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Consider the lilies of the field and learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin. Matthew 6:28 (AMPC)
Today when I read the above verse in the Classic Amplified Version, the highlighted phrase “learn thoroughly how they grow” caught my attention. How do lilies grow? What can I learn from studying lilies?
Lilies are beautiful. They don’t work to look like that. They don’t spin yarn or weave thread to create their own beauty. They are already beautiful. We are also beautiful, just as we are. We are created in God’s own image. And even though this verse is specifically addressing the concern of clothing, the entire section addresses worrying about things in life that we shouldn’t worry about. So, when the verse said, Learn how lilies grow, I was curious. What is important about how lilies grow? What can I learn from studying lilies?
Here is what I found. Please note I am not a botany expert—not even amateur botanist. I am just applying what I learn about lilies to draw a deeper understanding of God and His desire for me, His daughter. Though there is much technical vocabulary I don’t really understand, there are lessons here.
“Lilies…form naked…underground bulbs, which are their organs of perennation.”[i] I did not know what “perennation” meant, so I looked it up.
Dictionary.com defines perennation this way: “To survive from season to season for an indefinite number of years.” Wikepedia.com says, “In botany, perennation is the ability of organisms, particularly plants, to survive from one germinating season to another, especially under unfavorable conditions such as drought or winter. It typically involves development of a perennating organ, which stores enough nutrients to sustain the organism during the unfavorable season, and develops into one or more new plants the following year.”
What does that mean? A lily has the ability to survive challenging seasons of life by having an organism which sustains it. This challenging season bring forth new life the following year or season.
How can we be like the lily? When we have challenging seasons in our lives, what will sustain us? What gets us through the challenge to come out not only whole but also sprouting new growth? What is our perennating organ? What stores enough “nutrients” for us to survive unfavorable seasons?
I believe it is faith! And how do we store up faith? Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Therefore, by studying the Word and applying what we learn, we can store up faith for the challenging seasons in our lives when we know God is working, but we cannot see Him working.
Many scriptures encourage us to grow in our faith.
II Peter 3:18 – “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Hebrew 6:1 – “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity. . .
Jeremiah 12:2 – “You have planted them and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit.”
1 Peter 2:2-3 – “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.”
Colossians 2:6-7 – “…continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith you were taught. . .”
So, what do we learn from lilies? We learn to increase our faith through study of God’s Word so that when we have struggles and difficult seasons in our lives we can press on in faith, knowing that our struggles will produce new growth and fruit in our lives.
James 1:3-4 – “…the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” | <urn:uuid:83e4b902-4486-4742-82ed-954d8e595684> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://widmayerwellnessllc.blog/tag/worry/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560628001089.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20190627095649-20190627121649-00176.warc.gz | en | 0.954902 | 880 | 3.265625 | 3 |
276 Carlaw Ave #200
This Program Has 2 Pages
Able2learn has created Yes and No (1.5 inches 1.5) for your student. The cards are visual reminder. There are many ways to use these cards. Learning to use yes and no appropriately is very complex. The visuals will be a great tool to help your student.
The cards can be used to visually reinforce a question you want to ask your student. Do you want a apple? or Are you tired?
Show the visual response. If you are just beginning to teach, and you know your student will want a cookie, and the answer will be yes, ask the question and, help your student give you the correct response of yes. Proceed to give the cookie.
The visuals can be used in academic programs, ABA/IBI programs or day to day course of life.
Share how you use the the YES and NO visuals with other parents.
Please share on social media and, leave a review.
With love from our family to yours, | <urn:uuid:7edc79d9-fc31-4005-9209-ccd058969682> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://able2learn.com/products/yes-and-no-pecs-2-pages.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947473524.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20240221170215-20240221200215-00831.warc.gz | en | 0.918504 | 215 | 3.625 | 4 |
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|All Health and Nutrition Bites|
Nuts and Weight, BMI, and Waist Circumference
I've also reported that eating nuts in place of other types of snacks can help you lose weight, although it's worth noting that one research article does not necessarily mean certainty. What helps is what is known as a meta-analysis, in which researchers pool the results of several well-designed studies. These meta-analyses are held to yield far stronger results than those of the smaller studies on their own.
What's the best nut for your blood pressure?
Eating nuts has also been associated with a lower risk of high blood pressure along with heart disease risk factors like diabetes and poor cholesterol scores. In an effort to link nut intake directly to blood pressure, an international team of researchers performed a meta-analysis of multiple studies that looked at nut consumption and also reported on the participants' blood pressures.
It doesn't matter what kind
There's tons of good research, only some of which we've reported on here at Dr. Gourmet, to show that nuts are good for you, and that they can help you improve your cholesterol scores. But when I tell people that their best snack choice is nuts, the first question they have is "Which one?" (Their second is whether candy-coated or salted is OK.)
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Long-time readers of Dr. Gourmet will know that I've been saying for years that the best snacks are nuts (for savory snackers) or fruit (for sweet snackers). As part of a Mediterranean-style diet, the recommendation is for a daily average intake of about 8 ounces, or about 1 cup of nuts like walnuts, pecans, or cashews.
Along with reducing your risk of type 2 diabetes, improving your cholesterol and blood pressures, and reducing your risk of death from any health-related cause, it appears they may help you reduce or avoid age-related weight gain, according to a study recently published in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health (2019;0:1-10.doi:10.1126/bmjnph-2019-000034).
Researchers affiliated with Harvard's Medical School utilized data gathered through three large-scale, long-term observational studies: the Health Professionals' Follow-up Study and the Nurses' Health Study, both of which began recruiting participants in 1986, and the Nurses' Health Study II, which began recruiting participants in 1991.
Upon enrollment and every 4 years thereafter, the participants in these studies responded to detailed dietary, health, and demographic questionnaires, which allowed the authors to not just estimate each participant's daily intake of nuts, but also to track how the participant's nut intake changed over time as well as how that participant's Body Mass Index might have changed over the same time periods, up to 2011, the point at which the authors closed their analysis.
The authors excluded from their study any participant who, at the start of the studies, reporting experiencing cancer, diabetes (regardless of type), heart attack or stroke, as well as those with missing or implausible BMI scores or dietary questionnaires.
As well, the authors removed from further analysis the responses of any participant who reached the age of 65 - to avoid the effects of age-related weight or muscle loss.
The final number of participants in these researchers' analysis included over 144,000 people, of whom the vast majority were Caucasian women.
The authors note that the amount of weight gain per year, averaged across the three study groups, was about 3/4 pound per year, with women averaging a greater yearly weight gain than men.
In their analysis, the researchers controlled for age, Body Mass Index, smoking status, physical activity, and a number of dietary factors, from the total number of calories, the amount of vegetables consumed, and even the amount of French fries consumed, while correlating nut intake across each four-year period with each participant's Body Mass Index (and whether it changed in that four-year period).
The findings? Adding just 1/2 serving of nuts (any type of nuts) per day, on average, to one's daily intake meant gaining 1/2 pound less over 4 years. Add another 1/2 serving of walnuts, specifically, each day reduced one's weight gain by 0.8 pounds, and another 1/2 cup of tree nuts in general reduced one's weight gain by just a little less.
Indeed, compared with those who didn't eat nuts much at all, those who ate just 1/2 serving of nuts per day were 23% less likely to move into the clinically obese range of Body Mass Index.
This analysis defined 'nuts' as including peanuts and peanut butter along with tree nuts. As the authors themselves sum up: "Increasing total nut intake by 0.5 servings/day was associated with less weight gain... suggesting that incorporating nuts into the diet, even given their calorie content, is helpful in mitigating a portion of long-term gradual weight gain."
If you're going to snack, have nuts. I would say that raw nuts would be best, with dry roasted and unsalted next, then dry roasted and lightly salted followed by dry roasted and salted. Chocolate- or candy-coated nuts should be considered candy and saved for a special treat (as in, once every few months).
The Mediterranean-style diet guideline of 8 ounces of nuts per day can easily be achieved by having just 1/2 ounce of nuts for your between-meal snacks. They'll be tasty and satisfying!
First posted: October 2, 2019 | <urn:uuid:5de6060c-35fb-4eb4-b519-3b5404e94ca2> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://www.drgourmet.com/bites/2019/100219.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251700988.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20200127143516-20200127173516-00356.warc.gz | en | 0.949794 | 1,442 | 2.6875 | 3 |
What is Agile Software Development (Brief Description)
Agile software development is a conceptual framework for software engineering that promotes development iterations throughout the life-cycle of the project.
There are many agile development methods; most minimize risk by developing software in short amounts of time. Software developed during one unit of time is referred to as an iteration, which may last from one to four weeks. Each iteration is an entire software project: including planning, requirements analysis, design, coding, testing, and documentation. An iteration may not add enough functionality to warrant releasing the product to market but the goal is to have an available release (without bugs) at the end of each iteration. At the end of each iteration, the team re-evaluates project priorities.
Agile methods emphasize face-to-face communication over written documents. Most agile teams are located in a single open office sometimes referred to as a bullpen. At a minimum, this includes programmers and their "customers" (customers define the product; they may be product managers, business analysts, or the clients). The office may include testers, interaction designers, technical writers, and managers.
Agile methods also emphasize working software as the primary measure of progress. Combined with the preference for face-to-face communication, agile methods produce very little written documentation relative to other methods. This has resulted in criticism of agile methods as being undisciplined.
Agile methods grew out of the real-life project experiences of leading software professionals who had experienced the challenges and limitations of traditional waterfall development on project after project. The approach promoted by agile development is in direct response to the issue associated with traditional software development – both in terms of overall philosophy as well as specific processes.
Agile development, in its simplest form, offers a lightweight framework for helping teams, given a constantly evolving functional and technical landscape, maintain a focus on the rapid delivery of business value (i.e., “bang for the buck”). As a result of this focus and its associated benefits, organizations are capable of significantly reducing the overall risk associated with software development.
In particular, agile development accelerates the delivery of initial business value, and through a process of continuous planning and feedback, is able to ensure that value is continuing to be maximized throughout the development process. As a result of this iterative planning and feedback loop, teams are able to continuously align the delivered software with desired business needs, easily adapting to changing requirements throughout the process. By measuring and evaluating status based on the undeniable truth of working, testing software, much more accurate visibility into the actual progress of projects is available. Finally, as a result of following an agile process, at the conclusion of a project is a software system that much better addresses the business and customer needs.
The diagram below displays the differences between agile and waterfall development processes. By delivering working, tested, deployable software on an incremental basis, agile development delivers increased value, visibility, and adaptability much earlier in the life cycle, significantly reducing project risk. | <urn:uuid:07655288-332d-40c7-bacf-102ea092a4e4> | CC-MAIN-2018-05 | http://ashishqa.blogspot.com/2012/12/agile-software-development.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-05/segments/1516084889677.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20180120162254-20180120182254-00610.warc.gz | en | 0.952182 | 613 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Nobody can deny the importance of dogs in our lives. They always have a special place in the heart of their human companions. They help in decreasing levels of human loneliness. They are being used to reduce stress levels among us and hence used for therapeutic reasons. Therefore, you might find the dog in hospitals, nursing homes, and other places. Studies by Harvard University and Kansas State reveal that with dog interaction various challenges associated with heart disease and autism can be combat. Dogs are being utilized for security purposes. Trained watchdogs provide a high degree of security hence are being extensively used by police organizations and government agencies. Dogs can teach kids valuable traits and other life skills through positive interaction.
Beagles are a popular breed of family dogs. Beagles enjoy the company of humans or other dogs. They don’t like spending time alone for a long period of time. Otherwise, your beagle may become destructive. They are intelligent, determined and excited, the dogs with personality and energy.
Let’s have a glimpse of how to take care of these curious, light-hearted and playful.
Always screen your dogs for health conditions like eye disorders, hip dysplasia, and hypothyroidism to name a few. A Beagle’s ear should be checked weekly. The teeth should be brushed regularly.
Puppy training classes and socialization are a must. Beagles don’t like harsh techniques. So with patience and positive reinforcement train your beagles
Being active and energetic dogs, they need a minimum of 1 hour of exercise every day.
Remember to weekly brush them with the medium-bristle brush. Nails should be trimmed regularly. They don’t need baths very often.
These breeds do well only on high-quality dog food. Either you can buy it or prepare it at home under the veterinarian’s supervision. Quality of the food plays a very crucial role in supporting your dog’s health especially its skin, joints, and coats.
Beagle Nutrition and diet
Beagles have a muscular build, hence they demand a high level of good-quality protein, moderate amounts of healthy fats and energy.
Good amount of meat proteins are important for them as compared to plant proteins. This is because of the fact that essential proteins that are present in animal proteins are more complete than plant proteins. They need a minimum of 18% of protein.
Healthy fats play a crucial role in Beagle. Apart from playing all the physiological processes, healthy fats make the skin and coat of your Beagle super smooth, soft and healthy. 9-15% of fat is being recommended in their diets. Food rich in Omega-3 fatty acids is also important for them. They are found in flaxseed oil and fish oils.
Since they are always super active going behind the bushes or other rocky terrains, they need the right amounts of calories. Calories are important for energy. Hence, make sure at least half of your pet food’s composition should comprise up of carbs.
To benefit your Beagle’s overall health, first, add fruits and vegetables. They contain vitamins and minerals. Apart from this, they also have antioxidants that strengthen the immune power of your dog.
Another addition would be probiotics and prebiotics, which makes sure that the bacteria present in the system aren’t causing any problem to the dog.
Another very important point for all the dog-breeders, dogs require a protein-based diet and not a carb-based diet.
Before you plan out to buy some pet food, don’t forget to know which type of Beagle you have, whether it’s 13-inch or 15-inch.
Feeding schedule for Beagles
A feeding schedule of the beagles largely depends upon its age. Let’s get started.
- 4-8 weeks of age
During the early weeks of life, the puppy has to be given mother’s milk for min 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, solid foods are being introduced known as weaning. By the age of 6 weeks, your pup should be taking solid food mainly. During the process of weaning, make sure to feed your dog with 5-8 meals per day.
- 8 weeks-6 months of age
Since the puppy is small, it would be advisable not to make any changes in the diet of your puppy, otherwise, it may cause digestive problems in your beagle. Make sure to feed a minimum of 3 meals per day.
- 1 year of Age and Above
As the age of your Beagle increases, the dog’s metabolism decreases and hence the need for Beagle’s nutritional intake also decreases.
Concept of treats
As already discussed, treats are important for any dog, especially for Beagles. So, they are getting calories from treats too.
Calories that beagles get is being divided into 2 sources.
- Dog food or kibble
It is being advised to give 80% of dog’s calories from this source.
Remaining 20% of your dog’s calories should come from this important source.
So definitely you can’t miss on this source and keep giving your beagle lots of treats between the meals.
Best Dog Food for Beagles
Below are the best 5 high-quality dog food that could be a good choice for your beagle. So let’s have a look.
1. Orijen Regional Red for Dogs
Your hound won’t resist if you get an Orijen Regional Red for Dogs. They make recipes that are delicious, nutritious and based on regionally sourced ingredients. 85% of this dog food consists of meat ingredients. Some of which are Angus beef, wild boar, Romney lamb, Yorkshire pork, eggs, mutton.
Remaining 15% of all the ingredients comprise of wholesome veggies and fruits.
It is one of the best dog food since it comprises glucosamine and chondroitin which takes care of the joints of your scenthound. It also comes with EPA and DHA which will take care of your pet’s intelligence and brain functioning. It’s just expensive.
- More than half of the meat products are fresh and raw.
- 38%of calories come from a protein source
- 20% of calories come from a carbohydrate source
- Comprises of variety of good components
- Never outsourced
- Number of different proteins
- Animal-based ingredients
- Includes a variety of fruits and vegetables
- Includes probiotic strains
2. Blue Buffalo Wilderness Rocky Mountain Recipe
This product is great for small beagles since they have small breed formulation. Blue Buffalo is definitely one of the leading brands which promise you high-quality food and plenty of nutrition. It has the right amount of protein along with the right amount of dietary fiber that helps in the digestion of your hound.
There is glucosamine in the packet, protecting against a number of diseases like hip dysplasia and joint problems. It doesn’t contain chicken by-products meals, corn, wheat, soy, artificial flavors or preservatives. It has a perfect blend of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants selected by trained veterinarians and animal nutritionists. This supports immune system health, life stage requirements, and a healthy oxidative balance.
- Packed with real beef
- Deboned beef is the first listed ingredient
- Grain-free small breed dog food
- Life source bits are present
- Natural dog food
- High protein with no grain.
- Made in the USA
- High-quality ingredients
- Premium food
- Includes while protein, antioxidant-rich fruits, and vegetables
- 5 different probiotic strains
3. Solid Gold Holistic Dry Dog Food
Solid Gold Holistic as the name suggests is the company that keeps in mind a holistic approach to your hound’s nutrition. They have been doing their duties well for the past 40 years- the oldest American manufacturer. Zero potatoes in the recipe so that your beagle can maintain healthy wealthy and enjoy the flavors. Alaskan Pollock fish is used as the first ingredient. It is rich in omega-6 and -3 which promotes overall wealth along with a soft and healthy coat and body. It is being made up of 20 holistic superfoods like pumpkin, lentil, sesame oil and broccoli promoting the wellness of your pet. To ensure optimal digestion, the product comes with fiber-rich prebiotics, probiotics. Definitely this product gives you a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
- Low fat and low calorie
- Superfoods packed
- Omega-rich Alaskan Pollock
- Protected probiotics
- Good nutrients
- Healthy extras
- 3 different type of probiotic strains
4. Taste of the Wild High Prairie
This company focuses on giving the meal to your beagle which used to be the meal of its wolf ancestor. Since they share the DNA, so they want to get the taste of something wild. And this wild can be achieved from this formula apart from helping them in maintaining the sleek condition of good health of your dog. Zero grain with sweet potatoes and peas which will help in the digestive system of your dog.
Roasted bison and venison along with the great taste that your dog won’t say to it, 32% of this dog’s food is protein to make them remain active. Apart from roasted real meat, it gets powerful antioxidants from vegetables, legumes, and fruits.
K9 Strain Probiotics are developed specifically for dogs and added after the cooking process to ensure viability in this dog food. The right amount of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids supports healthy skin and a shiny coat of your beagle. It has an optimal amino acid profile benefitting your pet.
- Pasture-Raised Bison & Pasture-Raised Venison
- Species-Specific Probiotics
- Taste of the Wild with roasted bison
- High protein ingredients with added vitamins & minerals; fruits and vegetables as SUPERFOODS
- Ingredients From Trusted, Sustainable Sources Around The World
- Nutrient-rich and highly digestible with guaranteed species-specific
- PROBIOTICS that survive and thrive in the GI tract
- MADE in the USA
- Three probiotic strains.
- Good taste
5. Blue Buffalo Life Protection Healthy Weight
This formula ensures that your dog maintains a healthy weight without gaining weight from extra calories from fat. It is made from high-quality real meat along with healthy fruits and wholesome whole grains to keep your friend healthy. These delicious recipes are always loved by your beagles.
These dog foods are made from the finest natural ingredients enhanced with vitamins and minerals and also antioxidant-rich kibble we call LifeSource Bits. These important nutrients are processed at a lower temperature than the rest of the ingredients so protect them from degradation and preserve potency.
The company BLUE produces food according to the breed size and condition-specific. Their Life Protection Formula is formulated specifically for puppies, adults, and senior dogs. The taste they offer is inspired by local cuisine from across America making your hound fall love with it.
- First ingredient as real meat
- Weight management dog food
- Lifesource bits
- Natural dog food
- Great ingredients list
- protein in the food comes from deboned chicken, and from fruits and vegetables
- Provide a balanced diet
- supply omega fatty acids
- Three different probiotics
Buying Guide for the best dog foods
- Whole protein as the first ingredient
As we all know, dogs are carnivores and hence it’s important for the breeders to feed them with things like beef or lamb. Not so good quality foods include corn, wheat or chicken meal as the first ingredient. A good quality food would include other whole proteins in their list.
- No use of artificial colors, flavors, and additives
Low- quality dog foods lack nutritious and delicious ingredients. Hence they utilize artificial colors, flavors and other additives to combat this defect. And these artificial kinds of stuff create a problem for your dog causing food allergies.
- Absence of unidentified meat meals
Many breeders don’t like meat meals and byproducts for their dogs. Though, these components are healthy for them. So it is better if the labels are properly labeled so that you are sure of the source of the meat meals or by-products.
- Fortified with healthy extras
Apart from giving vitamins and minerals to your dogs, provide them with important supplements like probiotics, prebiotics, chondroitin, and glucosamine. Probiotics are good bacteria helping your dog in his digestive system. Prebiotics acts as the food source for these good bacteria. Chondroitin and glucosamine help in keeping your dog’s bones and joints healthy.
- Manufacturing countries
It’s important that you give high food- quality dog food to your dog. So it’s quite recommended to select those manufacturing companies those who produce good -quality food and also follow food-safety regulations. So some of the countries those who are producing good dog foods are the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or Western Europe.
Dog Food for Beagles FAQ
Q: What should I know about Beagle puppy?
Beagles are scenthounds, they would mostly sniffing around your home, in your backyard, and any place which can come into your mind. The problem is not with their sniffing tendencies, but the area of concern is the place they would be sniffing in. They love the aroma of the food. So it’s advisable that you should keep your food stored properly otherwise what you may land up would be a whole mess. Keep the lid of your dustbin closed always.
As your Beagle puppy at your home, it’s important that you train them well. Training like housebreaking to potty training and obedience training all are very crucial. Hence, you can’t skip any one of them. From the starting only, train them otherwise at later stages it would be difficult. Initially, you would find them to be stubborn to train. That’s why many pet parents take the help of professionals to give them training.
Another important advice is to keep a close eye on your pet. Any acute smell will translate your Beagle becoming an escape artist. They’re full of energy, too. So, if you are too lazy, the beagles aren’t meant for you.
Q: How often should I feed my Beagle puppy?
All the puppies should be given their mother’s milk for the first 4th to 8th week of their life. By the 8th week, your pup can start with solids that too mostly moist food. In case, the mother due to some problem not able to nurse her puppies, then milk replacers are a great option.
Feed your puppies 4 times a day until they reach around 16 weeks. By 4 to 6 months, you can reduce the frequency of their feeding to 3 times a day. By the 6th month, the Beagle puppy should be ready to be fed only twice per day.
Q: Can a Beagle have part of my dinner?
In one word the answer is NO. The food which we eat is full of unhealthy trans-fats that may be harmful to our pets. Our food has good amount of herbs, spices, condiments, and other ingredients. These substances such as garlic, onion, dairy products, and even caffeine are a big no-no among dogs. | <urn:uuid:001e3f8c-5f50-4e09-96f4-137a172a47fa> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://www.pawfulreviews.com/best-dog-food-for-beagles/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610704799741.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20210126104721-20210126134721-00790.warc.gz | en | 0.941044 | 3,229 | 2.75 | 3 |
June 23, 2013
June 23, 2013
June 26, 2013
23.1174.1 - 23.1174.14
The Comprehension Challenge In the near future, tens of thousands of students will be able to take the same course from the same instructor, and have their assignments and tests graded by artificial intelligence software, and thus do all that is needed to earn a grade. The same course can be taken through tens of thousands of colleges all over the world. Why in this environment should parents pay a hundred thousand dollars or more to educate their child at my institution? This is the question that faculty members and administrators should be, or are, asking themselves. The best answer that we see is that depth of comprehension, and value addition, will be the competitive advantages. The mechanics of training students will become automated to a much higher degree than is done in most classes today, and students will gain practice in self‐learning to a higher degree than today’s students. The best institutions, teachers and students will then treat this level of capability as the baseline, and build on it to greater capabilities. The new capabilities will include that of venturing across disciplines, and daring to innovate. Both of these endeavors will require understanding technology and gaining physical insight to a greater degree, so that learners can acquire the perspective needed to solve problems quickly in new areas. The EXTROVERT project at our institution has been building and testing the resources and learning methods needed to reach this new level of capability. As this project closes out its 4‐year resource‐building stage, we are reporting on its status and its continued usage. A core of technical knowledge streams has been installed and is in use. Students are using the resources to solve problems ranging across disciplines. They are learning that they can indeed tackle substantial problems where the level of uncertainty appeared prohibitive in the past. Now they are able to exercise systematic methods to reduce uncertainty and develop viable solutions in areas where they would not have ventured before. We are also reporting on the issues and experiences of using these new capabilities. This experience includes the negative one of encountering severe resistance and antipathy from some students, and several administrators. At the same time, the reaction of the best students is extremely positive, as their work demonstrates capabilities beyond imagination.
Komerath, N. M. (2013, June), The Comprehension Challenge Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. https://peer.asee.org/22559
ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2013 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015 | <urn:uuid:3b66259a-f498-4d38-9257-4b561bb74719> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | https://peer.asee.org/the-comprehension-challenge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570986660231.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20191015182235-20191015205735-00387.warc.gz | en | 0.950379 | 612 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Presenting you here 100% correct and detailed NCERT Solutions for Class 3 English Unit 4 A Little Fish Story with each and every question of the textbook answered.
A Little Fish Story is about a little fish who feels unhappy because he is so small. He feels that the big fish have so much to be thankful for. However, soon his small size proves to be a blessing in disguise.
The NCERT Solutions for Class 3 provided by us can be practised by students for their examinations. These are structured as per the latest CBSE guidelines.
Access Answers to NCERT Class 3 English Unit 4 A Little Fish Story
A LITTLE FISH STORY
READING IS FUN
How many fish are there in the sea?
There are a great many million fish in the seas.
Why was the little fish unhappy?
The little fish was unhappy because he was so very small.
What happened to the fish one day?
One day, the fish got trapped in a big net while he was swimming in the sea with his friends.
Why was the fish thankful to be a little fish?
The fish was thankful to be a little fish because he could escape from that net just because he was small.
Imagine you are a little fish. Describe what you might see around you.
There’s water everywhere. I can see colourful plants floating around me. I have lots of colourful fish friends. There are big fish too. I try to be away from the ones who might eat me!
Sometimes, I see a couple of people around me. They just come, swim in the water and leave. I am very little so everything seems so big to me.
Look at the pattern and fill in the blanks.
Look – Looked
Talk – Talked
Pick – Picked
Wish – Wished
Bark – Barked
Pull – Pulled
Want – Wanted
Help – Helped
Fill in the blanks with the right word from the box.
a glass of water a bunch of flowers
a box of matches a herd of cows
a sheet of paper a pack of wolves
Look at the following sentence.
If I were only larger, how much happier I could be.
Make more sentences like this using the words in the box.
1. If I were only taller, how much happier I could be.
2. If I were only thinner, how much happier I could be.
3. If I were only smaller, how much happier I could be.
4. If I were only cleverer, how much happier I could be.
5. If I were only younger, how much happier I could be.
6. If I were only older, how much happier I could be.
The student needs to say the given words aloud so as to understand its pronunciation.
Choose the right words.
1. Mahesh sings a __________ (long/little) song.
2. Venkatesh __________ (looks/shouts) at him.
3. Venkatesh thinks Mahesh is __________ (crying/laughing).
4. Mahesh is __________ (singing/saying) a song.
5. The song is in __________ (Telugu/English).
1. Mahesh sings a little (long/little) song.
2. Venkatesh looks at him.
3. Venkatesh thinks Mahesh is crying.
4. Mahesh is singing a song.
5. The song is in English. | <urn:uuid:b7f30a82-9b48-4969-9623-c71255c031ad> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://byjus.com/ncert-solutions-class-3-english-unit-4-a-little-fish-story/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107902745.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20201029040021-20201029070021-00641.warc.gz | en | 0.954733 | 751 | 3.765625 | 4 |
Area: 27 sq. km
island, is opposite of Sfakia, is the southern most border of
Greece and Europe. It is 24 nautical miles away from Agia
Roumeli, right in the middle of the Libyan Sea. If you climb
up any of the southern peaks of the White Mountains of Crete,
on a clear day, you will see the island of Gavdos lying flat
on the horizon amidst the Libyan Sea.
the southernmost tip of Greece and consequently of Europe. It
is a low, sandy island wooded with pine trees and cedars. Of
its 5 old villages 3 are still inhabited. Two new settlements
grew in recent years. The first at the port, the Karave, and
the second at the bay of Sarakiniko. Altogether the
inhabitants of Gavdos today do not exceed 40 people. In the
summer there is an influx of racksacks tourists, mostly
germans and austrians, who freelance camp at the Sarakiniko
The word you
hear most on the island is the word "destruction",
or "Zerstoerung" in german, or "anaptixi"
in greek. Ironically, the greek word means
"developement", but for the Gavdiotes,
"anaptixi" was the irrevesible abandoning of
traditional peasant life, and the building of numerous illegal
dwellings such as tavernas and rooms to let, at the island's
most beatiful areas, promoting the destruction of the delicate
ecosystem, and of the archeological remains.
Callimachus, this is the ancient isle of Ogygia where, as
Homer claims in "Odyssey", the nymph Calypso lived.
Other names of Gavdos in the past were "Cavdos" and
"Clavdos" (Ptolemens and Ierocles),
"Glavdi" (the Epistles), "Gozzo" (the
Venetians) and "Bougadoz" (the Turks). In the first
Byzantine period, Gavdos had a bishop, as it had many
inhabitants, but, during the Venetian Rule, the islet was
abandoned, as pirates sought refuge there. Until the late
18th, early 19th century, Gavdos belonged to Sfakia and was
part of the Municipality of Anopolis Sfakion.
had a roman era city, traces of which are still to be seen at
the north west of the island. The ancient city was succeded by
a byzantine town, which was situated on the hill of Agios
Ioannis at the north of the island. The byzantine town must
have been of a considerable size, since it had 8000
inhabitants, and even its own archbishop. In later times the
island should have been desolated and the nest of pirates. The
names of two bays on the island, that carry the name of
Sarakiniko and Sarakinou, is all what reaches us today from
this dark period of history. | <urn:uuid:782f4fb3-a070-486c-939d-073a70b0dcdb> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://holidays-in-greece.com/crete/gavdos/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224646457.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20230531090221-20230531120221-00274.warc.gz | en | 0.935806 | 719 | 2.71875 | 3 |
A Re-examination of Firm Size and Taxes
43 Pages Posted: 24 Sep 2021 Last revised: 15 May 2023
Date Written: May 12, 2023
We document that larger firms pay substantially lower cash effective tax rates (cash ETRs) in the long-term than do smaller firms. Over a ten-year period, firms in the largest decile pay 10.8 p.p. (26 percent) lower taxes than those in the smallest decile, while this gap balloons to 14.4 p.p. (35 percent) for the largest 1 percent of firms. This pattern is robust to various specifications, but vanishes when cash ETRs are measured annually. The relation between firm size and taxes over the long run cannot be explained by foreign operations, depreciation, or R&D spending, characteristics commonly associated with aggressive tax practices. Meanwhile, the observed tax inequality is strongly associated with the incidence of losses. This indicates that smaller firms may face higher effective tax rates due to inefficient use of losses, and that larger firms are better able to smooth pretax income to avoid losses. In contrast to the two dominating theories ascribing the association between firm size and taxes to political activities, our findings suggest that the incidence and treatment of losses is first order in understanding the significant tax inequality that we document.
Keywords: Firm size, taxes
JEL Classification: H25, H26, L25
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation | <urn:uuid:237cdd94-34c6-444d-b5c5-c62476e57786> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3928145 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224649439.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20230604025306-20230604055306-00776.warc.gz | en | 0.939521 | 298 | 2.5625 | 3 |
|Home Dierig Sounding Bodies||prev next|
On the History of the Relation Between Music and the Sciences
Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Alexandre Métraux, Sven Dierig
(Max Planck Institute for the History of Science 4-6 April 2002)
The domains of music (both its theoretical and practical aspects) and the sciences are interwoven in remarkable and at times inextricable ways. It would be fruitful to try to structure the historically contingent associations between these two realms in some way. One such way would be to focus on an object - the sounding body - with all of its multiple meanings.
A glance at the dictionary reveals that a sounding body is defined as any hollow body that produces sounds through the impact of waves impinging upon it. In addition, the German word "Klangkörper" designates a body of individuals, such as an orchestra or band, who perform pieces of music together. Upon reflection, however, both definitions appear somewhat outdated and narrow. In a broader sense, sounding bodies do not only produce sounds, they also receive, transform, and store them. Hence, the human vocal apparatus connected to the language and memory regions of the brain, the electro-acoustic synthesizer in the sound studio, the microphone, the grammophone, CD-player, and loudspeaker can all be considered sounding bodies. Of special interest are "sound-storing bodies"- the sheets of music, LP record, CD, and the music file in the world wide web, in which sounds are transiently rendered silent for the purposes of storage or transport, and which depend on things completely different from (air) waves in order to reveal their effects.
If one not only takes the historically specific relations between music and the sciences into account, but also considers them under the rubric of the multiplicity of sounding bodies, traditional themes appear in a new light, and new ones begin to emerge. For example, the Pythagoren monochord tradition based on geometry and acoustics can now be reconsidered within the context of music theoreticians of the eighteenth century, who subscribed to a corpuscular notion of matter (such as those of Jean-Philippe Rameau). Despite the intervening paradigm shift, both cases can be related to and regarded as sounding-body phenomena. The voice as a sounding body serves as another example. It is intimately connected to speech; the latter is produced in the same vocal-acoustical apparatus, a fact that alludes to a connection between rhethoric and the doctrine of musical affectations, extending from the Renaissance into the present.
In addition, the connections between music and the sciences can be mapped directly or indirectly onto the different dimenions of sounding bodies. The following examples may serve as illustrations.
1) The proportions known from the doctrine of harmonies ("Harmonielehre") have repeatedly been considered as natural, free from social conventions and individual idosyncrasies. With this in mind, a view of the doctrine of harmonies as a direct continuation of physics seems to be clear. A doctrine of harmonies, experimentally and physically enforced by sirens, glass pipes, reed pipes, tuning forks, and other sounding bodies could consequently be used as a foundation of musical aesthetics (as was the case with Helmholtz), as well as a weapon in the controversies between different schools of musical aesthetics.
2) During the 19th century, the piano became the emblem of the sounding body, which could be used both as an instrument of artistic performance and of science. The vibrating piano string not only served scientitsts with a model and metaphor for the description of how the sound-receiving parts of the nervous system worked, it also served, thanks to its apparently simple contruction, as an instrument for the exploration of the machinery of the nervous system. Helmholtz's investigations on the reception and transformation of sensory stimuli in the inner ear ("the piano in the ear") relied on his intimate experience with piano playing. On the Sensation of Tone (1863) resulting from these investigations no only became a successful scientific work, it also grounded the success of the piano builder Steinway & Sons and found its way into the works of composers such as Rimsky-Korsakov, Hindemith, Janacek, Bartok, and others. As this example shows, the contexts affiliated with sounding bodies are by no means fixed once and for all.
3) Music also plays within the narrow confines of the scientific laboratory. From the middle of the nineteenth century, precisely the time when the experimentalisation of the animal and human bodies starts to take shape, metronomes and tuning forks become laboratory objects, which help to decipher rhythmicitiy (e.g., in the case of the graphic-recording apparatus). With his investigations on the relation between violin sounds and blood-pressure rhythms in animals and humans during the 1880s, the physiologist Johann Dogiel created a research field that is still actively researched today. Based on modern apparatus, music physiologists search for the neuronal loci responsible for the reception and transformation of musical impressions in the brain and those which record the brain currents of musicians. Mediated by the brain as a sounding body and the apparatus connected to it, sounds produce a special kind of sign and image, which, like the sounds themselves, can be stored in computers. For musicians and physiologists alike it is critical that sounding bodies leave recordable traces.
4) It is equally true for the sciences as for music that "practice makes perfect." In the laboratory, the mechanical training and perpetual repetition of identical or similar combinations of movements form the basis of an "aesthetics of experimentation" (Emil du Bois-Reymond), or at the very least the basis of experimental replicability. In the end for the musician, however, over exerted muscles and nerves lead to anything but the harmonious co-existence between sounding-body phenomena and the technical mastery of an instrument. For the repair of the musician as far as s/he is her/himself a sounding body, there exists today a science of its own: the diagnostics and treatment of various illnesses, the partially and therefore poorly defined and unexplained phenomena of the muscular apparatus, and the "musical centers" of the nervous system.
The aim of the colloquium is to articulate via case studies the transfers in both directions between the realm of music, its theory and practice, and of the sciences. Give the multiple ways in which sounding bodies of any kind can be analyzed, and the variety of transfers between the realms of music and science calling for case studies, the number of themes seems limitless. Metaphors, apparatus, procedures of argumentation, techniques, images, and/or media can equally be regarded and described as transfer objects. The organizers merely wish to insist that sounding bodies at the interface between music and the sciences be taken into account as points of orientation.
|Home Dierig Sounding Bodies||prev top next| | <urn:uuid:a50bfa17-2362-4bf1-8987-78fc05e051c4> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/exp/dierig/sounding_bodies.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764494852.95/warc/CC-MAIN-20230127001911-20230127031911-00855.warc.gz | en | 0.94636 | 1,456 | 3.265625 | 3 |
This week the Torah tells us that the Children of Israel once again complain. This time they want meat in the desert. They recall what they now consider a better time in a better place. Like many of us who are discontented with the world we live in, they talked about the good old days — in Egypt of all places!
“The rabble that was among them cultivated a craving, and the Children of Israel also wept once more, and said, “Who will feed us meat? We remember the fish that we will eat in Egypt free of charge; and the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now, our life is parched, there is nothing; we have nothing to anticipate but the manna!” (Numbers 11:4-6) The commentators are bothered by two simple questions; the first a grammatical, the second, a historical one.
The words that the complainers used were “zacharnu es hadagah asher naochal we remember the fish we would eat or actually will eat.” They did not use the pure past tense “achalnu, we remember the fish that we ate.” Why do they complain of remember fish that was to be eaten in the future, instead of fish to be eaten in the past?
Second, the Talmud and later commentaries ask, “Straw for bricks was not given to them, how was it possible that they had free fish?” The Talmud indeed implies that there was no fish, and the implied freedom refers to freedom of the yoke of mitzvos. So, if that was the case, what were they truly complaining about? Why mention non-existant fish?
Yankel would spend a few of his precious kopeks each week to by a lottery ticket. And every week he would come home from work that much poorer.
When his wife got wind of his habit, she repeatedly implored him to stop. She said his efforts were futile and it would be impossible for him to win.
It was, however, to no avail. Yankel would keep on betting the almost impossible odds that one day he would win. One day she could take it no longer. She shlepped him to the rabbi who was going to make him assure them that he would no longer waste his money on the lottery.
When he finally acquiesced, his wife put her hands on her hips and reminded him of her predictions. “For the last five years, you did nothing but lose the lottery. What a waste!”
Poor Yankel shrugged. “My dear wife he sighed, you don’t understand. Every night before the big lottery drawing, I went to sleep winning the lottery! And that my dear was surely no waste!”
The Sefer Shalal Rav brings quote the following interpretation: Sometimes, it seems, people think that it is better to think of the world that would be instead of the world that is. They refuse to revel in the good realities of life and instead would rather fantasize about a better world that was not to be. The Jews in the desert, talked about the fish they dreamt of in Egypt.
To them, like to many of us, the imaginary fish was more appealing than real Manna. In the world of wishful thinking, it seems that obsessing about imaginary dreams may be more appealing than reveling in the real good that G-d has given us and the mitzvos that we are able to relish. And that is more than fishy. It’s scary.
Dedicated in honor of Hannah and Ronnie Hershman on the occasion of their 20th Wedding Anniversary from their friends at Hollow Lane.
Copyright © 2002 by Rabbi M. Kamenetzky and Project Genesis, Inc.
If you enjoy the weekly Drasha, now you can receive the best of Drasha in book form! Purchase Parsha Parables at a very special price!
The author is the Dean of the Yeshiva of South Shore.
Drasha is the e-mail edition of FaxHomily, a weekly torah facsimile on the weekly portion which is sponsored by The Henry and Myrtle Hirsch Foundation | <urn:uuid:c10ebb43-3d87-4de5-b6be-6f5c4d168fbc> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | https://torah.org/torah-portion/drasha-5762-behaaloscha/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218189130.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212949-00007-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98286 | 884 | 2.546875 | 3 |
More information about this Work
Willem van de Velde II was one of the leading 17th-century Dutch marine painters. Trained by his father, Willem van de Velde I, with whom he later worked, he continued his studies in Weesp with Simon de Vlieger, an artist who specialised in marine compositions. Willem van de Velde II’s work falls within the scope of classical Dutch view painting and the artist created atmospheric effects not to be found in the work of previous painters.
In order to devise his compositions, Van de Velde made sketches from life and also sailed with the fleet in order to gain first-hand knowledge of naval battles, following the custom of his father. The type of composition that he produced was well received by clients, who appreciated their rigorous organisation and detailed rendering of rigging, hulls, sails and other elements of the vessels, as well as other elements related to navigation such as the direction of the wind, the position of the sun, the light and movement of the water.
Van de Velde II depicted both rough and calm seas and included almost every type of boat to be found in his day, from warships to commercial vessels. The precision and detail of his drawings have made them extremely useful for a knowledge of ship-building in the 17th century.
The present canvas depicts the Dutch fleet moored in the Goeree Roads at the entrance to the Haringvliet, one of the canals on the estuary of the Mose. Just visible on the left in the far distance is the city of Goedereede with its church tower. The painting was dated by Gaskell to around 1672–73, before Van de Velde II moved to England.
Van de Velde II structured his composition through two large diagonals created by the vessels that cross the picture surface from left to right. The first diagonal is formed from the four larger ships located nearer to the foreground. The second line, comprising three smaller ships, runs parallel to the first line and behind it. Between the two principal lines is a third group of smaller boats and sailing vessels crammed with passengers. In the foreground Van de Velde creates a dark area on the water from the shadow of a cloud, a device that increases the sense of spatial depth.
This canvas contains all the elements that brought Van de Velde II fame: his careful and refined draughtsmanship that has allowed many of the vessels to be identified; a large number of vessels in a single scene; a balanced composition achieved through the alignment of the ships; and a tranquil atmosphere conveyed by the gentle movement of the water with the lapping waves. His skills are also evident in the importance given to the sky, which offers a fine study of the density and movement of the clouds, contrasting with the whiteness of the billows of smoke from the cannon shots.
It would appear that Van de Velde II used a series of drawings made by his father at first hand in order to devise this composition. Willem van de Velde I arrived in Goeree where the Dutch fleet was stationed in September 1664 and remained there until December when the fleet set sail. During this time he executed the preparatory drawings, of which more than fifty have survived.
Among the ships that have been identified are the Vrede (Peace), the largest vessel, located in the foreground on the left and adorned with a figurehead of a woman in red and blue with a palm branch in her hand. The large vessel in the centre is De Drie Helden Davids (The three Heroes David), built in 1654. Het Huis te Oosterwijk (Osterwijk Castle), the third in the line, was built in 1653 and belonged to the Admiralty in Amsterdam. Located in the line behind them and next to the Vrede is Het Hof van Zeeland (The Court of Zeeland), while between the Vrede and Het Huis te Oosterwijk is the Eendracht (Unity), the flagship of Jacob Baron van Wassenaer van Obdam, Admiral of the Fleet. Lastly we see the Klein
Holland (Small Holland). | <urn:uuid:3eb5375a-7a3b-45cd-a00e-7ad41dc2e362> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://www.museothyssen.org/en/thyssen/imprimirFicha/145 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416931007832.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20141125155647-00034-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967572 | 859 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Today we are celebrating Gandhiji’s 151st birth anniversary. It is our moral duty to tell our children about one of his teachings- Swadeshi. Then only we can develop good habits in them right from the start.
“Swadeshi” is a word we have been listening to regularly over the years. On the other hand, “Aatmnirbhar Bharat” is a relatively new term. despite that, the latter has been trending all over the media, be it print, visual or social, and other institutions. When looked closely, both are actually synonyms of each other. Swadeshi was widely popularised by our father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi. It would be prudent to discuss his view of Swadeshi with our children so that they can connect it to the building of an “Aatmnirbhar Bharat.
Like truth and non-violence, Swadeshi had a spiritual connection to Gandhiji. The British Raaj believed in making India completely reliant on them. This led to the very weakening of the Indian economy. Gandhiji knew that the only way to bring an end to this is by making the people of India self-reliant. Gandhiji’s vision of Swadeshi was building a self-governed, elf-reliant, and self-dependent nation. He used Swadeshi as a tool against the oppression of the Britishers.
Gandhiji hit the very point of Britishers of the principle of mass-production. He was a believer in production for the masses, instead. In his vision, he saw the strengthening of the economic base of the villages. According to his principle, people should produce for themselves and then only sell it to the cities. The concept of self-made goods will ensure dignity for working by hands among themselves.
Gandhiji further insisted that Swadeshi will bring solidarity with oneself, between people to people, people to the nation, and people to nature.
The Swadeshi Movement began in 1905 after the partition of Bengal. This played a pivotal role in the independence of India eventually. Had the Swadeshi Movement not been there, the fight for freedom would have been much more difficult.
Now coming to the building of “Aatmnirbhar Bharat”, the nation is once again looking at the vision of Gandhiji. The recent Coronavirus pandemic has taught us lessons that too much dependence on others always has a negative impact on us. Let us refer to the lockdown scenario now. Scores of workers had to leave their place of work and ply on foot for hundreds of kilometers. This was a shame to the whole of mankind. This situation has raised a very important question- Could the situation have been averted?
The answer to this points to one thing, that we might have forgotten about- Swadeshi. Had the villages in India been self-sufficient and self-supportive, the workers would never have left their homes to earn a livelihood. The government is well aware of this situation and therefore it is urging for building an “Aatmnirbhar Bharat”. The sooner we understand its importance, the faster we can grow our economy.
But, the question still remains- Is it totally the government’s responsibility to implement the doctrines of the Neo-Swadeshi? The answer to this is a big NO. The very mindset of people needs a refresh button. The only positive impact of Coronavirus pandemic is that nature has been able to restore its lost balance. It is time that we bring about yet another major positive impact by implementing the principle of “Aatmnirbhar Bharat”, not only in our work but in our minds as well.
The task seems to be achievable, but when we see local vendors and shopkeepers selling goods by scribbling over, yet visible, “Made in China” tags, the only thought that comes into our minds is- “We have miles to go before we sleep”.
This Gandhi Jayanti, it becomes our moral duty towards the nation to inculcate the views of Swadeshi in building of an “Aatmnirbhar Bharat”. | <urn:uuid:378afbbf-523c-46d7-beb0-530039e0fefd> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://www.youmekaira.in/teaching-children-about-gandhis-vision-of-swadeshi-in-building-aatmnirbhar-bharat/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038071212.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20210413000853-20210413030853-00317.warc.gz | en | 0.971442 | 888 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Everyone Else Was Doing It: Social Proof
Episode #1 of the course How cognitive biases are messing up your decisions by Abasi Latcham
You are not as logical, rational, or deliberate in your decisions as you think. This is because all humans are susceptible to what psychologists and behavioral economists call, “cognitive biases.” Basically, a cognitive bias is a shortcut that your brain uses because it is fundamentally lazy. The technical definition from the Encyclopedia of Human Behavior is a “systematic error in judgment and decision-making common to all human beings which can be due to cognitive limitations, motivational factors, and/or adaptations to natural environments.”
This course is going to introduce you to ten biases, explain them, provide examples, and help you make better decisions by being aware of their influence. We are going to start with social proof.
What Is It?
Social proof is the tendency of people to imitate others when unsure of how to behave. Given a situation where there is uncertainty, your brain will look to see how other people are behaving and use their actions as a basis for what is “correct” (“correct” might mean best or appropriate, etc.; it is context specific). While this often makes sense, it is based on the premise that the other people hold some special information that you lack.
Consider this example. You are out with friends for dinner. You chance across two restaurants next to one another, both empty. You decide to try the left restaurant. Several minutes later, another group comes upon the same restaurants. However, this time, they see that one is empty and one has customers. They figure the one with customers must be better (why else would the customers be there?), so they, too, enter the left restaurant. This repeats throughout the night, until several hours later, the left restaurant is full, and the one on the right is trying to figure out why they’re having such a slow night. Social proof makes us think, “If lots of people are doing something, there must be a good reason why.”
The effects of social proof can range from the benign to the terrible. Consider these examples, roughly ordered from harmless to harmful.
• Wanting to go somewhere because it has a queue: If all those people are waiting to get into that place, it must be good!
• Testimonials/the “most popular”: Any time you see that something is the “most popular,” your brain thinks, “popular = good.”
• Laugh tracks: TV shows use laugh tracks as social proof to make jokes seem funnier.
• The Bystander Effect: The corollary of social proof is not acting because others aren’t acting, known as the bystander effect. This is illustrated by the case of 2-year-old Wang Yue, who was run over by two trucks, in front of witnesses, after which 18 people ignored her injured body before someone eventually called for help.
• The Werther Effect: The Werther Effect suggests that portrayals of suicide in the media acts as social proof and lead to an increase in copycat suicides.
Nine times out of ten, social proof provides us with the correct answer and saves our brain precious energy. But that one other time can lead us astray. Robert Cialdini, a professor of psychology, likens social proof to autopilot in an airplane and argues that if we can recognize situations where it’s acting on inaccurate information, we can reassert control. He argues that inaccurate information occurs in two types of situations.
The first is where the social evidence has been purposely falsified, such as laugh tracks. The presence of these forms of social proof should trigger warning bells that alert you to the fact that you’re only seeing the responses of those who support the “product,” and indeed, this support may very well be counterfeit.
The second type of situation is where benign social proof errors snowball into calamity. The restaurant example above exemplifies this. If you ever find yourself thinking, “Everyone else is doing it,” take a second to consider what they are doing, and ask if there is any other evidence advocating for their behavior.
Tomorrow, we will cover anchoring and look at how your brain gets stuck on the first bit of information it hears.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
Share with friends | <urn:uuid:7033cc6a-1430-4ab1-acf9-8107b3f41e22> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://gohighbrow.com/everyone-else-was-doing-it-social-proof/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224652184.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20230605221713-20230606011713-00159.warc.gz | en | 0.954602 | 935 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Dark Gums: What Causes Them And How To Treat Them
While it may not be very well known, thousands of people have black gums also known as gum hyperpigmentation. As the name suggests, the most common symptom is dark black spots or blotches on the gums. On rare occasions, it may be a sign of gingivitis but…. When should you see your dentist? What are some good treatments? What can you do to prevent dark gums in the first place? This article will address all of these questions and more!
What Causes Black Gums?
Dark gums are a common symptom of chronic gum disease, also known as gingivitis. Gingivitis is an inflammation of the gum tissue, which can be caused by the accumulation of plaque around the teeth that are not removed or treated. This leads to an overgrowth of bacteria in the mouth, which breaks down the tissue that protects your teeth from decay. In some cases, dark gums may be a sign of periodontal infection as well, which can lead to tooth loss if left untreated. Left untreated for a long period of time dark gums can cause early aging and tooth discoloration due to staining from plaque buildup on teeth.
Why Should I Care?
If you have dark gums, it’s important that you take the time to identify the cause of your condition. There are many possible factors that could be responsible for the dark patches on your gums, such as a lack of vitamin C, medications like tetracycline, or the use of some types of toothpaste. Regardless of what is causing the discoloration, there are a number of home remedies that you can use in order to make them lighter. These include brushing your teeth with baking soda or charcoal powder once every week and using toothpaste made specifically for sensitive teeth. If these don’t work, consult with your dentist about getting professional help.
Are there Any Permanent Solutions?
If you have dark gums, your dentist will likely tell you that they are a sign of gum disease. Although it is not always the case, it is often the first step in diagnosing this condition. The treatment for hyperpigmentation can vary depending on what is causing it. If the problem is bacterial, then your dentist may recommend a course of antibiotics to reduce inflammation in your mouth. If you have an infection, then usually a more intensive course of antibiotics will be needed. Your dentist might also recommend using oral rinses that are meant to reduce inflammation or whiten teeth in order to combat the brown stains caused by plaque build up on your teeth.
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Whitening At Home?
Whitening at home can be done if you have the right ingredients. The first thing you will need is lemon juice. Lemon juice contains vitamin C, which is a natural bleaching agent. Listerine mouthwash also works well for whitening teeth at home because of the hydrogen peroxide in it that helps break down stains on your teeth caused by smoking, or drinking coffee, tea or wine. Some people also use baking soda as a whitener but it may be too harsh for sensitive teeth so consult with your dentist before trying this method.
Whitening With A Dentist?
The first step in getting dark gums is to see your dentist. There are many causes of black gums, so your dentist will be able to determine the root cause. If it’s just a case of gingivitis, then treatment may be as simple as brushing more often or using an antibacterial mouthwash. If it’s something more serious, like diabetes, then lifestyle changes may be needed in order to reverse the effects.
The Right Way To Whiten Your Teeth:
While most of us know that we should drink plenty of water, eat healthy foods, and brush our teeth twice a day, there are other things you can do to whiten our teeth. The best way to whiten your teeth is by using toothpaste with an added ingredient such as hydrogen peroxide or baking soda. These ingredients help remove stains from the surface of the tooth. You may also want to try brushing with a toothbrush that has an added ingredient such as activated charcoal or baking soda because these compounds help absorb stains from within the tooth.
Gum hyperpigmentation is a relatively common problem, but it can be hard to diagnose without seeing the person in question. The most common symptom is black blotches on the gums. It may also be a sign of gingivitis, but this is rarer.
The most likely cause of black gums is trauma to the gum tissue from brushing too hard, or not using a toothbrush with soft bristles. Other possible causes are malnutrition, smoking, vitamin deficiency (B6), iron deficiency anemia, and certain medications. | <urn:uuid:b99e7223-c35e-4587-9a6b-329866b2e40e> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://castmetrix.net/dark-gums-what-causes-them-and-how-to-treat-them/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296945333.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20230325130029-20230325160029-00618.warc.gz | en | 0.943272 | 1,002 | 3.0625 | 3 |
With Remembrance Day just around the corner, a local resident has gone the extra mile to remember those that gave the ultimate sacrifice during World War I from the town and who are named on the Queensway War Memorial.‘Eh Oop Flower’ has created a net of 300 crocheted poppies, representing:
- The red poppy to commemorate those who sacrificed their lives in World War I and in conflicts that followed.
- The purple poppy is often worn to remember animals that have been victims of war.
- The black poppy represents African and Caribbean communities' contribution to the war effort, as servicemen and servicewomen, and as civilians.
You will be able to see this beautiful act of kindness from Monday 8th November until Monday 22nd November at the War Memorial.In addition, Eh Oop Flower has hidden a number of ‘Remember Me’ cards around the town and surrounding areas with the name of a Soldier and a crocheted poppy. These will be placed from 30th October and if you find one, please take it home with you and find out more about the Soldier’s story.The first poppy Eh Oop Flower made was to commemorate the centenary of the local resident’s Great Uncle’s death. Whilst placing at the War Memorial, a little boy was looking out of a window at Knowles School, wondering what she was doing and she realised that many did not really know what had happened all those years ago.If you find one, please acknowledge it on the Eh Oop Flower Facebook Page. | <urn:uuid:cf798ae7-cee3-4ce6-9b2e-ca34e2f23d2f> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://www.bletchleyfennystratford-tc.gov.uk/marking-remembrance-day-this-year?id=44970 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446711475.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20221209181231-20221209211231-00751.warc.gz | en | 0.972605 | 320 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Leaders from Macclesfield RSPB Wildlife Explorers spent the morning with the children of class 2 at Bollington Cross School.
This event was part of Sustainability Week organised by the Bollin Valley Partnership.
The children had brought in lots of materials such as old canes, broken plant pots and clay pipes. These were added to a base of old pallets and bricks to transform it into a Hibernation Hotel where minibeasts and small mammals could overwinter.
They learnt about what the RSPB do to help wildlife before making their own Homes for Wildlife in the classroom, ready to place inside their Hibernation Hotel.
We all had a great morning making a special Home for Wildlife and before we had even finished, spiders, woodlice and a centipede were seen moving in!
A fantastic morning’s work – well done Class 2! | <urn:uuid:22e5a5e6-8f63-4a53-b9e4-9cacf9de53a6> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | http://www.wildlifeexplorersmacc.co.uk/2013/10/06/friday-4th-october-bollington-cross-primary-school-hibernation-hotel/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221217901.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20180820234831-20180821014831-00552.warc.gz | en | 0.968672 | 182 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Dates Fresh fruit is one of the most valuable nutrients and is one of the important sources of mineral and vitamin elements in a balanced nutrition regime. Dates have a great deal of nutritional value because they have a hard, dense, thin skin and a deliciously sweet flavor. It has been scientifically proved that dates besides one glass of milk can satisfy the required food-stuff of a person daily. Dates can classify as soft, semi-soft, and dry dates. Like other fruit, dates are seasonal products; therefore, the supply of fresh delicious dates is always limited. However, “Nakhil Dates” provides processed Iranian dates and dried dates all year long.
It is believed that the dates palm originated from around the Persian Gulf area or possibly desert areas of North Africa or India, but researchers say that Iranians were the first nation to use the dates as food and for medical purposes. The dates palm are probably the oldest tree that has been cultivated in the world. The palm tree is often planted in Middle Eastern regions such as Iran and Iraq, or in Saudi Arabia and North Africa. Generally, dates from these areas have entered other countries such as Australia, America, Mexico, India, Pakistan, and Mexico. Dates are divine fruit and most religions believe that dates are one of the seven holy fruits in the world.
Dates fruits have an elongated oval-cylindrical shape. They are 3 to 7 cm long and 2 to 3 cm in diameter. Each date’s fresh fruits have one seed of about 2 cm long and 6 to 8 mm in diameter. Depending on the variety, the unripe fruits have a bright red to bright yellow color. Dates fruits are very sweet as they have a high sugar content of around 80%.
Dates do well in hot climates, and often grown in an oasis in desert areas. Dates tree of 15 to 25 meters tall and wind-pollinated. However, in orchards, they are usually hand-pollinated.
To get specific with nutrition facts, each 100g serving of dates has these key nutrients:
- Fiber – 6.7 grams, or 27% RDA.
- Potassium – 696 milligrams, or 20% RDA.
- Copper – 0.4 milligrams, or 18% RDA.
- Manganese – 0.3 milligrams, or 15% RDA.
- Magnesium – 54 milligrams, or 14% RDA.
All these nutrients are important for the human body. In addition, dates as a natural food do not cause any adverse side effects in the human body. This sweet fruit is easily and quickly digested in the body. Dates are a good source of vitamins and minerals. It is also known as a good source of energy, sugar, and fiber. Essential minerals such as calcium, iron, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and zinc. In addition, the dates contain vitamins such as thiamine, niacin, folic acid, vitamin A and vitamin K. (For more information, visit Health benefits of dates).
Iranian dates types such as Mazafati dates and Piarom dates are the best dates all over the world. Persian Piarom Dates is the most expensive dates in Iran, have domestic and international audiences. Iranian dates such as saffron, pistachio, caviar, and Persian carpet are famous in the world. Sunexport is one of the best Iranian dates suppliers and trading companies that provide the best Iranian dates.
The palm needs hot weather to grow and produce quality fresh dates. This tree grows between 10 and 20 meters, and eventually, the date fruit is pulled out as very large and hanging clusters, but always these dates do not complete their arrival process. Sometimes even the palm itself may grow But the dates do not reach the desired result due to the specific weather conditions. Iran has excellent conditions for the production of dates and cultivars.
Date fresh fruit is one of the oldest products in southern Iran. From ancient times to now, the provinces of Kerman, Khuzestan, Bushehr, Hormozgan, Sistan and Baluchestan and many other provinces of Iran have been the focal point for breeding the best dates, and each year, more than the previous year, the greater the dates of these areas to countries Other is exported. So, Iranian export dates are popular in many countries of the world and have high quality. Today, along with India, countries such as Malaysia, Canada, France, United Kingdom, Turkey, Germany, United Arab Emirates. Many other European countries buy dates for Iran, whose demand in these countries has been increasing for the dates of Iran.
Sunexport company is working to introduce as much as possible Iranian dates to other European and American countries. Also, Iranian dates are issued to many countries in the region and East Asia. By engaging and communicating with businessmen and embassies in other countries in Iran or embassies of Iran in other countries, as well as by providing the necessary infrastructure for collecting, washing, transporting, storing and distributing with the highest standards Without using any preservatives.
Our Iranian dates company today is an excellent brand in many countries of East Asia, Europe, and some other regional countries. Also, our Iran date company has succeeded in improving the export volume of Iranian dates each year and has a significant role in the production and quality of date palm trees. Sunexport provides Iranian date fresh fruits with the highest quality. Our Iranian date supplier, Sunexport, exports high-quality Iranian products at the earliest time. Unique features of products and also, Great products packaging cause the company is located between companies with high value.
our company, as one most popular brands in Iran in the world, is ready to offer advice or to purchase guaranteed quality dates at reasonable prices for exporting dates to other countries. Even you can, by getting expert advice from our experts, sell your quality dates with the help of the recommendations of the Black Date experts at reasonable prices on the world markets.
For more information and Purchase order, please contact us.
You can download the catalog about sunexport’s dates here. | <urn:uuid:8a0da6a6-3445-482f-8e85-1b76b884ac7f> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | http://sunexport.ir/portfolio/date-fresh-fruit/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571993.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20220814022847-20220814052847-00651.warc.gz | en | 0.947625 | 1,264 | 3.078125 | 3 |
In an era of far-reaching, user data breaches from banking to social networks, the European Union (EU) is set to initiate its April 2016-approved legislation known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.
This is a bold move in the right direction for consumers whose information is spread far and wide on the internet, whether it’s logging into apps on smartphones or providing personal data to companies for products and services. However, it has an equally important but potentially dangerous impact on business and commerce in the United States.
What is GDPR?
Simply put, GDPR will give control to consumers and users to manage and own the data collected by companies. It also puts restrictions on the export of consumer data and allows users the access to delete or cease sharing information.
It also covers other urgent consumer-first protections including:
- Data breaches. Under GDPR, companies have to alert users and/or the public within 72 hours of a data breach.
- Underage users. Users under age 16 require parental or guardian approval before sharing information.
- Easy-to-understand consent. Consent given by users must be agreed to with plain language, easy-to-understand policies. Likewise, there must be an efficient way for users to reverse consent at their choosing, if needed.
- Right to user data. GDPR also ensures users have the right to request access to their data to understand how and where it’s being used by organizations.
- Stronger system protection. New regulations also require that more solid, protective systems be put in place for users first, rather than organization- or profit-first.
It also means companies have to be honest about data breaches when they happen. Under GDPR, companies have 72 hours to alert the public if a breach occurs. Users under the age of 16 are also protected, requiring approval from a parent or guardian before sharing information.
The first iteration of this policy was put in place in 1995 as the Data Protection Directive, which helped collate online rules and regulations of data use across the EU’s 28 nations.
Data breaches, particularly high-profile breaches like the Equifax breach in 2017 or the recent Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data sharing, have made users weary of sharing information online. According to a recent RSA Privacy & Security report, 40 percent of respondents admitted to using false information when engaging with a company for products or services.
To further help protect users, the GDPR is putting more emphasis on ownership of data and particularly, consent that users give for companies to access their information and data.
According to CNBC, these new regulations mean that companies can’t “bundle consent together” into confusing jargon that allows loopholes for organizations to abuse user data.
Are there penalties for GDPR?
Businesses that don’t comply, or refuse to comply, can face major financial penalties that could cripple investments and profits. Specifically, failure to comply can result in a fine up to 4 percent of annual global turnover or 20 million euros ($24.6 million), whichever is bigger.
Companies have images to uphold, too. And GDPR ensures that with these strict requirements. Nearly 62 percent of people in the RSA survey said they blame companies before hackers when a data breach occurs. GDPR agrees, which is one of the many foundations of these new, stringent regulations.
How do I know if GDPR applies to me?
Professionals across all industries are, no doubt, asking not only how to comply, but if GDPR applies to their organizations.
Europe, by and large, has had a more strict code of conduct when it comes to the protection of user data, far more than the United States. But GDPR, while protecting EU-citizens specifically, reaches across the pond in every direction.
Companies in the United States, especially multinational businesses, will have to comply to the new regulations if they serve users in the EU. Even happenchance visitors to websites or applications from the EU are protected, which creates an urgent need for organizations to put rules in place now.
Whether you develop a smartphone application or you’re seeking newsletter subscribers, collecting data from any EU audience requires adherence to GDPR.
Can I be exempt from GDPR?
If your organization doesn’t target users in the EU, nor does business with users in the EU, you’ll likely fall out of scope for GDPR.
Users in the EU who happen to find a U.S.-based website meant for U.S. audiences, or not specifically targeted to EU users, won’t be protected with GDPR. However, any targeted marketing efforts for EU visitors, as well as transactions or requests of information from EU users, are who GDPR will be protecting.
A quick review of your Google Analytics can tell you quickly if you have EU visitors engaging with your web properties. A discussion with your organization’s marketing, especially targeted marketing, will help you know how to proceed as well.
Regardless, it’s best to seek legal guidance from your organization’s legal team and I.T. team to ensure the level of care you put forth adhering to GDPR.
Are companies prepared for GDPR?
Technically, organizations around the world have had more than two years to prepare for GDPR. Many organizations and webmaster tools, such as Google, are giving companies and “controllers” (any organization that requests or accesses user data) information and tools for how to comply with GDPR.
In 2017, compliance firm TrustArc and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) surveyed more than 500 privacy professionals across various industries and found that 84 percent planned to have GDPR adherence in place by May 2 of this year.
Many organizations have already met or started scheduling meetings with their I.T. and legal teams to make sure privacy policies and other small print legal conditions are aligned with GDPR to keep consumers safe and dodge potentially crippling fines.
How can we prepare for GDPR?
The most important question for companies is how their organizations can personally prepare for GDPR. Not only will your organization want to be prepared, but you’ll want to ensure any third-party applications or functionality in your app or website also adhere to the new regulations.
- Meet with your legal team. If possible, get face-to-face with any legal representatives you have available. Talk about the changes that need to come, and potentially how to communicate those changes internally and externally.
- Bring I.T. into your marketing initiatives. MarTech recommends that it’s wise to integrate your I.T. and marketing teams at the very least, so all understand what’s at stake. You’ll both stay updated on what’s happening on both sides of your worlds: From cyber technology to marketing efforts around the globe, and how they work together.
- Revise your company’s privacy policies. As mentioned, clear, easy-to-understand policies about the use of user data is integral to GDPR. If you’re asking users for information, even to register to join your mailing list, make sure plain language is used to explain how this information is collected and used by your company. And always give users an opt-out or reversal of permission option.
- Understand where data goes and how it’s used. HR and payroll solution company MHR, based in the United Kingdom, recommends data mapping to identify the key information that’s collected and documenting how it moves between departments or the organization as a whole. This will help you understand any potential privacy risks, which could implement protection in advance.
- Use clearly identified options for users to to revert their data, or delete it. Squinting to find a hidden “unsubscribe” button in email footers should be forbidden anyway, but with GDPR, it will be even more important that users can easily revert their permissions for data, or delete it entirely. See an example of this email option:
- Check your own Google Analytics (GA) data. See how much traffic, if any, is coming from the EU and verify if any of your campaigns or marketing is meant to target EU users, as this puts you under the GDPR umbrella.
- Verify (and understand) the privacy policies and terms of third-party vendors. If you use any third party applications or functionality, you’ll want to verify and understand their privacy policies to make sure they’re adhering to GDPR, too, if needed. Under GDPR, if you use third-party applications that aren’t in compliance, then your organization isn’t in compliance, either. Get on the phone and discuss in detail with their respective customer service or teams if it’s unclear from their legal language. If you find third party vendors that aren’t in compliance and failing to adhere to GDPR, consider other avenues for that functionality. Likewise, work only with third-party providers who are GDPR-compliant in the future.
- Expand your team. MarTech recommends hiring a Data Protection Officer (DPO) to help assign liability and adherence to regulations like GDPR. While it may be an investment to find someone who can carry this load for your organization, it’s worth your time. “Consumer information deserves to remain private,” MarTech writes. “So anything you can do to stay in compliance will help you overall.
You’ll want to know what Google’s up to, too. Like many companies, you’re no doubt engaging with Google Analytics or other webmaster tools in the Google shed. And part in response to GDPR, and part in following their stringent Terms of Service, Google is making some important changes.
For example, starting May 25, Google is changing its default for data retention. If you use Google Analytics for tracking user data, you’ll want to check in on the changes as certain data older than the cutoff will be automatically deleted, according to a recent article by Moz. However, author Will Critchlow points out that this change isn’t necessarily a direct response to GDPR, it gives the tools controllers might need, to restrict data storage in the future.
Google is also making deep strides to combat any accounts that are collecting personally identifiable information, or PII, such as full name, address, social security information, and date of birth. It’s important for controllers to audit their GA profiles for any PII risks, as well as update your data retention settings, as needed.
So what does this all mean?
The truth is, we’ll likely see the outcomes of GDPR in the coming months and years as organizations are penalized or highlighted in the media for breaking the rules. It’s possible, too, that more of our favorite tools (like Google’s webmaster suite) will adjust as the reach of GDPR becomes better known.
It’s always best to be safe than sorry, so make sure you collaborate with your team — from marketing to I.T. to your own legal counsel — to make sure you’re delivering the safest and most trusting experience to your users.
Written By Erin Schroeder
Erin Schroeder is a senior content strategist and writer at Geonetric, where she helps healthcare brands organize user-first websites, content marketing, and brand messaging. As a former journalist, she never lost her love to write. You'll also see her articles on content strategy and user experience around the web, including UX Collective, UX Booth, and Prototypr. | <urn:uuid:c2a17be5-2408-47c6-987b-610bb1fcc584> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://slickplan.com/blog/preparing-for-success-with-gdpr | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107890028.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20201025212948-20201026002948-00333.warc.gz | en | 0.925625 | 2,416 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Weddell seals show only subtle signs of aging despite harsh environment
Posted February 1, 2013
Before they tried to answer the question of whether seals get cold, scientists studying the physiology of Weddell seals in Antarctica had a different puzzle in mind.
Do seals get old?
The answer: sort of.
“The problem with marine mammals is that you don’t see old individuals,” explained Jo-Ann Mellish , a co-principal investigator on the project, which conducted field research during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 field seasons from McMurdo Station . “You don’t see old seals.”
Of course, every mammal ages. Yet older seals are nearly physically indistinguishable, except for maybe worn-down teeth, from their younger cohorts. The mystery is even deeper in the case of the world’s southernmost pinniped because of their particular behavior.
Weddell seals are extreme athletes, capable of diving to depths of 750 meters. In some cases, they can hold their breath for more than an hour. Such physical feats of prowess would normally come at a high price due to prolonged periods of hypoxia.
The oxidative stress caused by extended dives of low oxygen followed by sudden re-oxygenation can case major cellular damage. In essence, they should show signs of aging faster than normal.
How to determine if that’s the case or not?
Instead of the heat flux sensors used by the team on its current project to determine whether seals get cold (or, possibly, overheat), the scientists outfitted a number of the animals with electrocardiograms to measure heart rate while they swam.
“We couldn’t put a seal on a treadmill. Instead, we put a little drag device on the animal,” Horning said.
After capturing baseline physical activity data for about a week, the team recaptured the seals and added a device to increase the drag on the animals while they’re swimming. That meant the seals had to work a little harder to swim at the same speeds.
Analysis is still under way on any behavioral differences between age cohorts.
In addition to the virtual treadmill tests, the researchers collected blood and muscle samples. The blood chemistry showed some subtle differences between older and younger animals that might suggest miniscule organ deterioration, according to Mellish, a research associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a Steller sea lion scientist at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward.
However, team biologist Allyson Hindle’s analysis of the muscle tissue did discover stiffer collagen fibers, meaning the older animals probably did have to work harder than their younger and spryer counterparts.
“It was the first definitive sign of aging that we were able to document in these animals,” Mellish said.
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Scientists1https://www.jstor.org/stable/24921629 believe humans are the only animals to shed emotional tears. We cry at weddings. We cry at funerals. We cry when our team wins the championship.
Unfortunately, those moments become uncomfortable for some people because they can’t cry. Not being able to express emotions in a socially accepted way for a situation can be frustrating and awkward. But tears aren’t the only way to communicate those intense emotions of joy, anger, or fear.
Before we go there, let’s talk about tears and why they are such a powerful part of the human experience.
What Is Emotional Crying?
Emotional crying is when a person responds with tears to emotional triggers like sadness, joy, or anger.
There are also other types of tears, including basal tears, which keep our eyes from drying out, as well as reflexive tears, meant to flush out irritants and protect our eyes (hello, dust and onions!). For this article, we’ll mainly focus on emotional tears.
Is it Normal to Not Cry?
It’s hard to pinpoint precisely what is “normal” for emotional crying. The APA reports2https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/07-08/numbers that women cry emotional tears an average of 30-64 times a year, while the average for men is 5-17 times a year. Remembering that each person’s particular tendencies and sensitivities vary wildly is essential. A study’s average is just that – an average, not actually the experience of any one person.
Common reasons3https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6402489/#R38 people report as causes for crying include conflicts, minor personal failures, criticism, rejection, or even a sad movie.
A study4https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1069397111404519#:~:text=Gender%20differences%20in%20crying%20proneness,expressiveness%20and%20personality)%20are%20discussed. shows that gender differences in crying are “more significant in wealthier, more democratic, and more feminine countries.”
Crying more or less than average is not inherently good or bad. Knowing your tendencies and personality, learning to process emotions, and clearly expressing feelings are valuable skills to develop.
We’ll talk later about the various factors affecting a person’s propensity to cry. First, let’s dive into why someone may not be able to express their feelings through tears.
Common Reasons for Not Crying
Several common causes affect a person’s ability to cry, including physical, medical, and emotional factors.
Human bodies are incredibly complicated mechanisms. Each person being unique means there is no “one size fits all” explanation, but understanding the different factors can help you seek the appropriate resources.
Some medical conditions mean the body is physically incapable of producing enough tears to cry. It’s also possible that environmental factors like dry, windy conditions reduce the body’s ability to produce tears.
Contact lenses can affect tear production as they dry out, making it harder to produce tears.
A person’s hormone balance can also affect one’s sensitivity to crying. For example, the hormone testosterone3https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6402489/#R38 is believed to repress crying.
In addition to natural hormones and physical factors, some medications can have side effects that reduce tear production, such as antihistamines. Certain symptoms of depression can affect normal emotional reactions, including emotional numbness, called anhedonia.
For some people, the experience of processing and managing emotions was painful, and, over time, repressing those emotions became the automatic reaction. In other cases, crying was belittled as a sign of weakness, and the person actively trained themselves not to cry.
Retraining one’s mind to process emotions rather than repress them takes professional guidance, time, and patience. It’s like the physical therapy required after an arm in a cast has atrophied. Like rebuilding muscle, learning to process emotions involves creating new neural pathways and actively retraining ingrained habits.
Whether physical, medical, or serious emotional factors, a medical professional and/or mental health professional are the best resources for diagnosis and treatment options.
A Note on Personal Tolerance
In addition to the reasons above, it’s also possible your tolerance for emotion has a higher baseline than others around you. That’s not inherently good or bad; it’s just something to consider.
Let’s take an analogy: imagine it’s a hot summer day, and you’re on a walk with a friend. You are both experiencing the same environment (a warm day), but what may be tolerable for you is unbearable for your friend, who is more prone to heatstroke.
Similarly, crying is actually a result of many physical and emotional factors, including, but certainly not limited to:
- Physical exhaustion
- Emotional bandwidth
- Hormone levels
- Stress levels
- Available support systems
- Self-care routines
Ponder how these factors may affect you or those around you as you experience stressful situations together.
What’s the Social Importance of Crying?
Crying has an important role in society as a method of non-verbal communication. Even if crying isn’t a way you communicate your feelings, it can be helpful to understand its place in our social structure.
- It signals to others that the person is distressed and needs support.
- It elicits social support from others who want to offer comfort and reassurance.
- It allows for emotional intimacy because the person crying demonstrates vulnerability and trust.
- It breaks down stereotypes and social barriers by helping others view the person as a complex human with emotions.
What’s the Impact of Crying on Physical and Emotional Health?
Studies5https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-crying-good-for-you-2021030122020#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20established%20that%20crying,both%20physical%20and%20emotional%20pain. show the impact of crying on physical and emotional health can be very beneficial. Emotional tears contain stress hormones and toxins that are flushed out of the body. Crying also triggers the release of oxytocin and other endorphins that can ease physical and emotional pain.
Conversely, research6https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22081940/ indicates that those who use repressive coping to handle negative emotions have a higher risk of cancer, and cardiovascular diseases, especially hypertension. It’s also been linked to physical effects like muscle tension, headaches, and a compromised immune system.
Now, please understand that crying isn’t the only way to process emotions to be physically and emotionally healthy.
How To Process Emotions Without Crying
If you find yourself needing a way to process and express emotions, consider the following:
Keeping a journal of things that impact you, how they make you feel, and what options you see for dealing with them offers a way to express yourself. You can also write a poem, song lyrics, or a letter (that you don’t have to send).
For example, Betty might make the following note about a delayed flight.
“On the flight home, it looked like there was going to be an empty seat on my row, and I was so excited to have room to stretch out. But the attendants didn’t close the door, and after nearly 30 minutes of sitting at the gate, they announced we were waiting for the final passengers. By this point, I was mad that I was waiting for someone to show up and make my trip less comfortable. Finally, this little old couple arrived, and I felt ashamed for having wished we’d left without them because if we had, they would have been waiting hours for the next flight.”
Try this: Set a goal to keep a small notebook handy for one week. When you experience strong emotion, positive or negative, write it down. At the end of the week, look through your notes and see how writing down your thoughts affected how you viewed the situations. For more ideas on goal setting, check out Goal Setting: 5 Science-Backed Steps to Setting and Achieving Your Goals.
How To Set Better Goals Using Science
Do you set the same goals over and over again? If you’re not achieving your goals – it’s not your fault!
Let me show you the science-based goal-setting framework to help you achieve your biggest goals.
2. Talk with someone you trust
For those who process information by talking about it, consider asking a trusted friend to be a sounding board for your thoughts rather than writing it down. They shouldn’t take the place of professional guidance, but being able to talk through complex emotions can be valuable.
To ask a friend for help, consider saying, “Hey, I’ve had a lousy day, and I need to talk it over with someone. Are you available to meet up tonight?”
I was recently talking to a friend who knew I’d had an overwhelming week, and she started the conversation by asking, “Do you just want me to listen, or would you like some suggestions?” For friends and family who care about you but may not be as perceptive, clarify what kind of help you need.
If you are looking for advice, you might try, “I have a problem with a coworker, and I’d like your suggestions on how I could talk to her.” Before you ask for help plotting the perfect revenge, check out this article: The Psychology of Revenge: Why It’s Secretly Rewarding.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a listening ear, make that clear in your request, “I just found out I have a huge car repair on top of my fridge dying. I don’t need you to try and fix anything; I just need to vent.”
3. Express your feelings creatively
You can also look for creative outlets for your emotion. Consider some of these options:
- Join a jam session for an instrument you play
- Compose a song that fits your mood
- Paint using colors that match your current emotional state
- Draw a picture of your ideal solution to the current situation
- Look up a nearby “Break Room” to let out anger in a safe environment
- Create a dance to express your emotions
- Dedicate a workout to expelling the stressful things from your mind
- Take up a meditative hobby like woodworking, sewing, model building, knitting, or cross-stitch
4. Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a topic that has gotten more attention in recent years. It is the idea of fully engaging with the present moment without judgment or distraction. Many applications and activities can improve mindfulness just with the proper mindset.
- Labeling feelings without judgment
- Computer coding
- Deep breathing
Many everyday activities could be modified to pursue mindfulness by intentionally focusing on being present in the moment.
Try this: Pick one activity you already have a habit of and try doing it mindfully. For example, if you walk to school or work, choose a day to turn off any music, podcasts, or audiobooks and focus on your surroundings. Are the trees along your route all the same? All different? Are there birds chirping along the way? Is there a building under construction? Do people walk alone or in groups?
You can find other suggestions in 30 Mindfulness Activities To Keep Your Mind Calm (At Any Age).
Communicating Emotions When You Don’t Cry
As we mentioned earlier, those who don’t cry may feel uncomfortable in situations where tears are socially acceptable. The first thing to recognize is that while crying is often a part of events like funerals, farewells, and even celebrations, it isn’t required.
Let’s repeat that for emphasis.
You don’t have to cry.
In situations of grief and loss, everyone processes emotional distress differently. One person may react strongly when they hear the news, while another has no external reaction. For some, emotions may be strongest when surrounded by friends and family. Others could be hit hardest when alone and hear a song or smell a particular flower that triggers a memory.
If you find yourself in an emotional situation, consider these suggestions for ways to communicate your feelings without crying:
Use the phrase “I feel _____ because…” to identify and communicate your emotions to others. Be specific about why you feel the way you do so others know better what’s going on and how they can help.
For example: “I’m feeling undervalued because our boss just hired a new person to do a project I already have most of the skill set to complete, and now I spend more time training them on the process than it would take me just to do it myself.”
Convey emotion through body language
You may not be able to cry with a friend having a hard time, but your facial expressions, gestures, and tone of voice can all express sympathy and concern. You may also be able to show support through physical touch, such as a hug or holding their hand.
Ask for support
As we discussed earlier, if someone else cries, we are more likely to offer assistance. Tears are a universal indicator of pain and need. Even if you don’t cry, you may still want and need emotional support from those around you. The challenge is that it’s harder for others to know when and how much help to offer without the signal of tears. If you don’t cry, you can still express your needs verbally.
It can be as simple as saying, “I had a really rough day. Can I have a hug?” or “I’m really frustrated right now, and I’m not going to be able to focus on this. I need to go take a walk. I’ll be back in a few minutes”.
Learning Emotions to Be Your Best Self
There’s no doubt that emotions are complex. Expressing them, even in the best of circumstances, can be difficult. The additional need to express feelings with the standard social cues from crying may feel overwhelming.
Since each person is different, it’s essential and valuable for you to learn strategies to maintain your mental and emotional health. As you determine the underlying causes of why you don’t cry, then work to address them, you’ll learn how to process complex emotional situations healthily.
You can discuss your concerns and options for physical, medical conditions, emotional factors, and mental health conditions with a medical provider or therapist. Friends and family can be a support as you learn to communicate emotions in verbal and non-verbal ways other than crying. That ability will help you grow and develop into the best version of you.
How to Deal with Difficult People at Work
Do you have a difficult boss? Colleague? Client? Learn how to transform your difficult relationship.
I’ll show you my science-based approach to building a strong, productive relationship with even the most difficult people. | <urn:uuid:88410593-6866-4b5f-9a05-473edd83208c> | CC-MAIN-2024-10 | https://www.scienceofpeople.com/why-cant-i-cry/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2024-10/segments/1707947474676.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20240227121318-20240227151318-00268.warc.gz | en | 0.933973 | 3,288 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Jan van bijlert online dating Kennenlernen quiz
The limp contours of real satin, which remind the viewer of the fragility of luxury, are "ironed out" into crisp, angular folds with sharp chiaroscural contrasts that can be more easily assimilated by the visual system.
The dark blue gown of , whose inner creases and folds are barely indicated, is transmuted into a pure, bell-like shape which is understood only through its two graceful external contours.
This glossary contains a number of recurrent terms found on the present site which may not be clear to all readers, especially when employed within the context of an art discussion.
Some of these terms, signaled by an icon of the Vermeer's monogram and signature, are also discussed as they relate to specifically Vermeer's art.
By reducing visual complexity abstraction increases perceptual efficiency allowing us to recognize objects, evaluate movement and orient ourselves in space with great rapidity.
Vermeer's abstraction may have in part been inspired by the generalized image of a camera obscura.A loss of media or scratches, often resulting in a loss on the surface, extending to the paint and ground layers, caused by faulty cleaning, friction as well as where the frame touches the painted surface.The abstract qualities in art are those which are independent of a work's resemblance to external reality.However, abstraction, which we inevitably associate with twentieth-century abstract painting, has no exact correspondence in seventeenth-century art discussion.The closest concept is that of idealization, by which classically-oriented painters sought to divest the world of imperfections and transmit fundamental religious and ethical truths that were considered the only worthy objectives of the art of painting. | <urn:uuid:55518c58-2bb3-43fc-81f0-acc031a5bb53> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://chay-monastyrskij.ru/jan-van-bijlert-online-dating-51.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257648313.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20180323141827-20180323161827-00577.warc.gz | en | 0.953313 | 356 | 2.796875 | 3 |
It was suggested that someone develop a curriculum on Constitutional principles of government. If I were to develop this curriculum, I think I would cover the topic differently than than just focusing on details like "spending bills must originate in the House". There is a big difference in covering the principles of constitutional government vs. the details of the Constitution.
1. Man is created in the image of God and therefore all men have intrinsic value and worth. All men are created equal with unalienable rights: Life, liberty (self-determination), property
2. Natural Law is "do no harm". Do not infringe on the rights of others.
3. Satan and Evil are real (Satan cannot create so he must enslave)
4. The price of freedom is blood (empowered evil will never voluntarily give up power)
5. Power corrupts and Absolute power corrupts absolutely (Const Gov distributes and separates power)
6. True Political Spectrum: Anarchy ----------------Const Gov---------------Socialism/Monarchy
7. Monarchy: King has all rights. People have privilege.
8. Constitutional Gov.: People have all rights. Elected leaders have express (written) privilege.
9. Historical Abuse of Monarchs (how soon we forget):
-Indiscriminate Capital Punushment
-Deal out privilege to king-men
-slave and cast systems
-control of borrowing and lending
-cant bare arms
-Indiscriminate arrest and indefinite detention
-indiscriminate eminent domain
-no freedom of religion
-no freedom of press, speech, privacy, assembly
-involuntary quartering of soldiers
-one-child policy, forced sterilization, detention camps
-etc, etc, etc
10. Socialism is not ethical. Bailouts enable unproductive behavior. Charity is a personal responsibiliy and not a federal responsibility. Welfare is the business if religion because the state doesn't encourage virtue or rehabilitates. The state enables and creates purpetual dependance.
11. Socialism is not equal. Someone must be the producers, others the takers, and an elite few are the redistributors.
12. Learn from history or you will be doomed to repeat it History is written by the victors Good guys dont always win
Winning bad guys change history so they can use the same tricks to enslave.
13. The Revolutionary War was faught over control over printing our own currency and issuing our own credit
(if you want to start a business or invent, if it threatened England, you were out of luck. they would steal your idea).
14. The Civil War was faught over "Protectionism vs. Free Trade"
(eventually the machine beat the man and the South had to industrialize. They resented having to pay higher prices to the North and wanted cheaper slave-produced goods from East India Trafe Company (Walmart).
15. Review of Constitutional Freedoms and Prohibitions: Due Process, Habeus Corpus, Impartial Jury, posse comitatus act, Bill of Rights.
16. Since Woodrow Wilson and FED Reserve, US Government and Media taken over by Globalist Special Interests who will use the Communist Threat to scare the US into abandoning our sovereignty and Constitution and accept Global Governance (Agenda 21).
--Cleon Skousen "naked capitalist"
17. Compare and contrast allegiance of elected County Sheriff vs Appointed City Police Chief. Sherriff's allegiance is to protect the people who ellect him. Appointed police chief allegiance is to protect interest of Mayor and corrupt special interest who pay for his re-election campaign.
18. worst kind of system is where you dont realize you're a slave (Matrix). Elected leaders are puppets. Legislators dont write nor even read the bills they are voting on. You think shopping at Walmart vs Target is a choice. ect. You are just given enough to pacify you to sleep. Gov puts drugs in food and water to keep you docile. Future genetic and fertility technology will be used so you can pick babies eye color and domesticate humans into breeds by genetic subtraction never to be able to stand up to the wolf ruling master race again.
19. Tariffs protect the environment, domestic manufacturing and industry as well as workers. Tarrifs protect true price discovery. People pay true cost. If you pay your neighbor, they will pay you. Tariffs did NOT cause the Great Depression.
20. Religion must do welfare and virtue. Constitutional government relies on self-government.
21. Oppressive governments love to create dependence on utilities, welfare, education, retirement etc. Citizens should be self-reliant.
22. Natural Law. Worth of Souls. Do no harm. Simultaneity vs non-conflict. Right to life but not health care. Cannot force another to serve you.
23. Governmemt today is backwards: Executive legislate via executive order. Judiciary legislates via court order amd ruling will of the majority discriminates against protected groups with false rights. CIA appropriates its own money. Legislature executes its own funds via pork legislation and earmarks. Senate cannot investigate doesn't know actions of CIA.
24. If you want people to believe a lie, you must first silence the truth. Oppressive government say they hate democracy because all the differing view points never accomplish anything. What they really want to suppress is the truth from being heard and consensus from being made after truth rises to the top. Tells you a dictator is more efficient. Media never makes right conclusions to make us think that reasonable people are unable to arrive at right conclusions and consensus.
25. Act on consensus and not compromise. The Great Compromise on Representation was really consensus. Both sides got what they wanted and gave up nothing.
26. Majority tend to desire that which is right. Do our business by the voice of the people. Democracy is not 2 wolves and a sheep deciding what is for dinner but 2 sheep and a wolf deciding. The majority are moral.
27. Representatives to be selected based on virtue and NOT merit. Who decides what is if merit? God decides what is virtuous. We are NOT to live in an Ayn Rand Meriticracy. Personal life does affect politics.
28. We do legislate morality. All laws are morally based on "do no harm". But there should never be laws against a man's belief. Also, self-harm (recreational drug abuse) is the jurisdiction of religion. Recreational drug distrubution does harm and there is a victim (Kavorkian principle). Brain
29. Rule of Law: if duty, causality and harm can be proven that is enough for a conviction without a specific law to be written down.
30. Voluntary Tax is a fee. Government can fund itself by issuing currency for fee-based loans and tariffs.
31. Safety Society System. Failings of gold-backed and Fiat currency. Safety Society System is full reserve . Money backed by real estate. No inflation. Reverse mortgage equity insurance. Congress should coin money and regulate value and not the bankers.
32. Angola Prison in Louisiana was transformed from the most dangerous to the safest by giving each inmate 2 things: 1. knife, 2. bible. (prevents attacks with shivs and shanks)
33. Caitalism is as dangerous as Communism because those with the capital have perpetual unelected power. We can have free enterprise without needing the capitalists to decide or the government to decide what they will invest in. See Safety Society System. No, we did not vote with our dollars. Safety Society still has a place for venture capitalist, but the community can decide and approve most things. | <urn:uuid:f516edf5-7d32-47a4-ad5d-1eaaa0953596> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://brainbender.blogspot.com/2014/01/constitutional-fundamentals.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257647556.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20180321004405-20180321024405-00409.warc.gz | en | 0.933377 | 1,600 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Measuring the tiny forces acting on cells, Subra Suresh believes, could produce fresh understanding of diseases.
This article is the ninth in a series of 10 stories we're running over two weeks, covering today's most significant (and just plain cool) emerging technologies. It's part of our annual "10 Emerging Technologies" report, which appears in the March/April print issue of Technology Review.
Most people don't think of the human body as a machine, but Subra Suresh does. A materials scientist at MIT, Suresh measures the minute mechanical forces acting on our cells.
Medical researchers have long known that diseases can cause -- or be caused by -- physical changes in individual cells. For instance, invading parasites can distort or degrade blood cells, and heart failure can occur as muscle cells lose their ability to contract in the wake of a heart attack. Knowing the effect of forces as small as a piconewton -- a trillionth of a newton -- on a cell gives researchers a much finer view of the ways in which diseased cells differ from healthy ones.
[Click here for images of this process.]
Suresh spent much of his career making nanoscale measurements of materials such as the thin films used in microelectronic components. But since 2003, Suresh's laboratory has spent more and more time applying nanomeasurement techniques to living cells. He's now among a pioneering group of materials scientists who work closely with microbiologists and medical researchers to learn more about how our cells react to tiny forces and how their physical form is affected by disease. "We bring to the table expertise in measuring the strength of materials at the smallest of scales," says Suresh.
One of Suresh's recent studies measured mechanical differences between healthy red blood cells and cells infected with malaria parasites. Suresh and his collaborators knew that infected blood cells become more rigid, losing the ability to reduce their width from eight micrometers down to two or three micrometers, which they need to do to slip through capillaries. Rigid cells, on the other hand, can clog capillaries and cause cerebral hemorrhages. Though others had tried to determine exactly how rigid malarial cells become, Suresh's instruments were able to bring greater accuracy to the measurements. Using optical tweezers, which employ intensely focused laser light to exert a tiny force on objects attached to cells, Suresh and his collaborators showed that red blood cells infected with malaria become 10 times stiffer than healthy cells -- three to four times stiffer than was previously estimated.
Eduard Arzt, director of materials research at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany, says that Suresh's work is important because cell flexibility is a vital characteristic not only of malarial cells but also of metastasizing cancer cells. "Many of the mechanical concepts we've been using for a long time, like strength and elasticity, are also very important in biology," says Arzt. | <urn:uuid:d87bbe40-21d5-4c83-a3b3-4e89aca34a79> | CC-MAIN-2015-14 | http://www2.technologyreview.com/article/405526/nanobiomechanics/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-14/segments/1427131299339.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20150323172139-00080-ip-10-168-14-71.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961993 | 617 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Lifting the Veil (Quiz)
Tales of immortality, artificial life, transmutation, and other unexplained phenomena shroud the study of alchemy in mystery. Can creating synthetic life forms such as homunculi be achieved? What goes into the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone? In Year Six of this course, we will be addressing these mysteries and whether or not they are true to the study of alchemy in the wizarding world. We will also be discussing other traditions and organizations that have influenced alchemy and vice versa. | <urn:uuid:c643c07f-4b86-4533-b256-9bd9e26e3933> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.hogwartsishere.com/courses/ALCH-601/lesson/888/2203/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510387.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20230928095004-20230928125004-00512.warc.gz | en | 0.897841 | 129 | 2.984375 | 3 |
You can construct bridges in a garden for decoration or practical purposes. Carefully structure any bridge that has to support weignt with proper footings and materials. Using a bridge in the landscape can not only support simple foot traffic, but it can add the element of intrigue to the design of your garden.
Building structures into your garden can make a major difference to the look of your landscape. Even smaller events like sheds, rocks and boulders or bridges can make the garden into something special. A small ornamental bridge can be an asset to any landscape. It can lead from one area to another, cross a stream or gully, create a lead-in to a focal point or become a focal point in itself. You can buy a small garden bridge or build one yourself. Here are some basic directions to build your own bridge. Feel free to vary the form and design according to your tastes.
Cut a simple wooden base. The base can be curved or flat depending on whether you want an arched or flat walkway. Design rails to be fancy or basic. You can use all kinds of materials to make your bridge ornamental, but here is a basic design for a wooden bridge that you can work with and amend your design to fit your taste
Using redwood or cedar are likely to give you the best wear in outdoor conditions. Green wood is also long-lasting, but if you plan to use your bridge near to any edible gardens, the chemicals used as a preservative in the green wood might leach into the surrounding soil. This may or may not be a health concern: toxicity of green wood is still under debate.
Cut base boards. Minimize the amount of wood that will come in direct contact with the ground to keep as much wood dry and clean as possible for longevity
Measure and shape railings
Measure and cut uprights.
Fill imperfections, holes and chips.
Stain or paint wood for water resistance.
Use Galvanized carriage bolts, hex nuts and washers instead of zinc so you can replace any parts more easily over time.
Glue with wood glue and screw with deck screws. Avoid using nails that can come loose and are not easily removed if you want to replace parts.
Try all pieces out before gluing or drilling to make sure all the pars fit right.
Assemble all your parts.
Touch up any paint or stain areas that have become scraped or scratched during assembly.
Painting your bridge with an overall coating of waterproof sealer will make it last longer, especially when exposed to outdoor moisture and temperature changes. | <urn:uuid:fe46ee96-06dd-4c9c-bb23-3b35c766dc78> | CC-MAIN-2017-09 | http://www.infobarrel.com/Build_a_small%2C_ornamental_garden_bridge | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-09/segments/1487501171166.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20170219104611-00532-ip-10-171-10-108.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93465 | 526 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Hoarseness refers to any abnormality of the voice and can manifest as changes in vocal characteristics resulting in a breathy, raspy, rough or strained quality with differences in projection or pitch.
Hoarseness from a cold or flu may be evaluated by family physicians, pediatricians, and internists. When hoarseness lasts longer than 2 weeks or has no obvious cause, it should be evaluated by an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat doctor). This is also true if the hoarseness is accompanied by coughing up blood, a lump in the throat or difficulty in swallowing.
How is hoarseness evaluated?
Your physician will obtain a thorough history of the hoarseness and general health. He will examine the vocal cords with either a mirror placed in the back of the mouth or a very small, lighted flexible tube (fiber optic scope) is passed through the nose in order to view the vocal cords.
How is hoarseness treated?
The treatment of hoarseness depends on the cause. Most hoarseness can be treated by simply resting the voice or modifying how it is used. Dr. Lieberman or Dr. Bailor may make some recommendations about voice use behavior or refer the patient to a speech pathologist. In some instances, he may recommend surgery to perform a biopsy if a lesion, such as a polyp or growth, is identified on the vocal cord. Avoidance of smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke is recommended to all patients. Drinking fluids and possibly using medications to thin the mucus are also helpful. Speech pathologists are trained to assist patients in behavior modification that may help eliminate some voice disorders. For example, a speech pathologist may teach patients to alter their method of speech production to improve the sound of the voice and to resolve problems, such as vocal cord nodules. | <urn:uuid:676f0809-1ce5-4f7d-8766-b80cc28a5865> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://www.entverobeach.com/services/throat-procedures/hoarseness/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038460648.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20210417132441-20210417162441-00544.warc.gz | en | 0.950975 | 378 | 3.359375 | 3 |
YEAR 5 Newsletter
Welcome to Year 5!
Our first topic this term is A Better World. We will be looking at the rainforest and ways to protect it. In particular, we will be looking at the causes and effects of deforestation, particularly recent events in the Amazon rainforest. We will also be visiting the London Zoo to experience of what a rainforest feels like. We will then be moving onto ‘The Great Explorers’ topic which will look at historical figures that discovered new lands. We will be looking at maps to better understand where these countries are, the lengths explorers had to go to to get there and how they survived their great adventures.
In English, we will be writing a letter the Brazilian Ambassador in the UK about the Amazon rainforest and ways to protect it. We will also be writing fictional stories about our own adventures and discoveries of new lands.
In Maths we will be learning about place value – reading, writing and saying numbers up to 1,000,000. Please practise these with your children! We will then be revisiting addition and subtraction, using numbers up to 1,000,000.
Many of the children completed wonderful homework over the summer but there were some children who did not. We would ask that all children complete their homework and that an adult checks that they have completed it to their fullest potential. Homework will usually be given on a Wednesday to be returned the following Wednesday.
The children will still have PE twice a week and we would appreciate it if they could bring their kits in on a Monday and take them home on a Friday. If you could take the time to clearly label your child’s uniform and PE kit this would be extremely helpful.
As a polite reminder, please make sure that you are leaving your children to walk up to the classrooms on their own. If you wish to speak to a teacher about your child, please do so after school or book a meeting with them. Parents evenings are also not too far away and we would expect to see all parents.
There will be a meeting upcoming for Fairplay House and the Year 6 France Visit, we will communicate this date with parents once it is finalised. This is a great opportunity to see the types of activities which the children take part in as well as answer any questions. The visit to Fairplay House will take place in January.
If you have any other questions or concerns please do not hesitate to come and speak to us.
Harry, Kate and Ifa
(The Year 5 Team) | <urn:uuid:1975dd6f-9dd9-4f90-822b-5b443ec89474> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://www.britannia-village.newham.sch.uk/newsletters-1/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875144708.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20200220070221-20200220100221-00354.warc.gz | en | 0.969043 | 517 | 3.09375 | 3 |
The primitive fish named Acanthodes bronni was the common ancestor of all jawed vertebrates on Earth – including mankind, according to new research.
Acanthodes, a Greek word for "spiny", existed before the split between the earliest sharks and the first bony fishes – the lineage that would eventually include human beings.
Fossils have been found in Europe, North America and Australia.
Compared with other spiny sharks it was relatively large, measuring a foot long. It had gills instead of teeth, large eyes and lived on plankton.
Professor Michael Coates, a biologist at the University of Chicago, said: "Unexpectedly, Acanthodes turns out to be the best view we have of conditions in the last common ancestor of bony fishes and sharks.
"Our work is telling us the earliest bony fishes looked pretty much like sharks, and not vice versa. What we might think of as shark space is, in fact, general modern jawed vertebrate space."
Cartilaginous fish, which today include sharks, rays, and ratfish, diverged from the bony fishes more than 420 million years ago. But little is known about what the last common ancestor of humans, manta rays and great white sharks looked like.
The acanthodians died out about 250 million years ago and generally left behind only tiny scales and elaborate suits of fin spines.
But armed with new data on what the earliest sharks and bony fishes looked like, the researchers re-examined fossils of Acanthodes bronni, the best-preserved species.
A re-examination of a braincase dating back 290 million years shows it was an early member of the modern gnathostomes – meaning "jaw-mouths" that include tens of thousands of living vertebrates ranging from fish to birds, reptiles, mammals and humans.
Prof Coates said: "We want to explore braincases if possible, because they are exceptionally rich sources of anatomical information.
"They are much better than scales, teeth or fin spines, which, on their own, tend to deliver a confusing signal of evolutionary relationships."
The analysis of the sample combined with recent scans of skulls from early sharks and bony fishes led the researchers to a surprising reassessment of what Acanthodes bronni tells us about the history of jawed vertebrates.
Prof Coates said: "For the first time, we could look inside the head of Acanthodes, and describe it within this whole new context. The more we looked at it, the more similarities we found with sharks."
The study, published in Nature, found acanthodians as a whole, including the earliest members of humans' own deep evolutionary past, appear to cluster with ancient sharks.
This new revision of the lineage of early jawed vertebrates will allow paleontologists to dig into deeper mysteries, including how the body plan of these ancient species transformed over the transition from jawless to jawed fishes.
Added Prof Coates: "It helps to answer the basic question of what is primitive about a shark. And, at last, we are getting a better handle on primitive conditions for jawed vertebrates as a whole."
Environmental biologist Dr Maureen Kearney, of the National Science Foundation in the US which co-funded the research, said the study shows us "important evolutionary transitions in the history of life, providing a new window into the sequence of evolutionary changes during early vertebrate evolution". | <urn:uuid:c40e934b-ea7a-4857-8e85-276a206c8a75> | CC-MAIN-2014-10 | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9330247/Humans-evolved-from-primitive-sharks-new-research-suggests.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-10/segments/1394021767149/warc/CC-MAIN-20140305121607-00016-ip-10-183-142-35.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942582 | 717 | 3.84375 | 4 |
What you eat determines your health. If you want to stay healthy and fit you need to keep a close watch on what you are eating. A healthy diet and a little exercise on regular basis can improve the way your body functions, lower cholesterol level and keep you in shape. Healthy diet can be achieved easily, all you need to do is monitor your current diet and make required changes for a better nutrition.
The trick is to learn how to substitute. Take a look at the food that you are consuming daily and see if you can find a healthy alternative for it. If your dietary pattern is good and you eat regular meals which include variety of foods then all you need to do is swap a few things with foods which are healthier.
The first thing to do is make an honest list of all the things you eat for a few days. Once you have everything in black and white in front of you analyzes it without being judgmental. Keep a positive attitude, once you get to know where you are going wrong try to find out how to do it differently and give yourself a thumbs up for the things you are doing good for example if you drink plenty of water or when you fight cravings for sweet things give yourself credit for it.
Next step is to cut back on food you are usually eating that is highest in calories. Begin with the ones that are high in sugar and fat because they are the ones that cause the most damage. Once you have identified the culprits you can swap them with the healthier options. You can find these in the food charts given below. As you start incorporating these healthier food options in your regular meals the nutrient quality of your diet will gradually improve and you will be able to cut down calories and will probably find your meals more satisfying.
Once you have kept track of your diet for a while you will develop a good sense of what you are eating but you should also know what you are eating. So when you go for grocery makes time to read the labels on the packaging. Check the ingredients and the nutritional facts so that you can evaluate the sugar and fat content and calories in the food that you are buying.
Another factor to keep in mind while buying food is to go for the options that are closer to its natural state instead of processed food as natural foods have more nutritional value and lesser quantity of sugar, salt and fat. For example one serving of apple contains 80 calories plus vitamins, minerals and fibre while apple sauce has 100 calories, more sugar and less vitamins, minerals and fiber, apple juice has 115 calories lesser vitamins and minerals and no fiber, apple pie has 300 calories and loads of sugar and fat and apple chips have 450 calories and plenty of salt and fat.
One more important thing to keep in mind is being realistic. If you are craving for a dessert you cannot satisfy this with eating celery or carrots. Instead of a rich creamy dessert which is a calorie bomb you can opt for yoghurt with some sort of fruit like mango or strawberry this way you can get as close as possible to satisfy you’re craving without the guilt.
Here are a few suggestions as to how you can make healthier food choices.
Whole grains are rich in fiber and complex carbohydrates that can help you to feel full and stop you from over eating. Whole grain breads are a healthier option for you as they are low in fat and full of nutrients. Choose whole grain bread for making sandwiches and in your meals.
Bakery products like doughnuts and muffins are 50% fat so you should stay away from them instead opt for products like ginger snap cookies which can satisfy your sweet tooth without the guilt of fat.
Instant and granola cereals are also high in sugar and fat. Go for low sugar cereals instead. Avoid snacks that are fried instead go for ones that are baked or are low in fat.
· White bread, cookies, biscuits, croissants Whole grain bread and buns like wheat or rye
· Scones, doughnuts, pastries Whole grain bagels
· White rice Brown rice
· White flour Whole wheat flour
· Pasta , fried rice and rice with fatty sauce Rice with vegetable sauce and whole wheat pasta
· Instant and granola cereals Oatmeal, whole grain cereals and low fat granola
· Potato Chips Unsalted pretzels
· Popcorn with butter Popcorn without butter
Vegetables And Fruits
Vegetables and fruits are the best sources of natural vitamins, minerals and fiber. They are naturally low in fat and add variety and flavor to your meals.
If you use butter, mayonnaise, margarine or cream for your vegetables and fruit then it adds fats to them. Instead of these use low fat or non fat butters and creams. You can also try herbs to season your salads or low fat salad dressings and low fat or 0% fat yoghurt.
· Potato chips, French fries Baked potatoes (white or sweet)
· Vegetables served with sauces of Raw vegetables or vegetables that have cream cheese or butter or fried pepper baked or steamed with a dash of olive oil.
NON VEGETABLE FOODS
The healthiest way to cook meat is to roast, broil or bake it. Lean pieces of meat can be broiled in a pan or stir fried using a non stick pan or with cooking oil sprayer instead of using butter. Trim all the fat possible before cooking the meat. Try to use low fat, lean pieces of meat. Instead of consuming fatty sauces and gravies use non fat marinades, spices and herbs to season your meat.
The same rule applies to poultry. The healthiest way to cook it is to broil, bake or roast it. Use it without the skin and remove all the fat possible before cooking. Chicken breasts are high in protein and low in fat and taste amazing so they are a good choice. Skinless pieces can be broiled in a pan or stir fried using a non stick pan or with cooking oil sprayer instead of butter.
Fish can be steamed, poached, baked or broiled and these are the healthiest ways to cook it. Fresh fish has a moist look , firm and springy flesh, clear color and a clean smell. If you cannot find good quality fish use frozen fish. Seafood is highly recommended twice a week. Fatty fish such as salmon are rich in omega 3 fatty acids which can lower the risk of heart diseases and most of the seafood has high quantity of healthy polyunsaturated fat.
You can also try to substitute meat with beans and lentils once in a while as they are fat and cholesterol free and are rich in proteins and fiber. Try beans in a favorite receipt of yours like in lasagna.
· Regular meat Lean meat
· Regular ground beef Lean ground beef or chicken or turkey breast
· Salami, pepperoni, liverwurst Lean meats such as turkey and chicken
· Hot dogs or sausages Fat free hot dogs
· Fish sticks or fish cakes, canned fish Fresh fish, frozen fish or fish canned in
· in oil or seafood cooked with butter or water or low fat fish sticks or fish cakes served with a fatty sauce
In dairy products you have a variety of low fat choices. Go for skimmed milk or low fat buttermilk instead of full cream milk. Recipes that require cream in them substitute that with skimmed evaporated milk.
Use low fat cheese like skimmed ricotta instead of cream cheese. In salads you can use cottage cheese and use low fat cheeses in recipes. A low fat and high in calcium snack is string cheese.
Sour cream can be replaced with non fat yoghurt in recipes and if you want to maintain the texture stir a tablespoon of cornstarch in every cup of yoghurt you use. Mix fruit with nonfat or low fat frozen yoghurt for dessert.
Ice cream can be substituted with skimmed sherbet. Soft and regular ice creams are lower in fat than the premium ones.
· Full cream milk Non fat or low fat milk
· Evaporated milk Non fat evaporated milk
· Buttermilk Low fat buttermilk
· Full cream yoghurt Low fat or non fat yoghurt
· Regular cheese Low fat cheese
· Regular ice cream Low fat ice cream
SWEETS, FATS AND OILS
Eating foods high in fat does not only make you obese but also increases your risk for developing several diseases. Diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, osteoarthritis and a few types of cancer have also been linked to diets that are high in fat. If you are consuming high quantity of saturated and trans fats you can develop coronary artery disease and high cholesterol.
Drinks sweetened with sugar like soft drinks, fruit juices, energy drinks, sport drinks, sweetened ice tea, sweetened and flavored milk are high in sugar and calories. But you need to stay hydrated to stay in good health. You can substitute these drinks with water, zero calorie flavored water, non fat or low fat milk, tea with a little honey or if you really want to drink soda go for the diet ones.
· Cookies Molasses cookies, gingersnaps
· Butter or margarine Olive oil or soybean oil
· Regular mayonnaise Non fat or low fat mayonnaise
· Regular salad dressing Non fat salad dressing
· Butter to grease pan Cooking oil sprayer
Once you have decided to go for healthier choices make a plan for yourself. When you plan your meals it is easier to stay committed to your diet plan, whereas if you don’t plan then you are more likely to fall to your old patterns.
Focus on replacing unhealthy habits with healthy ones and keep in mind that every little effort counts. Every better food choice you make brings you a step closer to a healthy diet. As you work on making better choices they will gradually become habits and you will ultimately be craving for the healthier foods.
Marry Jojo is a freelance writer and blogger. She write tech reviews atTop10BestPro . | <urn:uuid:7d9c3ea1-8b99-4187-bfab-d553d621c9c4> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://bloggingfairtrade.com/health/how-to-make-healthy-food-choices/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886104565.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20170818043915-20170818063915-00489.warc.gz | en | 0.93303 | 2,065 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Dentures are removable dental appliances that replace missing teeth. Unlike dental implants and dental bridges, which are more or less permanently affixed to the bone, dentures are prosthetic teeth attached to a supporting structure. Dentures can be removed at night, for cleaning, or whenever desired. The most affordable dentures are those made with traditional plastic prosthetic teeth, but more expensive porcelain tooth dentures are also available. Dentures can be made to replace an old or worn denture or made in such a way as to replace your teeth the same day they are removed! Conventional dentures are most often supported by the gums and bone that remain after tooth removal but can also be secured even more tightly using dental implants.
- Improve your smile
- Restore self confidence
- Increase your ability to chew food | <urn:uuid:bf47114c-2edf-44a8-9b25-4534eda2ec20> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | http://parkmeadowsdentists.com/our-services/dentures/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128320545.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20170625170634-20170625190634-00084.warc.gz | en | 0.945496 | 166 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Introduction to Engineering Design
- Andrew Samuel, The University of Melbourne
- John Weir, The University of Melbourne
Introduction to Engineering Design is a completely novel text covering the basic elements of engineering design for structural integrity. Some of the most important concepts that students must grasp are those relating to 'design thinking' and reasoning, and not just those that relate to simple theoretical and analytical approaches. This is what will enable them to get to grips with *practical* design problems, and the starting point is thinking about problems in a 'deconstructionist' sense.By analysing design problems as sophisticated systems made up of simpler constituents, and evolving a solution from known experience of such building blocks, it is possible to develop an approach that will enable the student to tackle even completely alien design scenarios with confidence. The other essential aspect of the design process - the concept of failure, and its avoidance - is also examined in detail, and the importance not only of contemplating expected failure conditions at the design stage but also checking those conditions as they apply to the completed design is stressed.These facets in combination offer a systematic method of considering the design process and one that will undoubtedly find favour with many students, teaching staff and practising engineers alike.
Engineering students (mechanical, materials science and design aspects); designers, engineers, technologists and scientists in engineering. | <urn:uuid:ca7c2f02-735d-4790-b41e-454e1903f2ab> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://www.elsevier.com/books/introduction-to-engineering-design/samuel/978-0-7506-4282-8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422121744242.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124174904-00036-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952814 | 272 | 2.96875 | 3 |
- Periodic motion is performed, for example, by a rocking chair, a bouncing ball, a vibrating tuning fork, a swing in motion, the Earth in its orbit around the Sun, and a water wave.
- A wave transfers energy through a medium, without needing to transfer objects
- Wave can be thought of as a disturbance or oscillation that travels through space-time, accompanied by a transfer of energy.
- Wave motion transfers energy from one point to another, often with no permanent displacement of the particles of the medium —that is, with little or no associated mass transport.
- A transverse wave is a moving wave whose oscillations are perpendicular to the direction of the wave. A simple example is given by the waves that can be created on a horizontal length of string by anchoring one end and moving the other end up and down.
- Transverse Waves are like a guitar string
- Longitudinal waves are waves in which the displacement of the medium is in the same direction as, or the opposite direction to, the direction of propagation of the wave.
- Longitudinal Waves are like a slinky or spring
- Oscillation is the repetitive variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value or between two or more different states. The term vibration is precisely used to describe mechanical oscillation. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum and alternating current.
- The oscillations of the wave are in the same direction as the motion of the wave
- The amplitude of a wave refers to the maximum amount of displacement of a particle on the medium from its rest position. In a sense, the amplitude is the distance from rest to crest. Similarly, the amplitude can be measured from the rest position to the trough position.
- Wavelength is the distance between identical points in the adjacent cycles of a waveform signal propagated in space or along a wire. In wireless systems, this length is usually specified in meters, centimeters, or millimeters.
- Wave phase is the offset of a wave from a given point. When two waves cross paths, they either cancel each other out or compliment each other, depending on their phase. These effects are called constructive and destructive.
- It is the time between repeated cycles
- It is the number of cycles per second
- Wave velocity in common usage refers to speed, although, properly, velocity implies both speed and direction. The velocity of a wave is equal to the product of its wavelength and frequency (number of vibrations per second) and is independent of its intensity.
- Velocity is determined by the medium the wave is in
- Sound is waves of pressure through a medium
- Light is waves of electromagnetism
- A wave that moves with velocity
- Springs have restorative forces
- Spring can be seen as a device that stores potential energy, specifically elastic potential energy, by straining the bonds between the atoms of an elastic material.
- A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward the equilibrium position.
- For small angles, pendulums can be considered to have restorative forces. | <urn:uuid:36c135b6-9434-4897-b9d8-9012c8a64b7a> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.pinnacleclinic.com/periodic-motion/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100164.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20231130031610-20231130061610-00024.warc.gz | en | 0.918651 | 673 | 3.953125 | 4 |
Most of us give the roads we drive on little thought, but each one has followed a rigorous process to ensure they are safe for us to travel
on. So what does the construction of a new road involve? How does a proposed new road go from planning and design, to construction and opening? Here's a guide to the basics:
STAGE ONE: SITE INVESTIGATION
The first step is to work out whether a new road is feasible. To determine this, a site investigation is carried out to assess existing land use and the nature of what lies beneath the proposed new road.
Information gathered from historical records and a range of experts help to determine what is under the land and whether any significant fault lines are present. Once all the available information is gathered, further investigations are undertaken as necessary. For example, a site may require an archaeological excavation to recover historical and cultural artefacts.
A thorough assessment is conducted to ensure that the site can accommodate a new road. This also identifies any problems, the need for alternative routes, the costs involved and the stability of the ground.
STAGE TWO: PRELIMINARY DESIGN
Once site investigation has been completed, a team of experts are tasked with the preliminary design. This stage focuses on the location of the road, the benefits to the existing road network and any environmental impact.
In New Zealand, all new roads must adhere to the Resource Management Act. This piece of legislation governs the management of natural and physical resources such as land, air and water. The Act is responsible for protecting the environment and ensuring that any new project is sustainable.
The development of a new road must therefore pay significant attention to any potential impacts on natural resources. A large part of the preliminary design outlines any environmental impacts and the ways in which these will be managed. Ideally, a new road should work with the natural environment and be designed with sustainability in mind.
The preliminary design must also detail storm water drainage and consider the need for public transport access, cycle ways and paths.
All risks and benefits of building on the proposed site must be detailed. Alternative routes may also be identified and included if planners foresee any potential problems with the preferred route.
STAGE THREE: DESIGNATION AND CONSENT
When the preliminary design work is completed, plans are submitted to the relevant authorities
for consideration. Key stakeholders, such as
residents, iwi and local boards are consulted on the development before the new road gets the go ahead.
STAGE FOUR: PRE-CONSTRUCTION BEGINS
Pre-construction work is one of the most fundamental components of building a new road. Much like a house needs solid foundations, so too does a road.
During pre-construction, the site is prepared for the final construction stage. Excavation of the site can include both the removal of dirt and the filling of any areas that need to be built up and leveled. Roads require a substantial foundation, which is why the base layers are as important as the finished surface.
During pre-construction, storm water drainage is installed and any utility works are undertaken.
Upon completion, all pre-construction work must undergo strict inspections to ensure the highest possible safety standards have been adhered to, and to identify any potential problems.
STAGE FIVE: CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY AUDIT
Road surfacing, marking, pathways and landscaping are all part of the final construction stage. In New Zealand, the type of surface laid depends upon various factors such as noise reduction, consideration of using recycled materials and the best surfacing for the type of road. Other considerations may include the volume of traffic on the surface and how much maintenance will be required.
Glenvar Ridge Road is a new road, currently in the final stages of construction, that will connect the existing transport network with the urban development in
Long Bay. This road has been developed by Todd Property Group in collaboration with local authorities to provide a direct route into and out of the area. “The bulk of the Glenvar Ridge Road surface is a stabilising base layer of lime and cement, mixed with natural clay soil, which is around 300mm deep. The middle layer is composed of lime and coarse materials up to 500mm deep. Approximately 50mm of asphalt will form the final top surface,” said Paul Armstrong, Todd Property Development Manager.
During the final construction of a new road everything must be thoroughly tested; from the shape of the road to its strength, every detail must meet strict criteria. When construction is complete, the road must pass a safety audit before it is finally opened to the public.
PROPOSED NAMES for a new road are often submitted early in the planning process. Submitting a list of suggested names means it’s more likely that one or more will be approved
and developers typically allow plenty of time for consideration by relevant stakeholders.
The naming of a road must adhere to an extensive list of rules. For example, in Auckland, road names must be easy to pronounce, spell and write. They are limited to three words (or 25 characters), except in the case of Te Reo names.
A road name must not be considered offensive, racist, derogatory or demeaning, even when translated into another language. Some roads, such as those with five or less addresses, do not need to be named if numbering can be continued from an adjoining road.
Certain punctuation cannot be used in a road name such as a full stop, comma, colon, semi-colon, quotation marks, hyphens or others. Only characters from a standard alphabet can be used, although macrons can be used for Maori names.
Road-naming reports are prepared and submitted to local boards for consideration.
After discussion and consultation, the relevant authority will make a final decision. | <urn:uuid:fa0dd141-7478-4d9b-8d3b-9f0d5b1676e9> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | https://longbay.co.nz/news/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550249556231.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20190223223440-20190224005440-00091.warc.gz | en | 0.938286 | 1,192 | 2.984375 | 3 |
What does it mean when your child has a toothache? If the pain is short-lived, this may simply mean a cold or possibly sinus or allergy issues. However, persistent pain may point to a cavity, which needs treatment to prevent the premature loss of a baby tooth. In today’s blog, your El Paso, TX, dentists look at how we repair smiles with a minimal restoration.
How Does a Cavity Form?
Teeth both young and old are protected by a layer of tooth enamel, the hardest substance in the human body and one of the hardest substances on Earth. However, poor oral hygiene could weaken this layer and eventually cause erosion. Enamel erosion exposes the inner layers of dentin, which are sensitive and porous, to harmful bacteria, enabling a cavity to form. The cavity will continue to grow and spread, leading to worsening toothaches and tooth sensitivity. An injury to the tooth, such as a chip or crack, could also lead to cavities.
Dangers For Baby Teeth
While baby teeth do fall out eventually, this could occur months or even years after a cavity forms. If you delay treatment, the tooth could become infected, causing severe discomfort. Eventually the tooth may become lost prematurely, which impacts how the permanent teeth arrive and leads to an increased risk of dental misalignment. Be sure to let us know if your little one reports pain in his or her smile. Also, make time to see us every six months. During these routine visits, our team will perform checkups and cleanings to monitor the smile and identify problem areas in the earliest stages.
How do we treat cavities in kids? We will often use a minimal restoration, or dental filling. We will remove all decay from the tooth and clean it thoroughly. We then prepare the composite resin material, which is a metal-free blend of glass and acrylic that can be shaded to match the color of the teeth. We apply the material and as we cure it under a light, we can shape the tooth. Finally, we polish the tooth for a more natural appearance. In a single visit we can treat the decayed tooth and return your smile to optimal health and beauty. If you have any questions about cavities, such as how to prevent them and treat them, then contact our team today. Be sure to schedule your child’s next checkup and cleaning visit as well!
SUNNY SMILES IN EL PASO TREATS LITTLE SMILES
Our Sunny Smiles team can return tiny smiles to full function, health, and beauty. If your child complains about an aching tooth, please let us know. To learn more about our minimal restorations, please call our East El Paso location on N. Zaragoza Road at 915-849-9000! | <urn:uuid:4a89590c-957d-4d5b-9e8c-bb4c64207e84> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://sunnysmilesep.com/2019/09/does-your-child-need-a-minimal-restoration/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875145747.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20200223062700-20200223092700-00141.warc.gz | en | 0.939243 | 579 | 2.53125 | 3 |
A Guide to Beginner Horse Training
The horse is a very useful and trainable animal. Farming, sports, recreation, and warfare are just some of the limitless tasks that a horse can do. Tremendous strength and endurance are attributes that are valuable in a horse. They don’t only have great physical qualities but they are also very intelligent animals that are very receptive to human commands. You and your equine companion can have a lot of fun in beginning your horse training. Horse training techniques vary so you should make sure that you are knowledgeable about what kind of horse training you would like to apply.
Training horses to de specialized tasks is very much possible and these horses thrive in the tasks that they are assigned to do. They can also do police work, or the more graceful tasks for the royalty and equestrian activities. You can use them on farms and in the wilderness. They are incredibly versatile animals. Their being functional and exquisite can co-exist in a horse. These animals love to please their master.
Beginners and new horse owners can find it a challenge to train a horse. In order to train a horse well, you need to first understand how horses think and always consider the animal’s instinct. Animals follow their instincts above their training or conditioning. But, horses are also able to train quickly and easily when you understand their innate behavior and work with the animal to achieve the desired success. Below are some tips to help your beginner horse training move along smoothly.
Horses are naturally fearful creatures by instinct of preservation. Horses are prey animals, and they may exhibit reservation with other animals and people in a new situation. Before a horse will decide that you have no bad intentions for them, horses who don’t know you will judge you based on your actions. When a horse observes your body language and thoughts it will respond accordingly according to its perception. A horse can either flee, embrace your friendship, or study you further.
Horse warm up takes time. Training a horse is a gradual process. Taming a horse correctly and effectively is very important to learn. Like dogs, horses must see its trainer as its leader, with gender rarely an issue. There are horses that are dominant since they are natural leaders. It can be challenging to train a dominant horse. Asserting your dominance at all times is very important. The best thing for both of you is tough love until the pecking order of the herd is structured.
Horses function as a herd animals. They will always look for someone to lead them. Speak their language in your training. This will greatly speed up the process. Make sure you do your due diligence on the language of the horse and natural horsemanship.
The Essentials of Organizations – Breaking Down the Basics
Study: My Understanding of Animals | <urn:uuid:5ee57564-d211-4898-9a2c-9ba442b59751> | CC-MAIN-2018-26 | http://www.gxhzwqxh.com/the-9-most-unanswered-questions-about-organizations.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-26/segments/1529267866358.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20180624044127-20180624064127-00509.warc.gz | en | 0.967718 | 569 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Magnetic resonance imaging is cutting back on the rate of false negatives and saving lives.
Magnetic resonance imaging is cutting back on the rate of false negatives and saving lives. By Patrick Flanagan
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
|Photo by Robin May|
|Dr. Jeremy Laborde|
Not only can a prostate biopsy create what most men consider an uncomfortable situation - there is nothing pleasant about having a thin needle inserted through the rectum, urethra or perineum to poke your prostate gland any number of times - but the tests oftentimes can result in a false negative. That means the patient has cancer; it's just undetected.
"The technique has been used for a long time," says Dr. Jeremy Laborde, a radiologist at Our Lady of Lourdes. "There are some problems with this technique. For one, you can't see the prostate cancer. It's a random sampling so you can have false negatives."
Between 10 and 25 percent of prostate biopsies come back with a false negative, says Laborde, which is one of the reasons prostate cancer continues to be a leading cause of death in men.
The outcome of the biopsy essentially depends on the location of the cancer.
"Whenever they place the needles in they can only go 17 millimeters deep, but if the cancer is further in, they're not going to sample it," explains Laborde. "You can get cancer anywhere in the gland, but for patients that have those cancers they're just out of luck. They'll go get screened, get a biopsy, and then they'll say they have no cancer, but their labs keep going up abnormally, and the patient gets anxious."
This creates an even bigger problem: late diagnosis, which gives the cancer time to spread and become more aggressive, where it begins to attack the lymph nodes, bones and other areas of the body, ultimately becoming untreatable.
This is where magnetic resonance imaging comes into play through a new technique developed over the last five to six years called multiparametric MRI, which allows specialized radiologists with the right equipment to create a visualization of the tumor physiology.
Laborde introduced the technique to Louisiana after undergoing intense training that included a fellowship at Northwestern University in Chicago.
He calls it "revolutionary," saying, "We're no longer just using MRI to look at anatomy."
"This is allowing prostate cancer to be managed similarly to breast cancer," explains Laborde. "We're starting to get in that direction where we can actually see the prostate cancer. Before, that wasn't possible."
For Lafayette attorney Shannon Hardy, Laborde's MRI technique proved a lifesaver.
The 48-year-old Hardy says after undergoing blood work in 2010, his results came back with elevated PSA levels, meaning he was at risk for prostate cancer. Yet a biopsy screening indicated no cancer.
Over the next few years, however, Hardy's PSA levels continued to rise, prompting a friend, Dr. Rodney Burns - Laborde's partner - to suggest an MRI.
"He told me about the benefits of MRI and how it helps with detection 100 percent," recalls Hardy. "I went in for the MRI, and it showed a growth on the anterior portion of my prostate - a difficult spot to get to with biopsy."
MRI Prostate Imaging is now offered at three hospitals in Louisiana, but Our Lady of Lourdes, says Laborde, was the first - which is why it has been attracting patients from Baton Rouge, New Orleans and other parts of the state. In fact, Lourdes officials say more than half of the program's business is coming from outside of the market.
The reason for the limited availability is largely a result of the cost associated with the MRI machine, which averages about $1.3 million.
"We started offering this in late 2011, and you need a cutting-edge computer to be able to do these techniques," says Laborde. "These machines are not widespread. Throughout the state, the average computer age is between eight and 10 years. It'll be a while before machines like this are common." | <urn:uuid:291fb48f-9da1-4719-9751-b16a39917004> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | http://theind.com/article-17735-Whats-New-in-Health-Care-Detecting-Prostate-Cancer.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247515149.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20190222094419-20190222120419-00088.warc.gz | en | 0.959674 | 851 | 2.734375 | 3 |
By: RP Brennan
262 pages, Figs
The lay person's guide to the technological advances that are shaping life in the 1990s. It provides simple explanations of space technology, biotechnology, energy issues, etc., giving an overview of the major scientific discoveries that brought about new technology and how that technology is developing.
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Wildlife, science and conservation since 1985 | <urn:uuid:e14e3176-102c-4cb0-9cc4-f59201cc3faf> | CC-MAIN-2016-44 | http://www.nhbs.com/title/21101?title=levitating-trains-and-kamikaze-genes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-44/segments/1476988719045.47/warc/CC-MAIN-20161020183839-00457-ip-10-171-6-4.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.869409 | 141 | 2.609375 | 3 |
STATES CHRONICLE – Even though humans seem to be having trouble keeping their promise of sticking together “till death do us part,” there are plenty of examples in the world of birds, where many wild birds prove love trumps food.
A recent study conducted by researchers from Oxford University Department of Zoology found evidence that some wild birds choose love over food. These bird couples will go as far as sacrifice their own need to find food in order to stick with their loved ones during the long winter months.
Researchers think the decision to keep close to their partner instead of seeking for food during the often-deadly winter months is a good example of how birds are able to ignore the short-term benefit of being fed – even if it appears to be sub-optimal – in favor of gaining benefits over the long term that come from maintaining important relationships.
A bird species called great tits (don’t Google that, though) has been the focus of the study, but scientists have reason to believe these findings could apply to many other species. For example, geese, swans, geese, cranes, and eagles are usually monogamous.
Lovebirds – the smaller parrot species – are living up to their names, mating for life and spending a lot of time affectionately doting one on another. However, one of the experiments done on the great tit couples was enough to prove just how loyal they really are.
Researchers placed ID tags on the birds in order to set up an automated feeding station. They were arranged so that the station could decide which birds were allowed access to the food, and which weren’t based on the particular radio frequency ID tag.
The feeding stations did not allow the mated birds to feed from the same stations as their respective mate, which meant that the male and the female had to be separated in order to both have access to food. However, the researchers found that more times than not, the birds opted to stay with their mates even if that meant missing a meal.
Even more surprising, the Oxford team found that the birds employed cooperative strategy in order to stay together by figuring out the feeders were unlocked for just two seconds after their ID tag was detected. The two birds stuck together in order to work out a system that would allow both of them to feed in the two-second window.
Image Source: Bird Forum | <urn:uuid:e54dd46d-8fb9-4a9b-904c-96b9720073f1> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | http://stateschronicle.com/wild-birds-prove-love-trumps-food-15021.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780057427.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20210923165408-20210923195408-00109.warc.gz | en | 0.978242 | 490 | 3.25 | 3 |
Logic puzzles require you to think. You will have to be logical in your reasoning.
During the first world war, there was a prisoner who had been captured. When brought to the army headquarters, the prisoner was told that he had a choice to remain silent or say something. He was also told that if he did say something, he would be shot if he spoke the truth or hanged if he had lied. The war prisoner did in fact make a single statement; he said only a phrase and they had to let him go unscathed. What did the prisoner say to get out free?
The prisoner told them: "You will hang me."
Oct 11, 2002
|He could also make the statement, "I only tell lies."|
Jan 10, 2004
|Coudn't the people at HQ just say, "Whoops. We messed up!" and shoot him anyway? Just kidding, and fun teaser. |
Mar 25, 2004
|he could also say "hi....how are you"|
Nov 01, 2005
|I've never fully understood the logic of these kinds of teasers.|
Nov 14, 2005
|I agree rose rox. If he told the truth, he would be shot. If he lied, hanged. it is totally impossible to not tell the truth AND not tell a lie.|
Mar 19, 2006
|Here is an explanation:|
He says 'I will be hanged'. If it is true, he will be shot, but that makes his statement false, as he is shot, not hanged. Since his statement is false, he cannot be shot; instead, he will be hanged. But if he is hanged, that makes his statement true, so he will be shot, not hanged. In other words, if the statement is true, then it is false; if it is false, then it is true. It is a paradox and is therefore neither true or false, so he is released.
A simpler version of this paradox, known as the 'Epimenides paradox', is 'This statement is false'. This statement cannot be true, for if it were true, it would state that it is false, and it cannot be both true and false. Similarly, if it were false, then its negation must be true, which states that it is true. But again, it cannot be both true and false.
Another interesting variation of this paradox is: ' "yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation" yields falsehood when preceded by its quotation.' This is interesting because it doesn't use self-reference.
This is also similar to the concept which Kurt Godel used to prove the famous Incompleteness Theorem, which shows that there are always unprovable statements in mathematics. The statement he used roughly translates to 'This statement cannot be proven'.
Mar 29, 2006
|What about an opionionated statement?|
May 28, 2010
|I'm more confused with that explanation. LOL|
Jun 22, 2011
He could have said, "You will hang me"
"You will not shoot me"
Any action done by the jailors would be wrong by their own terms.
UNLESS, they shoot and hang him at the same time.
Nov 16, 2011
|I get it|
Nov 16, 2011
|I get it|
Back to Top | <urn:uuid:e038aadf-0b78-474a-a6bf-2e7cf60db4cf> | CC-MAIN-2014-42 | http://www.braingle.com/brainteasers/teaser.php?id=656&op=0&comm=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-42/segments/1414637900080.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20141030025820-00228-ip-10-16-133-185.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971717 | 700 | 2.953125 | 3 |
The large, purplish-black, tiger bee fly (Xenox tigrinus) is half an inch or more in size, with distinct mottled patterns on its wings. Fearsome in appearance — it resembles a huge horsefly — the tiger bee fly is harmless to humans, but the nemesis of beetles, wasps and solitary bees, especially carpenter bees. The adult female fly seeks out the unprotected nests of these species and then deposits her parasitic eggs inside to devour the young larvae of the host.
If you have a nuisance problem with carpenter bees making nest holes under unfinished wooden eaves of your buildings, the tiger bee fly is your friend. Tiger bee fly larvae feed on the carpenter bee larvae and will emerge as adults from the nest instead.
Tiger bee flies belong to the Bombyliidae family of insects, which is made up of hundreds of species that have as yet been studied very little, or not at all. They are most often noticed around midsummer, either resting in the sun with wings held outstretched and swept back, angled to the sides, or hovering motionless in midair feeding on flower nectar. | <urn:uuid:59406126-47a4-4b33-a21d-576a0ae0394a> | CC-MAIN-2014-41 | http://www.timesunion.com/living/article/Backyard-Naturalist-5721860.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-41/segments/1410657138980.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20140914011218-00194-ip-10-234-18-248.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958538 | 238 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Restoration work is the major conversation happening across the world now. Humanity rethinking our intrinsic relationship with nature – one that we have often downplayed, yet the only one ally in ensuring our survival, and that of other components in nature. Ecosystem restoration presents a great opportunity for communities and governments to come together, implement solutions to local environmental challenges, and foster a sustainable future for all.
With 2021’s World Environment Day celebrations theme, Ecosystem Restoration, Kenya Environmental Action Network, The Millenial Environmentalists, One Health (AfroHUN), NPIP, and other partners came together to undertake a mega restoration project in Ndaragwa, Nyandarua county, Kenya.
The goal is to grow 10,000 tree seedlings in about 29 primary schools – from fruit trees to indigenous and some trees for fuelwood.
On June 5th, we started off by planting about 240 of them already secured 2,500 seedlings from the local Kenya Forest Service nursery station.
The trees, planted at Muti Umwe (translates to one tree, significant of the oldest one tree in the school) primary school, created an opportunity for us to learn with the pupils and teachers on the importance of growing trees, ways of encouraging restoration work, and general environmental education. For the Muti Umwe school community, the activity represented a moment of hope and determination in contributing to a better school environment, boost the county forest cover, while also helping attain Kenya’s 10% forest cover.
It was a successful mission
For what is worth noting, this was an eye-opener, an opportunity for the partnering institutions to see the opportunity to restore nature, and to work with schools to deliver environmental education programs to learners, while also hearing pupils’ dreams and mentoring them.
The hope is that we are able to visit the schools soon again and continue growing and taking care of the trees, as well as reaching out to other counties for similar works.
We can restore our ecosystems and landscapes, and create a generation conscious of environmental action.
Check out this short video on the activity, here.
We are grateful for the support from 350 Africa to enhance #NdaragwaEdition where we joined The Millennial Environmentalists and other partners in tree planting, educating learners on environmental matters, and creating an impact for restoration at the local level. | <urn:uuid:3b8a11db-c0d6-4b29-adc4-bb31da850f14> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://keanke.org/celebrating-worlds-environment-day-at-ndaragwa/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446709929.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20221126212945-20221127002945-00052.warc.gz | en | 0.943047 | 494 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Everyone knows that swimming is good for your back and general health.
But like everything else it is only “good” if it is done properly.
We have seen too many cases of neck pain and associated arm and shoulder problems along with dizziness and headaches to ignore this rules of “healthy swimming”.
1. Use appropriate technique to avoid extending (bending back) your neck while swimming. Normally you breath in when pushing out of the water (breast stroke) or turning your head (front crawl). You suppose to breath out into the water; this is where your neck rests and relaxes. You will, of course, make your hair wet, but will avoid all this pain, which maybe brought about by incorrect swimming technique.
2. Use goggles to avoid getting too much chlorinated (or salty if you swim in the sea) water into your sensitive eyes.
3. Take swimming lessons or watch videos below and if you don’t regulary swim, start swimming slowly and work on technique, gradually increasing the amount of lengths you can do.
Good luck and happy swimming.
Safe swimming techniques videos below:
Good Luck with your swimming! | <urn:uuid:6f54edbb-1c34-4815-a69d-9b8f85414240> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://www.adjusthealth.info/swimming-for-health/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267161902.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20180925163044-20180925183444-00132.warc.gz | en | 0.953353 | 241 | 2.65625 | 3 |
All over the world farmers and gardeners grow a wide range of plants from seeds and bulbs. Some of these plants will provide food and wealth to families, other plants will look attractive in the garden and give pleasure to visitors.
Class 2 at Wood Street Primary are investigating how plants develop from seeds.
They sprinkle cress seeds over plastic cups filled with compost, then they water the seeds. Bill and Martha are members of class 2. They measure the length of their cress plants every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for four school weeks. They also write down any important observations.
Bill and Martha record their results in a table. They started their investigation on Monday of Week 1.
|Week||Day||Length of Shoot (cm)||Observations|
|1||Wednesday||0||Seed starts to swell|
|2||Monday||0.3||Shoots start to grow|
|3||Monday||2.5||Shoots much taller|
|4||Monday||3.8||Shoots lean towards the window|
|4||Friday||4.6||Last day. Cress sandwiches for lunch!|
You will need to use this table to answer the next questions. Remember, you can always use HELP to see the table again. | <urn:uuid:580cc4b3-02fa-459b-825b-0e5e703077e4> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://www.edplace.com/worksheet_info/science/keystage1/year2/topic/674/3955/seeds-and-bulbs | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038464146.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20210418013444-20210418043444-00307.warc.gz | en | 0.91397 | 263 | 4.0625 | 4 |
Research says these tips can boost your memory:
- Closing your eyes does improve recall of information. And trust your memory: double checking makes you trust your memory less and reduces how vivid your memories are.
- Bet on your ability to remember things. (This makes it fun too.)
- Pictures of car accidents! Looking at emotional photos after taking in information led to greater recall.
- Be curious. It helps you retain the things you learn. (If you read this blog, you probably have this one covered.)
- When trying to recall stuff, match the body position and emotional expression you had when you learned it.
View original post 95 more words | <urn:uuid:9b65cfc2-948d-4003-990c-22e70c7f0874> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://sociotechnowledge.wordpress.com/tag/tricks/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560627998708.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20190618083336-20190618105336-00255.warc.gz | en | 0.916869 | 135 | 3.28125 | 3 |
Pomaderris is a genus of about 70 species almost totally confined to Australia but eight species are found in New Zealand. They are small to large shrubs (occasionally trees) usually with short hairs on young stems and leaves and clusters of small cream to yellow flowers. In Australia the genus is found in all states with the greatest concentration being in south-eastern New South Wales and eastern Victoria.
Pomaderris aurea is a small, spreading shrub to about 1.5 metres tall by about 2 metres wide. Leaves are elliptical to oval shaped, 25 – 30 mm long, dark green above and hairy on the undersurface. The small, yellow flowers occur in loose, globular-shaped clusters about 30 mm in diameter at the ends of the branches in spring. Pomaderris aurea will be found in some references as Pomaderris humilis
Pomaderris species are not seen often in cultivation probably due to difficulties in propagation. Many are very floriferous and deserve wider cultivation. P.aurea is definitely in this category as its moderate size, attractive foliage and colourful flowering would make it an asset in any garden. It prefers well drained soils in full sun or light shade and is tolerant of at least moderate frost.
Propagation can be carried out from seed which usually germinates well following treatment with boiling water (similar to the method used for Acacia and the pea-flowered plants – see general notes on propagation from seed). Seed is shed from the plant when ripe and is difficult to collect. Cuttings of hardened, current seasons growth can be successful but they are usually very slow to strike and the success rate is usually well below 100%.
Photo: Brian Walters | <urn:uuid:c8e83ec6-068b-4bd6-a62c-5a729cc226b4> | CC-MAIN-2022-49 | https://anpsa.org.au/plant_profiles/pomaderris-aurea/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-49/segments/1669446710968.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20221204072040-20221204102040-00295.warc.gz | en | 0.959477 | 369 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Kidnapping is VERY big business in many countries including the United States – what should you know to prevent or avoid an adult kidnapping or child abduction?
- Course Length: 1 Day (8hours)
- Facilities: PowerPoint – no mats needed
- Prerequisites: None
- Weapons: None
- Prior Training: None
- Requirements: Must be at least 18 years of age.
- What to expect:Interactive workshop, lecture, demonstration, practical familiarization exercises, information-based training and very little physical activity – role playing only.
Critical to your survival or that of your loved ones in the event of an attempted abduction, kidnapping for ransom and hostage situations this course provides the essentials in preparation, avoidance, anti-kidnapping and counter-hostage measures. All protective concepts and measures are designed to increase survivability and chances of escape in an abduction scenario.
*** NO PRIOR EXPERIENCE REQUIRED ***
Training includes appropriate preparation, Counter Abduction Principles, potential threat recognition, potential target areas, situational survival, vulnerability assessment, route and travel security, the usage of environment and improvised weapons, counter-retention, contact weapons, resistance and escape at key intervals throughout an incident from its inception through interment. Focus is placed on breaking contact as quickly and efficiently as possible.
KEY TOPICS COVERED
- Mindset – Understanding and adopting the “Protective Mindset” sets the foundation of why and how to break from an abduction or an attempted kidnapping.
- Anatomy of Abduction – Learning the set patterns and “stages” of abduction gains you the advantage of knowing when and how break away prior and during an attempt.
- Avoidance – The very best of any option with regards to anti-kidnapping. Know what to look for, how to identify and recognize an attempted abduction.
- Breakpoints and Options – Based on the Anatomy of an Abduction you will be introduced to breakpoints and options for escape and evasion.
- Environmental Control – You control the kidnapping environment or the kidnapping environment controls you. Learn how to take and keep control of your mobility, range and position in the event of an actual abduction engagement.
- Breakaway (from abduction) – Taking full advantage of your knowledge of the Anatomy of Abduction, Breakpoints and Options in learning specific “breakaway” counter-measures.
- Escape (from interment) – In the event of an actual capture what techniques can you utilize to escape both (or either) vehicular or structural interment.
What to Bring:
- Comfortable attire – wear what you normally wear. Notebooks (or notepads) are very welcome. Still photos and limited video OK.
This is very easy-to-learn training. You walk away with a tremendous amount of EXTREMELY valuable and useful information with very minimal physical effort. | <urn:uuid:c364866f-2034-41ea-ab90-b4ad71363e8b> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | https://stevetarani.com/courses/unarmed-defense/anti-kidnapping/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886105341.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20170819105009-20170819125009-00526.warc.gz | en | 0.90986 | 593 | 2.609375 | 3 |
The merciless aerial battles taking place along the Western Front at the start of World War I were more than an ocean away, but many a young American dreamed of getting in on the action. Hundreds of them traveled to Britain or Canada, where they learned the art of combat flying with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service (the two organizations would merge into the Royal Air Force in 1918).
Timed for this year’s World War I centenary, Gavin Mortimer’s new book The First Eagles: The Fearless American Aces Who Flew with the RAF in World War I brings his subjects to life by drawing from squadron diaries and from the American pilots’ letters and journals.
According to Mortimer, many of the Yanks happily took up the ways of their British hosts. “They bought English boots and leather belts from the officers’ store in Oxford, and some took to wearing British tunics with lapel collars instead of the U.S. Army-issue stand-up collars,” he writes. “They were also issued with Royal Flying Corps caps bordered with the white cadet band, and they adhered to the behavior expected of a British officer.”
In addition to profiles of the American pilots, The First Eagles includes 109 black-and-white archival photographs.
Larry Callahan was a tall, laid-back, 23-year-old from Kentucky who had cut short a career in finance to serve his country. A gifted ragtime pianist, he had a passion for liquor, women, and cards. His talents extended to the air. He and other American pilots trained with the Royal Flying Corps in England before being assigned to Allied airbases in France. As a fighter pilot with the 85th Squadron and the 148th Aero, he became an ace.
Born in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1894, Oliver LeBoutillier traveled to England in 1917 to receive combat flight training with the Royal Naval Air Service. After completing flight instruction, he was assigned as a fighter pilot to the Service’s 9th Squadron, which had been tasked to protect southern England from attack by German bombers. At the end of his first month, LeBoutillier had downed four enemy aircraft.
George Vaughn was a student at Princeton University in 1917, when he put his name down to join the fledgling Aviation Corps. He wrote his family on May 4 to explain that after undergoing an equilibrium and eye test, he was subjected to a thorough medical “that has put a good many fellows out of the Corps.” In fact, he was one of only 36 Princeton men out of more than 100 volunteers who would meet the rigorous medical requirements to become a pilot. During the war, Vaughn destroyed 13 enemy aircraft. “All you had to do was fly the plane and shoot the guns,” he said modestly, shortly before his death in 1989 at age 92.
Eliot White Springs
Shown here beaming after walking away from an accident in France, Eliot White Springs, like his friend George Vaughn, was enrolled at Princeton when he started flying. A member of the Princeton Aviation School, Springs quickly became a proficient pilot. “I can’t begin to tell you the wonderful fascination of flying and I enjoy it more every time I go up,” he wrote his father. “I had control of the plane yesterday for twenty minutes at an altitude of 4,000 feet and I don’t know when I enjoyed anything more.”
What They Flew
The Royal Aircraft Factory’s Scout Experimental 5 was a single-seat biplane with a busy-looking cockpit. Known as the S.E.5, the aircraft entered service with the Royal Flying Corps in April 1917, and quickly proved itself. It could reach 132 mph at 6,500 feet. Armament included a Vickers machine gun that fired through the propeller and a Lewis gun mounted on the top wing.
Awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross, Lloyd Hamilton was shot down and killed flying with the 17th Aero Squadron in August 1918. Hamilton’s body was identified a year later and interred in an American military cemetery in France. In 1921, at his parents’ request, he was exhumed and laid to rest in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In 1932, the U.S. Army Air Corps dedicated a new airfield north of San Francisco in Hamilton’s honor; Hamilton Air Force Base remained active until the 1970s.
Major John Andrews, commander of the Royal Air Force’s 209th Squadron, was a leading British ace who had dueled with both the Red Baron and Max Immelmann (the first German ace of World War I). Andrews was a patient flight instructor to the young American men assigned to his squadron.
Battling the Elements
Open-cockpit airplanes offered no protection from the cold, so pilots improvised, as this one did by wearing a leather mask. In a letter to his family, one American pilot wrote: “My ears are very sore from high altitudes and long dives and my eyes are rather sore from flying without goggles.” He added that no one wore goggles when “you’re out hunting,” since painful eyes were a small price to pay for an unobstructed view. Being exposed to the elements resulted in other afflictions: split lips, frostbite, and headaches.
Manfred von Richthofen, fourth from left, chats with fellow pilots a month before he died after being shot down on April 21, 1918. Known as the Red Baron, the legendary German ace wrote his autobiography in 1917, after which it was translated into English. Americans were transfixed by the Red Baron. On April 30, 1917, Ohio’s Lancaster Daily Eagle was one of several newspapers to laud Richthofen, describing him as “brilliant and daring.” From the newspaper’s breathless prose, one wouldn’t have guessed that the United States had declared war on Germany less than a month earlier. | <urn:uuid:35e20697-232e-4130-ada4-8f4e206aea96> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/first-responders-180952997/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764500094.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20230204044030-20230204074030-00492.warc.gz | en | 0.980254 | 1,291 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Effective policy related to climate change education requires not only a commitment to teach and learn but a commitment to act. Research has shown that knowledge alone is insufficient for societies to change behaviour; therefore, policymakers must move beyond education systems that simply transmit knowledge to ones that promote graduates who are engaged in systemic change. Recommendations: - Emphasise action competence, not just knowledge, in developing curriculums and learning outcomes related to climate change literacy. - Create learning environments in which students are able to practise action competence in responding to climate changes, by minimising operational policy and practices that contradict competencies being taught in relation to climate change. - Target adult and senior learners for climate literacy and building action competence with regard to climate change.
UNU-IAS Policy Brief No. 4 | <urn:uuid:e34db312-2477-4ac4-884b-2d5339f96b6f> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | https://education4resilience.iiep.unesco.org/resources/2016/climate-change-education-critical-thinking-critical-action | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296944996.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20230323034459-20230323064459-00537.warc.gz | en | 0.925736 | 171 | 3.25 | 3 |
"Education is the most powerful weapon which
you can use to change the world".
Our Toddler Program is for children ages 1 to 2 years old, For young toddlers we offer a variety of opportunities for them to explore the world through play. Gross motor skills and social skills are developed through both structured and unstructured play.
Our teachers make sure that each day is packed with carefully designed activities structured around the main development areas.
Each day your child will be experimenting with music, art, dance, story time, toy instruments, exploring textures, colors, and learning a variety of words and sounds through playing with other children inside and outside.
Young Toddlers (Roots Classroom) (Ages 1 - 2 years old)
Toddlers (Branches Classroom) (Ages 2 to 3 years old)
Our young preschoolers group is for children ages 2 to 3 years old. Toddlers love to move and what is the best way to learn than discovering the world. Toddlers learn best in safe, loving places where they can explore, in their own way. The activities for this age group are built around their limitless curiosity and their natural desire to push boundaries.
Each day is packed with carefully designed activities structured around the STEAM program as well as the main development areas.
During your child’s time with us they will learn how to count, discover writing, art, dance, story time, toy instruments, exploring textures, colors, foreign language (Spanish) and learning a variety of words and sounds through playing with other children, as well as starting to build toward following simple instructions. We will also potty train.
Although it may seem like fun and games, to preschoolers ages 3 to 5 year olds, the curriculum we follow is packed with educational elements as well as STEAM program.
Games that teach pre-reading skills like phonemic awareness and letter, sound recognition, basic math concepts such as counting and patterning skills are the focus of group activities involving movement, clapping, and identifying different body parts, colors, shapes, forms as well as alphabet and numbers, and hands-on science exploration.
For children 3.5 - 5 years old, education and play starts to focus more on reading, early writing, and math skills, and of course foreign language (Spanish), science, social studies, art, music, and physical education round out the learning.
We will be doing field trips as weather allows. | <urn:uuid:2768cae8-54b5-4e29-bffe-e76615a85b8e> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://www.kidsfoundationacademy.com/our-program | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107905777.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20201029184716-20201029214716-00476.warc.gz | en | 0.961298 | 501 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Dirt. You wash it off your hands, walk on it and probably feel squeamish when too much of it gets on your skin. Not something you think about too often. But soil is an important resource for everything from human health to agriculture to water filtration. In fact, the Catskill Watershed
in New York provides New York City with clean water at one-sixth the price of what a new water filtration plant would cost. Not to mention the obvious benefits of the food we grow out of soil. We literally owe our lives to healthy soil. Yet we continue to threaten it.
The important role of soil
First, let’s take a look at the role healthy soil plays in our lives.
The most well-known and imperative benefit of healthy soil is food production. Healthy soil is full of organisms that turn dead matter and minerals into vital plant nutrients.
A shocking use for healthy soil is to use it to protect against drought. Healthy soils can absorb and store water, which acts as a mock reservoir during dry stints. The United Stated Department of Agriculture
(USDA) states that for every 1 percent increase in organic matter in soil, U.S. farms could store the amount of water that goes over Niagara Falls in 150 days.
Dr. Bianca Moebius-Clune, the National Resources Conservation Service’s soil health division director, said, “Organic matter and living organisms provide the foundation for soil to function properly, allowing it to take in, store and deliver water to plants, among many other benefits.” The secret is that organic matter makes soil form “stable soil aggregates, or crumbs.” Soil can then absorb and hold more water.
We can also fight infections with dirt. How counterintuitive is that? Antibiotics can be developed from bacteria found in soil. Scientists are looking for soil bacteria in natural areas for this purpose
. As of the beginning of this year, an area in New Mexico and an Atlantic forest region in Brazil look promising.
We even use soil in a variety of industries: china dishes are made from soil and we use clay for beauty products. Plus, as mentioned above, soil acts as a powerful water filtration tool. Is there nothing healthy soil can’t do?
But what makes soil healthy in the first place?
Composition of healthy soil
The Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences
puts it well when talking about how healthy soil should function: “In order to grow our crops, we want the soil to hold water and nutrients like a sponge where they are readily available for plant roots to take them up, suppress pests and weeds that may attack our plants, sequester carbon from the atmosphere and clean the water that flows through it into rivers, lakes and aquifers.”
Organic matter is quite possibly the most important aspect of healthy soil. That includes plant and animal materials, soil microorganisms and products of these organisms and the decomposition process. Sources of organic matter include compost, manure and crop residues. Organic matter affects every aspect of the soil in ways that almost always help crop yield.
Healthy soil is also literally living soil. Penn State said one teaspoon of healthy soil off a farm can have 100 million to 1 billion bacteria, six to nine feet of fungal strands end-to-end, thousands of flagellates and amoeba, hundreds of ciliates, hundreds of nematodes, up to 100 insects and five-plus earthworms. All of these help break down, decompose and aerate organic matter into the nutrient rich mixture that puts food on the table.
Healthy soil should crumble but be moist as well. For instance, a healthy loam soil is 50 percent soil and 50 percent water and air.
With these complex requirements, it’s easy to muck up. So what are we doing wrong?
Threats to healthy soil
There are several major threats to healthy soil, all preventable:
This happens when soil has no air space in which to absorb water and air for plants. It’s caused by poor farming practices. Either the soil is not kept healthy with proper care (like adding enough organic matter) or the soil is trampled with equipment. If compaction gets bad enough, roots won’t even be able to penetrate the soil. The roots then can’t seek other nutrient-rich soil, and air and water cannot penetrate the soil as well to nourish the plants.
These are chemicals used in farming to increase crop yield. However, over time, it has backfired by disrupting the microorganisms in the soil. The result has been more harmful bacteria instead of beneficial bacteria.
As more forests are cleared for building and farmland, topsoil blows into waterways. Plants that replace trees cannot hold soil as well and erosion continues. Soil for growing food is getting dumped into rivers because trees are not in the way to stop it from happening. Trees that might have been there a day ago or could be easily replanted. Think about that for a minute.
Further, a scientist from the University of Delaware, Donald L. Sparks, stated in the journal Science
that soil erosion exceeds the rate of soil production. In the central United States, soil erosion is 10 times greater than the natural background rate of soil production. When the soil erodes, it washes away key nutrients that are never replaced.
Human-induced nutrient depletion:
This term is listed by the USDA
. Simply, this is the process of over-farming an area. Farmers can sometimes sap the nutrients out of the soil while growing crops and fail to put nutrients back into the soil. Causes include unbalanced fertilization, over-cultivation, flat-out not putting nutrients back into the soil and increased erosion by not managing the land properly.
Solutions in soil health
The solution to the problem lies in better agricultural education and sustainable land use. Sustainable agriculture will need to be the way of the future if we want to continue to actually grow food. For instance, the WWF
is working to make deforestation a thing of the past as much as possible, as well as promoting sustainable farming initiatives
like using less chemicals and keeping soil strengthened. | <urn:uuid:8350f668-7527-4c84-bd0f-557958edd957> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://recyclenation.com/2015/06/why-is-soil-health-so-important/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243988831.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20210508001259-20210508031259-00363.warc.gz | en | 0.94736 | 1,292 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Bermudagrass in Georgia (B 911)Download PDF
- Quality Hay Production
- Grazing Management
- Weed Control
Bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) Is an important warm-season, perennial, sod-forming forage grass in Georgia and throughout the southeast. Bermudagrass is productive from spring until fall and is well-suited for grazing or hay production. It is a high-yielding grass: 5 to 7 tons of hay per acre can be produced with good management when there's ample moisture.
Several varieties of bermudagrass are used in Georgia, ranging from Common bermudagrass to the high-yielding, good quality hybrid bermudagrasses. The best variety to use depends on your location in the state and the intended use.
Significant advancements have improved berudagrass yields and forage quality. Dr. Glenn Burton, principal geneticist at the Georgia Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton, released several hybrid bermudagrasses for use in the south. His releases include Coastal, Midland, Coastcross I, Tifton 44, Tifton 78 and Tifton 85.
Coastal bermudagrass was the first hybrid forage bermudagrass developed for use in southern forage programs. Coastal, an F1 hybrid of Tift common bermuda and a bermudagrass introduced from Asia, was released more than 55 years ago and has been established for hay and grazing on approximately 15 million acres in the southern United States. In Georgia, Coastal is best adapted to the Coastal Plain and lower Piedmont areas. It is not as cold tolerant as Tifton 44 and may winter-kill in the mountains.
Coastal produces high yields of good quality forage when properly fertilized and managed but, like the other hybrid bermudagrasses, Coastal produces few viable seeds and must be estab-lished from vegetative planting material.
Tifton 85 bermudagrass is the latest release from the USDA program in Tifton. It has excep-tional yield and produces high quality grazing and hay. Tifton 85 was released in 1992 as a highly digestible hybrid cross of Tifton 68 and an introduction from South Africa. It has larger stems and broader leaves than most other bermudagrasses. Its large rhizomes and stolons spread rapidly and, under good growing conditions, may grow 2 to 3 inches a day. Hay yields and digesti-bility are considerably better than Coastal, Tifton 44 and Tifton 78 hybrid bermudagrass. Tifton 85 is not as cold tolerant as Coastal and is best adapted to the Coastal Plain region. Although Tifton 85 might survive most winters in the Piedmont region, a severe winter would severely damage stands.
Tifton 44 bermudagrass is a winter-hardy hybrid bermudagrass released in 1978. Tifton 44 is a cross between Coastal and a winter-hardy bermudagrass from Germany. This hybrid produces more rhizomes than Coastal and is better adapted to the northern areas of the bermudagrass growing regions of the country. Tifton 44 bermudagrass produces higher quality forage than Coastal or Alicia, averaging 7 percent higher in digestibility than Coastal and 10 percent higher than Alicia. Hay yields are similar to Coastal. Tifton 44 starts to grow earlier in spring and grows later into the fall than Coastal or Alicia. Tifton 44 must be established from vegetative planting material (sprigs) and is more difficult to establish than the other forage bermudagrasses.
Tifton 78 bermudagrass was released in 1984. Tifton 78 is the best of many crosses made between Tifton 44 and Callie. Compared with Coastal, Tifton 78 grows taller, has larger stems and a similar rhizome system, spreads much faster, is more easily established, and starts growth earlier in the spring.
Tifton 78 is less winter-hardy than Tifton 44. It is well adapted throughout the Coastal Plain and may be grown in the lower Piedmont. Plantings in north Georgia experience some winter-kill during severe winters. The potential for winter injury can be reduced with good management. Do not apply nitrogen after September 1, and do not cut hay after mid September. Tifton 78 pastures can be grazed in the fall, because grazing does not put as much pressure on the stand as does the complete defoliation of a hay cutting. Recent plantings of Tifton 78 have been difficult to maintain. Special attention should be made to maintain good fertility levels and to control insects to reduce stand losses.
Russell bermudagrass was released by Auburn University and Louisiana State University. The origin can be traced to a long-established field of bermudagrass in Seale, Alabama. It is a dense, lower-growing productive hybrid. Limited testing shows Russell yields well (similar to Coastal) and is winter hardy. Forage quality appears to be similar to Coastal. It exhibits morphological characteristics similar to common bermudagrass.
Florakirk bermudagrass is a fine-stemmed hybrid cross between Tifton 44 and Callie. Test results show that it has slightly higher digestibil-ity than Coastal. This bermudagrass is not very winter hardy and is susceptible to leaf rust. It is more suited to Florida than to Georgia.
Midland bermudagrass is a winter-hardy hybrid (Coastal x a winter-hardy Indiana common) best adapted to the upper Piedmont and Mountain regions. Midland is similar to Coastal in yield, growth habit and forage quality. Some Midland stands still exist in north Georgia; however, the variety has largely been replaced by Tifton 44.
Alicia bermudagrass was selected from a group of bermudagrasses introduced from Africa and marketed by a Texas businessman in the early 1970s.
Alicia is relatively easy to establish and produces high hay yields (similar to Coastal and Tifton 44), but its forage is lower in quality than Coastal (about 10 percent less digestible). Alicia is susceptible to rust, a foliage disease that destroys leaf tissue and reduces yields and quality. Alicia can be grown throughout the Coastal Plain and lower Piedmont areas. Coastal, Tifton 44 and Tifton 85 are better choices than Alicia for new plantings.
Grazer and Brazos bermudagrasses are two other hybrids grown in the southern United States. Grazer was released from Louisiana State University and is a cross of selections from Italy and Kenya. It has large stems with wide leaves but is not as productive as Coastal. Brazos was released in Oklahoma in 1982. Brazos also has larger stems and leaves than Coastal but does not perform as well as Coastal. Neither is well suited to Georgia conditions.
CoastCross I and Callie are two hybrid bermudagrasses previously grown in Georgia. More productive hybrids have replaced their acreage. Both were subject to winter-kill and loss of stands.
Common bermudagrass was introduced into the United States from India or Africa more than 150 years ago. It proved to be well-adapted to the humid south and quickly became a widespread weed in cultivated crops. Common produces viable seed and also spreads by stolons and rhizomes so, once it is established in a pasture, it is difficult to eradicate. Common bermudagrass usually is present in combination with fescue or as a contaminant in improved bermudagrass pastures on more than 400,000 acres in Georgia. Because it is hardy, forms a dense sod, can be established from seed, and can be maintained on infertile soils, Common is well-suited to conservation uses.
Selections from Common have been made and are sold as varieties. Several varieties on the market may also be blends of different types of Com-mon. Although Common does not usually provide high yields -- only 50 to 60 percent as much hay per acre as Coastal -- it can be effectively used in forage programs to provide summer grazing. In north Georgia, it is best used in combination with fescue and clover. Seed Common in spring (April to June) on a prepared seedbed at the rate of 5 to 8 pounds of seed per acre. Research is underway in Georgia to compare yields and persistence of newly-marketed varieties with the hybrid bermudagrasses.
Bermudagrasses are deep-rooted, sod-forming grasses best adapted to fertile, well-drained soils. They can be grown in north Georgia on bottom land that floods in winter provided the soil has good internal drainage and water does not stand on the soil surface for several days. They are not suited to poorly-drained flatwood soils in south Georgia, but because bermudagrasses use water efficiently, they can grow on sandy upland soils that are not well-suited for row crop production.
Bermudagrasses is established best on a well-prepared, weed-free seedbed. Soil test before preparing the seedbed and apply the recommended amounts of lime, phosphorus and potassium. Tilling, which is necessary to prepare the soil for planting, will incorporate the lime and fertilizer nutrients into the soil.
Prepare the seedbed at least two to four weeks prior to sprigging to allow the soil to settle. If it is necessary to plow shortly before sprigging, pack the soil by cultipacking or using a heavy roller. Freshly-plowed coarse soils dry quickly, reducing the chance of sprig survival.
Bermudagrass varieties that produce rhizomes such as Coastal, Tifton 85, Tifton 44, Tifton 78 and Alicia can be planted from late January until late July. Early sprigging of bermudagrass (before the grass breaks dormancy) has some very significant advantages. Soil moisture conditions are usually more favorable in late winter, and sprigs dug before breaking dormancy will have a higher level of stored food reserves to initiate growth once temperatures are warm enough for growth to occur. Bermudagrass plants depend on stored food reserves for winter survival and for the energy to grow in early spring until sufficient leaf area has developed to sustain growth. Sprigs dug in early spring -- just after the plants have broken dormancy -- will have lower levels of food reserves.
With dormant sprigging, the rhizomes are in the soil and ready to grow as soon as temperatures are warm enough. This also allows more time for the soil to "settle" and to achieve good soil-sprig contact.
You can plant bermudagrass successfully throughout the spring and summer, but good moisture is essential for warm season plantings. Extended periods of dry weather that may occur from May to July can reduce sprig survival and plant growth. Plantings made after late July in north Georgia and after late August in south Georgia may not develop a rhizome system sufficient for winter survival.
Hybrid bermudagrasses produce few viable seeds and must be established from vegetative plant material. Freshly dug sprigs (rhizomes or stolons) are your best source of planting stock for the bermudagrasses. Coastal, Tifton 85 and Alicia can also be established from topgrowth (mature stems). Tifton 44 does not establish easily from topgrowth.
Dig good quality sprigs from pure, well-maintained stands of bermudagrass and plant soon after digging. To ensure hybrid purity and quality, consider purchasing sprigs from certified fields. A list of certified bermudagrass growers can be obtained from your local county extension office or by calling the Georgia Crop Improvement Association.
Do not let sprigs freeze, dry out or go through heat before planting. Although properly stored sprigs can remain viable for several days after digging, their vigor will decline. If you have to store the sprigs, spread them out in a thin layer (12 inches or less), moisten them, cover them with burlap or a tarpaulin and keep them in a shaded area. Exposure of sprigs to the sun and wind after digging will increase dessication and rapidly reduce their viability.
If topgrowth is used for planting material, the stems should be six to seven weeks old and have six or more nodes. Planting should take place quickly after cutting the stems. Scatter tops and disk them into moist soil; pack the soil with a heavy roller or tractor tires to decrease moisture loss and ensure good soil contact.
Plant 30 to 40 bushels of fresh, good-quality sprigs per acre 2 to 3 inches deep. Properly adjusted commercial sprigging machines will do an acceptable job. Firm the soil around the sprigs by using the press wheels on the sprigging machine or with tractor wheels. On soils with a high clay content, do not cover sprigs with more than 1 inch of soil.
Apply 35 to 50 pounds of nitrogen per acre after the bermudagrass sprigs start to grow. With early planting dates, a second nitrogen application will be necessary to promote rapid coverage. Do not apply nitrogen after mid August.
Bermudagrass sprigs can be successfully planted with no-till sprigging machines. Since the soil does not need to be plowed, the erosion potential is reduced and fields that are too hilly to plow can be established in hybrid bermudagrasses with this equipment. The existing vegetation on fields that will be established should be killed with a herbicide before the field is sprigged. After sprigging, management is similar to that for fields established with conventional equipment.
Weed Control in Newly Sprigged Bermudagrass
Good weed control during the establishment phase is critical. Newly-established bermudagrass is unable to compete with rapidly growing annual grasses and broadleaf weeds. A thick cover of weeds prevents the bermudagrass stolons from rooting and slows stand establishment.
Options to control weeds in newly-established bermudagrass include timely mowing, grazing and herbicides. As of February, 1997, and with the exception of certain formulations of 2,4-D, there are not preemergence herbicides labeled for use at the time of planting bermudagrass sprigs. 2,4-D can be applied immediately after sprigging and will provide short-term (two to four weeks) control of some annual grasses and broadleaf weeds. A second application will be needed three to four weeks later. Rainfall will be needed to obtain satisfactory weed control. Preemergence applications of 2,4-D have generally been less effective in controlling annual grasses than other herbicides previously labeled for this use. In contrast, post-emergence applications of 2,4-D at rates of 0.5 to 1.0 pounds of active ingredient per acre are highly effective for the control of broad-leaf weeds such as common cocklebur, common ragweed and morningglories.
Research is being conducted by agrichemical companies and land grant universities to identify herbicides for the control of annual grasses during bermudagrass establishment. For example, Zorial® effectively controls annual grasses during establishment. As of February, 1996, however, Zorial is not registered for this use. The registration status of Zorial is subject to change. Check with your county extension agent or agrichemical dealer for the latest information on herbicides labeled for this use.
Newly-established bermudagrass spreads as stolons (above-ground runners) and develops roots at nodes on stems to form new plants. These new plants and stolons may die during the winter, leaving only the original plants, unless the new plants have formed rhizomes. Rhizomes are large underground stems that serve as food storage organs and as sources of vegetative buds for forming a thick sod. Bermudagrass planted early is more likely to develop sufficient rhizomes for winter survival than grass planted in late summer.
Bermudagrasses start to store food reserves in the rhizome system during late summer. You should not cut new plantings for hay in late summer, so the plants can accumulate considerable growth to supply the food reserves necessary for winter survival.
Most failures in establishing fields usually are caused by:
- Poorly prepared seeds bed.
- Inadequate moisture at planting.
- Planting sprigs too dry or desiccated.
- Not using enough planting material.
- Not firming soil around planting material.
- Planting too deep or too shallow.
- Severe weed competition.
You need a sound fertilization program to produce high yields of good quality forage for hay or grazing and to maintain healthy, productive stands.
Bermudagrass grows well at a soil pH range of 5.5 to 6.5. High rates or nitrogen increase soil acidity, making frequent applications of limestone necessary. Test your soil each year and apply lime when needed.
Bermudagrass is a heavy user of fertilizer nutrients. A 6-ton per acre hay yield will remove significant quantities of fertilizer nutrients (see Table 1), which must be replaced to maintain soil fertility levels.
Table 1. Fertilizer Nutrients Removed in 6 Tons of Bermudagrass Hay
Nitrogen (N) stimulates plant growth and increases the crude protein content of the forage. With adequate moisture, bermudagrass responds to high rates of nitrogen fertilizer. Several applications of nitrogen will be used more efficiently than a single large application. The quantity of nitrogen and frequency of application depend on how the crop is used -- for hay or grazing -- and how intensively the crop is managed.
N rates for hay production: Apply 75 to 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre in the spring before rapid growth begins and apply a similar quantity after each harvest except the last harvest in the fall. Since bermudagrass grows more rapidly in late spring and early summer and is higher in quality during that period than in late summer, some hay producers prefer to apply heavier rates of nitrogen in spring and early summer than in late summer.
N rates for grazing: When bermudagrass is used for grazing, the amount and frequency of application of nitrogen depend on the stocking rate. With moderate stocking rates, an application of 50 to 75 pounds of nitrogen per acre in April, June and July is adequate. Heavily stocked pastures may require 60 to 80 pounds of nitrogen every four to six weeks.
Three major nitrogen sources are used on ber-mudagrass in Georgia. These are solid ammonium nitrate AN (34 percent N), urea-AN solutions (30 to 32 percent N) and AN solutions (19 to 21 percent N). Other nitrogen sources used in Georgia include anhydrous ammonia (82 percent N), solid urea (46 percent N) and ammonium sulfate (21 percent N). All sources can be used successfully if applied correctly.
Since nitrogen is applied topdressed to bermudagrass, there is a potential during warm weather for some volatilization loss of nitrogen from any material containing urea. Urease enzymes, found in plants and soils, can convert the N in urea to a gas. This occurs at the soil surface but not after the urea leaches into the soil. Approximately ¼ inch of rainfall is needed to incorporate urea and essentially eliminate volatilization. Under field conditions, if there is ½ inch of rainfall within 72 hours after application, N losses from urea-based fertilizers are negligible. Surface-applied nitrogen in forms other than urea will not be volatilized under Georgia conditions.
You need to take certain precautions when using anhydrous ammonia. Because it is a gas, it must be injected approximately 6 inches beneath the soil surface, and the injection slot must be properly sealed to prevent significant losses of N. Because injection equipment is required, most anhydrous ammonia is applied by custom applicators.
You can use ammonium sulfate on bermudagrass; however, it is very acid-forming when com-pared to other N sources. It forms three times as much acidity as urea, urea-AN, AN and anhydrous ammonia. Growers can compensate for this additional acidity by maintaining a good liming program.
In summary, any commercially available N source will be effective if applied correctly. Select an N source based on cost per pound of N and/or convenience of application.
Potassium (K) is second only to nitrogen in the concentration found in bermudagrass. Potassium is essential for high yields and to maintain healthy stands. The rates of potassium needed vary with soil K levels, cropping intensity and rates of nitrogen used. (See Table 2.)
Table 2. Pounds of Potassium (K2O) Needed per Acre for Hay Production or Grazing with Different N Rates and Soil Test K Levels
|Nitrogen Rate lbs/A||Low||Medium||High|
lbs of K2O to apply per acre
Potassium is more efficiently used with multiple applications. Applying potassium in the spring before rapid growth begins and after every other harvest should be satisfactory.
Many bermudagrass stands in Georgia have slowly declined over a period of years to the point that the stands are too thin to be productive. As the stand thins, weeds encroach and further reduce the value of the hay field or pasture. The one factor usually consistent in situations when bermudagrass stands have lost vigor and productivity is low soil K levels. Bermudagrass uses large quantities of potassium, which is removed when the grass is harvested for hay. High rates of nitrogen stimulate forage growth and increase hay yields. When high N rates are coupled with low rates of potassium fertilization, K levels decline due to the high rate of removal. In effect, we are mining the soil of K.
Bermudagrass that is K deficient is less winter-hardy and stands may thin during harsh winters. Keep K rates up to maintain stands.
Phosphorus (P) is essential for many plant processes and is necessary for high forage yields. Phosphorus does not leach readily from the soil, so one application per year is sufficient. You can apply phosphorus any time during the year. Rates of phosphorus needed for grazing and hay production are shown in Table 3.
|Table 3. Pound of Phosphorus (P2O5) Needed per Acre for Hay Production or Grazing with Different N Rates and Soil Test P Levels|
|-||Soil P Levels|
|Nitrogen Rate lbs/A||Low||Medium||High|
lbs of P2O5 to apply per acre
Bermudagrass that is well fertilized, harvested at the proper time and stored to minimize losses can produce high yields of good quality hay. Bermudagrass hay is widely used in rations for beef and dairy cattle and horses.
A good fertilization program is essential for successful hay production. Fertilization guidelines are in the section on fertilizers.
The harvest interval affects forage yields and forage quality. Forage quality (digestibility and protein content) is highest when the grass is very young and declines as the grass matures (see Figure 1). Total dry matter yields per acre, however, increase with time. Harvesting bermudagrass at four- to five-week intervals represents the best compromise between forage yields and forage quality. This harvesting interval produces hay that has a high proportion of leaves to stems and is easy to cure.
Because close clipping will not harm stands, bermudagrass can be cut as low as the mower and terrain will allow.
You need a mower in excellent mechanical condition to obtain a clean cut. Bermudagrass has relatively fine stems, so mechanical conditioning -- crimping or crushing stems -- is not necessary for rapid curing. A hay tedder used to fluff the swath or windrow after 4 to 6 hours of drying time will increase the rate of drying. In good hay drying conditions, the moisture content should be low enough for baling (less than 20 percent) in 24 to 36 hours.
High quality, leafy hay is more difficult to retain in bales than longer, stemmy hay. As moisture content and other factors change, periodic baler adjustments are necessary to obtain a tight bale that will withstand handling.
Bermudagrass pastures should be managed to keep young, leafy forage available for grazing. Cattle consuming young, leafy forage will gain weight faster and produce more milk than cattle grazing older, stemmy grass that is lower in digestibility and protein content. Animal weight gains on poor quality forage are limited by reduced forage quality (digestibility and protein content) and reduced intake of forage by the animal.
You should manage bermudagrass pastures to keep forage growth 2 to 4 inches in height. When pastures are understocked, a tall growth of bermudagrass will accumulate. Cattle will then start to "spot graze," continuously grazing small areas in the pasture where the grass is kept shorter by repeated grazings. When this occurs, the pasture is not being used efficiently. When Tifton 85 is grazed, different management is needed. Tifton 85 will be more productive and carry more cattle when at least 4 inches of growth is maintained in the pasture.
The key to good grazing management is matching the stock rate to the grass growth rate. Since bermudagrass growth is affected by moisture, fertilization and the season of the year, the growth rate is not constant throughout the grazing season. To maintain forage growth within the desired limits, vary the stocking rate by adding or removing animals from a pasture or by reducing the area available for grazing.
A vigorous, well-maintained stand of bermudagrass is the first line of defense against a weed infestation. Cultural practices such as liming, fertilizing, proper grazing and hay practices should be closely followed to promote a dense cover of bermudagrass. Most broadleaf weeds can be effectively controlled with properly timed applications of 2,4-D (numerous trade names), dicamba (Banvel) and triclopyr (Remedy). Two-way mixtures of 2,4-D and dicamba (Weedmaster) or 2,4-D and picloram (Grazon P+D) may also be used to control a wide spectrum of broadleaf weeds in bermudagrass pastures and hay fields. Metsulfuron (Ally) can be used to control "Pensacola" bahiagrass and several broadleaf weed species. If necessary, hexazinone (Velpar) is avail-able for the control of smutgrass. Paraquat (Gramaxone Extra) can be used on dormant bermudagrass for the control of winter annual grasses and certain broadleaf weeds.
As of February, 1997, no selective preemer-gence or postemergence herbicides are labeled for control of annual grasses such as crabgrass, goosegrass and sandbur in pastures and hay fields. Research is being conducted by agrichemical companies and land grant universities to identify herbicides for the control of annual grasses. Results of this research are promising. Refer to the current edition of the Georgia Pest Control Handbook, your county extension agent or an agrichemical dealer for the latest information regarding herbicides labeled for annual grass control in bermudagrass hay fields and pastures. Spot applications of glyphosate (Roundup) may be used to control annual grasses; however, the bermudagrass will be severely injured or killed in areas treated with glyphosate. Wick-bar applications of glyphosate are very useful to control johnsongrass in hay fields. Delay the use of the wick-bar until a suitable height difference exists between the bermudagrass and the johnsongrass so the wick-bar does not come in contact with the bermudagrass foliage.
Depending on the herbicide, there if often a time period that much elapse between application and animal grazing or hay removal from the field. This period is known as a grazing or haying restriction. Since grazing and haying restrictions vary among the various herbicides, the individual herbicide label should be read carefully and fully understood before use. Additionally, grazing and haying restrictions are also shown in the current edition of the Georgia Pest Control Handbook.
Diseases have not been a major limiting factor for bermudagrass in Georgia. Two fungus diseases caused by Helminthosporium and Rhizoctonia occur periodically in bermudagrass fields.
This fungus can attack roots, crowns, stems and leaves and is considered by far the most critical disease attacking bermudagrass. Helminthosporium causes reddish-brown to purplish-black spots to appear on the foliage. The spots enlarge, becoming longer than they are wide and frequently merge together to kill the entire leaf. Dead leaves are tan in color and appear in circular areas in the field. Black streaks appear on infected stems. The fungus works its way from the stem into the crown and roots, causing a dark brown discoloration. Infected stems tend to become spindly and lodge but do not break off.
Low potassium levels in the soil predispose bermudagrass to Helminthosporium. Spittlebug injury also increases losses due to this disease. Helminthosporium is easy to control if the following practices are followed:
- Keep potassium levels up.
- Burn bermudagrass fields each year four to six weeks before new growth begins.
- Control spittlebug injury.
- Remove hay as soon as it is ready.
This disease is caused by the soil fungus Rhizoctonia, which is responsible for a lawn disease known as brown patch. In hot, wet weather, the fungus infects stems and leaves causing brown circular patches varying from a few inches to several feet in diameter.
A fungicide treatment for Rhizoctonia control is not practical under field conditions. The best control is to avoid excessive rates of nitrogen and remove hay as soon as it is ready.
Bermudagrass is a productive, warm-season, perennial forage crop that can be used effectively in forage programs throughout Georgia. Good management is necessary to produce and use good quality forage and maintain healthy, productive stands.
Seven Keys to Managing Bermudagrass:
- Select the variety best suited to your area and intended use.
- Prepare a good seedbed; plant fresh, good quality sprigs; and control weeds.
- Test your soil and apply recommended rates of fertilizer.
- Harvest for hay at four- and five-week intervals.
- Manage grazing pastures to keep the forage young and leafy.
- Use only herbicides that are labeled for use on bermudagrass pastures and hay fields.
- Follow all approved cultural practices to improve bermudagrass competition with weeds. | <urn:uuid:7d33f86b-25d2-4af3-ab7e-e5b48ba2b2ae> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.cfm?number=B911 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701166141.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193926-00066-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933039 | 6,664 | 2.5625 | 3 |
|NCBO Monitors Plume Location|
Soon after record rainfall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee (early September) caused flooding around the Chesapeake Bay watershed, NOAA and its partners started to monitor the concentration and movement of a plume of sediment-laden water making its way down the Bay. Good weather—with few clouds—earlier in the month let scientists track the plume’s location using analysis of satellite images.
More recently, cloudy conditions have meant that scientists have used other techniques to track the plume. One method the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office field team uses is to sample Bay water using a sensor from on board a NOAA boat. The sensor detects water quality parameters including salinity (how salty the water is) and turbidity (how much “stuff,” like the sediment in the plume, is suspended in the water) from the water’s surface down to the Bay bottom.
On September 20, the NCBO field team sampled water at a number of locations on a research trip from Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, east across the Bay and north to Bloody Point (the southern end of Kent Island). While earlier water sampling had shown high concentrations of sediment in the water near the surface, this day of sampling showed less sediment in surface waters but more further down in the water column. In addition, high concentrations of sediment throughout the water did not appear to be making further progress south.
It appears that the sediment seems to be settling toward the Bay bottom; scientists currently do not anticipate the plume will advance toward Virginia.
While scientists will continue to monitor the plume’s extent and concentration, they are also turning their attention to longer-term effects of the settling sediment on the Bay’s living resources and habitats.
For more information on NCBO, NOAA, and partner research on the plume and other effects of heavy rainfall in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, see: | <urn:uuid:f267d800-4e2e-40e7-b812-d8df31ec71cd> | CC-MAIN-2016-30 | http://chesapeakebay.noaa.gov/observations-hot-topics/ncbo-monitors-plume-location | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-30/segments/1469257824757.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20160723071024-00276-ip-10-185-27-174.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932665 | 394 | 3.515625 | 4 |
Article Published May 10th, 2016
By Jonathan Scott, a Canadian writer currently at Cardiff School of Law and Politics. @J_Scott_
American President Barack Obama recently made headlines arguing against a leave vote in the Brexit referendum. Obama’s remarks were the second time in recent weeks the leave campaign was put on the defensive by a North American’s comments, with the Canadian-born Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, warning in March of ‘poor economic outcomes’ should Britain vote to leave the European Union.
However, as persuasive as commentary from North American individuals might be to British voters, it is Canadian legislation that would have been better able to inform British referendum politics and should be seriously considered in future.
The Canadian Clarity Act 2000, written in response to a Supreme Court reference on the parameters of Québec’s possible secession from the rest of Canada, outlines how a referendum should be adjudicated by Parliament.
Why is this Canadian statute relevant to Britain? While the Act refers to the notion of secession of a province from the Canadian federation, one can argue the democratic principles could be extrapolated to any referenda of sufficient gravity. Certainly the Brexit referendum—which is effectively a question of secession from a supranational organisation—seems an area where a law such as Canada’s could apply. The Scottish independence referendum was an even clearer parallel. Indeed, the Act presents a number of useful touchstones that would have served Britain well in the context of the Brexit referendum and should be examined long before another referendum occurs in this country.
Specifically, the Act suggests, ‘the House of Commons, as the only political institution elected to represent all Canadians, has an important role in identifying what constitutes…a clear majority sufficient for the Government of Canada’. This means, in essence, that the House of Commons has to adjudicate the result of a referendum before preceding to negotiate how to enact the will of the referendum.
The requirement for a ‘clear majority’ in the Act is taken to mean, necessarily, more than 50% +1, a sentiment that reflects the Court’s view and is widely supported by scholars, the Canadian Liberal government and the Conservative opposition (although not by secessionist and some soft-nationalist politicians).
In fact, the Act makes clear that this question as to a ‘clear majority’ is more than simply arithmetic. The Act’s utility in adjudicating a referendum is further outlined in section 6.2 which notes what factors are required to show a clear majority:
‘In considering whether there has been a clear expression of a will by a clear majority of the population…the House of Commons shall take into account
(a) the size of the majority of valid votes cast in favour of the secessionist option;
(b) the percentage of eligible voters voting in the referendum; and
(c) any other matters or circumstances it considers to be relevant.’
These factors are significant, as section 6.4 states there will be no negotiations regarding secession, ‘unless the House of Commons determines…there has been a clear expression of a will by a clear majority of the population’.
It is subsection 6.2(c) of the Canada Clarity Act that is very appealing right now in the UK, with The Financial Times ‘poll of polls’ suggesting Brexit is evenly dividing the country; with 44% on ‘stay’ and 42% on ‘leave’, there needs to be more consideration given to how a ‘clear majority’ is actually calculated in a multinational country such as the United Kingdom.
The idea that the House of Commons should be able to weigh up other ‘relevant’ factors would have gone a long way to assuaging concerns about the integrity of the referendum across the whole of the UK. For instance, Canadian scholars and commentators have suggested such factors might include what to do if whole regions of a province or Indigenous peoples in their traditional territories voted overwhelmingly to stay despite a narrow provincial vote to leave overall. Put in British term: what would be done if the UK overall voted narrowly to leave, but Wales voted overwhelmingly to stay? Or, what’s to be done if only a minority of voters turned up at the polls to vote—should 35% turnout at the polls be enough to instigate economic havoc in leaving the EU for the non-voting majority? What about the unique circumstances faced in North Ireland in terms of sharing a land border with the EU because of the Republic of Ireland? These are all fair questions that ought to be considered, and the touchstones in the Clarity Act enable to occur.
Would that such a piece of legislation as the Clarity Act existed in the UK, given the controversy over how a successful referendum might be calculated. A recent Survation poll found that 60% of Scots believe withdrawal from the EU requires more than a ‘simple majority’ but rather an overall majority vote in each of the four constituent countries of the UK. Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, has said it would be ‘democratically indefensible’ if a majority vote in the rest of the UK were to force Scotland to leave the EU. In Wales, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood backed Sturgeon, warning of a ‘constitutional crisis if English voters were to railroad the rest of the United Kingdom into leaving the European Union’, according to The Independent.
Indeed, the worst-case scenario is perhaps not a vote to leave, but rather a vote to leave based upon a high anti-Europe vote in England (or worse still, in the south of England) over the objections of the populations of the smaller constituent countries of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, which are generally perhaps more favourable to the EU.
This is where the Clarity Act would have come in useful. Its notion of a ‘clear majority’ is deliberately unenumerated and leaves it to Parliament to determine with regard for the circumstances whether the threshold has in fact been met. In essence, the Clarity Act makes the referendum the start of the process, not the ‘be all and the end all’.
As the Canadian Supreme Court noted, ‘By requiring broad support in the form of an “enhanced majority” to achieve constitutional change, the Constitution ensures that minority interests must be addressed before proposed changes which would affect them may be enacted.’ In a country formed by four nations, but with England representing far and away the majority of the population, surely there ought to be regard for the minority interests of the smaller countries in the UK?
Indeed, the UK is no longer simply a centralised system. Whereas the Parliament at Westminster has, over the past two decades, devolved power to the Welsh National Assembly in Cardiff, the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood and the Northern Irish Assembly in Belfast, there is arguably an implied understanding that the United Kingdom ought to have regard to not simply a majority vote of the country as a whole but of the votes in its constituent nations (and perhaps even with some regard for the vote in the north of England).
It took Canada two close referenda in the 1980s and 1990s to institute the Clarity Act. It’s evidently too late to enact something like the Clarity Act before the Brexit vote, but it would be foolhardy in the extreme if Parliament did not enact some sort of parameters to clarify the rules of the game before another referendum if it wishes to respect the voices of the four countries that make up this United Kingdom.
Jonathan Scott (@J_Scott_) is a Canadian writer currently at Cardiff School of Law and Politics. | <urn:uuid:bc42d84a-8fec-4cb5-a169-8f178cfc37d2> | CC-MAIN-2020-50 | https://fedtrust.co.uk/lessons-from-canada/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-50/segments/1606141191692.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20201127103102-20201127133102-00354.warc.gz | en | 0.952833 | 1,581 | 2.78125 | 3 |
The city is losing as much as 40 million gallons per day (MGD) of water due to the ill-maintenance of the Ranney wells on the Yamuna floodplains.
This amounts to 150 litres of water for 25 lakh people daily.
The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) maintains 21 Ranney wells across the length of the Yamuna.
During an on-going study about tapping Yamuna floodplains as a source for additional raw water, however, field experts noticed that several of these wells were working at less than half of their capacity.
Many of the wells were choked with silt and few were dysfunctional due to salinity.
One Ranney well can tap up to 2MGD water everyday, experts point out. Thus, 20-21 Ranney wells can yield 40 MGD water at full capacity.
Named after its inventor, Leo Ranney, the Ranney well taps shallow aquifers and sub-surface water from floodplains. DJB currently has the capacity to supply 845 MGD water per day obtained through various sources.
"It was found that most of the Ranney wells are working at only 25-30% of their capacity. Malfunctioning of the Ranney wells reduce the amount of water drawn and lead to a shortage in water supply," said Shashank Shekhar from Delhi University's department of geology. Shekhar was also part of the study carried out by WAPCOS, a government consultancy firm.
"We were told about such complaints. We need to find out if these wells require redevelopment and whether the equipment is working at full efficiency or not," said RK Garg, member, DJB. "I have sought a report from the officers concerned," Garg added.
The WAPCOS study, however, suggests the use of a non-invasive approach, such as tubewells as against Ranney wells.
"The study suggests that Ranney wells lead to a point stress in the system (of underground and sub-surface water). So, to reduce the burden and avoid environmental problems, it is advisable to go for tubewells spread over an area," added Shekhar. | <urn:uuid:6aba3955-4ba6-470e-bb31-ccc89676d526> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi/choked-ranney-wells-may-lead-to-shortage-in-water-supply/story-8nsxxBVuCTp1g9hNWJczOM.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279368.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00468-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.979156 | 450 | 2.65625 | 3 |
How does Noyce position the reader to sympathise with the three protagonists?
Throughout Rabbit-Proof Fence, Noyce encourages the viewer to understand and imaginatively experience the story through the feelings of the children. The narrative structure, visual symbolism, camera angles, music, characterisation and use and absence of language are techniques that Noyce uses to position the reader to sympathise with the three protagonists. In the scene in which the children arrive at the Moore River Settlement, Noyce shows what happens in a way in which the viewer empathises with the children’s feelings of fear and alienation. In the scene in which the children find and grasp the fence as a known way home, the viewer shares the desperate hope of both the children and their mother. In the final scene in which Maude and the Maude’s mother confront Constable Riggs, Noyce has firmly positioned the reader to identify and sympathise with the Maude and the Indigenous culture. Noyce uses specific techniques to position the reader to identify with the three protagonists who are depicted as young, innocent and powerless victims of indifferent colonial settlers.
In Rabbit-Proof Fence the children and also the reader learn to trust what is seen rather than what is said. The film is intensely visual and visual symbols guide the viewer. The beauty and power of the land and the children’s joyous relationship with country and family is powerfully shown at the start of the film. When the children arrive at Moore River Settlement, the Nun’s words are seemingly reassuring when she quotes “Hello dears, you poor things, such a long way you must be exhausted.” However the reality of the mission is shown in the rigid layout of buildings, the overcrowded rooms, the shared bucket for toileting and the uniform dress. When the children witness the punishment of a child who has tried to escape, they learn to trust what they see rather than the Christian platitudes that they hear from...
Please join StudyMode to read the full document | <urn:uuid:a65d5a97-9f71-4e06-bcac-f69b8c8b51bc> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | http://www.studymode.com/essays/Rabbit-Proof-Fence-1236393.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125937113.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20180420022906-20180420042906-00487.warc.gz | en | 0.94075 | 414 | 3.671875 | 4 |
Rose Ausländer was born 11 May 1901, and died 3 January 1988.
Rose Ausländer Quotes
- Be who you are. / Give what you have.
- Behind my cheerfulness / breathes the grief / Behind the grief / stands my amazement / beyond cheerfulness and grief / and beyond all / what was / what is and / what will be.
- My Fatherland is dead / they have buried it / in fire / I live / in my Motherland / Word.
Rose Ausländer was a Jewish German and English language poet. She spent part of World War II in the ghetto of Czernowitz. She was given American citizenship in 1948. After the trauma of persecution, she wrote in English and only resumed writing in German in 1956. She is the author of Hints.
Source for Image
Please click here for our Literary Birthday Calendar | <urn:uuid:38fa3b76-2ba6-4f66-8ddd-04431df46351> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://www.writerswrite.co.za/literary-birthday-11-may-rose-auslander/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320304261.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20220123111431-20220123141431-00150.warc.gz | en | 0.940107 | 185 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Magic Tree House
Junie B. Jones
From biographies to read-alouds to wordless gems, Random House has the right picture book to suit your needs. This resource page has everything you need for hosting a storytime in the library or using picture books in the classroom.
The birdwatchers of Central Park were buzzing–a young red-tailed hawk had been spotted, would he stay? The bird they dubbed Pale Male not only stayed, he became one of New York City’s most...Download Resource
KATHLEEN KRULL’S LIVELY text traces the life of L. Frank Baum from his dreamy privileged childhood in mid-19th-century upstate New York through the many detours on his road to Oz. A failure as an...Download Resource
In 1934, Ruth Harkness had never seen a panda bear. Not many people in the world had.
But soon the young Mrs. Harkness would inherit an expedition from her explorer husband: the hunt for...
National Poetry Month offers the perfect opportunity to invigorate your classroom with creativity and imagination! Poetry has the unique ability to challenge students to think about the ordinary world...Download Resource
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Danielle Steel comes a charming picture book about Minnie, a tiny Chihuahua with big style!
"will delight young fashionistas." — Publishers... | <urn:uuid:b99e39a2-9c2c-4bc7-b425-721667a59b11> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/resourcecats/picture-books/?rv=title&rc=p&gl= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1430448949970.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20150501025549-00059-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938906 | 292 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Evidence & Practice
Risk factors for childhood obesity: a data analysis of the Welsh Health Survey
Claire Beynon Postgraduate student, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales
David Fone Professor, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, Wales
The prevalence of childhood obesity in Wales is 12%. It has been estimated that obesity will cost the NHS £10 billion a year by 2050 (
To determine important risk factors associated with childhood obesity from the data in the Welsh Health Survey 2008 to 2012.
The analysis used survey data from 11,279 children aged 4-15 years. The lifestyle variables considered as potential risk factors for obesity included: intake of sugar-sweetened drinks; unhealthy food consumption; physical activity; and currently-treated illnesses. The sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors included: sex; age; Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation quintile; National Statistics Socio-economic Classification; and housing tenure.
A total of 1,582 (20%) children were obese. A significant association was found between obesity and having one illness – odds ratio (OR) 1.20 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05 to 1.38,
Every child should meet the physical activity recommendation and those with an illness should receive a care plan to prevent or manage obesity, although this is difficult in the time available for children in clinics and consultations.
Nursing Children and Young People. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2017.e855Correspondence
This article has been subject to open peer review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software
Received: 20 September 2016
Accepted: 13 January 2017
Published online: 27 June 2017 | <urn:uuid:fd01dd21-722a-4a6b-9773-123540a46f5d> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | http://journals.rcni.com/nursing-children-and-young-people/risk-factors-for-childhood-obesity-a-data-analysis-of-the-welsh-health-survey-aop-ncyp.2017.e855 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267156252.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20180919141825-20180919161825-00355.warc.gz | en | 0.932796 | 348 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Commemoration cross erected in Moscow
It's the site of mass executions where around 100,000 people are thought to be buried.
The cross arrived in Moscow on Tuesday with a religious procession. It started two weeks ago from the Solovetsky Islands in northwestern Russia, where some of the Gulag prison camps were located.
Around one thousand victims of the Butovo executions were Russian Orthodox believers and priests.
“The procession from the Solovetsky Islands to Butovo, along the waterways that prisoners dug, symbolises the heavy price Russian Orthodox believers had to pay. This kind of cross is to remember the dead and pray to God to forgive their sins. They were usually mounted in places of battles, wars and mass graves. They could be encountered all over Russia and even in the West. Memorial services were held near them,” says Bishop Mikhail of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In 1937 and 1938, mass executions of political prisoners from the Solovetsky concentration camp took place in Karelia. Nowadays, relatives of the victims gather every year near the memorial to commemorate the 12,000 people whose bodies were found there ten years ago.
Bishop Mikhail also said the communists wanted to destroy all believers.
“The communists persecuted the faithful by charging them with some criminal offence. However, the real reason behind these persecutions was that this godless regime wanted to destroy all believers. Orthodox believers were made outcasts, sent to forced labour camps and even executed. Those of them who had to face the ultimate trial are referred to by the Church as martyrs and confessors, as they testified and confessed their faith to the end,” he said. | <urn:uuid:48c26763-a3d5-421d-8695-ade95bb66c26> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://www.rt.com/news/commemoration-cross-erected-in-moscow/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655881763.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20200706160424-20200706190424-00415.warc.gz | en | 0.985708 | 341 | 2.625 | 3 |
Here's how some of Canada's wildfires compare in size to cities, lakes
Canada's 2023 fire season is on track to be one of the worst in the country's history.
More than 440 fires are burning across the country, forcing people from their homes and others to stay inside due to wildfire smoke pollution.
Fires stretch thousands of hectares in provinces like B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories. Charred earth and burnt forests are left behind in the path of the blazes as fire crews tirelessly work to contain the flames.
To date, 3.8 million hectares of land have been burned or is under fire as of June 7, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said at a press conference. This is a bit larger than the Northwest Territories’ Great Bear Lake – the largest lake in Canada and eighth largest on Earth.
Fires in Canada are measured in hectares a unit larger than acres but smaller than kilometres. However, understanding just how large a wildfire is can be difficult to picture.
CTVNews.ca has taken wildfires across the country and compared them to cities or bodies of water showcasing just how large the fire is. CTVNews.ca analyzed wildfires deemed out of control, while fires under 1,000 hectares were not considered.
As of June 8, there were 82 active wildfires burning in B.C., of which the largest are burning uncontrolled.
In the northern part of the province past Fort St John, the Donnie Creek wildfire is ablaze. This is being called one of the largest fires in the province's history and has burned an estimated 310,805 hectares since May 12.
Here is what the Donnie Creek fire looks like over top of different places in Canada for scale.
A bit north, situated on the border between B.C. andAlberta, the Tooga Creek fire continues to burn. Although crews have held (likely to not spread further) one area, most of the blaze is burning out of control.
On June 7 the fire was roughly 16, 280 hectares. Below is a comparison for the Tooga Creek fire with Vancouver.
NORTH WEST TERRITORIES
There are 12 wildfires actively burning in the N.W.T., while a number have been extinguished, according to the territorial fire map.
One fire is located on the border of B.C. and N.W.T., but B.C.'s map shows the majority of the fire is located in the territory. The fire was discovered on May 13 and since then has grown to an estimated 249,077 hectares, according to data from N.W.T.
A separate fire located near Dogface Lake is also burning out of control as of June 5. Officials estimated the blaze is about 108,203 hectares in size which is eight times the size of Yellowknife.
Alberta is usually the epicentre of wildfire stories as dry air persists in the province throughout the year.
As of June 8, the Alberta Wildfire Status Dashboard reported 73 active fires of which 30 per cent are deemed out of control.
One of the largest fires currently burning is in the Rainbow Lake community, northwest in the province. Early on residents were told to evacuate due to the blaze and after a month were allowed to return home.
It has grown to more than 155,000 hectares which is about 2.2 times the size of Edmonton.
A separate fire located just southeast of the Peace River community has burned an estimated 126,195 hectares which is a little bigger than Lesser Slave Lake, located just south of the fire.
Some of the largest fires in the country are burning in the northern parts of Saskatchewan.
One fire located in the nort of the Haultain River, east of Highway 155 has grown to about 377,126 hectares, this is about two and a half times bigger than Lac La Ronge.
As of June 8 there are 30 active wildfires, a regularly updated map from the province shows, with seven deemed "not contained." To date, there have been 206 wildfires in Saskatchewan.
Wildfires are disrupting many communities in the province and a fire burning in the Buffalo Narrows area forced residents from their homes.
Located in the northwest of the province communities around the area left on May 15, however, one man went the opposite direction to defend his family cabin.
Martin Morin told CTV Saskatchewan he wishes the province would have fought the fire more aggressively before it spread.
Now the fire has grown to 180,413 hectares which is about 10 times the size of Regina.
Dry hot conditions continue eastward into Ontario where provincial data shows there have been 167 fires so far in 2023, double the fires this time last year.
An aggressive fire burning through Opasquia Provincial Park in the northwest of the province has grown to 12,742 hectares, which is larger than the City of Barrie.
Open-air fire restrictions stretch from Kenora to Pembroke as fire crews continue to battle the more than 50 fires across the province. A community west of Sudbury has evacuated the area due to a fast-growing fire.
Smoke from these fires and across the country blanketed the nation's capital on Tuesday, prompting air quality advisories for most of eastern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area.
Another large fire in the province's northwest corner near Cat Lake in the Sioux Lookout district has grown to 9,285 hectares, which is about 1.5 times bigger than the City of Peterborough.
Wildfires grew quickly over the last few weeks in the province of Quebec, where as of June 8 there are 136 active fires.
A map from the province's fire agency shows fire numbers this year has doubled the 10-year average and burned 639,600 hectares of land which is roughly six times the size of Lac Saint-Jean.
A fire burning south of the Chapais Jamésie Region has grown to 34,500 hectares which is roughly the size of Trois-Rivières, Que.
Wildfires are "worrying" to provincial officials who said Tuesday fire crews are now trying to battle blazes in the northwest. The province is only able to fight about 30 fires at a time due to the lack of crews, Premier Francois Legault said.
A fire near the City of Val-d'Or in Quebec's Abitibi-Témiscamingue region prompted evacuations of several areas last week.
The fire burning east of the community has grown to 18,144 hectares as of June 8, which is just over half the size of Laval, Que.
The largest fire in Nova Scotian history is being held by firefighters, a map from the province shows on June 8.
The blaze which burned just under 25,000 hectares started May 27 and prompted widespread evacuations from the southern part of N.S. Officials believe if the weather permits the fire should not grow further.
The blaze is about two and a half times the size of the City of Halifax.
Map visuals by Jesse Tahirali/ CTVNews.ca. | <urn:uuid:54908acd-1ed3-461e-8557-d7694f2d90a1> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/canada/here-s-how-some-of-canada-s-wildfires-compare-in-size-to-cities-lakes-1.6434599?cache=yesclipId104062?clipId=104062?contactForm=true?contactForm=true | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510967.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20231002033129-20231002063129-00001.warc.gz | en | 0.964166 | 1,503 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Mothers of Redemption
Christianity’s respect for women helped convert a pagan world
What’s the difference between Proba the Poet and Proba the Widow? Did St. Helena really find the True Cross? What was St. Monica’s prayer for Augustine?
These and other questions are addressed in a fascinating new book called Mothers of the Church (Our Sunday Visitor) by Mike Aquilina and Christopher Bailey. We all have heard of the Church Fathers, and now we hear from the Church Mothers. Although Catholicism is accused these days of discriminating against women by not ordaining them priests and by making them pay for their own contraception (see: HHS mandate controversy), the fact is that the Church practically invented the idea of equality between the sexes with St. Paul’s famous dictum that in Christ “there is neither male nor female” (Galatians 3:28). Romans of the first century mocked Christians for speaking to and listening to weak women, but the Christian worldview prevailed.
To get the inside story on this insightful book, Fathers for Good contacted author Mike Aquilina, who notes that it may make a great Mother’s Day gift.
Fathers for Good: You did a book on the Fathers of the Church, and now on Mothers. Is there real substance to the lives of early Christian women?
Aquilina: The lives of early Christian women are more substantial than my life will ever be. And they were probably as responsible as any men for the rapid growth of the Church through the first three centuries. Their story has not been told because they tended to work in ways that have been ignored by standard histories. They were not warriors or preachers or lawmakers. But they didn’t feel the need to be. They lived heroic and prodigious Christianity on their own terms.
It’s as dangerous to make generalizations about early Christian women as it is to make generalizations about the Christian women who live in my house. (I have a wife and five daughters.) The women in our book are wonderfully diverse. There’s Thecla, who was St. Paul’s companion on his journeys. There’s Proba, who was a poet; and another woman named Proba, who was a business manager. Everyone knows and loves Sts. Monica and Perpetua, who were moms. Sts. Marcella, Paula, and Eustochium were scholars and contemplatives. Sts. Blandina and Felicity were domestic servants, but we know them best as martyrs. Macrina was spiritual guide and teacher to one (and perhaps two) of the great Fathers and Doctors of the Church.
FFG: You say that Christianity esteemed women and set them free. How so?
Aquilina: The common phrase the Roman dramatists used for female offspring was the “odious daughter.” Pagan cultures had little respect for women and girls. They were considered a drain on the family economy, since girls required a dowry but would never contribute income and prestige to the family. Thus they were married off at the earliest possible age, usually 11 or 12, to a man chosen by their father. They were free to refuse his choice, but they rarely did, since a father was free to put to death a daughter who disobeyed him. And the possibility was not so farfetched. Many, if not most, daughters born to pagan families were killed at birth. Female infanticide was routine in Greco-Roman society. It was legal and even praised by philosophers.
In the pagan world, a woman’s value came from her relation to a man — first her father, then her husband, then her sons. Her accomplishments meant nothing. In fact, she was given little opportunity for accomplishments.
Christianity upended all of that. In fact, Christianity begins with the Blessed Virgin, who has been revered above all other human beings. Christians extolled women as heroes of their great epics, the Acts of the Martyrs. And the Church promoted the vocational freedom of women. Suddenly there arose a class of women, consecrated virgins and widows, who declared themselves independent of anything an earthly male had to offer. That was revolutionary. It made the Church what it is. It frightened the pagan world and sealed its demise.
FFG: Today the Church is accused of waging a "war on women" because it opposes contraception. Did women in the early Church demand contraception?
Aquilina: No! Greco-Roman women were oppressed by contraception, oppressed by abortion, oppressed by infanticide. Those three practices came as a package deal. Unless something radical changes in our society, we’ll soon have all three together again.
Most people don’t know that contraception was a common practice in the ancient world, and the methods were probably very effective. Nor were the methods all that different from what’s on offer in our supermarkets and pharmacies. There were barrier methods and abortifacients. They earliest Christian writings refer to these – and condemn them all.
Contraception, then as now, mutilates women. It makes them less than they are, so that that they can serve as bedtime playthings for men. In ancient Rome, birth control was an essential component in a pornographic culture that objectified women.
It was also a slow form of cultural suicide. Romans got used to an unmoored life style, untroubled by obligations like children or marital fidelity. So couples couldn’t be coaxed or even coerced to reproduce. This played demographic havoc on the empire, with dire consequences for the economy and homeland security. And what was bad for the empire was worse for its women. In a bad economy or a war, women often suffer first and worst.
Remember what a contraceptive culture did to its women. Remember that these women were pressured to watch one after another of their children drowned at birth. Women wanted out of that world. Christianity offered the only true way to women’s liberation.
FFG: Is there a Mother's Day message we can draw out of this book?
Aquilina: For women: Get to know these most ancient ancestors in the faith. They’re still models of womanhood. They’re still intercessors. With sisters like them, sisterhood is indeed powerful.
For men: Respect the women in your life. Let them be for you what Marcella was for Jerome, what Monica was for Augustine, what Macrina was for Gregory of Nyssa. In Christ, there is neither male nor female. None of these ancient women were priests. They didn’t need to be. They were mothers – even those who never bore children in their bodies. They’re still mothering us today.
Visit the Our Sunday Visitor website for more information on Mothers of the Church. | <urn:uuid:b483fcbc-991d-40af-9eba-d4ebad4d2ffd> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://www.fathersforgood.org/ffg/en/big_four/mothers_redemption.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042981525.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002301-00224-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982633 | 1,430 | 2.75 | 3 |
What is Anemia?
Anemia is a condition in which concentration of red blood cells or hemoglobin (the oxygen carrying pigment) is below normal.
Anemia is defined as haemoglobin concentration in blood below the lower limit of the normal range for the age and sex of the individual.
In adults, the lower extreme of the normal haemoglobin is taken a 13.0 g/dl for males and 11.5 g/dl for females.
This reduction of blood cells may be caused by blood loss, increased destruction or decreased production.
Causes of anemia
Mainly there are three causes of anaemia
- due to increase blood loss
- due to impaired red cell formation
- due to increased red cell destruction
Types of anemia
Iron deficiency anemia
This is the most common form of anemia. Iron is very essential for the bone marrow in the production of Hemoglobin. Common cause of iron deficiency anemia is depletion of iron stores due to
- Prolonged or heavy menses
- Chronic blood loss due to an ulcer
- Deficiency of iron in diet
- Colorectal cancer
- Erosive gastritis
- Loss of blood due to hemorrhoids
- GIT bleeding after using certain medication (such as aspirin, NSAIDs)
- Bleeding due to kidney and bladder tumors
- Celiac disease (in which there is damage in the lining of the small intestine, causes malabsorption of iron ultimately leads to iron deficiency anemia)
In pernicious anaemia, there is impaired absorption of vitamin B12, which leads to deficiency of vitamin B12, which stops the production of normal red blood cells in the bone marrow.
To maintain a sufficient number of healthy red bleed cells, in addition to iron, both folate and vitamin B12 are necessary. A deficiency in either or both of these vitamins may result in megaloblastic anemia.
It develops due to premature and excessive destruction of the red blood cells in the blood stream.
Sickle cell anemia
It is an inherited genetic disorder caused due to premature death of abnormal sickle shaped red blood cells resulting in chronic shortage of red blood cells.
Symptoms of anemia
Symptoms mainly include
- Shortness of breath
- Rapid breathing
- Rapid heart rate
- Lack of vital energy
- Chest pain
- Pale appearance
- Low blood pressure
- Coldness of the skin surface
- Heart murmurs
- Splenomegaly may also be present with anemia
Signs of anemia
- Pallor – pallor is the most common and characteristic sign which may be seen in the conjunctivae and skin.
- Central nervous system – there may be symptoms like faintness, giddiness, headache, tinnitus, drowsiness, numbness and tingling sensations of the hands and feet.
- Cardiovascular system – include tachycardia, collapsing pulse, cardiomegaly, Dyspnoea on exertion and congestive heart failure in some elderly patients.
- Ocular manifestations – retinal haemorrhage may occur if there is associated with bleeding diathesis.
- Reproductive system – menstrual disturbances like amenorrhea, and menorrhagia and loss of libido may occur.
- Renal system – mild protienuria and impaired functioning of kidney may occur in severe type of anaemia.
- Gastrointestinal system – anorexia, flatulence, nausea, constipation and weight loss may occur.
Investigation in case of anemia
- History– evaluation of history include age and sex, drug ingestion, occupation, diet, bleeding, family history, gastro-intestinal symptoms, reproductive health or menstrual disturbances, urinary complains such as renal insufficiency, nervous disorders, bleeding tendency etc.A complete history is usually sufficient to point towards the possible cause. It is easy to treat a disease if its underlying cause can be ascertained.
- Physical examination – This mainly includes
Skin– colors of skin, petechiae and echymosis. In the condition of pernicious anemia skin may have lemon yellow appearance, petechiae in anemia suggests aplastic anemia or leukemia.
Conjunctiva – show pallor due to anemia
Nails – nails brittle denotes chronic iron deficiency anemia
Mouth – petechiae in palate, cheeks, or tongue in aplastic anaemia, and leukemia, hypertrophy of gums – in leukemia, acute glossitis, or smooth tongue in megaloblastic anaemia and sometimes in iron deficiency anaemia, ulceration of throat in acute aplastic anaemia or in acute leukemia.
Cardio vascular system – hypertension in anemia due to renal insufficiency
Abdomen – splenomegaly – common in leukemia, megaloblastic anemia, hemolytic anemia,
abdominal lump – in carcinoma of stomach, chronic lymphatic leukemia.
Bone examination – bone tenderness may present due to anemia secondary to marrow infiltration
Lymph nodes – superficial nodes may be palpable in leukemia
Breasts – for evidence of carcinoma
Pelvic examination – useful in females with menorrhagea
Rectal examination – to diagnose hemorrhoids and rectal bleeding
- Laboratory Investigations
- Hemoglobin estimation
- Peripheral blood film estimation
- Red cell indices
- Leucocyte and platelet count
- Erythrocytic sedimentation rate
- Reticulocyte count
- Bone marrow examination
Homeopathy Anemia Treatment
Homeopathy is one of the most popular holistic systems of medicine. The selection of remedy is based upon the theory of individualization and symptoms similarity by using holistic approach.
This is the only way through which a state of complete health can be regained by removing all the sign and symptoms from which the patient is suffering.
The aim of homeopathy is not only to treat anemia but to address its underlying cause and individual susceptibility.
As far as therapeutic medication is concerned, several remedies are available to treat that can be selected on the basis of cause, sensations and modalities of the complaints.
For individualized remedy selection and treatment, the patient should consult a qualified homeopathic doctor in person. There are following remedies which are helpful in the treatment of anemia:
- Acetic acid – pale face and marked debility, frequent spells of fainting, and vomiting. Profuse urination and sweat
- Ferrum phos – due to lack of iron; it promotes synthesis of hemoglobin. Iron is the great allopathic remedy for anemia from almost any cause. It is also a great homeopathic remedy, but it will not cure every case of anemia; careful individualization is necessary. When the patient has an appearance of full bloodedness or plethora, which is followed by paleness or earthiness of the face and puffiness of the extremities, then Ferrum will benefit. It is not the remedy for the anemia resulting from loss of fluids; that is Cinchona, or perhaps Natrum muriaticum. When Ferrum is indicated the mucous membranes are pale, more so than with Cinchona, and there is apt to be an anemia murmur in the veins of the neck. The patient is easily exhausted. Vomiting of food after eating may occur. The patient is constantly chilly and perhaps has an afternoon or evening fever simulating hectic fever.
- Calcarea phos – in children who are pale but flabby, frequent attacks of tonsillitis
- Kali carb – lack of RBC’s in blood, weakness along with menstrual disturbances at the time of puberty, milky white skin with great debility, bloated face, with swelling above eyelids.
- Lecithinum – increases the number of red blood corpuscles and amount of hemoglobin
- Natrum mur – pale face with palpitation, excellent remedy for anaemia especially after malaria.
- Calcarea ars – improves the condition by enhancing the number of red blood corpuscles and hemoglobin in the short time period.
- Pulsatilla– well known medicine for iron deficiency anaemia. Patient is mild, thirstless, aggravated by heat. Pulsatilla is the great antidote to Iron, and hence is indicated in the anemic condition produced by large or continued doses of it. The system is relaxed and worn out; the patient is chilly and suffers from gastric and menstrual derangements. Thus the symptoms resemble closely those calling for Ferrum. The cause of the anemia must be sought for, and if the case comes from allopathic hands it is safe to infer that much Iron has been given and Pulsatilla will surely be the remedy. The Pulsatilla patient feels better in the open air. Dizziness on rising, absence of thirst, and the peculiar disposition will lead to the remedy.
- Arsenic album – anemia with great prostration, weakness and restlessness, after malaria. This being a direct poison to the red blood corpuscles takes first rank in cases of pernicious anemia or in anemias due to a malarial of ;toxic influence. Dr.Blackley, of England, reported four cases of pernicious anemia cured with small doses of the remedy. It does not correspond to simple anemias so well. It indications are excessive prostration considerable oedema, violent and irregular palpitation,marked appetite for acids and brandy, extreme anxiety and rapid emaciation . There is irritable stomach and intense thirst. When the allopathic school uses Arsenic as a blood tonic, and Dr.Bartholow says, “it is one of the most valuable remedies in the treatment of chlorosis and anemia,” it does so on strictly Homoeopathic principles. Picric acid. The extreme prostration of pernicious anemia, with a heavy tired feeling all over the body, burning pains along the spine and aggravation from excitement indicate this remedy.
- Nux vomica – anaemia caused due to indigestion, especially in those people who have sedentary life habits or given to high living
- Calcarea carb – Almost any of the deeper acting constitutional remedies may be of use in anemic and debilitated conditions, and especially are the Calcareas useful. Thus we have Calcarea phosphorica as the remedy for the “green sickness,” chlorosis of young girls, with a complexion like wax, alabaster lips and ears, a bright eye, and when they smile or laugh it is a sickly one. The face sometimes has a true greenish hue or a sallow one. In such cases the menses are apt to be too early and then calcarea phosphorica is well indicated for this condition. Calcarea carbonica is indicated by the psoric, scrofulous or tubercular diathesis and the general symptoms of the drug, by disgust for meat, craving for sour and indigestible things, swelling of abdomen, vertigo and palpitation ;on going upstairs. The patient is in a state of worry.
- Phosphorous – anaemia due to renal disease
- Iridium met – anemia after long exhausting disease condition
- China – due to loss of blood or vital fluids
- Helonias – An excellent remedy in anemia and chlorosis. It suits especially anemia from prolonged haemorrhage in women enervated by indolence and luxury, or such as are worn out with hard work; they are too tired to sleep and the strained muscles burn and ache A characteristic modality is that the patient is better when the attention is engaged, hence better when the doctor comes. This anemia is associated with disturbances in the urinary and sexual organs. Tired,anemic, backachey females need Helonias, “It is one of the best blood makers that we have.”
- Silicea – anemia in infants
- Acid phos – anemia due to grief or loss of seminal fluids
- Secale – This remedy produces a progressives general anemia. It is shown by the peculiar cachexia of anemia, pale, bloodless, jaundiced color. By its effect on the blood corpuscles it produces a general anemia, threatening not only the life of a part, but vitiating the whole life of the bodily economy. It is a sort of a mechanical anemia.
- Ferrum met – pale appearance with loss of blood.
- Graphites – anemia with redness of face.
- Natrum Muriaticum – This is one of our best remedies in anemic conditions. There is paleness, and, in spite of the fact that the patient eats well, there is emaciation. There are attacks of throbbing headache and dyspnoea, especially on going up stairs, constipation and depression of spirits, and consolation aggravates. With these symptoms there is much palpitation, fluttering and intermittent action of the heart. The hypochondriasis in these cases is marked. Scanty menstruation is frequently an indicating symptom. Kali carbonicum is one of the most important remedies in anemia, weak heart, sweats backache, especially with female complaints.
There indications are brief and in no way complete. The remedy selection should be based after a detail consultation, on the basis of symptom-similarity and individualisation.
Diet also plays an important in order to deal with low hemoglobin. Diet to correct low hemoglobin anemia mainly includes green leafy vegetables, fruits, Oysters, chicken liver, enriched breakfast cereals, pumpkin seeds, baked potato etc. | <urn:uuid:0bd69b43-bffc-4f6b-98f4-eda11755e86a> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://hpathy.com/cause-symptoms-treatment/anemia/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875145654.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20200222054424-20200222084424-00092.warc.gz | en | 0.903568 | 2,853 | 3.984375 | 4 |
Road safety is a pressing issue in India and the country has the dubious distinction of having one of the highest rates of traffic accidents in the world. According to data released for 2015 by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, about 1374 accidents and 400 deaths take place every day on Indian roads. India is participating in the Brasilia Declaration and has committed to reducing the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50% by 2020. Despite efforts to improve road safety and save lives, the number of road accidents increased by 2.5% from 2014 to 2015.
To put in place effective solutions to address the problem requires getting to the root cause. The data indicates that more than 75% of road accidents that have occurred could have been averted by training drivers and improving driving standards. This training could have potentially reduced about 75% of the injuries and fatalities. Also, the fact that cargo vehicles like trucks and tempos are prone to road accidents makes it critical for fleet managers of transportation and logistics companies to enhance their safety management programmes. It is a wake-up call because it is often the case that driver training and safety sit low on the totem pole of fleet managers' priorities. Fleet managers play a key role in their employees' road safety records (and public safety, by extension) and engagement is key. Fleet drivers need to be educated and encouraged to practise safe driving habits.
Much of the technology and learning from the area of autonomous driving can be transferred to improve the manned vehicle experience
Emerging technology can lend a helping hand. Specifically, advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) that have contributed to positive results in many areas of business can help improve driver safety. Computer Vision using Deep Learning is the practical implementation of AI and machine learning. Using computer vision we can accurately measure driving performance, put in place driver training and coaching, and create incentives for drivers to handle their vehicles in a safe and effective manner.
There is a lot of interest in autonomous driving, with significant investments announced by companies and governments in this area. But we are several years away from full autonomy and we need to invest now in our drivers to improve road safety. Fortunately, much of the technology and learning from the area of autonomous driving can be transferred to improve the manned vehicle experience. High-definition cameras and onboard sensors are used to capture the environment around the driver and the vehicle. This information is analysed in real time using powerful integrated processors and Deep Learning algorithms. Any unsafe event or incidents of concern that are detected and analysed are sent to the fleet along with the relevant video and sensor information. This includes intelligent detection of events such as traffic light violation, lane departure, tailgating, sign violations and relative speeding alongside classic inertial detections of hard braking, hard acceleration and hard turns. These solutions help fleet managers monitor their vehicles closely and react in real time reducing the possibility of risky driving becoming a critical event. They also provide metrics to measure and manage every driver's performance on the road, providing data to recognize good drivers as well.
In addition to contributing to public safety, these traffic management solutions can help a company's bottom line as well. Monitoring fleet drivers closely and helping them to improve their skills not only makes them and those around them safer, it also helps cut down costs related to property damage, victim compensation costs, legal and criminal issues, theft and loss of productivity. And mostly importantly, it helps protect the company's image and goodwill by minimising catastrophic events on the road.
Fleets have been expanding rapidly in India, for logistics, cargo and personal transportation (cabs). As companies across the board are investing in automation to help improve their workflow and streamline costs, it is high time that fleet management companies deploy technology to improve their outcomes in this critical area where human safety is at risk. | <urn:uuid:342ad061-a044-4620-91a5-e96e96071285> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://www.huffingtonpost.in/avneesh-agrawal/improving-road-safety-with-artificial-intelligence_a_22038114/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818687702.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20170921063415-20170921083415-00455.warc.gz | en | 0.967425 | 763 | 2.84375 | 3 |
In 1929 my grandmother, who was ten years old at the time, was sent to rural Japan to care for her ailing grandmother. My family were farmers – both in the United States and in Japan. The farming techniques used on the family farm in Japan were dramatically different from the modern fertilisers and petrol tractors the family used on the farm in Washington State. My grandmother shared stories of farming techniques in Japan that had not changed in centuries like collecting fertiliser from the family out house and scattering this across the fields; planting and harvesting by hand; starting a pine needle fire to cook rice; and washing clothing in the local stream.
Fast forward nearly 90 years and I am sitting in my home office, conducting a live interview over the internet with Deb Miles from the Queensland State Library Service, listening to how Deb and her team are inspiring library staff and preparing children for a future where technology continues to be a major influencer in our daily lives.
Deb described one of her team’s first forays into coding, using Ozobots to create a farming game for the future. In this game, children are farmers who need to use fully automated machines to tend their fields. They programme these machines (the Ozobots) to travel across a map to plant, tend and harvest their fields. Could this be the future of farming technology? Will farmers be our next generation of coders?
Listening to Deb speak about the game instantly made me think of how vastly different farming techniques are and the dramatic shifts in technology that have taken place in the last century. It was an important reminder of a lesson I learnt as a teacher – we are preparing most children to fill jobs that do not yet exist.
I wasn’t familiar with Ozobots before I met Deb. They are small toys that read lines drawn on a page. They will follow the lines that have been drawn and you can programme them to do different things by changing the colours of the lines.
In the game, participants create codes to move the Ozobots around. The rules are simple and the game has been designed to evolve as people play it and staff are encouraged to think of adaptations.
Thinking back to my grandmother’s stories I realised how the purpose of farming hasn’t changed for millennia, however the way we do it is constantly evolving. In the same way, the purpose of libraries – a place where anyone can gain information and knowledge – is still relevant in today’s world, and that just like the future farmers of Australia need to think about how farming will evolve in the next century, library staff need to think about how and what knowledge and information will need to be shared with people to ensure we continue to fulfil our purpose.
The interview with Deb was done as part of the Innovation Network – a community created by and for public librarians to encourage sharing and help inspire library staff to continue to help libraries evolve to the changing needs of our communities in the UK. If you are a public librarian and are interested in joining our conversation please contact Ethan Ohs | <urn:uuid:23aaf6ef-02e3-42b3-bbf5-7b933a6b3a19> | CC-MAIN-2017-39 | http://goscl.com/library-innovation-libraries-exploring-the-future/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-39/segments/1505818687428.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20170920175850-20170920195850-00098.warc.gz | en | 0.963863 | 623 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Recapturing the Heart of the True Saint Nicholas
Every year we see American culture feed the flesh and cling to the world view of celebrating Christmas, which is the surmise of misrepresenting a person’s good name. This is especially true of Saint Nicholas, who is referred to now by the modern-day name, Santa Claus. (St. Nicholas – The Man Behind Santa Claus; Saint Nicholas and the Origins of Santa Claus; December 17, 2018) It must be understood there are articles written about Saint Nicholas which indicate he was a true servant of the Lord. There are also articles which try to discredit the works God did through him.
According to some, Saint Nicholas exercised his Holy Spirit gift of giving to meet the needs of the poor. He exercised his Christ apportioned gift of preaching to boldly stand up against false teachings and to fulfill his part of the Great Commission. Just as Jesus was falsely attacked and hated by the world – Saint Nicholas has been falsely discredited and his name adulterated by a world view. The Bible says those in the world will hate Christians because of Jesus. (Matthew 10:22; 24:9)
This article is meant to reinstate the truths the real Saint Nicholas lived by and encourage you to follow his life as he strived to live for the Lord Jesus Christ. This article is not a complete exposition on the life of Saint Nicholas, nor am I (Bible Teacher, Terry Laughlin) ignoring the fact there are those who believe the information in this study is simply legendary elaborations.
I would propose to you: Let the life applications presented in this article enable you to overcome the world view of feeding the human flesh at Christmas time and become a true blessing by meeting the needs of the poor in a way that prepares you to enjoy eternal blessings from God.
The Points in This Article:
- The Simple Facts about Saint Nicolas
- Ordained Servant of the Lord
- His Exploits
- He Withstood the Cost
- Gave Secretly and Generously
- Miracles God Did Through Saint Nicholas
The Simple Facts
Very little is known about the historical Saint Nicholas and the earliest accounts of his life were written centuries after his death, with many being legendary elaborations. We do not have original writings of Saint Nicholas because he lived during turbulent times of the Roman history, a time when writings were often destroyed as well as written on papyrus and parchments which were not durable. In order for his writings to be kept for us to read, someone would have had to recopied them as time brought deterioration on the writings, of which they could not have been read clearly. This gives us a good explanation why we do not have any original writings of Saint Nicholas. (Wheeler 2010, page VIII)
The earliest mention of Saint Nicholas (Blacker, Burges & Ogden 2013 pp 249-250) tell us by the 6th century, his [life and work had a great influence on many]. Saint Nicholas was also called Nikolaos of Myra a Historic 4th century Christian saint born 270 AD in Patara, Turkey and died 343 AD in Myra, Turkey. (Who Is St. Nicholas St. Nicholas Center; St. Nicholas Orthodox America) According to Wikipedia and other known resources, “Saint Nicholas was an early Christian Bishop of the ancient city of Myra in Asia Minor during the time of the Roman Empire. He provided for the poor and sick of which he was in the habit of giving secretly and whom the modern-day Santa Claus arose to popularity.” (biography.com/people/st-nicolas; Wikipedia: Saint Nicholas; Who is St. Nicholas; St Nicholas; Facts About Saint Nicholas: listverse.com; Church Honors St. Nicholas Day December 06, 2021, Fox 21 Local News, Duluth, MN)
According to an article in The Orthodox Church in America (Founded in 1749 – Granted Autocephaly in 1970): “Saint Nicholas, the Wonderworker, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia is famed as a great saint pleasing unto God. He was born (as the fruit of prayer) in the city of Patara in the region of Lycia (on the south coast of the Asia Minor peninsula) and was the only son of [Christian] parents, Theophanes and Nonna, who had vowed to dedicate him to God.” Much like Samuel of the Bible for Hannah said, “I asked for him from the Lord (1 Samuel 1:20).” Hannah dedicated her son Samuel to God’s work (1 Samuel 1:22-28).
Eastern Emperor Theodosis II (ruled 401-450) ordered the building of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Myra, which thereby preserves an early mention of Saint Nicholas. (Wheeler 2010, p. ix) The Byzantine historian Procopius also mentions that Emperor Justinian I (ruled 527-565) renovated churches in Constantinople dedicated to Saint Nicholas. (Blacker, Burges & Ogden 2013 pp 249-250; Wheeler 2010. P. X)
St. Nicholas’ name occurs as “Nicholas of Myra of Lycia” on the tenth line of the list of attendees at the Council of Nicaea recorded by historian Theodore in the Historiae Ecclesiasticae Tripartitee Epitome, written between 510 and 515. (Wheeler 2010 p. ix; Blacker, Burges & Ogden 2013 pp. 249-250) The biography of Saint Nicholas of Sion mentions Nicholas of Myra. (Seal 2005, pp.14-15) In, The Life of Saint Nicholas of Sion holds information, stating he the author visited the tomb of Saint Nicholas of Myra to pay Saint Nicholas honor. (Seal 2005, pp.14-15; Wheeler 2010. P. X; Blacker, Burges & Ogden 2013 pp. 250)
There seems to be evidence there was a tomb that could be visited and there are highly respected theologians who have shared their research on the accounts and life of Saint Nicholas. Theologian Eustratius of Constantinople, in his treatise, De statu animarum postmortem (written c. 583), gave references dating back to the late fourth and early fifth centuries one of them being the “Life of Saint Nicholas,” all indicating Saint Nicholas was a real person and lived by truths we should be considering.
The earliest complete account of Nicholas’s life which has survived to the present time is Life of Saint Nicholas, written in the early ninth century by Michael the Archimandrite (814-842) nearly 500 years after Nicholas probable death. (Wheeler 2010, pp. xi) Catholic Historian D.L. Cann and medievalist Charles W. Jones both consider Michael the Archimandrite’s Life of Saint Nicholas as being the only account of Saint Nicholas which is likely to contain any historical truth. Despite its extremely late date, Michael the Archimandrite’s Life of Saint Nicholas is believed to have heavily relied on older written sources and oral tradition. (Introduction to Michael the Archimandrite’s Life of Saint Nicholas; Lendering 2006, p. Nicholas of Myra)
Like everyone who is or has enjoyed a great work with the Lord, their labors have been drawn into question, accusations made and been ridiculed by criticisms of which Saint Nicholas is no different. Everyone’s work will be examined by the Lord and will receive their reward according to their faithfulness. This includes Saint Nicholas, those who have written to enlighten us about him and those who feel they need to discredit his work to protect us from worldly fables. (1 Corinthians 3:15; 2 Peter 3:10)
Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran and Orthodox believers in God has revered Saint Nicholas as a great saint who walked with the Lord. Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Reformed churches have been named in honor of Saint Nicholas. (Patheos, on the Way, Phil Fox Rose, December 06, 2012; Wikipedia, St. Nickolas)
Both the Eastern and Western churches honor him. St. Nicholas is the patron saint of Russia, Greece, Apulia, Sicily, and Lorraine. He is regarded as the special patron of children. His feast is December 6. (St. Nicholas Day Blessing – December 06 – Thomas G. Simmons)
Research has uncovered information which should move us to want to grasp the truths Saint Nicholas lived by, so we can truly honor what he stood for. The Bible tells us to “Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” (Romans 13:7)
Ordained Servant of the Lord
The Orthodox Church in America tells us all through Nicholas’s childhood, he studied the word of God, spending his days in the church and at night he prayed and read books. In doing so he equipped himself to be a vessel of the Holy Spirit. Bishop Nicholas of Patara rejoiced over the spiritual growth and righteous living of his nephew, he ordained him as a reader, then elevated [his nephew] to the priesthood, making him his assistant. Saint Nicholas taught the congregation the truth of God’s Word. In serving the Lord, Saint Nicholas of Myra was able to effectively, gently and accurately teach the truths of God, much like a Biblical Elder of the church of Jesus Christ. Saint Nicholas of Myra was constant at work, unceasing in prayer and walked in step with the Holy Spirit enabling him to be kind-hearted toward the Body of Christ and to people who were afflicted by sin and the devil. (Nicholas Chosen as Archbishop; Linda Funk; St. Nicholas Center)
Listen to these testimonials about Saint Nicholas being a Bishop:
1.) “The truth of things revealed thee to thy flock as a rule of faith, a model of meekness, and a teacher of temperance. Therefore, thou hast won the heights by humility, riches by poverty. Holy Father Nicholas, intercede with Christ our God that our souls may be saved.” (Troparion – Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese)
2.) Thou was a faithful minister of God in Myra, O Saint Nicholas. For having fulfilled the Gospel of Christ, thou didst die for the people and save the innocent. Therefore, thou was sanctified as a great initiator of the grace of God. (Kontakion, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese)
3.) On December 6, we celebrate St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, the fourth-century archbishop of Myra in Lycia (on the southern coast of modern-day Turkey). None of his writings exist, but his examples of Christian generosity, virtue and love endure to this day. St. Nicholas is the living embodiment of the words “faith without works is dead.” (James 2:20). (Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese)
One of the accounts of Saint Nicholas exploits is the intervening for three innocent men who were convicted to die. (Wheeler 2010, p. 38) According Michael the Archimandrite, three innocent men were condemned to death by the governor, Eustathius. As they were about to be executed, Nicholas appeared, pushed the executioner’s sword to the ground, released them from their chains, and angrily chastised a juror who had accepted a bribe. (Michael the Archimandrite, Life of Saint Nicholas Chapter 31) Michael the Archimandrite also tells another story in which the consul Ablabius accepted a bribe to put three famous generals to death, in spite of their actual innocence. Saint Nicholas appeared to Constantine and Ablabius in dreams, informing Constantine of the truth and frightening Ablabius into releasing the generals, for fear of hell. (Michael the Archimandrite, Life of Saint Nicholas Chapter 33)
Withstood the Cost
“When the Roman emperor Diocletian took power, he instigated a horrific persecution of Christians. Nicholas was imprisoned and physically tortured (pinched with hot iron pliers) for refusing to deny Jesus as God. One account mentions the prisons were so full of church leaders there was no room for the actual criminals.
After the reign of persecution ended, Nicholas would still face a fierce testing of his faith—this time within the church. A preacher named Arius began promoting a heresy that Jesus was not God in the flesh. Arius even went so far as to set his false teaching to music by putting words to popular drinking songs. Constantine, the new leader of the Roman Empire, called together church leaders at Nicea to discuss Arius’ teachings and other issues dividing the church. This was called the Council of Nicea. According to legend, as Arius was making his presentation, he began singing one of his blasphemous songs about Jesus. Unwilling to see this man shame Christ, Nicholas stood up and punched Arius in the mouth. Those in attendance were shocked! Although they understood Nicholas’ need to stand up for Christ’s reputation, they did not believe they could allow such behavior since Christ taught us to love our enemies and live a life of peace. Therefore, Nicholas was no longer allowed to serve as bishop. But this action did not stop Nicholas from serving the sick and needy.” (The Voice of the Martyrs; St. Nicholas: The Real Story of the Man Who Became Santa Claus; December 08, 2014) (It’s noted he was later restored to his position.)
Gave Secretly and Generously
The modern-day presentation of Santa is a great contrast of the original life of the true St. Nicholas. The real Saint Nicholas knew the truths of what Jesus taught. “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1-4)
Saint Nicholas reputation evolved among the faithful early Christians as being a person who did secret giving, (The Patriot Post; William Federer, December 06, 2021; St Nicholas Center / Seal, Jeremy The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus New York: Bloomsbury Publishers 2005 pp. 152, 153; Pathway for Families Ministries) which is in line with how Jesus taught Christians in regard to giving to the needy. He was often seen by others making his way through the night to leave money in shoes which were laid on the porch outside doorways or tossing money bags into open windows of people who were in need. (Catholic INSIGHT; Saint Nicholas’ Love for the Destitute and Needy Father Mario Attard, OFM, Cap – December 06, 2021)
Miracles God Did Through Saint Nicholas
Historians have written about the amazing miracles that have been enjoyed by many as Saint Nick prayed in faith to God, in Christ name.
Miracle 1.) Tells how during a terrible famine, a malicious butcher lured three little children into his house, where he killed them, placing their remains in a barrel to cure, planning to sell them off as ham. Nicholas, visiting the region to care for the hungry, not only saw through the butcher’s horrific crime but also his prayer to Christ birthed forth the resurrections of the three children from the barrel. (The Many Miracles of St. Nicholas, Colton Kruse, December 19, 2019)
2.) According to another story, during a great famine that Myra experienced in 311–312, a ship was in the port at anchor, loaded with wheat for the Emperor in Constantinople. Nicholas invited the sailors to unload a part of the wheat to help in a time of need. The sailors at first disliked the request, because the wheat had to be weighed accurately and delivered to the Emperor. Only when Nicholas promised them that they would not suffer any loss for their consideration, the sailors agreed. When they arrived later in the capital, they made a surprising find: the weight of the load had not changed, although the wheat removed in Myra was enough for two full years of food and could even be used for sowing. (The Chestertown SPY, December 03, 2020, Beverly Hall Smith; The Story of Saint Nicholas)
3.) Making a pilgrimage to the birthplace of Christianity—the Holy Land. Desiring a serene time of preparation, Nicholas set sail on an Egyptian ship where the other pilgrims did not know who he was. The first night he dreamed a storm would put them all at peril. When he awoke in the morning, he warned the sailors that a severe storm was coming, but they need not fear, for “God will protect us.” Almost immediately the sky darkened, and strong winds roared round the ship. The wind and waves made it impossible to keep the ship under control. Even with lowered sails, the sailors feared for their very lives and begged Nicholas to pray for safety. One sailor climbed the main mast, tightening the ropes so the mast would not crash onto the deck. As he was coming back down, the sailor slipped, fell to the deck, and was killed. While Nicholas prayed, the storm did quiet, relieving the sailors. Their comfort, however, was dampened by grief over their comrade’s death. As Nicholas prayed over the dead sailor, he was revived, “as if he had only been asleep.” The man awakened without pain and the ship finished the journey to the Holy Land. Nicholas then embarked on his pilgrimage to the holy places, walking where Jesus had walked. (Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land)
4.) One night while staying with a family in Jerusalem, he wanted to pray at the only church remaining in Jerusalem at that time. It was the Church of the Room of the Last Supper on Mount Zion. As he approached the heavy locked doors, they swung open of their own accord, allowing him to enter the church. Nicholas fell to the ground in thanksgiving (8SA.NET: Nicholas Miracles and Other Stories)
5.) His most famous exploit: He gave money secretly to a poor family whose three daughters could have ended up being forced into prostitution or at the very least being accused of being prostitutes, making it impossible to find husbands. Saint Nicholas’ generosity kept the three daughters from a life of prostitution. (Claus of the North Pole, Curious and Unusual Tartans)
In Closing: A prayer written by Richard Roman grasp the heart of Saint Nicholas titled, Santa’s Prayer: “Dear Baby Jesus, please fill my bag this year, with all your love tonight. And help me find each tear, to make their burden light. Too many look to me at this time of the year. I pray that they will see why you came down here.”
Here are some ideas for you as you take time to pray through this Christmas season. 1.) As you pray, acknowledge the reason for the season, thank God for Jesus. 2.) Thank Jesus for leaving heaven and coming down here. 3.) Pray that God’s servants will be obedient to get the word out about the truths of Christmas 4.) Pray that God would send his holy Spirit to draw people to His Son. 5.) Pray that God will enable you to enjoy your family, His precious gift to you. 6.) Pray that God will have His hand, guidance and protection on all your families.
Let the life applications presented in this article move you to give to the poor in a Biblical way, motivate you to live for the Lord Jesus Christ and have expectations of God using you as He chooses. Make time to reinstate the heart of Saint Nicholas!
A great application for us as we desire to bless the people we love with a Christmas gift:
Selecting a Christmas Gift
It is that time of the year when people really start to get serious about selecting Christmas gifts. When purchasing Christmas gifts, one must first remember what is being celebrated. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The key thrust surrounding the first Christmas was proclamation. The angels proclaimed, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ, the Lord” (Luke 2:11). After the shepherds heard the good news, they went into Bethlehem and found Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus. When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about the child; all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. (Luke 2: 16-18).
It has been over two thousand years since this historical event and there is just as much need today as there was then to proclaim the birth of Christ. The Christmas celebration is the perfect time to remind or tell people about God’s plan of redemption. After all, it is the time of year we have chosen to celebrate the birth of the Savior who came into the world to save people from their sins.
Before you can select the perfect Christmas gift, one that will proclaim the message of the birth of Christ, you must first understand who Jesus is and the purpose of His coming to earth. Jesus is God’s perfect gift to the world. He is fully God and fully man. “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). He is God in the flesh. The beloved John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1: 1,2). “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1: 14). Mark Lowry wrote about the incarnation wonderfully when he wrote these words, “Mary, did you know, that when you kissed your little baby, you kissed the face of God? Mary, did you know?”
Jesus’ key purpose for coming into this world is for the redemption of fallen man. The price He paid on the cross meets the need of all mankind, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3: 23, 24).
The perfect Christmas gift that will proclaim the gospel message meets two qualifications: 1.) It must represent the personality of the giver, and 2.) It meets the need of the recipient.
People in this world know the value of a thoughtful gift. When Pastor John Bisagno was working as chaplain to the Houston Oilers, the players gave him an autographed football which every player had signed inscribed with a Scripture from the Bible. Whenever he looks at the football, it reminds him of every player to whom he ministered the Word of God as chaplain.
Christians, among the gifts you give this year, give some that reflect the Christ who lives in you and expresses the need of the recipients to receive Christ as Savior and Lord.
Have a Joyous Christmas celebrating the Greatest Gift!
A Biblical Look at God’s Chastisement on the Church and His Judgement on America
In this compilation of six Biblical teachings covering Coronavirus are truths to be lived out so we may once again enjoy God’s intervention, guidance and care as we face a pestilence of which many are calling a pandemic, which “could reach dangerous levels which may match that of MERS, which kills one in three infected people.” (Sky News, August 01, 2021)
The Biblical Teachings in this message have six powerful truths which could set our hearts a right with God. They are:
Amidst The Pestilence
Coronavirus, Our National Affliction
Coronavirus, What to Do Pt.1
Coronavirus, What to Do Pt.2
Coronavirus, What to Do Pt.3
In Good Conscience
All these teachings are featured on Sermon Central, all have five-star ratings and will equip you to teach others as to what we are facing and what needs to be done, so God may relent and intervene for His church and this nation.
Amidst The Pestilence
Resting In God’s Hand During Health Afflictions
The Bible is the foundational truth to rest upon during the affliction of a health crisis. The Word of God declares, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ You will not fear… …the pestilence that stalks in the darkness…” (Psalm 91: 1-6)
Let us first look at the most frightening word in this passage of Scripture. “Pestilence” (דֶּבֶר deḇer) means a dreaded disease, an epidemic or pandemic occurrence of sickness that has caused a lot of deaths. (Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 223). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.; Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
All through history, from Biblical times to this date, there have been diseases which have had its negative effects. Epidemics and pandemics will come and go until Christ returns. There will be diseases which will disrupt daily life and may lead to the destruction of many lives. What determines your peace and your eternal destination is the faith you live out before the God of heaven and earth, your personal relationship with Jesus Christ and your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit of Christ.
A Personal God Is Able
Finding peace amidst pestilence begins by understanding God is a personal Deity. The Old Testament gives us His personal names. Unlike today in ancient times a person’s name was more than just a likeable label. (Drane, J. W. (2000). Introducing the Old Testament (Completely rev. and updated., p. 252). Oxford: Lion Publishing plc.)
In the key text there are four descriptions of God which are worth grasping:
1.) Most High (Elyon): He cannot be compared to anyone, He is above all things, He owns and is ruler over everything.
2.) Almighty (Shaddai): Gives us the awareness of God being all-powerful, all-sufficient, a Sovereign ruler who is present all the time.
3.) Refuge (Yahweh): Reveals God’s nature in the highest and fullest sense, stressing His absolute faithfulness to fulfill His promises.
4.) Fortress (Elohim): Reveals to us God’s intensity in revealing His power, preservation and preparation. (Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). In Tyndale Bible dictionary (p. 542). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.)
God is the one to look to when living through an epidemic or pandemic. He rules over all, He is the only true God who is above all, having the power to control and guide the government in all the decisions needing to be made as well as implementing the plans which have been set in place. He is all-sufficient, able to provide everything needed to come up with a treatment, strengthen caregivers and those afflicted. He is able to give wisdom to the medical field, businesses affected, to all whose lives have been disrupted or displaced. He promises wisdom to all who ask. (James 1:5) He can prepare His church to minister to all who have needs while resting on all His promises. He does not just watch from heaven but is omnipresence, present even if the world cannot detect Him. (Anderson, K. (1996). Where to Find It in the Bible. Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.)
The Bible says “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3) Psalm 139:7-12 says, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about be night’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”
Unbelief and spiritual coldness cannot keep God from working in the midst of mankind. In the New Testament we read, “…they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet, He is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:27)
Dwelling In God’s Shelter
Our spiritual condition must be in good order if we wish to enjoy resting in God’s peace through epidemics and pandemics. Scripture says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High…” The child of God who has his mind on the Lord’s will, who considers how the Lord feels about his life (Philippians 1:27) and thoughts (1 Corinthians 2:16) is the one who enjoys God’s guidance, protection and enablement’s. (Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). Psalms (Vol. 2, p. 268). London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.)
Christians who dwell in the shelter of the Lord is at home were God makes His will known, they return to the Lord when the world view and the lies of the devil intrigue’s them to live outside of God’s purposes. They acquaint themselves to the call God sets before them and they make it heartfelt-work over everything the Lord places them stewards over. Christians do not only have admittance but have residency, living under God’s provision and protection, resting and enjoying His refuge forever. (Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 876). Peabody: Hendrickson.)
Christians who trust in God live close to Him. (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (p. 709). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers.)
The married couple who makes it their life style to be aware of each other’s desires and needs is the couple who enjoy oneness in what they do. They know how each other respond in life circumstances, there is an awareness of what each other is doing, producing a confidence in each other, especially during crisis. The marriage covenant is the comparison of our relationship with Jesus Christ, with the Body of Christ being the bride. (Revelation 19:7; 21:9) The closer a person gets to God, His Son and walks in obedience to the Holy Spirit, the more he will dwell with the Lord.
To “dwell (יָשַׁב yāšaḇ) means to sit, to inhabit, endure or stay. (Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 479). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.)
Many approach their relationship with the Lord like many approach their religion, maybe making it to a church service occasionally. We are not to make work, ministries, families and hobbies our dwelling place. When we approach our work, ministries, families and hobbies as being gifts from the Lord, through stewardship, then we seek to be in the Lord’s presence, dwell to have fellowship with Him so we can oversee those life blessing through His enablement. 2 Peter 1:3 says, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promise, so that through them you participate in the divine nature… (2 Peter 1: 3-4)
Dwelling with the Lord enables us to enjoy God as our refuge (מַחְסֶה maḥseh), indicating a place of safety and protection. Christians can also know Him to be a fortress (מְצוּדָה meṣûḏāh) a strong hold. (Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 597). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.) Holy Spirit illumination of knowing God as our refuge and fortress moves Christians to be loyal. Loyalty is the foundation to Christians seeing their callings through to a healthy completion.
Christians knowing God’s refuge and Him being their fortress, will not fear, like most people in this world do in epidemics and pandemics. The present pestilence does not cause them to fear – they do not panic, they pray for direction, for open doors of opportunities and His will be done. They rest in His goodness as they minister to those in need and they know their eternal home is sure, even if they should catch an infectious disease and pass on.
Are you seen as a child of God, in this pestilence, as one who trust the Lord, resting in His goodness and faithfulness? Or are you seen as one who is over-reacting, hording what others might need. Are you making ways to minister to those who are homebound or maybe afflicted? Are you reasonably obeying those in authority, whom God has placed in charge to get a hold on the present pestilence?
Praying God’s best for you.
- Trust in Christ as your personal Savior and Lord.
- Seek God for His guidance, protection and favor.
- Ask the Lord what He wants us to learn in this trial.
- Ask the Lord to bring this country to repentance.
- Ask God to give wisdom to our government.
- Ask God for a cure.
- Ask God to guide our medical research teams, give strength to all caregivers and protect them.
- Enable the afflicted to respond to treatment.
- Ask God to give you open doors of opportunity to minister to the sick.
Coronavirus, Our National Affliction
God’s Chastisement on an Unrepentant Nation
According to news releases, COVID-19 is on the rise with the government and medical field warning people to take caution, by wearing masks, avoid large crowds, stay home, do not have family Thanksgiving gatherings, etc. According to our government, Coronavirus is afflicting more people and killing thousands who have underling conditions. According to virusncov.com to date there have been 254,311 Coronavirus deaths thus far (November 18, 2020). As of November 05, 2020, according to Wikipedia the United States has had 9,607,336 cases with a 2.4% death rate. The year 2020 has been a year of breeding mistrust towards the news media, government and the medical field. In Deuteronomy chapter 28:20 one of the cruses promised to a nation who disobeys God is confusion. The Hebrew word for “confusion” (מְהוּמָה mehûmāh) can mean panic, disturbance, turmoil, trouble or vexation. (Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 576). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.; Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship; Thomas, R. L. (1998). New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : updated edition. Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc.; Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.; Weber, C. P. (1999). 486 הוּם. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 212). Chicago: Moody Press.)
In fact, most will tell you it is hard to trust the media and government in the handling and reporting of the present pandemic we are in. There seems to be some confusion (מְהוּמָה mehûmāh -vexation) on which test can be trusted to give accurate results and confusion (מְהוּמָה mehûmāh – vexation) on the passing away of people from COVID-19. Many are wondering, did they really pass away from COVID-19 or are they just being labeled as being a victim of Coronavirus and really dying of something else? There is confusion (מְהוּמָה mehûmāh – vexation) over where or how much funds are being distributed from government resources to battle this pestilence.
As we take a Biblical look at pestilence in the Bible, it must be understood that when someone is afflicted with a disease which has become a pandemic or epidemic, it is not because that person has sinned, they are by-standers of spiritual warfare. It is like this, during war a nation may at some time be bombed – where the bombs have exploded there are by-standers who receive injuries and some people die. This is what is referred to as collateral damage.
What we do know is that the Bible is clear, God holds authority and is Sovereign over any pestilence which may be afflicted upon a nation. Habakkuk tells us, “Before Him [referring to God] went pestilence…” (Habakkuk 3:5 ESV) When the Lord wants to deal with His enemies who refuse to repent or deal His disobedient people, He has struck with pestilence. – (Barker, K. L. (1999). Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (Vol. 20, p. 363). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers; Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). Habakkuk (p. 52). London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company; (cf. Exod 5:3; 9:15; Lev 26:25; Num 14:12; Deut 28:21; 2 Sam 24:15; Jer 14:12) as well as “pestilence” (rešep; Deut 32:24).
What is Biblical Pestilence
“Pestilence” (דֶּבֶר deḇer) is a dreaded disease. This word is a dreaded threat of the Lord against His people for disobedience and to a people of a nation which are His enemy. (Lev. 26:25; Num. 14:12; Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 223). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.; Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). Habakkuk (p. 52). London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.)
It is an epidemic or pandemic occurrence of sickness that causes widespread death, often with the associative meaning of judgement from God. (Ex 5:3; 9:3, 15; Lev 26:25; Nu 14:12; Dt 28:21; 2Sa 24:13, 15; 1Ki 8:37; 1Ch 21:12, 14; 2Ch 6:28; 7:13; 20:9; Ps 78:50; 91:3, 6; Jer 14:12; 21:6, 7, 9; 24:10; 27:8, 13; 28:8; 29:17, 18; 32:24, 36; 34:17; 38:2; 42:17, 22; 44:13; Eze 5:12, 17; 6:11, 12; 7:15; 12:16; 14:19, 21; 28:23; 33:27; 38:22; Hos 13:14; Am 4:10; Hab 3:5; Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) God sent pestilence to punish the Israelites for the ongoing idolatry and disobedience. (Deuteronomy 32:24; Jeremiah 42:22) Pestilence can incorporate any public chastisements. (Ezekiel 7:15 ESV)
Pestilence is a form of chastisement brought upon a people of God for neglect of her covenant obligations. (Leviticus 26:25; Deuteronomy 28:21) The warning of pestilence is a frequent occurrence whenever God is dealing with His people in regard to bringing a covenant lawsuit against them as well as a form of judgement on the enemies of God’s people (Psalm 78:50; Ezekiel 28:23; 38:22). (Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). In Tyndale Bible dictionary (p. 1015). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.)
The Bible records occasions when God brought pestilence on a nation:
First: In 2 Samuel 24:15 (ESV) and 1 Chronicles 21:14 (ESV) we read “So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from morning until the appointed time [which was three days]. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.”
Second: In Leviticus 26:25 (ESV), under the preoccupy, Punishment for Disobedience we read, “I will send pestilence…”
Third: In Numbers 14 under the preoccupy, The People Rebel, the Israelites were coming against Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb. “The Lord said…, How long will these people treat Me with contempt. How long will they refuse to believe in Me… I will strike them will pestilence…” (Numbers 14:10-12 ESV)
Fourth: Jesus gives a list of sorrows which in the NIV Bible are under the preoccupy Signs of the End Times. Note: These are things to come before Jesus’ second coming. (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 122). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) The Lord said, “…Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences.” (Luke 21:10-11 ESV)
God has promised chastisements for an unrepentant people, rather they are the hard-hearted children of God or people living according to their fleshly desires, living by a world view or the lies of the devil. The greatest prophet of all time, Jesus Christ, told us of possible judgements which were proclaimed by the Old Testament prophets as well as the New Testament writers. (Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1899). Peabody: Hendrickson.; Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). In Tyndale Bible dictionary (p. 1015). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.)
Jesus says in Luke 21:10, pestilence would be a part of God’s chastisements until the very end. (Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (Lk 21:9–11). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.) Jesus is teaching what can be called a prototype. Pestilences have happened in the past and they will happen in our modern times. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 261). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
In the New Testament, we read of Warnings from Israel’s History, “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.” (1 Corinthians 10:6 NIV) “These things happened and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11)
Coronavirus today is a pestilence, a prototype of past national afflictions which can according to Jesus happen again in modern times as well, which will also be a judgement of God in the future. The beloved John, in the Book of Revelation 6:7-8 (ESV) we read, “When He [the Lamb of God, Jesus] opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!’ And I looked, an behold, a pale horse! The rider’s name is Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beast of the earth.”
The fourth living creature was like an eagle (Revelation 4:6-7) implying high soaring intelligence and judgement descending from on high…” (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 568). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.; Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). Revelation (p. 186). London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.)
It must be noted the Greek word for pestilence (Thánatos) in Revelation 6:8 is different than the Greek word Jesus used when He spoke of pestilence (loimós). In the New Bible Commentary (21st century edition (4th ed., p. 1435). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.) we are told the rider on the pale horse is named Death represents a special kind of death coming trough pestilence. Barclay tells us the Greek word for “pestilence” (Thánatos) in Revelation is used in a double since meaning both death and pestilence. (Barclay, W. (Ed.). (1976). The Revelation of John (Vol. 2, p. 9). Philadelphia: The Westminster John Knox Press.)
Recalling our minds to God’s instructions to learn from His dealings with Israel and Israel’s enemies, it is clear He is Sovereign over all pestilences in the past, now and in the future.
What to Do?
The Book of Psalms gives us a foundation to lay hold of as we hear of all the news about Coronavirus, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust a prince.” (Psalm 118:8-9) To take refuge (חָסָה – ḥāsâ) can mean to confide in. (Wiseman, D. J. (1999). 700 חָסָה. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 307). Chicago: Moody Press.)
Thus far, we have confided in God’s Word to grasp what pestilence is and it is God who holds Sovereignty over all pestilences. We are to seek God’s help and pray, “Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in your law. …do not hide your commandments from me” (Psalm 119:18-19b) We need to confide in the counsel of God’s Word. The Bible says about king David, “But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. (It says, “Heart-stricken” in the NIV). And David said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.’” (2 Samuel 24:10 ESV)
The Bible says “Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer. Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says…’”
We need modern day children of God, disciples of Jesus Christ, with Holy Spirit enlightenment of the whole counsel of God’s Word, to go and tell those in government and the church, “this is what the word of God says,” so the Lord will hear our prayers and heal or land. The Bible says, “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)
Coronavirus, What to Do Pt. 1
Biblical Restoration of the Church for the Last Days
As we enter into this teaching, if a child of God is afflicted with an illness or suffers the consequences of sinful choices made by the church or nation, does not mean that person is being punished, it is time for building faith and trust in the Lord. It is like this: When a bomb goes off there is always collateral damage – the innocent are hurt, they need to seek God’s help, comfort and direction. If a contractor does not follow the engineering plans in the construction of a building and the building collapses, the innocent are affected. They need to seek God, through Jesus Christ for comfort, help and guidance. The Bible says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:2-5)
The Greek word for trials (πειρασμός peirasmós) can refer to “a state of trial in which God brings His people through adversity and afflictions in order to encourage and improve their faith and confidence in Him.” (Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.; Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.)
The point must be made clear – just because an individual gets a current pestilence does not mean he/she are being punished or chastised; it is opportunity to grow our faith in the Lord.
When considering what to do in any pestilence (Coronavirus), along with seeing God turning our nation over to leadership making decisions which: 1.) Breaks God’s heart. 2.) Completely disregards His will, or 3.) Defiantly going against His laws, degrees and precepts. We need to become real children of God and ask the modern-day born-again theologians of God’s Word who are appointed by Christ (Ephesians 4:12) real heart-searching questions like: “What is God trying to tell us?” What do we need to do in order to enjoy God’s intervention, protection and blessings?
In order to get a Biblical foundation on why we need to ask, there is the heart of the people in Ezekiel’s day, when they saw God had given their prophet instructions to act indifferently toward his wife’s death. When they observed how Ezekiel was acting not the way a husband would normally respond. Their question to Ezekiel was, “will you not tell us what these things mean for us…” (Ezekiel 24:19)
Regarding nations the Psalmist writes, “Dose He who disciplines nations not punish….” (Psalm 94:10a) Regard the chastisements of God’s people for disobedience, Jesus spoke words to the beloved John while he was on the Island of Patmos, the epistles addressed sins and good things about seven different churches. It is interesting, this truth is spoken by Jesus to the seven churches, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelations 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:8, 13, 22) The warnings and exhortations of Jesus to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 have applications to us as a local church today. The churches then was to shine for God, like the modern-day Body of Christ is suppose today shine for God amid a world view blinded by Satan’s deceptions. (Vincent, M. R. (1887). Word studies in the New Testament (Vol. 2, p. 435). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.; Beasley-Murray, G. R. (1994). Revelation. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 1426). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.; MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.) (p. 2355). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
The churches written about by the beloved John gives a consecutive preview of the history of Christendom. Like the churches written about by John – is like the churches of today having some good truths the believers lived by, but are told by the Lord, churches have some sin issues that must be taken care of. (MacDonald, W. (1995). Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. (A. Farstad, Ed.) (p. 2355). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.)
It is imperative, God hands out chastisements to the disobedient church of God and punishments to the ungodly. When God’s people are going through pestilence and being thrown under national leadership which disregards the Lord’s laws, decrees and precepts. It is a good time start getting a Biblical evaluation done.
God is always dealing with different heart issues of mankind through afflictions, punishments, trials, conflicts and consequences of wrong choices. Any born-again theologian interpreting the whole of Scripture using proper exegesis can tell you, God is chastising the church and punishing this nation for their sins. When pestilence is sent as a chastisement for the disobedience of God’s people and/or because national rulers refuse to surrender to God’s guidance, there is a Biblical solution to be lived out so we may enjoy God’s forgiveness and intervention.
Simply, Coronavirus is a prototype of what has happen in the past, what is now in presence time and what is to come in a later date. A “prototype (σκιάc, ᾶς) is a foreshadow of things to come. (Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 592). New York: United Bible Societies.) Through the COVID 19 Pandemic, a real pestilence, Satan is laying a foundation for control of which people are surrendering to. Please Note: The church is not changing or stopping a prototype – but as we see things begin to evolve toward the end days, we can point people to the teaching of God’s Word and of Jesus Christ. Giving them an opportunity to consider a relationship with Jesus, fore He is the one to trust in as we see the last days approach.
What to Do?
The Book of Psalms gives us a foundation to lay hold of as we hear of all the news about Coronavirus, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust a prince.” (Psalm 118:8-9) The Hebrew word for to take refuge (חָסָה – ḥāsâ) can mean to confide in. (Wiseman, D. J. (1999). 700 חָסָה. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 307). Chicago: Moody Press.)
How do We Confide
First: We are to confided in God’s Word by seeking the Lord’s help and pray, “Open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in your law. …do not hide your commandments from me.” (Psalm 119:18-19b) We need modern day people of God who have Holy Spirit enlightenment of the whole counsel of God’s Word, to go and tell those in government and the church, “this is what the Word of God says about the issues of these days.”
Second: We seek God to reveal Jesus Christ to everyone and draw all to make a clear choice of Whom they may serve. Jesus said, No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last days.” (John 6:44) Our deliverance, protection, and guidance lays at the foundation of wanting people to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. We need to rest in God’s peace over the choices this country and the churches make. John did and so did Joshua.
Joshua gave the people he was addressing the key option above all choices, “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom will serve.” (Joshua 24:15) Twice after this verse Joshua mentions, “god’s” – referring to the gods their ancestors served and the gods of the land they were now living in. (Joshua 24:15) In Joshua 24:14 we read of Joshua saying, “Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the god’s your ancestors worshiped.”
The preoccupy in the NIV Bible of these Scriptures says, The Covenant Renewed. Never in America’s history as now does our founding father’s covenant needs to be renewed with the Lord. In Joshua’s message are key words which need to be examined.
The “Lord” (יְהוָֹה yehōwāh) a noun meaning God, (Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 426). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.) our Father who gave His one only Son so we may have eternal life, meaning to have life in Christ now in a relationship which is meaningful, peaceful and everlasting. Joshua calls on them and us to declare in a public and solemn manner, whether they would and we will be faithful and obedient to God, (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 157). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) the Father of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ
Other “gods:” “Joshua’s implication was the nation had never truly rid themselves of false worship, and he was urging the people in the strongest terms to do so now” (Howard, D. M., Jr. (1998). Joshua (Vol. 5, p. 435). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.) It must be understood, it is not what is set up to worship is the issue of false gods – false worship is the sin, not meeting the mark of true worship of God our Farther, to Jesus, His Son under the enabling of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.
In “faithfulness:” (אֱמֶת ʾemeṯ) meaning to walk in truth is to conduct oneself according to God’s Holy standards. To live reliably, dependably and in trustworthiness to the Lord “Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 74). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.; Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)
Joshua was a servant to Moses and later replaced him. It is interesting that Joshua was one of the twelve spies sent out to explore Canaan (Numbers 13:16) In that Biblical account, 10 spies returned with a bad report, only Joshua and Caleb said they could take the land. According to the Bible the ten men who spread a bad report died by a “plague before the Lord. Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua and Caleb survived.” (Numbers 14:37-38) The Hebrew word plague (מַגֵּפָה maggēp̱āh) refers to a deadly pestilence. (Baker, W., & Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 569). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.; Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.)
We need those who have the apportioned gifts of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16) to equip the Body of Christ with the written Word of God to address the issues of the day – exhorting our government to repent of their many sins and challenge the modern-day church be healed of the cancers of traditionalism, legalism, denominationalism and faddism. Applying the truths of this message lays down a solid foundation toward battling for the souls of mankind, maturing Christians, and enlightening to spiritual blind.
Coronavirus, What to Do Pt. 2
Restoring Our Heart Toward God’s Covenant
As we enter into this second message, if a child of God is afflicted with an illness or suffers the consequences of sinful choices made by the church or nation, does not mean that person is being punished, it is time for building faith and trust in the Lord. It is like this: When a bomb goes off there is always collateral damage. If a contractor does not follow the engineering plans in the construction of a building and the building collapses, the innocent are affected. They need to seek God, through Jesus Christ for comfort, help and guidance. When the church learns of an individual getting KVOID 19, the church is obligated to pray, mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15) and help them as the Lord makes the way.
God is always dealing with different heart issues of mankind through afflictions, punishments, trials, conflicts and consequences of wrong choices. Any born-again theologian interpreting the whole of Scripture using proper exegesis can tell you, God is chastising the church and punishing this nation for their sins. When pestilence is sent as a chastisement for the disobedience of God’s people and/or because national rulers refuse to surrender to God’s guidance, there are Biblical solutions to be lived out so we may enjoy God’s forgiveness and intervention.
Simply, Coronavirus is a prototype of what has happen in the past, what is now in presence time and what is to come in a later date. A “prototype (σκιάc, ᾶς) is a foreshadow of things to come. (Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 592). New York: United Bible Societies.) Through the COVID 19 Pandemic, a real pestilence, Satan is laying a foundation for control of which people are surrendering to. Please note: The church is not changing or stopping a prototype – but as we see things begin to evolve toward the end days, we can point people to the teaching of God’s Word and to Jesus Christ. Giving them an opportunity to consider a relationship with Jesus, fore He is the one to trust in as we see the last days approach.
In part one of “Coronavirus, What to Do” we learned: 1.) Why the Lord takes us trough trials. 2.) The type of heart we need in order to hear from God on what needs to be done. 3.) The necessity of having a spiritual heart with “…ears to hear what the Spirit of God is saying.” (Revelations 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:8, 13, 22) 4.) What it means to really take refuge in the God of heaven and earth. 5.) Lastly, to serve God with all faithfulness by not serving the god’s which control the world view around us.
The next step to Biblical restoration of the true church is for Christians to understand and strive to live in their covenant obligations. During Biblical times there was what is known as the Bilateral Covenants. This placed obligations on both parties. The agreement was on one party fulfilling their obligations; If you will [the people of God]. Then [God] will whatever the promise is. (Hamme, J. T., & Laney, J. C. (2016). Covenant, Critical Issues. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.) Our covenant agreement is binding as we walk in obedience to fulfill our part. (Enns, P. P. (1989). The Moody handbook of theology (pp. 631–632). Chicago, IL: Moody Press.) God has never forsaken His part of any Biblical covenant agreement. He does withhold His blessing and/or brings chastisements as we break our part of the covenant. There is a conditional truth to our covenant which is lived out by our behavior. (Huey, F. B. (1993). Jeremiah, Lamentations (Vol. 16, p. 282). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
For example, in the ESV Bible is a preoccupy Circumcise Your Heart. The Bible says, “…what does the Lord your God require of you, but to draw near to the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and keep the commandments and statues of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good. Behold, to the Lord your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.” (Deuteronomy 10:12-14)
We know it is important to have a heart of wanting to live by our covenant obligations because God’s Word speaks to us through Hosea, “As with Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to Me there.” (Hosea 6:7) The word “covenant” (בְּרִית beriyṯ) means to come to an alliance, be an ally and have an agreement between God and man. – (Carpenter, E. E. (2003). The complete word study dictionary: Old Testament (p. 165). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers; Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship. Thomas, R. L. (1998). New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : updated edition. Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc.)
There is a Greek word, (diathēkē) which accurately describes our present relationship with the Lord. Our covenant with God is offered to us because of His grace, it is who He is. It is as Philo said: “It is fitting for God to give and for a wise man to receive.” (Barclay, W. (Ed.). (1975). The letter to the Hebrews (p. 91). Philadelphia: The Westminster John Knox Press.) God’s exhortation found in Deuteronomy is a good truth for us, “Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord God.” (Deuteronomy 4:23) We are reminded, For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” (Deuteronomy 4:24)
Now, Christians are under the New Covenant as soon as they receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord, “…I [God] will put my law in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:33) Under this New Covenant Jesus’ instructions for seeing our needs are met: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” That is the Christian’s part of the covenant – then comes the Lord’s fulfilment of the covenant “…and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) In Jesus’ acknowledgement of us being the children of God, our Lord says, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men… which is our part being under the covenant of having the blessings and protection of God’s hand along with eternal Salvation. Jesus fulfills His part of the covenant, “I will also acknowledge [them] before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32) The writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us, “For this reason Christ is the mediator of the new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance …to set them free from sins committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:15) Jesus said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)
When Christians choose not to seek the whole counsel of God’s Word for direction and guidance, they break the covenant promises. As soon as those who are given the opportunity to govern a country, which was founded on a reverent fear of God, choose to endorse laws which break God’s heart. That government has set the people of that country up for possible chastisements, which can include pestilence.
Practical applications of renewing our heart covenant:
- Ask the Lord what is in our lives which make Him jealous.
- Do not take control when trials arise.
- Years ago, three county sand truck drivers were laid off. Two of them took control over their own circumstances. Finding the next available job, becoming bitter, abusing alcohol, drugs, punishing their spouses with their attitudes. Both unhappy and everyone around them, wishing they have never known them. One of them divorced with both them having drinking problems. – One waited on the Lord to open doors, thus, seeing God intervene by making away when there seemed to be no way. Knowing God’s faithfulness, enjoying Holy Spirit empowerment and finding Jesus’ directions.
- Have the heart of the psalmist who knew God’s covenant, “I keep your precept and testimonies, for all my ways are before you.” (Psalm 119:168)
- Seek the whole counsel of God’s Word in every situation of life and ministry to Jesus Christ, walk in step with the Holy Spirit of Christ in a reverent fear of God.
The difference between a contract and a Biblical covenant is: A contract is a transaction where a covenant is based off a relationship with God being the one Who offers it, with Jesus being the one Who secures it and the Holy Spirit being the person who enables us to live by it. Our covenant relationship with the Lord enables us know His power and live fully in His purposes for our lives.
The heart beat of our covenant with God is laid at the foundation of what Jesus did for us. Jesus said, “…This cup that is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood.” (Luke 20:20) His dying for our sins, the shedding of His blood to cover our sins conveys to us a message of dying to the selfish flesh, not following the world view and certainly not listening to the lies of the devil. The Apostle Paul wrote so well, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) The Apostle Paul gives particle advice to live by so we can live out our covenant – being under the blood of Jesus Christ, who died not only for the redemption of our souls but to free us from daily sins which hold us in bondage. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
To have the mind of Christ in all things is the key to accomplishing God’s perfect will for us, to be holy. (1 Peter 1:15-16) To trust in prayer and the Word of God while addressing the world view are the weapons for demolishing strongholds which hold our government, family and friends in bondage.
The Great Commission holds a truth to live by as we want to be used of God and enjoy our purpose as a collective Body of Christ. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” As we obey our part of the Great Commission we can enjoy Jesus’ promise, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
John Wesley walked in a covenant agreement with the Lord, his prayer was: “I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you. Praised for you or criticized for you. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are mine, and I am yours. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it also be made in heaven.” (commonprayers.org/covenant-prayer-by-john-wesley) Note, this prayer was rewritten in modern-day English to help us grasp it.
Our part of enjoying God’s covenant agreement:
Return to your first love relationship with the Lord. Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” (Revelation 2:4-5) A Christian who no longer is excited or no longer is constantly mindful of the Lord’s feelings and heart is like that couple who has let their first love excitement grow cold in their marriage. Their marriage testimony hurts the blessings of a covenant marriage proclamation. So, it is with a church whom has grown cold to its covenant agreement the Lord has offered to her.
Pew warmers need to repent, confess their sins and believe in Jesus. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18) “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.” (John 6:29) “Believe” (πιστεύω pisteúō) does not mean you believe Jesus existed or exist. Muslims believe in Jesus: He is considered a prophet in the religion of Islam according to the Koran. The Hindus believe in Jesus: He is a great guru for them. Historians believe in Jesus: He was a first century Jew who lived in Galilee. Even the devils believe in Jesus and they tremble! Pew warmers and false teachers need to take heed of the teachings of Christ, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”(Matthew 7:21-23)
“Believes” (πιστεύω pisteúō) means to have faith in the One Whom God had sent to pay the ultimate price for our sins and walk in obedience to His commands because we love Him. Jesus said. “If you love Me, you will keep what I command… “Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (John 14:21)
The ultimate covenant agreement of Christ is here – If we obey and keep the commands our Lord gives, then we will be loved by Jesus and His Father Who is in heaven. Let Christ through the Holy Spirit renew in us the joy of our covenant agreement with God found in Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord! Having great knowledge of God’s Word and believing Jesus existed and understanding the facts of His life and ministry cannot save us. We must be living a life which expresses a belief in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ as being the new covenant by placing our lives in His hands, pledging ourselves to follow Him no matter what.
Coronavirus, What to Do Pt. 3
The Church’s Litmus Test and Exhortations
God is always dealing with the different heart issues of sinful mankind through afflictions, punishments, trials, conflicts and consequences of wrong choices. Any born-again theologian interpreting the whole of Scripture using proper exegesis can tell you, God is chastising the church and punishing this nation for their sins. When pestilence is sent as a chastisement for the disobedience of God’s people and/or because national rulers refuse to surrender to God’s guidance, there are Biblical solutions to be lived out so we may enjoy God’s forgiveness and intervention. One of those solutions is to test ourselves to the whole counsel of God’s Word. Before judging our government and an apostate church we are to be examining ourselves to see we are living faithfully in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 13:5-6)
Coronavirus at this time has not left and according to Sky News, “The government’s scientific advisers have warned, ‘The emergence of new COVID variants with a similar death rate to MERS, which kills one in three infected people, is a realistic possibility.’” (August 01, 2021) Coronavirus is an ongoing threat and prototype (σκιάc, ᾶς) of a pestilence which is enabling the spirit of the Anti-Christ to prepare new generations to be easily controlled. The way the modern-day church is handling this affliction has encouraged Christian’s in their faith in the Lord. However, is causing God’ people to miss the heart-beat regarding His Holiness.
In our article Amidst the Pestilence, we learned how we can trust in the Lord, no matter what afflictions may come upon us. In Coronavirus, Our National Affliction we come to understand God is judging America and it is the church’s call to tell America of her need of repentance. The Biblical article In Good Conscience-During Coronavirus we learned how we must submit to our governmental authorities as long as it does not break God’s laws and heart. In Coronavirus, What to Do Pt.1 we grasped the need of a Biblical Restoration of the church for the last days. A Biblical truth long forgotten by Christians is rebirthed in our teaching, Coronavirus, What to Do Pt.2. In this Biblical teaching Coronavirus, What to Do Pt.3 the church is Biblically admonished to the high call set before her to live as one who has died to self and live by the influence to the Holy Spirit of Christ.
It is good for the church to remind us of God’s goodness and faithfulness during this present pestilence. But, to not remind the Church of Jesus Christ of her call to God’s holiness is not only short-sighted, it will prevent the Body of Christ of hearing what the Spirit is saying to the churches. (Revelations 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:8, 13, 22) They will miss the opportunity to guide a lost blind generation in the midst of this present delusion as well as the one to come.
Expressing disappointment in the Republicans and pointing fingers toward the Democrats has not made any real changes in taking out this affliction which effects the innocent. A truth presented by Jesus will open our eyes to see clearly what needs to be repented of so His church may be fully equipped in pointing people to a real relationship with Jesus Christ.
Under the preoccupy I Am The True Vine Jesus exhortation is, “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)
Truth’s worth realizing in this proclamation of Jesus are: 1.) A true church of Jesus Christ is not choosing the Lord’s disciples, the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is calling the sinners to the Lord. 2.) Christians are appointed (τίθημι títhēmi) by Jesus to bear fruit which only comes from abiding in Him every moment of our day. (Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.) Jesus is the person who has the claim on our minds, spiritual hearts and the lives we are called to live in Holiness. 3.) The type of fruit lived determines our joy in seeing God intervene in our lives, our children and our nation.
The writer of the Book of Galatians has a key evaluation of which the child of God would want to examine himself with. “…I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-26)
Notice Jesus said, “Those who belong to Christ have crucified the sinful nature…” meaning obedience to Jesus’ claim on their lives is expected by His friends. (John 15:14) “Crucified” (σταυρόω stauróō) metaphorically is to take no delight in anything that would break the Lord’s heart, which could lure us away from God’s truths or make us hard to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. Just as one would deny himself anything which would harm him, the Christian denies himself anything which would feed his sinful nature.
Men who want to remain faithful to their wives, deny themselves the influence of men who are unfaithful. Women who want to honor their husbands do not feed themselves the influences of family and friends who dishonor their husbands. People who choose not to abuse alcohol or drugs do not allow themselves to be influenced by people who do. This a truth lived by all who want to please the Lord, no one would allow themselves to be influenced by any worldly influences, fleshly lures or lies of the devil, every thought is taken captive and made obedient to Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 10:5) Every attack from the enemy of our soul is defeated by the whole counsel of God’s Word. Until God’s Word confirms it – that thought or desire is not to be fed. The Christian life is a constant battle not fought only on Sundays but every moment of the day. The enemy which dies in that battle is the one which is not fed. Feed your soul the meat of God’s Word, the worldview, the selfish-flesh and the lies of the devil will die.
Dr. Jim Burg once pointed out that life is hot water, the good or bad is brought out by the circumstances we face, and is determined by what is in the spiritual heart. You place a tea bag in hot water, what flavor is in that bag is drawn out.
Let the Holy Spirit examine your heart with these questions: What fruit is brought out in your life as you face trials, afflictions, temptations and successes? Is it the fruit of the flesh or the fruit of the Holy Spirit? The Bible says we are living epistles, letters known and read by everyone. (2 Corinthians 3:2) We are to “…show that we are letters from Christ Jesus, written by the Spirit of the living God on the human heart.” (2 Corinthians 3:3) All through Biblical history to now, Devine election is not about privilege but the purpose of our call by the Lord to produce fruit which come from only abiding in Christ.
In the midst of Coronavirus what does you letter say during the affliction, in ministering to the afflicted, and stabilizing a foundation for the next pestilences? Is the church corporately using this present prototype as a tool pointing people to Jesus Christ? While recognizing Coronavirus is a present treat are we pointing out that Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are the ones to trust our souls to? While pointing out that the present laws being enacted are prototypes of the laws which will be brought about by the Anti-Christ, and are we informing people that a relationship with Jesus Christ is their only defense over the great delusion which is going to come to all of mankind.
Under the preoccupy, “Judging Others” our Lord said, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgement, you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?’ You hypocrites, first take the log out of you own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of you brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:1-5)
The Greek word, “Judge” (krinō) can imply to analyze or evaluate. Even on those occasions were there is no other outcome than a negative conclusion, our purpose should be constructive and not retributive. (Blomberg, C. (1992). Matthew (Vol. 22, p. 127). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.}
Applications are: If we want the government to hold to the right view of marriage, then we as Christians need to be cherishing our marriage covenant in every way God’s Word says, not adulterated by a world view or influenced by friends and family. Our duties to each other must be fulfilled joyfully or those who see us will say, “Why should I get married?” I always wonder when I see so many young people not embracing marriage – is it because we are not presenting the marriage covenant joyfully? Have we made the marriage covenant boring, undesirable and unpassionate?
If we want to the unchurched to embrace God’s Word then we do not hold the gift of prophecy in contempt. 1 Corinthians 14:1, “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire, do not treat prophecies with contempt.” If reporters stood outside the churches of America and asked, “I have heard of this gift of prophecy, just what is this prophecy?” Would they get the right understanding and application of this New Testament gift which is a must for maturing the Body of Jesus Christ?
- The church which is unable to train the exegesis or hermeneutics of handling the Word of God, must use other means to draw a crowd. Turning the Holy House of God into a clubhouse is telling a blinded world view, the church is like all other worldly organizations.
The litmus for the church people today is – does our lives express a joyfulness to be taught the whole counsel of God’s Word as it pertains to the everyday circumstances we face, the trials which afflict our lives and spiritual heart, as well as the exercising of our Holy Spirit gifts.
Our national affliction, Coronavirus is God’s chastisement. Thus, we need leaders who have the heart of King David who was “conscience-stricken” after committing his sin which brought God’s chastisement against Israel. (2 Samuel 24:10) We as Christians need to stop asking God to bless our nation and petition Him to bring our leaders to repentance, so they will ask “what can we do to bless God.” David confessed, “I have sinned.” (2 Samuel 24:17) To many years our country has been governed by people who do not know the God they claim to serve or can care less about what His word says.
The true prophets in Biblical times were men of God who got their job done, they addressed the sins of the day. There are sins which place our nation in jeopardy of being afflicted and the modern – day eloquent speakers are failing the job which they are called to do.
What Needs Corrected?
First: The Church has cheapened to pulpit: Christians who have the New Testament gift of prophecy (προφητεύω prophēteúō) have been replaced with hirelings which are CEO’s who are effective in coming up with programs which intrigue many, but never equip people to walk in the holiness of God. Churches have gathered around themselves teachers who tell them what their itching ears want to hear. (1 Thessalonians 5:19-20; 1 Corinthians 14:1, 31; 2 Timothy 4:3) There are many who hold places in the pulpit who do not know Christ, they only know about Him. The high road in ministry is “…our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God.” (1 Thessalonians 2:4)
Second: Embrace Jesus’ Teaching on Repentance – The Bible says, “Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11) People like believing in a Jesus who is worshiped as a baby in a manger and remembered as a Savior who rose from the dead at Easter. What people are not embracing is the need of repentance.
Jesus gives us this powerful exhortation, “…I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3,5) The Bible says sin comes from a depraved mind, the results from not thinking it worthwhile to retain or seek the knowledge of God. (Romans 1:28) The Bible says “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” (Acts 3:19) John the Baptist has a message for us all, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
“Repentance” (μετάνοια metánoia) is a change of mind, leading away from evil to righteousness, from good to striving towards God’s best for us. (Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 509). New York: United Bible Societies.) “Repentance” is a profound change of mind involving the change of direction of life from that of self-centeredness and/or sin-centeredness to God or Christ-centeredness. God’s forgiveness is available only to those who are repentant, for only they can receive it.” (The New International Dictionary of the Bible)
Third: Our country makes unrighteous laws. The Bible says “For the Lord is our judge and Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King…” (Isaiah 33:22) To often our law makers introduce laws which break the Lord’s heart and our judges have little to no concern how their decisions effect the Lord’s desire for righteous judgements.
Fourth: Our country embraces the slaughter of innocent blood. According to Mirage website, in 2019 America had 12,857 abortions, which evidently has the approval of most politicians, claiming woman’s right. God’s view of the unborn is clearly seen in the life of Jeremiah, ‘Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and before you were born, I consecrated you…’” (Jeremiah 1:5) God has ownership over all mankind, He created them, He has ordained them and promises too always be with them. It is up to each person to surrender to God’s perfect will for them. It is not for us to cheapen a person’s life saying they have no value, just because we cannot see nor respect them. Life in the womb or out is unique, a person’s life has purpose, having God’s ordained call upon their life. God will have the last word in regard to every human life. Americans need to embrace God’s value on human life!
Fifth: America has redefined marriage. Jesus gives us God’s heart on marriage, “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Mark 10:6-9) Jesus was quoting from the Biblical truth of the creation of man and woman. One of the common quotes for the redefining of marriage is “Marriage should be based on love rather than outdated standards from earlier time.” Men have failed the Lord in the fact most do not make it their goal in life to love their wife as Christ did the church. Women have failed to understand the joy of being a Biblical “helpmate.” Thus, the marriage covenant has been violated often and is always in constant attack from Satan. The Devil hates the greatest institution ever created by God.
Lastly, God’s Word is drawn into question: The Bible says, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire, do not treat prophecies with contempt.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-20) The word, “contempt” (ἐξουθενέω exouthenéō) means “to make something or someone as of no account, to disregard…” (Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament) In most secular news papers on the East and West coast, I have been told you could not get Christian teaching in them, even if you paid them. In an article published on July 01, 2011 in Answers Magazine, entitled, Many Christian Colleges Receive a Failing Grade, we read, “Let us be clear from the start. We love the idea of educating youth from a consistent, Bible-based worldview. But an ever-increasing number of Christian colleges no longer teach the authority of the Scriptures.”
Pastor Jack Willman, had an article reposted by Blog Post Promoter and on faithinthenews website. He writes, “The day may be coming when mentioning specific sins in the Bible will be seen as a hate crime in America. …Already, parts of the Bible have been and are still being removed from public square because some are ‘offended by it,’ so things like the Ten Commandments have been removed, even in conservative states, such as Oklahoma and Alabama. What is even more tragic is that some ministers, like Episcopalian Church, have actually ordained homosexual ministers, which is contrary to Biblical doctrine…. What has been noticed, it is growing more and more difficult to be able to preach the Word of God, in the streets.
Article written by Carol Kuruvilla, The Holy Bible Is Now One of The Most Challenged Books In America. On a child cartoon, the Word of God was mocked by a scene where the grand-father was putting his granddaughter to bed and was going to tell her a bed-time story. The grand daughter wanted to know is the story about people who believed the Bible was true. It was a mocking story about people who would believe the Bible.
“According to the American Library Association’s latest ‘State of America’s Libraries” report, The Holy Bible was ranked as the sixth most challenged book in America because of its ‘religious viewpoint.’”
The ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has been collecting data about books that have either been challenged or banned from American schools or libraries since 1990. James LaRue, OIF’s director, told The Huffington Post that the Bible pops up regularly on the organization’s annual challenged books list, but that it has never before breached the top 10.
Our spiritual litmus test should have the results of Dr. Billy Graham – In Billy Graham’s early day in ministry – he struggled with trusting the Bible was true. In the beginning like all of us who had been touched by the Holy Spirit, we were excited about the Word of God. Billy Graham like most us over the years began to question God’s Word – As he read other’s material on the Bible – they began to draw questions that all the Bible wasn’t true. He even had a friend Chuck Templeton tell him that not everything in the Bible was true.
Once when at a conference Templeton mocked Mr. Graham saying, “Billy, you are fifty years out of date. People no longer accept the Bible as being inspired. Your language is out of date. You are going to have to learn a new jargon if you are going to be successful in ministry.” These words not only hurt Mr. Graham it shook his trust in God’s Word.
Thankfully, there was a lady, Henrietta Mears, the conference director. She was confident the truths in the Bible are God’s Holy Word. She encouraged Billy Graham to study the Word of God, which he did alone. Billy studied the Scriptures which taught about the authority of God’s Word, their inspiration. Then he went out into the forest, prayed “O God! There are many things in this book I do not understand. There are many problems with it for which I have no solution … I can’t answer some of the questions Chuck and others are raising.” As he prayed the Holy Spirit enabled Billy to pray, “Father, I am going to accept this as Thy Word – by faith! I am going to allow my faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be Your inspired Word.” (Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham, pp 135-139)
The church which desires to be used of God during these days of the Coronavirus pandemic must find herself abiding in Christ, producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in trials, facing temptations and in all circumstances of life. The church needs to strengthen herself by honoring the pulpit of God, replacing eloquent speakers and CEO’s with Christians who exercise the gift of New Testament prophecy (προφητεύω prophēteúō). The church must be seeking the Lord to bring our leaders to the heart of king David, “conscience-stricken” over their sins. The church needs to teach the whole counsel of God’s Word about true repentance, stop the sloppy-agape approach to building a church. The church is to call our country to repent over the slaughter of innocent blood and their redefining Marriage. Lastly, stop treating the proclaiming the true teachings of God’s Word with contempt making to look like it has no real value for Americans.
In Good Conscience – During Coronavirus
Doing What Is Right
This teaching is not meant to be a full exposition on what God is doing in this present pestilence and is only a short textual teaching of the truths found in Romans 13:1-5.
Many are confused with what to do with public gatherings and places of worship. Nothing more disappointing than hearing the people of God defiantly disobeying the government He has raised up for the day we live in. The Book of Romans 13:1-5 says, “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. …do what is right and he will commend you. [The government] is God’s servant to do you good. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.”
The Biblically ignorant often put God to the test and mislabel it as faith, expecting God to show His hand upon them. The Biblically mature seek for the truth found in the whole of Scripture. The Bible says, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that trough endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4)
It is a fact, Coronavirus is highly contagious. Doctors, nurses and health care givers have been afflicted with this disease while wearing protective masks and clothing. Medical personal are concerned, constantly wondering if they may pass COVID-19 to others. COVID-19 has been passed on through church services, social parties and traditional city observances.
Presently, the medical field is facing a disease which has spread rapidly around the world and they are corresponding with our governmental officials.
In our key text Romans 13:1-5, the writer through the Holy Spirit is giving the Devine sanction role of government and the Christian’s responsibility to those in authority. The child of God is to submit to the governing authorities.
As in the time of Christ, the Apostles, and today, most people in governmental control are none-believers. Just as it was with Christ it is for Christians today, there is no authority apart from that which God has established. He has delegated authority to those in charge of the public well-being.
When Pilate was speaking with Jesus, he said, “’Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?’ Jesus answered, ‘You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.’” (John 19:10-11)
It is imperative for Christians to remember government is God’s way of maintaining the public good and directing the affairs of the state. Human government is a permanent institution for regulations of human affairs. This is God’s means of promoting law and order on earth. If laws are hard or against God’s moral law, then Christians are to make legitimate protest, not live in acts of disobedience for protection against lawlessness and disorder. (Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: for the English reader (Vol. 2, pp. 221–223). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.; Mounce, R. H. (1995). Romans (Vol. 27, p. 243). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.; Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Ro 13:1). Nashville, TN: Broadman Press.)
Practical Application: Follow the guidelines set up by the medical and governmental authorities which are set before you now. Keep yourself updated and do not fall to the temptations of the sin of justification. Seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance, be hungry to know God’s will for you and strive to be like Christ as He submitted to the governmental authorities of His day. | <urn:uuid:0f6d0165-7191-40fb-b221-45d7de846f06> | CC-MAIN-2023-06 | http://standatthecrossroads.com/author/terry/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-06/segments/1674764501407.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20230209045525-20230209075525-00091.warc.gz | en | 0.949635 | 23,404 | 2.609375 | 3 |
for National Geographic News
A new study suggests that global warming could threaten one-fourth of the world's plant and vertebrate animal species with extinction by 2050.
The report's authors reached their conclusion after estimating potential changes to habitatsand the resulting loss of speciesin 25 biodiversity "hot spots" around the world.
The ecologically rich hot spots include South Africa's Cape Floristic Region, the Caribbean Basin, and the tropical regions of the Andes Mountains. These territories compose only a small fraction of the planet's land area but contain large numbers of Earth's flora and fauna.
"These [hot spots] are the crown jewels of the planet's biodiversity," lead author Jay Malcolm of the University of Toronto told the Canadian Press.
"Unless we get our act together soon, we're looking at committing ourselves to this kind of thing."
The report appears in the current issue of the journal Conservation Biology.
Many Threats Seen
Global warming projections are by nature uncertain, and the report includes many variables that significantly affect species' survival rates both for good and for ill.
Changes to the rate and degree of warming, as well as the ability of species to migrate or adapt, altered the estimates of species' extinction risk.
Climate change is also only one threat to species diversity. Many plants and animals are already feeling the effects of habitat destruction and invasions by non-native species. It is difficult for scientists to take all such factors into account.
Still, the study's worst-case scenarios are sobering.
They include a doubling of present carbon dioxide levels (as predicted by many climatologists) and rising temperatures that could potentially eliminate 56,000 plant and 3,700 animal species in the 25 hot spot regions.
SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES | <urn:uuid:97b8678e-aa94-491f-8b56-074d4a19510f> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://news.nationalgeographic.com.au/news/2006/04/0412_060412_global_warming.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510268660.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011748-00344-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934851 | 366 | 3.875 | 4 |
Runners do it before a race. Swimmers do it before hopping in the pool. Your average gym rat does it before starting to pump iron. Most coaches, gym teachers, and personal trainers preach that stretching before exercise is an essential part of both avoiding injury and improving performance. But while it’s still popularly considered a basic tenet of health and wellness, scientific research into the value of stretching has cast doubt on its usefulness. For many athletic pursuits, studies suggest that stretching might actually be detrimental.
Even for those who follow fitness science closely, old habits die hard and many may be loath to give up stretching. “Because stretching decreases pain and makes you feel good, it is easy to extrapolate this to think it will prevent injury. But unfortunately, the reason it makes you feel good is one of the reasons it does not prevent injury,” states Dr. Ian Shrier, a sports medicine physician at McGill University in Montreal and author of many scientific studies on stretching.
So how did stretching become so ingrained in our collective athletic consciousness to begin with?
The case for stretching as a means for injury prevention is grounded in the theory that a muscle that has been lengthened by stretching is more supple, decreasing stress to surrounding tendons, ligaments, and muscles and protecting them from the repeated stresses of activity. A study in the journal Sports Medicine advises that “improving flexibility through stretching is another important preparatory activity that has been advocated to improve physical performance. Maintaining good flexibility also aids in the prevention of injuries to the musculoskeletal system.”
Unfortunately, there is at best a tenuous connection between stretching and injury risk. “In general, stretching before exercise does not prevent injury,” Shrier says. “But we have not yet studied every possible context, so some people argue that it might still be beneficial for particular activities based on some theories.”
The question is not whether stretching actually results in a short-term increase in a person’s flexibility—it does—but whether that state confers protection against injury.
The most common mode of stretching, and the type that has come under fire, is referred to as static stretching. It involves lengthening a muscle and holding it in a mildly uncomfortable position, usually for somewhere between 15 and 60 seconds.
In activities with a high risk of overuse injuries, such as jogging or cycling, research has concluded that this kind of stretching really doesn’t lessen the chance of injury. Research presented in the British Journal of Sports Medicine concluded that there wasn’t any evidence to suggest that a stretching intervention was effective in preventing lower limb injuries in joggers. The same article even advised swimmers, who habitually stretch their shoulders and arms before exercise, to minimize stretching, particularly at the shoulders where excessive mobility can cause injury.
Some of the pushback against static stretching also comes from the concern that any roadblock to activity—like the time it takes to get a good pre-exercise stretch—makes some less likely to exercise. The time spent dutifully stretching before exercise could detract from another more potentially useful activity, like a good warm-up, strength training, or stability exercises.
While pre-exercise stretching has come into question, stretching outside of exercise does seem to have some value, especially as aging decreases flexibility. Flexibility generally describes the range of motion commonly present in a joint. Although stretching can enhance flexibility, it’s an attribute that decreases with age, and varies by gender and ethnic group.
But being more flexible is not always better. “There’s certainly such a thing as too much flexibility,” says Sage Rountree, author of The Runner’s Guide to Yoga. “We need only enough to move through a healthy range of motion—beyond that, we can strain muscles and tendons and even destabilize ligaments and compromise joint health.”
Science has long known that the most flexible individuals are more likely to suffer injuries than an individual of average flexibility—one study of U.S. Army recruits found that those with the most and least flexibility more than doubled their risk of injury. | <urn:uuid:e9f2876a-df21-444f-b120-970e978348cb> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/stretching-before-exercise-is-overrated/376089/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416931011060.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20141125155651-00055-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962893 | 861 | 3.578125 | 4 |
The ‘hot lake’ has now dried out and a small tuff cone has started to form on the former floor of the lake. The active vent continues to produce vigorous bursts of mud, rock, steam and gas from 50-100 m high. Ash is not being carried into the plume. This activity is intermittent as is the seismic activity. Current activity is not sufficient for Volcanic Alert Level 2.
Larger explosions of mud, rock and perhaps molten sulphur are always possible and occur with little or no warning. A greater than usual hazard does exist for visitors to the island as a result of the current level of volcanic activity.
GNS Science’s past monitoring of the island shows that new eruptive episodes often develop out of this type of activity. Small muddy lakes sometimes form in craters, as the unrest develops geysering and explosions occur through these lakes, becoming more vigorous with time.
This morning the gas and steam plumes appear to have declined, judging from the various web camera images available. A gas flight is being conducted to day to ascertain if the volcanic gas flux has changed since Friday. | <urn:uuid:6f8c28d8-57b6-43ba-a0d0-b1195d7cc459> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://info.geonet.org.nz/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=4292679 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398447773.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205407-00007-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962554 | 231 | 2.859375 | 3 |
On 9th August 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release its 7-yearly assessment on the state of our climate. This report focuses on the physical science of climate change, covering temperature changes, weather patterns, sea level rise, and the Earth’s carbon budget. IPCC reports are the world’s most authoritative sources of climate science, approved by 195 countries.
So what does the report tell us we can expect from our climate in coming years? What changes have we experienced so far and what are the latest projections around the future frequency and intensity of extreme events, rising temperatures and rainfall and water availability?
Join us to hear from leading Australian and international climate scientists who have contributed to writing this report.
The event will be held in-person at ANU, followed by light refreshments, kindly made possible with contributions from the British High Commission to Australia. There will also be a YouTube livestream available for those who cannot make the in-person session.
The event will be recorded, with the recording made publicly available on the Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions YouTube channel.
Opening statement: H.E. Vicki Treadell CMG MVO, British High Commissioner to Australia
Speakers (in order of presentation):
- Dr Pep Canadell, Chief Research Scientist, CSIRO Climate Science Centre; CLA, Working Group I, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Jan Fuglestvedt, Vice-Chair, Working Group I, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Third speaker TBC
Moderator: Prof Mark Howden, Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions, ANU; Vice-Chair, Working Group II, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
This event is being co-hosted by the British High Commission to Australia, and the Australian National University Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions.
This event will be run as a hybrid, with limited in-person tickets available, and livestreaming via YouTube for online attendees. Both attendance options require registration - please ensure you are registering for the correct attendance option (online or in-person) when booking your ticket.
Further details about registering for this event are available at the registration link. | <urn:uuid:50e7f0d4-206f-4ac1-aa05-12ad479d7777> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://science.anu.edu.au/news-events/events/ipccs-latest-assessment-climate-change-what-does-it-tell-us | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964362589.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20211203030522-20211203060522-00027.warc.gz | en | 0.883688 | 456 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Solid waste industry needs to prepare for disasters
Hurricane season is now underway, with an above-average chance that a major hurricane will hit the Gulf Coast this year, repeating the destructive 2005 season. It is not just the possibilities of hurricanes, however. There are wildfires, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and even an avian flu outbreak, not to mention acts of terrorism.
What kinds of risk-management plans need to be in place for municipal solid waste programs across North America? Is enough being done now to prepare?
Most municipalities have proper plans in place for day-to-day collection and disposal of waste, said Romasa Mohapatra, an architect, environmental planner, and scholar at the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo, in Waterloo, Canada.
“What one doesn’t think about is a well-laid-out plan in case a natural disaster strikes a city,” Mohapatra said. “Disasters themselves generate large quantities of waste, not to forget that a lot of the waste is hazardous and contaminates the soil.”
Planners need to consider the immediate danger to a large landfill site very close to growing neighborhoods, Mohapatra said. “Any kind of risk management plan is futile without the involvement of the community. Plans need to be proactive in nature.”
Dangers need to be considered prior to a disaster. “There needs to be integration at the urban planning level, where cities need to identify risks prior to laying out plans,” Mohapatra said. Cities need to identify and map out the most vulnerable locations and risks related to solid waste. “What one really needs to do is go into communities and start with awareness programs, which emphasize issues related to solid waste,” Mohapatra said.
Bruce Parker, president and chief executive officer of the Washington DC-based trade group National Solid Wastes Management Association, said solid waste companies are often better prepared for a disaster than most cities and other units of government.
“Most major disaster cleanups are done by private waste-management companies working as contractors with local and federal government,” Parker said.
“The national companies and large regional firms have an advantage in that they have more equipment, drivers and other assets to deploy to assist in a disaster.”
Disaster plans for municipalities need to include directives for recycling, materials reuse, hazardous waste treatment, disposal options, environmental and permitting compliance requirements, emergency waivers and compensation, Parker said.
“Execution is where things will break down,” Parker said.
“Solid waste companies are an absolutely critical component to any disaster plan. But, the ultimate success of waste companies is dependent on the affected local government having a comprehensive and well-organized disaster preparedness plan.”
To help members and others prepare for potential disasters, the trade group prepared a research report on how to prepare for an avian influenza outbreak.
The report explores the role the waste management industry may play in managing infected carcasses and associated materials, such as feces, bedding and feed. The paper also provides guidance on the protection of waste management employees involved in the treatment, transportation, and disposal of infected carcasses.
Because the influenza virus is highly contagious, immediate culling of infected and exposed birds is the first line of defense for the protection of human health.
“Most disposal options require special procedures for the transportation of infected carcasses from the point of origin to the disposal site to prevent the spread of the disease. The safe transport of carcasses and associated contaminated materials may be a role for the private solid waste management industry,” according to the report.
“Waste management companies need to decide soon what role they are going to play in the management of infected carcasses and associated materials, including consideration of transportation and disposal issues as well as whether their employees are willing to handle these types of materials,” the research report concludes.
Roxanne Smith, press officer with the United States Environmental Protection Agency in Washington DC, said the location and nature of any potential disaster and the resulting types and quantities of waste could vary significantly and would impact a municipality or solid waste service provider’s ability to handle disaster debris.
“Hurricanes, wildfires, floods, earthquakes, ice storms, and tornadoes generate different types of waste, and the severity of the situation dictates the amount of waste to be managed. Municipalities and solid-waste service providers commonly work with neighbors and state agencies to develop disaster debris management plans,” Smith said.
“Discussions between the solid waste industry, communities and state solid-waste agencies could lead to a better understanding of existing capacity for debris and the potential need for developing new or expanded capacity, if preplanning indicates that the potential amount of debris could exceed current capacity.”
Smith said that the solid waste providers would have the ability to recycle some debris after a disaster, which would lessen the burden on landfill capacity.
“Communities should hold discussions to arrange pre-negotiated contracts for debris-management services. It is far better to have pre-negotiated contracts in place prior to a disaster rather than developing them after the fact,” Smith said.
“In addition to pre-negotiated contracts, communities should estimate potential debris amounts; perform an inventory of existing management operations; locate potential areas for staging/storage of debris; identify equipment and administrative needs; and develop a community awareness plan so people know what actions to take.”
Finally, communities need to know all the options available, Smith said. She said reimbursement from state/federal agencies may be easier to obtain if a cleanup plan is already in place before a disaster strikes. | <urn:uuid:9e7d48e5-0c84-4750-bfe6-c1b5d05692a2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.americanrecycler.com/0807/solid.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00042-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942965 | 1,180 | 2.703125 | 3 |
A vein occlusion refers to the blockage of a retinal vein responsible for the outflow of blood from all or parts of the retinal circulation. The most common cause of this blockage is from longstanding hypertension. An occlusion can also be seen in diabetic patients. Less common causes include inflammatory conditions as well as coagulation disorders. A vein occlusion results in hemorrhage and swelling of the retina in the distribution of the blood vessels. Treatment with laser and anti-VEGF therapy may be useful in visual recovery as well as prophylactic for complications associated with more severe vein occlusion such as bleeding or glaucoma. | <urn:uuid:c939d8cb-716e-4a2c-9159-8424d84e5215> | CC-MAIN-2021-43 | https://www.retinanewyork.com/vein-occulsion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-43/segments/1634323585507.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20211022114748-20211022144748-00305.warc.gz | en | 0.950913 | 134 | 2.953125 | 3 |
You are your child’s
For parents and caregivers across the country, the recent school closings have created a “new normal” with new challenges. One of those is finding ways to support children with the instructional packets schools sent home. To help, we’ve collected age appropriate, interactive, free resources that will aid families in assisting their student’s learning in the areas of English/language arts, math, STEM, and wellbeing.
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The Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership (CIPL) is a continuum of engagement and leadership development for families, schools and communities to increase academic success of Kentucky students and progress of Kentucky’s public schools. Powerful partnerships are achieved, when active champions for education honor and recognize the connection between families and schools, as a core strategy for improving student academic achievement. Find more information about how to become engaged here: http://groundswell.prichardcommittee.org/cipl-fellowship/
The Prichard Committee studies educational issues and engages citizens, business leaders, families, students and policy makers about best practices in education. The are committed to equity for students of all backgrounds to ensure that students in the groups that have had less opportunity to excel catch up with their peers. https://www.prichardcommittee.org/mission-vision-values/
https://www.commonsense.org/education/spanish-resourcesTo ensure that all your students have the opportunity to build critical 21st-century skills, check out the Spanish resources available from Common Sense Education. Find Spanish-language videos, lesson activities, family tips, and more to use in the classroom or send home.
A research based framework for how to engage families and encourage school/family partnerships.https://www.dualcapacity.org/
Together with our members, community partners, and network of Affiliates across the country, we proudly ensure that the early childhood profession exemplifies excellence and is recognized as performing a vital role in society. Alongside you, NAEYC is the national voice of the early childhood community. Explore the work we do with you every day! https://www.naeyc.org/our-work | <urn:uuid:bca8d4bd-7c0c-459c-ad5b-a14dab0e54e8> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://partnersforappalachianfamilies.org/for-families-resources/2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964362571.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20211203000401-20211203030401-00485.warc.gz | en | 0.929002 | 485 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Artistic Ways to Recycle Bottle Caps, Recycled Crafts for Kids
How can you recycle plastic bottle caps? Enjoying art projects and making crafts with kids are fantastic ideas for recycling, Michelle Stittzlein says. She offers workshops and demonstrations for children and their parents teaching to create colorful sculptures and art installations with plastic bottle caps. Lushome shares her fabulous recycling ideas to inspire the readers to turn colorful plastic caps into beautiful artworks.
Recycling bottles and caps is a Green way to make cheap decorations for kids rooms. Plastic bottle caps are a perfect material for decorating backyards with handmade designs in bright colors. Simple, easy for kids crafts make wonderful garden decorations. You can create beautiful flowers and funny characters with bottle caps. Colorful wall murals for kids rooms and unique gifts are great ideas to recycle bottle caps. Crafts can teach children the concepts of Green living in a whimsical and playful way.
Plastic bottle caps are interactive kids toys that inspire and stimulate the imagination. Use a chance to incorporate this artistic way of recycling bottle caps into your home decorating. Colorful designs bring fun and joy into kids life. Recycled crafts and art projects teach children to act eco-friendly, be resourceful and creative.
Plastic recycling ideas and crafts for kids
If you are wondering how to recycle plastic bottle caps, look at the images below and read Michelle’s book Bottlecap Little Bottlecap. It is about recycled crafts for kids and colorful art projects that dramatically change the way people think about plastic bottles.
Colorful wall murals and beautiful mosaics give an artistic touch, bright color combinations and depth to your kids’ rooms. Bottle cap recycling offers exciting, money-saving, fun craft ideas. The cheap home decorations and unique gifts teach children creativity and resourcefulness. They brighten up kids life and add amazing art installations to backyard ideas and kids rooms decor.
Michelle Stitzlein, www.artgrange.com/ creates gorgeous recycled crafts, artworks, and decorations for children playgrounds. She uses painted plywood or thick cardboard as a base for her creative art installations creating bright images with plastic bottle caps in various colors.
You and your children can follow her example and create bright decorations while protecting the environment and saving money on commercially produced decor items. Handmade home decorations will adorn kids rooms, a backyard play area or your garden, bringing more color and creative design ideas into your home.
The technique for making these fantastic decorations is smart and straightforward. It works for recycling bottle caps and small plastic containers. Paint, small screws or glue gun and lots of colorful bottle caps are all you need to turn an ordinary piece of plywood or thick cardboard into art.
Your kids will be so happy to participate in recycling activities. Children are eager to create something unique like mosaic decorations that recycle bottle caps or small plastic containers. The artistic, creative and surprising ways of plastic recycling stimulate kids to drink more water and milk, collect bottle caps for art and craft projects. Recycling is about seeing the beauty in ordinary objects and appreciating simple things. Children will become healthier and smarter while developing their talents and enjoying recycled crafts.
by Ena Russ
Related articles and sponsored content
More from kids designs | <urn:uuid:2d7a9d0a-823c-4384-9490-fcaccf6ebeb7> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | https://www.lushome.com/artistic-ways-recycle-bottle-caps-recycled-crafts-kids/58967 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496669809.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20191118154801-20191118182801-00441.warc.gz | en | 0.897234 | 665 | 2.5625 | 3 |
A new, long-term study finds that midlife obesity raises the risk of dementia in women. However, calorie intake and physical inactivity do not.
Sarah Floud, Ph.D., of the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, is the lead author of the study.
As Floud and her colleagues explain in their paper, some previous studies have found an association between a low body mass index (BMI) and the likelihood of receiving a diagnosis of dementia within the next 5–10 years.
Other studies that lasted a decade or less have also linked poor diet and lack of exercise with the incidence of dementia.
However, all of the above may be the result of reverse causality, meaning that they may be consequences, rather than causes, of dementia. This situation could well be possible, explain the authors, because dementia typically affects cognition a decade before the person formally receives a diagnosis.
During this preclinical stage, the condition can slowly but gradually affect behavior, impair mental and physical activity, reduce the intake of food and calories, and cause weight loss.
Furthermore, explain the authors, some recent meta-analyses have pointed out that although in the short term, a low BMI may be associated with dementia as a result of reverse causality, over a longer period, obesity is positively associated with dementia.
Either way, prospective studies over longer periods are necessary to settle the matter of how BMI connects to dementia risk. Floud and her team set out to do exactly this.
Their findings appear in the journal Neurology.
The team examined 1,136,846 women in the U.K. They had an average age of 56 years and were free of dementia at the start of the study, between 1996 and 2001.
The women gave information about their height, weight, calorie intake, and physical activity, and the researchers clinically followed them until 2017 through the National Health Service records. These records also noted any hospital admissions for dementia.
For their study, the scientists considered a BMI of 20–24.9 as “desirable,” 25–29.9 as overweight, and 30 and over as obese. They classified women who exercised less than once a week as inactive and those who exercised at least once weekly as active.
Using Cox regression models, the team calculated the links between BMI and dementia incidence over the follow-up period, adjusting for age, height, education, smoking, alcohol intake, use of menopausal hormones, residential area, and area deprivation.
Over the study period, 89% of the participants had no mention of dementia in their health records. At 15 years after the start of the study, 18,695 women had received a dementia diagnosis.
Women who had obesity at the beginning of the study were 21% more likely to develop dementia than women who had a “desirable” BMI.
More specifically, 2.2% of the women with obesity went on to develop dementia in the long term, compared with 1.7% of those with a healthy BMI.
Although the findings revealed that low calorie intake and a lack of physical activity had a link with higher dementia risk in the first decade of the study, these associations gradually faded after that period, and neither calorie intake nor inactivity had a significant association with dementia risk.
Floud comments on the findings, saying, “Some previous studies have suggested poor diet or a lack of exercise may increase a person’s risk of dementia.”
“However, our study found these factors are not linked to the long-term risk of dementia. […] The short-term links between dementia, inactivity, and low calorie intake are likely to be the result of the earliest signs of the disease, before symptoms start to show,” she emphasizes.
“On the other hand, obesity in midlife was linked with dementia 15 or more years later. Obesity is a well-established risk factor for cerebrovascular disease. Cerebrovascular disease contributes to dementia later in life.”
Sarah Floud, Ph.D.
The study is limited by the fact that it only involved women, which means that the findings may not apply to men.
The authors of a linked editorial also mention “the absence of time-dependent dynamic analyses of BMI […], crude measurement of dietary habits, and residual confounding” as study limitations. | <urn:uuid:32760afc-88ce-46a4-b6ae-e15b81b6e1eb> | CC-MAIN-2023-14 | http://healthdispatch.net/aging/dementia-obesity-but-not-diet-or-inactivity-raises-risk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-14/segments/1679296945289.9/warc/CC-MAIN-20230324211121-20230325001121-00594.warc.gz | en | 0.958217 | 906 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Bee Not Afraid – The disappearance of the honeybees isn’t the end of the world.
By Heather Smith
Posted Friday, July 13, 2007, at 3:55 PM ET
When the honeybees disappeared this winter, the thought of losing such a fuzzy and adorable animal inspired dismay. The fact that bees might also be useful drove us to despair. The first official reports of “colony collapse disorder” began to surface in October of 2006; seven months later, USDA officials were calling CCD “the biggest general threat to our food supply,” and newspaper columnists nervously joked about the impending “bloody wars not for oil or land or God but over asparagus and avocados.” Experts pointed to the $14.6 billion worth of free labor honeybees provide every year, pollinating our crops. With a full quarter of them AWOL, presumed dead, who would make sweet love to the $1.6 billion California almond harvest? More precisely, who would help the almond harvest make sweet love to itself?
Few people realized that the honeybee apocalypse was already over. We may continue to associate them with childhood sugar rushes and chubby-cheeked fertility metaphors, but in real life honeybees have been virtually extinct in North America for more than 10 years, their absence concealed by a rogue’s gallery of look-alikes. The stragglers have been kept alive only by the continued ministrations of the agricultural giga-industry that needs them.
It used to be that it was hard to eat a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich without a honeybee showing up and doing a little dance around your head. Hives (literally) grew on trees until 1987, when a mite called varroa destructor turned up in a honeybee colony in Wisconsin. Even for a parasite, varroa is less than charming. It looks like a microscopic baked bean, with sharp fangs used to slurp tiny droplets of blood from the abdomens of unsuspecting honeybees. Since these bites also transmit disease, like deformed wing virus and acute bee paralysis virus, an infested colony is kaput within four years. By 1994, an estimated 98 percent of the wild, free-range honeybees in the United States were gone. The number of managed colonies—those maintained by beekeepers—dropped by half.
The honeybees may have been especially vulnerable to the varroa epidemic. When the honeybee genome was sequenced a few years ago, researchers discovered fewer immune-system genes than you’d find in other insects. This despite the fact that the honeybee lives in tenementlike conditions, anywhere between 15,000 and 30,000 of them crammed into a hive the size of a filing cabinet. To make matters worse, a weakened hive often becomes the target of honey-raiders from healthier colonies, which only helps the parasites to spread.
It’s possible that if the American honeybees had been left to their own devices, they would have died off in epic numbers and then evolved natural defenses against varroa (like more effective grooming), as they did in Asia. But crops had to be pollinated and no one had the time to sit around and wait.
Beekeepers opted to keep their colonies on life support with selective breeding, and by sprinkling them with medicine and insecticides aimed at the invading mites. This was no longer a hobby for amateurs. The only honeybees left—i.e., the ones that started disappearing in October—had become the cows of the insect world: virtually extinct in the wild, hopped up on antibiotics, and more likely to reproduce via artificial insemination than by their own recognizance.
If anything, it’s impressive that the honeybee has hung on in America for as long as it has. The commercial hives spend half the year sealed and stacked in the back of 18-wheelers, as they’re schlepped down miles of interstate to pollinate crops around the country. During this time, they get pumped up with high fructose corn syrup, which keeps the bees buzzing and lively, but it’s no pollen. And if a bee happens to get sick on the road, it can’t self-quarantine by flying away from the colony to die. (In the wild, a bee rarely dies in the hive.) Add to the above the reduced genetic diversity resulting from the die-offs in the 1990s, and you have an insect living in a very precarious situation—where a new pathogen, even a mild one, could spell honeybee doom.
So what brought on this recent scourge of colony collapse disorder? Early news reports on CCD listed a plethora of suspects: pesticides, parasites, global warming, chilly larvae, ultraviolet light, not enough pollen, not enough rain, cell phones, and alien spaceships. Given the present state of the honeybee, any or all of these could have been the culprit. (Well, except for the cell phones and spaceships.)
It’s even possible the mystery disease has already shown up in years past. An 1897 issue of Bee Culture magazine mentions the symptoms of something that sounds remarkably like CCD, as do a few case studies from the ’60s and ’70s. Before bees fell victim to varroa and the ensuing stresses of modern life, these afflictions would have been easy to bounce back from. Today, the same causal agent could have more serious effects.
But is CCD such a tragedy? The honeybee may be the only insect ever extended charismatic megafauna status, but it’s already gone from the wild (and it wasn’t even native to North America to begin with). Sure, it makes honey, but we already get most of that from overseas. What about the $14.6 billion in “free labor”? It’s more expensive than ever: In the last three years, the cost to rent a hive during the California almond bloom has tripled, from $50 to $150.
Good thing the honeybee isn’t the only insect that can pollinate our crops. In the last decade, research labs have gotten serious about cultivating other insects for mass pollination. They aren’t at the point yet where they can provide all of the country’s pollination needs, but they’re getting there. This year the California Almond Board two-timed the honeybee with osmia ligneria—the blue-orchard bee: Despite CCD, they had a record harvest.
But these newly domesticated species are likely to follow in the tiny footsteps of the honeybee, if they’re treated the same way. Varroa mites have already been found on bumblebees, though for the time being they seem not to be able to reproduce without honeybee hosts. And bumblebees used in greenhouse pollination have escaped on several occasions to spread novel, antibiotic-resistant diseases to their wild counterparts. If things keep going like this, we may soon be blaming spaceships all over again.
Now, doesn’t that just turn your preconceived knowledge upside down? Who knew that the honeybee has been gone for a decade?
If I wasn’t such a confirmed and level-headed “man of business” I’d probably be more frightened than ever of the devastating impact of agribusiness on our planet. Instead, like the almond growers, I’m certain that we’ll develop new ways; press new creatures into service; or perhaps create brand new, disease resistant honeybees out of silicon (per mm075?).
It’s it for now. Thanks, | <urn:uuid:fd50960c-1439-4ddb-abef-c057e91ef307> | CC-MAIN-2019-51 | https://mudge.essoenn.com/2007/07/19/mm076-why-the-disappearance-of-the-honeybees-isnt-the-end-of-the-world-by-heather-smith-slate-magazine/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-51/segments/1575540488620.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20191206122529-20191206150529-00102.warc.gz | en | 0.946493 | 1,607 | 3.03125 | 3 |
Make Excellent Bee Plants
by Connie Krochmal
The snowy white blossoms of the native serviceberries are a familiar sight during the Spring in most areas of the country. Also known as shadblow, sarvisberry, and shadbush, these trees and shrubs are members of the rose family. A source of beauty year-round, they’ve earned a place in the bee garden.
Worldwide, there are perhaps 25 or so species. They’re found in Asia, Northern Africa, Europe, and North America. About 20 of those are native to America. These occur in both the East and West. Around eight species are cultivated.
The most common habitats are mountainsides, rocky slopes – especially dry ones, dry canyons, bluffs, clearings, woods, hillsides, and swamps. They grow to 8000 feet elevation.
The delicate flowers of these spreading shrubs and small, much branched trees are welcomed by bees and beekeepers alike. Nectar and pollen from serviceberries help to build up colonies in the Spring. When enough of the plants are available, they can yield a small crop of honey. The amount can vary by species and location.
The graceful plants are relatively small – usually less than 35 feet or so in height. In the wild, the plants can be difficult to identify because they readily hybridize. The furrowed, scaly, light gray to silver bark lends color to the landscape during the Winter months.
When grown in landscapes or in the open, these generally develop into a round crowned tree, often multi-stemmed. In the wild, they’re often stunted, crooked, and quite picturesque.
The alternate, leathery, entire, partially toothed leaves, usually hairy on both sides, can be greenish-gray to greenish-yellow. Usually at least 1¼ inch long, they’re paler underneath. The foliage provides exquisite Fall color.
The plants are best known for their masses of small, delicate, star-like blossoms that cover the plants. Appearing in long clusters at the ends of the shoots, these emerge as the leaves unfurl. They’re generally white, but can occasionally be pink.
About an inch across, the unisexual or bisexual blooms contain five narrow petals and a green, bell-like, five-lobed calyx. A cluster can contain a dozen or more flowers.
Usually tasty and edible, the showy, seedy fruits, which are enjoyed by birds, vary in color and shape by species. Forming clusters, these are quick to ripen in Summer. Round to pear-shaped, they can be red, almost black, purple, purplish-black, or blue-black. About the size of a blueberry, the fruits were an important food for Native Americans and pioneers.
Commonly grown in landscapes, these are excellent choices for screens, informal hedges, and windbreaks. As understory plants, serviceberries do reasonably well in partial shade. However, they’re more floriferous in full sun.
Most species prefer a well drained, neutral soil although certain ones are adapted to acid conditions. They thrive in a range of soil types, including clay.
With a moderate growth rate, serviceberries are generally strong enough to withstand storm damage due to their strong limb structure. Typically, minimal pruning is needed, mostly the removal of root suckers that emerge around the trunks.
The plants are drought tolerant once they’re established. These withstand pollution and are suited to urban spaces. For the most part, serviceberries are relatively free of most pests and diseases although they can occasionally suffer from the same ailments as fruit trees. Most cultivars are generally disease resistant.
Easy to transplant, serviceberries are somewhat easy to grow from seed. These can also be grafted. Softwood cuttings are usually less successful…
Some of the best native serviceberries for bees are the following.
Allegheny serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis)
Also called smooth serviceberry, this dense, somewhat short lived plant is hardy to zones four through eight. It adapts to a range of moisture levels from dry or well drained, moist soils to wetter conditions. Preferring partial shade, it is tolerant of various pH levels from acidic to slightly alkaline.
Allegheny serviceberry occurs in Washington, Minnesota, and Iowa. In addition, it is native to much of the East except for Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri. This plant typically grows on ridges.
The species is similar to downy serviceberry but is slightly smaller. This small tree or narrow shrub typically reaches 25 to 35 feet in height and ten to 20 feet wide. The smooth, blue-green foliage, three inches long, is initially purplish-bronze.
The large white flowers open in early Spring on drooping or nodding clusters. The deep purple fruits are especially delicious.
Bartram’s serviceberry (Amelanchier bartramiana)
Bartram’s serviceberry, also known as oblong fruit serviceberry and mountain-juneberry, occurs in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, West Virginia, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and from New Hampshire to Maine. Suited to zones three through six, this species grows in bogs, peaty thickets, slopes, and along stream banks. The plant adapts to a range of soil types, including acid ones. This species is tolerant of both dry and moist conditions.
The tough, spreading, rounded, much branched, free flowering shrub reaches three to six feet in height and up to four feet across. The greenish-gray, oval foliage is somewhat hairy. The new leaves are slightly bronzed.
The small, white blooms open singly or in few flowered clusters in Spring from April to May. Ripening in July, the blackish-purple to deep purple elongated fruits are bloomy and ½ inch across.
Canada serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis)
Hardy in zones four through nine, Canada serviceberry occurs in the East in swamps and lowlands. This is most commonly found a couple hundred miles or so from the coast. Its range extends from Maine, New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia southward to the Atlantic region, Alabama, and Mississippi.
Sometimes spreading by suckers, this rather narrow crowned, multi-stemmed tree or shrub is usually fairly low growing. Canada serviceberry is often ten to 20 feet tall and equally wide. It features attractive, smooth gray bark.
The young foliage is gray-green. This floriferous species bears white blossoms that are smaller than those of most serviceberries. They open on erect, short clusters and produce deep purple berries.
This species is suited to moderately dry and wet soils. It has provided an early crop of honey in some locations.
Downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea)
Downy serviceberry typically grows at the edges of woods and rocky outcrops. This species covers much of the East westward to Minnesota southward to Texas and the Gulf states. It is quite similar to Allegheny serviceberry except this one is taller and has smaller blooms. Suited to zones four through nine, it adapts to various moisture levels from dry to wet.
Several varieties of this species can be found in some areas. Usually 20 to 30 feet tall and eight to 15 feet wide, the multi-stemmed tree with a narrow rounded or oval crown features striking furrowed bark with conspicuous, narrow, vertical lines. The trunk can grow to two feet in diameter.
Emerging on long leafstalks, the young foliage is initially somewhat hairy above. The underside is paler and densely hairy. Deep green to greenish-gray, the finely toothed, tapered leaves are up to four inches long. Somewhat variable in shape, they’re mostly ovate.
The showy white blossoms appear in Spring on long clusters that contain up to 15 blossoms. The petals range from strap-like or linear to oblong. The calyx is cone-shaped. Often inedible, the purplish-red, red, or deep purple fruits ripen in clusters in mid-Summer.
Inland serviceberry (Amelanchier interior)
Inland serviceberry, also known as Wiegand’s chuckleypear, can be found from Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan to New York and Maine. It is hardy to zone three. The small tree or straggly shrub reaching 25 feet in height resembles the downy serviceberry except for its smaller size and the smaller blossoms in shorter clusters.
The finely toothed leaves are nearly three inches long. Emerging from May to June, the white blooms open in long clusters containing six to 12 blossoms. The blackish-purple fruits ripen in July and August.
Roundleaf serviceberry (Amelanchier sanguinea)
Preferring dry soils, this species grows in thickets and woods in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland.
A small, slender shrub or tree reaching 20 feet in height, roundleaf serviceberry has spreading, slender stems. The Latin species name refers to the red twigs. The bark is brownish-red. It is hardy to zones four through eight.
The alternate, oval-oblong to roundish-oval, coarsely toothed leaves are nearly 2½ inches in length. The young foliage is hairy and vivid green.
The white blooms open in May on loose, nodding clusters. The strap-like petals are ½ inch long. Slightly smaller than those of most serviceberries, the very tasty, sweet, almost black to deep purple fruits ripen in August in pendant clusters. These are considered superior to other serviceberry fruits.
Running serviceberry (Amelanchier stolonifera)
This suckering plant is native to the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and throughout the East except for Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida. It is most common in the mountains. Preferring full sun, this species does well in dry, well drained, acid soils.
Its habitats include upland woods, and rocky or sandy soils. Hardy in zones four through nine, this is only one to six feet tall but can be three to 10 feet wide. The ascending stems are hairy when young.
The oblong to elliptic foliage is slightly over two inches in length. The very pale pink blooms open on erect clusters. In the South, this can begin blooming in March or April with the berries ripening in May and June.
Some sources consider dwarf serviceberry (Amelanchier pumila) to be synonymous with running serviceberry, while others classify it as a separate but quite similar species. Sometimes called low serviceberry, this is found throughout the West from Washington to Montana, New Mexico, and Colorado. This favors limestone-rich soils.
Saskatoon serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia)
Also known as western serviceberry, this species can be found along the Pacific Coast eastward to Montana through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, and New Mexico. It is by far the most widely distributed serviceberry in the area. Hardy to zones two through six, it generally grows at 4500 to 9000 feet elevation.
Preferring low humidity, this drought tolerant species adapts to dry and moist soils. It inhabits thickets, streambanks, and prairies. Several serviceberries that used to be considered separate species are now classified as varieties or subspecies of the Saskatoon.
Usually a low growing shrubby tree with an open, rounded, upright crown, it typically reaches four to 15 feet in height and is almost as wide. This plant features hairy stems that can spread by rhizomes.
The Latin species name refers to the alder-like foliage. The coarsely toothed, leathery leaves, 2½ inches long, are light green above and lighter colored and hairy below. The lightly scented, white blossoms open on short, dense, silky flower clusters that contain up to 20 blooms in early Spring.
The purplish-red to black fruits are egg-shaped to round. Ripening in clusters in Summer, these are said to be the best tasting serviceberries.
This is considered an important source of nectar and pollen. It has brought an early honey crop in some areas.
Utah serviceberry (Amelanchier utahensis)
This species grows on mountain sides, woodlands, rocky slopes, and canyons in dry areas. It can be found in the mountains and plateaus to 8000 feet elevation. Hardy to zones four through nine, Utah serviceberry occurs over much of the West from Washington and Idaho to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and California. The drought tolerant plant requires a well drained soil.
This can be a dense, irregularly shaped shrub or an open crowned, spreading tree. Typically up to 15 feet in height, it has reached 25 feet under good growing conditions.
Hairy on both sides, the greenish-yellow, toothed, alternate leaves, 1¼ inch in length, are almost round. The white or pink blossoms open in Spring from April to June in oblong clusters containing three to 12 flowers. The blooms feature five strap-like petals. The purplish-blue berries ripen in clusters in late Summer and Fall.
Connie Krochmal is a writer and a beekeeper in Black Mountain, South Carolina. | <urn:uuid:d5673458-ae8d-4e55-bebd-13de490472fe> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.beeculture.com/native-serviceberries/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100800.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20231209040008-20231209070008-00071.warc.gz | en | 0.93937 | 2,881 | 3.078125 | 3 |
The online learning series
Taking online tests
An online exam has several variations,
but all involve technology! These are a few variations:
- In a classroom, computer resource center or at home
- Open or closed book
- Timed or not timed
- Scheduled or not scheduled
- Continuous or saved and returned for completion
- Part of an online course, traditional classroom, or blended option
- Graded or not graded
- Scores immediately returned for feedback, or posted later
These variations all have technology in common. Here are suggestions to
consider, and questions to ask, to master the process of taking an online exam:
Mastering or navigating technology should be your first concern:
- Make sure your computer, especially at home,
- is technically capable and has the appropriate connection speed.
(One advantage of taking the test at your school's computer resource
center is that a computer consultant may assist you)
Computer issues: cache, security settings, monitor/screen display, Internet
connection, browser Internet options, etc.
- Master the login process to access the test
Taking the test is not the time to experiment with passwords and/or
navigating a course website to find the test!
Can you review the test instructions in class before taking the test?
Do you need to create a login for the test, or use your student account?
What is the test website address (URL),
your student identification
login, your test login?
If you take the test in a controlled environment,
what identification do
If you need assistance taking the test, alert the teacher beforehand!
- Once at the test index page, carefully read the instructions
for answering questions:
Is the time you take to complete the test tracked?
If so, is there a clock you can access for your time?
Can you save and return if interrupted?
Must you answer the questions in sequence?
Can you change answers?
Is there a review feature that lets you check your work, or check for
- After you have finished answering the questions:
How do you save and exit so your work is not lost?
Is there a separate sequence from saving to turn in the test?
Will you get an alert about unanswered questions?
How do you access your score, or is your score immediately returned?
- Can you make a paper-backup of your responses?
- For short answer and essay questions,
can you create and format your answer in word processing, then copy and
paste into the test question?
These questions are meant to specifically address
procedural or technology
For strategies on taking different types or formats of tests,
components of online e-learning,
test taking index, or the directory
Testing with success series
Distance learning series | <urn:uuid:5f746941-af1e-486b-ab9c-7280bfacac3f> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://www.studygs.net/online/onlinetest.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1397609538110.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20140416005218-00481-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.891918 | 579 | 2.890625 | 3 |
How do you want to design your own garden? If you are looking for creative ideas for
Create a charming water garden!
Creating the garden – How to build fountains in your own garden?
You need the following materials:
Hose or watering can;
How can you build a beautiful fountain yourself?
Before you start construction, you should determine the optimal location!
First, dig out a hole for the mason’s bucket! Pay attention to a flat support surface, so that the pump stands straight and can work optimally!
Then fill cavities between bricklayer bucket and the earth wall with earth! This ensures a firm position of the bucket.
Then dig the hole so deep that the edge of the mason’s bucket is a few inches above the edge of the bed.
Place the water pump in the Maurer bucket and fix it with a stone! Make sure that the hose of the water pump can be passed through the hole.
Use small stones that stabilize the big one! Depending on your wishes, you can also place a metal grid on the mason trough! The grid serves as a base for stones, gravel and decoration.
Put four squared timbers around the bucket into the earth and use them as support points! This prevents bending of the grid!
Lead out the power cable and decorate the fountain with ornamental gravel! Bury a pipe in the ground and lay the cable through the pipe!
Then fill the mason trough with sufficient water! Use a hose or watering can for this! Cover water pump with water!
Finally, select plants for the fountain! Plant the well with different plant species!
Finished is the beautiful fountain! A very easy task, right?
Build fountains yourself – that’s how it works!
With a little imagination and craftsmanship, a fountain is easy to create. Do not you mean it? More inspiring suggestions can be found in the following gallery! Let yourself be influenced!
Gardening – Creative Ideas for DIY Fountains!
Concrete serves as a perfect building material for a fountain!
DIY fountains appear in different forms! Do you like this ball fountain?
Do you fancy a nice DIY fountain in your own garden?
Create your own garden – build fountains yourself!
Buy fountains or build yourself?
This fountain is a real eye-catcher, is not it?
Beautiful fountain made of concrete!
Create a truly original garden design by building a fountain yourself!
Surprise with creativity!
Do not throw away old metal pails!
DIY Fountains are available in many colors!
Homemade fountain could turn into a real eye-catcher!
Concrete serves as building material for DIY fountains!
Stones are perfect for building a fountain!
DIY fountains know no limits!
Fountains of stones!
Build fountains from old flower pots yourself!
Fountains made of glass!
Use wood for the construction of your own fountain!
DIY fountains in your own garden!
Terracotta fountain in the ridges!
Old flower pots are more than just a flower pot!
Great creative ideas for DIY fountains in your own garden!
Build fountains from old car tires yourself!
Make Sprinbrunnen from flowerpots themselves!
Do you want to build this fountain yourself?
Egg – Fountain! | <urn:uuid:eb6bfaac-af91-4f7c-a3bf-953b31d920d1> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://heystyles.com/shaping-the-garden-fountain-as-an-eye-catcher-in-your-own-garden/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243992440.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20210517180757-20210517210757-00353.warc.gz | en | 0.904652 | 723 | 2.671875 | 3 |
February 1st, 2013, marked the first annual World Hijab Day in recognition of millions of Muslim women who choose to wear the Hi-jab and live a life of modesty. The brainchild of this movement was a New York resident, Nazma Khan, who came up with the idea as a means to foster religious tolerance and understanding by inviting women (non-Hijabi Muslims/non-Muslims) to experience the Hijab or one day. For many people, the Hijab is a symbol of oppression and segregation. By opening up new pathways to understanding, Nazma hopes counteract some of the controversies surrounding why Muslim women choose to wear the Hijab.
The whole movement was organized solely using social networking sites. It has attract interest from Muslims and non-Muslims in more than 100 countries worldwide. Their literature has been translated now in 40 languages. | <urn:uuid:f17c3fa8-427f-4866-a985-cf6babbbf5ed> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | https://top2toestyliestadotme.wordpress.com/2014/01/27/world-hijab-day-2014/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698540798.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170900-00280-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961149 | 176 | 2.921875 | 3 |
On paper, Cecilia is an ordinary Latina. She was born and raised in Peru, given a common Latin Catholic name, and raised speaking Spanish. Her eyes and hair are long and dark, and yet when Cecilia—now a UT student—attends a Latino sponsored party, she is the only one who fails to receive the standard greeting. Instead of cheek kisses and Spanish, she gets a hand shake and English.
Cecilia is set apart by the fact that she is Chinese. Her dark eyes are almond shaped, and her long dark hair bears the characteristically sleek and straight look possessed by most Asians. When she speaks Spanish, people do a double take, sometimes a triple take, and others just stare. It doesn’t take long for the aforementioned party hosts to recognize their blunder, and accept her as their own, but Cecilia is tired of having to explain herself to everyone she meets. “I tell them I’m Asian” she says, “but it’s just because I don’t want them to ask me my whole background…I explain this probably once a day every day, so I just don’t want to go over the process again, you know?”
To further complicate Cecilia’s identity conundrum, she has recently obtained her American citizenship, making her a dual citizen of both Peru and America. Though she is undoubtedly Chinese by race, her ethnicity is hazy. “I feel like I’m everything” she says, and pauses “except American, because I just became an American citizen.” She clarifies further that her inability to connect with the American ethnicity stems from them fact that she feels it has been mixed to the point of having no original, or set culture. But Cecilia emphatically asserts that she feels only a distant connection to the Asian community, and it is the Latino community where she feels most at home. “Since I grew up in that culture I feel like we can talk about the same things and when I’m joking around with them they understand that I’m joking and they don’t take it personally.”
Cecilia’s situation, though unusual in the US, is not uncommon in Peru. In the 1850s Peru welcomed massive waves of Chinese immigrants who would ultimately replace the existing slave labor and create a lasting influence on the Peruvian culture along with the Japanese, and other Asian immigrant groups. In fact, Cecilia tells me, there are so many Asians in Peru that various Asian words have entered the Peruvian vernacular. “Minpao” for instance is the Chinese word for bread. Peruvians use it instead of the Spanish, “pan.” “Chifa,” the Chinese word for eat has come to mean Chinese Restaurant to Peruvians. “Vamos al chifa,” or “let’s go to the Chinese restaurant” is a common phrase on account of the frequency with which one encounters such restaurants, especially in the city of Lima where Cecilia grew up.
But Asian influence extends beyond the cultural, and goes so far as to influence government and public policy. From 1990 to 2000 Alberto Fujimori, of Japanese descent, served as President of Peru. His legacy is one of equal praise and criticism, but he maintained a constant majority approval rating throughout his presidency. Positively known for eradicating terrorism within the country, and returning Peru to a state of economic stability, he created a right wing political movement known as Fujimorism that is focused around these issues ("BBC News: Latin America and Caribbean"). This movement continues today, and is carried out by his daughter Keiko, herself a congresswoman and presidential contender, proving that Asian influence and tolerance in Peru remains strong.
Knowing this, it becomes obvious that the face of Latin America is not always the one we recognize. Returning again to Cecilia, we are presented with the makings of an important case for the Latina identity. She suggests that the qualifications for being Latina do not rest solely on the shoulders of race, but instead fall within the bounds of ethnicity and culture. Though she feels that she is Asian, Peruvian, and American, each of these labels has its limitations in identifying Cecilia. However, none can deny her a place among Latinas.
"Profile: Alberto Fujimori." BBC News: Latin America and Caribbean. BBC News, 08 Dec 2011. Web. 23 Feb 2013. a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16097439%3E">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16097439>;. | <urn:uuid:be95ca7c-c454-42c5-b7a6-6537b027a083> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://mylatinitas.com/profiles/blogs/expanding-the-latina-identity-asian-latina | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1398223207046.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20140423032007-00433-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963297 | 992 | 2.59375 | 3 |
African trypanosomiasis is caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in West and Central Africa and by T. brucei rhodesiense in East Africa; both species are endemic in Uganda. Trypanosoma brucei gambiense accounts for 98% of all cases of African trypanosomiasis, and T. brucei rhodesiense accounts for 2%. African trypanosomiasis has been targeted for eradication by the World Health Organization and as a result of control efforts, there has been a dramatic decrease (>95%) in the number of reported cases worldwide over the past 20 years, which fell below 1000 in 2018. On average, 1 case is diagnosed in the US each year, always in travelers returning to the US from endemic regions.
The organisms are transmitted by tsetse flies and can be transmitted prenatally from mother to fetus. Rarely, the infection is transmitted through blood transfusions; theoretically, it could be transmitted through organ transplantation.
Another trypanosomal species, Trypanosoma cruzi, is endemic in South and Central America and causes Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis).
Metacyclic trypomastigotes inoculated by tsetse flies transform into bloodstream trypomastigotes, which multiply by binary fission and spread through the lymphatics and bloodstream after inoculation. Bloodstream trypomastigotes multiply until specific antibodies produced by the host sharply reduce parasite levels. However, a subset of parasites escape immune destruction by a change in their variant surface glycoprotein and start a new multiplication cycle. The cycle of multiplication and lysis repeats.
Late in the course of African trypanosomiasis, trypanosomes appear in the interstitial fluid of many organs, including the myocardium and eventually the central nervous system. The cycle is continued when a tsetse fly bites an infected human or animal.
Humans are the main reservoir of T. b. gambiense, but this species may also reside in animals. Wild game animals are the main reservoir of T. b. rhodesiense.
African trypanosomiasis has 3 stages:
A papule may develop at the site of the tsetse fly bite within a few days to 2 weeks. It evolves into a dusky red, painful, indurated nodule that may ulcerate (trypanosomal chancre). A chancre is present in about half of Caucasians with T.b. rhodesiense but is less common in Africans with T. b. rhodesiense and seldom occurs with T.b. gambiense.
Over several months in T. b. gambiense infection but a period of weeks with T. b. rhodesiense, intermittent fever, headaches, rigors, muscle and joint pain, and transient facial swelling develop. An evanescent, circinate erythematous rash may develop. It is most readily visible in light-skinned patients. Generalized lymphadenopathy often occurs.
Winterbottom sign (enlarged lymph nodes in the posterior cervical triangle) is characteristic with T. b. gambiense sleeping sickness.
In the Gambian form, CNS involvement occurs months to several years after onset of acute disease. In the Rhodesian form, disease is more fulminant, and CNS invasion often occurs within a few weeks.
CNS involvement can result in persistent headache, inability to concentrate, personality changes (eg, progressive lassitude and indifference), daytime somnolence, tremor, ataxia, and terminal coma.
Without treatment, death occurs within months of disease onset with T. b. rhodesiense and during the 2nd or 3rd year with T. b. gambiense. Untreated patients die in coma of undernutrition or secondary infections.
Diagnosis of African trypanosomiasis is made by identifying trypanosomes in fluid from a chancre, lymph node aspirate, blood, bone marrow aspirate, or, during the late stage of infection, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Preferred sources are blood smears for T. b. rhodesiense and fluid aspirated from an enlarged lymph node for T. b. gambiense. Wet preparations should be examined for motile trypanosomes, and smears should be fixed, stained with Giemsa (or Field) stain, and examined. The concentration of trypanosomes in blood is often low, and concentration techniques (eg, centrifugation, miniature anion-exchange centrifugation, quantitative buffy coat technique) enhance sensitivity.
Antibody detection assays are not very useful clinically because seroconversion occurs after the onset of symptoms. However, a card agglutination test for T. b. gambiense is useful in mass screening programs to identify candidates for microscopic examination.
A lumbar puncture should be done in all patients with African trypanosomiasis. When CSF is involved, opening pressure may be increased, and CSF has elevated levels of lymphocytes (≥ 6 cells/mcL), total protein, and nonspecific IgM. In addition to trypanosomes, characteristic Mott cells (plasma cells with cytoplasmic vacuoles that contain immunoglobulin [Russell bodies]) may be present.
Other, nonspecific laboratory findings include anemia, monocytosis, and markedly elevated serum levels of polyclonal IgM.
Treatment of African trypanosomiasis varies by species and stage of disease.
Pentamidine and suramin are effective against bloodstream stages of both T. brucei subspecies but do not cross the blood-brain barrier and are not useful for CNS infection. Pentamidine is used for T. b. gambiense, and suramin is the only drug effective for the hemolymphatic stage of T. b. rhodesiense. The dosage of pentamidine is 4 mg/kg IM or IV once a day for 7 to 10 days. An initial test dose of suramin (available from the CDC) 100 mg IV (to exclude hypersensitivity) is followed by 20 mg/kg (up to 1 g) IV on days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21. Suramin is not used to treat T. b. gambiense. It is potentially effective, but it has been associated with side effects including nausea, vomiting, photophobia, hyperesthesias, peripheral neuropathy, nephrotoxicity, urticaria, and pruritus. Also, serious hypersensitivity reactions can occur in patients co-infected with Onchocerca volvulus, which is endemic in many areas of West Africa where T. b. gambiense occurs.
Flexinidazole, which is in the World Health Organization's interim guidelines for the treatment of T. b. gambiense infection in endemic regions, is used in people with hemolymphatic and non-severe CNS involvement. It is not available or recommended for use in the US.
When available, eflornithine 100 mg/kg IV 4 times a day for 14 days is used for CNS disease due to T. b. gambiense (eflornithine is ineffective for T. b. rhodesiense). The WHO recommends eflornithine in combination with nifurtimox 5 mg/kg 3 times a day for 10 days (1). Adverse effects of eflornithine include gastrointestinal symptoms, bone marrow suppression, and seizures. Common side effects of nifurtimox are anorexia, nausea, vomiting, weight loss, polyneuropathy, headache, dizziness, and vertigo.
In the US, eflornithine, nifurtimox, and melarsoprol can be obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Melarsoprol, an organic arsenical, is often used in African countries because of the limited availability of eflornithine, even though adverse effects can be severe and life threatening. Melarsoprol dosage is as follows:
Alternative regimens have been proposed for debilitated patients with severe CNS involvement. Serial follow-up examinations, including cerebrospinal fluid analysis, are recommended every 6 months (sooner if symptoms return) for 2 years.
Serious adverse effects of melarsoprol include encephalopathic reactions, exfoliative dermatitis, cardiovascular toxicity (hypertension, arrhythmia, heart failure), and the gastrointestinal and renal toxicity of arsenicals.
Corticosteroids have been used to decrease the risk of encephalopathic reactions.
Prevention of African trypanosomiasis includes avoiding endemic areas and protecting against tsetse flies. Visitors to game parks should wear substantial wrist- and ankle-length clothing (tsetse flies bite through thin clothes) in neutral colors that blend with the background and should use insect repellents, although efficacy of repellents against tsetse flies may be limited.
Pentamidine can help prevent T. b. gambiense infection, but it may damage pancreatic beta cells, resulting in insulin release and hypoglycemia followed later by diabetes; thus, it is no longer used for prophylaxis.
African trypanosomiasis is caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in West and Central Africa and by T. b. rhodesiense in East Africa; tsetse flies are the main vector.
There are 3 stages of disease: cutaneous, hemolymphatic, and CNS (sleeping sickness).
Diagnose using light microscopy of blood (thin or thick smears) or another fluid sample.
Treatment of African trypanosomiasis varies by species and stage of disease.
Without CNS involvement, use pentamidine for T. b. gambiense and suramin for T. b. rhodesiense.
With CNS involvement, use eflornithine (if available) alone or in combination with nifurtimox, or melarsoprol (if eflornithine is not available) for T. b. gambiense; use melarsoprol for T. b. rhodesiense. | <urn:uuid:1c2594d4-0252-4c70-b7c1-58bbb45c9107> | CC-MAIN-2021-31 | https://www.merckmanuals.com/en-pr/professional/infectious-diseases/extraintestinal-protozoa/african-trypanosomiasis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-31/segments/1627046153814.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20210729011903-20210729041903-00652.warc.gz | en | 0.882055 | 2,157 | 3.53125 | 4 |
Cup with Profile Head of the Maize God
Art Institute of Chicago
About the work
The Olmecs were the first known Mesoamerican civilization of the Preclassic period (1500 BCE–300 CE). They occupied the Gulf Coast of Mexico including the Valley of Mexico where this ceramic cup, featuring the Maize God, originated. The god is recognizable as the Maize God by the cross hatchings, a common Olmec motif for corn. The god was typically depicted with corn growing from his head which may be represented on this vessel.Olmec pottery was especially prosperous in San Lorenzo and trade brought the practice to cities in the valley such as Tlapacoya, where this work was possibly produced.Doyle, James. “Olmec Art.” Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Feb. 2017, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/olmc/hd_olmc.htm.
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Is something is missing? | <urn:uuid:cce15af0-4d91-48e0-8d17-7753e025e16c> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://www.curationist.org/works/work-aioc-120476 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100508.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20231203193127-20231203223127-00361.warc.gz | en | 0.946088 | 239 | 3.515625 | 4 |
What really happens during business transition?
What is transition?
A period of intensive growth when an organisation goes through more changes than others experience in a lifetime.
How to transition successfully?
By giving up a proportionate amount of “the old” and welcoming novelty, “the new”. Changing the old patterns, behaviours and attitudes will help you experience a true sense of re-birth and re-invent yourself into a more mature organisation.
What happens during transition?
- Change triggers – you receive signals that a major change is required for successful and evolutionary adaptation. You are unaware of these signals because you are not ready yet to recognise that “the way things used to be” needs changing.
- Loss of balance – your resources – time, people, money – are out of balance.
- Crises – you start to experience problems and pain caused by giving up cherished notions and “the old” ways of doing and looking at things.
- Longing for the past – you desire things to be the way they used to be, but they cannot. You are unwilling, or unable to suffer the pain of giving-up the outgrown. You start to cling, often forever, onto the old patterns of thinking and behaving, failing to negotiate to any crisis. You ascribe the crises to irrelevant factors.
- Resistance – the process of giving up is interrupted: the crises are prolonged, resulting in chronic crises, causing your business either to shrink, fail or be dissolved.
- Intervention – your desire for relief from this situation repels you to seek intervention to help you complete the process of giving up “the old” and welcoming “the new”. Our role is to help you complete the giving-up process that has already begun. | <urn:uuid:6e26cd5b-630a-4f61-9281-5565e82db1bd> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | http://www.bmim.co.uk/portfolio/business-transition/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679100016.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20231128214805-20231129004805-00898.warc.gz | en | 0.936998 | 369 | 2.609375 | 3 |
We at Health Avengers love articles like this. Why? Because it goes ahead and proves that not only does alternative medicine work, it’s got a backing in the natural world. Now chimpanzees are continuing to emphasize a natural lifestyle with alternative medicines can work. These clever animals (some of our closest neighbours in the animal world) are using kaolin clay to support their digestion. Not only that, but they are ‘detoxing’. So to those who say you can’t detox, you can show them this article to prove that you’re right. Confirmation (once again) that natural works. Good in, good out.
Wild chimpanzees in the forests of Uganda are increasingly eating clay to supplement the minerals in their diet, according to a long-term international study published in the early version of the journal PLoS ONE. The paper led by the University of Oxford describes how the researchers observed wild chimpanzees in the Budongo forest eating and drinking from clay pits and termite mounds. The paper concludes that this change in diet may be partly due to the widespread destruction of raffia palm trees that chimps relied on for their minerals in the past. However, the main reason seems to be the chimps have recently started to boost the minerals in their diet by eating the clay which also helps them ‘detox’ and digest their food.
An analysis of the clay and termite soils shows they are very high in a range of minerals, but the clay was particularly high in aluminium – a feature of kaolinite clays eaten by a range of species, including humans, to aid digestion and detoxification. The chimps’ diet, which consists mainly of fruits and leaves, is very high in tannins and the researchers believe that the clay provides an important way for chimpanzees to neutralize these. It is common practice for local women in Budongo to drink or eat forest clay mixed with water for stomach problems and during pregnancy. Clays, such as kaolinite, also contain sodium, calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium, says the paper, which the Budongo chimps seem to have discovered they can access with their leaf sponges. Accessing the clay with the leaf sponges was also found to provide higher mineral concentrations than taking clay-water or clay directly from the ground.
Image Source: http://www.trebuchet-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Chimpanzee-eats-clay-by-Anne-Schel.jpg
A quick note from our founder:
Over the past year, my friend Dave at PaleoHacks has been working on a secret cookbook with world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu chef Peter Servold.
Well, today this new this new incredible Paleo Cookbook is finally available to be shipped right to your door for FREE
That's right — as a special launch promotion, we’re offering our brand new Paleo fat loss cookbook to you for free (Chef Pete lost 60 lbs using these recipes!) — All you have to do is just cover a small shipping cost (international shipping is a bit more).
Get your FREE copy of Paleo Eats Here. (Grab this today, because we only ordered a small batch of these cookbooks for this freebie promotion, and they will sell out FAST!) | <urn:uuid:3679bd9d-4d85-4c64-bab2-60e029be0489> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://thehealthavengers.com/chimpanzees-forced-to-eat-dirt-because-of-the-destruction-of-their-habitat/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583509996.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20181016030831-20181016052331-00267.warc.gz | en | 0.953049 | 691 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Megan felt miserable. She and her family had relocated in the middle of the school year to another city. She was missing her friends and changes were difficult for her. It seemed the problems began one morning when she was getting ready for school.
While washing her hair, she thought she had swallowed some of the shampoo. She wondered if it was toxic. She worried she’d get sick and die. She rinsed her mouth incessantly until she felt safe.
“Is it poisonous?” she would ask her mom, every day before taking a shower. Her mom would reassure her that it was harmless.
But Megan wasn’t satisfied with the answer. She couldn’t take a chance and took safety measures each time. Soon, her worries increased and transferred to other things like soap and toothpaste. Smells of certain products also became threatening to her. She avoided places, situations, people, and products that could cause her harm. Megan was unhappy, and her parents felt lost.
Many children are anxious for different reasons, and parents need to be aware of the difference between OCD and other mental and emotional challenges. When children wash, rinse, clean, check, repeat, fix, order, count, or show other outward manifestations of OCD, parents can easily determine the problem is probably OCD. However, children may experience violent, religious, sexual, and neutral obsessions that may accompany some outward but also internal compulsions. Parents may have more difficulty identifying the compulsions and thus recognizing the problem as OCD.
Maintaining a close relationship and open communication with your children can help you discover what they are thinking. Children afflicted with OCD may become irritable, demanding and bossy. They may ask you to do certain behaviors to ease their anxiety. Children may ask questions not necessarily for information purposes but to feel comforted and reassured. They may stay away from situations, places, and people they didn’t avoid previously. When you begin to feel overwhelmed by your child’s troublesome behavior, you know something is amiss.
Getting the right information can be the first step toward recovery. Find out your family’s mental health history. OCD is a physiological and behavioral illness. It’s also a genetic predisposition. You may discover ancestors and relatives who have suffered from OCD or similar illnesses. Then you can help your child realize OCD is heritable and is no one’s fault. This will help normalize the challenge.
OCD can be triggered by a stressful or traumatic experience. Puberty itself can be stressful enough that it could trigger OCD. Read reputable books and websites to help you understand OCD better.
Recognizing the OCD cycle (listed below) will be useful because books and websites cannot possibly list every symptom your child may be experiencing. There are as many variations of symptoms as there are people on the planet.
The OCD cycle can appear as follows:
- Trigger. It can be a thought, image, situation, place, event, animal, or just about anything that causes individuals to start obsessing about their fears.
- Obsessions. These are intrusive thoughts that won’t leave the person’s mind. One thought will lead to another and another. OCD sufferers find it difficult to redirect their attention away from these thoughts.
- Feelings. Feelings are intense and will vary according to the person’s target obsession. Most people will experience anxiety but guilt, depression, anger, frustration, and other feelings may ensue.
- Compulsions. Compulsions are whatever the person will do to get relief from the obsessions and feelings. The compulsions can be either behavioral or mental. Sometimes when individuals don’t receive treatment soon enough, their compulsions may become as automatic as their obsessions.
- Relief. Relief is obtained by doing the compulsions and is what every OCD sufferer wishes for. Unfortunately, it will only be temporary until the next trigger appears. Unbeknownst to the individual, the false sense of improvement and relief is actually reinforcing the OCD cycle.
Megan’s triggers were various products and substances that she suspected were poisonous. Her obsessions were the thoughts about what would happen if she were to inhale or swallow those products. She was afraid to get sick and die, so she felt anxious about it. Some of her compulsions were: rinsing incessantly, checking with her mom and obtaining reassurance she wouldn’t get sick and die. Avoiding products and situations that would possibly harm her was a compulsion as well.
You and your child need to remember that OCD is an illness like other illnesses that children and adults have. Talk about children who suffer from diabetes or asthma. They experience difficulties but learn how to cope. For instance, children who have asthma can still play sports. They get used to bringing their inhalers along. Children with diabetes learn certain skills and routines to manage their sugar levels. Likewise children who are challenged by OCD can learn new skills to deal with it and move on with their lives. Remind your child that people who have asthma or diabetes are not embarrassed or ashamed of their illness and neither should your child be.
Telling your child to “just stop it” won’t work, and you know this already. Criticism, overcorrecting and overreacting trigger more anxiety and frustration not only in your child but everyone else in the family — including you. Insensitivity will backfire, but accommodating your child’s OCD demands will be exhausting as well.
There is a fine balance and practicing reflective listening can decrease negative responses. Difficult situations go more smoothly when parents practice those skills. Parents can let their children know they care. Say something like, “I know you are having a really hard time! If I had those thoughts and worries, I’d probably feel the same way. Would you like to talk about it?”
It’s easier said than done. When your children want to involve you in their rituals, validating their feelings certainly won’t solve their anxiety, but they’ll know you understand. It will also delay the compulsions even it is just a few seconds or minutes.
Give your child hope: “We will be going to see someone who will help us learn how to deal with this challenge.” Your children need to know there are solutions. Let them know they’ll be learning skills to deal with OCD.
Sometimes parents hope their child’s behavior is just a temporary situation. When your child’s “current self” is no longer her “typical self,” consult with your pediatrician. Watch for the following symptoms: easily crying or irritated; declining grades; appetite changes; hopelessness; worthlessness; sleeping difficulties; increased periods of extreme anxiety; social conflicts or isolation; tardiness; concentration difficulties; underachieving; and inability to make decisions.
Find a specialist who is trained to treat OCD by implementing cognitive-behavioral therapy that includes Exposure and Response Prevention. Multiple studies have proven CBT to be the most effective treatment. When it comes to treating pediatric OCD, research also indicates that CBT with the focus on parents and family involvement provide positive outcomes. Visit the International OCD Foundation to locate a therapist specialized in treating OCD.
It is difficult to see one’s child suffer, but know that there is hope. You and your child can learn the skills needed to keep OCD at bay. Learn how to manage it, and the entire family can enjoy life again.
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 1 Jul 2014
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:5d54c4e5-1b75-42d4-83d5-c82f772f9fda> | CC-MAIN-2021-49 | https://obsessiveanxiety.com/what-can-parents-do-when-ocd-sneaks-in/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-49/segments/1637964359093.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20211201052655-20211201082655-00417.warc.gz | en | 0.970157 | 1,592 | 3.234375 | 3 |
For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page, which includes Fowl's current Living by the Word column as well as past magazine and blog content. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.
This Sunday is the Feast of Christ the King. All of the readings for this Sunday focus on kingship—David’s, God’s, Jesus’. Jesus’ views on kingship are revealed in his famous discussion with Pilate. Jesus makes it clear that his kingship is directed at testifying to the truth.
Jesus is a king with a specific mission: he has come into the world to testify to the truth. The truth is not instrumental to some other political purpose. It does not serve to support Jesus’ power or authority. Instead it is the decisive identity marker of Jesus and his followers—they are “of the truth” rather than “of the world.” Jesus has already made this point in his prayer for his followers in John 17. There he says that his followers do not belong to the world, just as he does not belong to the world. Jesus then asks the Father to “sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
Jesus’ kingdom is based on truth, and this truth can make the citizens of this kingdom holy. We should be wary of a kingdom directed toward holiness. It is simply too easy to point out examples of self-acquired holiness, which are nothing more than superficial acts of piety, masking real hostility and hatred. (Nobody described this false type of holiness better than the writer Flannery O'Conner in her short story “Revelation.”)
Nevertheless, true holiness is one of God’s deepest desires for us. God’s desire for holiness is a function of God’s desire for unbroken intimacy with us. Holiness fits us for friendship with God. As with all of the best friendships, a friendship with God is based on holding important things in common, having a common love and a common goal. God's call to holiness is an invitation to love what and whom God loves.
It is important to remember, however, that in addition to praying that his followers would be sanctified in the truth, Jesus prays that his followers will not be taken out of the world. Indeed, he explicitly sends them into the world. It could hardly be any other way. If holiness leads us to love what and whom God loves, and if we are followers of the king who both is himself “the truth” and bears witness to the truth, then this kingdom must send its citizens out into the world—to bear witness to the truth in word and deed in imitation of its king. | <urn:uuid:8d6cd095-e999-4dd0-ba6d-90a58ead5150> | CC-MAIN-2017-30 | https://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2012-11/holy-citizens | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-30/segments/1500550967030.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20170728123647-20170728143647-00081.warc.gz | en | 0.97522 | 586 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Editor of The Zen Gateway website and practitioner of Zen Buddhism.
The myth of Atlantis, the city that sank beneath the waves, is a tale of pride before a fall. A civilisation that grew so strong that the gods feared them and destroyed the city overnight sending it to the bottom of the ocean that still bears its name.
The only written sources for this story are Plato’s accounts in the Timaeus and Critias. According to him the story was a secret kept by the Egyptians and told by a mysterious priest called Solon to the Greek philosopher. According to the priest this event happened 9,000 years prior to Plato’s hearing of it in the 5th century B.C.E.
Scholars think that the story of Atlantis was most probably a literary device used by Plato to make a point rather than something he believed as historical fact. As such Atlantis has continued in this way to be re-interpreted by writers ever since to make many different points. What is undeniable is that the story of the sunken city is one that features in folklore around the world and even though there may never have actually been an historical Atlantis, there are most certainly historical events where land has become submerged through natural events.
Such stories have been re-told since before Noah’s flood in the Hebrew Bible, itself a story that has Mesopotamian precedents.
“It is no wonder that in oral tradition Dunwich (Suffolk), has joined the ranks of legendary sunken cities. It is said that the bells of its drowned churches are still heard ringing under the waves as a storm-warning. Camilla, Lady Gurdon, in 1893 reported the same tradition of undersea bells as current in her time at Aldburgh and Felixstowe and the same story was told of Shipden church bells off Cromer, Norfolk.”
Like the Dunwich church bells, Atlantis continued to impact upon the human psyche through the ages. It acquired increasingly fantastical traits and became ever more idealised over time. It was the inspiration for Thomas More’s Utopia and became the source of highly advanced technological and spiritual innovations as the story was re-told by Theosophists and occultists of the 19th & 20th century. Even ‘alternate’ historians such as ancient alien theorist Erich von Daniken sees in this story the hand of extra-terrestrials in its story.
For the visionary poet William Blake, Atlantis became the place of revolution in his poem America. This poem, a cry against Empire, after the American War of Independence, quite literally places Atlantis between Britain and America. It becomes the echoing symbol of the fall and redemption of both a country and the human soul.
On those vast shady hills between America & Albion's shore,
Now barr'd out by the Atlantic sea, call'd Atlantean hills Because from their bright summits you may pass to the Golden WorId,
An ancient palace, archetype of mighty Emperies,
Rears its immortal pinnacles, built in the forest of God By Ariston the king of beauty for his stolen bride.
America by William Blake (10: 5-10)
To Blake, who had become disillusioned by The Great Terror of the French Revolution and the mercantilism which replaced the British Empire in America, the fact that the Atlanteans had fallen away from their divine communion with the god Poseidon and become greedy empire builders was the point of choosing this particular symbol. This fallen state is now ripe for renewal in the mind of the visionary poet and he chooses Atlantis as its symbol.
There is an overlap here with the Buddha’s teaching in the Lotus Sutra of the inherent Buddha-nature or original ‘seed’ of Enlightenment , featuring in the parable of the man who has a priceless jewel sewn into his robe.This is seen as an allegory for leaving the path to Nirvana and entering instead the Path to Buddhahood .
“It tells of an impoverished man who goes to visit a close wealthy friend. Being treated to wine, he becomes drunk and falls asleep. The wealthy friend must go out on business, but before leaving, he sews a priceless jewel into the lining of his sleeping friend’s robe. When the poor man awakens, he has no idea that he has been given the jewel. He then sets out on a journey. To provide himself with food and clothing, he searches with all his energy, encountering great hardship. Being always in want, he is content with whatever little he can obtain. Later he happens to meet his old friend, who is shocked at his poverty and shows him the jewel in the robe. The man realizes for the first time that he possesses a priceless jewel and is overjoyed. The five hundred arhats explain that, just as this man was ignorant of the treasure he possessed, so the Buddha’s disciples were unaware that the Buddha had caused them to plant the seeds of an unsurpassed aspiration and were instead satisfied with provisional teachings and a small portion of nirvana.”
The drunken state of the impoverished man is like the Atlanteans who have forgotten their divine aspiration and sunk into vice and suffering as a result. The re-surfacing of the jewel is brought about by the Buddha who is to lead him to the realisation of the inherent Buddha-nature. Thus he forgoes the vehicle leading only to his own salvation, and by turning outward to help others is himself redeemed.
The Lore of the Land: A Guide to England’s Legends by Westwood & Simpson, pub Penguin 2006
This article is from the series:
Other articles in this series:
A Crooked Heart Misses the Target
Buddhism & Folklore - The Naive Heart
Spiritual Medicine Begins as Poison
The Blindness of the Calculating Self
The Stoppered Vessel
The Round Table of King Arthur
The virtue of generosity, charity or giving. Your donations are welcomed.Learn more | <urn:uuid:aa770d3e-8a5e-4b31-ad25-96188347e3a6> | CC-MAIN-2020-45 | https://www.thezengateway.com/culture/atlantis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-45/segments/1603107893845.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20201027082056-20201027112056-00506.warc.gz | en | 0.968142 | 1,240 | 3.046875 | 3 |
On the 3rd April 1934, after 27 months of enforced idleness, the first of the shipyard workers, some 400 men, returned to the yard, at 7.00am, escorted by pipers from the Dalmuir Parish Pipe Band in full regalia. The first thing they had to do was clean off rust – around 130 tons of it – and birds’ nests and bird droppings from the hull of liner 534 – later better known as Queen Mary. Lloyd’s surveyors inspected the structure, and reported that overall the state of the steelwork was quite remarkable. The other major concern was whether or not the hull had suffered any distortion from sitting on the stocks for so long. To everyone’s relief, the construction had been sufficiently thorough to support the hull throughout the period of enforced idleness and she passed a Lloyd’s inspection. On 26th May 1934, official permission was received from the Government to resume construction. Soon thousands of men were back at work, in the yard and the many outside suppliers.
Work had been suspended on 11th December 1931, when Cunard ran out of money, at the height of the Great Depression. Apart from a few men retained for essential maintenance, thousands were laid off, along with several thousand more at the various suppliers of components and parts. Finally in October 1932 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Neville Chamberlain, asked Lord Weir to look into the problem and make recommendations. As a result, Cunard and White Star merged, in return for which the UK government agreed to provide financial assistance for the completion of Hull 534 – later Queen Mary – with enough for a later sister ship. The North Atlantic Shipping (Advances) Bill was approved in the Houses of Parliament on 27th March 1934, and signalled the start of the end of the Depression. | <urn:uuid:749f23b0-7062-4f9f-bcde-36c3b2145215> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | https://www.marpubs.com/3rd-april-1934-work-restarts-hull-534/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578765115.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20190426093516-20190426114616-00038.warc.gz | en | 0.979843 | 375 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Psoriasis is a problem that millions of people try to cover up. This fairly common skin condition ranges in severity from dandruff-like scaling to widespread lesions and rashes. Psoriatric arthritis, which affects the joints, is especially painful.
“Psoriasis most often appears as dry, raised, red patches of skin, with silvery scales on top,” says Charles M. Moon, MD,
dermatologist at Saint Francis Medical Center. “Although it often appears on the scalp, knees and elbows, the condition shows up in other areas of the body as well. For some, psoriasis is a minor nuisance; for others, the emotional and physical pain of the disease drastically lessens the quality of life.”
There is no cure for psoriasis, but there are many new treatments that can provide relief for this difficult condition. “In the last decade we have many new medications besides just creams to treat psoriasis,” says Moon. If you have psoriasis that is worsening or poorly controlled, consult
For more information, visit
www.sfmc.net/dev-2015 or call 573-331-3996. | <urn:uuid:bd53040a-9183-4bba-86d8-c4edb683fb63> | CC-MAIN-2017-43 | https://www.sfmc.net/health-page/psoriasis-sufferers-should-see-a-dermatologist/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-43/segments/1508187823309.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20171019141046-20171019161046-00158.warc.gz | en | 0.94611 | 248 | 2.515625 | 3 |
A hybrid network is a network that contains two or more communications standards in one network design. An example of this is a network that combines wired and wireless technologies. A hybrid network can also refer to a network design that combines two or more types of basic physical topologies, such as multiple star topologies connected by a bus topology.Continue Reading
A network that is hybrid in terms of connectivity uses networking devices as access points that can provide wired and wireless connectivity. A simple example of such a device is a home router that provides several Ethernet ports to allow network access by plugging in and Wi-Fi capability to provide Internet access to tablets, mobile phones and other devices that are not close in proximity to the router. This setup provides greater flexibility in a world where more than just desktop computers are capable of connecting to the Internet.
Using a combination of connection methods decreases costs since using wireless connections means less physical equipment and building preparation are needed. Hybrid networks allow the network administrator to provide the stability and speed of a wired connection where it is needed and the convenience and portability of a wireless connection, which allows workers to be productive away from the desk when necessary.Learn more about Computer Programming | <urn:uuid:ca4ebd10-c9d6-47c0-98ef-925e2c849b2d> | CC-MAIN-2018-39 | https://www.reference.com/technology/hybrid-network-e59885263fca38df | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-39/segments/1537267160400.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20180924110050-20180924130450-00253.warc.gz | en | 0.942242 | 238 | 3.921875 | 4 |
Suicide is a significant cause of death in many western countries, in some cases exceeding deaths by motor vehicle accidents annually. Many countries spend vast amounts of money on safer roads, but very little on suicide awareness and prevention, or on educating people about how to make good life choices.
Attempts at suicide, and suicidal thoughts or feelings are usually a symptom indicating that a person isn't coping, often as a result of some event or series of events that they personally find overwhelmingly traumatic or distressing. In many cases, the events in question will pass, their impact can be mitigated, or their overwhelming nature will gradually fade if the person is able to make constructive choices about dealing with the crisis when it is at its worst.
Since this can be extremely difficult, this article is an attempt to raise awareness about suicide, so that we may be better able to recognize and help other people in crisis, and also to find how to seek help or make better choices ourselves.
The information here is updated periodically, and is intended to be informative rather than authoritative. Readers are encouraged to offer feedback, suggestions, criticisms and any comments on ways you may have found it helpful.
Here are a number of frequently asked questions to help raise awareness and dispel some of the common myths about suicide:
- Why do people attempt suicide?
- Aren't all suicidal people crazy?
- Doesn't talking about suicide encourage it?
- So what sort of things can contribute to someone feeling suicidal?
- How would I know if someone I care about was contemplating suicide?
- I'm a bit uncomfortable about the topic; can't it just go away?
- So what can I do about it?
- Help? Counseling? But isn't counseling just a waste of time?
- Talk, talk, talk. It's all just talk. How's that going to help?
- How do telephone counseling and suicide hot-line services work?
- What about me; am I at risk?
- How does suicide affect friends and family members?
- Hang on; isn't it illegal though? Doesn't that stop people?
- But don't people have the right to kill themselves if they want to? | <urn:uuid:7382d857-3a4f-47e6-87e3-f3cafe34534c> | CC-MAIN-2018-51 | http://www.jewishpinkelephant.com/2013/10/suicidefrequently-asked-questions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-51/segments/1544376824180.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20181212225044-20181213010544-00529.warc.gz | en | 0.969874 | 449 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Why children have fevers and how to cope with it.
A fever is a commonly a health problem that happens to lots of children. Eventhough sometimes it is a bit worrying, but it is also actually a sign that the child’s immune system is fighting off infection caused by bacterias or viruses. When a child’s body temperature suddenly increases, most parents will tend to worry, get sleepless night and feeling guilt, what more if they are young couples that has no knowledge on how to ease the child’s suffering.
During fever, the white blood cells will try to fight and eradicate the bacterias or viruses by putting out chemicals that increases the bodies temperature. The increase of body temperature is actually killing off any bacteria or viruses but at the same time causes the child to have fever. Most people assumes that the higher the temperature of the body, the more dangerous it is. However this idea is actually wrong because being at higher temperature doesn’t mean that your child is sick compared to when they are in normal body temperature.
Fever would normally makes a child feel restless, weak, lack of appetite to eat and uncomfortable. In order to reduce the effect of fever we should let the child:-
1). Drink lots of water.
Having fever can cause a child to be dehydrated. So it is important to give them drink lots of water.
2). Wear proper clothing.
They should be given to use thin clothing and fabric in order for them to feel comfortable and to allow better air circulation.
3). Do not force them to eat a lot.
Do not force a child to eat too much when they are having fever it is common for them to have lack of appetite to eat, instead just let them eat the amount of food that they can eat.
4). Follow Doctors advise and prescription.
When giving medicine, make sure to follow the doctors presciption. The doses given is normally based on the age and body weight of the child, So please do not go beyond the doctor’s advise and prescription for it might lead to overdose and complication.
Body temperature should not be used as a measurement to wether or not the child is sick. The correct way of monitoring a child’s health condition while having fever is to observe their behaviour. If the child is not crying, not fussy about their surrounding, and still have the appetite to eat, most probably there’s nothing to worry much about. | <urn:uuid:cb3e9edc-db4b-4ab5-badc-334821bc06a7> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://healthmad.com/conditions-and-diseases/child-fever-alarm/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416400379466.35/warc/CC-MAIN-20141119123259-00010-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956317 | 506 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Nearly everyone knows someone who says they are allergic to penicillin. Up to 10 percent of people report being allergic to this widely used class of antibiotic, making it the most commonly reported drug allergy. Over time, however, the vast majority of people who once had a allergic reaction to penicillin lose sensitivity and can be treated safely with the drug.
Understanding penicillin allergies is important for a variety of reasons. For certain conditions, penicillin is the best (or only proven) therapy. Some patients need penicillin because they are allergic to other types of antibiotics. Allergists may want to know if childhood allergic reactions persist in their adult patients, to establish more complete medical histories and treatment options.
Penicillin Allergy Symptoms
Allergic reactions to penicillin are common, and symptoms may include:
- Hives (raised, extremely itchy spots that come and go over a period of hours)
- Tissue swelling under the skin, typically around the face (also known as angioedema)
- Throat tightness
A less common but more serious allergic reaction is anaphylaxis which occurs in highly sensitive patients. Anaphylaxis occurs suddenly, can worsen quickly and can be deadly. Symptoms might include hives, swelling and throat tightness listed above, but also any of the following:
- Tightness in the chest and difficulty breathing
- Swelling of the tongue, throat, nose and lips
- Dizziness and fainting or loss of consciousness, which can lead to shock and heart failure
These symptoms require immediate attention at the nearest Emergency Room. The first line of treatment for anaphylaxis is epinephrine. If you have been prescribed an epinephrine auto-injector, use it right away, then seek follow-up medical care. If you do not have an auto-injector available, call 911 or go to the emergency room immediately.
Penicillin Allergy Testing and Diagnosis
|Read more: Penicillin Testing: A Patient’s Story|
An allergist can help you evaluate the safety of taking penicillin.
In addition to assessing your detailed history about a prior allergic reaction to penicillin, allergists administer skin tests to make an accurate diagnosis. These tests, which are conducted in an office or a hospital setting, typically take about two to three hours.
When safely and correctly administered, skin tests involve pricking the skin, injecting a weakened form of the drug, and observing the patient’s reaction. Those with positive allergy skin tests should avoid penicillin and be treated with a different antibiotic in the future.
People who react negatively to the injection are considered to be at low risk for an immediate acute reaction to the medication. The allergist might then give these individuals a single, full-strength oral dose to confirm the absence of a penicillin allergy.
If penicillin is essential treatment for an illness, people in some cases can undergo penicillin desensitization to enable them to receive the medication in a controlled manner under the care of an allergist.
Reprinted and revised with permission from the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology; www.acaai.org | <urn:uuid:a6222e3d-a9ad-4428-8c56-c24fc895e519> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://www.allergyasthmanetwork.org/education/allergies/common-allergens/medication-allergy/penicillin-allergy/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583515041.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20181022113301-20181022134801-00047.warc.gz | en | 0.931323 | 668 | 2.953125 | 3 |
All will be well with your child's recognition of sight words when she completes this page on the word "all"!
Learning the sight word "on" is an important step to reading fluency. This worksheet will help kids practice by tracing, writing and coloring the word.
Looking for a fun way to give your child some writing practice? On this worksheet, he'll get to trace and write the word "many."
This worksheet practices spelling, handwriting, and reading comprehension skills by asking kids to trace and write the word "two."
The best way to learn new words is to practice them in context, and this worksheet allows kids to use the word "live" in a sentence.
This 'Write and Draw Sight Words' worksheet is all about the word 'girl': have your child trace the word first, then try writing it on her own.
This worksheet builds reading and writing skills, and shows kids that reading can be fun! Kids practice tracing the word "fly", then write it in a sentence.
This worksheet makes learning sight words a hands-on activity as your child traces the word "cold" then practices writing it himself.
This 'Write and Draw Sight Words' worksheet, all about the word 'eat', will have kids writing, reading and spelling in a jif.
This fun worksheet, all about the word "grow," is chock-full of fine motor skills practice, including tracing, writing, and even a coloring activity, too! | <urn:uuid:1e012cc8-bd0a-49c1-b341-35e713d97aae> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://www.education.com/collection/pxc8701/sight-words/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443737913039.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001221833-00083-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.92806 | 310 | 4.09375 | 4 |
Skyscout: point and click to identify stars and planets
Identify: Simply point the SkyScout at any star in the sky and click the "target" button. The SkyScout will instantly tell you what object you are looking at.
Locate: To locate a star or planet, select the object's name from the menu and follow the directional arrows through the viewfinder. SkyScout tells you when you are on target. It's that easy!
Learn: Once you have targeted an object the real fun begins.
The SkyScout includes entertaining and educational audio and text information, including facts, trivia, history and mythology about our most popular celestial objects.
Why do I blog this? I like this idea of using locative technology: deriving your location to spatial artifacts via GPS technology.
It's a bit cheesy anyway: you can get "text description of some of the coolest objects man has sent into space including the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Space Shuttle"... | <urn:uuid:3f7036be-2bb5-4dcb-959f-8cdca3d12a3b> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | http://www.nicolasnova.net/pasta-and-vinegar/2006/03/16/skyscout-point-and-click-to-identify-stars-and-planets | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550249508792.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20190223162938-20190223184938-00305.warc.gz | en | 0.894788 | 207 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Find the Latest Resources in Education Today
How 3 districts leverage librarians’ digital knowledge
School librarians are critical to schools’ digital success
Librarians and libraries are in a unique position to help schools and districts prepare for and progress through the digital transition, according to a just-released Alliance for Excellent Education report.
Librarians and school leaders can partner to create strategic technology purchasing and implementation plans, and librarians and educators are able to work together on technology integration when it comes to teaching and learning. School libraries, then, become critical to digital learning experiences.
The American Library Association and the American Association of School Librarians has adopted the term “school librarian” to include library media specialists, teacher librarians, and media coordinators.
(Next page: Three districts that know librarians are key to the digital transition) | <urn:uuid:1c307f0d-c89e-4a87-aed9-6f2ed48269d6> | CC-MAIN-2015-27 | http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/01/29/librarians-digital-transition-930/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-27/segments/1435375098071.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20150627031818-00170-ip-10-179-60-89.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.927554 | 181 | 3.03125 | 3 |
A job is a function primarily in business, by a person for the provision of some product or service for money. Therefore a person engaged in socially productive activities as in the past would have been seen as “holding a job.” Today, that definition if observed accurately would completely release that term from its past traditional restrictions.
As the innovative ones of our society must continue to find their own way in being socially productive, we must understand that jobs will never be what they used to be 50 years ago or even 10 years ago. All who need to earn a living will not continue to do it in the old fashion way that is by “holding a job.”
Jobs have lost this old fashion meaning in the business world of a 21st century society.
The term “jobs” now describes what is being done by the lowest paid workers, usually on a non-permanent basis, especially by those of developing countries and will continue to be done only for the next decade or two at most, that is until the robots begin to take over there as well.
The ways those who worked in factories in pervious generations and the social settings of these situations, much like the labor unions that they gave life to are now disappearing as a function. Yet we continue to use that term which has already lost its usefulness.
Joblessness, unemployment rate, increasing employment rate are outmoded statistical references that distort the real condition of the economy in their continued references and in their use giving implication of real analysis and real measurement of something.
What appear as measurement within these sort of analyses are still being used by stock markets players, business people and economists trying to help explain and determine actions that are to be taken. The use of these techniques only distorts, analyses of the real situation.
For example, the term “full employment” has no meaning or no more significance than eating a piece of cake except that it may make one feel good. Are those retired or wealthy enough not to seek work outside the framework of “employed?” Is Romney to be considered among the unemployed as he joked about? Does employment include only those recorded as having sought work and having found it?
What about self-employed, when are they employed, under-employed or unemployed? Or are they to be taken to be workers? Our system seems to be moving toward innovating persons becoming self-employed, so what will be their label?
All these terms affect the way we analyze our economy and the activity that this analysis influences. These terms all prevent us from seeing the real problems.
To be correcting for this situation, it becomes necessary, especially as we create or talk about creating policy that affects “jobs” that we take another look at the term “JOB,” unless we want it to remain a meaningless political term for political purposes, especially when referred to as "jobs, jobs, jobs." | <urn:uuid:fc19ae2f-575d-42c2-a1eb-c312238bd519> | CC-MAIN-2016-22 | http://www.mycommunitynow.com/blogs/communityblogs/211020651.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-22/segments/1464049275981.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160524002115-00100-ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974912 | 597 | 2.703125 | 3 |
"Aerial View looking southeast, showing [Fairmount Dam,] Waterworks site and Philadelphia Museum of Art on hill." HAER
Fairmount Dam, 1819-1821
Schuylkill River at Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia PA
© Jane Mork Gibson,
Workshop of the
World (Oliver Evans Press, 1990).
The decision in 1819 to
construct a dam at Fairmount presented a challenge that
had not been undertaken prior to that date. The river was
wide and the current very fast. The Schuylkill River
before the construction of the Fairmount Dam in 1819-1921
was a fast-flowing river subject to periodic freshets
caused by rainfall over its extensive drainage area.
After the dam was constructed, the river has remained
fast-flowing, but the current is not as easily seen
because of the six-mile pond created above the dam which
gives the false impression of quietness, but is much
respected by the rowing clubs and canoeists using the
When the Watering Committee made plans to convert the Fairmount Water Works to a water-power pumping station, it was necessary to arrange for a dam to be constructed across the river near the site. The Schuylkill Navigation Company had been chartered in 1815 and was in the process of making the Schuylkill a navigable waterway as far as the coal fields up the river. This involved a series of canals, locks, and dams. In 1819 the Navigation Company was in the process of completing the Flat Rock Dam at Manayunk, and the contractor was Ariel Cooley of Chicopee, Massachusetts.
The city purchased the water power rights at the Falls of the Schuylkill—the natural fall line of the river—from Josiah White and Joseph Gillingham for $150,000. Construction of Fairmount Dam would back the water up for six miles and cover the falls as well as inundate some of the islands in the river. Under the agreement, in addition to the dam, the Watering Committee also had to build a canal and locks for the Schuylkill Navigation, and these were to be turned over to that entity upon completion.
Proposals for the dam were received, and a contract was signed with Ariel Cooley to build the dam, the canal and locks, and also the head arches and mill race. He started work on April 18, 1819.
Most of the river bed was rock, but the depth varied. The dam was designed as an over-fall and was 1204 feet long, built of cribs of large hemlock logs filled with stone and planked over with oak plank, running up and down stream, which were sunk in the river and fastened to each other and to the rock bed. At the eastern end there was a stone pier joining it to a mound dam 270 feet long and 150 feet at the base, 12 feet at the top, which was 15 feet higher than the over-fall dam. The mound dam was fashioned of earth and quarry spalls, and was built on the part of the river bed that had 11 feet of mud above the rock bottom. It was calculated that it would be too difficult to anchor cribs in that location. Beyond the mound dam were three head arches 104 feet overall, situated at the entrance to the millrace which had to be cut out of solid rock.
Cooley's dam crossed the river diagonally, upstream, turned at an angle near the western shore, providing a large over-fall, and joined the head pier of the canal guard locks at a right angle. This design helped protect the dam from injury from ice and freshets, both of which were a danger on the Schuylkill. The last crib of the dam was put in place in June 25, 1821, and the first water flowed over it July 23, 1821. 1 The millrace, parallel to the river on the east bank, was blasted out of solid rock to a total width of 140 feet. It was 419 feet long, 90 feet wide, and from 16 to 60 feet deep, allowing continual passage of 408 square feet of water to the forebays of the water wheels in the Mill House.
During and after construction, there were questions about the dam's structure and reliability, and it was repaired and rebuilt, but it never gave way, although during some of the repairs it was found amazing that the structure still held. In 1842-1843 the dam was rebuilt from low tide up, and in 1865 a new crib was sunk in front of the old dam. Because of poor workmanship, it was necessary to place new cribs in front of the 1865 cribs, and a new dam was built on top in 1872. Through all these changes, the over-fall of the dam has moved 38 feet beyond the original line of the dam and a new pier had to be constructed to link it with the mound dam. In the more recent past the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has taken over the care of Fairmount Dam, and has rebuilt the structure with concrete.
The industrial archeology of Fairmount Dam is under water, but its presence cannot be denied. The canal locks on the west bank of the river were destroyed in the 1950s with the construction of the West River Drive and the Schuylkill Expressway. However, a remnant of the wall of the guard lock remains as part of the fish ladder constructed at the site in c.1980. 2 It is possible to consider the Schuylkill Pond created by the dam as a feature of importance to industrial archeologists. Few Philadelphians realize the vital part played by this 1821 structure in providing the city with a recreational facility of unsurpassable beauty and which was so essential a part of the creation of Fairmount Park but which was constructed for purely utilitarian purposes.
1 See notation by Frederick Graff on "Plan of the Mill Buildings at Fairmount, Designed by F. Graff in 1819," (Graff Collection, Franklin Institute).
2 See "Fairmount Dam, Fish Ladders Site Plan, Pennsylvania Fish Commission, 1977," (Fairmount Park Engineering Drawings).
Update May 2007 (by Jane Mork Gibson):
Although repairs and additions to Fairmount Dam have been undertaken in the years since its construction in 1819-1821, the original cribs have remained as placed, with the added support constructions before and behind. Today water flows over the dam, which people regard as a lovely waterfall, adding to the scenic view of the Schuylkill. Scant water flowed over the dam in earlier years, when the water was needed on the east bank for powering water wheels, and on the west bank for filling and operating the canal locks.
Originally constructed for ponding of the river for water supply and for waterpower, Fairmount Dam no longer is needed for waterpower, but it continues to serve the city by providing a water supply storage area for two pumping stations with intakes on the Schuylkill. Belmont Pumping Station is located on the west bank at Montgomery Drive; Queen Lane Pumping Station is located on the east bank in East Falls, near the City Line Bridge. In addition, the large “Schuylkill Pool" created by the dam has provided space for sculling by the “Schuylkill Navy," based at Boathouse Row, and for canoeing by the Philadelphia Canoe Club, located at the mouth of Wissahickon Creek. | <urn:uuid:aa06c818-839d-4f9e-9dd8-1d913727f6cf> | CC-MAIN-2017-04 | http://www.workshopoftheworld.com/fairmount_park/dam.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-04/segments/1484560279410.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20170116095119-00423-ip-10-171-10-70.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981417 | 1,563 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Raman reveals DNA in action
15 July 2008
Researchers at the University of Strathclyde, UK, have been able to use Raman spectroscopy to observe strands of DNA pairing up and falling apart by attaching them to silver nanoparticles.
Surface enhanced resonance Raman scattering (SERRS) provides a vibrational spectrum of a molecule by measuring the difference in energy of the scattered light from that of incident light. The intensity of the scattering is magnified by adsorbing the target molecule onto a roughened metal surface such as silver or gold nanoparticles. A further enhancement results if the nanoparticles aggregate and the adsorbed molecule contains a chromophore with an electronic transition coincident with the excitation wavelength.
'We wanted to know if dye-coded DNA could be used to selectively aggregate silver nanoparticles to give surface enhanced resonance Raman scattering,' explains David Thompson, a member of the Strathclyde team.
The team coated two batches of silver nanoparticles in a dye and then attached a different short strand of DNA to each batch. 'The strands of DNA on the two batches of particles were non-complimentary to each other and we then introduced a target strand of DNA which was complimentary to the DNA on both groups of particles,' Thompson says. The target DNA sticks to DNA strands on both sets of nanoparticles, drawing them together into clusters. Analysis of the resultant SERRS spectra showed a significant increase in the intensity of the spectrum of the dye.
Heating the solution unravels the DNA strands and the nanoparticle clumps fall apart - wiping out the SERRS signal.
The work demonstrates that SERRS can be used to study a biomolecular interaction, says Duncan Graham, who led the team. 'Although we have used DNA hybridisation in this study, our work has very exciting implications for other areas involving biomolecules such as investigating protein-protein interactions,' he adds.
But Roy Goodacre of the University of Manchester, UK, who also uses spectroscopic techniques to analyse biological molecules, sounds a note of caution. 'The concept of SERRS for imaging biology has only very recently become a reality,' he says. 'Currently Raman microspectroscopy is limited based on the time to acquire a spectrum. However, the ability to enhance the signal would allow images to be collected more rapidly. Of course, what is needed is the production of a robust and reproducible approach to cover cells and tissue with silver or gold nanoparticles.'
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D Graham et al, Nature Nanotechnology, 2008, DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2008.189
Also of interest
Raman spectroscopy is no longer an insensitive technique. Tom Westgate finds out how this advancing technology offers new possibilities in biology and security
Raman spectroscopy detects tumours after 'staining' with nanoparticles
Comment on this story at the Chemistry World blog
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External links will open in a new browser window | <urn:uuid:b05412f8-7187-496f-b985-c2a257eb62d7> | CC-MAIN-2013-20 | http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2008/July/15070802.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2013-20/segments/1368706933615/warc/CC-MAIN-20130516122213-00061-ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91861 | 631 | 3.359375 | 3 |
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