. “The arm of COPPA is very long because it also applies to general audience Web sites that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information from children,” Robert Carson Godbey wrote in Hawaii Business. “You can easily, and inadvertently, fall into this category. If you invite browsers of your Web site to submit individually identifiable information—which can include name, address, e-mail address, hobbies, interests, information collected through cookies, basically anything that can be individually identified to the person responding, for a variety of reasons, and that information includes age— then you may have ‘actual knowledge’ that you have collected personal information from children if anyone under 13 responds to your invitation.”
Exceptions to COPPA’s parental consent requirements are allowed for the collection of e-mail addresses in order to seek consent, protect the safety of a child, or respond to a child’s one-time request (provided that the e-mail address is deleted immediately afterwards).
The FTC rules cite several acceptable methods for Web site operators to verify parental consent, including a signed form sent via fax or regular mail, a credit card number provided online, calls made on a toll-free telephone staffed by trained personnel, and e-mail accompanied by a digital signature or password. The method used by a certain Web site depends on the type of information collected from children and the way it is used. For example, e-mail consent is acceptable for Web sites that collect personal information only for internal purposes, like marketing to a child based on his or her preferences. Stricter methods are required when the information is made available to third parties.
The FTC applies penalties for noncompliance ranging up to $11,000 per incident. Although the financial penalty is stiff, a business that failed to comply with the law would likely suffer even worse consequences as a result of negative publicity. After all, who would want their Web site to be known as one that put children at risk? Unfortunately, COPPA compliance can be complicated.
In response to complaints from Web site operators about the cost of compliance, the FTC noted that COPPA was not intended to block kids’ access to information on the Internet. Instead, the law’s objective is to involve parents in the decision about whether to release children’s personal information. Lawmakers argue that children under 13 are not sophisticated enough to make such decisions on their own.
Like all Internet laws, COPPA is somewhat difficult to enforce. For example, tech-savvy youngsters may find ways to forge parental consent. In addition, the law only applies to companies doing business in the United States, whereas the Internet is global in scope. Some entrepreneurs resent the restrictions imposed by COPPA, arguing that the government should not become involved in regulating the Internet. “One of the beauties of the Internet is that an entrepreneur can begin his or her business with minimal investment and regulatory scrutiny,” Campanelli noted. They argue that regulation increases costs for small business owners. But other operators of small Web sites for children believe it is their responsibility to protect their users’ privacy, even though it can be expensive. “If you’re going to play in the kids’ arena, you’ve got to offer safety, even if it costs,” Alison Pohn, marketing director for a children’s Web site, told Rogers. “If you operate a school or a camp, you invest in having the safest playground equipment and the best lifeguard at the pool. This is no different.” | <urn:uuid:c3b032fc-24b4-4ca6-970c-4b4b42830186> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://www.jeffbullas.com/topic/childrens-online-privacy-protection-act-coppa/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038076454.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20210414004149-20210414034149-00632.warc.gz | en | 0.951996 | 1,168 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Geographic Information Systems
The Geographic Information Systems Technology program integrate concepts, methods, and tools for collecting, analyzing, and visualizing spatial data, including physical, environmental, social, and economic information. An education in this rapidly growing professional and scientific field leads to careers in the public and private sectors as geographic information systems (GIS) analysts, programmers, or technicians, or as cartographers or remote sensing analysts.
GIS technologies are applied to wide-ranging fields with interests in spatially distributed information such as transportation, environmental and resource management, marketing, facility management, healthcare delivery, homeland security, agriculture, and urban planning.
Employment Potential for Industrial Maintenance Technicians
Click the "Job Outlook" bar to look up the Department of Labor Statistics on your select field of interest. What does your future career pay? What are the job prospects? Are you attempting to study a "high demand" job? Find out.
• Employment of surveying and mapping technicians is projected to grow 14 percent from 2012 to 2022, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
• Recent advancements in mapping technology have led to new uses for maps and a need for more of the data used to build maps. As a result, surveying and mapping technicians are expected to have more work.
• The digital revolution in mapmaking has created a need to harmonize property maps made the traditional way by making maps based on data fed into a geographic information system (GIS).
• Cities, towns, and counties are finding that the data gathered by surveying and mapping technicians are crucial in implementing systems integration, which is the process of putting onto one map all the information about wires, pipes, and other underground infrastructure. That way, a city, town, or county can upgrade the entire infrastructure under a street at the same time, and thus have all needed construction done as one project. This coordination of all such construction projects results in savings for the local government.
• The median annual wage for Surveying and Mapping Technicians is $39,670.
**According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012. Additional information available at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/surveying-and-mapping-technicians.htm#tab-1
Search our online catalog for more information about your degree plan and course descriptions | <urn:uuid:c2bd3f16-9bd1-4a98-80f2-0ed5f1591a1e> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | http://www.ls.cc.al.us/programs/lscc_programs/technical_division/manufacturing_technology/geographic_information_systems.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703514796.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20210118123320-20210118153320-00018.warc.gz | en | 0.928619 | 483 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Aging is a relative thing. Species like the Labord’s chameleon in Madagascar live their entire lives fast and glorious, spending only four months outside of their eggs before death. The coral reef pygmy goby, meanwhile, only lives an estimated eight weeks.
But other vertebrates take the long road, living for decades, and in some cases, centuries — far outstripping the lifespans of the humans around them.
Here’s a look at some of the longest-living vertebrates on our planet.
Modern humans may be the longest living primates. The oldest verified was a French woman named Jeanne Louise Calment who lived from 1875 to 1997 — 122 years, according to the Guinness World Records. But other primates are also long-lived. Chimpanzees and orangutans, for example, can live between 50 and 55 years in the wild, according to a study published in 2012, and even longer in captivity. The maximum reported age of gorillas in the wild, the study shows, is 43 years.
And even among hominins, humans may not have always been the longest living. Some research has revealed that Neanderthal life spans matched those of Homo sapiens at the time.
(Credit: Hemming1952/CC-By-4.0/Wikimedia Commons)
Greenland sharks are perhaps the oldest vertebrates on the planet. These giant fish are so old that they don’t even reach sexual maturity until they are about 150 years old. A study published in Science in 2016 found that the sharks may live to 400 years old. And while there is some dispute on this age, many scientists agree that the sharks are at least centenarians.
(Credit: Earth theater/Shutterstock)
The oldest mammals also happen live in the Arctic’s chilly waters. Take bowhead whales, which scientists believe could live more than 200 years. In case there was any doubt, the remains of a harpoon dating back 115 years was found lodged in the shoulder bone of a bowhead caught in Alaska about 15 years ago by Indigenous people.
Other cetaceans live a long time, as well — blue whales live between 80 and 90 years on average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Fin whales live similarly long to blue whales, while other species of cetaceans also live for decades.
Some research shows that jogging can increase your lifespan — among humans, at least. And if the Laysan albatross is any indicator, then flying long distances should (in theory) increase the lifespan of certain winged species.
These birds, which almost entirely breed in Hawai’i, range widely across the North Pacific in other seasons. One Laysan albatross named Wisdom has been tracked by researchers for decades, and is believed to be at least 71 years old. The septuagenarian is the world’s oldest known wild bird. She may have even outlived her mate of 60 years, who went missing last month.
Cookie the cockatoo, seen here in 2008, passed away in 2016 at the age of 83. (Credit: Nimesh M/Wikimedia Commons)
While Wisdom may be the oldest known wild bird, captivity can extend lifespans. In 2016, a pink cockatoo named Cookie — held at the Brookfield Zoo near Chicago — died at the sprightly estimated age of 83 years old, holding the Guinness World Record for the oldest bird.
But a sulphur-crested cockatoo named Cocky Bennett may have lived to 120, dying in a hotel in Australia. Kākāpōs, meanwhile, are estimated to live up to 90 years, according to the New Zealand Department of Conservation. Many parrot species are long-lived, routinely outliving owners that don’t think things through too clearly upon purchase.
New Zealand is home to another strange long-lived species. Tuataras aren’t only an evolutionary relic dating back to the time of the dinosaurs, they also live long. This species appears roughly similar to lizards but they are an entirely distinct order of reptiles. Tuataras live 60 years on average, according to the New Zealand Department of Conservation, and can live up to 100.
A photo of Jonathan the tortoise taken in March, 2020. (Credit: Kevstan/Wikimedia Commons)
There’s more than one way that a tortoise can beat a hare. Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise, hatched in 1832 and recently celebrated his estimated 190th birthday in St. Helena, an island in the South Atlantic.
Giant tortoises are generally very long-lived — the next oldest recorded tortoise died aged at least 188 years old. Captain James Cook presented a Madagascar radiated tortoise to the royal family in Tonga in the 1770s, and it went on to live to 1965. The last known Pinta Island tortoise, Lonesome George, died in 2012 after at least a century.
(Credit: Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock)
The rougheye rockfish can reach ages of at least 205 years, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. And they aren’t that rare, as commercial harvesters commonly catch them off the coast of northwestern United States. These fish are found around the North Pacific from San Diego up through Alaska, as well as across the Bering Sea into Japan. | <urn:uuid:2315924c-bddf-48de-8031-349fabe0cd87> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.extension13.com/2023/01/17/meet-8-of-the-worlds-longest-living-species/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500288.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20230205193202-20230205223202-00120.warc.gz | en | 0.944817 | 1,211 | 3.46875 | 3 |
This story is a supplement to the feature "Self-Cleaning Materials: Lotus Leaf-Inspired Nanotechnology" which was printed in the August 2008 issue of Scientific American.
Thin films of titania have the very opposite property to the lotus—superhydrophilicity—yet they, too, shrug off dirt, and they are also antimicrobial.
What the Water Does
Water on a superhydrophilic material forms a sheet across the surface and easily dislodges and removes dirt as it flows. Superhydrophilicity also prevents a surface from fogging because water spreads instead of forming the innumerable tiny droplets that constitute a fog.
Ultraviolet rays (such as in sunshine) excite electrons and holes (positively charged “absences” of electrons) in the titania (1). The electrons combine with oxygen molecules to form negatively charged superoxide radical anions (2a), and the holes combine with hydroxide anions from water to form neutral hydroxyl radicals (2b). These highly reactive species kill microbes and break down organic materials on the surface (3). The ultraviolet light also changes the structure of the titania film, making it superhydrophilic (4), which allows water to wash off dirt (5).
Illustration Credit: Ann Sanderson | <urn:uuid:6b918c6d-bb93-46d2-afd1-b145677ed340> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-opposite-approach-titania/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416931011032.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20141125155651-00078-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907421 | 268 | 3.859375 | 4 |
Seen from space, few other dormant volcanoes look as exotic and spectacular as Waw an Namus. The volcano, located deep in the Sahara Desert in the Fezzan region of southwestern Libya, appears as a smear of dark basaltic ash and tephra that contrasts sharply with the light-colored sand of the Sahara Desert.
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this view of the feature on May 29, 2015. While the precise date of the most recent eruption is not known, the lack of erosion and weathering implies that it probably occurred in the last few thousand years. South of the ash field, mud streams have begun the slow process of eroding the tephra and ash away. The ash field extends around a much smaller caldera that is about 4 kilometers (2 miles) wide. Calderas are hollowed-out circular depressions that form at the summit of volcanoes when magma is withdrawn or erupted from a shallow underground magma reservoir.
The lower image shows a closer view of the caldera. Within it, three small salty lakes ringed with vegetation are visible. The volcano gets its name from the lakes, which are reportedly home to thriving communities of mosquitos. (In Arabic, Waw an Namus means “crater of mosquitos.”) The edge of a cinder cone is also visible near the center of the caldera. Cinder cones are steep, conical hills that accumulate around volcanic vents. They are made from small glassy rock fragments that pile up around vents as ash and congealed lava erupts.
The beauty and unique appearance of Waw an Namus has long fascinated travelers. In 1969, anthropologist Froelich Rainey described the feature this way:
“The whole effect of Waw an Namus is weird. Quite suddenly we seemed to be in the shadow of a cloud, but the sky was clear and looking closely at the desert sand I noticed that it had changed from yellow to black with a thin surface layer of what looked like coal cinders. Then, after crossing about ten kilometers of this black desert, and without warning, we were abruptly halted by a huge crater perhaps three kilometers in diameter. In the center rose a brown volcanic cone surrounded by a series of narrow crescent-shaped blue lakes. There were occasional date palms and bamboo growing about the lakes and one small hut. The dark sand, the isolation, and the obvious record of what had happened there all contributed to the awesome spectacle before us.”
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Adam Voiland. | <urn:uuid:9c33beb2-3a8a-4582-8176-a42f8fb3f0a8> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://atlasofplaces.com/photography/desert-contrast/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250613416.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20200123191130-20200123220130-00069.warc.gz | en | 0.954322 | 553 | 3.796875 | 4 |
First published 6 September 2012
The mutually dependent relationship between coral and fish that goes back millions of years will be re-examined in a new lecture by a James Cook University expert.
Professor David Bellwood, from JCU’s School of Marine and Tropical Biology, will present The past, present and future of fishes on coral reefs next week as part of a public lecture series being held by JCU’s Faculty of Science and Engineering.
The series showcases JCU’s research to the community and is designed to inform, educate and entertain residents about current science and engineering issues.
Professor Bellwood said fish and coral had an ancient connection.
“Fish have swum in the vicinity of coral reefs for more than 400 million years,” he said.
“In this time, the fish and corals have developed an increasingly close association, a mutual dependency. In relatively recent times, however, humans have changed these relationships.
“Our actions are creating a new type of coral reef.”
Professor Bellwood said the seminar would consider the evidence from fossil records, from evolutionary studies, and ecological surveys to describe how the world’s reefs have changed over time.
“Although Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is one of the best managed reefs in the world, it is in decline and facing serious threats from increasing human activity.”
Based on his recent ecological studies, Professor Bellwood will examine what the future holds for coral reefs and reef fishes.
Professor Bellwood is a marine biologist working on coral reefs and has a keen interest in the role of fishes in maintaining coral reef resilience. A Professor in the School of Marine and Tropical Biology and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, he is an internationally recognised expert on coral reef fishes and has pioneered a functional approach to understanding reef ecosystems. He combines skills in such disparate fields as ecology, palaeontology, biomechanics and molecular biology to understand the nature of reefs. Emerging from his historical examination of reefs around the globe is a clear view of a future for coral reefs in which humans play a central role.
The past, present and future of fishes on coral reefs, presented by Professor David Bellwood
Date: Thursday, 13th September 2012
Time: 5.30pm for a complimentary drink and nibbles, lecture starts at 6pm.
Place: Sir George Kneipp Auditorium, James Cook University, Townsville
JCU Media contact: Caroline Kaurila (07) 4781 4586 or 0437 028 175 | <urn:uuid:8a0fa014-9ea5-4a8f-806b-ffb38d7d4908> | CC-MAIN-2018-09 | https://www.jcu.edu.au/news/releases/2012/september/reconsidering-two-old-friends-corals-and-fish | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-09/segments/1518891812855.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20180219231024-20180220011024-00070.warc.gz | en | 0.93906 | 529 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Human trafficking is a borderless crime that does not discriminate against age or sex. It is global, it is a heinous crime, and it has transformed with the help of new technology. As our society continues to integrate technology into their everyday lives, traffickers will find new ways to perpetuate modern slavery.
In a recent ADF LEGENDS podcast episode, Kevin Metcalf, an accomplished attorney and child protection expert, spoke with host, Bret Peters, about the crucial topic of protecting children online and the myriad challenges faced by parents in today's digital age. This blog post provides a summary of the key points discussed in the podcast, shedding light on the importance of building trust, identifying signs of trouble, and advocating for change.
Around the world, adults, teens, and children are being bought and sold like modern slaves. Modern slavery involves the exploitation of an individual for another person’s personal or commercial gain.
Child sexual exploitation and modern slavery are related aspects of human trafficking which result in the commercial exploitation of children and often being victims of Child Sexual Abuse Material creation as well. | <urn:uuid:61d52402-1020-49db-a810-3042cd62b81c> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://www.adfsolutions.com/news/tag/modern-slavery | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474643.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20240225203035-20240225233035-00195.warc.gz | en | 0.924902 | 219 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Hearing Ability and Awareness
Some 800 million people in the world suffer from loss of hearing. The Word Health Organisation WHO predicts that by 2015 the global figure will have even risen to 1.1 billion. This would be 16% of the estimated world population. And those affected are getting younger and younger. Of those affected, approx. 65% have a slight hearing loss, 30% a medium hearing loss and 5% a severe or profound hearing loss.
Studies have shown, however, that only one in five people who would profit from a hearing aid actually use one. On average, people with hearing loss wait almost 10 years before they do anything about it.
More knowledge about hearing can sensitize people and encourage them to have their hearing tested and, if need be, seek advice early. Often, early intervention by means of medication or an operation can remedy the loss of hearing. Wait too long and usually a hearing aid is required - the brain can actually "unlearn" the habit of hearing.
We have compiled some information about this for you in this section. | <urn:uuid:c4ac8888-a365-43e8-a4e4-c2659f2a473b> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://www.powerone-batteries.com/en/know-how/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501170609.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104610-00024-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962659 | 216 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Many people dismiss the wildlife value of domestic gardens, describing them as artificial, full of introduced plants and managed by intrusive management practices. While it is true that we manage gardens for our own ends (and that they contain a high proportion of introduced plant species), it is worth remembering that much of our countryside is also heavily managed, as our many of our nature reserves. Gardens, then, are one component of a wider spectrum of land management practices and it is becoming increasingly apparent that they do have a benefit for wildlife.
This section of the website explores gardens and their wildlife. As well as providing profiles of the many different species that use our gardens (such as birds, amphibians, reptiles and butterflies), we also touch on some of the other forms of wildlife to be found using our gardens. This section will continue to grow over time. We have started with a few familiar species and will keeping adding to these. You'll also find sections on bird behaviour, disease and ecology that look across groups of species.
Most gardens are isolated from what we would regard as natural habitats and are, instead, often surrounded by other gardens. This isolation may make them accessible to only the more mobile animals and plants (and for plants I'm thinking in terms of seed dispersal). The habitats they do contain are often only present at a small scale, although once you add neighbouring gardens together, you can end up with a substantial patch of suitable habitat. We'll look at the garden habitat in more detail, drawing upon research as to its characteristics and elements. Find out more>>>
A third section of this part of the website is hand's on advice for those who wish to improve the wildlife value of their garden. Drawing upon published research we'll highlight different approaches to wildlife gardening and examine key methods, such as plant shrubs for nesting cover, building a pond, constructing and butterfly mound, etc. Find out more>>>
Scottish Birdwatchers' Conference
Every year the Scottish Ornithologist's Club arrange a one-day Scottish Birdwatchers’ Conference, organised by a local branch of the SOC, in conjunction with BTO Scotland.
Bird ID (Residential, Berry Head, Devon)
Develop your bird identification skills on this weekend course for relative beginners and improvers. Expect a combination of indoor sessions covering the basics of bird identification and outdoor sessions to build your... | <urn:uuid:16ac4f42-827c-40f3-b691-c8fb1b379926> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://bto.org/our-science/projects/gbw/gardens-wildlife | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540545146.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20191212181310-20191212205310-00533.warc.gz | en | 0.948205 | 477 | 3.5 | 4 |
A closer look at budgets shows how policing priorities differ in counties with different demographics.
How much do America's biggest counties spend on police?
Governments in America’s largest counties tend to spend more money per capita on law enforcement than smaller counties, according to data compiled by the US Census Bureau.
Following the killing of George Floyd in May, police defunding — the idea of cutting law enforcement budgets and reallocating the funds to services like social services and education — has become a national issue. The Census Bureau’s 2017 financial data of more than 88,000 local governments, from cities to counties to school districts, shows how communities prioritize law enforcement compared to other relevant areas such as public health, child and social services, and aid to the disadvantaged. Local government takes different forms across the country, including many counties having both county sheriff operations as well as city police departments.
State and local governments spent $193 billion on law enforcement and corrections in 2017. Local governments were responsible for $129 billion, or two-thirds of that spending. Law enforcement spending ranks behind education ($684 billion) as the second-largest spending category for local government budgets.
Combined, all local governments across the country, on average, spent $340 per person on law enforcement. That changes in counties of varying sizes and demographics. That’s 9.2% of all local government spending or a fifth of what’s spent locally on education (48.6% of spending or $2,106 per person). It's also more than twice that of public health (4% or $174 per person).
In the 25 most populous counties—counting New York City’s five boroughs as a single county—local governments spent $573 per resident on law enforcement – which includes both police services and corrections. In the next 303 most populous counties, all with at least 200,000 residents, law enforcement spending stood at $388 per person.
Individually, how local governments spend their money and prioritize services could depend on a variety of factors, including demographics, politics, funding, the outcomes of any previous spending, and the array of services that state and federal governments provide.
Among the largest 25 counties, Broward County, Fla. spends the highest share of its local government budgets (18.2% or $723 per person) on law enforcement. The county spent less than average on education (37.4% of the total budget) but higher than average spending on child and social services (4.4%).
New York City, where the city government oversees all five of its boroughs, spends 7.3% of its budget on law enforcement. The city government spends 30.6% of its money on education and 12.4% on social services and aid to the disadvantaged combined.
New York City spent $898 per capita on law enforcement, highest among the 25 largest counties. Among all counties with more than 200,000 people, only two spent more on law enforcement per capita: Washington, DC ($1,136 per person), and nearby Nassau County, NY ($949).
While there is a correlation between law enforcement spending and population, there are also multiple examples of counties going against the trend. Governments in Bexar County, Texas, home to San Antonio and nearly 2 million residents, spent $298 per person on law enforcement and $3,906 per person in total. The city of St. Louis, which as an independent city functions as its own county, spent $795 per person on law enforcement and $6,764 per person in total. St. Louis has a population of just 308,000.
The differences in local government budgets show how different counties have different priorities. Not only does the per-person spending amounts matter to suggest how much a community is willing to spend on a service, but the share of spending on each service matters as well. Understanding the amount and portion of the spending that law enforcement makes up can help inform an understanding if that spending is too much, too little or just the right amount.
Learn more about police funding in the US here.
COVID-19Hospitalizations increased in October after a drop in September. Coronavirus-related hospitalizations rates hit a pandemic low
COVID-19There were almost as many reported cases in October as in July. The difference was that October’s cases often occurred in less
Wealth in AmericaThe median household income in the United States rose, from $62,626 in 2017 to $63,179 in 2018, to $68,703 in 2019 adjusted for | <urn:uuid:58054791-8afe-41b9-8a0a-8e09bf048558> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://thanksgiving.usafacts.org/articles/27 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585828.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20211023224247-20211024014247-00249.warc.gz | en | 0.959683 | 943 | 2.703125 | 3 |
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